From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Free Thought Project – by Jay Syrmopoulos
Ferguson, Mo. – After the grand jury decision, the police, in an extremely callous and brutal move, opened fire with rubber bullet and tear gas on a group carrying an unconscious woman to the police line looking for help during a protest.
The stunning video, by Tim Pool, shows a group as they approach the police line shouting,
“She’s having a heart attack! She’s having a heart attack! She needs help!”
Free Thought Project – by John Vibes
Martinsburg, Virginia – This week, the family of a Virginia man who was killed by police is filing for an appeal in their lawsuit against the city, which was railroaded out of court last year after the incident occurred.
In the aftermath of this case, it was discovered that police not only shot an innocent man 23 times while he was surrounded by a half dozen officers, but also that those officers attempted to plant evidence, tamper with the crime scene, make false statements and stage a massive cover up for a murder. Continue reading “Police Beat, Taser, and Shoot Man 23 Times, Killing Him for Walking Down the Street”
The National Football League is pushing Congress to reauthorize a long-term insurance program during the lame-duck session.
Most attention on pro football’s presence in Washington these days has centered on the league’s response to the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal and hometown team’s mascot. But NFL officials have quietly been working with a broad coalition of business groups pressing Congress for a long-term reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). Continue reading “Insurance industry’s Hail Mary: The NFL”
Courthouse News Service – by YAWANA WOLFE
A family court judge in West Virginia said he was wrongly arrested for battery after a nurse with whom he had an argument in a local hospital reported the “incident” to her deputy sheriff husband.
Kanawha County Family Court Judge D. Mark Snyder says in a complaint filed in the county’s circuit court that he went to the Charleston Area Medical Center on November 4, 2013, to visit a friend recovering from an amputation. Continue reading “Judge Says He Was Victimized by Police”
KMOV 4 News – by Adam McDonald
FERGUSON, Mo. (KMOV.com) — This St. Louis woman’s picture and story has spread through social media, she’s now ready to talk about what happened to her shortly after the grand jury announcement was made in the death of Michael Brown.
Dornella Conners is now blind in her left eye after she and her boyfriend, De’Angelas Lee, stopped at a gas station in the 10,000 block of Halls Ferry in north St. Louis County early Tuesday morning. Conners says as she and her boyfriend were driving away from the station multiple police officers showed up. Continue reading “Pregnant woman loses eye after police shoot bean bag at her”
It’s not just our nation’s legislators that enjoy a “revolving door” — one that moves them from Congress to the private sector and back again, to the mutual benefit of legislators and certain industries… not so much the rest of America.
There’s another revolving door out there — one that keeps bad cops employed in the law enforcement sector. It’s incredibly difficult for police departments to shed their “bad apples,” what with police unions pushing back hard on the few occasions that the blue line fails to hold. But even if they do manage to cut one loose, there’s a good chance this former officer will just end up carrying a badge and gun for someone else. Continue reading “The OTHER Government Revolving Door: Sheriff’s Departments, State Troopers Provide New Homes For Bad Cops”
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — A man is facing a felony menacing charge after two western Colorado sheriff’s deputies say he pointed a banana at them and they thought it was a gun.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/1rqFiVE ) 27-year-old Nathan Rolf Channing, of Fruitvale, was arrested Sunday.
According to an arrest affidavit, Mesa County deputies Joshua Bunch and Donald Love said they feared for their lives even though they saw that the object was yellow. Bunch wrote in the affidavit that he has seen handguns in many shapes and colors. Continue reading “Man arrested; deputies say he aimed banana at them”
Washington Post – by Craig Timberg
It’s that time again. We’re on the move — feasting, sharing, shopping, giving thanks. And we are being tracked every step of the way. So here’s a quick guide to the state of the unblinking electronic eye, 2014 Holiday Edition.
Flying home? Every passenger on every flight is recorded on digital manifests. Every plane is tracked. And even before you board, airports are among the most intensively surveilled public spaces, full of cameras and other monitoring devices. Some airports even use tiny sensors hidden in lighting fixtures that, according to the New York Times, can spot long lines, read license plates and report “suspicious activity” to authorities. Continue reading “#HappyTracksgiving : How your travels are tracked this holiday season”
WTSP 10 News – by Noah Pransky
TAMPA BAY, Florida — A controversial procedure that allows Florida law enforcement to seize cars, cash, and other personal property during an arrest is under increasing scrutiny as some agencies are relying on it more and more to create revenue.
Civil forfeiture was designed to take tools such as guns and drug money away from serious criminals. Anything seized during a felony arrest can become the property of the arresting agency if the property owner doesn’t challenge it. But officers routinely seize property as their agency’s own even though warrants are seldom filed, and often, charges are never even filed against the property owner. Continue reading “Policing for Profit: How your property can be seized”
Tuesday on CNN, retired lieutenant general and the commander of Joint Task Force Katrina Gen. Russel L. Honoré said if the riots in Missouri cant be controlled the next step is “the Insurrection Act.”
Partial transcript as follows:
It takes a lot of patience he on the police part to understand that civil disobedience by it self is to force the police to take actions. So the people stand in the street, and if it can be done in a safe way, sometimes it’s best to observe that as long as it doesn’t go violent. Continue reading “Gen Honore: If Riots Not Stopped St Louis May Have to Invoke The Insurrection Act”
This past week, on This American Life, the first 20 minutes or so are the incredible story of just how screwed up the ATF continues to be (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms). Much of this has been reported on over the past year and a half by reporters in Milwaukee (and investigated by Congress), but it’s absolutely worth listening to the details — which you can doover on the This American Life page (I’d post the embed here, but unfortunately This American Life does not yet appear to support HTTPS, so we can’t). The story is all kinds of stunning, including the insane fact that most of the details came out, and the reporters only began their investigation, because some undercover ATF agents in Milwaukee had trashed the property they were renting, and refused to pay the rent or damages to the landlord — even threatening the landlord, claiming he was harassing federal agents by asking for the rent: Continue reading “The ATF’s Fake Retail Stores, Bad Behavior… And Why It Only Came Out Because They Failed To Pay Rent”
A Fulton County, Georgia, jury has awarded $6 million to a mother whose 14-year-old son was accidentally shot and killed when the boy’s sister dropped a pistol on the dining room table.
The pistol belonged to the mother, Linda Bullard, who had purchased it from Shurlington Jewelry and Pawn 14 years ago.
The $6 million judgement is against the pawn store’s owner, Ronald Richardson. Continue reading “Mom Sues Gun Store, Wins $6 Million After Fatal Home Accident”
Over a late breakfast at a Denny’s by the freeway in Torrance, two gang members listened to an offer of a lifetime.
A drug courier invited them to rob a house stashed with pure cocaine worth at least six, if not seven figures. There would be a couple of armed guards, the man said, but with the right crew and weapons, they could be overpowered. Continue reading “Judges question ATF stings that lure suspects into fictitious stickups”
Huffington Post – by Nick Wing
A total of 76 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 2013, the FBI reported Monday. Of those, 49 died in accidents and 27 were killed as a result of felonious acts — the lowest such figure in more than 50 years of FBI reporting, dating back to at least 1961.
The 27 deaths of officers as a result of criminal acts in 2013 were a significant reduction from 2012, when 49 officers were feloniously killed, as well as from 2011, when 72 officers were killed by assailants in the line of duty. Continue reading “27 Police Officers Were Slain In The Line Of Duty In 2013, The Fewest In More Than 50 Years”
ROMA, Texas — Standing on a cliff looking over the Rio Grande river in this border town, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) notes the buildings behind us on the American side—largely abandoned, run-down houses and a seemingly abandoned local chamber of commerce outpost—look like they’ve been ravaged by war.
“This looks like it’s post-World War II, like after a bombing,” Bachmann said while Breitbart News and CNN accompanied her and Rep. Steve King (R-IA) to an outpost on the border where illegal immigration and drug cartel crime runs rampant. “We don’t see people living here, but they told us these are stash houses for the drug cartels. You wouldn’t want to be here after dark.” Continue reading “Bachmann, King in Texas Border Town Devastated by Illegal Immigration: Looks Like ‘World War II after a Bombing”
Free Thought Project – by John Vibes
Superior, Wisconsin – After nearly a year, Officer George Gothner will finally see consequences for the violent assault of Natasha Lancour. Unfortunately, he will only be getting a ten hour suspension from officials at the Superior Police Department.
Disturbingly, the suspension that the officer received was not for pulling the woman by the hair, punching her in the face, or slamming her face-down onto the hood of the police car, but instead, the officer was reprimanded for how he spoke to her. Continue reading “Cop Receives 1 Day Suspension for “Vulgar Communication Skills” Used While Pummelling a Woman”
Pro Liberate – by William Norman Grigg
Sweeney Gillette, a very successful cattle trader from Ontario, Oregon, had barely finished a pleasant chat with his ex-wife when his phone rang. In an agitated voice, Gillette’s attorney reported that he had just been contacted by a Malheur County deputy District Attorney who accused the rancher of “unlawfully interfering with a witness” – namely, his ex-wife.
Since the attorney called literally seconds after Gillette had hung up, the call from the deputy DA must have come in the middle of the conversation with his ex-wife, who later insisted that she hadn’t told anyone about the phone call. Continue reading “When the Rustlers Wear Badges”
The Hill – by Kevin Cirilli
Tech Dirt
Seattle PI
Breitbart TV
Tech Dirt – by Mike Masnick
Breitbart – by AWR Hawkins
MSM – by Victoria Kim
Breitbart – by Matthew Boyle