Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Discuss political news items / current events.
freedomforall
Gnolaum ∞
Posts: 16479
Location: WEST OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by freedomforall »

Here is something to consider, right?

Mosiah Hancock:

[According to Brother Hancock, the Prophet Joseph Smith told him,] The United States will spend her strength and means warring in foreign lands until other nations will say, “Let’s divide up the lands of the United States,” then the people of the U.S. will unite and swear by the blood of their fore-fathers, that the land shall not be divided. Then the country will go to war, and they will fight until one half of the U.S. army will give up, and the rest will continue to struggle. They will keep on until they are very ragged and discouraged, and almost ready to give up—when the boys from the mountains will rush forth in time to save the American Army from defeat and ruin. And they will say, “Brethren, we are glad you have come; give us men, henceforth, who can talk with God.” Then you will have friends, but you will save the country when its liberty hangs by a hair, as it were. (Life Story of Mosiah Lyman Hancock, 19-20)

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

http://ticklethewire.com/2017/02/03/120 ... t-service/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

12,000+ Tweets about Assassinating Trump Create Challenge for Secret Service



Since Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day, more than 12,000 people have tweeted “assassinate Trump,” causing a headache for the Secret Service.

Some of the tweets are jokes or hyperbolic, but some are serious, Mashable reports.

But it’s unclear how serious the Secret Service is taking the tweets.

There are reports of agents arriving at the homes of social media users, including a Kentucky woman who tweeted, “If someone was cruel enough to assassinate MLK, maybe someone will be kind enough to assassinate Trump.”

An Ohio man was charged with making threats to Trump following several tweets about killing the Republican on election night.

“It’s the people who have a true and genuine intent to do harm that

tribrac
captain of 1,000
Posts: 4367
Location: The land northward

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by tribrac »

Doctrine and Covenants 45:68
68 And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety.

freedomforall
Gnolaum ∞
Posts: 16479
Location: WEST OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by freedomforall »

msfreeh wrote:http://ticklethewire.com/2017/02/03/120 ... t-service/

12,000+ Tweets about Assassinating Trump Create Challenge for Secret Service



Since Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day, more than 12,000 people have tweeted “assassinate Trump,” causing a headache for the Secret Service.

Some of the tweets are jokes or hyperbolic, but some are serious, Mashable reports.

But it’s unclear how serious the Secret Service is taking the tweets.

There are reports of agents arriving at the homes of social media users, including a Kentucky woman who tweeted, “If someone was cruel enough to assassinate MLK, maybe someone will be kind enough to assassinate Trump.”

An Ohio man was charged with making threats to Trump following several tweets about killing the Republican on election night.

“It’s the people who have a true and genuine intent to do harm that
Does the 1st Amendment allow for threats of death to others as a rightful way to exercise freedom of speech? And some people got real ticked off thinking Trump was against free speech. Actually, he is against people doing the threatening of bodily harm to others, slandering others with false information and getting away with it. I suppose the threats to others these days are becoming the norm, just like so much other evils we have to put up with.
So what are the righteous to do, stand tall and resist evil, run and hide in a cave, live in a totally protective bunker or hide in a shallow, camouflaged, canvas covered foxhole? Or will everything be just fine once we stick our head in some sand?
Head In Sand (2).jpg
Head In Sand (2).jpg (53.12 KiB) Viewed 9198 times

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.google.com/search?sclient=t ... 1xSbXJWBxY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We're all just walking each other home.
It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed.
The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

User avatar
FTC
captain of 100
Posts: 369

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by FTC »

Why? Because - pew! pew-pew-pew-pew-pew! Pew-pew! pew! pew-pew! Pew-pew-pew! Pew! Pew! pew-pew-pew!
'Murica!


msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... y-bombing/




April 19, 2017
CIA psychic claimed the Oklahoma City Bombing was the work of “five Arabs”
“Ever if our friends in DC don’t use this, they will have a file record to check against reality the info unfolds.”

On April 20, 1995, Dr. Edwin May, head of the CIA’s STARGATE program researching psychic phenomenon, received a fax from a remote viewer named “Joe,” who claimed to have a lead into the bombing in Oklahoma City the day prior.




Daz Smith from Farsight Institute on 9/11 Conspiracy on Lost ...
▶ 1:53:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ghhotp8xgk
Feb 4, 2015 - Uploaded by Lost Knowledge With Debbie West and Michael Hathaway
Daz Smith on Lost Knowledge, one of the world's leading Remote Viewers and author of Controlled Remote ...



http://farsight.org/demo/Mysteries/Myst ... rgets.html
The Farsight Institute | 9/11 Project
farsight.org/demo/Mysteries/Mysteries_10/Mysteries_Project_10_targets.html
Sep 11, 2014 - The 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. in the year 2001 were arguably one of the most disturbing events to happen so far ...


May wasted no time in contacting his superiors in the Office of Research and Development (ORD) …

who in turn contacted the Agency’s Counter Terrorism Center (CTC), who provided a number with which May could contact the FBI. May was less than thrilled at having to “cold call” the Bureau, rather reasonably expecting that he might come off, in his own words, as a “lunatic.”

While the CTC was sympathetic, the Center argued it couldn’t be helped, and that time being of the essence, May needed to contact the FBI immediately. For its part, the CTC sent over a brief explanation of the Agency’s experience with parapsychological phenomenon …





http://www.wkbw.com/news/more-charges-a ... violations


More charges against Steve Pigeon for Election Law violations
4:07 PM, Apr 19, 2017



“In democratic societies, the voting process is a means by which citizens hold their government accountable,” said FBI Buffalo Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Cohen. “Our system of representative government works only when it's done in accordance with the laws created to ensure fair elections.”









http://www.thelandesreport.com/donsanto.htm



________________________________________
Why won't the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate electronic vote fraud? Is it because the DOJ and FBI have long been involved in it, themselves?
“If you did it right, no one would ever know,” said Craig C. Donsanto, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Election Crimes Branch, Public Integrity Section (from 1970-2010) in a July 4,1989 Los Angeles Times article about electronic voting machines and vote fraud.

READ:
• PROSECUTION OF ELECTION OFFENSES (see: DOJ/DonsantoElectionManuel.pdf) January 1999, Sixth Edition, by Craig C. Donsanto, Director, U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section -- This manual is a study in how NOT to investigate election crimes. There is little mention of voting machines or the threat they pose to the process. Check out page 62 and see democracy.ru article (at bottom of this page) that tipped this editor off as to the existence of the manual, and is a good summary of the manuel --Excerpt: "Since the voting process is at bottom primarily a state-regulated activity, federal authorities should not interfere with it. This means that until the votes have been canvassed and the outcome of all the election contests on the ballot certified by the competent state authority, the documentation generated by the election process must remain in state hands. Also, while this may not be possible in all situations, it is preferable that the predication of federal voter fraud investigations above «preliminaries» await the conclusion of the election and the certification of results. Again, close consultation with Public Integrity is encouraged." (In other words, after the fox has left the henhouse, Donsanto allows his agents to investigate.)
• A FEDERAL OBSERVER REPORT (See: FederalObserverReport.pdf) Once again, this report is a study in how NOT to effectively observe the election process. No meaningful information is collected as a result of federal observers filling out these reports.


________________________________________
The Cincinnati Bell-FBI scandal: Leonard Gates, a Cincinnati Bell employee for 23 years, testified that in the late 1970's and 80's, the FBI assisted telephone companies with hacking into mainframe election computers in cities across the country. He spoke with agents from both the DOJ (U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Brinkman) and FBI (Agent Love), but to his knowledge, neither agency took further action. Leonard Gates 1987Deposition, plus 1985 Background Material from Jim Condit, Jr. //Pandora's Black Box & http://www.votefraud.org/expert_strunk_report.htm (contains case number)
• Gates testified, P. 28, "He (Gates's supervisor, Mr. Jim West,) said the programming was obtained out of California, and that the programming had been obtained through the FBI, and all this kind of stuff, and that was about it."
• Page 34 excerpt: "And I knew that we did do certain things under certain court direction, under certain court orders, and I just didn't see where they would have a court order to get into that, and I expressed my concern to Mr. Dugan (President of Cincinnati Bell). Mr. Dugan said it was a very gray area, and that they were into like New York and Atlanta, Georgia, and to the other computers, you know. This was just small compared to what was going on."
• Page 39, "...and I said, "Well, do you (Mr.Fedrich, vice president of Cincinnati Bell) have a blanket court order on this or what?" And he kind of weasel-worded me, to be honest with you. He said "Well, our relationship with the FBI is very, very close."
Excerpt from Nov 1996, Pandora's Black Box by Philip M. O’Halloran of Relevance, The Cincinnati Election Wiretapping Scandal:
Lewis and other skeptics of the vote-fixing scenario like to insist that there has never been any evidence of a "conspiracy" to fix elections by computer. But then, most of those we interviewed on both sides of the issue had never heard of the case of Leonard Gates of Cincinnati, Ohio. An employee of the Cincinnati Bell telephone company, Gates was watching a local t.v. news story, in which a Cincinnati man named Jim Condit was charging that the election system was vulnerable to vote fraud in the Hamilton county election process.
He based his charges on his experience as a candidate for city council in 1979, when, after an election night computer crash, Condit and seven other "feisty challengers" had suddenly "fallen to the very bottom of the heap" of 26 candidates. Gates called the station and later contacted Mr. Condit, telling him he knew firsthand how his votes were robbed. They met and shared information and ultimately Gates testified in Condit’s Cincinnatus PAC (political action committee) lawsuit against the Hamilton County Board of Elections.
The suit had earlier been decided against the plaintiffs and Gates took the stand during the appeal. He swore under oath that he was ordered by his Cincinnati Bell superiors to wiretap the election headquarters’ phones lines to provide a link-up between the county’s vote-counting computers and parties unknown on another phone line somewhere in California.
The following are excerpts from the Cincinnati Post of October, 30th, 1987:
Cincinnati Bell security supervisors ordered wire-taps installed on county computers before elections in the late 1970s and early 1980s that could have allowed vote totals to be altered, a former Bell employee says in a sworn court document.
Leonard Gates, a 23-year Cincinnati Bell employee until he was fired in 1986, claims in a deposition filed Thursday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court to have installed the wire-taps. Cincinnati Bell officials denied Gates’ allegations that are part of a six-year-old civil suit that contends the elections computer is subject o manipulation and fraud.
Gates claims a security supervisor for the telephone company told him in 1979 that the firm had obtained a computer program through the FBI that gave it access to the county computer used to count votes. [Emphasis added].
The FBI refused comment and Cincinnati Bell spokesmen vehemently denied the allegations, claiming Gates was a "disgruntled ex-employee", yet, according to Condit, the company ultimately admitted that one of its vans was involved in the wiretapping, although it claimed they were commandeered without the company’s knowledge. The Post continued:
In the deposition, Gates claims he first installed a wire-tap on a telephone line to the county computers before the 1977 election at the instruction of James West, a Bell security supervisor.
Gates contends both West and Peter Gabor, security director, told him to install wire-taps in subsequent elections. Both men declined comment Thursday.
In the 1979 election, which is the focus of the deposition – Gates said he received instructions in the mail from West about installing wire-taps on county computers in the County Administration Building at Court and Main streets.
The wire-taps were installed on the eve of the election at Cincinnati Bell’s switching control center at Seventh and Elm Streets and terminated in a conference room in the building, Gates alleges.
In the deposition, Gates described in great technical detail installation of the wire-taps.
At about 8:30 p.m. on election day – Nov. 6, 1979 – Gates said he was called by West and told something had gone wrong, causing the elections computer to malfunction. At West’s instructions, Gates said he removed the taps.
The elections computer shutdown for two hours on election evening due to what was believed to be a power failure, Condit Sr. has said.
Gates said West told him they "had the ability to actually alter what was being done with the votes."
Gates said West told him the Board of elections did not know about the taps and that the computer program for the elections computer "was obtained out of California, and that the programming had been obtained through the FBI..."
Shortly after the 1979 election, Gates said he met with the late Richard Dugan, former Cincinnati Bell president, to express his concerns that the wire-taps were done without a court order.
"Mr. Dugan said it was a very gray area... This was just small compared to what was going on. He told me just, if I had a problem, to talk to him and everything would be okay, but everything was under control," Gates said [Emphasis added].
[Editor’s Note: This scandal’s alleged FBI connection raises the possibility of U.S. law enforcement and/or intelligence involvement in electronic vote-rigging.]
Another Cincinnati Bell employee, named Bob Draise, admitted to being involved in a second phase of the illegal operation, which involved wiretapping several prominent Cincinnati political figures including a crusader against pornography named Keating and the Hamilton County commissioner, Allen Paul.
Jim Condit told Relevance that, as a result of the ensuing scandal, Draise was convicted and five Cincinnati police officers, who were allegedly involved in the wiretapping operation, abruptly resigned. The alleged involvement of the FBI was never pursued and the Bureau itself did not follow up on the Gates allegations. In spite of all the evidence, the appeal by the plaintiff failed and the issue was laid to rest.
________________________________________
FEDERAL COMPLICITY IN VOTE FRAUD - excerpts from Lynn Landes's 2007 'REPORT TO CONGRESS'
The unique vulnerability of electronic voting technologies has been long known to federal authorities.
“If you did it right, no one would ever know,” said Craig C. Donsanto, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Election Crimes Branch, Public Integrity Section (from 1970-present) in a July 4,1989 Los Angeles Times article about electronic voting machines and vote fraud.
So, why hasn't Donsanto sounded the alarm and informed Congress of this threat?
Donsanto has the reputation of a gatekeeper. He was featured in the Colliers' book, VoteScam, for his unwillingness to investigate evidence they collected over the years of rampant vote fraud involving voting machine companies, the news networks' exit polls, and election officials in Florida and other states.
Furthermore, Donsanto made it official department policy that no federal investigator should enter a polling precinct on election day, nor should they begin any serious investigation of the voting process until after the election results are certified. It is this policy that gives those who commit vote fraud ample opportunity to destroy evidence and cover their tracks. (See official policy: http://www.thelandesreport.com/Donsanto.htm)
There is more to be concerned about than obstruction of justice within the DOJ. It appears that elements within the FBI may have not only been aware of computer vote fraud, but participated in it. The following are excerpts from the Cincinnati Post of October 30th, 1987:
"Cincinnati Bell security supervisors ordered wire-taps installed on county computers before elections in the late 1970s and early 1980s that could have allowed vote totals to be altered, a former Bell employee says in a sworn court document. Leonard Gates, a 23-year Cincinnati Bell employee until he was fired in 1986, claims in a deposition filed Thursday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court to have installed the wire-taps. Cincinnati Bell officials denied Gates’ allegations that are part of a six-year-old civil suit that contends the elections computer is subject o manipulation and fraud. Gates claims a security supervisor for the telephone company told him in 1979 that the firm had obtained a computer program through the FBI that gave it access to the county computer used to count votes." (See: Pandora'sBlackBox.htm)
No state could match the staggering number of Voting Rights complaints due to voting machines and other election irregularities as Florida did in the 2000 presidential election. Yet the Bush Administration's DOJ under Attorney General John Ashcroft did not send federal observers to Florida to monitor the voting process in 2002, although federal observers were sent to several other states. This was surprising news to many people and organizations who were told by DOJ officials that "Justice" would be down there in force.
Even if federal observers had been sent to Florida, how would they 'observe' the accuracy of the voting machines there?
"They wouldn't know that," says Nelldean Monroe, Voting Rights Program Administrator for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in a phone interview. Her agency is responsible for the recruiting and training of federal observers who are sent by the DOJ to monitor elections if violations of the Voting Rights Act are suspected.
In a November 21, 2002 e-mail Monroe elaborated, "The only observance of the tallying of the votes is when DOJ specifically requests observers to do so. This rarely occurs, but when it does, it is most often during the day following the election when a County conducts a canvass of challenged or rejected ballots. In this case, federal observers may observe the County representatives as they make determinations on whether to accept a challenged or rejected ballot. Federal observers may also observe the counting of the ballots (or vote tallying) when paper ballots are used." (See e-mail: http://www.thelandesreport.com/nelldeanmonroe.htm)
In other words, federal observers can only observe people, not machines, counting paper ballots. Monroe confirmed that there is no training and no opportunity for federal observers to observe the accuracy of voting machines.
Under Section 8 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.Code § 1973f, federal observers may be authorized to observe "... whether persons who are entitled to vote are being permitted to vote ...(and) whether votes cast by persons entitled to vote are being properly tabulated..."
America's nontransparent voting process (i.e., voting by machine, absentee, early, or secret ballot) violate those provisions. Federal observers cannot observe "whether persons who are entitled to vote are being permitted to vote” (and) “whether votes cast are being properly tabulated."
Under "Prohibited acts" in §1973i, the "Failure or refusal to permit casting or tabulation of vote"...can result in civil and criminal penalties. "No person acting under color of law shall fail or refuse to permit any person to vote who is entitled to vote...(and) Whoever...knowingly and willfully falsifies or conceals a material fact... shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."
Requiring voters to use voting machines, rather than allow them to mark and cast their own votes, constitutes "failure or refusal to permit casting". Any result produced by a machine is circumstantial (i.e., not direct) evidence of the intention of the voter.
Fundamentally, nontransparent voting makes the role of the federal observer moot and the Voting Rights Act une






http://www.krgv.com/story/35189890/san- ... -wednesday


San Juan Police Officer in Federal Court Wednesday
Posted: Apr 19, 2017 2:09 PM EDT Updated: Apr 19, 2017 2:09 PM EDT


Castillo was one of several San Juan police officers and Border Patrol agents who responded to a traffic accident near Stuart and Moore Road back on August 27.
Inside an abandoned vehicle, officers and agents found narcotics.
The drugs were taken to the San Juan Police Department before being handed over to the DEA.
In December, DEA agents interviewed all agents and officers involved in the case. Castillo told the DEA that he didn’t see or touch the drugs until they were at the police station.
Video shows otherwise.

https://www.thetrace.org/2017/04/congre ... d-furious/

https://www.thetrace.org/2017/04/congre ... d-furious/

Congress Keeps Scolding the ATF for Botching Operations. Experts ...
The Trace-1
In the quarter century since four ATF agents were killed trying to execute a search ... agents referred three times as many ultimately successful cases as the FBI, ...
It was a scene that has become familiar to those who follow the ATF, the agency that enforces federal gun laws and regulates the firearms industry. In the quarter century since four ATF agents were killed trying to execute a search warrant at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, the agency has repeatedly been called before Congress to answer for alleged transgressions, including, in the past year, hiring people with intellectual disabilities to run phony guns shops as part of sting operations and failing to oversee its network of paid informants.
In March, the Justice Department’s Inspector General determined that the ATF’s Dallas office could have arrested some of the men involved in Zapata’s death before he was killed, but had failed to act.
Lawmakers, especially Republicans, have seized on these missteps with a zeal that critics in the law enforcement community say is not entirely justified, given their scope. The fallout over a botched operation known as “Fast and Furious,” in which agents knowingly allowed straw buyers to traffic guns, led to a standoff between Congress and the Obama Justice Departmen


https://wonkette.com/615946/alex-jones- ... e-his-kids
Alex Jones Batshit, Naked And Full Of Chili. Now Can He Have His ...
Wonkette (blog)-
In another video, Jones strips to his underwear while ranting about the FBI. His ex-wife's attorneys argued the video corroborated an ongoing problem with .


http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/19/fbi-s ... sia-probe/

FBI Says No Need For Top FBI Official To Recuse Himself From Trump-Russia Probe
3:06 PM 04/19/2017
454
83

A top FBI official whose wife received political donations from an ally of Hillary Clinton’s last year does not need to recuse himself from the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation, the bureau said Wednesday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee inquired last month about FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s role on the Trump probe, which is looking into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Judiciary Committee’s chairman, had expressed concerns about a potential conflict of interest given that McCabe’s wife ran a state campaign in Virginia that received $700,000 from Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close friend of Clinton’s.
Grassley noted in a March 28 letter to FBI Director James Comey that the McCabes met with McAuliffe

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/19/fbi-s ... z4ejl47Hne




https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#tbs= ... =nws&q=fbi+


We're spying on you for your own protection, says NSA, FBI
The Register-
A new factsheet by the NSA and FBI has laid bare ludicrous contradictions in how US intelligence agencies choose to interpret a law designed to prevent spying ...


http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/04/26/f ... sing-room/


FBI Employees Used Surveillance Cameras to Monitor Teen Dressing ...
www.dvorak.org/.../fbi-employees-used-s ... en-dressin...
Apr 26, 2009 - FBI Employees Used Surveillance Cameras to Monitor Teen Dressing Room ... its days spying on teenage girls in changing rooms at the malls.
Missing: arrested


http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/27/siu.fb ... documents/

CNN exclusive: FBI misconduct reveals sex, lies and videotape


Kyra Phillips CNN Special Investigations Unit
January 27, 2011 10:07 a.m. EST

• Internal documents obtained by CNN show misconduct by agents, supervisors
• One document says one employee shared information with his news reporter girlfriend
• More than 300 FBI employees out of 34,000 are disciplined each year, the bureau says
• For more on this story, watch"The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer" tonight at 5 p.m. ET
Editor's note: Some content in this report may be offensive to readers. For more on this CNN exclusive story, watch Kyra Phillips' full report on "The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer" tonight starting at 6 p.m. ET.
Washington (CNN) -- An FBI employee shared confidential information with his girlfriend, who was a news reporter, then later threatened to release a sex tape the two had made.
A supervisor watched pornographic videos in his office during work hours while "satisfying himself."
And an employee in a "leadership position" misused a government database to check on two friends who were exotic dancers and allowed them into an FBI office after hours.
These are among confidential summaries of FBI disciplinary reports obtained by CNN, which describe misconduct by agency supervisors, agents and other employees over the last three years.
Read the FBI documents obtained by CNN




http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/6572 ... -ua-campus

FBI Agent Arrested Masturbating On UA Campus




Mark Stine KOLD News 13 Reporter
"I'm completely disgusted. It's really creepy. I use that bathroom all the time."
Lauren Canty's like most students hearing the news for the first time. They just can't believe something like this would happen.
"No, I can't especially on campus, it seems like he almost wanted to get caught, that's kind of strange," Canty explained.
Three weeks ago a man, according to police documents, was caught masturbating in one of the stalls in a women's restroom. Caught when a woman cleaning the bathroom saw him with his pants down.
The female victim left the restroom and called U of A Police. She thought the suspect had left the Union. When officers arrived t



http://wsvn.com/news/local/elderly-chur ... -have-sex/

April 19, 2017
Elderly church volunteer gets 10 years for trying to bribe teen to have sex



Link Du Jour


http://whowhatwhy.org/2017/04/19/low-qu ... ssination/




FBI OCTOPUS
http://allafrica.com/stories/201704190398.html


Africa: Kasese Deaths - US Blocks Maj Gen Elwelu
AllAfrica.com-
He had been scheduled to attend a three-month course at the FBI Junior academy. Last year, after the elections, there were reports that the then deputy ...




http://www.indexjournal.com/mcmaster-na ... 0c421.html


McMaster names 25-year FBI veteran SC's inspector general
Greenwood Index-Journal-
Lamkin joined the FBI in 1987 and was special agent in charge for Atlanta from 2010 to 2012. He joined South Carolina's fledgling inspection agency in 2013.





https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/ ... dMore_Pos3


Aaron Hernandez’s reported mode of suicide unusual for facility




April 19, 2017
The executive director of the statewide inmate-advocate organization said she believes Aaron Hernandez’s death is the first reported successful suicide by an inmate hanging a sheet from a window at the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski prison, as authorities say Hernandez did.
Leslie Walker, executive director of the nonprofit Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, which serves indigent inmates, said the state had a worse-than-average inmate suicide rate a decade ago but had done some work to “suicide proof” its facilities, such as installing clothing hooks that collapse if too much weight





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... lance.html



FBI photos show Anwar al-Awlaki day he spoke at Pentagon
Daily Mail-
But in October of 2002, customs agents holding Awlaki at JFK airport were ordered by an FBI agent to release him. The cleric later went on to live in Yemen, ...









http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politic ... 48769.html

Prosecutors defend use of Schock staffer-turned-informant
McClatchy Washington Bureau-1 hour ago
Schock's attorneys also accused the FBI of using the informant to sidestep restrictions on what a federal agent can search and seize. Defen





http://www.nydailynews.com/newswires/ne ... -1.3064165

Citizenfour' filmmaker learns why she endured airport stops



http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ex- ... -1.3075612


NYPD sergeant gets 28 years for sexual abuse of children
Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 4:02 PM


Disgraced NYPD sergeant Alberto Randazzo, who a prosecutor called one of the worst child sex abusers ever to pass through Brooklyn federal court, was sentenced to 28 years. (ANTHONY DELMUNDO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
A disgraced ex-NYPD sergeant who a prosecutor called one of the worst child sex abusers ever to pass through Brooklyn federal court was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

A judge sentenced Alberto Randazzo Wednesday after he pleaded guilty in July to receiving child pornography and conspiring with at least five women - sometimes the children’s own mothers - to sexually exploit the young victims.

Federal guidelines recommended Randazzo serve upwards of 80 years.

Though Brooklyn Federal Judge Pamela Chen called Randazzo's crimes “heinous and depraved,” she said 80 years was too severe. She let out a deep sigh before announcing the sentence length.

NYPD cop pleads guilty to boy sex abuse on Skype
Randazzo met the women on sites like Match.com and Ashelymadison.com, then groomed them to prey on children. Randazzo watched the abuse on Skype calls and traveled to hotel rooms at least twice in the hopes of watching the abuse up front.

The victims ranged from under 1 to 8 years old. The sick spree started as early as 2010 and ran through early 2013, prosecutors said, when Randazzo was a supervisor in the Midtown


http://www.nj.com/passaic-county/index. ... n_fbi.html

FBI agent's teaching license suspended because of how he quit to join FBI



April 17, 2017 at 1:04 PM, updated April 17, 2017
WAYNE -- A former chemistry teacher lost his teaching license for one year because he didn't give enough notice when he quit his job to pursue a career with the FBI, the state recently ruled.

Chae Hyuk Im was required to give at least 60 days' notice before leaving his tenured position at Wayne Public Schools. He didn't, and as a result, the Office of the Commissioner of Education suspended his teaching certificates for one year in a decision dated April 6.

Hyuk Im initially asked the district to let him take a one-year leave of absence to enter FBI training. The district approved it, but he failed the required physical test and he told the district he would start the 2014-15 school year as usual.

But he was later offered another opportunity to enter FBI training and was accepted in October 2014. Hyuk Im again



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3055125


Second Georgia officer fired for brutal attack on handcuffed man
Friday, April 14, 2017, 11:38 AM


Hours after a Georgia police officer was fired over a recording that caught him kicking a handcuffed man in the face, a second video emerged and prompted the dismissal of another officer.

The new clip sees a Gwinnett County police officer, identified as Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni, pulling over Demetrius Hollins just outside Atlanta early Wednesday evening.

Hollins can be seen exiting his vehicle with his hands raised when the 19-year police veteran — who also appears to have his weapon aimed — winds up and punches



https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/ ... s-released



After witness recants, Maine man jailed for 27 years gets released

April 13, 2017
PORTLAND, Maine— The key witness in a murder that sent a teenage boy to prison for 27 years recanted Thursday and accused authorities of coercing her testimony. The stunning declaration led a judge to set bail in the case, drawing a gasp from the packed courtroom and sending the defendant’s wife to her knees.

Tony Sanborn, who was convicted of killing his girlfriend, 16-year-old Jessica Briggs, dropped his head into his hands in apparent disbelief after Hope Cady testified that as a 13-year-old she was pressured by police and prosecutors into identifying Sanborn as the killer.

“They basically told me what to say,” Cady said.


http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc ... -1.3054985

Staten Island cop busted for smacking in-law in front of her kids
BY THOMAS TRACY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, April 14, 2017, 8:40 AM




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/us/p ... .html?_r=1



Secret ATF Account Paid for $21000 Nascar Suite and Las Vegas Trip
New York Times-Apr 11, 2017


ATF agents dipped into an off-the-books bank account for personal trips and other inappropriate expenses.

The New York Times found that agents used the money to take a trip to Las Vegas and rent a $21,000 suite at a Nascar race. One agent even used the money to donate to the school of one of his or her children.

The private bank account also was tapped to finance undercover operations, possibly violating laws prohibiting governme


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3058628

Fired Georgia cops must be arrested, tried and convicted

SHAUN KING
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, April 15, 2017

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... -snub.html

A Hardboiled Snub for J. Edgar Hoover
Daily Beast
The long-time head of the FBI take not take insults well, and most people were too intimidated to try. But the creator of Philip Marlowe was made of tougher stuff.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/ho ... 075926.php

Police's blood-splattered past brought to light in new shootings ...
Houston Chronicle-
HPD ruled the shooting justified, but it is not documented in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, or UCR, database of justified police shootings.




http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3062560

Retired Army general charged for rape of minor in 1980s
BSunday, April 16, 2017, 3:55 PM


Retired Army Maj. Gen. James Grazioplene faces multiple charges of rape. (U.S. ARMY)
A retired Army general who worked in the Pentagon has been hit with multiple rape charges for the alleged assault of at least one minor three decades ago

freedomforall
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Posts: 16479
Location: WEST OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by freedomforall »

As with any potential bloody conflict, it is better to have functioning arms rather than having them painted on. :D

User avatar
BeNotDeceived
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Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by BeNotDeceived »

freedomforall wrote: November 3rd, 2016, 5:57 pm Here is something to consider, right?

Mosiah Hancock:

[According to Brother Hancock, the Prophet Joseph Smith told him,] The United States will spend her strength and means warring in foreign lands until other nations will say, “Let’s divide up the lands of the United States,” then the people of the U.S. will unite and swear by the blood of their fore-fathers, that the land shall not be divided. Then the country will go to war, and they will fight until one half of the U.S. army will give up, and the rest will continue to struggle. They will keep on until they are very ragged and discouraged, and almost ready to give up—when the boys from the mountains will rush forth in time to save the American Army from defeat and ruin. And they will say, “Brethren, we are glad you have come; give us men, henceforth, who can talk with God.” Then you will have friends, but you will save the country when its liberty hangs by a hair, as it were. (Life Story of Mosiah Lyman Hancock, 19-20)
2024 :ymsigh:

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... -1.3178605




Artist projects anti-Trump hashtags, quotes onto FBI, DOJ buildings in Washington, D.C.
BY DAN GUNDERMAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, May 19, 2017, 4:08 AM



https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... is-part-2/



May 18, 2017
The Undying Octopus: FBI and the PROMIS affair Part 2
As connections in the case grew deeper and more wide-reaching, newly released evidence hints that the Bureau sabotaged its own investigation
Written by M Best
Edited by JPat Brown
Read Part 1 here
While declassified FBI records showed the fear that agents felt over questioning the suspicious death of Danny Casolaro, a journalist investigating the PROMIS affair, the FBI file on PROMIS describes two instances of apparent retaliation associated with the case.
The first instance was against Judge Bason, who had found for Inslaw and ruled that the Department of Justice had stolen the software through fraud, trickery, and deceit. Shortly after his ruling, he was not reappointed to the bench. Believing there was a connection, he filed a lawsuit over it, only to have it dismissed.

On the next page, the FBI document describes how Leigh Ratiner, Inslaw’s attorney, had been fired from his law firm for his “failure to control” Inslaw. Ratiner believed that this was in retaliation for naming Lowell Jensen in the Inslaw suit.

According to WIRED, “his firing came after another Dickstein partner, Leonard Garment, met with Arnold Burns, then- deputy attorney general of the DOJ. [Garment] testified before a Senate inquiry that he and Meese discussed the Inslaw case in October 1986, and afterward he met with Burns. Two days later Ratiner was fired.”
Ratiner ultimately settled with his firm over the wrongful termination to the tune of $600,000, which apparently had been supplied by Hadron. In testimony included in a DOJ release on Inslaw, Burns testified in a sworn interview that he had discussed the matter with Garment.

Burns went on to clarify his meaning about not airing the issue out in a Congressional hearing - his own confirmation hearing. A letter had been written by Ratiner or someone at the law firm which threw a “monkey wrench” into Burns’ confirmation process and he “thought [that] was unlawyer-like.” He compared this to the effects of naming Lowell Jensen when his nomination was pending. According to Burns, they were bringing Jensen into the affair to “blackmail him.”



https://jfkbirthday.com/


JFK 100th Birthday Online Conference – Honoring the Life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
https://jfkbirthday.com
Join The WORLD for an ONLINE conference featuring nine experts on JFK - his life, legacy, and the coup d'état assassination. PLUS a Q&A with John Barbour and our speakers after the Beverly Hills, California ...



Link du jour


https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... eseatchers


http://www.siriusdisclosure.com

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... a-new-york

http://trac.syr.edu/tracfbi/

https://www.muckrock.com/foi/akron-206/ ... -oh-29450/

http://farsight.org/FarsightPress/JFK_main_page.html


http://www.courthousenews.com/







https://www.liberationnews.org/robert-m ... nder-rich/



ANALYSIS

Robert Mueller: Prosecutor of the poor, defender of the rich

May 20, 2017


Robert Mueller, yes man for the capitalist class
The anti-Russia witch-hunt continued on Wednesday when U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert S. Mueller III as special counsel to investigate President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice.

Since the appointment, every mainstream media headline has boasted non-stop about Mueller’s impeccable credentials and impartiality. A closer look however reveals that Mueller’s record is anything but progressive from the perspective of working people.

The rise of America’s Top Cop

Mueller was a soldier in the U.S. army during the genocidal war against the people of Vietnam and Southeast Asia. A graduate of University of Virginia, Mueller made a career as a corporate and government lawyer.

A reliable Yes Man, he proved from early on his allegiance to the rich and powerful.

When Mueller prosecuted Manuel Noriega, he made sure that any mention of Noriega’s role as a CIA agent was inadmissible in court. He was formerly a litigator as WilmerHale, a law firm which has represented Jared Kushner and Paul Maniford, among other members of the 1 percent. When Muller was tasked with investigating the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, he ignored their money laundering and connections to the Bin Ladin family, the Bushes or anyone else deemed inconvenient.

After J. Edgar Hoover, Mueller was the longest serving FBI Director. He was the agency’s head, from 2001 to 2013, under both the Bush and Obama administrations.

Originally appointed by George Bush, Mueller oversaw an Islamophobic campaign that violated the civil rights of tens of thousands of Muslims. The FBI and police departments across the U.S. spied on and infiltrated peaceful Muslim religious and student organizations. Part of the agents’ training included manuals that described the prophet Mohammed as “a violent cult leader” and Islamic charities as “terrorist organizations.” Along with Attorney General John Ashcroft, Mueller was responsible for the persecution and rounding up of 1,200 innocent people. Those who were illegally detained are currently suing Mueller in federal courts.

Mueller’s FBI also assigned undercover agents to find vulnerable individuals who could be manipulated into uncritically latching on to elaborate terrorist ideas or plans the FBI agents themselves introduced. These entrapment techniques landed many unsuspecting individuals in prison.

Though it was U.S. bombs exploding over Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the Muslim world, the entrapment strategy gave the U.S. war makers what they wanted—catchy headlines that inverted who the victims and aggressors were.

The FBI: A sordid history

The media’s “Mr. Clean” is anything but. Mueller consistently trampled on the constitution in his 12 years as FBI Director.

After the illegal U.S. re-invasion of Iraq in 2003, Mueller’s FBI secretly sent agents into antiwar organizations in an attempt to disrupt dissent.

The Occupy movement was another one of Mueller’s targets. Working with Homeland Security, Mueller oversaw the surveillance of peaceful protesters involved in Occupy encampments across the country.

It is worth remembering the FBI’s very reason for existence is to immobilize social movements that pose any threat or perceived threat to those in power.

The FBI played a role in the assassination of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. They orchestrated the murder of Black Panther Party (BPP) leaders; just in 1969, 26 Panthers were gunned down. Ward Churchill’s Agents of Repression: The FBI’s Secret Wars against the BPP and the American Indian Movement is an insightful expose of the agency’s sordid history.

Mueller more than earned his place alongside J. Edgar Hoover in the pantheon of arch-defenders of the rich and enemies of working people.

Russia is not the enemy, our own ruling class is

Mueller’s investigation is expected to take years to conduct. While it is difficult to predict the outcome, the accusations, without any hard evidence, is an end goal it itself. The constant rumormongering has the duel effect of delegitimizing the Trump administration and pinning them into an anti-Russia position.

It is important to clarify that our party is a leader in the anti-Trump movement, not because of any fear of Russia, but because Trump represents racism, misogyny and unrestrained capitalism. The fact that the Democrats oppose Trump primarily on the basis of Russophobia, while proposing no alternative program of their own, proves just how spineless they are as well.

Russia-gate’s function is to distract the U.S. people from the real issues at hand.

In Robert Mueller, the intelligence community has found their faithful servant who is sure to uphold their “justice,” the justice of the 1 percent. It is only a people’s fightback movement that can topple Trump and the entire wretched system that produced him.


https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... x-wiretap/


The year before his murder, Malcolm X was under electronic surveillance by the FBI
by JPat Brown
May 19, 2017
The last section of Malcolm X’s 10,000 plus page FBI file concerns the Bureau’s electronic surveillance of the activist shortly before his death. For months, agents listened to X’s phone calls, photographed his comings and goings, and even considered bugging his Queens residence - only to hastily discontinue the operation for fear it would taint a potential conviction.
Read More





http://www.courthousenews.com/cop-says- ... s-tainted/



Cop Says Evidence About Shooting at Black Teens Is Tainted
May 19, 2017
CHICAGO (CN) – A white Chicago police officer claims in a motion to dismiss that federal prosecutors used self-incriminating testimony to secure an indictment against him for shooting into a car full of black teenagers.

Marco Proano was charged last year with two counts of deprivation of rights for using excessive force, both punishable by up to 10 years in prison, stemming from a 2013 incident in which he injured two of the six teens in a car he pulled over for speeding on the city’s South Side.

The police car dashcam video of the shooting was released in 2015 when a Cook County judge hearing the criminal case of one of the boys sent it to a local newspaper, the Chicago Reporter.

Judge Andrew Berman, now retired, told the Reporter at the time that he was unsettled by the video.

“My first reaction was, if those are white kids in the car, there’s no way they [would] shoot,” he said.

The video shows Proano coming up to the car, which is backing away from him, and opening fire into it. It was later found that he discharged all 16 rounds in his gun.





https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ange-goals




Shell shareholders to vote for new climate change goals
Investors including the Church of England and activists will send signal to Anglo-Dutch company’s board at AGM this week





http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3181856




Texas police officers demoted for leaking body cam footage of controversial arrest
BY JESSICA SCHLADEBECK
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, May 20, 2017, 3:47 PM



http://www.latimes.com/politics/essenti ... story.html



Anger, protests erupt over results of the California Democratic Party's election of a new leader



http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-veg ... story.html



A white police officer kills an unarmed black man, and, in Las Vegas, there are no protests
Venetian Hotel and Casino
The scene in Las Vegas where an unarmed man died this week after an officer choked him.

It appeared to have all the ingredients for protests, hashtags and calls for justice on 24-hour cable news channels.




http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3179229


Former NYPD Detective Frank Serpico reflects on Knapp Commission, exposing police corruption and
today's brutality issues

Saturday, May 20, 2017, 9:03 AM



Frank Serpico reflects on exposing corruption inside the NYPD.
Frank Serpico is a name that either makes you stand taller and push your shoulders back with pride — or makes you spit on the ground in anger.

The former New York City police detective, now 81, became a household name in the '70s when he exposed corruption inside the department, then testified against fellow cops who capitalized on it before the Knapp Commission, an organization formed to investigate Serpico's claims.

As a result, the decorated law enforcement officer was shunned by some of his colleagues and nearly left for dead after an on-duty shooting.

His story garnered national attention and was brought to life on the big screen, when Hollywood legend Al Pacino brilliantly portrayed him in the 1973 classic “Serpico.”



The self-proclaimed lamplighter — the term he prefers instead of whistleblower — spoke to the Daily News in depth about exposing New York's Finest as the anniversary of the Knapp Commission's formation draws near.

"The only thing I ever wanted was justice," Serpico said. "And that was something I never got."

Serpico said his first glimpse of corruption began in the '60s while working as a patrolman in the 81st Precinct. He recalled getting a phone call from his panicked girlfriend late one night about a burglary taking place at a garage by her home.

Serpico, who was off duty at the time, was confused by why she would call him, instead of dialing 911, who could dispatch police to the crime scene.


"She says, 'It is the cops,'" Serpico told The News.


Al Pacino played the former New York police officer in the movie “Serpico.”
Serpico said he called an inspector to look into the situation — and while the officers were caught burglarizing and pocketing items from the garage, they were never reprimanded.

"Everybody knew there was police corruption," he said. "I knew there was police corruption. I never really had anything tangible or concrete until a cop placed an envelope in my hand."

The former detective said the envelope contained $300, his cut of an illicit deal some officers had made. According to Serpico, the few hundred bucks he was given was the lowest amount an officer could pocket — and more than a few cops took home thousands of dollars a month.

KING: I'm not anti-police, I'm anti-brutality and corruption
While his colleagues were "living it up big time," as he described it, Serpico decided to turn the cash over to fellow officer David Durk and Arnold Fraiman, who led the city's Commission of Investigations. Durk would eventually testify with Serpico against NYPD officers during the Knapp trials.

Officer David Durk also testified during the Knapp Commission trials.

"The Knapp Commission did a very good job in revealing the systematic corruption. Anybody that didn't know (corruption) was going on either had his head in the ground or was too involved with his next promotion and just couldn't be bothered," he said.

A small group rallied around Serpico, praising him for blowing the lid off police wrongdoings. His colleagues, however, began to turn their backs on him.

That became evident on the night of Feb. 3, 1971, when Serpico was shot in the face during a drug bust in Brooklyn. His partners never called in a 10-13, the dispatch code that an officer had been shot. Serpico survived the shooting because an elderly neighbor alerted 911.

Frank Serpico running for town council in upstate New York
"They could have taken me to the hospital if they wanted to," Serpico said of his partners.

Two other cops responded to the 911 call and rushed Serpico to a nearby hospital.

"For years I said, 'Well, at least there was two cops who took me,'" he recalled. "And then I found out one of them would later say, 'If I knew it was Serpico I would have left him there to bleed to death.'"

Shortly after the shooting, Serpico retired from the NYPD. And although it's been decades since he's worn the uniform and turned in his badge, he's still fighting to end corruption.

Hero cop Frank Serpico thinks corruption is worse than ever
Frank Serpico was the first officer to expose corruption inside the New York City police department.

"I like to perform my duty the way it was meant to be performed. And if more would do it, we wouldn't be having what we're having around the country today," he said. "Police should be an honorable profession."

According to the Medal of Honor recipient, communication will help lessen the divide between police and the public. The retired patrolman also urged cops to assess situations better before firing their gun.

"Any case where the police use excessive force and take human life is a tragedy for the families, and society, because they leave their trust and confidence in the police. Some of these people are not criminals, but you make them criminals," he said.

One particular case that bothered Serpico was the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old Cleveland boy who was shot and killed at a playground by officer Timothy Loehmann. Officers were responding to a 911 call about a male wielding a gun in the park. The caller told dispatch — twice — that the gun was "probably fake" and the person waving it was "probably a juvenile."

911 dispatcher in Tamir Rice shooting suspended for eight days
Tamir Rice was fatally shot by a Cleveland officer.
"Someone called up and said, 'I think he's playing with a toy gun,' and you pull up and shoot him dead, and you call that police work? If you were afraid, why didn't you stop your car and take cover and talk to whoever it is," he said. "That's the way I used to do it. You have to respect life and this goes for everybody."

Serpico, who has developed a love for travel since his retirement, plans to share more about his time in the NYPD and his life — both before and after the force — in his upcoming book, "It's All A Lie."





https://www.policeone.com/legal/article ... ers-trial/


Black judge refuses to step down from white officer's trial
The defense for the officer argued the judge should give up the case because of a Facebook post the judge made before he was assigned the case

May 18, 2017

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/ ... -cri-index

Trump's tax proposal would push US below Greece on inequality index
Researchers say tax reform plan would increase gap between rich and poor
US already does ‘very badly’ on global inequality index




Sunday 16 July 2017 19.01 EDT Last modified on Monday 17 July 2017 09.36 EDT

Donald Trump’s tax reform plans would, if enacted, increase the gap between rich and poor Americans and see the US slip below Greece on a new global index of inequality.

According to the Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) index, developed by researchers at Oxfam and Development Finance International, the US already distinguishes itself among wealthy countries by doing “very badly” at addressing inequality.


Which countries are the most (and least) committed to reducing inequality?
Read more
But it would fall a further six places from its ranking of 23rd overall if Trump’s tax reform effort is successful, with the US’s specific rating on tax policies plummeting 33 places from 26th to 59th – just below Peru, Chile and Sri Lanka.

“When you already have countries like Portugal and Slovenia ranking higher than the United States on the overall index, we think that’s a concern considering the wealth of the US,” Paul O’Brien, Oxfam America’s vice-president for policy and campaigns, told the Guardian.

If the White House passes its budget, which would slash social service spending and could leave millions of Americans without health insurance, the US would fall behind Greece, which is crippled by a debt crisis; Spain, which for 10 months in 2016 did not have a government; and Argentina, which has been plagued by high inflation, according to the report.

O’Brien said global understanding of inequality has grown significantly in the past decade, but this awareness has not led to the creation of pervasive government policies. Compilers of the index spent a year looking at policies around taxation, social service spending and labor in 152 countries.



“The reason we did this comparative index,” O’Brien said, “is in large part to challenge policymakers like President Trump to look to other economies and other societies, to give people smarter ways to give everyone an opportunity to lift themselves from poverty.”

The US performance on the index is strikingly bad compared to other wealthy countries, including the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). These countries account for 63% of the world GDP. The US is ranked 21st among them in the inequality index, despite being the wealthiest country in the history of the world.

Threaded through the new report are stark facts that explain some of the ways the US has earned its low ranking. In 2012, 43.3% of corporations in the US paid no federal income tax. US employers are required to provide zero days of paid maternity leave, while Sweden offers 480 days. The US federal minimum wage of $7.25 is well below the $10.60 an hour needed for a family of four to stay above the federal poverty line.

The report makes clear that inequality in the US could get worse if efforts to reform tax and repeal the Affordable Care Act are successful. If, instead, Trump decided to attack inequality in the US, O’Brien said he would need to create a more progressive tax system that lessens the burden on the poorest people, improve labor laws, and “ensure that investments in healthcare, education and social protection gave all Americans an equal shot at the American dream”.

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

scroll down


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/liv ... ouse-fired


Police laugh as Trump condones police brutality




http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... s-with-fbi

Watchdog group calls for probe of Scaramucci's contacts with FBI, Justice Dept.
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 07/28/17 04:22 PM EDT 54



http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-plot-t ... er/5544005

MLK Day: The Plot to Kill Martin Luther King: Survived Shooting, Was Murdered in Hospital

Martin Luther King was murdered in a conspiracy that was instigated by then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Review of William Pepper's Book




http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/tim ... k_20170727



Time to Reassess the Roles Played by Guccifer 2.0 and Russia in the DNC ‘Hack’

Posted on Jul 27, 2017

By Scott Ritter



Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., in June 2016. (Paul Holston / AP)

Editor’s note: The writer is a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), but he was not a signer of the July 24 memorandum that figures prominently in this article.

The current American political canonical theology holds as an incontrovertible truth that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. According to this dogma, which has been actively promulgated by former and current government officials and echoed by an unquestioning mainstream media, Russian intelligence services, directed by President Vladimir Putin, conducted cyber-operations against targets associated with the U.S. election for the purpose of denigrating the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, to help her opponent, Donald Trump.

Adherence to this conclusion is mandatory, lest one be accused of challenging the gospel according to the U.S. intelligence community. “Russia did it,” Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat who serves on the House Judiciary and the Foreign Affairs committees, has declared. “There’s no rational person who looked at evidence and concluded otherwise.”




While Rep. Lieu himself is not on the House Intelligence Committee and, as such, has not seen the evidence he cites, his fellow representative, Adam Schiff, the Democratic co-chair of the House Intelligence Committee, has. When President Trump dared question the findings of the U.S. intelligence community on Russia, Schiff lashed out. “The president’s comments … casting doubt on whether Russia was behind the blatant interference in our election and suggesting—his own intelligence agencies to the contrary—that nobody really knows, continue to directly undermine U.S. interests.”
It was with some interest, therefore, that I read a memorandum published earlier this week by a group of retired intelligence professionals who, like the president, dare to challenge the conventional wisdom of attributing to Russia the cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2016 and the subsequent release of information obtained for the ostensible purpose of harming the candidacy of Clinton. This group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), used a portion of its collective experience to closely examine a forensic analysis of metadata-related information that the U.S. intelligence community and its supporters in Congress claimed was “hacked” by Russia. Documents from the DNC were copied by the persona Guccifer 2.0 on July 5, 2016, collated on Sept. 1 and released to select members of the press on Sept. 13.

The men and women who compose VIPS have, in their prior lives, briefed U.S. presidents and members of Congress. They have served as national intelligence officers, FBI special agents, CIA case officers, National Security Agency (NSA) technical directors, Defense Intelligence Agency and State Department analysts, and more. Their expertise is drawn from decades of highly sensitive work within the three agencies—the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the NSA—responsible for preparing the U.S. intelligence communities’ assessment of Russian meddling and within most, if not all, of the other agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community.

These are rational people whose collective body of work has always been in direct support of the national interest and never against it. They cut across the American political spectrum, holding views that are liberal, conservative and moderate—sometimes simultaneously, as is fitting those intellects that have been conditioned to be open to considering all sources of information. Since 2003, VIPS has published 50 memorandums similar to the one published this week, all addressing current issues on which the intelligence background of its collective membership could weigh in credibly. Like any intelligence collective, the group strives for accuracy but is susceptible to the all-too-human trait of fallibility. The retired professionals of VIPS, like their active counterparts, sometimes get it wrong.

I agree with the argument of the July 24 VIPS memorandum that takes issue with the Jan. 6, 2017, Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russian meddling. This NIA evaluation assessed “with high confidence that Russian military intelligence (General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU) used the Guccifer 2.0 persona … to release U.S. victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks.” The assessments contained within the Russia ICA, which lies at the very heart of the ongoing controversy surrounding accusations of collusion by people affiliated with the Trump presidential campaign and Russia, is demonstrably wrong. The VIPS memorandum to President Trump is a valuable contribution to a larger discussion of the intelligence community’s erroneous assessment that is, otherwise, lacking.

The heart of the VIPS memorandum can be found in two paragraphs that relate to Guccifer 2.0 and his alleged involvement in the cyberattack against the DNC:

After examining metadata from the “Guccifer 2.0” July 5, 2016 intrusion into the DNC server, independent cyber investigators have concluded that an insider copied DNC data onto an external storage device, and that “telltale signs” implicating Russia were then inserted.

Key among the findings of the independent forensic investigations is the conclusion that the DNC data was copied onto a storage device at a speed that far exceeds an Internet capability for a remote hack. [Boldface in original.] Of equal importance, the forensics show that the copying and doctoring were performed on the East Coast of the U.S.

Two issues emerge from these passages. First, the ICA contends that Guccifer 2.0 accessed data from the DNC through a “cyber operation.” Technically, this could mean anything involving computers, including remote hacking and/or direct data removal using an external storage device, such as a thumb drive. However, Guccifer 2.0 has claimed he accessed the DNC server through remote hacking, and an investigation of unauthorized intrusions into the DNC server conducted by a private cybersecurity company, CrowdStrike, has attributed the theft of data to a hacking operation ostensibly overseen by Russian military intelligence, or the GRU. The FBI has endorsed the findings of CrowdStrike when it comes to the cyber-intrusion into the DNC server. As such, there is little doubt that the NIA is referring to a remote hack when it speaks of a “cyber operation” involving the DNC.

The analysis contained in the VIPS memorandum contradicts such an assertion. Unfortunately, this conclusion is not supported by the data. I reached out to the forensic analysts who conducted the analysis of the metadata in question. They have stated that there is no way to use the available metadata to determine where the copying of the data was done. In short, one cannot state that this data proves Guccifer 2.0 had direct access to the DNC server or that the data was located in the DNC when it was copied on July 5, 2016. These same analysts also note that the July 5 date that is pervasive on the metadata probably overwrote all prior modification times, meaning it is impossible to ascertain if there were any prior copy operations.

The VIPS memorandum also speaks of the insertion of “telltale” signs into data copied from the DNC server designed to implicate Russia. I have reached out to the analysts responsible for this assertion, and it appears that they mistakenly attributed actual document manipulation from an earlier date to the July 5 data transfer event. This in no way minimizes the seriousness of the underlying charge—other credible cyber-investigators have proved such data insertion on documents previously published by Guccifer 2.0 on June 15, 2016. Metadata analysis of several Word documents related to that release clearly shows that the contents of at least four documents were cut from the original document and then pasted into a Word template specifically set up for the Cyrillic alphabet, and which showed document attribution, in the Cyrillic alphabet, to “Felix Edmundovich,” the first name and patronymic of the founder of the Soviet intelligence service.

This cut-and-paste activity was conducted after the documents were accessed by Guccifer 2.0, which means Guccifer 2.0, for no practical reason whatsoever, manipulated documents in a way that created the impression of a Russian connection at the same time he was denying any such link. While the July 5 event cannot be used to argue a continuation of the document manipulation that transpired on June 15, it is clear that the false Russian attribution that arose from this manipulation carried over when the July 5 data was finally released, on Sept. 13. “The DNC is the victim of a crime—an illegal cyberattack by Russian state-sponsored agents who seek to harm the Democratic Party and progressive groups in an effort to influence the presidential election” Donna Brazille, the interim chair of the Democratic Party at the time, proclaimed in an official statement after the documents were released by Guccifer 2.0.

The implications of the conclusions reached in the VIPS memorandum (if not the actual technical analysis it relied on) are staggering: The DNC “hack” was actually a cyber-theft perpetrated by an insider with direct access to the DNC server, who then deliberately doctored documents to make them look as if they had been accessed by a Russian-speaking actor prior to releasing them to the public. This is not the narrative being pushed by the U.S. intelligence, Congress and the mainstream media. Moreover, if true, the conclusions reached by VIPS point to a broader conspiracy within the United States to undermine the credibility of an admittedly unpopular, yet legitimately elected president that borders on sedition.

These are serious allegations that should not be made lightly. Indeed, if I were acting solely on the information contained within the VIPS memorandum, I would hesitate to make them—the issue of download rates for a data set dated July 5, 2016, seems irrelevant for a cyber-intrusion alleged to have taken place in April-May of 2016. Either Guccifer 2.0 regained access to the DNC server in an as-of-yet-unreported (and unclaimed) cyber-operation, or the download involved data previously removed from the DNC server, and, as such, is apropos of nothing. The VIPS memorandum does not provide any technical data that would sustain a finding that the information in question was physically in the possession of the DNC on July 5, 2016—the day Guccifer 2.0 supposedly oversaw the transmission from its point of origin. Indeed, the analysts say that assertion cannot be derived from the data.

Such attention to detail, normally the signature of solid intelligence analysis, is not needed in this case. The VIPS memorandum serves a larger purpose here: It questions a premise that has become de rigueur in the national narrative—that Guccifer 2.0 was a Russian actor. “Guccifer 2.0 is known to be the Russians,” Brian Fallon, the press secretary for Hillary Clinton, opined in September 2016. Democratic operatives made similar statements throughout the summer and fall of 2016.

On Oct. 6, 2016, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security published a joint statement that noted that the “recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails” by Guccifer 2.0 (and others) “are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts,” without further elaboration beyond declaring that “the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there.”

Rep. Schiff, the aforementioned Democratic co-chair of the House Intelligence Committee, stated in March 2017 that “a hacker who goes by the moniker, Guccifer 2.0, claims responsibility for hacking the DNC and giving the documents to WikiLeaks. … The U.S. intelligence community also later confirmed that the documents were in fact stolen by Russian intelligence, and Guccifer 2.0 acted as a front.”

The problem is that there simply isn’t any hard data in the public domain to back up these statements of fact. What is known is that a persona using the name Guccifer 2.0 published documents said to be sourced from the DNC on several occasions starting from June 15, 2016. Guccifer 2.0 claims to have stolen these documents by perpetrating a cyber-penetration of the DNC server. However, the hacking methodology Guccifer 2.0 claims to have employed does not match the tools and techniques allegedly uncovered by the cybersecurity professionals from CrowdStrike when they investigated the DNC intrusion. Moreover, cyber-experts claim the Guccifer 2.0 “hack” could not have been executed as he described.

What CrowdStrike did claim to have discovered is that sometime in March 2016, the DNC server was infected with what is known as an X-Agent malware. According to CrowdStrike, the malware was deployed using an open-source, remote administration tool known as RemCom. The malware in question, a network tunneling tool known as X-Tunnel, was itself a repurposed open-source tool that made no effort to encrypt its source code, meaning anyone who gained access to this malware would be able to tell exactly what it was intended to do.

CrowdStrike claimed that the presence of the X-Agent malware was a clear “signature” of a hacking group—APT 28, or Fancy Bear—previously identified by German intelligence as being affiliated with the GRU, Russian military intelligence. Additional information about the command and control servers used by Fancy Bear, which CrowdStrike claims were previously involved in Russian-related hacking activity, was also reported.

The CrowdStrike data is unconvincing. First and foremost, the German intelligence report it cites does not make an ironclad claim that APT 28 is, in fact, the GRU. In fact, the Germans only “assumed” that GRU conducts cyberattacks. They made no claims that they knew for certain that any Russians, let alone the GRU, were responsible for the 2015 cyberattack on the German Parliament, which CrowdStrike cites as proof of GRU involvement. Second, the malware in question is available on the open market, making it virtually impossible to make any attribution at all simply by looking at similarities in “tools and techniques.” Virtually anyone could have acquired these tools and used them in a manner similar to how they were employed against both the German Parliament and the DNC.

The presence of open-source tools is, in itself, a clear indicator that Russian intelligence was not involved. Documents released by Edward Snowden show that the NSA monitored the hacking of a prominent Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, by Russian intelligence, “deploying malicious software which is not available in the public domain.” The notion that the Russians would use special tools to hack a journalist’s email account and open-source tools to hack either the DNC or the German Parliament is laughable. My experience with Soviet/Russian intelligence, which is considerable, has impressed me with the professionalism and dedication to operational security that were involved. The APT 28/Fancy Bear cyber-penetration of the DNC and the Guccifer 2.0 operation as a whole are the antithesis of professional.

Perhaps more important, however, is the fact that no one has linked the theft of the DNC documents to Guccifer 2.0. We do not know either the date or mechanism of penetration. We do not have a list of the documents accessed and exfiltrated from the DNC by APT 28, or any evidence that these documents ended up in Guccifer 2.0’s possession. It is widely assumed that the DNC penetration was perpetrated through a “spear-phishing” attack, in which a document is created that simulates a genuine communication in an effort to prompt a response by the receiver, usually by clicking a specified field, which facilitates the insertion of malware. Evidence of the Google-based documents believed to have been the culprits behind the penetration of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and John Podesta’s email servers have been identified, along with the dates of malware infection. No such information has been provided about the DNC penetration.

Which brings up perhaps the most curious aspect of this entire case: The DNC servers at the center of this controversy were never turned over to the FBI for forensic investigation. Instead, the FBI had to rely upon copies of the DNC server data provided by CrowdStrike. The fact that it was CrowdStrike, and not the FBI, that made the GRU attribution call based upon the investigation of the alleged cyber-penetration of the DNC server is disturbing. As shown here, there is good reason to doubt the viability of the CrowdStrike analysis. That the FBI, followed by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. intelligence community, and the mainstream media, has parroted this questionable assertion as fact is shocking.

The Guccifer 2.0 story is at the center of the ongoing controversy swirling around the Trump White House concerning allegations of collusion with Russia regarding meddling in the 2016 presidential election. While APT 28/Fancy Bear is not the only alleged Russian hacking operation claimed to have been targeting the DNC, it is the one that has been singled out as “weaponizing” intelligence—employing stolen documents for the express purpose of altering public opinion against Hillary Clinton. This act has been characterized as an attack against America, and was cited by President Barack Obama when he imposed sanctions on Russia in December 2016 and expelled 35 Russian diplomats. Congress has also referred to this “attack” as the principal justification for a bill seeking new and tougher sanctions targeting Russia.

This issue is likely to be front and center before the American public in the coming days. President Trump is facing a decision on whether to veto the aforementioned congressional bill sanctioning Russia. Trump has expressed doubts as to the veracity of the intelligence linking Russia to the hacks, contradicting the conclusions of Congress and the U.S. intelligence community. A presidential veto, or strong signing statement in opposition, could trigger a constitutional crisis between the president and Congress over the issue of executive power.

The stakes could not be higher. The American people would do well to demand a proper investigation into what actually transpired at the DNC in the spring of 2016. To date there has been no examination worthy of the name regarding the facts that underpin the accusations at the center of the American argument against Russia—that the GRU hacked the DNC server and used Guccifer 2.0 as a conduit for the release of stolen documents in a manner designed to influence the American presidential election. The VIPS memorandum of July 24, 2017, questions the veracity of these claims. I believe these doubts are well founded.







Blink Tank

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tfPtNtQLaVk


Link du jour


https://www.ramdass.org/not-our-bodies/

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/28/ph ... -building/


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/he ... fa38052a17


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3362989



http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/sneed- ... i-vehicle/


https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... 160c636628


http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/27/ar ... e-trooper/

Arapahoe County deputy faces charges in collision with state trooper
The deputy and a state trooper were injured in the June 19 accident




http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/27/ro ... ettlement/

Rocky Ford to pay $1.3 million to family of man murdered by on-duty police officer in 2014
Officer James Ashby is serving a prison sentence for killing Jack Jacquez






http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/27/pe ... o-request/

BLM weighing request to mine 4.1 million more tons of coal in northwest Colorado under Trump’s energy policies
Peabody has applied to lease 640 more acres of federal coal west of Steamboat Springs has part of its Foidel Creek Mine operations



http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/27/fr ... als-court/


Appeals court asked to put off decision on fracking rule that Trump administration wants to undo
The nation’s stalled rule to protect public land against harm from fracking faced multiple threats Thursday after the oil and gas industry and states, including Colorado, asked a federal appeals court to hold off indefinitely on deciding whether it is legal.




http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserv ... ethod=Full


UCS: Prepare for inevitable and repeated inundations
When Rising Seas Hit Home:

Hard Choices Ahead for Hundreds of US Coastal Communities

The Union of Concerned Scientists, July 13, 2017

If saltwater regularly soaked your basement or first floor, kept you from getting to work, or damaged your car, how often would it have to happen before you began looking for a new place to call home?

This national analysis identifies when US coastal communities will face a level of disruptive flooding that affects people's homes, daily routines, and livelihoods. It identifies hundreds of communities that will face chronic inundation and possible retreat over the coming decades as sea levels rise.

The findings highlight what’s at stake in our fight to address sea level rise and global warming. They also provide affected communities a measure of how much time they have to prepare.

Chronic inundation

Each community has a threshold for sea level rise and chronic flooding beyond which sustaining normal routines becomes impossible.

For this national analysis, that chronic inundation threshold is defined as flooding that occurs 26 times per year (on average, once every other week) or more. Communities where more than 10 percent of usable land exceeds this threshold are deemed chronically inundated.

Three different sea level rise scenarios were assessed through 2100:

* A “high scenario,” in which emissions rise through the end of the century and ice sheets melt faster to yield about 6.5 feet of sea level rise.

* An “intermediate scenario” that projects carbon emissions peaking around mid-century and about 4 feet of sea level rise globally, with ice melting at a moderate rate that increases over time.

* A “low scenario” that assumes carbon emissions decline steeply and warming is limited to less than 2 degrees Celsius—in line with the primary goal of the Paris Climate Agreement. Sea level rise is driven primarily by ocean warming with very little ice loss.

Key findings

* By 2035, about 170 communities—roughly twice as many as today—will face chronic inundation and possible retreat from affected areas under the intermediate or high scenarios, with more than 100 seeing at least a quarter of their land chronically flooded.

* By 2060, about 270 communities will face chronic inundation with intermediate sea level rise. This number jumps to 360 under the high scenario. About 40 percent of chronically inundated communities in either scenario would see at least half of their land flooded.

* By 2100, about 490 communities—including roughly 40 percent of all oceanfront communities on the East and Gulf Coasts—will face chronic inundation and possible retreat with intermediate sea level rise, with nearly 300 seeing at least a quarter of their land chronically flooded. The number of communities jumps to about 670—including roughly 60 percent of all oceanfront communities on the East and Gulf Coasts—under the high scenario.

* If we act today to achieve the temperature and emissions reductions goals outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement, and succeed in slowing the acceleration of sea level rise, about 380 communities could avoid chronic inundation this century.

Preparing for impacts

The solutions that can help protect individual communities from increased flooding fall into three broad categories: defending against the sea, accommodating rising water, and retreating from flood-prone areas. In practice, many communities will seek to combine these approaches. Not all approaches will work everywhere. Many are costly to sustain, and rising seas may simply preclude some options.

Robust federal and state-level policies and resources will be vital to help communities understand their risks, assess their choices, and implement adaptation plans. To effectively prepare, the country must take bold measures commensurate with the scale of the coastal risks.

The wise choice

As we look ahead to the end of this century, we have a choice. If we take aggressive action to address climate change, and succeed in slowing the acceleration of sea level rise, many communities—nearly 400 identified by this analysis—could avoid chronic inundation this century. If, however, sea levels rise along the high scenario, those communities face the risk of chronic inundation by 2100.

At this crossroads, reducing global warming emissions must be a national priority. The US can still make deep cuts in heat-trapping emissions and contribute to global efforts to limit climate change. We can still avoid some of the most serious human consequences and losses that our coasts face this century.

We have time to respond. We must use it wisely.

The methodology and assumptions used for this analysis are published in the peer-reviewed journal, Elementa. Download the PDF.

For additional information, please see the full report.

http://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/gl ... WePcOmQxPY





http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html

Majority of civilian oversight body wants L.A. County sheriff to stop flying drone





http://www.wnd.com/2017/07/investigatin ... is-mccabe/

'WATCHING THE WATCHERS': LAWSUITS TARGET FBI'S MCCABE
Group seeks info on Comey's replacement, wife's ties to Democrats



The FBI, of course, is the federal agency that carries out some of the nation’s most important investigations.



But of late, there have been raised questions about the agency’s chiefs. After all, fired director James Comey was the lead player in the FBI’s announcement not to prosecute Hillary Clinton, even though he explained her national security-related actions exhibited extremely poor judgment.

Then there has been the ongoing investigation into claims that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential race, a rumor-filled nest that has yet to produce anything more than some decisions political insiders would describe as unwise.

And of course after Comey was fired, he released government documents to a friend to give to the media in his desire to manipulate the Washington bureaucracy to trigger an outside counsel’s investigation of “Russia,” which he got.

Now questions are being raised about his close friend, Andrew McCabe, who became acting FBI chief when Comey was removed.

They come in the form of three lawsuits filed by officials with Judicial Watch seeking information about McCabe’s activities.

Get “Trump’s War: His Battle for America” by talk radio icon Michael Savage, from the WND Superstore.

“There are numerous questions about the ethics and judgment of the FBI’s top leadership, particularly acting FBI director Andrew McCabe,” said Tom Fitton, the Judicial Watch chief.

“These new lawsuits will help Americans ‘watch the watchers’ at the powerful FBI.”

The actions, under the federal Freedom of Information Act, address McCabe’s “political activities, travel vouchers, and employment status.”

The first two address his wife’s failed campaign for political office, and interactions with Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Judicial Watch explained.

The first requests records of communications between McCabe and others in the FBI or the Department of Justice on the topic of his involvement in political campaigns, or his wife’s involvement.

President Trump raised some related questions in just the last few days.

He was on social media to say, “Problem is that the acting head of the FBI & the person in charge of the Hillary investigation, Andrew McCabe, got $700,000 from H for wife!”

He continued, “Why didn’t A.G. Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation but got big dollars ($700,000) for his wife’s political run from Hillary Clinton and her representatives. Drain the Swamp!”

The facts are that Common Good VA, McAuliffe’s PAC, gave almost $468,000 to McCabe’s wife’s campaign. Then the Virginia Democrat Party gave almost another $208,000.

Judicial Watch said its first FOIA action seeks “records of communication between FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and other FBI or Department of Justice (‘DOJ’) officials regarding, concerning or relating to ethical issues concerning the involvement of Andrew McCabe and/or his wife, Dr. Jill McCabe, in political campaigns” and “records related to ethical guidance concerning political activities provided to Deputy Director McCabe by FBI and/or DOJ officials or elements.”

The second related case seeks records of communications between McCabe and any official in the Virginia governor’s office, anyone in the DNC, or the Democratic Party of Virginia.

“In 2015, a political action committee run by McAuliffe, a close friend and political supporter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, donated nearly $500,000 to Jill McCabe, wife of McCabe, who was then running for the Virginia State Senate,” Judicial Watch confirmed. “Also, the Virginia Democratic Party, over which McAuliffe had significant influence, donated an additional $207,788 to the Jill McCabe campaign. In July 2015, Andrew McCabe was in charge of the FBI’s Washington, D.C., field office, which provided personnel resources to the Clinton email probe. The Hatch Act prohibits FBI employees from engaging ‘in political activity in concert with a political party, a candidate for partisan political office, or a partisan political group.'”

The third case seeks travel voucher and other information from McCabe.

McCabe’s elevation to the acting director’s post earlier earned the ire of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who said McCabe’s own political baggage was too much.

“He’s got political problems, because of [Virginia Gov.




https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/becomi ... ent-part-2

Becoming an Agent
An Inside Look at What It Takes

July 28, 2017
Part 2: Inside the Classroom
Just beside Hogan’s Alley, the mock town and training facility at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, there’s a cluster of modern two-story buildings with several classrooms. Inside one of the classrooms, new agent trainees are forming their squads for the morning when they receive word that an “explosion” has occurred in a nearby city.

Over the previous few weeks, the squad has been using the skills they’ve learned to investigate a simulated hotel bombing and track down the criminals responsible for the attack. With this new report, trainees suspect that the events could be linked to terrorist activity. But before they can identify subjects, the squad needs to gather intelligence, conduct interviews, and dig up more clues.

The agents’ partners in this effort are new FBI intelligence analysts who are training right alongside them. Analysts—the men and women who help gather, share, and make sense of information and intelligence from all corners of the globe—have never been more vital to the Bureau’s mission in this post-9/11 world. By integrating their training, the FBI is replicating what agents and analysts will experience in their coming cases and ensuring that seamless collaboration is part of their DNA from day one.





http://stevehochstadt.blogspot.com

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Conversations About Health Care


Everybody’s talking about health care. But it’s not because of the incompetent ideological circus playing in Congress. That offers a fascinating look into the Republican soul, but few of my conversations about health care mention politics. Talk about health care is mostly about the health of my family, my friends, and my friends’ families, and the care they need.

As a healthy youngster, my input to health care discussions at home was usually, “I’m fine.” I probably said that to my mother while I was soaking in a tub full of hot water after playing touch football. She didn’t believe me, so I got on the operating table soon enough to stop the bleeding from my ruptured spleen.

In college, I remember a lot of conversations about whether we should do something that was obviously bad for our health. I leaned toward caution, not popular then, but looking better in retrospect.

Then my parents and my friends’ parents got old. Then we got old. Now most conversations with friends and family begin right after “hello” with talk about health care. “How are you?” is not a meaningless greeting, it’s an earnest question.

There’s no cure for old age, and I don’t care. I do care about how many people close to me are dealing with forgetfulness, blood tests, pain, and walkers; with health problems of mothers and fathers and ourselves; with nurses, doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies.

Longer-lived women are taking care of men who are sinking, along with many but fewer cases the other way around. Baby boomers like me turn into caregivers, managing doctors’ visits and prescription drugs, making nursing homes a second home.

Times have changed, too. The earnest TV commercials for cough medicine, and aspirin and “Preparation H” have turned into ubiquitous ads for medicines that might make you sick or kill you; for lawyers who will sue your doctor; for hospitals that will treat you, and insurance companies that might pay them.

It’s hard not to think constantly about health. Those thoughts can be difficult, sad, perplexing, and inconclusive. Joys are recovery from illness, the kindness of health care professionals, health scares that are false alarms. The sad stuff can last a long time, changing into something different but permanent at the end.

And we talk about money. It costs money to live and maybe more to die. Whose money will pay for the health care of people I love? That’s not the first thing we talk about. It’s not the most important thing most of the time. But it’s one of the most perplexing.

When I get a bill from a doctor, I have no idea who is going to pay what. Will Medicare pick up the tab? Will my insurance company pitch in and for how much? What will I pay at the end? How much of my deductible have I used up?

Should I get long-term care insurance? Or should I have gotten it 10 years ago? Should I save money on insurance premiums by taking a high deductible? Or is that a risky bet?

Nobody can take away such worries. Ignorance doesn’t help, either from those who shouted “Keep your government hands off my Medicare,” or from our President, who says he doesn’t care what happens to the rest of us, now that he didn’t get his way.

I believe that we have a right to get help with our health care from our government. We all need that help, every day, to prevent con artists from lying to us about miracle cures, to prevent the pharmaceutical industry from selling untested drugs, to prevent insurance companies from kicking the sickest off their rolls, to sponsor research which can save lives.

Our government got into the health care business to save lives, and it has been doing that, more or less successfully, for nearly two centuries. In my home town, Jacksonville, the state of Illinois long ago created institutions to care for people with health problems: a school for the deaf in 1839, a school for the blind in 1849, a hospital for the mentally ill in 1851.

Progressives around Teddy Roosevelt advocated for universal health coverage before World War I, at the same time that our government began to try to prevent disease by inspecting meat packing plants, and prohibiting adulterated drugs and false therapeutic claims.

The creators of our nation believed that “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” were the most important universal rights to be protected by government. It’s not clear what led Thomas Jefferson to elevate the pursuit of happiness to an inalienable right. If that phrase means anything, it must include government participation in our efforts to stay healthy. How can anyone be happy who can’t pay for health care they need?

There’s no such thing as a right to good health. But as Americans, we have a right to get collective help, if we need it, to stay healthy. That means government protection from poisons in our food, air, and water (see Flint, Michigan), from false claims by drug producers, and from medical malpractice. In today’s world, it must also mean assistance in paying for medical treatment for those without resources.

So says the Declaration of Independence.

Steve Hochstadt
Springbrook, WI




https://www.muckrock.com/foi/washington ... ing-17309/

From: CJ Ciaramella
04/09/2015
Subject: None
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act of 1974, D.C. Code Ann. § 2-531 et seq. ("D.C. Act"), I hereby request the following records:
All firearm discharge reports, incident reports regarding an officer-involved shooting, and citizen complaints against the following MPD officers:
- Chad Leo
- Curtis Sloan
- Jeremy Sharpton
- Guillermo Rivera
Please note that under D.C. public record law, if some record contained in a request are exempt from disclosure, other non-exempt information is considered segregable and must be released.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, and is not being made for commercial usage.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 15 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
CJ Ciaramella
From: Quon Hyden, Teresa
04/20/2015
Subject: None
Dear Mr. Ciaramella: This is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for “a ll firearm discharge reports, incident reports regarding an officer-involved shooting, and citizen complaints against the following MPD officers:” - Chad Leo
- Curtis Sloan
- Jeremy Sharpton
- Guillermo Rivera After due consideration, we can neither admit or deny your request. The requested records are exempt from disclosure under D.C. Official Code §§ 2-534(a)(2) as their release would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Please know that, under D.C. Official Code § 2-537 and 1 DCMR § 412, you have the right to appeal this letter to the Mayor or to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. If you elect to appeal to the Mayor, your appeal must be in writing and contain “Freedom of Information Act Appeal” or “FOIA Appeal” in the subject line of the letter as well on the outside of the envelope. The appeal must include (1) a copy of the original request; (2) a copy of any written denial; (3) a statement of the circumstances, reasons, and/or arguments advanced in support of disclosure; and (4) a daytime telephone number, an e-mail and/or U.S. mailing address at which you can be reached. The appeal must be mailed to: The Mayor’s Correspondence Unit, FOIA Appeal, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 316, Washington, D.C. 20004. Electronic versions of the same information can instead be e-mailed to The Mayor’s Correspondence Unit at foia.mayor@dc.gov. Further, a copy of all appeal materials must be forwarded to the Freedom of Information Officer of the involved agency, or to the agency head of that agency, if there is no designated Freedom of Information Officer there. (mailto:foia.mayor@dc.gov) Failure to follow these administrative steps will result in delay in the processing and commencement of a response to your appeal to the Mayor. Sincerely, Teresa Quon Hyden
Acting FOIA Officer Metropolitan Police Department
From: Amare, Genet
09/09/2015
Subject: Ten-Day Extension for FOIA Request No. 2015-FOIA-04398
Dear Mr. CJ Ciaramella,
We are unable to process your request within the time allotted, we are now invoking the ten (10) day extension that is provided under the FOIA statute. Pursuant to D.C. Official Code § 2-532(d) and 1 DCMR §§ 405.2 and 405.3, we are providing you with written notice of our intent to extend the deadline for our response to the above-referenced FOIA request by ten (10) business days. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Regards,
Genet Amare
From: Amare, Genet
01/15/2016
Subject: Final Response Documents of Request 2015-FOIA-04398


2015-FOIA-04398_5054
Download
From: Amare, Genet
07/20/2016
Subject: Follow-Up Email: FOIA Request No. 2016-FOIA-02107
Good afternoon, Mr. Ciaramella, This email serves as a follow-up email to your request, to provide with an update on your FOIA request with the Metropolitan Police Department FOIA Office. We apologies for the delay in providing a response to your request within the statutory time allotted and we apologies for any inconvenience this delay has caused you. However, our office is experiencing a backlog due to the number of requests we have received prior to your request and the voluminous nature of such requests. I am the FOIA Specialist assigned to your case and I would like to assure you that I am working diligently to provide a response to your request. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Regards,
Genet Amare
From: MuckRock.com
08/04/2016
From: Amare, Genet (MPD)
08/05/2016
Subject: RE: DC Freedom of Information Act Request: MPD discharge reports for officers re: Briscoe shooting
Good afternoon, Mr. Ciaramella,
Thank you for your email. As previously stated, our office is experiencing a backlog due to the number of requests we have received prior to your request and the voluminous nature of such requests. I am working diligently to provide a response to your request and I apologies for the delay in providing a response to your request within the statutory time allotted. Thank you for your patience and understanding, I apologies for any inconvenience this delay has caused you.
Regards,
Genet Amare
FOIA Specialist
Metropolitan Police Department
202-724-2437
genet.amare2@dc.gov<mailto:genet.amare2@dc.gov>
From: MuckRock.com
08/22/2016
From: Amare, Genet (MPD)
08/25/2016
Subject: RE: DC Freedom of Information Act Request: MPD discharge reports for officers re: Briscoe shooting
Good morning, Mr. Ciaramella,
Thank you for your email. As previously stated, our office is experiencing a backlog due to the number of requests we have received prior to your request and the voluminous nature of such requests. I am working diligently to provide a response to your request and I apologize for the delay in providing a response to your request within the statutory time allotted. Thank you for your patience and understanding, I apologize for any inconvenience this delay has caused you.
Regards,
Genet Amare
FOIA Specialist
Metropolitan Police Department
202-724-2437
genet.amare2@dc.gov<mailto:genet.amare2@dc.gov>
From: Metropolitan Police Department
01/17/2017
Subject: None
A copy of documents responsive to the request.

3rd File As Released - Final Redactions_Redacted.pdf
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From:
07/28/2017
Subject: 2016-FOIA-02107 (Email 1)
Dear CJ Ciaramella,
Attached find a response to your FOIA Request. You will receive several emails with the documents attached.
Regards,
Ms. Branch
FOIA Specialist

FOIA Response 2 letter2
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From: Branch, Tara (MPD)
07/28/2017
Subject: 2016-FOIA-02107 (Email 2)
Dear CJ Ciaramella,
Attached find a response to your FOIA request. This is the second email.
Regards,
Ms. Branch
FOIA Specialist
Metropolitan Police Department
300 Indiana Avenue NW
Room 4153
Washington, DC 20001
We are here to help.
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From: Branch, Tara (MPD)
07/28/2017
Subject: FW: 2016-FOIA-02107 (Email 3)
Dear CJ Ciaramella,
Attached find a response to your FOIA request. This is the last and final email.
Regards,
Ms. Branch
FOIA Specialist
Metropolitan Police Department
300 Indiana Avenue NW
Room 4153
Washington, DC 20001
We are here to help.
Just like our city, Sustainable DC is evolving! Help us update the plan by telling us what you care about most in this easy 3-minute survey.<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... rm?c=0&w=1> Learn more and get involved by visiting http://www.sustainabledc.org/in-dc/sdc2 ... dc/sdc2-0/>

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msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

http://jamesfetzer.blogspot.com/2017/08 ... -took.html

DIRTY COP: Major Scandals that Took Place when Robert Mueller was FBI Director

The following report is from Attorney Jeffrey Marty…
Shortly after his appointment as Special Counsel to investigate Russia’s alleged interference into the 2016 presidential election, a former colleague characterized Robert Mueller as “ramrod straight” and “utterly incorruptible.” Similar language was breathlessly repeated in mainstream media outlets such as Politico, BBC, and Time magazine. Mueller’s Vietnam-era service in the United States Marine Corps and 2004 tag-team with then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey to (supposedly) save American democracy from warrantless spying are mainstays of these biographies, sending a clear message that his integrity is not to be questioned, that his dedication to evenhanded justice is beyond reproach.
It’s always suspicious when anyone’s credibility is pushed hard like this, but that goes double when the same person was FBI director for 12 years—spanning across both the Bush and Obama administrations from 2001 to 2013—yet most people can’t remember anything about him. We should remember things such as actions he took to impartially uphold the law.
Sadly, that is not the case. What stands out most during then-FBI Director Mueller’s term in office is the two-tiered system of justice, when obvious crimes and scandals involving government officials and private-sector elites were ignored or even covered up by the FBI. Much of the worst behavior of government officials in the Bush and Obama administrations was given a pass by Mueller’s FBI, as well as a megabank that laundered billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels and sponsors of terror.
Simply put: Mueller helped to create the swamp that needs to be drained. He’s a dirty cop with no business being anywhere near any national security investigation, but especially one involving James Comey.
Major Scandals During Mueller’s FBI Years:
At the nation’s top cop, then-FBI Director Mueller had massive resources to investigate crimes, as well as the ability to arrest suspects and recommend prosecution of the offenders. The following is an abbreviated list of major scandals and likely crimes that Mueller did not meaningfully investigate as FBI Director—no arrests, no consequences:
Falsification of Iraq War intelligence (2003): information providing the sole justification for a war that caused the death and dismemberment of thousands of American soldiers was later found to be fabricated, false, or overstated at the time it was presented to the public. Mueller not only failed to investigate and arrest any of the perpetrators of this deception—he actively participated in the plot:
Vanishing Currency (2003): the US sent $12,000,000,000 in $100 bills to the Iraq War combat theater, which mostly went unaccounted for once it entered the country
NSA Warrantless Surveillance (2001-2013): illegal collection of domestic phone records and internet communications that were sent or received by US citizens, in violation of Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless search and seizure, followed by potential perjury committed by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who denied the practices under oath; the 2013 Snowden revelations proved that the 2004 story about Comey and Mueller stopping illegal surveillance practices meant absolutely nothing in reality
Emailgate (2007): discovery that several top Bush administration officials violated the Presidential Records Act by using an RNC server for email communications while conducting official business, followed by the deletion of millions of the same emails
Walter Reed Neglect Scandal (2007): troops recovering from severe war-related injuries were subjected to squalid living conditions and grotesquely substandard care due to a privatization agreement that resulted in drastic staffing cuts, after which patients were told to “keep quiet” and whistleblowers suffered retaliation from higher-ups
IRS Targeting (2010-2013): the IRS intentionally selected and then delayed or denied tax-exempt 501(c)(3) applications from conservative groups to prevent them from participating in the 2012 election, followed by IRS agent Lois Lerner invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination
Fast and Furious (2010): this ATF program, which seems to have served no rational purpose, allowed over 2,000 guns to be purchased illegally inside the United States and then “walked” into Mexico for use by criminals, one of which was later used in the 2010 murder of Border Agent Brian Terry by the member of a Mexican cartel
Associated Press Spying (2012): the Department of Justice illegally seized the communications of AP reporters made during April and May 2012, allowing the DOJ to unmask journalists’ confidential sources
Clinton Foundation Pay-for-Play (2009-2013): during the period in which Hillary Clinton held the office of Secretary of State, the Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton received millions of dollars in paid speaking fees and a million dollar “gift” from countries involved in matters with the State Department, many of which had ties to terrorism and human rights abuses; some of these funds were apparently diverted from charitable causes to personal expenses, such as Chelsea Clinton’s 2010 wedding
Russian Uranium Deal (2009-2013): Hillary Clinton’s State Department approved a deal allowing a Russian company to control 20% of the uranium mining production capacity inside the United States, which was followed by millions of dollars in donations to the Clinton Foundation from people associated with the transaction
Clinton Private Email Server (2009-2013): during her entire tenure as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton dodged Freedom of Information Act requirements by using a private email server to conduct official government business, as well as sent and received classified information that was Top Secret over an unsecured system—an “extremely reckless” (and obviously illegal) act
HSBC Bank Money Laundering Scandal:
Although nowhere near as famous as the other examples, the HSBC money laundering case reveals the complete and total corruption of federal law enforcement toward the end of Mueller’s term as FBI Director.
For nearly the entire duration of Mueller’s term, UK-based HSBC, an international bank with branches and depositors worldwide, was doing billions of dollars in business with drug cartels, rouge nation states, and even banks associated with terrorism, taking massive deposits made in foreign nations and funneling them into the US banking market. The overall amounts were staggering, totaling hundreds of billions of dollars, which likely gave the bank a comparative advantage over its rivals and greater market share, while providing criminals with the ability to “launder” money into the US banking system with little-to-no oversight. A whistleblower, who collected information and recorded conversations with HSBC employees, which clearly portrayed the bank as a “criminal enterprise.”
Mexican Drug Cartels: From 2002 to at least 2009 (and possibly much longer), HSBC bank laundered billions of US dollars for El Chapo’s murderous Sinaloa Cartel and similar groups. In 2009, Forbes placed El Chapo at #41 on its “World’s Most Powerful People” list. The same year, many experts agreed that Mexico’s drug war had rendered it a “failed state.” By 2012, the Sinaloa cartel alone was estimated to have annual revenues of $3 billion, which were comparable to Facebook or Netflix. By April 2013, toward the end of Mueller’s term, the Sinaloa and other Mexican cartels had become the number one importer and distributor of narcotics inside the United States (with many of their top agents living inside the United States), El Chapo had become “public enemy no. 1,” and 70,000 murders and nearly 27,000 disappearances were attributable to the drug war inside Mexico.
Ignoring the obvious, HSBC inexplicably designated Mexico a “low risk” country for money laundering, allowing shady depositors and known drug kingpins to deposit billions of US dollars—in cash—into bank accounts in HSBC Mexico, followed by the same money becoming accessible at HSBC in the US. With legitimate-looking banking, the Mexican drug cartels were given huge expansion potential inside the US that would otherwise have been easily detected if they had tried to purchase properties, vehicles, and shell businesses here using large pallets of cash.
Much of the cash crossing the US-Mexico border (estimated at $25 billion per year in 2010) found a ready home in HSBC branches south of the Rio Grande. HSBC Mexico made billions of dollars in suspicious transactions, such as customers depositing hundreds of thousands of US dollars into a single bank account in a single day, during which the cash was put through teller windows in boxes that were designed to fit through the window openings. Because there was virtually no investigation into these transactions or even the identities of depositors, who included high-profile drug dealers, accounts were rarely closed due to the suspicious activity. After all, Mexico was a “low risk” country for money laundering at the time.
Terrorists and Rogue Nations: The bank’s practices also allowed terrorist groups and rogue nations to have access to our financial markets in a similar manner, facilitating financing of their activities inside this country, as well as providing greater international investment possibilities for sanctioned regimes—including $19 billion deposited from Iran into HSBC’s foreign affiliate banks. There were also lax rules for setting up relationships with affiliate banks in other countries, which included at least one Saudi Arabian bank with ties to funding terrorism.
Policies Prevented Catching Crooks: Even in the rare instance where money laundering controls were in place, inadequate follow-up measures undermined any intervention. The US division of HSBC allowed thousands of suspicious accounts to remain open after they were flagged for closure. “Know your customer” practices were virtually nonexistent, which allowed bad actors to get around things like Iranian sanctions and Patriot Act protections, which in turn was aggravated by bank employees doing things like deleting information about the country of origin on deposits from places like Iran. Large-scale warnings, such as the migration of billions of US dollars in cash deposits into HSBC Mexico, went unnoticed because the bank apparently had no system in place to monitor such activity. To say all of this was “extremely reckless” would be an understatement—it’s inconceivable that the bank’s employees and executives didn’t know.
“Ramrod” Mueller to the Rescue: What did Mueller do to aggressively investigate and shut down this massive “foreign influence” involving our country’s drug epidemic and possibly even terrorism? Basically nothing. No bank executives or employees were arrested or jailed. People have spent more time in jail for smoking a joint than any HSBC executive or employee did for facilitating drug cartel business and terrorist financing.
On October 17, 2010, the Treasury Department issued “cease and desist” letter to HSBC for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. This was followed by a one-year Senate subcommittee investigation, which provided a comprehensive report and took hearing testimony on July 17, 2012. In what appeared to be prepared remarks, one bank compliance executive resigned at the hearing and another executive indicated HSBC “did our best” in Mexico.
With all of the investigation already completed and in the public eye as a result of the Senate investigation, the Department of Justice was finally forced to file a four-count felony indictment against defendant HSBC on December 11, 2012, which included three felony counts relating to insufficient anti-money laundering practices and one count for violation of the Trading With The Enemy Act.
On the same day, and over the objections of career DOJ prosecutors, then-AG Holder allowed HSBC to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement, under which the charges would be dropped if the bank stayed out of trouble for 5 years and paid a “record fine” consisting of $1.256 billion in forfeited assets and an additional $665 million in civil penalties. Added together, the punishment totaled approximately 9% of one year’s profits for HSBC’s worldwide operations, which amounted to a whopping $21.9 billion in 2011 alone.
The same day, then-US Attorney Lynch led a press conference alleging that (1) an alphabet soup of federal agencies had conducted a serious investigation and (2) the “record fine” was somehow adequate punishment. Notably, “ramrod straight” Mueller and Holder were not present, despite the obvious national importance of the case. In press releases, The DOJ (echoed by the FBI, which re-posted DOJ’s release) bragged about the “heavy price” of the fine being imposed. Despite the “heavy price” paid for its rampant criminal behavior, HSBC was somehow able to sponsor the star-studded 2014 Clinton Global Initiative. (The Clinton Foundation also received up to $81,000,000 in donations from HSBC’s illustrious group of accountholders.)
But not everyone bought into Lynch’s sales pitch. Even CBS News seemed suspicious of the deal, which was obviously disproportionate to the criminal conduct involved (VIDEO).
While a US citizen sending money to terrorists can result in a 20-year prison sentence, and many US citizens have been sentenced to decades n prison for even marijuana-related crimes, the bank’s executives and employees never spent one day in jail for their roles in assisting terrorist-connected nations and Mexican drug cartels to do business—an example of the “two systems” of justice than many Americans believe exist between the elites and regular citizens.
If drug dealers and terror supporters are by the FBI using search warrants, controlled transactions, confidential informants, wiretaps, GPS tracking, interrogations, and other regularly-used police tactics, why wouldn’t Mueller have done something to build a case here the same way?

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.rt.com/news/401672-syria-re ... s-weapons/


Syrian rebel defector says his US-trained unit sold arms to ISIS | 01 Sept 2017 | Not only were the US-backed ‘moderate’ militants in southern Syria never meant to fight ISIS [I-CIA-SIS], but their commanders actually traded US-made weapons and ammunition to terrorists, a rebel defector claimed in an interview with Rossiya-24. Asaad As-Salem says he defected from the US-backed Maghawir al-Thawra group stationed at the At-Tanf base in southern Syria, and surrendered to Syrian government forces…”When we learned that our unit’s leader was selling weapons to ISIS terrorists, we reported that to American base command, but following our report no action has been taken, the Americans only ramped up the support to the man who was appointed our commander and who was dealing with ISIS,” As-Salem said. “And he was selling all sorts of weapons our unit possessed, US-made small arms, M-16 and M-4 rifles, recoilless rifles, various machine guns and ammunition for them.”





http://www.vachss.com/av_dispatches/lifestyle.html




see link for full essay


WHO IS THE SERIOUS, VIOLENT, HABITUAL OFFENDER?

A Speech by: Andrew H. Vachss
NEW DESIGNS
January-February 1983

When discussing the "serious, violent, habitual juvenile offender," we should attempt to reach at least a glimmering of consensus as to whom we are talking about. Some people see serious offenders, violent offenders and habitual offenders as individual types. Because we are here to talk about the type of individual who has all three characteristics, it seems that we are talking about some new breed of juvenile. If you read the papers, watch T.V. or listen to politicians you will believe that somehow genetics and culture have combined or conspired over the years to produce a new kind of child: a kid who rapes and robs and murders with impunity, with abandon, and who seems to enjoy this work. Such a child seems to be completely unresponsive to anything we have to offer. But that's been kind of an excuse. The kids they write about today, whose faces now appear in the newspapers and on television, are the same kinds of kids who existed 10 years ago, a decade ago, a generation ago ... a hundred years ago.

"...One of the reasons that our profession has been willing to accept the idea that there is a new breed of juvenile is that this profession does not want to face the fact that it has failed with a particular, tiny segment of the population for which we are responsible."
—Andrew Vachss
One of the reasons that our profession has been willing to accept the idea that there is a new breed of juvenile is that this profession does not want to face the fact that it has failed with a particular, tiny segment of the population for which we are responsible. It is much easier to say we are geared up to deal with "delinquents," that we can handle all kinds of "juvenile" crime, and that there's a certain type of kid whom we call the "life–style violent juvenile" (I'll get into that definition in a moment) whose very existence is a threat to every single one of our treasured principles about juvenile justice. Every single bill of goods that we've been selling the public for the last century is at risk because of this kid. This kid is the failure of our profession but our fight now is to keep this kid. When I say keep this kid, I mean keep him within our jurisdiction. Keep him within our zone of responsibility. To fight against the idea of waiver, bind–over, transfer, certification, whatever term you choose to use. But to fight against the concept of washing our hands and throwing this kid out with the garbage. That fight is the strength of our profession too. I'm not always proud of our profession, but I am proud of the fact that we are not buying into the idea that we are going to surrender on this critical issue.

Now, what am I talking about? Who is this kid? What are his characteristics? (And when I say "his," obviously there are female delinquents who also fit within this category. So far, their numbers are relatively small so there's been little focus on them. So when I use the term "his" or "he," picture in your mind that the terms are somewhat interchangeable with "her" and "she"). This kid is characterized by a complete lack of apparent empathy for other human beings. He feels no pain but his own. This is the type of kid who will kill three people on separate occasions for no apparent reason, commit a subway robbery, do a push–in mugging, blow somebody away because they "looked at him wrong." He will show no remorse, and then come into the office of an institution just enraged, veins bulging out of his neck, sweat pouring off his forehead, eyes wild, incoherent almost to the point of tears ... all because someone broke his portable radio. And he'll see no contradiction whatsoever. He simply does not feel anyone's pain but his own. This is a learned response. People are not born like this.

The second characteristic is lack of perception of the future. He has none. If you ask a kid like this, "What are you going to be doing next year?" you will get an absolutely blank stare. Not because he's stupid, but because he simply cannot conceptualize such a distance from right now. If you want to speak with this kid, you have to speak within his time frame, and that time frame isn't ever more than a few hours from the present.

This kid does not relate behavior to consequences. He does not see a causal connection between his acts and a response. What do I mean? To this kid, life is a lottery. Everyone rolls the dice, but not everyone pays the price. He has no perception as to how the dice will come up. In his world, everyone commits crimes. Everybody. Some smaller percentage of that number are arrested. A still smaller percentage go to court; an even smaller percentage go to trial. A smaller percentage still are actually found guilty (or "adjudicated delinquent" if you prefer), and a smaller percentage of that group are committed to a youth authority. Lastly, an even smaller percentage are actually incarcerated.

In his mind, everybody commits these crimes. He sees no connection between his acts and the consequences. He is marked by a chronicity of violence, usually an escalating pattern. Violence permeates his existence until it is his existence. It is not the extent of his criminality that frightens us, but its regularity. Crime is not so much an occupation in the sense of a professional criminal, but a way of life, with violence as the structural underpinning.

He has translator mechanisms in his head. You think of earning money; he thinks of taking money. You think of romance; he thinks of rape. Criminal sophistication is almost totally lacking. He takes money: he doesn't plan in any real sense; he's not organized in his criminality. Even what to do with the money is not pre–planned. The money itself has an ephemeral quality. He gets up in the morning about 11:00 a.m., puts on his sneakers, listens to the radio, looks in the refrigerator, sees nothing there ... maybe some old corn–flakes. Hits the street with his friend, hangs out. He waits for an elderly woman to come home from the supermarket; follows her to her house. Gets on the elevator with her; she presses the button for the fourth floor; he presses it for the second floor. Jumps off at the second floor and runs up the stairs, watches her open her apartment door, slams forward, shoves the door open and the woman inside, kicks the door shut behind him, smashes the woman in the face until she hits the ground, snatches whatever little money she has. And goes back downstairs to the same corner. If there was enough money, he may buy some soda, some pizza, some marijuana; he may go to a movie downtown. He'll be back tomorrow. Sooner or later one of the elderly women dies. And then the crime is treated in the media not as an organic continuation of a lifestyle but as some kind of nova–blast of episodic crime. That's not the way it really is, and we all know better.

I'm not here to excuse or condone such crimes. But I want you to understand them. I'm not talking about an episodic offender. I'm not talking about some human being that just snaps out and hurts other people. I'm talking about a person who has violence so inexorably woven into his life that a fatality is, in fact, predictable at some point in his career.

WHO ARE THE ROLE MODELS FOR THESE OFFENDERS?

Who are his role models? Those who are, in his mind, successful criminals. He doesn't know any real successful criminals. He knows no embezzlers. He knows no computer criminals. He knows no politicians. He knows only what he perceives as success. And what tells him someone is a success? A diamond ring, fine clothes, a car. Not a home, because his perception doesn't extend that far. He focuses on the things you can carry around with you. And when he goes to jail, that perception doesn't change. So when you read about one kid stabbing another to death over a fancy pair of sneakers in a juvenile institution, don't dismiss it as insanity. It may be insane, but it's consistently so.

So who are the role models? Pimps, dope dealers, armed robbers. And when this kid thinks "armed robbery," he's thinking like a cowboy. He's thinking about the guys who kick in the door of a social club, blow away three or four people, and end up with five hundred dollars. He doesn't even conceptualize a large–scale robbery, such as an armored car job. He doesn't even conceptualize stealing anything but cash, or things readily convertible to cash.

This obsession with visible symbols of power and respect translates into the ultimate perversion of the American version of manhood. If you ask one of these kids, "how do you know you're a man?", he'll answer you like this: "I'm a man because I can make a life, and I can take a life." That kid, that's his world. Is he dangerous? Of course he's dangerous. Is he too dangerous to be at large? Very probably so.

IS HE BEYOND OUR REACH?

Now here's the question: is he beyond our reach? If we can't say "No!" to that, we should give it up. We've been ducking and dodging that issue for too long a time. If we face reality, this is what "prevention" is all about. Part of the profession wants to say: "We can't deal with this kid; this kid is (you fill in the blanks with whatever you want ... an animal, a beast, a lunatic); we can't deal with him. Let the adult system take him. We'll work with the good kids, the other kids." Now part of our profession wants to accept and acknowledge our collective responsibility for this kid. But even that part doesn't say: "I'll take him." No. What we say is: "We're going to prevent him. We're going to stop this deadly flower from reaching full bloom." Well, people, that's a joke, a real joke. And the joke is on you and on the American public. You cannot prevent this kid if you persist in starting where you have been. There's a continuum of production that results in this kid being among us. There's a virtual assembly line, with components being attached at each stage until this human being has reached his full dangerous growth. By the time you start to "prevent," it's already too late.

WHY SHOULD WE CARE?

Now why should we care about this kid at all? The whole profession keeps saying, in a very self–comforting kind of way, that this kid represents only a tiny minority of the juvenile population. A minority within a minority, we keep telling ourselves. People draw pictures that show us this kid is maybe one percent of the whole mixed bag of juveniles. In fact, I've talked to people from some states who swear "We don't have any such kids. Not in the whole damn state. After all, we don't even have apartment buildings."

There's a reason to care. First, these kids have a disproportionate impact on crime in any community. Allen Breed has quoted some scary statistics. He has said that twenty–four percent of all violent crime was committed by people under eighteen years of age. But he didn't say that twenty–four percent of all criminals are under eighteen. And the fact is that each and every one of these kids is a crime wave. Each and every one of them. They are very few. In Professor Wolfgang's famous "Cohort Study" he found that about six percent of all juveniles in his study were responsible for sixty–six percent of repetitive violent crime. Think about it. These young human beings impact explosively on communities. Then, too, they have high visibility. These kids are a politician's dream. People have been elected to office on the backs of two or three violent kids. All because the public loves hypodermic solutions to problems. The public desperately wants to believe that there's a pill or an injection that will stop crime. So these kids have been a bonanza for politicians. You can pass laws that will provide all kinds of Draconian consequences for kids who engage in this violent behavior on a daily basis, but you are doing nothing whatsoever to stop the behavior itself.

The real reason these kids are so important is that they destroy every piece of mythology that has been built up about juveniles over the past century. This kind of kid does not fit within any "program." I'll tell you what I mean.

Not too long ago, we were fighting another battle, the battle for de–institutionalization. We knew, instinctively, intuitively, and intellectually that institutions were bad for kids. They damage human beings; they are criminogenic. We called them "crime factories" and "sodomy schools" and we were right. We wanted to take kids out of institutions.

Community–based programs came into vogue in the late 60s and early 70s, and some folks had some fantastic programs. Some programs really worked. And then along would come one of these special kids, one life–style violent juvenile and, boom! ... no more program. All by himself, one of these kids could dismantle a program.

So why did the programs take these kids? Well, there are two basic reasons. Number one, sometimes when people hit on an idea that works, they think it's infinitely expandable, and that's a mistake. The second mistake is that these community–based programs were always dependent on funding, unlike juvenile prisons. The more successful the program, the more likely you are to have one of these kids dumped into it.

Now how do they blow up a program? I'll give you one example. When I was running an institution, we had a young man there I'll call Raphael. He was a member of a gang in which manhood was expressed in ways I've already described to you, and with one additional feature: skill with a knife was most highly exalted. Skill with a knife and distorted visions of manhood and respect.

So Raphael cut a lot of people, hurt a lot of people. In fact, before we arrived, he hurt a lot of people within the institution. He settled all disputes, all conflicts, with a knife. Now, after a while, he was doing okay with us, and by "okay" I mean he wasn't stabbing anybody. You understand what I'm talking about? I don't mean he was "self–actualized." I don't mean to say he was a heavy participant in group therapy. He wasn't on the road to college, but he wasn't stabbing anybody. And we knew, unlike most of the people who seem to run institutions, that some day he would leave us and would be judged in the real world not on our success inside, but on how he acted on the streets. He was making progress.

Now he was a good–looking young man and had the gift of gab. And one day a group of people came in to see us. They're running a "program;" I won't characterize it, a group home of some kind. They were looking for candidates for their program. They had some empty beds and they wanted some of our kids. We were opposed to this. But, of course, we were not running the state government. So they roamed around and made a selection, and Raphael was a selection. We sat them down and tried to talk to them like human beings. We said "You don't want this kid. Ever. You don't want him in life. He's going to hurt somebody." And what do they tell me? "You're a thug." "You don't understand. You have to reach out and touch him." You know the story.

The temptation was to say "Go ahead and take him" but we still resisted. And we lost. So they took Raphael and figured they'd go to work on him right away. They had a procedure there that they called the "hot–seat." They'd put one kid in a chair, circle around it, and then verbally attack him. They'd rip him up and then tell him that the house rules are "no violence."

So they put Raphael in the chair and they decided that the reason he stabbed people, the reason he had tattoos, the reason he carried himself as he did, was that he was a homosexual. They confronted him with this so–called "reality" about himself. He excused himself, got up very calmly and went into the kitchen, found a knife, and gutted another kid, like you would a fish.

Raphael stabbed the other kid, sat down, said "I'm a man" and waited for the police to come. Big deal; an instant replay of his life. The program was totaled.

This happens a lot, and the program people in this case were not completely to blame. They thought they had something good; they wanted to go with it; there was heavy pressure on them to take more people. But every time you try and co–mingle one of these kids with their natural prey, it's not going to work.

WHERE DO THESE YOUNG PEOPLE COME FROM?

Where did this kid come from anyway? Is he a bio–genetic mutation that has evolved after hundreds of years of reproduction in the human race? I hope you don't believe that, and I hope you don't believe that he's a cultural aberration. Or that once the economy gets back on its feet, he will disappear. I hope you don't believe it's as simplistic as a "breakdown of family values." Let me tell you something. He comes from us. He is a product of the human services profession.

"...I have never seen one of these kids that hasn't been within our child protective and child–caring system for years and years before the juvenile justice profession is asked to "intervene."
—Andrew Vachss
I have never seen one of these kids that hasn't been within our child protective and child–caring system for years and years before the juvenile justice profession is asked to "intervene." We have to create the beast. It cannot be born whole. If you look at adult life–style criminals (and again I emphasize life–style, not people who made a lot of headlines with one explosive act), you can be guaranteed to see one thing in their background. No matter where such people are politically or socially: from a berserk neo–Nazi like Charles Manson to a prison–created revolutionary like George Jackson, from the Boston Strangler to Carryl Chessman, from John Dillinger to Gary Gilmour, to Carl Panzram to Clyde Barrow (of Bonnie and Clyde). They all did time as juveniles. Amazing, isn't it?

You probably never heard of Carl Panzram. He was a mass murderer who killed more than a couple of dozen people at different times in his short life. He killed for the fun of it. He liked to kill people. The only things he liked better than killing people were sodomizing little boys and arson. He caused more destruction than a small army.

Finally, Panzram, who was intelligent despite his lunacy, decided he wanted to die. But the state wouldn't kill him. He kept killing, but he didn't die. Finally, he killed a prison guard and ended up on trial for his life. Do you know what lie he told the jury? "I am what you made me. You put me in that training school for boys and you trained me that the greatest joy in life is sodomy and murder. And if you don't kill me now, while you have the opportunity, I'm going to kill some of you. The state gave me birth, let the state take my life." The state finally did.

Now I'm not Carl Panzram's attorney. I'm not trying to excuse his behavior.

Even if I could explain it, he was too dangerous to walk among us. But he spoke the truth. When Charles Manson said, "You can see me in the eyes of your ten–year–olds," that was not an original line. We have been producing the life–style violent criminal for generations, and the factory has been the child protective and juvenile justice system.

In order to create the kind of sociopathic, non–empathetic, violent human being I've been talking about, you need an institution. You need a controlled environment. You need an environment where might makes right.

You need an environment where there is a hierarchy of exploitation; where the rule is "be exploited or exploit others." For many, many years we have run our institutions on a jungle model where the strong not only survive, but thrive. And when the beast is released, we all pay.

HOW DID WE GET WHERE WE ARE?

Now how did we get to this stage?

First, all we've ever done as a profession is react. From the beginning of juvenile justice, we've reacted to things. How did this all start? At the turn of the century, we said to the public: "You can't lock up adults and children together. It's going to criminalize the juveniles. Prison is a bad experience." And when the public bought this proposition, we proceeded to simply react to the opportunity without going further. We did not say that prisons were a bad experience because of the way they are run. We did not design particular kinds of incarcerative options ranging from ultra–minimum to full maximum security. All we did was take the kids from the adult prisons and then replicate the adult prison system, brick for brick, program for program, and failure for failure.

Then we invented a whole lot of euphemisms. We changed all the names. Crime becomes "delinquency," a "finding of delinquency" is substituted for guilty, prisons become "training schools." We kept talking about "the best interests of the child," "the needs of the child," and it was all nonsense. We didn't develop anything, we simply reacted, like any politician would.

We've been in hot pursuit of "rehabilitation" for a hundred years and we haven't caught it yet. We bought into a medical model that we knew in our hearts was pure junk. You break a bone, you go to physiotherapy, you work with the therapist, you follow the program, you take the medicine, the cast comes off, the arm works again ... it's rehabilitated. But the kids we're talking about today never functioned. They dysfunctioned starting before they ever came into the juvenile justice system. What can we return them to?

Child protective and juvenile justice professionals pay a terrible price for not being willing to take responsibility for these kids. That price is giving up the control we need to prove once and for all that we can do the job.

"...Child protective and juvenile justice professionals pay a terrible price for not being willing to take responsibility for these kids. That price is giving up the control we need to prove once and for all that we can do the job."
—Andrew Vachss
We don't want to bite the bullet and admit that there are certain human beings on this planet, in this country, in our cities who need basic socialization before they can be among us. I don't mean that these kids need exotic drugs; I don't mean that they need bizarre treatment modalities. I mean they need to learn how to be human beings. They can#39;t learn that on the street. They can't learn that in group homes.

There are people who require incapacitation, because if it's not provided, we end up where we are today, with a public that doesn't trust us a good goddamn. The public has been listening to us, albeit with a jaundiced ear, for a century. And we've been promising them the moon. Now the only promise the public wants to hear is that we are going to do something about the crimes that affect the quality of their lives. We are too fond of parables that are just plain nonsense. Here's one of my favorites: "It costs less to send a kid to Harvard than it does to incarcerate him for a year." If Harvard would take them, we'd ship them to Harvard. Well, Harvard won't take them, and if we want out from under the domination of these kids, we can't get there with clever sayings.

What we have to realize is that kids will be adults. If all we do is put them on ice until we are no longer administratively responsible for their behavior, we've committed a mortal sin. If we get a kid that's, say, 15 years old we probably will hold him in some kind of suspended animation, doing nothing but time until he's eighteen. If after he's released he kills a cop, he's an adult. And we have nothing to do with it. Well, maybe not legally, but certainly morally. The public's finally waking up to the fact that once you put your hands on something you have a responsibility for it.

I agree that we should fight wholesale institutionalization, but we should not fight it so hard that we abandon the field to our traditional adversaries. We should be against institutionalization, but we must also understand that we must have the capacity to remove the tiny percentage of life–style violent juveniles from society while work is being done. Without secure treatment units we show society nothing, and we show the kids nothing.

What do we do with the criminally insane, violent juvenile? The hospitals won't take him. Nobody will take him. So he ends up in a juvenile institution, doing time with others who are criminal, but not insane. What other profession does this?

CAN WE "INDIVIDUALIZE THE OFFENDER?"

If we were truly to "individualize the offender," we would take the responsibility upon ourselves, not pass it along to prosecutors, or to legislators. We would keep it. And if we were to respond to the problem by establishing secure treatment units for this tiny minority, we would take a crushing weight off the entire juvenile justice system.

Our skilled professionals then could get on with doing their business, freed from constantly watching their backs for the emergence of one of the kind of kid who can destroy their programs. Because we've known for a long time that if we could just get the life–style violent juvenile and the criminally insane juvenile out of our system, we could make that system work. In reality, we have to take collective responsibility for all kids, below whatever age the legislature establishes, and on a statewide basis. Accepting this as fact, within our collective responsibility we can and must make our own decisions. No law can prescribe the treatment required for an individual. The law can only define what constitutes an offense. Most people believe that murder is the worst offense of all. To me, murder is the offense for which there are the broadest possible range of motives. If I were told about a 15–year–old boy only that he killed somebody, I would actually know very little about him and I would certainly not be prepared to make an incarcerative placement or treatment decision about him. But we do that all the time.

Child protective and juvenile justice professionals pay a terrible price for not being willing to take responsibility for these kids. That price is giving up the control we need to prove once and for all that we can do the job. The public will accept construction of secure treatment units, not only because they guarantee incapacitation of those that they fear, but because such units are a visible symbol of the jurisdiction's commitment to do something about violent crime. All we're doing now is fighting a losing battle against the concept of treating juveniles in the adult criminal justice system. The fact is, if we say to the public, don't send the kid to adult corrections, the public has a right to ask us "What are you going to do with him? More experiments? More R&D? No thanks. The risks are too high. Go ahead and conduct your experiments. Take a chance and see if maybe you can help this kid. But do it in some place where the kid can't come around and visit me at night." Until we can promise this to the public, we haven't said a thing.

What the public really wants is a kind of "soft death penalty" for these kids: not to kill them, but to knock them out for a few years and then have them emerge, reborn as good citizens. We have sold the public a bill of goods about that too. We quote the old "burn out" baloney. "Kids who commit acts of vandalism burn out. They stop eventually. Kids who steal cars for joy rides; kids who get into fist fights, kids who shoplift. They may all burn out."

But the kid who gets up every morning for crime and goes to sleep each night dreaming of violence doesn't burn out. He burns people up. We've got to stop selling that bilge to the public. We have to advocate strongly for special programs for the life–style violent juvenile.

Years ago, the so–called "wolf children" were found in Europe. They had, apparently, been raised by wild animals. They were completely amoral, unsocial. They were feral, wild things. They lacked any semblance of social control; just responded, as animals, to stimuli. And millions and millions of dollars were spent understanding those kids.

Today we have "wolf children" in every city... and they scare the hell out of us. So, we try the "quick fix" solution: make them into adults. That will work. That will give the public half of what's wanted. It will, in fact, temporarily, cage the animal.

New York, for example, has a life sentence possibility—for 13–year–olds. A kid may serve nine, 10, 15 years on a life sentence by the time he reaches the age of 28. Half his life has been spent in a maximum security prison. Is he going to rejoin society as a computer programmer? Of course not. He's going to hurt people, very quickly, and, depending on what he's learned in prison, perhaps very efficiently. This is not the solution to the problem of violent juvenile crime.

The public doesn't really care about crime. The public cares about violence. The public cares about robbery, rape, arson, and murder. A bomb is ticking within the juvenile justice system. We have (and we have had before) the opportunity to defuse that bomb and we've been wasting time passing the buck instead.

There has been a lot of talk about "prevention," but if by "prevention" we are talking about preventing vandalism we are probably perpetrating another rhetorical rip–off. If we're serious, we're going to try to prevent violent crime.

We are just beginning to realize that the protection of children from child abuse is protection of society in the long run. We are finally waking up to the fact that victims don't just shrug off child abuse and go about their normal lives.

"...We are just beginning to realize that the protection of children from child abuse is protection of society in the long run. We are finally waking up to the fact that victims don't just shrug off child abuse and go about their normal lives."
—Andrew Vachss
CHILD ABUSE AND THE VIOLENT OFFENDER

Here's the problem: a kid progresses from birth until the time he finally impacts on our system. I have seen (and please, don't anybody ask me to "look at the numbers" because I haven't received $3 million in federal funds to reinvent the obvious), as have others, an astounding causal connection between children who were horribly abused at an early age and those who end up as tenants in our juvenile institutions, convicted of serious violence.

Here, then, is the paradox. When social workers get an abused kid that's been tortured, they say the kid is a victim. Several years later, when the juvenile justice system gets the kid, the kid is a predator.

When the kid kills, the newspaper coverage is sure to include a line about how this kid was known to the juvenile justice profession. He was on probation, on parole, a graduate of one program or another, a runaway from a training school... it doesn't matter.

"...Here, then, is the paradox. When social workers get an abused kid that's been tortured, they say the kid is a victim. Several years later, when the juvenile justice system gets the kid, the kid is a predator."
—Andrew Vachss






http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/s ... -1.3461341

Social workers knew 7-year-old boy killed and fed to pigs was being tortured by parents, lawsuit claims
BY MINYVONNE BURKE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, September 1, 2017, 2:40 PM





http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/cha ... -1.3461501



CCRB chairwoman wants to stop considering criminal history of citizens complaining about police


Friday, September 1, 2017,
Criminal histories have been included in the closing reports given to the board for a finding throughout the agency’s 24-year history. (TILLSONBURG/TILLSONBURG)
A rap sheet should not be contained in the final report on a citizen’s complaint about the cops, the brand new head of the city’s police watchdog group says.

Deborah Archer, who now chairs the Civilian Complaint Review Board, wants the board to stop considering the prior criminal records of people seeking probes of police abuse, the Daily News has learned.

“I never saw it as relevant,” Archer said at the board’s Aug. 24 meeting. “In 95% of the cases, it is not relevant to the credibility (of complainants). Even in the small percentage of cases where credibility is an issue, I would err on not including it.”

But Archer, who is on leave as a law professor at NYU, thinks the complete prior complaint history of officers should remain in the reports.

Councilman wants exonerated chokehold cops' records from NYPD
Her idea was slammed by the police unions. “Clearly, she should step down from her position,” said Ed Mullins, of the Sergeants Benevolent Association.

“She has already exposed her inability to remain impartial. This is another case of the lunatics running the asylum.”




http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html


San Francisco's all-time heat record of 104 degrees falls during hottest summer on record


In almost 150 years of record keeping, it has never been as hot in San Francisco as it was on Friday.

Amid a brutal heat wave that has broiled California for a week while intermittently knocking out power to thousands and fueling more than a dozen wildfires, downtown San Francisco hit 104 degrees.

“ALL-TIME RECORD high temperature broken in San Francisco. 104 degrees as of 2:43 p.m. PDT,” the National Weather Service’s Bay Area station crowed on Twitter. “Records for downtown San Francisco, California date back to June of 1874.”

But that was not even the worst of it for Northern California. By 3 p.m., the East Bay valley cities of Livermore and Pleasanton were at 110 degrees. Livermore was expected to flirt with its all-time record of 115 degrees Friday and Saturday.


“When we’re approaching all-time record highs, that’s very unusual,” said Steve Anderson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The heat wave marks the finale for what has ended up being the hottest summer on record, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said.

In a tweet, Swain said June through August temperatures were above average everywhere in California except the north coast.

The heat wave is part of a high-pressure system that’s gripped the West Coast. Virtually no one is being spared.

According to the National Weather Service, 36.5 million residents, or 98% of Californians, were under a heat advisory Friday as a high-pressure system roasted the state from the Oregon to Mexico borders.

On Friday afternoon, an extremely fast-moving brush fire broke out in the Verdugo Mountains near Sun Valley. Fueled by light grasses, extremely high temperatures and a light breeze, the flames jumped the 210 Freeway and threatened homes, triggering evacuations.

In Northern California, school districts in Los Gatos, Novato and Orinda announced that students would be let out early Friday to dodge the worst of the heat. Outdoor festivals and youth sports leagues also canceled events through the weekend. Concord, Santa Rosa and Antioch, among other cities, have opened cooling centers for the weekend.

In Los Angeles, the Department of Water and Power braced itself for what the utility said it expects to be its biggest day ever for power demands as residents look for relief from triple-digit temperatures in the valleys, foothills and high desert.

If so, that would break a record set just the day before. On Thursday, the DWP announced that its customers used more electricity than ever in the agency’s history. Customers hit a peak demand of 6,502 megawatts at 4:15 p.m., shattering the previous record of 6,396 megawatts on Sept. 16, 2014.

The statewide demand led the California Independent System Operator to issue its fourth flex alert of the year, calling for voluntary electricity conservation.

DWP officials advised residents to set their thermostats at 78 degrees or higher and to use major appliances before or after peak hours. They also said that turning off unnecessary lights would go a long way toward reducing the strain on the utility’s electrical equipment and overall power system demand.

Temperatures could reach 114 Friday in the Antelope Valley and the 90s in downtown L.A., forecasters said. Similar temperatures are expected across the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys.

“Even the typical cool coastal areas will be subjected to much warmer than normal temperatures as the usual onshore flow


https://www.courthousenews.com/sessions ... vengeance/

Sessions Tells Alabama Gathering Violent Crime ‘Back With a Vengeance’





Link du jour

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/111 ... -this-year


http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti ... 168213.php

https://www.courthousenews.com


http://www.greencarreports.com/news/111 ... -june-2017

http://www.latimes.com/sns-bc-eu--germa ... story.html

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... f-the-week

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/111 ... d-remotely


https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/mi ... rector-gov

Judicial Watch Files Lawsuit for Records on FBI Deputy Director ...
CNSNews.com-
(CNSNews.com) -- Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit today on behalf of retired FBI Special Agent Jeffrey A. Danik, seeking records ...



http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html

More all-time heat records broken as California broils



FBI Presstitutes

https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/art ... 7-20170901

Scoop: 20/20 on ABC - Sunday, September 3, 2017
Broadway World-
While the defendants claimed self-defense, last month a jury unanimously found 33-year-old Molly Martens Corbett and her ex-FBI agent 67-year-old father, Tom ...





https://www.advocate.com/politics/2017/ ... politician

Klan Affiliate Reportedly Threatens Gay Florida Politician



https://www.courthousenews.com/ruling-s ... mail-case/

Ruling Shows No Secrets Left to Keep in Clinton-Email Case
September 1, 2017
WASHINGTON (CN) – Seeing no need for secrecy with much of the information about Hillary Clinton’s private email server already public, a federal judge cleared the way Thursday for the release of details about the FBI’s email-retrieval efforts.


https://www.courthousenews.com/man-forc ... stop-sues/


Man Forced to Eat Pot During Traffic Stop Sues


September 1, 2017
PHOENIX (CN) – A Phoenix man has sued the city and several police officers who he claims forced him to eat a gram of marijuana they found in his car.



https://www.courthousenews.com/new-york ... and-sound/


New York Sues EPA for Allowing Dumping in Long Island Sound

August 18, 2017




https://www.courthousenews.com/dying-na ... -meltdown/

Dying Navy Sailors Push for Trial on Fukushima Meltdown


September 1, 2017
SAN DIEGO (CN) – Representing cancer-ridden Navy service members who say they were exposed to radiation on a humanitarian mission in Fukushima, former Sen. John Edwards urged a federal judge Thursday to set a date for trial.

Over a decade after serving as John Kerry’s running mate in the 2004 presidential election, Edwards now represents hundreds of Navy sailors who were aboard the USS Ronald Reagan as part of a humanitarian mission trip to Fukushima, Japan — bringing food and supplies to the city in March 2011 after it was devastated by an earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

“We have all these sailors whose case is now five years old, who have died or are in the process of dying right now,” said Edwards, whose firm Edwards Kirby is based in North Carolina.

Edwards noted that some of his other clients have seen their children born with birth defects. He said he made the trip from Raleigh to San Diego to “try to get this thing moving.”

Japan’s earthquake triggered a nuclear meltdown at the power plant run by Tokyo Electric Power Co., and Edwards’ clients say the radiation exposure has caused them to develop cancer and other illnesses.

The suit is one of two pending against TEPCo and General Electric in the Southern District of California — the first filed in 2012 and an additional lawsuit naming more than 150 sailors filed last month.

Thursday’s hearing before U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino came after the Ninth Circuit ruled in June that the lawsuit could proceed in federal court, rejecting an effort to have the case sent to Japan.

Edwards urged Sammartino to bypass the procedural hurdles, “so we know there’s a deadline over there.”

“Instead of just staying still and going with the pleadings and the motions to dismiss, is there a way to get us a trial date and a structure,” Edwards asked.

“I hate to see these sailors and say we filed motions, went to the Ninth Circuit, went to Washington, and I hate to say I don’t know when [we’ll get our day in court],” Edwards said.

He asked for a May 2019 trial date.

TEPCo attorney Gregory Stone said the Japanese utility accepts responsibility for the radiation released but maintains the amount Navy service members were exposed to was negligible.

He thanked the service members present at the hearing for their efforts, but said that radiation exposure is not necessarily the cause of 300 to 400 sailors out of 70,000 on the humanitarian trip getting sick.

“It only indicates what epidemiologists tell us: people get sick at different times of their lives for different reasons,” Stone said.

“We don’t think the exposure was at a level sufficient to cause the injuries,” Stone continued, amid muttered comments from the audience. “They don’t agree with us and are probably talking about it now.”

GE attorney Michael Schissel said the length of the case and trial will be significantly impacted if GE remains a defendant in the case. Unlike TEPCo, GE is not admitting liability over the failure of its Boiling Water Reactors. Schissel said this would then require a liability phase at trial, significantly lengthening the process.

Sammartino called the case a “moving target” as the attorneys threw out different ideas for how best to approach setting deadlines and moving forward. She said she would issue an order setting dates.

In an interview with Courthouse News following the hearing, Edwards said they are pleased the case will be tried in America. If the case were in Japan, Edwards said there was a concern that the possibility of traveling across the world would cause his clients to lose hope.

“From the perspective of a lawyer, it’s a wonderful cause,” Edwards said. “Here are these completely innocent people whose lives have been taken away from some of them and they were there trying to help the Japanese people. It was such a just and righteous cause that they were there for and they’ve had their lives changed forever as a result



http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ex- ... -1.3462417

Ex-NYPD officer seeks reinstatement after ‘crazy b---h’ cop got him axed, lawsuit claims


BY DENIS SLATTERY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, September 1, 2017, 11:54




http://lawofficer.com/news/the-other-si ... of-antifa/

‘THE OTHER SIDE OF HATE’: FBI WARNING ON VIOLENCE OF ANTIFA
Posted by Law Officer | Sep 2, 2017 | Investigations, News | 2





http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/0 ... fbi-242235

FBI, Homeland Security warn of more ‘antifa’ attacks
Confidential documents call the anarchists that seek to counter white supremacists ‘domestic terrorists.’
By JOSH MEYER 09/01/2017 04:55 AM EDT

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_ ... 11_outrage


‘FREE SPEECH’: Amherst College is under fire after a student hung an anti-war banner on the same day the school remembered those lost during the 9/11 terror attack

Amherst College officials blasted a “deeply insensitive” anti-war banner hung from a campus building, roiling the western Massachusetts campus as it remembered those killed — including three of its own — on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

But college officials said they don’t intend to remove the homemade sign, saying it has an obligation to uphold the community’s right to free speech.

The banner, which first caught students’ and officials’ attention yesterday morning, was slung above a doorway on Valentine Dining Hall and read in large, capital letters: “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people,” a quote that is largely attributed to American historian Howard Zinn.





OUCH!

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Aoycycyf8ao/ ... 3%2529.jpg



UGH


https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qn5HGAWlzVk/ ... 2%2529.jpg




HUH



https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uTb1s_F_MA4/ ... 1%2529.jpg



OH



https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N4OjQ_u4bgY/ ... 7%2529.jpg










http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... -1.3496193

President Trump says Harvey and Irma haven’t changed his stance on climate change
BY JASON SILVERSTEIN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, September 14, 2017, 4:10 PM






https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... extinction

Red list: ash trees and antelopes on the brink of extinction
Scientists warn once-common species are disappearing faster than they can be counted as North America’s ash trees join IUCN’s list of endangered species due to threat of an invasive beetle





Blink Tank



http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/ ... 7395?snl=1

https://pointsnorthinstitute.org/ciff/




https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... university

The Newest Americans: portraits from the 'most diverse' US university
Photoville, a collection of 75 exhibitions, focuses on the lives of the incredibly varied student and faculty population of Rutgers University, in New Jersey
by Joanna Walters in New York



Link du jour


http://www.iucnredlist.org


https://www.theguardian.com/world/galle ... n-pictures


http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/student ... c8804.html

https://federalnewsradio.com/federal-ne ... is-lerner/

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3495690


https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/ ... roald-dahl

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ite-people

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3495486

https://www.theguardian.com/news/galler ... hotographs


http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/eye-ca ... -1.3495623




U.S.
JEFF SESSIONS' RUSSIA CONTACTS SPARK LAWSUIT FOR ADVICE THE FBI GAVE HIM
BY GRAHAM LANKTREE ON 9/13/17 AT 9:53 AM


A new lawsuit has challenged the FBI to release advice it gave Attorney General Jeff Sessions about whether his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the 2016 election should have been included on his security clearance application.

After CNN revealed Sessions had at least two meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in May, the attorney general said he left contacts with the dignitary off his application because he was told to by the FBI.

Later it was revealed Sessions met with Kislyak as many as three times after he testified: “I did not have communications with the Russians” during his Senate confirmation hearing. Sessions released a redacted copy of his application form in July.



Who Cares?



Training Exercise Planned In Westminster
Patch.com-
Training Exercise Planned In Westminster. The radiological training exercise involves first responders, FBI and other agencies on Sept. 27 in Westminster. 0 ...





https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... arding-cop

Badge, gun, holster, skateboard … meet Canada's first skateboarding cop
Thierry Hinse-Fillion, a police officer in Longueil, near Montreal, is combining policing with his love of skateboarding to try to improve community relations


http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/nationa ... 9e48a.html

Witness: Sen. Menendez's friend paid for $8K private flight




http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3496196


Trump told Sessions to resign after Mueller appointment: report
BY CHRISTOPHER BRENNAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Updated: Thursday, September 14, 2017, 4:05 PM






http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3495380

Former transit officer caught on video questioning passenger's immigration status gets $50,000 settlement
BY DAVID BOROFF
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, September 14, 2017, 10:00 AM



http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc ... -1.3495756

Drunken bigot attacks Jewish mom, daughter he mistook for Muslims at Queens subway station: 'Get out of my country'
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, September 14, 2017, 1:07 PM






https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... fl-players

Why Fox doesn't want Americans to see NFL players protesting about race



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... train-line

India starts work on bullet train line with £12bn loan from Japan
Gujarat to Mumbai 217mph train will cut journey time from eight hours to three and is funded with low-interest Japanese

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

Click this link to see all the active links in story

http://www.occurrencesforeigndomestic.c ... migration/




rare Earth
September 26, 2017UncategorizedAfghan minerals, cryptocurrencies, cyber-attacks, declarations of war, disaster, F35, immigration, invisibility cloaks, Korean war, military news, mosquito wars, rare Earth, Trump/NFL
rare Earth

Yesterday three high ranking Russian officers were killed in an “ISIS attack” in eastern-Syrian. It is likely that they were killed by U.S. special forces or insurgents under U.S. special forces control. The incident will be understood as a declaration of war.

The U.S. Central Command in the Middle East wants the oil fields in east-Syria under control of its proxy forces to set up and control a U.S. aligned Kurdish mini-state in the area. The Syrian government, allied with Russia, needs the revenues of the oil fields to rebuild the country.

More:

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/09/sy ... ussia.html

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music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6v8TCAov7k

some rare Earth, Wind and Fire (left on autoplay)

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Two anecdotes and a brief assessment of North Korean capability exposes the futility of “preventive” war.

How North Korea Plans to Survive a U.S. Attack | The National Interest

Daniel L. Davis, 9/20/2017

Posted by Michele Kearney at 5:25 PM

The Lamps are Going Out in Asia | 38 North: Informed Analysis of North Korea

BY: JOSEPH DETHOMAS

SEPTEMBER 25, 2017

[Ed.: An informative title and two footnotes too…]

Posted by Michele Kearney at 7:36 PM

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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-2 ... ile-launch

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https://alethonews.wordpress.com/2017/0 ... a-bashing/

By Robert Parry | Consortium News | September 25, 2017

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https://alethonews.wordpress.com/2017/0 ... ng-secret/

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https://sputniknews.com/military/201709 ... f35-early/

[##]

Gen. David Goldfein to Be Second Jewish U.S. Air Force Chief

The battle-tested pilot participated in operations in Iraq and the Balkans and is well known to Israeli officers.

read more (if you subscribe):

http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/ameri ... m-1.716577

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Now You See It, Now You Don’t

Science & Technology – Week of 09.24.17

Secret US Army Invisibility Cloak

YouTube | 15 February 2013

Is the future already…

Almost Impossible – E01 Invisibility Cloaks

YouTube | 30 August 2016

British military recently tested an…

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https://therearenosunglasses.wordpress. ... -war-plan/



http://www.khaama.com/wp-content/upload ... ements.jpg

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRVPLPFoJL0



https://therearenosunglasses.files.word ... .jpg?w=869

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NFL TEAMS STAYED IN LOCKER ROOMS FOR ANTHEM UNTIL 2009—THEN DOD BEGAN ‘PAYING FOR PATRIOTISM’

President Trump’s condemnation of NFL players that choose to kneel, rather than stand for the national anthem, reignited a national debate that began with Colin Kaepernick’s decision not to stand for the anthem last season as a protest against police brutality. Over the weekend a plethora of players and even entire teams chose to either kneel or stay in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem – while many NFL owners released statements eliciting support for players who choose not to stand.

“… What many people are missing in this debate is the fact that prior to 2009, NFL teams did not generally stand for the anthem. While having the option to do so individually if they chose to, most of the time they stayed in the locker room during this pregame ritual.

In fact, Tom E. Curran of Comcast Sportsnet New England reported, in August 2016, that NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed that the now common practice of players standing on the field together for the national anthem only began in 2009….”

http://www.blacklistednews.com/ via FreeThoughtProject

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http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semp ... citus.html

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“… In theater, there is a phrase, “breaking the fourth wall.” It’s used to describe plays that address the audience directly and shatter the illusion of viewing a self-contained world on stage.

This is where the deeper story of football enters the scene. For fans, the political/sports commentary and the protests on the playing field are breaking the fourth wall.

They can’t watch the games in a trance.

They can’t enjoy the vicarious thrills and chills.

The same thing is happening in the television news business. During the Obama presidency, there was the (promoted) mainstream illusion that White House business was being conducted in the usual hermetically sealed container. It was a controlled stage play—and people could sit in front of their television sets in a popcorn trance and watch it unfold. All in all, with major exceptions, the hypnotic spell held. For a while.

But then along came Trump. He broke the fourth wall. He laughed at the press. He called them idiots. He attacked them mercilessly. He said they were fake.

This was quite disturbing to many news fans. It certainly was disturbing to the major news networks. They make their living by hypnosis.

And now it’s happening to one of the nation’s most cherished institutions of distraction: football….”

https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017 ... -happened/

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http://greencrowasthecrowflies.blogspot ... rican.html

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https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017 ... our-homes/

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Chelsea Manning posts online that she was denied entry to Canada

CBS News

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http://jamesfetzer.blogspot.com/2017/09 ... slims.html

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii9RqNeV5IQ

via

WhatReallyHappened.com

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http://robinwestenra.blogspot.com/2017/ ... -rico.html

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Excerpt: “The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico continues to grapple with destruction, dislocation, and suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, with the power grid still decimated and water and cellphone service both scarce. “The devastation in Puerto Rico has set us back nearly 20 to 30 years,” said Puerto Rico’s nonvoting representative in Congress, Jenniffer Gonzalez. The damage assessment extends to the world of meteorology, as new photos on Sunday revealed. Both the radar dish and the surrounding radome were scoured clean from the pedestal of the National Weather Service’s TJUA radar. Winds of 145 mph were measured before the radar went down, according to weather.com’s Jonathan Belles.”

http://robinwestenra.blogspot.com/2017/ ... olina.html

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https://www.boston.com/news/national-ne ... uerto-rico

http://elitedaily.com/news/can-donate-f ... s/2078199/

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http://thehill.com/policy/defense/35238 ... the-system

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“… A survey conducted in part by the California Emergency Management Agency showed that less than 20 percent have prepared their homes and only 40 percent have stocked enough supplies.

“That is a big problem for us,” Kelly Huston, deputy director of the California Office of Emergency Services, told NBC News Friday.

[ See http://www.oesnews.com/dont-wait-until- ... -prepared/ ]

“It means… we will spend a lot of unnecessary time helping people who could have otherwise helped themselves, but decided they didn’t want to or didn’t have time.” ….”

https://sputniknews.com/art_living/2017 ... alifornia/

[##]

[Ed.: That’s an interesting comment about helping people who won’t, can’t or didn’t take the time to help themselves. Russell Dynes, who once told me that my “Jeffersonian” paper on coalescing effective commuinity disaster response would never fly at the Federalist FEMA, writes about social capital, Katrina and other hurricanes, and the earthquake in Lisbon.

https://www.hsaj.org/articles/168

http://understandingkatrina.ssrc.org/Dynes_Rodriguez/

“… the earthquake on November 1, 1755 can be considered the first “modern” disaster because it was first to evoke a coordinated state emergency response as well as a forward looking comprehensive effort for reconstruction which included mitigation efforts to reduce future disaster efforts…..”

http://dspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle ... sequence=1 ]

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The Steep Price of Disaster in Mexico

Rebuilding with no insurance and little government aid.

Increasingly, the world will find itself without the financial means to recover from natural disasters. — RF

Official: Hurricane Maria set Puerto Rico back decades

Hurricane-ravaged U.S. cities hit by rising cleanup costs

The Fed’s ‘out of control’ balance sheet is a major threat

Opioids are killing too many people to autopsy all the bodies

http://ricefarmer.blogspot.com/2017/09/ ... -2017.html

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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-2 ... ly-economy

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Mosquitoes Carrying Deadly Diseases Could Invade 75% of America, Warns US Government

Independent | 22 September 2017

Aedes aegypti map range…

Florida Fights Zika Virus by Releasing Thousands of Bacteria-infected Mosquitoes

Independent | 22 September 201

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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-2 ... ist-xenoph

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Governments Are Testing Their Own Cryptocurrencies

September 25th, 2017

Via: MIT Technology Review:

The people of Sweden are breaking up with cash. The number of banknotes and coins in circulation has fallen to its lowest level in three decades. Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank, estimates that cash transactions made up only 15 percent of all retail transactions last year, down from 40 percent in 2010, thanks in large part to massively popular mobile payment services.

The situation has left Sweden’s central bankers wondering: should the country introduce a purely digital form of government-backed money? And if so, should it use technology similar to that underlying Bitcoin?

Posted in Economy, Police State, Social Engineering, Surveillance, Technology

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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-2 ... -past-year

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Governments Turn Tables by Suing Public Records Requesters

September 25th, 2017

Via: AP:

An Oregon parent wanted details about school employees getting paid to stay home. A retired educator sought data about student performance in Louisiana. And college journalists in Kentucky requested documents about the investigations of employees accused of sexual misconduct.

Instead, they got something else: sued by the agencies they had asked for public records.

Government bodies are increasingly turning the tables on citizens who seek public records that might be embarrassing or legally sensitive. Instead of granting or denying their requests, a growing number of school districts, municipalities and state agencies have filed lawsuits against people making the requests — taxpayers, government watchdogs and journalists who must then pursue the records in court at their own expense.

Posted in Perception Management

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Government Sues Citizens for Requesting Information – #NewWorldNextWeek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jQAO5j4g6M

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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-2 ... bar-rectum

[&&]{**}[##]

Tidbits from http://thehill.com/ TheHill.com:

Via The New York Times’s Rick Gladstone, North Korea’s foreign minister said that President Trump’s threatening rhetoric is a “declaration of war.” He also threatened to shoot down American warplanes, even outside of North Korean airspace.

Some bars didn’t show the games during the national anthem: Photo: http://bit.ly/2flz4ZG

Anthony Weiner, the former Democratic congressman who later ran for New York City mayor, was sentenced on Monday to 21 months in prison for sending lewd messages to a minor, according to multiple reports. More?

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http://us.blastingnews.com/news/2017/09 ... arges.html

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http://www.abeldanger.org/ole-dammegard ... idding-me/

128 minute video of Ole Dammegard at the 2017 OpenMind Conference in Coopenhagen

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At the same conference:

Echoes of WWI: China, the US, and the Next “Great” War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6dOPMgdjLo

[70+ minutes]

[##]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrCvUC8Zx28

47:12

https://www.corbettreport.com/questions ... rbett-037/

includes show notes

[&&]{**}[##]

Cynthia McKinney on Awangate & Zionist Lobby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px2X9ubpVso [1:52:19]

[&&]{**}[##]

Deloitte hit by cyber-attack revealing clients’ secret emails

Exclusive: hackers may have accessed usernames, passwords and personal details of top accountancy firm’s blue-chip clients

Monday 25 September 2017 08.00 EDT

Last modified on Monday 25 September 2017 10.07 EDT

One of the world’s “big four” accountancy firms has been targeted by a sophisticated hack that compromised the confidential emails and plans of some of its blue-chip clients, the Guardian can reveal.

Full story:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ret-emails

[&&]{**}[##]

https://www.cnet.com/au/news/7-things-t ... rra-10-13/

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

http://www.newsweek.com/violence-toward ... led-686102


VIOLENCE TOWARD COPS SKYROCKETED IN 2016 AND WHITES ARE MOSTLY RESPONSIBLE
BY CHRISTAL HAYES ON 10/16/17 AT 5:14 PM




https://theintercept.com/2017/10/16/top ... ify-raids/

TOP TRUMP OFFICIAL JOHN KELLY ORDERED ICE TO PORTRAY IMMIGRANTS AS CRIMINALS TO JUSTIFY RAIDS
Alice Speri
October 16 2017, 2:35 p.m.




https://www.law360.com/articles/974561/ ... s-fbi-says

Snowden Filmmaker Received All Public FOIA Docs, FBI Says



New York (October 16, 2017, 9:04 PM EDT) -- The FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection told a D.C. federal court Friday that they’ve provided filmmaker Laura Poitras with all information available under the Freedom of Information Act related to why she was continually detained at airport security checkpoints for six years, fighting her allegation that they’re wrongly withholding information.

In an August bid for summary judgment, Poitras said the FBI has wrongly claimed documents were subject to a law enforcement exemption in FOIA, when the documents were actually used for intelligence gathering, and...





https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis ... Popularity




'Riot King' Brian Rossomanno Has Become the Police Department's Protest Hammer

St. Louis police Sergeant Brian Rossomanno is known as an expert tactician, but tonight he has been outflanked. The cop nicknamed "Riot King" is surrounded — kettled, you might say — by a group of protesters bearing down on his SUV.

"Who do you protect?" the protesters shout in unison. "Who do you serve?"

It is just after dark, about 8 p.m. on September 28. Rossomanno, a linebacker-sized SWAT leader and former Marine, is parked about twenty yards short of the Tucker Boulevard intersection where, eleven days ago, he helped corral and arrest 123 people, including protesters, journalists and neighborhood residents. Officers were recorded on video filmed by livestreamer Rebelutionary Z as they manhandled people who had already surrendered, pepper sprayed people on their knees.

"It's going to be like this every night," witnesses say Rossomanno warned that night.

State Representative Bruce Franks (D-St. Louis) has just watched video of the arrests, and he is upset.

"When they did what they did, they called it 'kettling,'" Franks says over a bullhorn. "They said they 'kettled' them."

The kinetic 33-year-old lawmaker has been on the front lines of the protests every day since September 15, when a white ex-St. Louis cop named Jason Stockley was found not guilty of murdering Anthony Lamar Smith, a black 24-year-old whom he suspected of making a parking-lot drug deal.

With images of the kettle fresh in his head, Franks thinks it is time for Rossomanno to understand what it is like to be surrounded, penned in with no escape route. By the time he and several dozen marchers swarm to the front and sides of the sergeant's white-and-blue Chevrolet Tahoe, a second, smaller band of protesters has already fanned across the street behind the vehicle, blocking it in. For the next twelve minutes or so, the crowd is in the officer's face, shouting at him from all sides. A woman holds a sign in front of his windshield that says "My Son Matters" above a "Black Lives Matter" hashtag.


Sgt. Brian Rossomanno speaks into his radio as protesters 'kettle' him on Sept. 28 in downtown St. Louis.
Rossomanno has a long face and bags under his eyes that give him the melancholy expression of a cartoon hound dog. As he sits in the SUV, he alternates between speaking into his radio and holding up his phone to film the protesters.

"Fire Rossomanno!" the crowd shouts. "Fire Rossomanno!"

Riot King holds the loudspeaker mic in front of his mouth and begins what has become a familiar refrain: "This is an unlawful assembly. This is an order to disperse." He warns that those who linger are subject to arrest. He threatens to deploy "chemical munitions."

This is a big part of how Rossomanno earned his nickname. The frequent threats. The reminders that arrests, pepper spray or worse are subject to his whims. The protesters do not call him Riot King because he responds to riots; it is because, they say, he brings the riot.

He seems to have embraced the image. On the Facebook page for his side business, a company that provides security details and training, the caption below a picture of him included the hashtags #riotking and #protestseason. The post was only removed after livestreamer Heather De Mian, who had taken the photo, complained on Twitter about him pilfering her work.

And yet what galls many protesters about Rossomanno isn't just that he's mercurial; it's that he simply isn't effective. Not only is he prone to inflame tempers on the street, they say, but his aggression actually fuels further action.

Take tonight, for example. Other supervisors assigned to monitor the near-daily marches have mostly avoided these situations simply by putting their vehicles in reverse and driving up the street a bit. As long as the demonstrations are non-violent, as tonight's has been, the idea is to maintain enough distance to avoid needless confrontations. Rossomanno, however, remained defiantly in the middle of the street as the crowd approached. Now it is too late to drive away. He sits cocooned behind the wheel, working his radio and awaiting backup.

Sgt. Randy Jemerson tries to calm protesters mobbing the car of his colleague.
Sgt. Randy Jemerson is among the first to arrive. A stoic professional, he joined the department in November 1997 as part of the same class as Rossomanno and is also a SWAT leader and tactics instructor. But where protesters have come to see his counterpart as temperamental and vindictive, Jemerson is respected as a calming influence.

He starts by working his way to the driver's side window of the Tahoe, making himself a human barrier between the crowd and Rossomanno while he quietly explains to protesters that they have put him in a bad position by surrounding a police vehicle.

But as Jemerson works to de-escalate, there is a new antagonism from the east. A line of riot police with shields, helmets and batons starts to march across Tucker toward the demonstrators. The helmeted troops step in unison, chanting "move back, move back," until they reach the mouth of Washington and stop. The crowd leaves the Tahoe and goes to meet them, freeing the cop from the kettle.

But Rossomanno is not the type to make a graceful retreat. Now that he's no longer boxed in, he opens his car door and calls out to Franks.

"Mr. Franks, you're wanted for assault on a law enforcement officer," he says.

Franks is in disbelief. Assault on a law enforcement officer? When? Where?

"You hit me on the arm," Rossomanno says. "We've got it on tape."

The accusation touches off another flurry of shouting. Franks angrily denies assaulting anyone. He yells at the highest-ranking officer on the scene, Major John Hayden, to get control of his sergeant. After more shouting, the focus shifts back to the front line, where protest organizers are ushering demonstrators onto the sidewalk even as they demand the riot police retreat across the intersection.

A force of at least two dozen St. Louis County police officers has arrived, dressed in helmets and heavy tactical gear. A few carry the bright orange "less lethal" shotguns capable of firing bean bag rounds. Some protesters worry that police are setting the stage for yet another kettle.

Rossomanno, now with a small army surrounding him, chats with an elderly woman at the edge of the street. He has apparently abandoned the assault claim against Franks and is telling the woman just how lenient he has been.

"Right now, we have every legal right to start snatching people," he says.

The woman is hoping for peace. No protester has thrown anything or broken any windows. Really, all they did was circle his Tahoe and yell at him.

"If you surround a police car and starting banging on it, that's going to elicit a response," Rossomanno says.

Jemerson has continued to work back and forth between the crowds and the police line. Eventually, with protesters on the sidewalk, the riot police retreat back across the intersection, draining the tension as they go. The crowd goes the other way. They chant "united we stand, united we fall," and march past the county cops still holding those orange shotguns.

The mood is bright as they turn left and downtown opens up. Soon a new chant begins: "@#$%! Rossomanno!
Rossomanno has a long face and bags under his eyes that give him the melancholy expression of a cartoon hound dog. As he sits in the SUV, he alternates between speaking into his radio and holding up his phone to film the protesters.

"Fire Rossomanno!" the crowd shouts. "Fire Rossomanno!"

Riot King holds the loudspeaker mic in front of his mouth and begins what has become a familiar refrain: "This is an unlawful assembly. This is an order to disperse." He warns that those who linger are subject to arrest. He threatens to deploy "chemical munitions."

This is a big part of how Rossomanno earned his nickname. The frequent threats. The reminders that arrests, pepper spray or worse are subject to his whims. The protesters do not call him Riot King because he responds to riots; it is because, they say, he brings the riot.



http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/inde ... es_fo.html

Former U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall faces state ethics investigation for having sex





https://theintercept.com/2017/10/13/ice ... -handbook/


LEAKED ICE GUIDE OFFERS UNPRECEDENTED VIEW OF AGENCY’S ASSET FORFEITURE TACTICS
Ryan Devereaux, Spencer Woodman
October 13 2017, 7:58 a.m.
Photo: Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Bloomberg/Getty Images
AN INTERNAL HANDBOOK obtained by The Intercept provides a rare view into the extensive asset seizure operations of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, an office that trains its agents to meticulously appraise the value of property before taking it.

HSI’s 71-page “Asset Forfeiture Handbook,” dated June 30, 2010, underscores the role seizures play in “helping to fund future law enforcement actions” and covering costs “that HSI would otherwise be unable to fund.” It thus offers an unprecedented window into ICE’s wide-ranging asset forfeiture operations and the premium the agency places on seizing valuable property. Forfeiture proceeds can bolster ICE’s partnerships with local police departments, which are now the subject of heightened debate given the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration agenda.

ICE confirmed to The Intercept that the handbook reflects the agency’s most up-to-date guidance on asset forfeiture. Agents under its instruction are asked to weigh the competing priorities of law enforcement versus financial profit and to “not waste instigative time and resources” on assets it calls “liabilities” — which include properties that are not profitable enough for the federal government to justify seizing. “As a general rule, if total liabilities and costs incurred in seizing a real property or business exceed the value of the property, the property should not be seized,” the document states.

The handbook also instructs ICE agents on the various ways laws can be used to justify the seizure of a property, and devotes a significant portion of its pages to the seizure of real estate. The manual instructs agents seeking to seize a property to work with confidential informants, scour tax records, and even obtain an interception warrant to determine whether “a telephone located on the property was used to plan or discuss criminal activity” in order to justify seizing the property.

The handbook acknowledges that civil forfeiture can be used to take property from a person even when there’s not enough evidence for a criminal indictment. There “may be third party interest that would prevail in a criminal case, but would not survive in a civil proceeding, making the civil proceeding essential to forfeiture,” the handbook states, referencing a property owner not officially implicated in a crime. “Those situations generally occur when a property owner is not convicted of a crime but is also not an innocent owner. Under criminal forfeiture, that property owner would be entitled to the return of the property. Under civil forfeiture, however, the owner would lose his or her interest to the Government.”

Noting that ICE is not alone among federal agencies in relying on asset forfeiture, ICE spokesperson Danielle Bennett told The Intercept in a statement, “Asset forfeiture is an essential element of comprehensive and effective law enforcement as it deprives transnational criminal organizations of their illicitly obtained assets. The forfeiture of assets can be and is utilized as a sanction in criminal, civil, and administrative investigative activities.”

HIDALGO, TX - MAY 28: Special agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) search a vehicle heading into Mexico at the Hidalgo border crossing on May 28, 2010 in Hidalgo, Texas. The inspection was part of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) joint effort between ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Customs and Border Patrol. The organizations are trying to slow the flow of guns, money and drugs from the United State into Mexico. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
ICE special agents search a vehicle heading into Mexico at the Hidalgo border crossing on May 28, 2010, in Hidalgo, Texas. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
THE DEPARTMENT OF Homeland Security has seized billions of dollars in assets over the last decade, with the bulk of the revenue coming from investigations overseen by ICE. While the agency is best known for its role in immigration enforcement — carried out chiefly by officers in its Enforcement and Removal Operations division — its lesser-known HSI component has a much broader mandate, enforcing more than 400 criminal statutes with a nexus between cross-border crime and transnational criminal organizations, including human trafficking and smuggling, child pornography, terrorism, counterfeit goods, and drug smuggling. With more than 6,000 agents working in 185 field offices across the country and 63 locations overseas, HSI has the second-largest number of federal agents on the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces and has played a key role in numerous high-stakes investigations over the years. To fulfill its missions, which often involve undercover infiltrations, multi-year probes, and occasionally multimillion-dollar seizures, HSI agents have access to powerful intelligence and data systems that link federal law enforcement to the CIA and the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency.
Despite its size and the sweeping scope of its work, HSI has managed to maintain a low profile in comparison to some of its federal counterparts. With the Trump White House turning virtually every undocumented immigrant in the country into a target for deportation, ICE’s role in law enforcement has become a topic of intense public debate and increasingly pulled HSI out of the shadows. The handbook obtained by The Intercept now offers a unique window into a key component of the agency’s quiet investigations.

Every year, DHS seizes millions of dollars in assets through the course of investigations — everything from cash and houses, to boats and cars. Those assets are directed into a forfeiture fund maintained by the Treasury Department. The revenue from the assets is then used to cover a range of costs related to forfeiture investigations, from storing actual seized items to paying informants. Under a program known as equitable sharing, the revenue is also used to award and reimburse state and local law enforcement agencies that participate in federal seizure-related investigations, which those agencies then use to purchase equipment, weapons, and other law enforcement technology.

Though multiple DHS agencies contribute to the Treasury forfeiture fund — such as Customs and Border Protection and the Secret Service — ICE leads the way both in seizures feeding into the fund and in payments doled out to state and local law enforcement. According to a 2014 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, from 2003 to 2013, DHS poured roughly $3.6 billion into the Treasury’s forfeiture fund. From 2007 on, the report found, ICE was “consistently” responsible for “approximately 50 percent or more of total forfeiture revenues by DHS components.” Over the 2003 to 2013 period, the GAO noted, “equitable sharing payments constituted the largest” obligation in the Treasury’s forfeiture fund, with approximately $1.2 billion paid out to “a range of state and local law enforcement agencies across the country — as well as other federal agencies and foreign entities — that participated in law enforcement efforts resulting in forfeitures.”

“Among the three DHS components making equitable sharing payments, ICE made up over 90 percent of total DHS obligations for equitable sharing payments,” the report added. “State and local agencies accounted for the majority of sharing recipients, and accounted for an average of 96 percent of total obligations for equitable sharing payments from fiscal years 2010 through 2012.” State and local law enforcement officials who spoke to the government accountability researchers said the arrangement had “improved the relationship between federal agencies and their offices,” with officials adding that the “funds are needed by their agencies and have allowed them to purchase equipment such as bulletproof vests, weapons, mobile computers, and police station security cameras.”

Robert Don Gifford, who spent more than a decade as an assistant U.S. attorney at the Justice Department before leaving for private practice last December, told The Intercept that the handbook’s discussion of using civil forfeiture when a criminal indictment isn’t possible appears to nod to a problematic practice of seizing assets largely for the sake of financial gain, although he said he did not see this practice occur on the part of any federal agency he has worked with. A notable portion of HSI cases that Gifford saw targeted small-scale sellers of counterfeit goods. Agents hoped these busts would lead them to larger counterfeiting operations — “not exactly the stuff of Al Capone,” Gifford said.

“I had one case where they wanted to do all these forfeitures, and I said absolutely not,” Gifford recalled. “I said I’d support it as long as it was not a retired mom and pop running a little flea market table on the weekend,” Gifford said. “But that was exactly who they were going after.”

In recent years, asset forfeiture practices have come under increasing scrutiny for allegedly introducing the profit motive into the calculations of which laws to enforce and against whom.

The handbook describes a carefully cultivated network of asset forfeiture specialists within ICE, who are placed in each of HSI’s field offices across the country. These specialists are known as Asset Identification and Removal Group members and are tasked with identifying and appraising assets to seize during HSI investigations.

Stipulating that each AIRG agent must have at least three years of investigative experience, the handbook describes AIRGs as “separate, specialized groups, dedicated solely to asset forfeiture responsibilities, and not commingled with other groups or burdened with excessive collateral duties.” ICE trains its AIRG specialists to meticulously input data about assets that ICE has either seized or is considering for seizure into an interoffice asset forfeiture database, known as the Seized Assets and Case Tracking System, or SEACATS. The asset forfeiture agents also plug their forfeiture numbers into a sprawling DHS database called TECS, which allows the agency to evaluate the performance of asset officers and assign scores for their cases.








https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblo ... Popularity

Local VFW Bans NFL Games from Its TVs; Others May Follow Suit
Posted By Elizabeth Semko on Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 12:18 pm





http://www.trunews.com/article/doj-want ... eting-docs

DOJ Wants 6 Weeks to Hand Over Tarmac Meeting Docs
TRUNEWS (blog)-
The FBI has been hiding documents related to President Bill Clinton and ... The FD-302 form is the FBI's official document in which agents “report or summarize ...


FBI Octopus

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/poli ... id-crisis/

Laxalt taps former FBI agent to deal with Nevada's opioid crisis
Las Vegas Review-Journal-11 hours ago
CARSON CITY — A retired FBI agent will be Nevada's first statewide opioid coordinator. Attorney General Aam Laxalt announced on Monday ...



Link du jour


http://www.occurrencesforeigndomestic.c ... al-assaul/


http://www.fox13memphis.com/top-stories ... /625743680

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/15/ale ... -policing/







https://iranian.com/2017/10/16/cia-stag ... r-program/

How The CIA Staged Sham Academic Conferences To Thwart Iran's ...
Iranian-Oct 15, 2017
The FBI and CIA swarm conferences, too. At gatherings in the United States, says a former FBI agent, “foreign intelligence officers try to collect Americans; we




http://www.wilsontimes.com/stories/fbi- ... ice,100262

FBI offers reward in attack on state GOP office
The Wilson Times-
CHARLOTTE (AP) — The FBI is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for arson and graffiti at a North Carolina Republican ...




http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-mu ... 1280963083

US Muslim Marine's family sues government over death at training camp

Raheel Siddiqui faced Islamophobic abuse at boot camp before his death which was ruled as a suicide



https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/10/u ... rveillance

USA Liberty Act Won't Fix What's Most Broken with NSA Internet ...
EFF-
A key legal linchpin for the National Security Agency's vast Internet surveillance program is ... Agents for the NSA, CIA, and FBI have long rifled through






https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/i ... ac-meeting


FBI “Finds” Documents Related to Clinton-Lynch 2016 Tarmac ...
The New American (blog)-
“It is stunning that the FBI 'found' these Clinton-Lynch tarmac records only after we caught the agency hiding them in another lawsuit,” Judicial Watch President ...




https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... -tips-40s/

Five unsettling FBI surveillance tips from the '40s
MuckRock-
While undoubtedly clever, this tip doesn't properly prepare an agent for what to do when he or she is asked why they're carrying around multiple pairs of gloves ...
October 16, 2017
Five unsettling FBI surveillance tips from the ‘40s
Why ladies’ gloves were an invaluable tool in an agent’s arsenal
Written by JPat Brown
Edited by Beryl Lipton
We’ve written before about the FBI’s 1947 guide to investigatory techniques, and their heavy reliance on period-authentic casual racism. Today, we’ll be looking at the section on surveillance under false pretenses, which manages the perfect blend between adorably dated and downright creepy.

1. Impersonate a child photographer to take pictures of the mother



While plenty skeevy, this also serves as a reminder that there was a period in America where taking photos of a stranger’s child would have granted you entrance to their home rather than mace in the face.

2. Become a pornographer



No luck cracking that pornography trafficking case? Why not beat them at their own game and just traffic in pornography? Brilliant!

3. Carry men and women’s gloves on you at all times



While undoubtedly clever, this tip doesn’t properly prepare an agent for what to do when he or she is asked why they’re carrying around multiple pairs of gloves that are not theirs.

4. Impersonate a plainclothes policeman and accuse people of crimes they didn’t commit



As gross as this is, at least the FBI learned its lesson and stopped intimidating minorities.

5. Pretend to be a Harvard freshman



While this one starts out with a whimsical 22 Jump Street vibe, there’s a pretty hard turn in there where the agent 1) actually becomes friends with the subject and 2) roots around in their stuff when they’re not around. Imagine coming home to find out the college student you’ve been chatting about Intro to Psych with over breakfast was a fed trying to nick your address book. That sort of thing causes trust issues.

More Adorable Than Unsettling Bonus: Be a caricature of a journalist



Hard to get too mad at this one, as it implies that the only syndicated columnist that the Bureau was familiar with was Jimmy Breslin.

Read the full list of tips embedded below, or on the request page.


Image via FBI.gov








http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=120 ... 0917010530


Does Our Digital Age Require New Fourth Amendment Rules?
New York Law Journal-
The robber who confessed to the crimes gave the FBI his own cellphone number ... An FBI agent offered expert testimony regarding the cell site data provided by ...




https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/?projects=123


Despite a state law, Monroe, New York hasn’t tested all of its rape kits
by Vanessa Nason
September 27, 2017
Our request with Monroe, New York showed that, despite a new state law requiring all rape kits be tested within ten days, the police department currently has three kits that haven’t been sent to a lab for processing.
Read More

State University of New York didn’t comply with a law that required an audit of their sexual assault procedures
by Vanessa Nason
August 29, 2017
Last May, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the “Enough Is Enough” law, which requires schools in the state to complete a review of compliance with standardized sexual assault policies, with a preliminary report ordered to be ready by September 1st of this year. In light of this, we filed a request with the State University of New York (SUNY), a system of public colleges comprised of 64 campuses, asking for the results of Cuomo’s audit at all SUNY campuses. SUNY responded that they had no results to show - an audit was never conducted.
Read More

Five of the best - and five of the worst - sexual assault response policies across the country
by Vanessa Nason
August 24, 2017
The care rape victims receive is entirely dependent on where the crime occurred. Good sexual assault response policies are comprised of a number of initiatives, including (but not limited to) specific officer training, a victim-centered approach, access to victim advocates, guidelines for submitting kits to labs, and victim notification. Based on what we’ve seen in our reporting so far, we’ve rounded up a list of the five best - and the five worst - sexual assault response policies across the country.
Read More

Six years after earmarking funds, Dallas has only tested half of its rape kit backlog
by Vanessa Nason
August 16, 2017
Our request for data and policies regarding the collection, maintenance, and testing of backlogged rape kits in Dallas shows that, as of May 2017, more than 1,000 kits still have not been submitted to crime labs. Of those submitted, only 50% have been tested, and just 35% of those tested have been uploaded into CODIS.
Read More

There are finally federal guidelines for testing rape kits
by Vanessa Nason
August 11, 2017
The SAFER Working Group combined authorities from local police departments, the FBI, state crime laboratories, government institutions, colleges, medical examiners, and nurses, which met for more than two years before penning the first federal guidelines for sexual assault evidence collection. This document is undeniably a step in the right direction, but will local law enforcement agencies and state and private laboratories implement these recommendations?
Read More

Lowell, Massachusetts has no data and no clear policies on sexual assault
by Vanessa Nason
July 27, 2017
In some cities, law enforcement officers follow clear guidelines on how to conduct victim interviews and handle evidence. But in Lowell, Massachusetts, the police department maintains no specific procedures regarding sexual assault response and no data on how many rape kits and haven’t been tested.
Read More

Great sexual assault evidence collection policies exist, but continue to be the exception to the rule
by Vanessa Nason
July 12, 2017
The best sexual assault policies adopted by this country’s law enforcement agencies illustrate a careful balancing act - Gardner, Massachusetts, with its victim-focused approach, a team of officers trained in handling sexual assault, and clear evidence collection policies, stands out. But until every police department in the country has these, the national backlog will continue to exist.
Read More

“Jane/John Doe” rape kits provide important medical care, but they sit untested in the backlog
by Vanessa Nason
June 19, 2017
Anonymous rape kits allow victims who choose to not press charges to receive critical medical care. But opting out of pressing charges shouldn’t preclude testing, and shouldn’t relegate the kit to sit forgotten on an evidence room shelf.
Read More

Fairbanks, the third “Most Dangerous U.S. City for Women,” wants to charge $15,000 for rape kit data
by Vanessa Nason
June 06, 2017
When we were hit with an estimated $5,000 fee for rape kit data and collection policies from Biloxi, Mississippi, we were stunned. Fees this large carry a sense of deterrence, and, with Biloxi’s rate of sexual assault being significantly above the national average, we couldn’t help but wonder if they were trying to hide something. As it turns out, Biloxi’s fee was neither an outlier nor the most expensive we’d see - Fairbanks, Alaska, which sits at number three on Forbes Magazine’s list of “Most Dangerous U.S. Cities for Women,” said their data and policies will cost us $15,000.
Read More

Biloxi wants to charge $5,000 for records on their rape kit backlog
by Vanessa Nason
May 31, 2017
In our efforts to uncover the rape kit backlog and report on the extent of untested sexual assault evidence, we often face the hurdle of public records fees. However, the Biloxi, Mississippi police department far surpassed any amount we’ve previously seen, asking for so much money as to render these documents essentially impossible to obtain.
Read More





http://cityandstateny.com/articles/pers ... eWR49EpChA

Could a Donovan, Grimm face-off result in a Dem representative in ...
City & State
Dan Donovan and Michael Grimm – an ex-con, ex-member of Congress and ex-FBI agent – the district could produce a Democratic win. The scenario could ...




https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblo ... uis-flight

'I'm Playing My White Card': Drunk Man Berated Black Woman on St. Louis Flight


Posted By Danny Wicentowski on Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 7:50 am

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.bnd.com/news/local/crime/ar ... 48682.html

Former Alton police officer charged with criminal sexual abuse — again


https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/02/ ... ity/?amp=1


York pediatrician says he was victim of police brutality




https://www.rt.com/uk/470046-william-bl ... ning-tate/

Who’s afraid of William Blake? Art lovers vexed Tate Britain felt 200-year-old paintings needed ‘violence & suffering’ warning
Published time: 2 Oct, 2019 11:17



https://www.rt.com/news/470067-french-p ... -suicides/

March of anger’: Thousands of cops protest in Paris over working conditions, pension reforms & suicides
Published time: 2 Oct, 2019 15:47


https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... an-murder/

‘Not racist but …’: White police officer who killed innocent black man in his home sent offensive texts



https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/ ... s-much-us/

Exceptional heat wave topples October records across much of the U.S.



https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/01/ ... iry/?amp=1

Jared Golden walks fine line on impeachment inquiry, saying Trump’s intent matters most




https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny ... story.html

Bronx cop accused of sleeping with 15-year-old prostitute acquitted of sex abuse charges; convicted of tampering with a witness





https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... isconduct/

WSU student leaders demand retrial of former Pullman cop accused of sexual misconduct
Oct. 2, 2019 at 9:22 am Updated Oct. 2, 2019 at 10:05 am


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... o-wig.html

Black police deputy says he was forced to quit after 20 years of service because he 'disgraced' his uniform by wearing an afro wig while directing traffic – on his last week on the job
* Atlanta cop Antonio Perryman said he had wanted to 'make p
*





https://padailypost.com/2019/10/01/ex-c ... addiction/


Ex-cop on trial for rape admits porn addiction
October 1, 2019 5:19 pm





https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mi ... d-n1061226

Minneapolis cops told not to wear uniforms to political events, comes ahead of Trump rally


https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/03/ ... ead/?amp=1

Discover the Maine camp that attracts people who say they can talk to the dead



https://www.abqjournal.com/1373829/dont ... =post+list


Don’t you do it’: Reports detail shooting by FBI agent
BY MATTHEW REISEN / JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019 at 10:36pm



https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/us/musli ... index.html

He applied for a green card. Then the FBI came calling
A shadowy federal program is ensnaring thousands of Muslim immigrants




https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/us/musli ... index.html


*
Tea Party of Portage County protests for government accountability outside of Cleveland FBI Office





https://www.reuters.com/article/us-texa ... SKBN1WJ07U

'This looks so bad,' says white Texas cop on horseback, leading black man on a rope





https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb ... /993188173

Self-defense or excessive force? Jurors will decide cop's fate in naked vet's killing
By: Christian Boone and Bill Rankin with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Updated: Oct 3, 2019 - 5:34 PM




FOR SUBSCRIBERSNJ cops might need license, new physical test after USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey investigation

https://www.app.com/restricted/?return= ... 2701002%2F





https://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-se ... 08532.html


Judge Slams Secret Psych Test for Neptune Cop
Sarah Wallace has the new twist in the saga of a police sergeant benched for 18 months over a battle involving psychological tests.
(Published Thursday, Oct 3, 2019)




https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2019/10/ ... court.html

Ex-cop who just cost Syracuse $500,000 for sex on job ducks behind umbrella at court




https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/cops-in- ... -3Rb8PEHA/

Deputy left with Concussion after Cop Arrests him for Cursing in own Yard




https://thecrimereport.org/2019/10/03/a ... shootings/

African Americans ‘Disproportionate’ Victims of South Carolina Cop Shootings
By Daniel Gross/Greenville News | 12 hours ago

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.bnd.com/news/local/crime/ar ... 48682.html

Former Alton police officer charged with criminal sexual abuse — again


https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/02/ ... ity/?amp=1


York pediatrician says he was victim of police brutality




https://www.rt.com/uk/470046-william-bl ... ning-tate/

Who’s afraid of William Blake? Art lovers vexed Tate Britain felt 200-year-old paintings needed ‘violence & suffering’ warning
Published time: 2 Oct, 2019 11:17



https://www.rt.com/news/470067-french-p ... -suicides/

March of anger’: Thousands of cops protest in Paris over working conditions, pension reforms & suicides
Published time: 2 Oct, 2019 15:47


https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... an-murder/

‘Not racist but …’: White police officer who killed innocent black man in his home sent offensive texts



https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/ ... s-much-us/

Exceptional heat wave topples October records across much of the U.S.



https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/01/ ... iry/?amp=1

Jared Golden walks fine line on impeachment inquiry, saying Trump’s intent matters most




https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny ... story.html

Bronx cop accused of sleeping with 15-year-old prostitute acquitted of sex abuse charges; convicted of tampering with a witness





https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... isconduct/

WSU student leaders demand retrial of former Pullman cop accused of sexual misconduct
Oct. 2, 2019 at 9:22 am Updated Oct. 2, 2019 at 10:05 am


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... o-wig.html

Black police deputy says he was forced to quit after 20 years of service because he 'disgraced' his uniform by wearing an afro wig while directing traffic – on his last week on the job
* Atlanta cop Antonio Perryman said he had wanted to 'make p
*





https://padailypost.com/2019/10/01/ex-c ... addiction/


Ex-cop on trial for rape admits porn addiction
October 1, 2019 5:19 pm





https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mi ... d-n1061226

Minneapolis cops told not to wear uniforms to political events, comes ahead of Trump rally


https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/03/ ... ead/?amp=1

Discover the Maine camp that attracts people who say they can talk to the dead



https://www.abqjournal.com/1373829/dont ... =post+list


Don’t you do it’: Reports detail shooting by FBI agent
BY MATTHEW REISEN / JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019 at 10:36pm



https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/us/musli ... index.html

He applied for a green card. Then the FBI came calling
A shadowy federal program is ensnaring thousands of Muslim immigrants




https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/us/musli ... index.html


*
Tea Party of Portage County protests for government accountability outside of Cleveland FBI Office





https://www.reuters.com/article/us-texa ... SKBN1WJ07U

'This looks so bad,' says white Texas cop on horseback, leading black man on a rope





https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb ... /993188173

Self-defense or excessive force? Jurors will decide cop's fate in naked vet's killing
By: Christian Boone and Bill Rankin with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Updated: Oct 3, 2019 - 5:34 PM




FOR SUBSCRIBERSNJ cops might need license, new physical test after USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey investigation

https://www.app.com/restricted/?return= ... 2701002%2F





https://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-se ... 08532.html


Judge Slams Secret Psych Test for Neptune Cop
Sarah Wallace has the new twist in the saga of a police sergeant benched for 18 months over a battle involving psychological tests.
(Published Thursday, Oct 3, 2019)




https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2019/10/ ... court.html

Ex-cop who just cost Syracuse $500,000 for sex on job ducks behind umbrella at court




https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/cops-in- ... -3Rb8PEHA/

Deputy left with Concussion after Cop Arrests him for Cursing in own Yard




https://thecrimereport.org/2019/10/03/a ... shootings/

African Americans ‘Disproportionate’ Victims of South Carolina Cop Shootings
By Daniel Gross/Greenville News | 12 hours ago

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/10/25 ... ry-gilpin/

An open letter to Massachusetts State Police Col. Kerry Gilpin


When he wouldn’t stop playing Fortnite and take a shower, Mom dislocated his jaw, cops say

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/ ... rylink=cpy



https://fox6now.com/2019/10/25/milwauke ... stigation/


Milwaukee police officer arrested in connection with sexual assault investigation
POSTED 11:16 AM, OCTOBER 25, 2019, BY FOX6 NEWS, UPDATED AT 12:19PM, OCTOBER 25, 2019


https://fair.org/home/media-ignore-unma ... 49868a628e

OCTOBER 24, 2019
Media Ignore Unmasking of Twitter Exec as British Psyops Officer
Government penetration and control over media of little interest to those who are subject to it



https://www.stopspying.org/searches?eTy ... 49868a628e






https://www.rollingstone.com/music/musi ... 49868a628e

Hundreds of Musicians Call for Amazon Boycott Over ICE Contracts
Deerhoof, Ted Leo, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, Speedy Ortiz sign No Music for Ice open letter


https://shadowproof.substack.com/p/revi ... 49868a628e

Revisiting The FBI's 2010 Raids Against Political Activists
A crucial report from Defending Rights and Dissent on the FBI's political spying brings attention to raids from nine years ago.
Oct 24 Public post
Shadowproof is an independent media organization funded entirely by members and donations from readers. For $5/month, you can subscribe to our weekly member newsletter.


The FBI raided the homes of 23 anti-war, labor, and international solidarity activists in Chicago, Minneapolis, and other parts of the Midwest on September 24, 2010. They were issued grand jury subpoenas and informed they were under investigation for “materially supporting” foreign terrorist organizations.

More than 50,000 pages of materials, including notebooks, family photos, membership lists for antiwar groups, and other political documents


https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2019 ... elebrated/

FBI ambushed Michael Flynn, then celebrated: Court documents


https://www.nydailynews.com/snyde/ny-ja ... story.html

Jane Fonda and Ted Danson arrested at Washington climate change protest

By STORM GIFFORD

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
OCT 25, 2019 | 5:20 PM


https://saraacarter.com/fbi-agents-mani ... s-a-setup/

FBI Agents Manipulated Flynn 302 Interview. His Case Must Be Dismissed. It Was A Setup.



https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/ ... o-18500287


Former FBI director, wife call off San Antonio divorce

Patrick Danner Oct. 25, 2019







https://nj1015.com/11-year-old-went-mis ... hes-fired/


11-year-old went missing. Ewing cop bungled search. Now he’s fired

Sergio Bichao


Read More: 11-year-old was missing. Ewing cop bungled search. Now he's fired | https://nj1015.com/11-year-old-went-mis ... m=referral





https://rollingout.com/2019/10/25/black ... hts-video/

Biking while Black: Student arrested by cop for knowing her rights (video)
by N. ALI EARLY


Genesis Hansen arrested. (Photo source: Screenshot/ YouTube)
Bodycam footage of an incident involving an Oregon State student, Genesis Hansen, was released on Wednesday, Oct. 23. The provocative video suggests officers used unnecessary and excessive force in detaining yet another black child. According to officers on the scene and reports from CNN, Hansen was allegedly riding her bicycle in the face of oncoming traffic when she was pulled over for failing to stay inside traffic lanes.


While she was being detained a small group of onlookers gathered, as Hansen asked repeatedly why she had been pulled over. She also refused to turn over her license or identification, which is within the scope of her rights.
The ACLU of Oregon states: “It is not illegal in Oregon to refuse to identify yourself, but police may detain you until they establish your identity




https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-cit ... al-lawsuit


Cop's Beating Of 85lb NYC Man Leads To Federal Lawsuit
William Colon sued the city about a year after Officer Vincenzo Trabolse punched and electrocuted him at his Staten Island home.
By Noah Manskar, Patch Staff
Oct 25, 2019 1:58 pm ET.




https://www.nj.com/essex/2019/10/newark ... -says.html


Newark police delayed access to reports, videos in cop’s fatal shooting of driver, federal monitor says

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/ ... story.html

Sheriff’s e-mails show level of White House loyalty

By Yvonne Abraham Columnist,December 4, 2019, 8:12 p.m.





https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... abama-cop/

A former police officer escaped charges after shooting his wife in the arm. Months later, he allegedly murdered her.



http://www.startribune.com/judge-to-hea ... fresh=true

Judge dismisses lawsuit in John Dillinger exhumation case
By RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press DECEMBER 4, 2019 — 3:40PM




https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origin ... dc0943188b


Democratic leader pours cold water on Tulsi Gabbard’s bid to force Syria withdrawal


Bryant Harris December 4, 2019


Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origin ... z67GPM2Wpr




https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sin ... mplex-ways

A single-celled protist reacts to threats in surprisingly complex ways
A new try of a dismissed 1906 experiment suggests a protist can, in fact, ‘decide’ what to do


https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new ... tside-help

NEWS
QUANTUM PHYSICS
A new, theoretical type of time crystal could run without outside help
Long-range interactions between particles may create a structure that regularly repeats in time



https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fly ... ystal-eyes

Fly fossils might challenge the idea of ancient trilobites’ crystal eyes
Fossil lenses from the 54-million-year-old insects raise questions about other species’ sight



https://theintercept.com/2019/12/05/pet ... ice-chief/

SOUTH BEND’S POLICE CHIEF, CLOSE ALLY OF PETE BUTTIGIEG, PROMOTES OFFICER INVOLVED IN CONTROVERSIAL CHOKING DEATH
Akela Lacy
December 5 2019, 11:50 a.m.



https://theintercept.com/2019/12/05/us- ... screening/


FILMMAKERS SUE TO SHIELD VISITORS TO U.S. FROM SOCIAL MEDIA VETTING
Cora Currier, Ryan Devereaux

December 5 2019, 11:08 



https://theintercept.com/2019/12/04/flo ... ntability/

BLACK TEENAGER DAMAIN MARTIN BEGGED POLICE FOR HELP AS HE DROWNED. HIS DEATH WAS RULED AN ACCIDENT.
Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Jess Swanson

December 4 2019, 9:00




https://theintercept.com/2019/12/03/wal ... ions-cftc/



HOUSE DEMOCRATS POISED TO RUBBER-STAMP THE “ACHILLES’ HEEL OF DODD-FRANK”
Rebecca Burns
December 3 2019, 1:00 p.m.






https://theintercept.com/2019/12/03/dea ... ace-texas/

DEATH AND TEXAS
Race Looms Ever Larger as Death Sentences Decline







https://truthout.org/articles/alec-is-a ... dc0943188b







*
NEWS RACIAL JUSTICE
ALEC Is an Incubator for Efforts to Protect White Supremacy, Says New Report


https://truthout.org/articles/trump-qui ... -giveaway/


*
NEWS ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH
Trump Quietly Provides Offshore Drilling Industry Sweetheart Giveaway



https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texa ... 884416.php



Second victim comes forward against Houston-area cop charged with sexual assault
Accuser said the cop forced her to perform sex act after police arrested her boyfriend
By Michelle Iracheta Updated 1:43 pm CST, Thursday, December 5, 2019



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/confu ... ar-BBXNmu8

Confused Florida cop points gun at girl, 10, orders her to put her hands up

Florida cop leans into terrified 10-year-old girl's bedroom holding his gun and orders her to 'put your hands up' while responding to burglary - before realizing he's at the wrong apartment
* Officers with the Holly Hill Police Department had been responding to a burglary call on Monday at 5.30pm when the mishap took place
* Kailynn DiCicco was cleaning in her room when she noticed the officer leaning into her window while holding his weapon
* She was shocked to discover that the officer was also the same policeman who patrols her school
* The girl's mother said that the department apologized for the mishap and gave Kailynn a police coin 




https://newrepublic.com/article/155887/ ... e-warriors

The Cops Are Culture Warriors
In the struggle for criminal justice reform, police are playing the victim.
By MELISSA GIRA GRANT
December 5, 2019
Add to Pocket
When San Francisco voters elected Chesa Boudin, a public defender running on a platform to end mass incarceration, as district attorney in November, their decision was swiftly heralded as the end of an era. Boudin’s vision of criminal justice reform hit familiar points, but ones still scraping at the outer edge of the mainstream: declining to prosecute offenses like prostitution and sleeping on the street, ending cash bail, holding police accountable when they kill or use excessive force. At Boudin’s election-night party, a member of San Francisco’s board of supervisors started a chant of “@#$%! the POA! @#$%! the POA! @#$%! the POA!” joined by the crowd, middle fingers raised.
MOST POPULAR



The San Francisco Police Officers’ Association, the city’s police union, had spent more than $700,000—exceeding Boudin’s own fundraising efforts—in an effort to defeat him, pulling cash from police unions in Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and New York. The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association shared a John Birch Society video calling Boudin a “communist radical” and a son





https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/ph ... s-11393627

Community Members at Meeting Demand Civilian Oversight of Phoenix Police
MEG O'CONNOR | NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | 8:


Two things were clear from this week's Phoenix City Council meeting: Many people want to see independent oversight of the city's police department, and




https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/ph ... n-11402577

Phoenix Cop Involved in Wife's Alleged Thefts Gets 80-Hour Suspension
MEG O'CONNOR | DECEMBER 4, 2019 | 11:13AM



https://www.salemreporter.com/posts/157 ... op-watcher

Appeals court throws out protective order against cop-watcher
Court finds that concerned citizens can question public officials.
By Jake Thomas - Oregon Capital Bureau
December 4, 2019 at 5:47pm





https://www.kold.com/2019/12/04/arizona ... h-warning/

* LOCAL NEWS
Arizona’s top cop allegedly caught speeding, gets off with just a warning
DPS Director Frank Milstead issues statement after video of incident released to public



https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb55 ... gun-at-him

A Black Cop Is Suing His Department After His White Colleagues Allegedly Pointed a Loaded Gun at Him
They also used racial slurs and denied him promotions, according to the suit.

By Tess Owen
Dec 4 2019, 4p






https://www.app.com/story/news/crime/je ... 609452001/

NJ combats bad cops with sweeping rule changes after APP reporting

Andrew Ford, Asbury Park Press Published 2:41 p.m. ET Dec. 4, 2019 |


https://abcnews.go.com/US/chicago-cop-p ... d=67475737

Ex-Chicago cop avoids jail time for $360,000 theft of dead mom's Social Security checks
The former police commander received two years probation after pleading guilty.
By
Karma Allen
December 3, 2019, 8:53 PM
4 min read




https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2019/12/ ... ictim.html



Ex-Syracuse cop who had sex on the job going to trial for tampering with victim
Updated Dec 04, 3:43 PM;Posted Dec 04, 3:36 PM






https://patch.com/new-york/midhudsonval ... al-weapons


NYC Environmental Cop Admits Selling Illegal Weapons
Authorities said he also tipped off a buyer that he was the subject of an investigation.
By Michael Woyton, Patch Staff
Dec 5, 2019 12:47 pm ET






https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10487979/ ... -carolina/

GUNNED DOWN Bodycam footage shows moment female cop shoots unarmed shoplifting suspect’s mum in her home while trying to arrest him
* Jon Lockett
* 5 Dec 2019, 11:54Updated: 5 Dec 2019, 1





https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/ ... 78304.html

An officer is stopped by another officer on the road, and then gets charged with DUI

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/ ... rylink=cpy




https://montrealgazette.com/news/local- ... r-25-years



Ex-cop, hockey coach faces charges of molesting four boys over 25 years
François Lamarre, 71, worked as a Montreal police officer and coached hockey in Greenfield Park. Police believe there are other victims.
JESSE FEITH, MONTREAL GAZETTE Updated: December 4, 2019



https://torontosun.com/news/crime/ex-co ... -two-women


Toronto cop gets five months for groping two women





https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny ... story.html

Ex-cop details NYPD ‘collar quotas’ — arrest black and Hispanic men, ‘no cuffs on soft targets’ of Jews, Asians, whites: court docs

By STEPHEN REX BROWN and GRAHAM RAYMAN

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
DEC 05, 2019 | 3:07 PM



https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/brow ... story.html

North Bay Village police sergeant arrested for DUI in patrol car, cops say

By WAYNE K. ROUSTAN

SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL |
DEC 05, 2019 |



https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/cr ... 65804.html

Retired police officer charged with child porn in Sarasota, cops say
BY MARK YOUNG
DECEMBER 05, 2019 12:44 PM
*
*
*
*
* Read more here: https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/cr ... rylink=cpy



https://nypost.com/2019/12/04/car-jacki ... chokehold/


Carjacking ‘suspect’ driving his own car died after cops applied chokehold
By Adam Schrader
December 4, 2019



https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Co ... 881534.php

Cops charged with DUI: 3 cases in CT right now
By Jordan Fenster Updated 1:35 pm EST, Wednesday, December 4, 2019






https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... 882587.php

DAs could face punishment for failing to prosecute cops, pot possessors, lawyer says
Attorney for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie outlines circumstances that could prompt action from proposed state Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct
By Robert Gavin Updated 12:40 pm EST, Thursday, December 5, 2019





https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/12 ... ction.html


Oregon court finds cops coerced confession in killing of mother of 6; overturns murder conviction
Updated Dec 04, 2019;Posted Dec 04, 2019





https://www.trentonian.com/news/trenton ... 20630.html






Trenton cops reassigned to patrol after sexist 'firecracker' comment to female federal prosecutor





https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/cri ... 8aef3.html

Judge denies motion by former FBI agent to suppress unsigned deposition in perjury case

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

http://ticklethewire.com/2020/01/03/rep ... ted-trump/

Republican Congressman Calls for Secret Service Probe of Christmas Card Depicting an Assassinated Trump

Hustler Christmas card.
By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com
A Republican lawmaker wants the Secret Service to investigate Christmas cards sent to members of Congress depicting a cartoon of an assassinated President Trump.
The card shows smiling people, including Santa, surrounding Trump’s dead, bleeding body. On the back of the card, the shooter says in a thought bubble, “I just shot Donald Trump on Fifth Avenue. And no one arrested me.”
The quote is a reference to Trump bragging during the 2016 presidential campaign that “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?”

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

https://whowhatwhy.org/2020/01/07/new-r ... eculation/

JANUARY 7, 2020 | WHOWHATWHY STAFF
NEW REVELATIONS ON EPSTEIN’S DEATH LEAD TO NEW SPECULATION



https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/01/07 ... -the-past/

JANUARY 7, 2020
52 Pick-Up: Trump’s Deranged Threats to Bomb the Past
by DAVID PRICE

Photograph Source: Carpet bazaar of Tabriz – CC BY-SA 3.0
On January 4th, President Trump tweeted that his military response to any Iranian military reactions to his assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani could include attacks on “52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.” For an administration whose acts in the present routinely require Orwellian carpet-bombing campaigns on the past (consider Mike Pence’s lie this week that Iran was involved in the 9/11 attacks), the obliteration of our world’s links to the past is but a physical extension of the Trump administration’s daily ideological practices.
Within hours of Trump’s threat to attack cultural sites, various pundits, legal scholars, and archaeologists voiced concerns that such targeting of cultural heritage sites would constitute war crimes. I have little to add to such observa b




https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/01/07 ... bushfires/

JANUARY 7, 2020
The Hottest Day on Earth: the Politics of Australia’s Bushfires
by THOMAS KLIKAUER
Just before Christmas and in excessive secret, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison, known as Scomo, tried to escape the nightmare of bushfires he left behind. Scomo flew 8,000km to Hawaii. Meanwhile the bush firestorm was ravaging Australia. Unforeseen by Scomo and his entourage, a Facebook storm was also ravaging his approval ratings. Hence, reluctantly and perhaps on the advice of his political spin-doctors, Scomo returned to Sydney. Once back in Australia, former marketing/PR manager and spin-doctor Scomo tried to make up lost ground. He pretended to care – as much as a PM cares who left for Hawaii in the middle of the worst pre-summer bushfires Australia has ever seen. On his return, Scomo visited fire brigades but only days later, he was found swimming at one of Sydney’s favourite beaches, Bronte. Shortly after, he enforced his handshake onto a young pregnant woman and a fire fighter who rejected him. The men on the fire front had experienced neoliberal underfunding first hand. Even the otherwise very compliant Murdoch propaganda machine was forced to show Scomo’s rejection by the fire-fighters. In true PR style, Scomo rolled up with six cars of his media and security entourage to present “one” bag of biscuits to survivors for the all important media photo. While Scomo visited the fire-struck town of Cobargo, local people were yelling obscenities at him as he walked around the dusty village. You’re not welcome you f***wit, one women shouted.
While Sydney’s New Year’s fireworks were sparkling, fear, desolation, and fury reigned in many parts of Australia. During the fireworks display, around $2 million were collected to support fire fighters, dwarfing the $100 billion Scomo and his gang was spending on submarines – to defend Australia against an enemy that does not exist. Sheer unimaginable numbers define the cost – this is what $2,000,000 looks like and, in comparison, Scomo’s $100 billion are spelled out as $100,000,000,000. In other words, Scomo’s conservatives are spending fifty thousand times the money people collected during New Year’s Eve. This m





https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html



Police dog bit homeless woman’s face while she slept: lawsuit

By LAUREN THEISEN

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JAN 06, 2020 | 11:04 PM





https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html


Driver shoots two children who threw snowballs at car: police

By DAVID MATTHEWS

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JAN 06, 2020 | 10:53 PM




https://www.pressherald.com/2020/01/06/ ... nonprofit/



Divisions at Seeds of Peace bring conflict to famed nonprofit
The recently ousted camp director in Maine declares its board is unrepresentative of the organization's mission and caters to wealthy donors.





https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020 ... et-my-back


Sunday, January 05, 2020
by Common Dreams
An American General Probably Thinks- “Thanks Trump, for Putting a Target on My Back!”
In 2017, Trump gave the CIA the authority to again use assassin drones after it had been withdrawn by the Obama administration. 
byAnn Wright



https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2 ... ly-triples

Cost of Destructive U.S. Airbase Project in Japan Nearly Triples
Revised Estimate Sparks New Questions About Project That Threatens Okinawa Dugongs







https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2 ... ments-show

For Immediate Release
Monday, January 6, 2020
Lawyer's for Civil Rights
Extensive Entanglement Between Boston Public Schools and ICE, Documents Show
BPS Must Shut Down School-to-Deportation Pipeline Immediately






https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020 ... groundwork

Published on
Monday, January 06, 2020
by In These Times
To Stop Trump’s War with Iran, We Must Also Confront the Democrats Who Laid the Groundwork
Democratic leaders are feigning outrage, but they’ve supported the precursors to war.
bySarah Lazare, Michael Arria



https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020 ... tacks-iran

Published on
Monday, January 06, 2020
by Foreign Policy In Focus
Meet the Corporate War Profiteers Making a Killing on Trump's Attacks on Iran
As long as the top executives of our privatized war economy can reap unlimited rewards, the profit motive for war in Iran—or anywhere—will persist.
bySarah Anderson




https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-sta ... inc-66638/


FBI Freddie Mac Documents


Subject: Freedom of Information Act Request: Kroll Inc.
Portal

To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
FIles mentioning the company Kroll Inc. or its subsidiaries, a corporate investigations and risk consulting firm based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that was established in 1972 by Jules Kroll. Its subsidiaries include:
Kroll Associates Limited
Kroll Background America Corp
Kroll Associates UK Limited
Kroll Ontrack Ltd
Kroll Ontrack Legal Technologies Ltd
Kroll Associates (Asia) Ltd
Zolfo Cooper Capital LLC
Kroll Holdings Limited
Kroll International, Inc
Kroll Ontrack Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Kroll Associates Srl
GW Consulting, Inc.
Kroll Associates SA
Kroll Risk Consulting Services, Inc.
Kroll Holdings Inc
Kroll Information Services Inc
Kroll Background Worldwide Ltd
Kroll Forensic Accounting Ltd
Kroll Associates Iberia SL
Packet Storm Security
Kroll Security Group, Inc.
Certico Verification Services, L.L.C.
Kroll Talbot Hughes Deutschland GmbH
Kroll (Beijing) Business Risk Management Consulting Co Ltd
Kroll Ontrack GmbH
Kroll Background Screening Spolka Z.o.o.
Kroll Cayman Limited
Homeland Solutions, LLC
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Emma Best



https://ips-dc.org/report-luxury-real-estate-seattle/



WHO IS BUYING SEATTLE? THE PERILS OF THE LUXURY REAL ESTATE BOOM

CHUCK COLLINS







https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/01/07 ... anis-fate/


JANUARY 7, 2020
The Three Victories that Sealed Soleimani’s Fate
by JEFFERSON MORLEY

Photograph Source: khamenei.ir – CC BY 4.0
If you study the military record of the late Gen. Qassem Soleimani, you’ll see both why U.S military and political leaders feared him, yet did not wish him dead.
The embodiment of America’s stance was President George W. Bush. In January 2008, Bush was informed he had a real-time opportunity to kill Soleimani as he attended a meeting in Syria. Soleimani was known to U.S. intelligence as the commander of Iran’s Al-Quds force, a special operations command with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, akin to the Pentagon Joint Special Operation Command. He was known to have played a leading role in nurturing the anti-American insurgency that bled U.S. forces in Iraq from 2003 to 2011.
Bush was not soft on terrorism or Iran. He knew that upwards of 600 U.S. soldiers had been killed by Iraqi militias sponsored by Soleimani. But the 43rd president also had bruising experience with geopolitical reality: the fiasco of his Iraq invasion. He knew better than anyone that, just as eliminating Saddam Hussein unleashed a whirlwind of chaos and terrorism that the United

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7683

Re: Why do people think armed conflict is coming to the United States

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/02/07 ... is-rigged/


FEBRUARY 7, 2020
The Game is Rigged
by PAUL STREET

Photograph Source: Office of Public Affairs – CC BY 2.0
Let’s not beat around the bush. The game is rigged. The fix is in.



https://whowhatwhy.org/2020/02/08/hell- ... australia/

FEBRUARY 8, 2020 | MILICENT CRANOR
HELL AND HIGH WATER IN AUSTRALIA



https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html

TSA agent arrested for forcing woman to show him her breasts

By JOSEPH WILKINSON

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
FEB 07, 2020 | 10:37 PM




https://whowhatwhy.org/2020/02/07/congr ... ns-united/

FEBRUARY 7, 2020 | GABRIELLA NOVELLO
CONGRESS (FINALLY) CONSIDERS AMENDMENT TO OVERTURN CITIZENS UNITED




https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ ... story.html

It is 65 degrees in Antarctica. That had never in recorded history happened until now

By BRIAN NIEMIETZ

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
FEB 07, 2020 | 6:17 PM





https://whowhatwhy.org/2020/02/05/are-c ... americans/

FEBRUARY 5, 2020 | STUART HEAVER
ARE CHINESE COPS TARGETING AMERICANS?




https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... -in-chatt/

February 7, 2020
This week’s FOIA roundup: Destroyed records in Chattanooga and which public officials also say, “Ugh ugh”
The week in transparency and accountability battles, threats, and wins
Written by Katlyn Alo





https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nation ... story.html

62% of New Hampshire Democrats say they’d prefer human extinction to 2nd Trump term: poll

By TIM BALK

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
FEB 07, 2020 | 5:41 PM





https://whowhatwhy.org/2020/02/07/do-yo ... e-reading/

ST
FEBRUARY 7, 2020 | JEFF SCHECHTMAN
DO YOU TRUST WHAT YOU’RE READING?





https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/02/07 ... ice-state/


FEBRUARY 7, 2020
Duh, Jared! So who built the PA as a ‘police state’?
by JONATHAN COOK

Photograph Source: Ninian Reid – CC BY 2.0
Nazareth.
Maybe something good will come out



https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/02/07 ... carl-jung/

FEBRUARY 7, 2020
Shadow Coding: the Iowa Caucus and Carl Jung
by IPEK S. BURNETT

Original statue of Jung in Mathew Street, Liverpool, a half-body on a plinth captioned “Liverpool is the pool of life”. Photograph Source: Phil Nash from Wikimedia Commons – CC BY-SA 4.0 & GFDL
Political observers, media commentators, politicians, citizens. Everybody seemed to have

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