The arc of justice for Antwon Rose II has traveled along a familiar modern path: Police kill an unarmed black male, video emerges, and protests erupt, along with calls for the conviction of officers involved, and then, often, the opposite happens. Most fatal shootings by police result in no charges, and convictions are even less common, but shootings of unarmed black males captured with ubiquitous smartphone or police body cameras have crystallized anger in communities rocked by killings, and several similar incidents have created expectations among some that video and social outrage should be enough to put officers in prison.
Those hopes dim when officers lean on the inherent danger of their work and invoke laws that allow broad authority for violence.
The officer, Michael Rosfeld, was charged with criminal homicide, but Rosfeld was acquitted of charges last week, prompting more protests.
The outcome was nearly symmetrical with that in the cases of Stephon Clark, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and others whose killings were captured on video after they were confronted by police while unarmed.
No charges were filed against two officers who killed Clark in March 2018 after mistaking his white iPhone for a gun in a killing that upended Sacramento. An officer shouted ‘‘gun!’’ and, with his partner, fired 20 rounds at Clark in his grandmother’s backyard after they suspected he was breaking into nearby cars.
He was struck eight times, his family’s autopsy concluded.
The officers involved in killing Garner and Rice also did not face charges.
In Rosfeld’s case, the prosecution’s arguments against Rosfeld rested on his decision to shoot and kill Rose, but prosecutors did not provide an expert witness focused on police use of force for the trial, said Mike Manko, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors were otherwise ‘‘confident’’ that video evidence, ‘‘common sense,’’ and other facts would overcome Rosfeld’s justification for using force, which can be confusing for a jury to wade through, Manko said.
S. Lee Merritt, the attorney for Rose’s estate who was not involved in the criminal case, told The Washington Post, prosecutors appeared to pull punches. Prosecutors did not fully press Rosfeld on the inconsistencies of his statements to investigators, he said.
Charging documents show Rosfeld told investigators he thought Rose pointed a gun at him but later said he did not see a gun and again altered his statement. Prosecutors pointed out Rosfeld’s inconsistencies during cross examination, Manko said.
In less than four hours, jurors found Rosfeld not guilty of first-degree murder, third-degree murder, and involuntary manslaughter.
‘‘The verdict was too fast,’’ said Carolyn Morrison, Rose’s aunt, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. ‘‘It was all too fast.’’
Activists and East Pittsburgh community members were ‘‘expecting a rare win,’’ Merritt said.
Merritt is pursuing a path that other families and attorneys have used after officers did not receive prison time. He filed a federal civil suit against East Pittsburgh and Rosfeld, challenging the constitutionality of the state’s use of force laws, he said.....
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Related: Police shooting of Pa. boy spurs more protests, appeals
He is just another hashtag now, and he was shot by officer Michael Rosfeld.
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"Uber driver arrested in rape of passenger on Storrow Drive" by Abigail Feldman Globe Correspondent, March 30, 2019
An Uber driver was arrested on rape charges early Saturday morning after he allegedly sexually assaulted a passenger on Storrow Drive, State Police say.
State Police received a report around 1:15 a.m. that a woman had been sexually assaulted on Storrow near the Hatch Memorial Shell, police said in a statement. After an investigation, Daudah Mayanja, 37, of Waltham was charged with two counts of rape, police said.
The woman was transported to a hospital for treatment.
Mayanja was being held on $25,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Boston Municipal Court, officials said.
An Uber spokesperson said Saturday night that Mayanja’s access to the Uber app was removed as soon as officials learned of the allegations.
“What’s been reported is horrible and something no one should ever go through,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We stand ready to support law enforcement with their investigation.”
Saturday’s incident was the second rape allegedly committed by an Uber driver in Boston in recent weeks. Ranjan Thapa, 26, allegedly sexually assaulted a woman leaving a bar March 16. Authorities said the woman was so incapacitated that she could barely speak to investigators after the alleged rape.....
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Also, in February, Jose Arevalos-Avalos, a 37-year-old Uber driver from Holliston, was charged with assaulting a passenger and offering to pay her for sex, and another Uber driver, 40-year-old Michael J. Squadrito of Everett, was arrested last November after he allegedly raped one of his passengers as she returned from celebrating her birthday.
At lea$t the bail is con$i$tent:
"Uber driver accused of raping passenger held on $100,000 bail" by Emily Sweeney Globe Staff, April 1, 2019
An Uber driver wept uncontrollably as he was arraigned on charges that he raped a passenger early Saturday morning.
Mayanja Daudah, 37, of Waltham, appeared in Boston Municipal Court on Monday and was arraigned on two charges of rape. He was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail.
State Police said they received a report at about 1:15 a.m. Saturday that a woman had been sexually assaulted by an Uber driver on Storrow Drive near the Hatch Memorial Shell in Boston.
Assistant District Attorney Alexa Wright said in court that Daudah, who is from Uganda, picked up the passenger at a bar in Somerville and while they were driving, reached over with his right hand and unbuttoned her pants and assaulted her while the car was in motion on Storrow Drive.
“This happened while on Storrow Drive while the vehicle was in motion,” she said.
He then pulled over at the side of the road near the Hatch Memorial Shell and allegedly sexually assaulted her again, Wright said.
Wright said the victim then ran from the car “hysterically crying with her pants unbuttoned,” and left her belongings behind in his vehicle. She then contacted a friend who picked her up and they went to the police station.
Daudah was arrested when he took the victim’s belongings to the police station.
Kim Giampietro, Daudah’s defense attorney, said Daudah denied any wrongdoing. She said the passenger appeared to be intoxicated when he picked her up and that she insisted on sitting in the front seat and then said she wanted to smoke marijuana. As they were driving on Storrow Drive he pulled over “and told her that he did not want her to smoke marijuana,” and at that point she got out of the vehicle, Giampietro said.
Giampietro said when Daudah realized that the passenger left her bag in the vehicle he waited at the side of the road, she said. He then contacted Uber and tried to contact the passenger so she could get her belongings, she said.
At that point, the police contacted him and he voluntarily went to the police station and turned over her belongings. When questioned by police, he denied the allegations, she said.
Giampietro said Daudah has children and his wife is deceased. She said he has a day job working as a caregiver for a medical services firm based in Newton, and only recently began driving for Uber.
“Only two weeks,” Daudah said, as he sobbed in the courtroom.
ou gotta believe the woman, but only if the accused is white and a Republican. Otherwise, it's sympathy.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on Daudah, according to the State Police.
An ICE official said in an e-mailed statement, “This individual is not subject to removal at this time. ICE will continue to monitor his criminal proceedings.”
Daudah is due back in court May 1 for a probable cause hearing.
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Please do not tell me he is here illegally:
"Uber driver accused of rape faces ICE detainer, quadrupled bail" by Jeremy C. Fox Globe Correspondent, March 31, 2019
A Ugandan citizen accused of raping a woman in Boston while he was working as an Uber driver early Saturday morning faces quadrupled bail and the possibility of deportation.
Bail was raised Sunday from $25,000 to $100,000 for Daudah Mayanja, 37, after federal immigration officials placed a detainer on Mayanja, according to Dave Procopio, a Massachusetts State Police spokesman.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to an inquiry Sunday. The agency places detainers on immigrants facing criminal charges when it “possesses probable cause to believe that they are removable from the United States,” according to its website.
Mayanja, who lives in Waltham, was arrested Saturday on two counts of rape after State Police received a report about 1:15 a.m. that he had allegedly attacked a woman in his vehicle on Storrow Drive near the Hatch Memorial Shell, State Police said.
He is being held by State Police awaiting arraignment Monday in Boston Municipal Court, Procopio said.
Uber did not respond to an inquiry Sunday. The ride-sharing company said in a statement Saturday that Mayanja’s access to its app had been revoked immediately after the allegations became public.
“What’s been reported is horrible and something no one should ever go through,” a spokesperson said. “We stand ready to support law enforcement with their investigation.”
Saturday’s alleged rape is the latest in a growing list of sex crimes allegedly committed by drivers for ride-share services. The incident came just two weeks after Uber driver Ranjan Thapa, 26, allegedly sexually assaulted an intoxicated woman leaving a South Boston bar.
One wonders if they need drivers as one hails a taxi.
Along the Esplanade Sunday, several women who jogged, walked, or rested near the Hatch Shell said they are aware of potential dangers from ride-share drivers, and they take precautions.
Sometimes.
Michelle, an Emerson College freshman who asked that her full name not be used, said her sister asked that she share her location on her cellphone anytime she takes an Uber.
“I typically forget, as horrible as that sounds, but she lives in another, smaller city, and she always does it, no matter what,” Michelle said. The teen said she rarely uses a ride-share after dark, and never rides alone with a driver at night. She and her friends avoid taking food or drinks into ride-share vehicles, she said, ever since they saw a viral warning that drivers might drug passengers.
Gabrielle Coutinho and Lorena Pinheiro, friends from Brazil who came to Massachusetts this year to work as au pairs, said they have had no issues with US ride-share drivers.
OMG.
“Not here, but in Brazil, yes, lots of times,” said Coutinho, 21, who is living in Marshfield, recalling a driver in Rio de Janeiro who asked if she had a boyfriend and if she was traveling to meet with him.
Pinheiro, 24, who lives in Swampscott, said that although she has had no problems with a ride-share service, reports of attacks on passengers make her “very, very anxious.” She shares her location with her mother or friends when she uses one.
Astrid Araya, 32, of Malden, said she hears often about other women’s concerns because she’s a part-time Uber driver.
“Whenever I have female clients come in the car, they always say how they’re so comfortable with me being a female driver, that they just feel safer in general,” Araya said. “They just get creeped out sometimes [with male drivers].”
Are you sure it isn't the color of his skin?
As an Uber passenger, Araya said, she has had a driver ask for her number, but he left her alone when she said she had a boyfriend. As a driver, she has heard many passengers suggest that she carry mace, she said, but only one male passenger has crossed a line and made her uncomfortable. “I just feel like it goes both ways,” she said.
Drivers undergo background checks, but Uber can’t predict the future, Araya said.
“A background check is not going to tell you when someone is going to lose their mind,” she said.
Yeah, that's it, if an illegal undocumented is doing the driving, minimize the assault and ascribe it to a different culture.
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"Uber driver charged with raping woman in car in Boston" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff, March 19, 2019
An Uber driver allegedly raped an intoxicated female passenger in his car in Boston over the weekend and told police, “I know I’m in trouble, I had sex with her,” prosecutors said Monday.
Maybe it is time to bring back prohibition.
I mean, you take the gun away..... you know.
The allegations were disclosed during the arraignment of Ranjan Thapa, 26, in Roxbury Municipal Court. He entered the courtroom handcuffed with his coat pulled over his head, and a not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf to a charge of rape. Thapa was held on $10,000 cash bail.
His public defender, Josh Raisler Cohn, said outside court that Thapa is “absolutely asserting his innocence.”
Authorities allege Thapa preyed on a woman who was so incapacitated that she could barely speak to investigators soon after the alleged rape.
She had been visiting a college friend Saturday evening, and the two became separated while they were drinking at a South Boston bar, a Boston police incident report said.
Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Myriam Feliz said an Uber was called for the woman, and a bouncer had to escort her to Thapa’s vehicle when he pulled up shortly after 11:10 p.m.
Then at some point after midnight, Thapa tried to drive around Northeastern University police officers who were conducting a traffic stop on Hemenway Street, authorities said.
Thapa told the officers “his passenger was drunk,” had urinated in his car, and wouldn’t tell him where she wanted to go, the report said. The officers noted the woman was “reclined in the [front] passenger” seat with her pants unzipped and partially pulled down, according to the report.
Feliz said Thapa told police at the scene, “I know I’m in trouble, I had sex with her.” The police report said the woman was “unable to communicate” on Hemenway Street and still couldn’t talk to investigators at a city hospital early Sunday.
Thapa later gave an interview to Boston police investigators, claiming the woman “refused to put her seat belt on” in his car and appeared drunk, the report said.
“He further stated that at some point the victim did put her feet up on the dashboard, pulled down her pants, and urinated on his front passenger seat,” the report said.
Thapa claimed the woman began grabbing him and saying she “wanted to [expletive] him,” the filing said. He told police they had intercourse twice, once on the driver’s seat and again on the front passenger seat, according to the report.
Feliz said Thapa told investigators he accepted the woman’s advances because he hadn’t “been with a woman in several years.” He also told police, “I knew I shouldn’t have done it. I knew I’d get in trouble,” Feliz said.
Raisler Cohn noted during the hearing that Boston police released his client after his interview early Sunday at the South End district station.
He returned to the station several hours later at the request of police, Raisler Cohn said.
Thapa’s cooperation suggests a “person who’s innocent of this crime,” his lawyer said. “He cooperated fully with the police investigation.”
Raisler Cohn said his client insists he had a “totally consensual encounter” with the woman.
The police report said Thapa was initially released because “detectives were unable to speak with the victim.” They called Thapa back to the station early Sunday afternoon after the woman told investigators during their second visit to the hospital that she had “no memory of what happened to her,” never ordered an Uber Saturday night, and “had no idea how she got in the car,” the report said.
In a brief statement, Uber said the company is cooperating with law enforcement.
“What police describe is deeply troubling,” the statement said. “The driver has been removed from the app, and we stand ready to assist the Boston Police Department with their investigation.”
A man who identified himself as Thapa’s brother-in-law declined to discuss the case before the hearing started.
“He’s a decent guy, regular guy,” the man said. “A simple guy.”
Thapa is due back in court on April 17.
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"No bail for Uber driver accused of raping intoxicated passenger in Wrentham" by Travis Andersen and Breanne Kovatch Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent, May 7, 2019
An Uber driver was held without bail Tuesday in the alleged rape of an intoxicated passenger in his vehicle in Wrentham, records show.
The suspect, Melvin Guerrero-Encarna, 33, was arraigned in Wrentham District Court on two counts of rape, according to records.
A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf, and he was held pending a dangerousness hearing slated for Thursday.
His lawyer didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
A police report said the alleged victim had attended a party at Claremont Condominiums in Franklin on April 28 and got into Guerrero-Encarna’s vehicle around 2:30 a.m. when he arrived to pick her up.
Her destination was a friend’s address in Wrentham.
“The victim recalled telling the driver that she was sorry for the hassle as it was only a six minute ride and that she was drunk,” the report said.
According to GPS logs provided by Uber to police, the 3½-mile ride lasted for 73 minutes.
It was prolonged when Guerrero-Encarna’s Toyota 4-Runner remained in the same spot from 3:09 a.m. to 4:05 a.m., on a dirt road within walking distance of the woman’s destination, according to the report.
While the car was stopped, Guerrero-Encarna got in the back where the woman was seated and allegedly “forced himself on her and [she] also felt as if she was ‘beat up,’ ” the report said.
“The victim recalled being” penetrated by Guerrero-Encarna, the filing said, and she later walked a short distance to her friend’s house.
The friend told police the woman said when she arrived, “I think that I just had sex with my Uber driver,” and later that morning, the alleged victim “told her that something didn’t feel right and they noted the victim was covered with bruises on her arms, her legs and complained of back pain,” according to the report.
In addition, the filing said, there appeared to be finger marks on the alleged victim’s arms and while at her friend’s house, she “at times was crying and in the fetal position.”
The alleged victim went to Milford Hospital and reported the alleged assault, records show.
“The victim brought the clothing that she was wearing to the hospital with the exception of her underwear which she believed the suspect had kept,” the report said.
Guerrero-Encarna’s license was issued on March 4, 2015, and no “criminal record could be found,” the police report said.
The report added that Guerrero-Encarna is a native of the Dominican Republic living in the United States on a CR 1 visa available to spouses of US citizens.
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I suppose the result could have been worse:
"The man accused of killing a woman who got into his car thinking it was her Uber ride had activated the child locks in his backseat so the doors could only be opened from the outside, police in South Carolina say. Columbia police Chief Skip Holbrook also said investigators found the victim’s blood in Nathaniel David Rowland’s vehicle. Rowland, 24, was arrested and charged in the death of 21-year-old Samantha Josephson, a University of South Carolina student from Robbinsville, N.J. Investigators would not say what they think Rowland did to Josephson from the time she got into his black Chevrolet Impala in Columbia’s Five Points entertainment district around 1:30 a.m. Friday until her body was dumped in woods off a dirt road in Clarendon County about 65 miles away. Josephson had numerous wounds to her head, neck, face, upper body, leg, and foot, according to arrest warrants released Sunday by the State Law Enforcement Division. The documents didn’t say what was used to attack her. Josephson’s blood was found in the trunk and inside Rowland’s car along with her cellphone, bleach, window cleaner, and cleaning wipes, Holbrook said. ‘‘This was a bad scene,’’ the police chief said at a news conference late Saturday. Hunters found Josephson’s body Friday afternoon just hours after it was dumped, despite being left in an area that was ‘‘very difficult to get to unless you knew how to get there,’’ Holbrook said. Rowland has recently lived in the area, he said. The night after Josephson was kidnapped, a Columbia police officer noticed a black Chevrolet Impala about two blocks from the Five Points bars where Josephson was kidnapped. The driver ran, but was arrested after a short chase, Holbrook said. Rowland is charged with kidnapping and murder, Holbrook said. He was being held in the Richland County jail. It wasn’t known if he had a lawyer. Rowland decided not to appear at a hearing in jail Sunday. The judge allowed Josephson’s mother to speak, The State newspaper reported. Marci Josephson said her daughter was planning to go to law school after graduating in May and described her as ‘‘bubbly, loving, kind and full of life.’’ ‘‘Unlike him, Samantha had love within her heart and purpose in her life,’’ Marci Josephson said. Safety advocates urged college students to match the vehicle color and model, the license tag number, and the photo of their ride-share drivers before getting in a vehicle and make the driver say their names to them before they introduce themselves. ‘‘She simply, mistakenly, got into the car thinking it was an Uber ride,’’ Holbrook said. The crime shook Columbia, the state capital where the University of South Carolina is one of the main economic engines. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster and his wife, Peggy, asked on a message on Twitter for prayers for Josephson’s family. ‘‘Peggy and I are devastated and crushed over the Josephson family losing their beautiful daughter Samantha. She was one of the brightest young stars,’’ McMaster wrote."
Just waiting for the DNA tests to come back now:
"Nationwide DNA testing backlog has nearly doubled, despite $1 billion in federal funding" by Tom Jackman Washington Post, March 23, 2019
WASHINGTON — For 15 years, the Justice Department has tried to reduce the backlog of crime scene DNA samples awaiting testing at state and local crime labs, but despite about $1 billion in federal spending to cut the number of untested cases, the number has grown by 85 percent in the past six years, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
Experts say the problem is largely a product of the success of DNA testing, which has identified more than 440,000 previously unknown suspects over the past 20 years, and the increased willingness of police agencies to submit cases, but no one is quite seeing the light at the end of the backlog tunnel, and the GAO said Friday that the Justice Department wasn’t setting goals for its backlog reduction because ‘‘the goal of eliminating backlogs is unachievable in the foreseeable future because [of] increases in demand for DNA analysis.’’
The office is already backed up.
Congress passed a program in 2004 to support public crime laboratories’ work to build capacity and process DNA evidence and provided for funding of up to $150 million per year. Police can submit blood, skin, or hair samples from a crime scene or a suspect, or semen from a sexual assault kit, to their crime lab; obtain a DNA profile from the sample; and then have it compared against the FBI’s national database of about 17 million people. Jails and prisons also submit samples from convicts or individuals arrested to be profiled and entered into the database, though those have less investigative urgency and pose less of a backlog problem, the GAO found.
The number of samples submitted for DNA testing nationwide went from about 242,000 in 2011 to 308,000 in 2017, according to the GAO’s findings. The number of samples tested also rose, from 217,000 to 279,000, and so the backlog rose, from about 91,000 samples awaiting testing in 2011 to about 169,000 untested samples in 2017.
Gretta L. Goodwin, the report’s lead author, said the rising backlog is attributable, in part, to the 91,000 cases that already existed in 2011, and which labs must address, in addition to the steadily rising number of new submissions. ‘‘It’s really an issue of them not being able to keep up,’’ Goodwin said.
‘‘The program is kind of a victim of its own success,’’ said Scott Berkowitz, the chief executive and founder of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, which helped pass the law. ‘‘Congress has put a lot of money into this, and I think we’ve seen a huge return on that, in terms of cases and CODIS [the combined national DNA databank]. I think it’s clear the money is being used efficiently, it’s just never enough.’’
Angela DellaManna, director of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, said the added funding has ‘‘increased our testing, improved our turnaround time, and gotten more hits in the DNA database, but as law enforcement gets more educated about DNA testing, they submit more and more cases.’’
‘‘Turnaround time’’ — from when a sample is sent to the lab to when results are received — is always a hot topic with police investigators. DellaManna said that time used to be about a year. The GAO study said the national average is now about 150 days, and that number did not decrease between 2011 and 2017.
‘‘Our goal is 90 days,’’ said DellaManna. ‘‘That’s the gold standard in the country.’’ He noted that ‘‘roughly 11 percent of our cases are serial cases,’’ meaning people who commit multiple crimes. ‘‘We want to identify the perpetrator before he offends again.’’
Like in Minority Report.
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So how long before there is an Office of Pre-Crime?
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"Suddenly, cost-cutting states turn friendly to teachers" by Paul J. Weber Associated Press, March 23, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas — Schoolteacher raises of $5,000 are on the table in Texas — a proposed pay hike that ranks among the biggest in the nation since a wave of teacher unrest began last year, but protests aren’t why the money is suddenly available.
Texas hasn’t had a teacher strike, but as in other GOP strongholds this spring, lawmakers who have spent years clashing with public schools by slashing budgets, ratcheting up testing, and cheerleading private schools are changing tactics in the face of election pressure as much as picket lines.
Rattled by a dreadful midterm election for Republicans — and looking ahead to 2020 — conservative-leaning states including Georgia, Oklahoma, and South Carolina are pouring new money into schools, and to ensure it doesn’t go unnoticed, Republicans are making a show of a renewed commitment to public classrooms, courting voters turned off by years of cost cutting that catered to the party’s base.
Nowhere is this political whiplash more on display than in Texas,
I'm told ‘‘urban Texas is now blue, suburban Texas is purple, and it’s rural Texas that is still red’’ -- meaning Texas is just like any other state.
A nationwide teacher revolt that began with walkouts in West Virginia in early 2018 is still kicking. In Kentucky, recurring ‘‘sick-outs’’ for teacher protests forced schools to cancel classes, and a six-day teacher strike in Los Angeles ended with a 6 percent pay hike and a commitment to smaller classes.
Elsewhere, new worries over elections are moving Republicans to act on their own.....
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If only women were in charge:
"Retired Boston school administrator’s pension and earnings spark local and state reviews" by James Vaznis Globe Staff, March 23, 201
By many accounts, Linda Nathan is performing duties for the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Dorchester that a top leader would: fund-raising, managing facilities, disseminating the school’s best practices, and evaluating the principal and director of operations, but Nathan, a retired Boston Public Schools headmaster who is collecting a $105,000 city pension annually, doesn’t appear on the public charter school’s payroll. Instead, she serves as the executive director of two nonprofits the charter created: the Conservatory Lab Charter School Foundation and the Center for Artistry and Scholarship, which, according to federal tax documents, pays Nathan a $150,000 annual salary and a $4,500 retirement benefit.
It's called double-dipping, and it's your fir$t les$$on of $ummer $chool.
Now, Nathan’s more than a quarter million dollars in pension and earnings is drawing attention from state and local regulators who question whether she is earning too much under the state’s public pension law. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education started investigating in the fall and shared its concerns with the Boston Retirement Board, which is in the process of scheduling a hearing.
If found to be in violation, Nathan may have to repay the retirement system tens of thousands of dollars.
Nathan defended her earnings last week.
Speaking broadly about the rules, John Parsons, executive director of the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission, said the restrictions apply even when a pension collector is not being paid directly by a government agency. For instance, retired police officers who work details that are paid for by a construction company or another private company are subject to the rules because they represent a public entity by wearing a municipality’s uniform.
“They are performing a public service,” he said. “You don’t get caught up on the fact that the construction company is paying for the detail. . . . If you are performing services on behalf of a public entity, the law won’t allow you to escape the limitations by calling yourself a consultant or saying you are a separate entity.”
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I see a Lizzy Borden defense: does she look like a thief?
Or a terrorist?
"Arrests in domestic terror probes outpace those inspired by Islamic extremists" by Devlin Barrett Washington Post, March 9, 2019
WASHINGTON — Most people arrested as the result of FBI terrorism investigations are charged with nonterrorism offenses, and more domestic terror suspects were arrested last year than those allegedly inspired by international terror groups, according to internal FBI figures reviewed by The Washington Post.
That's what happens when you are constantly instigating patsy frame-ups.
As government officials and activists debate the best way to pursue violent extremists, the figures show how much of counterterrorism work goes undeclared and unnoticed. Thousands are investigated each year. Hundreds are charged with crimes, but the public and the media see only dozens.
The debate centers on whether federal law and law enforcement are too focused on Islamic terrorism and not paying enough attention to the rise in far right-wing extremism. In fact, according to the data, more domestic terrorist targets are being charged, and in both categories, law enforcement often leverage simpler crimes, such as violations of gun or drug laws, to prevent violence.
‘‘It’s violence that we key in on,’’ said a senior law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive federal investigative work. ‘‘And sometimes, it’s the violence that motivates someone more than any particular ideology.’’
The arrest last month of Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher Hasson, 49, is the latest example of this pattern......
He pled not guilty.
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The additional examples provided should be considered psyop set ups if not outright frauds.
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Time to start moving forward:
"They make up the state’s largest-known colony of barn swallows, a species in decline in New England and listed as endangered in parts of Canada, and they should be safe here, if anywhere; the abandoned stable, after all, is in a wildlife refuge, but the birds now face eviction by those charged with protecting them — federal wildlife officials...."
They are treating them the way Israel treats Palestinians; however, the Palestinians can't just fly away.
"Man stabbed wife to death in Stoughton apartment with children at home, district attorney says" by John Hilliard Globe Correspondent, May 4, 2019
STOUGHTON — Paulo Rodrigues said his family was left reeling Saturday after law enforcement officials said his brother had killed his wife Friday night in the couple’s apartment, then tried to kill himself while their two children were at home.
“It is [a] tragedy at this time, at this moment,” said Paulo Rodrigues, whose brother, Ilton Rodrigues, 48, is under arrest for allegedly killing his wife, Telma Bras, 43. “We’re just praying that we can get through it.”
Stoughton police responding to a 911 call at 11:40 p.m. Friday found Bras dead from apparent stab wounds in Unit 4 at 5 Bennett Drive, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said at a press conference Saturday morning at police headquarters.
Officers smashed through a glass exterior door and forced their way into the apartment, where they found Rodrigues near Bras, suffering from “obvious injuries consistent with a suicide attempt,” Morrissey said.
Police rendered aid at the scene, Morrissey said, before Rodrigues was transported to a Boston hospital, where he underwent surgery overnight.
As of Saturday afternoon, he remained under guard at the hospital, said David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney.
Traub did not have details about Rodrigues’s condition but said he was expected to survive.
Rodrigues will face charges including homicide, Morrissey said. He will be arraigned in either Stoughton District Court or in his hospital room, depending on his condition.
Police Chief Donna McNamara said police had no previous reports of domestic violence in the household.
Bras worked as a housekeeper.
Paulo Rodrigues owns a landscaping business, and Ilton Rodrigues has worked for him in the past. His brother loved his children, he said.
Less than 24 hours after the tragedy, Paulo Rodrigues said he was “just trying to get through as best as I can, because of the pain.”
The apartment building is part of a small development off of North Paul Street. On Saturday, a light was visible in a window of the couple’s apartment, and a small US flag was tucked into the window frame.
Phillip Hajong, 37, who lives in the complex, said he was shocked to learn a neighbor had been killed. When he arrived home from his job as an Uber driver around 1 a.m. Saturday, he said, he saw a heavy police presence, but none of the officers would tell him anything.
“It’s scary for everyone,” Hajong said. “It’s not good for the community.”
Ritubarna Pokharel, 22, a University of Massachusetts Boston student who lives with his parents in the apartment building, said they were at home when police forced their way into the Rodrigues apartment across the hall.
“It’s really scary,” Pokharel said. “Someone got killed in this apartment, and we live next door.”
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Related: Stoughton man accused of killing wife could be arraigned Monday
Also see:
"Public accusations of corporate misbehavior and harassment have fallen to their lowest level since October 2017, when allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement. Twelve complaints generated media coverage in May compared with a peak of 143 last October, according to data compiled by crisis consultant Temin and Co. The firm has tracked 1,227 high-profile incidents over the last 3-and-a-half-years. In order to be included, a person’s alleged behavior must generate multiple press reports. All but 36 of the accused are men and about half have lost their jobs, the data showed."
I suppose they picked off who they wanted, and it's time to put the genie back in the bottle.
"KPMG LLP, one of the big four accounting firms, will pay $50 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it altered past audit work after receiving stolen information from an industry watchdog. The fine stems from an embarrassing chapter for KPMG that led to five former employees being accused of interfering with inspections of the firm by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, an agency overseen by the SEC that is the US’s main regulator of auditors. KMPG admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement with the SEC, and agreed to hire an independent consultant to review its internal controls, according to a Monday statement."
