Never, Ever Question the Government. Media demands "gun control" - a 'pre-determined political, psychological and economic end.' A white guy was offering $100 to anyone who could show him video of anyone being shot in Vegas - but Youtube shut down and wiped his channel. The elites at Youtube have announced that anyone claiming Vegas was a hoax violated their "standards." [MORE]
Propaganda - a psychological technique and means by which the lawless confound the lawful (dwellers upon the land). 2) any message intended to influence whether true or false. 3) disinformation used as programming that in its absence wouldn't stand up itself nor stand up for itself by itself. The Jesuits were the ones who invented the word and the first to systematize its practice. Propaganda is memes distributed with an external anchor and an embedded carrier. Propaganda is to be used as subversion, which is the undermining or detachment of the loyalties of significant social groups and their transference to the symbols and institutions of the aggressor-oppressor. "It is a political necessity to destroy the African consciousness of colonialized Africans or African people." -Dr. Amos N. Wilson. As for the minds of the general public, the most sinister part of The Matrix in which we now live is that you have been cajoled and convinced to suppress your own free will and surrender to the manipulators who control not just your mind, but your entire reality. Edward Bernays, the father of modem propaganda, explained: "If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it... We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of... In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons— who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind." "Most people prefer to believe their leaders are just and fair even in the face of evidence to the contrary, because once a citizen acknowledges that the government under which they live is lying and corrupt, the citizen has to choose what he or she will do about it. To take action in the face of a corrupt government entails risks of harm to life and loved ones. To choose to do nothing is to surrender one's self-image of standing for principles. Most people do not have the courage to face that choice. Hence, most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker but only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all," -Michael Rivero. (See: Public Relations, Memes, Mind Viruses, Dance of Truth, Absolute Truth, Human Language, Memetics, Good & Evil, Confusion, False Flag Operation, Nine-Eleven, MEDIA, Propagenda, The Truth, Subvertilizers, Evolution, Religion, State, Symbolaeography, Voting, Elections, Orderlies, Corporate State, "Government," "Rolebot" & Reification)
"from the neither-is-a-reduction-in-civil-liberties dept"From [HERE] The solutions proposed by legislators, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and multiple direct beneficiaries of amped-up surveillance in the wake of acts of terrorism are always the same: more of the stuff that didn't prevent the last attack.
London is a thicket of CCTV cameras and yet it's suffered multiple attacks in recent years. The NYPD and New York's former mayor idolized the London system: cameras everywhere (but not on NYPD officers). Despite this, New York City's relative safety appears to based more on policing tactics than hundreds of passive eyes.
In 2013, Nevada outfitted the Strip's "real-time crime center" with an additional 37 pivot-and-zoom cameras with a $350,000 federal grant. And as a surveillance expert told the Sun, most casinos on the strip are running thousands of cameras already: "Casinos have 100 percent coverage of virtually every square inch," he said. In the highways around Vegas, there are still cameras every half-mile. "Loss-prevention" recording devices stalk the Strip's employees in the back-of-house.
And still, while the footage will be rewound and analyzed in the coming weeks, acquired by the press, and used to model future scenarios, none of those cameras stopped a man from walking into the Mandalay and stocking a small arsenal of automatic weapons in his hotel room.
More isn't better. This much is clear. The NSA's infamous haystacks have caused more problems for analysts, who are tasked with sifting through millions of communications in hopes of flagging something worth pursuing. Thousands of cameras are useless if there aren't thousands of eyes to watch them in real time. It may help investigators after the fact, but after-the-fact detective work is never preferable to preventing deadly attacks.
As Molly Osberg points out for Splinter, the proposed prevention efforts will likely include even more cameras. And these proposals will come with zero stats backing up claims of increased safety and security.
Eliminating cameras isn't the answer. But neither is continuing to prop up the delusion that more = safer. The same goes for other surveillance methods. Grabbing millions of communications daily might seem like a good way to catch something relevant now and then, but hours are wasted on filtering out false positives and internet detritus that wouldn't be swept up in more targeted approaches.
The surveillance state hasn't failed. It's just enamored with compounding its existing problems by adding more capacity. The only thing really guaranteed is more failure.
From [HERE] Inmates at a state prison in Alaska were stripped naked in front of female prison staff members, walked naked on a “dog leash” and left without clothing or cover in cold, filthy cells for hours at a time, according to a report released by a state watchdog.
The report, released online last week and referring to events from a 10-day period in August 2013, provided a look at how correctional officers at the maximum-security Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward subjected prisoners to sexual embarrassment and harassment, as well as situations of extreme discomfort, seemingly as punishment for two incidents that had taken place earlier in the month.
The report, prompted by a complaint filed by an inmate, found that he and 11 other prisoners had been taken from their cells for reasons that were never officially explained, moved to a different location, unshackled and “ordered to strip naked in front of female staff.”
The complaint said the group was handcuffed again and walked nude on a “dog leash,” which the report identified as a cuff retainer, to another area of the prison while correctional officers ridiculed and laughed at them.
The inmate who filed the complaint said he was then placed naked in a cell that was filled with debris and feces, and had blood on the walls, and was left there for hours.
The report was completed and released by the office of the Alaska ombudsman, Kate Burkhart. The ombudsman’s office found that the complainant’s allegations were justified — meaning that the investigation established that they had occurred — and that the prison staff had violated federal and state laws in its treatment of the inmates.
“The allegations are so shocking that they are almost unbelievable,” Ms. Burkhart said in an interview Wednesday.
She said she had been startled by the egregiousness of the alleged violations upon reading the report this summer, when she was named ombudsman. “Proving that they occurred required that level of real in-depth investigation and thoroughness,” she added, when asked why the report took four years to be released.
The ombudsman’s office found that several other inmates had filed similar complaints. At least one said he had been left naked in a cell for 12 or more hours. Another reported that the cells were “probably 50 degrees at most” and that correctional officers were told they would be fired if they provided the inmates with clothing.
From [HERE] A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Baltimore's policy prohibiting alleged victims of police brutality from disparaging police after they receive cash settlements.
U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz granted motions by the city and the Police Department to dismiss Ashley Overbey's lawsuit against them. The judge wrote that the non-disparagement clause the city used in its settlement with Overbey is "valid" and did not violate her First Amendment rights.
The American Civil Liberties of Maryland plans to appeal the ruling.
In a coordinated effort to take on "gag orders" that silence victims of police abuse as a condition of resolving their cases, the ACLU filed two separate lawsuits challenging the practice as an unconstitutional violation of free speech and illegal under Maryland's public transparency law. The cases were brought on behalf of a Black woman who was improperly denied half of her settlement award after responding to comments online about her experience of being brutalized by Baltimore police, as well as the Baltimore Brew and the Real News Network, two news organizations denied their First Amendment and statutory rights to obtain newsworthy public information from victims of police abuses.
"If your voice held no power, they would not try to silence you. Use your power. Speak up!" said Ashley Overbey, ACLU client in the Baltimore lawsuit. "I am not the first nor will I be the last to be mistreated by police and silenced by my city, but my hope is that through my story and fight, no one else will have to endure what so many of us already have."
"Free speech and police accountability to the communities they serve are both under attack when police departments block transparency and gag orders are used to silence victims of misconduct as a condition of settlement," said Deborah A. Jeon, Legal Director of the ACLU.
In 2012, Ashley Overbey, then a 25-year-old Black woman, called the Baltimore City Police Department for help, reporting a burglary at her apartment. Three sets of police officers were dispatched to her apartment at various times. The crime lab unit radioed for police officers to return and one of them, Officer Fred Hannah, forcefully entered and began searching her apartment without her permission. When Ms. Overbey asked him to explain he became violent and aggressive. Another officer, Martin Richardson, came soon after and together they beat, tackled, choked, Tased and handcuffed Ms. Overbey, who was transported to the hospital, then jailed for 24 hours, and charged with six counts of assault and one count of resisting arrest.
All charges against Ms. Overbey were dropped and she successfully sued the Baltimore Police Department for wrongful arrest and unwarranted physical abuse. But as a condition of settling the case, the city and police department required Ms. Overbey to agree to a gag order that silenced her from talking publicly about her experience. Ms. Overbey was victimized again by the police misconduct when half of her settlement was taken away just because she defended herself in comments on a blog where members of the public disparaged her personal character for suing the police and accepting a settlement, without any understanding of the level of excessive and illegal force used by the police. The Baltimore Police Department is punishing her by withholding half of her settlement amount for exercising her right to free speech.
"The city's lack of transparency has prevented us from doing our job - it has been very frustrating," said ACLU client Fern Shen, editor and publisher of The Baltimore Brew. "We and other reporters can't present a full and accurate picture of these police encounters if they are masked by bland, superficial summaries or worse, distorted by the fact that Baltimore City officials are permitted to comment but the citizen victims are penalized for doing so."
The second lawsuit stems from a 2014 case in which four Salisbury University students sued the city of Salisbury and one officer with the Salisbury Police Department (SPD), alleging police brutality, excessive force, illegal seizure, detention and arrest. The lawsuit also alleged that SPD personnel confiscated surveillance footage and creative fictional narratives to cover up what happened. In 2015, the court concluded that the plaintiffs sufficiently proved illegal patterns and practices by the SPD to allow the case to move forward. In 2016, the case was settled, but all details of the settlement, including the amount of the award, were withheld from the press and public. When the ACLU of Maryland and the Real News Network filed a Maryland Public Information Act request seeking documents about the settlement, the City rebuffed the request, claiming that neither it nor the SPD had any documentation regarding the settlement. This lack of transparency has caused at least one of the student plaintiffs to question whether SPD was holding its officers accountable for their actions, though he is silenced by the gag order that governs the settlement and risks losing his award if he speaks out.
"Covering policing on the Eastern Shore for The Real News has revealed there are significant problems with police transparency," said ACLU client Stephen Janis, investigative journalist for the Real News Network. "It is clear that the people in communities like Salisbury and Pocomoke both want and need to know what their police officers are doing and that includes critical information unreasonably withheld in these lawsuits."
From [HERE] A Black man in Southwest D.C. says a Metropolitan Police Department officer publicly humiliated him by doing an invasive body search during a stop last week.
The man asked not to be identified by FOX 5, but shared video of the encounter shot by a relative. It appears to show an officer repeatedly putting his hand between the man's buttocks. The man pulls away and asks the officer to stop touching him in the sensitive area.
"I felt violated,” said the man. “I'm a grown man. I'm a manly man and for you to stick your hand between that region period is uncomfortable for me.”
FOX 5 asked D.C. police if the officer's actions violated any department policies or if the officer who conducted the search is being investigated for his actions. The department did not answer those questions, except to say that the man consented to the search. [even if that were the case, he clearly withdrew his consent when he said "stop" or moved away.]
According to the police report, the officer stopped the man because it appeared he was drinking alcohol in public. He also noted that he spotted what appeared to be small packages near the man's sock, which he thought could be illegal narcotics. The man told the officer he had a small amount of marijuana, which is legal in the District.
The man disputes the officer's reason for the stop, saying the officers pulled up and began questioning he and his friends and asking them if they had any guns.
"They pulled up, hop out the car as they always do and say anybody got any guns? Everybody said no," the man said.
From [HERE] The sound system squawked at 8 a.m., just as the school day was revving up at Worth County High School. The campus was now on lockdown, the announcement said. Neither the teachers nor students at the south Georgia school knew what was going on.
For the next four hours, 40 uniformed officers — the entire staff of the Worth County Sheriff’s Office — fanned through the school in Sylvester, ordering students against the walls of classrooms and hallways, demanding the students hand over their cellphones.
All 900 students were searched, part of a drug sweep ordered by Sheriff Jeff Hobby, according to court documents.
He did not have a warrant. He had a “target list” of 12 suspected drug users. Only three of the names were in school that day, April 14.
By noon, when cellphones were handed back and classes resumed, no drugs had been found.
The sheriff’s full-court press, however, would yield legal consequences — for Hobby and his office. In the days following the sweep, students came forward charging they had been inappropriately groped and manhandled by deputies. A class-action federal civil suit followed.
And now, this week a grand jury indicted Hobby and two deputies for their part in the high school raid. Hobby faces charges of sexual battery, false imprisonment, and violation of oath of office, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“The sheriff’s position is that he’s not guilty,” Hobby’s attorney, Norman Crowe Jr., told the news outlet. The sheriff was at the school for the raid but personally did not touch students, the lawyer maintained. “He’s committed no crime.”
Worth County High School (also known as Worth County Comprehensive High School) is a publichigh school located in Sylvester, Georgia. The school is part of the Worth County School District, which serves Worth County. Sylvester is 60% Black. [MORE]
The search brought unwanted national attention on the department. As the controversy broke, Hobby gave an off-camera interview to WALB in which he said the searches were legal because school administrators were present.
In a statement released on April 18, Hobby elaborated that in “the weeks leading up to April 14, the Sheriff’s Office received information and complaints from the citizens of Worth County regarding illegal drugs at the high school. The Sheriff contacted the Superintendent of the Worth County School District and the Principal of the high school to inform them of the situation and the Principal and the Sheriff agreed on the day of the pat down.”
School officials, however, have countered the idea they were willing participants in om Hobby’s plans.
“We did not give permission but they didn’t ask for permission,” Interim Worth County Superintendent Lawrence Walters told WALB after the raid. “He just said, the sheriff, that he was going to do it after spring break.”
“I don’t think anybody in the school system had any idea that it would be of the nature of what actually happened,” Tommy Coleman, a lawyer for the school district, told The Washington Post in June. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve never heard of anybody doing that kind of thing.”
The class-action lawsuit — filed on behalf of nine unnamed students — laid out detailed allegations of groping during the school search. One student recounted that a deputy “looked down the back and front” of the student’s dress, then “slid her hands” over her pelvic area and “cupped” the student’s “vaginal area and buttocks,” according to the legal complaint.
Another male student recounted a deputy “moving his fingers back and forth” from his pockets to his groin, the lawsuit stated. The deputy’s fingertips touched the student’s “penis and testicles, over clothes, four to five times.”
A third student recounted how a deputy “reached up under” her shirt, “lifted her bra, and touched her bare breasts, including her nipples.”
In June, when the lawsuit was filed, one of the teenagers recounted his ordeal to The Post. The deputy “came up under my privates and then he grabbed my testicles twice,” the student said. “I wanted to turn around and tell him to stop touching me. I wanted it to be over and I just wanted to call my dad because I knew something wasn’t right.”
From [HERE] The Treasury Department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis has been illegally rifling through and filing away the private financial records of US citizens, Treasury employees alleged. “This is such an invasion of privacy,” said one official.
The intelligence division at the Treasury Department has repeatedly and systematically violated domestic surveillance laws by snooping on the private financial records of US citizens and companies, according to government sources.
Over the past year, at least a dozen employees in another branch of the Treasury Department, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, have warned officials and Congress that US citizens’ and residents’ banking and financial data has been illegally searched and stored. And the breach, some sources said, extended to other intelligence agencies, such as the National Security Agency, whose officers used the Treasury’s intelligence division as an illegal back door to gain access to American citizens’ financial records. The NSA said that any allegations that it “is operating outside of its authorities and knowingly violating U.S. persons’ privacy and civil liberties is categorically false.”
In response to detailed questions, the Treasury Department at first issued a one-sentence reply stating that its various branches “operate in a manner consistent with applicable legal authorities.” Several hours after this story published, the department issued a more forceful denial: “The BuzzFeed story is flat out wrong. An unsourced suggestion that an office within Treasury is engaged in illegal spying on Americans is unfounded and completely off-base.” It added that “OIA and FinCEN share important information and operate within the bounds of statute.”
Still, the Treasury Department’s Office of the Inspector General said it has launched a review of the issue. Rich Delmar, a lawyer in that office, offered no further comment.
But a senior Treasury official, who is not authorized to speak on the matter so requested anonymity, did not mince words: “This is domestic spying.”
Sources said the spying had been going on under President Barack Obama, but the Donald Trump appointees who now control how the department conducts intelligence operations are Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker.
At issue is the collection and dissemination of information from a vast database of mostly US citizens’ banking and financial records that banks turn over to the government each day. Banks and other financial institutions are required, under the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, to report suspicious transactions and cash transactions over $10,000. The database is maintained by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, a bank regulator charged with combatting money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes. Under the law, it has unfettered powers to peruse and retain the data.
From [HERE] Duane Buck whose controversial racially tainted death sentence was reversed by the U.S Supreme Court in February, has been resentenced to life in prison. In a plea deal entered in a Harris County (Houston) courtroom on October 3, Buck, who is 54, pled guilty to two new counts of attempted murder that each carried terms of 60 years in prison to be served concurrently with two life sentences imposed on his capital murder charges.
In a news release, District Attorney Kim Ogg said, "[a]fter reviewing the evidence and the law, I have concluded that, twenty-two years after his conviction, a Harris County jury would likely not return another death penalty conviction in a case that has forever been tainted by the indelible specter of race. Accordingly, in consideration for Buck pleading guilty to two additional counts of attempted murder we have chosen not to pursue the death penalty."
After 20 years on death row and numerous appeals in which he was denied relief by the state and federal courts, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February that Buck's capital sentencing hearing had been unconstitutionally poisoned by his own lawyer's incompetentness.
Buck was charged with capital murder in Houston, Texas, in 1997. He was too poor to hire his own lawyer so the judge appointed two lawyers to defend him, one of whom has such an abysmal record in capital cases that the New York Times called him: “A Lawyer Known Best for Losing Capital Cases”. His performance in Mr Buck’s was consistent with this record.
In order for a death sentence to be imposed, Texas law requires the prosecutor to prove, and the jury to unanimously find, that the defendant is likely to be dangerous in the future. In Mr Buck’s case, future dangerousness was the central disputed issue at sentencing. The prosecutors did not have a strong case that Mr Buck would be a danger in the future. Indeed, the evidence showed that Mr Buck was not likely to not pose a danger while in prison. But the court-appointed defense lawyers, with Mr Buck’s life on the line, handed the prosecutors powerful evidence for sentencing him to death: Mr Buck was more likely to be dangerous because he is black.
That was the conclusion of a psychologist the defense lawyers retained as an expert. The psychologist prepared a report stating that being “black” is a “statistical factor” that created an “increased probability” that Mr Buck would commit criminal acts of violence in the future. The lawyers appointed to represent Mr Buck called the expert to the witness stand, elicited his testimony that Mr Buck was more likely to be dangerous because he is black, and moved the expert’s report into evidence.
On cross-examination, the prosecutor emphasized the relationship between race and future dangerousness, asking the psychologist if “the race factor, black, increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons; is that correct?” “Yes,” the psychologist answered, confirming a pernicious – and false – stereotype about black men and criminality. The court-appointed lawyers did not object. The judge said nothing. The jurors, after lengthy deliberations, during which they asked for – and received – a copy of the psychologist’s report, found Mr Buck a future danger. He was sentenced to death.
The presentation of the psychologist’s expert testimony was egregious and inexcusable incompetence on the part of Mr Buck’s court-appointed lawyers. And it is the focus of Mr Buck’s claim before the supreme court that his “trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective”. The lawyers had the psychologist’s report mentioning race as a factor in their possession before they called him to testify. The psychologist had testified in other cases before Mr Buck’s trial that race increases the probability of future dangerousness.
From [HERE] Late Thursday, a federal judge in Kansas unsealed two documents that show how Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach hoped to make it easier for states to require proof of citizenship for voter registration — a policy that research has shown represses minority voters — and how Kobach advised the incoming Trump administration on the potential changes.
Both documents show amendments Kobach hoped to make to the federal National Voting Rights Act, or NVRA, which says states can only require “the minimum amount of information necessary” to prove citizenship. In 2011, Kobach introduced a law that requires residents to provide proof of citizenship in order to complete a voter registration. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued Kobach over the Kansas law, which it says violates the NVRA’s “minimum amount” requirement.
Kobach fought a long battle to keep from handing over the documents in that court case. After a federal judge forced him to hand over the documents, Kobach fought for months to keep them under seal. The new order, signed by judge Julie A. Robinson, finally made the documents public Thursday evening.
The ACLU successfully argued that the documents are relevant to its voting rights case because Kobach’s proposed NVRA changes could show that he does not believe Kansas’ proof-of-citizenship requirement is in line with current federal law.
“Sec. Kobach has been asserting that the NVRA allows him to implement this unconstitutional, illegal voting rights restriction,” Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties of Kansas, told ThinkProgress in an email in April. “Yet, [Kobach] appears to be lobbying to have the law changed. That implies that he recognizes that his implementation scheme is not actually consistent with the current law.”
DRUNK with power.Like a mascot at a basketball game, Mr. Trump gently tossed rolls of paper towels into a crowd that gathered to see him at his photo op at Calvary Chapel. [MORE] FUCK Trump.
From [HERE] President Trump, the 1st Rat American president, on Tuesday told officials in Puerto Rico that they should be proud that only 16 people died in Hurricane Maria, compared with the “thousands” killed in “a real catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina.”
“Sixteen versus in the thousands,” Mr. Trump said during his first visit to the island after the storm, after asking one of the officials what the death count was. “You can be very proud of your people and all of our people working together.”
“Our country has really gone all out,” Trump said. “It’s not only dangerous, it’s expensive. But I consider it a great honor.”
Trump then explained that Director of the Office of Management and Budget “Mick Mulvaney is here, and Mick is in charge of a thing called budget. I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you are throwing our budget out of whack. We spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico, and that’s fine. We saved a lot of lives.” [MORE]
On Saturday, after the Mayor of San Juan criticized the pace of the response, Trump attacked the people of Puerto Rico as lazy and ungrateful. “They want everything to be done for them,” Trump said in a series of angry tweets. Trump insisted that any concerns regarding Puerto Rico were the result of “Fake News” and “ingrates.” He especially bragged that “all buildings” had now been inspected. [MORE]
In Puerto Rico, Mr. Trump’s schedule limited his exposure to the public. He will be briefed by local officials in a hangar at the Luis Muniz Air National Guard Base, then meet with storm victims at an undisclosed location, before heading to a Navy amphibious assault ship for meetings with the governors of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. [MORE]
"gun safety - to be able to shoot back if someone is shooting at you." From [HERE] and [MORE] and [MORE] Lone shooter? Really? And this is supposed to be more than a convenient fantasy?
Yesterday, [Jon Rappoport] did a brief analysis of the number of people killed and wounded at the Vegas Concert (573) in roughly four and half minutes, which is the police estimate of the duration of the attack.
The lone shooter killed or wounded 2.1 persons per second. It is HIGHLY doubtful Paddock could have done that. His distance from the concert, his lack of professional skill, his state of mind, among other factors, rule against it.
Any competent and honest law-enforcement analyst would see a huge red flag right away.
But of course, multiple shooters destroys the official narrative and opens the door to an investigation that could expose, for example, an intentional false flag operation. [MORE]
From [HERE] The public is not being told the truth about what really went down in Las Vegas. As you will see below, the evidence is mounting that there were multiple shooters and that this was an operation that was planned well in advance. But according to the mainstream media, a 64-year-old retired accountant with a flabby physique that had no military training whatsoever and that wasn’t very experienced with guns was able to pull the whole thing off all by himself. We are being told that Paddock was a “lone wolf” that didn’t have any ties to terror groups, and since he is now dead nobody is ever going to be able to interrogate him. But the American people definitely deserve some answers about what took place, and that means that all of us should keep digging.
The following are 16 unanswered questions about the Las Vegas shooting that the mainstream media does not want to talk about…
#1 Photos of Stephen Paddock’s hotel room have been leaked, and one of those photos appears to show a suicide note. Why hasn’t the public been told what is in that note?
#2 Were there additional shooters? A taxi driver clearly captured video of an automatic weapon being fired out of a lower level window. A video from another angle and brief footage captured by Dan Bilzerian also seem to confirm that automatic gunfire was coming from a floor much lower than the 32nd floor room that Stephen Paddock was located on. And if you weren’t convinced by the first three videos, this fourth video should definitely do it.
#4 As Jon Rappoport has pointed out, it would have been impossible for Stephen Paddock to kill and wound 573 people in less than five minutes of shooting with the kinds of weapons that he is alleged to have used. So why won’t law enforcement authorities acknowledge this fact?
#5 How in the world did Paddock get 42 guns and “several thousand rounds of ammo” into his hotel room without anyone noticing?
#6 How did someone with “no military background” and that wasn’t a “gun guy at all” operate such advanced weapons? Because what we are being told by the mainstream media just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I really like how Natural News made this point…
Far from what the firearms-illiterate media claims, these are not systems that any Joe off the street can just pick up and use to effortlessly mow down 500 people. Running these systems requires extensive training, experience and stamina. It is physically impossible for a guy like Stephen Paddock to operate such a system in the sustained, effective manner that we witnessed, especially when shooting from an elevated position which throws off all the ranging of the weapon system.
Far from being a Navy Seal, Stephen Paddock is a retired accountant senior citizen with a gambling problem and a flabby physique. The only way he could have carried out this shooting is if he were transformed into a human superweapon through a magic wand. I’m calling this “Mission IMPOSSIBLE” because of the physical impossibility of a retired, untrained senior citizen pulling this off.
#7 Why was one woman telling people in the crowd that they were all going to die 45 minutes before the attack?
#8 Why did it take law enforcement authorities 72 minutes to get into Stephen Paddock’s hotel room?
#9 Why did Paddock wire $100,000 to the Philippines last week?
#10 Why was Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, in the Philippines when the attack took place? Did she know what was about to happen?
#11 Was Paddock on antidepressants like so many other mass killers in the past have been?
#13 Apparently Paddock had earned millions of dollars “through real estate deals”. If he was so wealthy, why would he all of a sudden snap like that?
#14 Why did he move so frequently? It is being reported that Paddock had 27 different residences during his adult life.
#15 Why were nearly all of the exits out of the concert venue completely blocked?…
In essence, the concert trapped the people, preventing them from escaping, and denying them the ability to seek cover. From there, sustained, full-auto gunfire is almost impossible to survive.
From Fox News, a caller named Russell Bleck, who survived the shooting, said live on air, “There were ten-foot walls blocking us in. We couldn’t escape. It was just a massacre. We had nowhere to go.”[MORE]
From [HERE] The US Supreme Court issued a stay of execution Tuesday night for a Black death row inmate in Georgia who argued that a racist juror voted to put him to death because he is black.
For the second time in as many years, Georgia was prepared to execute an intellectually disabled African-American man, despite evidence that the death verdict in his case may have been tainted by a white juror's profound racial bias. Lawyers for Keith Leroy Tharpe, whose IQ has been measured in the 60s and whom Georgia has scheduled to be executed on September 26, said the courts should reconsider his case in light of the racial slurs a white juror made about him.
Lawyers had argued that new U.S. Supreme Court decisions clearly prohibit death sentences based on race and permit defendants to inquire into racist statements by jurors. While preparing his appeal, Tharpe's lawyers interviewed jurors from his case, including one who openly referred to Tharpe with the N-word while saying the victim, Tharpe's sister-in-law, had come from a family of "'good' black folks." [Nigger is what is being done to you. It means victim of racism/white supremacy. In the absence of white supremacy, niggers would not exist. MORE] ]
"Conservative" justices Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented, saying they would not have granted the stay.
The Supreme Court of Georgia declined to hear Tharpe's claims on Tuesday, prompting his appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Tharpe, 59, was scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Tuesday night for the 1990 murder of his sister-in-law, Jacquelin Freeman. The justices granted the stay while they consider whether to take up his appeal. If the justices decide not to hear the case the stay will be lifted.
Tharpe's appeal centered on the post-conviction testimony of Barney Gattie, a white juror in his trial. In May 1998, lawyers from Georgia Resource Center conducted interviews with each juror as part of a routine investigation to prepare for Tharpe's petition for habeas corpus, the process of determining whether his imprisonment was unlawful.
In his interview, Gattie showed that he "harbored very atrocious, racist views about black people," Kammer said.
According to his affidavit, Gattie said, "In my experience I have observed that there are two types of black people: 1. Black folks and 2. "N****rs."
Gattie went on to say in his affidavit, "I felt Tharpe, who wasn't in the 'good' black folks category in my book, should get the electric chair for what he did."
"After studying the Bible, I have wondered if black people even have souls," Gattie said.
Weeks after the interview, Tharpe's attorneys returned to Gattie's home and read his statements back to him, periodically stopping to ask him if the statements were accurate, court documents say.
Gattie had only one correction, but the rest of his statement stood, court documents filed by Tharpe's attorneys say. He signed the 1998 affidavit under oath.
"He basically admitted his criteria for deciding to sentence Mr. Tharpe to death had much more to do with his race than any of the facts of the crime," Kammer said.
The "Fantastic People" There are Not Part of My Base. The president says the earliest he can travel to the hurricane-ravaged U.S. territory is next Tuesday. [MORE]
From [HERE] President Trump finally broke his silence on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico this week with a series of tweets in which he appeared to blame the island for its own misfortune.
“Texas & Florida [which suffered damage during Hurricanes Harvey and Irma] are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble,” he tweeted on Monday night. “It’s [sic] old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities – and doing well.”
By Tuesday morning, Trump appeared to have shifted gears, thanking San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz for her reported gratitude in the face of limited aid.
“Thank you to Carmen Yulin Cruz, the Mayor of San Juan, for your kind words on FEMA etc. We are working hard. Much food and water there/on way,” he wrote.
Trump’s response came after several days of silence on the matter; Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory without full voting rights, is home to some 3.4 million U.S. citizens. Battered by Hurricane Maria last week, the island has since been plunged into darkness, with 85 percent of power lines down and residents unable to find cellular reception or, in many areas, potable water. At least 15 people have died, with many more unaccounted for and scores of residents stranded across the island.
While federal emergency funds have been activated for the island and the Army Reserve and National Guard have deployed some 4,000 and 1,600 members respectively, Puerto Rican officials have been begging for an increase in aid. Current relief efforts simply aren’t enough, they say.
“We still need some more help. This is clearly a critical disaster in Puerto Rico,” Governor Ricardo Rosselló told the Washington Post Sunday night. “It can’t be minimized and we can’t start overlooking us now that the storm passed, because the danger lurks.”
Despite the ongoing devastation, up until Monday night, Trump’s attention seemed to be elsewhere. Over the weekend, the president tweeted extensively about the NFL, targeting a protest initiated last year by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality. The president devoted much of his weekend to criticizing Kaepernick’s actions — most notably calling anyone who chose to join the protest a “son of a bitch” — and choosing not to weigh in on the situation in Puerto Rico.
That clear display of priorities hasn’t gone over well with Puerto Ricans, many of whom are still unable to access basic necessities after Maria. The heavily indebted island has long been forced to rely on the much wealthier mainland to provide aid and assistance, as all its attempts at statehood have been ignored by Congress. That dependency has left many Puerto Ricans feeling helpless and skeptical in the face of disaster.
“The U.S. has never really given us the attention it gives the states,” college student Natalia Porrata told Bloomberg. “And I don’t think this will be any different.” With her municipality destroyed, Porrata said she worried the mainland’s apathy would persist despite the island’s dire circumstances.
U.S. airline companies also drew residents’ ire after several carriers advertised one-way ticket prices well over $1,000, leaving many passengers stranded. Rafael Juliá Jr., whose elderly father is battling cancer on the island and relies on a respirator, expressed outrage over the ticket debacle in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel.
“I cannot believe how a company can do that to people who are suffering,” Juliá said. “I have no words in English to express how angry I am.”
Some have also directed their frustrations at Puerto Rican officials. “This is historic,” Alfred Rodrigo Maldorado told NPR of the storm. “But what’s really historic is the absence of our government.”
Officials themselves appear focused on obtaining aid, though they admit there were problems lingering long before the hurricane made landfall. Still, when asked about Trump’s critical tweets on Tuesday, Governor Rosselló emphasized the island’s need for help and pushed focus back to his people.
“A lot of those things are true,” said Rosselló, acknowledging Trump’s comments about Puerto Rico’s debt. “There’s collapsed infrastructure, energy grid that was old, not well-maintained. Now it’s a matter of logistics, and it’s a matter of executing and doing it in a proper and safe way so that people can get the resources.”
San Juan’s mayor, Yulin, was also pointed in her remarks. “You don’t put debt above people — you put people above debt,” she said. “Let’s deal with the two issues in a separate way, because there is a humanitarian crisis.”
Trump announced Tuesday morning that he would be visiting the Puerto Rico in a week, potentially stopping in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which are also recovering from Maria, as well as from Hurricane Irma.
“It’s very, very tough because it’s an island,” the president said, referring to the limited relief efforts. “The difference is this is an island sitting in the middle of an ocean — and it’s a big ocean, a really, really big ocean.”
“Puerto Rico is very important to me,” Trump added. “The people are fantastic. I grew up in New York so I know many Puerto Rican people.”
From [HERE] and [MORE] Megyn Kelly -- the former Fox News host who NBC hoped would become the latest star in the network’s firmament -- opened the premiere episode of her new morning talk show, Megyn Kelly Today, by laughing at the idea that she might devote time to her sometimes foe President Donald Trump’s latest remarks. “The truth is, I am kind of done with politics for now,” she told a live studio audience with a smile.
During the hour that followed, Kelly offered up a panoply of typical morning show fare -- a synergistic but wooden sit-down with the stars of Will and Grace, returning to the network’s airwaves this week; a soft-focus piece on a Chicago nun who is “cleaning up her streets”; and Oprah-esque “surprises” for members of the audience, for her guests, and for Kelly herself. Along the way, Kelly sought to wash away her past work and rebrand herself as a joyful and upbeat bringer of hope.
Kelly devoted much of her opening monologue to crafting an origin story, trying to connect with her morning show audience by describing her upbringing, her parents, the death of her father, and her career. “I went on to become a TV anchor. And that was good, until it wasn't,” she explained. “So much division. So much outrage. And I wasn't happy,” she said of the 2016 presidential election. “For years I had dreamed of hosting a more uplifting show,” Kelly added. She said the dream was answered by NBC, which allowed her to host the new morning show, “whose mission would be to deliver hope and optimism and inspiration and empowerment.”
This is solid gold dogshit. Kelly spent years at Fox News, a network built on the division and outrage she now decries. And her raw talent for playing on the racial anxieties and resentments of her audience helped make her a Fox star.
After Keith Lamont Scott was shot by a police officer in 2016, Kelly hosted a discussion on her show about his unrelated criminal record. In the fall of 2016, Keith Lamont Scott was shot by a police officer in North Carolina. In the wake of protests about the death of another unarmed black man, Kelly hosted an entire segment devoted to reporting on Scott’s criminal record, which was unrelated to his death. [Media Matters, 9/28/16; NBC News, 11/30/16]
On The Kelly File, Kelly and Mark Fuhrman agreed that black people’s grievances with police are overblown. In a July 2016 discussion on The Kelly File with former Los Angeles Police Department Detective Mark Fuhrman (who was revealed to have repeatedly used the N-word on duty during the O.J. Simpson trial), Kelly and Fuhrman agreed that black protesters’ grievances with police officers are overblown, and that “a lot of these folks paint with a very big brush” based on a “couple of shootings.” [Fox News, The Kelly File, 7/8/16]
Kelly questioned why Philando Castile’s girlfriend didn’t do more to help him. In another July 2016 segment of The Kelly File, Kelly questioned the actions of Philando Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was seated in a car next to Castile and filmed the aftermath of his shooting by police in Minnesota. A guest reminded Kelly that Reynolds was in fact held at gunpoint by an officer at the time. The night before, Kelly had hosted Fuhrman to comment on the death of Alton Sterling at the hands of a police officer in Louisiana. Fuhrman concluded on the show that Sterling “has to take responsibility” for his own death. [Fox News, The Kelly File, 7/7/16, 7/6/16]
Kelly questioned whether it was “appropriate” for a black protester to glare at a cop during a peaceful protest. On the November 24, 2015, edition of The Kelly File, Kelly denounced a young African-American protester photographed glaring at a police officer during a peaceful protest in Chicago following the announcement of charges against a police officer for the first-degree murder of an African-American teen. When guest Richard Fowler questioned why the young man’s actions were a problem, Kelly commented that it was “not a question of what [the protester’s] constitutional rights are. It’s a question of what’s appropriate.” [Fox News, The Kelly File, 11/24/15]
Kelly questioned whether education, marriage, and employment are “valued in the black communities.” During The Kelly File’s September 4, 2015, “Black Lives Matter Protests” special, Kelly questioned whether education, marriage, and employment are “valued in the black communities, in the inner cities.” Kelly also bemoaned the “anti-cop,” “them versus us” culture where “it’s cool” to “be somebody who doesn’t necessarily prize being there for your family.” [Fox News, The Kelly File, 9/4/15]
Kelly on incident where police officer violently manhandled a black teen: "The girl was no saint either." On the June 8, 2015, edition of The Kelly File, Kelly questioned whether a white Texas police officer's excessive use of force while arresting a 14-year-old black girl at a pool party was a "race thing,” asking, “What is the evidence that it is a race thing, as opposed to excessive force thing?" Later, despite calling the police officer’s takedown “brutal,” Kelly partially faulted the 14-year-old, claiming, "The girl was no saint, either." [Fox News, The Kelly File, 6/8/15]
Kelly on Sandra Bland's arrest: "Even if you know the cop is in the wrong, comply and complain later." On the July 23, 2015, edition of The Kelly File, Kelly and Fox regular (and now potential Trump Department of Homeland Security official) David Clarke found fault with black motorist Sandra Bland's response to the white police officer who pulled her over, with Kelly saying, "Even if you know the cop is in the wrong, comply and complain later." [Fox News, The Kelly File, 7/23/15]
Kelly warned that Obama planned to force communities that are "too white [and] too privileged" to embrace diversity. On the June 11, 2015, edition of The Kelly File, Kelly warned that the Obama administration plans to force "too white [and] too privileged" communities to embrace diversity "whether the communities want it or not":
MEGYN KELLY (HOST): They don't want, quote, “unequal neighborhoods.” Unequal neighborhoods. They think too many communities are too white, too privileged, with too many big McMansions. And they want to diversify the communities whether the communities want it or not. [Fox News, The Kelly File, 6/11/15]
Kelly claimed racist emails circulate at most companies in an attempt to downplay DOJ's Ferguson report. During the March 9, 2015, edition of The Kelly File, Kelly downplayed a Department of Justice (DOJ) report that found racial bias and stereotyping in the Ferguson Police Department in Missouri. Kelly said it is unfair to "tar the entire organization" as racist because "there are very few companies in America" where "you won't find any racist emails [or] any inappropriate comments." [Media Matters, 3/10/15]
Kelly: "I'd like to know the proof" that the police murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner had “anything to do with race.” On the December 4, 2014, edition of The Kelly File, Kelly discussed nationwide protests in the wake of the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown with National Urban League president Marc Morial, asking several times for "evidence" that the deaths of Garner and Brown had "anything to do with race”:
MEGYN KELLY (HOST): All right. So, let's start with this, what is the evidence that what happened to Eric Garner and what happened to Michael Brown has anything to do with race?
[…]
KELLY: I get that. You're entitled to your opinion on that and to push for an additional investigation. And that's absolutely your right. But to say that this is a racist situation as Al Sharpton has suggested, as Mayor de Blasio has suggested, as many others have suggested, requires evidence.
MARC MORIAL: What would it take for you to acknowledge -- what would it take for you to acknowledge that race is an issue? Maybe you don't want to acknowledge that race is an issue.
KELLY: I'd like to know the proof. [Fox News, The Kelly File, 12/4/14]
Kelly: "Santa just is white" and "just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean it has to change." During the December 11, 2013, edition of The Kelly File, Kelly infamously insisted that Jesus and Santa Claus were "white," brushing past then-Fox host Jedediah Bila's suggestion that a non-white Santa Claus figure makes non-white kids feel included in holiday celebrations. Kelly continued, “Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change,” adding, “Jesus was a white man too.” [Fox News, The Kelly File, 12/11/13]
Kelly devoted 45 segments over two weeks to pushing a conspiracy theory that the Obama administration was intentionally allowing voter intimidation. During the summer of 2010, Kelly repeatedly tried to scandalize an investigation about a New Black Panther Party member who stood outside a polling station on Election Day 2008, allegedly intimidating voters. Kelly devoted 45 segments, totaling more than 3.5 hours, to the investigation in a two-week time frame. Kelly claimed that her sources would shed light on the Obama administration's "decision to not pursue serious charges against members of the New Black Panther Party" and said that "politics and race" were potentially to blame. [Media Matters, 6/30/10, 7/16/10, 7/22/10]
For more on Kelly’s history of race-baiting comments, click here and here.
"Your soldiers are not warriors any longer, they are just servants.""The whole process of the military is to destroy intelligence because an intelligent person will not be able to kill. And an intelligent person will ask a thousand and one questions before killing somebody for no reason at all."
"What are the prisons that I call “home?” Osho Rajineesh.
Back in the day the games just started. But after 9/11 elite whites and their media began to directly sell us patriotism and force showing the national anthem.
Rather than organic, wholesome expressions of patriotism — the kind Trump has claimed NFL players are disrespectfully protesting — the tradition of players standing for the national anthem is a recent tradition that may have coincided with a marketing ploy meant to sell cheap, manufactured nationalism.
As recently as 2015, the Department of Defense was doling out millions to the NFL for such things as military flyovers, flag unfurlings, emotional color guard ceremonies, enlistment campaigns, and — interestingly enough — national anthem performances. Additionally, according to Vice, the NFL’s policy on players standing for the national anthem also changed in 2009, with athletes “encouraged” thereafter to participate. Prior to that, teams were not given any specific instructions on the matter; some chose to remain in the locker room until after opening ceremonies were completed. (It’s unclear whether the policy change was implemented as a direct result of any Defense Department contracts.)
In 2015, Arizona Sens. Jeff Flake (R) and John McCain (R) revealed in a joint oversight report that nearly $5.4 million in taxpayer dollars had been paid out to 14 NFL teams between 2011 and 2014 to honor service members and put on elaborate, “patriotic salutes” to the military. Overall, they reported, “these displays of paid patriotism [were] included within the $6.8 million that the Department of Defense (DOD) [had] spent on sports marketing contracts since fiscal year 2012.” [MORE]
According to Dr. Blynd in FUNKTIONARY:
Patriotism: the degree of voluntary servitude evinced.2) the result of one successful treason - until the next one is necessary. 3) re-inforced mindless symbolic conformism. (See U.S. citizen, Treason, USA, Corporate State, Nation, U.S. Senate, Country, Congress, Constitution & Human Resources).
Pledge of Allegiance- (to the Federal Flag)—did not exist until 1892. The pledge of allegiance was written by a flag manufacturer and merchant, Francis Bellamy, ostensibly for a boy's magazine entitled "'The Youth's Companion," as part of a promotion (to sell his wares) celebrating the fictitious Pirate's Day (Columbus Day). Next time someone wants you to pledge allegiance to the flag, better think about the God-given rights you are waiving instead of watching the flag waving. (See: National Flag, Citizen of the United States. Rights, Congress, Slavery, US. Citizen, Allegiance & Citizens)
soldiers - tools (living human resources—walking fodder); corporate mercenaries used by the legistraitors, wordsymthologists, journalists, and politicians to impose the will of their Corporate masters and imperialistic soothsayers (i.e., Crimethlnc.). "It is impossible to give the soldier a good education without making him a deserter. His natural foe is the government that drills him." ~H.D. Thoreau. Anyone overstanding the real cost of war (not counting the costs of perpetrating it) and the fictitious nature of Corporate State and the real benefactors behind the scenes—has to become a conscientious objector or an enemy outpost in one's own (controlled by another) mind. The ideologues of vanity manipulate the power-hungry purveyors of profit-motive insanity into perpetrating crimes against humanity. (See: GI Bill, Citizen DUPE, CABS, Class, Mass & Souldier)
Sunday, October 8, 2017 at 07:05AM 
