Tag: Law And Order

Is This The New National Police?

The outlandish antics of ICE in the past few months has brought up a question….are they now the national police force?

These antics are all too familiar especially to anyone with half a brain and a small amount of knowledge of history….

The agency of mask-wearing officers who aren’t afraid to smash windows, detain lawmakers and pluck nonviolent undocumented immigrants off the street is about to become the best-funded federal police force.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has already been acting with impunity during President Donald Trump’s second term.

Video of agents on horseback and in armored personnel vehicles in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles is striking both for its demonstration of militarized power and for the total inability of the city’s Mayor Karen Bass to do anything about it.

“They need to leave and they need to leave right now,” she told reporters on the scene Monday.

But Trump administration officials feel no need to listen to local authorities in a city like Los Angeles.

“Better get used to us now, because this going to be normal very soon,” El Centro Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino told Fox News on Monday, responding to Bass.

That new normal may come as a shock to Americans unused to a federal national police force operating inside the country.

The megabill Trump signed last week will elevate ICE in the American consciousness and on American streets.

ICE will have more funding in the coming years than any other federal law enforcement agency, according to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at pro-immigrant American Immigration Council.

The new law allocates $75 billion for ICE through 2029 to order as many as 10,000 new agents and to build detention facilities for more than 100,000 additional people.

“It makes ICE a higher-funded law enforcement agency than the entire FBI, ATF, DEA, US Marshals Service and Bureau of Prisons combined,” Reichlin-Melnick explained, after averaging that $75 billion across the next four years, more than doubling ICE’s budget in each of those years.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/politics/ice-cbp-police-los-angeles-immigration

This group gets more funding than all our federal law enforcement agencies….why?

This is getting ridiculous….does the US need yet another ‘police force’ to run rough sod over the public?

This smells a lot like another regime that had to have its own ‘private army’ (for lack of a better description).

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Menendez Saga

The Democratic senator for New Jersey has never been likeable to me…..he is a big business Dem that came to the Congress on the Clinton coattails.

Over the years he has had his problems with corruption and once again he has been caught with his fingers in the cookie jar.

Rep. Andy Kim of New Jersey announced on Saturday that he will run against Sen. Robert Menendez in the state’s Democratic primary for Senate next year, saying he feels compelled to run against the three-term senator after he and his wife were indicted on sweeping corruption charges. Kim’s surprise announcement comes as a growing number of Democrats are calling for Menendez to step down. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman became the first Democratic senator to do so, and several members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, along with the state’s Democratic governor, have said he should resign, per the AP.

This is not something I expected to do, but I believe New Jersey deserves better,” Kim said. Fetterman, meanwhile, said his Senate colleague is “entitled to the presumption of innocence under our system, but he is not entitled to continue to wield influence over national policy.” Menendez and wife Nadine were indicted on Friday for using his position to aid the authoritarian government of Egypt and also to pressure federal prosecutors to drop a case against a friend. The three-count indictment lists a series of bribes they were paid by three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for the corrupt acts—gold bars, a luxury car, and cash.

It is the second indictment on bribery charges for Menendez—and the second time he has had to relinquish his post as the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel. He regained the leadership spot in 2018 after the case ended with a deadlocked jury. Menendez was defiant after Friday’s indictment, saying in a statement Friday evening that “I am not going anywhere.” Authorities who searched Menendez’s home last year found more than $100,000 worth of gold bars, as well as over $480,000 in cash—much of it hidden in closets, clothing, and a safe, prosecutors say. The indictment includes photos of cash stuffed in envelopes in jackets bearing Menendez’s name and of a luxury car that prosecutors say was given to the couple as a bribe from the businessmen.

There calls for Menendez to resign….but mostly from younger Congress people….some of the older and entrenched members think he should stay put.

Add Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the list of politicians who think Sen. Bob Menendez needs to resign due to his indictment on corruption charges. The Democratic representative said the charges against Menendez, including allegations that he accepted bribes including a Mercedes-Benz, are “very serious,” the Guardian reports. “Consistency matters. It shouldn’t matter if it’s a Republican or a Democrat,” she said, adding that the allegations “involve the nature of not just his but all of our seats in Congress.” Meanwhile, while Sen. John Fetterman and several Democrats in Menendez’s home state of New Jersey say their fellow Dem should step down, NBC News reports other Democrat senators have not been so quick to join that chorus:

  • Chris Murphy: “No senators should be trading on their position in order to enrich themselves,” he said Sunday on MSNBC. “It is hard for me to believe that Sen. Menendez can be effective in his job given these allegations, but I think I want to get back and talk to my colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee before I recommend a path forward for Sen. Menendez.”
  • Mark Kelly: “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said on CBS Sunday, noting that Menendez stepping down as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee is “a serious step.” Kelly continued, “I think Sen. Menendez is going to have to think long and hard about the cloud that’s going to hang over his service in the United State Senate. He’s got to figure out whether he can adequately serve the people of New Jersey.”
  • Dick Durbin: “In terms of resignation, that’s a decision to be made by Sen. Menendez and the people of New Jersey,” he said on CNN Sunday. “The person who is accused is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and it’s the responsibility of the government to prove that case. I have said that about Donald Trump. I will say the same thing about Bob Menendez.”

Personally he should resign with a hint of corruption and let the Congress get on with business it really does not need another diversion at this time.

I say if guilty get the slug out of government and tighten the noose around other forms of corruption as well….a good place to start would be SCOTUS.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Indictment By The Numbers

This will be my last post of the whole Trump legal thing….that is until there is something more tangible…..

Trump has been indicted in Georgia and let us look at the numbers…..

The new indictment of Donald Trump out of Georgia is more sweeping than the previous cases against him. Here’s a by-the-numbers view:

  • 1: The number of trials expected in Georgia, despite multiple defendants. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis says she plans to try everyone at once, preferably in about six months, reports CBS News.
  • 1.9: The new average number of felony charges per US president, according to Insider, which gets a little snarky with stats. Prior to Trump, the figure was 0.
  • 4: The number of total indictments against the former president after the Georgia case.
  • 8: The number of ways the Georgia defendants allegedly tried to obstruct the election, according to prosecutors in their sweeping narrative, including by creating a list of pro-Trump “alternate” electors and lying to state officials, per the New York Times.
  • The number of days Trump and the others have to voluntarily turn themselves in to Georgia authorities, per the Guardian.
  • 13: The number of charges Trump himself faces in Georgia.
  • 19: The number of defendants named, including Trump. Others include Rudy Giuliani and former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
  • 20: The number of years Trump and the other defendants could get in prison if convicted of violating the state’s RICO Act alone, a charge all of them face, per the Washington Post. Technically, Trump faces hundreds of years in jail because of the four indictments, though translating that into what might actually happen should he be convicted is, as Politico says, “complicated.” The story digs into the possibilities.
  • 30: The number of unindicted co-conspirators in the Georgia case, per NBC News.
  • 41: The number of counts in the Georgia indictment.
  • 91: The number of felonies Trump has now been charged with in his four indictments, per Axios.
  • 161: The number of separate actions laid out in the Georgia indictment that prosecutors say crossed the line into criminal conspiracy, per the AP.
  • 11,780: The number of votes Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” in order to tip the election in his favor. This is one of the 161 actions cited above, though Trump has defended his call.

Those are the numbers….how far will this go?

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Read It For Yourself

There has been lots of air time for the coming court battle in Georgia for Trump…….well sports fans he has been almost indicted and now for those that are interested you can read the document for yourself thanx to The Hill….

Former President Trump faces new charges in his fourth indictment this year, this time in Georgia, where prosecutors say he participated in a plot to overturn the state’s 2020 election results to stay in power.

The co-conspirators include Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Ken Chesebro and Jeffrey Clark. Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows is also charged.

The charges range from making false statements and impersonating a public officer to racketeering, a charge usually reserved for organized crime.

The 98-page document dropped shortly before 11 p.m. on Monday.

Read Trump’s indictment in Georgia here:

READ: Trump indicted in Georgia

It is a long drawn out document but well worth the time to read the thing and get an idea before you rattle off some ill advised comment.

There is something interesting though…..

A list of criminal charges in Georgia against former President Donald Trump briefly appeared Monday on a Fulton County website, but prosecutors said Trump had not been indicted in a long-running investigation of the 2020 presidential election. A Fulton County grand jury began hearing from witnesses Monday. Shortly after 12pm, Reuters reported on a list of several criminal charges to be brought against Trump, including state racketeering counts, conspiracy to commit false statements, and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.

Reuters, which later published a copy of the document, said the filing was taken down quickly afterward. A spokesperson for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said the report of charges being filed was “inaccurate,” but declined to comment further, the AP reports. Prosecutors were widely expected to present those counts to the grand jury. It was unclear why the charges were detailed in a filing while grand jurors were still hearing from witnesses.

Why was it released if the process has not been completed?

Another turn that could work in Trump’s favor…..maybe that was by design?

This whole process is getting so convoluted that it is bordering on the absurd.

Any amazing thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Mississippi “Goon Squad”

You have heard the term ‘New South’, right?

That was a PR attempt to try and paint the South in a different light from the days of segregation and bigotry.

It is possible that there had been some movement into the 21st century but it has been slow and small.

Take my state of Mississippi….we are infamous for our lynchings of blacks, murders of civil rights workers and leaders and since the 1950s not much has changed in the attitudes of most Mississippians.

We all have read or heard of the bad behavior of law enforcement around the country….but a group in Mississippi illustrates just how deep bigotry is even in the police organizations.

Six former Mississippi sheriff’s deputies from a self-described “Goon Squad” pleaded guilty Thursday to subjecting two Black men to racialized torture and shooting one of the victims in the mouth after a neighbor called in a complaint about the men staying in the home of a white woman.

Former Rankin County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) Deputies Brett Morris McAlpin, Jeffrey Arwood Middleton, Christian Lee Dedmon, Hunter Thomas Elward, Daniel Ready Opdyke, and Joshua Allen Hartfield pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with the January 24 torture of 32-year-old Michael Corey Jenkins and 35-year-old Eddie Terrell Parker.

On January 24, the white deputies—who had no warrant—broke down the door of the Braxton home where Parker was living, handcuffing and repeatedly tasing the victims before sexually assaulting them, calling them racist names while threatening to kill them, and shooting Jenkins in the mouth, shattering his jaw and causing permanent injuries to his tongue and neck.

“These guilty pleas are historic for justice against rogue police torture in Rankin County and all over America,” Malik Shabazz, an attorney representing Jenkins and Parker, said in a statement. “Today is truly historic for Mississippi and for civil and human rights in America.”

“There were a lot of naysayers,” Walker added. “This proves there is justice in Mississippi, even in Rankin County with its long history of police violence.”
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey—who in June said the six deputies had resigned or been terminated—called the case “the most horrible incident of police brutality I’ve learned of over my whole career, and I’m ashamed it happened at this department.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/rankin-county-goon-squad

But  I ask will there truly be justice for what these animals did?

Will this change anything in the state?

Mississippi will remain the backwards state it has been for the last 100 years….no change will come (at least for now).

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Games To Be Played

This will be my last post on the Trump legal woes unless there is a major breakthrough….

Now that Trump has had his first day in court the defense team has a wealth of games they can play in this legal battle…..

One consequence of former President Donald Trump’s indictment by the Justice Department is that many Americans will learn a thing or two about how federal prosecutors actually work.

Tuesday’s lesson from Miami? The first hearing in a criminal case is not that interesting. Everyone involved — the government, the defendants, their lawyers, and the court — is looking much further ahead.

Trump was represented by Todd Blanche and Chris Kise, following the departure last week of two attorneys who had been handling Trump’s defense while the case was still in its investigation stage.

Blanche is a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who was already working on Trump’s defense in the criminal prosecution brought by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office earlier this year. His task now in Florida is to prepare and conduct an effective criminal defense in the most high-profile criminal case in recent memory.

Here are 6 things Blanche and his colleagues are almost certainly working on as we speak:

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/14/trump-indictment-defense-classified-documents-charges-00101904

The judge is a Trumpite…..all it will take is a couple MAGA morons on a jury and Trump will walk.

I am sure the media is dying for the trial to begin so they can spend endless hours of BS around the trial.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Big Day Is Here!

Today is the day that Trump will be in court to answer the indictment…..a day that many if us are pleased to see but we have reservations that he will not answer for his digression.

One of the most damning testimonies may come from his, Trump, attorney

One thing that has crystallized over the last few days in the federal case against former President Trump: Prosecutors’ key witness is Trump’s own attorney. As the New York Times explains, attorney Evan Corcoran took copious notes as he worked with Trump—he first dictated them into his phone, then transcribed them onto paper. And those notes, along with Corcoran’s forced testimony, have provided prosecutors with what amounts to a “road map to building their case,” writes the Times‘ Maggie Haberman. Details:

  • No privilege? Such communication is usually protected under attorney-client privilege, but a judge ruled in March it doesn’t apply here because prosecutors argued that “Corcoran’s advice may have been used to further or cover up a crime,” per Reuters. The significance of the ruling didn’t become clear until the Trump indictment was unsealed on Friday.
  • Trump attorney I’: The indictment relies heavily on notes and testimony from “Trump Attorney I,” referring to Corcoran, explains Slate. Corcoran quotes Trump multiple times in ways that don’t appear to bode well for the former president in regard to obstruction-of-justice charges: “Well what if we, what happens if we just don’t respond at all or don’t play ball with them?” And, “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?” And, “Well look isn’t it better if there are no documents?”
  • Plucking: The indictment also cites Corcoran describing a moment in which Trump made a “plucking motion” after the attorney placed dozens of secret documents in a folder that was to be handed over to federal prosecutors. Corcoran said he interpreted that to mean he should take the folder back to his hotel room “and if there’s anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out.”
  • Crucial to the case: The Daily Beast reports that Corcoran’s testimony is so crucial to the case that it suggests a vulnerability for prosecutors. If, for example, the federal judge in Florida handling the case (a Trump appointee) overrules the earlier decision that Corcoran’s notes are fair game, it could undermine the case against the former president.
  • Unflappable’: Corcoran is no longer a Trump attorney, having left the legal team last month, notes the AP. The Reuters story on all this includes a mini-profile of the 58-year-old: “Unflappable and even-keeled are the words that come to mind,” said Douglas Gansler, a former Maryland attorney general who worked with Corcoran years ago. The piece also describes him as “soft-spoken and diligent.”

How damning has yet to be seen.

Sadly I read an article about how he could possibly beat the rap….

pecial counsel Jack Smith has laid out what many observers see as a damning case against Donald Trump over classified documents. Take the view of William Barr, who served as Trump’s own attorney general: “If even half of it is true, then he’s toast,” he told Fox News on Sunday, per USA Today. The phrase “slam dunk” is being tossed around, but Paul Rosenzweig at the Atlantic floats a different basketball analogy: The “case is more aptly characterized as a difficult contested shot from beyond the 3-point arc.” Yes, Smith has presented exhaustive evidence suggesting Trump is guilty of illegally taking the documents in the first place, then obstructing the subsequent investigation, writes Rosenzweig. But “there is a more-than-reasonable possibility that Trump will never be convicted.”

Why so? Rosenzweig ticks off the reasons:

  • The judge: Smith got “exceedingly unlucky” with the federal judge assigned to the case in Florida. Judge Aileen Cannon is a Trump appointee who could affect the proceedings in myriad ways, including by which evidence she deems acceptable.
  • The jury: That the case is being tried in Florida rather than DC gives Trump a much better chance of having sympathetic jurors. Of course, jurors can be swayed, but Rosenzweig points out that most of the Trump World convictions so far (including Paul Manafort and Steve Bannon) “have come in jurisdictions that have leaned decidedly against Trump.” He also sees a legitimate risk of “jury nullification”—that a single juror will ignore all evidence and vote to acquit.

Read his full essay.

Today is the big day…..

The nation will be watching.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Crap Comes Home To Rooster?

After months of back and forth there seems to be a break-through on the Trump and secret documents thing.

Donald Trump has been indicted over his handling of classified documents. The former president posted on Truth Social Thursday evening that his lawyers informed him of the development, reports the Hill. The New York Times confirmed the news, reporting that the Justice Department filed the indictment in federal court in Miami, where Trump has been ordered to appear on Tuesday afternoon. He is expected to surrender to authorities rather than be taken into custody. Trump thus becomes the first former president in US history to face federal charges, per the Times. As the Washington Post notes, the investigation involves not just hundreds of classified documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate but whether the former president obstructed efforts to recover the material.

The specific charges Trump faces have not yet been publicly detailed. Trump has insisted that he did nothing wrong and that he had full authority as the outgoing president to retain such documents. He has further accused the FBI and the Justice Department of a politically motivated investigation intended to torpedo his 2024 run for reelection. The Justice Department investigation has been run by special counsel Jack Smith, who has, as expected, remained mum about developments.

Investigators also found documents at the residence of Mike Pence but have cleared him of criminal charges. An investigation is still underway over classified papers found at the residence of President Biden, stemming back to his days as vice president. On Thursday, Biden said Americans should trust the process. “Because you’ll notice, I have never once—not one single time—suggested to the Justice Department what they should do or not do on whether to bring any charges or not bring any charges,” the president told reporters, per CNN. “I’m honest.”

7 counts, eh?

What could they possibly be?

Donald Trump was indicted on seven counts related to the probe into his handling of classified documents, his attorney confirmed. The former president is facing one charge under the Espionage Act, plus charges including obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy, and false statements, CNN reports. Trump himself weighed in on the Espionage Act charge, which he called “ludicrous.” Federal agents from the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security are en route to Miami ahead of Trump’s court appearance, which the former POTUS said would happen Tuesday, the AP reports.

Meanwhile, Trump’s fellow Republicans are speaking out against the indictment. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy blamed President Biden for the charges, saying it is “unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him.” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise agreed, saying Trump is “weaponizing his Department of Justice against his own political rival.” Even Trump’s 2024 rivals are backing him up on this: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wondered, “Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter?” while Sen. Tim Scott said the justice system’s “scales are weighted” based on politics. Fellow GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said the indictment was “an affront to every citizen.”

Great news in my opinion…..but I do not think this will go the whole way…..

He, Trump, should be barbecued IMO.

Any deep probing thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–07Apr21

We all know about the problems the Capitol police had with the insurrection of in-bred insurrectionists…and a wall went up….and then a lone moron went crazy and killed a police man and injured another after he rammed a check point…..the craziness continues with the Capitol being apparently a major target these days.

The DC police union has gone to Congress for help…..

The United States Capitol Police union is urging Congress to ramp up security around the Capitol, days after a an officer was killed outside the building, they said in a statement on Saturday.

So what is the answer?

Rep, Tim Ryan (D-OH) has answer.

Go to Israel for security advice.

A US House Representative who helps oversee security at the Capitol said Friday he had consulted with Israeli security officials to learn how they keep the government secure, after an attack on the Capitol killed a police officer.

Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, chairman of a House spending committee that oversees security and the Capitol, spoke to Fox News following the ramming attack on a barricade at the complex.

His committee and others are looking at not only fencing around the complex but at the staffing, structure, and intelligence capabilities of the Capitol Police.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/congressman-says-hes-consulted-with-israel-about-us-capitol-security/

Seriously!

We go to the nation that uses snipers to kill protesters, arrests children, and other forms of intimidation of citizens….why?

Is this the type of ‘security’ that Rep. ryan is looking for?

Image

You mean the country that has a weaponized police force needs advice from a genocidal nation?

What is the police budget being spent on if not for training for future incidents?

Israel can offer NOTHING to the US on proper crowd control….that is unless the country wants to become a state of intimidation and genocide.

Who thinks this is a good idea?

Our police departments need to learn how to handle volatile situations without the Israeli form of control.

What is Rep. Ryan thinking?

Or should I ask….who pulls Ryan’s string?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Another Bad Day For Trumpites

Those people around Donald the Orange have not had a goo run in the court systems…..just look at the criminals that have saddled up to Trump.

Rick Gates: Convicted. Paul Manafort: Convicted. George Papadopoulos: Convicted. Mike Flynn: Convicted. Michael Cohen: Convicted. Roger Stone: Convicted. Donald Trump: Impeached.

Now we can add yet another Trumpian stoolie….Steve Bannon.

Remember him?

He has been indicted by the Manhattan court….

Former top White House adviser Steve Bannon appears to be facing serious legal trouble. Federal prosecutors indicted him Thursday on charges that he defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors in a online fundraising campaign, reports CNBC. The charges are related to a group co-founded by Bannon called “We Build the Wall,” which sought to raise money to build a border wall, per Bloomberg News. Prosecutors say he used money raised by the group for personal expenses. Three others also were charged, reports CNN. Bannon has been arrested and was due to make a court appearance Thursday.

Prosecutors say that Bannon and another organizer, Brian Kolfage, pledged to take no compensation, but that Bannon received $1 million and Kolfage more than $350,000, reports the Washington Post. Those two and two others (Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea) are accused of routing money from the online campaign through a shell company in an attempt to conceal their personal payments, say prosecutors. They all face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in the campaign, which the Hill reports raised more than $25 million. Bannon was a key adviser in President Trump’s 2016 campaign, then served as a top strategist in the White House until he was fired in the summer of 2017.

Donald the Orange is having a real bad year and it just keeps getting worse….more and more of his toadies are getting snapped up by the judicial system.

Trump’s pardon finger has got to be getting tired….and I am sure that he will use it more and more between now and January of 2021…….then hopefully he will be back in New York bothering locals instead of screwing the nation.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”