Tag: Crime & Punishment

The Best Defense

That refers to the judge in the Rittenhouse trial….you know that little snot nose shit that killed protesters…oh wait the judge says they are not victims but rioters……now the judge is considering the motion by the defense for a mistrial….

Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense team asked the judge to declare a mistrial Wednesday after the teen took the stand in his trial in Kenosha. Defense attorney Corey Chirafisi accused lead prosecutor Thomas Binger of “prosecutorial overreach” with a line of questioning about the teen’s silence in the months before the trial, the Hill reports. With the jury out of the room, Judge Bruce Schroeder chastised prosecutors for the line of questioning and for an apparent reference to a cellphone video from weeks before the shooting, in which Rittenhouse said he wished he had his gun so he could shoot people outside a CVS, the New York Times reports. The judge disallowed the video in a pretrial hearing.

Schroeder said he would consider the motion, but he allowed Binger to resume cross-examination after warning: “There better not be another incident.” Earlier, Rittenhouse said: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself,” after taking the stand. The judge had to call a recess of around 20 minutes after the 18-year-old broke down in tears while describing the events of Aug. 25 last year, when he killed two men and wounded a third during protests in the Wisconsin city, the Times reports. Rittenhouse testified that the first man he shot, Joseph Rosenbaum, had sworn at him and threatened to kill him earlier that night, the AP reports.

He began sobbing after saying Rosenbaum had “cornered him” in a parking lot. Rittenhouse testified that he thought a plastic bag Rosenbaum threw at him was a chain he had seen the man with earlier. Before opening fire, “I remember his hand on the barrel of my gun,” Rittenhouse testified. A forensic pathologist testified Tuesday that Rosenbaum was shot four times at close range. Earlier Wednesday, Rittenhouse testified that he hadn’t been looking for trouble when he went to Kenosha, around 20 miles from his home in Antioch, Ill. He said he wanted to protect property from rioters and help the injured.

The teen—who used a semiautomatic rifle a friend had bought on his behalf because he was 17 years old at the time—said he “didn’t intend to kill” Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, who hit him with a skateboard. “I intended to stop the people who were attacking me,” Rittenhouse said, per CNN. Rittenhouse testified that he shot Gaige Grosskreutz, who survived, after seeing a pistol in his hand. Legal experts say a conviction on homicide and attempted homicide will depend on whether jurors believe the teen’s claims of self-defense, the Washington Post reports. He also faces a charge of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under the age of 18.

Looks like this slug of humanity may well walk on the murder charges…..maybe if he were black he would be made to pay for the crimes he committed.

Just another fine example to the justice system inequalities in this country.

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Insurrection Update #19

And the series continues……

The defendants are getting sillier and sillier…….excuse is all they have not one has taken total responsibility for their actions……especially the veterans…..

More than 70 current and former members of the US military, who all swore an oath to defend the Constitution, are now facing criminal charges and special attention from prosecutors for attacking their own democracy by storming the US Capitol on January 6.

For these defendants, many with decorated combat records and multiple overseas deployments, their military service has become a double-edged sword in their legal cases. The Justice Department has argued that rioters’ veteran status is an aggravating factor, and some judges have held veterans to a higher standard while considering whether to send them to jail, either as punishment for their crimes or while their cases play out.
 
Apparently the oath of service means nothing to these slugs….burn ’em and hang ’em high.
 
Speaking of jail time….remember the dolt in the horns and face paint?
Prosecutors want to make an example out of the most recognizable Capitol rioter—Jacob Chansley, aka the “QAnon Shaman.” Chansley, who was seen storming the Senate chamber on Jan. 6 shirtless and wearing a horned headdress, pleaded guilty in September to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding. In a sentencing memo filed late Tuesday, prosecutors asked for a sentence of 51 months, which is at the upper end of sentencing guidelines, CNN reports. “Defendant Chansley’s now-famous criminal acts have made him the public face of the Capitol riot,” prosecutors wrote, calling him “quite literally” the flagbearer of the mob. Chansley left a threatening note for Mike Pence, but he is not accused of assaulting anybody.
 
Prosecutors said Chansley was among the first 30 rioters to enter the Capitol. The invasion “made us all question the safety and security of the country in which we live,” prosecutors wrote, arguing that such acts “must be deterred so that we never see a similar assault on our democracy again.” They noted that weeks before the riot, Chansley spread disinformation online, telling his thousands of followers on Facebook that it was time to “hang the traitors lurking among us.” Chansley, who has already been in jail for 10 months, is only the third felony Capitol defendant to reach the sentencing phase after pleading guilty, Politico reports. He will be sentenced next Wednesday.
 
Chansley’s lawyer has argued that his client has struggled with mental health issues and should be sentenced only to time served because he had no role in planning the riot. In February, the lawyer said Chansley had realized that Donald Trump “really didn’t love him” and would cooperate with investigators. Another Capitol defendant, New Jersey gym owner Scott Fairlamb, was sentenced to 41 months Wednesday, the AP reports. The sentence for the 44-year-old former boxing coach, who assaulted a law enforcement officer, is expected to be a benchmark in sentencing dozens of other rioters who attacked officers outside the Capitol.

This fool wants his trial moved to Maine because he is butt hurt over being called a racist…

Washington’s Scott MacFarlane offered up new details on the demand of alleged January 6 Capitol rioter Kyle Fitzsimons to move his criminal trial from D.C. to his home state of Maine.

Fitzsimons is accused of grabbing police officers during the Capitol riot while dressed in a butcher coat.

Previously, MacFarlane reported that his defense complained a jury based in D.C. will be too biased toward President Joe Biden and have been “barraged with political propaganda” — a similar argument that Donald Trump ally Roger Stone attempted to use during his own trial for witness tampering and extortion.

In the latest report by MacFarlane, Fitzsimon’s counsel is now complaining that he cannot get a fair trial in D.C. due to “significant media attention,” including stories calling him a “xenophobic” and a “racist conspiracy theorist.”

https://www.rawstory.com/kyle-fitzsimons/

I have found over the years that most racist do not like being called a racist….(the truth really hurts)….

“I’m too white and too blonde to go the prison”….the prediction made by a defendant…..

A Texas woman who participated in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and later boasted that she’d never be sent to jail because of it is, yes, going to jail. A judge sentenced real estate broker Jennifer Leigh Ryan, aka Jenna Ryan, to 60 days for joining the group that stormed the Capitol, reports NBC News. Ryan made no secret of her participation, posting multiple photos of herself on social media and proclaiming it “one of the best days of my life.” Her attorney maintains that she spent only two minutes in the Capitol building, but Ryan apparently didn’t help her own case with a tweet to her critics on March 26.

“Definitely not going to jail,” she wrote, per the AP. “Sorry I have blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and I’m not going to jail. Sorry to rain on your hater parade. I did nothing wrong.” Prosecutors requested jail time in part because of the tweet, saying it suggested she had no remorse. Ryan did, in fact, express remorse to the judge and said the tweet was just her way of responding to brutal online attacks. “I was attacked and I was answering them,” Ryan said in court. Previously, Ryan publicly requested a pardon from former President Trump. She is expected to begin her sentence in January.

Sorry she needs more time….she is not remorseful just doing what she can to try and avoid a maximum penalty for her stupidity.

One of the insurrectionists has fled the country for Belarus….

A man suspected of taking part in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and wanted by the FBI turned up in Belarus and is seeking asylum. He was interviewed on Belarus state TV, who called him a “simple American whose shops were burned by Black Lives Matter activists,” the Washington Post reports. Evan Neumann is wanted on charges related to entering the Capitol grounds as well as assaulting, resisting, and obstructing law enforcement. He told the Belarus1 station he’s been in hiding, the target of “political persecution,” CNN reports. Neumann said he moved around Europe for a while, winding up in Ukraine in March where, he says, he was followed. That prompted him to try to walk into Belarus, where was found by border guards. He said he thought the assault charge against him is “wholly without merit.”

Belarus’s authoritarian leader, President Alexander Lukashenko, crowed over the Jan. 6 riot, saying, “In our country, protesters and other dissatisfied people don’t storm government agencies and capitols,” per the Hill. Lukashenko’s recent re-election—he’s been in power since 1994—was widely considered by the international community to be rigged. A spokesman for the US Embassy in Belarus, which is housed in Lithuania, told WaPo that there were aware of reports that Neumann was in Belarus, but couldn’t comment due to privacy laws

Why run?  If they did nothing wrong….why run?

More to come….

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Insurrection Update #18

My continuing series on the prosecution of those that charged and breached the US Capitol…..some want this to just go away…..that is not gonna happen as long as my fingers continue to work.

We have heard these treasonous slugs try to blame everyone but themselves for the failed coup….even a Trump lawyer is pointing a finger at Pence…..

John Eastman, a lawyer who was working with President Donald Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, took a moment to scold the vice president’s team while the US Capitol was being attacked. Greg Jacob, Mike Pence’s chief counsel, had already emailed Eastman that a siege was taking place, the Washington Post reports. “The ‘siege’ is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened,” Eastman wrote back, trying to get Pence to refuse to certify the election results in the name of voter fraud.

At that time on Jan. 6, Pence, Jacob, and others were being guarded in a secure area of the building as rioters ran through the Capitol, some calling for Pence to be hanged. In an unpublished opinion piece Jacob wrote later that month, he said Eastman “displayed a shocking lack of awareness of how those practical implications were playing out in real time.” Jacob said Pence’s team had been on the receiving end of “a barrage of bankrupt legal theories.” In addition to being a legal adviser to Trump, Eastman was a law professor at California’s Chapman University. The school announced his retirement a week after the riot.

Days before the Capitol was overrun, Eastman said on Steve Bannon’s radio show that Pence had the power to kick the election to the House. Eastman said the only question, per CNN, was whether Pence had the “courage and the spine.” Eastman stated his case to Pence, who was not persuaded, and Trump two days later. On Jan. 6, Eastman spoke to the rally outside the White House before the mob marched on the Capitol. Eastman told the Post he did write the emails to Jacob. He said Trump had a right to use “every legal means” to challenge the election, which Eastman said was rife with fraud and irregularities. He told CNN that pushing the vote to the House was just “one of the scenarios” and that he didn’t advise it.

It seems that a Congressional rep promised the insurrectionists were promise a “blanket pardon” for their participating in the failed coup….

A bombshell report published by Rolling Stone on Sunday said that several of the supporters of former President Donald Trump who helped plan the January rallies in D.C. and across the U.S. have been cooperating with the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, and they are alleging that not only did they participate in multiple planning sessions with senior White House staffers and Republican members of Congress, but that they were promised pardons by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ).

According to Rolling Stone’s Hunter Walker, two of these people spoke to him about these conversations, and the magazine had separately confirmed a third person who helped plan the rallies who was cooperating with the House Select Committee’s investigation.

In the article, Walker refers to his two sources as a rally “organizer” and a “planner” to keep clear the comments from separate people. Both of them were involved in helping plan and coordinate the “Stop the Steal” protests around the country in the aftermath of the 2020 election, which Trump baselessly claimed was stolen from him by election fraud, and the “Stop the Steal” and “March for Trump” rallies in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5 and, most notably, Jan. 6, which immediately preceded the violent breaching of the Capitol as Vice President Mike Pence and Congress were meeting in a joint session to certify the electoral college votes from the states.

Bombshell Report Says White House Staffers, GOP Members of Congress Met With Jan. 6 Organizers — Even Promised Pardons

Who will be the first to blow the whistle on the whole 06 January operation?

Looks like it may be Heather Shaner…..

Heather Shaner, an attorney representing several MAGA rioters, hinted to NBC News’ Haley Talbot on Friday that one of her clients would soon spill dirt on rally organizers to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

While discussing her client’s plans to testify, Shaner said that “we want to see the queens and kings prosecuted not the pawns,” with the implication being that her client could provide information that would help send some higher-ups to jail.

Politico separately reports that Shaner has also arranged for another person who is not one of her clients, but who still has knowledge related to the insurrection, to testify before the committee.

While it’s not known what this individual will tell the committee, Shaner claims that they have information about associates of pro-Trump talk radio host Alex Jones.

https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-committee-testimony/

Those ‘poor’ souls jailed for their part in the 06 insurrection and are now residing in jails across the country are whining about their accommodations…..now a judge has taken the complaints to heart….

Federal prosecutors are pushing back on claims from U.S. Capitol rioters about conditions in the jail where they’re awaiting trial, and a judge signaled that he’s getting sick of their complaints.

Judge Emmet Sullivan told attorneys he was aware of problems some defendants had accessing evidence they needed to prepare for trial, but he waved away complaints some of them had made about alleged mistreatment, reported CNN.

“They’re running a jail, not a hotel,” Sullivan said. “Some people want hotel services.”

https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riots-arrests/

There is one female insurrectionist that thinks she is too white and too blond to be in jail…..

Jenna Ryan is the life-coach-slash-real-estate-agent-turned-insurrectionist who flew on a private jet to Washington DC on January 6, where she and her fellow MAGA jerks stormed the Capitol. Ryan reportedly believed God sent Donald Trump to save America, but she wasn’t trying to sell an insanity defense. Back in January when the insurrectionist-in-chief was still president, she asked for a pardon, which Trump declined to the extent he’s even aware she exists.

Ryan remained confident she wouldn’t do any actual time for her crime. She’d tweeted in March her critical racist theory:

Definitely not going to jail. Sorry I have blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and I’m not going to jail. Sorry to rain on your hater parade. I did nothing wrong.

https://www.wonkette.com/white-lady-insurrectionist-who-thought-she-was-too-blonde-white-for-jail-only-partially-correct

It ain’t over until the fat white guy whines…..

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“Looters” Not “Victims”

Yesterday the news was a buzz from something a federal judge instructed a jury in the thug Rittenhouse’s trial…..

Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial starts Monday, and you won’t hear the two men he fatally shot during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, referred to as “victims.” The judge in the case has a standard policy barring people from being called “victims” until an actual conviction, USA Today reports, and he said that using the term in this case would be “loaded,” per the Washington Post. However, when prosecutors asked that defense attorneys be prohibited from referring to the two men as “looters, rioters, arsonists or any other pejorative term,” the judge declined to make such an order.

“Let the evidence show what it shows,” was all he said. Prosecutors argued the terms should not be used unless there’s specific evidence Joseph Rosenbaum or Anthony Huber engaged in those activities. Rittenhouse, who was 17 when the shootings took place last year, has pleaded not guilty to homicide in both of their deaths as well as not guilty to attempted homicide of Gaige Grosskreutz, who was shot and wounded. His lawyers are expected to argue he acted in self-defense amid protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Columnist Will Bunch runs down the judge’s controversial history in a Twitter thread (that ultimately calls for his removal) here.

Seriously?

The dead will be put on trial to save the life of a murderer?

This sounds a lot like one of those ‘activist judges’ that conserv are so worried about…..

This should be sound grounds for an appeal to overturn the ruling…..

Does anybody ever heard of judge Hoffman?  Think Chicago 7 trial and the total bigotry of a presiding judge.

Let’s be honest….this is a judge wanting to effect the outcome of the trial….time for this slug to go!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Insurrection Update #17

This a continuation of my series that is watching the unfolding saga around the attack on the Capitol by Trumpian thugs……..

The big news is that the Congress has grown a set and found Bannon in contempt….

The full House has voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress, reports the Hill. The vote was 229-202, largely along party lines. The former Trump aide refused to appear before a House panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. What happens next is in the hands of the Justice Department. If the department decides to present the case to a grand jury, Bannon could eventually face a fine or jail time, or both. Our original story from Oct. 19 follows:

A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection voted unanimously Tuesday to hold former White House aide Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress after the longtime ally of former President Donald Trump defied a subpoena for documents and testimony. The committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, said Tuesday that Bannon “stands alone in his complete defiance of our subpoena” and the panel will not take no for an answer. He said that while Bannon may be “willing to be a martyr to the disgraceful cause of whitewashing what happened on January 6th—of demonstrating his complete loyalty to the former president,” the contempt vote is a warning to other witnesses, the AP reports.

“We won’t be deterred. We won’t be distracted. And we won’t be delayed,” Thompson added. The Tuesday evening vote sends the contempt resolution to the full House, which is expected to vote on the measure Thursday. House approval would send the matter to the Justice Department, which would then decide whether to pursue criminal charges against Bannon. The contempt resolution asserts that the former Trump aide and podcast host has no legal standing to rebuff the committee—even as Trump’s lawyer has argued that Bannon should not disclose information because it is, he claims, protected by the privilege of the former president’s office.

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, one of just two Republicans on the committee, said: “Mr. Bannon’s and Mr. Trump’s privilege arguments do appear to reveal one thing, however: They suggest that President Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of January 6th. And we will get to the bottom of that.” The committee says it is pursuing Bannon’s testimony because of his apparent role in the events of Jan. 6, including his communications with Trump ahead of the siege, his efforts to get the former president to focus on Jan. 6, the day Congress certified the presidential vote, and his comments on Jan. 5 that “all hell is going to break loose” the next day.

I do not understand why the House was not more prepared for this eventuality….instead they dragged this out ad nauseum.

At least one judge is getting tough on those convicted of the breach and the violence….

Prosecutors asked for 30-day terms for two Capitol rioters when they were sentenced Wednesday in Washington. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan gave Robert Bauer of Kentucky and Edward Hemenway of Virginia 45 days each. On Tuesday, Chutkan gave another person convicted in the Jan. 6 attack—Dona Sue Bissey of Indiana—two weeks, though prosecutors wanted probation. She’s imposed jail terms of 14 to 45 days in the past two weeks on defendants who pleaded guilty to riot charges, Reuters reports. “There have to be consequences for participating in an attempted violent overthrow of the government, beyond sitting at home,” Chutkan said.

She’s not the only judge to be critical of sentences and recommendations she finds too lenient in the riot prosecutions. But in a case last week, Chutkan became the first judge to impose a harsher sentence than prosecutors sought. The chief judge of the federal court in Washington also expressed concern about allowing defendants to plead guilty to misdemeanors. Even those convicted of relatively minor crimes, Judge Beryl Howell said, were involved in “terrorizing members of Congress.” During a hearing in August, Howell asked, “Does the government, in agreeing to the petty offense in this case, have any concern about deterrence?”

Chutkan, who was appointed a judge by former President Obama, raised that issue last week when Matthew Mazzocco was sentenced on a single misdemeanor charge, per WUSA. “A sentence of probation does not reflect the seriousness of the crime. … If Mr. Mazzocco walks away with probation and a slap on the wrist, that’s not going to deter anyone from trying to do what he did,” the judge said. “Nor do I agree with the government that confining him to his home, where he can be with his family, is appropriate.” Among the selfies Mazzocco took on Jan. 6 was one he posted showing the building behind him with the caption, “The capital is ours!” Chutkan gave him 45 days.

At least one Capitol police man was aiding the violent protesters…..apparently he thought more of the thugs and their moronic cause than the safety of his fellow cops….

“Take down the part about being in the building,” a Capitol Police officer advised a rioter on Jan. 7 who’d posted online about taking part in the attack the day before, new charges say. The rioters who went inside the Capitol will be charged, Michael Riley reportedly told the man in a Facebook message, USA Today reports. “Just looking out!” Riley, 50, appeared Friday in DC federal court, accused of obstruction of justice. He’s the first Capitol Police officer to be charged with helping the rioters, per CNN.

The person who communicated with Riley was arrested in January but was not named in the indictment. The two didn’t know each other but had been in Facebook groups related to fishing, the indictment says. Riley sent a friend request. “Hey, im a capitol police officer who agrees with your political stance,” their conversation began, prosecutors say. “Im glad you got out of there unscathed We had over 50 officers hurt, some pretty bad,” Riley told him the same day. The man sent Riley videos showing him at the Capitol, some of him inside the building.

Around the middle of January, Riley told the man to stay off social media, the court filing says. “Theyre arresting dozens of people aday,” the officer messaged. “Everyone that was in the building, engaged in violent acts, or destruction of property…and theyre all being charged federally with felonies.” The two spoke on the phone, as well, and the man then let others know he was communicating with “capitol police” and tell them trespassing charges were imminent. Riley is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 26.

A 25-year veteran, Riley was working in the K-9 unit at the time of the riot; he was not on duty in the building when it was attacked. He’s been placed on administrative leave, and the force is doing its own investigation of his conduct. Riley deleted his direct messages after the other man was arrested, per CNN, but not before writing that he was angered by seeing the rioter smoking marijuana in the Capitol on video and “acting like a moron.”

Flying the Black Flag…..

On a daily basis Fox News and other elements of the right-wing disinformation propaganda machine use stochastic terrorism and other techniques to radicalize their audience into committing acts of political violence. To this point, the Democratic Party and the political and news media class in general have remained in denial, and largely passive in response. 

In one troubling new development, Trump supporters have begun flying all-black American flags, in an implicit threat to harm or kill their opponents — meaning nonwhite people, “socialist liberals,” Muslims, vaccinated people and others deemed to be “enemies” of “real America.” As media critic Eric Boehlert recently noted, the liberal opinion site Living Blue in Texas is sounding the alarm about the specific meaning of the black flag and the Republican-fascists support for terrorism and other political violence. That post, “Are Your Republican Neighbors Planning on Killing You?”, merits lengthy quotation:

https://www.salon.com/2021/10/12/black-flag-understanding-the-trumpists-latest-threatening-symbol/

I shall continue to watching the situation around the legal issues surrounding the attack on the republic of 06 January…..

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“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–15Oct21

I have been keeping an eye on the insurrection prosecutions…..and almost everyday these idiots prove the you ‘can’t fix stupid’……

Like the moron that decided that he would be his own lawyer……

A Capitol rioter who allegedly smoked weed in a senator’s office on Jan. 6 decided to represent himself in court on Tuesday—and it went exactly as badly as could have been expected. Washington, D.C. news network WUSA reports that the wild hearing opened with a judge advising Brandon Fellows against representing himself, but he ignored that warning and went on to bolster the case against him by admitting to two new felonies. “Most people do not do this,” U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden reportedly told Fellows. “I do not think this is a good idea… but I’m going to allow you to take the stand, if you wish.” Assistant U.S. 

Attorney Mona Furst reportedly got Fellows to admit that he gained access to the Capitol through a broken window, and that he tried to get a previous judge removed from the case using the judge’s wife’s contact information. At the end of the hearing, McFadden ordered Fellows back into custody and told him: “You’ve admitted to incredible lapses of judgment here on the stand, not least of which was seeking to disqualify a New York state judge.”

Read it at WUSA

Once again these insurrectionists prove that their IQ is that of their shoe size…..

Like I said Just more proof that you ‘can’t fix stupid’……

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–14Oct21

Here in South Mississippi we have a legend of a home town boy makes good.

The person is Brett Favre, a NFL legend, if you will…..he won numerous Super Bowl rings as the QB of the Green Bay Packers….it seems that all those dollars made as a NFL super star does not preclude one from committing fraud…..

It’s pay-up time for Brett Favre, unless he wants to face a civil lawsuit. That was the warning Tuesday from Mississippi State Auditor Shad White, who said in a statement that the former NFL star still owes $828,000 in illegal welfare funds and interest, per the Mississippi Free Press. All recipients of misspent funds from the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, including Favre and Favre Enterprises, must pay the money back within 30 days or risk being sued. “These illegal expenditures and unlawful dispositions were made when you knew or had reason to know through the exercise of reasonable diligence that the expenditures were illegal and/or the dispositions were unlawful,” a letter from White to Favre said, per Mississippi Today. Fourteen other groups or individuals got similar letters, asking for a total of $77 million back. Our original story from May 13 follows:

Brett Favre still hasn’t repaid the state of Mississippi $600,000 in welfare money he received for speeches he never gave. The former NFL quarterback promised to return $1.1 million last year after state auditors said funds earmarked for needy families had been paid to his company, Favre Enterprises, in 2017 and 2018 for speeches that were never delivered, the Clarion-Ledger reports. Favre repaid $500,000 days after the auditor’s report, but Logan Reeves, a spokesman for Mississippi Auditor Shad White, tells the AP that they haven’t heard from Favre since and there was no formal agreement, or legal obligation, for him to repay the funds.

“After the initial media dustup, he stroked a check for $500 grand and gave a commitment, a voluntary commitment, to repay the rest in the coming months,” Reeves says. “And then, that didn’t happen.” The money Favre received was part of $94 million in questionable spending connected to the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program found in last year’s audit. The money went to his company via a nonprofit whose former leader was indicted in an alleged embezzlement scheme last year, along with the former head of the state’s welfare agency. Favre said last year that he didn’t know the money had come from welfare funds, Mississippi Today reports. “I love Mississippi and I would never knowingly do anything to take away from those that need it most.” he tweeted.

Being a football legend does not give one the right to commit fraud…..

Fraud is fraud and no matter one’s standing in society it must be corrected at all costs.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–12Oct21

There seems to be a wealth of damning stories about the police acting in a pathetic display of disregard for the public.

As common as these incidents of police violence there is always one that is more disturbing than others…..this is one of those….

Police pulled over a man in Dayton, Ohio, telling him the stop was over tinted windows. In fact, police say they stopped Clifford Owensby because they were watching the house he had just left because they suspected drug activity, and they wanted a dog to sniff his car. They asked him to get out of the car, but Owensby, 39, who is paraplegic, said he could not. So they pulled him out of the car by his hair. Owensby told them that he didn’t have the use of his legs, and said he would file a lawsuit if they touched him without a good reason. He asked to make contact with a supervisor, which apparently upset the police officer he was talking to. “You can cooperate and get out of the car, or I can drag you out of the car,” he said heatedly. Owensby still resisted getting out without trusted assistance. “You can hurt me,” he can be heard saying in bodycam video released by the City of Dayton.

In the video, one officer grabs Owensby’s arm while another grabs his hair and uses it to pull him out of the car. Owensby cries out in pain, then yells: “Somebody help! I’m a paraplegic.” Once Owensby is sprawled on the ground, one officer holds him down with his knee, then police cuff his hands behind his back and drag him to their cruiser. Owensby’s shoes fall off, which another officer throws at Owensby’s car, missing once. “Can y’all call the real police, please?” Owensby can be heard pleading. Authorities say they later found a bag with $22,450 in it and claimed a dog indicated the cash could have been near drugs at some point, CNN reports. The money, Owensby said, was his savings, and officers did not make any drugs or weapons charges.

The video “is very concerning to me,” Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said, per the Dayton Daily News. “No matter where you live or what you look like, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect when dealing with Dayton police,” Whaley said. The Dayton police department’s interim chief, Matt Carper, said, “We need to do better,” in response to video of Owensby’s arrest. That arrest, according to the Dayton Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 44 is, in fact, what Dayton police are trained to do. “The officers followed the law, their training, and departmental policies and procedures,” Jerome Dix, chapter president, said in a statement. “Sometimes the arrest of noncompliant individuals is not pretty,” he said. Owensby ultimately was cited for having a child unrestrained in the back seat, and for the tinted windows.

Procedures?

Treat a person that has NO use of his legs with disrespect and violence should not be acceptable in any form.

When will the American stop being so compliant to the violence and brutality?

Most officers may be the most trustworthy and  compassionate of people but all it takes is one a/hole to label them all as abusive.

Time for a change….immediately.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Insurrection Update #16

More and more information is coming out about the breach of the Capitol on 06 January….the picture s becoming clear on who did what when and why…..

Ever heard of the site Epik?

The Washington Post reported on the hack of Epik, a domain hosting website that has become synonymous with far-right groups and causes.

“Online records show those sites have included 8chan, which was dropped by its providers after hosting the manifesto of a gunman who killed 51 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019; Gab, which was dropped for hosting the antisemitic rants of a gunman who killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018; and Parler, which was dropped due to lax moderation related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack,” reported Drew Harwell, Craig Timberg, and Hannah Allam.

According to the report, experts are combing through the data of the leak, which came courtesy of the hacker group Anonymous and includes everything from client names to home addresses to the account credential of far-right site administrators.

https://www.rawstory.com/epik-hack-far-right/

The slow leak of information is beginning to run more rapid…..

The fresh evidence also shows what many people in Trump’s inner circle knew in January: His case to stay in power was meritless, but an unchained commander in chief chose to listen to acolytes pushing wild conspiracies. Some of those who knew the truth refused to speak up, even as American democracy came under attack.
Just this week, it’s been revealed that:
  • Trump had blueprints that the Republicans tried to use to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s clear and genuine victory, in the form of a memo that laid out a plan for then-Vice President Mike Pence to thwart Biden’s Electoral College triumph. The memo was reported in the new book “Peril,” by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, and was later obtained by CNN.
  • Trump’s own campaign staff knew that outlandish claims of fraud made by the then-President’s lawyers were utterly false, according to a report in The New York Times. But they did nothing to stop his dangerous allegations.
  • Trump sent a letter full of false information to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, asking him to start the process of decertifying the 2020 election.
  • “Peril” also contains a passage that shows Trump cared little for truth, what voters decided in November or bedrock constitutional values — but agonized about his reputation and mused that accepting defeat would brand him as one of history’s losers.

This growing paper trail, which is likely to be of intense interest to the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, appears to prove Trump’s intent to stay in power illegally. The record is beginning to add up to an extraordinary indictment of the ex-President’s abuses of power and one of the darkest moments in US history.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/22/politics/donald-trump-new-revelations/index.html

The Trumpite idiots failed in their Justice For J6…..it did not just fail ut was a complete bust….

According to Jared Holt, who researches domestic extremism for the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, right-wing extremists like those who stormed the Capitol building were “scared shitless” of creating another event like January 6 on Saturday — to the point that several conservative leaders, including Trump, warned their followers to stay away from the rally, claiming it was a trap.

Ultimately, only about 100 people showed up, according to an estimate by the Washingtonian’s Andrew Beaujon — far fewer than some pre-rally predictions — and the protesters were at times outnumbered by members of the media.

https://www.vox.com/2021/9/19/22682438/trump-justice-for-j6-rally-far-right-elections

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A new legal tactic for the breach….the certification of an election is not a legal proceeding…..

Many of the perpetrators of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have been charged with the federal crime of “obstructing an official proceeding” of Congress because their attack was intended to disrupt the counting of electors to confirm the victory of President Joe Biden.

But according to the Seattle Times, the attorney for one of the attackers, Seattle-area Proud Boy Ethan Nordean, is trying a novel approach by questioning whether the counting of electors really counts as an “official proceeding.”

“During a nearly two-hour hearing Tuesday before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a lawyer for Ethan Nordean argued to Judge Timothy J. Kelly that government prosecutors have misapplied criminal charges against Nordean and three co-defendants under a part of federal criminal law aimed to protect ‘official proceedings’ from interference,” reported Lewis Kamb. “Congress’s act to certify Electoral College votes from a presidential election doesn’t qualify as an ‘official proceeding,’ attorney Nicholas Smith argued, because a bevy of case law has defined such proceedings as events involving an investigative purpose or truth-finding inquiry.”

https://www.rawstory.com/proud-boys-capitol-riot-2655068589/

Hackers have broken news……

People aligned with extremist websites have started to feel the repercussions since a major hack revealed their identities. On the other side, for those who work against extremism and hate groups, the data dump is a boon. The information was published by Anonymous, a hacking group, after an attack on Epik, an internet services company used heavily by the far right, the Washington Post reports. In a filing about the breach with the government of Maine, Epik said the financial and account security information of 110,000 people was exposed. A spokesperson said the hack was “an egregious violation against our users.”

A researcher with the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism said it usually takes much time to learn about far-right sites and the names behind them, as well as where the money comes from that keeps them going. But the Epik reveal “is like somebody has just handed you all the detective work,” Heidi Beirich said, adding “as the data is analyzed and looked at more deeply, we’re going to see this ecosystem in a way that was simply not possible before.” The internet services company has been “at the center of so many of the extremist websites and organizations that people like me study,” Beirich said.

Epik has served QAnon theorists, Proud Boys, and other groups that supported the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, per the Post. Sites kicked off mainstream platforms have found a home at Epik, per TechCrunch, as has One America News. An Epik spokesman said the company “offers its services to everyone” and has hosted hundreds of thousands of domains, some of which are bound to be offensive. Still, right-wing domains account for less than 1% of the company’s users, the spokesperson said. Epik says it does not censor users.

The users whose names were uncovered in the Anonymous data dump are starting to feel consequences. Joshua Alayon, a Florida real estate agent, lost his job because invoices released indicated he had paid for domain names such as racisminc.com, whitesencyclopedia.com, christiansagainstisrael.com, and theholocaustisfake.com. The owner of the brokerage where Alayon worked said he doesn’t want “to be involved with anyone with thoughts or motives like that.” A co-founder of Anonymous said hackers acted because Epik takes in extremists. “Everyone is tired of hate,” Aubrey “Kirtaner” Cottle said. “There hasn’t been enough pushback.”

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Insurrection Update #15

A continuing series on the aftermath of the 06 January insurrection by Trump supporters.

First there has been actions taken on police officers that were part of the insurrection….

The US Capitol Police said Saturday it has recommended disciplinary action in six cases after an internal review of officer behavior stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. The department’s Office of Professional Responsibility opened 38 internal investigations and was able to identify 26 of the officers involved, the police said in a statement. It said in 20 of the cases, no wrongdoing was found. However, the police said “violations were sustained and disciplinary action was recommended” for six of the cases — including three for “conduct unbecoming,” one for failure to comply with directions, one for “improper remarks” and one for “improper dissemination of information,” per the AP.

It was unclear in the statement whether a case was an individual officer or if an officer could be cited in more than one case. Names of the officers involved and details about the behavior or actions that led to the alleged violations were not made public. The statement also said the US attorney’s office did not find sufficient evidence that any of the officers committed a crime. More than 600 people face charges in the Jan. 6 attack, in which a mob loyal to then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, battled police and tried to stop the certification of the election victory for President Joe Biden. The statement said an internal review of one other case is pending of an official accused of “unsatisfactory performance and conduct unbecoming.” It said that internal investigation started after a criminal investigation, and no charges were filed.

Five people died in the Capitol attack and its aftermath, including Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by police. A police officer who battled the mob died later, and several officers later took their own lives. This week, the USCP provided the information to the Justice Department as part of its ongoing prosecution of those involved in the Jan. 6 attack. The police opened the internal investigation in February, and announced at the time it was suspending six officers with pay. Whether they were among those recommended for discipline was unclear in the statement. The department said the six cases “should not diminish the heroic efforts” of the Capitol Police on Jan. 6

Those that committed a wide array of crimes (allegedly) continue to whine about their ordeal…..this one is whining about his ankle bracelet….

A man accused of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 is asking a judge to remove his ankle monitor because it’s noisy, embarrassing, and interfering with his business. Gabriel Garcia, a former GOP candidate who oversees 14 employees at Supreme Aluminum Florida, a Miami-based business he founded in 2017, has made numerous requests to remove the ankle monitor and a 10pm-to-6am curfew since he was arrested Jan. 19 on charges of civil disorder, entering a restricted building, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, per the Washington Post and Business Insider.

A court removed only the curfew after Garcia said in May that he wanted to operate his business 24 hours a day to help pay for legal fees, per the Post. In a new filing, his lawyers say the ankle monitor “has randomly started beeping loudly around potential clients, immediately followed by an embarrassing phone call from pretrial services asking for his exact location.” They also claim the monitor is a safety hazard that catches on the rungs of ladders. “One time, he almost fell off the ladder” as a result, they add. Prosecutors filed a Wednesday motion to deny the request, which awaits a judge’s ruling, arguing there’s been no meaningful change to the circumstances that led to the original court order.

Prosecutors say Garcia filmed himself in a confrontation with Capitol Police officers inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6. “We just went ahead and stormed the Capitol. It’s about to get ugly,” he allegedly said in a live video shared on Facebook. He also allegedly urged members of the crowd to storm a line of officers who were trying to block the mob from advancing and yelled “Free Enrique,” apparently referring to Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who’d been arrested days previously. Prosecutors believe Garcia, a former US Army captain, is a member of the far-right Proud Boys group and say he participated in at least one other “hostile demonstration” in Washington, DC, before Jan. 6.

Poor little piglet!

Here is an idea for this slug…..maybe he would not have to indulge the courts if he had not decided to participate in the insurrection.

Just a thought.

The there is the guy that claims his signature was forged on his court documents….

A Capitol rioter who was sentenced to prison in July is now claiming, through his new attorney, that his signature was forged on a plea agreement.

Paul Hodgkins, a crane operator from Florida, is attempting to take back his guilty plea, arguing that his previous attorney — Patrick LeDuc — bullied him into accepting it.

During a hearing Wednesday, Hodgkins’ new attorney — Carolyn Stewart — claimed a handwriting expert will testify that someone forged her client’s signature on the plea agreement. Hodgkins says he “can’t remember what he signed and wouldn’t have signed this version,” according to reports.

https://www.rawstory.com/paul-hodgkins-guilty-plea/

It is far from over….the actions of 06 January were just the opening salvo of the coup attempt…..

The New York Times, conservative National Review writer Kevin Williamson outlined how Republicans are still trying to execute former President Donald Trump’s coup attempt — and how the Capitol attack on January 6 was only the beginning of the effort.

“As the Republican Party tries to make up its mind between wishing away the events of Jan. 6 or celebrating them, one thing should be clear to conservatives estranged from the party: We can’t go home again,” wrote Williamson. “The attempted coup’s foot soldiers have dug themselves in at state legislatures. For example, last week in Florida State Representative Anthony Sabatini introduced a draft of legislation that would require an audit of the 2020 general election in the state’s largest (typically Democratic-heavy) counties, suggesting without basis that it may show that these areas cheated to inflate Joe Biden’s vote count.”

Meanwhile, noted Williamson, there has been a heavy effort from the GOP to downplay or even valorize the Capitol riot itself.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-capitol-riot-2654971440/

This saga continues and the insurrection is still at a boiling point.

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