NYPD Cop Attempts to Shoot Fleeing Suspect, He Misses and Kills an Innocent Bystander

New York, NY — An innocent bystander has died after a New York City police officer struck him while firing at a fleeing suspect during a botched sting.  Felix Cumi, 63, died in the hospital on Saturday from two bullet wounds to the torso.

Police Commissioner Statement http://t.co/KeMEihmv0y pic.twitter.com/bzbH0Cuz8N

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) August 29, 2015

Several vehicles and the front door of a house were also struck by bullets when the undercover officer and a second team nearby unloaded a firestorm at the 37-year-old suspect.  Ironically, the cops’ careless, excessive use of firearms in a public street was the result of a sting targeting a firearms dealer.
It began when suspected illegal firearms dealer Jeffrey Aristy contacted an undercover officer to sell him a gun.  They met in the Bronx, and the dealer asked to be driven to a Mount Vernon neighborhood.  As the officer arrived, a third man (the 37-year-old suspect) climbed into the back seat and demanded the officer’s money at gunpoint.
When the robber ran away with the money, the officer got out of the vehicle and began firing, striking the robber three times and the unfortunate Mr. Cumi twice.  This prompted the second team to fire at the fleeing suspect, who was apprehended and taken to the hospital.  He was carrying a replica of a .45-caliber handgun.
Aristy fled the scene during the chaos but was later arrested and charged with “criminal sale of firearms and criminal sale of a controlled substance.”
The police have included a questionable preemptive excuse for the action of the undercover officer which resulted in an innocent bystander’s death.  The police say that after the suspect took the money and ran, he turned around and pointed his gun at the officer.  It seems unlikely that someone would slow their getaway by turning around to point a gun, but witness accounts may ultimately prove whether or not this is true.  At least four residents interviewed described two rounds of rapid fire and people running from the scene as undercover cops swarmed the area.  Two witnesses would not give their names, indicating the level of intimidation that the NYPD exerts on the citizens.
The botched sting was set up by the department’s organized crime control bureau firearms investigations unit.  These cops must fancy themselves as elite heroes weeding out the bad guys, keeping neighborhoods safe from the likes of drug dealers and gun runners.  Now we have another innocent bystander to add to the list of those killed by the department’s follies.
Instead of letting the suspect be caught by the second team who was tailing the undercover officer during his drive with Aristy, the officer chose to come out of the car with bullets flying.  This likely contributed to the second team’s decision to open fire, which could have easily caused another injury or death.
Rather than holding the firearms suspect captive and finding out who the robber was at the police station, the officer chose to open fire in a residential neighborhood without being able to scan the area.
Too often, sting operations end up with tragedy.  Just last month a teenager was killed by a remorseless cop during a sting involving a few grams of marijuana.  While cops wage war on the populace, the real crooks sit comfortably in the halls of government.
Notice how the tragic shooting of Kumi is barely mentioned in the press conference. The entire time, Chief James O’Neill harps on how much danger his undercover officer was facing — as if it justified killing this beloved father.

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Ferguson Oath Keepers Leader Sam Andrews Forms Splinter Group

Via NC Renegade Here

On August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown stole several packages of cigarillos from a convenience store in Ferguson, Missouri.
Shortly after, he was shot by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. Ever since, the St. Louis suburb has been plagued by civil disorder at the heart of controversy over the systemic racism within police departments across the United States.
A local chapter of the national organization, Oath Keepers, has sparked additional controversy over its presence during protests in the city, as members patrolled the streets of Ferguson armed with assault rifles, legally permitted by the state of Missouri’s open carry law that allows individuals with concealed weapons permits to openly display firearms, unless it is done in an “angry or threatening manner.”
Recently the group has gained attention with the announcement a few weeks ago that they planned to arm protesters of color to demonstrate that gun laws and the freedoms granted by Missouri’s open carry law should be upheld without bias to race. According to Sam Andrews, the organization’s board of directors and founder Stewart Rhodes objected to holding the demonstration, causing Mr. Andrews and the rest of the members of his chapter to sever ties with the organization. Mr. Andrews cited the group YETI (You Exterminating Tyrant Ideology), will continue planning and executing the operation, working with a City of Ferguson liaison to ensure the demonstration doesn’t interfere with traffic and safety precautions are taken. Mr. Andrews also claims the Oath Keepers leadership has provoked several chapters across the country to splinter from the organization due to racist sentiments from its leadership.

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A Lie Called Michael Brown, Collectivism, and the Old Media’s Instigation of a Violent Uprising

 Via BACON, BOOKS, & BULLETS

Michael Brown got what he deserved.
One year ago, Ferguson, Missouri erupted over the death of a dirt bag.  Michael Brown was a thug… a punk.  There is no doubt in my mind, or in the mind of a Grand Jury comprised of multiracial witnesses, that Michael Brown instigated the events that led to his tragic, but necessary shooting.  He did not have his hands up, except to use them as a weapon.  He may have yelled, “Don’t shoot!” But not as part of some attempt to surrender.  Michael Brown attacked a police officer and when that officer felt threatened, he was killed.  There is only one truth and that is it.  You cannot punch police officers in the face and get away with it.
The old media, (NOTE: “mainstream” media is misleading – it is no longer mainstream), led in part by the consistently wrong NBC, told you otherwise.  Michael Brown was innocent.  Michael Brown, a gentle giant en route to a promising college future, tried to surrender.  He tried to comply.  That was a lie.
Why did the old media chose to lie and instigate not only the burning of a city, but a societal implosion along racial lines?  Was it to drive headlines? No, it was not.  NBC and their collaborating allies at the New York Times, CNN, and elsewhere, had a far greater agenda: take down the United States as it is.  In a phrase: instigate change.
Why?  It’s simple.  They hate you.   They really, really loathe you.
The current cadre of journalists hate this republic.  They are better than you.  They are smarter than you.  But they have the power of information.  This is a rare window in time – an opportunity – to tear down that which you consider freedom.  You lesser people with your pathetic connection to religion, speech, and personal choice.  It is time to free your feeble mind from the oppression of having to think for yourself on a daily basis.  It is time to free you from personal responsibility.  They, your intellectual “betters,” deeply desire to replace those freedoms with the socialist, utopian freedoms from hunger… medical needs… housing… and socioeconomic labels.  There is an alternative definition of individualism grounded in Marxism that considers the Libertarian view of individualism cruel.
Socialist individualism sets you free through surrendering to the collective.  After all, free speech cannot satisfy your growling stomach… religion cannot heal that which requires scientific medicine… personal choice cannot keep you warm in winter… you cannot take your possessions with you when you die, but you can leave a utopian uniformity behind if you only cooperate.  Without the burden of material possessions or bills, you are set free to engage artistic, athletic, or personal pursuits.  All you need to do is join… Cooperate.
This is a rare moment in time.  The leader of the United States, President Barak Obama, may not admit he is a socialist at heart, but read his books and his speeches.  He is a socialist at heart.  Consequently, he does not fully understand that American libertarian individualist ethos.  Once upon a time, the brilliant oratory candidate laid bare his true feelings toward the average American worker during his 2008 Campaign:  “They [the average American] get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.“[1]
The Old Media’s reaction:  YES!  Finally someone that understands.  Someone that knows how right we, the intellectual betters, are. It was enough to tingle Chris Matthews’ thighs.
When candidate Obama became President Obama, there was hope.  Journalists believed that the American people were finally ready for real change; socialist utopian change.  The revolution had finally come.  The end of this United States was nigh.  The NEW better United States would be born.
Then came Congress.  That messy institution called democracy intervened and Republicans entered en masse post-2010.  Why? Because the more politically engaged American public began to see through that change.
After picking up their collective jaws, the old media reacted: Oh No!!!!  What are those idiot Americans doing?! We will have to make them see the light. Change WILL happen!
Enter the change zealots.  Enter those that understood that real change can only occur through a societal reset through replacing old assumptions with new ways of thinking.  Enter the change agents, the journalists.
Where art thou now, Orwell?  The Pigs have grabbed hold of the farm.  The old media is Napoleon’s “Squealer.”
Of course, to effect this change, every symbol of that old order must be dismantled.  The flags of your fathers must be torn down.  Your symbols of pride must be dismantled.  This goes beyond the Confederate Battle Flag.  Crosses and other forms of Christian iconography are no longer acceptable.  Rid yourself of the burden of that Nativity Scene in your town square at Christmas.  Now even the POW-MIA flag has been called racist.[2] The increasing assumption that racial harmony was emerging throughout the United States, once thought after the reelection of an African American President, had to be destroyed.  Why? Because, if the largest minority group in the United States began to embrace the status quo, the United States would never change.
Home owners and bread winners typically stay out of social unrest or attempts to invert the current class order through usurpation.  As Black people enter the middle class, revolution becomes less likely.  Thus, there is a group that wants to kick them back into poverty – the old media.
If Black Americans began to feel that the United Sates, as it is currently configured, was their country, too, than change was never likely to happen.  Someone needed to stir the pot to ensure that a final manifestation of a socialist utopia could be achieved.  Michael Brown’s death was a galvanizing moment in the anti-American movement.  It was rightfully seen as an opportunity to destroy.  The legacy of this event is now maturing.
Journalism has changed in the past thirty-forty years.  It essentially changed with the advent of television, but in the 1960s you really witness a merger between political idealism and news.  Much of this change was facilitated by the tenured professors of the 1990s and 2000s who were first getting their Ph.Ds, MFAs, or media access cards during the sixties.  The old view that journalism was once a neutral arbiter of information meant for impartial dissemination to the masses – the Fourth Branch of Government – was replaced by journalism as a catalyst for change.  It began with an attempt to rightfully question the legitimacy of the Vietnam War, the continuation of African American suppression in the South, and the abuse of power within both parties.  But with each successful societal change, journalists saw greater capacity through information control.  Thus, journalism transformed from a news source to an informed editorial.
Enter the age of editorial journalism and the maturity of a movement to fundamentally change the United States.

Read the whole thing  Here

Watch this self-healing material handle a bullet

 Via engadget Here

 

 NASA-funded research has created a material that could self-heal in seconds. Two layers of solid polymer sandwich a gel that with an ingredient that solidifies on contact with air (i.e. when one or both of the outer layers is damaged). This differs from other approaches that rely on a mostly-liquid compound, or similar, slower techniques. The protective applications in space craft (like the ISS) are obvious, and could add a vital line of defense against dangerous debris. The ISS already has shields to protect it, but reactive armour in the event of damage would be even more reassuring. Back down here on earth, the same material could be used in cars, pips, containers and even phones (beyond scratches). Watch the material get shot and self-heal in the video below.

Meet Boeing’s laser weapon designed to make drones go boom

 Via Wired Here

Welcome to the World, Drone-Killing Laser Cannon

Click to Open Overlay Gallery

Jordan Golson/WIRED

Hang on to your drone. Boeing’s developed a laser cannon specifically designed to turn unmanned aircraft into flaming wreckage.
The aerospace company’s new weapon system, which it publicly tested this week in a New Mexico industrial park, isn’t quite as cool as what you see in Star Wars—there’s no flying beams of light, no “pew! pew!” sound effects. But it is nonetheless a working laser cannon, and it will take your drone down.
People keep flying their drones where they shouldn’t. In airport flight paths. Above wildfires. Onto the White House lawn. Luckily, there haven’t been any really bad incidents—that is, no one has been killed by a civilian quadcopter or plane, yet.

Click to Open Overlay Gallery

BOEING

But governments and militaries around the world are terrified by the prospect of drones carrying explosives or chemical weapons (and now, pornography) into places where they shouldn’t.
There are lots of theories on the best way to deal with the drone threat. An Idaho company has developed special anti-drone shotgun shells. Some agencies are working on jamming technology to block communication from the operator to the aircraft. Firefighters in New York kept it simple, aiming their hose at a pesky drone hovering near a house fire.
Forget all that. Boeing thinks the best way to kill a drone is to zap it with a precision laser, burn a hole in it, and bring it down. So it created a weapon system to do just that—and the result could someday be installed everywhere from LaGuardia to the Pentagon.
Wednesday morning, the company showed off its Compact Laser Weapon System for media in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s a much smaller, significantly more portable version of the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) Boeing demonstrated last year. This setup looks like an overgrown camera, swiveling around on a tripod.
In the demo, Boeing used the laser to burn holes in a stationary, composite UAV shell, to show how quickly it can compromise an aircraft. Two seconds at full power and the target was aflame. Other than numerous safety warnings to ensure no one was blinded by the two-kilowatt infrared laser, there was no fanfare. No explosions, no visible beam. It’s more like burning ants with a really, really expensive magnifying glass than obliterating Alderaan.
Instead of a massive laser mounted on a dedicated truck, the compact system is small enough to fit in four suitcase-sized boxes and can be set up by a pair of soldiers or technicians in just a few minutes. At the moment, it’s aimed primarily at driving drones away from sensitive areas.

Click to Open Overlay Gallery

BOEING

The new system is more scalpel than sledgehammer. Its laser, and, especially, the off-the-shelf gimbal (a fancy motor that can aim the laser and camera in any direction) it’s mounted on, make it precise enough to target different parts of a UAV. Want to zap the tail so it crashes and then you can go retrieve the mostly intact drone and see who is trying to spy on you? Can do. Think it’s carrying explosives and you want to completely destroy it? No problem. Boeing wouldn’t get specific on its range, but company reps suggested that if you can see a target, even with binoculars, you can kill it.
Depending on the target’s speed and distance, Boeing’s weapon can fire its laser within an inch or two of what it wants to hit. Because the laser moves at the speed of light, it’s easier to be precise—there’s no need to lead the target. The speed of the gimbal is the primary limitation on the targeting front.
The laser is controlled with a standard Xbox 360 controller (“If it breaks, just head to the barracks to get a replacement!”) and a laptop with custom targeting software. Once in range, the system can take over from the human operator and control targeting and tracking automatically. Though current prototypes are meant to be used from static positions, the new weapon could be used on a moving vehicle or ship with minimal upgrades.
“This represents a low-cost way to deal with the threat,” said David DeYoung, director of Boeing Laser & Electro-Optical Systems. Boeing wouldn’t reveal a total price of the system, but says it’s a one-time purchase. Once you’ve got the system, the only cost is electricity. The company expects the system to run for “years” with basic maintenance (the gimbal is the only moving part) and near-zero ongoing costs since there’s no traditional ammunition.
The necessary electricity can come from standard 220 volt outlet, a generator on a military vehicle, or a battery pack for ultimate portability. Boeing has several battery solutions depending on situational need, but all should give enough juice for at least a few shots.
The company hopes to have the Star Wars-inspired weapon ready for market in a year or two, with many refinements and developments to come over the next few years. But don’t expect lasers to replace traditional armaments like Raytheon’s Patriot missile defense system and Israel’s Iron Dome. “There will be times where it makes sense to use a missile and there will be times where it makes sense to use a laser,” says DeYoung.
As with any military weapon, Boeing would need to work through export control regulations before selling to foreign governments. It’s also not clear whether civilian agencies running prisons and airports could deploy the system under current regulations, or even what regulations might apply to something like this.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment is that the laser doesn’t make a “pew pew” noise. A Boeing rep did say the company’s planning to add a number of sound effects to the control station, to help multi-tasking operators keep an eye on what’s going on when it’s in an automated tracking mode. Hopefully they’ll hire Industrial Light and Magic to appease disappointed laser-lovers.

Where's the Outrage? Riots? Looting?

Multiple Former NSA Officials Team Up to Expose Unethical Behavior of FBI, NSA And DOJ

A number of different whistleblowers have recently joined together in a massive lawsuit against multiple government agencies, citing civil rights violations and malicious prosecution.
Thomas Drake, Diane Roark, Ed Loomis, J. Kirk Wiebe and William Binney have filed a lawsuit against the NSA, FBI, and DOJ, claiming that the highest ranking officials of those agencies attempted to silence them through prosecution, media smear tactics and occupational threats.
According to the lawsuit:

Plaintiffs sue Defendants, as individuals and in their official and unofficial capacities, for violations when Robert S. Mueller was Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) of their constitutional and civil rights, invasion of privacy, and retaliation for their roles as whistleblowers, including illegal searches and seizures, physical invasion of their residences and places of business, illegal detention as temporary false imprisonment, confiscation of property, cancellation of security clearances leading to the loss of their jobs and employment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, harassment and intimidation.

The lawsuit went on to say:

This is a case of the abuse of false and fraudulent claims of national security to target critics and silence criticism of government officials for the benefit of public officials to avoid responsibility and accountability for their actions in government, by abusing false claims of national security to harass and intimidate and harm the Plaintiffs. In retaliation against the Plaintiffs for – confidentially within proper government channels – filing whistleblower complaints with Congress and the Inspector General (“IG”) of the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”), the Defendants knowingly and intentionally fabricated a claim of the Plaintiffs involvement in leaks of national security information to New York Times reporters Eric Lichtblau and James Risen, and used this fabricated claim for retaliation, illegal searches and seizures, physical invasion of their residences and places of business, temporary false imprisonment, the confiscation of their property, cancellation of security clearances leading to the loss of their jobs and employment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, harassment and intimidation.

It has been long known that whistleblowers are not welcomed by the Unites States government, despite the fact that there are laws to protect them, and some politicians claim to support them. It is incredibly rare for a whistleblower to receive any protection or support from the government, and in fact, they many times are threatened with prison time, or the loss of their positions.
In court, the whistleblowers will be represented by attorney Larry Klayman, who specializes in cases against government agencies.

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Source

Here is the badass truck replacing the US military's aging Humvees

 

The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle — the HMMWV, or Humvee — is a stalwart of the battleground. If you asked someone to draw a military truck, they'd almost certainly draw this classic machine, which is almost older than a millennial (1984!) and gained such a pop culture following at one point that civilians started buying them. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in particular, is famous for his undying love of the "Hummer."
But seriously, they're old. The US military has been keen on retiring Humvees for some time, and it has finally awarded the $6.7 billion contract to replace them to Wisconsin-based truck maker Oshkosh, which expects to make about 17,000 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) over the course of the deal. The JLTVs, which will come in multiple two- and four-seat configurations, aren't just better armored and generally more capable trucks than the ones they're replacing — they also look extraordinarily mean. (I've seen them in person, and I can attest that the meanness is real.)
The big selling point for the JLTV is what Oshkosh calls the "Core1080 Crew Protection System," which includes mine resistance, IED detection, and a lot of bolt-on armor. It's not just about defense, though: optional turret and missile launch units put bite behind the bark. A suspension that can be raised and lowered electronically makes it easier to transport JLTVs to wherever they're needed, but out in the field, it's got 20 inches of wheel travel for insane off-road capability. Oh, and Oshkosh claims it's 70 percent faster than the best tactical wheeled vehicle (TWV) in the market currently.
The Humvee was tame enough to make it to dealerships, but this thing? I'm skeptical we'll ever see a red JLTV cruising down the highway, unless Arnold wants to prove me wrong.

Lots of pics Here

Hogs a major problem for deer hunting

 This is a problem anywhere there's a large population of feral hogs or "wild boars",not just in Louisiana.
Killing off feral hogs is just as important as killing off coyotes for healthy deer herds.
The more of both you remove from the habitat-the better off your local deer herd is.
Both animals are prolific breeders,especially hogs. It's much easier to control the coyote population,as they only have pups once a year,hogs can have several litters of piglets a year,with each sow having as many as 8-10 piglets-that's 30 new hogs from just one sow's litters.
The boars kill fawns,and that puts a double whammy on your local deer herd-fawns now have to make it through the coyotes and the hogs alive-the coyote fawn kills in NE Ohio are staggering-I've seen no fewer than 30 dead fawns this year-and the entire month of June here was rain,so I wasn't out in the woods as much as I usually am,which means the 'yotes likely got many more fawns who's remains I didn't find.
In many parts of the country,hogs and deer eat a lot of the same foods-especially acorns.
It will help your local deer herd immensely if you start shooting as many feral hogs as you can-think of them as bacon on the hoof. The meat from feral hogs is excellent,better than farm raised pork.
So there's a double benefit to hunting feral hogs-you get lots of tasty free range pork-and your local deer herd gets more food,and exposed to fewer diseases.
It's best to hunt hogs at night,like coyotes. You can have lots of success hog hunting at dawn and dusk as well.
Feral hogs are smart,they learn quickly,so you have to change up tactics and hunting locations often.
Hunting hogs will also make you a better deer hunter,as you get practice at picking blind/stand locations,being quiet,controlling your scent,and at using your bow, muzzleloader,shotgun,or rifle.
If there are feral hogs in the areas you hunt deer-get out there and start getting some of that free bacon!
There's plenty of recipes and detailed instructions on making your own bacon on the 'net.


While loss of habitat is likely a main driver in Louisiana’s falling deer populations, biologists say feral hogs “continue to be a primary concern” even as the number of hogs killed is skyrocketing
A mail survey of hunters indicates 299,500 hogs were killed during the 2014-15 hunting season, according to the 2014-15 Louisiana Deer Report.
That’s a staggering 63-percent increase from the 183,600 hog kills reported in the 2013-14 deer report.
And, even more telling, is the comparison of hog kills to last season’s deer harvest.
“The mail survey hog harvest estimate was … over twice the current deer harvest estimate and higher than any recorded deer harvest estimate,” the 2014-15 report states.
The report attributed the transport of hogs from region to region as being one of the “areas of concern.”
Those who move hogs around in the belief that they are simply increasing their hunting options should understand that hogs aren’t a benign addition — the species actually impacts the ability of deer to survive.
“Hog populations affect deer numbers through direct competition for food resources and fawn predation,” the report sated. “Hogs carry infectious diseases such as Leptospirosis, brucellosis and pseudo-rabies.”

 source

The Raping of America: Mile Markers on the Road to Fascism

By John W. Whitehead
August 24, 2015

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”—Martin Luther King Jr.

There’s an ill will blowing across the country. The economy is tanking. The people are directionless, and politics provides no answer. And like former regimes, the militarized police have stepped up to provide a façade of law and order manifested by an overt violence against the citizenry.
Despite the revelations of the past several years, nothing has changed to push back against the American police state. Our freedoms—especially the Fourth Amendment—continue to be choked out by a prevailing view among government bureaucrats that they have the right to search, seize, strip, scan, spy on, probe, pat down, taser, and arrest any individual at any time and for the slightest provocation.
Despite the recent outrage and protests, nothing has changed to restore us to our rightful role as having dominion over our bodies, our lives and our property, especially when it comes to interactions with the government.
Forced cavity searches, forced colonoscopies, forced blood draws, forced breath-alcohol tests, forced DNA extractions, forced eye scans, forced inclusion in biometric databases—these are just a few ways in which Americans continue to be reminded that we have no control over what happens to our bodies during an encounter with government officials. Thus far, the courts have done little to preserve our Fourth Amendment rights, let alone what shreds of bodily integrity remain to us.
Indeed, on a daily basis, Americans are being forced to relinquish the most intimate details of who we are—our biological makeup, our genetic blueprints, and our biometrics (facial characteristics and structure, fingerprints, iris scans, etc.)—in order to clear the nearly insurmountable hurdle that increasingly defines life in the United States.
In other words, we are all guilty until proven innocent.
Worst of all, it seems as if nothing will change as long as the American people remain distracted by politics, divided by their own prejudices, and brainwashed into believing that the Constitution still reigns supreme as the law of the land, when in fact, we have almost completed the shift into fascism.
In other words, despite our occasional bursts of outrage over abusive police practices, sporadic calls for government reform, and periodic bouts of awareness that all is not what it seems, the police state continues to march steadily onward.
Such is life in America today that individuals are being threatened with arrest and carted off to jail for the least hint of noncompliance, homes are being raided by police under the slightest pretext, and roadside police stops have devolved into government-sanctioned exercises in humiliation and degradation with a complete disregard for privacy and human dignity.
Consider, for example, what happened to Charnesia Corley after allegedly being pulled over by Texas police for “rolling” through a stop sign. Claiming they smelled marijuana, police handcuffed Corley, placed her in the back of the police cruiser, and then searched her car for almost an hour. They found nothing in the car.
As the Houston Chronicle reported:

Returning to his car where Corley was held, the deputy again said he smelled marijuana and called in a female deputy to conduct a cavity search. When the female deputy arrived, she told Corley to pull her pants down, but Corley protested because she was cuffed and had no underwear on. The deputy ordered Corley to bend over, pulled down her pants and began to search her. Then…Corley stood up and protested, so the deputy threw her to the ground and restrained her while another female was called in to assist. When backup arrived, each deputy held one of Corley’s legs apart to conduct the probe.

As shocking and disturbing as it seems, Corley’s roadside cavity search is becoming par for the course in an age in which police are taught to have no respect for the citizenry’s bodily integrity.
For instance, 38-year-old Angel Dobbs and her 24-year-old niece, Ashley, were pulled over by a Texas state trooper on July 13, 2012, allegedly for flicking cigarette butts out of the car window. Insisting that he smelled marijuana, he proceeded to interrogate them and search the car. Despite the fact that both women denied smoking or possessing any marijuana, the police officer then called in a female trooper, who carried out a roadside cavity search, sticking her fingers into the older woman’s anus and vagina, then performing the same procedure on the younger woman, wearing the same pair of gloves. No marijuana was found.
David Eckert was forced to undergo an anal cavity search, three enemas, and a colonoscopy after allegedly failing to yield to a stop sign at a Wal-Mart parking lot. Cops justified the searches on the grounds that they suspected Eckert was carrying drugs because his “posture [was] erect” and “he kept his legs together.” No drugs were found.
Leila Tarantino was subjected to two roadside strip searches in plain view of passing traffic during a routine traffic stop, while her two children—ages 1 and 4—waited inside her car. During the second strip search, presumably in an effort to ferret out drugs, a female officer “forcibly removed” a tampon from Tarantino. Nothing illegal was found. Nevertheless, such searches have been sanctioned by the courts, especially if accompanied by a search warrant (which is easily procured), as justified in the government’s pursuit of drugs and weapons.
Meanwhile, four Milwaukee police officers were charged with carrying out rectal searches of suspects on the street and in police district stations over the course of several years. One of the officers was accused of conducting searches of men’s anal and scrotal areas, often inserting his fingers into their rectums and leaving some of his victims with bleeding rectums. Halfway across the country, the city of Oakland, California, agreed to pay $4.6 million to 39 men who had their pants pulled down by police on city streets between 2002 and 2009.
It’s gotten so bad that you don’t even have to be suspected of possessing drugs to be subjected to a strip search.
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Florence v. Burlison, any person who is arrested and processed at a jail house, regardless of the severity of his or her offense (i.e., they can be guilty of nothing more than a minor traffic offense), can be subjected to a strip search by police or jail officials without reasonable suspicion that the arrestee is carrying a weapon or contraband.
Examples of minor infractions which have resulted in strip searches include: individuals arrested for driving with a noisy muffler, driving with an inoperable headlight, failing to use a turn signal, riding a bicycle without an audible bell, making an improper left turn, engaging in an antiwar demonstration (the individual searched was a nun, a Sister of Divine Providence for 50 years). Police have also carried out strip searches for passing a bad check, dog leash violations, filing a false police report, failing to produce a driver’s license after making an illegal left turn, having outstanding parking tickets, and public intoxication. A failure to pay child support can also result in a strip search.
It must be remembered that the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was intended to prevent government agents from searching an individual’s person or property without a warrant and probable cause (evidence that some kind of criminal activity was afoot). While the literal purpose of the amendment is to protect our property and our bodies from unwarranted government intrusion, the moral intention behind it is to protect our human dignity.
Unfortunately, the indignities being heaped upon us by the architects and agents of the American police state—whether or not we’ve done anything wrong—don’t end with roadside strip searches. They’re just a foretaste of what is to come.

Read the whole thing Here

Report finds government agents ‘directly involved’ in many U.S. terror plots "In many of the cases we documented, there was no threat until the FBI showed up and helped turn people into terrorists."

A new report has revealed a disturbing set of tactics used in the pursuit of domestic terrorism in the USA. Among the findings was the fact that the FBI directly and repeatedly involves itself in planning a large percentage of foiled terror plots — often by convincing impressionable or mentally disabled people to join FBI plots, then arresting them.
Human Rights Watch published the 214-page report, titled “Illusion of Justice: Human Rights Abuses in US Terrorism Prosecutions.” It documents a number of cases which the group describes as being marred by overly-aggressive prosecution, entrapment, and draconian treatment of prisoners.
“Americans have been told that their government is keeping them safe by preventing and prosecuting terrorism inside the U.S.,” said Andrea Prasow, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. “But take a closer look, and you realize that many of these people would never have committed a crime if not for law enforcement encouraging, pressuring, and sometimes paying them to commit terrorist acts.”
Post-9/11 anti-terrorism investigations have often utilized secret evidence, anonymous juries, extensive pretrial incarceration, and reached convictions for allegations significantly removed from actual plots, the report shows.
While noting that some terror plots are genuine, the report contends that “in some cases the FBI may have created terrorists out of law-abiding individuals by suggesting the idea of taking terrorist action or encouraging the target to act.”

“In some cases the FBI may have created terrorists out of law-abiding individuals by suggesting the idea of taking terrorist action or encouraging the target to act.”

This startling phenomenon occurs when the FBI uses its confidential informants — paid assets of the bureau — to incubate fake terror plots and lead individuals to act in ways that will lead to their arrest. There are about 15,000 paid informants employed by the FBI (2008 estimate). These assets played an “active role” in setting up sting operations to arrest suspects in fake terror plots in roughly 30% of terrorism investigations since 2001.
When approaching designated individuals, FBI actors would often make comments on “politically sensitive” subjects “that appeared designed to inflame the targets.” If the targets’ “opinions were deemed sufficiently troubling,” the FBI would often move forward with staging an event and enticing the target to play a role.
One such operative joined a mosque in a downtrodden community in Bronx County, NY. Bearing expensive gifts and touting radical opinions, he stood out amongst other locals; many living in boarded-up houses, and suffering from addictions, poverty, and high rates of crime. In the months that followed, the FBI operative meticulously planned every aspect of a completely fake scheme, promoting it to several black Muslim men he met at the mosque. The FBI operative even went so far as to offer one man $250,000 to participate. Ultimately, the sting operation netted 4 “terrorists” who each received 25-year prison sentences.

Read the whole thing Here

Delaying Justice In Waco

The weekly newspaper Texas Lawyer reported today that all 177 persons arrested after the Twin Peaks Massacre in Waco, Texas last May 17 are likely to either be indicted or cleared by a grand jury that might not meet for another two months. All of the accused have been charged with engaging in organized criminal activity.
More than a dozen of the accused had hoped to have the blatantly spurious charges against them dismissed and their good names cleared by compelling state authorities to present evidence against them at so-called examining trials. The first of those trials was held Tuesday before a visiting judge named James Morgan. In what turned out to be a bogus proceeding, the judge ruled that there was probable cause to arrest a married couple named William and Morgan English because both wore a small tab on the front of their vests that read “I Support The Fat Mexican.” The phrase is a reference to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club which is the preeminent motorcycle club in Texas.

Examining Trials Cancelled

Other defendants began cancelling their examining trials almost immediately. Examining trials scheduled yesterday for defendants Daniel Pesina of San Antonio and John Robert Wilson of Waco were cancelled yesterday morning.
According to Texas Lawyer correspondent Miriam Rozen. “Two separate grand juries will conduct investigations into the shootings.” One jury will decide the fates of the 177 civilians who were taken into custody after the worst incident of biker violence in American History. The other grand jury, which seems to be already meeting, “will investigate police officer use of deadly force.”
McLennan County District Attorney Abelino “Abel” Reyna discussed his plan to use two grand juries in a letter to Sam Bassett who is the president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

Reyna

Basset wrote Reyna after it was announced that Waco detective James Head had been named foreman of the presently convened grand jury.
“While we express no opinion as to detective James Head’s personal ethics or integrity,” Basset wrote, “we are greatly concerned that this grand jury should under no circumstances be the grand jury that considers indictments in the biker cases, especially since there are reports that he had some involvement in the investigatory process. TCDLA urges you to consider for this case a special grand jury that contains no members of law enforcement who are involved in the biker cases.”

Read the rest @ The Aging Rebel

Baltimore marks 211 homicides; mayor takes aim at gun control

BALTIMORE —Amid an unrelenting streak of violence, Baltimore's mayor said current gun laws miss the mark.

The number of homicides in Baltimore reached 211 on Wednesday, matching the number for all of last year. The 211th homicide was recorded when police found the body of a man who was shot in a vacant house in the Penn-North neighborhood of west Baltimore, the same area hit by riots in April.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's political career may depend on getting the violence under control. She gave credit Wednesday to city police officers because arrests are back up to a normal pace. She suggested that it doesn't matter that Maryland has some of the toughest gun laws on the books while other states don't.

Not since the 1990s has the city seen this many homicides this soon in a given year. In 2007, the city recorded its 200th homicide on Aug. 20 and went on to 282 homicides for that year.

At City Hall on Wednesday, Rawlings-Blake said the city's violence follows what she called four strands of rivalry and retaliation.
"There are four major strands that are impacting the homicide rate in Baltimore. We can trace it and we can trace the players," Rawlings-Blake said. "There are known entities who are battling it out on the streets like is this is the wild, wild west, and we need help."
The mayor implored people with information to come forward.
"If you know someone who is involved in this, who you know are either the next victim or the next perpetrator, if you don't want to see your loved one die in the streets, we need you to help us do something, because if they are involved in these strands, it's coming," Rawlings-Blake said.
Citing similar increases in violence in other cities, the mayor called for a national response, including a controversial target: tougher federal gun laws. She acknowledged that Baltimore's violence surges on despite Maryland's gun laws, some of the toughest in the country. The problem, she said, is that laws in other states are more lax.
"What I am saying (is) the current approach, the state-by-state approach, has not been effective," Rawlings-Blake said.
On another front, concern about a police slowdown in Baltimore seems to have eased. Between July 15-31, city officers made 1,318 arrests, nearly double the 771 arrests that officers made between May 15-31, right after charges were announced in the Freddie Gray case.
"We are seeing a lot of positive indicators that officers are engaged on every level, and the concerns that were raised, that things are turning around," Rawlings-Blake said.
The recent arrest numbers are much closer to the level of arrests before Gray's death.

Source

Land Navigation for Preppers. Part 1 Maps and Map Sources

 

 Via AZWEAPONCRAFTPREPPER

If SHTF, you may have to move, and quickly. Hopefully you have established a bug out plan with alternate routes. But you may have to go into unfamiliar territory. Thats where skill in land navigation is important. This will be a series on basic navigation skills for those who didn’t learn them in the military or other professional organizations.

Read the rest Here

Savage Arms Adds Detachable Box Mag to LE 10-FCP/FLCP Line

 Via Hammerhead Combat Systems

Savage Arms,is without a doubt, One of the best priced off the shelf bolt-action rifles for the serious Civilian Operator. If you are looking for a serious “reach out and touch someone” sniper rifle, this model now gives you every option you need at a very good price. With the Accu-Trigger, Suppressor-ready muzzle and now a detachable 10 round bx mag, this is the best package out there for under $1K IMO.


Suffield, CT -(AmmoLand.com)- Savage Arms has made its Law Enforcement Series even more versatile by adding a 10-round detachable box magazine to its new 10 FCP-SR rifles.

Read the rest Here

Prosecuting Ozzie And Harriet

Via The Aging Rebel

 

Yesterday in Waco, a judge named James Morgan, ruled that there was probable cause to arrest William and Morgan English, a nice, young couple from Brenham, Texas, for engaging in organized criminal activity. The charge carries a penalty of five to 99 years in prison.
The Englishes had attended a brunch sponsored by the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents on May 17 at the Twin Peaks restaurant. Multiple, informed sources said Judge Morgan did not appear to be drunk.

Read the rest Here

The Grand Inquisitor Of Waco

 Via The Aging Rebel

Abelino “Abel” Reyna, the McLennan County District Attorney who has transformed the investigation of the Twin Peaks massacre in Waco last May 17 into the Spanish Inquisition, has a long official history of stupidity, ignorance of the law and demagoguery. When Waco’s inevitable $10 billion legal bill comes due sometime in the next four or five years people will probably point to Reyna as the reason why.
Reyna defeated Democrat John Segrest as District Attorney in November 2010 and was sworn in on January 3, 2011. His father is Felipe Reyna who also served as McLennan County District Attorney and as an Appeals Court Judge.
Abel Reyna formed a natural alliance with the Waco Police Department, a political force in and of itself in Waco, which objected to Segrest’s 50 percent prosecution rate. Some criminologists see a prosecution rate of about 50 percent as an indication of efficiency. Reyna claimed county residents were “skeptical of the judicial system” and he promised his office would “be aggressive…and we will be efficient.”
Reyna is not a criminologist. He is a politician and his first official act was to hire an additional crimes against children prosecutor. The new prosecutor’s name was Greg Davis and he quickly became embroiled in a corruption scandal at his old job.

Tougher Plea Deals

Reyna immediately and fatuously began sabotaging the plea deal system with much tougher proffers. Some of his critics pointed out that his “tough-on-crime policies have contributed to a rise in the jail population and the associated costs of feeding and housing inmates. Those policies prevent cases from being resolved quickly, increasing the time defendants stay in jail awaiting trial.” The net effect of Reyna’s “toughness” was overflowing jails and trial dockets. Defendants had no incentive to take bad plea deals. The resulting drain on the county budget may explain some of the baffling actions Waco took after the massacre, including the seizure of vehicles.
He was nominated by one satirist as the “stupidest politician in America” after he refused to obey a Texas law called Chapter 64 that would require DNA testing to exonerate prisoners who claimed they had been wrongly convicted.
“Technically you have any and every defendant who ever pled to a crime or was convicted of a crime potentially could file a post-conviction DNA motion,” Reyna said. “What concerns me most as District Attorney is that there is absolutely nothing in Chapter 64 with regard to victims and their families.”

Read the whole thing  Here

Another Excellent Woodworking Design From Bill

Order Here

Police Using Biometrics on Americans… Without Consent in Unaccountable Database

Facial recognition and biometric databases have been a reality in technology for decades, and have been used overseas by the military to assist in occupying potentially hostile populations in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Populations there not only face the possibility of becoming a statical civilian casualty, but are processed and tagged like cattle as well.
Now, that paradigm is coming home to roost – as spy agencies like the NSA have long planned.
Biometrics are designed for use in mass populations here in America and throughout the Western world, not just war torn locales. According to the NY Times:

Facial recognition software, which American military and intelligence agencies used for years in Iraq and Afghanistan to identify potential terrorists, is being eagerly adopted by dozens of police departments around the country to pursue drug dealers, prostitutes and other conventional criminal suspects. But because it is being used with few guidelines and with little oversight or public disclosure, it is raising questions of privacy and concerns about potential misuse.

The potential for abuse is obvious.
Already, the database is saddled by millions of people who are not criminals and have not been charged with any crime – which experts claim is reducing its effectiveness. There is about a 20% rate of false-positives – hardly encouraging:

“It is not as if there is the identification of a specific crime problem; they are simply collecting a lot of information that could impact a lot of completely innocent people,” said Michael German, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice and a former F.B.I. agent.

The New York Times interviewed two people upset about police detaining them on street curbs to take a photo for the biometric database, while also taking such data as cheek-swabbed DNA.
They weren’t arrested, but now they are being watched more closely than people realize, as increasing numbers of cameras and computer systems are beginning to utilize law enforcement biometric databases, potentially recognizing and flagging innocent people everywhere they go, and subjecting them to possible undue suspicion.
One case was a retired firefighter who encountered police after he attempted to stop an intruder at his home:

Read it all Here

Copy of Postal Service Audit Shows Extent of Mail Surveillance

WASHINGTON — In what experts say is the first acknowledgment of how the United States Postal Service’s mail surveillance program for national security investigations is used, the service’s internal watchdog found that inspectors failed to follow key safeguards in the gathering and handling of classified information.

The overall program, called mail covers, allows postal employees working on behalf of law enforcement agencies to record names, return addresses and other information from the outside of letters and packages before they are delivered to the home of a person suspected of criminal activity.

The information about national security mail covers, amid heated public debate over the proper limits on government surveillance, was contained in an audit conducted by the Postal Service’s inspector general last year. Although much of the information was public, sections about the national security mail covers were heavily redacted. An unredacted copy of the report was provided to a security researcher in response to a Freedom of Information Act request this year. The researcher, who goes by a single legal name, Sai, shared the report with The New York Times.

In a June 8 letter to Sai, the Postal Inspection Service — the Postal Service’s law enforcement arm — said it could not “confirm or deny the existence” of the national security mail cover program, even though it was mentioned in the audit.

“The Postal Service does not provide public comment on matters which could potentially involve national security interests,” Paul J. Krenn, a spokesman, said in an email. The Postal Inspection Service did tell the auditors that it had begun training its employees on handling classified materials.

Experts said the unredacted report was the first to provide public details, although minimal, about the national security mail covers. The number of requests appeared small, about 1,000 from 2011 to 2013, and the report did not say which federal agencies made them.

It did disclose that the F.B.I., the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Homeland Security were the largest overall users of mail covers. Those agencies declined to provide The Times with data on their use of mail covers in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed last year.

The redacted audit was posted in May 2014 on the website of the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General, even though Postal Service managers said the report should be exempt from public disclosure because it could compromise investigations. The inspector general disagreed.

Kevin R. Kosar, a former analyst at the Congressional Research Service who worked on postal issues, said he found it surprising that the Office of Inspector General redacted the information about the national security mail covers in the first place.

“I think it’s symptomatic of our overclassification of information in the government,” he said. “There is nothing here that compromises any law enforcement activities. In fact, there is very little information.”

Privacy advocates said the findings about the national security mail covers were hardly surprising given that the public report last year found that the Postal Inspection Service had failed to provide adequate oversight.

In addition to raising privacy concerns, the audit questioned the Postal Service’s efficiency and accuracy in handling mail cover requests. Many requests were processed late, the audit said, which delayed surveillance, and computer errors caused the same tracking number to be assigned to different requests.

“I think they should have to get warrants to get this information,” said Frank Askin, a law professor at the Rutgers Constitutional Rights Clinic who, as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, successfully sued the F.B.I. nearly 40 years ago after the agency monitored the mail of a 15-year-old New Jersey student. “Law enforcement agencies shouldn’t just be able to go to the Postal Service and ask them to track someone’s communications. It raises serious First Amendment issues.”

The inspector general also found that the Postal Inspection Service did not have “sufficient controls” in place to ensure that its employees followed the agency’s policies in handling the national security mail covers.

According to the audit, about 10 percent of requests did not include the dates for the period covered by surveillance. Without the dates in the files, auditors were unable to determine if the Postal Service had followed procedures for allowing law enforcement agencies to monitor mail for a specific period of time.

Additionally, 15 percent of the inspectors who handled the mail covers did not have the proper nondisclosure agreements on file for handling classified materials, records that must be maintained for 50 years. The agreements would prohibit the postal workers from discussing classified information.

And the inspector general found that in about 32 percent of cases, postal inspectors did not include, as required, the date on which they visited facilities where mail covers were being processed. In another 32 percent of cases, law enforcement agencies did not return documents to the Postal Inspection Service’s Office of Counsel, which handles the national security mail covers, within the prescribed 60 days after a case was closed.

The mail covers program is more than a century old, but law enforcement officials consider it a powerful investigative tool. They say that the program’s deceptively old-fashioned method of collecting data provides a wealth of information about the businesses and associates of its targets, and that it can lead to bank and property records and even to accomplices. Opening mail requires a warrant.

 

The Times reported last year that there had been abuses of the mail cover surveillance program. Interviews and court records showed that the program had been used by a county attorney and sheriff in Arizona to investigate a political opponent and to monitor privileged communications between lawyers and their clients, a practice not allowed under postal regulations. The county attorney was later disbarred, in part because of the investigation.

“Insufficient controls could hinder the Postal Inspection Service’s ability to conduct effective investigations, lead to public concerns over privacy of mail and harm the Postal Service’s brand,” the audit concluded.

Source 

Reading The Autopsies Again

Via  The Aging Rebel


The autopsy reports for the nine men killed in the Twin Peaks Massacre in Waco on May 17 are a thicket of words that don’t seem to answer many questions. The reports may be as important for what they don’t disprove as for what they do or don’t prove. They do not for example, disprove the notion that all, or at least most of the dead men were killed by police using M-16s and FN P90 machine guns.
Thirteen of sixteen entrance wounds were .25 inches in diameter or smaller.
FN P90s fire a round with a diameter of .224409 inches. M-16s fire slightly smaller rounds with diameters of 0.218898 inches. All but one of the victims had wounds fired from a downward trajectory. Six of the nine dead had head or neck wounds. None of the wounds contained gunshot residue which indicates that the shots were fired from at least three feet away and probably five feet or farther away. The absence of residue casts doubt on claims by prosecutors of  “Bandidos executing Cossacks, and Cossacks executing Bandidos.” Two of the dead had large wounds consistent with a 12 gauge shotgun slug. Ten of 16 wounds were in the back, indicating that the victims were running away when they died. Seven of the wounds were fired from right to left. Six were fired from left to right.
Nine millimeter bullets have a diameter of 0.35433 inches; forty caliber handguns fire a bullet that is four tenths of an inch in diameter and 357 magnums fire rounds that are about .357 inches in diameter.

Read the rest Here

Freedom And Central Planning Can Never Coexist

Via NC Renegade

The average person is a statist, whether he realizes it or not. It is important that liberty activists recognize and accept this fact because the truth of our limitations as a movement determines the kinds of solutions into which we should ultimately put our time and energy. The fantasy of a final grand march of an awake and aware majority on the doorsteps of power is just that: a fantasy. Some people might argue that given more time, such an event could be organized or could happen spontaneously. But these people seem to forget that the immediacy of any crisis inspires awareness and cuts the bindings of complacency for only a certain percentage of any given population. With “more time” often comes more complacency, not less.

So, history becomes a kind of balancing act, with crisis generating the necessity of intelligent and moral action in some people but rarely, if ever, in most people (even during the American Revolution, in which patriots represented a stark minority). The reason that the culture of freedom consistently plateaus and remains stuck at underdog status is because human beings are, first, often acclimated to the idea that crises are things that only happen to other people, and, second, they are obsessed with the idea that governments should retain prohibitory and administrative power over the public as a means to “prevent” crisis from occurring (the sheepdog and sheep mentality).

Read the whole thing  Here

When Citizens Behave Like Law Enforcement They are Arrested — Why aren’t Cops?

By William N. Grigg

Three members of a border vigilante group that offered to assist the Border Patrol have been indicted for practicing “asset forfeiture” without a license – that is, plotting to steal narcotics and cash from drug cartels in Mexico.
A criminal complaint filed by FBI Special Agent John E. Kelly accuses Parris Frazier, Robert Deatherage, and Erik Foster of conspiring to possess and distribute “five kilograms or more of a mixture … containing a detectable amount of cocaine” and derivatives of that controlled substance. The suspects, who belong to a private militia called the “Arizona Special Operations Group,” obtained the contraband from an undercover FBI agent as part of a federal false-flag operation.
On January 24, Frazier was stopped by Border Patrol agents operating an internal checkpoint. Explaining that he “wanted to assist Border Patrol in stopping illegal border activities,” Frazier “asked for information on the illegal activities they had seen lately,” narrates Kelly’s criminal complaint. The agents claimed that they had been working with an informal source but could no longer do so. Frazier “expressed his interest in contacting the source” in order to conduct his own investigation.

Several weeks later, the undercover FBI agent, “posing as the informal [Border Patrol] source,” contacted Frazier. During a covertly recorded conversation, Frazier allegedly told the provocateur that “he had a small group of patriots that he trusted and they were trying to take care of (steal) anything that came up out of Mexico (drugs) or was going back into Mexico (bulk cash),” and that, predictably, “they preferred the cash loads going south.” Frazier promised the undercover FBI agent “a percentage of whatever is taken” from the narco-couriers.
During a second recorded conversation on March 4, Frazier reportedly told the FBI agent that he and his colleagues would be willing to “dispatch” – that is, kill – “all of the individuals guarding the cash to ensure that his guys go home at night.” Although he had specified that none of his associates were “tied up in law enforcement,” their policy regarding lethal force apparently was modeled on the familiar “officer safety uber alles” paradigm.
In recorded phone calls over the next several weeks, the FBI agent outlined a plan to steal thousands of dollars from a vehicle that was supposedly owned by a cousin in the employ of a drug trafficker. This led to an attempted “rip” by Frazier and a partner on April 2: FBI surveillance captured the suspects, dressed in camouflage, wearing facemasks, and carrying AR-15s, search the Bureau’s “bait car” in a fruitless effort to steal money that wasn’t there.
A follow-up phone call from the informant added new details to the fabricated story by claiming that cartel members had found $8,000 in the vehicle, but that the miscreant cousin had stolen $12,000. Unwittingly playing the role scripted for him, Frazier allegedly told the informant: “How about I lay an offer out on the table that we just get him [the cousin] out of the way for you.” The informant suggested that Frazier and his partners do at last one more cash “rip” before discussing a hit on the mythical cousin.

On April 23, Frazier and his companion seized $7300 from a second FBI “bait car” that was said to be carrying $20,000. Once again, the informant claimed that the cousin had confiscated the rest while driving the “cartel vehicle” to a pre-designated drop. Artfully stringing Frazier along, the informant continued to discuss the possibility of a murder-for-hire targeting the nonexistent cousin. In the meantime, he told Frazier, it would be possible for him to steal a northbound cocaine shipment. Frazier and the other two suspects were directed to a warehouse in Phoenix where they found a Hyundai Tucson containing “one package of actual cocaine weighing approximately one kilogram and nine packages of cocaine stimulant [sic] that also weighed approximately one kilogram each.”(Emphasis added.)

Read the whole thing Here

Afternoon links: St. Louis County charges journalists with “contempt of cop”

 Via Radley Balko


Two journalists, one from the Huffington Post and one from the Washington Post, who were arrested during last year’s Ferguson, Mo., protests have been charged with what essentially amounts to “contempt of cop.” That isn’t and shouldn’t be a crime, but it isn’t even clear they did that. Certainly doesn’t do much to dispel the accusation that St. Louis County prosecutors are petty, vindictive, and use their power as a weapon.

More...

• On the importance of jury nullification, and why informing jurors of their rights can never be a crime.
• Joe Biden has a long and sordid record supporting policies that led to mass incarceration.
• Prisoners in New York’s Clinton Correctional Facility say they were subjected to indiscriminate beatings after the high-profile escape last month.
•  
• Amnesty International formally endorses the decriminalization of consensual sex work.
• Albuquerque police department refuses to release body camera footage of the critical moments before its SWAT team shot and killed a man.
• The threat to free speech on campus and “the coddling of the American mind.”
• Federal judge strikes down Idaho’s ridiculous “ag gag” law.
• Photo of the day: Tbilisi, Georgia.

Without Congressional Compromise, Conservation Will Come to a Halt

What 34 sportsmen’s groups have joined forces to ask of our nation’s lawmakers as they craft next year’s budget
Agreement in the year 2015 seems to be a rare thing—whether it’s among Republicans and Democrats or about Coke or Pepsi. Even hunters and anglers have loyalties that can lead to fireside arguments about smallmouth or cutthroat, ducks or deer. With so many options, disagreement just seems to be the natural status quo.

Image courtesy of Nicolas Raymond.

But there was absolutely no disagreement last week, when 34 of the nation’s leading hunting and angling conservation organizations, representing sportsmen and women from every region of the country, signed a letter urging Congressional leadership to begin negotiating a bipartisan budget deal.
Many of the issues that we work on at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership are regional by nature of being specific to certain terrain or species, like sage grouse, red snapper, or Prairie Potholes. It can sometimes be difficult, and understandably so, to get fishing groups interested in upland issues or to ask waterfowl groups to advocate for the sagebrush steppe. It’s not that these groups don’t care, it’s just that, with limited bandwidth and capacity, their focus on one core mission is essential. And so TRCP has made it our core mission to bring the widest swath of the sporting community to bear on the issues that truly impact the full spectrum of America’s hunters and anglers.
Few issues are more important to fish and wildlife habitat and the future of quality experiences afield than conservation funding.
The end of September marks the end of the federal fiscal year 2015, and as the fiscal year ends, so does the Murray-Ryan budget deal (formally known as the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015). It was negotiated in good faith by then-chairs of the House and Senate Budget Committees, Paul Ryan and Patty Murray, respectively. Its provisions allowed for a temporary lift from the onerous, sweeping, and automatic cuts referred to as “sequestration,” which would have fundamentally altered the landscape of fish and wildlife habitat conservation in the United States. However, the expiration of the deal means the return of sequestration and, in such a scenario, habitat projects often wind up on the cutting room floor. Access enhancement stops in its tracks. Conservation priorities wither on the vine.
That is, unless Congressional leaders can come together on a successor agreement to Murray-Ryan. Dozens of sporting-conservation groups have gone on the record in support of Congressional negotiations that result in a bipartisan budget agreement to provide for a meaningful reinvestment in conservation funding. Private lands, public lands, marine fisheries, water, and literally everything else in the universe of issues that sportsmen care about most would be dramatically impacted by the return of sequestration.
It is time for Congressional leaders to come together for this greatly needed compromise—we can all agree on that.

Via TRCP Here

Drone Fisherman

FOIA Request Shows Thousands Have Been Held Inside Secret US Prison, Homan Square

After filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department (CPD), The Guardian has discovered over 3,600 people have been detained at a secure facility known as Homan Square. Notorious for allegedly denying access to defense attorneys and committing human rights abuses, the officers at this CIA-style black site have been accused of coercing confessions, committing torture, and shackling detainees for prolonged periods. Although the CPD has denied these accusations, the department has been marred with a history of abuse and corruption.
On February 24, The Guardian exposed a police detention facility in Chicago where arrestees were kept out of official booking databases, denied legal representation, and endured hours of physical and psychological abuse. After the CPD ignored several FOIA requests regarding their facility at Homan Square, The Guardian filed a lawsuit against the department in April requesting further information, including the number of people detained at Homan Square and video evidence of interrogations at the site.
The CPD has recently revealed that at least 3,621 people have been detained at Homan Square for crimes ranging from drinking in public to murder. Although Chicago’s population is 33% black and 32% white according to the 2010 U.S. census, over 82% of the disclosed Homan Square arrests consist of black residents. Only 8.5% of the detainees were white, while 6.7% were Hispanic.
“When I was a detective, occasionally I would arrest a white person,” recalled Lorenzo Davis, a former police detective who commanded a unit at Homan Square, “and the white detectives would be overly interested in why I was arresting someone white.”
According to the CPD, only three arrestees received visits from their lawyers between September 2004 and July 2015. In its investigation, The Guardian documented an additional eight times that attorneys were present at Homan Square. In four instances, lawyers accompanied their clients to Homan to turn themselves in to authorities. Two lawyers were allowed interviews with their clients, while in at least two other cases, attorneys assert that they were refused access to their clients.
In January 2013, Eliza Solowiej of Chicago’s First Defense Legal Aid attempted to contact a client who had been detained at Homan Square. According to the attorney, officers changed her client’s name in the booking database before transferring him to the site at Homan Square. She finally located him after her client had been transported to a hospital with a head injury.
“He said that the officers caused his head injuries in an interrogation room at Homan Square. I had been looking for him for six to eight hours, and every department member I talked to said they had never heard of him,” Solowiej recalled. “He sent me a phone pic of his head injuries because I had seen him in a police station right before he was transferred to Homan Square without any.”
In September 2013, Chicago attorney Julia Bartmes was denied access to a 15-year-old boy detained within the Homan Square facility. After interrogating the teenager for at least 12 hours, the CPD released her client without charges.
On May 16, 2012, the CPD arrested Brian Jacob Church, a protester known as one of the “NATO 3,” and detained him at Homan Square. Instead of entering Church’s arrest into an official booking database, officers reportedly left his wrist cuffed to a bench with his legs shackled together for approximately 17 hours. Denying him access to his attorney, the police repeatedly interrogated Church without informing him of his Miranda rights to remain silent. In April 2014, Church and his two co-defendants were convicted of possessing an incendiary device and misdemeanor mob action, but they were acquitted of the terrorism-related charges.
On October 20, 2012, CPD officers detained Angel Perez at Homan Square to convince him to turn into a police informant. According to a lawsuit filed by Perez, officers Jorge Lopez and Edmund Zablocki anally raped him with a gun to coerce his cooperation.
In September 2011, Jose Martinez was allegedly cuffed to a bench for nine hours at Homan Square without food, water, or the use of a restroom before being booked at an actual police station. In August 2006, Estephanie Martinez had to relieve herself in a Homan Square interrogation room when a guard repeatedly refused to take her to the bathroom. On February 6, Calvin Coffey defecated on the floor of an interrogation room after guards refused his requests to go to the bathroom for over two hours. According to his lawsuit, Coffey was ordered to clean it up with his skull cap.
Although the CPD denies any wrongdoing, the department has a history of torturing suspects in order to obtain false confessions. Between 1972 and 1991, Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and his men tortured hundreds of people to extract forced confessions from them. Convicted of perjury in 2010, Burge only spent four years in prison due to the fact that the statute of limitations prevents prosecutors from charging him and his fellow officers with multiple counts of torture. After costing Chicago and Cook County nearly $100 million in legal fees and settlements, Burge still receives a $4,000 monthly pension from the city.
Former Chicago homicide detective and Guantanamo Bay interrogator, Richard Zuley, was slapped with multiple lawsuits alleging he coerced confessions, threatened suspects’ family members, planted evidence, and committed torture. After retiring from the department, Zuley was assigned to interrogate Guantanamo detainee, Mohammedou Ould Slahi. According to Slahi’s testimony, Zuley tortured him, subjected him to mock executions, and threatened to bring Slahi’s mother to Guantanamo to rape her.
Since Rahm Emanuel assumed the office of mayor on May 16, 2011, at least 2,522 people have been detained at Homan Square. According to current police data, roughly 70% of the Homan Square detentions have taken place under Emanuel’s term. Additional FOIA requests have been filed requesting communications between the CPD and the mayor’s office regarding Homan Square.

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Washington: Seattle City Council Unanimously Passes Anti-Gun Ordinances

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On Monday, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed two anti-gun ordinances.  As previously reported, these ordinances disregard Washington’s preemption law and victimize law-abiding gun owners and licensed firearm dealers.
The first ordinance seeks to levy reparations from those who lawfully engage in the expression of their Second Amendment rights by imposing a tax on each firearm and round of ammunition that is legally sold in Seattle.  The proposal would take the paid taxes and use it to pay for crimes committed by others.  Such an ordinance would simply force the law-abiding to pay for the actions of criminals.
The second ordinance would mandate that gun owners who have become the victim of a burglary or other such theft report that a firearm has become lost or stolen within 24 hours.  Notwithstanding the unreasonable requirement for individuals to have an immediate inventory of all items that are lost during such a traumatic event, this ordinance would further punish victims of these occurrences by fining them upwards of $500.
Your NRA-ILA is currently exploring legal options to combat these anti-gun ordinances.  Please stay tuned to your inbox and www.NRAILA.org for more updates on this and other Second Amendment issues in Washington