Thursday, August 1, 2013
OFF THE WIRE
by Sam Rolley
For some time, millions of Federal dollars and decommissioned military equipment have been falling into the hands of local police departments through grant deals which serve two purposes: Giving local cops cool toys like tanks and riot gear to test out on small-time criminals and putting local law enforcement agencies in the back pocket of Federal agencies.
Personal Liberty Digest™ has kept readers informed about the ever-growing militarization of America’s police forces for years. And, gradually, other media outlets have begun to wake up and recognize that Federal money and equipment are turning local police into militarized forces that focus far too little on community and far too much on force.
A Wall Street Journal essay published over the weekend, titled “Rise of the Warrior Cop,” chronicles a number of examples of local police forces acting like military units, using undue force and terrorizing residents who are involved — and sometimes mistakenly believed to be involved — in nonviolent criminal activities.
Some highlights from the piece:
Here’s a video summary of that story:
As mainstream media outlets begin to report more frequently on the militarization of American police forces, Americans have an opportunity to speak out and attempt to put a stop to the trend by talking to local law enforcement officials and legislators about the dangers of too much military equipment in the hands of local police.
Brush up on your knowledge about the militarization of America’s cops with the following Personal Liberty stories:
In the comments below, tell us if you’ve noticed a militarization of your local police force — and, if so, what impact it has had in your community.
by Sam Rolley
For some time, millions of Federal dollars and decommissioned military equipment have been falling into the hands of local police departments through grant deals which serve two purposes: Giving local cops cool toys like tanks and riot gear to test out on small-time criminals and putting local law enforcement agencies in the back pocket of Federal agencies.
Search for Boston Marathon bombing suspects in Cambridge, MA. Credit: UPI
A Wall Street Journal essay published over the weekend, titled “Rise of the Warrior Cop,” chronicles a number of examples of local police forces acting like military units, using undue force and terrorizing residents who are involved — and sometimes mistakenly believed to be involved — in nonviolent criminal activities.
Some highlights from the piece:
- “The country’s first official SWAT team started in the late 1960s in Los Angeles. By 1975, there were approximately 500 such units. Today, there are thousands. According to surveys conducted by the criminologist Peter Kraska of Eastern Kentucky University, just 13% of towns between 25,000 and 50,000 people had a SWAT team in 1983. By 2005, the figure was up to 80%.”
- “The number of raids conducted by SWAT-like police units has grown accordingly. In the 1970s, there were just a few hundred a year; by the early 1980s, there were some 3,000 a year. In 2005 (the last year for which Dr. Kraska collected data), there were approximately 50,000 raids.”
- “Among the new, tough-minded law-enforcement measures included in [the War on Drugs] was the no-knock raid—a policy that allowed drug cops to break into homes without the traditional knock and announcement. After fierce debate, Congress passed a bill authorizing no-knock raids for federal narcotics agents in 1970.”
Here’s a video summary of that story:
As mainstream media outlets begin to report more frequently on the militarization of American police forces, Americans have an opportunity to speak out and attempt to put a stop to the trend by talking to local law enforcement officials and legislators about the dangers of too much military equipment in the hands of local police.
Brush up on your knowledge about the militarization of America’s cops with the following Personal Liberty stories:
Report: Local Police Becoming Increasingly Militarized
Police, like those in Fargo, N.D., have bought bomb-detection robots, digital communications equipment and Kevlar helmets similar those used by soldiers in foreign wars. The onslaught of purchases for military-style equipment is being carried out with Homeland Security funds allotted since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.Why You Should Never Call Police
Following what seemed like a rash of stories like this that saw people calling police for help and ending up being detained, arrested, abused and/or killed at the hands of the “men (and women) in blue,” we started to name this new feature segment “Why You Should Never Call Police.” But while we still hold the sentiment that calling the police for help can be hazardous to one’s health (and, therefore, should not be done), that name seemed too restrictive.Why It Doesn’t Pay To Cooperate With Police
You should never consent to a police search of your vehicle and never volunteer information when being questioned. Of course, not consenting doesn’t mean you won’t be subjected to an unConstitutional and illegal search. But two recent cases drive home the point of why it doesn’t pay to cooperate with police.The Violent Militarization Of Local Police
Law-abiding citizens are no longer safe from police. Once the motto for police officers was “To protect and serve,” but now it seems to be “To harass, assault and attack.” Across the country, police officers are increasingly militarized and increasingly militant.Let Me See Your Papers
Residents of the Arkansas town of Paragould — population barely 25,000 — will soon begin noticing a constant presence of militarized police patrolling the streets and asking to see pedestrians’ papers.Ruby Ridge Tactics Now Modus Operandi?
This week, two decades ago, Americans were watching reports of the horrific escalation of the events that occurred in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, where agents of the Federal government terrorized and killed members of Randy Weaver’s family after he failed to appear in court on a charge of selling shotguns that were slightly too short to an undercover Federal agent.Florida Man Shot Dead By Cops For Answering Door Armed
A Florida man was shot dead by deputies of the Lake County Sheriff’s Department at 1:30 a.m. Sunday when they failed to identify themselves as police officers and banged on the door of his apartment. The officers were pursuing an alleged attempted murderer when they knocked on the apartment door.Feds Raid Wrong Massachusetts Apartment
A Fitchburg, Mass., woman and her 3-year-old daughter fell victim last week to the product of increasingly militarized and invasive tactics used by police officers throughout the United States. At 6:04 a.m. last Thursday, just before her alarm clock was set to go off, Judy Sanchez was awakened by pounding at the door of her apartment.The Real 2012 Doomsday: U.S. Falls To Tyranny
The past year has been a bad one for democracy, and the Republic that once was the United States seems to live in name only. Because of the extreme abuses of power the Federal government has exercised just in the past year, the people of the Nation have been broken and discouraged and must now only be controlled.Boston Friday Is Future America
During the hunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the teenaged Boston Marathon bombing suspect, local and Federal law enforcers shut down the city of Boston. No mass transit. No taxis. No moving about of any kind. “Stay inside, don’t go to work, don’t go to the store,” said the “authorities.”In the comments below, tell us if you’ve noticed a militarization of your local police force — and, if so, what impact it has had in your community.
OFF THE WIRE
WOW MUST READ...
KEEP PASSING THIS AROUND UNTIL EVERY ONE HAS HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ IT... THIS IS SURE SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!!!! THE ONLY THING WRONG WITH THE GOVERNMENT'S CALCULATION OF AVAILABLE SOCIAL SECURITY IS THEY FORGOT TO FIGURE IN THE PEOPLE WHO DIED BEFORE THEY EVER COLLECTED A SOCIAL SECURITY CHECK!!! WHERE DID THAT MONEY GO?
Remember, not only did you and I contribute to Social Security, but your employer did, too. It totals 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only $30K over your working life, that's close to $220,500. Read that again!
Did you see where the Government paid in one single penny?
We are talking about the money you and your employer put in a Government bank to insure you and I that we would have a retirement check from the money we put in, not the Government. Now they are calling the money we put in an ENTITLEMENT when we reach the age to take it back.
If you calculate the future invested value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer's contribution) at a simple 5% interest (less than what the Government pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you'd have $892,919.98. If you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years (until you're 95 if you retire at age 65) and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month. If you have a deceased spouses who died in their 50's -- their S.S. money will never have one cent drawn from what they paid into S.S. all their lives over the past 30 years!
THE FOLKS IN WASHINGTON HAVE PULLED OFF A BIGGER PONZI SCHEME THAN BERNIE MADOFF EVER DID.
Entitlement my foot, I paid cash for my social security insurance! Just because they borrowed the money for other government spending, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!!
Remember Congressional benefits? --- free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days.
Now that's welfare!!! And they have the nerve to call my social security retirement payments entitlements?!?
We're "broke" and we can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, or Homeless.
Yet in the last few months we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile and Turkey. And now Pakistan......home of bin Laden. Literally, BILLIONS... if not TRILLIONS of DOLLARS are unaccounted for!!!
They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives, and now, when it's time for us to collect, the government is running out of money. Why did the government borrow from it in the first place? It was supposed to be in a locked box, not part of the general fund.
Sad isn't it. 99% of people won't have the guts to forward this. I'm in the 1% --
I just did.
and that's why is so important to reach YOUR OWN financial freedom!!
KEEP PASSING THIS AROUND UNTIL EVERY ONE HAS HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ IT... THIS IS SURE SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!!!! THE ONLY THING WRONG WITH THE GOVERNMENT'S CALCULATION OF AVAILABLE SOCIAL SECURITY IS THEY FORGOT TO FIGURE IN THE PEOPLE WHO DIED BEFORE THEY EVER COLLECTED A SOCIAL SECURITY CHECK!!! WHERE DID THAT MONEY GO?
Remember, not only did you and I contribute to Social Security, but your employer did, too. It totals 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only $30K over your working life, that's close to $220,500. Read that again!
Did you see where the Government paid in one single penny?
We are talking about the money you and your employer put in a Government bank to insure you and I that we would have a retirement check from the money we put in, not the Government. Now they are calling the money we put in an ENTITLEMENT when we reach the age to take it back.
If you calculate the future invested value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer's contribution) at a simple 5% interest (less than what the Government pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you'd have $892,919.98. If you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years (until you're 95 if you retire at age 65) and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month. If you have a deceased spouses who died in their 50's -- their S.S. money will never have one cent drawn from what they paid into S.S. all their lives over the past 30 years!
THE FOLKS IN WASHINGTON HAVE PULLED OFF A BIGGER PONZI SCHEME THAN BERNIE MADOFF EVER DID.
Entitlement my foot, I paid cash for my social security insurance! Just because they borrowed the money for other government spending, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!!
Remember Congressional benefits? --- free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days.
Now that's welfare!!! And they have the nerve to call my social security retirement payments entitlements?!?
We're "broke" and we can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, or Homeless.
Yet in the last few months we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile and Turkey. And now Pakistan......home of bin Laden. Literally, BILLIONS... if not TRILLIONS of DOLLARS are unaccounted for!!!
They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives, and now, when it's time for us to collect, the government is running out of money. Why did the government borrow from it in the first place? It was supposed to be in a locked box, not part of the general fund.
Sad isn't it. 99% of people won't have the guts to forward this. I'm in the 1% --
I just did.
and that's why is so important to reach YOUR OWN financial freedom!!
OFF THE WIRE
—By Tim Murphy
Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) Kay Hagan/FlickrThe problems facing North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan next fall are pretty straightforward. She is a Democratic incumbent in a state where Republicans control both houses of the legislature and the governor's mansion and Mitt Romney won by 100,000 votes last November. She is a top target of Senate Republicans and conservative super-PACs, and when she comes up for re-election next fall she will have to contend with a midterm electorate that's more conservative than the one that elected her—partly because the midterm electorate is whiter and older, and partly because of soon-to-be enacted laws restricting voting rights.
That's not an ideal electoral climate, but all things considered, it could be worse—North Carolina Republicans could settle on an opponent. Fifteen months before the 2014 election, GOPers in the state are faced with a dilemma. Their only declared candidate has serious baggage—the now-infamous "Motorcycle Abortion Bill," which snuck a set of strict abortion restrictions onto an unrelated provision on motorcycle helmets. The candidates who voters tell pollsters they prefer aren't much better.
"The Republicans have handed Hagan some levers to assist her in [mobilizing] voters," says Ferrel Guillory, the director of the University of North Carolina's Forum on Public Life. .Advertise on MotherJones.com If the Republican primary were held today, the front-runner, according to virtually every poll since last December, would be Virginia Foxx, a five-term congresswoman who also has the distinction of being the worst person in Washington to share an elevator with. (Foxx once reported an intern to the Capitol police for accidentally riding on a members-only elevator; no charges were filed.) The real issue with Foxx, though—and perhaps part of her appeal—is that she's something of a loose cannon. In 2009, she warned that the Affordable Care Act posed a greater threat to Americans than terrorism, because it would result in senior citizens being "put to death by their government." That was just a few months after Foxx claimed that the story that Matthew Shepard was murdered for being gay was a "hoax." Foxx has given no indication that she's actually considering a run, but she hasn't said she's not considering a run either.
Rep. Renee Ellmers, a former nurse who was elected in the tea party wave of 2010, has also consistently put off a decision on whether she'll seek a promotion—first to the end of May, then to the end of June, then to mid-July. Now it's just an open-ended proposition. Cryptically, Ellmers told National Journal in July that she was rethinking her decision on whether or not to enter the race, but didn't indicate what her decision had been, assuming she'd ever even made one. Ellmers was first elected on the strength of an anti-Islam ad campaign that accused her opponent, former Democratic Rep. Bob Etheridge, of supporting the construction of a "victory mosque" in Lower Manhattan to celebrate the 9/11 attacks.
"I am not intending to say that all Muslims are terrorists," Ellmers told CNN's Anderson Cooper at the time. She just wasn't ready to say they weren't terrorists.
That leaves the GOP with one viable candidate who has actually declared, as of late July: Thom Tillis, the top Republican in the state House of Representatives. Tillis formally entered the race at the end of May, but since then his nascent campaign has been bogged down by problems of his own creation—namely, the sharp rightward lurch of the state legislature he helps run. Over the last three months, on Tillis' watch, North Carolina has become ground zero in a push by conservative lawmakers and interest groups to cut down the social safety net, roll back reproductive rights, and limit access to the polls. At a time when Tillis would otherwise have been repositioning himself for the long electoral slog, he was instead pushing through a set of regulations designed to crack down on abortions.
The abortion bill in question, which passed the state house in July, was disguised as a motorcycle safety bill. The controversy came when the law became a Trojan horse for a slate of new abortion restrictions, such as a prohibition on abortion coverage in public employees' health insurance plans and new regulations that could potentially lead to the closure of some abortion clinics.
The bill is deeply unpopular. For weeks, Tillis avoided commenting on the specifics of the legislation at all, but on Wednesday he explained his thinking to the Charlotte News & Observer. "It happens to be something that I support and I thought if I didn't, they'd say, 'Why didn't you?' so I thought would solve the question by making it very clear where I stood on the bill." By supporting the law, Tillis stands in the minority—just 34 percent of voters say they approve of it, and Gov. Pat McCrory's approval ratings have plummeted since the debate began. Hagan's head-to-head advantage over Tillis has subsequently jumped from 5 points to 11.
The motorcycle abortion bill is less restrictive than the original version that passed the state Senate—by way of a repurposed bill to prohibit state courts from applying Islamic Shariah law. That effort, which was criticized by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, would have required abortion clinics to meet the same requirements as ambulatory surgery centers. The kicker: state Senate president Phil Berger, who helped shepherd the bill through the chamber, is also considering challenging Hagan.
"I think the absolute worst thing the Republicans can do if they want to beat Kay Hagan is run a leader from the legislature," says Tom Jensen, the director of Public Policy Polling (PPP). "The legislature has always been unpopular, but it's never been more unpopular than it is now."
"The legislature has, shall we say, a negative reputation to most anybody except for the Republican base," adds Steven Green, a political science professor at North Carolina State University. "When you want to win a statewide election, you have to reach beyond that base and somebody associated with the legislature is gonna have a hard time doing that."
The motorcycle abortion flap wasn't Tillis' first misstep. At a 2011 constituent meeting he offered his version of a 47 percent speech, expressing his desire to "divide and conquer" people who are on public assistance. "We need...folks to look down at these people who choose to get into a condition that makes them dependent on the government and say at some point you're on your own," he said. "We may end up taking care of those babies, but we're not going to take care of you." At the same meeting, he flirted with the idea of drug-testing welfare recipients and denying benefits to anyone who tested positive.
Brook Hougesen, press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, dismissed the recent polls by noting that PPP's CEO is a Hagan donor. "Voters will always choose substance over ugly attacks, results over waffling, and no amount of hate can change the fact that Kay Hagan has been the least relevant, least effective, and least productive Senator not only in Washington since her arrival, but in North Carolina's recent history," she said in an email. "The only worry for Republicans is that Kay Hagan decides to retire, because she's been such an ineffective, waffling do-nothing in the Senate."
But Jensen, who polls for Democratic candidates, says Hagan's prospects are starting to resemble that of another colleague who was once thought to be an endangered species—the Democratic Senate majority leader, Nevada's Harry Reid, who was able to salvage a reelection victory when conservative activists nominated an anti-fluoride activist to challenge him.
"Kay Hagan does have approval ratings that suggest vulnerability, and when you have a situation like that it means her fate ends up tied to the political climate," Jensen says. "But with the way the field is shaping up, you have the potential where it could still be a bad year for Democrats—and she'd still win."
NORTH CAROLINA:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/kay-hagan-thom-tillis-abortion-race Mr. Motorcycle Abortion Bill Goes to Washington
North Carolina Republicans stand a good shot at picking up a Senate seat next fall—if they can stop shooting themselves in the foot.—By Tim Murphy
Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) Kay Hagan/FlickrThe problems facing North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan next fall are pretty straightforward. She is a Democratic incumbent in a state where Republicans control both houses of the legislature and the governor's mansion and Mitt Romney won by 100,000 votes last November. She is a top target of Senate Republicans and conservative super-PACs, and when she comes up for re-election next fall she will have to contend with a midterm electorate that's more conservative than the one that elected her—partly because the midterm electorate is whiter and older, and partly because of soon-to-be enacted laws restricting voting rights.
That's not an ideal electoral climate, but all things considered, it could be worse—North Carolina Republicans could settle on an opponent. Fifteen months before the 2014 election, GOPers in the state are faced with a dilemma. Their only declared candidate has serious baggage—the now-infamous "Motorcycle Abortion Bill," which snuck a set of strict abortion restrictions onto an unrelated provision on motorcycle helmets. The candidates who voters tell pollsters they prefer aren't much better.
"The Republicans have handed Hagan some levers to assist her in [mobilizing] voters," says Ferrel Guillory, the director of the University of North Carolina's Forum on Public Life. .Advertise on MotherJones.com If the Republican primary were held today, the front-runner, according to virtually every poll since last December, would be Virginia Foxx, a five-term congresswoman who also has the distinction of being the worst person in Washington to share an elevator with. (Foxx once reported an intern to the Capitol police for accidentally riding on a members-only elevator; no charges were filed.) The real issue with Foxx, though—and perhaps part of her appeal—is that she's something of a loose cannon. In 2009, she warned that the Affordable Care Act posed a greater threat to Americans than terrorism, because it would result in senior citizens being "put to death by their government." That was just a few months after Foxx claimed that the story that Matthew Shepard was murdered for being gay was a "hoax." Foxx has given no indication that she's actually considering a run, but she hasn't said she's not considering a run either.
Rep. Renee Ellmers, a former nurse who was elected in the tea party wave of 2010, has also consistently put off a decision on whether she'll seek a promotion—first to the end of May, then to the end of June, then to mid-July. Now it's just an open-ended proposition. Cryptically, Ellmers told National Journal in July that she was rethinking her decision on whether or not to enter the race, but didn't indicate what her decision had been, assuming she'd ever even made one. Ellmers was first elected on the strength of an anti-Islam ad campaign that accused her opponent, former Democratic Rep. Bob Etheridge, of supporting the construction of a "victory mosque" in Lower Manhattan to celebrate the 9/11 attacks.
"I am not intending to say that all Muslims are terrorists," Ellmers told CNN's Anderson Cooper at the time. She just wasn't ready to say they weren't terrorists.
That leaves the GOP with one viable candidate who has actually declared, as of late July: Thom Tillis, the top Republican in the state House of Representatives. Tillis formally entered the race at the end of May, but since then his nascent campaign has been bogged down by problems of his own creation—namely, the sharp rightward lurch of the state legislature he helps run. Over the last three months, on Tillis' watch, North Carolina has become ground zero in a push by conservative lawmakers and interest groups to cut down the social safety net, roll back reproductive rights, and limit access to the polls. At a time when Tillis would otherwise have been repositioning himself for the long electoral slog, he was instead pushing through a set of regulations designed to crack down on abortions.
The abortion bill in question, which passed the state house in July, was disguised as a motorcycle safety bill. The controversy came when the law became a Trojan horse for a slate of new abortion restrictions, such as a prohibition on abortion coverage in public employees' health insurance plans and new regulations that could potentially lead to the closure of some abortion clinics.
The bill is deeply unpopular. For weeks, Tillis avoided commenting on the specifics of the legislation at all, but on Wednesday he explained his thinking to the Charlotte News & Observer. "It happens to be something that I support and I thought if I didn't, they'd say, 'Why didn't you?' so I thought would solve the question by making it very clear where I stood on the bill." By supporting the law, Tillis stands in the minority—just 34 percent of voters say they approve of it, and Gov. Pat McCrory's approval ratings have plummeted since the debate began. Hagan's head-to-head advantage over Tillis has subsequently jumped from 5 points to 11.
The motorcycle abortion bill is less restrictive than the original version that passed the state Senate—by way of a repurposed bill to prohibit state courts from applying Islamic Shariah law. That effort, which was criticized by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, would have required abortion clinics to meet the same requirements as ambulatory surgery centers. The kicker: state Senate president Phil Berger, who helped shepherd the bill through the chamber, is also considering challenging Hagan.
"I think the absolute worst thing the Republicans can do if they want to beat Kay Hagan is run a leader from the legislature," says Tom Jensen, the director of Public Policy Polling (PPP). "The legislature has always been unpopular, but it's never been more unpopular than it is now."
"The legislature has, shall we say, a negative reputation to most anybody except for the Republican base," adds Steven Green, a political science professor at North Carolina State University. "When you want to win a statewide election, you have to reach beyond that base and somebody associated with the legislature is gonna have a hard time doing that."
The motorcycle abortion flap wasn't Tillis' first misstep. At a 2011 constituent meeting he offered his version of a 47 percent speech, expressing his desire to "divide and conquer" people who are on public assistance. "We need...folks to look down at these people who choose to get into a condition that makes them dependent on the government and say at some point you're on your own," he said. "We may end up taking care of those babies, but we're not going to take care of you." At the same meeting, he flirted with the idea of drug-testing welfare recipients and denying benefits to anyone who tested positive.
Brook Hougesen, press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, dismissed the recent polls by noting that PPP's CEO is a Hagan donor. "Voters will always choose substance over ugly attacks, results over waffling, and no amount of hate can change the fact that Kay Hagan has been the least relevant, least effective, and least productive Senator not only in Washington since her arrival, but in North Carolina's recent history," she said in an email. "The only worry for Republicans is that Kay Hagan decides to retire, because she's been such an ineffective, waffling do-nothing in the Senate."
But Jensen, who polls for Democratic candidates, says Hagan's prospects are starting to resemble that of another colleague who was once thought to be an endangered species—the Democratic Senate majority leader, Nevada's Harry Reid, who was able to salvage a reelection victory when conservative activists nominated an anti-fluoride activist to challenge him.
"Kay Hagan does have approval ratings that suggest vulnerability, and when you have a situation like that it means her fate ends up tied to the political climate," Jensen says. "But with the way the field is shaping up, you have the potential where it could still be a bad year for Democrats—and she'd still win."
OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel.com
There were setbacks in two biker civil rights suits last week. Both cases are being contested in federal court. One case is being heard in New Jersey and the other in Nevada. Both cases are still alive and may eventually discourage the common police practice of harassing bikers wearing colors on public roads.
The New Jersey case is titled James Coles et al. v. Nicholas Carlini et al. The Nevada case is titled Southern Nevada Confederation of Clubs, Inc. et al. v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department et al.
New Jersey Suit
The Coles case was filed by three men named James Coles, Joseph Ballinger and Louis C. Degailler in November 2010. All three are now members of the Pagans.
The three were part of a small pack including members of the Tribe Motorcycle Club which was stopped by New Jersey State Police while going to a charity event. The Trooper in charge was Nicholas Carlini and the stop was obviously made in order to harass and intimidate the six men as a form of extra-judicial punishment for belonging to motorcycle clubs and wearing insignia of membership on their backs. Carlini lectured his detainees that the only gang allowed on New Jersey’s roads was the State Police.
Dueling Countermotions
Last February both sides in the slow-moving case asked Judge Jerome B. Simandle to issue summary judgments. Coles, Joseph Ballinger and Degailler sought summary judgment only on the question of whether “the first amendment was violated by the defendant State Troopers in the course of their ‘anti-colors’ speech delivered during plaintiffs’ custodial detention at roadside.” They didn’t seek a judgment on “whether the stop itself was pretextual and initiated in retaliation for Plaintiffs’ alleged expressive conduct.”
The State Police sought a summary judgment of the entire case in their favor on three grounds: “(1) Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity, (2) no violation of the First Amendment occurred, and (3) Plaintiffs Coles and Ballinger are judicially estopped from asserting claims for damages because they failed to disclose their potential claims when each was going through bankruptcy.”
The court listened to the lawyers argue about all this on July 7 and ruled against everybody on July 22.
Core Issues Unchanged
First the judge ruled that since none of the men actually removed his club insignia Trooper Carlini’s bullying speech was simply an “attempt” to deprive the bikers of their free speech rights. He did not rule on the issue of whether the stop itself was intended to deprive the men of their Constitutional rights.
The State Police had asked that Coles and Ballinger be denied any monetary judgment in the case because they had neglected to list a judgment in the case as a potential asset when both declared bankruptcy. The bankruptcies were filed well before this civil suit but were in their final stages after the suit was filed. Most case law indicates that whether the men could be compensated or not was almost entirely at the judge’s discretion. He ruled against Coles and Ballinger because he thought they acted in “bad faith.”
Simandle put it like this: “On the judicial estoppel issue, the key question for the Court is whether bad faith may be inferred from Coles’s and Ballinger’s nondisclosure of this litigation as a contingent asset in their bankruptcy proceedings, while simultaneously pursuing the present claims for damages. Because the Court finds that bad faith may be inferred in this case, the Court will grant Defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment, prohibiting Coles and Ballinger from seeking compensatory or punitive damages.”
However the third plaintiff, Degailler, can still be awarded monetary damages if the suit is successful.
All three plaintiffs can still obtain what is called “injunctive relief” if they win the suit – which means that Simandle will order the New Jersey State Police not to do it again.
Nevada Case
The key issue in the Nevada case was whether the Confederation of Clubs had legal standing to sue Vegas Metro and the other defendants including former Boulder City Police Chief Thomas Finn. Last Friday Judge Andrew P. Gordon ruled the COC does not. He instructed the Plaintiff’s lawyer in the case. Stephen Stubbs, to modify and refile the suit by the end of next month and he basically told Stubbs how to do it. The judge wants to see the plaintiff’s sorted by club. At the end of his ruling he wrote:
“At the July 24, 2013 hearing on the motion to sever, Plaintiffs requested that the court allow the cases to be refiled and grouped by each motorcycle club, such that each club and its related members may file a single complaint (e.g., allowing all Mongols incidents to be contained in one lawsuit, all Stray Cats incidents in another). Based on the allegations presently before the court, the cases may be grouped together as follows: all Mongols incidents may be joined in the present lawsuit (involving Espinoza’s First, Second, and Third Claims for Relief), along with the Jerald Murillo incident; all Stray Cats incidents may be joined in one complaint; all Bandidos incidents may be joined in one complaint along with the Down and Dirty Motorcycle Club incident; the Joseph Pitka incident must be filed in a separate complaint unless Plaintiffs can establish that it should be properly joined with another lawsuit. Each such complaint must be sufficiently pled to satisfy both the joinder requirements ofRule 20 discussed above, and the standing requirements for each plaintiff (including individuals and motorcycle clubs) to maintain the claims. The court does not opine at this time whether the motorcycle clubs can satisfy the standing requirements of Federal Rule ofCivil Procedure 17(b)(3) and any other applicable law.
“Plaintiffs are granted leave to amend the present Amended Complaint (as described above) by August 30, 2013. Similarly, the new and separate lawsuits must be filed by August 30,2013, and will be assigned new case numbers. The court further orders that each of the cases will be consolidated before this court for purposes of discovery. Thus, Plaintiffs shall note in the caption of each complaint that any new case filed as a result of this order is related to this base case, and should be assigned to the same judges. The parties to each of the severed actions are required to pay a filing fee.”
Stubbs Comments
When reached for comment, Stubbs said “What has happened is that Federal Court Judge Andrew Gordon granted me a ‘do over’ with some guidance.”
“Judge Gordon specifically states that all claims for relief are to be grouped by club, dismisses all claims but the Mongols claims, grants me leave to amend the Mongols claims to repair any defects, and then instructs me to file new and separate claims for the other clubs.”
Both suits are ongoing and should remain so for at least another year.
agingrebel.com
There were setbacks in two biker civil rights suits last week. Both cases are being contested in federal court. One case is being heard in New Jersey and the other in Nevada. Both cases are still alive and may eventually discourage the common police practice of harassing bikers wearing colors on public roads.
The New Jersey case is titled James Coles et al. v. Nicholas Carlini et al. The Nevada case is titled Southern Nevada Confederation of Clubs, Inc. et al. v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department et al.
New Jersey Suit
The Coles case was filed by three men named James Coles, Joseph Ballinger and Louis C. Degailler in November 2010. All three are now members of the Pagans.
The three were part of a small pack including members of the Tribe Motorcycle Club which was stopped by New Jersey State Police while going to a charity event. The Trooper in charge was Nicholas Carlini and the stop was obviously made in order to harass and intimidate the six men as a form of extra-judicial punishment for belonging to motorcycle clubs and wearing insignia of membership on their backs. Carlini lectured his detainees that the only gang allowed on New Jersey’s roads was the State Police.
Dueling Countermotions
Last February both sides in the slow-moving case asked Judge Jerome B. Simandle to issue summary judgments. Coles, Joseph Ballinger and Degailler sought summary judgment only on the question of whether “the first amendment was violated by the defendant State Troopers in the course of their ‘anti-colors’ speech delivered during plaintiffs’ custodial detention at roadside.” They didn’t seek a judgment on “whether the stop itself was pretextual and initiated in retaliation for Plaintiffs’ alleged expressive conduct.”
The State Police sought a summary judgment of the entire case in their favor on three grounds: “(1) Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity, (2) no violation of the First Amendment occurred, and (3) Plaintiffs Coles and Ballinger are judicially estopped from asserting claims for damages because they failed to disclose their potential claims when each was going through bankruptcy.”
The court listened to the lawyers argue about all this on July 7 and ruled against everybody on July 22.
Core Issues Unchanged
First the judge ruled that since none of the men actually removed his club insignia Trooper Carlini’s bullying speech was simply an “attempt” to deprive the bikers of their free speech rights. He did not rule on the issue of whether the stop itself was intended to deprive the men of their Constitutional rights.
The State Police had asked that Coles and Ballinger be denied any monetary judgment in the case because they had neglected to list a judgment in the case as a potential asset when both declared bankruptcy. The bankruptcies were filed well before this civil suit but were in their final stages after the suit was filed. Most case law indicates that whether the men could be compensated or not was almost entirely at the judge’s discretion. He ruled against Coles and Ballinger because he thought they acted in “bad faith.”
Simandle put it like this: “On the judicial estoppel issue, the key question for the Court is whether bad faith may be inferred from Coles’s and Ballinger’s nondisclosure of this litigation as a contingent asset in their bankruptcy proceedings, while simultaneously pursuing the present claims for damages. Because the Court finds that bad faith may be inferred in this case, the Court will grant Defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment, prohibiting Coles and Ballinger from seeking compensatory or punitive damages.”
However the third plaintiff, Degailler, can still be awarded monetary damages if the suit is successful.
All three plaintiffs can still obtain what is called “injunctive relief” if they win the suit – which means that Simandle will order the New Jersey State Police not to do it again.
Nevada Case
The key issue in the Nevada case was whether the Confederation of Clubs had legal standing to sue Vegas Metro and the other defendants including former Boulder City Police Chief Thomas Finn. Last Friday Judge Andrew P. Gordon ruled the COC does not. He instructed the Plaintiff’s lawyer in the case. Stephen Stubbs, to modify and refile the suit by the end of next month and he basically told Stubbs how to do it. The judge wants to see the plaintiff’s sorted by club. At the end of his ruling he wrote:
“At the July 24, 2013 hearing on the motion to sever, Plaintiffs requested that the court allow the cases to be refiled and grouped by each motorcycle club, such that each club and its related members may file a single complaint (e.g., allowing all Mongols incidents to be contained in one lawsuit, all Stray Cats incidents in another). Based on the allegations presently before the court, the cases may be grouped together as follows: all Mongols incidents may be joined in the present lawsuit (involving Espinoza’s First, Second, and Third Claims for Relief), along with the Jerald Murillo incident; all Stray Cats incidents may be joined in one complaint; all Bandidos incidents may be joined in one complaint along with the Down and Dirty Motorcycle Club incident; the Joseph Pitka incident must be filed in a separate complaint unless Plaintiffs can establish that it should be properly joined with another lawsuit. Each such complaint must be sufficiently pled to satisfy both the joinder requirements ofRule 20 discussed above, and the standing requirements for each plaintiff (including individuals and motorcycle clubs) to maintain the claims. The court does not opine at this time whether the motorcycle clubs can satisfy the standing requirements of Federal Rule ofCivil Procedure 17(b)(3) and any other applicable law.
“Plaintiffs are granted leave to amend the present Amended Complaint (as described above) by August 30, 2013. Similarly, the new and separate lawsuits must be filed by August 30,2013, and will be assigned new case numbers. The court further orders that each of the cases will be consolidated before this court for purposes of discovery. Thus, Plaintiffs shall note in the caption of each complaint that any new case filed as a result of this order is related to this base case, and should be assigned to the same judges. The parties to each of the severed actions are required to pay a filing fee.”
Stubbs Comments
When reached for comment, Stubbs said “What has happened is that Federal Court Judge Andrew Gordon granted me a ‘do over’ with some guidance.”
“Judge Gordon specifically states that all claims for relief are to be grouped by club, dismisses all claims but the Mongols claims, grants me leave to amend the Mongols claims to repair any defects, and then instructs me to file new and separate claims for the other clubs.”
Both suits are ongoing and should remain so for at least another year.
OFF THE WIRE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Lt. R. Soulard 619-593-5719
The El Cajon Police Department will be conducting a specialized Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operation on 8-2-13 in an effort to lower deaths and injuries. Extra officers will be on duty patrolling areas frequented by motorcyclists and where motorcycle crashes occur. Officers will be looking for violations made by drivers and riders alike that can lead to motorcycle crashes. They will be cracking down on both those operating passenger vehicles and motorcycles who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding, making illegal turns, or any other dangerous violations.
Motorcycle fatalities dropped 37 percent from 2008 to 2010, but rose nearly 18 percent in 2011. Operations like this are aimed at curbing rises in motorcycle deaths.
In the City of El Cajon during 2011 there were 11 motorcycle collisions that resulted in 2 fatalities and 12 motorcyclists injured. During 2012 there were 19 motorcycle collisions that resulted in 21 motorcyclists injured.
California collision data reveals that primary causes of motorcycle-involved crashes include speeding, unsafe turning, and impairment due to alcohol and drugs. The El Cajon Police Department is also reminding all motorists to always be alert and watch out for motorcycles, especially when turning and changing lanes.
In the near future, there is likely to be more miles driven by all vehicles on the road. In addition, many more novice motocycle riders are taking to the roadway. Some of these new riders are inexpeienced and untrained on motorcycle safety.
The message to all drivers and motorcyclists is to share in the responsibility and do your part by safely “sharing the road.” Riders can get training through the California Motorcyclist Safety Program. Information and training locations are available at www.CA-msp.org or 1-877 RIDE 411 or 1-877-743-3411.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
PREPARED BY: Lt. R. Soulard
DIVISION: Special Enforcement / Traffic
DATE AND TIME: 07/16/2013, 2:00pm
REVIEWED BY: Sgt. M. Conlon
Jim Redman, Chief of Police
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http://www.elcajonpress.com/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Lt. R. Soulard 619-593-5719
The El Cajon Police Department will be conducting a specialized Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operation on 8-2-13 in an effort to lower deaths and injuries. Extra officers will be on duty patrolling areas frequented by motorcyclists and where motorcycle crashes occur. Officers will be looking for violations made by drivers and riders alike that can lead to motorcycle crashes. They will be cracking down on both those operating passenger vehicles and motorcycles who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding, making illegal turns, or any other dangerous violations.
Motorcycle fatalities dropped 37 percent from 2008 to 2010, but rose nearly 18 percent in 2011. Operations like this are aimed at curbing rises in motorcycle deaths.
In the City of El Cajon during 2011 there were 11 motorcycle collisions that resulted in 2 fatalities and 12 motorcyclists injured. During 2012 there were 19 motorcycle collisions that resulted in 21 motorcyclists injured.
California collision data reveals that primary causes of motorcycle-involved crashes include speeding, unsafe turning, and impairment due to alcohol and drugs. The El Cajon Police Department is also reminding all motorists to always be alert and watch out for motorcycles, especially when turning and changing lanes.
In the near future, there is likely to be more miles driven by all vehicles on the road. In addition, many more novice motocycle riders are taking to the roadway. Some of these new riders are inexpeienced and untrained on motorcycle safety.
The message to all drivers and motorcyclists is to share in the responsibility and do your part by safely “sharing the road.” Riders can get training through the California Motorcyclist Safety Program. Information and training locations are available at www.CA-msp.org or 1-877 RIDE 411 or 1-877-743-3411.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
PREPARED BY: Lt. R. Soulard
DIVISION: Special Enforcement / Traffic
DATE AND TIME: 07/16/2013, 2:00pm
REVIEWED BY: Sgt. M. Conlon
Jim Redman, Chief of Police
To Subscribe, unsubscribe, suspend delivery or opt-out of further promotional mailings go to http://www.elcajonpress.com/
To read our Privacy Policy go to:
http://www.elcajonpress.com/
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