masterofd1saster

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 26dec24

We should have more federal trial judges

There is a real issue with needing more federal judges. Not necessarily at the Supreme Court (whatever you think of court-packing), but in district courts across the country. Federal dockets are long and judges are often overwhelmed. However, who gets to appoint new federal judges is a significant concern for both political parties. Nonetheless, a bipartisan bill could potentially add to the federal judiciary for the first time in 30 years. In a major legislative move that’s sure to make waves, Congress has just passed the JUDGES Act. Legislators love a good acronym, and this law was no exception: the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act of 2024. The bipartisan bill was aimed at addressing the increasing burden on federal district courts by creating new judgeships. But it’s giving President Trump a lot of power to appoint many more judges in his next term, and the incumbent President has vowed to veto it. Let’s take a quick look at the law at the center of it all. Bipartisan Bill Passes The JUDGES Act is a big deal; it marks the first major expansion of the federal judiciary in over 30 years. Its goal was to alleviate the overwhelming caseloads faced by judges across 25 federal court districts, and it would add 66 new federal judgeships over the next decade. The bill's supporters had argued that it was a necessary step to ensure timely access to justice for all Americans. The Judicial Conference of the United States, the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, and over 300 sitting federal judges have endorsed the bill, underscoring the critical need for new judgeships. Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr., director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, noted that the measure would improve judicial administration and access to justice by "adding critically needed new judgeships."***

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latest hate crime

An Egyptian national, who is a George Mason University freshman with reported ties to ISIS, was arrested on Tuesday in Falls Church, Virginia, and charged with planning a terror attack on the Israeli Consulate General in New York. Between Nov. 22 and Dec. 4, Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, 18, allegedly distributed "information related to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction in furtherance of commission of a federal crime of violence" of "first-degree murder of internationally protected persons," per a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is currently going through the process of deporting Hassan, according to a 14-page affidavit that the FBI agent, who arrested the student, filed on Dec. 16 seeking an arrest warrant.***

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/israeli-consulate-new-york/2024/12/20/id/1192395

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abortion protester/vandalizers

Gabriella Oropesa, of Cooper City, Florida, was convicted [19dec24] for her role in a conspiracy to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate employees of pro-life pregnancy help centers in the free exercise of the right to provide and seek to provide reproductive health services. The defendant and her co-conspirators selected reproductive health facilities that provided and counseled alternatives to abortion and vandalized those facilities with threatening messages. Caleb Freestone, Amber Stewart-Smith and Annarella Rivera previously pleaded guilty for their participation in the conspiracy. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between May 2022 and July 2022, Oropesa, Freestone, Smith-Stewart and Rivera engaged in a series of targeted attacks on pro-life pregnancy help centers in Florida. The defendants, in the dark of night and while wearing masks and dark clothing to obscure their identities, spray painted the facilities with threatening messages, including “If abortions aren’t safe than niether [sic] are you,” “YOUR TIME IS UP!!,” “WE’RE COMING for U” and “We are everywhere.”*** A sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 19, 2025. Oropesa faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy charge. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.***

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[This Jon Favreau is a left wing political speech writer; the other is an actor/director who works with Disney on the Star Wars franchise.]

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excellent toon

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Registering dead people to vote

Jennifer Hill, 38, who had worked with the New Pennsylvania Project as a canvasser, tried to register 310 people to vote between April 2024 and September 2024. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said 181 of the voters were successfully registered, NBC Philadelphia reported. Among those alleged 310 people were Hill’s deceased father and another person who had died in her home. “She knows that because she was the person who called the police to come when he died in her house,” Stollsteimer said. “She did register a fraudulent person and my understanding is this is sort of a gap in the system where by putting in no date of birth and no social security number, it goes through and became a verified voter registration. She did not take any further step. That fictitious person did not vote in the 2024 election. But that shows you how we still have gaps in our system that we need to have the legislature address.” “We don’t know from the other 129 that were non-verifiable, how many of those were made up names,” Stollsteimer added.***

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Skeevy turd with a great idea-

Matt Gaetz Threatens to Rejoin Congress, Publish Taxpayer-Funded Sexual Harassment Settlements, then Resign

Trump’s former Attorney General nominee, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, has threatened to rejoin Congress and expose lawmakers who paid #MeToo sexual harassment lawsuits using taxpayers’ money, then resign.    Gaetz’s decision was prompted by the House Ethics Panel reversing its previous decision not to release his “damaging” ethics report after he withdrew his name for consideration for the AG position.*** During Trump’s first term, Gaetz had also threatened to expose members of Congress who used taxpayers’ money to settle #MeToo lawsuits but never followed through.  Meanwhile, rumor has it that sexual harassment is rampant in Congress, with female lawmakers maintaining a “creep list” of notorious offenders. According to Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), taxpayers have lost over $15 million in secret sexual harassment lawsuit settlements. The Congressional Office of Compliance also maintains a list of settlements by year going back as far back as the 1990s. However, nothing has ever been done to publish the report.***

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Kind of rare to see a woman get a man's sentence for this

A former Tennessee teacher who raped a 12-year-old boy inside her home and became pregnant was sentenced to 25 years in prison for her heinous sex crimes on Friday as one of her victim’s families told the once-trusted educator to “burn in hell.” Alissa McCommon, a fourth-grade teacher in Tipton County, pleaded guilty to a slew of sex charges related to five of her possible 21 potential victims. McCommon, previously accused of assaulting a former student of hers in 2021, pleaded guilty to one count of rape of a child, statutory rape, sexual exploitation of minors and solicitation of minors. McCommon was sentenced to 25 years in prison after Circuit Court Judge Blake Neill ordered all sentences to run concurrently with each other without the possibility of parole.***

She actually gave birth to one student's baby.

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NYC Subways: kill her with fire!

A migrant from Guatemala has been arrested on allegations he lit a sleeping woman on fire inside a Coney Island F train on Sunday morning.*** The suspect entered the country and was detained by border patrol agents in Arizona in June 2018 — and so far authorities have not found a past criminal record for him in New York City, law enforcement sources said. Authorities were still working to confirm whether he is in the country legally, the sources said. He is suspected of lighting the woman on fire at about 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, then watching her burn to death in a shocking killing just three days before Christmas.***

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 19dec24

Every kid is one caring adult from a success story - YMCA

Jordan Neely [had] 42 prior arrests to his credit while still walking around as a free man**** After all, if fracturing an old woman’s nose and eye socket, exposing your genitalia to women, repeated heavy drug use, and an assortment of other repeated crimes don’t keep you in jail, what will?  So, when that criminal stepped onto the New York subway on May 3 of last year and began, per witnesses, “ranting insanely,” claiming that someone was going to die that day and that he did not mind going back to prison, the passengers were understandably terrified. Some prayed. Some tried to hide. Others tried to avoid eye contact.*** Greg Salsbury

Andre Zachary, Neely's father, is suing to obtain money from Neely's death. But where was he when Neely needed a caring adult?

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Babylon Bee -

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Abundant Life Christian School shooting

A 15-year-old girl shot eight people at her school on Monday around 1100 in Madison, Wisconsin. Two died, and she apparently killed herself. A 2d grader called 911 to report the murders.

John 10 quotes Jesus saying

 9 I am the door; a man will find salvation if he makes his way in through me; he will come and go at will, and find pasture.  10 The thief only comes to steal, to slaughter, to destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.

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A California man has been detained and had his guns seized after allegedly texting Wisconsin school shooter Natalie Rupnow about his plans to blow up a government building. Alexander Paffendorf, 20, was issued a gun-violence restraining order and detained by FBI agents after he was accused of messaging the 15-year-old shooter around the time of her attack on the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison on Monday. The Carlsbad resident allegedly told Rupnow that he “would arm himself with explosives and a gun and that he would target a government building,” according to a two-page restraining order obtained by CBS 8. How Paffendorf and Rupnow knew each other is not immediately clear. The FBI declined to comment.***

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River Page notes

Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Supreme Court justice to star in a Broadway musical this week, when she had a cameo in & Juliet, a “queer” retelling of Shakespeare’s classic in which Juliet decides not to kill herself and instead runs off to Paris with a nonbinary character. Supreme Court justices serve for life, which probably makes KBJ the most job-secure theater kid to have ever lived. Next time, we want to hear her sing.

More on the judicial front: Polling from Gallup, released yesterday, shows that Americans’ confidence in their country’s judicial system dropped to a record low of 35 percent this year. In the past four years, it’s dropped 24 percentage points. It’s almost as if political prosecutions are a terrible way to repair trust in the judicial system.

Three people have been confirmed dead following a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, including a teacher, a student, and the shooter, Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, a 15-year-old girl who attended the school and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Six others were injured. Madison mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway bristled at the idea that reporters would want information on the victims, saying in a press conference it was “none of y’all’s business” who was killed in the shooting. A purported manifesto has been circulating online, though police say that they cannot confirm its authenticity and are working to determine a motive.

In 2020, the average American city experienced a homicide rate spike of around 30 percent. Some have claimed that the rise was caused by a “police pullback” following the death of George Floyd in May of that year. But new research from the Brookings Institute suggests that murder rates were already rising and that Covid policies, which left young, poor men unemployed and out of school, might have had more to do with it.

More than $140,000 has been crowdfunded for the legal defense of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan earlier this month. The funds are unsolicited, and Mangione’s lawyer has said he would “probably” not accept money from donors. But it’s the latest sign of the disturbing affection so many clearly have for the alleged killer. Meanwhile, a new Emerson College poll found that 41 percent of respondents under 30 find the shooting of Thompson “acceptable.”***

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Total dirtbag -

A grand jury in Salt Lake City returned an indictment today charging Special Agent David Cole of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), 50, of South Jordan, Utah, with conspiring with another HSI special agent to sell alpha-PHP, a drug commonly referred to as “bath salts,” in Utah. According to court documents, Cole and another HSI special agent used their status as federal law enforcement officers to acquire bath salts by representing to others in HSI and in other law enforcement agencies that they were going to use the bath salts to conduct legitimate HSI investigations. Cole and his co-conspirator then sold bath salts to HSI confidential human sources for thousands of dollars and allowed those sources to resell the bath salts on the streets of Utah for a profit. Cole and his co-conspirator profited hundreds of thousands of dollars through their illegal drug sales.***

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Good news: effective law enforcement in NYC

Bad news: it's China

Chen Jinping, 60, of New York, New York, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to act as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in connection with opening and operating an undeclared overseas police station, located in lower Manhattan, for the PRC’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).*** As alleged, Chen Jinping and co-defendant “Harry” Lu Jianwang conspired to act as illegal agents of the PRC government and also obstructed justice by destroying evidence of their communications with an MPS official. While acting under the direction and control of the MPS official, the defendants worked together to establish the first known overseas police station in the United States on behalf of the Fuzhou branch of the MPS. The police station — which closed in the fall of 2022 — occupied an entire floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Lu and Chen helped open and operate the clandestine police station. None of the participants in the scheme informed the U.S. government that they were helping the PRC government surreptitiously open and operate an undeclared MPS police station on U.S. soil. In October 2022, the FBI conducted a judicially authorized search of the illegal police station. In connection with the search, FBI agents interviewed both defendants and seized their phones. In reviewing the contents of these phones, FBI agents observed that communications between the defendants and an MPS official appeared to have been deleted. In subsequent consensual interviews, the defendants admitted to the FBI that they had deleted their communications with the MPS official after learning about the ongoing FBI investigation, thus preventing the FBI from learning the full extent of the MPS’s directions for the overseas police station. Chen faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Per Chen’s plea agreement, the government has agreed to dismiss the obstruction of justice charge against him. Lu has pleaded not guilty to both of the charges against him and is awaiting trial.***

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Should have to breathe diesel exhaust

Louisiana-based company Power Performance Enterprises Inc. (PPEI) and its president and owner, Kory B. Willis, were sentenced yesterday in federal court in Sacramento, California, for violating and conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act by tampering with the monitoring devices of emissions control systems of diesel trucks. U.S. District Court Judge John A. Mendez for the Eastern District of California sentenced Willis to serve 10 months of home confinement as part of a three-year term of probation and ordered Willis and PPEI to jointly pay $1.55 million in criminal fines. PPEI was ordered to complete a five-year term of probation. Willis and PPEI pleaded guilty in March 2022. In total, Willis and PPEI have been ordered to pay $3.1 million in criminal fines and civil penalties related to Clean Air Act enforcement.*** Willis and PPEI reached the top of the illegal delete tuning market, tuning over 175,000 vehicles according to Willis. Willis also stated that PPEI was the biggest custom tuning company in the world, servicing over 100,000 customers and tuning more than 500 vehicles a week. According to internal PPEI records, PPEI typically sold well over $1 million dollars of product per month. According to calculations by the EPA, the estimated emissions impact of PPEI’s sales of delete tunes between 2013 and 2018 alone are expected to cause over 100 million excess pounds of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions over the life of the diesel trucks equipped with those products.   Deleting a diesel truck causes its emissions to increase dramatically. For example, for a fully deleted truck, which has had all emissions equipment removed or disabled, EPA testing quantified the increased emissions as follows: NOx increased 310 times, non-methane hydrocarbons increased 1,400 times, carbon monoxide increased 120 times and particulate matter increased 40 times. EPA’s Air Enforcement Division released a report in November 2020 finding that more than half a million diesel pickup trucks in the United States — approximately 15% of U.S. diesel trucks that were originally certified with emissions controls — have been illegally deleted.***

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Good - some accountability for violating mores

CNN — The House Ethics Committee secretly voted earlier this month to release its report into the conduct of former Rep. Matt Gaetz before the end of this Congress, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter. The report is now expected to be made public after the House’s final day of votes this year as lawmakers leave Washington for the holidays, those sources said. The vote, which has not previously been reported, amounts to a stark reversal for the panel after it had voted along party lines in late November not to release the results of the investigation. The decision to release the report suggests that some Republicans ultimately decided to side with Democrats on the matter, and it is unclear if the committee will once again change course now that it has voted.***

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[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 12dec24

Signs of severe psych illness

Authorities in Butte County have identified the gunman who staged an attack Wednesday on a Christian elementary school that left two children wounded and ended with the attacker dead. On Thursday afternoon, Sheriff Kory Honea identified the shooter as Glenn Litton, 56. He described Litton as a homeless, mentally ill man with a long criminal record who targeted the school due to its affiliation with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene of the attack. Authorities found a statement by Litton saying that “child executions” were imposed at the school in response to “America’s involvements in genocide and oppression of Palestinians” and attacks in Yemen. Honea identified the two injured kindergartners as 5-year-old Elias Wolford, who was shot once in the abdomen, and 6-year-old Roman Mendez, who sustained two gunshot wounds resulting in internal injuries. Both boys remained in critical condition Thursday afternoon.*** On Thursday, Honea said that Litton had a four-decade criminal history that included convictions across California, Nevada and Arizona for theft, fraud, identity theft and forgery. In March, Litton was arrested in Phoenix on suspicion of stealing more than $1,000 from a cash register at a CVS. On Nov. 12, he was arrested by San Francisco police on suspicion of being in possession of a stolen U-Haul truck and a forged license as well as having an outstanding warrant in San Bernardino County for alleged burglary.***

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Babylon Bee

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Fantastic comment on murder of Brian Thompson

The people celebrating Brian Thompson’s murder by turning him into an avatar for everything wrong with the American healthcare system remind me of nothing so much as Hollywood screenwriters, cunningly manipulating an audience into cheering on unforgivable acts of fictional violence.*** But this isn’t real. It’s just a story, a fantasy, a facile little fairy tale for ghouls. And the truth? We know what that looks like. We’ve seen it: shot from an awkward angle with poor resolution, bad lighting, and no sound. The truth is that Thompson lurches as the first bullet strikes him, the ungainly little sashay of a human being trying to regain his balance, not yet realizing he will never take another step. The truth is that, at the end, the killer jogs across the street and out of frame—and what’s left is a man, lying on the ground, shrouded in shadow and almost invisible. Dying. It’s not like in the movies at all.

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Babylon Bee

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A prominent Black Lives Matter activist appeared to threaten Daniel Penny and called for violence after Penny was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in the death of a deranged homeless man on the New York City subway last year. Hawk Newsome, who cofounded Black Lives Matter Greater New York and now leads a new activist group called Black Opportunities, shouted "It’s a small world" in the court shortly after the jury acquitted Penny, according to reporters in attendance. ***

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Never should have been charged

A former U.S. Marine sergeant who used a chokehold to restrain Jordan Neely, a homeless man, on a New York City subway car was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide on Monday in Neely's death.*** "I've had enough of this; the system is rigged," Neely's father Andre Zachary told reporters outside the courthouse following the verdict.***

Oh really, Andre? Why was Jordan hungry? Why was he threatening people. Why was he unmedicated?

Maybe if you fed your son, he wouldn't be hungry. Maybe if you watched him, he wouldn't threaten people. Maybe if you cared for him, he would have taken his meds.

https://www.newsmax.com/us/daniel-perry-subway-death/2024/12/09/id/1190923

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Still fair questions-

The UnitedHealthcare CEO who was fatally gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel reportedly lived separately from his wife – and her home now has a security guard posted outside after a sick bomb threat hoax. Brian Thompson, 50, and his wife, Paulette “Pauley” Thompson, had been dwelling in separate homes less than a mile from each other in Maple Grove, Minnesota, for years, the Wall Street Journal reported. Hours after a cold-blooded killer shot and killed Thompson on Wednesday morning in Midtown, both homes in the quiet suburban Minneapolis neighborhood received a bomb threat that evening, Maple Grove police officials said.***

If you hate the insurance company, why would you bomb the ex-wife?

If you're some poor schmo whose claim was denied, how would you know that Thompson was staying at that Hilton at that time?

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"Luigi Nicholas Mangione — a 26-year-old Ivy League grad and seething anti-capitalist"

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Bari & Co report

Police identified a top suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as an Ivy-educated former data engineer named Luigi Mangione. Authorities nabbed 26-year-old Mangione yesterday at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with a ghost gun and a silencer as well as a handwritten manifesto and four fake IDs. Mangione was allegedly upset with the healthcare industry because of its treatment of his sick relative, according to the New York Post. Meanwhile, in January, he posted a book review of the Unabomber’s manifesto on a now-private Goodreads account, praising him as a “political revolutionary.”

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When one of the officers asked if he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake," according to a criminal complaint based on their accounts of the arrest.*** [His manifesto] had a line that said, “I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.” Mangione also had a passport and $10,000 in cash — $2,000 of it in foreign currency, authorities said. Mangione, who said Hawaii was his most recent address, disputed the amount.***

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Wed

Stay classy Ann Arbor

Anti-Israel radicals smashed a University of Michigan regent’s window and painted "Divest" and "Free Palestine" on his wife’s car early Monday morning—the third time he’s faced such vandalism this year. Jordan Acker, a Jewish regent, said two mason jars filled with urine thrown through his window woke up him, his wife, and his three young daughters. The paint on his wife’s car also included a red triangle, a symbol commonly used by Hamas. "This is the third time that I—and now my family—have been the target of these Klan-like tactics," Acker wrote on Instagram. "We all need to call out this cowardly act attacking my family and my home for what it truly is—terrorism."***

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wed

Every law is cultural

Bari's crew -

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[masterofd1saster]

CJ current event 5dec24

British slog to euthanasia

Excellent column by Madeleine Kearns

***Even so, [Jamie] Hale—who has a master’s degree in philosophy, politics, and the economics of health—often thinks about how much his life costs the state. “I’m very aware I’m not cost-effective,” he added. “It’s very hard not to be aware you are the kind of financial burden the system is creaking under.”  Hale is deeply opposed to the assisted suicide bill that the United Kingdom’s Parliament is voting on this week. On November 29, its members will consider whether to advance a bill legalizing assisted dying for the terminally ill with a prognosis of six months or less. If the bill becomes law, an individual could self-administer a lethal drug prescribed by a physician after two doctors and a judge have signed off on the procedure. The bill legalizes assisted suicide, but not euthanasia, which is when someone else—typically a doctor—is the one to kill the patient. ***

Like many doctors who specialize in end-of-life care, Matthew Doré opposes assisted suicide. The honorary secretary of the Association of Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland, Doré said it’s common for people coming into a hospice to say, “I want to die, kill me now,” but once they have the holistic support they need, that feeling “just melts away, disappears pretty much completely in almost everyone.” What’s more, assisted suicide does not always lead to a more peaceful death, Doré said. Studies show that complications from the lethal drugs include burning, nausea, vomiting, and regurgitation, severe dehydration, seizures, and regaining consciousness. In Oregon, the annual complication rate is nearly 15 percent, although it’s likely higher given that “patients often ingest the lethal drugs without a healthcare professional present to record complications,” one study reported.

But there is another reason for legalizing assisted suicide: to save money. Once the jewel of the UK, the National Health Service has recently been dogged by staff shortages and strikes. A 2024 report found the UK lagging behind 10 other developed countries on hospital wait times. Only Canada had comparably long wait times, while the U.S. was one of the best-performing countries for timely access to care. Now, many in the UK are advocating for assisted suicide as a cost savings measure. Earlier this month, Telegraph columnist wrote that “assisted dying will leave society financially better off” as well as help “people protect their family wealth.”*** Jamie Hale agrees. “If you are genuinely saying these people are too expensive to keep alive, and for that reason we should be killing them, then you’ve completely crossed the moral Rubicon that can’t be defended,” he said. “That’s just pure eugenics . . . I don’t think it’s even worthy of a response in a civilized society.”***

wow -

just, wowza

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How are kids getting drugs in lock up? Oh, gee, look at the time.

Denver Post notes

Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center in Golden on Friday, June 14, 2024. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post) At least 7 young people in Colorado detention facilities have been hospitalized this year after overdose-related calls At least seven young people in Colorado youth detention centers were hospitalized following overdose-related emergency calls this year, including three teens who required life-saving naloxone at a Colorado Springs facility on the same day over the summer. The Colorado Department of Human Services declined to provide The Denver Post with any information about overdoses at the state’s youth detention facilities, citing child privacy laws. The department says it doesn’t track the number of overdoses, so The Post surveyed fire departments in cities with youth services centers to compile these figures, Sam Tabachnik reports.

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Shockingly bad 'bama

*** Sherry Digmon is the co-owner of Atmore News, which covers a town of 13,000 nestled on the Alabama-Florida border. She also serves on the Escambia County School Board. Don Fletcher is the reporter for Atmore News. Cindy Jackson serves with Sherry on the board. And Ashley Fore is the payroll supervisor for the board. In a plot worthy of a John Grisham novel, last year they were all hauled into jail, in some cases strip searched, and had their mugshots aired on the local news. They were all charged with felonies that carried three-year prison sentences. Behind the charges was a scheme by long-time Escambia County District Attorney Stephen Billy to strongarm the school board into renewing the contract of then-School Superintendent Michele McClung. Both Billy and Sheriff Heath Jackson injected themselves into the issue, speaking at local GOP meetings and school board meetings, sending a threatening letter to the board, and insisting that everyone support McClung or face their “wrath.” Billy insisted that opposing McClung was a criminal act, and he reminded the board that he controlled the county’s grand jury.***

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Must see movie

1) Vote to acquit: 2) if mistrial, DC moves court for grant of immunity.

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Christopher Wray would have to resign or be fired first.

Pres-elect Trump has nominated Kash Patel to head the FBI. His wiki bio says

After graduating from law school in 2005, Patel worked as a public defender in Florida for eight years, first in the Miami-Dade County public defender's office and later as a federal public defender.[15][16] As a public defender he represented clients charged with felonies including international drug trafficking, murder, firearms violations, and bulk cash smuggling.[16][17] In 2014, Patel was hired as a trial attorney in the United States Department of Justice National Security Division, where he simultaneously served as a legal liaison to the Joint Special Operations Command.[15][17] In 2017, Patel was appointed senior counsel on counterterrorism at the House Intelligence Committee.[15][13][a]

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Understatement of the year: "He said Sabrina was known to 'be a little aggressive and had a temper.'” 

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Another protestor killed at Jan 6?

Rosanne Boyland died?

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Pres Biden pardoned his kid on Sun. Can Hunter stay clean through 20jan25?

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Who knew?

Two major state programs to combat illegal cannabis recently sent out news releases lauding their collective seizures of some $544 million worth of illicit weed.*** For example, operations by the state Department of Justice’s Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis program, or EPIC, have seized about 77,000 cannabis plants in 36 counties this year. Yet, Siskiyou County alone produces an estimated 12 million to 16 million illegal plants per year. Therefore, if EPIC only focused on Siskiyou for a year, it would eradicate just 6% of the estimated local black market, he said. This sentiment was echoed by Kendall, who noted that in Mendocino County’s 35-square-mile Round Valley alone there are an estimated 1 million illegal marijuana plants. “The black market is as big and bad as ever,” he said.***

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tues

Hunter Biden's pardon means that if he's called as witness at a grand jury or trial, he may not invoke his 5th Amendment right to silence.

BB-

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Well, she killed someone

A woman who admitted to drinking and who was driving well over twice the speed limit when she smashed into a golf cart, killing a bride who had just got married at a South Carolina beach, was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison. Jamie Lee Komoroski pleaded guilty at the Charleston County courthouse to reckless homicide, felony DUI causing death and two counts of felony DUI causing great bodily injury before her sentencing.***

Police said Komoroski drank at several bars on April 28, 2023, and was driving 65 mph (105 kph) on a narrow Folly Beach road with a speed limit of 25 mph (40 kph) when she slammed into the golf cart leaving a wedding. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.26%, which is more than three times the legal limit to drive. The 34-year-old bride died still wearing her wedding dress. The groom suffered a brain injury and numerous broken bones. The cart was thrown 100 yards (91 meters) by the crash.***

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wed

BB-

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too good reddit not to share

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Gary Larsen crushing it

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If you don't like bad drivers on the road...

Aurora police say they’ve towed and impounded at least 193 vehicles under a new “three-strikes” law targeting drivers pulled over without a license, registration or insurance. A majority of Aurora’s City Council signed off on the law in September, with supporters arguing that confiscating the cars of drivers caught without any of the three documents was about protecting others on the road. “I’m a broken-windows kind of person in terms of criminal justice, and I believe that if you don’t get the small stuff, it turns into bigger stuff,” Mayor Mike Coffman said during a Sept. 23 council meeting. “There are a lot of people driving around with expired tags, they don’t have a valid license, and (they) don’t have insurance. And so I hope this sends a strong message.” Police spokesman Joe Moylan wrote in an email that 193 vehicles were towed from Nov. 1 through Dec. 5 under the law, which took effect at the end of October. Defendants have 30 days to bring valid registration and proof of insurance to the impound lot with either a driver’s license or another licensed driver to retrieve their vehicle. They can also hire a tow truck to take it somewhere else as long as they can provide proof that they own the vehicle, City Attorney Pete Schulte told the council.***

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[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events Thanksgiving 24

Lt Michael Bird killing Ashli Babbitt

Jonathan Turley writes -

I have previously written about the dubious investigations of the shooting of Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6th and the alleged violation of the standards for the use of lethal force by the officer who shot her. I strongly disagreed with the findings of investigations by the Capitol Police and the Justice Department in clearing Captain Michael Byrd, who shot the unarmed protester. Now, Just the News has an alarming report of the record of Byrd that only magnifies these concerns.*** At the time, some of us familiar with the rules governing police use of force raised concerns over the shooting. Those concerns were heightened by the DOJ’s bizarre review and report, which stated the governing standards but then seemed to brush them aside to clear Byrd. The DOJ report did not read like any post-shooting review I have read as a criminal defense attorney or law professor. The DOJ statement notably does not say that the shooting was justified. Instead, it stressed that “prosecutors would have to prove not only that the officer used force that was constitutionally unreasonable, but that the officer did so ‘willfully.’” It seemed simply to shrug and say that the DOJ did not believe it could prove [the case]. While the Supreme Court, in cases such as Graham v. Connor, has said that courts must consider “the facts and circumstances of each particular case,” it has emphasized that lethal force must be used only against someone who is “an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and … is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight.” *** Under these standards, police officers should not shoot unarmed suspects or rioters without a clear threat to themselves or fellow officers. That even applies to armed suspects who fail to obey orders.***

DoJ has prosecuted policemen for much less blameworthy homicides in the line of duty. Byrd said more or less that he was ok with shooting an unarmed female veteran.

The new report confirms prior accounts that Byrd had prior disciplinary and training issues. According to Just the News, they included “a failed shotgun qualification test, a failed FBI background check for a weapon’s purchase, a 33-day suspension for a lost weapon and referral to Maryland state prosecutors for firing his gun at a stolen car fleeing his neighborhood.”***

And he was promoted after killing Ashli Babbitt!

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Next time, she'll tell them to get a warrant

At about 6:30 p.m. on October 30, two police SUVs pulled up to the home of Brittany Patterson in rural Fannin County, Georgia. The 41-year-old realtor and mother of four was on the phone when she heard a knock on her door.

Police arrested her b/c her 10 y/o son walked one mile to his grandpa's house.

Apparently charged with viol OCGA § 16-5-60 (2024). That says

(b) A person who *** endangers the bodily safety of another person by consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his or her act or omission will cause harm or endanger the safety of the other person and the disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation is guilty of a misdemeanor.

So walking to granpa's home in Fannin County when you're 10 is such a substantial and unjustifiable risk to kids that letting walk is gross deviation from reasonable care? How dangerous is Fannin County? Sounds like the problem is that Fannin County is a lawless place.

Maybe Fannin County voters should vote out their Sheriff and DA. If any judge approves of this, vote him out too.

***

Explain again why drug crimes are victimless....

Lakewood mom, boyfriend arrested on suspicion of murder in 2-month-old baby’s meth exposure death

A Lakewood woman and her boyfriend were arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder after the woman’s two-month-old son died from methamphetamine toxicity, police officials said Thursday.

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Good

Matt Gaetz, the embattled former Florida congressman, withdrew from consideration for attorney general Thursday, saying he was “unfairly becoming a distraction” to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition. Gaetz dropped out amid allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, including a new report that surfaced Thursday of him having a second sexual encounter with a then-17-year-old girl in 2017. He has denied any wrongdoing.  Further, his meetings with Republican senators this week reportedly revealed that his nomination would get rejected in confirmation hearings.***

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/gaetz-attorney-general/2024/11/21/id/1188988

Maybe it was a graceful way to get him to resign from the House?

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Alleluia! etc

President-elect Donald J. Trump announced that he would nominate Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, for the role. Ms. Bondi served on Mr. Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment, and she oversaw the filing of voting-related lawsuits in battleground states during his recent campaign.***

Former Florida AG.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/11/21/us/trump-gaetz-news

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Politics

Senate Democrats and Republicans clinched a late-night deal on Wednesday that clears the way for votes on a group of President Joe Biden's nominees for federal trial courts in exchange for not pushing forward with four nominees to serve on appellate courts, leaving vacancies that Republican President-elect Donald Trump can fill. The deal, described by a spokesperson for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday, was reached after Senate Republicans launched a campaign to try to stall and prevent Democrats from fulfilling their plan to confirm as many life-tenured judges as possible before Trump takes office in January.***

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trump-senate-deal/2024/11/21/id/1189021/

***

Daniel Penny case

***Dr. Satish Chundru disputed a New York City medical examiner’s determination that Daniel Penny’s chokehold killed Neely, who was behaving erratically on a subway the two men were riding. Penny’s defense says that he acted to protect frightened passengers and was trying only to restrain Neely, not to kill him.*** He told jurors that Neely’s medical records and bystander video don’t show telltale signs of known types of fatal chokeholds. Among the discrepancies, he said: the location and extent of bruising on Neely’s neck, and the small amount of petechiae — small red spots caused by subsurface bleeding — on his eyelids. “In your opinion, did Mr. Penny choke Mr. Neely to death?” defense lawyer Steven Raiser asked. “No,” replied Chundru, who has worked as a medical examiner for county governments in Florida and Texas. He said Neely died from “the combined effects” of synthetic marijuana, schizophrenia, his struggle and restraint, and a blood condition that can lead to fatal complications during exertion. “The chokehold did not cause death,” the pathologist said.***

***

National Review notes

 In February, Jackson Green and Donald Zepeda defaced the display cases for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. The vandals coated the cases in powdered red paint, supposedly to protest climate change. Both had been involved in previous climate-related disturbances, Green at the National Gallery of Art, Zepeda blocking a roadway. They were initially charged with misdemeanors. After the intervention of archivist Colleen Shogan, the DOJ raised the charges to felonies. Then, at Green’s sentencing, Shogan gave a statement in person to the federal court, calling for the maximum sentence, which is ten years. “These attacks on museums, and the unique treasures of our cultural history that we hold in trust for the nation, are not low-level, inconsequential, or victimless crimes,” she said. “Sending a strong message to clearly establish the significance of these crimes and deter future attacks is essential, not only for the National Archives, but for all cultural institutions across the country.” Green was sentenced to 18 months and Zepeda to 24 months, and both were ordered to pay restitution to the National Archives for the full cost of the damage, over $50,000. Though not the maximum, the penalties should deter any future attacks on the National Archives. Shogan’s commitment to her duty to protect our nation’s history is one of the more admirable acts by a public servant in recent memory.

***

Monterey Police Oct. 2017 Pete Hegseth rape investigation

Nobody wanted to prosecute for obvious reasons. That doesn't mean it is without political value.

***

Blunt instrument

Attorney dumps Aurora dentist just before jury selection, delaying trial in high-profile poisoning case The murder trial for an Aurora dentist accused of poisoning his wife was delayed Thursday after his attorney abruptly withdrew from the case just before jury selection was scheduled to begin. Denver attorney Harvey Steinberg cited two rules of professional conduct as reasons for his departure from the case: one, that his client was persisting in a course of action that he “reasonably believes is criminal or fraudulent,” and two, that his client was insisting on action he “considers repugnant or… has a fundamental disagreement (with),” according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Arapahoe County District Court Judge Darren Vahle on Thursday granted Steinberg’s request to withdraw from the case. That left his former client, James Craig, 46, without representation on the morning his jury trial was set to begin. The former Aurora dentist is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Angela Craig, 43. She died March 18, 2023, from lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a decongestant found in over-the-counter eyedrops. Shelly Bradbury reports.

Typically, you'd be more circumspect in asking to withdraw.

***

When you leave your dna on a murder victims, it's hard to miss

***

Kill people and someone will notice

A Dallas anesthesiologist who injected dangerous drugs into patient IV bags, leading to one death and numerous cardiac emergencies, was sentenced today to 190 years in prison. Raynaldo Riviera Ortiz Jr., 60, was charged by criminal complaint in September 2022 and indicted the following month on charges related to tampering with IV bags used at a local surgical center. In April, following an eight-day trial, a jury convicted him of four counts of tampering with consumer products resulting in serious bodily injury, one count of tampering with a consumer product and five counts of intentional adulteration of a drug. He was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey for the Northern District of Texas, who found that Dr. Ortiz caused the death of his colleague and called his other conduct “tantamount to attempted murder.”*** between May and August 2022, numerous patients at Surgicare North Dallas suffered cardiac emergencies during routine medical procedures performed by various doctors. About one month after the unexplained emergencies began, an anesthesiologist who had worked at the facility earlier that day died while treating herself for dehydration using an IV bag. In August 2022, doctors at the surgical care center began to suspect tainted IV bags had caused the repeated crises after an 18-year-old patient had to be rushed to the intensive care unit in critical condition during a routine sinus surgery. A local lab analyzed fluid from the bag used during the teenager’s surgery and found bupivacaine (a nerve-blocking agent), epinephrine (a stimulant) and lidocaine (an anesthetic) — a drug cocktail that could have caused the boy’s symptoms, which included very high blood pressure, cardiac dysfunction and pulmonary edema. The lab also observed a puncture in the plastic shell that had been around the IV bag.*** Evidence at trial showed that Ortiz was facing disciplinary action at the time for an alleged medical mistake made in his one of his own surgeries, and that he potentially faced losing his medical license.***

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Lacking judicial restraint

but if it saves his life...

***

The only unsolved skyjacking

https://www.newsmax.com/us/fbi-hijacker-db-cooper/2024/11/24/id/1189228/

gives you the wavetops of the two cowboy state reports

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is not updated

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***

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 21nov24

Good on her - democracy works

Shelley Luther, who gained attention for defying COVID-19 restrictions at her Dallas salon

Read more at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/115117929.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

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Why should he ever get out?

A Colorado man was sentenced yesterday to 35 years in prison and a lifetime term of supervised release for his distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and involvement with a dark-web website dedicated to CSAM. According to court documents, while still on parole for a 2013 Colorado conviction for sexual exploitation of a child, registered sex offender Christopher Carl Meier, 41, of Denver, became a member of a dark-web website dedicated to CSAM depicting boys and the discussion of the sexual abuse of minor boys. On July 9, Meier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute CSAM and five counts of distribution of CSAM. Meier was a member of the website for more than 18 months and made more than 600 posts on the website. On this website, Meier advertised and distributed images and videos depicting minor boys engaged in sexual conduct. He made statements on the website admitting that he produced this material by tricking the boys into thinking that they were interacting online with a girl their own age and enticing them to disrobe and engage in sex acts on webcam. The FBI is aware of at least 65 victims of Meier’s conduct.***

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B/c ADA protects a right to sleep on a sidewalk and eat out of a dumpster?

The Justice Department announced today that it has opened an investigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into whether the State of Michigan unnecessarily institutionalizes adults with serious mental illness in state psychiatric hospitals. The department will investigate whether the state fails to provide necessary community-based mental health services to enable people to transition from the state psychiatric hospitals and remain stable in the community. Prior to the announcement, the department informed the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the State Attorney General’s Office of the initiation of the investigation.***

***

Probably thought he was smarter than FBI, Secret Service, sheriffs

Alan W. Filion, 18, of Lancaster, California, pleaded guilty today to four counts of making interstate threats to injure the person of another. Filion faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count. Filion is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 11, 2025.*** According to the plea agreement, from approximately August 2022 to January 2024, Filion made more than 375 swatting and threat calls, including calls in which he claimed to have planted bombs in the targeted locations or threatened to detonate bombs and/or conduct mass shootings at those locations. He targeted religious institutions, high schools, colleges and universities, government officials, and numerous individuals across the United States. Filion was 16 at the time he placed the majority of the calls.*** According to court documents, Filion became a serial swatter for both profit and recreation. He claimed in a Jan. 19, 2023, online post that his “first” swatting was like “2 to 3 years ago” and that “6-9 months ago [he] decided to turn it into a business. . .” On several occasions, Filion placed posts on social-media channels advertising his services and swatting-for-a-fee structure. On Jan. 18, Filion, then 17-years-old, was arrested in California on Florida state charges arising from a May 2023 threat he made to a religious institution in Sanford, Florida. In that threat, he claimed to have an illegally modified AR-15, a Glock 17 pistol, pipe bombs, and Molotov cocktails. He said that he was going to imminently “commit a mass shooting” and “kill everyone” he saw. Filion pleaded guilty today in federal court to making that threat.***

***

You're better than Twitter/X?

***

Every society has crime

A stabbing attack at a vocational school in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi on Saturday left eight people dead and 17 others injured, local police said. The attack took place at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in Yixing, a smaller city within Wuxi, at around 6:30 p.m. local time, the Yixing police said in a statement. The suspect, a 21-year old male student surnamed Xu, was detained on site. Police said Wu had failed his examinations and could not graduate, and that he was dissatisfied about his pay at an internship. He decided to vent his frustrations via the attack, the statement said.*** This is the second deadly attack within a week after a man drove his car into people at a sports facility in the southern city of Zhuhai, leaving 35 people dead and injured 43 others. China has seen a number of attacks in which suspects appear to target members of the public at random.*** [3 other random mass attacks.]

If you think capitalism is alienating, try communism or socialism.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/china-knife-attack-yixing-stabbing-school-xu/2024/11/17/id/1188352

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Marlette has a point

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How could you work for an law enforcement?

White Plains, Maryland – An antifascist Redditor and self-proclaimed “anarcho-communist” has been unmasked as a Special Agent for the United States Secret Service (USSS). Thanks to publicly available information, counter-extremism researchers with the Justice Report can confidently name 30-year-old Thomas Jack “TJ” Hamil—an 1811 employee for the Department of Homeland Security—as a lifelong anarchist, left-wing extremist, and a devout follower of “Antifascist” shock jock Robert Evans. Hamil—who began his career in law enforcement as a uniformed officer for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in 2017—would climb the institutional ladder***

He even describes himself as a “walking talking infoshop” of anarchist political theory and credits online antifascists for radicalizing him against “the right” via several different corporate-sponsored podcasts.*** One now-deleted post made on November 8th appeared to be an urgent cry for help, with the user /u/endon40—now identified as Hamil—begging for forgiveness and asking for ways to “get out” of his “shameful” law enforcement career ahead of President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s impending second term.***

“I want to leave my job,” he said. “Maybe go work as an advocate for something like the ACLU or SPLC…I feel totally lost …Is it even possible for me to get back on the right side of things anymore?” He said. In response, Hamil’s post would receive a mixed assortment of comments from antifascists, with some outright disbelieving him, while others, staying true to their ACAB values, admitted he could never be trusted among them for being a so-called “glowie.” Frustrated, Hamil offered to show proof of his federal credentials to any one of the board’s anonymous ‘Antifa’ moderators to corroborate his claims.***

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“Keep Our Kids Safe.”

The small Columbia County town of St. Helens erupted in fury Friday over allegations that local school district officials badly mishandled the case of two St. Helens High School teachers arrested this week on charges of sexually abusing students for years. The allegations follow a $3.5 million payout earlier this year by the school district to a former student abused by another teacher and a promise nearly a year ago by Superintendent Scot Stockwell to make sure no other students would be harmed. By afternoon, Principal Katy Wagner had been placed on paid leave, school Board Chair Ryan Scholl had stepped down and the remainder of the board placed Stockwell on paid leave at a hastily called emergency meeting held via Zoom. Earlier in the day, students and their families took to the streets in protest to call for the school leaders to resign. School was canceled districtwide, with officials saying only that they hoped to be able to resume normal operations Monday.***

Stearns, 46, faces seven charges of second-degree sexual abuse and a charge of third-degree abuse after being arrested Tuesday at the school district, according to the St. Helens Police Department. Stearns is charged with abusing six students starting in 2015. Mark Collins, 64, is a retired St. Helens High School math teacher who was living in Beaverton at the time of his arrest on Tuesday, police said. He was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual abuse and one count of attempted second-degree sexual abuse of three students starting in 2017, court records show.*** Hogue said two detectives contacted Weaver after learning of the video. They began monitoring comments on the post and contacting people who alleged inappropriate physical touching by teachers for years, Hogue said.

On Oct. 15, authorities served a grand jury subpoena on the school district seeking the personnel files of both Stearns and Collins and any complaints from a list of former students.*** The material obtained through the subpoena verified that students at the time had reported alleged inappropriate physical contact involving the two teachers to the school administration but that those reports were never shared with police or state officials as required by law, Hogue said.*** In response to his video, Weaver said he started getting private messages from students still enrolled at the high school, writing that sexual misconduct involving teachers was still a problem. Others directly commented on his video, sharing similar concerns.***

Janci’s suit on behalf of Jessica Doe alleged the district’s inaction allowed Wroblewski to groom the 16-year-old girl on the track team in 2017 and sexually abuse her on school grounds and at his home over seven months until his arrest in 2018. He was sentenced to four years and two months in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of second-degree sexual abuse of an underage girl.*** Stearns has pleaded not guilty. According to the indictment, he is accused of sexually abusing six students from 2015 to 2020. He allegedly touched their necks, chests, buttocks or mouth inappropriately, the indictment says. Collins also pleaded not guilty. He is accused of abusing three students between 2017 and Jan. 21, 2023, allegedly touching their inner thighs or in one case “attempting to cause” the student to touch his penis, according to the indictment.***

***

Laken Riley murder trial

ATHENS, Ga. — Slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley “fought for her life” for a staggering 18 minutes before her skull was crushed by an illegal migrant, prosecutors said Friday — as opening statements got underway for the shocking murder case that was a cornerstone of the presidential election. Riley, 22, was found viciously murdered on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22, shortly after her friend reported that she had not returned from her morning run. On the first day of the bench trial, prosecutors claimed that suspect Jose Ibarra, 26 — an illegal migrant linked to the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua prison gang — smashed Riley’s head in and asphyxiated her when she resisted his sexual attack.***

After lunch, the judge was shown photos of Ibarra’s scratch injuries that were taken the day after Riley’s murder. The images showed cuts on his hands, wrists and arms. Riley had Ibarra’s DNA under her fingernails, prosecutors said.***

On Friday, defense attorney Dustin Kirby delivered less than 10 minutes of opening statements, focusing on the fact that the prosecution’s case was supposedly grounded in “circumstantial” evidence. “The evidence in this case is very good that Laken Riley was murdered,” Kirby said. “The evidence that Jose Ibarra killed Laken Riley is circumstantial.” Kirby said the judge shouldn’t accept the conclusions surrounding the DNA, fingerprints and other evidence. “Upon a closer look … the evidence that links Mr. Ibarra to that event is lacking,” Kirby said.

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Tues

What exactly is the context for "my bottom hurts and I like breaking the law?"

The board of commissioners chair at the center of the voting controversy in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, involving the Senate race between Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Republican challenger David McCormick said her comments about violating laws were “misinterpreted.” Diane Ellis-Marseglia tried to walk back her words on Monday, suggesting she did not mean she supported breaking the law or violating the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. She claimed that what she said was misinterpreted, misconstrued, and taken out of context, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. She also apologized for her comment and the “confusion it caused.” “I apologize for all the upset and confusion it caused,” said Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat in Bucks County. *** “I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country, and people violate laws anytime they want,” Ellis-Marseglia said last week. “So, for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it.”***

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Daniel Penny trial

Prosecution rested on Mon. Defense started presenting evidence.

Daniel Penny’s sister and childhood friend pleaded his case to jurors at his manslaughter trial Monday — describing the former Marine as a “calm and peaceful” surfing buff who earned a reputation for honesty in their tight-knit Long Island hometown. “People always spoke so highly of him,” Alexandra Fay, who grew up on the same block as Penny in beachside West Islip, told Manhattan jurors of her one-time neighbor, who is charged with “recklessly” choking homeless man Jordan Neely to death on a subway train last May. “He was so kind. If anything he was extra kind … He always spoke up,” Fay added, grinning in the direction of Penny, 26, who sat at the defense table in Manhattan Supreme Court.*** NY Post

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Wed

Maybe he doesn't want a dirtbag for AG

Damaging testimony about former Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney general, was accessed by an unidentified hacker, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The hacker, using the alias Altam Beezley, downloaded a computer file Monday that contained sworn testimony from a woman who said she had sex with Gaetz in 2017 when she was 17, according to the report. One of the 24 leaked exhibits also contained corroborating testimony from a second woman who said she witnessed the encounter, according to the Times. The leaked documents include information that is under seal with the Department of Justice, which opted against filing charges against Gaetz in the matter, and the House Ethics Committee, which also investigated Gaetz until he resigned from Congress in the hours after Trump announced him as his nominee for AG last week.  None of the leaked information appeared to have been made public by the hacker as of Tuesday morning, and the person's possible motive is unclear, according to the Times.***

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/hacker-testimony-matt-gaetz/2024/11/19/id/1188643

***A lawyer for two women who spoke with the Ethics Committee told CBS News on Monday that they testified that Gaetz paid them directly and repeatedly for sex, and said Venmo transactions for the encounters were obtained by the panel. The attorney, Joel Leppard, also said the women told House investigators that Gaetz asked about "party favors" and "vitamins" at upcoming parties via text messages, which was understood to be code for drugs. One of Leppard's clients testified before the Ethics Committee that she witnessed  Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old against a game table during a July 2017 party, months after he was sworn in as a House member.

***

That's going to be expensive

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Police on Okinawa arrested a Marine last week on suspicion of setting a hotel room on fire in an attempt gone wrong to create a romantic evening. A sergeant assigned to Camp Schwab was taken into custody at the Naha police station at 1:41 p.m. Friday after he “completely burned” the room the previous day, a spokesman for Okinawa Prefectural Police said by phone Tuesday. The Marine lit about 20 candles in the room, then left to pick up his girlfriend at Naha Airport, according to police. The room caught fire between 10 and 10:30 p.m., the spokesman said. The Marine told police he “lit the candles to prepare a surprise for his partner” and apologized for “putting the people of the hotel and surrounding area at risk,” the spokesman said.***

Pay them some gomen money, and the case might go away.

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Maybe, if Daniel Penny were not in a jury trial

It was just before 8:30 a.m. Monday, the police said, when a man approached a construction worker on West 19th Street in Manhattan and, without warning, stabbed him in the gut and ran off. The victim was soon declared dead. A violent spree was just starting, the police said. By 11 a.m., the assailant had fatally stabbed a man who was fishing by the side of the East River, and had attacked a 36-year-old woman near the United Nations. She was pronounced dead several hours later, the police said.

The rampage ended when a cabdriver who had seen the third stabbing followed the attacker from the crime scene and then alerted a police officer, who took the man into custody. The man’s clothes were spattered with blood, and he had two bloody knives, the police said. Late Monday, the police said the man, Ramon Rivera, was being charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Mr. Rivera, 51, appeared to be homeless, the police said. He was released from the Department of Correction’s custody last month after being jailed on burglary and assault charges, a spokeswoman for the agency said.*** Mr. Rivera had been arrested at least eight times in the city, most recently on a larceny charge in Manhattan in October, according to officials. That case remained active as of Monday, and the Legal Aid Society lawyer representing Mr. Rivera in the case declined to comment.***

Mr. Rivera was held in several city jails from Feb. 19 to Oct. 17, according to a Department of Correction spokeswoman. On May 7, while in custody, he was charged with assaulting a police officer and an emergency medical worker at a psychiatric prison ward at Bellevue Hospital, the police document says. His most recent arrest was the day he was released, when he was charged with larceny for stealing a bowl, the police document says. Mr. Rivera’s criminal record outside New York dates back to a battery charge in Polk County, Fla., in May 2003, the document says. He was arrested four more times in Florida on various charges from 2006 to 2010. In 2017 and 2018, he was charged with assault in two Ohio cases.***

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/nyregion/nyc-stabbings-manhattan.html

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Daniel Penny interrogation video - thank you Free Press

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Lake Riley

ATHENS, Ga. - Jose Ibarra, 26, was found guilty Wednesday on all counts in the murder of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley. The verdict was delivered late in the morning by Judge H. Patrick Haggard after a high-profile trial that spanned several days of testimony and closing arguments.*** Following the impact statements, both the prosecution and defense spoke and then Judge Haggard delivered his sentence – life in prison without the possibility of parole on one count of malice murder; life in prison without the possibility of parole on one count of kidnapping; 20 years on one count of aggravated assault; 12 months for hindrance of an emergency phone call; 12 months for one county of tampering of evidence; and 5 years on one Peeping Tom count.***

https ://www .fox5atlanta .com/news/jose-ibarra-guilty-murder-laken-riley-georgia close gaps to make link work

Was the death penalty on the table in Laken Riley case? No, prosecutors before the trial chose not to pursue the death penalty against Jose Ibarra but, according to Associated Press reporting this month, did notify the court in a filing that they were seeking life without parole.***

https ://www .11alive .com/article/news/crime/trials/jose-ibarra-guilty-verdict-prosecutors-did-not-seek-death-penalty/85-fcdab416-7bb0-4051-8734-4196b31ddc04 close gaps to make link work

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Good

Thirty years after South Carolina killer mom Susan Smith was put behind bars for drowning her two toddler sons, a board unanimously voted to deny her parole after she appeared on a jailhouse court feed on Wednesday morning. Smith appeared emotional and crying on the feed.  "I know that what I did was horrible…I’m sorry that I put them through that...I wish I could take that back, I really do...I was just scared," she said. "I didn’t know how to tell the people that loved them that they would never see them again…I’m sorry, I know that’s not enough…just words, but they come from my heart."*** Smith will be eligible for parole again in two years. 

https ://www .foxnews .com/us/susan-smith-prosecutor-says-she-meant-serve-life-prison-killer-mom-gets-parole-hearing close gaps to make link work

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Idaho murders

Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, can face the death penalty, a judge ruled Wednesday. On Wednesday, Ada County Judge Steven Hippler denied their motion in his ruling. "The court concludes relief in defendant’s favor is not warranted on any of the motions," Hippler wrote in his 55-page order.*** Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, in connection with the fatal stabbing of four University of Idaho students – Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.***

https://www .foxnews .com/us/bryan-kohberger-can-face-death-penalty-convicted-idaho-college-slayings close gaps to make link work

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Want to see the insanity of unchecked bureaucratic power?

Http s://www .thefp .com/p/brittany-patterson-georgia-mom-jailed you'll have to fill the gaps in the link - thanks, tumblr

[masterofd1saster]

CJ court watch - surveillance camera case

7th Cir decided United States v. House, No. 23-1950 on Nov. 5.

Charles House was a weed and meth dealer working out of Anderson, Indiana. When police received a tip that he was dealing weed and meth from his house, they mounted a surveillance camera on a pole across the street from his house.

Police surveilled his house for about 13 months. He was indicted and convicted. He appealed from his conviction. His argument was

the “mosaic theory”—the idea that the “government can learn more from a given slice of information if it can put that information in the context of a broader pattern, a mosaic”—we will conclude that the warrantless and prolonged use of pole camera surveillance is unconstitutional.

The problem for House was that anyway you look at the mosaic, it was seen from a public place and revealed nothing that a passerby couldn't see. Moreover, the surveillance could not reveal facts retrospectively like cell phone records - the camera could only provide evidence of events that occurred after installation.

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 14nov24

I seem to recall the Supreme Court saying something about such spectacle in the courtroom...

The carnival atmosphere at trial could easily have been avoided since the courtroom and courthouse premises are subject to the control of the court. Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 358 (1966)

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An elementary school? Jeff Epstein/Roman Polanski/Bubba say you're sick.

DENVER — Police have arrested a Denver Public Schools social worker on child sex assault charges. The Denver Police Department said Thursday that officers arrested 44-year-old Emilio Ramos-Avila for investigation of three counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust on Wednesday. The school district said Ramos-Avila has been employed with the district since August 2015. He is currently a social worker at Force Elementary School. Ramos-Avila has been on administrative leave since Oct. 17 and will remain on leave until the district can finish its investigation, said DPS.***

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Sorry, she's smart enough to tell you "get a life; GBTW"

Democrat U.S. senators and other party members are mulling convincing Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to resign so President Joe Biden can replace her with another leftist judge before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. The 70-year-old Sotomayor, nominated by then-President Barack Obama in 2009, is the oldest Democrat-appointed justice on the court. She's also a life-long diabetic. In 2018, paramedics were called to her home after the justice suffered "symptoms of low blood sugar." Lawmakers long have known about Sotomayor's health issues, but as with Biden's cognitive issues, Democrats refrained from admitting potential problems caused by the condition. Now, Democrats see Sotomayor's situation as a way to seat someone on the high court before Trump takes office with Republicans in control of the Senate. The GOP won a majority in the chamber during Tuesday's elections. A Democrat senator told Politico that the topic has been discussed by members, who realize making an attempt to replace Sotomayor would be "a risky play," according to the outlet.***

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/democrats-supreme-court-sonia-sotomayor/2024/11/08/id/1187246

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Who gets high bail?

Golden officer killed in suspected DUI crash identified; Colorado School of Mines professor arrested

The Golden police officers killed and injured Wednesday in a suspected DUI crash were identified Thursday. Earlier that day, a Colorado School of Mines professor accused in the crash appeared in court. Golden officials on Thursday afternoon said Evan Dunn, 33, was killed in the line of duty while responding to the crash on Colorado 58. Officer Bethany Grusing was seriously injured. Stephen Geer, a 43-year-old Colorado School of Mines mechanical engineering professor who was arrested and held overnight in the crash that killed Dunn, is being investigated for vehicular homicide and vehicular assault. He appeared Thursday morning before Jefferson County Court Judge Thomas Vance, who set Geer’s bond at $250,000 and scheduled his next appearance for Nov. 14. Bruce Finley writes.

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Only 30?

Richard Anthony Reyna Densmore, 47, of Kaleva, Michigan, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually exploiting a child. Densmore pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child, part of a broader indictment that charged him with other child exploitation offenses.*** Densmore is a member of 764, a network of violent extremists who seek to normalize the production, sharing, and possession of child pornography and gore material to desensitize and corrupt youth toward future acts of violence. Members of 764 gain notoriety by systematically targeting, grooming, and extorting victims through online social media platforms. Members demand that victims engage in and share media of self-mutilation, sexual acts, harm to animals, acts of random violence, suicide, and murder, all for the purpose of accelerating chaos and disrupting society and the world order. Densmore, known as “Rabid,” became notorious in the 764 network by creating online “Sewer” communities on Discord where members recruited children – including by infiltrating online gaming sites that children frequent – to cut themselves and engage in graphic sexual acts. Densmore boosted membership in “Sewer” by advertising livestreams of children engaging in self-mutilation (cutshows) and sexually explicit activity “on cam.” He threatened victims to cut themselves by telling them, “I have all your information. I own you. . . . You do what I say now kitten.”  Densmore kept child pornography and bloody images of “Rabid,” “Sewer,” and “764” carved into victims’ limbs, in some cases with razor blades and boxcutters nearby. Densmore also sexually exploited children. In October 2022, Densmore unsuccessfully tried to persuade a minor girl, Jane Doe, to send him an explicit picture with “Rabid” written on her bare chest. When she expressed discomfort with that request, Densmore contacted another Discord user and paid him Nitro, a form of Discord currency, to help secure a sexually explicit picture of Jane Doe. Densmore’s efforts were successful and Jane Doe, at the request of the other Discord user, sent Densmore and the user a nude video of herself with “Rabid” written on her chest.***

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Does the word "irony" mean anything to you?

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Recognize Boris & Natasha?

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Really? Write in didn't win?

DELTA TWP. - Former Township Supervisor Ken Fletcher, who resigned in September just after being arraigned on charges of accosting a child for immoral purposes, earned enough votes at the polls Tuesday to take office again on Jan. 1. Fletcher, a Democrat who ran unopposed on the ballot, received nearly 89% of the votes cast, according to unofficial results. That's despite being accused of having sexual conversations over text messaging and a dating app with a police investigator posing as a 15-year-old boy. He was charged as part of a sting run by a regional internet crimes task force that includes the Eaton County Sheriff's Office, Lansing police, Michigan State Police and Charlotte police, said Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd. Two write-in candidates, Richard Ott and Saturn Wells, filed to run after Fletcher resigned. Eaton County Clerk Diana Bosworth said it could take another week before the votes for each are tallied but neither received more votes than Fletcher. Just over 11% of the votes cast were for write-ins. ***

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tues

***In Florida, voters failed to approve a constitutional amendment that would have legalized recreational marijuana, defying both expectations and the endorsement of president-elect Donald Trump. Voters in South and North Dakota defeated legal weed initiatives, too, by decisive margins—the second and third time for each state, respectively. Bright-blue Massachusetts had the chance to become the third state, after Oregon and Colorado, to legalize psychedelic drugs. Polls suggested Question 4 was too close to call, but Bay Staters ended up rejecting it by a 14-point margin. Even Cambridge and Boston could barely post majorities.  These votes came from the grassroots, defeating big-money campaigns for legalization. The pro-legalization camp in Florida, backed by the massive cannabis company Trulieve, spent nearly $150 million, more than any prior recreational marijuana campaign. The Yes on 4 campaign in Massachusetts spent just $7 million, but that was still 73 times more than the opposition.*** “It shows how drugs are not the winning issue many politicians have been tricked into believing,” Kevin Sabet, president of the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said. “As marijuana has become legalized, commercialized, and normalized, its effects are now so ubiquitous they are hard to miss.”  Indeed, Americans might finally be noticing that more permissive drug policy does not just mean that people can partake of a joint without the police hassling them. It also creates big social problems: car crashes (accounting for an estimated 1,400 fatalities per year), public disorder (a 35 percent increase in chronic homelessness in states that legalize), and surging insanity (a 70 percent increase in psychosis among teens that use). Even drugs like pot and psychedelics can make people less responsible, harder to employ, and more dysfunctional.   For the past decade, marijuana legalization has seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut. Since 2012, 24 states have legalized—14 in the past four years alone. Voters have been willing to permit others’ vices. But increasingly, they’re seeing that those vices have consequences for them, too.*** Today, voters can look at California, which is blanketed in unlicensed shops. They can talk to friends in New York City, who complain constantly of the smell of weed. They can learn about Colorado, where 15 percent of marijuana users report driving after using. Those impressions are backed by a growing body of research. Marijuana legalization has been shown to cause homelessness and addiction, as the availability of a harmful substance attracts and increases dysfunctional behavior. It causes more fatal accidents, as intoxicated drivers choose to get behind the wheel. It may even lower property values, as the proliferation of legal pot shops makes neighborhoods less attractive places to live or work. ***

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wed

Daniel Penny trial

The subway rider seen on video helping Marine vet Daniel Penny hold down Jordan Neely after an outburst on a Manhattan train took the witness stand on Tuesday after prosecutors agreed not to charge him in exchange for testifying in Penny's manslaughter trial, telling the court he said aloud that the former serviceman was not squeezing "tight enough" during the altercation. Although he initially gave detectives a different story, he arrived after Penny had already taken Neely down. "Everybody was frantic and saying, call the cops, call the cops,'" said Eric Gonzales, a 39-year-old father of two. "I see those two individuals on the floor, so I assumed one was trying to restrain the other until the cops came."*** Neely continued to struggle, but the two continued to hold him down, waiting for the police. Gonzales said he did urge Penny to loosen his grip but later told him to grab tighter.*** Gonzales also said he's still scared about testifying despite the prosecution's immunity offer – saying he believes he or his family could be harmed if he testifies in favor of Penny.***

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Since the Daniel Penny trial kicked off, witness after witness has described the abject terror they felt while riding the uptown F train as unhinged homeless man Jordan Neely entered the car, snarling and threatening straphangers. One teen testified that she was so frightened she thought she’d pass out. An older woman was “scared s–tless.” A 29-year-old man said he was “pretty terrified.” All testified that they’d never before experienced that type of acute panic while riding the train. But on Tuesday, one was visibly petrified to be in that courtroom, with protesters outside and multiple Neely supporters inside. Scared to be on the stand. To be a party to a potential acquittal of Penny and what that would mean for his personal safety.*** Despite his deal with the prosecutor, Gonzalez was still worried what would happen if his testimony were to help Penny go free. “You’re scared of people that are looking for a prosecution of my client?” asked Penny’s defense attorney Steven Raiser. “Yes,” Gonzalez said. Raiser added: “You’re afraid that if you testified in a way that’s helpful to my client, you may suffer repercussions, correct?” Affirmative. “All these protests going on, I am scared for myself, I am scared for my family,” Gonzalez, a father of two said, underscoring how politically charged this farce of a criminal case is.***

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The Agency that Dare not Speak its Name, but has a website at www.cia.gov

A C.I.A. official has been charged with disclosing classified documents that appeared to show Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran for a missile attack earlier this year, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter. The official, Asif W. Rahman, was indicted last week in federal court in Virginia with two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. He was arrested by the F.B.I. on Tuesday in Cambodia and brought to federal court in Guam to face charges. The documents were prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which analyzes images and information collected by U.S. spy satellites. It conducts work in support of clandestine and military operations. Mr. Rahman, who worked abroad for the C.I.A., was set to appear in Guam on Thursday.***

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thurs

Ugh.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Three people are now facing federal charges for allegedly staging a hate crime during the Colorado Springs mayoral race in 2023. In the early morning hours of April 23, 2023, a burning cross in front a campaign sign for then-candidate Yemi Mobolade was found at the intersection of Union and Fillmore. The sign had been defaced with a racial slur. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado (USAOC) now says the entire scene was a hoax, intended to make citizens think that there was a group of racists in Colorado Springs strongly opposed to a Black mayoral candidate. In a news release Tuesday, the USAOC announced 35-year-old Derrick Bernard Jr., 40-year-old Ashley Blackcloud, and 38-year-old Deanna West had been indicted by a grand jury for their “maliciously conveying false information about a threat made by means of fire” and “their alleged roles in a conspiracy to spread disinformation about the threat.” In the indictment obtained by 11 News, the USAOC states the trio started plotting in early April 2023, the day after a runoff election was announced in the mayoral race, with Mobolade and Wayne Williams the projected candidates. The indictment included a series of emails it alleges were from the three suspects***

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What? You couldn't get Bill Clinton?

Trump has apparently picked the skeeviest man in congress for AG.  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/matt-gaetz-faces-gop-senate-opposition-after-trump-selection-attorney-general  The good news is that Repub senators say the nomination is DoA.

Some wonder if Trump is playing 4D chess—that he knows Gaetz won’t get confirmed and ultimately has someone else in mind. If Republican senators die on this hill, then he can get the rest of his picks through. Maybe. But that all sounds a little too premeditated. 

https://www.thefp .com/p/rubio-gabbard-and-gaetz-oh-my

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Worked out great for California, right?

Michigan House Republicans on Tuesday expressed their staunch opposition to a slate of Democrat-sponsored bills that will effectively eliminate cash bail requirements for certain offenders. In its meeting on Tuesday, the House Criminal Justice Committee discussed House Bills 4655-4656 and 4658-4661. The bills aim to revise the state’s bail laws and legally restrict judges from requiring criminal defendants to post cash bail as a prerequisite to obtain release while awaiting trial. The proposed reforms would not only render judges’ current ability to set bail for “low-level crimes,” but as well prohibit them from weighing a defendant’s criminal record, failure to appear in court, or whether the judge and prosecutors deem them potentially dangerous to the community.*** Harris served in law enforcement for 26 years, retiring as a Waterford Police sergeant. He noted that New York and California adopted similar bail reforms, which he said has led to increased rates of recidivism.  In New York City, for example, “nearly 50% of felony offenders released without bail were rearrested while awaiting trial.” “Without strong bail requirements, repeat offenders have caused a crime surge in other states,” Harris continued. “Michigan shouldn’t repeat the mistakes of California and New York. We should keep bail options available to protect our communities while ensuring defendants and victims receive their day in court.”***

Https: // www. Themidwesterner. news/2024/11/michigan-house-republicans-slam-dems-move-to-eliminate-cash-bail - if you close up the gaps, the link might work; tumblr won't let me post it as a link

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Petty and vindictive

The FBI reportedly raided the Manhattan home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan early Wednesday morning after the election betting platform correctly predicted Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential race last week. *** The raid, as first reported by the New York Post, involved FBI agents seizing Coplan’s phone and other electronic devices while the 26-year-old CEO was at his SoHo apartment.*** The spokesperson emphasized in their statement that "Polymarket is a fully transparent prediction market that helps everyday people better understand the events that matter most to them, including elections. We charge no fees, take no trading positions, and allow observers from around the world to analyze all market data as a public good."***

https://www.foxbusiness. com/politics/fbi-reportedly-raids-polymarket-ceos-home-after-betting-platform-predicts-trump-win-political-retribution - you'll have to close up the gap b/c tumblr stinks

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Allstate didn't get rich being gullible

Four people were arrested Wednesday in connection with insurance fraud when they claimed a bear damaged their car, but it was really a person in a bear costume, the California Department of Insurance said. Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale; Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale; Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale; and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, were charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy, the department said. The suspects filed a claim with their insurance company, saying a bear got into their car, a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost, at Lake Arrowhead on Jan. 28, 2024, and damaged the inside with scratches. The insurance department said the suspects provided a video to the company, which showed the "bear" in the car. An investigation into the claim took a closer look at the video and found the "bear" was actually a person in a bear costume, the insurance department said. Investigators then took the video to biologists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to also look at the video. The biologists said, "it was clearly a human in a bear suit."***

https://abc7 .com/post/4-la-area-residents-accused-using-bear-suit-damage-cars-defraud-insurance-companies-officials-say/15544020/ - again, you'll have to take out the gap

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 7nov24

Society: Jordan's untouchable; you deal with him

Police detected a pulse on homeless man Jordan Neely after he was put in a chokehold by Marine veteran Daniel Penny, bombshell new bodycam footage reveals.  The video became public today as Penny's manslaughter trial began in Manhattan. *** NYPD officers arrived on the train at Fulton Station at 2.33pm. Two police officers confirmed that Neely still had a pulse when they arrived.  'I got a pulse,' one said. A second police officer confirmed that he too felt a pulse.  Neely was unconscious, lying on the subway car floor.   When asked how Neely ended up there, Penny replied: 'I put him out.'  Despite initially detecting a pulse, they issued Narcan - the drug used to reverse opioid overdoses - to Neely - and started CPR at 2.38pm. Paramedics from Northwell Health arrived on the train at 2.48pm - 15 minutes after the police. At 3.13pm - almost 45 minutes after police first arrived - Neely was still on the train, by then surrounded by paramedics. The bodycam released by the court today ends then. *** Among witnesses on the first day of evidence was an NYPD Sergeant who testified that none of his team performed mouth-to-mouth on Neely because he was a 'drug user'.  'He seemed to be a drug user.. he was an apparent drug user. He was very dirty. I didn’t want them to get… hepatitis. 'If he did wake up he would have been vomiting. I didn’t want my officers to do that.  'He was filthy. He looked like a homeless individual. You have to protect your officer, 'I wouldn’t want my officer to get sick if the person throws up,' he said. *** [Prosecutor told jury] ‘We pass people like Jordan Neely every day. As New Yorkers, we train ourselves not to engage, not to make eye contact, to pretend people like Jordan Neely don’t exist.’  Yoran told jurors that another man who helped to get Neely to the ground repeatedly told Penny that he could let go because he had a strong grip of his arms. ***

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Crips are wonderful dirtbags

Denver teen found guilty of killing woman with AR-15 after fender-bender on Colfax

Prosecutors argued during a seven-day jury trial that Remi Cordova opened fire after a minor crash and killed Pamela Cabriales in an attempt to earn status within the Eastside Crips gang.

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Gadsden Flag worthy

Note where this report was published. New York is world famous for stupid, petty cruelty.

This week, New York officials seized and euthanized a pet squirrel named Peanut, sparking outrage from his owner and a large social media following. Peanut, along with a raccoon named Fred, was taken on Wednesday from Mark Longo's home in Pine City, near New York's Pennsylvania border.*** Peanut was a social media sensation with almost 600 K followers on Instagram. Owned and cared for by Mark Longo, Peanut’s life was documented through 1,400 Instagram posts, showing him enjoying waffles, jumping through hula hoops, and bonding with Longo and his cat, Chloe. According to Longo, Peanut had become a central figure in P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, the non-profit organisation he founded to rescue neglected animals. The sanctuary currently shelters over 300 animals, with Peanut serving as its beloved symbol.*** The county health department and New York Department of Environmental Conservation reported they received complaints about “potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies” and the “illegal keeping of wildlife as pets.” According to NBC News, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) received multiple anonymous complaints about Peanut and dispatched "at least six officers" to Longo's home to seize Peanut and Fred.***

Read more at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/114908967.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

What judge signed a warrant for a squirrel?

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You've never changed your mind?

CV NEWS FEED // As of October 30, patients in Quebec, Canada, who meet certain criteria no longer need to confirm that they want to undergo physician-assisted suicide immediately before they die. The patient can now request and provide “consent” for the assisted-suicide in advance, if he or she has been diagnosed with an illness such as dementia. The government of Quebec adopted the law in June 2023, and it went into effect earlier this week.  The government’s website specifies that patients who meet the right criteria can fill out an “advance request” for the assisted-suicide program called “medical assistance in dying,” or MAID. The “advance requests” can only be made by persons “who [have] been diagnosed with a serious and incurable illness leading to incapacity,” such as dementia, according to the website. ***

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I'm sure he has a suit of armor and he'll obey the King's commands and rescue damsels in distress

hit piece in New York Magazine

Even when it’s not Halloween, a certain breed of religious traditionalist longs for the days when men donned capes and cloaks decorated with symbolic sashes and ribbons, got knighted, laid holy swords in caskets lined with red velvet, and pledged oaths to monarchs and popes. *** It turns out the last time Donald Trump was president, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito*** added a knighthood to his own résumé, pledging an oath to the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George. ***

Oh no, maybe he'll pass out tootsie rolls like the Knights of Columbus!

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tues

The law is sexist

A young woman in Iran removed her clothing and displayed her hair outside of her university to protest the “abusive enforcement” of the strict dress code. For this crime, she was swiftly and violently arrested, with footage showing her struggling beside a car with a group of men. Human rights organizations have called for an investigation into allegations of beatings and sexual assault during the arrest. Iran requires all women to wear a hijab in public, a mandate enforced by the country’s “morality police.”

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The whole world is an impact area

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it uncovered 62 pages of records from the Department of Homeland Security thanks to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit which show, contrary to what it told media, at least one U.S. Secret Service agent broke in to a hair salon and taped over the salon’s security camera in Pittsfield, MA, during a July 27, 2024, campaign fundraising visit by Vice President Kamala Harris. The records also show one agent telling colleagues that by covering the hair salon’s external security camera with tape, the Secret Service was “mitigating threats.”*** A Secret Service agent in the New York Field Office states in a July 28, 2024, email to an official on Harris’s detail whose name is redacted:

The owner [redacted] called the NYC Duty Desk stating she has pictures of agents going into the house, covering up cameras and using the bathroom. The address in question is 54 Wendell Ave., Pittsfield, MA 01201. She just wanted to know who had given permission to go inside and use the space.

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Peanut, the legend continues - Police may have been searching for pr0n.

Mark [Longo] tells TMZ when officials showed up they asked questions that had nothing to do with the animals. Mark says one of the first questions -- "Do you have any cameras in your house?" This seems telling, because Mark and his wife are big on OnlyFans and have done porn on the platform. *** the search warrant says there was probable cause to believe Mark committed a crime, he was issued no citation or other violation of law -- nothing.***

"Longo, a 34-year-old OnlyFans model, said the raid lasted about five hours and left his house in disarray."

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/dec-staff-work-home-amid-furor-peanut-squirrel-s-19887313.php

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Maybe the fact there's so many means you're guilty

Discovery process continues in child pornography case against former Recount editor By Amanda Burke Verified|The Berkshire EagleVerified PITTSFIELD — The criminal case against former editor Slade Sohmer remains pending in Berkshire Superior Court as attorneys review thousands of images of child pornography Sohmer allegedly possessed. First Berkshire Assistant District Attorney Marianne Shelvey said the review may take until the end of February due to the volume of the images, which were uncovered during a police investigation into Sohmer for alleged child pornography possession.

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Cali gets smart, etc

Prop 36, California’s tough-on-crime amendment, passed with overwhelming support. The ballot measure reverses Prop 47, a 2014 law that downgraded felonies like thefts of under $950 and drug violations to misdemeanors. Los Angeles district attorney George Gascón, a mastermind behind Prop 47, lost to law-and-order candidate Nathan Hochman.*** Massachusetts failed to pass a ballot measure that would have legalized psychedelics, including psilocybin (mushrooms) and DMT. If the ballot measure had passed, the state would have joined Oregon and Colorado as the third state in the nation to legalize the recreational use of psychedelics.*** On what the next president should do to unite America: “Promise to protect pet squirrels from government overreach.” —Kat Rosenfield***

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Ann Arbor, of course

CV NEWS FEED // On November 5, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested a 25-year-old man who has since been charged with allegedly sending a message threatening to attack conservative Christians with an AR-15 if Donald Trump is elected president. Isaac Sissel, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was charged in a federal criminal complaint with sending “a threatening communication,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. On November 2, the FBI National Threat Operations Center in West Virginia received an anonymous online message that in part read, as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan reported:  “I shall carry out an attack against conservative christan, (sic) filth in the event trump wins the election. I have a stolen ar15 and a target I refuse to name so I can continue to get away with my plans. Without a specific victim or ability to find the place I hid the gun, there’s not a thing the FBI can do until I complete the attack.”***

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New BJS pub on deaths in federal custody

In FY 2022: ƒ Homicides accounted for the largest portion (41%) of arrest-related deaths, followed by accidents (28%) and suicides (23%). ƒ In arrest-related deaths, 98% of decedents were male, 75% were white, and 53% were ages 25 to 44.***

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How fed up are Californians with crime?

CV NEWS FEED // California Proposition 36, a ballot initiative aimed at substantially reducing the amount of crime in the Golden State, passed with over 70% of the vote on Tuesday. Voters in California backed the measure by a landslide despite the fact that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Democratic Party had vehemently opposed it.*** By Wednesday afternoon, with over half of the vote in, an overwhelming majority of voters in all 58 counties of the reliably blue state backed the measure – including even deep-blue San Francisco County, where voters favored Proposition 36 by a two-to-one margin.*** Newsom had emerged as perhaps the proposition’s most high-profile opponent. At a September public event, the controversial governor urged Californians to vote against the initiative. “It’s about mass incarceration,” he claimed. “It’s about bringing us back to a 1980s mindset. The impact it’s going to have on the black and brown community is next-level.”***

Gavin is saying black and brown people steal more.

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[masterofd1saster]

I tried this today, and 4/5 top results were positive characterizations of censorship. WTF? Google & google bros happened to America.

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events Hallowe'en 24

Excellent article by Madeleine Kearns, October 24, 2024

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Wasn't there something about separate sovereigns?

Florida filed suit against the Department of Justice for blocking the state's investigation into an assassination attempt against Donald Trump at the former president's golf course in West Palm Beach. State Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a complaint in a Florida federal court against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Bloomberg Law reported Wednesday. Moody asked the court to stop the federal government from preventing Florida's investigation into alleged would-be assassin Ryan Routh while the DOJ also probes the incident.***

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/florida-sues-doj/2024/10/24/id/1185293

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National Review notes

◼ The Portland Press Herald released a searching report on Maine’s mental-health laws, which, had they been applied, might have prevented the October 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston by 40-year-old Robert Card. Card killed 18 people and shot another 13 that day. To the surprise of his acquaintances, he had been released from a New York psychiatric hospital in August. He had been acting strangely for months, believing that more and more people were out to get him. Medical staff diagnosed psychosis. He had a growing “hit list.” But after he made promises to take his meds and attend follow-ups, he walked out. Eighty-three days later, the massacre. Maine has a law to compel people like Card to comply with outpatient treatment or face involuntary commitment. But law-enforcement officials in the state hardly knew such a law existed, and the legislature has done little to fund programs that would make the law easier to use. What lies at the bottom of the Card case are a thicket of regulations, precedents, and prejudices that bias law enforcement and health-care workers toward releasing obviously psychotic patients into their own care. Those who might do so are discouraged from intervening decisively even in the presence of threats and are given a clear go-ahead only when psychotic patients do hurt someone. Not just safety but common decency and justice require that those suffering dangerous psychosis be put into the care of those trained to deal with them.

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Really cold case

ST. CHARLES, Ill. (AP) — Investigators have determined that a skull discovered in the wall of an Illinois home in 1978 was that of an Indiana teenager who died more than 150 years ago, authorities announced Thursday. The skull went forgotten until March 2021, when museum supervisors discovered it during an inventory audit. They called police, who sent the skull to the coroner's office. Working with Othram Laboratories, a forensic laboratory in Texas that assists law enforcement, the office was able to build a DNA profile from the skull that suggested it was that of Esther Granger, a 17-year-old woman who died during childbirth in Merrillville, Indiana, in 1866. The investigators matched the DNA profile to Granger's great-great grandson, Wayne Silvar, allowing them to confirm her identity.*** Burial records indicate she was interred in Lake County, Indiana. Kane County Coroner Rob Russell speculated in a news release that grave robbers may have dug up her body to sell it to physicians looking to learn more about human anatomy.

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What new evidence? The cousin -Andy Cano - testified at trial.

Timing of DA Gascón’s decision on Menendez case raises questions for some

Gascón defends plan to seek resentencing for Menendez brothers; critics say he wants to help his reelection effort

By Linh Tat | ltat@scng.com

UPDATED: October 25, 2024 at 8:23 a.m.

When Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said earlier this month that he would revisit the famous murder case of Erik and Lyle Menendez and decide whether to ask a judge to consider resentencing the brothers, some people – including his political rival – questioned the timing of his announcement. Gascón, a Democrat who swept into office in 2020 thanks to a progress voter base made up of criminal justice reform advocates, is trailing by double digits in the polls in his bid for reelection this November. And on Thursday, Oct. 24, his opponent in the D.A. race, former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, accused the incumbent of using the Menendez brothers’ high-profile case to score political points. In a statement, Hochman said the D.A.’s office received a petition back in May 2023 and a request to resentence them in February of this year.*** “With Gascón trailing by 30 points in the polls, his desperation is palpable,” Andersen’s attorney, Kathy Cady, said in a statement Thursday. “The upcoming election is less than two weeks away, and it seems Gascón is willing to manipulate the facts for a fleeting chance to salvage his political career. But justice should never be sacrificed for political gain,” Cady said. “His decisions must be grounded in truth and law, not a last-ditch effort to sway voters. Gascón’s failure to uphold his ethical responsibilities is a disgrace, and the victims of this horrific crime, including Mr. Andersen, deserve far better than being pawns in a politician’s game.” Gascón previously said he chose to reexamine the case because of recent new evidence – a letter that Erik Menendez reportedly wrote to a cousin years ago, which his attorneys say corroborates allegations that their father was sexually abusive, plus claims by a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo who recently came forward and said he was raped by Jose Menendez in the 1980s when he was a teenager. Public interest in the case was renewed because of two documentaries about the Menendez brothers released this year.*** Michele Hanisee, president of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, the union representing nearly 900 deputy district attorneys in L.A., had a different take. The union has endorsed Hochman in the upcoming election. In a post on the union’s website, Hanisee criticized the D.A.’s decision, saying “Gascón’s actions make it clear that he is more interested in using his office for free media attention than in actual justice. His self-serving agenda has left victims and their families neglected while he chases the next headline.” Gascón’s campaign declined to comment for this article.

Erik testified about the alleged abuse in great detail for roughly seven full court days. In addition, Brian Anderson, a cousin of Lyle and Erik, testified about severe physical abuse that Petitioners suffered at the hands of Jose. Diane Vandermolen testified about physical and verbal abuse by both Jose and Kitty. Andy Cano, also a cousin, testified that Erik confided to him that Jose was molesting Erik. Cano testified also that Erik always had bruises on his body. Menendez v. Terhune, 422 F.3d 1012, 1033 (9th Cir. 2005).

***

One day of front page news from the Denver Post

Murder charges filed against different juvenile in Rotella Park shooting

A different juvenile suspect is now charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy at Rotella Park.

Denver cardiologist Stephen Matthews sentenced to 158 years in prison for serial sexual assaults

“You placed a substance in our tequila drinks and then proceeded to take full advantage of our minds, bodies and souls.”

Denver man convicted of trying to entice 13-year-old for sex

Gabriel Estrada, 30, was talking to an undercover agent who was impersonating a teenager on a chat app.

Denver Lyft driver convicted of 30 crimes, including kidnapping, sexual assault

Police said Pastor-Mendoza had a pattern of picking up women who were intoxicated and had sought safe rides home, posing as the driver assigned to their ride request.

***

tues

How do you go broke selling weed?

Green Dragon, one of Colorado’s largest cannabis companies, is preparing to cease operations. The company said in a notice to the state labor department last week that it plans to lay off all 59 workers at its 92,000-square-foot grow facility at 830 Wyandot St. in Denver by year end.*** Clark declined to comment when reached by email. Azzalino said he is unsure what Clark plans to do, but he is “certain” that what is currently Green Dragon will not exist in the future. He said the new ownership group is in wait-and-see mode. “Result of the election will play a major role in that, specifically Amendment 3 in Florida, which could be a catalyzing event,” he said. Amendment 3 would legalize recreational marijuana in the state. The state will vote on it Nov. 5. Eaze acquired Green Dragon roughly three years ago, but in mid-2023, Green Dragon co-founders Lisa Leder, Andrew Levine and Alex Levine sued the company for fraud. They alleged Eaze misrepresented its finances in the lead up to the sale and wrongfully fired the trio in February 2023, court documents show. The case was dismissed months later in November. Levine, still a shareholder in the company, filed another civil suit against Eaze on Aug. 6, court records show. The suit aims to investigate whether Clark and board member Thomas Jermoluk conspired to acquire the company’s assets at below-market value, according to Green Market Report.***

***

Wed

Daniel Penny trial update

NEW YORK (WABC) -- As jury selection continues in the Daniel Penny trial, Jordan Neely's family is pushing back against the hiring of a well-known jury consultant. Neely's family rallied alongside members of Black Lives Matter New York on Tuesday against Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, who is working with Penny's defense team to help pick the jury that will decide if he is guilty of manslaughter.*** Dimitrius has been seen with the Penny defense team every day since jury selection started last week. Most recently, she helped select a jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. Rittenhouse was acquitted in 2021 in the shooting deaths of two Black Lives Matter protesters in Wisconsin. Dimitrius is well-respected and sought-after, having worked as a jury consultant for decades. She helped pick jurors for the trials involving O.J. Simpson, Rodney King and Kobe Bryant.***

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Holy Smokes!

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Expected to count?

Ann Arbor — A University of Michigan student who is from China and not a U.S. citizen allegedly voted Sunday in Ann Arbor and is being charged with two crimes, six days before a pivotal presidential election. The filing of the charges was revealed Wednesday in a statement from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's office. The press release didn't identify the student but described him only as "a non-U.S. citizen." The 19-year-old individual from China was legally present in the United States but not a citizen, which meant he couldn't legally cast a ballot, according to information from the Michigan Secretary of State's office. He registered to vote on Sunday using his UM student identification and other documentation establishing residency in Ann Arbor, he signed a document identifying himself as a U.S. citizen and his ballot was entered into a tabulator, according to the Secretary of State's office.*** The person is being charged with perjury — making a false statement on an affidavit for the purpose of securing voter registration — and being an unauthorized elector who attempted to vote. The latter allegation is a felony punishable by up to four years behind bars and a fine of up to $2,000, according to Michigan law. The standard penalty for perjury in Michigan is 15 years in prison, but it's unclear what it would be in this case involving lying on an application to vote.  https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/30/chinese-university-of-michigan-college-student-voted-presidential-election-michigan-china-benson/75936701007/

***

women behind bars

Inmates in Minnesota's sole women's prison report feeling "scared" and "traumatized" by the presence of transgender women in their living quarters – a situation that arose after Gov. Tim Walz's endorsement of a controversial "sue and settlement" arrangement with a left-wing organization last year. Rebeca Warmbo, a former inmate at the Women's Correctional Facility in Shakopee, who spent more than a decade in and out of prison on drug and robbery charges, now considers herself an advocate for her friends still behind bars. Warmbo, 50, keeps in regular contact with several women, who've written to her about their experiences ever since the trans inmates were transferred in. "They're in fear, and they're scared all the time, and they feel traumatized," Warmbo told Fox News Digital. "Because [some of] these men are sex offenders, and a lot of the women in there have been abused or had sex offenses done against them."***

***

Bari Weiss's crew -

Investigators found the phrase Free Gaza scrawled on the explosives used to set fire to two ballot boxes in Washington and Oregon. Hundreds of ballots were destroyed in the arson attacks, most of which were in Vancouver, Washington where there is now 24/7 monitoring of the drop boxes. A third, undetonated explosive was found in Vancouver with the words Free Gaza and Free Palestine. Authorities in the two states—both of which rely fully on mail-in or drop-box voting—“have not yet determined the motive” of the attack. With those notes left behind, it’s definitely a tough case to crack.

***

Rioting b/c they won?

Los Angeles descended into chaos Wednesday night as belligerent baseball fans set a bus on fire while others clashed with cops and looters ran amok following the Dodgers’ World Series victory. The Los Angeles Police Department shared footage of a mob of looters running in and out of a boarded-up Nike store carrying merchandise and throwing it into cars parked outside the store about four miles from Dodger Stadium just after 11 p.m. The LAPD said it was “aware of the looting” and has made arrests but did not disclose how many suspects were taken into custody.***

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 24oct24

Daniel Penny case

Background on NYC subways

Olivia Reingold take on Daniel Penny case

Kat Rosenfield take on NYC subways includes

But the hustlers and fakers—and even, to a certain extent, the masturbators—signaled two important things. First, that the city’s underground spaces were home to a certain baseline level of antisocial behavior. And second, that this behavior had limits. The subway was like one of those Halloween houses where the actors will scream or rush at you, but never actually touch you. Uncomfortable, yes; dangerous, no. Because at the end of the journey, the train stops. The doors open. You leave—and the sea of waiting passengers dutifully parts, letting you off before they get on.***

***

Excellent article by Rupa Subramanya on de-banking

Banks are increasing silencing dissenters. It's turning America into the Chinese social credit system. The gov't doesn't need to incarcerate you if corporations will remove you from public life.

***

It did get a response....

PUEBLO, Colo. — A man has been arrested after the Pueblo Police Department said he falsely reported the kidnapping of a 13-year-old family member Wednesday night, resulting in an Amber Alert sent to cellphones across Colorado. After police received information that the kidnapping report was false, Daniel Reyes, 34, told police why he did it. His truck had been stolen before, and he said he thought that if he called police, he wouldn't get an immediate response. So he said he made up the story of a kidnapped girl to get a faster response, according to the arrest affidavit in the case.***

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Real men of genius!

Boy accidentally kidnapped from Lakewood hotel by repo truck, police say A 13-year-old boy was accidentally kidnapped from a Lakewood hotel on Friday morning after a tow truck driver repossessed the car he was napping in, according to the Lakewood Police Department.

***

Douglas Murray writes

[Salman] Rushdie ***was stabbed, blinded in one eye, and very nearly killed. The attack took place on another stage, a few hundred miles upstate in Chautauqua. Last week, the trial of his assailant, Hadi Matar, was scheduled to begin. It was delayed when Matar’s lawyer demanded at the last minute that it take place in another county. According to The New York Times, his public defender, Nathaniel Barone, argued that the lack of a local Arab American community and publicity surrounding the case in Chautauqua County would make it impossible “to preserve [his] client’s right to a fair trial.” The implication here is that a jury assembled in a majority-white area is likely to find the American-born Matar guilty simply because his parents happen to be Lebanese—rather than because dozens of witnesses can attest to seeing him plunge a knife into an innocent author more than 10 times. Or indeed, because of the testimony of the victim, Rushdie himself, who—prosecutors confirmed last week—will testify in court when the trial finally begins. No writer ever really wants to stand, and speak, in the same room as a person who has tried to murder him for words he’s written. But Rushdie has lived with a fatwa on his head since 1989, issued upon the publication of his supposedly blasphemous novel The Satanic Verses. Necessarily, he has spent over 30 years patiently discussing things no writer wants to talk about.***

Rushie is not a wonderful human being free of flaws. He's a pretty strident critic of the West. Also, since when are Arabs not white? Are Greeks not white? What about Italians?

Things Worth Remembering: What Salman Rushdie Doesn’t Want to Talk About

In America, we have taken liberty for granted. The author of ‘The Satanic Verses’ tried to warn us, but we didn’t listen.

***

Espionage case

The United States is investigating the leak of a pair of highly classified intelligence documents describing Israel's preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran, House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday. The documents appear to have been prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, describing U.S. interpretations of Israeli Air Force and Navy planning based on satellite imagery from Oct. 15-16. They began circulating last week on the Telegram messaging app.***

https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/israel-iran-us-documents-attack/2024/10/20/id/1184735/

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tues

Did I mention that Orwell was English?

***A 51-year-old British man and army veteran named Adam Smith-Connor was just convicted of a crime for a 2022 incident where he silently prayed outside of an abortion clinic. Yes, seriously, that’s his “crime”: praying silently.  A judge ruled on Oct. 16 that, even though Smith-Connor was not on the abortion clinic’s property, his actions violated the “buffer zone” the government had created around the clinic, the Telegraph reports.  “He was given the opportunity to leave and chose not to comply with that,” the judge said.  For his part, Smith-Connor says that this verdict “criminalise[s] thought,” and his lawyers say they plan to appeal the conviction. ***

If you're an atheist, you must say there was no actus reus. Saying there was actus reus would be nonsense. If you're highly religious, you should say there was an act, but you'd deny that it was in any way guilty.

***

***Tyree Conyers-Page—a.k.a. Sir Maejor Page, the 35-year-old former leader of the BLM chapter of Greater Atlanta—was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for money laundering and wire fraud. Pocketing the $450,000 raised from 18,000 donors to “fight for George Floyd” and the “movement,” Page spent lavishly on himself, splurging on tailored suits, nightclub bar tabs, an evening with a prostitute, and, as he texted to a friend, “a big-ass cribo” that he bought in Ohio after he “won the lottery.”***

***

Madeleine Kearns notes

Imagine having to bribe your own dad. On Tuesday, an Orange County supervisor in California pleaded guilty to accepting over half a million dollars in bribes—in exchange for directing $10 million to a charity associated with his daughter. The funds were originally supposed to go toward feeding the elderly during the Covid pandemic. Instead, they went to Viet America Society (VAS), which the supervisor’s daughter Rhiannon Do then used to buy a $1 million home.*** Remember when Abercrombie & Fitch had Shirtless Guys outside every store? Remember the guy who conceived that idea? Mike Jeffries stepped down as CEO in 2014, but now he is back in the spotlight—and not in a good way. Yesterday, he was arrested and charged with sex trafficking and 15 counts of interstate prostitution, after the culmination of a yearlong FBI investigation into allegations he sexually abused multiple young male models between 2009 and 2015 at “sex parties” everywhere from Morocco to the Caribbean. Attendees were allegedly told that participating in the parties would lead to modeling opportunities and that not complying “could harm their careers.” Jeffries also allegedly paid an exclusive household staff to “facilitate and supervise the sex events,” giving partygoers alcohol, muscle relaxants, Viagra, and condoms. It’s all falling a bit short of the company’s mission, which partly states that it is “committed to quality” and “authentic goodness.”***

***

Witnesses shouldn't say "find him not guilty," but still...

Prosecutors in Daniel Penny’s trial on Tuesday asked the judge to prevent words like “hero” and “Samaritan” from being elicited from witnesses because they may draw sympathy for the Marine veteran who put a homeless street performer in a fatal chokehold on a New York subway last year. The judge presiding in the case, Maxwell Wiley, did not grant the request prosecutors asked for in hopes of not leading the jury to acquit Mr. Penny on manslaughter charges in the death of Jordan Neel. Judge Wiley instead resumed the time-consuming process of finding 12 impartial jurors. *** https://www.nysun.com/article/prosecutors-ask-for-caution-when-allowing-witnesses-to-use-the-word-hero-in-daniel-penny-manslaughter-trial

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I'm sure they'll extradite him right after they sing the praises of Israel

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a military official with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran and three others with links to that government with plotting to assassinate an Iranian-American journalist in New York. The IRGC official, Ruhollah Bazghandi, was a brigadier general who previously served as chief of the corps' counterintelligence department, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn. Bazghandi, who the U.S. Treasury Department previously sanctioned, and the other three defendants — Fnu Lnu, also known as Haj Taher; Hossein Sedighi; and Seyed Mohammad Forouzan — are based in Iran and remain at large, prosecutors said. U.S. prosecutors have previously charged other suspects in the case, including one man in 2022 and two others in 2023. Though she was not named in this week's court filing, one of the previously charged suspects in the case was arrested for having a rifle outside the Brooklyn home of Iranian-American journalist and human rights activist Masih Alinejad.***

***

[masterofd1saster]

Delta Airlines stinks

On Oct. 16 Delta Airlines pulled Catherine Banks, a 22 year veteran of the Marine Corps, out of her seat on a flight from San Francisco International Airport. Delta said that her t-shirt was threatening because it said "Do not give in to the war within. End veteran suicide."

Banks explained to Delta that the shirt was anti-suicide and that she was herself a Marine Corps veteran. Delta's flight attendant told her "I don't care about your service**** The only way you're going to get back on the plane is if you take it off right now." She had no undergarments, so he forced her to change naked in front of him.

This is unsatisfactory. Delta has not denied that flight attendant acted as reported. Delta has not attempted to defend its action.

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/sfo-passenger-deplaned-delta-flight-due-to-shirt-19847128.php

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 17oct24 - a b/c tumblr stinks

wed

Sad, RIP

Two Detroit police officers were injured on Monday after exchanging fire with an off-duty Detroit police officer “struggling with a mental crisis” who went rogue. During a news conference Monday evening, Detroit Police Chief James White confirmed that one of the department’s active police officers made a 911 call while off-duty and subsequently opened fire on several of his colleagues who responded.  “He is asking for suicide by cop. He is struggling with a mental crisis,” White said as he recounted the scene. *** The off-duty officer who died had spent 13 years with the Detroit Police Department and had served on the department’s Special Response Team. He remains unidentified. White told reporters he would not be releasing further information and details as of Monday evening.  ***

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Denver Post

***

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Adam Uraine (@workpeeves)

***

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 17oct24

Community imitates life, especially Menendez

Community Troy: "My uncle put his finger in my no-no." https://youtu.be/KqAx624ljH4?t=107

By Alan Abrahamson

October 9, 2024

***

Besides, abuse does not justify or excuse a revenge killing. It may be a reason to reduce punishment. But killing someone isn’t self-defense unless you believe they’re about to kill you. That’s not the case with Lyle and Erik Menendez. Indeed, about four months after the killings, on December 11, 1989, the brothers met with their Beverly Hills psychologist, L. Jerome Oziel. They talked—in confidence—about why they killed their parents. If ever there would have been a time to confide their deepest, darkest secret, this would have been it. But no. Not once did either claim to have been sexually abused. Is it any wonder that the defense fought for four years to keep this tape secret? Because instead of saying they were afraid for their lives, Lyle said his father had been unfaithful, causing Kitty to turn to liquor and pills. So: “We thought that we would just kill Dad, and eliminate the problem.” The mother? Killing her was “putting her out of her misery, really.”

In the wake of the killings, the brothers did have some regrets. On the 61-minute Oziel tape, Lyle said, “You just miss having these people around.” Then, he said, “I miss not having my dog around. If I can make such a gross analogy.” In the courtroom, people gasped.*** Exhibit A: The brothers bought the shotguns days before the shootings. To buy the weapons, they went to San Diego and used fake IDs. That the killings were premeditated could not be doubted. Exhibit B: After breaking into the den and firing 13 to 15 shotgun blasts, with Lyle shooting his father in the back of the head, the mother, incredibly, was still alive. Lyle went outside, reloaded, and came back in.  “I just reached over and I shot her close,” Lyle testified. An autopsy report indicated Kitty was blasted in the left cheek, the gun barrel on her skin. Almost no journalist writing about the case today has cited the decision by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, issued in 2005, after the brothers were found guilty in their second trial. It destroys arguments advanced on behalf of the brothers. Lyle is dismissed in a footnote: “In fact, evidence that Lyle ever feared his parents is so weak in the record that his claim could be rejected without discussion.”***

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Watch that grammy

Pro-life activist Heather Idoni is serving federal imprisonment for trespassing at abortion clinics.

Idoni has diabetes and suffered a stroke this past spring just a few months after being held in solitary confinement with the lights of her cell kept on continually for 22 days. *** While held in federal prison in Washington, D.C., Idoni was denied some of her diabetes medication as well as essential heart medication prescribed by her doctor following her stroke in March, until Congress directly intervened in the matter.*** While presently awaiting trial in Detroit, Idoni has been placed again in solitary confinement, detained in her cell for 23 hours each day, according to Zastrow.***

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always helpful Babylon Bee

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Fair point about impartiality

In an attempt to secure the integrity of the United States judiciary, the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct has issued new ethical guidelines restricting law clerks from pursuing employment with political organizations while serving in the court system. This guidance mitigates the risks associated with potential political entanglements that can compromise the court system's integrity.

Previous Guidelines

Existing codes of conduct already discourage judges from participating in political activity, and the judiciary has prohibited employees from publicly taking a partisan stance in the past. Judicial employees, including law clerks, were also already prohibited from engaging in certain political actions from previous guidance. The newly released ethical guidelines present a firmer stance, explicitly requesting that judges actively prevent their law clerks from seeking post-clerkship positions with political parties, advocacy groups, and organizations that take a political stance. The rationale behind the recommendation is that law clerks applying for roles in political organizations can create the impression of bias. This could potentially link the judge's chambers to political activities, undermining the judiciary's obligation to remain impartial.***

***

Brad, where's your wife?

OLMOS PARK, Texas – Suzanne Clark Simpson has been missing since Sunday, Oct. 6. Her husband, Brad Simpson, is facing charges unrelated to her disappearance. As of Friday, Oct. 11, the missing mother and Realtor has not been located. Authorities searched an area along Interstate 10 in Boerne — just about a mile from where Brad Simpson was arrested — on Friday, Oct. 11, but they did not say they found anything of significance.*** An arrest warrant affidavit states Brad Simpson reported his wife missing to the Olmos Park Police Department. Her cellphone was also missing.

On Sunday, Oct. 6, the couple attended a party at The Argyle, a private dinner club on Patterson Avenue, before returning to their home, which they share with their two children.

A neighbor told police that between 10-11 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6 he heard arguing outside his bedroom window that became louder and “seemed closer to his window.” When the neighbor looked out his window, he saw the Simpsons in a physical altercation, the affidavit states. He said Suzanne Clark Simpson was trying to get away from Brad Simpson as he tried to pull her down. It appeared Brad Simpson “was clearly attempting to keep Ms. Simpson from running away,” the neighbor told authorities, according to the affidavit.

The neighbor told authorities he last saw the couple heading westbound. The neighbor went outside to investigate, and a short time later, he heard two to three screams from a brushy area east of his home, the affidavit states.

About an hour later, the neighbor saw Brad Simpson start his black GMC pickup truck and leave his house. The neighbor told authorities he saw Brad Simpson return one to two hours later.

At 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, their child’s school called Brad Simpson and advised him that their child had not been picked up from school, the affidavit states. Suzanne Clark Simpson typically picks up their child from school, Brad Simpson told police, according to the affidavit.***

***

Well earned time

An Ohio man was sentenced today to 54 months in prison and three years of supervised release in connection with his involvement with online groups dedicated to creating and distributing videos depicting acts of extreme violence and sexual abuse against monkeys. According to court documents, Ronald P. Bedra, of Etna, conspired with others to create and distribute videos depicting acts of sadistic violence against baby and adult monkeys. The conspirators used encrypted chat applications to direct money to individuals in Indonesia willing to commit the requested acts of torture on camera. Bedra also mailed a thumb drive containing 64 videos of monkey torture to a co-conspirator in Wisconsin. According to a statement of facts signed by defendant Bedra, the videos in question included depictions of monkeys having their digits and limbs severed and monkeys being forcibly sodomized with a heated screwdriver. Bedra pleaded guilty in April.***

Hm, Dr Fauci, how do you feel about those beagle videos?

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To be fair, it was ATF

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Life imitates A Time to Kill

An Arkansas father was arrested after allegedly shooting and killing a man who was found in a vehicle with the father's missing 14-year-old daughter. Aaron Spencer, 36, reported his daughter missing on Tuesday, and Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to his home. But as deputies were on their way to the residence, they learned that Spencer had found his daughter in a vehicle with Michael Fosler, 67. A confrontation ensued between the two men before Spencer allegedly shot and killed Fosler.*** Spencer's wife, Heather, said on Facebook that Fosler had a "no contact order" with her daughter for stalking and raping the 14-year-old over the summer and that she and her husband feared he might kill her. She said that she and her husband were unaware Fosler was again in contact with her child. "We absolutely called 911 during the entire event," she wrote. "We had no idea this man was in contact with our child again. He was waiting 6-9 felonies for what he did, not 2. He was looking at the rest of his pathetic life in jail, and our daughter was the only witness."*** Fosler had been arrested by another law enforcement agency in July and booked for internet stalking of a child and sexual assault, Staley told USA TODAY.*** [Heather] thanked other victims who reached out to her with allegations that Fosler attacked them. "We have gotten a clear picture of a predator who continuously worked with children and preyed on young girls," she wrote. "This man was Chief of police in Indiana and resource officer, giving us a better idea of why the Lonoke county courts have been protecting him and going after my husband."

***

Spot the Moron 101

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco headed a press conference Sunday evening after a man was arrested with illegal guns outside former President Donald Trump‘s rally venue in Coachella, California, a day earlier. He offered more details on the incident where Vem Miller, a 49-year-old Las Vegas resident, was arrested after police found two unregistered guns in his vehicle.*** Before Trump had arrived at the rally, Miller was arrested after police found ammunition boxes, a loaded handgun, and a shotgun in his vehicle, both of which were unregistered. They also found passports and driver’s licenses with different names. The license plate on the vehicle was fake as well, as the car was unregistered, though Bianco did say the car was sold to him.

Hm, what kind of knucklehead does that?

In the press conference, Bianco tied Miller to the sovereign citizens movement, a group that believes they are separate from the U.S. government and do not have to pay taxes or hold necessary identification, such as a driver’s license or registration for a vehicle. A registered Republican, Miller holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and unsuccessfully ran for state assembly in Nevada in 2022.***

***

tues

You'll have to look at the pics

CHARLEVOIX COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- A 27-year-old Charlevoix man was arrested for larceny after police allegedly found 72 stolen political campaign signs at a home on Tuesday. Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Tholen said an "adjacent county" has recently been investigating several thefts of signs. "After reporting one of these thefts a homeowner placed an Apple 'AirTag' into a replacement sign and a camera was installed over the area of the sign," Tholen said. Tholen said the sign with the Apple AirTag was stolen on Monday and was tracked to a residence in Charlevoix County on Tuesday.*** while police were at the residence, the man's aunt arrived at the home. "She was interviewed by police and stated that she had told the man that she would pay him $10 for each sign he took that belonged to the presidential candidate. She claimed that this was a 'joke,'" ***

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Good article on trafficking

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You just couldn't stop yourself...

WESTMINSTER, Colo. — An administrator with Mountain Range High School was arrested Monday on suspicion of inappropriate conduct with a child, the Westminster Police Department announced. Westminster PD said it received several Safe2Tell reports over the weekend about Tate Drane, 27, alleging that Drane sent "inappropriate photos" to an underage student. Drane was arrested Monday afternoon for sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust - victim under 15 years or pattern of abuse, internet sexual exploitation of a child - observe subject's intimate parts, and internet luring of a child.

***

[masterofd1saster]

Couple good Gospels and couple good homilies

Today's Gospel was

 Mk 10:17-30 which starts

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good?  No one is good but God alone.

Our pastor pointed out that Jesus was announcing his divinity. The man clearly used "good" correctly; Jesus was just using the man to reveal his unity with God.

Mark continued with the story of the man who didn't want to give up earthly possessions. He more or less ends with

They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God.  All things are possible for God."  Peter began to say to him, "We have given up everything and followed you."  Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age

The pastor noted that we must give up our attachment to things that keep us from God. If we do that, we'll be attached to God and be saved.

***

Saturday's Gospel was

 LK 11:27-28

While Jesus was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

Our assistant pastor made a good point that the woman was complimenting Jesus and his mother. Jesus' response wasn't disrespecting his mother in any way. Indeed, Mary is the perfect example of one who hears the word of God and observes it.

One point that sometimes goes unnoticed is that Jesus was establishing that we are saved by Faith. We aren't saved by family relations or ethnicity. We are saved by Faith.

[masterofd1saster]

CJ court watch - EMTALA case

SCt refused on Mon, 7oct24 to hear the case of Becerra v. Texas, 23-1076. That means the 5th Cir. judgment remains in effect.

Becerra is the Secretary of Health & Human Services. He had told Texas that its abortion prohibition violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. Texas sued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. That court ruled in favor of Texas, and Becerra appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Cir.

EMTALA says a hospital must provide treatment to protect an "individual's health and, in the case of a woman in labor, the health of the unborn child." 42 U.S.C. §1395dd. Examination and treatment for emergency medical conditions and women in labor. (2024). Hard to argue that an abortion would protect an unborn child's health.

The 5th Cir., ruling against Becerra, said

The question before the court is whether EMTALA, according to HHS's Guidance, mandates physicians to provide abortions when that is the necessary stabilizing treatment for an emergency medical condition. It does not. We therefore decline to expand the scope of EMTALA.   

The 5th Cir. affirmed an injunction that said

(1) The defendants may not enforce the Guidance and Letter's interpretation that Texas abortion laws are preempted by EMTALA; and  (2) The defendants may not enforce the Guidance and Letter's interpretation of EMTALA both as to when an abortion is required and EMTALA's effect on state laws governing abortion within the State of Texas or against AAPLOG's members and CMDA's members.   

[American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA)]

After losing in both lower courts, Becerra then appealed to SCt.

Given that AAPLOG and CMDA operate throughout the US, this ruling may have wide effect.

The 5th Cir's opinion in Texas v. Becerra, No. 23-10246 (2024) is linked.