Way to go Ana Kasparian!
Ana Kasparian of the Young Turks spends 15 minutes criticizing the people who see racism everywhere. She says she regrets that she herself used to be one of those people. She criticizes DEI training in the workplace. She says it’s better for people of different races to spend time together without some third party moderator who is getting paid huge sums of money to divide people instead of unite them. This is by no means the first time that I have seen her being highly critical of the radical left. She is basically in the same camp as other liberals like Bill Maher and Russell Brand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bzOoBhjnBM
In Ionia, Michigan, Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger gave zero jail time to someone who shot an 84-year-old woman
In Ionia, Michigan, Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger gave zero jail time to someone who shot an 84-year-old woman.
In my opinion, this judge is more evil than the shooter. The shooter is just a dumb civilian. But the judge is someone who is in power. It is their job to protect innocent people from violent scumbags such as this.
And I don’t care if the shooting was “accidental” or deliberate. I put the word “accidental” in quotes because there is no such thing as an “accidental” shooting. The accurate word is “negligent.” But it doesn’t make any difference to the person who was shot.
The shooter should be in prison, regardless of whether the shooting was negligent or intentional.
You can read about it at this link:
Michigan man gets community service for shooting anti-abortion campaigner
Associated Press
May 24, 2023
IONIA, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan man who pleaded no contest to shooting an 84-year-old woman campaigning against abortion rights at his home was sentenced to community service Tuesday.
Richard Harvey, 75, was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger also gave him a suspended jail sentence of two months and a delayed sentence of one year on probation.
Harvey pleaded no contest last month to felonious assault, careless discharge of a firearm causing injury and reckless discharge of a firearm.
Kreeger also must pay $347.19 in restitution and cannot have any contact with the woman he shot, 84-year-old Joan Jacobson.
Jacobson was shot Sept. 20 at Harvey’s home in Odessa Township, a community about 130 miles (210 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. Jacobson told investigators that she was asking a woman at the home to vote against a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion in the state when she was told to leave. The amendment later passed.
Harvey has said the shooting was accidental, but Jacobson has maintained she believes it was intentional after she had argued with Harvey’s wife, Sharon Harvey.
Jacobson was treated at a hospital for a shoulder wound.
Man confronts climate activists blocking traffic in London, shoving them and ripping banners
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nsltRTtKQI
In her own words: A high school debate judge named Lila Lavender says that she will always vote against any debater who argues in favor of capitalism
A high school debate judge named Lila Lavender says that she will always vote against any debater who argues in favor of capitalism.
Sources:
https://www.thefp.com/p/judges-ruin-high-school-debate-tournaments
Here is Lila Lavender in her own words:
Original: https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?judge_person_id=114657
Lila Lavender
Paradigm
Record
Certifications
Paradigm Statement
Last changed 25 May 2023 6:44 PM PDT
She/Her
Hey yall!! I’m lila!!
Email Chain: For both LD and Policy I would like to be on an email chain, email is [ask me before the round starts]. If you have any questions or revolutionary criticisms of my paradigm, I would love for you to email me as well!! ^^ To keep my paradigm as short as possible, I have also omitted my thoughts on how I evaluate specific positions (i.e Ks, theory, ADV/DAs, etc). So if you have any questions about that, feel free to email me or find me before prep/the round/etc!!
Quick Pref Sheet:
1 – K
2/3 – LARP
3/4 – Theory (I am good at evaluating theory and went for it all the time when I was competing, vacuous debate just makes me mad).
4/5 – Phil
10 – Tricks (ill just never vote on this).
Paradigm – Short:
Tech > truth.
Go as fast as you want, i’ll be able to flow it.
I judge every debate format in the same way: on the flow and based on (in one way or another) which team or debater wins offense that outweighs their opponents.
I will never vote for rightest capitalist-imperialist positions/arguments. For example: capitalism good, neoliberalism good, imperialist war good, fascism good, bourgeois (like US) nationalism, normalizing Israel or Zionism, US white fascist policing good, etc.
Barring the above, read whatever you want and i’ll vote on it if you win it!!
Paradigm – Long:
Before anything else, including being a debate judge, I am a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist. I have realized as a result of this, I cannot check the revolutionary proletarian science at the door when i’m judging – as thats both impossible and opportunism. If you have had me as a judge before, this explicit decision of mine does not change how you understand I evaluate rounds, with one specific exception: I will no longer evaluate and thus ever vote for rightest capitalist-imperialist positions/arguments. Meaning, arguments/positions which defend the bourgeoisie’s class dictatorship (monopoly capitalism and thus imperialism), from a right-wing political form. I.e., the politics, ideology, and practice of the right-wing of the bourgeoisie.
Examples of arguments of this nature are as follows: fascism good, capitalism good, imperialist war good, neoliberalism good, defenses of US or otherwise bourgeois nationalism, Zionism or normalizing Israel, colonialism good, US white fascist policing good, etc. In the context of a debate round, by default this will function through ‘drop the argument.’ I.e., if you read an advantage or DA that represents the right-wing of the bourgeoisie, I won’t evaluate that advantage or DA. If your whole 1AC or 1NC strategy is rightest capitalist-imperialist in nature, I won’t evaluate your whole 1AC or 1NC. This only becomes ‘drop the debater’ if you violently and egregiously defend counterrevolution.
For example, if the arc of your argument is about how Afghanistan can never be self-reliant and is inherently ‘full of terrorists’ (thus requiring US imperialist rule), you will lose regardless of what happens on the flow. The brightline for what I described above is liberalism. Or in other words, I will still evaluate ‘soft left’ positions/arguments – those which represent the liberal wing of the bourgeoisie. To be clear, this is not because liberalism is any less counterrevolutionary or less of a weapon of monopoly capitalism than rightism is. Nor is this the modern revisionist nonsense which posits that there is a ‘peaceful’ wing of the bourgeoisie and thus imperialism.
Rather, it’s because it’s a practical necessity given debate’s class basis. In one way or another, given debate’s bourgeois class basis and function as imperialist propaganda, the vast majority of 1ACs/1NCs are liberal in some form; this includes the vast majority of Ks. Thus, if I were to extend this paradigm to correctly also cease evaluating liberal arguments/positions, it would mean either it would be impossible for me to evaluate 99% of rounds or there would be a even higher chance of me getting struck out of the pool. Which in the practical sense is not a decision I can make, because as a result of US monopoly capitalist exploitation, I rely in-part on judging to eat and survive bourgeois class warfare otherwise.
So within that context, as much as I can, I will use my power as a judge to propagate the Maoist line and remove as much of the most explicit reactionary arguments/positions as possible. As Aly put it, “some level of paternalism from those of us who are committed to ensuring the future survival of this activity is necessary.” I know that there are going to some individuals who are greatly upset by this paradigm. For the vast majority of you, thats fine, the class antagonism is clear. For the rest of you, whose concerns may be genuine, consider the following.
Every single judge exerts a paradigm that, to differing degrees, will not evaluate particular arguments/positions. Most judges do not explicitly state or justify what that entails, and many judges do explicitly as well – in both positive and negative ways. For example, many judges (correctly) will not vote for openly racist/cissexist/misogynistic/nationally oppressive arguments; it goes without saying, but I won’t ever vote for and will drop you for these arguments as well. Or in another way, (incorrectly) debate conservatives refuse to vote for Ks all the time.
The only reason this specific paradigm will seem especially concerning, is because of the bourgeois class nature of debate and thus its’ ideological function in service of imperialism. One which is inherently in contradiction to proletarian revolution and human emancipation, and thus antagonistic to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. This is demonstrated well by the contradiction that most judges correctly will vote down debaters for being openly racist, yet will vote for positions which endorse the butchering of colonized and nationally oppressed People by US imperialist wars; something ive been guilty of in the past. As always, if you have any questions or good-faith criticisms of anything I mentioned within my paradigm, please don’t hesitate to email me – I will always get back to you as soon as I can!! :))
Proletarians of all countries, unite!!
Misc Thoughts:
Non-Black debaters should not read afro-pess, I will drop you if you do. Read: https://thedrinkinggourd.home.blog/2019/12/29/on-non-black-afropessimism/ Note: don’t use this as an opportunistic excuse to not defend or have a line on New Afrikan national liberation, as thats gross and chauvinist.
I am a transgender woman who has a deeper voice, please take that into account. It’s exhausting to see judges and debaters who are unable to resolve this contradiction, either attribute my RFD to men on the panel, or treat me like a man as a result of my voice.
Cap debaters need to stop reading modern revisionism or ‘left’ opportunism guising itself as ‘Marxism,’ and truly grasp what Marxism is. This is a good place to start study wise: https://michaelharrison.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/The-Collected-Works-of-The-Communist-Party-of-Peru-Volume-2-1988-1990.pdf
It’s a real shame that as a result of bourgeois feminism, be that white feminism or cissexist feminism, debaters have abandoned advancing the necessity of women’s liberation. The proletarian line on feminism needs to be brought to debate, here is a good place to start study wise: https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/S02-Philosophical-Trends-in-the-Feminist-Movement-9th-Printing.pdf
For Parli Only – I will NEVER vote for an argument that says “reading Ks is only for rich schools and only rich debaters read Ks.” There is a reason why this argument is read 99% of the time by schools and debaters flush with capital, it’s because it’s a bourgeois lie and distortion of debate history. Particularly one which, among many things, enables and was enabled by white chauvinism in debate. There is a good chance I will drop you for making this argument as well, so either don’t read it in front of me or better yet strike me.
While their are certainly contexts in which trigger warnings are legitimately necessary, i.e in graphic descriptions or displays of counterrevolutionary violence (sexual or otherwise), there are also ways in which trigger warnings are weaponized by bourgeois politics for counterrevolution. I.e., how it’s used to obscure or mystify ongoing exploitation and thus oppression, or to protect bourgeois sensibilities. Merely discussing the existence of counterrevolutionary violence DOES NOT require a trigger warning, that is absurd and nothing but liberalism. If this occurs in a round that I am judging you in, I am very receptive to revolutionary criticisms of this liberalism. As Black Like Mao puts it “it is important to steel oneself because real life has no trigger warnings. This is not a call to willfully subject oneself to a constant barrage of horrors, because that is a recipe for depression and all kinds of other nasties, but a reminder that this stuff is happening and if you happen to be in the midst of one of these incidents there is no running away or covering one’s eyes.”
Given events that happened during the 2022 Stephen Stewart finals, I now have a very specific threshold for voting on Speed Bad theory. That threshold being that unless you have disclosed to your opponents that you have an audio-processing disability and/or show me your flows (your lack of ability to flow the arguments being spread), I will not vote on Speed Bad theory. The way this will function on the technical level is that if that threshold is not met, or another threshold which objectively not subjectively proves engagement was not possible (because of speed), I will grant the other team a we-meet on the interp – regardless of what happens on the flow. To be clear, this is not because I don’t think that there are legitimate justifications of Speed Bad theory or that teams don’t abuse speed in reactionary ways, there are and they do. But rather, it’s because this interp has and continues to be used in an actively counterrevolutionary way. I.e., to advance monopoly capitalist and thus imperialist propaganda, and justify blatant male chauvinist harassment. This does not apply to novices.
Street housekeeping keeps SF Mayor Breed – and everyone else – hopping
Street housekeeping keeps SF Mayor Breed – and everyone else – hopping
By Matier & Ross
Aug 22, 2018
Mayor London Breed, who won her election largely on a promise to clean up the city, is stepping up efforts to scrub San Francisco’s streets, including playing a bit of cat and mouse with her own city department heads.
Breed has taken to making unannounced walks through hard-hit neighborhoods — at times with reporters in tow — but without giving the police or Public Works officials the usual heads-up that in the past allowed for the cleanups that usually precede a mayoral visit.
“I don’t want the areas to be clean if it’s not clean on a regular basis. I want to see what everybody else is seeing,” Breed tells us.
And when Breed spots a problem, she texts the department head.
The sight of human waste, discarded hypodermic needles, trash and general grime is nothing new to anyone walking in downtown, in the Mission District or in any of a number of other San Francisco neighborhoods these days.
And, as Breed notes, “We’re spending a lot of money to address this problem.”
No kidding.
San Francisco Public Works has a $72.5 million-a-year street cleaning budget — including spending $12 million a year on what essentially have become housekeeping services for homeless encampments.
The costs include $2.8 million for a Hot Spots crew to wash down the camps and remove any biohazards, $2.3 million for street steam cleaners, $3.1 million for the Pit Stop portable toilets, plus the new $830,977-a-year Poop Patrol to actively hunt down and clean up human waste.
(By the way, the poop patrolers earn $71,760 a year, which swells to $184,678 with mandated benefits.)
At the same time, the Department of Public Health has an additional $700,000 set aside for a 10-member, needle cleanup squad, complete with it’s own minivan. The $19-an-hour needle cleanup jobs were approved as part of the latest budget crafted largely by former Mayor Mark Farrell.
The new needle crew is on top of the $364,000 that the health department already was spending on a four-member needle team.
Breed is also leaning on Chief William Scott for more foot patrols.
“I’ve definitely had discussions with the chief and asked that beat officers be out there,” Breed said.
City officials say foot beats have nearly doubled in the past year, from 76 to 140 officers.
The problem, however, is that every time the cops arrest someone for a low-level, quality-of-life or petty street crime, the beat cops have to write up an incident report and transport the suspect to jail for booking, all of which takes them off the street.
Breed said she and the police are now looking into the possibility of using sheriff’s deputies to help transport prisoners, in turn allowing beat cops to stay on patrol.
The mayor, however, makes clear that the burden of solving all the city’s street problems doesn’t rest solely on City Hall.
“The responsibility is with everyone,” Breed said. “People shouldn’t be comfortable throwing their trash on the ground, and if people have recommendations on where they want trash cans, they can call 311.”
San Francisco published this study on feces on public sidewalks. This is from page 11.
https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-05/CY22_Street_Sidewalk_Standards_Report_05222023.pdf
About 30% of evaluated streets and sidewalks report feces.
Observations of human and animal feces were less common in the Core Citywide sample, with about 30% of evaluations observing feces on the street or sidewalk.
In contrast, almost half (47%) of evaluations in all Key Commercial Areas observed feces. At the neighborhood-level:
▪ Feces on streets and sidewalks were least likely to be found in Noe Valley and Glen Park.
▪ Feces were most common in the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, the Mission, and South of Market.
Why does New York City keep setting this serial criminal free?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/uncle-chokehold-victim-jordan-neely-191500626.html
Uncle of chokehold victim Jordan Neely busted on Midtown pickpocketing charges
By Rocco Parascandola, Thomas Tracy, and Larry McShane
May 23, 2023
A serial pickpocket busted near the Port Authority Bus Terminal identified himself as the uncle of chokehold victim Jordan Neely after his Manhattan arrest, sources told the Daily News.
Christopher Neely, 44, was nabbed while trying to flee after an NYPD pickpocket team recognized him as a suspect for a robbery pattern, the sources said Tuesday.
The suspect jumped a turnstile and then resisted arrest once run down by police around 11:15 p.m. Monday, a source told News.
The suspect, armed with a gravity knife, was carrying a number of credit and debit cards in the names of other people once arrested, with at least one of the cards belonging to a Midtown victim, sources indicated.
He was charged with criminal possession of stolen property, possession of a stolen credit card, grand larceny, resisting arrest, criminal possession of a weapon and bail-jumping from an earlier case, police said.
The man’s rap sheet included some two dozen priors, including charges for rape, robbery and burglary, cops said. The remainder were mostly theft-related, although Neely was also wanted on a grand larceny charge last year — a charge that violated his probation from a prior case.
Photo caption: “Hunter College adjunct Professor Shellyne Rodriguez held a machete to a Post reporter’s neck Tuesday outside her Bronx apartment door”
Photo caption: “Hunter College adjunct Professor Shellyne Rodriguez held a machete to a Post reporter’s neck Tuesday outside her Bronx apartment door”
The reporter had gone to the professor’s home to ask her questions after the professor had been previously filmed in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOCK11VZlks
Knocking on someone’s door is not a crime, so the professor cannot claim that her action was self defense. I hope she gets prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Source for photo and article: https://nypost.com/2023/05/23/nyc-college-professor-shellyne-rodriguez-holds-machete-to-post-reporters-neck/
Unhinged NYC college professor who cursed out anti-abortion students holds machete to Post reporter’s neck
May 23, 2023
The unhinged Manhattan college professor who went viral for cursing out anti-abortion students shockingly held a machete to a Post reporter’s neck Tuesday — and made wild threats that she was going to “chop” him up.
Shellyne Rodriguez spewed the menacing remarks when The Post knocked on the door of her Bronx apartment Tuesday morning — a day after she made headlines for flipping out on pro-life students at Hunter College.
“Get the f–k away from my door, or I’m gonna chop you up with this machete!” the manic adjunct art professor shouted from behind her closed door just moments after veteran reporter Reuven Fenton identified himself.
Seconds later, Rodriguez barged out and alarmingly put the blade to the reporter’s neck.
“Get the f–k away from my door! Get the f–k away from my door!” she raged before retreating back into her apartment and slamming the door.
The Post reporter and photographer immediately left the apartment building, but an armed Rodriguez quickly followed and accosted them outside.
“If I see you on this block one more f–king time, you’re gonna …,” Rodriguez said, while still wielding the implement.
“Get the f–k off the block! Get the f–k out of here, yo!”
The professor briefly chased The Post’s photographer down the street to his car before coming back to kick the reporter in the shins.
She finally retreated into her building just moments later.
Vince DiMiceli, a spokesman for Hunter College, told The Post the school was “outraged” by the footage of Rodriguez wielding the machete.
“We will take swift and appropriate action,” he said without elaborating.
The terrifying ordeal unfolded after footage surfaced online that showed Rodriguez unleashing a profanity-laden attack on anti-abortion students who’d set up an information table at Hunter College earlier this month.
“You’re not educating s–t. This is f–king propaganda,” the art professor hissed to the students in the May 2 incident. “What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next?”
A male student behind the table was filmed telling her, “I mean, no, we’re talking about abortion” and that he was sorry about “triggering” her students.
Rodriguez fired back, telling the male student he couldn’t be sorry “because you can’t even have a f–king baby.”
The video, which was posted to Twitter by Students for Life of America, then showed the professor tossing the students’ pamphlets.
It wasn’t immediately clear what unfolded between Rodriguez and the pro-life students before the camera started rolling.
A rep for Hunter College, a public school that is part of the city’s CUNY program, previously said the school is aware of the caught-on-camera altercation and is “taking this matter very seriously.”
“The provost has opened an investigation into the professor’s actions,” the representative said.
The criminal histories of the suspect’s in CPD Officer Areanah Preston’s murder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CINRjti0V2o
An innocent person named Michael Brasel was murdered because the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota refused to lock up a teenager who had previously pointed a gun at someone’s head
CBS News recently reported:
Boy, 17, charged with shooting youth hockey coach Michael Brasel
May 12, 2023
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A 17-year-old boy has been charged in connection to the death of beloved youth hockey coach Michael Brasel last Saturday.
The boy faces charges of second-degree murder and second-degree murder while committing a felony.
The same boy was charged in connection to an April 2022 incident in which he took what appeared to be a gun to Harding High School and tried to steal from another student.
Documents say that he demanded a cell phone from the student and held the gun to his head in the school bathroom. Two other boys witnessed the incident, which was captured on Snapchat.
If this unnamed teenager had been locked up for his previous crime of pointing a gun at someone’s head, he would not have been able to murder Michael Brasel.
But the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota doesn’t care about the victims of gun crime. So they let this dangerous criminal run around free, and allowed him to murder an innocent person named Michael Brasel.
If the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota was against gun crime, this unnamed teenager would have been in prison, and Michael Brasel would still be alive.
Negligent killer in San Marcos, Texas, gets only 90 days in prison. I think he should get 30 years.
https://www.fox7austin.com/news/texas-state-student-shot-killed-through-wall-while-sleeping
Texas State student shot, killed through wall while sleeping; convicted shooter receives 90 days sentence
By Meredith Aldis
May 8, 2023
SAN MARCOS, Texas – A family is fighting for a Hays County judge to review the sentencing for the man who killed their son. Texas State student Austin Salyer was negligently shot by his neighbor through a wall.
Austin Salyer was a junior at Texas State University. He was studying criminal justice and military science. He had just signed a contract with the Army in September 2021.
“Austin texted me at 8:53 p.m. and said, ‘I’m going to bed,’ you know, ‘good night, sweet dreams. I love you.’ And I said, ‘ok, I love you too.’ And then I waited about three minutes and I said, ‘keep making us proud’ and that was the last text I got from him,” Bonnie Salyer, Austin’s mom, said.
His mom said he was supposed to be up at 4:30 a.m. the next morning for his first road march with his new platoon. At around 6 a.m., Bonnie checked Austin’s location.
“I saw that his phone was still inside his apartment, and I thought, ‘oh my gosh, he overslept.’ And so I started calling him, I started pinging him,” Bonnie Salyer said.
An hour and a half later, she still hadn’t heard from him.
“I thought maybe he just was in a hurry, he left his phone, which I knew in my heart that wasn’t true because nobody leaves their phone behind, right, it’s become part of our, literally part of our bodies. And so about 7:30 I kind of started to panic, panic started to set in,” Bonnie Salyer said.
At around 11:15 a.m., Bonnie texted one of Austin’s friends.
“I can’t get a hold of Austin, and I’d like to know if you can please go knock on his door, see if you can wake him up. He was all on it. He was like, oh, yeah, I’ll go scare him,” Bonnie Salyer said.
Instead, the friend saw Fire and EMS on the fifth floor, the floor Austin Salyer stayed on.
“A police officer called and said, you know, what’s your son’s full name? What’s his date of birth? And then he said, I’m sorry to tell you over the phone, but we found your son deceased in his apartment this morning,” Bonnie Salyer said.
Austin was shot through the wall while he was lying in bed.
“It just terrifies us to think how long he might have laid their suffering with his neighbor next door and not getting any help for him,” Rodney Salyer, Austin’s father, said.
Gabriel Brown, Austin’s neighbor, claimed at around midnight, he accidentally fired his gun while modifying it and talking on the phone with his father. He turned himself in but wasn’t arrested. Brown was indicted on criminally negligent homicide. His bond was set at $3,000.
“As a victim, you’re so handcuffed and disadvantaged compared to what the criminal has available to them for loopholes. They get to control things, they get to hire whatever, defense attorney they want, whereas the victim is stuck with whatever judge, whatever prosecutor, whatever. You don’t have any control over that at all. They don’t have to provide any information back to you, but anything you provide has to be provided to them. It is so lopsided against the victim to be able to get any kind of justice,” Rodney Salyer said.
The Salyers weren’t happy with the charges being presented.
“Everything gets diluted. You have to start up here just so by the time everything’s diluted, there’s some sort of punishment. In our case, they’re starting down at the bottom. They’re literally starting at the lowest felony that they could possibly start with,” Rodney Salyer said.
Brown pleaded guilty to criminal negligent homicide. He was originally sentenced to 180 days in jail, and he’d report to jail for 18 days during Austin’s birthday and another 18 days on the date of the shooting for five years. Not even a month later, the sentence was changed to 90 days.
“We were like, how can that be? We weren’t involved, nobody’s told us anything about this. Well, the change to 90 days is this, the document was correctly typed up with 18 days. Someone scratched it out and wrote in nine. No, no initials. No, nothing,” Rodney Salyer said. “If we didn’t follow up with him, it would have just gone behind the scenes.”
The Salyers said they asked for a hearing to review the sentencing change, but it was denied.
While Brown spends 90 days in jail, the Salyers are left with just memories.
In Chicago, a 24-year-old woman was murdered because the bleeding hearts kept setting these four violent serial criminals free again and again and again, instead of keeping them locked up. The bleeding hearts will try to use this murder as an excuse to pass more gun control, instead of admitting that they were wrong to not keep these violent serial criminals locked up.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/criminal-histories-suspects-areanah-preston-murder/
The criminal histories of the suspect’s in CPD Officer Areanah Preston’s murder
May 10, 2023
CHICAGO (CBS) — CBS 2 is always investigating.
CBS 2’s Marissa Perlman reports on the criminal history of the suspects charged in the murder of CPD Officer Areanah Preston. They all now face first degree murder and armed robbery charges in Saturday’s killing.
All of them with a criminal history. Three of the suspects were 14 at the time of their first arrest. The youngest was arrested for the first time at 13. Each of the four suspects in CPD Officer Areanah Preston’s murder has a lengthy criminal history.
Their records show a pattern of committing new crimes while on probation. The most serious sentence: Joseph Brooks, 18, arrested nine times since 2019. Charges involve a stolen car, theft and armed robbery.
Last September, he was sent to juvenile detention for a carjacking he committed while on probation, and was classified as a violent juvenile offender.
Sources tell the CBS 2 Investigators this case was closed just a few weeks before Officer Preston’s murder. Jakwon Buchanan also 18, was arrested in 2019 for robbery. While on probation, he was arrested again for carjacking.
Last November, a juvenile arrest warrant was issued related to both of those crimes.
Then there’s 19-year-old Trevell Breeland, who has faced multiple charges as an adult and a juvenile. He too was on probation at the time of the murder. His record dates back to 2018 and includes attacking a teacher and pushing his mother down the stairs. He’s never been given more than probation or supervision.
The youngest suspect, Jaylen Frazier, is 16. his first arrest in 2019 was at 13. He served four years probation. While on probation for robbery, he was arrested multiple times for weapons offenses, armed robbery and having a stolen car. He too spent time in juvenile detention.
Three of the four have had some involvement with DCFS but the details of those cases are not yet clear. They are all being held without bond.
Police criticise ‘soft’ sentence for thug who broke officer’s eye socket
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/05/brighton-teenager-attack-police-officer-soft-sentence/
Police criticise ‘soft’ sentence for thug who broke officer’s eye socket
Sussex Police Federation says Sergeant Alec Barrett was lucky not to be blinded in the attack as he tried to stop a fight
By Catherine Lough
5 May 2023
Sussex Police Federation says Sergeant Alec Barrett was lucky not to be blinded in the attack as he tried to stop a fight
A police federation has criticised a “lenient and soft” sentence handed out to a teenager who broke an officer’s eye socket and nose but ended up walking free from court.
Jonathan Beauchamp, 19, was given a year’s custodial sentence suspended for two years on Tuesday for punching Sergeant Alec Barrett repeatedly in the face as the officer attempted to break up a fight in Brighton, East Sussex.
Sgt Barrett said he was lucky not to have been blinded in the unprovoked attack, which left him with severe injuries including a concussion, a broken eye socket leading to bleeding in his sinuses, a broken nose and damage to his cheek.
Beauchamp first hit Barrett with a “flying punch”.
Recalling the attack, Barrett said he was in a “vulnerable position on the ground when the man sucker-punched me from a position that I didn’t see coming.
“When I regained full consciousness, I looked up to try to work out what had happened as I knew I was defenceless, he then punched me again a few more times in the face whilst standing over me.
“My face is horrendously swollen, initially located around my eye, but now it’s around my cheek and one side of my face.
“I’ve been assaulted before, but I now find myself apprehensive about going back to work, especially operational duty, where I might be in the same position again. It’s affected me and my family, who now worry about me going to work.”
Sussex Police Federation condemned the sentence as being “soft” on violent crime, and said 1,322 officers in Sussex were assaulted last year – more than three a day.
Courts ‘must protect the protectors’
Sgt Raffaele Cioffi, Deputy Secretary of Sussex Police Federation, said: “This is a lenient sentence for a violent criminal whose cowardly attack on a defenceless police officer left him with serious injuries.
“Let’s not forget that Sgt Barrett was trying to protect members of the public and was violently attacked for doing so. He was lucky not to have been blinded.
“The Federation continues to call on the courts to do their bit and protect the protectors. Custodial sentences are the strongest deterrent to stop these kinds of attacks – anything less does not protect us.
“Sadly, yet again, we see the courts going soft on violent crime, it’s an outrageous decision by the court and I fear officers will continue to be seriously injured until they take it seriously.
“The Government needs to take a strong stance against violent crime. We need to see action in the courts, not words. Until they do, violent criminals will continue to walk free, as in this case, [with] no real justice for victims.
“The Federation will continue to lobby the Government for a change in the sentencing guidelines for violent crime.
“I fear officers and members of the public will not be safe until this changes.”
Beauchamp pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent at Brighton Magistrates Court last month.
In addition to his suspended sentence, he was given a five-month curfew and ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £2,000 in compensation.
The writer of this article seems to be implying that black people and white people should not live in the same neighborhood
https://www.yahoo.com/news/historically-black-neighborhood-watches-itself-171204871.html
Historically Black neighborhood watches itself disappear
May 2, 2023
Dallas historian Donald Payton says gentrification like that in Gilbert-Emory is common nationwide. It’s a story, he said, about the fight to endure and protect in the face of development in traditionally Black communities.
A historically Black neighborhood in Dallas is watching itself vanish as gentrification continues to sweep in.
Gloria Johnson’s residence is in West Dallas’ Gilbert-Emory neighborhood, one of the city’s most sought-after areas. According to The Dallas Morning News, the community received its name for Cecil and Helen Emory and Nathan and Margaret Gilbert, two Black families who ran grocery stores that provided food for the locals during a time when segregation prevented them from doing their shopping in white districts.
Many old homes in the formerly redlined area have already been destroyed by the swift gentrification sweeping through Dallas. Johnson believes developers have taken the historically Black neighborhood’s identity.
“We actually feel like the place that time has forgotten,” said Johnson, who believes developers are trying to force her out of the neighborhood, the Morning News reported. “Not important. Not significant. They don’t care.”
While many of Johnson’s childhood friends no longer reside in the area, she wishes to remain on the land her father worked two jobs to acquire.
According to census block data, roughly half of the neighborhood’s population was Black in 1990. Black people now make up only one-fifth of its populace.
Dallas historian Donald Payton noted that the issue Gilbert-Emory residents face is common nationwide. The story, he said, is about the fight to endure and protect in the face of costly development that puts housing in traditionally Black communities in danger.
According to research, Black homeownership rates in Dallas are significantly lower than white ones. Payton says the effect is a loss of Black culture, generational wealth and community.
“When you say gentrification, that’s a new word,” Payton contended, the Morning News reported. “At one time it was called ‘urban renewal,’ then it was called ‘urban redevelopment,’ and then it all boils down to relocation.”
Greater Mount Pilgrim Church is the largest church in Gilbert-Emory. While most congregants have moved to other neighborhoods, Pastor Ned Armstrong asserted that the church is here to stay.
Armstrong said Greater Mount Pilgrim had had a few new visitors after contacting neighbors and passing out fliers containing church information. However, he also noted that a few weeks ago, one of the church’s neighbors complained about noise, which was upsetting. For parishioners who sit outside, speakers are positioned on the structure and project the sermons and musical selections into the parking lot.
Armstrong said the church attempted to purchase the property across the street, where the Frederick Douglass School stood years ago. The school — which produced its own set of teachers and even a school principal — was so significant that many longtime neighbors still use the abolitionist’s name when talking about the neighborhood.
Some residents in the neighborhood wanted to see the land developed into a city park after the school closed in 1980. Armstrong yearned for a neighborhood center. However, Dallas Independent School District sold the land to a private developer for $1.7 million six years ago.
A street sign pointing to a housing development is the only clue that a school once stood there. The site of one of the first Black schools in Texas is now home to 27 gray townhomes with asking prices over $500,000.
“They came in, and we can’t compete with those guys. They have millions of dollars,” Armstrong said, the Morning News reported. “Next thing we know, it was sold. Boom. No notice. Man, really. That was pretty cruel.”
This guy was sentenced to “life without parole” for killing two people. They let him out anyway. Then he killed two more people. If he had been executed for the first two killings, those other two people would still be alive.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/once-seen-success-story-life-100000509.html
Once seen as a success story for life after prison, he’s now accused of double murder. Again.
By William Lee
April 30, 2023
The Wednesday in January 2017 when Steven Hawthorne walked out of Stateville Correctional Center, criminal justice advocates hailed it as an ultimate triumph: He was a free man for the first time in 33 years after being sentenced as a teenager to life in prison for the double murder of an alleged neighborhood bully and a bystander.
Over the next three years, Hawthorne was seen as a successful example of integrating former prisoners into society. He earned a certification for fixing heating and cooling systems. He volunteered at the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University, where law students worked to help free him. He was also a big brother figure managing a transitional housing for formerly incarcerated men, a role featured in a Tribune article in 2019.
But over time, cracks began to appear in Hawthorne’s new lease on life. In February 2020, he was arrested for gun possession. In January, he was arrested after police found five firearms, including an AR-15 rifle, during a traffic stop, according to court records.
Now his run-ins with the law have taken a violent turn. Cook County prosecutors accuse Hawthorne — a former shining example of successful inmate reentry into society — of committing a grisly new double homicide of an ex-girlfriend and her new beau.
Part of the violent attack on April 16, that ended with the woman’s head being crushed with a large rock, was witnessed by the woman’s children, a 3-year-old girl and 5-year-old twins. They were most likely spared from witnessing the most brutal part of their mother’s death when a good Samaritan pulled them into his car during the alleged attack. They told him that Hawthorne shot their mother, authorities said during an April 18 bail hearing.
While prosecutors provided the details of the double slaying of Tamera Washington, 26, and her new boyfriend, Norman Redden Sr., 51, they did not offer a motive, merely hinting that it was related to Hawthorne’s failed relationship with Washington, which ended late last year.
But regardless of the reason, the allegation of the killings stunned friends and former colleagues of Hawthorne, particularly those who worked with him to support freed inmates. The imposing 6-foot-3 Hawthorne, who had taken the first name Mustafa, was well respected by the former inmates he helped reintegrate into society and the staff of the charity where he worked.
In fact, he’d made such an impression with his hard work and willingness to pitch in, officials at the Inner City Muslim Action Network, a charity and advocacy group, had begun shifting him toward more community organizing and policy work instead of the more grueling reentry work.
The allegations left his former boss, recently elected 5th Ward Ald. Desmon Yancy, who supervised Hawthorne last year as a former administrator with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, “shocked and devastated.”
“My heart is broken for Tamera’s children and for Norman’s family,” Yancy said when reached by the Tribune. “This isn’t anything I saw coming by any stretch.”
The alleged attack
Prosecutors said Hawthorne used a key to enter Washington’s brick two-story bungalow on South Luella Avenue in South Chicago around 1:40 a.m., while the woman’s 63-year-old uncle watched television in the living room. Washington and Redden were sleeping in one room while the three children slept in another when Hawthorne entered the house, according to authorities.
Holding a 9 mm handgun, Hawthorne entered a bedroom and shot Redden in the head, Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord Rodgers told the court two days after the shooting. The gunshot awakened everyone, including Washington’s children. Washington’s uncle briefly struggled with Hawthorne during the commotion until two more shots were fired, prosecutors said. The uncle pretended to be wounded and Hawthorne ran out of the house, Rodgers said.
Authorities said Hawthorne chased after Washington from the home to the corner near 83rd Street and Paxton Avenue, shooting her once as they ran, wounding her. They said the 250-pound Hawthorne then got on top of the smaller woman and beat her repeatedly with the handgun. Finally, prosecutors said, Hawthorne retrieved a large rock from a nearby yard and dropped it on Washington.
In the midst of the alleged beating, a couple passing through the area happened upon Hawthorne and Washington and attempted to intervene, believing it to be a sex assault because the woman was half dressed.
“I pulled up on the side of them and that’s when he raised the gun and said ‘Keep going,’ ” the 62-year-old motorist recalled to a Tribune reporter. “I kept going. I didn’t know what to do, so I called the police and told them they need to get there in a hurry,” he said.
Suddenly, Washington’s 3- and 5-year-old daughters appeared near the scene, causing the motorist and his wife to take them into their car for fear they might be harmed. Doing so may have shielded them from witnessing the most gruesome aspects of their mother’s death. A bloodstained boulder was found next to Washington’s body.
“I know it’s a good deed and everything and I’d do it again if I had to,” he said, asking not to be identified. “That’s just how it goes. I don’t want to see anyone harmed, period.”
The motorist said it’s the second homicide he has witnessed. He is using work to distract himself, and put the horror behind him.
“I work a lot. I’ve been doing a little extra work, just keeping my mind focused on other things. And talking with my wife, because she’s strong — way more than me,” he said. “She was talking about counseling or something, but I don’t need that. God is my counselor.”
An autopsy confirmed that Washington died primarily from massive head injuries, with the gunshot to the right arm being a contributing factor, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Redden died from a single gunshot wound to the face. Both deaths were classified as homicides.
Funerals for Washington and Redden were recently held. Attempts to reach their families were unsuccessful.
A 54-year-old south suburban man who said he’s been friends with Hawthorne for years and posted his bail for his January gun case told the Tribune that Hawthorne and Washington’s relationship had been deteriorating. The former couple had an ongoing dispute over Hawthorne’s personal items left in Washington’s home.
“The understanding that I got was more of a person enraged, a person that was just fed up,” said the man who also asked not to be identified when the Tribune contacted him. “I wish he would have came to me to tell me how he was feeling and I could have talked him down … or would have went over there myself and talked to the young lady … so it wouldn’t have even happened like this. It’s just real sad … this mother’s gone and these kids.”
The friend said he thought the situation was complicated by Hawthorne’s stunted development with women, saying Washington was only the second woman he’d dated since being released. “You have to realize he’d gone though his adolescent years without a young lady,” the friend said.
The Cook County public defender’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Hawthorne’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
Sentenced to life at 17
When Cook County Judge Stephen Schiller sentenced Hawthorne in 1984 to life without parole for killing two people, he lamented the lack of any judicial discretion that would allow him to sentence the teenager to a lesser sentence, but added that he couldn’t make law, only interpret it.
Rather ironically, he also expressed doubt that Hawthorne would pose a threat to the community by the time he reached 40 or 50, a 2014 news report stated.
Now at age 55, Hawthorne faces a possibility of returning to prison for the remainder of his life for an alleged attack so violent, he was covered in blood when a Chicago police officer tackled and arrested him.
Hawthorne had spoken publicly about his tough childhood growing up in the former Stateway Gardens complex in Bronzeville. His childhood had an abrupt end at age 16, when he fatally shot two people during a single incident: one a neighborhood bully, the other a bystander fatally struck by a ricocheting bullet.
In 2014, the Tribune followed the court cases of Hawthorne and others hoping to be released following a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that life sentences without parole for juveniles were unconstitutional. He was later resentenced to serve 68 years and was released with court restrictions. His murder conviction remained intact and was required to register as a violent offender.
Hawthorne’s release and community work has been used as an example to help inspire other men struggling to reenter society following jail or prison sentences.
Yancy said he sensed the emotional toll that growing up in prison had taken on Hawthorne, who was sentenced when he was 17.
“I could tell that he was wounded or at least traumatized by his prison experience,” Yancy said.
Hawthorne’s arrest highlights the challenges that other formerly incarcerated men encounter following long prison terms. One 2018 study found that 68% of state prisoners are rearrested within the first three years of release.
“People exiting prison from long-term confinement need stronger support around them. Many people exhibit a low crime risk but have high psychological, financial, and vocational demands that have been greatly exacerbated by their lengthy incarceration,” wrote Ashley Nellis, co-director of research for the Sentencing Project, an advocacy group for assisting prisoners.
“Mustafa’s story, until recently, was lifted up as a success story, but then there’s a reality that returning inmates have a lot to deal with,” Yancy said. “This is unimaginable, but it also isn’t the first story that we’ve heard about people who come home from long stretches in prison and just found themselves unable to cope.”
“Community members and critics of Alameda County DA Pamela Price have raised questions this month about the charges that were filed after the fatal shooting on the freeway of 5-year-old Eliyanah Crisostomo. Price has not brought any gang or gun enhancements in connection with the fatal shooting — even though the DA’s office identified all three men who have been charged as Sureño gang members from Fremont.”
Charging decisions questioned after killing on I-880 of girl, 5
Sources say it is almost unheard of in the Bay Area to see charges filed without any enhancements in such a serious case.
By Emilie Raguso
April 24, 2023
Community members and critics of Alameda County DA Pamela Price have raised questions this month about the charges that were filed after the fatal shooting on the freeway of 5-year-old Eliyanah Crisostomo.
Price has not brought any gang or gun enhancements in connection with the fatal shooting — even though the DA’s office identified all three men who have been charged as Sureño gang members from Fremont.
It is almost unheard of in the Bay Area to see charges filed without any enhancements in such a serious case, said sources familiar with the matter.
And it’s the first time anything like it has happened in Alameda County.
This break in precedent may be the most revealing move yet as to how Price plans to approach and overhaul criminal justice in the county.
Price, Alameda County’s first Black district attorney, describes herself as a progressive prosecutor whose goal is to “disrupt the system.”
She won 53% of the vote in November and has said she believes she has a mandate to reshape the office.
By many accounts, however, Alameda County was already among the most progressive DA’s offices in the nation when she took over.
In a directive she issued in March and recently finalized, Price took the position that sentencing enhancements, which can significantly increase prison terms, are to be avoided in most cases.
Her stated goal in taking this stance was to “bring balance back to sentencing and reduce recidivism,” according to the directive, by shortening prison sentences or replacing them altogether with probation or the minimum term.
In a press conference last week outside the California Highway Patrol office in Hayward, Price said her office is still reviewing the Eliyanah Crisostomo case to decide whether charges will be added.
“We’re not ruling out anything,” Price said Tuesday.
But she also declined to shed light, despite inquiries from the media, as to why gun and gang enhancements have not been filed.
Eliyanah was killed, authorities have said, when gang members opened fire on her family’s gray GMC Yukon on southbound I-880 in Fremont at about 6:40 p.m. on April 8.
Authorities have called the shooting depraved, heinous and senseless. A fundraiser for the family has raised more than $90,000 as of this week.
On the night of the shooting, the family had been heading to a birthday celebration at Outback Steakhouse in Milpitas, according to the fundraiser page on GoFundMe.
Eliyanah was sitting next to her 7-year-old brother in the rear passenger seat of the Yukon. Four other family members, including their parents and grandmother, were with them.
The kids were looking forward to celebrating Easter the next day, and Eliyanah’s 6th birthday on April 21.
As they headed down I-880, according to court papers, three men pulled up on the driver’s side of the Yukon. They “started to put up gang signs” when they saw the driver and believed he was a rival Norteño gang member.
One of the men, 29-year-old Humberto Anaya of Fremont, later told police that he brandished a 9 mm firearm at the Yukon while the driver — 25-year-old Kristo Ayala of Pleasanton — fired three rounds at the SUV from a .45-caliber Glock before speeding off.
Authorities say one of the rounds struck Eliyanah in the heart, critically wounding her. Moments later, her family spotted a CHP officer parked on the side of the freeway.
“They pulled over, grabbed their young daughter and handed her to the CHP officer,” said CHP Golden Gate Division Chief Emery Beauchamp during last week’s press conference. “He did everything he could to try to help her and requested medical services. Unfortunately, as we all know, this young girl passed away.”
James Woods: “Notoriously liberal West Hollywood had the brilliant idea of replacing police officers with unarmed ‘safety ambassadors.’ Let’s take a peek at how that’s worked out during an assault in progress…”
https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1651957227375431680
‘It’s going to hit the consumer hard,’ Those with higher credit scores may pay higher mortgage fees
I think it’s absolutely horrible that they are punishing responsible behavior and rewarding irresponsible behavior. This is the exact opposite of what they should be doing.
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/mortgage-fee-changes-good-high-credit-scores/
‘It’s going to hit the consumer hard,’ Those with higher credit scores may pay higher mortgage fees
By Courtney Cole
April 26, 2023
BOSTON – Changes in the mortgage industry could spell bad news even if you have good credit.
Beginning May 1, some people with higher credit scores may actually end up paying a higher fee while those with lower scores will pay less.
“It’s really a big change,” explained mortgage loan officer and credit score expert Al Bingham. “It’s going to hit the consumer hard when they go to apply for a mortgage.”
The changes are part of the federal government’s effort to provide equitable access to home ownership.
According to Bingham, it comes down to fees that lenders pay back to federal programs that back the mortgages. For some first-time homebuyers those fees are often rolled into a higher interest rate paid by the consumer.
Here is what it will mean for first-time homebuyers who fit certain income guidelines.
For a homeowner with a $500,000 purchase price who puts down the minimum down payment, a person with a 660 credit score will get a rate of about 6.25% while a buyer with a 740 score will pay 6.5%.
The changes will also make it more expensive for borrowers to refinance and to pull equity out of their homes to pay off consumer debt.
According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, while some fees are being eliminated for lower-income buyers, and fees are being increased for for some buyers with higher credit scores, the two are not cause-and effect. “Higher-credit-score borrowers are not being charged more so that lower-credit-score borrowers can pay less,” they said in a statement. “Some updated fees are higher and some are lower, in differing amounts. They do not represent pure decreases for high-risk borrowers or pure increases for low-risk borrowers.” You can read their full explanation of the fee changes on their website.
San Francisco Drops Case against Homeless Man Who Beat Former City Official with a Crowbar
San Francisco has a really messed up definition of “self defense.” In the real world, the person acting in self defense was the one who used the pepper spray, not the one who used the crow bar. San Francisco has this completely backwards.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/san-francisco-drops-case-against-145629569.html
San Francisco Drops Case against Homeless Man Who Beat Former City Official with a Crowbar
By Brittany Bernstein
April 26, 2023
The San Francisco district attorney’s office on Tuesday dropped the charges against a homeless man who allegedly attacked former San Francisco fire commissioner Don Carmignani earlier this month with a crowbar, sending him to the hospital for emergency surgery to treat a hole in the back of his skull.
The case was dropped after prosecutors concluded the attacker, Garrett Doty, was acting in self-defense when he beat Carmignani so badly that he broke the former fire commissioner’s jaw and left him in need of 50 stitches, the New York Post reported.
The incident began when Carmignani confronted Doty and two other vagrants who were allegedly blocking Carmignani’s mother’s driveway in the city’s Marina District while consuming drugs and harassing neighbors. His mother’s calls to 911 had gone unanswered.
During the confrontation, the trio refused to leave and Doty allegedly became aggressive. Carmignani then deployed pepper spray on Doty.
Because Carmignani sprayed Doty, the district attorney’s office has concluded the homeless man was acting in self-defense when he viciously attacked Carmignani, despite prosecutors having obtained video of the attacker taking the crowbar out of a garbage can and taking practice swings before the attack.
Video appears to show Doty cornering Carmignani, who was heavily bleeding, against the wall of a gas station store while brandishing a crowbar. Carmignani tried to fight back, but Doty struck him in the head with the crowbar when Carmignani went to wipe blood from his eyes.
Carmignani attempted to escape toward the road but Doty hit him in the head again and then chased him down the sidewalk, according to the report.
The attack left Carmignani in the ICU for several days.
While Doty was initially charged with assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with serious bodily injury, and assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, it not may be Carmignani who now faces charges for spraying the pepper spray, according to the report.
Police and the district attorney’s office did not interview Carmignani about the incident before dropping the case, a source close to the victim told the paper.
Because San Francisco refuses to prosecute shoplifters, this Target keeps everything locked up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVowI6gICDI
In Chicago, two car thieves, age 14 and 17, drove recklessly and killed an innocent person. ABC News Chicago said, “The two have been charged with just one misdemeanor count of criminal trespassing each.”
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
April 25, 2023
In Chicago, two car thieves, age 14 and 17, drove recklessly and killed an innocent person.
ABC News Chicago said, “The two have been charged with just one misdemeanor count of criminal trespassing each.”
Source: https://abc7chicago.com/cristian-uvidia-west-garfield-park-chicago-crash-kim-foxx/13181868/
This is absolutely despicable.
Chicago is way, way, way too lenient on criminals who kill people.
As someone who does not live in New York City, I support Alvin Bragg’s decision not to prosecute theft
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
April 21, 2023
This article from Fox News is called, Alvin Bragg promises not to prosecute theft to establish ‘racial equity’ balance: ‘Crime of poverty’.
I support the right of the 50 states and their respective cities to engage in different kinds of experiments, including ones that I think are ridiculous. I’m in favor of this particular one, because it’s what the voters wanted, and because I don’t live in this city.
I’m going to have a lot of fun watching all those YouTube videos of criminals in New York City who are smart enough to realize that they will never be prosecuted. How can I even blame them, when the person in charge of running the city is telling them that it’s OK for them to do what they are doing? The people of New York City are about to get exactly what they voted for, and I am going to have a lot of fun watching it happen.
L.A. Councilwoman Nithya Raman Blames Toyota for Catalytic-Converter Theft, Opposes Motion Targeting Thieves
https://www.yahoo.com/news/l-councilwoman-blames-toyota-catalytic-133800854.html
L.A. Councilwoman Blames Toyota for Catalytic-Converter Theft, Opposes Motion Targeting Thieves
By Ari Blaff
April 21, 2023
Rather than vote in favor of a motion banning the unlawful possession of catalytic converters — a valuable automotive part — Nithya Raman, a Los Angeles councilwoman, voted against the measure and blamed car manufacturers for making the part too easy to steal.
“In this case, I think one of the things that infuriates me, is that we have a company — whatever, Toyota — who makes the Prius, that essentially has a device on their cars which is super easy to remove. It’s basically the value of a MacBook, right?” the Democratic lawmaker said.
“That is put in a place that is incredibly easy to access in your car and the thefts related to this issue have essentially — all of the costs of that — are given to us to bear instead of them [Toyota] having to manufacture a car that actually is not so easy to be stolen,” the Harvard-educated Raman added.
The motion, which passed by a vote of 8-to-4 last Tuesday, stipulated that nearly 8,000 catalytic converter components had been stolen across Los Angeles in 2022, a 728 percent spike since 2018.
“It’s a crime happening to the constituents in our community that’s hurting people and one that we are allowing, we are failing to act on, if we do not pass this today,” said Councilman John Lee, who introduced the motion.
“This is a common-sense measure that simply provides law enforcement with an additional tool that will protect our communities from rampant and damaging theft.”
Raman was joined in her opposition by Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez who argued that the motion would “not make our city safer” and that it could have an impact on Latino and Black communities.
“This ordinance is a costly one for the city,” Hernandez added. “It will lead to more cases for the city attorney. It will lead to more money spent on courts and more money spent on public defenders.”
Those opposing the motion insisted that car owners should fabricate cages or use anti-theft devices to protect their cars.
“When somebody gets something stolen, the city should be doing everything we can to make sure they’re made whole — not to punish another person,” Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson said.
Raman, a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, first became involved in Los Angeles politics following her advocacy combatting homelessness.
“It’s incredibly important for us to be able to address not just the homelessness crisis but the broader housing crisis of which homelessness is just the most egregious symptom,” Raman said in an interview with the socialist magazine, Jacobin, in 2020.
“It is changing who gets to live here and who doesn’t get to live here. It’s pushing out working people and people of color.”
Raman resigned from her post as an executive of Time’s Up Entertainment, a sexual assault awareness organization dedicated to the film and media industry, to run for office, which she entered in December 2020.
“Instead of responding to it with work, with urgency, with focus, on actually addressing the issue, we say, ‘Oh, we’ll just ban it. We’ll just ban it and it’ll be the end of it,’” Raman added during the community meeting explaining her opposition to the motion.
Xaviaer DuRousseau: How I Accidentally Red-Pilled Myself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o2KAkRrYEQ
Here’s yet another example of how New York City refuses to protect is citizens from violent criminals
Man Arrested in Harlem Killings Had Been Accused of Attacking Officers
Messiah Nantwi faces murder charges after shootings on Saturday and Easter Sunday. He previously faced charges after a shootout in 2021, and was out on bail.
By Chelsia Rose Marcius and Liset Cruz
April 11, 2023
A Harlem man who was out on bail after being accused of trying to kill police officers during a shootout was charged on Tuesday with killing two men over Easter weekend, according to the New York Police Department.
The man, Messiah Nantwi, 21, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with murder after two men were shot in the head in separate incidents, the police said.
He was also charged with one count of criminal possession of a weapon, the police said. Mr. Nantwi was expected to be arraigned in Manhattan, though the district attorney’s office could not confirm a time or date.
The police first responded about 4:45 p.m. Saturday to a call reporting a man shot near the corner of Madison Avenue and East 132nd Street. The victim, who was 19, was brought to NYC Health and Hospitals/Harlem, where he was pronounced dead. The police have not identified him.
Then, just before 8 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to a 911 call about a man shot inside a smoke shop on Malcolm X Boulevard near West 125th Street. They found the victim, Brandon Brunson, 36, of East New York, Brooklyn, with a gunshot wound to the head, the police said. He was brought to NYC Health and Hospitals/Harlem, where he was pronounced dead.
Authorities did not say what set off the violence, but it was not the first involving Mr. Nantwi.
In 2021, he was charged in the Bronx with first- and second-degree attempted murder after an encounter during which a police sergeant and two police officers were fired upon, according the indictment in that case.
Officers had spotted Mr. Nantwi and a second person on Feb. 21, 2021, carrying spray paint cans at Elton Avenue and East 153rd Street, prosecutors said at the time.
When officers tried to arrest Mr. Nantwi, he pulled out a .22-caliber pistol and fired three shots at the sergeant, Darren Earl, and the officers, Malik Underwood and Erick Reyes, according to the authorities.
The officers and the sergeant then fired 31 shots at Mr. Nantwi, striking him several times. He was treated at Lincoln Hospital, according to a March 2021 news release from the Bronx district attorney. The officers were not injured.
Mr. Nantwi was also charged at the time with criminal use and possession of a firearm, three counts of menacing a police officer, resisting arrest and possession of graffiti instruments, among other charges.
Patrice O’Shaughnessy, a spokeswoman for the Bronx district attorney, said Mr. Nantwi was jailed after his initial arraignment.
After a grand jury formally indicted him, a judge set a $300,000 bail. Mr. Nantwi posted 10 percent of that, $30,000, as the law permits, she said. He has been free and awaiting trial since April 20, 2021, according to Ms. O’Shaughnessy and city Correction Department records.
Mr. Nantwi’s lawyer in the Bronx case could not be reached for comment. It was not immediately clear on Tuesday who will represent him in the Manhattan murder cases.
In recent year, New York bail laws have become a matter of fierce debate in Albany as the governor and lawmakers try to balance public safety and the fair treatment of defendants who have not been convicted of crimes.
New York is the only state where judges cannot explicitly assess a defendant’s “dangerousness” when setting bail. Instead, judges must choose the “least restrictive” means merely to ensure that defendants return to court. Changes to the law last year now allow them to consider whether a defendant has previously used or possessed a gun.
This year, Governor Kathy Hochul has proposed doing away with the “least restrictive” standard for some serious charges. That would let judges set higher bail based on whether they believe a defendant poses a threat to the community. Some Democrats have said the change would needlessly increase the number of people jailed before trial.
In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Brunson’s mother, Gwendolyn Brunson, questioned why Mr. Nantwi was not held for longer after the 2021 shooting.
“You shot at a cop; you supposedly killed someone” on Saturday, she said. “Why was this person not in jail? It blows my mind.”
Ms. Brunson and Mr. Brunson’s sister, Portia Evans, said he spent time with a close knit circle of friends. For years he worked at Mount Morris Plaza Senior Housing, one block away from where he was killed, Ms. Evans said. The last time his sister spoke with him was on Friday during a FaceTime call. They were planning to take her 6-year-old son to an Easter egg hunt on Sunday.
Ms. Brunson said she would miss her son’s comforting presence.
“A little light was taken from the world,” she added. “It tears me up that someone took it upon himself, as he walked away, just to shoot him. How heartless can you be?”
Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 