Monthly Archives: August 2013

Gangs Remain Key Unaddressed Problem in Gun Debate

"Gun homicides are overwhelmingly tied to gang violence. In fact, a staggering 80% of gun homicides are gang-related. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), gang homicides accounted for roughly 8,900 of 11,100 gun murders in both 2010 and 2011. That means that there were just 2,200 non gang-related firearm murders in both years in a country of over 300 million people and 250 million guns. Cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and New Orleans all have very high per-capita murder rates. Individual police estimates usually find at least 65% and often more than 80% of all murders in those cities are gang-related." Continue reading →

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Harvard Study: No Correlation Between Gun Control and Less Violent Crime

"The authors of the study conclude that the burden of proof rests on those who claim more guns equal more death and violent crime; such proponents should 'at the very least [be able] to show a large number of nations with more guns have more death and that nations that impose stringent gun controls have achieved substantial reductions in criminal violence (or suicide).' But after intense study the authors conclude 'those correlations are not observed when a large number of nations are compared around the world.' In fact, the numbers presented in the Harvard study support the contention that among the nations studied, those with more gun control tend toward higher death rates." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHarvard Study: No Correlation Between Gun Control and Less Violent Crime

Man still “smarting” from police detainment after refusing “smart meter”

"Because this man was the last holdout in this particular Guthrie neighborhood, the Guthrie Police Department sent three officers to the man’s house to protect the OG&E installer, while allegedly detaining the man, echoing a story out of Naperville, Illinois last month where two women were arrested for 'interfering with the installation process.' OK-SAFE, Inc. and Axxiom for Liberty report that the man said he was frisked and handcuffed, and would inexplicably leave no paperwork. This encounter was confirmed by Karen Kurtz, a spokesperson for OG&E. 'We did have police out at that gentleman’s residence,' Kurtz said. 'It wasn’t a show of force at all.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMan still “smarting” from police detainment after refusing “smart meter”

Oklahomans Going It Alone Against Smart Meters?

"Many Oklahomans have been fighting individual, solitary battles against the utility corporations and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to get these unwanted smart meters off of their homes. I believe that there are many more Oklahomans out there suffering or fighting all alone. Whether or not we are personally concerned about the possible privacy, security or health issues that surround smart meters, we all should be concerned if the utility corporations, our elected representatives, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and other public servants of this state are not being properly responsive to those who have serious objections to having a smart meter installed." Continue reading →

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Energy Firm Caught Breaking Into Door to Install Smart Meter

"Smart Meters are a financial coup for Big Energy. This is why we are witnessing - and now catching on film - criminal acts of vandalism, breaking & entering and trespass by energy firms trying to install their next-generation 'cash machines' in the homes of customers. When companies are prepared to treat the properties of their customers with this much contempt, the extent to which sensitive personal data will be cared for is in little doubt." Continue reading →

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Family Farmers Fight Michigan Township For Their Animals

"Kelly Vander Kley Hunter and her family have spent the last three years pouring their time and money into building a small hobby farm in Mattawan, MI. Roughly a three hour drive from Detroit, Mattawan is a rural community that is home to many small farms with many farm animals. Yet Vander Kley Hunter had still checked before purchasing the property to make sure that having animals would be all right, and the township confirmed that farm animals were indeed allowed. But earlier this summer, the Hunters received a letter stating that their farm was no longer in compliance with the township zoning ordinance and that they had 90 days to get rid of more than half of their animals." Continue reading →

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New Orleans Police Officer Jailed for 2012 Drug War Killing

"A New Orleans police officer who gunned down an unarmed 20-year-old man during a 2012 drug raid pleaded guilty to manslaughter last Friday and was led off to begin serving a four-year prison sentence. Joshua Colclough, 29, who resigned from the force the previous day, apologized to the family of his victim, Wendell Allen, before he was led away. Colclough was part of a police team that raided a Gentilly home in March 2012 as part of a marijuana investigation. A shirtless, unarmed Allen appeared at the top of the stairs as Colclough searched the house, and Colclough shot and killed him. Defense attorney Claude Kelly said Colclough made a split-second decision." Continue reading →

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DEA Must Pay $3 Million in 2010 Killing of LA Teen

"A federal judge Tuesday awarded $3 million to the family of an 18-year-old Los Angeles honors student who was gunned down by undercover DEA agents in a parking garage in 2010. But the judge also ruled the officers were not negligent in their actions. Officers claimed that Champommier's vehicle struck a deputy as he attempted to leave the scene. Officers opened fire, killing the 18-year-old honor student and 'band geek.' Both the DEA and the LA County Sheriff's Department said the shooting was justifiable because Champommier had tried to run down an officer." Continue reading →

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Mexican Cartels Not in “Over 1,000 US Cities,” Report Finds

"The refrain that Mexican drug cartels 'now maintain a presence in over 1,000 cities' has been widely heard ever since the claim was first made in a 2011 report by the now defunct National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC). But the Washington Post reported Sunday that it isn't true. The figure is 'misleading at best,' law enforcement sources and drug policy analysts told the Post. The number was arrived by asking law enforcement agencies to self-report and not based on documented criminal cases involving Mexico's drug trafficking organizations, the so-called cartels." Continue reading →

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The NSA and Its “Compliance Problems”

"For ordinary citizens, 'compliance problems' with the law are better known as 'crimes' (or possibly civil wrongs) and these lead to judgment debts, fines, and possibly even jail time, depending on the severity of the lack-of-compliance. But for government officials such notions are irrelevant — legal compliance problems are just something you file a report about, and send to another bureaucrat higher up in the government chain, so that he can bury it on his desk. Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. The notion of the rule of law is the wellspring of an endless stream of hypocrisy in the modern social-democratic welfare-warfare state." Continue reading →

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