Thursday, April 30, 2015

Witness in police van says Freddie Gray was deliberately trying to injure himself in the van.


       



  WaPost: Freddie Gray Was Trying to Injure Self in Baltimore Police Van

Wednesday, 29 Apr 2015 10:25 PM
By Greg Richter
The prisoner, who was the only other prisoner in the van, was separated from Gray by a metal partition, but told investigators he could hear Gray "banging against the walls" and believed he was was intentionally trying to injure himself," an affidavit obtained by the Post read.

The Post agreed not to name the individual out of fear for his safety. Gray's death has sparked protests and rioting in the streets of Baltimore; the most violence was seen Monday night following Gray's funeral earlier in the day.
Jason Downs, an attorney for the Gray family, told the Post that the family has not been informed of the statement in the affidavit.

"We disagree with any implication that Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord," he said. "We question the accuracy of the police reports we've seen thus far, including the police report that says Mr. Gray was arrested without force or incident."

Also on Wednesday, CNN reported that a friend of one of the police officers who arrested Gray said that the suspect was not shackled or restrained in the van because officers were not able to bring him under control. The officers were afraid that Gray would attack or bite them so they kept their distance once he was in the van.

Gray had been arrested on April 12 after fleeing from police in a high-crime area and was carrying a switchblade knife. He died a week later.

CNN's source, who spoke with his identity hidden, said that it was common practice not to buckle prisoners into their seats. The Post account also seems to support this. One contention of Gray's supporters is that he may have been given an intentional "rough ride" by police to beat him up by throwing him around in the van.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts has said officers violated policy by failing to properly restrain Gray. But the president of the Baltimore police union told the Post that the seat belt policy took effect April 3 and was emailed to officers as part of a package of five policy changes on April 9, just three days before Gray was arrested.

Gene Ryan, the police union president, told the Post that many officers aren't reading the new policies because they think they're the same rules they already know.

The previous policy was written in 1997, when the department used smaller, boxier wagons that officers called "ice cream trucks." They originally had a metal bar that prisoners had to hold onto during the ride. Seat belts were added later, but the policy left their use discretionary.

Police said on Wednesday that the new information would be turned over to the state's attorney's office and could not be made public because prosecutors still have to decide whether to bring charges. Also still unknown is what drugs, if any, were in Gray's system.

The U.S. Department of Justice is conducting a separate probe into possible civil rights violations in Gray's death.

With police and National Guard troops patrolling Baltimore's streets on Wednesday, schools reopened and business resumed.

Baltimore's Major League Baseball team, the Orioles, played the Chicago White Sox in an empty stadium, a sign of the tenuous security situation.

Police have arrested close to 270 people since Monday, 18 of them on Wednesday. Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said more than 100 people had been released without being charged because officials could not keep up with the paperwork, but he said charges would be brought later.

Numerous stores were looted on Monday and 20 officers were hurt by rioters throwing stones and bricks.

The violence in Baltimore prompted national figures, from the new U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, to weigh in and vow to work on improving law enforcement and criminal justice in minority communities nationwide.

Lynch, sworn in as attorney general on Monday, called Baltimore's riots "senseless acts of violence" that are counterproductive to the ultimate goal of "developing a respectful conversation within the Baltimore community and across the nation about the way our law enforcement officers interact" with residents.

The Baltimore neighborhood that saw the worst of the violence was already filled with many burned-out buildings and vacant lots that had not been rebuilt since the 1968 riots that followed the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Monday, April 20, 2015

5 Minnesota bar may be facing felony charges for selling beer illegally

State buraucracy gone mad. A felony for providing patrons what they crave ? WTF ? I hope the bar owners prevail. This is ridiculous. They need to change these antiquidated anti business laws. - TGFP.


BUSTED: Federal sweep against ISIS sympathizers nets 6 arrests in 2 states

SIX PEOPLE have been arrested in Minnesota and California as part of an investigation into youths who have tried to travel to Syria to support ISIS, federal officials say.

Hey, Justin. How about a local perspective on this since you're in a hotbed of Islamic activity up there ?
( Justin's my forum administrator. ) - TGFP.

Video in story link.

Good job FBI ! Keep it up !

Below are earlier recent examples of would be terrorists apprehended by the FBI in the news.

Here's one that says ISIS actively recruiting IN Minnesota.








Federal authorities said late Sunday that they had arrested six people in Minnesota and California in connection with an investigation into young men who have traveled or tried to travel to Syria to fight alongside ISIS.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota said the arrests were made Sunday in Minneapolis and San Diego but there is no threat to public safety. A spokesman for the Minneapolis FBI office confirmed the number of people arrested. No further details were available about the identities of the suspects or the specific charges they faced.
KMSP reported that at least three of the arrests happened in Minneapolis and at least one took place in San Diego. The station reported that three of the men arrested in Minneapolis were already known to authorities.
According to the report, the three traveled with a fourth man, 19-year-old Hamza Ahmed, to New York by bus last November, intending to go to Syria. All four were prevented from boarding a flight to Istanbul at JFK International Airport. In February, Ahmed was indicted for lying to the FBI during a terrorism investigation, conspiring to provide material support to ISIS, and attempting to provide material support. He has pleaded not guilty.
Little information had been released about Ahmed's traveling companions. An FBI affidavit said they are all between the ages of 19 and 20 and live in the Twin Cities.
The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI planned a news conference at 10:30 a.m. ET Monday to announce details. Monday's news conference was billed as an announcement of a joint terrorism task force operation.
Authorities say a handful of Minnesota residents have traveled to Syria to fight with militants within the last year. At least one Minnesotan has died while fighting for ISIS.
Since 2007, more than 22 young Somali men have also traveled from Minnesota to Somalia to join the terrorist group al-Shabaab.
Four Minnesotans have already been charged in connection with supporting terror groups in Syria, including ISIS.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

The Guy From Pittsburgh ( tm ) Episode # 401. Rain In Pleasant Hill, C...

Arizona woman sees Jesus in her dental x rays.


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When Kym Ackerman, 32, went in for her regular dental check-up on March 25, the hygienist didn't find any cavities, but they did see something else: The image of Jesus in one her left-side molars.
"At my dentist, the computer shows the X-rays as soon as they are taken," Ackerman told The Huffington Post. "I said to the hygienist, 'That looks crazy! Do you see I what I see?"

The hygienist agreed that the shape inside the molar did indeed look like Jesus and added, "I never see anything in anyone's teeth."
The dentist wasn't as impressed.
"He was very serious," Ackerman said. "He looked at it, said, 'Oh yeah, I see it,' and started looking at my teeth," she said. "He wasn't as excited as we were."
Besides the joy of seeing Jesus in a cavity-free tooth, Ackerman had other thoughts running through her mind.
"My mom passed away from breast cancer when I was 17, so when I saw this, I thought, 'That's my guardian angel.'"
Ackerman is planning to frame the Jesus Molar X-ray, but admits she feels extra pressure to practice proper dental hygiene.
"I definitely don't want to get a cavity in that tooth," she laughed.
So far, Ackerman's X-rays are getting positive reaction from her family and friends -- except for her 8-year-old daughter, Madison.
"My daughter wants to be famous and when she found out I was going to be interviewed by The Huffington Post, she cried, 'You're going to be famous before me!'"

Naked Woman Attempts To Rob Convenience Store: Police


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