Alaska Town’s Entire Police Force Quits

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The entire police force of Sand Point, Alaska quit in July in a matter of just three weeks, leaving the town without any authoritative presence, and the transition has been smooth without any type of state enforcement agent.

Sand Point, an Alaskan island town with a population of about 1,000, had a police force of three officers and a police chief mid-July.

That’s when the officers, two of whom were a married couple, began to quit one after the other and then finally the police chief himself resigned.

City Administrator Andrew Varner said that the first officer wanted to be closer to a spouse who is in the military. A week later, two more officers, a married couple, left because of a “family decision.”

That left Sand Point police chief, Roger Bacon, who then decided to take a long-planned month-long vacation to Scotland. This decision cost him his job as a “mutual understanding” was reached between Bacon and the city council that if he left he wouldn’t be returning to his post.

“There was sort of a mutual understanding that if he left to go for a month-long journey — leaving the community with no law enforcement — that if he came back, he would not be an employee of the city,” Varner said. “Within a day or two, he had turned in his resignation.”

On July 20, the city of Sand Point released a press release calling for calm, stating that while the police department was “in transition,” citizens should “rest assured that the community will not be in a lawless state.”

Since the departure of the police force, the town has been calm. No more arrests and charges for fishing without a license, speeding down a public road or any of the other outrageous things that police across the nation try to enforce in the name of the state against the private individual citizen.

There was no Purge–like behavior, people weren’t killing each other without the police as is depicted in movies as propaganda for justifying the need for authoritative structure.

“Sand Point did not devolve into mass lawlessness,” Varner said.

“It’s not like the movie ‘The Purge,’ “in which all criminal activity becomes legal for a 12-hour period,” Alaskan State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters.

“Everyone was busy fishing, which was great,” Austin Roof, the general manager of the local public radio station KSDP 830 AM said.

Unfortunately, the paradise of not being harassed by state storm troopers won’t last long for the citizens of Sand Point.

The town has since chosen a new interim police chief, Hal Henning, the former police chief of Seldovia, Varner said.

Additionally, Sand Point will be further patrolled by Alaska State Troopers until they rebuild their armada. (For more from the author of “Alaska Town’s Entire Police Force Quits” please click HERE)

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Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Wray as New FBI Director

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In an usual display of bipartisanship, the Senate easily confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick for the next FBI director.

The final tally was 92-5 in favor of Christopher Wray to head the bureau.

Wray replaces James Comey, who Trump fired in May.

Judiciary Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, expressed confidence that Wray would protect the integrity of the investigation of possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“Mr. Wray was asked directly what he would do if presented with the opportunity to influence these investigations in any way. He told the committee that he won’t condone tampering with investigations, and that he would resign rather than be unduly influenced in any manner,” Grassley said. “Mr. Wray’s record of service, and his reputation, give us no reason to doubt him.”

Last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to approve Wray’s appointment, demonstrating the confidence senators had in his ability to lead the bureau in a fair manner.

Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, believes Wray will be “tested” by the Trump administration.

“One early test may come in relation to the investigations being conducted by Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller, this committee and other committees in Congress,” she said.

The five Democrat senators who voted against Wray were Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley or Oregon and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared happy to put one in the win column following last week’s failure of the Obamacare repeal to pass by one vote.

McConnell also chided Democrats for the slow pace of confirming Trump’s other appointments:

By this point in the Obama presidency only 41 top posts remained open compared to Trump’s 114. According to the New York Times, part of the blame lies with Trump, who has been slower than Obama in announcing his picks.

Wray has been in private law practice since 2005.

Prior to that, he served as assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division at the Justice Department during the administration of President George W. Bush. (For more from the author of “Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Wray as New FBI Director” please click HERE)

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Huckabee Calls for Repeal of 17th Amendment

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on Friday called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment and the return to senators selected by state legislatures after the Senate GOP’s effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare died in a late-night vote.

The 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913 and established the popular election of senators. Previously, senators were elected by state legislatures.

The Senate’s “skinny repeal” of ObamaCare failed late Thursday night by a vote of 51-49. The bill would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act, including the individual mandate and would have defunded Planned Parenthood. The vote failed after three Republican senators, John McCain (Ariz.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), defected and voted against the bill.

“We must now return to the correct way of legislating and send the bill back to committee, hold hearings, receive input from both sides of the aisle, heed the recommendations of nation’s governors, and produce a bill that finally delivers affordable health care for the American people,” McCain said in a statement after the vote. (Read more from “Huckabee Calls for Repeal of 17th Amendment” HERE)

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Former Obama Aide Now a Person of Interest in Unmasking Investigation

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Former Obama White House National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes is now an emerging as a person of interest in the House Intelligence Committee’s unmasking investigation, according to a letter sent Tuesday by the committee to the National Security Agency (NSA). This adds Rhodes to the growing list of top Obama government officials who may have improperly unmasked Americans in communications intercepted overseas by the NSA, Circa has confirmed.

The House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-CA, sent the letter to the National Security Agency requesting the number of unmaskings made by Rhodes from Jan. 1, 2016 to Jan. 20, 2017, according to congressional sources who spoke with Circa. Rhodes, who worked closely with former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and was a former deputy national security adviser for strategic communications for President Obama, became a focus of the committee during its review of classified information to assess whether laws were broken regarding NSA intercepted communications of President Trump, members of his administration and other Americans before and after the election, according to congressional officials. The committee is requesting that the NSA deliver the information on Rhodes by August, 21.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, Rice and former CIA Director John Brennan have all been named in the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the unmasking of Americans. A letter sent last week from Nunes to Dan Coats, the director of National Intelligence, suggested that top Obama aides made hundreds of unmasking requests during the 2016 presidential elections. The story, which was first reported by The Hill last week, stated that the requests were made without specific justifications as to why the unmasking was necessary. Rice and Brennan have confirmed they sought the unredacted names of Americans in NSA-sourced intelligence reports but insisted their requests were routine parts of their work and had no nefarious intentions. Power also has legal authority to unmask officials, though the practice has not reportedly been common for someone in her position. Rhodes also had legal authority to unmask Americans in NSA-source intelligence reports. But intelligence and congressional sources question the extent of the unmasking. (Read more from “Former Obama Aide Now a Person of Interest in Unmasking Investigation” HERE)

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California Man Pleads Guilty to Killing 5-Year-Old Son After Disneyland Trip

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A Southern California father pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder in the death of his 5-year-old son, whose body was found last month after a search lasting 70 days.

Aramazd Andressian Sr., 35, faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 23 for the killing of Aramazd Andressian Jr. Prosecutors contend the elder Andressian killed his son to get back at his estranged wife, Ana Estevez.

Andressian’s attorney, Ambrosio Rodriguez, said his client entered the guilty plea to avoid the death penalty. Rodriguez said his client confessed to killing his son and told detectives where to find the boy’s body, but would not say how or why he did it.

Andressian acted alone and his family is “as devastated as everyone else,” Rodriguez said outside Los Angeles County Superior Court in suburban Alhambra.

Rodriguez declined to comment on the theory that Andressian wanted to retaliate against his estranged wife, but said Aramazd Jr.’s death was “not planned.” (Read more from “California Man Pleads Guilty to Killing 5-Year-Old Son After Disneyland Trip” HERE)

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Russia Wasn’t the Only Foreign Country to Target Clinton Campaign Emails

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North Korean hackers attempted to infiltrate the Hillary Clinton campaign’s email systems, according to a report circulated within the campaign last year.

That’s according to an interesting report published by CyberScoop, a cybersecurity website.

According to CyberScoop, North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) attempted to break into Clinton campaign systems by targeting a group of outside advisers working on East Asia policy for the campaign.

Using an attack method known as spearphishing, which attempts to wrangle users’ passwords, the hackers were able to infiltrate the email accounts of outside Clinton campaign advisers who work for an unnamed Washington, D.C. think tank. (Read more from “Russia Wasn’t the Only Foreign Country to Target Clinton Campaign Emails” HERE)

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Dem Senator Refuses to Discuss Constituent Raped by Illegal Alien

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Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden on Tuesday blew off wanting to talk about an elderly constituent in his state who was raped by an illegal immigrant that was previously deported 20 times.

Wyden refused to answer The Daily Caller’s questions about the illegal immigrant accused of raping a 65-year-old woman at her Portland home and assaulting another female in the area. Portland is a sanctuary city.

“We’ll have more to say about that another time. Today is about taxes,” Wyden said, before he veered off to discuss issues pertaining to the Russia investigation.

The man charged with attacking the women on July 24, 31-year-old Sergio Martinez, was released by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office one week before the attacks, according to a letter from Sheriff Mike Reese.

Martinez only served 31 days in the Multnomah County Jail before he was released on July 17. (Read more from “Dem Senator Refuses to Discuss Constituent Raped by Illegal Alien” HERE)

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Panicked NYT Warns Reporters Not to Talk to ‘College Students’

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Deputy Managing Editor for The New York Times Clifford Levy warned reporters and editors in a tweet Tuesday to be on the lookout for someone posing as a “college student” attempting to solicit damaging quotes or information from the paper of record.

Levy tweeted a screenshot of a warning the unidentified impostor was asking for face-to-face interviews in the hopes that someone would slip up and say something disparaging about the staff, or share sensitive information.

“We’re happy for our journalists to engage with readers, students and other members of the public, and we don’t want to discourage that,” the warning read. “But be careful. In these polarized times, make sure you know whom you’re talking to, and be sure to maintain Times standards in any such interactions.” (Read more from “Panicked NYT Warns Reporters Not to Talk to ‘College Students'” HERE)

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Now Western Media Face Wrath of Islamic Blasphemy Laws

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A group of international Islamist organizations led by the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, recently held a two-day conference on countering “Islamophobia” in which it recommends imposing Islamic blasphemy laws on the media worldwide.

Under Islamic law, it is considered a serious offense to criticize Allah, Muhammad or Islam. In countries like Pakistan, a Muslim can take a non-Muslim to court and claim he was “offended” by something that was said, resulting in a trial and jail time, even death, for the non-Muslim.

Christians in Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Sudan and other Muslim-dominated countries with significant Christian minorities have been the targets of brutal persecution, with the blasphemy laws often serving as the catalyst for their incarceration. Christians have been jailed, stoned, beheaded, and even had acid thrown in their faces for violating the blasphemy laws.

But the OIC, which consists of 57 Muslim-majority countries and boasts the largest voting bloc at the United Nations, is not satisfied with its own people living under threat of arrest for offending Islam by something that is said, written or posted on the Internet.

The July 15-16 symposium, held at London’s Central Mosque Trust and Islamic Cultural Center, was attended by lawyers, media leaders, politicians, academics from European universities and diplomats from various embassies. It was titled: “Mechanisms to challenge Islamophobia legally and through the media.”

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U.S. Town Bans Residents From Criticizing Mosque

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A New Jersey township that was sued by Muslims for refusing to approve a massive mosque project is returning to court because of a settlement agreement that restricts speech regarding Islam.

The settlement required the township to hold a public meeting about the mosque project, but it forbade anyone from commenting on “Islam” or “Muslims.”

A key tenet of Shariah, the Muslim law that governs both personal and political life, bans any negative comments about Islam or Muslims.

According to the Thomas More Law Center, which sued the township on behalf of two residents whose home is within 200 feet of the proposed mega-mosque, the settlement with Bernards Township “reads more like an instrument of surrender.”

The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge sued and won a decision in federal court after its mosque proposal was rejected based on traffic and other concerns. (Read more from “U.S. Town Bans Residents From Criticizing Mosque” HERE)

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