FBI Director James Comey has warned Democrats that their plans to ban individuals on terrorist watch lists from purchasing firearms threatens to damage FBI terror investigations.
Congressional Quarterly (Paywall) reports that a spokeswoman for the FBI said that “Comey does not take a position on the proposed gun amendment but … has told lawmakers he is focused on the operational side and the FBI does not endorse legislation.”
During a 2015 Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Director Comey said that stopping the sales of firearms could “blow our investigation”
“Well, senator, what we do now is if someone on the watch list purchases or attempts to purchase a firearm, an immediate alert is sent to the agents who are the source of the suspicion about that individual, so they can incorporate that information into their investigation,” Comey said.
“It’s a little bit challenging for us because known or suspected means it hasn’t been adjudicated in every case that somebody is a terrorist,” Comey said. “It’s somebody we’re investigating, so we don’t want to, obviously, blow our investigation. Sorry.”
Here’s video of the testimony:
(For more from the author of “WATCH: FBI Director Warns Democrat Gun Control Measures Could ‘Blow’ Terror Investigations” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/maxresdefault-141.jpg10801920Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-06-15 22:23:032016-06-15 22:23:03WATCH: FBI Director Warns Democrat Gun Control Measures Could ‘Blow’ Terror Investigations
Police in a U.S. town bordering Mexico have apprehended an undocumented, Middle Eastern woman in possession of the region’s gas pipeline plans, law enforcement sources tell Judicial Watch. Authorities describe the woman as an “Islamic refugee” pulled over during a traffic stop by a deputy sheriff in Luna County, New Mexico which shares a 54-mile border with Mexico. County authorities alerted the U.S. Border Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) has been deployed to the area to investigate, sources with firsthand knowledge of the probe confirm.
The gas pipeline plans in the woman’s possession include the Deming region, law enforcement sources say. Deming is a Luna County city situated about 35 miles north of the Mexican border and 60 miles west of Las Cruces. It has a population of about 15,000. Last year one local publication listed Deming No. 1 on a list of the “ten worst places” to live in New Mexico due to high unemployment, poverty, crime and a horrible public education system. The entire region is a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), according to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center due to the large amounts of methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine and marijuana smuggled through the state by Mexican traffickers. Specifically, the renowned Juárez and Sinaloa cartels operate in the area, the feds affirm in a report.
Judicial Watch has broken a number of stories in the last few years about Mexican drug traffickers smuggling Islamic terrorists into the United States through the porous southern border. Last summer high-level sources on both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border offered alarming details about an operation in which cartels smuggle foreigners from countries with terrorist links into a small Texas rural town near El Paso. Classified as Special Interest Aliens (SIA) by the U.S. government, the foreigners get transported to stash areas in Acala, a rural crossroads located around 54 miles from El Paso on a state road – Highway 20. Once in the U.S., the SIAs wait for pick-up in the area’s sand hills just across Highway 20.
A few months ago Judicial Watch reported that members of a cell of Islamic terrorists stationed in Mexico cross into the U.S. to explore targets for future attacks with the help of Mexican drug traffickers. Among the jihadists that travel back and forth through the porous southern border is a Kuwaiti named Shaykh Mahmood Omar Khabir, an ISIS operative who lives in the Mexican state of Chihuahua not far from El Paso, Texas. Khabir trained hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen and has lived in Mexico for more than a year, according to Judicial Watch’s high-level Homeland Security sources. Now Khabir trains thousands of men—mostly Syrians and Yemenis—to fight in an ISIS base situated in the Mexico-U.S. border region near Ciudad Juárez. Khabir actually brags in a European newspaper article about how easy it is to stake out American targets because the border region is wide open. In the same story Foreign Affairs Secretary Claudia Ruiz, Mexico’s top diplomat, says she doesn’t understand why the Obama administration and the U.S. media are “culpably neglecting this phenomenon,” adding that “this new wave of fundamentalism could have nasty surprises in store for the United States.”
This recent New Mexico incident brings to mind a story Judicial Watch broke less than a year ago involving five young Middle Eastern men apprehended by Border Patrol in an Arizona town (Amado) situated about 30 miles from the Mexican border. Two of the Middle Eastern men were carrying stainless steel cylinders in backpacks, alarming Border Patrol officials enough to call the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for backup. A multitude of federal agents descended on the property and the two men carrying the cylinders were believed to be taken into custody by the FBI. Only three of the men’s names were entered in the Border Patrol’s E3 reporting system, which is used by the agency to track apprehensions, detention hearings and removals of illegal immigrants. E3 also collects and transmits biographic and biometric data including fingerprints for identification and verification of individuals encountered at the border. The other two men were listed as “unknown subjects,” which is unheard of. “In all my years I’ve never seen that before,” a veteran federal law enforcement agent told Judicial Watch. (For more from the author of “STUNNER: “Islamic Refugee” Arrested in New Mexico With Gas Pipeline Plans” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/9294639633_41119647f0_b.jpg7681024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-06-15 22:16:312016-06-19 01:59:00STUNNER: “Islamic Refugee” Arrested in New Mexico With Gas Pipeline Plans
The Senate voted 85-13 Tuesday to advance an annual defense policy bill that would require women to register for the draft. But that doesn’t mean the provision is guaranteed to become law.
Opponents of the draft measure will have an opportunity to kill it when the House and Senate reconcile the differences between their versions of the National Defense Authorization Act in conference.
An annual authorization bill, this year’s $602 billion National Defense Authorization Act sets the budget and outlines spending priorities for defense agencies. The White House has already threatened to veto the legislation.
The time of the conference and the exact number of conferees from the House and Senate has not been determined. But Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who is guaranteed a seat at the negotiation table as the senior member of the Armed Services Committee, already announced he plans to strip out the controversial measure.
Inhofe promised in a statement to try to remove, in conference, “the unnecessary Senate language requiring women to register for the draft.”
That’s only possible because the House already stripped a proposed draft requirement from its version of the bill back in May. That makes conference, a GOP aide tells The Daily Signal, the best time to address the issue.
Senate conservatives are banking on House Republicans bailing them out on the issue. The House version of the legislation passed with bipartisan support, the aide explained, showing that the bill can make it to President Barack Obama’s desk without the draft provision.
In the last few weeks, the draft issue has dominated debate in the Senate. Opponents argue that requiring women to register for the Selective Service System would restrict their freedom. Proponents reply that expanding the draft is about equality.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote an amendment that would prohibit the government from compelling women to sign up for Selective Service and would direct the Pentagon to conduct a study into the merits of mandatory military service.
“It’s one thing for women who want to be in combat and have earned it to do that, but forcing women to fight is a totally different matter,” Lee said in an interview with The Daily Signal.
But after pushing his bill in the press, Lee declined to forward the amendment on the Senate floor.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., opposed Lee’s amendment but supported bringing it to the floor for a vote.
During a floor fight, Lee blocked consideration of McCain’s amendment that would expand visas for Afghan interpreters. The Utah lawmaker was attempting to use his objection as leverage to advance another amendment that would prevent the government from indefinitely detaining American citizens linked to terror.
“At any time, a senator had the opportunity to go to the floor and request a vote on his amendment,” a senate aide told The Daily Signal. “The only reason there was not a vote on Sen. Lee’s amendment was because he did not request a vote on it.”
The Utah senator would only release the measure, an aide from Lee’s office said, if leadership guaranteed that the Senate would vote on both the detention and the draft amendments. Ultimately, neither received a vote.
It’s not clear if Lee’s amendment had the votes necessary to advance. Failure on the floor would have made it more difficult for conservatives to cut out the provision later during conference.
Heritage Action for America opposes the legislation, saying that it would “allow the American military to be a playground for President Obama’s social engineering.”
Only six Republicans—Lee, Mike Crapo and James Risch of Idaho, Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Ben Sasse of Nebraska—voted against the bill. (For more from the author of “Conservatives Have a Plan to Block Women in the Draft” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/military-755414_960_720.jpg639960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-06-15 22:05:532016-06-15 22:05:53Conservatives Have a Plan to Block Women in the Draft
Hillary Clinton longtime lieutenant Huma Abedin’s exhaustively documented connections to Islamic terror are receiving renewed attention thanks to a new column written by political gadfly Roger Stone.
Abedin, now vice-chairman of Clinton’s campaign, is the person “closest to the most powerful woman in American politics and perhaps the next President,” Stone writes at Breitbart. “Huma has been described variously as Hillary’s ‘body woman,’ a sort of glorified go-to personal maid, gentle confidant, and by others as an Islamic spy.”
“She may be all of these things,” writes Stone, who is close to GOP presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“Abedin was deeply involved with the establishment of Hillary’s private email server, which was used for all of her work as Secretary of State. Now, since we know Hillary had hundreds of classified or top-secret documents on her vulnerable server (despite her early lies saying she did not), any faith in Huma’s judgment — at the very least — has been demolished. You will soon ask yourself, ‘how did this woman get a security clearance?’”
bedin’s background, including her suspect ties to Saudi Arabia, was previously examined by FrontPage but sounding the alarm about her connections to the Islamist underworld takes on a heightened urgency now that polls suggest Clinton is dangerously close to assuming the presidency. Abedin has been joined at the hip to Hillary for decades and would probably be a major figure such as policy director or chief of staff in the White House if she wins.
The power this daughter of jihad could — once again — wield over Americans and world affairs is truly frightening. For all we know, Abedin may have played a role in shutting down counter-terrorism measures that could have been useful in preventing Islamist attacks in the U.S. and abroad.
Stone’s report was part rebuttal to a lie-packed column earlier this year from Media Matters for America, the “conservative misinformation” monitoring group Clinton brags about founding. Placed in the unusual position of having to attack its liberal allies in the mainstream media, the MMfA post purported to debunk a relatively mild Vanity Fair profile that examined Abedin’s Islamist ties.
Stone’s report comes in the wake of the jihadist bloodbath perpetrated early Sunday morning by Omar Mir Siddique Mateen at Pulse, a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Police said Mateen wielded a semiautomatic Sig Sauer MCX rifle and a Glock 17 handgun to kill 49 innocent victims and wound another 53 in what has been called the worst mass shooting in American history and the worst domestic terrorist attack since 9/11.
It was widely and incorrectly reported by the Second Amendment-hating media that an AR-15 rifle was used, probably because it fits the Left’s predetermined narrative. The Left fetishizes the wildly popular AR-15, portraying it as a monstrous weapon of mass destruction because in 2012 it was used in the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and the movie theater in Aurora, Colo. It was also used in the mass shootings last year at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., and in San Bernardino, Calif.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the weekend attack after it took place. Mateen himself “claimed allegiance to the Islamic State and praised the Boston Marathon bombers,” before being killed by police on the scene, the New York Times reports.
The Orlando attack is the 86th Islamist terror plot in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, according to the Daily Signal. It is the 20th Islamist attack or plot “aimed at large public gatherings, such as bars and restaurants, shopping malls, parks, and conventions” and the sixth Islamist domestic terror plot or attack in 2016 alone.
FrontPage readers already know the basics about Abedin and her family’s generational ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Born in 1976 in Kalamazoo, Mich., Abedin’s mother is Pakistani-born Saleha Mahmood Abedin, widow of Indian-born Zyed Abedin, an academic who taught at Wahhabist Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz University. Mr. Abedin was affiliated with the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at Western Michigan University. The MSA was founded in the 1960s by the Muslim World League (MWL), Saudi Arabia’s largest charity, which is also a militant organization with links to Osama bin Laden.
In 1978 the Abedins moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Islamist Abdullah Omar Naseef hired Mr. Abedin to work at the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (IMMA), an Islamic think tank. Huma’s parents became members of the editorial board of IMMA’s publication, the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, which Andrew C. McCarthy has said seeks “to grow an unassimilated, aggressive population of Islamic supremacists who will gradually but dramatically alter the character of the West.”
Naseef himself is an extremist with ties to al-Qaeda. In 1983 he became secretary-general of the MWL, an organization McCarthy calls “the Muslim Brotherhood’s principal vehicle for the international propagation of Islamic supremacist ideology.” Huma’s mother became an official representative of MWL in the 1990s. When her husband died in 1994, Mrs. Abedin became the IMMA’s director. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of its journal, identified on its website as “Saleha S. Mahmood.” She is also a founding member of the related group called the Muslim Sisterhood.
When Huma returned to the U.S. and interned in the Clinton White House she was simultaneously a member of the executive board of George Washington University’s MSA. From 1996 to 2008, Abedin was assistant editor at the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. Her brother, Hassan Abedin, and sister, Heba Abedin Khalid, are both editors at the publication.
The MWL has received more than $1.3 billion from the Saudi government since 1962, Stone notes.
Naseef, the MWL, and Pakistan created the Rabita Trust in 1988 which a month after 9/11 was designated as a terrorist front and its assets frozen. The Treasury Department said the trust is run by Wa’el Hamza Jalaidan, who founded al-Qaeda with Osama bin Laden. Jalaidan’s assets are also frozen.
A radical cleric named Abdullah Azzam and his protégé, bin Laden, created an organization called Maktab al-Khidamat or MAK in Pakistan in the 1980s to recruit terrorists and raise money. Azzam subsisted on money from the MWL, Stone writes. MAK founders operated in Peshawar out of the office of the MWL and the Muslim Brotherhood. MWL funded MAK using Saudi money “that would eventually go to jihad against the West,” Stone adds. While bin Laden and Azzam rubbed elbows at the MWL’s office the league’s president was Naseef, benefactor of the Abedin family.
On 9/11, Huma was working for Clinton, then a U.S. senator from New York. As the Twin Towers fell Abedin failed to step forward “to shed light” on Naseef, the MWL, or the Rabita Trust. “Sen. Clinton and Huma Abedin betrayed every New Yorker and every American with their silence,” Stone writes.
He notes that on Sept. 18, 2006, while earning a $28,000 annual salary, Abedin purchased a $649,000 Washington, D.C. apartment. “[W]here did the money come from?”
Stone adds:
“We’ve caught the greatest spies due to their spending well beyond their salaries. At the least, what to make of someone who has lived for 17 years in Saudi Arabia, with parents who have close, long-standing ties with people connected to terrorist organizations, and then comes to the U.S. and within two years gets a job as the First Lady’s assistant?”
“This isn’t some minor aide,” Stone writes. “Huma Abedin has been at Clinton’s side for decades, and it’s time America got some answers.”
Recall that Clinton served as secretary of state from Jan. 21, 2009 to Feb. 1, 2013, during which she poured gasoline on the Muslim world and lit a match. She failed to support the “green revolution” uprising in Iran in 2009. She engineered the “Arab Spring,” a period of civil unrest, wars, and revolutions in the Arab world that began in late 2010 and was followed by the Arab Winter, a backlash that made Islamism and authoritarianism ascendant in the region. She helped the Muslim Brotherhood overthrow longtime U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak in 2012 to clear the way for their candidate, Mohamed Morsi, to assume the Egyptian presidency.
Hillary helped to oust Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, a move that plunged Libya into chaos. In that anarchic environment Muslim terrorists attacked a U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, on the 11th anniversary of 9/11. Clinton failed to provide proper security and did not send U.S. armed forces to attempt a rescue, leaving four Americans dead. She also lied about the nature of the military-style attack, claiming it arose out of Muslims’ anger at an obscure anti-Islam video.
While Hillary was getting people including U.S. allies like Qaddafi killed, ruining lives, undermining American power, advancing political Islam, and lying to the faces of the Benghazi victims’ families, what exactly was Abedin doing behind the scenes?
Stone is right.
Americans need to know what, if any, role Abedin played in Clinton’s decisions that put Americans in harm’s way, started wars, and caused governments to fall.
The stakes are too high not to know. (For more from the author of “HUMA ABEDIN: Hillary Clinton’s Handmaiden of Jihad” please click HERE)
Over the last two years, the shortfalls of the civil forfeiture system have garnered attention from both the media and state and federal lawmakers as more and more people who had property seized by police have come forward—the vast majority of whom were never charged with a crime.
In that time, state legislatures, in particular, have tackled the issue. This year alone, 22 states saw legislation addressing civil forfeiture, and at least eight states passed bills reforming their civil asset forfeiture laws to varying degrees.
In seven states, 11 bills are still pending, according to The Center for Public Integrity.
And in Washington, D.C., Congress took a step forward in reforming federal civil forfeiture laws when bipartisan groups of lawmakers in both chambers introduced the Due Process Act, which would make it more difficult for law enforcement to seize property from innocent Americans.
Despite the action in many state houses and the federal government, one state not only resisted efforts to reform its civil forfeiture laws, but recently made it easier for police to seize money by purchasing machines that allow officers to swipe prepaid debit cards and gift cards and seize the money stored on them.
And that state is Oklahoma.
“Every step of the way, [civil forfeiture] has been fraught with abuse, and the system is broken,” state Sen. Kyle Loveless, R-Oklahoma City, told The Daily Signal. “There hasn’t been any good coming out of this other than it’s raised the level of discussion around the issue.”
Civil forfeiture is a legal tool that gives law enforcement the power to seize property if they suspect it’s tied to a crime. Opponents of civil forfeiture have been calling for the system to be reformed, as innocent people have had cash or property seized, yet were never charged with any wrongdoing.
Furthermore, opponents say current civil forfeiture laws put the burden on the property owner instead of the government to prove their cash, cars, or property wasn’t tied to a crime at all.
In the last six months, Oklahoma has found itself at the center of controversy surrounding its use of civil forfeiture.
First, Oklahoma’s legislature rejected legislation spearheaded by Loveless overhauling its civil forfeiture system.
Then, just after Loveless’s bill was killed in committee, deputies with the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Department seized more than $53,000 from one of the most sympathetic forfeiture victims to emerge thus far: a Burmese Christian rock band raising money for an orphanage in Thailand and a nonprofit Christian college.
And most recently, it was discovered that the state Department of Public Safety had purchased Electronic Recovery and Access to Data (ERAD) card readers, which allow law enforcement to learn the balance of prepaid debit cards and gift cards, seize the money stored on the cards, or freeze the accounts if they believe it’s tied to criminal activity.
“I believe we have a good government, and law enforcement for the vast majority are doing a good job,” Loveless said. “But the system they’re working in is clearly broken. I think Oklahomans are getting past the tipping point.”
Resistance
Oklahoma kicked off 2016 with intense debate after Loveless introduced comprehensive legislation reforming the state’s civil forfeiture laws.
The Republican lawmaker’s legislation first required law enforcement to secure a conviction before forfeiting cash, cars, and property from people.
Such a provision has been included in multiple bills reforming civil forfeiture laws, including in legislation recently passed in Maryland, Nebraska, and New Hampshire.
However, in Oklahoma, law enforcement pushed back on the requirement.
“All these states have done that in the last year,” Loveless said of requiring a conviction before forfeiting property. “We’ve seen that law enforcement gets on board, but here in Oklahoma, they resist.”
Loveless’ bill also struck at the core issue opponents have with civil forfeiture: its profit incentive.
In the Sooner State, law enforcement agencies can keep up to 100 percent of the proceeds of forfeited property. But under Loveless’ plan, forfeiture proceeds would be directed to a fund controlled by a 15-member board.
That board, comprised of members of the law enforcement community and civilians, would be tasked with distributing money in the form of grants to fund drug treatment centers, drug courts, and drug interdiction efforts.
In addition to requiring a criminal conviction, other states like New Mexico, one of the first to reform its civil forfeiture laws, have eliminated the profit incentive civil forfeiture creates, since forfeiture proceeds go directly back to the law enforcement agencies forfeiting the property.
“They need to be subject to appropriation. Whether it’s the city council, the state legislature or the U.S. Congress, that money needs to go to the government, not directly to the law enforcement agency,” Hal Stratton, New Mexico’s former attorney general, told The Daily Signal. “That provides too much of an incentive to make good cops bad cops.”
Stratton originally was in favor of expanding civil forfeiture in New Mexico during the 1980s to address the crime wave, he said. But when the legislature’s civil forfeiture reform bill headed to Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’ desk last year, Stratton encouraged her to sign it.
The bill included the requirement that all civil forfeiture proceeds go directly into the state’s general fund instead of to law enforcement agencies.
“We need to structure the law to where there’s not an incentive to do bad things, and the asset forfeiture laws, the way it’s interpreted by the courts, was not in that category,” Stratton said. “It was structured for abuse.”
Back in Oklahoma, Loveless’ bill was praised by groups across the political spectrum, from the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm that has represented many civil forfeiture victims, to the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma.
But the law enforcement community mounted fierce opposition to it, arguing that reforming civil forfeiture will eliminate a vital tool officers have to combat drug trafficking and money launderers.
County sheriffs and prosecutors called Loveless a liar and a socialist, in the pocket of organized crime and a best friend to terror organizations for championing civil forfeiture reform.
Tulsa’s district attorney even warned that passing Loveless’ civil forfeiture bill would lead to headless bodies swinging from bridges.
Because of the steep opposition from law enforcement, Loveless’ bill died in the state Senate Judiciary Committee.
“If we have to balance public safety and constitutional protections, then I think law enforcement should err on the side of the Constitution instead of taking an innocent person’s stuff,” Loveless said. “The thing in my mind is the Constitution has worked for us for 200-plus years. We need to strengthen those provisions because the scale is being dramatically tipped.”
‘What Is So Special About Oklahoma?’
Following the end of Oklahoma’s legislative session in May, the debate over civil forfeiture in the state began to quiet, despite Loveless’ vows to continue his fight next year.
But earlier this month, Oklahoma Watch, a nonprofit in the state, discovered the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety purchased ERAD card readers—devices that make it easier for police to seize money stored on prepaid debit cards and gift cards during traffic stops.
Officers with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, as well as those on a joint law enforcement drug interdiction team under the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office have the card readers. Oklahoma City police officers who are part of the drug interdiction team also use the ERAD machines.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol did not return The Daily Signal’s request for comment.
The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety is paying a $5,000 implementation charge and a $1,500 training charge for the card readers to the ERAD Group, according to Oklahoma Watch.
ERAD Group, which manufactures the devices, is to receive 7.7 percent of all funds forfeited with the ERAD machines, according to its contract with the Department of Public Safety.
In addition to notifying law enforcement of the balance of prepaid debit and gift cards, ERAD card readers can also provide officers with information about any card that has a magnetic strip, which includes hotel keys, bank debit cards, and credit cards.
Lt. John Vincent, public information officer for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, told Oklahoma Watch the machines are helping law enforcement catch up to drug traffickers, who have been loading money onto prepaid cards instead of carrying cash, and combat identity theft.
“If someone has 300 cards taped up and hidden inside the dash of a vehicle, we’re going to check that,” Vincent said. “But if the person has proof that it belongs to him for legitimate reasons, there’s nothing going to happen. We won’t seize it.”
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol obtained 16 ERAD card readers, and they were installed in May. Vincent stressed that the machines won’t be used to swipe people’s gift or prepaid cards unless the officer believes there is illegal activity going on.
Despite Vincent’s reassurances, news that the state purchased ERAD devices angered civil forfeiture opponents and has reignited debate in the Sooner State.
“This has nothing to do with public safety and has everything to do with policing for profit and making it easier to take people’s money,” Diane Goldstein, retired lieutenant with the Redondo Beach Police Department in California, told The Daily Signal. “The state of Oklahoma at this point cannot be trusted.”
Goldstein, a member of the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, said she wouldn’t be surprised to see college students wrongly caught in the forfeiture machine because of the devices, particularly those traveling back to school with gift cards and prepaid debit cards.
“Cases [where you find 300 prepaid cards] are the exception,” she said. “The rest of it is going to be the college student, people who can’t afford access to banks. Think about when you’re living at or below the poverty level. Prepaid cards are easier.”
Matt Miller, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, said more employers are moving toward paying workers on prepaid cards, which then effectively become that person’s bank account.
“When that happens, you can’t seize that cash because it’s in a bank account,” he told The Daily Signal. “Now you have this device that can access someone’s bank account with no warrant and no probable cause.”
Miller stressed that someone who had their money seized or frozen by these ERAD card readers now has to learn the complex civil forfeiture process, hire a lawyer, and mount a lengthy and expensive legal battle to prove their assets aren’t connected to criminal activity.
“As cash has become less common, police have to find new ways to get the money,” he continued. “It raises concerns because you have a private company working with the government and profiting off of it. It sounds like a red-light camera.”
Loveless, who attempted to overhaul the state’s forfeiture system earlier this year, called the use of the ERAD machines a “slap in the face” to Oklahomans.
“It’s even more troubling because we were told and they still say today that the presence of a large sum of cash is the thing that tips the scale—that no law-abiding citizen would have $50,000 in cash,” he said. “Here, they don’t have to have the cash. It’s basically taking the same law and putting it on steroids.”
Since it became public knowledge that the state had purchased and installed ERAD card readers, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety temporarily suspended their use until its commissioner, Michael Thompson, can attend training on the devices.
Additionally, Loveless is asking Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, to intervene.
“They’re putting the burden on the individual versus the government proving it’s guilty before they take it,” he said. “Whether it’s cash or a card reader, the principle is the same. It’s the government should not be able to take your stuff without an arrest warrant, trial, and conviction.”
Though Loveless’ efforts to change his state’s civil forfeiture laws were defeated last year, he will continue pushing the state to make it more difficult for police to take property from innocent people. Loveless said he will be collaborating with law enforcement in the coming months in search of compromise and hopes to see Oklahoma joins the ranks of states who have further protected the rights of their residents.
“In Michigan, Florida, and other states, law enforcement is on board,” he said. “I want to use those models and say, ‘Why can’t we do what they’ve done? Why can’t we have that? What is so special about Oklahoma?’” (For more from the author of “One State Is Making It Easier for Government to Take Property” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/1024px-Oklahoma_State_Capitol.jpg7681024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-06-15 21:45:512016-06-16 17:58:49One State Is Making It Easier for Government to Take Property
Following the nation’s worst mass shooting incident and its worst terrorist attack since 9/11, President Obama has yet to contact Florida Gov. Rick Scott over the tragedy and coordinate on matters of security.
Instead, the administration opted to contact Scott via a White House staffer, which seems to be a break from traditional White House protocol in the wake of state disasters.
Gov. Scott confirmed this in a Fox News interview with Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday, followed by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who expressed her frustration.
“This isn’t about politics right now. This is about Americans,” said Bondi. “I believe he should have reached out to the governor of the state of Florida, and he hasn’t.”
Asked whether she was disappointed in Obama’s decision not to contact state officials, Bondi replied, “Of course we are.”
Both Bondi and Scott have endorsed Donald Trump for president, which may, in part, explain why the president has opted not to reach out.
Whatever the reason, the governor said he was “fed up” with the administration’s attitude, citing federal failure to share intelligence information, specifically as it pertains to terrorism suspects.
“I’m responsible for the security of the people in my state,” said Scott. “I’m fed up with the fact that we’re not destroying ISIS, we’re not vetting these people, and we’re not taking care of our own citizens.”
“What about our security, right?” asked Scott.
Picking up the slack, former president George W. Bush decided to contact Scott directly over the tragedy and offer his condolences.
“He said he and Laura are praying for us and anything he could do, he would love to be helpful,” Scott said.
Trump also reached out to Scott asking how he was doing and offering the governor his prayers. (For more from the author of “Obama yet to Contact Florida Governor in Wake of Orlando Terrorist Attack” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/maxresdefault-139.jpg10801920Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-06-15 21:38:102016-06-15 21:38:10Obama yet to Contact Florida Governor in Wake of Orlando Terrorist Attack
CNN is reporting a possible new deal on gun control legislation may be in the works between members of GOP leadership and Democrats.
Specifically, Senators Dianne Feinstein and John Cornyn may be the driving force behind the legislation, which would seek to suspend Second Amendment rights for those on government watch lists.
“According to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the legislation would allow the attorney general to block individuals suspected of having terrorist ties from buying a gun. The legislation also includes an appeals process for those individuals who may argue they were wrongly targeted,” read a report from Talking Points Memo.
“Our priority this week should be this terrorist gap measure because it is linked so directly to the issue of terrorism and extremist violence in this nation and abroad,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
The renewed call to suspend the rights of those on government watch lists comes after it was revealed that Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, who carried out the deadliest terrorist attack since 9/11, was on such a list.
Ironically, Mateen was interviewed twice by the FBI and subsequently removed from the list after he was cleared of suspicion.
Opponents of this sort of legislation point out it would be a violation of the Constitution to suspend rights without due process and a fair trail, adding that the real issue is a politically correct culture, which prevents intelligence officers from doing their jobs properly.
Furthermore, there are concerns that such lists could be used to target and punish political rivals, specifically veterans and conservatives, as the administration has expressed contempt for these groups in the past.
According to a widely criticized security assessment by the Department of Homeland Security, conservatives, and even returning veterans, are susceptible to extremism and therefore should be watched.
“Let me be very clear — we monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. “We don’t have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence.” (For more from the author of “In the Wake of Orlando, New Gun Control Legislation May Be on the Horizon” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Houston_Gun_Show_at_the_George_R._Brown_Convention_Center-2.jpg22473356Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-06-15 21:33:132016-06-15 21:33:13In the Wake of Orlando, New Gun Control Legislation May Be on the Horizon
MIT researchers Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu recently made history when they successfully implanted a false memory into the mind of a mouse. The proof was a simple reaction from the rodent, but the implications are vast. They placed the furry little creature inside a metal box, and it froze, displaying a distinct fear response. The mouse was reacting as if it had received an electrical shock there, when it hadn’t at all.
What makes it more riveting is that their success was considered a long-shot. The hypothesis was that not only could they identify those neurons associated with encoding memory, but could essentially rewrite one. Experts say that this an impressive feat which helps uncover more of the mystery of how memory operates. Though neuroscientists have considered such a possibility for years, they never thought this kind of experiment could actually work.
This breakthrough was possible due to research out of Oxford which discovered exactly how short-term memories are transferred into long term memory. But the MIT researchers took it into an entirely new direction. Memories are actually stored in not one area, but certain groups of neurons known as engrams. Ramirez and Liu came together in 2010 and designed a new method for exploring live brains, to identify specific engrams. The neuroscientists used a newly minted technique called optogenetics, which employs lasers to stimulate genetically engineered cells designed to react to them. (Read more from “Scientists Have Discovered How to Implant False Memories” HERE)
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As federal investigators continue piecing together the events leading up to the nation’s deadliest mass shooting, one name continues to surface as a possible accessory to the heinous crime.
While the FBI has identified 29-year-old Omar Mateen, killed by the police at the scene, as the man who opened fire in an Orlando gay night club early Sunday morning, agents believe his wife might be the key to learning more about his motives.
According to developing reports Tuesday, Noor Salman has cooperated with authorities thus far in their investigation into her husband’s actions. Some of what she has revealed, however, has led agents to believe she might have had advanced notice of Mateen’s murderous plans.
Noor Zahi Salman, #Orlando perpetrator's wife under investigation for collaborating on the attack, is a Californian of Palestinian descent.
Such knowledge, if confirmed, could result in scores of accessory charges against her. Reports indicate the chances are high that she will be arrested in connection with the shooting that left 49 dead and dozens more injured.
Fox News cited multiple sources who confirmed Salman revealed during an interview with investigators that Mateen told her he intended to commit an act of violence. Furthermore, the gunman might have called his wife from Pulse — the nightclub he targeted — during the rampage.
Salman, with whom Mateen reportedly had a 3-year-old son, also reportedly revealed that she joined her husband when he purchased firearms shortly before the shooting.
NBC NEWS: Wife of Orlando shooter, Noor Salman, was with Mateen when he went to buy ammunition and a holster prior to the attack sources say
As Western Journalism previously reported, Salman is believed to have driven Mateen to Pulse before the shooting as he scouted potential locations for the attack. (For more from the author of “Sources Say Major Arrest Likely in Connection to Orlando Shooting” please click HERE)
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While it does not take much effort to find a Hollywood star or popular singer complain about Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms, there are plenty of celebrities who proudly pack heat and work to ensure that freedom is preserved for future generations. Below are a few that surprised us the most.
James Earl Jones
Renowned screen and voice actor James Earl Jones has been an advocate for gun rights and, at least at the time of his 2004 autobiography, was a card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association.
He made it clear, however, that his support of the Second Amendment does not make him an ideologue.
“When it comes to the right-wing politics of the NRA,” he said, “I don’t get into that. I just believe in my right to have a gun in my house.”
Johnny Depp
The star of popular films including Edward Scissorhands and the Pirates of the Caribbean series is also a fan of the shooting sports.
In a 2009 interview, Johnny Depp recalled fondly firing a variety of guns as a youth.
“We would just go out and line up a bunch of cans and shoot with rifles, handguns and at times, submachine guns,” he said. “When I was a kid it was a controlled atmosphere, we weren’t shooting at humans; we were shooting at cans and bottles mostly.”
He affirmed the experience is one he wants to share with his own children.
“I will most certainly take my kids out for target practice,” he said.
Kurt Russell
Shortly after the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., actor Kurt Russell explained why he believes efforts to disarm Americans is foolish.
“Now is not a good time to lay down your weapons,” he opined. “How will you protect yourself?”
The self-described “hardcore” libertarian went on to assert that gun control is an inherently flawed concept.
Referring to a previous dust-up he and an anti-gun reporter engaged in just prior to the interview, Russell said: “I just didn’t get where he was going saying that gun control was a magic wand of fixing the situation with terrorism. That isn’t going to stop them from what they want to do.”
Ice-T
Though it might not be shocking to hear a gangsta rapper speak fondly of his firearms, Ice-T has expressed some thought-provoking insight on a topic he thinks should be important to all Americans.
The rapper-turned-actor said in an interview with British media that he believes the nation’s founders included the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights for a very specific reason.
“The right to bear arms is because that’s the last form of defense against tyranny,” he said. “– not to hunt. It’s to protect yourself from the police.”
Kid Rock
Eclectic entertainer Kid Rock is outspoken on a number of controversial topics — not the least of which is his stance on guns.
“I’m always buying more guns,” the Republican rocker announced in a 2015 interview with The Guardian.
Referring to his ever-widening collection, he said that he currently has “everything from a Civil War cannon to an MP5 machine gun and old police guns.”
Vince Vaughn
Echoing Ice-T’s assessment of the Second Amendment, comedic actor Vince Vaughn revealed in a 2015 interview with GQ that he is in favor of unfettered access to guns as provided in the Bill of Rights.
“We don’t have the right to bear arms because of burglars,” he insisted. “We have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government. It’s not about duck hunting; it’s about the ability of the individual.”
Taking his point further, Vaughn noted that most of the nation’s most deadly shootings had one thing in common.
“They’ve only happened in places that don’t allow guns,” he said. “These people are sick in the head and are going to kill innocent people.” (For more from the author of “Here Are the Celebrities — Including More Than a Few Liberals — Who Aren’t Ashamed to Pack Heat” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/TKB-464_and_TKB-015_machine_guns_at_Tula_State_Museum_of_Weapons_01.jpg15002250Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-06-15 02:16:572016-06-19 02:01:01Here Are the Celebrities — Including More Than a Few Liberals — Who Aren’t Ashamed to Pack Heat
