Boots & Sabers

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Category: Crime

Border Patrol Keeps Accidentally Shooting Americans

by | 2006, 22 May 23 | , , | 1 Comment

WTF?

Agents from the Ajo Border Patrol Station were involved in the shooting while assisting the Tohono O’odham Nation Police Department, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

 

The FBI and the Tohono O’odham Nation Police Department are investigating the shooting, according to Customs and Border Protection. Tribal chairperson Ned Norris Jr. identified the dead man as Raymond Mattia.

“Our hearts go out to his family and all those impacted during this difficult time,” Norris Jr. said Saturday in a written statement. “As the investigation proceeds, the Nation expects full consideration of all related facts of the incident and an appropriate and expeditious response from relevant public safety agencies.”

 

Mattia was 2 feet from his front door when he was shot approximately 38 times, according to Tucson TV station KVOA. Mattia had called the Border Patrol because he had multiple migrants trespassing in his yard and he wanted help getting them off his property, KVOA reported.

 

The shooting happened in the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, which has the highest number of use-of-force incidents across the agency, with 158 incidents reported so far in fiscal year 2023, according to CBP data.

 

In March, a Border Patrol agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen near Sasabe after a vehicle chase. The shooting was ruled a homicide by the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Leftist criminal justice policies are killing us

by | 1903, 19 May 23 | , | 4 Comments

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News earlier this week. Sorry about the lack of posting this week. It’s been a busy time.

Eight minutes into a routine traffic stop for a suspected drunk driver, the suspect pulled out a gun and killed St. Croix County Sheriff’s Deputy Katie Leising. The 29-year-old new mother was the fourth officer murdered while on duty this year. At only five months into the year, it is already the deadliest year for police officers in 25 years.

 

The circumstances of Deputy Leising’s murder were eerily similar to the other three officers who were murdered this year. The suspect she was investigating was a multiple felon. Convicted for kidnapping and criminal sexual misconduct in 2015 in Minnesota, and with a long criminal record, he served just four years in prison before being released. With a history of violence and perhaps fearing another arrest, the suspect murdered Deputy Leising.

 

In April, Officers Emily Breidenbach and Hunter Scheel of the Chetek and Cameron Police Departments, respectively, confronted a suspect with an open warrant in a traffic stop. The suspect had a history of domestic violence and opened fire on the officers. Both of the officers were killed.

 

In February, Milwaukee Police Officer Peter Jerving was working with other officers to apprehend a robbery suspect. When they caught up to the suspect after a chase on foot, the suspect opened fire and killed officer Jerving. The suspect had a history of criminal behavior. In fact, the very week he killed officer Jerving, he had been sentenced for two counts of hit-and-run. He was sentenced to a scant four months, but the sentence was suspended meaning that he did not have to serve any time unless he violated his probation.

 

What’s going on? The increasing violence against law enforcement officers is a symptom of two sickening societal trends being driven by the political left.

 

The first trend is the intentional softening of our criminal justice system. With callous disregard for the victims of crime, the left has made a concerted effort in recent years to drive soft-on-crime policies while putting in place prosecutors, judges, and police leadership who use their positions to coddle criminals at every opportunity.

 

The left is so proud of their pro-crime positions that they are not shy about telling people. Gov. Tony Evers has a stated policy goal of halving the state’s prison population. The only way to do that is to let some criminals out early while preventing more from going in. Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform, the euphemism liberals use for soft-on-criminal policies. Chisholm’s “bail reform” initiative, which allows violent offenders to bail out of jail for little or no money, has led to criminals committing more crimes when they should have reasonably been in jail.

 

In each of the three incidents that led to the deaths of four officers this year, the murderers should have been in jail. We used to know that locking up violent criminals was the surest path to reducing crime. The left wants us to forget that fact, but the evidence is clear.

 

The second trend is the cultural contempt for police that the left is advocating. Every time there is a police-involved shooting, leftist politicians activists leap to blame the police and attack them with accusations of racism or misconduct before the guns have even cooled.

 

The left pushed the defund-the-police movement using rhetoric that the police were so fundamentally corrupt that they could not be reformed. They must be defunded and disbanded instead.

 

When leftist rioters burn down our cities, attack people, and occupy neighborhoods, leftist politicians and activists side with the rioters and prevent the police from keeping order.

 

Even with our children, the left teaches that police are inherently bad and corrupt. In the wake of the BLM movement, the Milwaukee Public Schools ejected all Milwaukee police officers from their schools and are boisterously rejecting Republican calls to let them return. How are Milwaukee’s public school kids supposed to respect police officers when they are being taught that the police are violent bigots?

 

The overall increase in crime driven by leftist policies, prosecutors and judges coupled with the leftist anti-police rhetoric is having the intended effect. More police officers are being murdered by violent criminals who no longer respect the police and should have been in jail anyway. The story of leftist rule is being written in blue and red.

Leftist criminal justice policies are killing us

by | 0711, 16 May 23 | , , | 4 Comments

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:

The first trend is the intentional softening of our criminal justice system. With callous disregard for the victims of crime, the left has made a concerted effort in recent years to drive soft-on-crime policies while putting in place prosecutors, judges, and police leadership who use their positions to coddle criminals at every opportunity.

 

The left is so proud of their pro-crime positions that they are not shy about telling people. Gov. Tony Evers has a stated policy goal of halving the state’s prison population. The only way to do that is to let some criminals out early while preventing more from going in. Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform, the euphemism liberals use for soft-on-criminal policies. Chisholm’s “bail reform” initiative, which allows violent offenders to bail out of jail for little or no money, has led to criminals committing more crimes when they should have reasonably been in jail.

 

In each of the three incidents that led to the deaths of four officers this year, the murderers should have been in jail. We used to know that locking up violent criminals was the surest path to reducing crime. The left wants us to forget that fact, but the evidence is clear.

 

The second trend is the cultural contempt for police that the left is advocating. Every time there is a policeinvolved shooting, leftist politicians activists leap to blame the police and attack them with accusations of racism or misconduct before the guns have even cooled.

 

The left pushed the defund-the-police movement using rhetoric that the police were so fundamentally corrupt that they could not be reformed. They must be defunded and disbanded instead.

 

When leftist rioters burn down our cities, attack people, and occupy neighborhoods, leftist politicians and activists side with the rioters and prevent the police from keeping order.

 

Even with our children, the left teaches that police are inherently bad and corrupt. In the wake of the BLM movement, the Milwaukee Public Schools ejected all Milwaukee police officers from their schools and are boisterously rejecting Republican calls to let them return. How are Milwaukee’s public school kids supposed to respect police officers when they are being taught that the police are violent bigots?

 

The overall increase in crime driven by leftist policies, prosecutors and judges coupled with the leftist anti-police rhetoric is having the intended effect. More police officers are being murdered by violent criminals who no longer respect the police and should have been in jail anyway. The story of leftist rule is being written in blue and red.

Shocking… FBI is Radically Biased and Unprofessional

by | 2049, 15 May 23 | | 1 Comment

It is more clear than ever that the FBI is corrupt to its core.

In a 306-page report, special counsel John Durham said the agency’s inquiry had lacked “analytical rigor”.

He concluded the FBI had not possessed “actual evidence” of collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia before launching an inquiry.

The FBI said it had addressed the issues highlighted in the report.

 

[…]

 

The report noted significant differences in the way the FBI had handled the Trump investigation when compared with other potentially sensitive inquiries, such as those involving his 2016 electoral rival Hillary Clinton.

 

Mr Durham noted that Mrs Clinton and others had received “defensive briefings” from the FBI aimed at “those who may be the targets of nefarious activities by foreign powers”. Mr Trump had not.

“The Department [of Justice] and the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law,” the report concluded.

Biden Crime Family Unmasked

by | 1140, 10 May 23 | , | 2 Comments

I admit. I was skeptical, but Wow. Always follow the money. This is specific, damning evidence that the Biden family has been engaged in a long-term extortion scheme to sell policy to foreign interests – including some of our most ardent foes. This is treasonous. I don’t use that word lightly. This is not about a policy dispute. This is old-fashioned corruption of selling public policy to foreign interests for personal enrichment.

Republicans are digging in on over $10 million received by Biden family members from foreign actors, including previously undisclosed $1 million in Romanian-linked payments, and a ‘web’ of 20 companies created while President Joe Biden was vice president and pushing anti-corruption efforts abroad.

 

On Wednesday, House Oversight Committee Republicans led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., released a ‘Second Records Memorandum’ that expands on information it received from subpoena returns as the committee continues its investigation into the Biden family’s business practices.

 

The memo specifically outlines the Biden family’s ties to Romanian ‘influence peddling’ and a web of LLCs created while Biden was vice president. It also accuses President Biden for a ‘lack of transparency’ regarding his family’s receipt of funds from China, which he has said are ‘not true.’

 

[…]

 

The Romanian transactions outlined in the bank records released by the committee were from Cypriot – a company controlled by Gabriel Popoviciu, who was at the time under investigation for criminal corruption in Romania and later convicted for bribery-related offenses.

 

Between 2015 and 2017, Robinson Walker, LLC received $3 million from Bladon Enterprises Limited – Popoviciu’s Cypriot company – which was then paid out to Biden family members in a total sum of over $1 million.

 

The first payments were received by the LLC just weeks after then-Vice President Biden hosted Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House and they discussed anti-corruption policies.

 

Biden family accounts gained $1.038 million from Robinson Walker, LLC in a series of 17 deposits, 16 of which were made while Biden was still in the White House. The payments went to associate James Gilliar, Hunter Biden, Hallie Biden, Owasco LLC and an ‘unknown Biden bank account.’

 

‘It appears from bank records the Bidens were using Robinson Walker, LLC to conceal that the source of these payments was Popovici,’ the memo says.

 

According to emails from Hunter’s laptop obtained by DailyMail.com, Popoviciu hired the president’s son in 2016 as part of an influence campaign to persuade anti-corruption prosecutors to cut a deal or drop the case – all while his father was sitting vice president.

NYPD Pilots Flexible Shifts

by | 2046, 3 May 23 | , , | 0 Comments

While I expect these options to be popular with some, I doubt it will stem the exodus. I don’t think most are leaving (or not joining) because of the way shifts are structured.

The flexible schedule comes amid a mass exodus of veteran officers retiring or taking jobs at other departments for better pay and benefits. The department is experiencing high overtime costs as the rest of the force picks up the slack with extra hours.

 

[…]

 

Under the 12-hour shift option, officers work three days on and three days off within the NYPD’s scheduling framework.

 

In the 10-hour option, officers would work 10-hour shifts for four days, followed by two days off.

 

Officers based in the Bronx — in the 45th and 47th precincts and in Transit District 11 and Public Service Area 8, which serves city housing projects in the 43rd, 45th and 47th precincts — are participating in the pilot program. If the program works, the city hopes to expand it.

Oregon to Make it Illegal to Harass Vagabond Campers

by | 1947, 28 Apr 23 | , , | 3 Comments

There was a time when a public space was supposed to be able to be enjoyed by all. In Oregon, you’ll need to feel comfortable dodging mentally ill people and needles to enjoy your public spaces. And don’t complain, because that might cost you. Of course, if you are accosted, that’s on you.

Democrats in the Oregon House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would decriminalize homeless encampments in public places and allow homeless people to sue for $1,000 if harassed or told to leave.

The bill, HB 3501, would allow unhoused people to use public spaces “without discrimination and time limitations” regarding their housing status, the text reads.

“Many persons in Oregon have experienced homelessness as a result of economic hardship, a shortage of safe and affordable housing, the inability to obtain gainful employment and a disintegrating social safety net system,” says the bill, sponsored by Rep. Farrah Chaichi, a Democrat whose district includes Beaverton, and Rep. Khanh Pham, from southeast Portland. “Decriminalization of rest allows local governments to redirect resources from local law enforcement activities to activities that address the root causes of homelessness and poverty.”

 

Biden Cronies Orchestrated Russian Disinformation Campaign Hoax

by | 0809, 21 Apr 23 | , | 2 Comments

The Biden family is as corrupt as any family ever to occupy the Washington swamp.

A retired CIA leader coordinated a letter from former intelligence chiefs claiming that Hunter Biden‘s laptop was Russian disinformation because he wanted to help Joe Biden‘s presidential campaign.

 

Mike Morell told the House Judiciary Committee that he was asked by Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State – who at the time was a senior member of the Biden campaign – to help discredit the laptop reporting.

 

Morell was a former acting CIA director, serving for two months in 2011 and four months from 2012 to 2013. He retired from the CIA in September 2013.

 

[…]

 

Joe Biden used the letter during the October 22 debate against Donald Trump, saying he thought the reporting around his son’s abandoned computer was the work of Russia.

 

Morell was thanked for his work in coordinating the letter, with Steve Ricchetti, chairman of the Biden campaign, telephoning him after the debate to say thank you.

 

He was then said to be in consideration for the role of CIA director – a job that ultimately went to William Burns.

IRS Whistleblower: AG Garland Lied to Congress

by | 2121, 20 Apr 23 | , | 1 Comment

Wow

Attorney General Merrick Garland is the ‘senior’ unnamed Biden administration official in the center of a new bombshell IRS whistleblower claim, a source familiar tells DailMail.com.

 

According to a letter Wednesday from attorney Mark Lytle, a man serving as a supervising agent on a ‘high-profile’ criminal tax probe has come forward seeking whistleblower protections while claiming politics are ‘improperly infecting decisions’ in an investigation.

 

The investigation referred to is reportedly examining matters related to President Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

 

The protected disclosures by the IRS whistleblower ‘contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee,’ the letter stated.

 

DailyMail.com has confirmed that the ‘senior political appointee’ is Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Evers’ Disgraced Parole Commission Director Charged with Felony

by | 2041, 19 Apr 23 | , | 3 Comments

I think 96% or more of these “violence blah blah” positions are just BS do-nothing jobs created to facilitate graft. Tip of the ol’ hat to Dan O’Donnell.

Racine Alderman John Tate II, who was forced last year to resign as Governor Evers’ Parole Commission director, has been charged with a felony for allegedly using his position to approve a new $100,000-per-year job that he himself then took. The Racine County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday filed a charge of Private interest in a Public Contract While Working in a Public Capacity, a Class I felony punishable by a maximum sentence of more than three years in prison.

 

According to a criminal complaint obtained exclusively by “The Dan O’Donnell Show,” Tate used his position as Racine’s Common Council President and member of the Finance and Personnel Committee to approve a grant creating a new city position of Violence Interruption Coordinator. The position, which was described as helping “to facilitate the process of creating a Racine version of a ‘Blueprint for Peace'” and would pay between $78,520.00 and $101,004.80 annually. There were 20 applicants for the position, which was advertised only from September 8-22, and Tate was one of only three to interview for the position.

 

On October 11, Tate accepted a positiion as the City of Madison’s Independent Police Monitor, but two days later the City of Racine offered him the position of Violence Interruption Coordinator. Tate used his new position in Madison as leverage with Racine and negotiated an annual salary of $101,698.05 (more than the advertised salary range for the position), four weeks of paid vacation, and offered an opportunity to take advantage of a $10,000 forgivable home loan program for City of Racine employees.

Chinese Police Enforcers Arrested in Manhattan

by | 2007, 17 Apr 23 | , | 0 Comments

Concerned yet?

US prosecutors have arrested two men in New York for allegedly operating a Chinese “secret police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighbourhood.

Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, both New York City residents, face charges of conspiring to act as agents for China and obstruction of justice.

 

They are expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday.

 

China has previously denied operating the stations, calling them “service centres” for nationals overseas.

Mr Lu of the Bronx and Mr Chen of Manhattan worked together to establish the first overseas police station in the United States on behalf of China’s Ministry of Public Security, the US Department of Justice alleged on Monday.

 

The outpost was closed in autumn of 2022, the department said, after those involved became aware of an FBI investigation into the station.

“This prosecution reveals the Chinese government’s flagrant violation of our nation’s sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City,” said Breon Pearce, the top prosecutor in Brooklyn.

 

[…]

 

According to prosecutors, Mr Lu was closely connected to Chinese law enforcement, and was enlisted to help China with “repressive activities” in the US beginning in 2015, including harassing Chinese dissidents.

 

In 2018, he allegedly participated in efforts to push a purported Chinese fugitive to return to China, including repeated harassment and threats to the individual and his family, living in China and the US. And prosecutors said he was also enlisted to locate a pro-democracy activist in China. Mr Lu denied these actions when confronted by US authorities.

Minneapolis Signs Transformational Agreement

by | 2027, 31 Mar 23 | , | 2 Comments

Stuff is about to get LIT in Minneapolis.

Lucero said the legally binding agreement requires the city and the police department to make “transformational changes” to fix the organizational culture at the heart of race-based policing.

 

She said it includes measures to ensure force is used “only when it is objectively reasonable, necessary and proportional” and never “to punish or retaliate.” Officers must de-escalate conflicts when possible. There will be limits on when and how officers can use chemical irritants and Tasers. And training in the disputed condition of excited delirium — a key issue in the confrontation that led to Floyd’s death — will be banned. Stops for broken lights and searches based on the alleged smell of marijuana are banned.

Nashville Shooting

by | 2029, 27 Mar 23 | | 7 Comments

What a shame. This looks like it could have been a hate crime.

The private school shooter in Nashville who killed six, including three nine-year-old children and three staff members, is a transgender woman and alumnus of the school who wrote out their plans in a detailed manifesto.

 

Audrey Hale, 28, also allegedly had planned out an attack on another school but decided not to attack there after believing there was too much security, according to Nashville Police Chief John Drake in a Monday afternoon press conference.

 

At around 10.13am, she opened fire at The Covenant School, shooting and killing nine-year-old Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney.

 

[…]

 

Substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, head of school Katherine Koonce, 60, and custodian Mike Hill, 61, were also killed.

 

Cops said Hale was transgender, although they haven’t specified further details. She was born female, but a LinkedIn profile believed to be hers uses he/him pronouns, suggesting Hale was living as a man.

 

[…]

 

The small school is run by a church and does not employ a school resource officer.

Guns in Cars

by | 1318, 26 Mar 23 | , , | 1 Comment

The over-the-top anti-gun bias in this article is laughable, but this appears to be another front in the defense of our civil rights.

A report issued in May by the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety analyzed FBI crime data in 271 U.S. cities, large and small, from 2020 and found that guns stolen from vehicles have become the nation’s largest source of stolen firearms — with an estimated 40,000 guns stolen from cars in those cities alone.

 

[…]

 

And as the problem has grown, public health officials and lawmakers, including some in Tennessee, have proposed a rather prosaic solution: encouraging or mandating that gun-toting drivers store their weapons in their vehicles inside of sturdy, lockable gun boxes.

 

Gun control advocates are hoping that the adoption of the boxes in cars will come to be seen as a solution that both sides of the gun debate can accept, much as both sides encourage the use of gun safes and trigger locks in the home.

 

[…]

 

Tennessee’s Republican-dominated state legislature is considering a pair of bills with bipartisan support that would explicitly outlaw leaving a firearm in a motor vehicle or boat unless it is “locked within the trunk, utility or glove box, or a locked container securely affixed.”

See the pattern… identify a problem: punish the victims.

The identified problem is that more guns are being stolen out of cars. Why? I suspect there are two underlying causes. First, more people are carrying guns. With the spread of liberty to more states, more people are carrying guns and it is much easier to smash and grab a gun out of a car than it is to burgle a house.

Second, while more people are carrying guns, there are still many places that don’t allow it. I say this as someone who is almost always armed. Let’s say that I’m out running errands and I need to swing by a government building or school or even a private establishment that prohibits guns… what do I do with it? Do I carry my gun into the place at the risk of sanction? Do I leave it in the car? Do I leave it home completely? Or what if I’m going to work and I can’t carry in my workplace? Should I leave my gun at home, thus not having it available for the other things I might do that day, or do I leave it in my car? For many people, they will simply leave their gun in their car.

So if the underlying problem is that people leave their guns in cars, how should we address it? One policy prescription could be to liberalize the places where people are allowed to carry. It is much less likely that a gun will be stolen if it is on someone’s body. Liberals won’t even consider this solution.

We could also… i don’t know… punish the people who steal the guns. They are, after all, committing a crime. What if we had a penalty enhancer for people who commit crimes with stolen guns? Maybe an extra mandatory 10 years of prison for any crime committed with a stolen gun? Even in the absence of an associated crime, what if being caught with a stolen gun was an automatic 10-year prison term? If rigorously enforced, this would have a deterrent effect on people stealing guns. This is how we have traditionally dealt with crimes – punish criminals.

But no… the policy prescription advocated in the article is to punish the victims or potential victims. They want to force law-abiding citizens to incur extra expense for a secure box or be sanctioned for it. They want to criminalize the victim of a theft if their stolen property is used in a crime (what if someone steals a hammer out of your garage and kills someone with it?). They don’t even suggest that the thieves are at fault. The entire burden of responsibility is being yoked onto the victims.

Before you start forcing extra costs and legal jeopardy on citizens who carry guns, let’s start with assigning responsibility for the problem to the correct people – the crooks who steal guns.

Violent Crook Who Paralyzed Woman Criticizes Victim

by | 1129, 25 Mar 23 | | 2 Comments

This is a tiny window into the modern street thug’s twisted mind. He has absolutely no remorse or concern… no capacity for empathy. Without a doubt, he will reoffend as soon as he is able to. He’s hoping that he gets a judge like Janet Protasiewicz.

‘The lady probably wants justice and some more ****. They’ll try to max me out 20 years basically. That *****. I ain’t going for it. The ***** already ran up $230,000 off GoFundMe. ***** better run on with her life,’ he railed.

 

‘Like, ***** you done run up $230,000. Look. They say she ran up $230,000 and she’ll be back walking in no less than a year,’ he is alleged to have said, according audio of the phonecall heard by ABC13.

 

‘We were snatching purses. I hopped out, snatched the purse, the lady ran with the money, I grabbed her, slammed her and she was paralyzed.’

 

[…]

 

‘My concern is for the public,’ said Douglas Griffith, President of Houston Police Officers Union.

 

‘If this kid gets out of jail, he is going to victimize more individuals. He does not care about anyone but himself, and for the judge to lower his bond baffles my mind. I can’t wrap my head around it. This kid is a danger to others and the community and needs to be locked up.’

Mexico is Safer than the U.S.

by | 2122, 13 Mar 23 | , | 1 Comment

Snort.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has threatened to urge Mexican-Americans not to vote for Republican candidates if they continue their criticism, rejected U.S. official security warnings that depict much of Mexico as a risky place to visit.

 

“Mexico is safer than the United States,” he told reporters when questioned about the warnings at a news conference. “There’s no problem with traveling safely around Mexico.”

 

[…]

 

At 28 per 100,000 people, Mexico’s murder rate was around four times higher than in the United States in 2020, according to data published by the World Bank. Homicides fell about 7% last year in Mexico, but the current government is on track to register a record total for any six-year administration.

Man Kills Sex Offender with Moose Antler

by | 0910, 11 Mar 23 | | 0 Comments

Well then...

Levi Axtell, 27, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Lawrence V. Scully, 77, who was beaten to death Wednesday at his home in Grand Marais.

 

A criminal complaint filed Friday said Axtell killed Scully with a shovel and a moose antler and then drove to the Cook County Sheriff’s office and confessed, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

We really should ban the big antlers. Small ones are okay.

U.S. Senate Votes to Block D.C.’s Criminal-Coddling Laws

by | 1934, 8 Mar 23 | , | 1 Comment

Even Democrats would like to make it to work without being assaulted or robbed.

The Senate passed a Republican-led resolution on Wednesday to block a controversial Washington, DC, crime bill that opponents have criticized as weak on crime. The measure will next go to President Joe Biden, who has said he won’t veto it.

The effort to block the crime bill divided Democrats and highlighted the difficult balance the party is attempting to strike as Republicans accuse them of failing to tackle the issue of crime.

 

[…]

 

The final vote was overwhelmingly bipartisan with a tally of 81-14.

Homeowners blockaded in Vilas County

by | 0743, 7 Mar 23 | , , | 2 Comments

We have a hostage situation going on in Vilas County. I wrote a little about it for the Washington County Daily News. Here’s a part:

After years of wrangling through a convoluted mess of contracts, bad record keeping, broken promises, state, local, federal, and tribal laws, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has decided to blockade dozens of non-tribal families in the dead of winter. In a dramatic escalation, tribal officials are demanding $20 million in order to lift the blockade.

 

The root of the issue rests in the 19th-century Dawes Act when the federal government broke communal tribal lands into parcels to be allotted to tribal families as private property in exchange for U.S. citizenship. Some of those private parcels wound up in the hands of non-tribal people through sale, foreclosure, and other means by which private property changes hands. Now, more than a century later, those private parcels are owned by non-tribal families who are being blockaded.

 

[…]

 

On January 31, in a grotesque escalation, the tribe blockaded the four artery roads with concrete blocks and wire. About 60 homes are sealed off from the outside world except for emergencies. Even then, tribal authorities must be called to open to roadblocks ahead of time. Some residents have been forced to abandon their homes entirely while others are having to use snowmobiles and sleds to cross the frozen lakes to get supplies, medical care, work, and attend school. With the spring thaw looming, they are weeks away from losing that frozen lifeline.

 

To lift the blockade, the tribe is demanding $20 million for a 15-year easement. This is an exorbitant sum for a simple easement, but the tribe seems content to hold non-tribal homeowners hostage in order to extort the sum. For comparison, the most recent offer that the tribe rejected was for about $1.1 million plus all future state gas tax revenues from the town for perpetual access.

 

The most innocent party in this whole dispute is the one suffering the most — the homeowners. They bought their properties in good faith and have been dutifully paying their taxes to maintain the schools, emergency services, and, yes, roads. Yet their property values have been obliterated, their lives are being disrupted, and their safety is being endangered.

 

The situation has reached a crisis point and real leadership will be needed to resolve it. It is unacceptable that one group of Americans should be blockading another group of Americans as a negotiating tactic in a legal dispute. This is not about sovereignty or some noble cause. It is about cold, hard, cash. If the tribe will not immediately lift the blockade and return to the negotiating table, the governor must step in to protect the homeowners from being used as hostages.

Protasiewicz Slaps the Wrist of Another Violent Criminal

by | 2010, 6 Mar 23 | , | 0 Comments

You know when people say that a judge is soft on crime? This is what they mean.

Alton Anthony Ithier was convicted on two counts of Child Abuse-Recklessly Cause Harm, a Class I felony. A Child Abuse-Intentionally Cause Harm charge was also read in. But Protasiewicz, who has a history of soft sentences, stayed any prison time for Ithier, meaning he would not have to serve it unless he messed up again. She gave him nine months in work-release jail and probation, court records show.

 

He has already reoffended, being convicted of second-offense OWI, court records show.

 

Read the criminal complaint here: Protasiewicz 2015CF2596(1)

According to the criminal complaint, a mother reported to City of Milwaukee Police that the father of her three children struck each child with a dog leash. The children were ages 10, 8, and 5.

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