Tag: Crime & Punishment

Closing Thought–22Jan20

I live in Mississippi and from time I write about to doings in my state….I do not write much for I do not think that too many are interested in the policies and events in Mississippi

But since a good portion of the population of my state is in prison or have been in jail…I read an article about the so-called “restitution program”…..

Debtors’ prison may sound like a concept from another century. But the Marshall Project asserts that Mississippi is running a court-ordered restitution program that is essentially the same thing. The investigation found that judges sentence hundreds of people a year to one of four “restitution centers” around the state. There they must live while they work off court-ordered debts, including fees, fines, and restitution to victims. One big problem is that most of the workers have low-paying jobs, making their stays at the centers open-ended. And “centers” might be overstating things. One is described as a motel-turned-jail that is surrounded by razor wire. The residents sleep on prison-issued mattresses, eat the same food as inmates, and generally have the same restrictions.

“We don’t know of any other states that have a program quite like Mississippi’s,” says Sharon Brett of Harvard’s Criminal Justice Policy Program. The story by Anna Wolfe and Michelle Liu also includes this quote from Cliff Johnson of the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi. “Debtors’ prisons are an effective way of collecting money—as is kidnapping. But there are constitutional, public policy and moral barriers to such a regime.” The program has its defenders, including a judge who says it’s better than sending people to regular prison. One woman who went through it isn’t so sure. Annita Husband ended up escaping from her center. When caught, she went to prison for 10 months, about half as long as she would have spent at the center had she stayed and paid off the debt under its system.

I have thought that it was beyond time for reform in our penal systems and programs…..like why is there little training offered or educational programs?

While writing this draft more news about Mississippi penal system came to light……

Two inmates were beaten to death in a fight with other inmates in an understaffed Mississippi prison that has been shaken by other deadly violence in recent weeks, a coroner said. The state Department of Corrections on Tuesday confirmed the men died at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman and said officials are investigating, the AP reports. “Both victims appear to have died from blunt force beating injuries,” said Sunflower County Coroner Heather Burton. The department originally said the inmates died Monday night, but Burton later clarified that they died early Tuesday. Department spokeswoman Grace Simmons Fisher said the injuries occurred late Monday as the two inmates fought with other prisoners. “At this moment, it appears to be an isolated incident—not a continuation of the recent retaliatory killings,” the Department of Corrections said Tuesday.

Violence is a recurring problem in Mississippi prisons, where many jobs for guards are unfilled. Five inmates were killed and an undisclosed number of others inmates were injured during an outbreak of violence in Mississippi’s prison system between Dec. 29 and Jan. 3. Three of those five deaths were at Parchman. In addition to those deaths and the two on Tuesday, another inmate was found hanging in his cell Saturday night at Parchman. Burton said she was called Sunday to the prison, where Gabriel Carmen was found hanging the night before. She said corrections officials reported he had been irate and throwing feces before his death. An autopsy was being done. Prison officials said Carmen’s cell lock had been jammed from inside the cell. One of the inmates who died Tuesday was Timothy Hudspeth, 35, who was serving a 10-year sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The name of the other inmate was not immediately released because a chaplain was trying to reach his family.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Will You Pardon Me?

Trump is doing what he can to give him a pro-military lean for the 2020 election……even to the point of pardoning war criminals…..

Even with all the wars the US is presently involved in and all the shady activity that goes with that, it’s fairly unusual for the military to get around to charging personnel with war crimes. When they do, however, military commanders try to emphasize the importance, both to show the military doesn’t let everyone get away with everything, and to deter personnel from ignoring the chain of command.

On Friday, however, President Trump knocked out three of those war crimes cases with full pardons. The White House statement said they wanted to give US soldiers the “confidence to fight.”

Maj. Matthew Golsteyn was being held on charges of murdering an Afghan detainee. He repeatedly admitted to doing so. Trump had repeatedly expressed support for Golsteyn and for the killing.

Golsteyn was told by an Afghan tribal elder that the murder victim, Rasoul, was Taliban, and detained him on that basis. The military required Rasoul’s release after the maximum time of detention without charges, so Golsteyn let him go, and ambushed and murdered him outside the base. Golsteyn has recently tried to rebrand this as a legal ambushing, arguing that he suspected Rasoul was “trying to rejoin the Taliban” since he was released.

Lt. Clint Lorance was convicted of two murder charges for ordering troops to murder Afghans on motorcycles. He had been serving 19 years in prison. The killing was detailed in the Starz documentary “Leavenworth,” where platoon members discussed the killings.

SEAL Edward Gallagher was facing a murder charge for posing for a photo with a corpse, in addition to already being found guilty of posing for the photo in general. Trump not only pardoned Gallagher, but restored his rank to Chief Petty Officer.

The Pentagon’s commanders are deeply concerned about these moves, and had been trying to talk Trump out of them. They argue that military discipline will suffer if soldiers believe they can ignore military rules on the assumption of a pardon.

Trump’s position is built around showing that he is so pro-military that he can excuse war crimes, including murder, on the basis that the soldiers are supposed to be killing the enemy anyhow, and it’s unfair to judge just how they kill.

(antiwar.com)

Pentagon commanders worried moves will undermine military justice….just few a few votes.

As I understand it….if one accepts a pardon then one admits to the crimes….ergo they are guilty.

We have the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the president should keep his grubby little hands out of the military…..

So for all time they will be known as pardoned war criminals.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Closing Thought–21Oct19

Remember all those gang members coming to the US in that “caravan”?  And also all those gang members that are committing crimes all over this nation?

Apparently MS-13 is the only gang that Trump knows to call it in public.

Our Dear Supreme Leader has made several references to “gangs” in his rallies….especially MS-13, may be the only one he knows, but there are so many more out there….

To be fair (I know a lot to ask) maybe he could mention and condemn the acts of an unusual gang in LA…..”the Banditos”

As concerns over police misconduct and use of force have drawn increased national attention in recent years, activists have argued that a key part of the problem is the ability for officers to shield one another from accountability.

But in California, critics of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department have been faced with a unique version of the issue: the existence of what have been called “deputy gangs” — cliques of officers who allegedly engage in violent and potentially criminal behavior while protecting their members and clashing with other law enforcement officers.

These groups, which have reportedly been around in some form or another in Los Angeles County since the 1970s, have been a frequent topic of local media reporting. Outlets like the Los Angeles Times have highlighted how other officers have filed formal complaints about the “secretive groups,” describing them as powerful forces within the sheriff’s department who beat and harass local residents and, at times, actively work to intimidate other nonaffiliated officers.

https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/10/11/20910315/banditos-los-angeles-sheriff-department-lawsuit-gangs

Maybe it is not that important for they are not brown people committing crimes…..

Plus I would not trust anything Trump had to say on the subject…..

In case you have missed it….HE LIES!

Plus it is bad enough the cops get away with murder…but now they have their own little gang…..things are getting out of control.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

To Fix Special Ops

I have been writing about the antics of our so-called “elite” troops……I should call them problems because it seems to be spreading at an alarming rate…..https://lobotero.com/2019/08/15/seals-have-a-problem/

I have been watching the steps being taken……https://lobotero.com/2019/09/13/closing-thought-13sep19/

The new commander has grab the bull by the horns so to speak and began his clean sweep with SEAL Team Seven……https://lobotero.com/2019/09/13/closing-thought-13sep19/

As I stated in the above post….a good start but why not begin with the SEAL Team Six?

There are lots of opinions as to how to fix this problem……

“How can something like this happen in 2017?”  asked the military judge Col. Glen Hines. He continued, “The question needs to be answered. If we don’t get to the bottom of it, this is going to happen again.” With this prediction, Hines suggests that the Melgar murder, shocking though it might be, was no aberration, but a symptom of a culture decayed from within. He’s probably right. How else to explain the recent spate of serious incidents in the special operations community, which run the gamut from war crimes and spousal murder to child rape and drug trafficking? Perhaps Hines was looking too at the rank and status of the individuals involved in Melgar’s murder, all of whom were highly respected leaders in elite units, including two members of the storied SEAL Team Six. These men weren’t outliers, but rather the type who attract emulation by peers and subordinates: “Kevin was a hero of mine,” commented one Marine special operator I know, before adding, “or was.” When such men commit an act that appears to outsiders to be off the scale, it suggests that similar behavior has up to this point been condoned, even lauded, by the culture to which they belong. And as Hines indicates, unless something is done to fix that culture, Melgar’s murder is likely to be just another waypoint in a descending pattern of illicit conduct in America’s special operations community.

How to Fix a Broken Special Operations Culture

I say forget the Space Force…..combine all these troops from all the services into one force and call it something like…the Irregulars Fighting Force (just off the top of my head)….that would eliminate any cross service rivalry and make cooperation more accessible.

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Military Vs Police

These days things are not quiet balanced…..for instance conservs say when cop shoots an unarmed civilian that it is not murder……mostly white pundits hold this belief…I have asked several what would the call be if it were their child and of course they go off on tangents like conservs always do so they do not have to answer the question that they are uncomfortable with.

I started thinking about this subject when I read that the ex-Blackwater operative was sentenced to life in prtison for the murder of civilians in Iraq in 2007…

A former Blackwater security contractor was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq that left 14 people dead, the AP reports. Federal judge Royce Lamberth issued the sentence after a succession of friends and relatives requested leniency for Nicholas Slatten, who was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in December. Prosecutors charged that Slatten, 35, was the first to fire shots in the September 2007 massacre of Iraqi civilians at a crowded traffic circle in Baghdad. In all, 10 men, two women and two boys, ages 9 and 11, were killed. The defense had argued that Slatten and other Blackwater contractors opened fire only after they saw what they mistakenly thought was a potential suicide car bomber moving quickly toward their convoy.

Like I said…this got me to thinking….do the police face less discipline than soldiers?

Well thanx to Truthdig I have an answer…….

The problem is that the US military missions, themselves, are inherently aggressive. America’s professional imperial soldiers occupy the streets and villages of several Greater Mideast locales and fan the flames of unrest, intolerance, and Islamist extremism. That military – usually through airstrikes – also kills many many civilians. And here’s the rub: that martial chauvinism abroad has come home to roost in the form of militarized police – a disproportionate number of whom are veterans – and their militarized tactics swiped from US wars and counterinsurgencies overseas.

What’s more, ironically, America’s highly lauded police face far less scrutiny – or consequences – for their behavior in impoverished, usually minority, communities than do their military counterparts. It’s a veritable perfect storm: Utilizing US military tactics – and increasingly outfitted with surplus military gear – today’s cops often treat the neighborhoods they police like occupied territory, “Indian Country,” as some have cheekily admitted. Black and brown people are shot and often killed in shocking numbers by law enforcement personnel across this country. Of course that’s always gone on, but in today’s YouTube generation the incidents are disturbingly visual, caught, as they are, on camera. Almost no cops go to jail or face much, if any, consequences for this extreme behavior, and even less for their everyday banality of abuse and harassment. Sure, it’s not all cops who act thus; but it’s far too many.

Do Police Face Less Discipline Than U.S. Soldiers?

I think the police punishments are less harsh…..I suggest that a new Code of Uniform Officers be installed in every PD across the country.  This would set the code of conduct that ALL officers should be held to in the duties for the communities they supposedly service….especially training on how to handle situations without having to draw the weapon.

Too many dead civilians, mostly minorities, it is time for society to get a grip on the spiral of violence committed by those that are paid to protect and serve.

The new police department is similar to a city army with military gear, vehicles and tactics…..but with these “improvements” things have gotten worse….

Evidence suggests the militarization of police forces leads to more civilian deaths.

And….

https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/police-man-cometh/

And…..now try this one……

https://lobotero.com/2017/02/17/coming-of-a-police-state/

Is there a good reason why the police seem to get “away with it”…….

There are major legal, institutional and social impediments to prosecuting police. Thousands of officers are involved in shootings every year, resulting in about 400 deaths annually. However, successful criminal prosecution of a police officer for killing someone in the line of duty, if no corruption is alleged, is extremely rare. Even when officers are convicted, the charges are often minimal. For example, Coleman Brackney, a Bella Vista, Oklahoma, police officer who was convicted of misdemeanor negligent homicide in 2010 after shooting an unarmed teen to death while in custody in his cruiser, went on to rejoin the police and was recently appointed chief of police in Sulphur Springs, Oklahoma.

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/11/ferguson-police-misconductdarrenwilsongrandjury.html

The police have an easier time “beating the rap” than a soldier does…and the reason is the UCMJ…..so logically it is time for a “Code” for conduct of police…a unified code…..not the mish-mash that we have today.

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

 

Ding Dong The Rapist Is Dead

Epstein the bastard that used underaged girls for pleasure has been in jail until his trial….and Saturday last he was found dead…….

Jeffrey Epstein is dead of an apparent suicide, but that doesn’t mean the investigation into his alleged sex-trafficking ring with underage girls is over. The Wall Street Journal reports that others who participated in the alleged scheme could still face charges. “The many victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplices should not lose hope,” says attorney Roberta Kaplan, who is representing one alleged victim. Kaplan pledges to “ensure that all the facts of his monstrous crimes become known to the world.” More coverage:

  • Skeptics: Not everyone is on board with the initial Federal Bureau of Prisons explanation of an apparent suicide. A tweet from MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: “A guy who had information that would have destroyed rich and powerful men’s lives ends up dead in his jail cell. How predictably…Russian.” Another Scarborough tweet: “He reportedly tried to kill himself two weeks ago. And is allowed to finish the job now? Bulls—.”
  • Video? TMZ reports that it’s unclear if Epstein was under suicide watch, but if he was, video should be available from his jail cell to clear things up. It poses this question: “If he was on suicide watch, how did this happen, and if he wasn’t on suicide watch, why wasn’t he?” The FBI is investigating Epstein’s death. Multiple outlets say he hanged himself in his jail cell.
  • Suicide watch: Even if Epstein were on suicide watch, it’s possible he still could have killed himself. The Miami Herald explains how prison suicide watch works and how inmates (including former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez) still manage to foil it.
  • To hospital: The New York Post has an image of Epstein being taken to the hospital on a stretcher.
  • New details: Epstein’s death comes a day after a huge cache of court documents were released providing disturbing new details about how the alleged sex operation worked. The Washington Post has the nitty gritty, including how Epstein’s assistants coordinated the movement of girls to Epstein multiple times a day. “She is wondering if 2:30 is o.k.,” reads one 2005 message. “She needs to stay in school.”
  • Big names: One of the girls alleges that she had sex, at Epstein’s direction, with men including former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former Senate Minority Leader George Mitchell, attorney Alan Dershowitz, Prince Andrew, and hotel magnate Tom Pritzker. The men deny it. The Miami Herald notes that in 2008, when Epstein famously got a lenient plea deal, Mitchell had been named one of Time magazine’s most influential people.
  • New focus? A post at The Cut wonders if the focus will now turn to Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite frequently referred to as Epstein’s “madam” who allegedly recruited girls for Epstein. She’s been keeping a low profile since selling her New York townhouse in 2016. Maxwell figures prominently in the new court documents released Friday, because they revolve around a since-settled defamation suit brought against her by one of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
  • More conspiracy theories: Because Epstein knew the Clintons, conspiracy theorists were quick to pounce on that angle. The most prominent among them was HUD official Lynne Patton, who posted, “Hillary’d!! P.S. Let me know when I’m supposed to feel badly about this… #VinceFosterPartTwo,” per Mediaite. The Foster tag is a reference to the suicide of the White House deputy counsel back in 1993.

Our president has Tweeted about the Epstein death……

The internet is humming with conspiracy theories about the death of Jeffrey Epstein on Saturday, and the president of the United States appears to be giving credence to one of them that pinpoints one of his predecessors: Former President Clinton. As the Washington Post reports, President Trump retweeted a tweet from conservative commentator Terrence Williams on Saturday that goes like this: “Died of SUICIDE on 24/7 SUICIDE WATCH ? Yeah right! How does that happen/ #JefferyEpstein had information on Bill Clinton & now he’s dead. I see #TrumpBodyCount trending but we know who did this! RT if you’re not Surprised. #EpsteinSuicide #ClintonBodyCount #ClintonCrimeFamily”.

The Post notes that the theory is “completely unsubstantiated” and that the president appeared to be conflicting with his own Justice Department’s ruling that Epstein’s death was a suicide; Epstein was in federal custody at the time of his death on Saturday.

I do not think that any sane person thought the Trump would let this go without trying to use the death to his advantage….but keep in mind the Trump and Epstein partied together with 28 young girls back in the day…….

Donald Trump once hosted a party with a guest list made up of just himself, Jeffrey Epstein, and “28 girls,” according to The New York Times, and ignored an organizer’s warning about Epstein’s conduct. The “calendar girl” event is reported to have taken place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in 1992. George Houraney, who ran American Dream Enterprise, claimed in an interview that he organized the event after a request from Trump. “I arranged to have some contestants fly in,” said Houraney. “At the very first party, I said, ‘Who’s coming tonight? I have 28 girls coming.’ It was him and Epstein.” Houraney added that he warned Trump about his friend’s conduct,

Read it at The New York Times

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/09/epstein-mar-a-lago-trump-1456221

Let’s not forget the extent this situation goes……

Just so there is no doubt of this man’s perversions…….he also helped others with the same sickness…..an ex-governor and a ex-senator were among his “clients”……

A woman testified that Jeffrey Epstein sent her to have sex while she was underage with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) and former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), allegations the two men deny. 

According to court documents made public Friday, Virginia Giuffre testified in 2016 she was also sent to have sex with asset manager Glenn Dubin, modeling executive Jean Luc Brunel and the late MIT scientist Marvin Minsky, expanding on past claims that she was used as a “sex slave” for Epstein from 2000 to 2002.

Epstein, a former financier and convicted sex offender, faces new federal charges of sex trafficking minors, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/456923-epstein-accuser-named-former-governor-senator-in-testimony-prosecutors

This person you elected as president knows NO bounds for his depravity or his falsehoods…..in the vain of Epstein.

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Better Angels?

Seriously?

The group ICE just had its largest raid to date and it is in my home state…..

US immigration officials raided numerous Mississippi food processing plants Wednesday, arresting 680 mostly Latino workers in what marked the largest workplace sting in at least a decade, the AP reports. The raids, planned months ago, happened just hours before President Trump was scheduled to visit El Paso, Texas, the majority-Latino city where a man linked to an online screed about a “Hispanic invasion” was charged in a shooting that left 22 people dead in the border city. Workers filled three buses—two for men and one for women—at a Koch Foods Inc. plant in tiny Morton, 40 miles east of Jackson. They were taken to a military hangar to be processed for immigration violations. About 70 family, friends and residents waved goodbye and shouted, “Let them go! Let them go!” Later, two more buses arrived.

A tearful 13-year-old boy whose parents are from Guatemala waved goodbye to his mother, a Koch worker, as he stood beside his father. About 600 agents fanned out across the plants involving several companies, surrounding the perimeters to prevent workers from fleeing. The raids occurred in small towns near Jackson with a workforce made up largely of Latino immigrants, including Bay Springs, Carthage, Canton, Morton, Pelahatchie and Sebastapol. Some employees tried to flee on foot but were caught in the parking lot. Workers who were confirmed to have legal status were allowed to leave the plant after having their trunks searched. “It was a sad situation inside,” said Domingo Candelaria, a legal resident and Koch worker who said authorities checked employees’ identification documents.

Really?

Who is in charge?

Trump just let a horrific news report step all over his day with the two affected cities.

It would be laughable if it were not so damn pathetic.

All I can think is stupid in, stupid out!

On the first day of school….this is not who we are as a country…this is so goddamn pathetic that it makes me ill.

I will admit that we need better immigration laws….but not when it makes victims of children.

Better Angels…..MY ASS!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”