abcnews--2019-12-14--FBI recovers van it says may be linked to Jersey City attack

ORANGE, N.J. -- Federal authorities have recovered a van that may be connected to the Jersey City shootings that killed four people and are now being investigated as domestic terrorism, the FBI said Saturday.  The white van recovered Saturday morning in Orange, New Jersey, about 11 miles (17 kilometers) northwest of Jersey City, is being examined for any evidence related to the attack, the FBI said in a news release.  A man and woman killed a police officer near a cemetery, three people in a kosher supermarket and then died in an hourslong gun battle with police Tuesday, authorities say. It was not clear how the van may be linked to the attack, and authorities did not release further details.  Police in Ramapo, New York, close to New Jersey's northern border, had earlier said that FBI officials had told them they were trying to locate a white van in connection with Tuesday's events. People were urged not to approach the vehicle if it was spotted but to immediately contact local law enforcement authorities.  New Jersey's attorney general said Thursday that the attackers were driven by hatred of Jews and law enforcement. The two were armed with a variety of weapons, including an AR-15-style rifle and a shotgun, and a pipe bomb was also found in a stolen U-Haul van — a vehicle different from the white van recovered Saturday.  The attackers, David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, had expressed interest in a fringe religious group called the Black Hebrew Israelites, whose members often rail against Jews and whites, but there was no evidence so far that they were members and they are believed to have acted alone, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said.  The two shot and killed Jersey City Detective Joseph Seals in Bay View Cemetery, then killed Mindel Ferencz, 31, who owned the grocery with her husband; 24-year-old Moshe Deutsch, a rabbinical student from Brooklyn who was shopping there; and store employee Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, 49, Grewal said.  A fourth person in the store was shot and wounded but managed to escape, authorities said.  Anderson and Graham are also prime suspects in the slaying of an Uber driver found dead in a car trunk in nearby Bayonne the previous weekend, authorities have said.  The killings in the city of 270,000 people across the Hudson River from New York City spread concern through the Jewish community.


abcnews--2019-12-14--Shooting shows New Jersey's gun laws aren't stopping imports

TRENTON, N.J. -- Officials from states with strong gun restrictions have called for stricter firearm control in places with weaker laws to thwart traffickers, but the fatal attack on a Jewish market in New Jersey shows how fruitless those efforts can be.  Three civilians and a police officer were gunned down Tuesday by two killers with anti-Semitic and anti-law enforcement beliefs, the state's attorney general said.  The attackers carried five firearms and a pipe bomb in the U-Haul van they drove to the Jersey City Jewish market before opening fire, officials said. Two of the weapons used by David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, were bought by Graham in Ohio last year, police said. It's unknown where they got the three other guns.  New Jersey is among the states with the toughest gun restrictions in the country, and in the past two years, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has signed over a half-dozen new restrictions into law, including a lower bullet limit for gun magazines and a red flag law.  He's also made a priority of highlighting the so-called iron pipeline of firearms from other states — particularly along the Interstate 95 corridor. Murphy, for example, is requiring state police to publish data monthly on guns recovered from crimes. The data shows nearly 80% of so-called crime guns are from out of state.  Murphy says it's important to “name and shame” states with weaker gun laws that effectively import weapons into New Jersey. And in California, its Democratic governor and attorney general this year both criticized the continued ability to bring in illegal firearms from other states despite California’s strict gun laws.  For years, Chicago officials have complained that street violence often comes from the muzzles of guns sold in states with less-stringent laws.  Officials there and elsewhere have renewed demands for gun control at the federal level.  "It keeps happening, over and over and over again, on their damn watch," California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said of federal politicians. “I can't put borders up in a neighboring state where you can buy this damn stuff legally.”  “If we're being honest, New Jersey is not an oasis and that's why it's extraordinarily frustrating,” said Bill Castner. “We will continue to push and identify the most aggressive actions, but without a federal solution, it's extraordinarily challenging.”  Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said her group is pressing ahead with state level gun control because of the political headwinds in Washington.  “What we have to do until we have the right president and Congress is go state by state,” Watts said in an interview. “That’s what we have to do now because of the political makeup. Every state is only as safe as the closest state with the weakest gun laws.”  Second Amendment advocates, though, push back on the need for tougher state and national laws. Scott Bach, the executive director of the New Jersey Association of Rifle and Pistol Clubs, an affiliate of the NRA, invoked a common criticism of tougher restrictions: criminals break laws, they don't follow them.  “Criminals laugh at gun regulations — the only thing they understand is severe punishment for actual gun crime," Bach said.  Officials are still investigating the Jersey City attack and have yet to release details about how the deceased attackers obtained their weapons.  AP writer Don Thompson in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.


abcnews--2019-12-15--Two Georgia teenagers arrested in weekend mall shooting

ATLANTA -- Two teenagers were arrested in connection with a shooting that wounded one man in a busy suburban Atlanta mall food court at the height of Christmas shopping season, police said Sunday.  The Cobb County Police Department said surveillance footage and interviews helped identify the suspects as 18-year-old Zaire Dhanoolal and 19-year-old Joweer Ponce, both from Marietta. Dhanoolal was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, while Ponce was charged with reckless conduct and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, according to the law enforcement statement.  Both suspects were being held at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, and county police said they were still investigating the mall shooting.  The shooting happened Saturday around 1 p.m. and sent shoppers scrambling at the sound of gunfire that police said began with a verbal dispute.  Officials said 18-year-old Ethan Green was shot in the neck and shoulder area and was taken to the hospital for treatment of what they described as “non-life threatening injuries.” The Cobb County Police Department said 21-year-old Anthony Ezell wasn't injured during the shooting, but was considered a victim of aggravated assault because a weapon was pointed at him before Green was shot.  It wasn't immediately clear if either Dhanoolal or Ponce had a lawyer.  Videos posted online showed people with shopping bags running in all directions from the food court after the shooting, with some hiding under counters and tables. Shoppers reported that store employees in some cases told them to hide in stockrooms. Police, upon arriving, evacuated people who were found hiding.  Police said in statements that the shooting was “an isolated incident,” calling it a dispute between people who knew each other. The mall was closed for a time Saturday afternoon following the shooting, but later reopened.  Cumberland Mall, in suburban Cobb County, has more than 1 million square feet (92,000 square meters) of retail space. It's in a busy suburban business district, near where major league baseball's Atlanta Braves play in their new stadium.


abcnews--2019-12-16--Feds: Connecticut man wanted to fight for Islamic State

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A Connecticut man who allegedly expressed interest in fighting for the Islamic State group in Syria was arrested as he prepared to leave the U.S. by boat, federal authorities said Monday.  Ahmad Khalil Elshazly, 22, of West Haven, was arrested Sunday in the shoreline town of Stonington, where he expected to board a boat and begin a trip to Turkey, prosecutors said Sunday. He was ordered to be detained during a federal court hearing Monday in New Haven.  Elshazly is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.  Federal authorities including Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham allege Elshazly, a U.S. citizen, began telling other people last year that he wanted to travel to Syria and the surrounding area to fight for the Islamic State. In October, he told others he wanted to kill 100 “kaffirs,” or infidels, prosecutors said.  Authorities said Elshazly made numerous other statements including, “God willing! May this country (the U.S.) burn the same way they burned Muslims! May they burn in fire at the end!”  Elshazly was worried about being stopped by law enforcement at an airport and arranged to travel by ship to Turkey, giving someone $500 to pay for a portion of his trip, prosecutors said.


abcnews--2019-12-16--Sheriff fires school resource officer who slammed student

HENDERSON, N.C. -- A North Carolina sheriff said Monday that he has fired a school resource officer seen on surveillance video violently slamming a middle school student to the ground twice and then dragging the boy off camera.  Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame issued a statement Monday that the deputy is no longer employed by his office. The deputy hasn't been named.  “We will ask that everyone remain patient while this investigation is ongoing,” Brame said in the news release.  The officer had been on paid administrative leave since the video was reported last week.  It wasn't clear if the deputy would face charges. The district attorney didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.  The State Bureau of Investigation is probing what happened at Vance County Middle School, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of Raleigh.  Authorities haven't named the student but the sheriff said the child is under the age of 12.  Anthony Jackson, Vance County Schools superintendent, said at a news conference Monday that the school was reviewing its agreement with the sheriff’s office and would likely make changes.  “Most of all we want to express our apologies to our community that this has occurred. No student should every experience this in any way,” he said.  The Southern Poverty Law Center issued a statement decrying what happened as “unconscionable” and saying it's part of a larger problem.  “Law enforcement officers are frequently brought in to schools to handle routine school discipline and this far too often is the result—an outrageously excessive use of force on young children. This must end. Our children deserve better," said Karen Baynes-Dunning, interim CEO and president of SPLC.  An earlier version of this report had an incorrect name for Vance County Middle School.


abcnews--2019-12-17--Convicted killer pardoned by Bevin declares innocence

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A slew of last-minute pardons by former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin stirred new controversy Tuesday as a clemency recipient whose family raised campaign money for Bevin declared his innocence.  Bevin, a Republican, issued hundreds of pardons between his electoral defeat on Nov. 5 and his final day in office last week.  He said in a series of tweets defending the pardons on Friday that the vast majority went to people who were already out of prison or jail. But media outlets have reported on several pardons that went to people convicted of brutal crimes. And a former state cabinet official expressed reservations to Bevin about a handful of pardons that went to violent offenders.  Among the most controversial pardons was one issued to Patrick Baker, a convicted killer whose family held a fundraiser for Bevin last year. Several state lawmakers have called for federal and state investigations into the Baker pardon.  Baker appeared at a news conference in Lexington on Tuesday, and his attorneys said he's innocent of the 2014 slaying where he was convicted of posing as a law enforcement officer and killing Donald Mills in Mills' Knox County home.  Baker's lawyers said they believe Kentucky State Police botched the investigation and the actual killer has not been brought to justice.  “I did not kill Donald Mills and my family did not pay for my release,” Baker said in a statement.  The state Court of Appeals reviewed Baker's case last year and ruled unanimously that there was “overwhelming" evidence to convict Baker.  Another man pardoned by Bevin was serving life in prison for killing his infant son. The man, 35-year-old Kurt Robert Smith, was also charged in a prison riot while incarcerated, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. Smith had admitted during testimony to violently shaking the baby in 2001. The infant died of blunt trauma to the head. The newspaper reported Smith also was charged in a 2009 inmate riot at Northpoint Training Center near Danville. Several buildings were burned by inmates and some correctional officers were injured in the riot, which caused about $18 million in damage to the prison.  At least one of Bevin's own cabinet chiefs pushed back on some of the pardons. The former head of the state's Justice and Public Safety cabinet wrote a Dec. 6 memo saying he had “serious reservations” about some of the pardons Bevin was considering, the Courier Journal reported. John Tilley outlined some violent offenses and said in the memo he could not “in good conscience" recommend pardons for those individuals. Those included Kurt Robert Smith's case; Delmar Partin, who was convicted of beheading an ex-lover and stuffing her body in a barrel; and Kathy Harless, who was sentenced to life in prison for throwing her newborn baby in a cesspool. Bevin pardoned all three.


abcnews--2019-12-17--No bond for ex-Mexico security official charged with bribery

DALLAS -- A judge in Texas ordered Mexico's former top security official to remain held without bond Tuesday as he awaits trial for allegedly accepting a fortune in drug-money bribes for letting the notorious Sinaloa cartel operate with impunity.  Genaro Garcia Luna, 51, was indicted on three counts of cocaine trafficking conspiracy and a false statements charge. He waived his right to a detention hearing in Dallas a week after the federal case against him was made public in New York City.  Magistrate Judge David Horan ordered Garcia Luna held in Texas until marshals could transfer him to New York, where Sinaloa kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was tried in 2018.  Garcia Luna wore shackles during his appearance in a courtroom crowded with federal agents and Spanish-language journalists. His lawyer, Rose Romero, declined to comment following the brief hearing.  Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested him in North Texas last Monday.  During Guzman’s trial, a former cartel member testified that he personally paid Garcia Luna $6 million in bribes, secretly delivering him cash at a restaurant in Mexico between 2005 and 2007. Prosecutors have said other cooperating witnesses confirmed the Sinaloa cartel paid Garcia Luna tens of millions of dollars to clear the way for it to ship drugs to the U.S.  Garcia Luna lived in Florida before his arrest. From 2001 to 2005, he led Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency and from 2006 to 2012 served as Mexico’s secretary of public security before relocating to the U.S., authorities said.  The Mexican government has promised to cooperate with U.S. officials in Garcia Luna’s case. But it’s unclear what further action the former security chief’s indictment in New York will prompt in Mexico.  On Monday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his country will not investigate people who allegedly worked with Garcia Luna to help Sinaloa. He advised them, however, to work with American law enforcement.  But Mexico’s current security secretary, Alfonso Durazo, said that García Luna could not have protected a cartel as big as Sinaloa alone. He said the administration is working on a “purging process” in the federal security forces.———


abcnews--2019-12-17--Police: Boy, 13, says he handed off knife in Barnard killing

NEW YORK -- A 13-year-old boy accused of aiding in the killing of a Barnard College freshman told police he picked up a dropped knife and handed it to another youth just before the fatal stabbing in a park near the school’s New York City campus, a detective testified Tuesday.  The Dec. 11 confrontation, which ended with 18-year-old Tessa Majors staggering up a flight of stairs to street level from Manhattan's Morningside Park and collapsing in a crosswalk, was partially captured on security video, Detective Wilfredo Acevedo said.  The video, though pixelated and dark, shows a scuffle involving several youths and one of them motioning toward the victim, Acevedo said at a hearing in family court.  The boy is not accused of stabbing Majors, but a judge ruled that there is probable cause to proceed with felony murder and robbery charges against him. Judge Carol Goldstein ordered him detained at least through the end of the year. Another hearing is scheduled for Jan. 2.  “The court finds there is a serious risk for reoffending,” Goldstein said, despite arguments from the boy's lawyer that he has a strong support system with his aunt and uncle at home, good school attendance and no behavioral problems.  Police have said three youths were involved in Majors' death, which has troubled city and college leaders for its proximity to campus and its apparent randomness.  But so far only the 13-year-old has been arrested. He is charged as a juvenile. Police say the youths were robbing Majors when she was killed. If convicted he could be sent to a detention facility until he is 21.  The defense blasted police for questioning the boy without a lawyer present. The organization representing the boy, the Legal Aid Society, cautioned “against any rush to judgment that would only cause additional harm to the Harlem and Barnard communities."  “Our client is a 13-year-old child who is presumed innocent with no juvenile record," the Legal Aid Society said in a statement. “History is full of examples of high profile cases tried in the media, rushing law enforcement to a wrongful arrest and conviction."  Legal Aid lawyer Hannah Kaplan said the boy told Acevedo he did not know the other youths were robbing Majors and was too far away to hear what they were saying. She said security video of the incident doesn't show him with the knife, nor does it show him touching her or taking anything from her.  Majors, from Charlottesville, Virginia, played in a rock band in New York, sported green hair and had told an editor from a newspaper internship in high school that she planned to take journalism classes in college.  She was stabbed while walking in the park just before 7 p.m., two days before the start of final exams at Barnard, an all-women's school that is part of the Ivy League’s Columbia University. The city's medical examiner said Monday she died from wounds to the torso.  Acevedo said the 13-year-old told police in a videotaped interview last Thursday that he and the two other youths went to the park looking to rob someone, first setting their sights on a man before turning their attention to Majors.  At that time of night, the detective said, the park was “extremely dark," with none of the lamp posts lit up.  Acevedo testified that the boy said he then picked up a red-handled knife that another one of the youths had dropped and that he handed it to one of them. They then approached Majors and announced they were robbing her, but she refused to hand over any property, the boy said, according to Acevedo.  The boy said he witnessed what happened next from perhaps 10 feet away, Acevedo testified: One of the youths grabbing Majors from behind as the other stabbed her, causing feathers to billow from her jacket.  A police officer responding to a radio call for a robbery in progress said she found Majors lying face down in the street. Officer Ena Lewis testified that Majors was wheezing for breath and had lacerations on her face and stab wounds to her body.  Then Majors stopped breathing, Lewis said. The officer said she started CPR and kept at it until they got to a hospital, where Majors was pronounced dead.


abcnews--2019-12-17--Washington state sues over courthouse immigration arrests

SEATTLE -- Washington state sued the Trump administration Tuesday seeking to stop its practice of arresting people at courthouses for immigration violations, saying it interferes with the state's authority to run its judicial system and endangers public safety.  The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle says that when Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection agents patrol courthouse hallways and parking lots it deters crime victims and witnesses from testifying and interferes with criminal prosecutions.  Among the hundreds of people recently arrested at courthouses in Washington were an assault victim, a domestic violence survivor seeking a protection order and a married father of U.S.-citizen children with a pending application for legal permanent residency, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said at a news conference.  “Federal immigration officials are arresting people with no criminal history at all. They are arresting people who are paying traffic tickets. They are arresting people who are crime victims,” Ferguson said. “As a result, and not surprisingly at all, individuals are refusing to participate in our justice system.”  A similar lawsuit in Massachusetts resulted in a preliminary court order blocking immigration agents from making civil arrests — a decision Ferguson described as a “roadmap” for Washington's case. The Trump administration has appealed that order.  Washington's lawsuit escalates tension between state and federal authorities over immigration enforcement. Federal authorities have insisted that state and local “sanctuary” policies limiting cooperation with immigration agents endanger the public by making it harder to deport dangerous criminals.  Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts recently charged a judge there with obstructing justice by letting a defendant avoid an immigration arrest by slipping out a back door of the courthouse. In a statement emailed by spokeswoman Tanya Roman on Tuesday, ICE said it "will continue to carry out its mission to uphold public safety and enforce immigration law, and consider carefully whether to refer those who obstruct our lawful enforcement efforts for criminal prosecution.”  “It is ironic that elected officials want to see policies in place to keep ICE out of courthouses, while caring little for laws enacted by Congress to keep criminal aliens out of our country,” she said.  The Department of Homeland Security for years restricted what types of offenders it would target for immigration arrests, directing agents to focus on those who posed a threat to public safety or national security and to lay off crime victims and witnesses. In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security said only illegal immigrants who pose a threat to public safety or national security, or who were gang members or felons, should be targeted for arrest at courthouses.  But President Donald Trump has ordered that immigration laws be fully executed “against all removable aliens.” In 2018, Homeland Security confirmed that it would make civil arrests in courthouses when necessary, and it noted that it could be safer to arrest people in courthouses because they've already been screened for weapons.  Since then, officials in Washington and other states have described a dramatic increase in such arrests. Ferguson's lawsuit was accompanied by declarations from 40 people, including judges, prosecutors, lawyers, victim advocates and others who have observed the arrests and the chilling effect they have on immigrants who otherwise might agree to show up in court.  The New York and Oregon court systems have adopted rules that attempt to bar ICE from arresting immigrants inside courthouses without a judicial warrant or order. Washington is considering a similar rule.  In a letter to the supreme courts of Washington and Oregon last month, U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said they had no intention of honoring such policies.  “Court rules that would purport to further restrict the lawful operations of federal law enforcement officials only serve to exacerbate sanctuary laws and policies that continue to place our communities at unacceptable risk,” they wrote.  “They think their work is more important than ours, and I’m deeply offended by that,” Satterberg said.


abcnews--2019-12-18--Deputies want help IDing victim of confessed serial killer

GULFPORT, Miss. -- “Do you recognize me,” pleads a sketch of young black woman believed to be killed by confessed serial killer Samuel Little. Her mouth is drawn into a frown, her dark hair either short or pinned up in a hand-drawn sketch Little provided to law enforcement.  Little began confessing to killings last year and has so far admitted to killing at least 93 people across the United States between 1970 and 2005. Five of those killings were of women he picked up near Gulfport, Mississippi, according to the Harrison County Sheriff's Office. Only three of the victims have been identified so far, and related arrest warrants have been issued.  The sheriff's office shared the sketch Monday and asked for the public's help in identifying the woman, believed to have been in her early to mid-20s before she disappeared prior to December 1992.  “My body was placed outdoors in a grassy area somewhere in Gulfport,” the sketch reads.  The FBI considers Little to be the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, and he's recounted his crimes in near-photographic detail, something that prompted him to create dozens of color portraits of the women he strangled.  He preyed on women he didn't think would be missed; many of them were black, like Little himself, and many of their deaths were originally attributed to drugs or accidental or undetermined causes. Some bodies were never found. Authorities have said the former boxer would knock the women out with a punch and then strangle them. He would then dump their bodies and leave town .


abcnews--2019-12-19--Report: Washington lawmaker engaged in 'domestic terrorism'

SPOKANE, Wash. -- A Washington state lawmaker took part in “domestic terrorism” against the United States during a 2016 standoff at a wildlife refuge in Oregon and traveled throughout the West meeting with far-right extremist groups, according to an investigative report released Thursday.  The report prepared for the state Legislature said Rep. Matt Shea, a Republican from Spokane Valley in eastern Washington, also found that he trained young people to fight a “holy war," condoned intimidating opponents and promoted militia training by the Patriot Movement for possible armed conflict with law enforcement.  Shea was suspended from the state House Republican Caucus Thursday evening, and advised to resign, House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox tweeted. “He cannot use House Republican staff, he cannot meet with the caucus, his office will be moved,” Wilcox said. Shea will also be removed from his House committee assignments.  The incoming House Speaker, Democratic Rep. Laurie Jinkins, said the report had been forwarded to federal prosecutors and the FBI. She said her caucus would continue to work with Republicans to explore options based on the report's findings.  Both Democratic and Republican politicians had demanded Shea's resignation.  Shea did not respond to phone and email messages requesting comment by The Associated Press on Thursday.  Prior to the release of the report, Shea was defiant.  “I will not back down,” Shea said. “I will continue to fight for our shared values that have made this country such a blessing to the rest of the world.”  Shea said he has been denied any opportunity to review and respond to the report, prepared by an outside investigator. The report noted Shea declined to be interviewed as part of the probe.  “Due process is the right of every citizen, and should be afforded to all members of the House regardless of their views or party affiliation,” Shea said.  The investigative team, headed by a former FBI agent and a former law enforcement officer, was hired in July.  The team's findings, first reported by the news website Crosscut, said: “Investigators obtained evidence that Representative Shea planned, engaged in, and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States ... in three states outside the State of Washington over a three-year period to include 2014, 2015 and 2016."  The report said Shea “participated in an act of domestic terrorism” when in 2016 he visited the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to support of its armed occupation by two sons of rancher Cliven Bundy.  Shea "engaged in conversations with Ammon Bundy and other militia members in the planning and preparation of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon,'' the report said. He also issued a press release on Dec. 11, 2015, asking for patriot and militia groups near the takeover to rally against the U.S. government, according to the report.  After the occupation of the wildlife refuge ended, Shea posted on his Facebook page: “After much prayer, I'm afraid violence might be necessary to take our country back," the report said.  Shea also went to Cliven Bundy's Nevada ranch in 2014 during a standoff with FBI agents in a dispute over grazing rights. And in 2015, in Idaho, Shea resisted the planned removal of firearms from a military veteran who was not eligible to have them.  The report also said that Shea in 2012 engaged in the intimidation when he posted a photo of himself on his Facebook page standing in front of a political opponent's home, and refused to remove the photo despite requests from his adversary, GOP officials and law enforcement.  A 2017 online chat indicated the lawmaker joined a discussion in which others suggested violence against left-wing protesters. Reports of the chat surfaced in the Guardian earlier this year and were expanded by The Spokesman-Review newspaper.  Based on chat transcripts, there's no indication Shea advocated violence himself, although he offered to do background checks on political opponents.  The texts came after Shea, a lawyer who was first elected in 2008, attracted international attention over a document he wrote that laid out a ‘’biblical basis for war'' against gay marriage and abortion. He later said that the document was taken out of context.  Shea has also pursued creation of a 51st state in eastern Washington that would be called Liberty and run on biblical principles.  The Army veteran hosts a weekly show on the American Christian Network and in 2017 complimented members of Team Rugged, a group that one member said provides special-forces-type gun training for young men so they can be effective in Christian warfare.  Shea last year lost a House leadership position after acknowledging he distributed the “biblical basis for war” document that also calls for killing non-Christian males who refuse to follow fundamentalist biblical law.  Shea is popular in his very conservative district and was re-elected in 2018 with 58% of the vote.


abcnews--2019-12-19--Reports indicate Michigan man may be baby abducted in 1964

CHICAGO -- When a woman posing as a maternity-ward nurse snatched a newborn from its mother's arms more than 55 years ago, the case made headlines nationwide and led to a massive search by FBI agents and police.  The mystery seemed solved two years later, when police found an abandoned child who appeared to be the missing boy and returned him to the parents, who raised him as their own. But 47 years after he came home, DNA tests showed that he was not related.  Now recent media reports say a man living in rural Michigan may be the child of Chester and Dora Fronczak who was abducted on April 26, 1964, from a Chicago hospital.  An FBI statement issued this week confirmed that the investigation remains open and agents continue to pursue leads. But the statement stopped short of confirming the reports — first by Las Vegas television station KLAS and then by Chicago's WGN-TV.  The stations did not name the man or say where he lived in Michigan. And they did not elaborate about how he was identified as the kidnapped child, including whether DNA testing played a role.  "We can tell you the adult Paul Fronczak is living in Michigan and has been made aware of his real identity," a Dec. 12 report on KLAS said.  WGN went further in a report this week, saying it had spoken to the man.  The man, who asked not to be identified, became aware several months ago of evidence pointing to him and was trying to come to terms with the revelations, WGN reported.  In 1966, a boy was found abandoned in New Jersey, and law enforcement officials said at the time that he had ears shaped like those of the baby kidnapped in Chicago. The Fronczaks believed him to be their long-lost child.  “That's my baby. It's Paul,” the mother was quoted as saying at the time.  But in another cruel twist for the family, genetic tests that were not available in the 1960s revealed in 2013 that it was not him.  If the recent reports are accurate, questions would quickly arise about whether the people who raised the man knew he had been kidnapped or were themselves involved in the abduction. It's unclear if anyone could still be subject to criminal charges.  Messages left at a telephone number Thursday for a Dora Fronczak in suburban Chicago were not returned. Messages for a Paul Fronczak in Nevada also were not returned.  “I’d like to know who I am, my birthday, how old I am? But more important: Is the real baby alive and still out there,” Paul Fronczak said in 2014, according to WGN.  After the DNA test indicated the person she thought was her son was not him, Dora Franczak still seemed haunted by the abduction and by the prospect of experiencing the anguish all over again.  “We went through this once, and we certainly don’t want to go through this again,” she said in a 2013 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.  The kidnapper took the baby from his mother, telling her the newborn had to be returned to the nursery for an examination. That was the last time Dora Fronczak saw the child. The woman dressed in white never came back.  Fronczak, who was 28, had a stillborn son only the year before, her husband told reporters at the time.  The kidnapper fled the hospital with the baby in her arms and wrapped in a receiving blanket, police said, citing witnesses. She then got in a taxi bound for the southwest side of Chicago.  A week later, the FBI distributed an artist's rendition of the suspect, who newspapers referred to as "the mystery woman." Witnesses described her as around 40, standing 5-foot-4 with a ruddy complexion and black, graying hair.  At least one nurse who bore a resemblance was detained, then released after an hour of questioning.  More than 200 police officers, some with the drawing and a photo of the baby, went door to door in neighborhoods near where the taxi dropped the kidnapper off. The postmaster general even enlisted 175,000 mail carriers nationwide to help, asking them to report anything suspicious, including someone on their route suddenly having an unexplained baby.  The kidnapped boy's father, who worked as a machinist, told reporters his wife was so distraught that she had been sedated.  Chester Fronczak also issued a plea to the kidnapper to return the baby and, if she didn't do so immediately, to at least care for the child. At the father's behest, newspapers even ran a recipe for a baby formula with instructions to feed it to the newborn in 3-ounce portions every four hours.  When the baby was abducted, police said blood type and ear shape were about the only leads they had because the boy had no blemishes or birthmarks. Some 10,000 babies were examined and tested by 1966 to see if they could be the boy.  The AP Corporate Archives contributed to this report.


abcnews--2019-12-23--US awards immigration detention contracts in California

SAN DIEGO -- The Trump administration awarded billions of dollars in contracts for private companies to operate immigration detention centers in California —- less than two weeks before a new state law takes effect to prohibit them.  Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in October to ban contracts for for-profit prisons starting Jan. 1. Supporters hoped the law would force U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to look elsewhere after current contracts expire.  A federal website posted long-term awards on Friday worth a combined $6.8 billion for detention facilities in San Diego, Calexico, Adelanto and Bakersfield. The sites will house about 4,000 detainees, with capacity to expand in the future.  ICE said the contracts were not subject to the new state law, deflecting criticism that the timing was meant to circumvent it.  Paige Hughes, an agency spokeswoman, said ICE believed the new contracts will limit transfers of detainees outside California, where they would be farther from family, friends and legal representatives.  “State laws aimed at obstructing federal law enforcement are inappropriate and harmful," Hughes said.  Vicky Waters, a spokeswoman for Newsom, said Monday that ICE was trying to get around the law, which she called a historic step to address excessive incarceration, including detention of immigrants and asylum-seekers.  “For-profit prisons, including ICE-contracted facilities, run contrary to our values and have no place in California," Waters wrote in an email. “”This effort to circumvent California’s authority and federal procurement rules that safeguard the American taxpayers must be addressed by congressional oversight.”  A state Senate analysis of Assembly Bill 32 said the Trump administration would likely sue to block the law, partly by arguing that is is preempted by federal immigration law. The analysis predicted the state would prevail in court.  The GEO Group Inc. won two five-year extensions — one to operate the detention center in Adelanto, with capacity for 2,690 beds, and another to run the facility in Bakersfield, with capacity for 1,800 beds. The two contracts are worth more than $3.7 billion,  GEO said Monday the contracts would provide more than $200 million in annual revenue and 1,200 jobs.  CoreCivic Inc. won an extension worth $2.1 billion to operate an immigration detention center in San Diego, with capacity for 1,994 beds. Management & Training Corp. won a contract for $679 million to operate a facility in Calexico with capacity for 704 beds.  California, with its large immigrant populations and border with Mexico, is a major priority for ICE, which has found itself increasingly unwelcome under state laws. As the number of ICE detainees nationwide topped 56,000 earlier this year, the agency held more people in central Louisiana.


abcnews--2019-12-25--Nonstop violence as Baltimore nears record homicide rate

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore could wrap up 2019 with its highest per-capita homicide rate on record as killings of adults and minors alike for drugs, retribution, money or no clear reason continue to add up and city officials appear unable to stop the violence.  Police recorded 338 homicides as of Tuesday, following a week of relentless gunfire that saw eight people shot — three of them fatally — in one day and nine others — one fatally — another day. That total is up from 309 in 2018 and four shy of the 342 killings tallied in 2017 and 2015, the year when the city's homicide rate suddenly spiked.  With just over 600,000 residents, Baltimore's homicide rate would reach approximately 57 per 100,000 residents if the death toll reaches 342. That would eclipse the rate of 1993, when the city had a record 353 killings but was also much more populous.  By contrast, New York City, with more than 8 million residents, had 306 homicides through Dec. 15.  Police yellow tape and makeshift memorials with flowers, stuffed animals and balloons have become common in some neighborhoods of this deeply segregated city. Memorials can be found within blocks of each other at the same time.  “It's a major concern for me, not just as a hopeful man but as a citizen of Baltimore who grew up in inner city Baltimore,” said Carmichael “Stokey” Cannady, a reformed drug dealer turned community activist who wants to be mayor. “I remember when a person had a conflict and would have a fight at best, now these young kids, at the age of 13, 14 years old, are finding handguns in their possession and they use them as toys ... The whole system needs to be revamped.”  This is the fifth year in a row this Mid-Atlantic community dubbed “Charm City” has reported more than 300 killings. Before 2015, that number had generally been on the decline, but the trend reversed after civil unrest followed the death in police custody of a young black man, Freddie Gray.  Reasons for the upward trend vary and are subject to interpretation. Many accuse police of taking a hands-off approach to crime fighting since six of their own were charged in connection with Gray's death. Others attribute it to the apparent free flow of illegal guns, the effects of a punishing opioid epidemic, social inequalities and a lack of decent jobs for many in disenfranchised neighborhoods. Some say political incompetence at City Hall also contributed.  Police Commissioner Michael Harrison, who was tapped this year to fix a dispirited department and regain residents' trust, unveiled a five-year crime-fighting plan in July, that includes a goal of responding to calls within 10 minutes and prioritizing those threatening life or property. The plan also contains recruitment strategies, community engagement efforts and accountability measures. But the department lacks the personnel and resources to achieve all the goals, and Harrison has acknowledged that the city's deep-rooted “gun culture” also must be changed.  “People can expect that number to go down, we are building capacity, but we need to have some type of effect on the poverty, the housing, the education, the addiction, the skills, the jobs and the lack thereof, together at the same time,” Harrison told The Associated Press. “All of that has to be addressed while prosecuting people who commit crimes and preventing other people from committing those crimes. Otherwise, it continues and then you ask the question, 'When does it stop?' without fixing the reason it starts.”  Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice and members of the state's congressional delegation announced additional resources to help Harrison and federal law enforcement in Maryland track guns, hire additional police officers and beef up task forces. Harrison, in a reversal, agreed to allow three surveillance airplanes to fly above the city for up to six months as part of a pilot program.  Law enforcement experts, however, warn it would be unfair to assume that law enforcement alone will reduce violent crime.  “Let's not assume simply that by putting more officers, this is going to lead to greater closure of cases or will be a deterrent," Jeffrey Ian Ross, a criminologist at the University of Baltimore. "It may help families, it may put behind bars some more bad guys, but it doesn't mean it necessarily leads to a decrease in crime and homicides.”


abcnews--2019-12-26--Police investigate killing of 4 on Christmas Day

RIO RANCHO, N.M. -- Four people found dead on Christmas Day in a home in an Albuquerque suburb were members of the same family and the case is being investigated as a murder-suicide, authorities said Thursday.  The victims were identified as Carlos Velasquez, 50; Marilyn Velasquez, 45; Roberto Velasquez, 22; and Adrian Velasquez, 14, police in the community of Rio Rancho said in a statement.  “This is a tragic event for the family and for the people in our communities. Our officers and detectives understand the impact this incident has on our entire city,” Capt. Andrew Rodriguez said in the statement.  He did not provide further details, saying the investigation is ongoing.  Rose Varona told KRQE-TV that she’s related to the people who lived at the home and that her brother and mother found the bodies. She said the family of four that lived at the home stayed up late Tuesday to celebrate Christmas Eve.  Varona said relatives on Wednesday started to become worried because they had not heard from the family, so her mother and brother went to the home and discovered the bodies.  “We just try to draw the strength from God, even though we don’t understand what’s going on,” Varona said.  Authorities cordoned off both ends of the residential street, where some homes were decorated with Christmas lights.  The bedroom community has been mostly immune from the violence that has made headlines in neighboring Albuquerque and elsewhere around the state in recent years.  New Mexico had the nation’s second highest violent crime rate and its highest property crime rate in 2018, according to federal data released in October. New Mexico's largest city, Albuquerque accounted for more than half of the state’s crime overall, despite reporting slight decreases in violent crime and property crime for the first time in years.  Albuquerque this year marked a record number of homicides, even as the Democratic mayor and other politicians have been scrambling to curb the violence.  U.S. Attorney General William Barr earlier this month announced Albuquerque would be among seven cities around the county where the Justice Department will intensify federal law enforcement resources in an effort to drive down violent crime.  Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also has promised to take up more gun-control legislation during the legislative session that begins in mid-January. Efforts last year drew criticism from nearly all of the state's sheriffs, prompting some counties to declare themselves sanctuaries for gun rights.


abcnews--2019-12-26--Sheriff blasts Amazon for not helping with probe into driver

DAVENPORT, Fla. -- A sheriff's office in Florida said it caught an Amazon driver stealing a customer's package but got no help from the company during its investigation.  The Polk County Sheriff's Office said Thursday in a statement that it had arrested 27-year-old Jose Campos after detectives tracked down the vehicle he was using from homeowners' association video and video from the Davenport, Florida residence where the package was stolen.  Detectives had initially contacted Amazon at its logistics center in person, but they were told they needed a subpoena before the company would help them, according to the sheriff's office.  A loss prevention manager told detectives Amazon would not cooperate with law enforcement and identify their driver unless the sheriff’s office served a subpoena for their records at their corporate headquarters in Delaware, according to the statement from the Polk County Sheriff's Office.  "I’m not surprised by much anymore, but this lack of cooperation from Amazon floors me," said Sheriff Grady Judd. “This is just irresponsible on their part.”  In a statement, Amazon said, “We work regularly and closely with law enforcement across the country and are working to understand what occurred here, to make it right and to reach out to Polk County Sheriff's Office to apologize.”  There were no online court records for Campos so it was unknown if he had an attorney. He is facing charges of petit theft and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. He was released on bail.  Surveillance video from the house showed Campos walking up to the house, taking a confirmation photo of the package and then taking the package, detectives said.


abcnews--2019-12-27--Judge orders government to make changes to terror watchlist

FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- A federal judge is ordering the government to make changes to its watchlist of more than 1 million people whose inclusion marks them as known or suspected terrorists, but for now he's giving the government latitude to propose the changes as it sees fit.  The order issued last week by U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria falls short of what a Muslim civil rights group had hoped for when it won a ruling earlier this year that the secret list violates the constitutional rights of those placed on it.  The Council on American-Islamic Relations had asked Trenga to order specific, sweeping changes to the way the government places names on the list and providing a meaningful opportunity for those wrongly included to clear their names.  Instead, Trenga simply told the government to craft its own remedies to bring the list into compliance and to submit those proposals to him for review.  Trenga ordered the government to provide him a status report on its proposed revisions by early February.  Gadeir Abbas, a lawyer for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he has little hope that the government will on its own propose any meaningful changes.  “I don't think there's any doubt the government is going to take a cynical approach to any type of watchlist revision,” he said in a phone interview. “We expect the government will be focused on maintaining its illegal program.”  Still, he said, Trenga's ruling holds some bright spots. Trenga indicated he will review the government's proposals to gauge whether they fix the specific due process problems he outlined earlier in the year: that the government refuses to confirm whether individuals are on the watchlist, that those on the list lack an opportunity to rebut the negative information that led to their inclusion, and that if they request a review of their status they are unable to learn its outcome or make any meaningful appeal.  The watchlist, also known as the Terrorist Screening Database, is maintained by the FBI and shared with a variety of federal agencies. Customs officers have access to the list to check people coming into the country at border crossings, and aviation officials use the database to help form the no-fly list, which is a much smaller subset of the broader watchlist.  As of June 2017, approximately 1.16 million people were included on the watchlist, according to government documents filed in the lawsuit. In 2013, the number was only 680,000. The vast majority are foreigners, but according to the government, there are roughly 4,600 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents on the watchlist as of 2017.  CAIR filed the lawsuit on behalf of more than 20 Muslim plaintiffs who said they were wrongly placed on the list and called the government's process for adding names overbroad and riddled with errors. The lawsuit argues that the watchlist does little to nothing to actually prevent terrorism, all while imposing a burden and suspicion on Muslims wrongly included on the list.  The suit was filed in 2016 and has exposed previously unknown details about the list and how it is disseminated. In particular, government lawyers acknowledged after years of denials that more than 500 private entities are given access to the list. Government lawyers describe those private agencies as "law enforcement adjacent" and include university police forces, and security forces and hospitals, railroads and even animal-welfare organizations.  The Justice Department and the FBI each declined comment Friday on Trenga's ruling.


abcnews--2019-12-27--NYC ups policing in Jewish areas after spate of attacks

NEW YORK -- New York City is increasing its police presence in some Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Jewish populations after a string of possibly anti-Semitic attacks during the Hanukkah holiday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said after the latest episode happened Friday.  Besides making officers more visible in Borough Park, Crown Heights and Williamsburg, police will boost visits to houses of worship and some other places, the mayor tweeted.  “I feel pained that in this society, a place that is supposed to be of respect for everybody, a season when we’re supposed to be respecting everybody, we see hate rearing its very ugly head. We will not accept it," the Democrat said during a visit later Friday to Crown Heights, where he met with some representatives of the local Jewish community.  Around the city, police have gotten at least six reports this week — and eight since Dec. 13 — of attacks possibly propelled by anti-Jewish bias.  “It’s something that’s very alarming, and we treat it very seriously,” police Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said at a news conference Friday.  The attacks have happened as Jewish communities in the New York City metro area were already on edge after a deadly Dec. 10 shooting rampage at a northern New Jersey kosher market. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said the attack was driven by hatred of Jews and law enforcement.  “The persistent and violent anti-Semitic attacks on Jews in the New York area has reached a crisis level," Eric Goldstein, the CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, said Friday. The organization is a large Jewish charity.  The latest incident happened around 12:40 a.m. Friday, when a woman slapped three other women in the face and head after encountering them on a Crown Heights corner, police said. The victims, who range in age from 22 to 31, suffered minor pain, police said.  Tiffany Harris, 30, was arrested on a hate-crime harassment charge. She was awaiting arraignment Friday. It wasn't clear whether she had a lawyer who could comment on the charges, and no working telephone numbers for Harris could immediately be found.  Her arrest came hours after a hate crime assault arrest in Brooklyn's Gravesend neighborhood. There, according to police and court documents, a woman was hit in the head with a bag by an attacker who jumped in front of her, made anti-Semitic comments and vowed that “your end is coming to you” Thursday afternoon. The victim, 34, was with her 3-year-old son.  The suspect, Ayana Logan, 42, was freed on supervised release after being arraigned Friday.  Her lawyer, Lauren Katzman, said she believed authorities were overreaching in casting the case as a hate crime.  “Ms. Logan is not guilty, and I look forward to fighting the case for her in court,” Katzman said.  On Monday, a Miami man was charged with hate-crime assault after police said he made an anti-Semitic remark and attacked a man in midtown Manhattan. The 65-year-old victim was punched and kicked, suffering cuts, police said.  He had been wearing a yarmulke, according to former state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who has founded a group dedicated to combating anti-Semitism.  Steven Jorge, 28, is being held without bail, and a judge ordered a psychiatric exam for him, court records show. A message was left Friday for Jorge's lawyer.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo told a state hate crimes task force to help police investigate the attack, calling it “a horrific and cowardly act of anti-Semitism.”  “It’s even more despicable that it occurred over the holidays,” the Democratic governor said in a statement Wednesday. Hanukkah began Sunday.  The New York Police Department's Hate Crime Task Force is also investigating some other episodes this week as possibly motivated by anti-Semitism:  — Officers were told that two boys, ages 6 and 7, were accosted by a group of people while getting off an elevator in a Williamsburg apartment building Monday night, and one of the boys was hit, Harrison said. The attackers fled.  — A 25-year-old man told police he was walking on a Crown Heights street early Tuesday when a group of people started yelling anti-Semitic slurs at him and one threw a beverage at him. The suspects fled.  — Later Tuesday in Crown Heights, a 56-year-old man said that a group of people approached him, and that one of them punched him, while he was walking. No arrests have been made.  Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.


abcnews--2019-12-30--Officer handed McDonald's coffee inscribed with expletive

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. -- McDonald's is disputing allegations that one of the restaurant's workers wrote an expletive and the word “pig” on a coffee cup that was given to a Kansas police officer who stopped there on his way to work.  Dana Cook, the owner of a McDonald’s in Junction City, said in a written statement that the restaurant has security video that proves none of its employees wrote the words. Cook did not speculate about who may have written them before Herington's police chief posted a picture of the cup on .  Chief Brian Hornaday's post about the cup has since been removed and he now says he's “looking further into this matter" with McDonald's.  In the Facebook post, he said one of his officers was handed the cup Saturday when he went through the McDonald's drive-through in Junction City, which is near Fort Riley.  "This behavior has been, is and always will be wrong," Hornaday said in his initial post.  He didn't immediately return an email message Monday from The Associated Press.  But he told WIBW-TV that his reaction after the initial report was based on believing that a police officer has integrity "and it would be foolish of any law enforcement agency or professional to not take the word of their police officer until they can be proven otherwise.”  The officer involved in the incident has been with the department for only two months, but spent five years as a military police officer in the Army, Hornaday said.  The chief said McDonald's and his department are working together to investigate. He asked for patience as the investigation continues.  “Judgment is something that should be made at the end after all evidence and all facts have been gathered and presented,” he said.  McDonald's corporate media didn't answer question, instead directing people to look at the owner's statement.  “My McDonald’s have the utmost respect for all members of law enforcement and the military and were troubled by the accusation made," Cook wrote in the statement. “We thoroughly reviewed our security video from every angle, which clearly shows the words were not written by one of our employees. We look forward to working with Chief Hornaday as he continues his investigation.”  This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the town's name to Herington instead of Herrington.


activistpost--2019-01-03--Bipartisan Support for Gun Confiscation Is Growing

The 2018 midterm elections produced a   with Democrats gaining control of the House and Republicans gaining seats in the Senate.  The chattering DC classes are already speculating about the Democrats’ plans to   Trump’s tax records and Senate Republicans’ moves to consolidate their hold of the  . But amid the DC gossip, a new threat is being overlooked—red flag gun confiscation orders.  The Guardian   House Democrats’ desire to pass gun control legislation in the upcoming Congress:  With the cries for gun control growing stronger, the federal government may finally give in to public pressure to “do something.” Red flag laws might just be the “come together” moment establishment politicians have been looking for.  Red flag laws, or Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), are the euphemistic   for the gun control push du jour blazing across the nation. Under red flag laws, law enforcement has the ability to confiscate an individual’s firearms if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others. A simple accusation from a family member, friend, or associate will suffice to seize someone’s firearms.  These laws, mind you, operate in complete violation of due process. Individuals can take their accusers to court even though the defendant in question has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. Additionally, the defendant could have their weapons confiscated without even so much as a hearing before a judge. It could take months before a gun owner would have to appear in court to win back his gun rights.  currently have red flag laws on the books, with dozens more filing their own versions. What started out as a state-level movement may have some legs at the federal level. Although it’s true that Congressional Democrats are making gun control a major theme of their legislative agenda, it’s naïve to think red flag laws are only relevant because “gun-grabbing” Democrats have taken power.  As we’ll see below, red flag laws have a history of bipartisan support. And when any piece of legislation has Democrats and Republicans locking arms in agreement, you know trouble lies ahead.  Despite their passionate campaign rhetoric, a significant portion of Republican politicians will change colors on gun rights once in DC. Several GOP members in the upcoming Congress stick out like a sore thumb when it comes to their gun control advocacy.  Lindsey Graham:  The South Carolina senator already introduced a red flag bill earlier this year. With the 116th Congress right around the corner, Graham will likely reach across the aisle with Democrat colleagues to move red flag legislation forward. Graham has opined that red flag legislation is the “place where we begin a long-overdue discussion about firearms and mental health. But we must start.”  Marco Rubio: Following the Parkland shootings, Rubio joined the gun control chorus by sponsoring a  bill along with Democrat Senators Joe Manchin, Bill Nelson, & Jack Reed. Rubio has even flirted with the   of regulations on magazine clips, raising the minimum age to buy certain firearms like AR-15s, and tweaking the current background check system.  Mitt Romney: The incoming Utah senator has an anti-gun record as governor of Massachusetts. As governor, Romney signed an   into law in 2004. In political fashion, Romney obscured his anti-gun act by turning to pro-Second Amendment platitudes during both of his presidential runs in 2008 and 2012. In a 2007 statement, Romney   that he does not “support any new gun laws including any new ban on semi-automatic firearms.” Nevertheless, the fallout from the recent Parkland shooting has made Romney   the validity of enhanced background checks.  Rick Scott: Former governor of Florida and Florida’s new senator, Rick Scott, poses an interesting threat to gun rights. Despite his ostensibly pro-gun  , Scott signed  , Florida’s most expansive gun control measure in recent history. Pressured by the outrage over the Parkland School shooting, Scott’s SB 7026   red flag provisions, raises the age to buy a firearm to 21, and imposes a three-day waiting period for all firearms purchases.  Trump Administration: Even the executive branch is joining in on the red flag craze. The Trump Administration’s Commission on School Safety recently released a report recommending red flag laws as a means to “address school safety and violence.” It’s only a matter of time before legislation is introduced in either chamber of Congress now that the Trump administration has endorsed red flag laws.  Even  , the Republican governor of Maryland, kowtowed to anti-gun pressure. On April 24, 2018, Hogan signed a series of gun bills, one which included a red flag law. In October, the first month Maryland’s red flag law went into effect, there were 114 requests to confiscate individuals’ firearms.  Maryland’s red flag law has not been without its fair share of controversy. At 5 am on Monday, November 5, two police officers came knocking on 61-year-old Gary Willis’ door to serve him a court order mandating that he turn over his guns. What seemed like a typical court order quickly turned deadly as one of the cops shot and   Willis in a struggle that ensued. Quick to defend one of his own, Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare defended the cops’ action by callously   they “did the best they could with the situation they had.” The tragic incident in Maryland is an ominous sign of what is to come should red flag laws gain more traction. Whether or not Republicans will support congressional iterations of red flag laws is anyone’s guess. The bigger problem at hand is an ideological one. When society’s ideological compass is off, government transgressions can come at any time. The passage of red flag laws could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. More than a century’s worth of Progressivism has normalized   such as economic controls, big spending, never-ending wars, and now, gun control. Misguided conservatives can debate ad infinitum on the forums or their talk radio shows about how certain Republicans “sell out” or betray their movement. This, however, ignores how  —rubber stamping big government, embracing globalism, and embarking on nation-building—has been the standard operating procedure for many conservatives throughout the last century. Gun rights will be no different. Gun owners will need to de-program and recognize that decentralization, not the winner-take-all electoral slugfest we see at the federal level every four years, is the best way to secure their gun rights. This article was reprinted from the Mises Institute and was sourced from FEE.org


activistpost--2019-01-04--The Dark Overlord Hackers Threaten To Release TOP SECRET Files of 911 Litigation Unless Paid In Bit

The Dark Overlord Hackers Threaten To Release TOP SECRET Files of 9/11 Litigation Unless Paid In Bitcoin

A hacker group known as The Dark Overlord (Tdo) has announced it has breached a law firm handling cases related to the September 11th attacks and threatened to publicly release a large stockpile of internal files unless their ransom demands are met.  The message from the group first posted on a Twitter account Tdo_h4ck3rs to a Pastebin has since been suspended as of this report. The group then said it moved to Reddit where it was also given the proverbial ban-hammer.  The Pastebin post said the following before it was removed.  Earlier in 2018, there was a fantastic and very brief article that was published about a global insurer being hacked. The hackers weren’t named and the story fell to the darkness shortly after it came about. No further mentions were made. You might guess who these hackers were. Hello world! What was that story? It was this one: http://www.globallegalpost.com/big-stories/us-law-firm-hack-hits-global-insurer-15490236/  What’s the takeaway? We hacked Hiscox Syndicates Ltd.  And why didn’t Hiscox Syndicates Ltd make this more public? Well, keep reading on to find out! It wasn’t just Hiscox Syndicates Ltd that was put at risk, it was Lloyds of London as well as others. Another entity unnamed in this article is Lloyds of London and who we’ll attribute as also being involved. Hiscox Syndicates Ltd and Lloyds of London are some of the biggest insurers on the planet insuring everything from the smallest policies to some of the largest policies on the planet, and who even insured structures such as the World Trade Centers. At this point, the keen amongst you may finally be drawing conclusions at this point, but you’ll still be astonished at what’s to come. Keep reading. This also means that Silverstein Properties is involved, doesn’t it? Now things are getting more interesting. Most of you readers will not be privy to the processes and methods utilised by Fortune 500s to litigate high-impact cases, but we are, and thankfully for us, we’re going to let you in on this process. When major incidents like the WTC 911 incident happen, part of the litigation must involve SSI (Sensitive Security Information) and SCI (Special Compartment Information) from the likes of the FBI, CIA, TSA, FAA, DOD, and others being introduced into evidence, but of course this can’t become public, for fear of compromising a nation’s security, so they temporarily release these materials to the solicitor firms involved in the litigation with the strict demand they’re destroyed after their use and that remain highly protected and confidential to only be used behind closed doors. However, humans aren’t perfect and many of these documents don’t become destroyed, and when thedarkoverlord comes along hacking all these solicitor firms, investment banks, and global insurers, we stumble upon the juiciest secrets a government has to offer.  What’s the takeaway? We hacked Lloyds of London and Silverstein Properties.  This release of 911 Litigation Documents is highly exclusive and only available from thedarkoverlord! For a limited time only, we’re leaking the first few documents as proof of our trove on the famous dark web hacker forum ‘KickAss’. For those of you who are most interested in acquiring the entire set of documents, which counts at over 18.000 documents, to include .doc, .pdf, .ppt, .xls, .tif, .msg, and many other interesting formats (or just to acquire the most highly secret and confidential documents), the good news for you is that we’ll be selling these documents for a limited time. If you’re a terrorist organisation such as ISIS/ISIL, Al-Qaeda, or a competing nation state of the USA such as China or Russia, you’re welcome to purchase our trove of documents. You can easily contact us on the dark web hacker forum ‘KickAss’ or by e-mailing us at the e-mail found below. We’ll also sign our PGP key into this message so that you may use our PGP key to contact us if you prefer to be more discreet.  What we’ll be releasing is the truth. The truth about one of the most recognisable incidents in recent history and one which is shrouded in mystery with little transparency and not many answers. What we’re offering to the world is the truth, exclusively from us, one of the planets premier hacking organisations dedicated to breaching leading targets and acquiring the most scandalous materials that we may use in our systematic extortion campaigns.  If a full public release happens in the near future, we’ll guarantee that we’re going to withhold only the most highly confidential and sensitive documents for private sale. For the rest of you: don’t worry, there’s thousands of documents still to go around.  If you’re one of the dozens of solicitor firms who was involved in the litigation, a politician who was involved in the case, a law enforcement agency who was involved in the investigations, a property management firm, an investment bank, a client of a client, a reference of a reference, a global insurer, or whoever else, you’re welcome to contact our e-mail below and make a request to formally have your documents and materials withdrawn from any eventual public release of the materials. However, you’ll be paying us.  If you’re a member of the press and would like to make an enquiry, you may do so at our press e-mail which is well known by members of the press. You may acquire this from any reporters who’ve published our quotes, as they all have it and will accept this signed announcement as permission to share our press e-mail address with you.  We’ve linked below sixteen images from a very few of the documents from the legal firm Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin, who is now Husch Blackwell. More details and files are available on the KickAss dark web hacker forum.  We’re also releasing a small part of the larger archive of the 911 World Trade Center Litigation documents publicly. There’s thousands of files included in the archive. Everyone can freely have a copy of the archive and we would encourage it. However, the archive is completely encrypted using a very strong AES encryption and very strong master keys that will prevent anyone from decrypting the veracrypt containers until we publicly release the keys for each layer. The archive is split between five layers. Layer 1 being the most modest, and Layer 5 containing the most heavy hitting and impactful documents, with Layer 2, Layer 3, and Layer 4 containing ever-increasingly scandalous materials. We encourage everyone to obtain a copy of all five archives. As time goes on, we may publicly release keys for each of these containers if our requests from the involved companies are not met. The link to download the 10 GB archive is below. Stay tuned for the possible release of decryption keys. We may release these keys on our new official Twitter page (@tdo_h4ck3rs) and/or on the dark web hacker forum ‘KickAss’.  Below is the link to the torrent file to download the archive. The magnet URL follows the PGP at the end of this release.  And finally, a message to the companies directly involved to include the airlines, government agencies, the dozens of solicitor firms, the insurers, and the many others, this is a message directly to you: pay the fuck up, or we’re going to bury you with this. If you continue to fail us, we’ll escalate these releases by releasing the keys, each time a Layer is opened, a new wave of liability will fall upon you. You know our contact details.  You’re welcome, heathens and what’s the final lesson? When you’re a client of ours and you’ve accepted an agreement of ours: follow it to the letter. We’re not motivated by any political thoughts. We’re not hacktivists. We’re motivated only by our pursuit of internet money (Bitcoin).  Stay tuned on PasteBin for future announcements related to this leak. We’ll always sign all of our releases for verification of authenticity. Subsequent announcements may include this original announcement.


activistpost--2019-04-10--Ancestry Websites Giving FBI Access to DNA Data WikiLeaks Reveals CODIS Database Gifted To Other Co

Ancestry Websites Giving FBI Access to DNA Data; WikiLeaks Reveals CODIS Database Gifted To Other Countries; DHS Rolling Out Rapid DNA Nationwide

The FBI is abusing ancestry genealogy websites by tapping into their DNA data. What’s worse, these companies are giving up users’ data under presumed consent that is buried in their terms and conditions, according to several reports.  FamilyTreeDNA is the first company known to be cooperating directly with the FBI to give its agents access to its genealogy database, according to a BuzzFeed report.  A FamilyTreeDNA spokesperson told BuzzFeed that FamilyTreeDNA’s agreement with the FBI gives the agency the ability to search more than a million genetic profiles — the majority of which were given by their customers without knowledge of the company’s relationship with the FBI. As part of the arrangement, FamilyTreeDNA has further agreed to test DNA evidence and identify the remains of deceased individuals in violent crimes for the FBI in its own laboratory.  In a statement, FamilyTreeDNA said that customers have the ability to opt out of matching features in their account settings. Doing so would prevent law enforcement from accessing their genetic information, but it also means a user would be unable to find potential family members through the service. According to Gizmodo, the company also seems to admonish those who choose to opt out by suggesting that it could be a “moral responsibility” to give up their private health information to the FBI.  However, the fact of genealogy companies are being subpoenaed by law enforcement isn’t a secret. In fact, it’s in the disclosures on their websites — FamilyTreeDNA, AncestryDNA, and 23andMe.  Forensic magazine reports that the FBI had previously had access to FamilyTreeDNA’s database before the partnership with the FBI.  After news broke that the FBI was accessing user data, FamilyTreeDNA announced that it would allow its customers to bar law enforcement from accessing their data, Engadget reported.  As an interesting corporate connection to make, one of the co-founders of 23andMe, Anne Wojcicki, is married to Google’s Sergey Brin. Unsurprisingly, Google Inc. also backs the DNA analysis company.  Last year, Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline invested US$300 million in the DNA-testing company in a deal that should raise eyebrows. A drug company working together with a DNA database company … what could possibly go wrong?  Under the deal, GSK has exclusive rights for four years to use 23andMe’s DNA database to develop new medicines using human genetics.  Activist Post reported last year Houston police launched a pilot program with the company ANDE to test a machine called Rapid DNA that runs DNA tests in under two hours.  As part of the test program, proper protocol for using the technology has been to swab each piece of evidence twice. First, the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC) takes an official sample for the lab, then Houston police take a second sample for the trial machine.  Rapid DNA results can’t be used in court, and the technology is only used for investigations in Houston, according to the news outlet.  The technology has some forensic scientists worried about whether it should be used at crime scenes, warning about the accuracy of the technology.  However, further research shows that Houston isn’t the only city using rapid DNA, police departments across the country—have rolled out their own pilot programs to test these miniature portable DNA lab machines that originate from the DHS.  “Rapid DNA, a newly commercialized technology developed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), addresses these challenges by greatly expediting the testing of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that is the only biometric that can accurately verify family relationships. This technology can be used on the scene of mass fatality events, in refugee camps around the world, or at immigration office,” the DHS’s website reads.  Police departments in Maryland,  Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Florida, Utah, Arizona, Texas, California and in Delaware are or will be using DHS’s Rapid DNA.  An article in ProPublica warns that “over the last decade, collecting DNA from people who are not charged with — or even suspected of — any particular crime has become an increasingly routine practice for police.”  Congress enacted the “DNA Identification Act of 1994” authorizing the FBI to maintain a centralized, national DNA database and to develop a software system to allow for the sharing of information within and between states for law enforcement. By 2004, the resulting system – the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) – connected the databases of all fifty states, which at that time were limited to profiles from those convicted of serious, violent crimes. Signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 30, 2004, the “Justice For All Act”  greatly expanded the CODIS system, allowing collection of DNA from all federal felons and further enabling states to upload to CODIS profiles from anyone convicted of a crime according to a secret congressional WikiLeaks document entitled: “DNA Evidence: Legislative Initiatives in the 106th Congress.”  On January 5, 2006, a barely noticed piece of legislation entitled the “DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005” was also signed into law by President George W. Bush, that severely expanded the government’s authority to collect and permanently retain DNA samples. The bill slipped through virtually unnoticed because the law was, buried in the back of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization bill.  Unbeknownst to the public, the bill granted the government authority to obtain and permanently store DNA from anyone who is arrested as well as non-U.S. citizens detained under federal authorities like Border Control and DHS.  In December of 2015 nearly 10 years later, results from a rapid DNA device were submitted as evidence in a successful murder prosecution for the first time attempted murder case in Richland County, South Carolina. (That article now has been curiously deleted from Reuters and is only available on archive.org)  A bill before Congress, introduced on December 2015 by Sen. Orin Hatch, R-Utah, called for profiles collected by Rapid DNA devices to be connected to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, the software and national database that stores DNA profiles from federal, state and local forensic laboratories.  During a Senate committee hearing on the Rapid DNA Act of 2015, disgraced former FBI Director James Comey said that passage of the bill “would help us change the world in a very, very exciting way. It will allow us, in booking stations around the country, if someone’s arrested, to know instantly—or near instantly—whether that person is the rapist who’s been on the loose in a particular community before they’re released on bail and get away or to clear somebody, to show that they’re not the person.”  In 2017, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced “the SECURE Act” (S. 2192) on December 5th. The bill largely borrows from two other federal bills—H.R. 3548 and S. 1757  The Rapid DNA Act of 2017, S.139 and HR.510 passed last year, amended the DNA Identification Act of 1994, allowing previous hurdles to be surpassed by the new technology.  The bill was sponsored by U.S. Senate sponsor Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and lead co-sponsor Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) as well as House sponsor Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and lead co-sponsor Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA), along with 12 Senate and 24 House co-sponsors for their support, Business Wire reported.  In 2017, President Trump signed into law the Rapid DNA Act, which, enables police booking stations in several states to connect their Rapid DNA machines to CODIS, the national DNA database.  But CODIS isn’t only shared by the states. We learn from a Plus D WikiLeaks release, that the DNA information processing and telecommunications system was gifted to Argentina in 2009 by U.S. Ambassador Earl Wayne, according to a cable. The system was gifted to “help the province solve crimes and exonerate innocent suspects.”  “On the very topical issue of crime and personal security, the Ambassador helped launch the province’s participation in the Combined DNA Indexing System (CODIS). CODIS, an automated DNA information processing and telecommunications system, was donated by the FBI,” the cable reads.  Meanwhile, another WikiLeaks Plus D cable talks about “specialized training and state of the art equipment donations enabling Colombian forensic labs to investigate human rights violations more effectively. These donations included the enhancement of DNA analyzers and the CODIS database; upgrading of the Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS); updating of forensic imaging and document analysis systems; upgrading of the automated fingerprint identification system; and the design and installation of a wireless network providing inter-agency connectivity and information sharing,” according to the cable, entitled: “SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY: THE U.S. RECORD IN COLOMBIA 2004-2005.”  This leads us to several questions.  First, how many more countries were given access to the CODIS system; is this DNA database shared amongst countries in an agreement similar to the Five Eyes spying arrangement, or did the U.S. sell the software similar to the infamous PROMIS software? And, like PROMIS (Inslaw scandal), does this software have a backdoor for U.S. intel agencies to access other countries’ DNA data?  These are all questions we should find ourselves asking.  Even the DHS is looking into using the Rapid DNA technology for immigration purposes to stop adults fleeing with kids and ensure that they are their actual relatives. But later the DHS postponed the technology in 2015 to develop a stricter protocol for its use, Nextgov reported.


activistpost--2019-04-10--Oregons SB-978 Gun Control Bill Is So Hysterically Restrictive That PEPPER SPRAY Is a Felony

Oregon’s SB-978 Gun Control Bill Is So Hysterically Restrictive That PEPPER SPRAY Is a Felony

A new gun control bill introduced in the Oregon State Legislature added 45 pages of draconian amendments the night before the vote. SB978 passed the Judiciary Committee yesterday and now heads to the Oregon Senate.  It’s a good thing that some parts of this state have vowed to be 2A sanctuaries because Oregonians are going to need them. If the gun owners – and even pepper spray owners – in other parts of the state hope to defend themselves, they could be facing a vast new array of felony charges.  The battle for the right to bear arms is rapidly spreading across the country. In February, the House of Representatives passed two sweeping national bills.  New Mexico has passed 6 outrageous new laws that sheriffs are refusing to enforce, and sheriffs in Washington state are also rebelling. On the other stand, two states have introduced invasive laws requiring would-be gun owners to hand over access to years of personal social media.  What’s in the unconstitutional bill, you ask?  They want to raise the minimum age to buy a gun to 21 in certain cases.  Residents will be required to keep their guns locked up at all times that they are not being carried. These rules will render guns all but useless in the event a person needs to access them to protect themselves and their family.  A person who owns or possesses a firearm shall, at all times that the firearm is not carried by or under the control of   the person or an authorized person, secure the firearm: “(A) With an engaged trigger lock or cable lock that meets or exceeds the minimum specifications established by the Oregon Health Authority under section 10 of this 2019 Act;   “(B) In a locked container, equipped with a tamper-resistant lock, that meets or exceeds the minimum specifications established by the Oregon Health Authority under section 10 of this 2019 Act; or   “(C) In a gun room.   “(b) For purposes of paragraph (a) of this subsection, a firearm is not secured if a key, combination or other means of opening a lock or container is readily available to a person the owner or possessor has not authorized to carry or control the firearm.  Failure to follow these rules is a Class C Felony. Also, don’t get excited about the phrase “gun room” because your bedroom doesn’t count.  I know that the time I had to protect my daughter with a gun, if my firearm locked up, had on a trigger lock, and had to be loaded, it would have delayed my potential to do so to a horrific degree.  If your gun/guns are stolen, you must report it. Failure to do so is a Class B felony per weapon. And if the thief hurts or kills someone with the stolen firearm, the owner is liable for two years.  Any adult who transfers a firearm to a minor is responsible for any actions taken by that minor with the firearm. And if you want to take your kids shooting or hunting, they must be “directly supervised.”  And if a young person gets a hold of a parent’s gun, the parent is liable for the young person’s action. If the gun isn’t secured as per the rules above, then the adult is charged with even more crimes.  The next section deals with “ghost guns.” Pages 11-19 offer a lengthy list of rules, restrictions, requirements, and record-keeping for the transfer of antique guns, gun parts, and much more. If you have them, you’ll be a felon upon the passage of this bill.  And as everyone knows, registration is only one step away from confiscation. Here’s an article by Selco, explaining how gun confiscation could go down.  If this passes, gun owners who are not concealed-carry permit holders will have to jump through all sorts of hoops to transport a firearm in a vehicle, including locking it in a box in a “secure” area of the vehicle.  The next section deals with CC permits and the related fees, increasing them in another effort to put an undue burden on law-abiding citizens.  In this bill can find a massive list of restrictions regarding having a gun on the premises of or “near” public buildings. To me, this is the scariest part because it’s so incredibly arbitrary.  In section 25, Local Authority to Regulate Firearms in Public Buildings,” airports, ports, hospitals, schools, colleges, universities probate courts, city halls, homes of officials, and other “public buildings” – and even their grounds – can restrict not only guns but also the following:  Public places as defined in the bill need only to “post a sign, visible to the public, identifying all locations where   the affirmative defense described in ORS 166.370 (3)(g) is limited or precluded.”  And if you ignore the sign and get caught? You’re guilty of a Class C felony. Even if your gun is unloaded. Any person who intentionally possesses a loaded or unloaded firearm or any other instrument used as a dangerous weapon, while in or on a public building, shall upon conviction be guilty of a Class C felony. Go here to read the insanity in detail. Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford’s anti-gun foundation was delighted with the bill even before the super-secret amendments were added. In a statement, spokeswoman Robin Lloyd said: “Gun violence hurts hundreds of Oregon families each year. The proposed provisions in the bills heard today are the critical next steps that Oregon should take to save lives. For example, homemade, untraceable ghost guns pose serious threats to law enforcement and communities impacted by gun violence. A commitment from lawmakers to stem the flow of these firearms will ensure criminals aren’t able to easily get their hands on an undetectable weapon. Today’s hearings highlight a serious commitment by the legislature to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in Oregon. I applaud Attorney General Rosemblum [sic] and the Oregon legislature for prioritizing these lifesaving measures.” SB 978-1 includes commonsense efforts to reduce gun violence like requiring safe storage of firearms, holding gun owners accountable to make sure kids don’t get their hands on a gun, requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms, and providing increased regulation of 3D-printed guns and unfinished frames or receivers, parts used to produce ghost guns. (source) If it passes, it will spread. Gun control laws are like a virus – if they pass in one place they’ll spread to other places. And there’s little reason to believe that in this era of anti-gun hysteria, the legislature will strike down this unconstitutional bill. Thankfully, 13 of 36 Oregon sheriffs have already vowed to make their counties Second Amendment sanctuaries. But heaven forbid an Oregonian gets caught driving out of their 2A sanctuary county with a usable firearm. Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting blogger who writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, voluntaryism, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, The Organic Prepper, where this article first appeared. She is widely republished across alternative media and she curates all the most important news links on her aggregate site, PreppersDailyNews.com. Daisy is the best-selling author of 4 books and lives in the mountains of Virginia with her two daughters and an ever-growing menagerie. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.