Officer Under Investigation After Arresting Children, 6 and 8, Chief Says

A 6-year-old girl was arrested and handcuffed after having a tantrum at an Orlando, Fla., school, her grandmother said.

Meralyn Kirkland with her 6-year-old granddaughter, who was arrested by a school resource officer at a charter school in Orlando, Fla., on Thursday.CreditCreditWKMG-TV News 6

An Orlando, Fla., police officer is under investigation after he arrested two children, ages 6 and 8, in separate episodes at a school on Thursday, the police said.

The officer, Dennis Turner, has been suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation, Orlando Rolón, the police chief, said in a statement.

Officer Turner was working as a school resource officer at a charter school when he arrested the children, Chief Rolón said.

Officer Turner was assigned to the Reserve Officer Program. Details of the program were unavailable, but The Orlando Sentinel reported that it is made up of retired officers from the Orlando Police Department.

Departmental policy requires officers to get a supervisor’s approval when arresting anyone under age 12.

During the arrest of the 8-year-old, the transporting officer was unaware that Officer Turner had failed to get a supervisor’s approval, the chief said.

The child was processed through the Juvenile Assessment Center and released to a relative shortly after, Chief Rolón said.

The gender of the child and what led to the arrest were not disclosed. The police did not release the children’s names.

The officer who transported the 6-year-old to the center verified that Officer Turner had not received approval for the arrest and immediately halted the process. According to Chief Rolón, the child was returned to school before being processed.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/22/us/6-year-old-arrested-orlando-florida.html

Open Blog - Monday

Did somebody hiccup?

Tell It to SunStar: Illegal parking on Osmeña Blvd

Sunstar15 September 2019

By Sheila Librea, Sambag 2, Cebu City

I read what letter-sender Niko Morallo wrote the other day about sidewalk parking in front of the Abellana Police Station at the corner of R.R. Landon St. and Osmeña Blvd. in Cebu City.

I agree with him. The motorcycles that threaten to crowd out the pedestrians, not to mention the occasional patrol cars, should not be allowed, especially since there has been a crackdown on illegal parking nationwide,

But if you go up the sidewalks on either side of the boulevard towards Fuente, illegal parking is everywhere.

One bank located across a hospital deserves special mention. Its clients’ cars take over the entire sidewalk during office hours. If you don’t believe me, why don’t you see for yourself?

From: https://ph.news.yahoo.com/tell-sunstar-illegal-parking-osme-125200124.html

U.S. President Trump at "Howdy Modi": US and India Committed to Countering Threat of Terrorism

Milwaukee County Zoo announces birth of its first-ever red panda cub

This video is over a year old.

Here's what Trump, his advisers, and the US military were talking about striking after Iran shot down a US drone

Ryan Pickrell

4h

President Donald Trump speaks following a meeting on infrastructure at Trump Tower, August 15, 2017 in New York City.

 Drew Angerer/Getty Images

• 
  President Donald Trump recently had to decide how best to respond to alleged Iranian attacks on Saudi oil sites. He opted for tougher sanctions rather than a military strike.
• A few months earlier, the president faced a similar dilemma after Iran shot down a very expensive US drone.
• While the Pentagon, according to The New York Times, argued in favor of a casualty-free strike on an Iranian missile boat that would be evacuated prior to its sinking, Trump's more hawkish advisers called for a strike on Iranian missile and radar sites.
• The president called the strikes off shortly before they were to occur, he revealed later, claiming that the attack would have killed 150 people and would have been disproportionate.

President Donald Trump recently faced a dilemma on how best to respond to act of alleged Iranian aggression against Saudi Arabia's oil facilities. A few months earlier, he struggled with a similar conundrum after Iran shot down a US drone.

In June, amid heightened US-Iran tensions, Iranian forces shot down a US Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS-D) intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft — a roughly $130 million RQ-4A Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) drone.

Hours after the attack on the unmanned aircraft, the president gathered his team to discuss possible responses, The New York Times reported.

The Pentagon reportedly preferred a strike on an Iranian missile boat. The crew would have been ordered to abandon ship and been filmed doing so, and then the US military would have sunk the vessel. The military's plan would have allowed the US to retaliate without inflicting casualties, making it a more proportional response to the downing of a drone.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then-White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, however, called for a strike on Iranian soil. Officials, according to The Times, decided to target three Iranian missile batteries and radar installations.

A "comprehensive list" of targets was put together, but it was determined that only a handful of targets could be hit if the attack was to be carried out quickly.

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/what-us-planned-to-strike-after-iran-downed-us-drone-2019-9

Marijuana Vape Sales Plunge In Massachusetts Amid Mysterious Outbreak

by Tyler Durden

Sun, 09/22/2019 - 13:20

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With the national media alerting the public that vaping could be causing mysterious lung illnesses - which amazingly nobody could predict in advance - hitting the wires over the last month, those who have been vaping marijuana, especially in the state of Massachusetts, have been ditching their vape pens at a fast clip. 

The Boston Globe said weekly sales of oil-filled vaporizer cartridges plunged from a recent peak of $919,776 for the seven days ended Aug. 11 to $689,924 last week.

The 25% drop in sales mostly reflects other sales data from states where cannabis is sold legally.

State and federal authorities have warned the public about a mysterious outbreak of lung ailments from vaping that have killed seven people and sickened more than 530 people in 38 states. 

As of Thursday, the Department of Public Health in Massachusetts said an investigation had been launched into 45 cases of vaping-related illnesses. 

The Globe interviewed pot smoker Horace Small, who is also a member of the state's Cannabis Advisory Board told family and friends to stop vaping pot, and or vaping in general.

"I just completely stopped," Small said.

"I had this vaporizer that got me through [a vacation], but I had enough people who love me say, 'Put the vape down' — so I did. Folks are scared half to death. All my friends are encouraging each other not to vape and just err on the side of caution until there's more knowledge on what the hell is going on."

The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that a criminal probe would be launched into companies that manufacture vaporizers.

"State and federal officials have said they suspect Vitamin E acetate, an additive found in some illicit marijuana vape cartridges, could be one culprit and urged consumers to avoid such products," The Globe said. 

It's not just people vaping pot but also e-cigarette devices that are leading to the mysterious illness. 

Others have said it could be additives in regulated marijuana cartridges, such as propylene glycol, leading to the vape crisis.

Brandon Pollock, chief executive of the marijuana company Theory Wellness, said vape cartridges at his stores in Great Barrington had plunged 20% since the crisis first went viral on social media and mainstream news last month. 

Pollock predicts vaporizer sales will rebound because the public health crisis surrounds black market vape cartridges.

"I'm not surprised there's an initial contraction," he said. "I actually expect an increase in sales as people really exit the black market. I think people right now are just digesting the news — in the long run, this is good for the regulated cannabis industry."

And cancer-care expert Dr. Diana Martins-Welch has told her medical marijuana patients in NYC to immediately quite vaping pot and pick up a joint instead. 

From: https://www.zerohedge.com/health/marijuana-vape-sales-plunge-massachusetts-amid-mysterious-outbreak

Gordon Lightfoot Sundown

US Army Smashes Recruitment Goals By Preying On Hopeless Millennials With Student Debt

by Tyler Durden

Sun, 09/22/2019 - 11:00

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The US Army has finally discovered the secret formula, well not a secret anymore, in attracting snowflake millennials into the Army ahead of a possible shooting war with Iran and or down the road, with China. That is, target millennials who are suffering from the student debt crisis, reported Vice News.

The Army smashed its 2019 recruiting goal, after falling short by 6,500 last year, said the head of Army Recruiting Command Maj. Gen. Frank Muth. He told reporters last week that much of the success was a new marketing strategy geared towards millennials with student debt.

"One of the national crises right now is student loans, so $31,000 is the average," Muth told reporters. "You can get out [of the Army] after four years, 100 percent paid for state college anywhere in the United States."

This year's recruitment push wasn't entirely based on patriotism, but instead, targeted millennials who wanted to escape from their insurmountable student debts.

This is one of the first instances where the Department of Defense (DoD) hasn't used patriotism as a case to urge young adults to join the Army and or any other service.

During the marketing campaign, the Army targeted young adults on social media, as shown in a tweet from Army recruiters in Chicago:

"#PleaseAWomanIn5Words (or man). I'll pay your student loans! #ArmyTeamChicago”

#PleaseAWomanIn5Words (or man). I'll pay your student loans! #ArmyTeamChicago pic.twitter.com/TyI4cUlekE
— Army Chicago (@ArmyChicago) September 16, 2019

According to Vice News, Georgia Parke, a communications director for Bernie Sanders, criticized the new approach, indicating "if we cancel student debt who will fight the endless wars?

hmmm yeah maybe this is why its taking so fucking long to address/fix the student loan debt problem in america. the military has no f u c k i n g business preying on young, poor kids that simply want an education. you shouldnt have to fucking join the army to pay for school. https://t.co/fyp0vfr9sf
— 𝖈𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖊 𝖍𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖊 (@carlieannburton) September 20, 2019

Parke makes a good point considering the next round of wars could be nearing.

America has been locked in endless Middle Eastern wars for the last several decades. There's an increasing chance that a shooting war is brewing between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which would mean the US would protect the House of Saud.

US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said at a news conference Friday that the US is deploying military assets to the Middle East in response to a significant escalation of violence last weekend when Iran attacked a Saudi oil facility with drones and cruise missiles.

Debt Collective co-founder Thomas Gokey warns that the Army's recruiting method of paying off student debt in exchange for enlistment is dangerous.

"Debt is a form of social control," Gokey said. "You can force people to do all kinds of things if you put them in debt first, including waging unjust wars, killing and hurting other people, and risking [their] own life and limbs."

Millennials who are taking the easy way out in joining the Army to pay off student debt could find themselves on a battlefield if war breaks out. 

From: https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/us-army-smashes-recruitment-goals-preying-hopeless-millennials-student-debt

An Open Letter To City of Racine Alderpersons

Dear City of Racine Alderpersons,

A fellow Activist, Ricky Jarstadt posted a link on his Facebook page to my investigative article concerning former Racine County Rich Chiapete – and let me be plain and clear – that current DA Trish Hansen provided cover for Rich and his wife Jennifer, turned a blind eye – and even denied being able to access the arrest report in a debate with her Democrat opponent – Thomas Binger.

I am now asking you to open your minds – put aside your partisan politics and personal interests – conceived notions, and prejudices.

I give you – The Arrest Report of Racine County DA Rich Chiapete: https://arrestrecordsofracinewipublicofficials.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/the-arrest-report-of-racine-county-district-attorney-rich-chiapete/

I have also attached a PDF of that arrest report – obtained personally by me via Open Records request – to this E-mail, so that you may become aware of the facts and be held to account for now you know the truth.

Sometimes people ask me to run for political office – but I don’t want power or control over others. I don’t like large social gatherings because I am shy, introverted, and want to be left alone to enjoy life as I see fit – but everyday, what I read about the happenings in Racine County irritates and frustrates me – because I KNOW that the criminals are in charge – and that includes Racine County DA Trish Hansen.

I may even force my person to come before the Council and speak on Tyrese West and what I feel is the use of excessive force and murder of Tyrese West. Police Officers may be granted limited liability by State Actors – but there is more to the Universe than State Actors or simply mortality – and let me be clear – I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN.

When I was detained by the Racine Police Officer on Mound and 6th. he could not even provide a description of the allegedly stolen bicycle and backup had already been called! If it wasn’t for the fact that in my polite conversation with the Officer – I mentioned that I was related to retired RPD Captain Daniel Elmer – who knows what would have happened.

You people on the Council have a lot of soul searching to do – that is – if you have a soul.

I’m holding you to account for participating in the coverup of the murder of Tyrese West – in the next life. I have observed – and witness against you – a Man of Peace stands tall. A Pisces born to this World in the age of Pisces on 2-24-1963. Enough – is enough.

Sincerely,

Tim & Cindy