Decay In Law Enforcement 27

Liberty In Peril

formerly,

The Llano Ledger

8-30-19

The following is the very best in policing. KGUN-Tucson, Arizona reports:

"A Facebook post by the University of Arizona Police Department is getting attention after a routine call turned into a heart-warming moment. UAPD said in a post that officers were responding to a call on Tumamoc Hill when Officer Andrew Valenzuela came across a 4-year-old who was walking with his family. The post says, "Liam was a little scared being up so high, so he asked Officer Valenzuela to hold his hand as they walked down the hill together. " The two talked about superheroes, firefighters and police on the walk down, according to the post. Liam's mother told UAPD that Officer Valenzuela "was a prime example of what it means to be a civil servant. He walked down with us and gave Liam a bunch of education. You guys never get enough credit for what you do and words cannot express my gratitude. Please let Officer Valenzuela know how much it made our day."

8-30-19

Another example of the very best in policing. KIVI-Boise, Idaho reports:

"It's not often police are showered in appreciation for their law enforcement, but one Nampa woman wanted to make sure a Nampa police officer knew just how much he impacted her life. It was a moment Nampa resident Airia Howe has been looking forward to for years: thanking this police officer for being there for her when few others were.

"Howe first met Officer Otto years ago while working at a Subway sandwich shop near the station. "Right when I first started at Nampa PD, I went in the Subway, saw her, and we were just chatting and whatever else," said Otto. In the years to follow, addiction took ahold of Howe's life. "I just did drugs-- whatever was in front of me I would take, ya know?" said Howe. This led to what Howe describes as two drug-fueled mental health crises-- one of which Otto recalls as, "She was obviously in crisis. She wasn't speaking coherently. Sentence forming wasn't really there. Obviously if she wasn't able to take care of herself, she's not going to be able to take care of her daughter. So I ensured that her daughter was in a safe spot, had another officer stay with her daughter as I contacted her mom. Her mom came down from Mountain Home to take care of her daughter. And then her and I went to the hospital so she could receive the help that she needed, so she could be safe."

Outstanding policing, isn't it? This officer did precisely what was in the best long-term interest of all involved.

"Howe said he treated her like a human, not a criminal-- showing care and empathy toward her. "Just him and his eyes right there, that was just so comforting to me," said Howe. "His soul could feel for me. Maybe I made good sandwiches or something." Howe says she later underwent 40 days of treatment at Intermountain Recovery Hospital. "It just lit a fire under me. I’ve been trying to keep strong and not make poor choices, not let people in my life. I don’t need them-- but just be there for my daughter," said Howe. Howe said it has now been three years since she used hard drugs."

Had she been hauled to jail think the cycle would have been broken?

"For her to be able to break the cycle, and be willing to work a program and realize that, 'Hey, I need to go a different path with my life for her, for her daughter and everything else. That's massive," said Otto. "You've done such a phenomenal job. Congratulations," he added. "Thank you," said Howe.

"As I [Reporter Madeline White] previously reported, it is community policing like this that Nampa Police Chief Joe Huff said is one of the department's main goals."

Enlightened law enforcement. Hat's off.

8-30-19

Yet, another example of the very best in policing. CNN News reports:

"A baby from Scottsville, Kentucky, is back home with his family after being saved by a police officer. Aiden, who is 19 months old, stopped breathing on Wednesday morning, and his family called 911. As police arrived on the scene he was already turning blue and was cold to the touch, according to officers, but Scottsville Police Sgt. James Talbott jumped into action. He immediately checked Aiden's airway, patted his back and started CPR on him to get him breathing on his own before paramedics arrived. All this was caught on video from Talbott's body camera, which the police department released on Monday with permission from Aiden's parents. In the video, you can see the officer performing CPR on little Aiden, who isn't making a noise. Eventually, Aiden starts crying and you can hear the officer say "OK, bud, OK." Aiden was transported to the hospital and released later that day to go home, according to police."

Great day for all:

"I feel without the first aid that Sgt. Talbott administered, 19 month old Aiden King may have not survived," the police department wrote on Facebook. In a comment on the post, Aiden's mother, Misty King, wrote that her family is grateful for the officer's actions. "If he hadn't of responded and took over, I don't know what would have happened. This little man is a true blessing and a miracle," she wrote. "James Talbott you are a true hero and we hope you stay in touch." Just two weeks ago, the officers went through CPR and first aid re-certification training, the department added in the statement. The family stopped by the police station and reunited with the officer on their way home from the hospital. Talbott's heroic deeds didn't go unnoticed. He received a certificate of appreciation from the police department and has been nominated to receive the SPD Lifesaving medal, which will be presented to him next year."

Had to have been one of the most satisfying shifts to date this fine officer had worked.

8-30-19

5-25-18

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

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

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

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

8-30-19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8-30-19

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

8-30-19

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

Think you've heard it all? Think again. The following is appalling. In update to a case covered earlier in this publication and elsewhere, The Washington Post reports:

"Sometime after 11 p.m. on July 14, Newark police officer Lt. John Formisano went to the house he had shared with his since-estranged wife to drop off a pair of glasses for one of their children, he would later tell authorities. He remembers realizing that a “male guest” might be present. He said he “blacked out.” What came next, prosecutors say, was a rampage that ended with one woman dead, a man seriously wounded and a Jefferson Township, N.J., block traumatized by a killing on its doorstep. Morris County prosecutors have accused Formisano, 49, of killing his wife, Christie Formisano, 37, and seriously wounding a man reported to be her boyfriend, whom authorities did not name. But Formisano has yet to make his first court appearance, which under New Jersey law typically happens within two days of a defendant being taken to jail. The prosecutor’s office told The Washington Post on Thursday that he is in a hospital."

Imagine that. Special treatment???

"According to a probable cause affidavit, the unidentified male victim told police that Formisano had called the house after 11 p.m. on July 14 and that Christie had seen the flare of a flashlight outside the residence. The Formisanos’ two children, both minors, were in the house at the time. Christie left her bedroom and locked the door behind her. Moments later, the male victim recalled, he heard Christie yell, “He’s got a gun,” and “Call 911.” Then, he said, he heard gunshots. Formisano broke into the bedroom, the man alleged, firing numerous times. The victim was struck in the thigh, hand, arms and abdomen. Christie fled the house and attempted to seek refuge at a neighbor’s, the affidavit said. But there was no answer at the neighbor’s door, and she couldn’t get inside. A witness told police that she saw Formisano on the neighbor’s property and saw him fire a gun. When police arrived, they found Christie on the steps of the neighbor’s front porch, dead from multiple gunshot wounds."

An out of control cop murdered his estranged wife and he's still not in jail approximately a month and a half after the fact?

"Around 2 a.m., police caught up with Formisano about 30 miles away in a parking lot in Livingston, N.J., where the Daily Beast reports he had been living with his mother. A handgun was found in his car. He agreed to speak to police and recounted that he went to the house, realized another man was there and “blacked out” before firing his weapon numerous times at his wife and the man, the affidavit said."

Jesus Christ. Give me a break.

"The Formisanos were in the process of divorcing when the shooting occurred, according to the affidavit. Formisano had “been going through marital problems and he has been taking care of his mother who is battling serious health issues,” James Stewart Jr. of the Newark Fraternal Order of Police told NJ Advance Media. “But there was no indication that any violence was being contemplated.” Prosecutors have charged Formisano with first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm with the intent to use it unlawfully, and two counts of child endangerment. Newark police spokesman Mark Di Ionno confirmed that the 24-year veteran of the force was suspended without pay."

Question to be asked is why are officers ever suspended with pay across the country when accused of having committed a murder or some other serious crime?

"In ordinary circumstances, under New Jersey’s reformed bail laws, Formisano would have made his first court appearance 24 to 48 hours after being taken to jail. At this hearing, a judge would decide whether the defendant should be detained. According to the Morris County prosecutor’s office, the night of the killing, Formisano was arrested and held by the Jefferson Township police. But he was taken to a hospital instead of jail."

That's a problem. Any civilian in similar circumstances would have been immediately jailed. Why preferential treatment for law enforcement?

"Formisano’s attorney, Anthony J. Iacullo, said in a statement that his client is “undergoing medical and psychiatric treatment and no court date has been set for his first appearance.”

That's also a problem. Special treatment.

“The defense greatly appreciates the experienced medical doctors and personnel working to ensure that John receives the best care and treatment possible,” Iacullo continued. “We are hopeful that someday John may be able to be released and participate meaningfully in his defense of the pending charges. Until then, we will continue to prepare for that day.” Peter DiGennaro, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, told The Post that a doctor could evaluate Formisano and determine whether he was fit to appear in court. In theory, prosecutors could file a motion to force Formisano to appear in court, but DiGennaro would not say whether this option was being considered."

Why not? Why is this officer receiving special treatment any other civilian would have been denied?

"As Formisano undergoes treatment, his former Jefferson Township neighborhood is left to reckon with the aftermath of the shooting. According to the Daily Beast, frantic residents called 911 on July 14 as the violence unfolded. One woman told a dispatcher that Christie was “dying in front of my house.” “There’s somebody shot on my front steps,” another man told 911. “On your front steps?” this dispatcher asked. “I think she’s dying, or she’s dead, I didn’t even want to touch her,” the man said. “We heard some pops. I think it’s the woman from two doors down.”

Think the neighbors aren't suffering PTSD from this catastrophe? What about the children who have to live with this the rest of their lives?

Ferociously pointedly, where is the justice?

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

8-30-19

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

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

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

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

8-30-19

A dog or cat dies in a hot car, guess what? A civilian, rightfully, gets held criminally accountable. Not so, if you're a jackbooted bastard in blue. The following is appalling. Clueless. CNN News reports:

"Police in Long Beach, California, are mourning a K9 officer that died apparently of heat-related causes in a department vehicle. The dog, Ozzy, was found by its handler when both were off-duty about 3:40 p.m. on August 14, the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement. "This unfortunate incident was not intentional," the statement reads."

So what? Why wasn't the officer identified, held accountable? As any civilian would have rightfully been? Why the goddamned double standard?

"Preliminarily, we believe this was an accident and we are taking all the necessary steps to avoid this happening in the future."

Not good enough. Nowhere near. Where is the accountability? What's good for the public is good for the jackbooted bastards in blue. Why the double standard?

"The department said its K9 vehicles have "fail/safe equipment that is meant to generate an alert," but it might not have been working, the statement said. The department statement said K9 handlers are checking their heat system controllers before every shift."

Not good enough. Again, nowhere near. No more excuses. Excuses don't fly. Wake up.

"A veterinarian examined Ozzy. "The preliminary results determined the cause of death to be heat related," the police statement said. "Our department is mourning Ozzy's loss as we would with any of our employees. Our K9s are an indispensable part of our department, and we will continue to view them as our partners."

Clearly, you don't. No more than achingly hollow lip service. That dog should never have been locked up in a car on a hot day, then left unattended. Nothing is 'fail/safe.' Nothing.

"The Humane Society says it's never safe to leave pets locked in cars. "It doesn't have to be that warm outside for a car to become dangerously hot inside," the organization's website says. "When it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the temperature inside your car can heat up to 99 degrees Fahrenheit within 10 minutes."

Time to change the double standard. The handler responsible for the death of this animal, at the very least, should reimburse taxpayers for the cost of the loss. Training and ongoing care of a K9 are not cheap.

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.

8-30-19

Murderous jackbooted law enforcement. CBS News reports:

"A former Houston police officer has been charged with murder in connection with the deadly January drug raid of a home that killed a couple who lived there and injured five officers. Gerald Goines surrendered to authorities Friday afternoon, CBS Houston affiliate KHOU reported. He was charged with two counts of felony murder after police accused him of lying in a search warrant about having a confidential informant buying heroin at the home. If convicted, Goines faces up to life in prison."

In Nazi Texas, kill a jackbooted bastard in blue even in self-defense, guess what? Get executed. Why not the same standard for an officer who murders on duty? Why no equal justice?

"Goine[s], who was shot in the ensuing gunfight during the January 28 raid, later acknowledged there was no informant and that he bought the drugs himself, authorities said. Another former officer, Steven Bryant, was charged with tampering with a government record for allegedly providing false information in a report after the raid that supported Goines' story about a confidential informant. Bryant faces up to two years in state jail."

That all?

"Killed in the raid were Rhogena Nicholas, 58, and Dennis Tuttle, 59. Family and friends of Tuttle and Nicholas have continuously dismissed allegations the couple sold drugs. Police found small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in the house, but no heroin."

Police lie all the time. Precisely, why the law enforcement community cannot be trusted. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg offered an apology to the couple's families. "I want to tell them how sorry we are as a city and a county for the actions that resulted in the loss of their loved ones lives and that our work is dedicated to ensuring that their loved ones receive justice," Ogg said."

Not good enough. Nowhere near. Rings hollow. Means shit squat. Never ends. When will government finally rein in the murderous criminal jackbooted bastards in blue? When?

"In a statement, Michael Doyle and Charles Bourque, attorneys for the Nicholas family, called the charges against Goines and Bryant important developments but only the "beginning of the pursuit of justice" in the couple's deaths. Initially, Houston police maintained that after officers entered the home, Nicholas tried to take away a shotgun from an officer and was fatally shot by officers who saw what was happening. But an independent review by the family of Nicholas earlier this year cast doubt on that portrayal."

Again, officers lie all the time. To cover their asses. Usually, granted carte blanche to do as they please. With rare exception. ... Hear the rumble?

"Following the shooting, prosecutors began reviewing more than 2,000 cases tied to Goines and Bryant. In June, prosecutors said their investigation has grown into a probe of 14,000 cases handled by the Houston Police Department's narcotics division."

Jesus Christ. Can't imagine how many may have been bogus.

"Both officers were relieved of duty after the shooting and later retired."

Why were they allowed to retire?

"Ogg said prosecutors decided to file charges instead of waiting to present the case to a grand jury because they feared the two officers might flee the area and they feared for the safety of witnesses."

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

"The case is still set to be presented to a grand jury in the next few weeks and the panel could file additional charges against the two officers or charges against other officers."

Be interesting to see how this case is ultimately adjudicated. Usually, special treatment is conveniently accorded, amounting to: 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.

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.

8-30-19

Insanity within the law enforcement community. CBS News reports:

"A California sheriff's deputy is facing a criminal investigation after his bosses said he fabricated a story about being shot by a sniper. Twenty-one-year-old Angel Reinosa said he was hit in the shoulder on Wednesday outside his station in Lancaster, north of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said hundreds of officers responded, a commuter rail line was shut down and resources were wasted. Authorities said Reinosa didn't explain his motive for the false claim, but now he's lost his job and could face criminal charges for filing a false report about a crime. The local sheriff told the Los Angeles Times they intend to hold Reinosa responsible for breaking the law and betraying the community. "There was no sniper, no shots fired and no gunshot injuries sustained to his shoulder," Homicide Bureau Captain Kent Wegener said. "Completely fabricated." Wegener said much of Reinosa's story to police did not add up. "Much of his statement was self-serving, didn't make a whole lot of sense," Wegener said."

Get this:

"Reinosa radioed for help Wednesday from the police station parking lot, saying he had been shot by a sniper. "I'm taking shots from the north of the Lancaster helipad," Reinosa said in the radio call. "I think I'm hit in the right shoulder, it might have gone through … I think it's from the apartment window. There's multiple windows open. I don't know where the shots came from." SWAT teams went door to door evacuating residents from the apartment building while others sheltered in place. Police also searched the area by helicopter. "When a police officer says he's been shot or shot at, we respond in force," Wegener said. "There was a large perimeter to protect this area because we didn't know where this armed gunman was."

A ruse:

"Investigators said Reinosa later admitted his story was not true. They found no visible wounds on him, though he did have holes in his shirt from a bullet that he said had grazed him. According to police, he later admitted he cut the holes himself."

Jesus Christ.

"It's extremely disappointing," Assistant Sheriff Robin Limon said. "Our deputy sheriffs are held to a higher standard. And unfortunately, in this case, he didn't act to that standard." Reinosa had only been a deputy with the sheriff's department for a year. The deputy sheriff's union told CBS News Reinosa's actions jeopardizes trust."

No question. To say nothing of the cost of mobilizing such a huge response to a bogus call. -- The danger as well to the public of officers on a heightened state of alert with a 'shoot first, ask questions later mentality.' Vetting needs to improve. Needs to be ongoing during entire time of employment.

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.

8-30-19

A fascist police-state. With the help of the corporate management suite. Time to wake up. The Washington Post reports:

"The doorbell-camera company Ring has quietly forged video-sharing partnerships with more than 400 police forces across the United States, granting them access to homeowners’ camera footage and a powerful role in what the company calls the nation’s “new neighborhood watch.” The partnerships let police automatically request the video recorded by homeowners’ cameras within a specific time and area, helping officers see footage from the company’s millions of Internet-connected cameras installed nationwide, the company said. Officers don’t receive ongoing or live-video access, and homeowners can decline the requests, which Ring sends via email thanking them for “making your neighborhood a safer place.”

Jesus Christ. Nazi America.

"The number of police deals, which has not previously been reported, is likely to fuel broader questions about privacy, surveillance and the expanding reach of tech giants and local police. The rapid growth of the program, which began in spring 2018, surprised some civil-liberties advocates, who thought that fewer than 300 agencies had signed on. Ring is owned by Amazon, which bought the firm last year for more than $800 million, financial filings show. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post."

Small world, no?

"Ring officials and law enforcement partners portray the vast camera network as an irrepressible shield for neighborhoods, saying it can assist police investigators and protect homes from criminals, intruders and thieves. “The mission has always been making the neighborhood safer,” said Eric Kuhn, the general manager of Neighbors, Ring’s crime-focused companion app. “We’ve had a lot of success in terms of deterring crime and solving crimes that would otherwise not be solved as quickly.” But legal experts and privacy advocates have voiced alarm about the company’s eyes-everywhere ambitions and increasingly close relationship with police, saying the program could threaten civil liberties, turn residents into informants, and subject innocent people, including those who Ring users have flagged as “suspicious,” to greater surveillance and potential risk."

A fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

“If the police demanded every citizen put a camera at their door and give officers access to it, we might all recoil,” said Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a law professor and author of “The Rise of Big Data Policing.” By tapping into “a perceived need for more self-surveillance and by playing on consumer fears about crime and security,” he added, Ring has found “a clever workaround for the development of a wholly new surveillance network, without the kind of scrutiny that would happen if it was coming from the police or government.”

Report goes on and on. This enterprise is a direct threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

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

8-30-19

The following is appalling. ABC News reports:

"A suspected serial rapist wanted for years has been nabbed in the Atlanta, Georgia, area, after police investigators in Clayton County discovered he was a police recruit at their own department last year. Eight cases have been linked by DNA to suspect 24-year-old Kenneth Thomas Bowen III, Clayton County Police Chief Kevin Roberts said at a news conference Wednesday. Bowen was arrested Tuesday on warrants for seven rapes and one sexual battery, Roberts said. Since July 4, 2015, the department had been investigating a series of sexual assaults and rapes that became a "cloud over the community," Roberts said. Most of Bowen's alleged assaults were within two miles of his house, said Clayton County Police Lt. Tom Reimers. The suspected rapist was hired as a Clayton County police recruit last year, according to the chief. Bowen "was hired, by me, in June of 2018," the chief said, "and he was also terminated by me on Sept. 12, 2018. He was removed from this agency during the academy process for being absent without leave. And during the internal investigation he was untruthful which caused me to separate him from this agency." The chief explained that Bowen "was scheduled to attend academy training early on the morning in September, he failed to arrive on time as scheduled. When our leadership questioned him... he told them he gave them a 30 minute ETA [estimated time of arrival]. That 30 minute ETA turned into a 3 or 4 hour ETA, and upon arriving, he gave multiple statements that differed as to where he was and who he was with."

Where was the vetting pre-hiring? What extensive background check was conducted?

"Bowen "was never a certified police officer with this agency," Roberts said. "Had he not attempted to join the ranks of the Clayton County Police Department, it's questionable as to when we would have apprehended him," Roberts added. Police started to catch on to Bowen when the department reviewed 911 call reports of suspicious people, Reimers said. "We reviewed those calls and looked for names and the calls to see if perhaps an officer had in fact contacted him at some point in the past and run his name and birth date," Reimers said. "That did lead to obtaining his name and birth date from a call from 2016." When looking at Bowen's photo, authorities noted a "striking resemblance" to the suspect sketches from victims, Reimers said. A search warrant was obtained for Bowen's DNA last week; investigators surveilled Bowen at his current job and followed him back to Clayton County where they executed a traffic stop and took his DNA, Reimers said. The positive DNA result came back Tuesday, Reimers said. "We are in a safer state today because of Kenneth Bowen's arrest," the chief said."

No kidding. While it is indeed good he was finally apprehended, how did he make it as far as he did through the hiring process?

"Bowen declined to speak to investigators, Reimers said. Bowen is in the Clayton County Jail and was expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday morning where charges would be read to him, John Fowler, acting district attorney of the Clayton judicial circuit, said at a press conference. A preliminary hearing court date has not been determined, Fowler said."

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

8-30-19

Sick religion meets sick law enforcement. NBC News reports:

"A North Carolina police officer is suing for religious discrimination after he said he was fired for refusing to spend extended time with a woman who isn’t his wife, a practice commonly known as the “Billy Graham Rule.” Manuel Torres, 51, worked as a deputy for the Lee County Sheriff for five years when his boss asked him to train a female deputy in July 2017. Torres requested a religious accommodation, the suit alleges, saying he “holds the strong and sincere religious belief that the Holy Bible prohibits him, as a married man, from being alone for extended periods with a female who is not his wife.” Torres, a Baptist who serves as a deacon at his local church, said in the suit that training his colleague would leave the appearance of “sinful conduct.”

Give me a break. What a crock of shit. Sick religion.

"The complaint alleges after Torres made his accommodation request, the sergeant “alternately granted and denied” him and that his superiors expressed their “anger” over his religious beliefs."

What the hell is that supposed to mean? LOL.

"Two months later, on September 11, Torres was fired. He claims months later the Lee County Sheriff’s Office provided false and negative referrals to prospective employers to two different police departments following his dismissal. In one instance, Torres said a prospective employer rescinded their already extended offer after speaking with the sheriff’s office."

Why wouldn't they? This guy is insane. LOL. Unfit to be in law enforcement.

"The Lee County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment. Now a federal court will decide if the case, first reported by the Charlotte Observer, amounts to discrimination. Torres is seeking monetary relief, damages for emotional distress, and compensation for future and lost wages, according to the complaint. The suit appears to be the first time the rule has been brought to court as a religious discrimination matter."

A frivolous lawsuit brought by an unfit former officer.

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.

8-23-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

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

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

8-23-19

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

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

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

8-23-19

Never ends. NPR reports:

"When Sgt. Alan Van't Land of the Colorado Springs Police Department approaches two young black men in the 2100 block of Preuss Road in Colorado Springs, he tells them he is responding to a call about a possible assault. He says the men match suspect descriptions and he has been informed one of them may have a gun. "So don't reach for your waist. We're gonna just check and make sure that you don't have a weapon. All right?" Van't Land says, according to body camera footage released Thursday. Four seconds pass. As another officer approaches the men, one of them, De'Von Bailey, takes off running. "Hands up! Hands up!" the officers yell. Then a torrent of officer gunfire is unleashed and Bailey falls to the ground. At least eight shots can be heard on the video of the Aug. 3 incident. Bailey, 19, later died in the hospital."

Murder. By the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue. An execution.

"According to the El Paso County coroner, Bailey was shot four times — three times in the back and a fourth time in the right arm. An autopsy declared the manner of death to be homicide. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, police had claimed Bailey reached for a firearm prior to running from the officers and being shot. This is not apparent from the police video. And it's a point underscored by Bailey family attorney Darold Killmer, who spoke to reporters on Thursday. "Mr. Bailey was trying desperately to flee from the police and he did not have a weapon in his hand. And had not shown any weapon when he was shot in the back and killed," Killmer said. "The police appear to argue that they shot Mr. Bailey because they feared he was going for a gun at the time. We think the video shows otherwise."

Not only are these gutless jackbooted bastards murderers, they're liars.

Never, ever, never run from an officer. They use it to justify opening fire. Always comply. Then sue the living shit out of the bastards, the department, and government entity.

"Killmer also reiterated to reporters that the family is calling for an independent investigation rather than having county officials lead a probe into the incident. After Bailey was shot, Van't Land and another officer, Blake Evenson, said they discovered "something between his legs" and then cut off Bailey's shorts. An object can been seen in the clothing, but it was not clear from the video what it was."

This kid was running away. They executed him.

"CPB also reports the El Paso County Sheriff's Department is leading the investigation of the case. Its findings are expected to be released to District Attorney Dan May on Friday."

Fox guarding the chicken coop.

"According to KMGH-TV, an ABC News affiliate in Denver, both Van't Land and Evenson are veterans of the Colorado Springs Police Department. Van't Land has served since 2008; Evenson, since 2012. Both officers, according to the news station, had been placed on administrative leave. However, by late Friday the two officers had returned to active duty, according to police spokeswoman Natashia Kerr, as cited by the Gazette. Kerr said under department protocol, officers involved in shootings are placed on administrative leave for "approximately three days," the paper reported. "In my humble opinion, the black and brown citizens of Colorado Springs are not safe with these officers on the street," Terry Thomas, pastor of Lifting Up Jesus Church, said, as quoted by the Associated Press."

Matters not in a de facto fascist police-state. The criminal jackbooted bastards do as they please. With virtual impunity.

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.

8-23-19

Finally, some small semblance of 'justice.' ABC News reports:

"More than five years after the death of Eric Garner was captured on cell phone video, the officer responsible for causing his death was terminated from New York City's Police Department. Since July 17, 2014, NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo has waited to learn whether he can remain on the force with the plainclothes anti-crime unit, lose vacations days or lose his job entirely. Months after a disciplinary trial in May and June this year, Deputy Commissioner of Trials Judge Rosemarie Maldonado recommended to Police Commissioner James O'Neill that Pantaleo be removed from the force. O'Neill announced Monday that Pantaleo was to be immediately terminated. "It's an extremely difficult decision," O'Neill said at a news conference Monday. "If I was still a cop, I'd probably be mad at me... [but] it's my responsibility as police commissioner to look out for the city.”

Jesus Christ. If that's how you think, Commissioner, time for you to resign in disgrace. You're not fit for office. The jackbooted son of a bitch in blue you defend murdered on the job. Strangled a man to death who said he couldn't breathe. A prohibited chokehold. Literally, criminally got away with it.

"An emotional O’Neill noted he was a beat cop for 34 years, and said it could easily have been him in Pantaleo's position."

Jesus Christ. If that's the case, you weren't fit to wear the uniform. If there was any justice left in our formerly great country, your background as an officer would be immediately reviewed by prosecutors.

"He said the officer used justifiable force when Garner resisted, but erred when he kept Garner in the chokehold once the two men tumbled to the ground. The administrative judge found the chokehold contributed to an asthma attack that led to Garner’s death, a consequence that O’Neill said required a consequence."

Jesus Christ. There was no criminal consequence to the officer you callously defend who murdered on the job. Will this fired piece of shit be re-employed by another department?

"It's in my DNA, it's who I am," O'Neill said of his background as a patrol officer himself. "But as police commissioner, I have to think about the city, and I have to think about the rules and [regulations] of the NYPD and make sure people follow them."

Clearly, with an attitude like yours, Commissioner, your fitness for duty as an officer remains in question. So does your judgment as Commissioner. Time for you to do the public a favor. Resign in disgrace.

"There are absolutely no victors here today," he added, noting that the inevitability of having to make this decision was something he knew he would have to face when he was sworn in as police commissioner in September 2016."

The hell there aren't victors. First, a former officer literally got away with murder. Will continue to receive a pension courtesy of looted taxpayers. Second, a Commissioner unfit for office remains in office.

"The dismissal means Pantaleo can collect his pension but loses other benefits he would have retained upon retirement."

The criminal son of a bitch deserves to be in prison. Escaped justice. Nazi America.

"O'Neill said that he called New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to inform him of the decision before making the public announcement. He noted that he did not inform either Pantaleo or the Garner family of the decision before his announcement."

The family should have received a heads up. What were you so afraid of, Commissioner? You could have called them immediately before taking the podium. Effectively, prevented them from breaking the news themselves. Don't think they deserved at least that much consideration from you? Having lost a family member to your murderous jackbooted son of a bitch in blue?

"Today is a day of reckoning but can also be a day of reconciliation," he said."

The hell it is. A criminal jackbooted murderer merely got fired. Will continue to be financially compensated at taxpayer expense. Not held criminally accountable for his crime. Nazi America.

"Pantaleo, 35, of Staten Island, was on desk duty while collecting an annual salary of more than $97,000, according to public records. However, he was suspended after the judge's recommendation -- a practice when a civil servant is recommended to be fired, the NYPD said. Judge Maldonado ruled that Daniel Pantaleo used the prohibited chokehold that caused Eric Garner's death and Daniel Pantaleo must be terminated," said Fred Davie, chairman of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, at their monthly meeting on Aug. 14. Chokeholds were banned by the NYPD in 1993."

Then, why wasn't this murderous jackbooted son of a bitch prosecuted for murder? The chokehold was, and is, illegal. No justice.

"Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, said that the judge's recommendation brought "some relief" after a Staten Island grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to bring criminal charges against Pantaleo. On Monday, Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader who assisted the Garner family throughout the process, said that "we are relieved but we are not celebratory. There is nothing to celebrate." "Today Daniel Pantaleo lost his job but five years ago, Eric Garner lost his life," Sharpton said. He added that the decision came "five years too late, and [caused] five years of pain and misery that will never end for this family." Sharpton said that Pantaleo's termination is "good for the citizens of the city," but promised that "this is the beginning, not the end," as he wants to push for chokeholds to be criminalized under state law so that officers who use the move would face more than "just termination." The New York City's medical examiner ruled that Garner's death was a homicide due to the sequence of evidence started by Pantaleo's chokehold that triggered a cascade of events and ended with a fatal asthma attack."

No justice. Legalized murder.

"O’Neill’s decision elicited a swift rebuke from Patrick Lynch, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, who said that the commissioner "has chosen politics and his own self-interest over the police officers he claims to lead." "He has chosen to cringe in fear of the anti-police extremists, rather than standing up for New Yorkers who want a functioning police department, with cops who are empowered to protect them and their families,” Lynch said in a statement. “With this decision, Commissioner O’Neill has opened the door for politicians to dictate the outcome of every single NYPD disciplinary proceeding, without any regard for the facts of the case or police officers’ due process rights.”

Wake up, Mr. Lynch. What due process did Garner receive having been murdered by one of your jackbooted bastards using an illegal chokehold? Your head remains figuratively, securely lodged up your sorry ass. Thinking like yours is precisely why there is so little faith and trust in law enforcement. Nor can there be.

"Davie released a statement after the decision, saying that the Garner family and the public "finally have closure." "Make no mistake: This process took entirely too long. And the tragic reality is that neither a verdict from a judge nor a decision by a police commissioner can reverse what happened on July 17, 2014," Davie said in the statement. "Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s termination from the New York City Police Department does not make the death of Eric Garner any less harrowing. But it is heartening to know that some element of justice has been served."

No, it hasn't. A former officer literally criminally got away with murder.

Coup de grace? Absolute, achingly perverse, abject insanity? Get this:

"Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch wanted O'Neill to support Pantaleo and not fire him in order to allow officers "to be effective again."

Jesus Christ. 'Effective' at what? Murdering on the job? Clearly, there is no hope of desperately needed change. ... Hear the rumble?

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.

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.

8-23-19

Raw nazism. Jackbooted bastards in ICE. NBC News reports:

"The number of migrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Deep South has quadrupled in the past year, alarming immigration advocates and attorneys who are struggling to keep up. According to previously unreported ICE data the agency shared with NBC News, the number of detainees in facilities contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Louisiana and Mississippi surged from just over 2,000 at the end of 2017 to more than 8,000 as of July. That’s nearly four times as many as were detained in the two states in November 2017, the numbers show. Louisiana, with a population of more than 6,500, now has the largest population of ICE detainees of any single state apart from Texas. Immigration attorneys on the ground say they’re worried about the speed of that expansion, referring to many of the sites as “black holes,” locations brought online for ICE detainees so recently that lawyers say they’ve lost track of their clients for days at a time.

"According to Department of Homeland Security data, the rate of detainees granted parole in the New Orleans AOR has decreased from 75.5 percent in 2016 to just 1.5 percent in 2018, making it the lowest parole rate of any AOR in the country. In May, the Southern Poverty Law Center sued Department of Homeland Security and ICE officials over the parole rate, accusing the agency of violating its own protocols, which they argue requires the agency to release people who are not a flight risk or a danger to their community. The lawsuit names a dozen plaintiffs now detained in Louisiana and Alabama, many of whom have been inside for months, some as long as a year. For family members like Katis, who asked that only her first name be used to protect her brother’s identity, those numbers are personal. Her brother has been detained in ICE custody for 10 months, and is now in the Adams County Correctional Facility, one of the eight facilities that came under ICE contract this year."

Her brother is a physician.

“When they get there it’s like arriving to a cemetery. You don’t have an exit. There’s no answer,” she told NBC News correspondent Morgan Radford in Spanish at her home in Roanoke, Virginia. In a sworn declaration submitted as part of the law center's lawsuit, her brother says he lived and worked in Cuba as a doctor until 2018, when he fled the country out of fear of violence and political persecution. “I was forced to flee Cuba after Cuban state officials detained and brutally beat me on multiple occasions because I refused to comply with the Cuban government’s unethical orders,” he said in the declaration, which he dictated in Spanish for translation. He presented himself at the Laredo, Texas, port of entry and asked for asylum. From there he was transferred to facilities in Texas and Louisiana before winding up at the Adams County Correctional Center. He was denied asylum in May, then applied for parole, citing his sister’s status as a citizen and his profession as a doctor as proof that he wasn’t a flight risk or a danger. ICE denied that request, which means he will remain in ICE custody for the duration of his appeals. “We came looking for liberty because it’s supposed to be the country of liberty,” Katis said. “They haven’t even gotten freedom.” "Es peor,” she added, which means, “It's worse.”

Nazi America. Trump's Fourth Reich.

NPR reports:

"Yoel Alonso sat in a cell for 10 months before he ever met with a lawyer. His wife had to travel 1,000 miles to visit him at the remote Louisiana facility where he was detained. Alonso is not imprisoned for committing a crime. In fact, he turned himself in to immigration officials last October, seeking asylum from Cuba. Since then, he has been detained in two rural facilities — first in Louisiana, and now in Adams County, Miss. — where he is faced with daunting legal hurdles. Chief among them: Alonso has met his lawyer only once in his nearly 11 months in federal custody. And his plight is becoming more common. More than half of immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are housed in remote rural prisons, according to a new NPR analysis, about 52%. That number is increasing. That is a mounting concern for those who advocate on behalf of immigrants, because detainees in rural areas are facing higher barriers to obtaining a lawyer, more likely to have their asylum cases denied and more likely to be deported to their home countries. Alonso sought asylum in the U.S. last October, turning himself over to immigration officials in Laredo, Texas. He was soon moved to a rural detention facility in Pine Prairie, La., a four-hour drive from New Orleans and 1,000 miles away from his family. "I had the chance to visit him [once] even though it was very far away," says Alonso's wife, Midalis Rodriguez, a permanent U.S. resident who lives in southern Florida with their two children. In June, Alonso was transferred to another rural prison in Adams County, Miss., 100 miles from the nearest city of Baton Rouge. "It's a very concerning trend that immigration detention is moving to rural areas, remote areas, where it makes it so much harder for a person in detention to get the support that they need," says Liz Martinez, a board member for Freedom for Immigrants, an immigrant rights group. In fact, only a minority of detainees have lawyers at all. According to a 2015 study published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, only 14% of immigrant detainees have legal representation. Those in urban areas are at least four times more likely to have an attorney. Last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center sued ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, alleging the agency was deliberately detaining people in rural areas far from legal resources."

ICE is becoming akin to the Nazi Gestapo.

"ICE, which currently detains 55,530 undocumented immigrants, declined to comment on that lawsuit. In an emailed statement, a spokesman said ICE considers proximity to airports, health care and legal resources when selecting facilities. He also says detainees have access to phones and video teleconferencing and can also meet with their attorneys during visiting hours. But many immigration attorneys say in reality, there are lots of roadblocks: not enough phones, poor connections, little or no access to interpreters, and restrictive visiting hours. For Alonso, who is 50, it has led to an excruciating wait. His health is failing; he has severe gout and was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Alonso eventually found attorneys to take his case, pro bono; he is among a very tiny fraction of detainees able to secure such free legal services. So far, he has been denied humanitarian parole twice. His wife says it has been extremely hard for the family. "What more could a wife with a sick husband want, other than to be with him?" she says in Spanish. "At the very least, I want to offer him my support, and for my children to offer support."

Don't Republicans claim to be the party of the family?

ABC News reports:

"Chaos broke out at the protest of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Rhode Island late Wednesday when a truck tried to drive through protesters and corrections officers ended up pepper-spraying the crowd. The protest outside the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island, less than 10 miles north of Providence, was led by members of the "Never Again" movement, which likens undocumented immigrants being imprisoned to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust. Protesters have been organizing outside the ICE facility since early July. About a dozen people were treated for irritation due to the pepper spray Wednesday, while one person was taken to the hospital for a minor injury, Providence ABC affiliate WLNE reported. Protesters surrounded the pick-up truck as it left the facility, with at least one person jumping on the back, before the group refused to move. They could be heard chanting, "The whole world is watching," as officers repeatedly asked them to move back. After about 45 seconds, at least one corrections officer is seen unleashing a large cloud of pepper spray -- sending the dozens of protesters scattering. The person driving the truck was not an ICE employee, an official told ABC News."

Carefully consider the following:

"Every time we ask ourselves would I have done something during the Holocaust? Would I have done something?" protester Jack Silverman told WLNE. "I want to make sure that when I tell my grandkids, 'This is what was happening in the United States, and they say, 'Well what did you do?' I need to say that I did these things, and this is how it helped. Because I wouldn't be able to live with myself otherwise."

This is clearly a repeat of history under our fuhrer, the Trump nazi. Wake up.

"The group, Never Again, released a statement, saying, "Last night we experienced a small example of the violence that ICE uses against our immigrant neighbors every day. As Jews, our families taught us the lessons of the Holocaust, and we promised that we would speak out and act if we ever saw a group of people being targeted, dehumanized, and rounded up. "We are answering the call of our ancestors to sound the alarm: #NeverAgainIsNow. Every person in the United States needs to join the fight to close the concentration camps, shut down ICE, and secure permanent protection for all undocumented people in the U.S."

Why aren't the Israelis doing precisely the same? Why are they supporting the Trump nazi? Why are they brutalizing the Palestinians? Why does the United States stand by and do nothing? Worse, encourages the Israeli aggressor?

"The protest had been peaceful throughout the night until just before 10 p.m. "Correctional officers came out and physically pushed us out of the way and then pepper-sprayed us, which is burning my face right now," protester Jared Goldstein told WLNE. Eighteen people were arrested at a protest by the same group outside of Wyatt Detention Center on July 2, according to the Providence Journal."

NBC News reports:

"ICE used data from immigrants' ankle monitors to raid seven food processing plants in Mississippi, raising concerns about privacy and immigrants’ rights. Federal immigration authorities were able to track an undocumented Guatemalan woman from the time she left her home in the morning and headed to work at a food processing plant in Mississippi, to the time she left work roughly 10 hours later. They were able to do so because the woman had received an ankle monitor upon being released from ICE detention, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials used data gleaned from her monitor to target raids this month on her plant and six others that led to the arrests of nearly 700 people."

Jackbooted motherf--kers. Trump's Gestapo.

"Unsealed search warrants from the raid reveal that immigration authorities have tracked such GPS data from dozens of undocumented immigrants with ankle monitors. Lawyers and immigration advocates told NBC News they had not previously heard of ICE employing this tactic, which they called “troubling” and said raised concerns about immigrants’ rights."

They have none. Certainly, not in a de facto fascist police-state, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

“It’s troubling to us that people who are released are being tracked for reasons that have nothing to do with whether they’re likely to appear for their court cases or abscond,” said Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants' Rights Project."

Forget? Nazi America. Sue the jackbooted nazi storm troopers.

“I think it raises questions about whether this is a proper use of the ankle monitors because taken to its extreme it means they can be monitoring every place this person goes, every person they meet with, and that raises various privacy concerns,” Rabinovitz said."

Forget? There is no privacy. Certainly, none in a goddamned fascist police-state.

"Michelle Lapointe, senior supervising attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said she questioned whether undocumented immigrants were being told "about the uses to which monitors can be put toward before someone agrees to that as a condition to their release."

Why would these jackbooted motherf--kers do that? Would be most inconvenient for these achingly clueless nazi bastards.

"I would want to know if all of this is disclosed to people, particularly if it's going to be used as evidence against those people in a criminal proceeding down the road," she said."

You've got to be kidding. Forget? Trump and his henchmen do as they please. Precisely, why you need to sue these bastards every goddamned step of the way.

"Oscar Chacón, co-founder and executive director of the Alianza Americas, a Latino immigrant advocacy group, said such a surveillance tactic “further stigmatizes” immigrants who wear ankle monitors. Chacón said he believed the use of the worksite raids and of tracking ankle monitor data as a tactic was “part of a larger effort to use fear as a way of promoting the idea that people may feel so trapped” they abandon their immigration cases or leave the U.S. Marshall Goff, an immigration attorney in Mississippi representing some of the families affected by the raids, said people in their communities were still frightened. “It’s been scary,” he said. “A lot of people are still frightened right now, and they’re afraid to ever leave their homes, really to do anything.”

Clearly, ICE tactics are working as intended by the Trump nazi and his henchmen. Are you suing these pieces of shit? Dragging their sorry asses into court?

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.

8-23-19

Change on the way? Think so? NBC News reports:

"A new wave of progressive DAs across the country favor decriminalization, diversion programs over jail time and holding law enforcement accountable. Progressive, reform-minded prosecutors have taken the reins in top local prosecutor roles across the country that have allowed them to begin to change the criminal justice system from the inside out. These left-leaning Democratic district attorneys have sought reforms to the bail system, curbed enforcement of lower-level marijuana offenses, increased the use of diversion programs over jail time and pledged to end mass incarceration. They have also tried changing the culture in their offices, adjusting their prosecutorial priorities to upend a system they believe has contributed to the rise in prison populations. And they've vowed to hold police accountable for alleged wrongdoing. Their platforms have been met with stiff opposition from some, particularly law enforcement organizations, advocacy groups and state and federal politicians and other prosecutors who have accused the reformers of being anti-police and who believe the changes will make citizens less safe. Last week, Attorney General William Barr — who decades ago helped write a report arguing for more incarceration — told a Fraternal Order of Police conference in New Orleans that "the emergence in some of our large cities of district attorneys that style themselves as 'social justice' reformers, who spend their time undercutting the police, letting criminals off the hook and refusing to enforce the law," is "demoralizing to law enforcement and dangerous to public safety."

Crock of shit. The greatest threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties is no foreign power, no terrorist organization, not even the criminal element. Remains as it's been for decades. All branches and levels of out of control government. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

"Rachael Rollins was elected district attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, which includes Boston, in 2018 and is the first woman of color to be elected DA in the state. "Change never happens when people are comfortable," she told NBC News. "We're going to be thinking creatively about solutions." In her campaign, Rollins pledged to zero in on violent crime while effectively decriminalizing a host of nonviolent offenses, including shoplifting, larceny under $250 and drug possession with intent to distribute. None of the prosecutors have faced as much pushback as hard-charging Philadelphia County District Attorney Larry Krasner, whose 2017 election was a watershed moment for the criminal justice reform movement. Krasner, who is widely viewed as the nation's most progressive prosecutor, has routinely clashed with police groups and other law enforcement."

About time. What took so long? The criminal, murderous, jackbooted bastards in blue have been out of control for decades.

"He has instructed his team to avoid prosecutions "where appropriate" to lower the incarcerated population, opting instead for a more liberal use of diversion programs. At the start of his term, he fired 31 prosecutors in the district attorney's office for their unwillingness to implement his changes and put 29 Philadelphia police officers on a "do-not-call list" — meaning they could not be considered credible witnesses at trials."

Precisely, what's desperately needed here in Nazi Llano County, right, Sheriff?

"To some, Krasner is a hero. Others see him as a pariah. That was clear when, after the shooting of six Philadelphia police officers this month, William McSwain, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, lambasted Krasner in a statement tying him to the shootout. "There is a new culture of disrespect for law enforcement in this city that is promoted and championed by District Attorney Larry Krasner — and I am fed up with it," said McSwain, a Republican who was nominated by President Donald Trump."

Tough shit. Time for change. Jackbooted bastards in blue who wantonly murder, and/or beat the shit out of innocent, unarmed civilians on the job deserve no respect. Need to be permanently removed from law enforcement. Are not fit to be officers. Instead, for the most part, are protected and coddled.

"We've now endured over a year and a half of the worst kinds of slander against law enforcement — the DA routinely calls police and prosecutors corrupt and racist, even 'war criminals' that he compares to Nazis," he added. "This vile rhetoric puts our police in danger. It disgraces the Office of the District Attorney. And it harms the good people in the City of Philadelphia and rewards the wicked."

A goddamned crock of shit by the nazi element in our formerly great country which has absolutely no respect, no regard for the United States Constitution. All too often, law enforcement is the problem, not the solution. They do as they please on the job. With virtual impunity. Lie like hell on the stand when testifying during trial. Have seen it in both Llano and Burnet Counties.

"Mike Neilson, a spokesman for the Philadelphia lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, told NBC News "the perception of Larry has been that he's been soft on crime and has created a culture or a perception or an appearance that he's soft on crime."

We always hear this same old shit from out of control jackbooted officers and their shills. There is no greater threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties than these out of control jackbooted pieces of human excrement who get their cookies off abusing power.

"Some Pennsylvania lawmakers tried to wrest away some of Krasner's authority last month, passing a law allowing for the state attorney general to prosecute certain gun crimes in Philadelphia, after Krasner had substantially increased the number of gun cases sent to a diversionary program."

These corrupt, abusive, murderous pieces of shit in blue don't want the status quo to change. Desperately wish to continue abusing power, getting their cookies off. Most of all? Continue to be protected and coddled despite their corrupt, abusive, criminal activity.

"Krasner declined to be interviewed, but Rollins said there has been a misrepresentation of her and her progressive colleagues. "I think people conflate the fact that I want to be smart on crime when it comes to nonviolent, nonserious crimes, with the fact that somehow I'm not going to be hyper-focused on victims and keeping our community safe," she said. "I am very thoughtful about what we're doing at our municipal and district courts, but incredibly focused on getting accountability for victims of violent and serious crimes — overwhelmingly that are in poor communities and communities of color in Suffolk County." She pointed to a decrease in crime in Boston since she took office. Earlier this year, Boston Police reported a 9 percent drop in overall crime in the city compared to the same period last year. In Philadelphia, homicides and gun crimes are trending up, although total violent crime has recently decreased."

There's always stiff resistance to desperately needed change. The criminals in uniform wish to continue abusing power. No more complicated than that.

"Wesley Bell, a reformist prosecutor elected last year in St. Louis County, Missouri — where the 2014 Ferguson shooting took place — said "we see that the biggest impact on the justice system starts with the prosecutor's office." "This is just too important for us to keep on the back burner and sweep under the rug as we've done for so long with respect to DA races across the country," Bell, the first black county prosecuting attorney in St. Louis County's history, said, adding that he and his colleagues are focused on "data-based, research-based policies that actually work." Reformist DAs have sparked a "culture shift around what we've seen and heard with the possibility of what prosecutors can do," Brandon Evans, national political director for Real Justice PAC, a group that has seen eight of its endorsed candidates elected since 2017, told NBC News. "There are some people who absolutely ... believe in the culture in over-policing and the culture of prosecution," Evans said, adding that "whether it be with the FOP, whether it be with the area sitting elected officials, there's still hostility toward" these progressive prosecutors."

Not surprising, since the nazi element wants to continue abusing power. With impunity.

"The reformers form a tight-knit community, speaking often with one another and participating in panel discussions. Rollins, who said the group is "trying to think creatively about changing the status quo," said that she and Krasner have joked with each other about who will be the first to offer failed Queens district attorney candidate Tiffany Cabàn a job. Cabàn, a public defender who lost her race in a close recount earlier this month, was the latest reformer to grab national attention. Cabàn ran on a platform that included decriminalizing drugs and sex work, ending cash bail, closing Rikers Island jail and not building new jails, and setting up a unit to review wrongful convictions."

Certainly, can't have any of that in a goddamned de facto fascist police-state, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? 'Sonny Boy?'

"Trust me, we terrified the Democratic establishment," Caban said in her concession speech. Bell, in St. Louis County, created a unit to investigate and possibly overturn some past convictions as it probes allegations of police misconduct. Rollins, too, has set up a similar team in Suffolk County. Like others, Bell also has focused heavily on diverting people convicted of nonviolent crimes from jail to rehabilitation programs, which he said "not only brings our crime rates down, but most importantly, it helps people and families."

Can't have that. Nowhere near jackbooted enough for the nazi element in our formerly great country.

"Anyone who wants to get into "this line of business" knows "there's going to be some opposition," Bell added."

You think? LOL. Gross understatement. LOL.

"Joe Gonzales, the Bexar County, Texas, criminal district attorney, told NBC News: "I believe the jail is for people that we're afraid of, not for people that commit minor offenses that are nonviolent." "One of the reasons that I believe in the restorative justice is because punishment, like life, is gray," he said. "It's not just black and white. There's a lot of gray and there's a lot of opportunity for someone like me to give people a second chance."

The nazi element in our formerly great country only sees matters in terms of black and white. No shades of gray. No brilliant hues of color.

"Gonzales said the progressive prosecutor movement is gaining steam, adding, "You're going to see more reformers."

That right? Certainly, see very little of it here in Nazi Texas. ... Just how you and the boys want it, right, Sheriff?

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.

8-23-19

The Judiciary has its problems. Lack of consistency is certainly one of them. The Washington Post reports:

"The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the Trump administration’s latest asylum restrictions to take effect Friday in the border states of Texas and New Mexico — but not in California and Arizona — in a ruling that centered on whether a judge has authority to impose an injunction nationwide. The 2-1 decision stemmed from a new federal policy that would bar most migrants from requesting asylum at the southern border if they traveled through Mexico or another country where they could have sought refuge instead."

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.

8-23-19

Think Trump's not inspiring White Supremacist violence? Nazi violence. The Washington Post reports:

"Weeks before the bullets of El Paso, the words of Greenville echoed through this small city on the North Carolina coastal plain — and across the nation. Samar Badwan, a Greenville resident, watched that day as 8,000 neighbors and fellow citizens jammed a local basketball arena to serenade the president with a chant of “Send her back,” a response to Trump’s insistence that a Muslim, Somali American congresswoman should “go back” to the land of her birth. “As we say in the South, he’s stirring the pot,” Badwan remembers thinking. “And that’s a very dangerous game. People are listening.” That visit — and that chant — continues to reverberate loudly here nearly a month later, particularly for those such as Badwan, who see themselves as targets of a campaign to whip up xenophobia and hate. After this month’s El Paso shooting, in which 22 people were killed by a gunman who parroted the president’s warnings about an “invasion” of immigrants, the words carry a particularly ominous resonance: as a prelude to murder. “In my heart, I knew what his message was going to be,” Badwan said, as she sipped sweet tea at her local Starbucks. “I didn’t know the extent to which it would impact our small town.”

Has an impact all across our formerly great country. Hard to believe our population has seemed to have forgotten the cost of Hitler's Third Reich to hundreds of thousands of our best and brightest. Second World War European Theater. Wake up.

"Before that day, Badwan never had to question whether her hijab was incompatible with her Southern drawl. She never had to fear that her North Carolina neighbors might hold her Palestinian heritage against her. She never had to think that in Greenville — a city she has been proud to call home for 30 years, raising three children along the way — her faith would mark her as an unwanted outsider. Then the president came to town."

Adolf Hitler reincarnated. Trump's Fourth Reich.

"Greenville, a university city of just under 100,000, touts itself as diverse and inclusive, but it was introduced to much of the country through a chant condemned by the Anti-Defamation League as “the sound of intolerance.”

Hitler reincarnated. Trump's Fourth Reich. Especially ironic, achingly tragic, exceptionally short-sighted, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is buddy-buddy with this racist fascist currently occupying the Oval Office.

"Trump’s rally prompted heated exchanges on the letters page of Greenville’s newspaper, the Daily Reflector. “I have a confession to make. I was at the president’s rally Wednesday night, and when the chant ‘send them back’ broke out, I joined in, with enthusiasm,” wrote Steven Van Cleave, a resident of nearby Winterville. “And I have another confession to make. I do not feel the slightest need to apologize to anyone for doing so.”

Exceptionally chilling. The same happened in Nazi Germany. Germans cheered on their Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. Just as you clueless idiots are doing with your fuhrer, the Trump nazi. Wake up.

"The chant, Van Cleave wrote, had been directed at four congresswomen who “have nothing but contempt for this country” and who “should leave and go to a country they admire such as Cuba or Venezuela.”

As German citizens enthusiastically bought Adolf Hitler's bigotry, so does Van Cleave buy Trump's. It's amazing how such insanity is so contagious. Unlike Nazi Germany, however, Trump only has current support of approximately one-third the population. As divided as our formerly great country is now, Trump is meeting increasing resistance across the board. Challenged every step of the way in the courts. Democrats need to place country ahead of partisan interests and formally vote for an impeachment investigation.

"The four congresswomen, who have been told by Trump to “go back” to where they came from, are all people of color. Three were born in the United States; the fourth, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), was born in Somalia and came to the United States as a refugee when she was a child. At the dental office where she works, Serrano challenged co-workers who support the president to defend his words — and the crowd’s. They did: The chant, she was told, was all about the congresswomen and their political beliefs, not about their race, ethnicity or religion."

They're liars, delusional, and/or simply not informed. The truth is far more complicated, convoluted than what the Trump nazi and his henchmen gutlessly claim, falsely, delusionally make it out to be. These Congresswomen are speaking a most inconvenient truth. Trump is lying. As covered here in edition after edition of this publication and elsewhere.

"Serrano was unconvinced. She felt “hurt and betrayed,” the crowd’s words settling in her mind like a slur against entire groups of people. It’s something, she said, she couldn’t have imagined only a few years ago."

It's been in the works for decades. Certainly, quite evident since the McCarthy days of the Fifties.

“There was a filter, and now the filter has been broken,” she said. “My Hispanic friends are afraid to go to the store. They’re afraid to do anything. It’s scary.” Newcomers to Greenville say that they, too, have noticed a shift. Tareq al-Hilali, 33, came to the city as a refugee five years ago after fleeing his native Iraq. He and his family soon opened a convenience store, where they serve fried chicken to an appreciative clientele and field inquiries about the finer points of their religion. “Why don’t you eat pork? Why does your sister wear a hijab?” said Hilali. “People ask questions, but they’re nice questions.” His sister is less convinced that the interest is so benign. When she first moved to the United States, she said, she felt no fear walking around the city while wearing her hijab. That has changed. Trump, she said, is responsible. “I don’t feel safe anymore,” said Sura al-Hilali, 24. Something else has changed, too. A few months ago, after hours of study crammed in between work at the store and her university classes, she passed her citizenship test. “They can’t send me back now,” she said. “I have my rights.”

That may be true at the moment, but certainly not indefinitely as our formerly great country continues to embrace national socialism, fascism, nazism. Readers are reminded Japanese-American citizens were imprisoned in detainment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Yet, Democrats are certainly part of the current problem. Continue to behave stupidly. The following is appalling. The Washington Post reports:

"It is rare that an amicus brief filed in a Supreme Court case is characterized as both a brassy reality check and unprecedented political bullying. But such is the controversy that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and four other Democratic senators have ignited with a filing that instructs the Supreme Court to either drop a New York gun case it has accepted for the coming term or face a public reckoning. “The Supreme Court is not well. And the people know it,” writes Whitehouse, who is listed as the attorney of record on the friend-of-the-court brief. “Perhaps the Court can heal itself before the public demands it be ‘restructured in order to reduce the influence of politics.’ ” The phrase is from a poll question with which a majority of Americans agreed. Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) joined the incendiary brief, which questions whether the court’s conservative majority — nominated by three Republican presidents — is motivated by partisan intent and is in the pocket of the National Rifle Association and the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group. “Out in the real world, Americans are murdered each day with firearms in classrooms or movie theaters or churches or city streets, and a generation of preschoolers is being trained in active-shooter survival drills,” Whitehouse writes. “In the cloistered confines of this Court, and notwithstanding the public imperatives of these massacres, the NRA and its allies brashly presume, in word and deed, that they have a friendly audience for their ‘project.’ ”

Jesus Christ. It is indeed aggressive stupidity to abrogate the last, best defense against corrupt and abusive government, -- the Second Amendment.

"The brief has lit up the right. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) called it an extraordinary threat from one branch of government to another and tweeted: “Packing the Supreme Court ... Bad idea. Liberal dream. Trump’s 3rd term is looking better and better.”

Remove your head from your ass, Senator. Stupidity is indeed most unbecoming a United States Senator. "Trump's 3rd term?" Are you stupidly trying to incite a revolution in a country that is growing increasingly unstable as it continues to nazify?

Time to take a close look at the growing malignancy, that is, the progressive nazification of the Republican Party since the McCarthy era of the Fifties. Culminating today in the Trump nazi. Neither party is worth a crap. For totally different reasons. What ever happened to the sanity of the Center in our formerly great country? Gone.

"The Wall Street Journal editorial board dubbed it the opposite of an amicus filing — an “enemy-of-the-court brief” — and the National Review’s David French called it “astonishing.” “It is easily the most malicious Supreme Court brief I’ve ever seen,” he wrote. “And it comes not from an angry or unhinged private citizen, but from five Democratic members of the United States Senate.”

What it certainly is indicative of is the growing instability in our formerly great country. A most dangerous, volatile development.

"In an interview, Whitehouse was unapologetic, saying he was cautioning the court, not threatening it. “In the same way that you might warn somebody walking out on thin ice — ‘Hey, the ice is thin out there, you want to be careful, maybe you want to come in’ — I think that was the motivation for filing this brief,” said the former U.S. attorney and state attorney general. “To warn the court that it already has its reputation in some degree of trouble ... it’s getting to the danger that they might fall through the ice.”

Already have on a variety of other issues. Certainly, not on the Second Amendment, however. At least, not yet. Again, the last best defense against outrageously corrupt and abusive government as intended by the Founders is indeed the Second Amendment. Readers are reminded liberty is not free. There's always a cost, price to be paid. The right to bear arms ultimately provides the last best defense against corrupt, abusive government.

The price for this most precious right is indeed the cost of crimes perpetrated by illegal use of these very same weapons. The Second Amendment protects against the greater evil, that is, loss of liberty to out of control government. In the last two and a half years of the Trump nazi, most of the mass shootings were perpetrated by White Supremacists inspired by Trump. Wake up.

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

8-23-19

The following is beyond comprehension in a supposedly democratic republic. NPR reports:

"A federal appeals court in California ruled that migrant children detained by U.S. immigration authorities must be provided with edible food, clean water, and basic hygiene items such as soap and toothbrushes, in accordance with a decades-old court order. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a Trump administration challenge of a lower court decision finding that the government failed to offer detained minors safe and sanitary conditions as required by the 1997 Flores settlement. In 2017, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee found that the government was violating that settlement by not providing safe and sanitary conditions when it held minors in conditions that deprived them of sleep — cold and over-crowded cells – and denied them access to food, water and basic hygiene.

"Assuring that children eat enough edible food, drink clean water, are housed in hygienic facilities with sanitary bathrooms, have soap and toothpaste, and are not sleep-deprived are without doubt essential to the children's safety," wrote Judge Marsha S. Berzon, a Clinton appointee. "The district court properly construed the Agreement as requiring such conditions rather than allowing the government to decide whether to provide them," she added. The Justice Department declined comment. During a hearing held before the appellate panel in June, an attorney for the government, Sarah Fabian, told a skeptical Judge A. Wallace Tashima that the Customs and Border Protection agency may not be required to provide toothpaste and soap to minors held short-term. A video of their exchange went viral."

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.

8-23-19

Police in Philadelphia did a great job under horrendous conditions. NPR reports:

"Officials in Philadelphia are praising city law enforcement for peacefully resolving a chaotic episode Wednesday night in which a gunman armed with an AR-15 and a handgun fired off more than 100 rounds, hitting six police officers, then barricaded himself inside a residence, creating a more than seven-hour standoff. The suspect is now in custody and all six wounded officers have been released from local hospitals."

Did a great job. No loss of life. All six officers hit with gunfire expected to fully recover.

"Police Commissioner Richard Ross, who updated the news media throughout the evening wearing a bulletproof vest, himself negotiated on the phone with the gunman, Maurice Hill, 36, who eventually surrendered to authorities when officers fired tear gas into the building in North Philadelphia. Hill came out of the house with his hands up just after midnight, as live television cameras captured police ordering him to get down. Before his surrender, Hill, who has a lengthy criminal record that includes aggravated assault, robbery and attempted murder charges, expressed to Ross that he did not want to be incarcerated again, mentioning his newborn daughter. The standoff began after officers attempted to execute a search warrant at Hill's rowhouse."

Why was he free in the first place?

"Preservation of life was obviously a concern for all involved, and I think we demonstrated that last night," said Ross. He noted that Hill made a number of "outlandish" demands but did not say what Hill requested. Ross said he is amazed the long impasse did not result in more bloodshed, saying officers involved in the incident deserve credit: "If you feel like you're not appreciated, trust me, you are," Ross said. Sgt. Eric Gripp of the Philadelphia police backed that up on Twitter, writing: "6 officers shot — several more injured. A neighborhood terrified, and many lives forever changed. It seems strange to look back at yesterday as a 'good' day, but yet, here I am."

Certainly, turned out to be a good day. No loss of life. All officers expected to recover. Again, why was this man free in the first place with such a lengthy criminal record?

"I think it's clear this man should not have been on the streets," Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told reporters."

Why was he, Counselor? Certainly, a failure in the system that could have turned out much worse than it did.

"Krasner also personally talked to Hill on the phone during the hours-long showdown. "He was in a very animated, excited, dangerous state," Krasner said. "We were doing what we could to bring the volume down." At certain points throughout the night, officials were worried that two officers trapped in the building were being held hostage. "The officers were hostages, in a sense," Krasner said.

"The incident began at about 4:30 p.m. ET Wednesday as the narcotics unit was serving a warrant in the Nicetown-Tioga section of North Philadelphia. Officers had "already entered the premises and got towards the rear in the kitchen area when gunfire erupted. The shooter fired multiple rounds," Ross said. Ross said police did "everything in our power to get him to come out," including offering the shooter a personal assurance that he wouldn't be harmed if he came out. "Normally I wouldn't even take this posture, but I have officers in a very volatile situation," he said. On Thursday, Ross said the tense standoff was "unlike anything I've seen in my 30 years."

Wake up, Commissioner. That's precisely the 'posture' you and your cohorts should be taking in all police matters. The Aryan arrogance needs to go. ... Hear the rumble?

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

8-23-19

A step in the right direction, but nowhere near far enough. NPR reports:

"Police officers in California will be required to use lethal force only as a "necessary" response to a threat — not merely as an "objectively reasonable" one — under legislation that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Monday. Under the tighter standard, deadly force is legal only in instances where there are no other options."

Why wasn't that already the standard all across the United States since Day 1? Why kill if it's not necessary? That's ludicrous. Off the wall.

"I'm ready to sign this damn thing," Newsom told the crowd at a ceremony in Sacramento. But before he did so, he invited the family members and loved ones of people who advocated for the measure to stand alongside him. "I would be honored if you would join us up onstage," Newsom said. Surrounded by dozens of people, the governor said he hopes the law, which takes effect in January, will become an example for other states. "As California goes, so goes the rest of the United States of America," he said. "And we are doing something today that stretches the boundaries of possibility and sends a message to people all across this country — that they can do more."

That assumes law enforcement will indeed follow the law, -- and that courts will indeed enforce it. Good luck.

"The legislation emerged from a push for new rules in response to police killings of unarmed black men such as Stephon Clark, who was shot last year after a police chase that ended in his grandmother's backyard. The officers in that shooting said they believed Clark had a gun; he was found to have been holding a cellphone, and prosecutors said in March that the officers would not face criminal charges."

Protected and coddled the murderous jackbooted sons of bitches.

"The new law reflects a compromise between civil rights advocates who say it will save lives and law enforcement groups that want more clarity on the use of force — but do not want to undermine legal protections for officers."

Good luck. Murder is murder. When officers murder on the job, should receive the very same treatment any civilian receives under the very same circumstances. Equal justice. Doesn't happen.

"The whole debate boils down to two words: 'necessary' and 'reasonable,' " Ben Adler of Capital Public Radio reports. "Right now, deadly force is justified if a reasonable officer would have acted similarly in that situation. So in other words, what a typical officer would have done based on his or her training."

Called bullshit. Unadulterated. No more than achingly convoluted justification of the unjustifiable. No more than legalized murder for the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue. ... Right, Sheriff?

"When the law takes effect in January, that standard will change to when the officer reasonably believes deadly force is necessary."

Nowhere near good enough. More of the same old goddamned bullshit. -- A built in out for the murderous jackbooted bastards. Forget? An officer who murders on the job will always claim he or she 'believes deadly force is necessary.'

Here's why this will be a continuing problem:

"But Adler also notes that the law mostly avoids offering a specific definition of "necessary" — a move that is widely seen as leaving the interpretation up to the courts, where judges will weigh what is "necessary" in the context of officers' use of force."

Little to nothing will change since the courts are in the pocket of the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, is widely seen as the driving force behind the bill, AB 392. In promoting it, she has said it will boost the public's trust in the police and protect the sanctity of life in all communities. When the California State Legislature approved it last month, she said she was proud of her colleagues. "Significant change is never easy, but those who voted today looked to their conscience and found the courage to do the right thing for California," Weber said at the time. She added, "I have to thank the families who have lost loved ones to police violence. They have been the energy and the moral compass for making this possible." On Monday, Weber said the measure "basically changes the culture of policing in California."

Does it? While it may or may not work in California, in the fascist police-state called Texas, snowball's chance. ... Right, Sheriff?

"After Newsom signed the bill into law, California Police Chiefs Association President Ron Lawrence issued a statement saying that along with another measure that deals with training and funding, the new legislation "will modernize our state's policies on the use of force, implementing the very best practices gathered from across our nation." The law was approved with bipartisan support and was backed by Newsom and leaders in the Legislature. Along the way, it was tempered to allay concerns raised by police associations — and those compromises have prompted criticisms that the legislation doesn't go far enough in mandating change."

Certainly, doesn't. Gives the murderous jackbooted bastards a convenient way out.

"The compromises prompted the Black Lives Matter movement, an early sponsor of the bill, to withdraw its support. "Unfortunately, in efforts to get law enforcement to lift their opposition, the bill was so significantly amended that it is no longer the kind of meaningful legislation we can support," said Black Lives Matter's Melina Abdullah, a co-founder of its Los Angeles chapter. The group also criticized the pairing of the new law with a separate bill that sends more money to police budgets. That bill, SB 230, calls for more training for officers and more clarity about the legal standards for the use of force. And its backers note that it also requires police agencies to adopt policies on de-escalation tactics and response proportionality, in addition to rules about nonlethal alternatives and rendering medical aid. The American Civil Liberties Union, which backed AB 392, said, "It is a common-sense bill modeled after best practices already in place in some departments — and that we know work to reduce police killings and save lives."

That's delusional, but we'll see. Wouldn't work in Texas under present circumstances. Certainly, wouldn't pass the Legislature, or likely signed into law by our national socialist, fascist governor.

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.

8-23-19

A step in the right direction, but truly enough? CNN News reports:

"Phoenix police officers must now document every instance in which they point a gun at a person -- a decision that the city long considered but now has been made after recent public outcry about aggressive police tactics in Arizona's capital. From now on, Phoenix officers must fill out a form when an officer points a gun, and the incident will be reviewed by a supervisor, city officials announced Monday. "When a gun is pointed at someone, that's a traumatic event," Police Chief Jeri Williams said at a news conference Monday. "I think this is a first step in being ... that accountable, transparent organization that is willing to share what we do and how we do it." The decision comes two months after a tense community meeting where residents vented about a well-publicized incident, in which video showed an officer pull a gun on a family during a shoplifting investigation outside a Phoenix dollar store in May. City officials haven't linked Tuesday's announcement directly to that incident. Two separate panels already had recommended that the police department record each gun draw, including the National Police Foundation this April. The NPF made its recommendation after the city asked it to study a 2018 spike in officer-involved shootings in Phoenix (44 were reported that year, compared to a yearly average of 21 from 2009 to 2017). "Our community has ... said that they want our police department to collect more data around the work they are doing in the field," Mayor Kate Gallego said at Monday's news conference. "We know that what you measure is what you focus on." Requiring officers to document when they point their guns at people is not unique. Cities with similar requirements include Dallas, Baltimore, Cleveland, New Orleans and Chicago, the foundation says."

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.

8-16-19

Uncommon Valor. Best in policing. ABC News reports:

"A 16-year-old has died from injuries sustained when he was attacked by three dogs in the early hours of Saturday morning in Irving, Texas. Police were responding to a call regarding a "suspicious circumstance" around 4:45 a.m. when officers discovered the teenage boy being mauled in the backyard of a residence. In an attempt to save the boy, the officers then jumped the fence and attempted to get in between the boy and the dogs, according to a police statement. The three dogs then turned their sights on the officers. One officer was bitten before they started firing their weapons at the animals. One of the dogs was shot and later had to be euthanized due to the severity of its injuries, and the other two were captured and taken to the Irving Animal Shelter, police said. The 16-year-old, whose name has not yet been released, was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The Irving Police Department said in a statement that the dogs were secure in their own backyard and the boy who was mauled did not live there. The officer who was bitten was treated and released."

The officers placed themselves at great risk in a horrendous situation. Did all they could to save the boy.

8-16-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

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

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

8-16-19

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

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

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

8-16-19

The jackbooted bastards in ICE strike again. CBS News reports:

"U.S. immigration authorities on Wednesday rounded up hundreds of undocumented workers in food processing plants during a sprawling operation in Mississippi that officials touted as the largest immigration enforcement sweep in a single state in U.S. history. By targeting workplaces across six different cities in southern Mississippi, Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents, with the help of the local district attorney's office, apprehended approximately 680 undocumented immigrants. At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Mike Hurst said the large-scale raids collectively represented "the largest single state immigration enforcement operation in our nation's history."

Highly reminiscent of Hitler's Gestapo. Nazi America. Readers are reminded our UNDOCUMENTED forebears arrived here centuries ago, STOLE this land from its native inhabitants, then BROKE every goddamned treaty signed. The hypocrisy? Off the chart.

Coup de grace? Get this:

"While we are a nation of immigrants, more than that, we are first and foremost a nation of laws," he told reporters at the press conference, where he was flanked by Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence."

Jesus Christ. How are we a nation of laws when the Department of 'Justice,' on its own authority and in contradiction of the United States Constitution, rules the president is above the law while in office? That is, cannot be indicted? That alone is further indication we no longer live in a democratic republic, but in a de facto fascist police-state since 9/11 quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"While officials on Wednesday framed the operation as a crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers, advocates have long denounced an apparent disparity between the prosecution of unauthorized immigrants and the people and companies who employ them. Researchers at Syracuse University in New York found that between April 2018 and March of this year, just 11 individuals were criminally prosecuted for knowingly hiring unauthorized workers and only three of them were sentenced to time in prison. No companies were prosecuted. During that same time span, more than 85,000 immigrants were prosecuted for illegal entry."

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

Republican national socialists, fascists falsely claim to be the party of the family. They're not. They're liars like the Trump nazi. The following? Achingly, demonstrative:

"On Wednesday afternoon, Magdalena Gomez Gregorio tearfully pleaded for the return of her dad, one of hundreds of undocumented immigrants rounded up Wednesday by ICE. "My dad didn't do nothing. He's not a criminal," she said through tears. The 11-year-old and other children of those arrested stayed at a community center gymnasium overnight after about 600 immigration agents targeted food processing plants across central Mississippi.

"In Forest, Mississippi, gym owner Jordan Barnes and other community leaders were taking donations to put some of the children up for the night in his Clear Creek Boot Camp and get them to school Thursday morning, reports CBS Jackson, Mississippi affiliate WJTV. The station says many children of those arrested across the state were left with nowhere to go. Children, some as young as toddlers, were relying on neighbors and even strangers to pick them up and drive them to the gym, where people tried to keep them calm. But many of them couldn't stop crying for their parents, WJTV said."

Nazi America. The Fourth Reich.

"The raids drew quick and scathing condemnation from immigrant advocates and Democrats. Julia Solórzano, a legal fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said these types of large-scale workplace operations "terrorize" and "destroy" communities, while accomplishing little for the administration. "For a lot of the cities where these raids occurred, it was the first day of school. We know from past immigration enforcement actions of this type, that there are going to be children who go home tonight and their parents will be gone," Solórzano told CBS News. "It's extremely disruptive to families. It's — in many cases — depriving the family of the primary breadwinner." Denouncing the operation, Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, who is chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, accused the administration of sowing fear in Latino and immigrant communities. "Let's be clear: ICE raids of this scale are not conducted for the purpose of immigration enforcement, they're to strike fear in our communities in a time when Latinos are already living in terror," the Texas Democrat wrote in a statement."

Then, why are you and fellow Democrats gutlessly refusing to formally vote for an impeachment investigation? The tactics embraced by the Trump nazi and his henchmen are remarkably reminiscent of those of Adolf Hitler at the very beginning of his Third Reich. Yet, all you and fellow Democrats do is talk. No action.

"Claudia Valenzuela, an attorney at the American Immigration Council, said the workers apprehended will have a difficult time finding counsel rapidly because predominantly rural Mississippi does not have as robust of a presence of legal aid and pro-immigrant groups, compared to states with large immigrant and Latino communities like New York and California. She said the magnitude of the operation alone would present challenges to any community, even those with well-established networks of advocacy organizations ready to represent and help undocumented immigrants. "It would be hard for a city like Chicago or New York to respond in the wake of such a large-scale raid," Valenzuela said."

Exactly, as the Trump nazi and his henchmen want. Nazi America. Trump's Fourth Reich.

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

8-16-19

'Don't do as I do, do as I say.' The Washington Post reports:

"For nearly two decades, the Trump Organization has relied on a roving crew of Latin American employees to build fountains and waterfalls, sidewalks and rock walls at the company’s winery and its golf courses from New York to Florida. Other employees at Trump clubs were so impressed by the laborers — who did strenuous work with heavy stone — that they nicknamed them “Los Picapiedras,” Spanish for “The Flintstones.” For years, their ranks have included workers who entered the United States illegally, according to two former members of the crew. Another employee, still with the company, said that remains true today. President Trump “doesn’t want undocumented people in the country,” said one worker, Jorge Castro, a 55-year-old immigrant from Ecuador without legal status who left the company in April after nine years. “But at his properties, he still has them.” Castro said he worked on seven Trump properties, most recently Trump’s golf club in Northern Virginia. He provided The Washington Post with several years of his pay stubs from Trump’s construction company, Mobile Payroll Construction LLC, as well as photos of him and his colleagues on Trump courses and text messages he exchanged with his boss, including one in January dispatching him to “Bedminster,” Trump’s New Jersey golf course. Another immigrant who worked for the Trump construction crew, Edmundo Morocho, said he was told by a Trump supervisor to buy fake identity documents on a New York street corner. He said he once hid in the woods of a Trump golf course to avoid being seen by visiting labor union officials. The hiring practices of the little-known Trump business unit are the latest example of the chasm between the president’s derisive rhetoric about immigrants and his company’s long-standing reliance on workers who cross the border illegally. And it raises questions about how fully the Trump Organization has followed through on its pledge to more carefully scrutinize the legal status of its workers — even as the Trump administration launched a massive raid of undocumented immigrants, arresting about 680 people in Mississippi this week."

Report goes on and on in great detail. Where's ICE? Doing the bidding of its fuhrer, the Trump nazi? Goddamned hypocrisy.

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.

8-16-19

The following is an exceptionally poignant example of the deadly damage done by the jackbooted bastards in ICE. NPR reports:

"Jimmy Aldaoud was deported from the U.S. in June to Iraq, a country that his family said he had never set foot in. Two months after he arrived there, his family got word that he was found dead in Baghdad. Aldaoud was born in Greece, his sister Mary Bolis said, after his family fled Iraq. He didn't speak Arabic. He was 41 when he died, and he arrived legally in the U.S. in May 1979 when he was a year old, his lawyer, Chris Schaedig, said. He lived near Detroit until he was put on a plane to Najaf by U.S. federal officials. "I begged them. I said, 'Please, I've never seen that country. I've never been there.' However, they forced me," Aldaoud said in a video recorded shortly after his arrival in Iraq, which was posted on Facebook by a family friend. Aldaoud is shown looking dejected and exhausted. He said he was trying to find food. "I've got nothing over here, as you can see," he said. "I was sleeping in the street," he said, adding that he was kicked in the back by a man who said Aldaoud was on his property. "I'm diabetic. I take insulin shots. I've been throwing up, throwing up." Bolis also said her brother had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia."

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

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

8-16-19

In follow up to the last edition, CNN News reports:

"The Galveston Police Department chief has already apologized for the way that two mounted officers escorted a handcuffed African-American man over the weekend. But the leaders of two police unions came to the arresting officers' defense on Thursday, saying they did nothing wrong. "Contrary to what some have said, these officers did not use poor judgment. They did exactly what they are trained to do," said Kevin Lawrence, the Executive Director of the Texas Municipal Police Association. "There are no good optics when making an arrest or detaining a suspect," Lawrence added. Geoff Gainer, President of the Galveston Municipal Police Association, similarly said this arrest technique is an accepted practice across the country. "It is race and gender neutral. It is a universal technique meant to protect the individual being escorted, as well as the public," Gainer said."

Day is night, night is day, and shit smells perversely sweet in the world of insanely psychotic jackbooted law enforcement. Hear the rumble? An unwanted, dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looms.

"At a press conference in Galveston before the meeting, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who does not represent Neely's family, criticized the police department. "When they drag Donald Neely down the road by horses and rope, it was like they (were) dragging our entire community down the road," Crump said. "This is not 1819. This is 2019. And that image projected back to 1819, as if those were the fugitive slave hunters, and that Donald Neely was a slave being ... with horse and rope brought down the street," Crump said. Neely family attorney Melissa Morris echoed Crump's criticism. "This is the behavior in 2019 that we have to deal with. Unfortunately, these police officers lacked the judgment, and the fitness to decide that this imagery that comes from the way that they handled Mr. Neely is painful, and that it just ... just dredges up all of these painful memories of the past." Morris said Neely had been homeless for about seven years. He suffers from bipolar disorder and is not taking medication to treat it, Morris said. Crump said police knew Neely suffered from a mental illness."

The criminal jackbooted bastards in blue simply don't give a f--k.

"He was treated like an animal paraded through the streets," Christin Neely, Neely's sister-in-law, wrote in an emotional Facebook post. Adrienne Bell, a candidate for Congress who provided the photos to CNN, said the department's quick response was "truly appreciated" but that many in the community have questions about transparency, community policing, accountability and arrest procedures. "The conversation with the community and law enforcement, must continue," Bell said in a statement. "My campaign will be holding a town hall soon, inviting law enforcement leaders to hear the concerns of the people, as we seek to build stronger relationships between the community and officers." Bell had previously posted on social media that it was hard for her to understand "why these officers felt this young man required a leash, as he was handcuffed and walking between two mounted officers." "It is a scene that has invoked anger, disgust, and questions from the community," she said on Facebook."

A town hall meeting will accomplish shit squat. Symbolism over substance. The jackbooted motherf--kers will continue to do as they please. They're already well aware of what the public wants and doesn't want. They simply don't give a f--k. It's how these pieces of human excrement get their cookies off. Laws must change. A new federal agency needs to be created that would investigate, arrest, charge, and prosecute corrupt, abusive, criminal officers, prosecutors, and judges in a special court that would adjudicate only these cases. Total independence.

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.

8-16-19

Never ends. CBS News reports:

"A police officer in Homestead, Florida is facing criminal charges after he was caught on surveillance video shoving a handcuffed suspect into a cinderblock wall. Officer Lester Brown can be seen pushing the man face-first into the wall, causing a bloody facial injury, according to police."

Jackbooted motherf--ker. A criminal officer, no more than a goddamned thug.

"The December 2018 incident occurred after Brown and other Homestead police officers received a call about a drunk man causing a disturbance. The suspect was taken into custody and charged with disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest without violence, CBS Miami reports. At the police station, the man was taken into a booking room, where surveillance video captured Brown shoving him into the wall, his head smacking against the concrete. The man falls to his side, and a stream of blood starts running down his face."

Jesus Christ.

"Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle accused Brown of misrepresenting what happened that night. Brown claimed he heard a commotion while officers were bringing the suspect into the station, and wrote in his police report that the suspect fell because of a struggle between them. "Officer Brown's actions were not only improper, but they were crimes," Rundle said. "It's really heartbreaking because no matter how hard we all try to build confidence in our community, between community and police so that we can solve crimes, so that they'll come forward with information, with tips, you know, this sets us all back."

That's right. Aggressive stupidity at its very worst.

"A full investigation into the incident was ordered and Brown was relieved of duty without pay. He is now facing felony battery and official misconduct charges as well as termination. He had been a booking officer at the department since 2007. "The arrest of Lester Brown is very disappointing, and overshadows the work of the dedicated men and women of the Homestead Police Department, who serve and protect our community every day. Police officers have a legal responsibility to abide by all laws and Lester Brown's arrest demonstrates how seriously our police department takes that obligation," a statement from the Homestead Police Department read in part."

Hopefully, the above is more than just empty rhetoric.

"Homestead Police Chief Al Rolle spoke about the incident at a news conference with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. "Homestead is a small department, a small community, but we're not going to tolerate this kind of behavior from one of our police officers. We never have, and we never will," Rolle said. Brown is currently suing the city for discrimination, claiming that he was passed over for promotions because he is missing two fingers. "We'll see him in court. We feel very comfortable with our charges," Rundle said."

Here's the problem. Precisely, why law enforcement cannot be trusted:

"Brown's attorney, C. Michael Cornely, told CBS Miami that he felt the charges were "overkill" and "vindictive" and that the case should be handled administratively. Cornely said it is "not a good season to be a police officer" and that he's disappointed in the state attorney. "I believe this officer believed the man was a threat to him and he had to make a split second decision to put some space between him and the prisoner."

Here's the clincher. The jackbooted bastard has a history of excessive force:

"The Miami Herald reports Brown was suspended for eight months following another incident of excessive force in 2016, when he reportedly was caught on surveillance video slapping a woman who was handcuffed."

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.

8-16-19

Never ends. CBS News reports:

"Authorities in Michigan may review a white police officer's fatal shooting of a black man in 2009 after an alleged Ku Klux Klan document was seen on display at the officer's house. Muskegon Police Officer Charles Anderson was placed on paid administrative leave after a house hunter who was viewing the officer's home said he saw a framed Ku Klux Klan application and multiple Confederate flags. The Muskegon Police Department opened an internal investigation after Robert Mathis, who is black, posted a picture of the document on Facebook after touring Anderson's Holton-area home, which was for sale. "I was just so disgusted," Mathis told MLive.com. "I told my son, 'let's go, we're getting out of here. This is a Klan house, really, we have to go right now.' It was basically telling me, whites only to purchase his house."

Stunning, isn't it? Where's proper vetting of the jackbooted bastards in blue? Both prior to and on a continual basis after hiring?

"Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson said the investigation's results will drive reconsideration of the 2009 case, according to MLive.com. "Whether or not officer Anderson has racist tendencies or not, would that move the needle one way or another? I guess I can't answer that question," Hilson told the newspaper. "I don't know. I need a completed internal investigation."

No. What you truly need is a totally independent outside investigation that is currently impossible at this time in our formerly great country.

"The paper reported that Anderson was cleared of fatally shooting a black man, Julius Johnson, 23, following a traffic stop in 2009. Johnson had scuffled with Anderson, who was beaten in the head. Anderson said he feared for his life, according to the findings of an investigation report created by then-Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague. Following Mathis' allegations, Anderson, who has been on the force more than 20 years, was put on leave indefinitely, City Manager Frank Peterson said Thursday. Anderson told MLive.com he was advised not to comment amid the investigation. His wife, Rachael Anderson, told WOOD-TV her husband isn't a Klan member. "He can't say anything right now. I wish we could because it would probably set a lot of things straight," Rachael Anderson told the television station when a reporter came to the couple's door."

The following is not only appalling, but simply not credible:

"The police department is doing its due diligence with the investigation, Chief Jeffrey Lewis told MLive.com. Lewis was not sure if an officer keeping such items in his home would violate department policies. "The emotional health and safety of this community is what is most important to me," Lewis said Friday, adding that the city and county "are very serious about this." The Muskegon Police Department Policy and Procedure Order states that officers' decorum and behavior should not "undercut public trust" in the department. It also said officers shall "perform all duties impartially, without favor or affection or ill will and without regard to status, sex, race, religion, political belief or aspiration," according to MLive.com."

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

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

8-16-19

Corrupt law enforcement. ABC News reports:

"A South Carolina sheriff's department says it caught one of its own deputies last week in a child sex sting that netted over a dozen other people. The State reports Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced the arrest of Deputy Derek Vandenham on Tuesday. Twelve other law enforcement agencies assisted in "Operation Relentless Guardian," during which deputies pretended to be 13- to 15-year-old girls and chatted with men online. The men who solicited sex from the "girls" were arrested at an agreed upon meeting site. Lott says the meetup site was changed so Vandenham wouldn't know he was about to be arrested and the uniformed deputy arrived in his patrol car. He was immediately fired. The sting also led to the arrest of former transportation commissioner 72-year-old John Norton Hardee."

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.

8-16-19

Amazon is a threat to privacy. NBC News reports:

"Privacy and civil liberties advocates have warned that the Ring partnerships are creating a new layer of government surveillance. Amazon employees, artificial intelligence researchers and activist investors have asked the company to stop selling its facial recognition service to law enforcement, to stop providing web-hosting services that help federal immigration authorities, and to create a committee that would review the potential societal consequences of its products."

Too little. Much too late.

Consider the following:

“While providing secure cloud storage does not appear to pose privacy threats, providing a package of technologies that includes powerful surveillance tools like facial recognition and doorbell cameras, plus the capability to pool data into a massive database and run data analytics, does create very real privacy threats,” said Sharon Bradford Franklin, policy director of New America's Open Technology Institute, a nonprofit that advocates for digital rights. For example, Franklin said, a homeowner might voluntarily share the footage from their doorbell camera with police seeking clues to a crime that occurred nearby. The police might then run the video through facial recognition software, which is imperfect and might incorrectly identify innocent people as potential suspects. Those wrong matches could then be shared with other agencies, such as immigration enforcement, with far-reaching consequences. “I am not sure Amazon has quite grappled with how their innovative technologies intersect with issues of privacy, liberty and government police power,” said Andrew Ferguson, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia who studies how police use technology."

Law enforcement couldn't care less about privacy. Nor does Amazon.

“The pushback they are getting comes from a failure to recognize that there is a fundamental difference between empowering the consumer with information and empowering the government with information. The former enhances an individual’s freedom and choice, the latter limits an individual’s freedom and choice,” he said."

It's that simple. To the corporate management suite, however, profit trumps all.

"When law enforcement agencies are the customers, a company has an obligation to slow down, Ferguson said. But Amazon is not slowing down. It says it has a duty to help police, defense and intelligence agencies. “We believe our customers — including law enforcement agencies and other groups working to keep our communities safe — should have access to the best technology and believe that cloud services can materially benefit society,” Amazon said in a statement."

Clearly, doesn't matter to Amazon these very same agencies are using this technology to eviscerate all civil and constitutional rights and liberties. Forget? Profit trumps principle in the corporate management suite.

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.

8-16-19

We've got to do better. ABC News reports:

"For the eighth time this year, a New York City police officer has died by suicide, two police officials confirmed to ABC News. The officer, who was not immediately identified, died just before 3 a.m. on Tuesday in Yonkers from a single gunshot wound to the head, the officials said. The officer was assigned to the 50th Precinct and was part of the security detail at Yankee Stadium. He had been on the force since July 2012. This marks the eighth NYPD suicide this year. Four NYPD officers died from suicide in June, one died in July, and two others took their lives earlier this year."

Not sustainable. Not good for the law enforcement community. Not good for the public. Clearly, a mental health issue.

"More police officers have died by suicide this year so far than in the line of duty (27 as of Aug. 1), statistics compiled by advocates show. Blue H.E.L.P., a nonprofit organization that tracks officer suicides, found that 120 officers killed themselves this year. The group goes through the painstaking process of calling each family to verify the deaths because no comprehensive government database exists."

Why not? This needs to change.

"Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, an independent research organization, said officer suicide is "the number one issue for police departments around the country." After an off-duty NYPD officer died by suicide at his Staten Island home in July, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said the department was in the throes of a "mental health crisis."

"The spate of officer suicides has prompted O'Neill and NYPD Chief of Department Terrence Monahan to convene mental health experts. They’re considering putting peer counselors and clinicians in each precinct."

Should have already done so. What are you waiting for? Why the delay?

"Both O'Neill and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio implored the more than 30,000 police officers on the force to seek help if they are experiencing depression. "To every member of the NYPD, please know this: it is okay to feel vulnerable. It is okay if you are facing struggles. And it is okay to seek help from others," O'Neill said. "You may not know this, and it may be hard to imagine, but you are not out there all by yourself. More people than you know, who wear the same uniform as you do, share the same doubts and fears and struggles that you do. Seeking help is strength. Talking about your problems is strength. Acknowledging you need a place to turn is strength. There is no shame here — only a promise to provide you with the help and support you need and deserve." “I want to say as loudly and clearly as I can: it is okay to ask for help," de Blasio said. "If you or a loved one is in need, ask. Your whole city stands in support of you ready to answer the call.”

Needs to be more than talk.

"A recent white paper commissioned by the Ruderman Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization, found that police officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. In 2017, there were at least 103 firefighter suicides and 140 police officer suicides nationwide, researchers said. In contrast, 93 firefighters and 129 police officers died in the line of duty. "Police officers experience trauma on a regular basis -- not just what is on the front line of nightly news," Miriam Heyman, a researcher with the Ruderman Family Foundation, told ABC News in April."

No question about that. The public is also at risk. So many unarmed, innocent civilians have been killed by officers. To say nothing of all the needless violence perpetrated by officers during arrests.

"If you or someone you know has talked about contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or use the online Lifeline Crisis Chat, both available 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

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.

8-16-19

Can law enforcement and the jails do anything right? The Washington Post reports:

"Attorney General William P. Barr on Monday decried what he called a “failure” by federal jail officials in New York to secure registered sex offender and multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was found hanging in his cell over the weekend."

A massive failure that raises many, many questions.

"But the country’s top law enforcement official said Epstein’s death would not derail the ongoing investigation into those who might have aided Epstein’s alleged sex abuse of minors. “Let me assure you that this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein,” Barr said. “Any co-conspirators should not rest easy. The victims deserve justice, and they will get it.”

Means nothing from a shill appointed by his fuhrer, the Trump nazi, to cover the 'president's' sorry ass on other matters. This piece of crap has zero credibility.

"Speaking to law enforcement officials in New Orleans, Barr said he “was appalled … and frankly, angry” to learn of the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s “failure to adequately secure” Epstein, who was awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges. “We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation,” he said."

There are egregious systemic problems within law enforcement nation-wide. Where is your concern, Mr. Barr? This piece of shit has zero credibility. Has placed his fuhrer, the Trump nazi, above the law. Forget?

"The attorney general’s comments were noteworthy in that he publicly blamed the Bureau of Prisons, which is part of the Justice Department, for the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s apparent suicide. Barr did not specify what irregularities had been found in the aftermath of Epstein’s death, but vowed to “get to the bottom of what happened,” adding: “There will be accountability.”

Not credible. Forget? The Trump nazi and Epstein were pals years ago. Why would Barr do anything that might raise questions as to what the true nature of that relationship might have been, criminal or otherwise?

"Epstein, whose case has raised questions about whether he received preferential treatment in the past from Justice Department officials, was found hanging in his jail cell Saturday morning, according to people familiar with the matter. His death has prompted investigations by the FBI, Justice Department inspector general, and the New York City medical examiner, and raised a number of questions about conditions inside the federal jail in Lower Manhattan where the 66-year-old millionaire died. Corrections officers had not checked on Epstein for “several” hours before he was found around 6:30 a.m., a person familiar with the matter said, just one in a series of missteps in the hours leading up to his death."

How is that possible? How does something like that happen in a jail?

"Officers should have been checking on Epstein, who was being held in a special housing unit of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, every 30 minutes, and, under normal circumstances, he also should have had a cellmate, according to the person familiar with the matter and union officials representing facility employees. But a person who had been assigned to share a cell with Epstein was transferred Friday, and — for reasons that investigators are exploring — he did not receive a new cellmate, the person familiar with the matter said Sunday night. That left Epstein, who had previously been placed on suicide watch, alone and unmonitored — at least in the hours before his death — by even those officers assigned to guard him."

Raises numerous unanswered questions.

"The person familiar with the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation. The two corrections officers assigned to the special detention unit where Epstein was held were working overtime — one forced to do so by management, the other for his fourth or fifth consecutive day, the president of the local union for staffers said. Serene Gregg, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3148, said the Metropolitan Correctional Center is functioning with less than 70 percent of the needed correctional officers, forcing many to work mandatory overtime and 60- or 70-hour workweeks. She said one of the individuals assigned to watch Epstein’s unit did not normally work as a correctional officer but, like others in roles such as counselors and teachers, was able to do so. She declined to say which one or specify the person’s regular role. “If it wasn’t Mr. Epstein, it would have been somebody else, because of the conditions at that institution,” Gregg said. “It wasn’t a matter of how it happened or it happening, but it was only a matter of time for it to happen. It was inevitable. Our staff is severely overworked.”

Fascinating, isn't it?

"Also Sunday, Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said Epstein’s autopsy was complete, but she had not reached a determination on cause of death “pending further information.” The medical examiner also allowed Michael Baden, a private pathologist, to observe the autopsy at the request of Epstein’s representatives, Sampson said. Epstein’s death has ratcheted up scrutiny of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which operates the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a high-rise facility where Epstein was awaiting trial on charges that he sexually abused dozens of young girls in the early 2000s. After being found, he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The incident, which authorities have classified an “apparent suicide,” triggered multiple investigations of how such a high-profile inmate, who was supposed to have been carefully monitored, could have died in federal custody. It also caused outrage among his victims and their representatives, who had hoped that Epstein’s trial next year would produce the justice they thought he had long evaded."

So many, many unanswered questions.

NBC News reports:

"Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke criticized President Donald Trump on Sunday for sharing unfounded conspiracy theories about the death of Jeffrey Epstein, accusing Trump of misusing the presidency to “attack his political enemies.” “This is another example of our president using this position of public trust to attack his political enemies with unfounded conspiracy theories,” O’Rourke, who is running for president, said on CNN’s "State of the Union."

"Later on Saturday, Trump took to Twitter to promote conspiracy theories about Epstein's death, including retweeting an unfounded claim that former President Bill Clinton was involved. O’Rourke added that Trump’s tweets were aimed to focus the conversation on the president's “bizarre behavior” rather than “the fact that we just lost 22 people in this community,” referring to the mass shooting that occurred in El Paso last week. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., another presidential candidate, also slammed Trump for his tweets during an appearance on CNN. “This is just more recklessness," Booker said. "What he is doing is dangerous. He is giving life to not just conspiracy theories but really whipping people up into anger and worse against different people in this country."

Trump presents an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

"Booker also pointed to Trump's history of promoting conspiracy theories about the Clintons, including the debunked theory that the former president was responsible for the death of White House deputy counsel Vince Foster. Foster, a close friend of the Clintons, died of suicide in 1993. The New Jersey senator compared Trump's spreading misinformation to Russian propaganda. "This is a very dangerous president that we have right now," he said. "Trying to divide us against each other and really using the same tactics and same language not just of white supremacists, but also using the same tactics and languages of the Russians if you look at the intelligence reports about how they're coming at our democracy." At the time of Booker's interview on Sunday, #Clintonbodycount was the top hashtag tweeted by trollbots, according to Bot Sentinel, a website that tracks bot activity on Twitter. And the Kremlin-funded media outlet RT was leading its English language website with stories about conspiracy theories related to Epstein's death."

Trump is a congenital liar. Has no credibility.

The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump’s proclivity for spouting exaggerated numbers, unwarranted boasts and outright falsehoods has continued at a remarkable pace. As of Aug. 5, his 928th day in office, he had made 12,019 false or misleading claims, according to the Fact Checker’s database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement the president has uttered. Trump crossed the 10,000 mark on April 26, and he has been averaging about 20 fishy claims a day since then. From the start of his presidency, he has averaged about 13 such claims a day. About one-fifth of these claims are about immigration, his signature issue — a percentage that has grown since the government shut down over funding for his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, his most repeated claim — 190 times — is that his border wall is being built. Congress balked at funding the concrete barrier he envisioned, so he has tried to pitch bollard fencing and repairs of existing barriers as “a wall.” False or misleading claims about trade, the economy and the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign each account for about 10 percent of the total. Claims on those subjects are also among his most repeated. Trump has falsely claimed 186 times that the U.S. economy today is the best in history. He began making this claim in June 2018, and it quickly became one of his favorites. The president can certainly brag about the state of the economy, but he runs into trouble when he repeatedly makes a play for the history books. By just about any important measure, the economy today is not doing as well as it did under Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson or Bill Clinton — or Ulysses S. Grant. Moreover, the economy is beginning to hit the head winds caused by the president’s trade wars. On 166 occasions, he has claimed the United States has “lost” money on trade deficits. This reflects a basic misunderstanding of economics. Countries do not “lose” money on trade deficits. A trade deficit simply means that people in one country are buying more goods from another country than people in the second country are buying from the first country. Trade deficits are also affected by macroeconomic factors, such as currencies, economic growth, and savings and investment rates. Trump has falsely said 162 times that he passed the biggest tax cut in history. Even before his tax cut was crafted, he promised that it would be the biggest in U.S. history — bigger than Ronald Reagan’s in 1981. Reagan’s tax cut amounted to 2.9 percent of the gross domestic product, and none of the proposals under consideration came close to that level. Yet Trump persisted in this fiction even when the tax cut was eventually crafted to be the equivalent of 0.9 percent of GDP, making it the eighth-largest tax cut in 100 years. This continues to be an all-purpose applause line at the president’s rallies."

Report goes on and on.

NPR reports:

"The warden of the federal prison in New York City where Jeffrey Epstein was found dead has been reassigned, the Department of Justice says. Two other staffers were placed on leave. The administrative moves took place amid official investigations into Epstein's death and following harsh official criticism of the Bureau of Prisons. Epstein's death, the result of an apparent suicide, shows "deficiencies in inmate protocol and has allowed the deceased to ultimately evade facing justice," wrote House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and ranking member Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., in a letter to BOP. Attorney General William Barr said Monday that investigators had already discovered "serious irregularities" at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where Epstein had been housed. The warden who was supervising the center has been reassigned to the Bureau of Prisons' Northeast Regional Office, according to the Justice Department. The warden was not identified in the announcement and the department has not responded to a request to confirm the name of a person connected in other documents with the Metropolitan Correctional Center. James Petrucci, who was overseeing a prison in Otisville, N.Y., will take over as acting warden, the Justice Department said."

Why hasn't the warden been identified? Why are they sitting on this information?

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.

8-16-19

Trump remains delusional. Clearly, out to lunch. ABC News reports:

"President Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to accept any responsibility for inciting violence in American communities, dismissing critics who have pointed to his rhetoric as a potential source of inspiration for some citizens acting on even long-held beliefs of bigotry and hate. "I think my rhetoric brings people together," he said last week, four days after a 21-year-old allegedly posted an anti-immigrant screed online and then allegedly opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 and injuring dozens of others. But a nationwide review conducted by ABC News has identified at least 36 criminal cases where Trump was invoked in direct connection with violent acts, threats of violence or allegations of assault. In nine cases, perpetrators hailed Trump in the midst or immediate aftermath of physically attacking innocent victims. In another 10 cases, perpetrators cheered or defended Trump while taunting or threatening others. And in another 10 cases, Trump and his rhetoric were cited in court to explain a defendant's violent or threatening behavior. Seven cases involved violent or threatening acts perpetrated in defiance of Trump, with many of them targeting Trump's allies in Congress. But the vast majority of the cases -- 29 of the 36 -- reflect someone echoing presidential rhetoric, not protesting it."

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.

8-16-19

McCabe steps up. Sues FBI The Washington Post reports:

"Andrew McCabe, the acting FBI director who authorized an investigation into President Trump for ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice, filed a lawsuit against the bureau and the Justice Department on Wednesday, alleging he was illegally demoted and fired as part of a plot by Trump to remove those who were not politically loyal to him. McCabe asked that a federal judge declare his termination a “legal nullity” and essentially allow him to retire from the FBI as planned, with all the benefits that would have afforded him. He was fired from the bureau in March 2018, a little more than 24 hours before McCabe was set to retire, costing him significant retirement benefits. The termination came after the Justice Department inspector general found that McCabe made an unauthorized disclosure to the media, then lied to investigators about it. “It was Trump’s unconstitutional plan and scheme to discredit and remove DOJ and FBI employees who were deemed to be his partisan opponents because they were not politically loyal to him,” the lawsuit alleges, adding that McCabe’s firing “was a critical element of Trump’s plan and scheme.” Justice Department and FBI spokeswomen declined to comment. White House officials did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The inspector general referred McCabe’s case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., which has been using a grand jury to determine if McCabe should also be charged criminally. McCabe has long asserted he did nothing wrong, and that his termination, ordered by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, was a politically motivated effort by Trump to undermine the FBI’s work. Trump had vigorously criticized McCabe even before he was removed from his post.

"McCabe’s lawsuit is notable for its forcefulness, alleging that Trump enlisted the highest-ranking members of the federal law enforcement apparatus in a scheme to stifle dissent. The suit singles out in particular Sessions and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, who it claims “knowingly acted in furtherance of Trump’s plan and scheme, with knowledge that they were implementing Trump’s unconstitutional motivations for removing Plaintiff from the civil service.” “Trump demanded Plaintiff’s personal allegiance, he sought retaliation when Plaintiff refused to give it, and Sessions, Wray, and others served as Trump’s personal enforcers rather than the nation’s highest law enforcement officials, catering to Trump’s unlawful whims instead of honoring their oaths to uphold the Constitution,” the lawsuit alleges. Plaintiff refers to McCabe, who filed the suit."

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.

8-9-19

The determination of firefighters is second to none. NBC News reports:

"Firefighters in Massachusetts, along with backup responders, spent two hours Thursday freeing a raccoon that had gotten stuck in a storm grate. The Newton Fire Department tweeted a picture of the critter with its head sticking out of one of the grate's holes, and its paws grasping adjacent bars to support himself. Newton Fire Lt. Phil McCully told NBC News that the department got a call about the trapped raccoon from a bicyclist riding to work. A responding crew of four firefighters first tried to lubricate the raccoon's head with dish soap so he would "slip out," McCully said. Photos show the raccoon lathered with suds, its fur plastered to his face. But the raccoon didn't budge, even though "this method usually works 90 percent of the time," McCully said. So the firefighters removed the grate from the sidewalk, hoping, with the animal's feet on the ground and some leverage, the raccoon would be able to pull itself free. No dice. The next method was to use medical gauze to compress the animal's neck and slip him free, which the department does to remove rings stuck on people's fingers. When that didn't work, an animal control officer was called to the scene, but she was also unable to free the raccoon. A local veterinarian then arrived to sedate the critter. With its tense neck muscles relaxed, it was finally freed from the grate."

... Talk about determination. :) -- Never, ever, never give up. :)

"By the end of the ordeal, 10 firefighters had joined the effort, McCully said. "It was quite the operation," said a tweet from the Newton Fire Department. "We rescue citizens both big and small!!!" The raccoon was taken by Waltham Animal Control for observation, and will be released into the wild when the medication wears off, McCully said."

8-9-19

All in a day in the life of a state trooper. ABC News reports:

"It wasn't something that either the state trooper or drivers in Washington expected to see as they traveled on a state highway: a plane flying toward them, looking like it was planning to land. Washington state Trooper Clint Thompson was driving on State Route 7, also known as Pacific Avenue, on Thursday morning when a plane started coming into view and drivers in front of him began hitting their brakes. Thompson told ABC News affiliate KOMO-TV that at first he thought it was a "remote-controlled plane." "As it got closer, it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger," he said. Thompson's dashboard camera captured the cars' brake lights lighting up, with one car even pulling slowly to the side, as the plane soared overhead. The dashboard footage showed the trooper making a quick U-turn and following the plane. He said he turned on his emergency lights and tried to slow traffic down around him. The plane landed a little after 8 a.m. in the left turning lane on Pacific Avenue and stopped at a red light at the intersection.

"A single prop KR2 plane is safely on the ground after having to make an emergency landing on SR7/138th at 8:15a this morning due to a fuel system malfunction. No injuries to anyone involved. Troopers helped push the plane clear the roadway. #WhenYouThinkYouveSeenItAll pic.twitter.com/JIUYWs7kKc
— Trooper Johnna Batiste (@wspd1pio) August 1, 2019"

Miraculously, no one was hurt.

"After exiting his car, Thompson could be seen tapping on the plane's hood and speaking to the pilot as cars slowly drove by. The pilot got out of the plane, seemingly uninjured, and with help from Thompson, pulled the plane off the highway and onto the side of the road. "It was crazy," witness Stu Dewitt told KOMO-TV. "It could've been really bad. ... For this time of morning, this road is very, very busy." Dennis Diessner who was driving down Pacific Avenue at the time of the landing described the incident as "unbelievable." "You don't see a plane landing every day on Pacific Avenue. ... I realized what it was and I thought, 'Jesus Christ, he's gonna land right on me,'" Diessner told KOMO-TV on Thursday. "When he went by me, I could've reached out and touched the tip of his wing. That's how close I was to that plane." Diessner said the pilot popped out of the plane after it landed. "I asked him if he was all right and he kind of nodded his head [and] I kept going," the man said. "But, that was scary."

Great piloting under extremely dangerous conditions.

"While on patrol in east Pierce county, Trooper Thompson just happened to be in the right place at the right time and witnessed the plane make an emergency landing. WSP had no prior knowledge of the pilot’s complications. After 21 years with the patrol, this is a first for him. pic.twitter.com/rUwXsLT8ZJ
— Trooper Johnna Batiste (@wspd1pio) August 1, 2019"

Lucky the trooper was in the right place at the right time.

"The emergency landing by the single-prop KR2 plane was due to a fuel system malfunction and no one was injured in the incident, Trooper Johnna Batiste said on Twitter. The pilot, David Acklam, told KOMO-TV that he was on his way to work when the "engine quit." The plane was later loaded up onto a truck's flat bed and taken away. Acklam thanked the trooper for his actions Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration said it was looking into the incident and confirmed that the landing was due to a fuel problem and that no damage had been reported. "I'm gonna say, in 21 years, this is a first," Thompson said."

Bet it was. ... Had the trooper not been there, could have ended far worse.

8-9-19

Strangers act. Uncommon Valor. CBS News reports:

"More than a dozen Good Samaritans sprang into action, risking their own lives to save a passenger trapped inside a crashed SUV in California. A video shows the strangers coming together to try and keep the SUV from overturning. They were helping the driver, who's dressed in orange, while an injured person was still in the back seat. It happened Wednesday, after the SUV jumped the curb, slammed into a large tree, and started smoking. One of the people who rushed to help said everyone's instincts kicked in. "My friend told me, 'Mike, you gotta go out there, they need your muscles'," he recalled. "The first thing that came into my mind... was just you wanna help when someone is in need of help and you just run. "Despite concerns about the SUV exploding, the group was able to get the vehicle upright and pull the trapped passenger to safety."

8-9-19

Never a dull moment. Imagine being in a bank and greeted by a most unusual visitor. NBC News reports:

"A longhorn on the loose in Colorado Springs, Colorado, sent people scrambling to get away after the cow escaped a nearby cattle drive and charged into a bank. Video taken by a bystander shows the cow running down the sidewalk and into a bank at Plaza of the Rockies on Friday, according to NBC affiliate KOAA News in Pueblo, Colorado. As the cow, named Theme De Loof, made a mad dash into Great Western Bank, it knocked over a stroller, which appeared to be empty, and sent people scurrying out of the way."

Bet she did.

"Russell Freeman, the owner of Freeman Ranch, told KOAA the 16-year-old cow belongs to him. Freeman said he thinks she panicked. "This is a nice cow. She's not wild or crazy, but in town, she panics," he explained. "And just like the people screaming, when they saw a cow, she was out of element. That's the same thing she was doing. She was just screaming and nervous."

Bet she was. -- All those crazy humans couldn't give an ole gal a break. :)

"The cow was part of the longhorn cattle drive in downtown, which kicks off the two-day Ride for the Brand Ranch Rodeo. Two cowboys on horses were able to wrangle the runaway cow. There were no reports of injuries. "To have that much activity involved in the public and not break any glass and not get anybody hurt... God watched out for us," Freenan told KOAA."

Indeed.

8-9-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

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

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

8-9-19

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

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

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

8-9-19

Corruption runs rampant in law enforcement. ABC News reports:

"Philadelphia's longest-serving sheriff was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for using bribes from a businessman to help buy two homes and then awarding him millions in city contracts. John Green, 68, admitted taking $675,000 from friend and businessman James Davis in exchange for $35 million in city work."

Jesus Christ. Only five years? Is that justice?

"This is the city that time and time again has been roiled by (this) kind of corruption," U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone said. "You were supposed to be one of the good ones. The shame — your shame and the shame of the city — is that you were not." Green, in court Thursday, only said he accepted responsibility for his crimes and was sorry for them. He served more than 25 years as a police officer, and was the elected sheriff from 1988 to 2010. Prosecutors said Green had hoped to retire sooner, but Davis urged him to stay for at least another term. "Each time John Green got elected, he maintained the business Jim Davis had and he increased it," Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Grieb said Thursday. Much of the time, she said, "there were no contracts, no public scrutiny" of the city spending. Davis bought and renovated a house in Philadelphia for Green before selling it to him at a loss; gave him $320,000 for the Florida retirement home; and paid his wife nearly $90,000 as a subcontractor. Davis was convicted at trial of tax fraud and is serving a 10-year prison term. Green pleaded guilty this year to one conspiracy count while awaiting a retrial after a jury last year cleared him of some charges but deadlocked on others.

"In Green's case, federal investigators found that he surrendered "almost exclusive control" of the department's property sales to Davis, letting his firm handle the lucrative advertising work and padding the fees the firm received when people lost their homes. "There was real harm in this case," Grieb said, mentioning the vulnerable homeowners. "Every dollar from the proceeds of their homes was important to them."

Only five years in prison for crimes of this magnitude? Anything wrong with this picture? Anything at all?

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.

8-9-19

The following is well beyond appalling. Egregiously inhumane. In all the years been doing this, never ran into anything quite like this. CBS News reports:

"It's been a year of crippling emotion for Cindy and Paul Tarashuk — a year since the death of their 26-year-old son also named Paul. "Talking about him gets me really upset," Cindy Tarashuk told CBS News. "Talking about this stuff gets me angry." Paul Tarashuk had schizoaffective disorder, suffering delusions and hallucinations. But he was getting on with his life, until one night last September, when he had a psychotic breakdown traveling along a highway in Orangeburg County, South Carolina. Parked for a roadside break, a trucker suddenly saw Tarashuk walk toward him, naked. The trucker took off, but as he drove down the interstate, he realized Tarashuk was riding on his rig and called 911. Officers from three different law enforcement agencies responded, including Orangeburg County Sheriff's Deputy Clifford Doroski, who was certain Tarashuk was high or drunk."

Apparently, the training this deputy received was exceptionally poor. ... Or, from day 1, he was grossly unqualified by temperament to be an officer and had received the position as a result of political patronage. ... Or, simply didn't give a f--k. As, certainly, the case with EMS. Get this:

"Doroski's body camera recorded what happened when EMS arrived. They asked Tarashuk if he spoke English. He didn't answer the first responders who berated and cursed at him. "I'm being f***ing serious. I'm sleepy. Give me your damn name so I can go home for real. I'm tired," one first responder said. They shoved an ammonia capsule up his nose. He didn't flinch. "There, I mean at that point, someone should have stepped up and said 'We gotta take him in some place. He's not just someone to let go,'" said Paula Tarashuk."

Gets worse. Far worse:

"As troubling as it is to watch how the ambulance crew treats Tarashuk during the call, it's even more disturbing to watch the sheriff's deputy after. The deputy put Tarashuk into his cruiser and drove him 15 miles to a closed gas station near the county line. Surveillance video outside the gas station captured Tarashuk the last time he was seen alive. He had no shoes, no phone and no idea where he was. "It's just watching him walk to his death. He was escorted by an officer to his death," Cindy said. From there, Tarashuk ended up back on the same highway, where he was hit by a car. Nearly five hours later, the same EMS crew was called to deal with Tarashuk again. But this time, he was dead."

Jesus Christ.

"If I'd have known that he was just going to drop him off, we'd have just took him to the hospital and dropped him there," one of the first responders was heard saying."

Jesus Christ.

"A toxicology report from the Orangeburg County Coroner's office came up clean. Despite this, Deputy Clifford Doroski is still on the job, and so is one of the EMTs. "I think there needs to be a better investigation into what happened. I mean we can see it on the video. I think somebody, you know, needs to explain to them why it happened, which they haven't," said State Sen. Katrina Shealy. CBS News asked both the sheriff's and EMS departments for on camera interviews. They both declined, citing an ongoing investigation. After a state investigation, one of the EMTs was fired. "They didn't do their job. That's it," Cindy said. "They just didn't do their job. They didn't care enough about human life to do their job."

Goddamned right.

"The Tarashuks have set up a Facebook page to bring attention to their son's case. On Wednesday, the family filed a civil suit against the department and individuals involved."

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.

8-9-19

In contrast to the above, consider the following. NBC News reports:

"Milwaukee transit bus driver Cecilia Nation-Gardner immediately suspected trouble when she saw a young girl wandering aimlessly along a busy street crying in her pajamas and slippers on a hot muggy morning in July. She didn't see a caretaker around so she pulled over to talk to the 6-year old who told her she was trying to find her mother who lives in Georgia. She then asked the child to board the bus while she called authorities. Minutes later, the girl’s panicked family arrived and took her home. This was the second time Nation-Gardner had rescued a lost child. In May, she spotted a young child running into traffic after he wandered away from school. “Had it not been me, had it been a sex trafficker or child molester, that’s the only thing goes through my mind in those situations,” Nation-Gardner, 54, told NBC News. “As a bus driver, you have to be attentive to everything going on around you.” Less than four hours earlier on the same July day, a toddler was found by another Milwaukee public bus driver, Cressida Neal, 47, at 4 a.m. after the child wandered away from his grandmother's house in the middle of the night. “I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time for that child,” she said. At least a dozen lost kids — most under the age of five — were found and safely returned to their families by Milwaukee County bus drivers since 2016, according to the Milwaukee County Transit System. While there is no national data tracking how many lost kids are found by bus drivers, those working in public transit advocacy say the Milwaukee bus drivers' actions are emblematic of what bus drivers across the country do each day: act as the eyes and ears of the community and come to the aid of those in need of help. "It’s not just lost kids that bus drivers end up helping," said Polly Hanson, senior director of security, risk, and emergency management for the American Public Transportation Association. They come to the aid of seniors with dementia, disoriented adults and even crime victims, she said. For so many people, buses are a safe space because of the drivers, she added. “Bus operators are the unsung heroes that make communities safer.”

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.

8-9-19

Ohio officers get theirs. Doesn't your heart bleed? NPR reports:

"Five Columbus, Ohio, police officers are facing departmental punishment for their roles in arresting Stephanie Clifford — better known as Stormy Daniels — in a strip club last summer. They include a police commander, a lieutenant, a sergeant, and two of the officers who arrested Daniels."

Jackbooted pieces of shit. Did they get their cookies off?

"Daniels was arrested last July at the Sirens Gentlemen's Club, months after suing President Trump. At the time, Daniels was fighting to void a nondisclosure agreement — a "hush deal" she had agreed to that involved a $130,000 payment from Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen. As Gabe Rosenberg of member station WOSU reports, "Along with Miranda Panda and Brittany Walters, Daniels was charged with violating Ohio's 'Community Defense Act,' " which targets physical contact between patrons and "nude or semi-nude" dancers. Columbus Division of Police Interim Chief Tom Quinlan did not identify the officers, other than saying that they worked for the "now-disbanded Vice Section." They are now facing departmental charges, he said."

The public is entitled to this information, Chief. Why are you stonewalling?

"Quinlan omitted any details about the officers' actions that prompted the charges, saying only, "I made this decision because these officers violated our rules of conduct."

Again, the public is entitled to this information, Chief. Why are you sitting on it? The public is entitled to know the identity of its oppressors. ... As well as the nature of all offensive and/or criminal conduct perpetrated by these pieces of human excrement.

"In the next procedural step, the officers' conduct will be scrutinized in individual hearings with the director of public safety. After that, Quinlan said, "The range of discipline for these officers can include a reprimand, a suspension, demotion, and/or termination."

Why not criminal prosecution?

"The charges against Daniels were dismissed within hours of her arrest. But she filed a lawsuit against Columbus police in January, accusing the officers of trying to damage her reputation and punish her for speaking out about the president. In March, the Columbus police department's internal investigation concluded that while Daniels' arrest was "improper," it had not been planned "for political motivation," as WOSU reported. A federal inquiry into the incident is also ongoing. "Because of pending litigation as well as a concurrent federal criminal investigation, I will not elaborate further on our investigations findings at this time," Quinlan said as he announced the action against the five officers."

No excuse. The public is entitled to this information.

"Panda and Walters — the two women who were arrested along with Daniels — filed their own lawsuit over the incident; in January, the Columbus City Council settled that suit for $150,000."

Not enough. Nowhere near. The only thing corrupt, abusive law enforcement and its government handlers understand is being soaked, -- and the reaction of looted taxpayers.

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.

8-9-19

Another murder by the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue. This one even more appalling than the Tarashuk killing covered earlier in this edition. The Washington Postreports:

"He asked the police for help. They told him to stay on the ground, where he was handcuffed and writhing. He said he was afraid the officers would kill him. They told him to relax. He asked for help again. They kept him pinned, his face in the grass, a knee on his back. He asked again. Then Tony Timpa went unconscious. In less than 20 minutes he was dead. The group of Dallas police officers detaining Timpa didn’t seem to notice he was dying in front of them. They didn’t check whether he was breathing, and they didn’t look for a pulse. Instead, the officers laughed. They mocked the way he had squirmed around, clearly in distress — “like a roly poly,” one said. They speculated about what sort of mental illness he might have, or what drugs he might have taken. When Timpa stopped responding, the officers apparently assumed he was asleep. They kept laughing, making jokes about waking him up for school. They tapped him, shook him, but he didn’t answer. “What happened?” one officer asked. “I don’t know, he just got quiet,” another responded. “Just, bloop,” chimed in a third."

The criminal jackbooted motherf--kers murdered him. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Timpa’s last minutes alive were made public in a disturbing video obtained and published by the Dallas Morning News and NBC5, the result of a years-long legal battle for access to records related to the 32-year-old’s death in police custody on Aug. 10, 2016. The video, released Tuesday, challenged previous police claims that Timpa was aggressive and that they used only the force necessary to prevent him from rolling into a busy street. The footage also provides the clearest picture yet of that night three years ago, when Timpa called 911 asking for help. The case has dogged the department and angered the city since the Morning News broke the story two years ago. Dallas police declined to comment on the newly released video."

What could they say? They're goddamned murderers. ... Right, Sheriff?

“Because there is pending litigation surrounding this incident, we are unable to comment on the actions of the officers,” department spokesman Carlos Almeida told The Washington Post."

Convenient excuse, isn't it?

"That night, Timpa, an executive who drove a Mercedes, called authorities from the parking lot of a local porn store. He told a dispatcher that he was afraid. He had schizophrenia, he said, and he hadn’t taken his medication. He was unarmed. Growing up, one of Timpa’s favorite books was “Peter Pat and the Policeman,” his mother Vicki Timpa told the Morning News. From it, he learned: “If you’re lost, ask a policeman for help,” she said. So he did. And it was the last call he ever made. A county autopsy report ruled that Timpa died “as a result of sudden cardiac death due to the toxic effects of cocaine and physiologic stress associated with physical restraint.” The physicians who examined him ruled his death was a homicide. “The stress of being restrained and extreme physical exertion contributed to his demise,” they wrote."

Murder.

"The evidence unearthed by Vicki Timpa and her lawyers, along with the Morning News and NBC5, has led to an excessive force lawsuit in federal court and an indictment of three of the officers involved, Kevin Mansell, Danny Vasquez and Dustin Dillard. In March, the Dallas County district attorney dismissed the charges against them, and they returned to active duty the next month."

Murderers in blue protected and coddled.

"By the time police arrived at the scene, two private security guards had already handcuffed Timpa. “Hey, get on the ground,” one of the officers said, sidling up to him. As he squirmed, another officer told his colleagues to “just keep him down.” He was restrained that way for more than 13 minutes, according to a Morning News analysis of the footage. As he’s pinned down, an officer tells Timpa they’re just trying to help. In the background, though, another officer can be heard noticing the upscale address on his ID and making a joke about a yacht club. Officers then zip-tie Timpa’s legs. With an officer still on top of him, Timpa’s pleas fade to indecipherable grunts. He stops moving. “Tony, you still with us?” someone asks. Someone else asks if he’s asleep. They all laugh."

Murderous jackbooted motherf--kers in blue.

Gets worse:

"The Ethical Society of Police, an association of police officers in St. Louis that advocates for change, criticized the officers’ tactics in a Twitter post. “They notice his breathing slowed, and joke about him being dead,” the group wrote. “The indifference for the man is angering.” One officer claims he heard Timpa snore. Another compares him to a child who is refusing to wake up to go to school. “Tony, time for school, wake up,” one says as another guffaws. “I don’t want to go to school, Mom,” an officer responds, mimicking a child. “Five more minutes, Mom.” After Timpa’s limp body is lifted onto a gurney, Dillard asks, “Is he knocked out? Or, he ain’t dead, is he? He didn’t just die down there, did he?”

Jesus Christ.

“I don’t think he did,” another officer responded. “Is he breathing?” Dillard asked again. As Timpa is wheeled away, Dillard says to the others, “Hope I didn’t kill him.” They laugh."

Goddamned murderers.

CBS News reports:

"Disturbing police body camera footage released Wednesday shows a man being restrained by Dallas officers before his death and yelling, "You're gonna kill me!" The footage showing the August 2016 death of Tony Timpa in Dallas shows an officer pinning him to the ground with his hands cuffed behind him for nearly 14 minutes as the 32-year-old eventually becomes unresponsive. Officers are heard joking that Timpa had fallen asleep, with one yelling "five more minutes, mom!" Timpa's death in the parking lot of an adult video store came after he called 911, saying he was off his medication for schizophrenia and depression and needed help. Questions about what happened in the moments leading to his death have swirled as city officials argued against the release of the body camera footage, according to the Dallas Morning News, but a judge on Monday sided with news outlets who had sought to make the video public. In a federal lawsuit alleging excessive force, Timpa's family claims the officers "recklessly" and "knowingly" killed the man. "He was expecting someone to help him, that's why he called," Timpa's mother Vicki Timpa told CBS Dallas / Fort Worth in 2018, after the family had viewed the body camera footage but before it was made public. "He wasn't expecting several police to kill him." A medical examiner ruled Timpa's death a homicide, and listed the cause as "sudden cardiac death" caused by "the toxic effects of cocaine and physiological stress associated with physical restraint," reports CBS DFW. Sgt. Kevin Mansell, Officer Danny Vasquez and Officer Dustin Dillard were indicted on misdemeanor deadly conduct charges in December. But the Dallas County District Attorney's office dismissed the charges in March, saying three medical examiners had concluded the officers' conduct was not reckless. The three officers were placed on administrative leave but returned to full duty in April, according to Dallas police. Dallas police said Vasquez and another officer, Raymond Dominguez, were disciplined for "being discourteous and unprofessionalism." The department wouldn't comment on the video because of the pending litigation. Police incident reports cited by the Morning News say Timpa's behavior was aggressive and combative, but the video shows Timpa writhing as he apparently struggles to breathe, repeatedly asking the officers to stop restraining him. He's heard yelling, "Help me!"

Why no criminal prosecution of these jackbooted pieces of shit? Why were they protected and coddled?

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.

8-9-19

Eric Garner atrocity drags on. CBS News reports:

"A New York City police department administrative judge has recommended that a police officer should be fired over the 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black man whose dying words — "I can't breathe" — became a national rallying cry against police brutality. The Civilian Complaint Review Board chairman said the judge had recommended the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, be dismissed. A final decision lies with the New York City police commissioner. Garner's death — after he refused to be handcuffed for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes — came at a time of a growing public outcry over police killings of unarmed black men that gave impetus to the national Black Lives Matter movement. Pantaleo faced a long-delayed departmental trial in May to determine whether he violated department rules. A grand jury has declined to indict Pantaleo on criminal charges, and the Justice Department last month said it would not bring a civil rights case against him. The officer denied using a chokehold on Garner, but a medical examiner ruled the chokehold set off a lethal sequence of events."

This son of a bitch literally got away with murder. Used a chokehold to murder a suspect. Wouldn't back off when his victim repeatedly told him he couldn't breathe. A murderous jackbooted criminal motherf--ker in blue. Judge, jury, and executioner. ... Hear the rumble?

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

8-9-19

The following is yet another example of the very worst in law enforcement. CBS News reports:

"An Alabama police officer staged a shooting last month to make it look like he was under attack, a police chief said Thursday. Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith said that Officer Keith Buchanan made a distress call early July 21 while patrolling an isolated area. Shots could be heard in the background, and an abandoned police car was later found with a bullet hole. He was later found moaning on the ground. The police chief said investigators determined the event was staged after they "found nothing to support the officer's account of this incident."

Jesus Christ. What the hell is going on in law enforcement?

"Our investigation has concluded that this entire event was a hoax, the radio call, the shots fired, the help call, lying injured on the tracks, the damage to the police car, all a hoax," Smith said during a news conference. Smith said they are seeking charges against Buchanan, who has been relieved of his duties."

Why wasn't he immediately arrested? Accorded the same treatment any other civilian would have been under the circumstances?

"We will always be in relentless pursuit of our suspects," Smith said, according to CBS affiliate WIAT-TV. "Unfortunately this time, it's one of our own, and we will continue to do so."

Why wasn't he immediately arrested, booked, and jailed?

Insult to injury? Get this:

"Buchanan is on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation, AL.com reported."

That's goddamned outrageous. Why are taxpayers looted to pay the salary of this piece of shit while he's effectively on 'vacation?'

Coup de grace? Height of folly? Insanity at its very worst? Get this:

"Smith noted that the incident came during a year where officers have recently been killed or wounded in the line of duty. The police chief said the officer tried to present a "false image of heroism."

Jesus Christ. What a goddamned crock of shit. Far more innocent unarmed civilians have been killed by officers than the other way around. Wouldn't want to confuse anyone with the truth, would we? ... And, that doesn't include all the cases that have been successfully covered up by the criminal jackbooted bastards in law enforcement. Wake up.

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

8-9-19

The following unintentional killing of a homeless woman by a rookie officer is inexplicable. Likely, can only be attributed to the officer's inexperience or poor training. CBS News reports:

"Police released an officer's body cam video less than 24 hours after the rookie officer shot and killed a woman lying in the grass, while trying to shoot a dog charging at him. CBS DFW reports the rookie officer in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, who was released from supervised duty on July 1, responded to a welfare check Thursday about a woman who appeared to be passed out in a grassy area behind the plaza. Footage from the officer's body-worn camera released Friday shows the officer walking along a sidewalk and calling out, "Hello. Are you OK?" The woman replies, "Yeah, I'm fine." A dog approaches and the officer asks, "Is that your dog?" As the barking dog runs toward him, the officer yells, "Get back!" He begins to back up and then fires three shots. The woman screams, "Oh my God!" and continues to cry out. Police Chief Will Johnson said at a news conference that the dog, which he described as a Labrador mix, weighed about 40 pounds. Investigators think the dog belonged to the woman, who the Tarrant County medical examiner's office identified as 30-year-old Maggie Brooks. Brooks is the daughter of an Arlington Fire Department captain, CBS News has learned. Brooks was shot in the "upper torso," Johnson said. The dog suffered a flesh wound and has been quarantined, the chief said. "Everything about this call is an absolute tragedy," a somber Johnson said. "Our hearts are broken for the Brooks family and for the officer involved. Our officer was on scene trying to find an individual who may be suffering from a medical emergency. Clearly, this is not the outcome the officer wanted, nor is it the outcome that the department wanted."

The officer clearly knew the dog was between him and the woman. Why open fire when there was the risk of a round hitting her? Why didn't the officer use his baton to fend off the dog? An officer no matter how inexperienced needs to be able to think fast. Assess the situation, then act. Not have a 'shoot first, ask questions later' mentality. Would have been a totally different matter had it been a man or woman with a gun. No matter how this turns out, the officer has to live with this the rest of his life.

"He said Brooks' family has been shown the body camera video, and that criminal and administrative investigations are underway. The 25-year-old officer, whose name hasn't been released, graduated from the police academy in February and hadn't fired his service weapon in the line of duty before Thursday, Johnson said. He has been placed on administrative leave."

At the very least, training needs to be improved.

"People who live and work near where the shooting occurred said they often saw Brooks walking with her boyfriend and that the couple appeared to be homeless. They said the pair always had a dog with them. CBS DFW reports the dog was said to be friendly with people in the area. "It was never on a leash," said store owner Justin Patton. "We saw that couple every single day with that dog. It would follow 'em out to the tree, up to the Walmart. It would interact with people, just sniff, tail wag and stuff. It was never on a leash. It was around people all day."

The dog apparently viewed the officer as a threat. Did what dogs do. Try to protect their human companions. The officer was apparently a poor shot, or might have panicked when the animal charged. Only winged the dog, but apparently unintentionally shot and killed the woman in the upper torso.

"Larry Hamilton told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he lives in a nearby apartment but was homeless for several years and knew Brooks. He said she was "a good-hearted person" who always made sure the dog was fed before she was."

Again, imagine what the officer will live with the rest of his life. -- To say nothing of the woman's family and friends.

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.

8-9-19

Law enforcement cannot seem to smarten up. CBS News reports:

"The Galveston Police Department is apologizing for the way officers arrested a man over the weekend, reports CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV. The department says two officers arrested a 43-year-old man for criminal trespass in downtown Galveston. The man was handcuffed and a rope was clipped to the handcuffs before he was led walking down the street by the two officers on horseback. Police say he was being taken to a Mounted Patrol Unit staging area. A photo of the arrest was taken and shared on social media. It shows the man with his hands behind his back, walking between the horses and the officers, with one of the officers holding the blue rope."

Jesus Christ. These are clueless, out of control jackbooted bastards in blue.

Gets worse. Get this:

"While this technique of using mounted horses to transport a person during an arrest is considered a best practice in certain scenarios, such as during crowd control, the practice was not used correctly in this instance," the department said."

That's abject insanity. Precisely the kind of behavior by government goons that can lead to the unthinkable. An unwanted, dreaded second American revolution. ... Hear the rumble?

"The officers involved were apparently familiar with the man and had been told that he'd been warned against trespassing at the location several times."

No excuse. These officers are out of control jackbooted motherf--kers. Unfit.

"Galveston Police Chief Vernon L. Hale, III said in a statement Monday that, "First and foremost, I must apologize to (the man arrested) for this unnecessary embarrassment. Although this is a trained technique and best practice in some scenarios, I believe our officers showed poor judgment in this instance and could have waited for a transport unit at the location of the arrest. My officers did not have any malicious intent at the time of the arrest, but we have immediately changed the policy to prevent the use of this technique and will review all mounted training and procedures for more appropriate methods."

Wake up, Chief. You and your goons remain out to lunch. This 'technique' is never appropriate under any circumstances. It's jackbooted nazi. What the f--k would these assholes have done had this man refused to walk? Dragged him down the street? Jesus Christ. Give me a break. Take you head out of your ass. Stupidity is unbecoming, Chief.

"We understand the negative perception of this action and believe it is most appropriate to cease the use of this technique."

Apparently, not under any and all conditions, Chief. You're talking out both sides your clueless ass.

"There was no word on whether any disciplinary action is being taken against the officers."

Should be fired, then prosecuted for assault. Instead, intend to protect and coddle these assholes, Chief?

The Washington Post reports:

"In a pair of photos, two white lawmen atop horses guide a bound black man with a rope down a wide and empty street. If it weren’t for the cars and pavement, a quick glance may lead to the conclusion that they were colorized plates from the antebellum South. But it was Saturday in the island city Galveston, Tex., and officers arrested Donald Neely on suspicion of criminal trespassing. They had horses, and a rope, but no patrol car to take Neely away. The officers attached the blue rope onto his handcuffs, and Neely, 43, was led to a mounted officer staging area. Bystander photos from the arrest went viral across social media, with many African Americans saying the photos were reminiscent of captured slaves in the 1800s. The outcry prompted an apology on Monday from Galveston Chief Vernon L. Hale III, who called the arrest an “unnecessary embarrassment” for Neely. “I believe our officers showed poor judgment in this instance and could have waited for a transport unit at the location of the arrest,” Hale said in a statement. The officers did not have “malicious intent,” Hale said."

The hell they didn't. Not credible.

"The officers trained in the arrest technique for crowd control and other scenarios, Hale said, but the public blowback led the department to rethink how the practice was applied to a sole suspect amid a national discussion about police treatment of African Americans. “We understand the negative perception of this action and believe it is most appropriate to cease the use of this technique,” the department said on Facebook. Neely was freed on bond, the Associated Press reported. He does not have a listed number and could not be reached to comment. His family’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told KPRC that she was appalled by the arrest. “I believe the way they handled him was disgusting,” she said. “The family is offended. The family is upset.”

Sue the living shit out of the two jackbooted motherf--kers, the Department, and the City.

"The department identified the officers only by their first initials and last names, P. Brosch and A. Smith. It is unclear whether they will face an investigation or administrative review. The department did not return a request for comment. Their body-worn cameras were activated during the arrest, the department said. It was unclear what circumstances led to Neely’s arrest, although the department said he had been warned not to trespass several times at 306 22nd St., an office building that includes space for the investment firm Merrill Lynch. It was also unclear why the officers used the rope arrest in the first place. Police said Neely was being led to 21st and Market — about a block away from where he was allegedly trespassing, although police did not say whether that is where they arrested him."

What we have here is law enforcement doing all it can to cover its sorry ass.

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.

8-9-19

More of the same. ABC News reports:

"A California police sergeant who was arrested for allegedly soliciting a minor for sex was found dead on the same day that he was supposed to appear in court, officials said. Officers with the San Diego Police Department found Sgt. Joseph Ruvido dead in his apartment on Aug. 5, Police Chief David Nisleit said at a news conference. Nisleit said Ruvido, 49, was found with an “apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound” and that “all indications [were] that this [was] a suicide.” Ruvido was arrested on July 26 in Carmel Valley, according to a July 27 news release from the San Diego Police Department. The investigation began after police received a CrimeStoppers tip on July 24 that "identified individuals soliciting sex with minors" and found that Ruvido was one of the individuals, the news release said. San Diego County District Attorney’s Office public affairs officer Tanya Sierra told ABC News that Ruvido faced felony charges of arranging and going to a meeting with a minor for a lewd purpose and attempted lewd and lascivious act with a 14 or 15 year old, as well as a misdemeanor charge of arranging a meeting with a minor for a lewd purpose. Sierra said Ruvido would have faced up to four years in state prison and register as a sex offender."

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.

8-9-19

The following is simply inexplicable. ABC News reports:

"A Michigan man was sentenced to 60 weekend days in jail for poisoning his ex-wife's coffee on Thursday, outraging prosecutors who called for a harsher penalty."

No need to reread the above quote. You read it correctly. Hard to believe something like this can happen.

"Brian Kozlowski, 46, of Macomb County, Michigan, routinely placed sleeping pills in his wife's coffee throughout July 2018 after she filed for divorce, prosecutors said. He pleaded no contest to charges of poisoning a drink in June. His now ex-wife, Therese Kozlowski, said she found out about the poisoning after she began to feeling sick. She believes he did it in an effort to kill her. Eventually she hid cameras in the kitchen that caught her then-husband placing the pills in her coffee on multiple occasions. "He put eight sleeping pills into that coffee pot every single day for weeks. An adult dosage according to the packaging is one. I was being hunted by a dangerous predator, but in this nightmare the predator was Brian," Therese Kozlowski told the court Thursday. “I believe this was attempted murder. Once Brian realized he lost me and there was no getting me to stay in this unhealthy marriage, his goal was to eliminate me.”

Attempted murder. A 60-day sentence. Anything wrong with this picture? Anything at all?

"Prosecutors called the 60-day sentence "a slap in the face” and said they're planning to appeal the decision. "You shouldn't be able to commit a 15 year-felony by poisoning someone and only have to serve weekends," Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said. "It's unbelievable to me."

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.

8-9-19

The following, although happening in Alaska, is a reminder of a problem we have here in Texas, -- carnage of wildlife on our roads. CNN reports:

"A mama moose and its calf had a close call with an Anchorage Police Department patrol car last week when they rushed onto a highway right in front of the officer. The moose and calf fell on the highway but promptly got back up and continued on their way."

Quite a heartrending image.

"Police posted about the incident on Facebook saying, "This is a great reminder: we share this beautiful place with all kinds of wildlife. They're always around. Keep an eye out and be safe!" Hundreds of moose die every year in Alaska in collisions with vehicles, says the state Department of Fish and Game. On average, about 120 moose meet their end a year just in Anchorage, where about 40 percent of the state's people live."

While we don't have a moose issue, we do have plenty of deer and feral hogs. To say nothing of smaller wildlife. Safety is a concern. So is the needless loss of these animals.

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.

8-9-19

Trump's ignorance knows no bounds. ABC News reports:

"President Donald Trump on Friday sarcastically tweeted "Too bad!" responding to reports that the West Baltimore home of his recent African American target, Rep. Elijah Cummings, had been burglarized.

"Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed," Trump tweeted. "Too bad!”

Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019"

What a piece of crap. New low, -- even for the racist Trump nazi.

"Trump has attacked Cummings for not doing enough to improve his district, previously tweeting, "If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place." He's also called the city a "rat and rodent infested mess" and said people there are "living in hell."

He's too busy heroically standing up to the racist nazi now occupying the Oval Office, Mr. 'President.'

"The president's comments received widespread backlash for being racist, to which the president has responded that he is the "least racist person" in the world."

Delusional bullshit. Direct opposite is the truth, Usually is, -- when someone claims not to be a racist.

The following is extremely interesting. Get this:

"The break-in happened prior to Trump's tweet storm about Cummings and Baltimore last weekend."

How about that?

"In a statement, Cummings said an individual attempted to gain entry to his home at 3:40 a.m. on Saturday, July 27. "I was notified of the intrusion by my security system, and I scared the intruder away by yelling before the person gained entry into the residential portion of the house," Cummings said. "I thank the Baltimore Police Department for their response and ask that all further inquiries be directed to them.” Baltimore City Police reported it is "investigating a report of a burglary that occurred on July 27, 2019, at approximately 3:40 a.m. at a home in the 2000 block of Madison Avenue. At this time, it is unknown if any property was taken from the location."

You've got to be a piece of shit to revel in someone else's misfortune, victimization by the criminal element. Especially egregious, when the person reveling in that victimization happens to be the nazi currently occupying the Oval Office.

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.

8-2-19

Finally, home. CNN reports:

"Pvt. 1st Class William Edward Brandenburg was only 17 when he died fighting in the Pacific during WWII. Patricia Moore didn't know her Uncle William, but she certainly remembers her mother, Mae Black, talking about him all her life. The family was from New Miami, Ohio. Bradenburg was Black's youngest brother, and he enlisted in the Marines on November 27, 1942. He was only 16 at the time. That meant he had to lie on his enlistment forms so he could join the war effort."

Many young men did. ... At a time when America was young, strong, brave, and free. Faced with an enormous threat.

"When the Battle of Tarawa began on November 20, 1943, Brandenburg was there. On the second day of battle, as he was leaving a landing ship on the island in the South Pacific, he was killed in action. Moore said she was told he was hit with a missile. The Defense Department says more than 1,000 US troops were killed during the battle. They were buried where they fell or put into a mass grave in a large trench. For years, Moore says, her mother called any veterans group she could find in hopes of trying to locate his remains. After all the calls, year after year, Black finally had some success. About eight years ago, a group took their DNA to be tested against remains that had been recovered and brought back to Hawaii."

Imagine having to wait nearly another decade to get an answer:

"For eight years, they didn't hear anything -- until one day, Moore got a phone call. Their DNA samples had helped identify her uncle's remains. "When the woman called me, I fell down in a chair and had a meltdown," she said. "I couldn't even talk to her." While she's elated that she can finally bury her uncle, it's also bittersweet. Her mother, who tried for so much of her life to get her baby brother home, died six years ago. Brandenburg's body is being flown to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on Wednesday. He'll be buried on Saturday at Hickory Flat Cemetery with full military honors. There are still 72,000 Americans soldiers from WWII who are unaccounted for, according to the Defense Department."

8-2-19

Uncommon Valor. Tremendous personal cost. NPR StoryCorps reports:

"Declared Dead At War, He Returned Alive To Find His World Had Moved On Without Him"

This is the story of a veteran who served during the Second World War, Korea, and Vietnam.

"Walter Dixon had been married for just five days when he shipped off to Korea for his second war deployment. About a year later, at age 22, he was declared dead. When his obituary was published in the local paper, his wife back home in Waynesville, Mo., had no way of knowing that the news was premature. In reality, Dixon was alive behind enemy lines. In an interview at StoryCorps last month, Dixon, a 90-year-old veteran of three wars, spoke to his son, Russ Dixon, about how, after a case of mistaken identity, he returned home to find that his world had moved on without him. Dixon was serving in the Army's 38th Infantry Division when he says he was captured while trying to aid his fellow troops."

Uncommon Valor:

"He was about a half mile from his post when he saw five men from his unit get shot down by an artillery round. "One of 'em's legs were both broken, so I took my field jacket and wrapped around his legs to hold them together," he says. When he returned to his weapon, Chinese forces supporting the North Koreans came up behind him. "When I got captured, those guys in that hole with my field jacket there, they just got blown all to heck," Dixon says. When the bodies were later found, Dixon's jacket, which carried letters from his wife in the pockets, was the piece that mistakenly linked him to a deceased fellow soldier. "I'm sure that's why they reported me dead instead of captured," Dixon says. For the next two and a half years, he was held prisoner in a North Korean camp. It was a harrowing experience, Dixon recalls. To stay warm, he would go searching for wood to burn, and at times cooked rats as sustenance. One day, a guard thought he strayed too far. "I started to make better headway and this guard hollered for me to halt, but I didn't," he says. "So, he stuck me with his bayonet. Kind of a rough time right there." Dixon escaped five times, but each time he was caught, and punished. When fighting came to a halt, the Red Cross came to the camp and notified the prisoners of their release."

After all the above, then this:

"Back home, because Dixon had been reported killed, his wife thought he was dead and moved on. She remarried and had a child with another man. At the time, Dixon says, he didn't have much to say. "I can't blame her. I was dead. Then she found out I was alive. The only obvious thing to do was to divorce one of us." Dixon and his wife would divorce. But he couldn't resent her, he says. "Anger don't do you any good on something like that, you can't do nothing about it," he says. "You just gotta handle it the best way you know how."

Equally remarkable? Get this:

"Despite everything he experienced, Dixon chose to stay in the military. It's a decision that his son Russ still wonders about. "It was my life," Dixon said. "After you go through all of that, you ain't scared of nothing." Russ said he is proud of his dad, who after Korea went on to serve in Vietnam. "I tell a lot of people about your seven Purple Hearts and all that, and I brag about it just about every day," he told his father."

Uncommon Valor. Stunning resilience:

"As for Dixon himself, he says he couldn't care how others remember him. It's enough for him alone to know the sacrifices he made. "I can remember me," he says. "I don't have any wants or needs of memory. I just enjoyed my military service ... I'd do it again. And I'm proud of it."

Best of the best. -- When America was young, strong, brave, and free.

Clincher?

"As for that local obituary writer? Dixon ended up marrying her and having three children together, including Russ."

8-2-19

Another example of the very, very best in policing. A life saved. ABC News reports:

"A 6-week-old baby who stopped breathing was saved after an Ohio officer successfully performed CPR on the child, dramatic video shows. The body camera footage captured Officer Evan Estep, of the Sandusky Police Department, pressing on the baby’s chest after his mother said the child "went limp." "I went to undress him and went to feed him and then he pretty much flat-lined. He went limp," Kayla Monk, his mom, told ABC Toledo affiliate WTVG. After nearly 20 chest compressions, the child let out a cry. "He ended up getting him to gasp twice, they said," Monk told WTVG of the incident last Thursday. "They ended up getting a pulse, but I think originally he thought he wasn’t going to either because he had already coded in a way." The Sandusky Police Department said the baby had "no pulse" and was "beginning to turn blue." "Officer Estep performed CPR on the infant and was able to get the infant to start breathing," police said in a statement on Facebook. "OUTSTANDING JOB OFFICER ESTEP," the department added."

No question. The very, very best in law enforcement.

"The little boy, Teyvin Strauder, was taken to the Firelands Regional Medical Center. It was not immediately clear why Teyvin stopped breathing, but his mom said he was born early at 34 weeks and diagnosed with haemophilus, a bacteria that most often causes illnesses in babies and young children. Monk said he’s currently on a breathing machine and his condition is improving. "He’s doing much better with his own breathing where they’re gonna try to take [the breathing machine] out," she said."

8-2-19

Another life saved by heroic police officers. WCPO Cincinnati, Ohio reports:

"David Gamble didn’t feel lucky when he saw flashing lights in his rearview mirror on I-75, but he was — astonishingly so. If he hadn’t been on the side of the road when his heart stopped, the officers who pulled him over might not have been able to save his life. He doesn’t remember much about what happened, he said Monday night. He had been riding passenger in his son’s car when police stopped them, telling them the vehicle had the wrong plates. There were officers at his window one moment; he was in Southview Hospital the next. Officers Joshua Emmel and and Cody Baker remember everything that happened in between. Emmel had been talking to Gamble and his son while Baker checked their driver’s licenses, he said. “He wasn’t breathing,” Emmel said of Gamble. “His face started turning a different color. That’s when I knew something was obviously wrong.” He and Baker had both been trained to use an AED on a person experiencing a heart attack, but neither had ever actually had to do it. Baker had only been with the Springboro Police Department for six months. He was the one who grabbed the AED from the car, he said. As he placed the paddles on Gamble’s chest, he noticed the man’s eyes rolled all the way to the back of his head. It took three shocks to restart his heart. "A lot was running through my mind,” Baker said. “Mainly it was getting this guy the help he needs, doing CPR, apply the AED, do what we have to do until further help can get there."

Cool, calm, collected under enormous pressure:

"Emmel’s calm while they administered the shocks and performed CPR surprised even Emmel. “I just knew exactly what to do,” he said. “I was calm the whole time. That's the biggest thing that you need to do when you're in these situations is stay calm and revert back to your training." They were able to stabilize Gamble before Franklin emergency responders arrived to take him to the hospital. By Monday, he was still recovering — but he wanted the officers to know he was grateful for their help. “(I’m) weak and tired,” he said. “I’d like to say, ‘Thank you.’” Emmel and Baker both said they were happy to help. "It's a great feeling,” Emmel said. “That's probably the best feeling I'll ever have is being able to save somebody. It's not about just arresting people and giving people tickets. It's about helping people and saving people's lives out here."

Here, here. Way it's supposed to be.

8-2-19

Another great example of community policing. Literally. :) ABC News reports:

"The Toledo, Ohio, police department has been dishing out ice cream cones and scoops this summer as part of a local community building project called “Cops and Cones.” Beginning in July -- National Ice Cream Month -- the Toledo police force has been cruising around the city's neighborhoods in a small ice cream truck operated by the department and a few dozen helpful civilians. “I was at a training about six years ago discussing community engagement and how another police department had an ice cream truck,” Police Chief George Kral told "Good Morning America," in describing his inspiration for the truck. “I said if I ever become chief, this is something I definitely want to do.” "This is just another fun way for the kids to see us in a non-law enforcement light and to show that we aren’t just taking people to jail and arresting them and partaking in the negative aspects of the job, but that we are human beings and can be trusted and that they can come speak with us if there is trouble or if they need help,” said Kral, who has been with the department for 29 years and chief since 2015."

How about that? An enlightened police chief. :)

“We’re always trying to improve our community engagement and what better way to get people in Toledo to trust the police than giving out free ice cream?” As part of the initiative to foster positive community engagement, the 640-member department delivers the cold bites once a week to children and teens in nearby towns. Kral said the response has been overwhelming."

Bet it has. :)

"The new truck was unveiled at the annual “Grillin’ and Chillin’” barbecue on July 8 with ice cream, hot dogs, hamburgers, games and even a talent show. Kral said the truck will try to visit a different neighborhood every week and send out word on social media. “It’s all about relationships,” Kral added."

Indeed, it is.

8-2-19

Once in awhile, legislators in Congress can indeed not only get along, but be worth a crap. Who'd 'a 'thunk' it? LOL. NBC News reports:

"Two lawmakers are the cat's meow on Capitol Hill."

Indeed, they are. Not only that, both belong to different parties, managed to get along, and on top of that? Acted heroically to save our feline friends from a horrible death. To say nothing of needless government waste.

"Sen. Jeff Merkley, D.-Ore, and Rep. Brian Mast, R.-Fla., who were instrumental in ending the Department of Agriculture's so-called "kitten slaughterhouse," were visited on Thursday by two cats who were spared when the government program was shut down earlier this year. "I’m so glad you're freed," Merkley said in his Senate office while holding survivor Delilah, who was brought to the Capitol along with another cat named Petite by the organization White Coat Waste Project. The group is a non-profit that combats wasteful government spending on animal testing, and issued a report earlier this year showing U.S Department of Agriculture's lab in Maryland had been performing gruesome and fatal testing on cats. Merkley told NBC News that he'd been unaware of the USDA's decades-old program until advocates presented the information to him. "When I heard about the absolutely unnecessary slaughter of these animals, I just thought that's just wrong, we don't treat animals that way, and let's apply some pressure and try to change it. And so I feel like I was a partner at the last moment after they've done all the real work," he said."

Here's the issue:

"The U.S.D.A.'s Agricultural Research Services lab, based in Beltsville, Maryland, had been infecting cats with toxoplasmosis and then euthanizing them since 1982 as part of its effort to combat the foodborne illness. "But these were healthy, healthy adoptable kittens," said WCW president Anthony Bellotti. "Toxoplasmosis is something that is treatable." And some of the testing was downright bizarre — including feeding cats tainted cat meat, the WCW found."

Jesus Christ. Unbelievable.

Gets worse. Get this:

"Over the course of the program, which cost $22 million, 3,000 cats were killed by the USDA. Delilah was born at the facility in 2013 and Petite was purchased from a breeder in 2015, the WCW. Both were used to breed kittens for experiments. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., another lawmaker who played a role in pressuring the USDA to halt the program, met the two cats in his House office. Mast and Merkley had been championing bipartisan legislation called the Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now — or KITTEN — act when the USDA announced it was ending the program in April."

What could USDA possibly been thinking? How could this go on all these years? All the waste. All the needless suffering. A government that's out of control.

"It's not often that you necessarily get to just, you know, have in your office and see the results of some of the work that you do," Mast said about the cats. "For me, it's nice to have you bring them in here, and to see the results of a little bit of the work that we got to do out there." Fourteen cats that had remained at the facility were adopted out, and Delilah and Petite are currently being fostered and are expected to be adopted soon, the WCW said. "Whether you're an animal lover, or liberty lover, you don't like the government waste factor of this whole thing, this was something that everyone could get behind. It's not a Democrat or Republican issue," Bellotti said."

That's right. It's the cruelty and government waste.

8-2-19

Think these three teens don't have quite a future ahead of them? CNN reports:

"A late-night run to the donut shop turned into a roadside rescue for three teens living near Niagara Falls. It ended with them pushing a stranded stranger's car for hours and inspiring others on Facebook. Aeron McQuillin, 18, Bailey Campbell, 17, and Billy Tarbett, 15, were on their way to a Tim Hortons donut shop in Fonthill, Ontario, when they spotted a woman on the side of the road with smoke coming out of her car. They quickly diagnosed the problem as a leak that allowed the engine coolant and oil to mix. They also determined the car was too dangerous to drive. The driver couldn't afford a tow truck. So, Billy suggested that guys push the car. The woman lives more than five miles away. Dan Morrison, who also stopped to help, tells CNN he and the driver thought the teens were crazy to offer. Bailey told CNN they just wouldn't want to be stuck like that, so they insisted. The trio grabbed bottles of water and a speaker so they could "jam out" and started their trek. Morrison drove behind them with his hazard lights on for safety. Bailey says they faced several obstacles. The first was a big hill 300 yards from the start. Halfway through, they took a break and the battery died. They had to charge it just to get back into neutral. After more than two-and-a-half hours of pushing, they finally delivered the car back home. Bailey described the motorist as both thankful and amazed. They exchanged hugs, and everyone went home for some much-needed rest. The trio never got the woman's full name. Morrison snapped a couple of pictures of the teens, hoping to turn them into hometown heroes on social media. His Facebook post went viral, with positive comments coming in from as far away as Australia. On Facebook, Aeron wrote, "Our phones [were] blowing up with messages and Facebook notifications from total strangers, showing their appreciation and gratitude for our random act of kindness." He went on to say, "We hope more people can learn from this situation and not be afraid to lend a helping hand to those in need." Bailey described his moment of viral fame as "overwhelming in a good way." Morrison said, "There is so much negativity in the world; people want something positive. When something like this happens, it becomes contagious... Everyone has had car problems and can relate."

Outstanding. Heroic. These kids have quite a future ahead of them. Educational institutions and employers take note. These are precisely the kind of individuals you should be seeking.

8-2-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

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

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

8-2-19

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

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

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

8-2-19

In follow up to the last edition, CNN now reports:

"Cheyenne Hoyt recorded the moment an ICE agent smashed through a car window to arrest her boyfriend, Florencio Millan, who the government says was in the US illegally and wouldn't get out of the vehicle. "He told my boyfriend to get out of the car or this could go bad," she said, adding that she had asked to see a warrant multiple times. "So once again, I asked for the warrant, he refused me again, I asked the name on the warrant and he refused." She said the agent told them he had a "paperless" warrant."

No such thing. The jackbooted bastard lied.

"After a couple of minutes, Hoyt said the Kansas City Police arrived. "The police told us that they could either do this the easy way or the hard way," she said a day later, during a news conference Tuesday afternoon. "And all I said was 'all I want to see is a warrant or a name' and that's when they started to try to bust the window out of our car."

No warrant. Jackbooted motherf--kers.

"ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer said Millan was uncooperative and refused to step outside of his car, or "follow lawfully issued commands issued by ICE and local police."

Where was the warrant? Jackbooted motherf--kers.

"Kansas City Police spokesman Sgt. Jake Becchina said there was an effort by both officers and the ICE agent to ask Millan to get out of his car. After ICE agents broke the window, Hoyt said she told her boyfriend not to resist, "I put my hand on his shoulder and I told him not to refuse or not to resist because I didn't want them to shoot him in front of my kids," she said."

It's how these jackbooted pieces of shit get their cookies off.

"Four officers then grabbed Millan and threw him on the ground, Hoyt said."

Again, it's how these jackbooted pieces of human excrement get their cookies off. -- Either roughing someone up, or murdering an innocent, unarmed civilian.

"Trinidad Raj Molina, Program Coordinator for Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation (AIRR) is working with Millan following his arrest. "No one is arguing the prior deportation but rather this arrest," Molina said. "We're trying to figure out why it happened like this." Millan was an "immigration fugitive" at the time of his arrest, Neudauer said. "He has a prior criminal history that includes misdemeanor offenses," the spokesman said. "In 2011, a federal immigration judge granted him voluntary departure," and Millan returned to Mexico, he said. "However, five days after he returned to Mexico, he was encountered by immigration officials after he illegally re-entered the United States under an assumed name. He was issued an expedited removal order and removed (deported) from the US." Millan was deported Wednesday evening, according to ICE spokeswoman Nicole Alberico."

Another family broken up by the Trump nazi, his henchmen, and Republicans who falsely claim to be the party of the family. What a goddamned crock of shit.

"Hoyt says that, with the exception of a parking ticket that led to Millan's voluntary deportation in 2011, he had no other legal issues. "He had a parking ticket in '07 but that other than that nothing," she told CNN. At the time of Millan's arrest, the family said they were taking their 7-month-old daughter to a doctor's appointment. Their son was also in the car. US Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, whose district covers part of Kansas City, described the video as "very concerning as to the traumatization of children and the reasonable use of force," in a tweet. One officer, Hoyt said, told her to "make sure that my baby was covered from the glass." "He was the one that was also able to let me get a couple words in with him (Millan) before he left and then he (Millan) told me he was sorry," she said. Her son, Hoyt said, was crying "don't take my dad."

No warrant. No due process. Nazi America. Readers are reminded our UNDOCUMENTED forebears arrived in this land centuries ago, STOLE it from its native inhabitants, then BROKE every goddamned treaty signed.

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.

8-2-19

In follow up to the last edition and in much greater detail, NPR reports:

"He thought this might be his big chance. He'd get spotted by a coach, offered a soccer scholarship and instantly be college bound. Instead, Francisco Erwin Galicia, a U.S. citizen, was picked up by Border Patrol officers, processed into detention and held for 26 days."

An American citizen.

"It nearly broke him," Galicia's lawyer, Claudia Galan told NPR. "He said the conditions were horrible, inhumane. And he was about to sign a deportation order ... even though he was born here." Galicia, 18, was in a van with his brother Marlon and three other high school friends on June 27. They were on their way to Houston for a recruitment event when they were stopped at a border patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas — about 50 miles from home and within the corridor of the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector. Officials wanted to know their legal status. Their answers varied. Two of them were immediately cleared but Galicia's 17-year-old brother and another boy, were in the country illegally. They were detained. When officials questioned Galicia, he told them he was born in Dallas. He also produced a Texas ID, a social security card and a copy of a wallet-sized birth certificate."

Yet, the jackbooted bastards f--ked him over, falsely imprisoned him.

"But for some reason that wasn't enough for them," Galan said, noting that the only girl in the group was released without having any documents on her at the time. Galan and the two boys were held in Falfurrias for a night, then transferred to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility. Over the next few weeks, Galicia said he was kept filthy, hungry and in a constant state of anxiety. He was placed in a crowded room with about 60 other men and one open toilet. He was denied access to a shower for more than three weeks and he said he was fed one sandwich three times a day. His lawyer estimates he lost about 20 pounds."

An American nazi gulag.

"Most of the time he was asleep so he wouldn't feel hungry," Galan said. Additionally, Galicia said he was constantly harassed by officers trying to coerce him into signing a deportation order. And each time he asked to make a phone call to his mother, to let her know where he was, "the officers told him that he had no right to an attorney while he was in Border Patrol custody and no right to make a phone call," she added."

The criminal jackbooted motherf--kers lied.

"Meanwhile, Marlon Galicia agreed to self-deport after two days. Although he is a minor, his mother was not informed. He is now living in Tamaulipas, Mexico, with his grandmother. For more than two weeks, their mother, Sanjuana Galicia, tried unsuccessfully to secure her older son's release. Finally, she hired Galan, who says that on July 12, she drove to the Rio Grande Border Patrol station with a copy of Galicia's full birth certificate, hospital birth records, his Texas medicaid card and a student ID. Still, CBP officials said they could not release Galicia."

Nazi America. ... Hear the rumble? An unwanted, dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looms as gutless Democrats in the House refuse to hold an impeachment investigation.

Gets worse:

"According to Galan, eight days later, Galicia was transferred to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pearsall, given an "alien number," and removal proceedings were initiated. She explained confusion over Galicia's nationality stemmed from a tourist visa issued when he was a child and the fact that his mother used an assumed name on Francisco's birth certificate. "After he was born, they went back to Mexico and she couldn't fix the birth certificate," Galan said. So, in order to travel back and forth as a family, she obtained a tourist visa for her U.S.-born son, claiming he had been born in Mexico. "It's confusing," Galan acknowledged. "However," she said, "[CBP] has access to a database where they can check that Francisco was born here in the U.S. It shouldn't have been a problem. They shouldn't have kept him for 26 days just to confirm that he was a natural born citizen."

All courtesy of the Trump nazi and his henchmen.

"In a joint statement, ICE and CBP officials defended their thoroughness. "Generally, situations including conflicting reports from the individual and multiple birth certificates can, and should, take more time to verify," the emailed statement said. "While we continue to research the facts of the situation, this individual has been released from ICE custody. Both CBP and ICE are committed to the fair treatment of migrants in our custody and continue to take appropriate steps to verify all facts of this situation."

Goddamned f--king incompetent, bumbling liars. CBP and ICE remain egregiously incompetent, abusive, operate outside the law and U.S. Constitution. Need to be abolished and replaced.

"Galicia was released on July 23. Galan, noted Galicia's prolonged detention and near-deportation comes on the heels of a move by the Trump administration to expand fast-track deportation regulations to include the removal of undocumented immigrants who cannot prove they have been in the U.S. continuously for two years or more. She said, Galicia's case demonstrates the dangers of imbuing CBP officers with the power to decide who is in the country legally and who is not. "It's outrageous," Galan said."

It's shamelessly Right Wing Nazi. Reminiscent of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini.

"She plans to file a civil lawsuit against the government for what she believes is Francisco Galicia's wrongful detention. She's also trying to reverse Marlon's voluntary removal. "Border patrol should not have allowed [Marlon], a minor, to sign for his own deportation so I am looking into bringing him back," she said."

Sue the living shit out of them for all you can get. The only thing jackbooted government seems to understand is being soaked. Our nazi out of control 'Justice' Department is run and owned by the Trump nazi and his henchmen so there will be no criminal prosecution of these jackbooted pieces of human excrement. What ever happened to our formerly great country? When did we lose ourselves?

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

8-2-19

Here is the sad reality of the immigration fiasco. CBS News reports:

"A photograph of a Guatemalan mother holding her 6-year-old son and pleading with a Mexican National Guard member to let them go into the U.S. is the latest dramatic image to depict the plight of migrants. A photographer with the Reuters news agency captured Ledy Perez's encounter in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, earlier this week. Jose Luis Gonzalez's photograph shows Perez crouching on a dusty road and holding her son close, crying into his chest as the service member stands nearby with his weapon hanging from his shoulder. "The woman begged and pleaded with the National Guard to let them cross ... she wanted to cross to give a better future" to her son, Gonzalez told Reuters. The news agency reports the service member, who didn't provide his name, didn't display any "overt aggression" toward the mother and her son near the dry riverbed of the Rio Grande that serves as the border between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas. A spokesman for Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told Reuters the service member was letting Perez know of the dangers of crossing into the U.S. When the service member wasn't looking, Perez and her son made a break for it and crossed the border. U.S. border agents took them into custody, Guatemalan officials told Reuters. Tekandi Paniagua, Guatemala's consul general in Del Rio, Texas, told Reuters Perez and her son were in good condition at a U.S. Border Patrol station in New Mexico."

NPR reports:

"The Trump administration continues to separate hundreds of migrant children from their parents despite a federal court ruling that ordered an end to the practice, according to court documents filed in California by the American Civil Liberties Union."

Trump and his henchmen delusionally believe they're above the law. Are they?

"The ACLU said that more than 900 parents and children, including babies, have been separated by U.S. border authorities since U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw, a George W. Bush appointee in San Diego, ordered the government to reunite more than 2,700 children with their parents more than a year ago. The controversy caused such an outcry that President Trump ordered an end to family separations on June 20, 2018, six days before Sabraw's ruling. Trump's executive order allowed separations only in cases where the parents posed a risk to the child."

Here is the ongoing problem:

"It is shocking that the Trump administration continues to take babies from their parents," said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. "The administration must not be allowed to circumvent the court order over infractions like minor traffic violations."

"The 218-page court filing listed various cases:

    "One man was separated from his three young daughters because he has HIV, although the government has not explained why it believes he is dangerous to his children.
    Another man, detained with his one-year-old infant in a facility, was criticized for not changing his daughter's diaper and called a bad father. His infant was taken from him.
    A 3-year-old girl was separated from her father when Customs and Border Protection officials disputed his paternity. A DNA test eventually confirmed the father's paternity, but not before the child was sexually abused while in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
    A 4-year-old boy was separated from his father whose speech impediment prevented his from answering CBP officials' questions. The family was separated even after the father presented a birth certificate showing his paternity."

Trump and his henchmen do as they please. No regard for the law. No regard for the United States Constitution. No regard for a court order. Nazis.

"When Sabraw ordered an end to family separations in June 2018, he "carved out" exceptions for parents whose criminal histories or communicable diseases posed a risk to their children. The ACLU said the government is abusing its discretion by "separating young children based on such offenses as traffic violations, misdemeanor property damage, and disorderly conduct violations. Some of the separations are for offenses that took place many years ago. And some are for mere allegations or arrests without convictions."

Raw nazism.

"Administration officials acknowledge that families are still being separated. In a written statement before the House Oversight and Reform Committee earlier this month, the acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan (and former CBP Commissioner) cited the exceptions allowed under the judge's order, but he insisted that "CBP generally keeps family units together in its short-term holding facilities." In his testimony, McAleenan said, "This is in the interest of the child. It's overseen by a supervisor, and those decisions are made."

Why haven't their sorry asses been jailed for contempt?

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.

8-2-19

Rule of law challenged under Trump nazi. CBS News reports:

"In seeking "special treatment" for allies like former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn – and "worse treatment" for political adversaries like Hillary Clinton – President Trump's actions have had the effect of undermining the rule of law and some of the institutions that uphold it, says Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bharara, who was fired by Trump in 2016 after initially being told he would keep his job, said the president "doesn't follow the precepts" that underpin the phrase. "To me, 'the rule of law' means that laws are not to be flouted," Bharara said. "They're to be applied equally, whether you're rich or poor, whether you're white or black, whether you're male or female. And that you put the law not only before particular preferences for folks, and without bias towards groups of people – whether people of color or otherwise – but also above politics."

Not possible in a de facto fascist police-state since 9/11 quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

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

8-2-19

More of the same. What could these officers possibly been thinking? ABC News reports:

"A historically black university in Virginia said Friday that it has fired nine of its police officers for sharing "misogynistic, racist and other offensive remarks via social media." Hampton University's statement did not detail the remarks the officers made. But it said they were fired for "egregious violations of the university's code of conduct." The school employs 25 officers, according to the department's website. Hampton University Police Chief David Glover did not immediately respond to a phone message and email seeking comment on Friday. WAVY TV reported that it had obtained a copy of a termination letter that one of the officers received. In it, Deputy Chief Ronald Davis said some officers and supervisors were engaged in a so-called "Meme War." "The 'Meme Wars' is described as a jovial release of photographs and captions designed to levy insults at others in the group as well as persons outside the group," Davis wrote. The police force for this majority black school of about 4,300 students near the Chesapeake Bay is the latest to become ensnared in controversy over officers' social media postings."

Readers will recall coverage of the following from earlier editions of this publication:

"Last week, the Philadelphia Police Department said it was suspending 13 officers with intent to fire them following an investigation into offensive and sometimes threatening Facebook posts. A few days before that, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said 62 current and eight former Border Patrol employees were under internal investigation following revelations of a secret Facebook group that mocked lawmakers and migrants. In June, St. Louis pulled several police officers off the streets after they were accused of posting racist and anti-Muslim comments on social media. Some of the revelations are being driven by a team of researchers who spent two years looking at the personal Facebook accounts of police officers from Arizona to Florida. The Plain View Project found officers bashing immigrants and Muslims, promoting racist stereotypes, identifying with right-wing militia groups and, especially, glorifying police brutality. Police departments in at least five states began investigating after the researchers released a report in June. Police departments often have social media policies that limit what officers may say online. Hampton University said in its statement that it has "zero tolerance" for such behavior and had conducted a full investigation."

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.

8-2-19

More of the same. NBC News reports:

"On Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr had an ominous message for the American public: so-called “warrant-proof” strong encryption that law enforcement can’t access imposes an unacceptably high risk to the country. “These costs will grow exponentially as deployment of warrant-proof encryption accelerates and criminals are emboldened by their ability to evade detection,” he said at a cybersecurity conference in New York City."

The Attorney General is a liar. The greatest threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties is government, all levels, all branches. Barr, himself is proof positive. Been a goose stepping shill for his fuhrer, the Trump nazi, certainly vis a vis the Mueller Report. A 'yes man.' Precisely, why Trump chose this fascist bastard in the first place.

"Barr’s words echoed those of government officials going back more than 25 years who have called for the government’s ability to bust through strong encryption, which can make data held on a cellphone or computer almost unreadable to anyone who does not possess the password to decrypt it."

Remains the only defense from corrupt and abusive law enforcement and their masters in government from going on fishing expeditions. F--king innocent, law abiding citizens.

"It’s a message security experts have heard before and expect to hear again, particularly now that some major tech companies have embraced encryption as a way to promise security to consumers who are starting to take privacy seriously. Facebook recently announced that it would expand its use of encryption in its apps. Secure messaging apps like Signal have become considerably more sophisticated and easier to use."

About time. What took so long? Much more needs to be done, however.

"Barr’s complaints — and those of Justice Department officials going back to the 1990s — centered on what it means for government investigators. He did not offer a specific way that the government should go about, either technically or legally, defeating encryption. “It allows criminals to operate with impunity, hiding their activities under an impenetrable cloak of secrecy. As you know, some refer to this eclipsing of the government’s investigative capabilities as ‘going dark,’” he said. “While encryption protects against cyberattacks, deploying it in warrant-proof form jeopardizes public safety more generally. The net effect is to reduce the overall security of society.”

Abject bullshit. Simply, not true. Has not been true quite some time. At least, dating back to the 9/11 fiasco where corrupt, abusive, inept government failed to do full background checks on the hijackers. Equally outrageous, failed to heed warnings from the flight schools the hijackers wished to learn only how to fly straight and level, not take off and land.

Instead, gutless legislators in both major political parties, after the fact, imposed on the American public the USA 'Patriot' Act, 'Real' ID Act, Homeland 'Security' Act, etc., eviscerating all civil and constitutional rights and liberties. Falsely, in the name of national 'security.' Creating a de facto fascist police-state, now transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. Our equally fascist Attorney General is treasonously assisting Trump in his efforts to do precisely that.

"Meantime, Barr’s position is not universally accepted in those who still and formerly graced the halls of power. In fact, Gen. Michael Hayden, who previously served as the head of the CIA and the National Security Agency, publicly disagreed with Barr’s remarks. In response to a news story about Barr’s statements that Americans should accept the security risks of back doors, Hayden tweeted: “Not really.”

This government cannot be trusted. The true threat is not from others that could hack into a 'backdoor' created for the use of government. It is the goddamned government itself and law enforcement that present the greatest threat. This government is out of control. Has been quite some time.

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.

8-2-19

In follow up to an article posted earlier in this publication, NPR reports:

"A judge in California may have been kept in the dark when she issued a search warrant allowing San Francisco police to monitor the phone of a journalist who was suspected of obtaining a leaked police report, according to newly unsealed court records and the journalist's lawyer. Attorney Tom Burke, who represents freelance journalist Bryan Carmody, says Superior Court Judge Rochelle East might not have been made aware of his client's profession when the police sought the warrant. In the spring, police officers began to secretly screen freelance journalist Bryan Carmody's cellphone calls and texts, his lawyer, Burke told NPR. It wasn't until more than a month later that Carmody learned his phone had been monitored — after police conducted a raid on May 10 that made national headlines, Burke said. Police officers used a sledgehammer to open a gate to Carmody's house. He told NPR that officers searched his home "at gunpoint" and walked out with his computers, cellphones, cameras and other items. The raids followed a flurry of media coverage about San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, a vocal police critic who died suddenly in February at age 59. One month later, San Francisco's medical examiner determined that Adachi died from a combination of cocaine, alcohol and pre-existing heart problems. In stories about Adachi's death, journalists cited a leaked police report that included unseemly details — empty liquor bottles, marijuana gummies and a condom wrapper. The leak, which included police photos from the scene, led some to question whether police officers were trying to damage Adachi's reputation. Police asked Carmody to disclose who leaked the report, but he refused to say. He told media outlets that he sold the report to three television stations in keeping with his work as a journalist. But based on remarks that Judge East of the superior court in San Francisco made last week, Burke said it's possible that the judge may not have been aware that Carmody was a journalist before she issued the cellphone warrant — the first of five warrants that various judges eventually issued in the case. "I don't think [the judge] knew much about him being a journalist, if she knew he was a journalist at all," Burke said."

The judge certainly tried to make it right:

"Judge East has ordered San Francisco police to destroy the information they got through the warrant she issued, setting an Aug. 1 deadline for the agency to certify that it took that step. She also granted a motion to unseal an 11-page affidavit that supported the issuance of the warrant. That affidavit was unsealed this week; its first mention of Carmody comes after a redacted portion of the report. A police officer named Sgt. Joseph Obidi states: "I conducted an internet search for Bryan Carmody and located a LinkedIn profile associated to Bryan Carmody which listed him as a 'Freelance Videographer/Communication Manager, USO Bay Area.' Further internet research revealed that Bryan Carmody is not currently employed by any of the news organizations that obtained the death investigation report." A review of Carmody's current LinkedIn profile shows that in addition to the job title cited by police, the page prominently mentions his work in TV news, including producing content for CNN, Fox News and other media outlets. The officer added that a web search also found a photo in which Carmody is seen wearing a watch that was "very similar" to one seen on the wrist of a person in media coverage of the police materials. Obidi added that he believed Carmody acquired the police death investigation report from a police officer and then offered it to a local reporter."

Clearly, law enforcement cannot be trusted.

"In Judge East's order that was released this week, she required police to make one redaction, in a paragraph that contains information about a confidential source. Similar motions to quash the other four warrants were filed in other courts, with hearings scheduled for later in the summer, according to KQED. Carmody has had a press pass for 16 consecutive years; it was issued by the chief of the San Francisco Police Department, Burke added. "None of these warrants should have been issued — they reflect the San Francisco Police Department's callous disregard of the protections the law has long provided for journalists to ensure that they can do their jobs," Burke said. Under California's Shield Law and federal laws, journalists are protected from search warrants that could reveal their sources and information that goes unpublished in the newsgathering process. San Francisco Police Department Chief William Scott initially defended the searches, saying the department "went through the legal process." He later apologized and said they may have been illegal. The union representing the city's police officers accused Scott of knowing every element of the investigation. It has called for his resignation. The department pointed NPR to a statement Scott made in May, when he said he contacted outside agencies to conduct an independent investigation into the source of the leak."

Totally outrageous.

"The raids have triggered outcry from free press advocates. "An attack on the rights of one journalist is an attack on the rights of all journalists," the regional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists said."

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

8-2-19

Don't mess with this lady. She collared a flasher. Certainly, a day that piece of crap won't forget any time soon. ABC News reports:

"A Massachusetts woman said that a flasher "picked the wrong victim" after police released a video of her chasing down the man who indecently exposed himself in hopes of arresting him. Aia Polansky, a 33-year-old single mother of three, was running in Cambridge, across the Charles River from Boston, on July 18 around 7:30 a.m. when she said a male jogger dropped his pants "all the way down to his knees" as she ran by him. Polansky said she had a normal start to the day. "I went out for a run. It was 6 a.m. in the morning. I was having a great day. I was listening to fantastic audio blog -- enjoying a beautiful view of Boston. I was about 3 miles from where I live. Suddenly, I saw a guy pulling down his pants." “I just realized, this is wrong and I'm going to get this guy,” said Polansky. "So I just did a quick U-turn, I was running pretty fast when he flashed his pants down. … I chased him down, I caught him and I was holding him. He did shake his hand off me the first time I caught him." "I said, 'No, hell no!' I chased this guy down. I want him to know that I'm not afraid of him," she added. Video released by Massachusetts State Police shows Polansky pursuing the man and attempting to physically detain him while calling for those nearby to contact police. "I was asking people to call the police and ask for help," she said. "Nobody did. I let my hand off him because I realized that nobody can help me out. I had to do it myself." Polansky, who stands at 6-foot-1, works as a personal trainer and served in the Israeli Army, according to "Inside Edition," said that she managed to hold the man down between three to five minutes before he was able to make his escape. "It was long enough for me to notice his brand new Apple watch, Air Pods, the fact that he looks like a completely -- the professor, teacher right next door to you and this was just … very surprising to me." Police described the suspect, who was last seen running down Amesbury Street, as a white male with a heavy build, short dark-colored hair, a receding hair line, wearing black and gray running clothes and black running shoes with white soles. When asked what she was thinking in that moment Polansky said, "I just knew that if I'm not going to get this guy now then the next girl will be raped." "A lot of people went by. I did ask for help. I did ask [people to call] 911," she said. "They did not really have to get involved. I was holding the guy. All they had to do was just call the police. They chose not to do that. They made a choice not to choose to help out. So that was challenging for me to realize that this was just me, myself and I in this situation and I have to help myself out." Polansky added, “I choose to be a strong person and not to be a victim in situations, and that's what I'm trying to put out there.” “My goal in actually putting myself out there … is to tell people make a choice not to be a victim. It doesn't matter what situation you're in. Just make a choice that you’re not [a] dismissible human or creature who cannot handle life. No matter what it is.” When asked what message she would like to send the man she chased down, Polansky was clear: “I'm going to get you. I told you I'm going to get you. And as you see, big mistake. It was a stupid big mistake.”

Indeed.

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.

7-26-19

Half century after the fact, a belated salute to Uncommon Valor. Unbearable loss. Delayed recovery. CBS News reports:

"At a cemetery in Illinois, Perry Dotson is 50 years late for the funeral of Army Pfc. Leonard Nitzsche. Lt. Dotson was Leonard's platoon leader in Vietnam, when, in April 1970, their group was attacked and Leonard was killed. They loaded his body on a helicopter and immediately, the platoon went back to the war. "That was the extent of our grieving. And it just hit me one day, I woke up and I thought, 'I never had a chance to say thank you.' Maybe I just needed some finality," Perry said. When Perry mentioned this pilgrimage to some of the other guys in his platoon, he found out something he hadn't considered before: That he wasn't alone and there were others who felt the exact same way. So, they came, too. Tim Roland flew in from McAllen, Texas. Ernie Levesque drove out from Springfield, Massachusetts, and Glenn Fox came from Newport, Nebraska. On arrival, they met Leonard's sister, Linda, at the cemetery. Everyone gathered to pay their respects to Leonard. "That's why this is so important to us today, because we never got to do this when it happened," Glenn said."

As heartrending and poignant as the above is and remains, the underlying issue of loss is far more complex. -- Deeply rooted, profoundly, inextricably linked to the ongoing guilt, tragedy, terror, residual horror experienced long after the fighting ends:

"But like a lot of Vietnam vets, especially, they find it hard to mourn the loss of a fellow soldier, without also mourning their own survival. "My job was to bring Leonard home, and I didn't do that," Perry said. "He gave something I didn't have to. And I wonder every day why," Ernie said. The guilt is relentless, which is another reason they're here. "I'm hoping it helps me. I think it will," Glenn said. After the cemetery, Leonard's family and friends held a reception. About 100 people showed up offering gentle hugs and hearty handshakes for Leonard's army buddies. Their message was clear: his death was not their fault and they were glad they survived."

Indeed.

"Grieving a loss can be delayed, but it cannot be denied. People have to feel the pain, share it with others and then tuck it in a pocket to carry with them forever. That's real closure. Not forgetting, but rather finding peace in remembering."

No wiser words ever spoken. Applicable to all loss. Across the board.

7-26-19

The following goes well beyond Uncommon Valor. Well beyond the very best in policing. It is a standard of professionalism every officer should strive for. The Washington Post reports:

"Taylor Pomilla had just picked up her 4-year-old son, Andrew, from school Friday and they were heading home on the Metro when Andrew decided he wanted to run around inside the car while it was moving. Pomilla told him that wasn’t safe, but Andrew, who has autism, insisted. She tried all the tricks in her bag for 20 minutes to get him to sit. Soon, Andrew became agitated and started a tantrum. It was rush hour. “That is when his regular toddler tantrum turned into a meltdown, or what I call, the point of no return for him,” Pomilla wrote in a now-viral Facebook post. Andrew rolled on the floor, he screamed, he flung his shoe across the train, she said in an interview. Pomilla, a single mom who moved to Ballston from Texas six months ago, was desperately trying to calm him down. “Then he starts the kicking, hitting, pulling my hair while everyone in rush hour stares on the train, most thinking I was a bad parent who had an out of control child, even though really he can’t help it,” she wrote. Sometimes, she said, Andrew becomes flooded with emotions and is unable to process or handle the wave of feelings. Pomilla, who was still in her work dress after a day in the office at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in Bethesda, said she felt like everyone was staring at him."

Imagine being a young mother, a single mother having to deal with this:

“I blurt out loud, ‘I’m so sorry he has autism!!!’ in an attempt to stop the stares,” wrote Pomilla, 24. “He was getting worse and I knew we had to get off.” They exited the car at Gallery Place, as she carried her flailing son, his backpack, her purse and a bag of groceries she had recently bought. It was one stop before Metro Center where they usually change trains to get home. She thought Andrew would calm down once they got off the train. But things got worse. “Now we’re rolling around on the dirty station floor. He is covered in black dirt. I try picking him up but he continues to kick which now gets dirt on me,” she wrote, adding that it went on for about 15 minutes. Feeling defeated and judged by onlookers, her bags splayed around her, tears sprang from Pomilla’s eyes. She said this was Andrew’s worst meltdown in about a year."

Then, finally, a break, some help from a most unlikely source:

"She saw someone approaching and felt a sense of panic. Then the two looked up to see a Metro Transit Police officer. Andrew froze. “She definitely looked like she needed a little help,” said the officer, Dominic Case, who has been with the department for five years. “He was having a tantrum and she was carrying a lot of bags.” Case asked whether she needed a hand. Pomilla explained what was going on, and that they needed to get to Ballston, about 30 minutes away. “Without hesitation he said, ‘Okay I’ll come on the train,’ ” she wrote. Case, who has a 4-year-old son of his own, crouched down to Andrew’s eye level and started chatting with him, showing the boy his police gear. He said he did that because he knows how much his own son likes police equipment. Pretty quickly, Andrew stopped crying. Case then took off his adhesive police badge from his vest and asked Andrew: “Can you be a police man with me and help me do police work on the train?” Pomilla said. Andrew said yes, and as they walked toward the escalator, Andrew put his hand in Case’s and held tight, Case said. Case, 27, said he felt honored Andrew grabbed his hand because in training classes he learned that people with autism often don’t like to be touched. “Being that he really wanted to hold my hand, it seemed like a calming thing at the time,” he said. “It seemed the right thing to do.”

Remarkable insight. Great training. Empathy off the chart. -- Desperately needed qualities in all officers.

"Case got on the train with them and rode a stop to Metro Center. As they exited to switch lines, Pomilla thought Case would leave them. But he didn’t. “I was like, ‘Thank you again so, so much,’ ” she said. “Then I was like, ‘Wait, are you not leaving?’ ” She wrote on her Facebook post: “The officer ends up riding the metro THE ENTIRE train home with us!!!.” On the ride, Andrew held Case’s hand, and at Andrew’s request, even made funny faces using the Snapchat filters on Pomilla’s phone. Once in Ballston, Case walked them to the escalator and they all said goodbye. Pomilla tried to give Case back his badge, but he insisted Andrew keep it. Andrew who will be 5 in a few weeks, was thrilled. Pomilla was bone tired from the ordeal but feeling very lucky. She thanked Case profusely, for his “immeasurable amount of kindness and for making Andrews day (probably his whole year),” she wrote. “He didn’t have to do this, it wasn’t in his job description,” Pomilla said. Case said he was just glad his approach worked out. “I really didn’t mind riding with them,” he said. “Her son seemed to be really happy I was there.”

7-26-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

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

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

7-26-19

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

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

Until you and your goons come clean, doubt will remain this was indeed a good shoot. The longer you drag your feet, the greater the doubt. Think not? Wake up. Your credibility has tanked. Isn't getting any better as this bullshit continues unabated. One hundred seventy 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.

7-26-19

Another criminal jackbooted bastard in blue. What ever happened to the vetting process? Anything goes? NBC News reports:

"Authorities investigating allegations of rape against a Los Angeles police officer discovered evidence through DNA testing that he had committed a second, earlier sexual assault, police said Wednesday. The officer, William Rodriguez, 33, a 10-year veteran of the police department who was assigned to the traffic division in the San Fernando Valley, was arrested Tuesday on two counts of forcible rape, with a special allegation of multiple victims, in connection with a report of a sexual assault last November, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said. Police said that when they ran Rodriguez's DNA through the FBI's Combined DNA Index System, they got a "hit" on a cold case from August 2015. Prosecutors said that assault involved another female victim who was raped under similar circumstances. Police said Rodriguez, who was in custody and had been relieved of his police authority, was off-duty at the times of the alleged assaults."

Imagine that.

"Rodriguez was being held pending an arraignment Thursday. Prosecutors said they would seek bail of $1.2 million on the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 30 years to life in prison. "When one of our own breaks the trust of the people we are sworn to protect and to serve, it tarnishes the badge we all wear proudly on our chests," Police Chief Michel Moore said in a statement. "This arrest also reflects our commitment to pursue every lead no matter where the investigation takes us."

Clearly, not all cops are criminals. Too many are. Corruption and abuse run rampant. 'A shoot first, ask questions later' mentality remains front and center, prime mover throughout law enforcement.

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

7-26-19

Racial profiling remains alive and well in law enforcement as well as the business community. NBC News reports:

"A black family in California said they were racially profiled at a Nike store in Santa Monica when a white manager accused them of stealing a $12 basketball they had bought and then flagged down police officers. The incident happened on July 5 as Joel Stallworth and TaMiya Dickerson were at the Santa Monica Place shopping mall with their 18-month-old son, Sammy, according to a press release from the family's lawyer and a video of the incident that Dickerson posted on Facebook. The couple said they were not planning on buying anything but changed their mind and purchased a Nike Swoosh Mini basketball after their son picked it up and started to carry it around. Stallworth and Dickerson said that as they were leaving the manager of the store followed them outside, accused them of stealing the basketball and demanded they give it back. Stallworth explained that they bought the ball for their son and continued to walk down the street with his family. The manager continued to follow them and flagged down Santa Monica police officers for help. Video of the incident on Dickerson's Facebook page shows the parents explaining to the manager and at least three Santa Monica police officers that they bought the basketball and have the receipt. "This is ridiculous," Dickerson says in the video. "We purchased this basketball in the store." At one point, Stallworth tosses the basketball onto the ground in frustration and the store manager picks it up. After showing the receipt to an officer, Stallworth and Dickerson are given the basketball back. Following the incident, the couple took the ball back to the store for a refund."

Why would anyone wish to do business in a store that profiles? Then, falsely accuses theft after merchandise is paid for?

"Stallworth and Dickerson said in the press release that the incident was humiliating."

Sue the living shit out of the bastards. Take 'em for every dime you can get. The only thing they understand is being soaked. Law enforcement has an attitude problem. Makes unfounded assumptions:

"She had zero evidence that I stole anything. She couldn't have evidence because I bought it. She discriminated against me," Stallworth told KTLA station in Los Angeles. "She planted an evil seed in the officer, so as soon as the officer came up to me, he said, 'Sir, give me the stolen ball.'"

Sue.

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.

7-26-19

What ever truly changes? NPR reports:

"Nearly five years after Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke shot 16 rounds into teenager Laquan McDonald, a city panel voted nearly unanimously Thursday night to fire a sergeant and three other veteran officers, accusing them of betraying their duty by "outright lying or shading the truth."

Why weren't they criminally prosecuted?

"The Police Board, which makes the final decision in serious police discipline cases, backed an array of charges brought by the Police Department against Sgt. Stephen Franko, 48, and officers Janet Mondragon, 42, Daphne Sebastian, 50, and Ricardo Viramontes, 46. A 55-page finding from the board blasted the four for conduct "antithetical" to their "duty to act with honesty and integrity and to accurately and completely report their observations." The finding condemned Mondragon, Sebastian and Viramontes, who were on the scene during the shooting, for "describing the alleged threat posed by Mr. McDonald in an exaggerated way while omitting relevant facts that support the opposite conclusion."

Did all they could to protect their criminal, murderous, fellow jackbooted bastard in blue.

"The board found that their reports "depict a scene in which Mr. McDonald was the aggressor and Van Dyke the victim, a depiction squarely contradicted by reality." The officers tried to put the shooting "in the best possible light" for Van Dyke, according to the finding. The board found that Franko, who arrived on the scene after the shooting, "failed to properly supervise his officers" and approved reports that "included several demonstrable and known falsehoods, including among other things that Van Dyke was injured by McDonald." The board's nine members, appointed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, voted unanimously on three of the dismissals. On Sebastian's firing, board member John P. O'Malley Jr. cast the sole dissenting vote."

Insult to injury? Get this:

"The firings were denounced by leaders of a Fraternal Order of Police lodge that represents rank-and-file Chicago officers. "Your job is not to fall to the pressure of the media or the radical police haters but is rather to give each officer a fair hearing," Patrick Murray, the lodge's first vice-president, told the board members after they opened the floor for public comment."

Wake up, Mr. Murray. Van Dyke murdered on the job. The four you protect and coddle did all they could to protect the criminal jackbooted bastard. Has nothing to do with media and/or 'radical police haters,' you clueless jackass. Has to do with cold-blooded murder perpetrated by a jackbooted bastard in blue. ... Right, Sheriff?

"It is obvious that this Police Board has outserved its usefulness," Murray said. "The FOP has made it our top priority that this board be dissolved. We do not have to agree to participate in this type of process as labor law allows us to proceed by way of arbitration," an apparent reference to discipline-appeal provisions that are standard parts of union contracts."

What has 'outserved its usefulness' is law enforcement that murders on the job. Worse? Fellow officers who protect such murderers. Including clueless jackasses like you, Mr. Murray.

"But on Chicago's West Side, where Laquan McDonald grew up, Rev. Ira Acree of Greater St. John Bible Church said the firings provided hope."

A step in the right direction, but nowhere near enough. They should have been prosecuted:

"This is not exactly how we wanted this to end," Acree said. "These guys should be headed to prison for collaborating to cover up a murder. But, in a flawed judicial system and in a city where the police department has been accused of systemic racism for several years, this is a small victory." Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, who led the investigation behind the dismissal charges, said the outcome was "a moment for the community to see that the mechanisms for accountability of police officers in Chicago actually can work as designed."

No sir. Clearly, they don't. Nowhere near. A step, however, in the right direction.

"After the meeting, Police Board President Ghian Foreman acknowledged that officers and community members were following the case but denied that the board meant the firings as a statement to them. "The Police Board is not a body that tries to send a message to the whole Police Department or to all of the citizens of Chicago," Foreman said. "We look at cases individually."

Precisely, the issue. Exactly, why Chicago has ongoing problems with law enforcement. While there is indeed the need to examine each case individually, it is also necessary that a watchdog agency send the message corrupt, abusive, criminal behavior by officers will not be tolerated. Should be front and center. Unequivocal.

"Ferguson's investigation lasted much of 2016 and led to his recommendation that 11 officers be fired. Several officers resigned before they could face discipline — including Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy and Deputy Patrol Chief David McNaughton, the highest-ranking cops on the scene after the shooting. Franko, Mondragon, Sebastian and Viramontes did not resign, even after Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson brought the dismissal charges, accusing all four of violating multiple department regulations, including a rule against false statements and reports. Johnson also accused Franko of approving false reports by Van Dyke and his patrol partner that night, Joseph Walsh. The Police Board put the dismissal cases on hold in 2017 at the request of judges overseeing criminal proceedings stemming from the shooting. That decision led the Police Department to end unpaid suspensions of the four officers. The department withheld their police powers and assigned them to desk duty."

That's a problem. Why were the taxpayers looted to pay for this when these criminals should have already been arrested and charged?

"Franko, a 26-year CPD veteran, is the sole police supervisor to have faced administrative or criminal charges tied to the McDonald shooting."

That called justice? Pitiful. Appalling. UnAmerican.

"During the April hearing, a CPD Internal Affairs commander disputed Franko's claim he had no responsibility for the accuracy of reports by his subordinates that McDonald had "battered" and "injured" Van Dyke — claims disproved by a now-infamous dashcam video that the sergeant admitted viewing within hours of the shooting. Franko signed off on the reports as "approving supervisor" or "reviewing supervisor." Viramontes, who began on the force in 2003, was driving up as McDonald took his final steps. At the hearing, he testified that the teen "was walking aggressively" but admitted that "it wasn't toward the officers on the scene." Once McDonald was shot to the pavement, Viramontes testified he saw the teen "using his arms to try to push himself up," a claim contradicted by the video."

Goddamned liar.

"Mondragon, a 12-year department veteran, doubled down on previous statements that she did not see who shot McDonald despite being in the driver's seat of the SUV that recorded the video. She testified she was putting the SUV into park for "two or three seconds" and, during the other 12 seconds of gunfire, she was focused on the teenager, who was presenting "the threat."

Goddamned liar.

"Sebastian, who started with CPD in 2002, was the passenger in that same SUV. At the hearing, she insisted she saw McDonald "closing the gap" that separated the teen from Van Dyke and making threatening movements, even from the ground. An attorney for the Police Department countered that McDonald's movements on the pavement were caused by the bullets hitting his body."

Goddamned liar.

"Lawyers for the officers argued that the city had no proof their clients lied and that the officers were just doing their jobs and reporting what they had observed."

Day is night, night is day, and shit smells perversely sweet. All ass backwards from reality.

"The four officers can challenge their terminations in Cook County Circuit Court."

Bet they won't?

"The dismissals continue civil, criminal and administrative litigation that has roiled Chicago since Van Dyke shot McDonald, 17, who was high on PCP as he refused police commands to drop a knife while walking away from officers on a Southwest Side street the night of Oct. 20, 2014."

Reread the last quote. He was walking away. Did not justify Van Dyke executing the kid.

"The dashcam video, withheld from the public for more than a year, enabled the teen's mother and sister to get a $5 million settlement from the city in 2015."

Good for them. Such settlements are the only thing that will rein in this kind of abuse, blatant murder. Forget? Officers are seldom prosecuted for murdering on the job. Usually, protected and coddled. Soaked taxpayers will certainly pressure the powers to be.

"Later that year, a Cook County judge ordered the city to release the video. Much of the ensuing public anger focused on contradictions between that recording and the reports by officers that McDonald was attacking Van Dyke."

Outright lying by those sworn to uphold the law.

"The protests led to a yearlong U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found widespread constitutional abuses by CPD and a lack of accountability for the misconduct. That probe led to a police reform agreement, known as a consent decree, that took effect in March and is enforceable by a federal judge."

Not good enough. Nowhere near. This same old shit continues not only in Chicago, but across our formerly great nation.

"Last October, a Cook County jury convicted Van Dyke of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. Judge Vincent Gaughan in January sentenced him to 81 months in prison with the possibility of release in half that time. Van Dyke, listed as a federal inmate in New York, is scheduled for release in February 2022."

Think that's justice? Kill a cop even in self-defense in states that have a death penalty, guess what? Get executed.

"In a separate criminal case, Walsh, Officer Thomas Gaffney and Detective David March were charged with engaging in a cover-up. Those defendants opted for a bench trial that concluded in January. Cook County Judge Domenica Stephenson found them not-guilty. Walsh and March had both resigned before the trial. Gaffney remained on the force."

No justice. The 'judge' was in bed with law enforcement. Failed to uphold her oath of office.

CBS News reports:

"Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police slammed the police board for its decision, contending the officers did nothing wrong."

They covered up a murder perpetrated by a jackbooted bastard in blue.

"Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson in 2016 accused the officers of either giving or approving knowingly false statements. None of the four were charged criminally, however they were stripped of police powers and assigned to desk duty as their case proceeded. The firings can be appealed through a lawsuit. A Cook County judge acquitted three other officers in January of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and official misconduct charges in the case. Former Officer Joseph Walsh, Officer Thomas Gaffney and former Detective David March were charged with obstruction of justice, conspiracy and official misconduct. Prosecutors said they lied to shield Van Dyke from prosecution. A judge rejected the contention that a video of McDonald's death proved police officers staged a cover-up."

No justice. No accountability. The 'judge' was in bed with corrupt and abusive law enforcement. The video didn't lie. The officers did. --The 'judge,' as hopelessly corrupt as the officers.

"McDonald was allegedly high on PCP and carrying a small knife in 2014 when Van Dyke exited his squad car and almost immediately opened fire. Police video released in 2015 showed Van Dyke firing 16 bullets into McDonald, many after the teen had crumpled to the ground."

An execution.

"Franko was accused of approving false police reports that McDonald attempted to stab Van Dyke and another officer and had in fact injured Van Dyke. Mondragon was accused of falsely reporting that she did not see the shooting of McDonald because she was shifting the gear of her squad car. She was also accused of incompetence for not inspecting the video equipment in her car to see if it was working and recording events. Viramontes was accused of reporting that McDonald continued to move after he was shot and that he tried to get up with the knife still in his hand. He held to his statement even when an investigator showed him a video of the shooting. Sebastian was not found to have filed a false report. However, it was determined she gave misleading and inconsistent statements to investigators that McDonald turned toward Van Dyke and another officer with a knife in a motion toward them. Jurors convicted Van Dyke of murder in October. He's serving a more than six-year prison term."

No justice:

"Illinois' Supreme Court denied a bid by the state's attorney general and a special prosecutor to resentence Van Dyke. The prosecutors had expressed the belief the sentence was too lenient for the crime. In March he was transferred to a New York federal correctional institution that's been called one of the country's "cushiest" prisons. Absent a new sentence and with credit for good behavior, Van Dyke will likely serve around three years of his nearly seven year sentence."

No justice.

"The McDonald case has roiled the criminal justice system in Chicago. The then police superintendent, Gerry McCarty, was fired by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the then top prosecutor, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, was ousted by voters. Many believe Emanuel decided against running for a third term because of the case. It also led to a U.S. Justice Department investigation that found a "pervasive cover-up culture" and prompted plans for far-reaching police reforms."

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.

7-26-19

The following is appalling. KMGH-Denver, Colorado reports:

"A corrections officer for a Denver facility who was arrested earlier this month on suspicion he was trying to pimp women and could have been using his position at the facility to target them, was charged Thursday with several counts in connection to those crimes. Denver District Attorney Beth McCann formally charged Joshua Hensley, 38, with one count of patronizing a prostitute, one count of stalking, and two counts of attempted pimping. The charges allege Hensley used his position and his employment at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility to recruit women and prostitute them. The charges stem from one particular case in which he reportedly solicited a former inmate at the facility for sex, and later attempted to pimp her and another woman. Hensley is also charged with stalking for repeatedly contacting and threatening another woman who refused to work for him, an affidavit states. Law enforcement believes there may be more victims and is encouraging witnesses or other victims to contact Crime Stoppers at (720) 913-7867."

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.

7-26-19

Unfit for duty. Presents an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties. NBC News reports:

"A Louisiana police officer is facing criticism over a comment he made last week suggesting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., be shot. The officer, Charlie Rispoli, a 14-year veteran of the Gretna, Louisiana, police force, called Ocasio-Cortez a "vile idiot" who "needs a round, and I don't mean the kind she used to serve," referring to her past job as a bartender, according to a screenshot posted by nola.com. According to the New Orleans-based news outlet, his comment was a reaction to a fake quote attributed to the congresswoman claiming that "we pay soldiers too much." Both his post and Facebook account have since been taken down."

Jesus Christ. Stunning that a cop would engage in such activity.

"Gretna's police chief, Arthur Lawson, told nola.com he found the post "disturbing," adding, "This will not go unchecked." "I’m not going to take this lightly and this will be dealt with on our end," he told the outlet. "It’s not something we want someone that’s affiliated with our department to make these types of statements. That’s not going to happen." He said that while he did not think the post constituted an actual threat, it was likely a violation of his department's social media policy."

Think it wasn't posted by this goddamned jackass to inspire others to commit a criminal act? Wake up, Chief.

"Ocasio-Cortez was also the subject of violent and misogynistic Facebook posts in a private group where nearly 10,000 current and former Customs and Border Protection agents exchanged thoughts, a ProPublica investigation revealed. And the four congresswomen targeted in Trump's tweets, Ocasio-Cortez, Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., were the subject of a recent Facebook post by the Republican County Chairmen’s Association of Illinois, which labeled them the “jihad squad.” “Political Jihad is their game,” the since-deleted post read. “If you don’t agree with their socialist ideology you’re racist.”

We've heard this same old tired rhetoric from the national socialist, achingly fascist Nazi Right in our formerly great country the last seven decades. If you oppose their embrace of nazism, you are labeled a communist, a Marxist socialist, while these very same nazis embrace the early national socialism of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini. Worst, then, was yet to come. As it is, now.

"The state's GOP chairman, Tim Schneider, disavowed the post Sunday night. “Bigoted rhetoric greatly distracts from legitimate and important policy debates and further divides our nation,” Mr. Schneider said, adding, “I urge everyone who opposes them to keep the rhetoric focused on policy and ideology.”

No longer possible in a de facto fascist police-state since 9/11, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

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

7-26-19

Raw insanity. Aggressive stupidity at its very worst. NPR reports:

"Criminals convicted of assault, domestic violence and theft have been finding work as police officers in Alaska, according to an investigation by the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica. "It's a small part of a serious problem," Anchorage Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins told NPR on Monday. He described the situation as "a two-tiered justice system in which people in Alaska's most remote communities do not enjoy the same level of protection and public safety services as those of us who live in the cities." Just in the small western village of Stebbins, Hopkins reported with a team last week, every police officer pleaded guilty to domestic violence charges within the last 10 years. The seven officers had served time in jails, prisons or halfway houses, according to the newspaper. Only one officer had ever received any kind of formal law enforcement training. The reporting focused mainly on village and tribal police officers. Hopkins told NPR the problem stems not just from a lack of funding and a shortage of people who want to work as officers, but a broken regulatory and background check process."

Wake up, Sheriff. ... Sound familiar, Bill? The long-suffering Llano County public is entitled to background information on the jackbooted thugs hired by your office.

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.

7-26-19

Consider the following the very best in policing? ABC News reports:

"An Iowa police officer facing growing claims of misconduct has resigned, two weeks after the release of a video that showed him striking a motorcyclist during a 2017 traffic stop."

Why did it take so long to release the video? Why was he protected and coddled?

"Robert Smith resigned Monday after a closed City Council meeting in Durant. Smith was one of three full-time officers in the town of 1,800. Durant hired Smith last year after he resigned from the Iowa State Patrol following an investigation into his arrest of Bryce Yakish. Problems in Smith's past came to the public's attention after Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington banned Smith and other Durant officers from bringing suspects to his jail in May. Wethington said he couldn't vouch for their credibility. Video obtained by The Associated Press shows Smith pointed his gun at Yakish and knocked him down."

Time for law enforcement to finally get its act together. ... Right, Sheriff? How do you sleep nights, Bill? No honor? No principles?

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.

7-26-19

Before calling the cops on someone, had better make sure precisely why you're calling. :) CBS News reports:

"Most kids are selling lemonade on hot summer days, but a boy from Utah had an even better idea – ice-cold beer. Root beer, that is. Seth Parker set up his "ICE COLD BEER" stand in front of a church in Brigham City, Utah. The kid had his neighborhood fooled, with the local police department receiving several calls from concerned neighbors Tuesday. If you look closely enough at the sign, the word "root" can be seen in tiny letters just above "BEER." When officers arrived to check on Seth, it turned out he was just a savvy marketer. "Yep, he's selling beer ... ROOT BEER, that is," Brigham City Police Department wrote on Facebook.

"This young man, in the area of 600 South 200 East, has a twist on a lemonade stand. Yep, he’s selling beer ... ROOT...
Posted by Brigham City Police Department on Tuesday, July 16, 2019"

Apparently, this kid had quite an enterprise going:

"Business seems to be booming since the boy went viral. According to his mom Alexis Parker, he sold out on Tuesday, but would be back. "I just bought him out," Deedre Coy Petersen wrote on Facebook. "He'll be back tomorrow, possibly with a more easy to read "Root" on there. SO many people still stopping to give dirty looks. It was cute and funny. No children were harmed in the selling of this ROOT beer."

Amazing how these lazy asses couldn't even take a close look before calling law enforcement.

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

7-26-19

In follow up to two cases covered in this publication and elsewhere, NBC News reports:

"New Jersey's high court took action Wednesday against two judges who have faced criticism over their comments in cases involving sexual assault. New Jersey's Supreme Court terminated the temporary assignment of State Superior Court Judge James Troiano, who declined to order a 16-year-old rape suspect tried in adult court because the youth came "from a good family." Troiano is retired, but had been recalled to serve in Monmouth County. He requested the high court end his assignment following widespread condemnation of his remarks. "This young man comes from a good family who put him into an excellent school where he was doing extremely well," Troiano said in his July 2018 decision. "He is clearly a candidate for not just college but probably for a good college." Troiano further wondered if the alleged assault of the intoxicated teenager, which was recorded on video, could even be classified as rape."

The above case was recently reported here. Long-term readers will recall the following one was covered several years ago:

"Also Wednesday, the court recommended that state Superior Court Judge John Russo Jr. be removed from the bench. Russo asked a woman during a 2016 hearing if she could have closed her legs to prevent a sexual assault, and joked about the exchange later with court personnel. The Troiano case and another involving a judge who also declined to waive a 16-year-old's sexual assault case to adult court prompted strong criticism in recent weeks after the comments came to light. Both decisions were reversed by appeals courts. Numerous public officials called for Troiano and state Superior Court Judge Marcia Silva to be removed from the bench. Silva called an alleged sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl by a 16-year-old "not an especially heinous or cruel offense."

What could these 'judges' possibly been thinking?

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.

7-26-19

Follow up on 'massive' ICE raids. NBC News reports:

"Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 35 people as part of an operation targeting families with deportation orders, officials said Tuesday, a number far lower than the 2,000 targeted in the highly publicized raids touted by President Donald Trump. Of those 35 arrested, 18 were members of families with court-ordered removal orders targeted by the operation and 17 were collateral arrests of people found during enforcement actions, ICE Acting Director Matthew Albence said during a news teleconference Tuesday morning. Albence declined to say when the arrests took place and would not name the cities where they occurred, but said they happened "nationwide in various locations."

NBC News reports:

"When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived at a Nashville home Monday in an attempt to detain a man there, neighbors and activists gathered to support the man, who remained shuttered in a van with a child for hours before the agents left."

The criminal jackbooted bastards had no warrant.

"And once the agents and police officers they had called to the scene finally drove away, neighbors who had kept the man and the boy fed, hydrated and cool, formed a human chain from the van to the house as the man and the boy shuffled inside. "It was striking to watch neighbors deliver food, water, and gasoline to help their neighbor stay in his car," Nashville Councilman Bob Mendes, who witnessed part of the incident, wrote in a statement. "Having watched this play out, I have a new appreciation for the practical difficulty cities face in dealing with ICE civil immigration enforcement." The ICE agents attempted to stop the white van in Hermitage early Monday morning, but when the driver would not stop, they followed him to a home, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. The agents, driving unmarked vehicles, blocked the van in the driveway, catching the attention of neighbors, according to a statement from the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), whose staffers responded to the incident. Police, who reported to the scene after the ICE agents called them, reported that the man, who has not been identified, had a 12-year-old child with him in the van. TIRRC said that the agents and Metropolitan Nashville police officers remained at the scene for several hours."

Uncommon Valor:

"The neighbors who lent their assistance "reported that they were worried and outraged because some had known the family for more than a decade," the TIRRC statement said. Several people recorded and live-streamed the incident on social media. "They told local media outlets that ICE 'picked the wrong community on the wrong day,'" the statement said. "What happened this morning shows how deeply rooted immigrants are in our community." TIRRC's statement said the ICE agents had "no judicial or criminal warrant to apprehend" the man, who was within his rights to remain in the van. "ICE doesn’t have the authority to enter your home or private property without a warrant signed by a judge," the TIRRC statement said. "The majority of the time, ICE only has an administrative warrant — not a judicial one."

"If ICE shows up at your house, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR and know your rights. It's important in this time to make sure our neighborhoods are organized. pic.twitter.com/EO4fdZSC66
— TIRRC (@tnimmigrant) July 22, 2019"

This is nazi government operating outside the law and United States Constitution.

"TIRRC questioned why police officers responded to the scene. "When immigrant community members and their families associate local police with federal immigration enforcement, they are less likely to report being a victim or a witness to a crime — making the whole community less safe," their statement said. Mendes said that he saw two marked police cars at the scene, and he was told a detective in an unmarked vehicle arrived during the hour he was there. Officers had their blue vehicle lights on shortly after arriving and then turned them off. Mendes said he saw brief conversations between the officers and the ICE agents. One officer told him "there were no known criminal warrants for the man in the van." The officer said that police were there "to protect the public, the people in the van, and the ICE agents if necessary," but otherwise, "would have no role."

Uncommon Valor:

"The officers were instructed to not be involved in the service of the detainer, but to stand by from a distance to keep the peace if necessary," said a statement from Metropolitan Nashville Police Department spokesman, Don Aaron. "Our police officers do not actively participate in immigration enforcement efforts and only serve as peacekeepers," Nashville Mayor David Briley reiterated in a statement, according to NBC affiliate WSMV. "I am keenly aware that this type of activity by our federal government stokes fear and distrust in our most vulnerable communities, which is why we do not use our local resources to enforce ICE orders," Briley said."

ICE lied:

"A statement from ICE said the agents were at the Nashville home Monday "seeking a convicted criminal alien ICE fugitive with an outstanding removal order ... when they were encountered by a small group of protestors." "Out of an abundance of caution for the safety of all persons involved, ICE personnel subsequently made the decision to depart without making an arrest to deescalate the situation," the statement said. ICE's southern region communication director, Bryan D. Cox, added that anyone who interferes or obstructs federal law enforcement officers can face criminal charges. And people who are "ordered removed from the U.S. who willfully fail to depart" can also face criminal charges along with fines up to $5,000."

They had no warrant signed by a judge. Jackbooted motherf--kers.

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.

7-26-19

The ICE follies. NPR reports:

"Last October, Osny Kidd was arrested outside his Los Angeles apartment and taken to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Adelanto, Calif. "I was in handcuffs from feet to waist to arms. I arrived there in chains," Kidd says. Over 76 days, he says, he was strip searched, subject to filthy conditions, denied medications, and briefly placed in solitary confinement."

Nazi America.

"The treatment and conditions Kidd describes raise questions of whether the detention facility violated ICE's detention standards, based on a review of an ICE manual that details those standards. The contractor ICE hired to inspect its facilities found no problems at Adelanto in recent years. That contractor, a private firm called the Nakamoto Group, has become a lightning rod for criticism. The Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General has repeatedly criticized the company for cutting corners on its investigations, conducting improper interviews, and producing inaccurate reports. In one instance, the government watchdog said ICE failed to take seriously the problem of braided bed sheets hanging in detainee cells. It said similar braided sheets had been used as a noose in one suicide and in several other attempts."

Is ICE encouraging suicide?

"For many critics, Nakamoto's failures cited in the government reports help explain why unsanitary, harsh conditions at the detention centers persist. Public scrutiny of detention facilities continues to increase. Meanwhile, the population of those detained at ICE's facilities last month reached an all-time high of 54,000. At the same time, there are persistent questions from the inspector general about whether ICE is properly overseeing the contractors that run a majority of the agency's facilities. ICE relies heavily on private industry in nearly every aspect of its operation. Outside contractors GEO Group and CoreCivic operate most of ICE's adult detention centers. For the last eight years, Nakamoto has been charged with conducting annual inspections of ICE detention centers, including those run by GEO and CoreCivic. "It's really not an exaggeration to say that there is basically no meaningful accountability or oversight for the companies who are involved," says Heidi Altman, director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center, an immigrant rights group. The DHS inspector general not only criticized Nakamoto's work, it also faulted ICE for not properly overseeing Nakamoto. "ICE does not adequately hold detention facility contractors accountable for not meeting performance standards," the inspector general wrote in its latest report in January."

Why has no one been prosecuted?

CBS News reports:

"A U.S.-born 18-year-old was released from immigration custody Tuesday after wrongfully being detained for more than three weeks. Francisco Erwin Galicia left a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pearsall, Texas. His lawyer, Claudia Galan, confirmed he had been released, less than a day after The Dallas Morning News' reporting about his case drew national attention.

"Galicia lives in the border city of Edinburg, Texas, and was traveling north with a group of friends when they were stopped at a Border Patrol inland checkpoint. According to Galan and the Morning News, agents apprehended Galicia on suspicion that he was in the U.S. illegally even though he had a Texas state ID. Galicia was detained for three weeks by the Border Patrol, then transferred to the ICE detention center. Galan said she believes Galicia was "absolutely" a victim of racial profiling. The others in the vehicle with him were all Latinos, including his 17-year-old brother Marlon, who was born in Mexico and was in the U.S. illegally. Marlon told the Morning News he agreed to be returned to Mexico. "I'm so thankful Francisco is free and he can sleep at home tonight and see his mom," she said. Before Francisco was released, his mother told CBS Harlingen, Texas affiliate KGBT-TV, "I'm devastated, I don't know what to do. I have one son in Mexico and the other detained. I feel bad, I'm heartbroken," Sanjuana Galicia said. She said Marlon is staying with his grandmother in Reynosa, Mexico.

"A 2018 investigation by the Los Angeles Times found that ICE had released more than 1,480 people after investigating their citizenship status. In one case, a U.S. citizen was held in immigration detention for more than three years."

CBS News reports:

"Federal immigration officers trying to arrest a Mexican national smashed a car window and dragged him from the vehicle in front of his girlfriend and two young children, prompting condemnation from the woman's Missouri congressman. A Facebook Live video taken during the arrest of Florencio Millan-Vazquez in Kansas City on Monday shows Immigration and Custom Enforcement and Kansas City police officers trying to persuade him to leave the vehicle. Millan-Vazquez, who is in the U.S. illegally, and his girlfriend, Cheyenne Hoyt, repeatedly ask to see a warrant. After officers warn that they plan to break the window, an immigration officer smashes the glass and others help drag Millan-Vazquez out of the car. "I'm still in shock," a crying Hoyt told The Associated Press Tuesday. "You think that it's not going to happen to my family, like I never thought this was going to happen. You hear the things (President Donald) Trump says, but (Millan-Vazquez) is not a rapist, he's not a murderer, or a drug dealer. And the way they did it in front of the kids, they didn't care."

Jackbooted motherf--kers. Yet, Republicans haughtily consider themselves the party of the family.

"Hoyt, who shot and posted the video, said they had been on the way to a doctor's appointment for their disabled 7-month-old daughter when immigration officers blocked them in at their apartment complex and ordered Millan-Vazquez out of the vehicle. The immigration officer asked several times to see proof that Millan-Vazquez is allowed to be in the U.S. and tells the couple that ICE doesn't need a warrant to arrest someone who has entered the country illegally. "It was like something you saw on a movie, like you never thought it was going to happen," Hoyt told CBS News affiliate KCTV. Agents must have a warrant when arresting someone inside a home, but the law is less clear for arrests outside a residence, said Jessica Piedra, an immigration attorney with the Kansas City Metro Immigration Alliance. "It's a little murky since he was in his car," Piedra told The Kansas City Star."

Shouldn't matter whether you're in your home or your vehicle. Nazi justice.

"Hoyt acknowledged Millan-Vazquez was in the country illegally but said he is a hard-working chef and family man who never caused any trouble. Immigration officials said Millan-Vazquez re-entered the country twice after being voluntarily deported in 2011 and that he has misdemeanors on his record. "Millan-Vazquez was uncooperative and refused to exit his vehicle or follow lawfully issued commands issued by ICE and local police," said ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer. "After attempting to negotiate with Millan-Vazquez for about 25 minutes, the ICE officers were left with no other choice than make the arrest by physically removing him from the vehicle." On the video, the couple's 11-year-old son is heard crying as the window is broken and his father is taken away. Millan-Vazquez can later be heard asking to say goodbye to his son. An ICE agent turns down his request. "Right now we're being extremely nice to you, but what you just put us through, what we had to go through, you're lucky I'm letting you talk to (Hoyt) right now," the agent says. "So no, you can talk to him later, she can bring him up to where you're gonna be and you can see them there."

Aryan arrogant jackbooted nazi motherf--ker. Trump's Fourth Reich.

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

7-26-19

ICE follies to worsen. NPR reports:

"The Trump administration announced on Monday it is expanding fast-track deportation regulations to include the removal of undocumented immigrants who cannot prove they have been in the U.S. continuously for two years or more. The change dramatically expands the ability of the Department of Homeland Security to quickly deport certain immigrants without any of the due-process protections granted to most other people, including the right to an attorney and to a hearing before a judge. It is set to go into effect Tuesday and is the latest escalation of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown."

Raw nazism. Direct, determined, concerted abrogation of the United States Constitution by the Trump nazi and his henchmen.

"The effect of that change will be to enhance national security and public safety — while reducing government costs — by facilitating prompt immigration determinations," DHS said in a notice."

Outrageously, unconstitutional.

"We plan on challenging the change ... speedily," Anand Balakrishnan, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU's Immigrant Rights Project told NPR. Balakrishnan called the policy shift "extremely sweeping," and said it authorizes any Customs and Border Protection officer to determine whether a person has been in the U.S. the requisite amount of time to trigger legal proceedings. "The only way out of that is for the person to affirmatively prove that they've been here for two years or more. To have that evidence on them at all times," he said. "It puts the burden on every noncitizen to prove their continuous presence." He noted, deportations could happen within hours of a person's arrest. "From what we know about the way expedited removals have been administered in the past, it's been rife with errors," Balakrishnan said. "U.S. citizens have been ordered deported" and in other cases, people who have lived in the country for more than a decade have also been ejected, he said."

Trump does as he pleases. No regard for the rule of law. Continuous abrogation of his oath of office to uphold the United States Constitution.

"The DHS notice stated unaccompanied children may not be placed in expedited removal under current law. Further, undocumented immigrants can apply for asylum when they are apprehended, potentially delaying an immediate deportation until a credible-fear hearing and a determination is made. People who are deported under expedited removal regulations have no right to appeal. The pro-immigration American Immigration Council estimates thousands of people could be deported as a result of the expansion."

Nazi America.

Particularly galling, outrageously hypocritical considering the fact our UNDOCUMENTED forebears came to this land centuries ago, STOLE it from its native inhabitants, then BROKE every goddamned treaty signed.

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.

7-26-19

Law enforcement continues to go on digital fishing expeditions. Some corporations courageously resist. ABC News reports:

"In 2018, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report which concluded that in the previous year, U.S. law enforcement agencies made more than 130,000 requests for access to digital evidence from six of largest technologies companies in the world alone. The requests were sent to companies like Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Verizon Communications media unit Oath and Google. Telecom giants like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T also received more than 500,000 court-ordered requests to identify users and provide location data and communications content for criminal cases. With the expansion of digital platforms, the report found that law enforcement requests for data access had "significantly increased over time." In 2016, law enforcement sent roughly 110,000 requests; the year before that, companies only saw around 96,000. In 1994, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) passes into law and mandated that all communications companies are required to assist law enforcement’s access to information when under a court order. Yet existing loopholes in the law have prompted some cell phone providers to argue they aren’t communication companies and are thus not required to assist law enforcement. These loopholes have created legal standoffs where tech companies are fighting against releasing information to law enforcement in court. Microsoft has argued that data stored on a company server in another country exempts it from an obligation to cooperate with a U.S. law enforcement request for the data. Last year, Apple updated its software to disable the Lightning port on the bottom of its iPhones one hour after a user locks the phone, preventing a common workaround that law enforcement had used to break into iPhones to access data in the course of criminal investigations, according to the Washington Post. "We’re constantly strengthening the security protections in every Apple product to help customers defend against hackers, identity thieves and intrusions into their personal data," Apple said in a statement announcing the update, the Post reported. "We have the greatest respect for law enforcement, and we don’t design our security improvements to frustrate their efforts to do their jobs."

Called privacy. Law enforcement hasn't a clue. Determinedly, concertedly continues to go on fishing expeditions in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.

"And last fall, a New Hampshire judge ordered Amazon to turn over recordings from an Echo smart speaker in a home where a double murder took place, according to Vox. In a statement to Vox, Amazon said it won’t "release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us" and that "Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course." It didn’t comment on whether the company will hand over the data once it’s served a motion, or if it will challenge the ruling and the status of the Court Ordered request is still unclear. To date, the status the case of the order remains unclear. Yet in another, similar case in which a judge ordered Amazon to turn over recordings from one of its smart speakers, attorneys for Amazon resisted, writing that ""Given the important First Amendment and privacy implications at stake, the warrant should be quashed unless the Court finds that the State has met its heightened burden for compelled production of such materials." In March, 2017, the tech giant ultimately complied with the order after the defendant consented to the disclosure."

There is good reason for the corporate management suite to be concerned:

"In addition to their desire to protect their customers' privacy, the tech community in Silicon Valley has maintained an uneasy relationship with the U.S. government ever since it was revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013 that the U.S. National Security Administration (NSA) had surreptitiously hacked into their systems to gain unfettered access to their data storage systems."

Jackbooted nazi government.

"For law enforcement, access to this information in a timely fashion is critical to stopping and solving crimes. Often these investigations are time sensitive -- kidnapped children, trafficked humans or murder and the ability to access this information is paramount to solving a case."

Government has lied so many times it cannot be trusted. Under current circumstances, the corporate management suite should always demand a warrant signed by a judge. Should the warrant turn out to be bogus, sue the living shit out of the bastards. The best thing manufacturers could do for privacy is design systems that are highly encrypted, cannot be broken into easily by anyone.

"While this debate continues, Americans have also watched as multiple data breaches have penetrated the defenses of databases maintained by the U.S. government and large corporations alike. Widespread data breaches and this concern for privacy have prompted Congress to find unusual bi-partisan support to further enhance privacy protections. Several members, on both sides of the political aisle, have proposed legislation to "modernize" the U.S. data privacy rules. These include proposed reforms to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 -- which, if it had been enacted, would of codified a requirement for a court-ordered search warrant for any type of electronic data, including the subscriber information for a phone number, which had previously been obtainable with an issued subpoena."

A step in the right direction but nowhere near good enough. Government cannot be trusted.

"In the CSIS report, a survey of law enforcement officials on the federal, state, and local level all indicated that their top challenge was accessing data from service providers -- much of which is not encrypted -- through their respective legal processes."

Tough shit. The citizenry must be protected against corrupt and abusive government. No greater threat today than from corrupt and abusive government.

"The report also states that "digital evidence will only grow in importance as more of our lives move online and connected devices proliferate." "As the world changes," the report continued, "law enforcement’s capabilities and authorities will need to evolve to keep up, and the relationship between law enforcement and major service providers will become ever more essential to protect the rule of law and public safety, as well as privacy and civil liberties."

No longer possible to do both. Privacy has to come first since government is incapable of being trusted. Has lied too many times. Abused power. Engaged in jackbooted tactics incompatible with a democratic republic. As consumers, we need to demand high encryption of any products purchased. Delusionally believe government isn't the issue? Readers are reminded the State Department failed to do full background checks on the 9/11 hijackers.

Failed to heed warnings from the flight schools the terrorists wished only to learn how to fly straight and level, not take off and land. Instead, both the Democrats and Republicans, after the fact, traitorously passed the USA 'Patriot' Act, 'Real' ID Act, Homeland 'Security' Act, etc., creating a de facto fascist police-state, now transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

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

7-19-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

... "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.

Not good enough. Nowhere near. Short of an unwanted dreaded second American revolution, only one way for these atrocities to end. 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.

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

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

7-19-19

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

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

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

7-19-19

Readers are advised the following was written prior to police finally releasing updated information and video of the encounter seven days after the fact.

In follow up to the last edition, CNN reports:

"Hannah Williams' father still has no idea why a police officer shot and killed his 17-year-old daughter. It's been several days since the California teen encountered a Fullerton police officer while driving in the nearby city of Anaheim. At some point, Hannah's car and the officer's police SUV "made physical contact," the Orange County District Attorney's office said. "An officer-involved shooting occurred and a replica Beretta 92 FS handgun was recovered at the scene next to" the teen, the DA's office said. "The gun was later identified as a replica handgun designed to look like a real Beretta 92 FS."

Did law enforcement plant it to cover its ass?

"Hannah was taken to a hospital, where she later died. That was Friday. Authorities have not provided any more details about what prompted the shooting. "We want to know why police felt the need to shoot and kill a 17 year old unarmed teen girl," Hannah's father Benson Williams said."

Likely due to a gutless 'shoot first, ask questions later' mentality.

"The replica gun found near Hannah did not have a bright orange tip, as required by federal law, that would indicate it was fake gun. Authorities say a replica of a Beretta 92FS gun was found at the scene of the officer-involved shooting that killed 17-year-old Hannah Williams. But the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, speaking on behalf of the family, said it's not clear whether the fake gun was Hannah's. The Fullerton officer, who was not publicly identified, was driving in Anaheim to take his police K-9 partner to the veterinarian, the district attorney's office said."

Why hasn't the officer been identified? The public is entitled to this information.

"He observed a 17-year-old female driver, who was also eastbound on the 91 Freeway at a high rate of speed, near Glassell Avenue" the DA's office said. "At some point, the two vehicles made physical contact. An officer-involved shooting occurred and a replica Beretta 92 FS handgun was recovered at the scene next to the female." The shooting took place on the 91 Freeway in Anaheim, southeast of Los Angeles. Anaheim police, along with the county district attorney's office, are investigating the shooting because it happened within Anaheim city limits."

Fox guarding the chicken coop. Time 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 whose sole function would be to adjudicate only these cases. Total independence.

"Fullerton police are investigating whether its officer may have violated department policy. The officer is on paid administrative leave while authorities investigate. It's unclear when authorities will tell the public what prompted the shooting. The circumstances that led to the shooting are under investigation and are not immediately available," Anaheim police said Saturday."

Why is he on paid vacation? Clearly, law enforcement needs time to get its lies straight.

In follow up to the above as well as the last edition, this now appears to be a case of 'suicide-by-cop.' If so, one of the worst things that can happen to an officer just trying to do his or her job. Worse, law enforcement failed to quickly release information and a video. Sat on this quite some time, a full week.

NBC News reports:

"Body camera video shows teen fatally shot by officer on freeway appeared to have [a] handgun. The handgun turned out to be a replica. The girl's family said that they want families to be more quickly informed of details in similar situations. In this police still image from a body camera video released on Friday, appears to show a 17-year-old girl point a replica handgun at an officer just before she was fatally shot on an Anaheim freeway."

This information could and should have been immediately released. There was no reason to sit on it. Delayed disclosure for a week. Outrageous.

"The teen who was fatally shot by police on an Anaheim freeway pointed what appeared to be a handgun at the officer, police said Friday while releasing body camera footage. The weapon was a replica. The 17-year-old, identified by family members as Hannah Williams, died at a hospital after being shot by a Fullerton officer on State Route 91 around 7 p.m. July 5. The video, which police released Friday, appears to show the officer coming around the corner of a sport-utility vehicle and shooting a woman. Slowed down video released by police shows her pointing what appeared to be a handgun before she is shot. Police have said the SUV intentionally struck the officer's vehicle. Fullerton police spokesman Lt. Jon Radus said in a video statement Friday that the officer, who has not been identified, got out of his vehicle and "was confronted by a female" who "was in a shooting stance, with both arms extended in front of her, pointing a gun directly at" him. The officer then fired."

Apparently, suicide-by-cop. The officer should have been identified. The public is entitled to this information. No matter the circumstances. Had the right to know. Not only that, the public should have been quickly provided with evidence that the cop seemed to have reacted reasonably to the situation confronting him.

"An attorney for Hannah's family, Lee Merritt, on Friday lamented that police did not immediately provide the family additional details of the shooting, specifically that Hannah appeared to be in a shooting stance. "If they had known that from the beginning that would have gave them a bit more closure. That would have helped them sleep a bit more — now, we still have questions," Merritt said. "There's still an ongoing investigation. This is not over for this family," he said."

No matter the status of the investigation, information needs to be quickly released, -- especially at a time when law enforcement has the well-earned reputation of embracing a 'shoot first, ask questions later mentality.' -- Too many innocent, unarmed people being killed by police under extremely questionable circumstances. This does not appear to be one of them, pending outcome of the ongoing investigation.

"Before the shooting, the officer was taking his police dog to a veterinarian hospital and spotted a dark-colored sport-utility vehicle speed past, a police spokesman said. "While attempting to stop that SUV, the officer was intentionally struck by the SUV, which then made a U-turn and ended up facing the wrong way on the freeway," Radus said in the video statement released Friday. The officer got out of his vehicle, was confronted by the woman and fired, Radus said. Authorities have said they found a replica handgun designed to look like a real handgun, which resembled a Beretta 92 FS. The body camera video shows the officer reporting shots fired and calling for medics, and the shot woman appearing to say “please help me,” and “I can’t breathe,” as she is handcuffed. She says she was hit in the chest, and another officer who retrieved the gun says “it’s a replica.” The video shows police performing first aid. About 90 minutes after the shooting, the woman's father called Anaheim police to report that his daughter had been missing for around three hours, was in their rental car, on antidepressants and may want to harm herself."

Why wasn't the call made immediately? Why delay all that time? Might have prevented the death of his daughter, -- and a cop having to live with this the rest of his life.

"Fullerton Police Chief Bob Dunn said police are in the preliminary phases of the investigation, and that police are making no conclusions as to whether the officer acted in accordance with department policies or the law. The shooting is also under investigation by the Orange County District Attorney. The district attorney’s office also said Friday that its office is exploring options about how to more quickly provide more information to families and the public when officers are involved in shootings. Merritt, the family attorney, said that the lack of information was a burden on Hannah’s family. “The way this family has been treated in this process is wrong,” he said, adding that family members “should not be left in the dark, wondering.” "Because it doesn’t have to be families vs. the police," he said. "It doesn’t have to be families vs. the city.” Merritt also said that he and the family acknowledge that the officer had very little time to make that analysis and was confronted by a person in a shooting stance. "We can't exonerate him at this point, but we certainly can't condemn him," he said."

That's right. Appears to have had no choice.

ABC News reports:

"A call from a 17-year old southern California girl's father after she was fatally shot by police served as a heartbreaking postscript to bodycam video showing the teen's final moments, during which she was shot after appearing to aim a gun at a responding officer. Fullerton police released the bodycam footage of the shooting of high school senior Hannah Williams on Friday, and other new details about the incident, which occurred about a mile from the girl's home." In an effort to be transparent with the community that we serve, the Fullerton Police Department is releasing its second Critical Incident Community Briefing, which will provide details to the community about the incident, as we know them today," according to a Fullerton Police statement. This includes Body Worn Camera (BWC) video footage from the incident itself, still photos, radio traffic, and a 9-1-1 call for service," "Please keep in mind this is an initial review, and our understanding of this incident could possibly change as additional evidence is collected, analyzed, and reviewed," the statement said. "While body worn cameras are an excellent investigative tool, they do not always show what the officers may have seen, and vice versa, the officers don’t always see and experience what the body camera footage shows."

Why did it take a week? At a time when there is so little faith and trust in law enforcement for damned good reason, information needs to be released in a far more timely fashion.

"Just after 7 p.m. on July 5, Flynn attempted what was initially a traffic stop in Anaheim in Orange County, after a black rental SUV sped by with Williams at the wheel, according to a videotaped statement by Fullerton Police Lt. Jon Radus introducing the footage. The driver of the black SUV seemed to intentionally drive into the police car, before attempting a U-turn into oncoming traffic, Radus said. The video shows Williams being apprehended by police and getting out of the SUV and appearing to point a gun at the officers. Police later recovered a BB gun designed to look like a Beretta 92 FS handgun at the scene next to Williams, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office. In the scenes that follow, Williams is seen laying on the ground crying for help and moaning and repeating, "I can't breathe." Asked where she was hit, she responds, "my chest." Police, including an Los Angeles Police Department officer are also seen attending to the injured girl, discussing cutting off her shirt and applying seals to her chest and tying a tourniquet to her injured leg. Later she is heard coughing as police note that she is "going to gag." Fullerton Police also released the 911 call placed by Benson Williams, Hannah's father, who, not knowing about the shooting, phoned to report her as missing about 90 minutes after the incident occurred. The girl's father told the dispatcher that she had driven off with the rental car and was on antidepressants. Asked if he was concerned she may want to harm herself, he replied, "I am." Asked if Hannah had ever mentioned hurting herself, Williams answered, "No ma'am...But like I said, she is on medication right now" and said "it's just you know out of the blue.. she's never done this." Asked if she was "white, black, Asian or Hispanic," Williams responded, "white." Before Fullerton Police released the video publicly Police Chief Robert Dunn and Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer met with the Williams' family to offer them the chance to view the video before it was released publicly, the police statement said. At a press conference on Friday, S. Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney who’s been assisting Williams’ family, told reporters he viewed the video on behalf of the Williams' family, who did not want to watch it. The Williams' family spoke with the district attorney and wants a full and through investigation into Hannah's shooting, Merritt said. He added that the family hoped that law enforcement would come up with better procedures in Hannah's name and memory."

If things are as they now appear to be, the officer had no choice, -- will certainly need assistance dealing with the aftermath. ... So will the family.

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.

7-19-19

If anyone deserves the death penalty, it's certainly a criminal jackbooted bastard in blue who plants drugs. NBC News reports:

"A former Florida sheriff's deputy was arrested on Wednesday after authorities allege he planted drugs and falsely charged dozens of innocent motorists after pulling them over under the guise of a minor traffic stop. Jackson County deputy Zachary Wester was taken into custody in Crawfordville, about 20 miles south of Tallahassee, after a yearlong investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement revealed that he frequently stopped drivers for minor traffic infractions and then covertly planted methamphetamine and other drugs in their vehicles while conducting a search of the car, authorities said in a statement. During most of these stops, Wester would turn off his body camera and “tailor his recordings to conceal his criminal activity,” authorities said. After “finding” the drugs, he would pin motorists with bogus criminal charges and arrest them. Wester’s actions led prosecutors to drop charges in nearly 120 cases that occurred between 2016 and 2018 including one man who lost custody of his daughter as a result of the false arrest."

Takes a piece of jackbooted excrement to do this to another innocent fellow human being:

"In October 2017, Benjamin Bowling was falsely charged and arrested by Wester for possessing methamphetamine while driving to the store to pick up diapers, according to the arrest warrant. Florida's child welfare agency had recently awarded Bowling custody of his daughter after being released from prison on a DUI conviction, but as a result of the false arrest, he lost custody of the child." There is no question that Wester's crimes were deliberate and that his actions put innocent people in jail," FDLE Pensacola Assistant Special Agent in Charge Chris Williams said in a statement."

Precisely, why officers who do this need to be executed by the state. Statutes changed to allow for this.

"Ten special agents and two crime analysts scoured over 1,300 minutes of recorded video and logged over 1,400 working hours to discover Wester’s nefarious pattern, he said. Williams said authorities found 42 pieces of drug paraphernalia, 10 baggies of methamphetamine and five baggies of marijuana concealed in an unmarked and unsecured evidence bag in the trunk while searching Wester’s car."

How many officers do this and are never caught, never brought to justice?

"Wester faces 52 counts of various felony charges including racketeering, official misconduct, fabricating evidence, possession of a controlled substance and false imprisonment. As well as misdemeanor perjury, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Authorities began investigating Wester last year at the request of the sheriff's office. He was fired last September. Wester was booked into the Wakulla County Jail and is being held without bond."

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 jackbooted bastards in blue. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

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

7-19-19

The following is inexplicable. Insult to injury. Literally. Long-term readers will remember this case. The Washington Post reports:

"An Arizona police officer who was fired and charged with murder for killing an unarmed man in a hotel hallway was rehired temporarily so he could collect a pension."

How is this possible? How is it legal? How is it ethical? How is it right?

"Philip Brailsford, who killed Daniel Shaver at a La Quinta hotel in Mesa in 2016, came to the agreement last year with the Mesa city manager’s office to be allowed to be rehired so he could apply for disability pension on the basis of a medical retirement, a striking reversal of his firing by the department after the shooting. He will receive a lifetime pension of about $30,000 per year."

How the f--k does something like this happen? How is it within the law? What ever happened to justice? Why are the taxpayers looted to pay for this atrocity? Clearly, crime pays if you're a cop.

"The agreement was first reported by local news outlets in Arizona, which obtained the settlement agreement that the city reached with Brailsford last August. Shaver’s shooting captured national attention when it happened in 2016 and again after Brailsford’s trial, when his body camera video was released. Police were called to the hotel in January 2016 on a complaint about a man with a rifle in one of the rooms. Shaver, 26, had been showing a legal pellet gun that he used in his job in pest control to a woman in the room with him. The body camera footage begins with the confrontation between Brailsford, other officers, and Shaver and the woman. Shaver complies with the officers’ commands, putting his hands up and lying down on the ground. They threaten to kill him multiple times for not following their orders. “If you move, we’re going to consider that a threat and we are going to deal with it and you may not survive it,” one says at one point. “Please do not shoot me,” Shaver begs at one point, his hands in the air. Brailsford opened fire after Shaver appeared to reach behind himself while crawling toward the officers. He was struck five times. Brailsford, who was carrying an AR-15 rifle with the phrase “You’re F—ed” etched into it, according to a police report, was charged with murder for the shooting and fired soon thereafter from his job. He testified in court that he believed Shaver was reaching for a gun and would have done the same thing again. He was acquitted in November 2017 after a six-week trial on both second-degree murder and reckless manslaughter charges."

Nazi justice. In a de facto fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"The settlement notes that Brailsford has been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, something his lawyer Michael Piccarreta told ABC 15 stemmed from the shooting incident and criminal prosecution. Piccarreta did not return requests for comment from The Washington Post."

This piece of jackbooted shit murdered an innocent man. Got away with murder. Literally.

"Mesa City Manager Chris Brady told the outlet that Brailsford’s PTSD claim dates to before his determination. “So in fairness he was given the opportunity to make that appeal to the board,” he said. He did not return requests for comment."

Jesus Christ. Unbelievable. Nazi justice.

"The shooting prompted a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by Shaver’s family, which is still pending."

Soak 'em for all you can get.

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.

7-19-19

Another murder and attempted murder perpetrated by a jackbooted bastard in blue. CBS News reports:

"Authorities say an off-duty police lieutenant has been charged in the fatal shooting of his estranged wife and wounding of a man at a New Jersey home. Morris County prosecutors say Police Lt. John Formisano was arrested early Monday in Livingston, New Jersey, not long after the shooting occurred in Jefferson. He was later charged with first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder, among other charges. Officers say they had been responding to calls of shots fired when they found 37-year-old Christine Formisano, of Jefferson, dead on the home's front porch. "She ran to the next door neighbor's house, but it was late and people were sleeping, and she was, you know, 'Please, open the door,' and then she went to the next neighbor's house and [Formisano] followed her right down to the house and shot her on the front porch," neighbor Tom Verrone told CBS New York. A 40-year-old man was found inside the home with multiple gunshot wounds. Authorities say the gun believed to have been used in the shootings was found in Formisano's vehicle."

Imagine what the kids will endure the rest of their lives:

"CBS New York has been told the couple's two young children were home at the time, but they were not injured. Rachel Verrone had just pulled into her parents' driveway around the corner after the shooting took place. "I heard a woman saying, just in a very calm quiet voice, 'Stay there, stay there,'" she said. Verrone says that voice was talking to Formisano's 10-year-old daughter, who was in a window of the home. She says she saw a SWAT team positioned outside. Formisano fled to his mother's house in the area, CBS New York reported. It wasn't clear Monday evening whether Formisano has an attorney."

Incidents like this don't occur in a vacuum. Had to have been warning signs. Where were his fellow officers all along the way?

"Newark Police say Formisano has been suspended without pay. Newark Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose released the following statement: "The Newark Public Safety Department is deeply saddened by the family tragedy involving Newark Police Lt. John Formisano. Our foremost concern, of course, is for the couple's two children who have lost their mother and for the family of the victim. "Lt. Formisano's colleagues in our police division were shocked by the news of the shooting and we recognize it this is a tragedy beyond comprehension for all involved."

Hard to believe no one knew there were serious problems in this family. Law enforcement is tight-knit, a community that looks out for one another. Something went terribly wrong. Again, where were his fellow officers? Who better to know something's not quite right than fellow officers?

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

7-19-19

No justice. In a case covered repeatedly here and elsewhere over the years, NPR reports:

"The Department of Justice will not bring criminal charges against the New York City police officer involved in the death of Eric Garner, in a move that prompted immediate criticism from New York officials. "Today's inaction reflects a DOJ that has turned its back on its fundamental mission – to seek and serve justice," said New York state Attorney General Letitia James. "In memory of Eric Garner and all others who have lost their lives unjustly, we will continue to fight for reforms to a criminal justice system that remains broken."

To be expected since we have a racist nazi in the Oval Office who appointed a fellow racist nazi to run the 'Justice' Department.

"Garner's dying words, "I can't breathe," became a national rallying cry and a flashpoint in what would become the Black Lives Matter movement. Federal prosecutors plan to announce Tuesday morning in New York that after a yearslong investigation, Pantaleo's actions in 2014 did not meet the bar of criminal activity."

He murdered a man and got away with it. Nazi Justice.

"With the fifth anniversary of the tragic death of Eric Garner less than 24 hours away, federal law enforcement agencies have just announced they will not pursue charges against Officer Pantaleo. Years ago, we put our faith in the federal government to act. We won't make that mistake again," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement."

Our formerly great country is a small fraction of what it once was. We've lived in a de facto fascist police-state since 9/11, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"On July 17, 2014, police officers approached Garner out of suspicion that he was selling untaxed cigarettes on the sidewalk outside a Staten Island convenience store. The encounter was captured on bystander cellphone video, showing Pantaleo taking Garner to the ground and placing him in a chokehold. Garner later died. The fatal altercation became central in debates about the use of excessive force by police and the treatment of African-Americans at the hands of police. NYPD policy prohibits use of the chokehold technique. Garner's death was ruled a homicide, though none of the police involved have been charged with a crime."

Legalized murder. Nazi America. When good men and women remain silent in the presence of great evil, they're no longer good. No longer men. No longer women.

"The Justice Department announcement marks the second time in which Pantaleo has avoided criminal charges in the death of Garner. In 2014, a Staten Island grand jury declined to criminally indict him, which New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called "very painful." A year later, New York City officials paid out nearly $6 million to the family of Garner in a settlement. Garner's family have long asked that Pantaleo face federal charges. Pantaleo is still facing an internal disciplinary proceeding over whether he should be fired by the NYPD or not. The department had postponed the move out of deference to the Justice Department inquiry, and said last summer that it planned to move ahead with its own proceedings in early September. Since Garner's death almost five years ago, Pantaleo has been on desk duty in the New York Police Department."

A jackbooted murderer in blue securely planted on the taxpayer tit. No justice. Nazi America.

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

7-19-19

In follow up to a case covered repeatedly here and elsewhere, NBC News reports:

"A white police officer who fatally shot a black man last month in South Bend, Indiana, has resigned, officials said Monday. Police union president Harvey Mills said that job-related stress, a lawsuit, national media attention and “hateful things said on social media have been difficult” for the officer, 19-year veteran Sgt. Ryan O’Neill, and his family. O'Neill shot 53-year-old Eric Logan to death on June 16 after he allegedly approached the officer with a knife, authorities said. The killing sparked fury among black residents in South Bend, with many frustrated over a body camera initiative launched by Democratic presidential nominee Mayor Pete Buttigieg. The program was intended to help repair frayed relations between the city's police department and minorities, yet O'Neill didn't have his camera switched on and Logan's killing was not recorded."

Why not? Was the jackbooted piece of shit covering his ass?

"The killing and its aftermath rekindled South Bend's racial tensions for Buttigieg, who had already faced criticism for demoting the city's first black police chief. He canceled presidential fundraisers and policy roll-outs to head back to South Bend — and was heckled by angry residents when he got there. Asked during last month's presidential debate why just six percent of South Bend's police officers are black when 26 percent of its population is black, Buttigieg said: "I couldn't get it done."

Refreshing bit of honesty coming from a politician, no? LOL. Nearly, unheard of. LOL.

"Mills said that O’Neill is the subject of a special prosecutor investigation, a civil rights lawsuit, and possible department discipline over the killing — “fights” that are “just too much for Sgt. O’Neill and his family to undertake right now,” Mills said."

Doesn't your heart bleed? A man is dead. At the hands of this cop. Under highly questionable circumstances. No video. Forget?

“Resigning will allow him to focus on these challenges, as well as assist his wife with their three children, one of whom is a newborn,” Mills added. Mills said that he was confident that an investigation into the shooting will determine that O’Neill actions were justified."

Think so? We'll see.

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.

7-12-19

Uncommon Valor. Best of the very best. CBS News reports:

"Hundreds of New York City police officers honored a former detective who fought until his final days for the extension of health benefits for 9/11 first responders. The funeral ceremony for Detective Luis Alvarez, 53, is being held at Immaculate Conception Church in Astoria, New York. Alvarez died Saturday in a hospice center after a three-year battle with colorectal cancer. He attributed his illness to the three months he spent digging through rubble at the World Trade Center's twin towers after the terrorist attack. In June, a frail Alvarez appeared before the House Judiciary Committee with former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart to request the extension of the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which has been largely depleted. "I did not want to be anywhere else but ground zero when I was there," Alvarez said at the hearing. "Now the 9/11 illnesses have taken many of us, and we are all worried about our children, our spouses and our families and what happens if we are not here."

Uncommon Valor. Best of the very best.

7-12-19

Another example of Uncommon Valor by New York's Finest. NBC News reports:

"Three New York City police officers were called to a Whole Foods on Thursday after a woman was accused of shoplifting. Instead of arresting her, they paid for the food she had stashed her bag. Paul Bozymowski, a film and TV director who was at the store, tweeted a photo of the woman with her hands and a tissue over her face as she and the officers stood near the exit at the Whole Foods in Union Square. "This woman was being held by security. She had food in her bag she didn’t pay for. When the NYPD showed up, they paid for her food," Bozymowski wrote."

Uncommon Valor. Exceptionally, good judgment.

"The police force's chief of department, Terence Monahan, retweeted Bozymowski's photo, saying the three officers are part of the NYPD's Strategic Response Group, and "are the kind-hearted cops who quietly do good deeds for New Yorkers in need." He thanked Bozymowski for sharing the show of care and "highlighting the often unnoticed." "It was very moving to see such a genuine act of kindness," Bozymowski told NBC News. "My hope is that the moment inspires others to be generous and kind as well."

There is a lot more of this going on than reported. Needs to be publicized each and every time it occurs. Is posted here every time I become aware of it.

7-12-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

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

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

7-12-19

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

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

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

7-12-19

In follow up to the last edition, NPR reports:

"A manslaughter charge against an Alabama woman, who was indicted for "intentionally" causing the death of her fetus after someone else shot her in the abdomen, has been dropped. Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff District Attorney Lynneice Washington made the announcement in the unusual case that drew headlines and criticism around the globe. "This is truly a disturbing and heartbreaking case. A unborn child was tragically lost," Washington told reporters. "There are no winners, only losers, in this sad ordeal."

Empty rhetoric.

"The decision follows the arrest of Marshae Jones, 28, who was charged on the allegation that she started a scuffle that led to her being shot by another woman. The fight took place in a parking lot in Pleasant Grove, just outside of Birmingham. "It is not in the best interest of justice to pursue prosecution of Mrs. Jones on the misdemeanor charge for which she was indicted by the grand jury," Washington said. "I am hereby dismissing this case, and no further legal action will be taken against Mrs. Jones on this matter." Attorneys for Jones welcome the move to withdraw the charges. "We are gratified the District Attorney evaluated the matter and chose not to proceed with a case that was neither reasonable nor just," lawyer Mark White said in a statement. "With the dismissal of charges, the community of support that surrounded Marshae can now channel its immense passion and energy toward ensuring that what happened to Marshae won't ever happen again."

There are no guarantees. Not in a de facto fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. Police were grandstanding. So was the grand jury. Both intentionally attempting to force their perverse ideological and religious views vis a vis abortion on all in direct violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause, church-state separation, that is, freedom from religion. Raw nazism. The victim did not pull the trigger. Yet, was indicted for the death of the fetus. Nazi justice.

"Authorities accused Jones of starting the fight with another woman in December, when Jones five months pregnant. The other woman in the dispute, Ebony Jemison, shot Jones, killing her fetus. A grand jury in Alabama initially indicted Jemison but later dropped charges against her on grounds that she was acting in self-defense. Attorneys for Jones said in legal filings that the charges were based on a "flawed and twisted rationale," writing that the indictment against Jones "ignores reason." "The state's theory improperly expands on the concept of intent under established manslaughter law," Jones wrote in the filing. "The indictment does even not allege that Ms. Jones had the initial intent to kill Ms. Jemison." "It's one of the scariest things I've seen in 45 years," White, who is on the legal team representing Jones, told NPR on Tuesday. "This young woman lost the baby she was carrying. She was shot, almost mortally wounded."

No more than raw nazism courtesy of the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue and the grand jury. Oppressive government. Nazi government.

Here's the outrageously pernicious bottom line:

"The case was seen as a potential test of a law Alabama voters passed in November granting a fetus all the same legal rights of a person. The law was intended to "support the sanctity of unborn life." The case, which caused international headlines, ignited a debate about fetal homicide laws, which recognize a fetus as a potential victim in crimes against women. Alabama is one of 38 states that currently have fetal homicide laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which notes that Alabama's law considers a fetus a "person," including embryos and fetuses "regardless of viability" in cases of assault or criminal homicide. The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement that Jones should never have been indicted. "The DA's decision here represents precisely what we want to see in these critical moments: a prosecutor who is not afraid to use discretion and the power to refuse to prosecute when justice demands the charges be dropped," said the civil rights group."

Moreover, the indictment itself needs to be erased from the victim's record. Should not follow her the rest of her life.

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.

7-12-19

The following is extremely sad. Highly demonstrative of a pressing need for continued vetting of officers during their entire time of employment. CBS news reports:

"Las Vegas police confirmed that the department fired a veteran officer who froze in the hallway of a Las Vegas Strip hotel during a 2017 mass shooting as a gunman on the floor above opened fire on a country music festival. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Officer Larry Hadfield confirmed Tuesday night that Officer Cordell Hendrex was fired March 20. Hadfield did not offer additional details or answer questions regarding an internal review of the actions of Hendrex and other officers that night. Police union president Steve Grammas told The Associated Press in an email that Hendrex had been fired because of his actions during the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting. Hendrex acknowledged in a police report that he was "terrified with fear" as the gunman above killed 58 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. "I froze right there in the middle of the hall for how long I can't say," he wrote in the report. Police body camera video released by the department shows Hendrex, along with a rookie officer and three hotel security officers, waiting in the hallway of the 31st floor in the Mandalay Bay casino-resort for about five minutes before moving to a stairwell leading to the 32nd floor, where the gunman was raining bullets onto the crowd above[below]. They remained in the stairwell for at least 15 minutes, when the video clip ends."

Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting despite and in spite of that fear, -- often paralyzing fear.

NBC News reports:

"Police body camera video released by the department shows Hendrex, along with a rookie officer and three hotel security officers, waiting in the hallway of the 31st floor in the Mandalay Bay casino-resort for about five minutes before moving to a stairwell leading to the 32nd floor, where the gunman was raining bullets onto the crowd below. They remained in the stairwell for at least 15 minutes, when the video clip ends."

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.

7-12-19

Equal justice? What's that? NBC News reports:

"When a 16-year-old New Jersey boy was accused of raping an intoxicated girl, filming the assault and sending the video to his friends, the prosecutors sought to try him as an adult. But a state Superior Court judge in South Jersey shot down that request in part because, the judge said, the boy "comes from a good family" and is destined "for a good college."

Jesus Christ. No equal justice.

"Now a state appeals court has overturned the decision and warned the judge against showing leniency to juveniles of privilege, raising the question of what such judicial reasoning would mean for "juveniles who do not come from good families and do not have good test scores."

Good question. Two systems of justice. One for the top of the food chain. The other for everyone else.

"Prosecutors can now seek an indictment on charges they choose to pursue against the teen, who would be tried as an adult. Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said in a statement released Wednesday that he was "grateful" for the appeals court decision, and "assessing our next steps, which will include discussions with the victim and her family."

Here's the issue:

"The suspect, identified in court papers only as G.M.C., in 2017 filmed himself with a girl, "Mary," who was also 16 at the time, in a closed-off, dark basement and then sent the clip to friends with a text: "[w]hen your first time having sex was rape," according to the appeals court ruling. Mary and G.M.C. were at a "pajama-themed" party, and both teens were drunk when G.M.C. allegedly led her to a basement sofa, according to the ruling by the appeals court. "Her speech was slurred, and she stumbled as she walked," the ruling said. "While on the sofa, a group of boys sprayed Febreze on Mary's bottom and slapped it with such force that the following day she had hand marks on her buttocks," the ruling said. G.M.C. then penetrated Mary from behind in a home-gym portion of the basement. In the video he sent to seven friends, her torso is exposed, and her head is hanging down. One of the friends said that the video showed Mary's head hitting the wall repeatedly. Prosecutors said that during the assault, the door to the gym was blocked by a foosball table, and the lights were off. "[G.M.C.'s] conduct as it relates to the charged offenses was both sophisticated and predatory. He was aware of the off-limits areas in advance of the party," prosecutors said, adding that "filming a cellphone video while committing the assault was a deliberate act of debasement."

Think this shouldn't be fully adjudicated? This 'kid' given a break no one else would be given under similar circumstances? Accorded special treatment, consideration? Still not convinced? Wake up. Get this:

"Following the alleged assault, others at the party checked on Mary and found her on the floor vomiting. She was driven home by a friend's mother, and told her mother the next morning that she feared "sexual things had happened at the party," the appeals court ruling said. "She did not understand how she could have gotten bruise marks on her body or how her clothing had torn." She then learned that G.M.C. was sending the video of the assault to his friends, and asked him to stop. When he didn't, her family pressed charges."

For damned good reason. Should have done so immediately. Accorded him no slack.

"Prosecutors in New Jersey can seek to send a juvenile case to adult court for serious crimes, including sexual assault, if the accused is 15 or older. If Judge James Troiano, serving in the family court division, had decided to charge G.M.C. as an adult, as the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office requested, the teen would have faced counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and two counts of third-degree invasion of privacy. He would have had to register as a sex offender. But in a July 30, 2018, decision, Troiano, who is now 69, denied the prosecutors' request. The "young man comes from a good family who put him into an excellent school where he was doing extremely well. He is clearly a candidate for not just college but probably for a good college. His scores for college entry were very high," the judge said, noting also that G.M.C. was an Eagle Scout."

Jesus Christ. Think this justifies a free pass? Think a kid in the ghetto would have been accorded similar consideration, special treatment?

"Troiano also "expressed concern that the prosecutor did not indicate ... that she had explained to Mary and her mother the devastating effect" adult charges would have on G.M.C.'s life, the appeals court ruling said. The judge said he questioned Mary's claimed state of intoxication at the time of the assault. "Some people would argue that, you know ... how could she possibly have gotten as drunk as she says she was?" the judge asked. "That's really not important. I think it's an issue here, whether or not this young lady was intoxicated to the point that she didn't understand what was going on."

Think this piece of crap qualified, competent to sit on the bench?

How about the following? Get this:

"And he wondered whether G.M.C.'s actions could be classified as a rape, saying he distinguishes between sexual assault and rape. "In my mind," Troiano said, a rape is "where there were generally two or more males involved, either at gunpoint or weapon, clearly manhandling a person into ... an area where ... there was nobody around, sometime in an abandon[ed] house, sometimes in an abandon[ed] shed, shack, and just simply taking advantage of the person as well as beating the person, threatening the person." Troiano added that G.M.C.'s text calling the encounter a rape was "to me, just a 16-year-old boy saying stupid crap to his friends." "[D]o I believe that it shows in any way a calculation or cruelty on his part or sophistication or a predatory nature? No, I do not," Troiano said."

This, precisely, the kind of 'judge' you Republican national socialists, fascists, nazis want on the bench? To take care of your 'wayward' little darlings? Give me a break.

"But the appeals court said prosecutors at least proved that "the delinquent act in question, if committed by an adult in this case, would have been aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault," which would allow for the case to go to adult court. "Rather than focusing on whether the prosecutor's consideration of the statutory factors supported the application, the judge decided the case for himself," the appeals court decision said. "That the juvenile came from a good family and had good test scores we assume would not" spare "the juveniles who do not come from good families and do not have good test scores" from adult court, the ruling said."

No kidding. Our entire system is hopelessly screwed up. In desperate need of total revamp.

"Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who is running for president, weighed in on the decision Wednesday. "I don’t care what kind of family you’re from — sexual assault is never acceptable," she wrote on Twitter. "Stop making excuses for perpetrators and start standing up for those who've been violated." "Our kids don’t need to be coddled. They need to be taught not to rape," she said. Anna Martinez, the acting director of New Jersey’s Division on Women, also rebuked the judge's decision. The "‘boys being boys’ mentality that excuses incredibly heinous crimes and treats offenders to a slap on the wrist, rather than true accountability" is "unconscionable," Martinez said in a statement. "When it comes from a sitting member of the judiciary, it’s inconceivable." "Dismissing these traumas with platitudes for an offender’s academic record, rather than in the interest of justice for the victims, is reprehensible," she added."

Rape is rape. Sexual assault is sexual assault. Must be prosecuted. No matter who committed the crime, their station in life.

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.

7-12-19

More of the same. Out of control, criminal jackbooted bastards in blue. In follow up to a case covered earlier in this publication and elsewhere, CBS News reports:

"Three Broward County Sheriff's Office deputies are facing criminal charges for the rough arrest of a Tamarac teenager back in April, CBS Miami reports. Sergeant Gregory LaCerra, Deputy Christopher Krickovich, and Deputy Ralph Mackey were all charged on Wednesday, Broward State Attorney Mike Satz announced. LaCerra, 51, was charged with two counts of battery for spraying 15-year-old Delucca Rolle in the face and forcing him into the pavement. He also faces one count of falsifying records and one count of conspiracy to falsify records. Krickovich, 29, was charged with two counts of battery for slamming Rolle's face into the ground and punching him in the head as well. Krickovich also faces two counts of falsifying records and one count of conspiracy to falsify records. Mackey, 49, was charged with one count of falsifying records and one count of conspiracy to falsify records. The falsifying records charges are a result of all three deputies failing to describe the incident accurately during the investigation of the arrest, according to the sheriff's office. The battery and falsifying records charges are first-degree misdemeanors, which carry punishments of up to one year in jail. While the conspiracy charges are second-degree misdemeanors, which could result in up to 60 days in jail."

Slamming someone's face into the concrete pavement would be considered attempted murder for anyone other than a jackbooted bastard in blue.

"It all began in April after authorities were called because of a fight in the parking lot of a McDonald's in Tamarac, where multiple students were gathered. In a viral cellphone video that captured the arrest, Rolle is seen trying to pick up a cell phone from another individual who was being arrested. Deputies then pepper-sprayed him, threw him to the concrete pavement and punched him. Rolle was taken into custody, but his charges were later dropped. The arrest left Rolle with a fractured nose and head injuries and a video of his violent arrest taken on a cell phone drew outrage once it was shared throughout social media. It was only on Wednesday that charges were brought against the three law enforcement officials though."

Readers will recall from an earlier edition:

"Clintina Rolle, Delucca's mother, told CBS News' Mark Strassmann in April that the videos were painful to watch. She heard about her son's arrest when one of the deputies called her. "I said, 'Sir, I don't believe my son hit the officer, that don't sound like him. He said, 'Oh you're telling me I'm lying, huh? You're telling me I'm lying?" she said.

"Sheriff Gregory Tony and BSO conducted an internal investigation, which was completed and handed over to the Broward State Attorney's Office on May 10. Two of the deputies had been suspended without pay during the internal investigation. During the investigation by the State Attorney's Office, Rolle ran into trouble with Lauderhill police after he was charged with trespassing in a stolen conveyance and resisting an officer without violence in June. No more information was released about this incident. The three deputies are expected to be in court within the next few weeks, Satz said."

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

7-12-19

Think the following justice? Or, more of the same. ABC News reports:

"Dallas police officials say more than two-dozen officers face disciplinary measures after they were found to have posted bigoted or other offensive material to social media in violation of the department's code of conduct, including mocking protesters who were pepper-sprayed. Officials announced Friday an internal review determined that 25 officers posted or shared objectionable material."

Why weren't they fired?

"Four of those officers have been placed on administrative leave because of the extreme nature of their posts. The findings come after The Plain View Project last month released a database cataloging thousands of bigoted or violent posts by police officers in several states. More than 1,000 public posts from people identified as current and former Dallas officers were flagged by researchers with the project, which spent two years looking at the personal Facebook accounts of police from Arizona to Florida. The Dallas posts also included joking about police shooting victims."

The problem is top-down, bottom-up. Any officer engaging in such activity has no business in law enforcement. Presents an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

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

7-12-19

Abusive policing. The Washington Post reports:

"Montgomery County [MD] police have identified the officer involved in a use of force incident Wednesday. A video posted on social media Wednesday night showed an officer using his shin to force a man’s head into the ground during an arrest. The officer was identified as Kevin Moris, who worked on a special assignments team for the 4th District. Moris has worked for the department for seven years. The incident is currently under investigation. Police said Moris’s police powers have been suspended, and is on administrative duties pending the outcome of the investigation. Police said the incident occurred Wednesday during an undercover operation into the sale of psilocybin mushrooms in the Aspen Hill area. Police said plainclothes officers located a suspect, 19-year-old Arnaldo Pesoa of Silver Spring, inside a McDonald’s in the Aspen Hill Shopping Center. Officers attempted to place him under arrest when he became disorderly and resisted, according to a statement. Officers said they removed him from the restaurant and attempted to arrest him outside the restaurant. The 45-second video posted on social media shows a group of officers standing around Pesoa, who appears to be handcuffed, lying face down on the pavement and screaming profanity. At one point, the man lifts his head, and an officer uses his shin to force it back down. The video then shows the officer keeping his leg on the man’s neck and lifting the man’s head by pulling on his hair. The officer then covers Pesoa’s face with his shirt."

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.

7-12-19

Delusionally believe we don't live in a de facto fascist police-state? Wake up. The Washington Post reports:

"Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have turned state driver’s license databases into a facial-recognition gold mine, scanning through millions of Americans’ photos without their knowledge or consent, newly released documents show."

Raw nazism. Law and order national socialists, fascists, nazis in both the Democratic and Republican Parties have sold out their constituents. ... Hear the rumble?

"Thousands of facial-recognition requests, internal documents and emails over the past five years, obtained through public-records requests by researchers with Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology and provided to The Washington Post, reveal that federal investigators have turned state departments of motor vehicles databases into the bedrock of an unprecedented surveillance infrastructure."

Nazi America. De facto fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. Our politicians, both parties, with rare exception, are traitors. -- Traitors to the United States Constitution. Traitors to the public they egregiously fail to serve. Serve only their corporate masters, -- who have bought and paid for them, lined their pockets.

"Police have long had access to fingerprints, DNA and other “biometrics data” taken from criminal suspects. But the DMV records contain the photos of a vast majority of a state’s residents, most of whom have never been charged with a crime."

Raw nazism. Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini reincarnated.

"Neither Congress nor state legislatures have authorized the development of such a system, and growing numbers of Democratic and Republican lawmakers are criticizing the technology as a dangerous, pervasive and error-prone surveillance tool."

Where the f--k were these clueless, disingenuous, out to lunch, bona fide, traitorous assholes after 9/11? When these very same gutless, lying pieces of cowardly shit granted government carte blanche to do as it pleased to 'protect' us? Give me a break.

“Law enforcement’s access of state databases,” particularly DMV databases, is “often done in the shadows with no consent,” House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) said in a statement to The Post. Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), the House Oversight Committee’s ranking Republican, seemed particularly incensed during a hearing into the technology last month at the use of driver’s license photos in federal facial-recognition searches without the approval of state legislators or individual license holders. “They’ve just given access to that to the FBI,” he said. “No individual signed off on that when they renewed their driver’s license, got their driver’s licenses. They didn’t sign any waiver saying, ‘Oh, it’s okay to turn my information, my photo, over to the FBI.’ No elected officials voted for that to happen.”

Jesus Christ. What a goddamned crock of disingenuous bullshit. What do these clueless pieces of human excrement call the USA 'Patriot' Act, 'Real' ID Act, Homeland 'Security' Act, etc., traitorously passed after 9/11? What did these pieces of shit expect would happen? Why didn't the cowardly American public rise up when DMVs across our formerly great country demanded thumb prints as a condition of renewing one's drivers license decades ago? What a crock of shit. Now, after decades of this crap, these achingly clueless assholes are finally waking up? Jesus Christ. Give me a break. The chickens are coming home to roost. ... Hear the rumble?

"Despite those doubts, federal investigators have turned facial recognition into a routine investigative tool. Since 2011, the FBI has logged more than 390,000 facial-recognition searches of federal and local databases, including state DMV databases, the Government Accountability Office said last month, and the records show that federal investigators have forged daily working relationships with DMV officials. In Utah, FBI and ICE agents logged more than 1,000 facial-recognition searches between 2015 and 2017, the records show. Names and other details are hidden, though dozens of the searches are marked as having returned a “possible match.”

Every state DMV that granted these jackbooted pieces of shit access to their databases have traitorously, treasonously, treacherously betrayed their residents.

"San Francisco and Somerville, Mass., have banned their police and public agencies from using facial-recognition software, citing concerns about governmental overreach and a breach of public trust, and the subject is being hotly debated in Washington. On Wednesday, officials with the Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection and the Secret Service are expected to testify at a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security about their agencies’ use of the technology."

Law enforcement on both the state and federal levels is hopelessly corrupt, abusive, jackbooted nazi. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?" Cannot be trusted.

"The records show the technology already is tightly woven into the fabric of modern law enforcement. They detailed the regular use of facial recognition to track down suspects in low-level crimes, including cashing a stolen check and petty theft. And searches are often executed with nothing more formal than an email from a federal agent to a local contact, the records show."

Wake up. This is precisely how revolutions spawn. Egregious abuse of jackbooted authority. Most countries don't make it two hundred years before suffering the unthinkable, unwanted. Wake up. The worst is yet to come.

“It’s really a surveillance-first, ask-permission-later system,” said Jake Laperruque, a senior counsel at the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight. “People think this is something coming way off in the future, but these [facial-recognition] searches are happening very frequently today. The FBI alone does 4,000 searches every month, and a lot of them go through state DMVs.”

State government allows this, facilitates this, is in bed with the nazis running the federal government. This is no longer a democratic republic. In name only. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

"The records also underscore the conflicts between the laws of some states and the federal push to find and deport undocumented immigrants. Though Utah, Vermont and Washington allow undocumented immigrants to obtain full driver’s licenses or more-limited permits known as driving privilege cards, ICE agents have run facial-recognition searches on those DMV databases."

State authorities traitorously betray state residents by complying with federal jackbooted authorities. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

"More than a dozen states, including New York, as well as the District of Columbia, allow undocumented immigrants to drive legally with full licenses or driving privilege cards, as long as they submit proof of in-state residency and pass the states’ driving-proficiency tests. Lawmakers in Florida, Texas and other states have introduced bills this year that would extend driving privileges to undocumented immigrants. Some of those states already allow the FBI to scan driver’s license photos, while others, such as Florida and New York, are negotiating with the FBI over access, according to the GAO. “The state has told [undocumented immigrants], has encouraged them, to submit that information. To me, it’s an insane breach of trust to then turn around and allow ICE access to that,” said Clare Garvie, a senior associate with the Georgetown Law center who led the research."

Nazi America. Nazi Texas. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?" ... Hear the rumble?

"An ICE spokesman declined to answer questions about how the agency uses facial-recognition searches, saying its “investigative techniques are generally considered law-enforcement sensitive.”

ICE is a traitorous law enforcement agency that routinely betrays its oath of office to uphold the United States Constitution. ... Just like you and your jackbooted goons here in Nazi Llano County, right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

"Asked to comment, the FBI referred The Post to the congressional testimony last month of Deputy Assistant Director Kimberly Del Greco, who said that facial-recognition technology was critical “to preserve our nation’s freedoms, ensure our liberties are protected, and preserve our security.”

Jesus Christ. No more than a goddamned bold-faced lie. The direct opposite is the truth. We live in a de facto fascist police-state where nearly anything goes. Liberty is now perversely defined as the 'freedom' to do what your told. What the criminal, traitorous, treasonous, jackbooted bastards in blue and their masters in government tell you to do. Where property rights are routinely violated. Where a criminal jackbooted bastard is not held legally accountable for damage done to a motorhome parked on private property. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?" Nazi, jackbooted, out of control, oppressive, repressive government.

"The agency has said in the past that while facial-recognition searches can provide helpful leads, agents are expected to verify the findings and secure definitive proof before pursuing arrests or criminal charges."

So what? Means shit squat. Rings hollow. A goddamned fascist police-state where all civil and constitutional rights and liberties are under exigent attack by criminal law enforcement.

"Twenty-one states, including Texas and Pennsylvania, plus the District of Columbia, allow federal agencies such as the FBI to scan driver’s license photos, GAO records show. The agreements stipulate some rules for the searches, including that each must be relevant to a criminal investigation."

Nazi Texas. ... Hear the rumble? This state has betrayed its residents.

"The FBI’s facial-recognition search has access to local, state and federal databases containing more than 641 million face photos, a GAO director said last month. But the agency provides little information about when the searches are used, who is targeted and how often searches return false matches."

Nazi America.

"The FBI said its system is 86 percent accurate at finding the right person if a search is able to generate a list of 50 possible matches, according to the GAO. But the FBI has not tested its system’s accuracy under conditions that are closer to normal, such as when a facial search returns only a few possible matches. Civil rights advocates have said the inaccuracies of facial recognition pose a heightened danger of misidentification and false arrests. The software’s precision is highly dependent on a number of factors, including the lighting of a subject’s face and the quality of the image, and research has shown that the technology performs less accurately on people with darker skin. “The public doesn’t have a way of controlling what information the government has on them,” said Jacinta González, a senior organizer for the advocacy group Mijente who was particularly concerned about how ICE and other agencies could use the scans to track down immigrants. “And now there’s this rapidly advancing technology, with very few guidelines and protections for people, putting all of this information at their fingertips in a very scary way.” The records, which include thousands of emails and official documents from federal agencies, as well as Utah, Vermont and Washington state, show how easy it is for a federal investigator to tap into an individual state DMV’s database. While some of the driver photo searches were made on the strength of federal subpoenas or court orders, many requests for searches involved nothing more than an email to a DMV official with the target’s “probe photo” attached. The official would then search the driver’s license database and provide details of any possible matches."

Raw nazism.

"The search capability was offered not just to help identify criminal suspects, but also to detect possible witnesses, victims, bodies, and innocent bystanders and other people not charged with crimes."

A fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"Utah’s DMV database was the subject of nearly 2,000 facial-recognition searches from outside law enforcement agencies between 2015 and 2017 — sometimes dozens of searches a day, the records show. One document from Utah’s Statewide Information & Analysis Center coached officers on how to make facial-recognition requests; offered four tips for better facial photographs (“lighting, distance, angle, eyes”); and said the database included “over 5 million Utah driver’s license & state identification card photos,” about 2 million more than the state’s population. State officials did not respond to requests for comment. Many of the requests for searches in Utah came from local police forces across the country seeking to find suspects who may have traveled to the state, but roughly half the searches came from federal agents, according to a log of the searches. The records do not provide suspect names or say whether cases ended in arrests or convictions. Washington state’s Department of Licensing said that its “facial recognition system is designed to be an accurate, non-obtrusive fraud detection tool” and that the agency does not share use of the system with law enforcement unless compelled by a court order.
Vermont officials said they stopped using facial-recognition software in 2017. That year, a local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union revealed records showing that the state DMV had been conducting the searches in violation of a state law that banned technology involving “the use of biometric identifiers.” The state’s governor and attorney general came out against the face-scanning software, citing a need to balance public safety with residents’ privacy rights."

Not possible in out of control Nazi Texas. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

"In the years before the ban, the records show, Vermont officials ran a number of face scans on driver’s license photos at the request of ICE agents. Investigators from a number of federal and local agencies emailed the state’s DMV with facial-recognition search requests as they pursued people accused of overstaying their visas, providing false information, stealing from stores or, in at least one case, being part of a “suspicious circumstance.” The officers in some emails would provide descriptions of their targets: One was dubbed a “gypsy … scamming elderly people for money,” while another was said to have “VERY LARGE PROTRUDING EARS.” In others, DMV officials talked about the face-scanning tool as if it were the kind of awe-inspiring technical marvel most often seen on prime-time cop shows. In one 2014 email, a police officer in the town of Manchester, Vt., asked a DMV official to scan for a man caught on video “brazenly” stealing. The official forwarded the email to a colleague with a made-for-TV flourish, writing, “Can we play NCIS for this officer?”

Clearly, this government no longer serves the best interests of the public it no longer serves. Only itself. ... And its corporate masters. Hear the rumble? An unwanted, dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming as our formerly great country continues to deteriorate.

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.

7-12-19

More of the same. No honor. No principles. ABC News reports:

"A former Kentucky police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing two minors in the Louisville department's now defunct youth program. The Courier Journal reports Kenneth Betts pleaded guilty in state court Monday to third-degree sodomy and admitted to sexually abusing the minors while he worked as a program adviser."

As a cop.

"His plea marked the end of the second criminal case stemming from sexual abuse in the program. He was sentenced in federal court last week to 16 years in prison for charges including enticement and child pornography. Betts said he exploited four minors he met through the program. The sentences will be served at the same time."

Why? Think Joe Blow up the block would have received similar consideration?

"Betts resigned from the department in 2014 amid an investigation of "improper contact" with a female program member."

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.

7-12-19

Another senseless killing by the jackbooted bastards in blue. This time, a 17-year-old California girl. NBC News reports:

"The family of a 17-year-old girl shot and killed by a Southern California police officer is demanding answers about the deadly Friday night shooting. The incident occurred in Anaheim. The Anaheim Police Department said in a news release that a Fullerton Police K-9 officer radioed around 7 p.m. that he had been involved in a shooting on the freeway. "A female suspect was struck by gunfire and was transported to a local hospital where she later died," Anaheim police said. No officers were injured during the shooting, police tweeted. Police did not name the girl who died, but family members identified her as Hannah Williams."

Why wasn't the girl immediately identified as well as all officers involved? The public has a right to know.

"According to police, an "item appearing to be a handgun was recovered at the scene." The Orange County District Attorney's Office said in a press release Tuesday that the Fullerton officer was taking his K-9 to a veterinarian for a procedure when he encountered the teenager. The prosecutor's office also said that the item appearing to be a gun was a fake. "The officer-involved shooting occurred and what appeared to be a Beretta 92 FS handgun was recovered at the scene next to the female," the press release said. "The gun was later identified as a replica handgun designed to look like a handgun." But Rev. Jarrett Maupin, a spokesman for the family, told NBC News on Tuesday that Hannah did not have a gun on her when she was shot. "We maintain that she was unarmed, a fake gun is a fake gun," Maupin said during a press conference Tuesday."

In a de facto fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich, clearly, anything goes. Was the fake gun planted by police?

"Maupin said they still did not know details on how Hannah died, such as how many times she was shot or even where she was shot. The family is now asking for the officer to be suspended without pay and for California Gov. Gavin Newsom to open a state investigation into her death. "An independent umbrella investigation by the [attorney general] would go a long way to making sure we’re keeping local authorities honest," Maupin said."

Not good enough. Nowhere near. 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 whose sole responsibility would be to adjudicate such cases. Total independence. Police, prosecutors, and judges can no longer be trusted in a de facto fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"There will be an independent autopsy, as requested by the family, once Hannah's body is released by the county, Maupin said. Lynette Campbell, Hannah's godmother, read a statement to reporters on behalf of the family Tuesday. "Losing Hannah is hard. The circumstances in which we lost her make it that much harder," the statement said. "As of today we still do not have clear answers as to what happened to Hannah. The information that we have received from the police department has changed several times."

Apparently, the criminal jackbooted bastards cannot get their lies straight. ... Just like right here in Nazi Llano County, right, Sheriff? Madam County? "Sonny Boy?"

"Details leading up to the shooting are scarce. According to KTLA, initial reports indicate that the Fullerton officer's police car had been struck by another vehicle moments before the shooting. Maupin said Hannah, who worked as a lifeguard, spent Friday with her family at their home in Anaheim before leaving that evening. He referred to an accident involving a shared rental car driven by Hannah, but said it was "very minor." Hannah, who had moved from Phoenix to the area less than a year ago with her family, was about two miles from home when the shooting occurred. Anaheim police said more information may be released this week after potential witnesses are interviewed."

'Interviewed?' ... Or, pressured to lie?

"The freeway was packed and all potential witnesses need to be interviewed first. We cannot risk influencing someone's statement, by releasing details prematurely," the department tweeted."

Jesus Christ. What a phony crock of shit. Yet, a gullible public on the Far Right buys this crap.

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.

7-12-19

The following is appalling. An outrageous infringement on the right of law enforcement to patronize a business establishment. NPR reports:

"Starbucks has issued an apology after an employee asked a group of six police officers in Tempe, Ariz. to either leave one of its stores or move out of the line of sight of a customer. The officers say a barista told them the customer didn't feel safe with police nearby."

Jesus Christ. Give me a break. The officers were there to patronize the business. Have a cup of coffee. Not harass or hassle anyone.

"The Tempe Officers Association, the police union, posted a statement about the July 4th incident on its Facebook page, saying that "the officers paid for their drinks and stood together having a cup of coffee. They were approached by a barista, who knew one of the officers by name, because he is a regular at that location. "The barista said that a customer 'did not feel safe' because of the police presence. The barista asked the officers to move out of the customer's line of sight or to leave. "Disappointed, the officers did in fact leave."

Sad. Uncalled for. Unjustified. Discriminatory. Counter productive. Aggressive stupidity at its very worst.

"The group posted an image with the words "DUMP STARBUCKS" to Facebook and Twitter, and the hashtag #DumpStarbucks began trending. In its own statement, the Tempe Police Department said it hoped that this was an "isolated incident."

"In response to the numerous requests for comment regarding Tempe Police Officers being asked to leave Starbucks on July 4th, 2019 attached is the statement on behalf of the Tempe Police Department. pic.twitter.com/biTc4eTqTy
— Tempe Police (@TempePolice) July 6, 2019

"Starbucks apologized to the Tempe Police Department on Sunday after meeting with the police chief, Sylvia Moir."

What could the barista possibly been thinking?

"When those officers entered the store and a customer raised a concern over their presence, they should have been welcomed and treated with dignity and the utmost respect by our partners (employees). Instead, they were made to feel unwelcome and disrespected, which is completely unacceptable," Rossann Williams, the company's executive vice president, wrote."

Worse, counterproductive. The public wants and needs good law enforcement. Can't live without it. Someone has to do the job. Officers who behave within the law, constitutionally, non-abusively. These officers certainly were.

"In 2018, police arrested two Black men in a Starbucks in Philadelphia while they waited in a store without ordering. The company closed thousands of its stores last year to hold racial bias training after the incident. While many on social media wrote that they'd boycott Starbucks in response to the incident, others countered that the officers should consider how shootings involving police officers might make a customer feel uncomfortable around them. Shootings involving law enforcement reached a record high in 2018 in Maricopa County, which includes Tempe, according to The Arizona Republic. And earlier this year, a a 14-year-old boy was shot and killed by a Tempe police officer. The police said the boy had burglarized a truck and was running away with a weapon he'd stolen from the vehicle."

Precisely why when officers are behaving within the law, constitutionally, non-abusively, they should be welcome anywhere and everywhere. Civilization cannot live and/or survive without them.

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.

7-12-19

The following is insult to injury. Appalling. NPR reports:

"Six years ago, a newly minted graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago was working three part-time jobs and adjusting to life not as a student. She stopped in for a drink one night at a restaurant in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood, where she got into a conversation with a guy. The next thing she remembers clearly was awakening at home the next morning, aching, covered in bruises, with a swollen lip. She believed she had been raped and went to the local police station to file a report. The police sent her to a hospital emergency room nearby where, with her permission, a doctor did a medical forensic exam, checking her for injuries and taking evidence from her body and clothes to potentially use in a prosecution case. The exam took hours and made her even more miserable. Police never made an arrest."

Surprised? Why? Worse? Get this:

"As time passed and the woman tried to move past the assault, she received regular, unwelcome reminders: bills from the hospital and emergency physicians group that treated her. The physicians group eventually sent her bill to a collection agency, and she started receiving nagging phone calls as well. Now 28 and living near Dallas, she still gets phone calls and letters a couple of times a year ordering her to pay up. There's often a disconnect between the emergency room personnel that take care of the person and the billing department that sends out the bills. "When I get that phone call, it's still so raw. I'm shaking," says the woman, whose first name is Erin. (NPR has agreed not to use Erin's last name, to protect her privacy.) For 25 years, the federal Violence Against Women Act has required any state that wants to be eligible for certain federal grants to certify that the state covers the cost of medical forensic exams for people who have been sexually assaulted. Subsequent reauthorizations of the act have clarified that these individuals also can't be required to participate with law enforcement to get an exam; nor do they have to pay anything out of pocket for that exam at any point (not even if they would be reimbursed later). And yet for some people who have been raped, the bills keep coming — despite this long-standing federal prohibition and other state laws that provide additional financial protections in many places. "There's often a disconnect between the emergency room personnel that take care of the person and the billing department that sends out the bills," says Jennifer Pierce-Weeks, CEO of the International Association of Forensic Nurses, professionals who have specialized training in how to evaluate and care for victims of violent crime or abuse."

Needs to be one, single, national standard:

"There is wide variation in how states meet their financial obligations to cover sexual assault exams — sometimes called "rape kits" — that collect evidence of the crime. Many states tap funds they receive under the federal Victims of Crime Act. Others use money from law enforcement or prosecutors' budgets or other designated options. What services are covered as part of the rape exam can vary by state as well. Federal rules require that the patient be interviewed and examined for physical trauma, penetration or force, and that evidence be collected and evaluated. But many states include additional services without charging victims, including testing and treatment for pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. Some may cover treatment for counseling, or for injuries that survivors experience during the assault. Having financial protections on the books for people who have been raped, however, doesn't necessarily translate to seamless, no-cost services on the ground."

This needs to change. Immediately:

"For instance, New York requires that patients treated for sexual assault receive some services at no charge beyond the federal requirements, including emergency contraception and treatment for STDs, says Christopher Bromson, executive director of the Crime Victims Treatment Center in New York. Still, last November the New York attorney general's office announced settlements with seven hospitals that had illegally charged more than 200 such patients for medical forensic exams, with amounts ranging from $46 to $3,000. In some cases, the hospitals referred the individuals to bill collectors who dunned them for the payments."

Outrageous. Victims are re-victimized.

Report goes on and on. Time for change. Immediate change. This remains a massive, inexcusable failure of the system.

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.

7-12-19

In follow up to the last edition, NPR reports:

"The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General is warning about "dangerous overcrowding" in Border Patrol facilities in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. In a strongly worded report, the inspector general said the prolonged detention of migrants without proper food, hygiene or laundry facilities — some for more than a month — requires "immediate attention and action." The report comes amid growing outrage over detention conditions for migrants and follows reports that migrant children were kept in squalid conditions without enough food and basic necessities in a Border Patrol station in West Texas. Inspectors from DHS's Office of Inspector General in June visited Border Patrol facilities and ports of entry across the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, the busiest sector in the country for illegal border crossings. "We are concerned that overcrowding and prolonged detention represent an immediate risk to the health and safety of DHS agents and officers, and to those detained," they wrote."

These facilities and circumstances are remarkably reminiscent of Nazi Germany circa 1933 shortly after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor. Worst was yet to come. So too, in Nazi America. Wake up.

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

7-5-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

... "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--ker, 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.

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

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

c. Liberty In Peril

7-5-19

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

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

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

7-5-19

More of the same. ABC News reports:

"A former Georgia police officer faces at least 10 years in prison for enticing children on a military post to have sex. News outlets report 25-year-old Jeffrey Allen Allmond Jr. was found guilty of child enticement on Wednesday. He was arrested last August, a year after being hired by the Richmond Hill Police Department. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was brought in when Allmond was accused of sexual misconduct involving two girls living at Fort Stewart while their parents serve in the military. U.S. Attorney Bobby L. Christine says the officer used Tinder and then Snapchat to communicate with girls who were 15 and 16 years old, and took them to his apartment to perform sexual acts. Allmond will have to register as a sex offender upon release."

Gives a whole new meaning to 'Protect and Serve,' doesn't it?

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.

7-5-19

The following gives a whole new meaning to nazi Aryan arrogance. NPR reports:

"When Austin Savage heard about the migrant children who said they didn't have toothbrushes, soap or enough to eat at a nearby Border Patrol station, the concerned resident headed to the store. He loaded up a van full of toiletries, diapers and other supplies and drove to the facility in Clint, Texas. But he said the agents in the parking lot refused to speak to him. "The agents were just choosing to ignore us," Savage said, adding that he tried on Sunday to deliver the donations and again on Monday. "And neither attempt was successful."

Jackbooted Nazi SS storm troopers.

"Savage isn't the only one who says acts of kindness have been rebuffed by the Border Patrol. A state lawmaker also says the Border Patrol informed him that the agency doesn't take donations when he asked how his concerned constituents could help."

Jesus Christ. When, where did we lose ourselves?

"The outpouring of concern stems from allegations that more than 300 children — from infants to teenagers — were being detained at the West Texas station without adequate food, water and sanitation. Advocate lawyers who toured the facility said they saw children who were filthy and older kids caring for infants, and that the children described a lack of basic necessities. The lawyers are allowed into the detention centers under a federal court-enforced settlement aimed at ensuring children aren't mistreated. State Rep. Terry Canales, a Democrat who represents Hidalgo County in South Texas, said when he reached out to Border Patrol officials, hoping to work out an agreement that allows nonprofit groups to donate supplies to detention centers, he thought the response was ridiculous. "We quickly received an email response saying, 'We don't accept donations,' " Canales said. Canales said he is concerned the conditions at the Border Patrol station are unsafe and that the children "lack the basic necessities of diapers, toothbrushes, towels because they're not showering." Canales said any child in U.S. custody should be treated with care, and he intends to work with federal officials to change the policy on donations. Savage isn't giving up, either. He said he is going to keep trying to get supplies to detained kids. The Border Patrol is supposed to transfer migrant children within 72 hours to child shelters overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services. About 250 were moved from the Clint station after the allegations surfaced, but 100 were moved back because there wasn't room in HHS shelters."

A de facto fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. Welcome to Nazi America.

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

7-5-19

Another example of nazi justice in a fascist police-state. NBC News reports:

"A 27-year-old woman in Alabama whose fetus died after she was shot in the stomach was charged with manslaughter by a grand jury. But the county district attorney said she may not face prosecution."

Carefully re-read the above quote. That's right. The woman who gets shot is charged with the offense, -- not the shooter. LOL. Nazi justice.

"Police in Pleasant Grove, Alabama, near Birmingham, say Marshae Jones initiated a fight in December 2018 with Ebony Jemison, 23, according to AL.com. The fight was over the baby's father. During the altercation, Jemison shot Jones in the stomach, which resulted in the fetus' death. The case went to a grand jury in the Bessemer Division of Jefferson County, according to the county’s district attorney. The jury determined that Jemison acted in self-defense, declining to bring charges against her. But it indicted Jones on manslaughter on the basis that she initiated the fight."

Consider the above very, very carefully. The grand jury, all on its own, did not choose to indict this woman. The case had to have been presented by a prosecutor. Now, the district attorney is having second thoughts about prosecution? Give me a break. Somebody grandstanding?

"Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid told AL.com at the time of the shooting that “the investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby.”

Crock of shit. Blatant insanity. The victim did not ask to be shot. Did not pull the trigger. Any video of the encounter? Any witnesses?

“It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby,” Reid said."

Know that for a fact? Even if so, she didn't pull the trigger. Bogus charge. ... Were police and the grand jury biased due to their anti-abortion views? That is, their national socialist, fascist, nazi biases?

"Jones was taken into custody Wednesday and released on bail Thursday, according to NBC affiliate WVTM."

Nazi justice in a de facto fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"On Thursday night, the county prosecutor said it is reviewing the case."

Jesus Christ. Why the hell didn't you 'review' it before it was presented to the grand jury? Didn't one of your henchmen present the 'case' to the grand jury?

"District Attorney Lynneice Washington said in a statement, “While the Grand Jury has had its say, our office is in the process of evaluating this case.” Washington said her office is deciding whether to prosecute Jones on manslaughter, reduce the charge to something less severe or not prosecute Jones at all. “The fact that this tragedy was 100 percent avoidable makes this case even more disheartening,” Washington said."

Not the point. Worse? Beside the point. It's kangaroo justice inflicted by police and a grand jury that are obviously biased. Wanted to make a 'pro-life' stand. That is, grandstand.

"Jones’ case drew national attention after AL.com first reported on the story Tuesday, with the charges against her sparking criticism from women’s rights groups."

For damned good reason:

“The person with the gun is the one responsible for the loss of the fetus,” Toni Van Pelt, president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), said to NBC News in a statement. Lynn M. Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, echoed those sentiments."

Again, for damned good reason:

“The argument is that by becoming pregnant, a woman commits a crime if she puts herself in danger in any way,” Paltrow said. “Alabama has numerous anti-abortion laws and a constitutional amendment that declares separate rights for fertilized eggs and fetuses. They have been using those laws to hold women criminally liable for the outcome of the pregnancies.”

Outrageous, unbridled nazism. In a state run by traitors to the United States Constitution.

"Washington said in her statement this case is unrelated to Alabama's most recent abortion law that virtually bans the procedure."

Impossible to believe. No credibility. Zero. ... If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, guess what? It's a duck.

“This case predates the passage of the legislation, and we must point out the new law played no role in the consideration of the Grand Jury,” Washington wrote."

Not credible.

Galling, Aryan arrogant bullshit:

"The district attorney emphasized, "Fairness and justice are the driving principles for this office. The public can rest assured that we will be guided by those principles in this case.”

Jesus Christ. Since when were these ideals truly operant anywhere in our formerly great country? A ubiquitous problem growing worse by the day. -- As our formerly great country continues to deteriorate.

"Still, Van Pelt and Paltrow say Jones’ case is representative of larger problems. “Alabama and its authorities have once again proven that they do not care about women and this is another case of the inappropriate aggressive response law enforcement makes towards women of color,” Van Pelt said. Paltrow added that Alabama leads the nation in “arrests for women being pregnant,” and her research shows that the state's laws particularly target black women, like Jones."

So what else is new? Nazi justice. Racist jackbooted bastards in blue and prosecutors beholden to these bigoted pieces of crap.

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.

7-5-19

Vetting of law enforcement needs to drastically improve, -- become an ongoing process during entire time of employment. ABC News reports:

"A former New York City police officer has been indicted on murder charges in Louisiana. The New Orleans Advocate reports 29-year-old Gerardo Bugallo-Beret was charged Thursday with second-degree murder in the March shooting death of Tyrone Reese. A press release from District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office says Bugallo-Beret shot 29-year-old Reese in front of an apartment building in the Treme neighborhood. Bugallo-Beret says he shot Reese in self-defense after Reese verbally threatened him. Cannizzaro's office says Reese was unarmed. Bugallo-Beret served as an NYPD officer from July 2014 to May 2016. He left the force after being charged with misdemeanor assault following a reported fight with a bouncer in New York City. Bugallo-Beret faces a mandatory lifetime prison sentence if found guilty."

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.

7-5-19

More of the same. CNN reports:

"Nearly five years after a black teenager was shot and killed by Chicago police, new evidence could help his mom get closer to learning the truth about the circumstances surrounding his death."

Law enforcement routinely sits on information, -- information the public is entitled to. To cover its outrageously corrupt and abusive ass. ... Right, Sheriff?

"This week, US District Court Judge Jorge L. Alonso of Chicago ruled to reopen discovery in the federal wrongful death lawsuit of Roshad McIntosh, according to court records. McIntosh was 19 years old when he was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer in August, 2014. An investigation of his death by Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), which is now called COPA, found his shooting was straightforward. An officer said McIntosh pointed a gun at him. The officer fired three shots, killing McIntosh. The review authority found the shooting to be justified or "within policy," and the case was closed by the agency in October 2015."

Fox guarding the chicken coop. No real independence. One hand washes the other, so to speak. No justice. ... Right, Sheriff?

"The review authority did not recommend any disciplinary action against any officer involved, and the Cook County State Attorney did not file criminal charges."

Surprised? Why? Standard operating procedure. ... Right, Sheriff?

"McIntosh's mother, Cynthia Lane, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against the City of Chicago and some of the officers involved in 2015. Cynthia Lane keeps this prayer and photo of her son Roshad McIntosh in her living room. "We've never believed the narrative given by the police in this case," said Andrew Stroth, Lane's attorney. CNN followed Lane's quest to find answers for her son's death as she requested her son's hospital records from the day of the shooting and obtained paramedic's reports. It's all documented in a three-episode CNN digital documentary titled "Beneath The Skin," which raised serious questions about the original investigation. COPA reopened its investigation into McIntosh's killing in August 2017. The case remains open. And now the evidence gathered during the re-investigation has become the catalyst to reopen discovery in the federal case. "Based upon the additional and supplemental disclosures made from March 22, 2019 to the present by the City of Chicago relating to the reopened investigation by COPA of the underlying incident at issue in this case, the parties agree that it is appropriate to reopen discovery for the limited purpose of exploring the COPA re-investigation," the parties wrote in a joint status report filed with the court."

Not clear precisely what the above truly means. Have they found something? Readers are reminded Chicago police have an exceptionally jaded history.

"The City of Chicago declined to comment, citing pending litigation. When contacted by CNN, the Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7 did not comment on the case. "This is all about getting to the truth for Cynthia Lane," Stroth said. "This new information is going to support our theory that Roshad McIntosh was unjustifiably and unconstitutionally shot and killed by Chicago police."

So what else is new? Goes on all over our country. As continually reported in this publication and elsewhere.

"According to Stroth, the reopening of discovery gives his team access to all the documents, data, transcripts and exhibits generated by COPA'S re-investigation. It also allows him to interview witnesses who were questioned by COPA. "It makes me more confident in getting justice and that's what I've wanted from the beginning," Lane said. Judge Alonso set the discovery deadline for September 30, 2019, according to court documents which also note that the deadline could be extended."

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--ker, 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.

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.

7-5-19

If you're a Chicago Police officer, racism clearly pays. ABC News reports:

"Records show that a white Chicago police sergeant was never punished for using a racist slur about then-President Barack Obama more than three years ago. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Superintendent Eddie Johnson wanted Jack Axium to receive a nine-month suspension for the comment the sergeant admitted making while Obama was visiting Chicago in 2015. But the fight over the proposed suspension lasted so long that Axium retired before the police disciplinary board could take any action. That means Axium, who kept working and collecting his salary during his challenge of the suspension, can no longer be punished because he's no longer a city employee. The 52-year-old Axium is collecting a $72,526-a-year pension."

Useful Catch-22 for the nazi element in law enforcement.

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

7-5-19

Border Patrol runs and operates gulags. NBC News reports:

"The government’s own internal watchdog warned as far back as May that conditions at an El Paso, Texas, border station were so bad that border agents were arming themselves against possible riots, countering Friday’s assertion by a top Trump administration official that reports of poor conditions for migrants were “unsubstantiated.”

So what else is new? Our government continually lies, -- just like our fuhrer, the Trump nazi.

"In an internal report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General and obtained by NBC News, inspectors noted during a May 7 tour of a border station in the El Paso sector that only four showers were available for 756 immigrants, more than half of the immigrants were being held outside, and immigrants inside were being kept in cells maxed out at more than five times their capacity."

Concentration camps. Run by the Trump nazi and his henchmen. Our formerly great country is precisely where Nazi Germany was when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor in 1933. Worst was yet to come.

"Border agents remained armed in holding areas because they were worried about the potential for unrest, the report said. Agents typically put their weapons in a lockbox when they enter holding areas, a DHS official said."

For damned good reason. Wouldn't want prisoners disarming armed guards.

Think the following isn't a concentration camp? Wake up:

"A cell meant for a maximum of 35 held 155 adult males with only one toilet and sink. The cell was so crowded the men could not lie down to sleep. Temperatures in the cells reached over 80 degrees, the report said. "With limited access to showers and clean clothing, detainees were wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks," the report said. Medical concerns were also rising during early May, the report found. Agents reported taking sick migrants to the hospital five times a day, treating 75 immigrants for lice in a single day and trying to quarantine outbreaks of flu, chickenpox and scabies. While this particular El Paso facility, the name of which is redacted in the report, did have formula and baby food for children, it did not have soft mats for them to sleep on or clean clothing. News of the inspector general’s report follows remarks by acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan on Friday that news stories of poor conditions for children at a border station in the El Paso sector were "unsubstantiated." Last week, lawyers allowed inside a Border Patrol facility near El Paso in Clint, Texas, reported children taking care of other children and living in soiled clothing."

All courtesy of the Trump nazi and his henchmen. Congenital liars.

"The report also included interviews with CBP agents at the Paso Del Norte border station in El Paso, where morale was in sharp decline. The agents had concerns that the conditions would lead to riots or hunger strikes by migrants. Some agents were looking to retire early or move to another agency. "The current situation where immigrants are simply giving themselves up to the border patrol [and border patrol must detain] is causing low morale and high anxiety. They are seeing more drinking, domestic violence and financial problems among their agents," the report said. DHS did not respond to a request for comment."

What the f--k could they possibly say?

Insult to injury? Get this. NBC News reports:

"Screenshots reportedly from a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents, with thousands of members, show posts that joked about the deaths of migrants and discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress visiting a detention facility in Clint, Texas, on Monday."

Racist jackbooted bastards.

"The three-year-old group, which has roughly 9,500 members, shared derogatory and sexist comments about lawmakers, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, ProPublica reported Monday. The group is reportedly called “I’m 10-15." The agency's code for "aliens in custody" is 10-15. “These posts are completely inappropriate and contrary to the honor and integrity I see — and expect — from our agents day in and day out,” Border Patrol chief Carla Provost said in a statement to NBC News. “Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable.”

How did this happen? How could you not have known? No such thing as secrecy on Facebook or anywhere else online for that matter:

"ProPublica said it had received images of several recent discussions in the Facebook group and "was able to link the participants in those online conversations to apparently legitimate Facebook profiles belonging to Border Patrol agents, including a supervisor based in El Paso, Texas, and an agent in Eagle Pass, Texas." The investigative journalism organization said it was unable to reach the group members who made the postings."

Gutless jackbooted bastards.

"One member, apparently a patrol supervisor, wrote, “F--- the hoes.” “There should be no photo ops for these scum buckets,” posted a third member. Ocasio-Cortez, who ProPublica said was a target of most of the disturbing posts, responded to the report in a series of tweets on Monday and questioned the agency's ability "to care for refugees humanely." "They’re threatening violence on members of Congress," she wrote. "How do you think they’re treating caged children+families?" After touring the facility, she tweeted, "I see why CBP officers were being so physically & sexually threatening towards me. Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets."

Nazi America. Concentration camps. Worst, yet to come.

"CBP has been accused of mistreating children and adults in its custody. Ocasio-Cortez has compared the Trump administration’s border detention facilities to “concentration camps,” eliciting criticism that she was minimizing the Holocaust."

Not at all. Not possible to minimize the Holocaust. Quite the contrary. Ferociously pointedly, we are precisely at a time in our formerly great country where Nazi Germany happened to be in 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor. The worst was yet to come. So too, in our formerly great country. Wake up.

"In one exchange in the 10-15 Facebook group, members responded crassly or with indifference to a news story about a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant who died in May while in custody at a Border Patrol station in Weslaco, Texas, according to ProPublica. One member responded with a GIF of Elmo with the quote, “Oh well.” Another posted an image and the words “If he dies, he dies.”

Callous jackbooted nazi bastards.

"The National Border Patrol Council, the official union of Border Patrol employees, condemned the "I'm 10-15" group in a statement: "The content found in this group ... is not representative of our employees and does a great disservice to all Border Patrol agents, the overwhelming majority of whom perform their duties honorably."

That so?

ABC News reports:

“Today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was made aware of disturbing social media activity hosted on a private Facebook group that may include a number of CBP employees,” CBP’s Matthew Klein, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Professional Responsibility noted in a statement. “CBP immediately informed DHS Office of the Inspector General and initiated an investigation.” Klein added that CBP employees are expected to adhere to the agency’s standards of conduct, “both on and off duty,” directing that its ranks “not make abusive, derisive, profane, or harassing statements or gestures, or engage in any other conduct evidencing hatred or invidious prejudice to or about one person or group on account of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability.” U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost called the posts “completely inappropriate” and argued the posts are “contrary to the honor and integrity I see—and expect—from our agents day in and day out.” “Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable,” Provost stated."

How could you not have known? Approximately, half your work force belongs to this group:

"Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was the subject of numerous posts and is participating in the congressional delegation Monday, tweeted, “How on earth can CBP’s culture be trusted to care for refugees humanely.”

"There are 20,000 TOTAL Customs & Border Patrol agents in the US.

9,500 - almost HALF that number - are in a racist & sexually violent secret CBP Facebook group.

They’re threatening violence on members of Congress. How do you think they’re treating caged children+families? https://t.co/AfDB50cgHQ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019"

The Congresswoman was not the only one criticizing:

"Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security called for anyone who posted the lewd content to be fired, and asserted that the officials responsible "seem empowered by President Trump." "This Facebook group is beyond sexist and racist – it is truly abhorrent and shameful, and there is no excuse for this depraved behavior. The agents found to be responsible for these vile comments should no longer have the privilege of representing the United States of America in uniform," Thompson, D-Miss., said. "It is clear these Federal law enforcement officials seem empowered by President Trump and seem all too willing to take his anti-immigrant rhetoric to the next level when they think no one is watching. It is also clear that DHS, CBP, and the Border Patrol have serious and systemic problems that must be addressed immediately. The chaos within DHS needs to end and proper leadership needs to be put in place.”

NPR reports:

"Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, condemned the online group, following a tour of the Border Patrol's Clint facility. "That was a vulgar, disgusting and vile page," he told reporters. "That shows, unfortunately, that there are many within CBP who've become desensitized to the point of being dangerous to the migrants in their care."

They're following the example of our achingly fascist fuhrer, the Trump nazi.

"Castro added: "It shocks the conscience that these agents are entrusted with the lives of anybody in their custody."

Where is determined congressional oversight of Trump and his henchmen? You and your congressional colleagues are not doing your jobs.

"The Clint shelter became a flashpoint last month for critics of the Trump administration's policies over how it treats unaccompanied migrant children. A group of lawyers who visited the Border Patrol-run facility said roughly 300 children were being detained in filthy conditions with no access to showers or personal hygiene products and with little food, for weeks at a time. On Monday, The Associated Press released video of an unidentified girl talking about her experience there after she was reunited with her mother. She said hundreds of children were mistreated by the people who were meant to care for them; children were denied showers and had to sleep on the floor, often sharing blankets, she said."

All courtesy of our fuhrer, the Trump nazi, and his henchmen.

NBC News reports:

"Government investigators have identified poor conditions in another sector of the southern border, publishing graphic photos showing extreme overcrowding in Rio Grande Valley migrant facilities and finding that children there did not have access to showers and had to sleep on concrete floors. Investigators for the Department of Homeland Security who visited border stations in the El Paso, Texas, sector in May found similar conditions: migrants being held in temporary facilities for weeks rather than days, single adults living in standing room-only cells with no space to lie down, and concerns about serious health risks. The investigators for the DHS Office of the Inspector General toured five Border Patrol facilities and two ports of entry in the Rio Grande Valley sector during the week of June 10 and published their report as a "management alert" to the department on Tuesday. The Rio Grande Valley of Texas has the highest volume of immigrants along the United States-Mexico border. At the time of the visits by investigators, Border Patrol was holding 8,000 detainees in custody, with 3,400 being held longer than the 72-hour limit. One senior manager at a facility called the situation a "ticking time bomb," according to the report. When immigrants detained in the facilities saw investigators walking through, they banged on the cell windows and pressed notes against the plexiglass to show the length of time they had spent in custody. One said, "Help. 40 Day Here."

Nazi America. Trump's Fourth Reich.

"On Monday, NBC News published findings by the inspector general that detailed poor conditions for migrants in border stations in El Paso as far back as May 7. Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan said at a press conference Friday that reports of poor conditions for children in border stations were "unsubstantiated." McAleenan said children were given showers as soon as they could be made available. "Most single adults had not had a shower in CBP custody despite several being held for as long as a month," according to the latest report on conditions in the Rio Grande Valley."

Courtesy of our fuhrer, the Trump nazi, and his henchmen.

"The report also detailed what it called "security incidents" in which immigrants have tried to escape and once refused to return to their cells after being removed during maintenance. To address the problem, Border Patrol called in its special operations force to "demonstrate it was prepared to use force if necessary," the report said."

Trump's Fourth Reich. Nazi America. Wake up.

ABC News reports:

"Congressional Democrats on Tuesday blasted conditions at an immigrant detention center in Homestead, Florida, following a second-straight day of inspecting the government facilities, calling the shelter a "warehouse of children for profit.” After lawmakers traveled to the Texas-Mexico border on Monday, describing continued concerns over the treatment of immigrants detained in El Paso and Clint, Texas, Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, joined a delegation of Democrats at the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children, where several Democratic presidential candidates visited while they were in town for the Democratic presidential debate last week. "It’s what I didn’t see that bothers me the most," Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters, expressing concern that the Miami-Dade school system was not involved in the education of immigrants while lamenting that U.S. taxpayers pay $775 per day, per child. "It doesn’t matter what the president or any of his people say, we’re going to get it right." After the tour, Georgia Democrat Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, said the experience reinforced his deepest beliefs. "I came here to learn. I’ve been deeply moved by what I have seen and what I have heard," Lewis said. "When you see something that’s not right, not fair, not just, you have to say something. You have to do something.”

Time to stand up to nazism. No courage?

"Lawmakers also expressed disgust over a secret Facebook group where current and former border agents purportedly shared lewd content disparaging members of the delegation ahead of their visit. The group was named “I’m 10-15” -- the Border Patrol’s code for “aliens in custody.” Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat, led the delegation and marked her third trip to the facility, called the behavior "a disgrace" and called on any border patrol personnel who posted inappropriate content to be prosecuted. "You cannot intimidate members of Congress," Wilson, D-Florida, said. "It is against the law." Rep. Jahana Hayes, a freshman Democrat who was recognized as the the 2016 Teacher of the Year, said the delegation was shown empty dormitory rooms with neatly-made beds. She bemoaned that Health and Human Services, which operates the shelter, "just missed out on an opportunity to ask Congress for help." "It was too perfect," Hayes, D-Mass., said. "What I saw in there is not anything I’d want for my children. It’s not okay for anyone else’s children." This cannot exist," she continued. "God help us all if this is what Americans do. God help us all."

Raw nazism. Wake up. Reincarnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini.

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.

7-5-19

More of the same. Seatbelts on. In follow up to a case covered extensively here and elsewhere, ABC News reports:

"Staring down the mayor of Phoenix and its police chief, 12-year-old Savannah Taylor made a confession to the city leaders after a viral cellphone video emerged of police officers screaming profanities and pointing guns at a black man, his pregnant fiancee and their two young children. Savannah noted that police said the couple's 4-year-old daughter walked out of a Family Dollar store with a doll without paying for it, a seemingly innocuous act that escalated into a major confrontation and led to the girl's parents, Dravon Ames and Iesha Harper, being manhandled by officers and in fear for their lives. "When I was little, I [have] done things like that," Savannah told the city leaders at an emergency community meeting on June 19. "My grandpa told me that my mom did that when she was little." As many in the crowd of more than 2,600 chuckled, Savannah's voice turned serious. "So, can you guys all imagine you guys as little kids doing that with your parents and then being pulled over by a police officer with guns pointed at your face and you're worried whether you're going to lose your life that day or not," the African American girl said. "It's sickening and it's sad. I'm shaking right now cause I can imagine that happening to me and my brother."

Over a stolen doll. Response needs to be appropriate, not deadly.

"The firestorm over the run-in in Phoenix is the latest in a string of encounters nationwide in which law enforcement officers have been recorded either by citizens with cellphones or their own body cameras engaged in behavior set off by relatively minor incidents. On March 1, a white police officer in Boulder, Colorado, was caught on cellphone video pulling a gun on a black man picking up trash in his own yard. Four days later, a Miami-Dade officer was recorded pushing a black woman against a fence, grabbing her by the neck and throwing her to the ground after she called 911 to report a neighbor threatening her with a gun. The officer in that case was charged with battery and official misconduct and pleaded not guilty, according to court records. On May 4, a 65-year-old black woman was yanked out of her car in Alpharetta, Georgia, berated with profanities and arrested after she allegedly refused to sign a traffic ticket for driving into another lane. And on April 29, Sacramento police were videotaped chasing down, handcuffing, and placing a "spit mask," over the head of a 12-year-old African-American boy after a security guard claimed he had been panhandling in front of a store. Not all of the incidents have involved black people complaining about abuse at the hands of police. On Jan. 27, 2018, a 30-year-old white man arrested on suspicion of assault died after a body camera video showed five sheriff's deputies wrestling, punching and deploying a stun gun on him in Auburn, Georgia, when he resisted getting out of a patrol car parked at the Barrow County Detention Center. On July 26, 2017, a white nurse at a Salt Lake City hospital was arrested and forcibly pulled from her emergency room for refusing an officer's request to draw blood from an unconscious patient without a warrant. And on Aug. 10, 2018, Martha al-Bishara, an 85-year-old immigrant from Syria, was shot in the chest with a stun gun fired by police in Chatsworth, Georgia, when, according to her family, she didn't understand commands to put down a kitchen knife she was using to cut dandelions she intended to cook up."

Just a fraction of what's been reported here and elsewhere on a continual basis.

"I'm surprised that we don't have many, many more incidents of this nature on a daily basis ..." Maria "Maki" Haberfeld, a professor of police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, told ABC News. "We have the shortest training in comparison to any democratic country."

There are many, many more such incidents that go unreported or are covered up. A ubiquitous problem all across our formerly great country.

"She said some Scandinavian countries, including Finland and Sweden, require recruits to go to a four-year police university before they are assigned to departments. In the United States, the average police academy class lasts 21 weeks, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. "Most departments are satisfied with a GED or a high school diploma," she said. "We have people who are trained in a very short, basic way that does not give them a fraction of the tools that they would need to have to police in a professional way. To me, it's irresponsible in a democratic society not to give police officers four years at a university."

No question. Law enforcement is not considered a profession in the United States. This needs to change.

"Haberfeld said additional training on de-escalation and implicit bias, the unconscious act of stereotyping people based on race, generally comes after a scandal. "There is some sort of high-profile event, and the next thing you know there's like a week of training in de-escalation. It's nonsense," Haberfeld said. "If you are told, 'OK, we have this scandal ... we're doing de-escalation training now,' of course everybody's sitting around rolling their eyes because it's punishment. "It's not something that is best practices, it's not something that is grounded in empirical research of how policing should be conducted. It's just reaction to a scandal."

Report goes on and on. With better educated, better trained officers, fewer would be needed and there would be far less abuse.

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.

7-5-19

The following is unacceptable. A terrible ongoing tragedy. Unsustainable. NBC News reports:

"A New York City police officer has died in the department's fourth suspected suicide this month amid what the NYPD commissioner has described as "a mental health crisis." Kevin Preiss, 53, was a 24-year veteran of the force assigned to the 50th Precinct in the Bronx. He was married with children, NBC New York reported. He died at his home in Nassau County on Long Island, a department spokeswoman told NBC News on Thursday.

"If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources."

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.

7-5-19

The following is a step in the right direction. About time. NPR reports:

"Forty million — that's the number of criminal charges in Pennsylvania that will be eligible for automatic record sealing starting Friday under the state's Clean Slate law. While law enforcement will still be able to pull up arrests and convictions, the public — including landlords and most employers — will not. They'll be hidden as if they never happened. The law applies to non-convictions, summary offenses and most nonviolent misdemeanor convictions, including drunk driving, shoplifting and prostitution. When Clean Slate first took effect in December, residents with those kinds of records needed to hire lawyers and go to court to get them sealed, as is the case in other states across the country. Starting Friday in Pennsylvania, the automation process can start once a judge signs off on a batch of eligible charges. "It's the first day in the history of the United States that records will be sealed by automation. And it is quite possible that in the first week more cases will be sealed by automation than have ever been sealed in the entire history of the United States," says Sharon Dietrich, litigation director at Community Legal Services, the nonprofit that helped craft Clean Slate, which garnered overwhelming bipartisan support in the state's Republican-controlled legislature. Non-convictions can be sealed after 60 days and convictions after a decade, as long as another crime has not been committed since. All court fines and fees also have to be paid in full."

Step in the right direction but nowhere near sufficient.

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.

7-5-19

The following is indeed quite a novel approach to criminal justice. NPR reports:

"A teenager's life is on the line — but he is nowhere to be found."

Surprised? Why?

"People have gathered inside a D.C. government building on a rainy holiday morning to help decide what happens to the young man, but he hasn't shown up."

An ongoing problem across the country.

"After several phone calls and nearly an hour of waiting, the 16-year-old boy finally arrives. NPR, which was permitted to attend the meeting for this story, is not identifying him because he is a minor. Facilitator Roman Haferd is eager to get started. "It's been a bit of a morning — a bit of a scramble this morning — but the good news is that everybody's here," he says."

Here's where things get interesting:

"The boy was involved with an assault. But what plays out over the next three hours is a restorative justice conference — a guided conversation between a juvenile who broke the law and the person whom the juvenile hurt. If the program works, the victim and the offender discuss what happened and agree on a way to move ahead so that criminal charges are dismissed. To supporters, the message is clear: Achieving justice doesn't always involve punishment or retribution — and young people have the capacity for change. No one said it would be easy, least of all Karl Racine, the elected official who launched the effort. "Our objective in our prosecutions, particularly since we're dealing with young people, is to put them in a position to learn from their mistakes," says Racine, the attorney general of the District of Columbia."

What do you think? Snowball's chance? Or, could it work under certain circumstances with some individuals?

"Racine's special counsel, Seema Gajwani, first presented the concept to him nearly three years ago. While the roots of restorative justice can be traced to indigenous peoples in the U.S. and Canada, no elected prosecutor had created such a unit inside their own office — until now. At first, Racine says, he was skeptical. But the process has eroded his misgivings, in part because the sessions help juveniles understand the harm they've caused their victims, their communities and even their own family members. What's more, Racine says, the concept also promotes public safety. Early data are showing signs that the program is a success, he says. The restorative justice program is not available for offenses involving guns or serious sexual assault."

Have to be extremely careful under what circumstances and with whom such approaches are attempted.

"Prosecutor Erika Clark says she worried that restorative justice would let people off the hook. Her first reaction? "Oh, OK, so we're not going to prosecute you? We're going to sit around in a circle with, like, the hippies down the hallway, and we're going to have a talk and then you don't have any punishment?" Things have changed. Clark is now referring some of the most serious cases on her docket into the program, including one involving a transit police officer who tore his rotator cuff and strained his knee trying to apprehend a teenager fighting on a subway platform."

This is an extremely interesting case. Consider the following:

"Metro Transit Police officer Jason Dixon says some kids are "a little past saving, but [for] the ones that you can save, this program should definitely be on the table."

How about that? Enlightenment from an officer who had himself been injured by one of the little 'darlings.'

"Dixon shrugged off objections from his wife, a detective and some of his transit police force colleagues to participate in restorative justice. After the restorative justice conference, the 16-year-old who hurt him called on the phone once a week for six months — even getting parenting advice from Dixon, since the teen had recently become a new dad himself."

Stunning, isn't it? Portend of better things to come? We'll see.

"I really feel like this program opens up doors for kids where they have a lot of doors shut in their face," Dixon says."

Truly stunning coming from a cop who had been seriously injured.

"The restorative justice program is underway in a city where police interactions with juveniles have become very public and very controversial. Local law enforcement officers handcuffed a 10-year-old boy this year, stirring vocal protests in the neighborhood. Other incidents with young children followed, often captured by neighbors on cell phone videos. Racine's office is reviewing police policies on encounters with children."

Not sustainable. Things must change. Is this the way? An approach that might work in at least some of the cases?

"Back in the drab D.C. conference room on Good Friday, the process is taking a while. People have stopped picking at breakfast — chocolate chip muffins and orange juice — and have started dishing out slices of cheese pizza from a cardboard takeout box. The 16-year-old boy's foster mom and two older male mentors insist they want to support him, but he has had a tough life and he doesn't want to grab the hands that are reaching out to help him. "Y'all keep screaming, 'Team,' " the boy says. "At the end of the day, when I go to sleep by myself, I got me. Any clothes, shoes, anything, support — I get it because I believed in me. ... And I got 16 years of life without a team, and I'm going to make it 55 more. I don't believe in friendship. I don't believe in trust. I don't even trust my own mother. I don't trust my own brothers."

Stark reality. Think this kid has a chance? How about society that has to deal with this?

"The conversation turns to the event that brought them all here. A few months earlier, this boy and his crowd ran into trouble on public transportation. Some people in the group made hostile remarks to a transgender woman. The incident escalated, and she was assaulted. That woman is sitting across the circle from him, looking through her long eyelashes and waiting for him to talk. The boy slumps in a chair and mumbles while his foster mom pushes him to continue. He begins to explain: He didn't want to look like a sucker that day, or for the rest of the school year. So he spat on the victim. The woman he spat on says everyone has struggles in life — but he has time and support to change."

Stunning, isn't it, coming from the victim?

"I'm always going to have to deal with getting beat up because this is how people feel all the time," she says. "How many more times am I going to go through this?" But, she also says, she agreed to come to this session because she saw something more in this teenager during that bad day on the subway: fear or regret, unlike the other young people involved with the assault. The woman has one request: She wants this boy to promise to stand up for other LGBTQ people getting harassed like she did. "This was a hate crime," she says."

Indeed.

"The boy asks everyone else to leave the room. Later, they say, he apologized — and she accepted. A clean sheet. A second chance. Back in the conference room, Haferd, the facilitator, asks how everyone is feeling. It has been an exhausting day. One hour in a restorative justice circle, he says, feels like five hours anyplace else. The woman who was hurt says she's happy with the process — she feels like it was "completely successful."

Time will tell.

"They agree that the teenager will go to school more often and that she'll even recommend possible clients for haircuts, because he wants to start a barbering business. "When you make good on these agreements, we're going to make sure your case gets dismissed," Haferd says. A few months later, authorities told NPR, the teenager is sticking to the agreement. He has found some barbershops willing to take him, he's going to a better school in the fall and he has reunited with his biological mother. She reports they're now on "good terms" — one more relationship in the early stages of restoration."

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

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
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