A year ago, metro Phoenix was in national headlines for another immigration-related reason: the spate of home-invasion kidnappings that led to the Valley’s unfortunate title of top U.S. city for such crimes.
Coverage of the disturbing trend was widespread, eventually grabbing the attention of federal officials in Washington, D.C.
To combat the problem, administrators with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives authorized a unique “reverse sting” operation, the likes of which had never been tried in Arizona.
It was a gamble. The plan tested the extent to which federal agents could lure criminals into a sting without illegally entrapping them. Nobody could be sure then what the outcome would be of their legal theories.
Today, the verdicts are largely in. The feds consider their gambit a resounding success, and Arizona is likely to see more in the future.
Archive for the 'Crime' Category
Jay Tea @ Wizbang:
Allie Bautsch (spelling corrected), a fundraiser for New Orleans governor Bobby Jindal, and her boyfriend, Joe Brown, attended a high-profile GOP fundraiser in New Orleans last Friday.The event was also attended by some very boisterous protesters who had used some rather inflammatory rhetoric to get people to attend.
After leaving the event, Bautsch and Brown walked two blocks away from the restaurant.
The two were savagely beaten, and ended up in the hospital. Bautsch has a broken leg; Brown was treated for a broken nose, a broken jaw, and a concussion.
Thought I’d post the opening and link to this story because it has a mysterious element that required deep burial in the legacy media.
Former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford was sentenced Friday to 15 years in federal prison for taking some $235,000 in bribes in return for lucrative bond work.
U.S. District Judge Scott Coogler imposed the sentence on Langford, 63, who told the court, “I am sorry all this has occurred.”
The judge also ordered him to pay more than $360,000 in forfeitures and back federal taxes. He said Langford must report to federal custody by April 5.
Langford, a dapper political figure, was convicted in October of taking some $235,000 in cash, loans and gifts — including expensive clothes and jewelry — while he was president of the Jefferson County Commission. In exchange, prosecutors said, he steered county bond work to an investment banker who paid the bribes.
“He sold Jefferson County out,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney George Martin.
He said Langford committed a “gross abuse of trust” with every Italian suit, Rolex watch and cash payment he received.
The defense claimed these were personal gifts and loans from friends and did not influence Langford’s decision on the bond work.
OK, OK, I won’t keep you in suspense much longer but before I unravel the mystery by actually naming Langford’s political party I should point out that he didn’t act alone. An investment banker, Bill Blount, pleaded guilty to making the payments, and a lobbyist, Al LaPierre, admitted to being the middleman. They were given 4 years each and fined $1 million and $470,000 respectively.
BTW: They are all Democrats.
Consider this:
“In the face of a White House denial, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak stuck to his story this week that the Obama administration offered him a “high-ranking” government post if he would not run against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary.” — Philadelphia Inquirer, February 19, 2010
As well as this:
In August of 2009, the Denver Post reported last September, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina “offered specific suggestions” for a job in the Obama Administration to Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff, a former state House Speaker, if Romanoff would agree to abandon a nomination challenge to U.S. Senator Michael Bennett. Bennett was appointed to the seat upon the resignation of then-Senator Ken Salazar after Salazar was appointed by Obama to serve as Secretary of the Interior. According to the Post, the specific job mentioned was in the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Post cited “several sources who described the communication to The Denver Post.”
And also this:
“Whoever solicits or receives … any … thing of value, in consideration of the promise of support or use of influence in obtaining for any person any appointive office or place under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.” — 18 USC Sec. 211 — Bribery, Graft and Conflicts of Interest: Acceptance or solicitation to obtain appointive public office.
Question: When will U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder file cases for “Bribery, Graft and Conflicts of Interest?” Does Holder need more proof than the evidence offered by Democrats Sestak and Romanoff?
Or will these cases receive the same “File 13″ treatment Holder gave the case of Black Panthers intimidating voters in Election 2008?
h/t: Sweetness & Light
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From over the transom…
Demands, Kidnapper & Chinese Negotiators
On left, negotiators assess situation.
Head negotiator dispatched.
Negotiator makes his point…
Negotiations concluded.
Negotiators can go home.
They probably spent $0.35 cents.
- In our country, we would shut the street down for 48 hours.
- Take 12 hours to talk him out of it.
- Spend $5 million giving him a fair trial.
- And pay his food and lodging for life.
No wonder their products are cheaper than ours!
Received via chain email.
If its yours and you want credit, let me know. F.L.
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Jane Jamison @ American Thinker:
Mike Huckabee should never hold an executive public office again. His self-absorbed behavior in the past forty-eight hours shows he believes his personal political aspirations are more important than a respectful mourning period for four police officers. The cops are dead in major part due to a decision Huckabee made nine years ago. Continued….
On Feb. 10, 2008 Paul Mirengoff @ Power Line wrote:
Huckabee apparently does not count as blemishes a net tax increase of half a billion dollars, college scholarships for illegal aliens, mass clemency, and a series of Carteresque foreign policy pronouncements, including advocacy of an end to the economic boycott of Cuba. [Emphasis added]
Earlier I had written about Huckabee’s mass clemency and reported that his private colloquies with Jesus had resulted in the release of more than 900 criminals. On December 18th, 2007, I posted a correction to the under-count of 900 because an Associated Press report said Huckabee had issued 1,033 pardons and commutations during his more than 10 years as Arkansas governor.
I also said in one of the linked post:
The last thing we need is somebody ensconced in the Oval Office having private chit-chats with the big “J”. We need somebody there that will devote lots of time to reading the Constitution and supporting our Border Patrol.
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This is Maurice Clemmons, sought by the police of Washington state, for possible involvement in the ambush/ assassination of 4 police officers Sunday morning in Tacoma. Reading Clemmons’ recent and not so recent criminal history makes any sensible person ask, “What is this animal doing out on the street?” The short answer is, “You just can’t lock up crazy and dangerous people any longer.” The longer answer, in fewer words, is “We don’t have the guts to jail the nuts.”
[...]
Clemmons was given a 60-year sentence in Arkansas while “he was already serving 48 years on five felony convictions and facing up to 95 more years on charges of robbery, theft of property and possessing a handgun on school property. Records from Clemmons’ sentencing described him as 5-foot-7 and 108 pounds. The crimes were committed when he was 17. Clemmons served 11 years before being released.”
His sentence was commuted due to the “mercy” of then governor Mike Huckabee who cited his tender years at the time his crimes were committed [emphasis added]. Should Clemmons turn out to be responsible for the killings of the four police officers, I’d say Mike Huckabee should hang up his further political aspirations in America for good. This would be Huckabee’s Willie Horton moment only several orders of magnitude larger.
h/t: Morgan Freeberg
UPDATE
Lone Seattle policeman shoots, kills suspect in ambush of 4 officers at suburban coffee shop
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ALIPAC Calls for Panel Investigation of Mayhem at UNC
In response to UNC Professor Paul Cuadros’s political attack piece, which ran in last Sunday’s paper titled “America’s tug of war”, I would point out that Cuadros’s printed comments exemplify much of what is wrong in both the immigration debates and the national scandal that recently tarnished the image of both UNC and the state of North Carolina.
First, Paul Cuadros engages in the same tactics used by the illegal alien supporters at UNC by launching personal attacks at those he disagrees with politically and by trying to suppress free speech through sheer ruthlessness and false information.
It is entirely inappropriate for anyone to launch personal attacks as those lobbied against me and Ron Woodard. Accusing Ron of wearing an undertaker’s suit and claiming that UNC instructors were embarrassed that both of us ever attended UNC as students.
Cuadros tries to distract from and degrade the debate by criticizing menswear and speaking on behalf of the University to condemn prior students because of their political opinions. If that is the way he acts towards past students who are now adults, can you imagine the kind of political pressure he and other professors like him exert on the young active UNC student population?
While I applaud Chancellor Holden Thorp’s announcement that investigations will be launched to seek appropriate disciplinary measures against the students at UNC who resorted to the mob rule tactics of violence and destruction to suppress free speech during the Tancredo event [also see video], today I am asking him to widen the investigation. The taxpayers of North Carolina deserve an investigation into the professors who were involved with the attacks on the Tancredo event because they were present in the crowd and obviously involved with helping organize and plan what happened. Bold in original
Aside from Cuadros’s personal attacks and unprofessional behavior making political statements from his position as a state employee and UNC professor, he completely misrepresents what happened at UNC Chapel Hill on April 15.
This conflict was not a “tug of war” between extremes with illegal alien students caught in the middle. This is a conflict between illegal aliens and their extremist supporters and the vast majority of America’s legal citizens.
Congressman Tom Tancredo’s views on illegal immigration, my views, and the views of Ron Woodard of NC Listen are reflective of the popular view. We want our borders secured, immigration laws enforced, local police enforcing immigration laws, and no amnesty or in-state tuition for illegal aliens. Each of these positions are supported by a huge majority of NC voters according to numerous state and national polls.
On the other side of the “tug of war” were radical professors like Cuadros and the fringe student groups like Students for a Democratic Society who were unleashed on the Tancredo event. Cuadros and crew support amnesty for illegal aliens and taxpayer benefits such as in-state tuition for illegals.
While I fervently disagree with Mr. Cuadros’s political positions, which are supported by only a small minority of North Carolina’s voters, I will not lower the debate by matching his personal attacks.
I will simply point out that the conflict on illegal immigration is between the vast majority of our tax paying citizens and radical elements, supported by Cuardros, who constantly resorts to lies and personal attacks that can manifest into violence as we saw at UNC on April 15 and the arrests that happened during Congressman Goode’s speech on April 22.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill needs to investigate the role of Cuardros and other professors in the violence that occurred on campus, which heavily tarnished UNC’s national image. Suspected involvement in planning the fiasco, his public attacks on former students for their political views, his misstatement of facts and personal attacks suggest that he should stop speaking on behalf of the University in public and should be considered for termination from his post. Bold in original
Generations of my family have paid to build and sustain UNC and as a prior student I do not appreciate his unethical actions.
Paul Cuadros’s behavior is inappropriate for any state employee especially someone who is an authority figure, role model, and educator for our young college students at UNC who have obviously been misinformed and incited to violence by powerful political forces on the campus of UNC. Bold in original
We need a blue ribbon commission established to determine which individuals and groups are spreading disinformation on the campus of UNC that members of Congress or anyone opposed to taxpayer benefits for illegal aliens is a “white supremacist”. We need immediate action to determine those responsible for creating a climate of hatred and intolerance that incites students to use violence and require arrest trying to silence the free speech of Americans that are against illegal immigration. The investigation should begin with a review of Mr. Paul Cuadros and his associates. Bold in original
William Gheen
President,
Americans for Legal Immigration PAC
Post Office Box 30966,
Raleigh, NC 27622-0966
Tel: (919) 787-6009
Toll Free: (866) 703-0864
FEC ID: C00405878~~~~~
In Response to America’s tug of war by UNC Professor Paul Cuadros
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While we slumber:
4/21/2009 — Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) have quietly re-introduced the federal thought crimes bill, H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. As has proved to be true in both Europe and Canada, this Orwellian piece of legislation is the direct precursor to freedom killing and speech chilling “hate speech” laws. It represents a thinly veiled effort to ultimately silence – under penalty of law – morally, medically and biblically based opposition to the homosexual lifestyle. The bill is expected to be marked up Wednesday before the full House Judiciary Committee.
And…
4/23/09 — Republican opponents of the controversial “hate crimes” legislation that passed the House Judiciary Committee today claim Democratic supporters of the measure are not being clear about who exactly will receive special protections under the bill.
By a 15-12 vote, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1913) was reported out of the House Judiciary Committee, paving the way for a vote in the full House next Wednesday. The bill would add gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability to the list of protected categories under federal hate crimes law.
[...]
King offered an amendment that would have barred pedophiles from receiving special protection under the hate crimes bill. The amendment was defeated on a party-line vote 13-10. Congresswoman Baldwin [an openly lesbian Congresswoman] said that amendment was “unnecessary and inflammatory.” [Bold added]
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