Riots Erupt in Ferguson, MO After Grand Jury Declines to Indict Police Officer for Shooting Black Teenager

For the third straight night, authorities in the St Louis area struggled to contain arson and looting after a St Louis County Grand Jury decided there wasn't enough evidence to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the August 9th shooting death of 18 year old Michael Brown. Brown was black while officer Wilson is white, and the shooting underscored racial tensions throughout the region.

Brown and a friend were videotaped stealing cigars and threatening the clerk of a convenience store in Ferguson, MO. Minutes later, officer Darren Wilson spotted the two walking down the middle of a nearby street, apparently unaware of the strong-arm robbery that took place. After exchanging words, Brown reportedly reached into Wilson's cruiser, punching the officer and attempting to take his sidearm. Two shots were fired, one of them grazing Brown before he fled a short distance. According to Darren Wilson, Brown was about 40 feet away when he turned around, reached into his waistband and charged at him. Wilson emptied the remaining magazine of his department issue SIG-Sauer P229 .40S&W, striking Brown four more times. Witnesses, including Brown's accomplice in the convenience store robbery, claimed that Wilson had shot Brown in the back as he was fleeing or when his hands were raised when he was trying to surrender- although this testimony was contrary to both forensic evidence and other eyewitness accounts.

Despite pleas from officials and Brown's family, shortly after St Louis County DA Robert McCoullough announced that no criminal charges would be filed against Wilson on Monday night, shops along Ferguson's main thoroughfare had their windows broken by looters as they swarmed in and picked shelves clean. As many as 25 buildings were burned since Monday night, including a number of locally owned and operated shops, stores and restaurants. At least 100 arrests were made after shots were fired and some St Louis county police cruisers were also torched, but not before having weapons stolen from them- including at least one AR-15 rifle. A body was found in a burned-out car in Ferguson on Tuesday morning, a death that police are ruling 'suspicious'.

One of the businesses damaged in the rioting was Natalie's Cakes and More, owned by Natalie DuBose who had been in business for just over a year. Prior to that she had been selling cupcakes at flea markets and the single mother said that the store was her only source of income. After an online appeal, DuBose reportedly received more than $110,000 through online fundraiser site GoFundMe to help rebuild her business and she said she plans to stay in Ferguson.

UPDATED: View a map of businesses that were set fire last night after the #FergusonDecision: http://t.co/dpTTAwCWZN http://t.co/z79ld5v1n0

— KMOX St. Louis News (@kmoxnews) November 25, 2014

Other store owners were more proactive in protecting their businesses, arming themselves and guarding each others' businesses in shifts as the rioting and looting spread while the police or National Guard were nowhere to be seen. One white-run business in Ferguson was protected by armed black volunteers from the neighborhood who were regular customers.

National Guard Deployed to St Louis Suburb After Week of Protests and Looting

After criticizing the presence of 'militarized' police in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson, MO last week, Missouri governor Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard into the city to restore order on Sunday night.

The unrest started last weekend when a Ferguson police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager named Mike Brown. Although some witnesses gave conflicting accounts that claimed Brown was fleeing or surrendering when he was shot, the police claim that there was an altercation before the shooting where Brown tried to take the officer's service weapon.

After the shooting, a number of vigils and protests in Ferguson where demonstrators called for the officer to be charged with homicide took place [there are some unconfirmed reports out of St Louis that seem to corroborate the officer's version of events- NANESB!].

As tensions between citizens and area law enforcement escalated- with looting and clashes with police in riot gear following the shooting- state and local officials decided to hand over authority to the Missouri Highway Patrol and Captain Ron Johnston. Johnson espoused a hands-off approach to de-escalate tensions, in some instances outsourcing public safety to domestic terror groups like the Black Panthers. However, the clashes and looting continued over the next several nights [further agitated by outside groups such as the Revolutionary Communist Party and New Black Panther Party- NANESB!].

Heading into the weekend, Gov Nixon ordered a midnight curfew for the city of Ferguson as the looting and clashes continued. However, looters ignored the curfew and raided a Dominoes Pizza, Family Dollar store, a self-storage unit and an auto parts store. Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson also released surveillance video purportedly showing Brown committing a strong-arm robbery of a nearby convenience store shortly before the shooting took place, despite pleas from the DOJ not to do so.

An autopsy was also conducted that determined Brown was shot six times- none of them in the back, contrary to early eyewitness accounts. US Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered a federal autopsy of Brown and ordered FBI agents to canvas the neighborhood to search for possible additional witnesses to the shooting.

Happy Chinese New Years From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

In what could be a promising sign for the Denver Broncos, January 31st marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year- with this weekend kicking off the year of the horse. According to the Chinese Zodiac, people born in the year of the Horse are characterized as outgoing, energetic and thrive when they're the center of attention.

These traits were probably what disgraced former Communist party official Bo Xilai was looking for in policewomen in the tourist hub of Dailan when he announced the formation of an all-female mounted patrol. During Xilai's meteoric rise to Chinese Communist Party Central Committee heir apparent, the all female horseback patrols were started with retired racehorses donated from Hong Kong in the early 2000s. The idea was to have the patrols become a source of civic pride and tourist attractions in their own right [apparently they even have their own reviews (in Mandarin) on Tripadvisor- NANESB!] but have come under scrutiny lately. The policewomen also give tours of the training grounds and equestrian performances during the warmer months, charging tourists ¥50 (or around US$ 8) for admission. However, under Chinese law, police officers aren't allowed to engage in business activities putting the policewomen at odds with some of the law's they're tasked with enforcing.

Then again, attractive women riding horseback on public dime was the least of Xilai's problems. The former mayor and governor was accused of keeping fellow officials under electronic surveillance, his own chief of police accused him of corruption and Bo's wife was implicated in the 2011 murder of a British businessman. In September 2013, Bo was sentenced to life in prison and stripped of all his assets.

As for the women on horseback, a retired traffic policeman in Dailan filed a request regarding the cost of maintaining the horses and the overall effectiveness of the unit. According to the released report, the monthly cost of feed and supplies is about ¥2500 (around $405) while the monthly salary of the policewoman ranges from ¥1800 to ¥3800.

According to Dailan's current mayor, there's been public criticism of the policewomen on horseback but said it's 'too soon to talk about cancelling it' and while admitting some of the criticism is valid, the program shouldn't be cancelled on a whim. Over the last decade, a number of other cities in China- such as Shenzhen or Baotou- have also followed Dailan's lead.

Connecticut Woman Shot to Death Outside of Capitol Hill After Police Chase in Washington DC

A dental hygienist from Connecticut was shot and killed by Capitol police after leading officers from several departments on a wild chase across the District of Columbia on Thursday.

Miriam Carey, 34, was killed after attempting to ram the barrier along House of Representatives after some sort of incident near the barriers along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House earlier. After Carey reportedly tried running over police officers and federal agents, she was forced off the road and anywhere from 10 to 15 shots were fired at her by pursuing officers.

The shooting triggered a brief lockdown in the House of Representatives and led to a number of erroneous reports that some of the shots were fired from inside the House building. Carey was later pronounced dead at the scene. It was later determined that Carey had no gun on her person, but her one year old daughter was in the vehicle with her throughout the ordeal and escaped unharmed.

A camera crew from Iraq's al Hurra News was in the area and managed to catch some of the dramatic chase on video:



Carey's neighbors and co-workers in Stamford, CT described her as good-natured and dedicated, but behaving erratically after a recent head injury and had also treated for post-partum depression. One neighbor said the only time they saw Carey visibly upset was when she discovered the tires had been stolen off of her car one night in the apartment parking lot.

However, the New York Daily News reports that her boyfriend had called the police on her more than once, she was taking anti-psychotic medication and she claimed at one point that President Obama had her apartment under elaborate electronic surveillance and was broadcasting her life in a manner similar to the premise of the 1998 film The Truman Show.

Meanwhile, liberal pundits and supposedly objective journalists took to social networking sites to call for more gun control laws as the situation was still unfolding.

BREAKING- POLICE COMB WATERTOWN, MA NEIGHBORHOOD FOR GUNMEN AFTER MIT CAMPUS POLICE OFFICER SHOT AND KILLED- UPDATE: CHECHEN BROTHERS SAME INDIVIDUALS IDENTIFIED BY FBI AS SUSPECTS IN MARATHON BOMBING

AP Photo

Hours after an FBI press conference in which they showed photos and video of the two individuals considered suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, a MIT police officer was shot and killed by assailants on campus. The shooting was followed by a robbery, carjacking and cross-town pursuit where the gunmen opened fire on police with guns and grenades before crashing their stolen vehicle in nearby Watertown, MA.

WCBV-TV said the suspects threw and detonated explosives during a car chase with police.

Police were working to apprehend a young male with a hat on who was reportedly pulling on vehicle doors, according to police scanner traffic.

An FBI official told Fox News early Friday that one person was in custody and an officer was down but said it was too early to tell if the police activity in Watertown or the MIT shooting were related to the Boston Marathon bombing.

Dozens of officers and National Guard members descended on Watertown shortly after the shooting outside a building on MIT's campus in Cambridge, according to the Associated Press.

Authorities were calling for somebody to get on the ground and put their hands up and a loud thud was heard after someone shouted "fire in the hole," the news agency reported.

Witnesses told The Associated Press they heard multiple gunshots and explosions at about 1 a.m. Friday. Dozens of police officers and FBI agents were in the neighborhood and a helicopter circled overhead.

State police spokesman David Procopio told news agency, "The incident in Watertown did involve what we believe to be explosive devices possibly, potentially, being used against the police officers."

Fox News reporters on the scene cannot yet confirm these reports.

Earlier Friday, Cambridge police and the Middlesex District Attorney's office said the MIT officer was responding to a report of a disturbance when he was shot multiple times late Thursday. He later died at a hospital. His name was not immediately released.

Procopio said the shooting took place about 10:30 p.m. outside an MIT building. The area was cordoned off and surrounded by responding law enforcement agencies, according to a posting on the university's website.

Procopio said authorities were searching for a suspect or suspects. No arrests have been made.

The university described the situation late Thursday as "active and extremely dangerous." People were urged to stay away from the Stata Building, a mixed use building with faculty offices, classrooms and a common area.

Officers from numerous agencies and reportedly exchanged gunfire and pursued the two suspects on foot- one of them was wounded and taken into custody while the other was still at large in the overnight hours. Police from Boston, Watertown, Cambridge, the MBTA, Boston College and the Massachusetts State Police quickly set up a perimeter and began an intensive search for the remaining suspect, with federal agents quickly arriving to aid in the search for the suspect and additional explosive devices he may have left in the area.

WFXT-TV and Boston Police commissioner Edward Davis had confirmed that the suspect in custody died at Boston's Beth Israel after the confrontation.

One suspect dead. One at large. Armed and dangerous. White hat suspect at large.
— Edward Davis (@EdDavis3) April 19, 2013

It is unclear whether or not the deceased suspect died from a gunshot wound or from one of the detonated explosive devices- an MBTA police officer is hospitalized after exchanging gunfire with the suspects after carjacking an SUV at a gas station adjacent to the MIT Campus in Cambridge.



The identities of the two bombers remain something of a mystery after conflicting reports overnight. Various social media users speculated that one of the bombing suspects is bore an uncanny resemblance to a Brown University student who has been missing for about a month, but NBC News indicated that the suspected bombers had unspecified foreign military experience.

FBI Photo

Police are urging area residents to remain indoors and only answer the door if they see a uniformed police officer knocking. Authorities have also made a decision to shut down MBTA service in the area to prevent the remaining suspect from fleeing or detonating any remaining explosives as people were waiting for trains or bus service.

4/19 UPDATE - FOX News and the AP have identified the fugitive bombing suspect as a 19 year old Chechen named Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev who apparently entered the country legally and has been residing in Cambridge, MA for the last year. The slain suspect is reportedly his older brother.

Manhunt For Fugitive Ex-LAPD Officer Comes to Firey End in Southern California Mountain

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Will Lester

The week-long manhunt for former Los Angeles Police officer came to an end this week as the fugitive ex-cop, wanted for two murders in Orange county as well as the fatal shooting of a Riverside, CA police officer, was killed after a running gunbattle and standoff with pursuing officers up in the mountains around Big Bear, CA.

Former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner was the prime suspect in a double homicide in Irvine, CA earlier this month. The victims were found in a parking structure during the early morning hours of Feb 3rd and identified as Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence. Quan was the 28 year old daughter of a former LAPD officer named in Dorner's manifesto. In the screed, Dorner accused then-captian Randy Quan of failing to adequately represent him during disciplinary hearings in which he filed a false complaint against a fellow officer. Dorner was eventually fired from the LAPD.

In the early morning hours of Feb 7th, Dorner is believed to have exchanged fire with LAPD officers assigned to protect an individual named in the manifesto in Corona, CA. One officer was grazed by bullet fragments and Dorner then reportedly made his way to Riverside where he fatally shot a policeman in an ambush and wounded another.

By noon, the burned out remains of Dorner's pickup were discovered outside of Big Bear, CA- a mountainous area dotted with lakes and ski resorts about 110 miles east of Los Angeles. Authorities mounted a search of the area, but by Friday conceded that Dorner could be hundreds of miles away. Police in Nevada and Arizona were alerted and given Dorner's description. A SWAT team in Northridge searched a home-improvement store after recieveing a call saying that somebody matching the fugitive's description was spotted there over the weekend. Police in the Mexican border city of Tijuana also raided a hotel after responding to a tip that Dorner was staying there.

As it turned out, Dorner hadn't venured as far as anyone had anticpated, entering the unlocked door of a nearby condo and taking the owners' hostage when they returned home. After staying in the condo for the better part of 5 days under of staying almost literally under the nose of the police and media the fugitive tied up the couple and stole their Nissan SUV. However, the man was able to free himself and called the police who now had a description of the vehicle Dorner had commandeered.

Almost immediately, Dorner was spotted by California Fish and Game officers patrolling a stretch of California route 38 and a running gunfight ensued where the fugitive ex-cop comandeered another vehicle.

Details of the chase over icy rural roads emerged late Tuesday as authorities pieced together what appeared to be the fugitive's last, desperate movements.

The encounter began about 12:45 p.m. as Dorner was driving a purple Nissan on Highway 38 when he passed a Fish and Wildlife vehicle.

Dorner's car was tucked behind buses when officers saw him and swung their cars around in pursuit. The murder suspect, authorities said, attempted to evade them by turning off onto Glass Road. At some point, they said, Dorner crashed and abandoned the small car.

With officers still in pursuit, Dorner then stopped a truck driven by local resident Rick Heltebrake, ordering him out. Heltebrake, a ranger at a nearby Boy Scout camp, didn't want to leave his dog behind.

Dorner allowed Heltebrake and his Dalmatian, Suni, to get out and then took off, according to an account from a friend of Heltebrake.

Behind the wheel of the stolen truck, Dorner was once again careening down Glass Road and passed another Fish and Wildlife vehicle coming from the opposite direction, officials said. Again an officer recognized Dorner.

That officer radioed his colleagues traveling behind him that Dorner was heading their way in a silver pickup truck.

When Dorner saw a third Fish and Wildlife truck approaching, he rolled down his window and allegedly took aim. Dorner opened fire as the vehicle passed, strafing the truck with a handgun, officials said.

The badly damaged state truck skidded to a halt. A game warden exited the vehicle and fired a high-powered rifle several times as Dorner sped away, according to authorities.

Dorner subsequently crashed that truck, authorities said, and ran into the cabin.

After crashing the truck, Dorner exchanged gunfire with San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies in the woods, fatally wounding Deputy Jerimiah McKay, before barricading himself in a vacant cabin. Deputies fired tear gas into the cabin before the structure caught fire and burned down with him still inside.

According to the San Bernardino County Medical Examiner, Dorner died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, most likely as the cabin was burning around him. The remains found in the charred cabin were positively identified as Christopher Dorner on Friday.

Former Minnesota Policewoman Awarded More Than $1 Million in Breach of Privacy Lawsuit

Officer Anne Marie Rasmusson of the St Paul, MN Police department seen very much out of uniform.

A former Twin Cities policewoman has been awarded more that $1 Million in damages after learning that more than 100 of her former colleagues illegally accessed her personal information, looking up her driver's license in a state database. The case marks the largest data breach by law enforcement in the state's history.

Anne Marie Rasmusson, 37, was forced into early retirement from the St Paul, MN police department due to an injury in 2003 but continued working out and entered bodybuilding competitions as her husband continued working as a policeman in Minneapolis, MN.

Officer Anne Marie Rasmusson, this time in uniform

Rasmusson became suspicious after she was contacted out of the blue by former colleagues asking for dates or complimenting her on her driver's license photo.

When she was 24 and new to the St Paul police force, one of her co-workers suggested a bet – who could lose the most body fat in three months.

The once overweight officer dropped 15 pounds in three months, and continued her regimen of exercise and healthy eating until she dropped an additional 70lbs.

Rasmusson, who was known by colleagues as Bubbles because of her cheerful personality, first became aware that other officers were looking up her photo when a former police academy colleague mentioned to her in 2009 that she looked great and that he and his partner had used their squad car computer to view her driver’s license image.

In August 2011, she contacted the state’s Department of Public Safety asking if it was possible to restrict access to her driver’s license file. Following an investigation, a DPS worker revealed that her record had been accessed by officers numerous times as far back as 2007.

[Independent tabloid] City Pages found that 104 officers in 18 different state agencies accessed her driver’s licence record 425 times.

At least 104 officers, including police chiefs, stand accused of illegally accessing Rasmusson's personal data and could face disciplinary action.

The city of Minneapolis agreed to pay Rasmusson a $392,000 settlement in addition to a separate $280,000 settlement with other cities whose officers illegally accessed her personal data. Rasmusson will also be awarded a $385,000 suit from her former employer, the city of St Paul. That figure could increase depending on the outcome of a pending suit against the state of Minnesota.

Keep in mind this sort of conduct isn't necessarily limited to the Twin Cities. In Philadelphia, Deputy Commissioner William Blackburn is accused of flipping through the department's personnel files looking for attractive female officers to try and pick up. According to a lawsuit filed by Philadelphia P.D. officer Debra Frazier, Blackburn would then have his subordinated arrange for a meeting with officers he picked from the files.

A separate lawsuit accuses Philadelphia P.D. Staff Inspector Jarrod Bates of coercing a female subordinate into having sex with him in order to keep her job. Bates was a former supervisor of Internal Affairs and was the Equal Employment Opportunity officer in charge of investigating abuse and harassment complaints.

French Police Uncover Bomb-Making Materiel, Detain Islamists in Nationwide Anti-Terrorist Sweep

French police arrested 11 and fatally shot one during a nationwide counterterrorism dragnet this week.

Pre-dawn raids by police in the eastern Parisian suburb of Dorcy uncovered explosives and bomb-making materiel in a four story building not far from the grounds of the Euro Disney theme park. Heavily armed officers surrounded the building as the structure was searched for more explosives.

The man shot to death by police was identified as 33 year old Jeremy Sidney, a prisoner who served time for drug trafficking and had recently converted to Islam. Sidney had reportedly brandished a .357 Magnum revolver when police showed up at his apartment in Strousbourg and exchanged fire with officers- striking three, although the rounds were stopped by their body armour. Police returned fire, mortally wounding Sidney.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins described him as "a delinquent" and said his fingerprints had been found on the remains of a grenade thrown into the kosher grocery store in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles on 19 September. One person was slightly injured in the attack.

Mr Molins said police had uncovered a list of Jewish associations and that the inquiry would determine "the next targets of this cell".

Prosecutors say that almost all of the men arrested in this week's sweep were fairly recent converts to Islam with extensive criminal backgrounds.

French authorities have been vigilant since a March 2012 massacre at a Jewish school in Toulouse. Although the press intially blamed white neo-nazis for the murder of a rabbi and three schoolchildren, it was eventually learned that a 23 year old Islamic radical named Mohammed Mera carried out the school shootings as well as two seperate attacks on French paratroopers in southern France. Mera himself was eventually killed by police after a lentghty standoff in his apartment within days of the attack.

Massachusetts Democrat Calls Cops on GOP Rival With Bogus Drug Buy Story

Consider this reason #774 I don't trust the Democrats anywhere near the levers of power.

A Democratic state representative in Massachusetts who narrowly survived a 4-way primary earlier this month is now facing questions after sending police to her Republican opponent's home, reportedly relaying concerns from an anonymous constituent to the local police chief about a possible drug buy.

Massachusetts State Representative Denise Andrews [D- Orange] had contacted Athol, MA police chief Timothy C Andrews- purportedly to follow through on an unnamed constituent's bizarre story that her GOP rival and Athol Board of Selectmen chair, Susanna Whipps Lee, had purchased cocaine from them.

Ms. Andrews contacted police and said she was told by an informant in the Police Department, whom she called a constituent, that Susannah M. Whipps Lee, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, had allegedly purchased cocaine and a police officer went to her home on Aug. 10 and took the drugs from her after police received a call from a person who claimed to have sold the drugs to Ms. Lee.

After an investigation, the chief said the allegations were false.

Ms. Lee, a Republican challenging Ms. Andrews in the November election, denied the allegations and called them “disgraceful and dishonest.”

Representative Andrews is named as a confidential informant in an Athol police report that was leaked to the public.

Artists rendering of Massachusetts State Representative Denise Andrews' confidential source.

Citing confidentiality, Andrews declined to name the source of the allegations against her opponent. A number of inconsistencies became apparent in the story she told the Athol police chief. Lee was out of state on the day the alleged drug buy took place and Athol's only narcotics officer was off-duty the day of the alleged bust. The story crumbled altogether when Chief Anderson compared dates and times on the department's radio logs and sign in sheets with those provided by Andrews' alleged informant.

Chief Anderson said “the false report of a crime to police” matter is under investigation. He said it would be a grave situation “if it is a member of our department.”

Asked if anyone from the Athol Police Department is under scrutiny, the chief said, “I am not going to comment at this point.”

On whether there may be a coverup, Chief Anderson said: “We have policies about chain of command; that means a member of our Police Department has to follow our chain of command; when they come across information of this nature, they are required, if they have information there is a violation of department policy ... to notify their supervisor.”

The chief also said the rank and file “are not allowed to release records of a confidential or sensitive nature.”

The boundaries for Andrews' District- the 2nd Franklin District- was recently re-drawn and includes the towns of Athol, Orange, Royalston, Erving and Gill in Franklin County in the north-central part of the Bay State as well as parts of Belchertown in Hampshire.

Borderline Psychosis Update- Drug Tunnel Discovered in AZ; Cartels Finding Slick New Way to Skirt Border Patrol? Car Bomb in Tamaulipas Kills Two

ARIZONA- Investigators in Arizona keeping a warehouse in the southwestern border town of San Luis under surveillance had discovered this month a recently completed drug tunnel connecting it with San Luis Rio Colorado on the Mexican side of the border.

Engineered with 4-by-6 beams, plywood walls, ceilings and floors, and a lighting and ventilation system, the fully operational tunnel was used to smuggle methamphetamine and possibly other drugs, the DEA said.

"From what I've heard and in my experience, this is probably the most sophisticated tunnel that they've probably found in Arizona," said Doug Coleman, special agent in charge of the DEA's Phoenix field office.

"It's really a piece of work," he said. "It looks like it was designed to be on a pulley system where you could just download the drugs in San Luis (Rio Colorado, Sonora) and use a pull cart to pull them all the way through and then pop them up on this side."

Coleman said he does not believe the tunnel was in operation for more than a week, based on the "pristine" condition of the shaft and the fact that drums filled with dirt removed from the tunnel were on pallets still inside the building. "I think it was very new," he said.

According to the DEA and Arizona Department of Public Safety, on July 6th, an Arizona State Trooper pulled over a Ford F-150 on US Route 95 in the Yuma, AZ area. A search of the vehicle turned up nearly 40 pounds of methamphetamine wrapped up in packaging in the bed of the truck.

After contacting the DEA, a search warrant was obtained for the warehouse in San Luis where the tunnel was discovered. The tunnel reportedly led to a recently-constructed ice distribution warehouse on the Mexican side of the border.

MEXICO- Police in the outskirts of Mexico City have arrested a number of men who were accused in attacking and robbing more than 90 youths from a church group who were on a camping retreat at an ecological preserve at the base of the Popocatepetl volcano. Even in nation that has grown increasingly jaded over brazen acts of murder committed in broad daylight, the crime shocked Mexico's general public.

Police arrested 17 men Wednesday on suspicion of attacking youths and raping five women and girls who were on a church camping trip outside Mexico City, a brutal assault that shocked much of the country.

The attorney general for the State of Mexico, Alfredo Castillo, said 11 of the gang members were identified by some of the victims. In interrogation videos played for reporters, three of the suspects confessed that they sexually abused the women and girls because fellow attackers told them to.

Two of the suspects were local police officers and another had served in the military, Castillo said, speaking two days after authorities announced the arrest of a man who was described as not directly involved in the assault on the camp-out but who allegedly provided information to the assailants.

The attacks, robberies, assaults and rapes took place over a period of several hours on Friday the 13th in the park which straddles the border of the states of Mexico and Puebla. At least 7 girls in the church group were sexually assaulted before their assailants left in stolen vehicles.

According to Mexico's state prosecutor, 12 of the 17 men in custody were identified by the victims as taking part in the assaults and robberies. Reportedly, none of the men in custody have any ties to the major organized crime organizations that have been locked in an ongoing bloody turf-wars since 2006.

DISTRITO FEDERAL- Authorities in Mexico's capitol city say they have arrested one of three Federal fugitive policemen who are wanted in the connection with a shootout where they killed three colleagues at Mexico City's international airport in late June. Mexican authorities say they've captured one of three rogue federal police officers who allegedly took part in a June 25 shootout that killed three of their colleagues at Mexico City's international airport.

Federal Police regional security chief Luis Cardenas Palomino says suspect Bogard Felipe Lugo de Leon was caught at a Mexico City apartment after police received a tip.

Cardenas Palomino says Lugo de Leon confirmed that one of the two officers who opened fire on their colleagues was about to be handcuffed for purportedly trafficking drugs through the terminal.

He says the bust was not pre-planned, but occurred when one of the rogue officers was caught in the act.

However, many in the Mexican press have questioned the official version of events leading up to the June 25th deadly shootout at Benito Juarez International Airport.

Mexican media have begun to question the official account, asking whether the gunfight could have been the result of a falling-out among co-conspirators. If it was an operation to capture traffickers in the act, some said, why did it take 20 minutes for additional police officers to appear after the shooting began? Why were only three police officers sent to arrest two armed fellow officers in a crowded airport?

“Tricks, lies, inventions!” the columnist Manuel J. Jauregui wrote in the Reforma newspaper Wednesday, adding that the operation was an embarrassment and that federal authorities were scrambling to get their stories straight. “They don’t even know who were the good guys and who were the bad guys,” Jauregui wrote.

Two other Federal Police officers are wanted for their role in the airport terminal shooting.

TAMAULLIPAS- Two police officers were killed and another 7 people were wounded when a powerful car bomb was detonated outside of the home of the top police official in Tamaulipas earlier this month.

Tamaulipas state Interior Secretary Morelos Canseco said Public Safety Secretary Rafael Lomeli wasn't injured in the blast, but that three neighbors were injured by glass fragments from shattered windows.

Canseco said the bomb was detonated with a cellphone soon after Lomeli arrived at his home. He said the car bomb showed an increased sophistication, both in the detonator and explosives used. It apparently exploded in a car parked just outside a security barrier on a street on which the official's home is located.

The bomb went off just outside a security checkpoint in the capital city of Tamaulipas. No organization has claimed responsibility for the bomb. Two years ago, a car bomb killed three police officers in Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso, TX.

TEXAS- Drug traffickers may be taking advantage of a boom in natural gas drilling in the Lone Star state to help move their product and circumvent Border Patrol checkpoints around the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas.

Map courtesey of Houston Chronicle

Drug traffickers have discovered that private roads sturdy enough to accomodate tractor-trailer and heavy duty pickup traffic serving drilling sites for companies like Exxon Mobil [NYSE- XOM], Halcon Resources [NYSE- HK] or Apache [NYSE- APA] can accomodate their vehicles and payload of contraband. Moreover, many of these private roads also bypass fixed Border Patrol checkpoints in South Texas.

Hefty roads running through once-remote ranchlands now enable loaded-down tractor-trailers and pickups to avoid Border Patrol highway checkpoints that have long been the last line of defense for stopping all traffic headed farther into the United States.

Traffickers are seeking to use the southwest-most stretches of the massive Eagle Ford shale formation, which stretches from Mexico all the way to East Texas, to their advantage by trying to corrupt truck drivers, contractors and gate personnel. Authorities also speculate that they are trying to make "cloned" copies of legitimate trucks and use contractor-like vehicles to avoid standing out among fleets of oil-field service vehicles working for energy companies. In some cases, vehicles have been stolen and believed to have been used by smugglers.

"They are using those roads to transport drugs, guns, ammo, you name it," said Albert DeLeon, chief deputy of the Dimmit County sheriff's office.

"Our biggest concern is how law enforcement is going to attack the threat. We cannot move Border Patrol checkpoints into those positions," said Tony Garcia, director for the South Texas HIDTA [High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area- NANESB!]. "It is pretty much up to your imagination what they could be moving through there. ... It is a bit of a dicey situation for us to deal with. We are putting our heads together."

For energy companies, the roads are critical to moving heavy drilling and related equipment in and out of the ranchlands where the work is done.

"Once they get past the checkpoints, they are pretty much free," said Javier Pena, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Houston division, which includes San Antonio and reaches to the Mexican border.

"It is very much on our radar," Pena said of smugglers. "We have been gearing up for it."

He declined to discuss the use of sensors, cameras or other tactics to monitor possible narcotics routes. Authorities also suspect that gate guards, drivers or other workers might succumb to bribes.

On a weekday morning in early March, 18,665 pounds of marijuana were caught being smuggled aboard two trucks, one a flatbed, the other a tanker truck driving through the Briscoe Ranch on a road that circumvents a Border Patrol checkpoint.

They were on a private road leased to energy companies and carrying what looked like supplies typically used in oil field operations but were instead loaded with marijuana. The two trucks yielded the most pot ever caught in one day by the Border Patrol's Del Rio Sector.

One of the truck drivers, who was not an employee of the energy industry, later admitted to agents that he was to be paid $7,500 to deliver the load, according to an affidavit at the federal courthouse in Del Rio.

Other big South Texas catches came in July last year when Border Patrol agents stopped a bogus oil field truck carrying 1,373 pounds of marijuana, and in June when they found 3,529 pounds of the drug stashed in a truck driven by an energy company worker.

In some boder areas in the USA, the Border Patrol sets up additional checkpoints along highways further away from the Mexican border where they can stop and inspect passing vehicles. On some maps, the private roads bypass some of these checkpoints where the contraband can continue on to the interstate highway system and metropolitan areas like Dallas or Houston.

Trouble in Electric City? Pennsylvania Mayor Slashes Police And Firefighter Salaries to Minimum Wage

Does anybody remember how the Democrats and public employee unions were warning people prior to last month's Wisconsin recall election that if Gov. Walker retained his office, it would give licensce to all sorts of drastic cuts among public sector employees salaries and benefits?

Recently added Scranton Police Department prisoner transport.

It turns out they were at least half right- only it seems as though its Democrat officeholders who are taking a chainsaw to the wages of cops and firemen.

Local 60 of the International Association of Firefighters, Fraternal Order of Police E.B. Jermyn Lodge 2 and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 2305 filed an injunction against Scranton, PA mayor Chris Doherty slashed the wages of nearly 400 city employees to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

The unions each have separate contracts with the city, the mayor cannot unilaterally slash pay outside the bounds of contracts and without any negotiations, and his decision is legally unfounded, according to the lawsuit filed in Lackawanna County Court by the unions' attorney, Thomas Jennings of Philadelphia.

The lawsuit also claims the unilateral action violates state Act 111 and other labor laws. The suit claims that if the pay cuts stand, they would have a "devastating immediate impact" on workers by creating their inability to feed their families or maintain any semblance of a decent standard of living; pay medical bills and other expenses; pay for child care in some cases, particularly for single parents, thus making it impossible for them to work; and pay mortgages, loans and other bills that would destroy their credit ratings.

Doherty, a Democrat elected to his third term in 2009, made the decision to unilaterally drastically slash wages last month in part to help secure a $16 million loan. According to some reports, the city of Scranton had less than $5000 in the bank last week.

In addition to the salary cuts- including his own- Doherty has also proposed implementeing a hike on property taxes by as much as 78% over the next three years. The Scranton City Council has rejected Doherty's tax hike on multiple occasions. The IAFF Local 60 reports that in 2011, the city shut down two Scranton Fire Department Engine companies. The city of Scranton has a Democrat in the mayor's office for the last 22 years.

Some morbid speculation on my part, but if this persists how difficult do you think its going to be to bribe a police officer who's making minimum wage? This blog's most recent Borderline Psychosis entry highlighted a pair of Texas deputies who were making more than their counterparts in Scranton, yet were willing to escort drug shipments for payments of $500 each. This is not to impugn the integrity of the current officers of the Scranton PD, but Mayor Doherty made it that much more difficult for them to pay their bills. While I suspect a number of officers would seek employment with another agency or take retirement, one would have to wonder about the quality of their replacements if the minimum wage situation is prolonged in any way in Scranton.

With a population of over 76,000, the northeastern Pennsylvania city is the 6th largest in the Keystone state and is perhaps best known for being the setting of the fictional Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company in the American version of The Office- even though most of the show's scenes are filmed in Hollywood.

A trolley from Scranton's Electric City Trolley Museum unloads passengers as a charter train with Pennsylvania E-8s arrives at Steamtown National Historic Site in 2007. Christopher Blaszczyk photo.

Dubbed the Electric City for its early status as the leader in mining relatively clean burning anthricite coal, Scranton is also home to Steamtown National Historic Site and the adjacent Electric City Trolley Museum. The Lackawana County seat also remains an important transportation crossroads in the region with I-81 passing through the city while also serving as the northern terminus for the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and western end of I-84. In addition to the rail and trolley museums highlighting Scranton's past, the Electric City remains a fairly active railroad hub with freight service provided by the Canadian Pacific, Norfolk Southern, Delaware-Lackawana, Reading & Northern and Luzerne & Susquehanna.

[Hat tip- Support Your Local Gunfighter]

Quickie Borderline Psychosis Update- Three Federal Police Officer Slain By Fellow Officers at Mexico City International Airport; Mexican Navy Helicopter Missing Over Cartel-Held Territory

MEXICO CITY- Three federal police officers who were moving in to arrest two fellow officers under investigation for drug trafficking were shot and killed at Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport on Monday morning.

The shooting occurred around 8:50 a.m. Monday in the airport's Terminal 2, leaving two officers dead at the scene. The third officer died while being treated at a hospital.

Two Federal Police officers assigned to the airport opened fire when officers from another unit tried to arrest them, the secretariat said.

The two officers were being investigated for their alleged links "to the activities of a drug trafficking network," the secretariat said in a statement.

"The two officers under investigation opened fire to avoid arrest when they spotted the Federal Police's Investigations Unit, killing three federal officers," the secretariat said.

The two Federal Police officers who gunned down their fellow officers have been identified and "operational and investigative units are focusing on their capture," the Public Safety Secretariat said.

The two officers have not been identified, but security cameras in the terminal recorded the incident, officials said.

An investigation conducted over several months uncovered "a network of officials from different local and federal agencies" who work at the airport and are "presumably involved in drug trafficking in the terminal area," the secretariat said.

Although cartel gunmen in Mexico have been known to wear police or military-style uniforms when carrying out contract killings, the shooters at Benito Juarez International airport had their identities confirmed as Federal Police officers thanks to surveillance camera footage throughout the terminal where the shooting took place. Federal police and eyewitnesses at first were uncertain whether or not the shootings were from one of their own or cartel gunmen who had managed to obtain police uniforms.

the shooting took place shortly before 9 a.m. local time, around the food court of the airport's newest terminal, close to where vehicles drop off passengers but well outside the internal security checkpoints where workers and passengers are screened.

Three shots rang out at first, said witness Israel Lopez, a 23-year-old Mexico City student who had gone to the airport to see off a friend. Mr. Lopez didn't see who those shots were directed at, but then the gunfire came closer.

“We were in the food court, and some policemen came in and started shooting at another policeman who was on the floor,” Mr. Lopez said.

“We dove to the floor and covered ourselves with chairs.”

Mr. Lopez said the shooters wore blue uniforms like those of federal police who provide security at the airport. He said the shooters then ran to the parking area “as if they were pursuing somebody,” and he lost sight of them.

Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport is Mexico's busiest airport, seeing more than 25 million passengers annually and is also used by cartels and human traffickers to launder money and move drugs and illegal immigrants. Last year, Mexican Federal Police said that had seized 90 kilos of cocaine while so far in 2012, 200 kilos wqere seized.

Eurocopter Panther Helicopter of the Mexican Marines at 2010 ceremony in Mexico City- the same type of aircraft that went missing over Michoacan last week.
Carlos Sanchez photo via Airliners.net

MICHOACAN- The Mexican Navy has reported that a helicopter that left the coastal city of Manzanillo in Colima state four days ago has been reported missing.

The chopper was destined for Morelia, the capital city of Michoacan, when it lost contact with ground controllers on Friday. The missing Mexican Naval aircraft's route likely would've taken it over remote terrain where the Beltran Leyva, Zetas and Caballeros Templar have been active and fighting each other for control of smuggling routes of marijuana cultivation.

In May 2011, a Mexican military MD530 reconnaissance/light attack helicopter was brought down during a raid in Michoacan where gunmen opened fire on the aircraft with a .50 rifle that was traced back the the ATF's ill-concieved Operation Fast & Furious gunwalking program.

300 Arrested After Occupy Oakland Storms City Hall, Burns American Flag

But don't you DARE question their Patriotism!

Remember the early days of the burgeoning 'Occupy' movement, when former Marine Scott Olsen was injured in a skirmish between Occupy Oakland and the police? The whole occupy movement and their media enablers initially seemed eager to portray 'Occupy' as some sort of wholesome, spontaneous, series of protests as wholesome and American-as-apple-pie, complete with an injured veteran [even though the aforementioned vet founded a blog called "I Hate The Marine Corps"- NANESB!]

After garnering support from Democrat politicians such as Representatives Nancy Pelosi [D CA-5] or Jan Schakowski [D IL-9], 'Occupy' has since decided to drop the American-as-apple pie façade and determined that the only way to stay relevant is to escalate confrontations with authorities where "Occupy" encampments remain.

And of course, Oakland, CA is one such city. Earlier this month, Occupy Oakland marched on the Oakland PD headquarters in a rally given the quaint monicker of 'F*ck the Police'. Occupiers threw bottles, rocks and bricks at officers clad in riot gear while police responded by firing beanbag rounds and arresting six Occupiers.



Over the weekend, Occupy Oakland demonstrators broke into Oakland's City Hall and burned flags, destroyed an electrical box and damaged a children's art exhibit on display. Police used tear gas and smoke grenades to try and disperse the crowds and ended up arresting more than 400 Occupiers. Earlier in the weekend, marchers from Occupy Oakland tore down fencing around the dormant Henry J Kaiser convention center and attempted to force their way in.

Occupy Oakland was likely emboldened by a ruling against the Oakland PD in federal court last week in which U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson threatened to order a Federal takeover of the Department.

The judge appointed a monitor in 2003 to ensure the city complied with terms of a $10.5 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by victims of a notorious group of police officers known as "The Riders."

The group was accused of beating and framing suspects in the West Oakland area for years. One officer was acquitted at trial and criminal charges against two former officers were dismissed after two trials ended in hung juries. A fourth former officer remains a fugitive who disappeared after charged were filed in 2000.

The current monitor, Robert Warshaw, was appointed in 2010 and oversees the settlement with a staff of seven people.

The settlement included 51 specific reforms the department agreed to make within five years. Henderson noted Tuesday that he's extended the compliance deadline by years to little effect.

Perhaps unsurprisngly, the court-appointed monitor was also critical of how the Oakland PD had handled the initial confrontation with Occupy Oakland back in October, as well as individual officers blacking out their name tags or badge numbers while assaigned to babysit Occupiers.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan- apparently determined to show that she was still willing to handle the Occupy movement with kid gloves after what they put the city through- planned to contact the national leadership of the Occupy Wall Street movement to try and get them to persuade Occupy Oakland to shun violence.

Text Messages Reveal That Police Officers in Denver Were Texting What everybody Else Was Thinking About #OccupyDenver & #OWS

CBS News Photo

A 30-page dossier of car-to-car text messages from police officers during the height of the #OccupyDenver protests earlier this fall was released by the Denver Police Department was released to the public this week.

The overwhelming majority of the messages contained routine and mundane observations of the protesters movements, but the Denver Post has thoughtfully compiled some of the messages in which certain police officers make clear their disdain or fatigue in dealing with the #Occupy demonstrators:

Oct. 1: ... did you see all those crazy youtube videos of the ny police and the protesters? crazy stuff!

Denver protesters are too pathetic for us to have anything like that.

Oct. 13: probably little problems from the "real" protesters, but the grungy hippies and the usual civic center yahoos will more than likely be a problem

Oct. 14: I bet if you guys dropped a box of skunks in the middle of them .. they would probably scatter real good

Oct. 21: If you think about it, large scale protests are a good way to waste city money and possibly cripple the system.

Oct. 30: It is nuts down here i have costume freaks yelling at protesters who are yelling at police who are yelling at transients.

Oct. 30: in the last two days no less than one hundred people, at protest and other places, have screamed obscenities and directed demeaning remarks at me, and I am not allowed to respond in any way. what a great system.

Oct. 30: I guess Heather dealt with a hippie on 1st and Broad that said You are making me feel Dehumanized by the way ur treating me. Probably a protesters.

Nov. 4: but they claim to be peacefully protesting. i say we just baton the people who start to incite everyone. the rest who are peaceful, let em stay.

Nov. 12: This occupy s--- has got out of hand because this liberal administration has allowed them to

Nov. 20: I like how almost all of the "demonstraors" that occupy the sidewalk at night are bums.

A spokesman for the Denver Police Department said the department "regrets the tone and tenor of some of these texts". The release came on Wednesday afternoon, the same day a federal judge denied #OccupyDenver a restraining order against the police department to prevent them from enforcing a handful of city ordinances.

In early November, #OccupyDenver attempted to crash a conference in Denver featuring conservative bloggers only to have that backfire when the bloggers in attendence were waiting for them and chanting "We Want the Dog!" - a reference to Shelby the Border Collie, who was appointed the de-facto leader of #OccupyDenver.

Longshoremen Union-Backed Attempt to Recall Washington Sherriff Fizzles

An ILWU-backed effort to recall the Cowlitz County, WA Sheriff failed this week after a Washington judge ruled that none of the charges raised by the Longshormen's local met any of the legal requirements for a recall election.

[Judge] Warning said his ruling was based on the fact that union offered no witnesses to demonstrate there was a good-faith belief that the claims were based on actual incidents. Warning also said elected officials have broad discretion to carry out their duties and can't be recalled based on actions of their subordinates, such as deputies making arrests.

[Sherriff] Nelson said after the ruling that he was relieved to be able "to get back to work." He added the recall was a "distraction" that's "taken up far, far too much time, and I want to get back to doing the things the sheriff ought to be doing."

During the hearing he said that he's urged both sides to follow the law since the protests began but had to make arrests "once unlawful actions began."

"I respectfully submit I've done nothing wrong except work to keep the peace," Nelson told Warning.

There has been some speculation the recall and a federal civil rights lawsuit were attempts to intimidate law enforcement to back off at future protests.

"If that's true, those people don't know me very well," Nelson said after the hearing.

Union officials said they were disappointed with the ruling and needed time to "regroup" before deciding if they'll appeal to the state Supreme Court.

During the hearing, ILWU lawyer Laurie Davis repeatedly said Nelson had failed to protect union members from harm and that voters should get to decide if he remains in office. She acknowledged that many union supporters have been arrested, but said it was how they were arrested and treated that the union questioned.

"Just like we are accountable for the behavior we did, he's accountable for not supervising his subordinates and keeping them from injuring us," Davis said. "It's his job to protect every citizen in Cowlitz County, and that includes ILWU members."

Warning said he was surprised the union didn't have any witnesses, saying the roughly hour-long hearing concluded much more quickly than he had expected. Officials had reserved the courtroom for the entire day.

The recall effort was launched just weeks after members of ILWU Local 21 raided a grain unloading facility in Longview, WA with baseball bats and axe handles taped to picket signs before dumping grain and cutting the air lines on a parked freight train and wrecking a vehicle belonging to one of the port's security gurads.

Illegal Immigrants Taken Into Custody in Vermont Traffic Stop; Governor Demands Investigaton- of State Trooper

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin demanded an internal probe of the State Police stemming from traffic stop on Interstate 89 in Middlesex, VT involving two illegal aliens who were taken into custody this week.

After reading this account from the Burlington Free Press, I'll let you guess Gov. Shumlin's political affiliation.

Gov. Peter Shumlin on Tuesday night ordered an internal investigation of a Vermont State Police traffic stop earlier in the day involving migrant farm workers that later led to a protest at the Middlesex state police barracks.

Two passengers were detained in the traffic stop on Interstate 89, including a leader of the Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project.

“The governor is concerned by accounts of the incident and ordered an immediate internal investigation to determine the facts of what happened and if Vermont State Police bias-free policies were followed,” a news release issued by Shumlin’s office stated.

How exactly does 'bias-free policing' work, anyway? If a policeman pulls over a motorist wearing a Lone Ranger Mask, Hamburglar shirt and bags marked with dollar signs next to him, does he refrain from asking the motorist a few basic questions for fear of having some sort of 'bias' complaint lodged against him?

Vermont State Police Director Tom L’Esperance said a state trooper stopped a vehicle for going 88 mph on the interstate in Middlesex. The trooper followed the vehicle for a short distance before pulling it over, police said.

During the traffic stop, the driver provided valid identification and faces a civil citation in connection with the vehicle’ speed. But the trooper became aware that two of the passengers might not have been in the country legally, L’Esperance said.

The two passengers taken into custody were determined to be in the U.S. illegally, said Mark R. Henry, operations Officer at the Swanton Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol.

They were later processed at the U.S. Border Patrol station in Richford, Henry said. Henry said both men — whose names and nationalities were not made public – were most likely to be released with an order to appear for a hearing at a later date.

I find it quite telling that the Vermont State Trooper in question did nothing out of the ordinary, yet Gov. Shumlin demanded a probe of the traffic stop that very day. In 49 other states, I think what that State Trooper did would be considered basic police work.

Good to see that in less than a month, Vermont has sufficiently recovered from the worst flooding in nearly 80 years for the good governor to investigate why the State Police are doing things like pulling over speeding motorists and taking people who are in violation of the law into custody.

Don't worry- it gets even better!

After the traffic stop, state police took the two suspects to the Middlesex barracks, where an incident took place involving supporters of the men who were in the car. When the Border Patrol attempted to leave with the two illegal-immigration suspects, five people attempted to block the federal officers, state police said. Troopers ordered the individuals to move, and three did not, police said.

Those three individuals were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. The individuals are accused of forming a shield, said Capt. Dan Troidl, commander of Troop A, which covers five northwestern counties.

I'm guessing that at some point during either the traffic stop or at the Middlesex barracks, the phrase 'Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?' was uttered- and not by anybody in uniform.

Well, the good news is that the Governor of Vermont's term lasts two years instead of the four years that is typical in most other states, so Shumlin could be looking at an ouster for this Bloomberg-caliber micromanaging as early as next year. The bad news is that this is Vermont, and odds are enough people will either see no problem with this or think Shumlin didn't go far enough that he will remain safely ensconced in Montpelier after November 2012.

Rhode Island State Police: Doing the Job That Obama Wants to Prevent Arizona Police From Doing

As I mentioned earlier, the Department of Justice has initiated a lawsuit against the state of Arizona over the anti-illegal immigrant SB 1070. Given the sound and fury that's surrounded the law that allows state and local police in Arizona to check the immigration status of somebody they encounter while enforcing other laws (traffic stops, domestic disturbance calls, etc), you would think it would be the first of it's kind.

You would be wrong, however. The Rhode Island State Police have been working closely with ICE over the last three years to help verify the identity of immigrants who have been suspected, arrested or convicted of crimes in the state. This level of cooperation between the Feds and law enforcement in Rhode Island has been going for a few years now, much to the chagrin of the American Civil Liberties Union and various 'community organizers'.

Credit where credit is due- the Boston Globe had a pretty good article highlighting the differences in policies between the State Police in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

SCITUATE, R.I. — Rhode Island State Trooper Nuno Vasconcelos was patrolling Interstate 95 a few months ago when he came upon a two-car accident in heavy traffic. The trooper pulled up, stepped out of his cruiser, and asked one of the drivers for his license.

The man said he did not have a license, and under questioning, confessed that he was here illegally from Guatemala.

If the accident had happened 15 miles north in Massachusetts, the man would probably have been arrested for driving without a license, which carries a fine of up to $1,000 and 10 days in jail, then released pending an appearance in district court.

But in Rhode Island, illegal immigrants face a far greater penalty: deportation.

From Woonsocket to Westerly, the troopers patrolling the nation’s smallest state are reporting all illegal immigrants they encounter, even on routine stops such as speeding, to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.

Perhaps the Commonwealth lawmakers on Beacon Hill might have a change of heart before one of their own gets rear-ended by a drunken illegal immigrant that's driving while intoxicated.

Whoops. Too late.



It's a pretty safe bet that since Isais Naranjo didn't bother with the niceties of coming into the country legally or driving while sober, it's also safe to assume that a driver's licence or auto insurance was out of the question.

But whatever keeps the 'community organizers' happy, I guess.

[Big ol' tip o' the hat to LoppyD]

Douchebag Anarchists Behaving Badly- Stores Looted, Bank Windows Smashed and Police Vehicles Torched by 'Protestors' in Toronto

(Craig Robertson/Toronto Sun)

Wow...who didn't see this coming? The 'Rage Against my Allowance' set of anarchists went on a rampage in downtown Toronto, smashing windows, looting stores, throwing rocks, bricks and bottles at police and torching at least four police cars. The Toronto subway and GO transit lines into downtown Tornto were shut down and several downtown businesses and banks were trashed by the protestors.

Police arrested at least 130 demonstrators Saturday and officers in riot gear and on horseback moved to aggressively disperse crowds of stragglers clustered outside of Queen's park.

Knight's Watch should have an update and firsthand accounts of the riots by this time tomorrow.

(Reuters/Mark Blinch)

Suspect In Holloway Disappearence Arrested in Chile

I'm not normally one to pounce on top of some of these sensationalistic tabloid stories, but since one of my favorite Latin America nations is in the headlines without having large chunks of it slide into the ocean, I figured it would be worth a mention.

Do you remember Natalie Holloway- the Alabama teenager who disappered during a graduation trip to Aruba in 2005? Well, it looks as though the on-again off-again suspect, Jordan Van Der Sloot, is in trouble with the law on an unrelated matter.

21 year old Stephany Tatiana Flores was found dead in a Lima, Peru hotel room over the weekend. The room was registered under the name of none other than Jordan Van Der Sloot who was in Lima for a poker tournament at the Atlantic City Casino. A hotel guest and an empoyee at the Tac Sac Hotel in Lima told Peruvian investigators they saw Flores and Van Der Sloot head into the same room and Flores is last seen with Van Der Sloot on the casino's survaillance cameras.

Peruvian investigators names Van Der Sloot as the prime suspect and issued an international arrest warrant. The 22 year old Dutchman was reportedly spotted entering Chile at the northern border town of Arica and was arrested earlier today in a taxi on the busy highway (Ruta 68) linking the coastal cities of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar with capital city of Santiago. Chilean investigators plan on questioning him before extraditing him back to Peru.

Five Killed, Twelve Injured in Connecticut Power Plant Explosion

An explosion at an under-construction power plant in Middletown, CT on Sunday has killed at least five workers and injuring at least a dozen.

Officials at both the Middletown Police and Fire Departments said they received an e-mail that said testing was going be to conducted at the plant on Sunday morning. Officials said when they received the emergency call, they believed it was all part of the test. They did send crews to the scene and discovered it was not a test.

The explosion left huge pieces of metal that once encased the plant peeling off its sides. A large swath of the structure was blackened and surrounded by debris, but the building, its roof and its two smokestacks were still standing. Rescue crews had set up several tents alongside the site, which is a few miles from Wesleyan University on a wooded and hilly 137-acre parcel of land overlooking the Connecticut River.

Investigators are currently investigating to determine the cause of the blast and identify those killed.