Officer Down

Sergeant Greg Meagher
Richmond County Sheriff's Office, Georgia
End of Watch: Sunday, February 5, 2017
Age: 57
Tour: 33 years

Sergeant Greg Meagher died after being exposed to liquid nitrogen while attempting to rescue a woman at a medical facility at 1100 Emmett Street in Augusta.

He and several other deputies had responded to the facility and were told that a woman was unconscious inside. The deputies entered the facility to rescue the woman and were overcome by the fumes. Fire department personnel arrived on the scene and were able to remove Sergeant Meagher and the employee. They were both transported to Augusta University Hospital where Sergeant Meagher passed away.

The other three deputies were treated for their exposure to the toxins.

Sergeant Meagher had served with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office for 33 years. In 2004 he was shot in the face while assigned to a federal narcotics task force.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

I thought the Soviet Union was a bad joke....

As I've said before, I used to read the propaganda of America's enemies, including Pravda (meaning "truth") and Isveseda (meaning "news"). There was an old joke that there was not Pravda in Isveseda and no Isveseda in Pravda.

Now the Soviets were not known for their sense of humor, but here are some good ones. Enjoy.

The CIA just declassified these 11 Russian jokes about the Soviet Union

In January 2017, the CIA release a large number of newly-declassified documents about information collected on the Soviet Union. One of those documents included two pages of Russian jokes about the Soviet Union.

Headed “Soviet Jokes for the DDCI” (Deputy Director of Central Intelligence), the jokes make reference to Mikhail Gorbachev, so they date from at least as late as the 1980s. The jokes are surprisingly directed at all Soviet leaders, from Lenin to Brezhnev.

It’s good to know there were chances for levity behind the Iron Curtain. One thing’s for sure, people didn’t love Communism as much as the Russians led us to believe.

A worker standing in a liquor line says, “I have had enough, save my place, I am going to shoot Gorbachev.” Two hours later he returns to claim his place in line. His friends ask, “Did you get him?” “No,” he replied. “The line there was even longer than the line here.”

Q: What’s the difference between Gorbachev and Dubcek*?
A: Nothing, but Gorbachev doesn’t know it yet.

*(Alexander Dubcek led the Czech resistance to the Warsaw Pact during the Prague Spring of 1968, but was forced to resign)

Sentence from a schoolboy’s weekly composition class essay: “My cat just had seven kittens. They are all communists.” Sentence from the same boy’s composition the following week: “My cat’s seven kittens are all capitalists.” Teacher reminds the boy that the previous week he had said the kittens were communists. “But now they’ve opened their eyes,” replies the child.

A Chukchi (a tribe of Eskimo-like people on Russia’s northwest coast) is asked what he would do if the Soviet borders were opened. “I’d climb the highest tree,” he replies. Asked why, he responds: “So I wouldn’t get trampled in the stampede out!” Then he is asked what he would do if the U.S. border is opened. “I’d climb the highest tree,” he says, “so I can see the first person crazy enough to come here.”

A joke heard in Arkhangelsk has it that someone happened to call the KGB headquarters just after a major fire. “We cannot do anything. The KGB has just burned down!” he was told. Five minutes later, he called back and was told again the KGB had burned. When he called a third time, the telephone operator recognized his voice and asked “why do you keep calling back? I just told you the KGB has burned down.” “I know,” the man said. “I just like to hear it.”

A train bearing Stalin, Lenin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev stops suddenly when the tracks run out. Each leader applies his own, unique solution. Lenin gathers workers and peasants from miles around and exhorts them to build more track. Stalin shoots the train crew when the train still doesn’t move. Khrushchev rehabilitates the dead crew and orders the tracks behind the train ripped up and relaid in front. Brezhnev pulls down the curtains and rocks back and forth, pretending the train is moving. And Gorbachev calls a rally in front of the locomotive, where he leads a chant: “No tracks! No tracks! No tracks!”

Ivanov: Give me an example of perestroika*.
Sidorov: (Thinks) How about menopause?

* The literal meaning of perestroika is “restructuring” – usually referring to economic liberalization by Gorbachev.

An old lady goes to the Gorispolkom* with a question, but by the time she gets to the official’s office she has forgotten the purpose of her visit. “Was it about your pension?” the official asks. “No, I get 20 Rubles a month, that’s fine,” she replies. “About your apartment?” “No, I live with three people in one room of a communal apartment, I’m fine,” she replies. She suddenly remembers: “Who invented Communism? –– the Communists or scientists?” The official responds proudly, “Why the Communists of course!” “That’s what I thought,” the babushka** says. “If the scientists had invented it, they would have tested it first on dogs!”

* Gorispolkom is the local political authority of a Soviet city.
** A babushka is another term for older woman or grandmother.

An American tells a Russian that the United States is so free he can stand in front of the White House and yell “To hell with Ronald Reagan.” The Russian replies: “That’s nothing. I can stand in front of the Kremlin and yell, ‘to hell with Ronald Reagan’ too.”

A man goes into a shop and asks “You don’t have any meat?” “No,” replies the sales lady. “We don’t have any fish. It’s the store across the street that doesn’t have any meat.”

A man is driving with his wife and small child. A militiaman pulls them over and makes the man take a breathalyzer test. “See,” the militiaman says, “you’re drunk.” The man protests that the breathalyzer must be broken and invites the cop to test his wife. She also registers as drunk. Exasperated, the man invites the cop to test his child. When the child registers drunk as well, the cop shrugs and says “Yes, perhaps it is broken,” and sends them on their way. Out of earshot the man tells his wife, “See, I told you is wouldn’t hurt to give the kid five grams of vodka.”

STRATFOR Geopolitical Weekly: China Moves to Put North Korea in Its Place, February 21, 2017

China Moves to Put North Korea in Its PlaceBy Rodger Baker 

In response to North Korea's latest missile test, and perhaps to the apparent assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, China has declared it will cease coal imports from North Korea for the entirety of the year. Beijing's threat to North Korea could significantly impact Pyongyang's finances, already stretched as the North continually seeks ways around international sanctions. But it also shows the limits of Beijing's actions toward North Korea. Even as China takes a more assertive role internationally, in finance, politics and even militarily, it views its global role — and potential responsibilities — far differently than the United States or earlier European empires. 

The lens of China's latest actions on North Korea is a useful prism to understand how China throughout history has dealt with its periphery and beyond — and how it is likely to do so in the future. 

For on a nearly daily basis, there are reports suggesting the decline of U.S. global power, and the attendant rise of China. This despite the slowing pace of Chinese economic growth, high levels of domestic bad loans and the massive undertaking of a shift from an export-led economic model to one based on domestic consumption, with the attendant structural shift in political and social patterns. China is seen as the next major global power, overshadowing the former Soviet Union and giving the United States a run for its money. 

This view of China contrasts with how the country has been viewed for much of the past century: as the passed-by Asian power, the country that was most upended from its former glory by European colonialism and imperial competition, a Middle Kingdom carved into spheres of influence, forced to capitulate to Western concepts of trade and access, and left vulnerable to Japanese aggression at the turn of the last century. China is now seen as awakening, as consolidating political power domestically, building a strong and outwardly focused military, and spreading its economic reach across the globe, most recently with the network of infrastructure and trading routes characterizing the One Belt, One Road initiative. 

In short, although China had some setbacks because of the fallout from the 2009 global financial crisis, it was perhaps affected less politically and socially compared with Europe and the United States, and this has presented the opportunity for the 4,000-year-old-plus country to take its turn at global leadership. And as I noted a few weeks ago, we may be seeing a shift in the willingness of the United States to play the role of global hegemon. From military expansion in the South China Sea to economic expansion with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), China is on the rise. Again. 

A Sole Challenger Emerges 

The rising China narrative is not new. A decade ago, the iconic May 17, 2007, Economist cover showed a panda atop the Empire State Building, a la King Kong. Nearly a decade earlier, in December 1998, U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher was flown in a Philippine military aircraft over a Chinese installation on Mischief Reef, raising an early concern of Chinese military expansion in the South China Sea. While these are but two anecdotes, a decade apart, it would be easy to list hundreds of others. And it isn't difficult to understand why. 

With the end of the Cold War, aside from the multinational European Union, there was little potential for any nation alone to rise to power on such a scale as to challenge the United States as a peer power, much less as a single global hegemon. No country, that is, except perhaps China. China's population, its rapid rise into the central position of global supply chains, its economic expansion, its strategic location linking Eurasia to the Pacific, and its unitary government allowing centralized decision-making and long-term strategic planning all pointed to a country that could emerge as a real challenger. And China seemed at times interested in doing so.But there is a difference between the potential to, the capability to, or even the desire to. China certainly wants to have a greater say in the structure of the global system that is now emerging, a system that from China's perspective should be multilateral, without a single dominant global power. China's drive toward "big power" status is not the same as seeking the central role of a global system. The reality is that the cost to maintain a central global role is just too high. The British, the French, the Spanish and Portuguese, the Americans, even more regional powers like Japan, Germany and the various guises of Russia, all showed that maintaining central power over a vast empire is simply exhausting. A hegemony must respond to challenges, no matter how small, or risk losing its power and influence. China may be a big country, but it is far from ready to take on the role of global balancer. 

The Center of a Regional System 

Which is why it may be useful to look back into history to see how China has managed power in the past. For some 2,000 years, prior to European imperial advancements in the early 19th century, China sat at the center of a regional imperial system of its own, where China was clearly seen as first among unequals. Imperial China developed a system of maintaining influence while limiting the need for direct action. China, in many respects, retained passive influence rather than direct positive control. Power moved out in rings from the core. There was China proper, protected by an integrated shell of buffer states. For some of these, from Xinjiang to Tibet to Manchuria, China was not always dominant, but when outside powers swept across the buffers to change Chinese empires, they at times found themselves ultimately integrated into the Chinese system.Beyond that were tributary powers, kingdoms that nominally respected China's role at the center of a Sinacized region. These included areas such as Korea, the Shan state of Burma or even what is now Vietnam — areas where China attempted to expand but reached the limits of its power. Beyond these were so-called barbarian powers, ones that required minimal contact and were generally regarded as inferior (and thus not needing integration). These not only included places like the Ryukyu Islands, parts of the Malay Peninsula and some of the Central Asian ethnic tribes, but also the more distant European civilizations at times. 

China could influence the behavior of its neighbors, but it did so as often as possible through passive means, demonstrating power but rarely using it. Instead, so long as the neighbors did not fundamentally counter China's core interests, they were largely left to their own devices. In this manner, China could remain central to a regional system while expending little in time, effort or resources to enforce its will — particularly when imperial expansion proved unachievable. Neighbors including Korea and Vietnam paid tribute and adopted the written language, governing systems and social structures from the Middle Kingdom. This cultural and political influence reduced the need for military action by either side of the arrangement. 

In short, most countries, most of the time, largely accepted the arrangement, both for cultural reasons and because the cost of direct challenge was often too high. This did not prevent various challenges — the Mongols and Manchu, for example, or Japan's attempted usurpation of the Chinese imperial throne in the late 16th century. But these invaders more often sought to insert themselves at the center of the Sinitic order, rather than completely overturn it. Even the failed invasion by Japan's Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the last decade of the 1500s, which devastated Korea but failed to reach China proper, was an attempt to move Hideyoshi to China, allowing him to place his young son on the throne in Japan, linking the two empires but leaving China the physical and political center. 

China's crisis with Western imperialism through the 1800s occurred at a time of dynastic and imperial weakness, and China was further weakened by Japanese occupation beginning in the 1930s and then by civil war from 1945 to 1949. The early Mao years were about reconstituting Chinese unity, but also showed the stirrings of Chinese foreign interest in a modern era. Although China under Mao played a role in the overall international Communist drive, providing money, manpower and materiel to various insurgencies, this was paired with a longer-term and more passive strategy. China made friends. Not necessarily with leaders, but with individuals who could ultimately prove influential, and perhaps nudge them to victory. 

In part in keeping with its historical management strategy, China retained influence through its backing of leaders, from the king of Cambodia to the Nepalese monarchy to the Kim family in North Korea. But China also acted by retaining relations with many alternatives in and out of governments. The idea was that, no matter who came to power, China would have at least some existing relationship to draw on. Where China was drawn into regional conflict — with Vietnam and in Korea — it saw a potential threat to its buffer, and acted out of self-interest. 

An Alternate Vision for the World 

As we move into the current era, China is seeking to re-establish itself at the center of the region, politically, economically and strategically. The One Belt, One Road initiative is a key component of China's foreign strategy, to link itself into the emerging economic patterns around the region, placing China in the center of an integrated regional trading system. It also reflects a broader ambition — one where China takes hold of the so-called strategic pivot of the European landmass. China's establishment of the AIIB in late 2015 is part of a broader initiative intended to place China at the center of a regional financial system, one that breaks free from what Beijing sees as the economic hegemony of the Bretton Woods system that established the U.S. dollar as the global reserve. 

Politically, China is continuing to offer a counter to the United States, positioning itself as a country that does not try to assert a specific political system upon others, but that rather is willing to work with whatever government a country may have. Militarily, China has asserted itself as the central power in the Western Pacific and argues that Japan is an imperial threat because of history, and the United States is a foreign interloper. China can provide regional security for all, so long as all accept China's central role. 

At a time when Russia is working to reassert its influence around its periphery, when Europe is struggling to define its own future (greater integration, or disassociation into its constituent parts), and when the United States, at least temporarily, appears ready to step back from the role of global hegemon, the global system is in flux. What China is seeking on a global level is to fill an opening, to reshape the global system into one where spheres of influence among the dominant powers are recognized and respected. This is neither globalism nor hegemony. It is perhaps more akin to the period of European empires, though more regionally arranged. It is a world divided among great powers, each the relatively benign center of its own region. 

China's curtailment of coal imports from North Korea is thus a reminder to an increasingly defiant semi-ally that it must behave against the contours of regional power. It should not be seen as the ultimatum of a would-be global hegemon.

"China Moves to Put North Korea in Its Place is republished with permission of Stratfor."

STRATFOR: Why China and India Disagree on Pakistan, February 24, 2017

Why China and India Disagree on Pakistan is republished with permission of Stratfor.

The Eagles at the Kennedy Center....

Back in the summer of 2015 (damned time is flying!) I posted when Heart did a knockout rendition of Stairway to Heaven as Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Kennedy Center. Well, sorry to say I missed it in December, but this is the music of the Eagles, performed by multiple singers and groups. A little over twenty minutes, but worth every second. Enjoy...and have a great weekend! :<).

Officer Down

Police Officer Eric Wayne Mumaw
Metro Nashville Police Department, Tennessee
End of Watch: Thursday, February 2, 2017
Age: 44
Tour: 18 years

Police Officer Eric Mumaw drowned in the Cumberland River while attempting to save a suicidal woman.

He and another officer had responded to the Peeler Park Greenway Trailhead after receiving reports that a woman in a vehicle was contemplating suicide. The officers located the vehicle and were attempting to speak to the woman when the car rolled down the boat ramp and into the river. As the officers attempted to pull the woman from the car they were both swept further into the river, which had a water temperature of 49-degrees.

A third officer followed them as they were swept down the river and entered the river to rescue Officer Mumaw but was unable to reach him due to the freezing temperatures. Officer Mumaw's body was recovered several hours later.

The woman escaped from the vehicle and was found on the river bank intoxicated. Charges are pending.

Officer Mumaw had served with the Metro Nashville Police Department for 18 years.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

A great look at a dispatcher....

Cops on the street often have a love-hate relationship with their dispatchers. These people (generally women) may not be the cop dispatched to a disturbance with a huge man, ready for a fight, but they are the ones trying to coordinate the backup while handing three other priority calls and having a supervisor over them saying, "Clear this board!" Sometimes we all get a little stressed!

A friend posted this on Facebook

Officer Down

Lieutenant Steven Floyd
Delaware Department of Correction, Delaware
End of Watch: Thursday, February 2, 2017
Age: 47
Tour: 16 years

Lieutenant Steven Floyd was killed during a 20-hour hostage situation at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna, Delaware.

A large group of inmates took Lieutenant Floyd and three other prison employees hostage during a riot in Building C. A tactical response team made entry into the prison approximately 20 hours later and located Lieutenant Floyd's body. The other prison employees were rescued.

Approximately 120 inmates housed in Building C at the time remained in custody.

Lieutenant Floyd had served with the Delaware Department of Correction for 16 years. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on Friday, February 3rd, 2017.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

The ACLU is at it again in Portland.....

Stories like this remind me of when two officers and I handled a mental case in front of a car dealership. I used over a half can of Mace and we had to strike the hell out of him to get him into custody.

As we were getting our breath the manager of the dealership came out and said he witnessed the whole thing and he said the suspect tried to hit me first. Then he casually mentioned that three of his salesmen thought we were a little rough on him.

We were all a bit astonished and I said, "Sir, please, have these three men come out, we'll each give them a baton and a can of Mace, I'll take the cuffs off and they can show us how it's done!"

He agreed with us, not his salesmen.

Now the American Criminal Lovers Union is telling the cops in Portland how to do their jobs.

ACLU Tells Portland Police To Stop Using Riot Gear

The ACLU of Oregon says it’s time for Portland police to stop showing up in riot gear in response to anti-Trump protests.

“When police show up in riot gear, it has the effect of escalating the situation,” said ACLU of Oregon spokeswoman Sarah Armstrong. “We think police policies should aim for de-escalation.”

Portland police arrested 13 people Monday during a “Not My President” rally in front of the Federal Building on Southwest Third and Columbia Street. Armstrong said officers who showed up in riot gear, as they have for all of the anti-Trump protests, used riot control tactics in making the arrests.

“Portland has a long history of civil disobedience,” said Armstrong. “What seems to be different is the swiftness and violence of the police response.”

Many observers have noticed a change in the tolerance level of police for protesters blocking streets under Mayor Ted Wheeler. Protests taking place in 2016, before Wheeler took office, included hours of blocked streets.

In a statement released Tuesday, Wheeler said he and the police chief will meet with members of the community to discuss how to best relieve tensions between protesters and police.

Several Portlanders have complained that officers pushed their way into a crowd of peaceful protesters standing on the sidewalk to make the arrests Monday.

Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said that once officers decide to arrest someone, it’s too late to retreat to the sidewalk.

“The sidewalk is not ‘home base,’” said Simpson.

As for the request by the ACLU that officers refrain from wearing riot gear to protest, Simpson said the gear is for their own protection. During an Inauguration Day protest on Jan. 20, protesters threw eggs, rocks, bottles and fireworks at officers.

You want to protest, fine. But you cannot block the access of citizens to the sidewalks, nor can you throw stuff at the cops. You don't like being arrested, I got a radical idea for you. Don't break the law. Or perhaps you can get some "professional" legal advise:

Officer Down

Deputy Chief James G. MolloyNew York City Police Department, New YorkEnd of Watch: Monday, January 30, 2017Age: 55Tour: 35 yearsCause: 9/11 related illnessIncident Date: 9/11/2001 

Deputy Chief James Molloy died of brain cancer that he contracted as a result of inhaling toxic materials as he participated in the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site following the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. 

On September 11, 2001 Deputy Chief Molloy was driving to work when authorities stopped traffic through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel as the towers burned. When the towers collapsed, massive waves of toxic dust and debris flooded into the tunnel. Chief Molloy, covered in dust, went to Ground Zero and began working to rescue victims. 

Chief Molloy was assigned to the Ground Zero site for several months, where he worked and supervising the recovery and clean-up efforts.
Chief Molloy served with the New York City Police Department for 35-years in many assignments, including as the commander of the elite Emergency Service Unit and Detective Borough Queens. He is survived by his wife and daughters. 

Deputy Chief Molloy was a graduate of the 193rd Session of the FBI National Academy. 

On the morning of September 11, 2001, seventy-two officers from a total of eight local, state, and federal agencies were killed when terrorist hijackers working for the al Qaeda terrorist network, headed by Osama bin Laden, crashed two of four hijacked planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. After the impact of the first plane, putting the safety of others before their own, law enforcement officers along with fire and EMS personnel, rushed to the burning Twin Towers of the World Trade Center to aid the victims and lead them to safety. Due to their quick actions, it is estimated that over 25,000 people were saved. 

As the evacuation continued, the first tower unexpectedly collapsed due as a result of the intense fire caused by the impact. The second tower collapsed a short time later. 71 law enforcement officers, 343 members of the New York City Fire Department and over 2,800 civilians were killed at the World Trade Center site. 

A third hijacked plane crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania when the passengers attempted to re-take control of the plane. One law enforcement officer, who was a passenger on the plane, was killed in that crash.
The fourth hijacked plane was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, killing almost 200 military and civilian personnel. No law enforcement officers were killed at the Pentagon. 

The terrorist attacks resulted in the declaration of war against the Taliban regime, the illegal rulers of Afghanistan, and the al Qaeda terrorist network which also was based in Afghanistan. 

On September 9, 2005, all of the public safety officers killed on September 11, 2001, were posthumously awarded the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor by President George W. Bush. 

The contamination in the air at the World Trade Center site caused many rescue personnel to become extremely ill, and eventually led to the death of several rescue workers. 

On May 1, 2011 members of the United States military conducted a raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was hiding. During the raid, they shot and killed bin Laden.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

Shoot or don't shoot, put together well....

In discussing this case, a fellow officer said he was already charged three times for guns or drugs since January 1st, 2017. Yet somehow he is out on streets. I wonder why. Could be that gang bangers have no fear of the broken judicial system in Baltimore, where the district attorney (excuse me, state's attorney) is more interested in getting her time on camera and riding on the backs of destroyed cops lives than working for the citizens of the area.

Now thankfully the officer is safe and there is an excellent video showing the punk had a weapon and was turning on him. But don't worry, the family will sue, the city will settle and the local race baiting poverty pimps will go on to the next miscarriage of justice. But watch this video:



A recent article on the issue:

18-year-old's fatal shooting by Baltimore police becomes flash point in debate over repeat offenders

For the third time in a month, 18-year-old Curtis Deal had been arrested on gun or drug charges. Judge Nicole Taylor wanted to be sure the young man understood what was expected if she released him to wait for trial.

"You're not going out at night, you're not going to get food, you're not going to meet your girlfriend. You're in your house," Taylor told him at Monday's bail review hearing, raising her voice.

"I'm giving you an opportunity to go to school and not be in jail pending this trial. The curfew is 1 p.m., 7 days a week."

Deal said he understood. Taylor wished him luck.

The next day about 3 p.m., Deal was fatally shot by a Baltimore police detective after allegedly jumping out of a vehicle being tailed by officers and fleeing through the same neighborhood where he'd been arrested the week before. Police said the detective chasing Deal shot him because he feared for his own life. The officer's body camera captured Deal pointing his gun at the detective just before the shooting.

Almost immediately, the circumstances of Deal's release became a flash point in the growing debate in Baltimore over perceived leniency for repeat gun offenders.

"It shows dysfunction, I believe, in our criminal justice system," said Mayor Catherine Pugh. "People who have those many gun charges probably should not be on our streets..."

I'm recalling the astonishment of the NY Times (it may have been Time, six of one, half-dozen of another) when they couldn't understand crime was dropping but prisons were filled. Go figure.

If the punk was in jail he would be alive right now. But thanks to a judge not getting the point he's a lost cause and letting him go, we dies like another kid in Da Hood.

Damned this looks good....

Kevlar has saved countless officers and soldiers over the years and it's become more lightweight as time has passed. Now some engineers have set up a quick deploying portable shield for cops on the street. I would love to see if we can get it for my cops.

Officer Down

Police Officer Nathan B. Graves
Sac and Fox Nation Police Department, Tribal Police
End of Watch: Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Age: 45
Tour: 2 years, 6 months
Badge # 505

Police Officer Nathan Graves was killed when his patrol car was struck head-on by an oncoming vehicle on US 99, near E0750 Road, while he was on patrol near the Lincoln County - Payne County line in Oklahoma.

The oncoming vehicle was attempting to pass another car when the collision occurred at approximately 6:00 am.

Officer Graves had served with the Sac and Fox Nation Police Department for 2-1/2 years and also worked for the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. He had previously served with the Stroud Police Department and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Police Department. He is survived by his wife and children.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

Officer Down

Police Officer David J. Fahey, Jr.
Cleveland Police Department, Ohio
End of Watch: Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Age: 39
Tour: 2 years, 6 months
Badge # 2453

Police Officer David Fahey was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver on I-90, near Warren Road, while assisting at the scene of a fatal accident at approximately 6:00 am.

He was setting out flares to divert traffic off of the highway when he was struck by an oncoming car. The vehicle fled after striking him. The driver was arrested later in the day.

Officer Fahey was a U.S. Navy veteran and had served with the Cleveland Police Department for 2-1/2 years.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

Can agree we don't need this....

In discussions with people over immigration, illegal aliens (two different groups of people), etc, a point I've made over and over. There may be an issue for debate over people who crossed the border, set up a new life in America, and have become productive members of society (i.e. have supported their families, etc). The people who "do the jobs Americans don't want to do anymore," and that is for discussion.

However, the bigger point I've made is we don't need to import people to do "the crimes Americans will not do anymore." Can we at least agree that felons, documented gang members, and other serious criminals who have filled our jails have no business being in this country. Upon completion of their sentences, they should be handed to ICE, have their biometric data recorded, deported and never allowed back into the country.

With that as background, from this morning's Austin Statesman:

Firework set off inside police car during ICE protests

A person smashed the rear window of an unoccupied Austin police patrol car and threw a lit firework inside it early Sunday near the site of recent protests against immigration enforcement operations in the area, police officials said.

The Austin Fire Department is investigating the incident, which took place around 3 a.m. near the intersection of N. Lamar Boulevard and Rundberg Lane and set the interior of the patrol car on fire.

According to the Austin police, officers saw a person damage the patrol car, and then leave as a passenger in another car. The suspect ran from officers on foot after they pulled the car over, but was eventually detained.

So far the suspect has only been charged with evading arrest, police officials said. The investigation of the patrol car fire is still ongoing...

...On Friday evening, more than 100 people gathered at the intersection of Rundberg and Lamar to protest a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation launched last week to capture unauthorized immigrants with criminal records.(Emphasis mine) A smaller group of protesters returned to the area Saturday afternoon, and more showed up a third time Saturday night.

In a separate incident at the site of a protest near the intersection of E. Cesar Chavez Street and Chalmers Avenue, an individual was arrested Saturday evening for aggravated assault, police said.

Thankfully the suspect was arrested and if he's found to be an illegal alien, after his time with Texas law (hopefully) he's sent to ICE for deportation.

I find it interesting that this rag paper calls the illegal aliens ICE deported unauthorized immigrants with criminal records." No, they are not immigrants, immigrants come in through the front door. Illegal aliens are not in the open. What we have now is not immigration, but an invasion.

I really find it ironic they protested near E. Cesar Chavez Street. Cesar Chavez was very much opposed to illegals aliens flooding in from South and Central America. He understood if they were there, they would force the wages of the United Farm Workers members down by increasing the supply of cheap labor. But Mr Chavez, they do provide what the Democrats need. A new pool of supporters and voters to keep power.

A quick look at something most only think of...the French Foreign Legion...

Back when I was a lieutenant in Korea (1988-89) one of my roommates was an armor captain and a hell of an officer. And he had "issues" from his past. Before he, to use his words, got right, he considered the Foreign Legion. I don't know if he was just BSing a young, green and naive Louisiana officer or serious, or both, but I've always believed he could be something like that. He was a hell of an officer and I'm glad I knew him.

Anyway, an interesting look at the FFL and the men it draws:

The mysterious lure of the French Foreign Legion keeps drawing Americans

The story is bizarre enough to serve as the plot of an action movie: 2nd Lt. Lawrence J. Franks Jr. quit his job in the U.S. Army, fled the country and secretly enlisted in the elite French Foreign Legion under an assumed name, authorities said. He deployed numerous times, including during a conflict in Mali, and then turned himself in to U.S. officials this year, seemingly at peace with what he had done.

“I needed to be wet and cold and hungry,” Franks said, according to the New York Times. “I needed the grueling life I could only find in a place like the Legion.”

Franks was court-martialed and convicted, and was sentenced Monday to four years imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., for conduct unbecoming an officer and desertion with intention to shirk duty. By fleeing his unit March 30, 2009, at Fort Drum, N.Y., Franks avoided deployment and prompted a manhunt because of concerns that he might have been lost or injured in the cold woods of upstate New York, Army officials said.

LT Franks, I hope it was worth it to you. I don't know how old you were when you made your decision, perhaps it was being young and stupid (trust me, been there, done that). The fact you went into a combat unit shows you were not dodging bullets.

Military, defense and security at home and abroad.

Franks’ case underscores something else, however: The mysterious, fabled reputation of the Legion. The service currently includes more than 7,000 members, and was established in 1831 as part of the French army, but with a key difference: Its enlisted force is heavily comprised of men from other countries — including the United States.

The Legion has a reputation — perhaps embellished at times — for attracting troubled men looking for adventure and the opportunity to start over in life. Franks’ case would appear to reinforce that. A 2008 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., he said he was struggling with suicidal ideations when he fled his post and flew to Europe, he said in court, according to the Times.

The lieutenant’s father, Lawrence Franks Sr., said in a letter to the editor published in April 2009 in an Oregon newspaper that New York State Police determined the soldier had flown to Zurich, Switzerland, and passed through Swiss customs. Then he disappeared — right up until this year, after five years in the Legion.

“Lawrence gave us no clue he was contemplating a life-changing decision when we spoke per phone on March 29,” the father recalled in the letter to the editor. “His commander informs me he was an exemplary young officer with a bright future. I am a sad, confused dad. My wife would like to say, ‘We are surely not alone wondering why our beloved Lawrence left all behind, including us, whom he deeply loves.'”

Franks is far from the only U.S. service member to consider joining the Legion. The force is romanticized by some rank-and-file troops, who appreciate its rough and tumble conditions and reputation for fighting in some of the world’s fiercest wars. The Legion’s English-language website notes that 35,000 Legionnaires have been killed in combat: “Foreigners who have become sons of France not by blood received but by blood shed,” the Legion adds. Many of them did so anonymously.

U.S. Army paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division descend from C-130H Hercules Aircraft during a joint airdrop with French Foreign Legion paratroopers from the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2REP) near Solenzara Air Base, Corsica, France, on May 29 in the training exercise Allied Forge 2014. (Photo by Tech. Sgt. Erica J. Knight/ U.S. Air Force)
Social media and military web forums are filled with questions about the service. On Reddit, for example, a 2010 thread in which an American claimed to have served in the Legion and left as an enlisted corporal drew hundreds of comments and questions from readers.

“The training was very tough,” said the purported Legionnaire. He added that basic training in the southern French post of Castelnaudary “is designed to break you, mentally, as an individual and reform you as a team.”

“It does exactly that and psychologically is probably the toughest thing I have ever experienced,” the Reddit poster wrote. “Physically, it is extremely demanding. However, if you’re in good shape and willing to push yourself (and be pushed) past what you think is your breaking point, you’ll do fine...”

That's what most military in-processing training does, it breaks the man and rebuilds him as a team. Ask anyone who's gone though basic training, or other leadership schools like Ranger or Special Forces.

...In reality, the Legion continues to deploy and work with the U.S. military. In a recent example, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, of Camp Pendleton, Calif., recently trained alongside Legionnaires in Djibouti. Six members of the Legion also traveled to Camp Lejeune, N.C., in October to take part in the military exercise Bold Alligator, U.S. military officials said. They observed Marine Corps planning so the two forces can integrate better in the future.

The Legion’s operations in Mali in 2013 also have been studied by the U.S. Army. An analysis performed for the service by the Rand Corp. this year found that that Legion units take more risks than American commanders are comfortable with, but are nevertheless a model for the kind of small forces Army Chief of Staff Raymond T. Odierno envisions deploying in the future.

Nice overview.

VD for Everyone!

I'd like to wish everyone a happy VD and enjoy the linked video! :<)

Officer Down

Police Officer Michael D. Louviere
Westwego Police Department, Louisiana
End of Watch: Friday, January 20, 2017
Age: 26
Tour: 1 year, 6 months
Badge # W44

Police Officer Michael Louviere was shot and killed while off duty when he stopped to assist at what he believed to be an accident scene at the intersection of Barataria Boulevard and Ames Boulevard.

He was driving home at approximately 6:30 am, still in uniform, at the end of his shift when he encountered the crash scene. Unbeknownst to Officer Louviere, the crash was the result of a domestic violence incident. As Officer Louviere tended to an injured woman in one of the vehicles a male subject approached him from behind and shot him in the back of the head, killing him. The man then fatally shot the female before fleeing the scene.

The subject who shot Officer Louviere later committed suicide following a standoff on the Crescent City Connection bridge.

Officer Louviere was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and had served with the Westwego Police Department for 18 months. He is survived by his wife, 4-year-old daughter, and 1-year-old son.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

A strange way to prove an article of faith....

I've long believed "Global Warming," or "Climate Change," or "Climate Disruption" (or whatever it's called this week, has the ALGORE sent out his message yet?) is more religion than science. You bring out the most obvious point to question it, that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant but a gas that is critical to life on the Earth, and the zealots go nuts.  Or if you point out that the same people who say the earth is warming used to say the earth is cooling, because of, get this, too much CO2 in the atmosphere.  And in both situations, the solution is the same, taxes and control of the economy in the hands of the federal government.

Now I really find this interesting. Here is an environment activist, better called a eco-terrorist, broadcasting him (and others) committing a felony. Notice the text at the beginning, "The man wants to prove climate change is not debatable, and his latest actions to do so could get him 20 years in prison."

No, destroying thousands of dollars of private property, possibly causing a spill of oil in the ground or water in no way proves or disproves carbon dioxide causes the earth to heat.  It proves he is a criminal by destroying another person's property.

He got a hung jury and I can only assume there will be another trial in the future.  I'll try to update this as needed.  What scares me is he will be called a hero by many an idiot calling themselves a teacher, not the criminal he is.  

I swear officer, I'm not as think as you drunk I am....

In almost 20 years on the street, I've booked my share of drunk drivers. And while this is not as epic as George Jones driving his lawnmower drunk, it's still a great one:

‘Intoxicated’ NB men go through McDonald’s drive-thru on a sofa

Two New Brunswick men have been arrested after allegedly going through a McDonald's drive-thru on a couch.

Miramichi police said an officer spotted the couch, being towed behind an ATV, at 3:19 a.m. Thursday in the drive-thru.

“And when (the officer) put his lights on, of course he took off, the four-wheeler did, with the sofa still attached. But he left his two passengers from the sofa at the drive-thru,” Cpl. Lorri McEachern said Friday.

“The two passengers from the sofa, or the couch, or whatever you want to call it, were intoxicated.”

The driver raced through the parking lot, across the highway and onto the frozen Miramichi River, still towing the couch through much of his escape, she said.

“He got away, but they got the four-wheeler later on that day and seized the four-wheeler, so now they just have to locate the driver,” she said.

Two local men, aged 28 and 39, will face yet-to-be-determined charges.

McEachern said it is illegal to tow a couch through a drive-thru, but the two men were wearing helmets.

“So obviously safety was somewhat important,” noted McEachern.

In Texas the charge would be public intoxication, as they were not driving a "motor vehicle" upon a "public street."

Still too good to not pass on! Enjoy!

Two of Chicago's finest handles one of Chicago's worse....

Listen, I'm a politician which means I'm a cheat and a liar, and when I'm not kissing babies I'm stealing their lollipops.

Great quote from The Hunt for Red October which accuracy describes this "public servant."

An officer pulled the congressperson over because he license plate this not come back go the car he was driving. The officer was polite, patient with the driver, and released him with a warning. Not enough for the petulant member of the Congress, he filed a complaint. And after watching the video, it backs up what the officer said all along.

CPD officers cleared of racial profiling allegations made by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - Two Chicago Police officers have been cleared of wrongdoing after U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush claimed he had been racially profiled during a traffic stop last summer, according to a police spokesman.

Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Thursday that after a review by the department's Bureau of Internal Affairs, the two Wentworth District officers had probable cause to make the stop.

Rush was driving his Lexus RX450h shortly before 3 p.m. on Aug. 4 in the 4700 block of South King Drive when he was pulled over by the officers who were on the lookout for high-end vehicles due to a series of thefts on the South Side.

A police dispatcher notified the officers that the license plate on Rush's vehicle was registered to a different vehicle.

A video obtained by FOX 32 News through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that the officers remained calm throughout the traffic stop though Rush became agitated about the reasons he was pulled over.

The congressman filed a complaint against the officers within an hour of the stop, claiming he was pulled over because of the color of his skin...

Within an hour. Sounds like you got a chip on your shoulder Mr. Rush. But that wouldn't be you, right Bobby.

...FOX 32: What do you think the police officers did wrong?

“Well, I think that their biases and their prejudices came into play,” Rush said. “I just want them to be on point, to know that every car that looks good in the black community, is driving on 47th street or any other street is not driving a criminal,” Rush said.

Congressman Rush says this incident should serve as a bigger message to police about racial profiling.

“This is an action that leads to the misunderstanding, the lack of respect and the lack of belief and faith in the Chicago Police Department,” Rush said.

No Bobby, it's your race baiting, annoyance at being held up for possibly breaking the law and race baiting that caused the issue. Unlike you, the officers were professional, polite and correct in all points in this matter.

Great work CPD. Please contact an attorney and sue this miserable sack of human waste. He deserves it.

Officer Down

Police Officer Raymond Murrell
Bloomingdale Police Department, Illinois
End of Watch: Thursday, January 19, 2017
Age: 27
Tour: 1 year

Police Officer Raymond Murrell was killed in a vehicle crash while responding to a larceny in progress.

His patrol car left the roadway and struck a utility pole at the intersection of Army Trail Road and Cardinal Drive. Emergency crews extricated him from his vehicle and transported him to Adventist GlenOaks Hospital where he passed away a short time later.

It is believed that bad weather contributed to the crash.

Officer Murrell had served with the Bloomingdale Police Department for less than one year and had previously served with the Cook County Department of Corrections.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

An exceptional take down by two officers...

Just a routine traffic stop. Enough said. Watch this.


I love how towards the end someone walks up to the car. She would be quickly put back into my car, she has no business putting herself into a crime scene.

For all the Youtube lawyers out there, this is the real world. It took two men fighting like hell to stop an armed man and they could have justifiably shot his dumb ass. As the cops are trying to get the suspect into custody, he is reaching for a pistol. I think the cops have "reasonable fear for suffering loss of life or seriously bodily injury" here. But they didn't, got the suspect under control and no one was hurt.

At least the DoJ will not call to investigate this department. How long before the usual suspects scream about racism, etc?

Great work officers, glad you're safe!

A look at Mexico's drug cartels...

From STRATFOR, a good video on the gangs south of the border and otherwhere.

Stratfor Latin America Analyst Reggie Thompson and Vice President of Tactical Analysis Scott Stewart discuss the continued balkanization of the Mexican Cartels in 2017.

Mexico's Cartels Will Continue to Splinter in 2017

February 2, 2017

Editor's Note: This analysis is an excerpt of the annual cartel forecast produced by Stratfor's Threat Lens team, available in its entirety to Threat Lens subscribers.

By Scott Stewart

Stratfor has tracked Mexico's drug cartels for over a decade. For most of that time, our annual forecasts focused on the fortunes and prospects of each trafficking organization. But as Mexican organized crime groups have gradually fractured and fallen apart — a process we refer to as balkanization — we have had to refine the way we think about them. The cartels are no longer a handful of large groups carving out territory across Mexico, but a collection of many different smaller, regionally based networks. So, rather than exploring the outlook of every individual faction, we now take them as loose gatherings centered on certain core areas of operation: Tamaulipas, Tierra Caliente and Sinaloa...

A Year in Review

...Violence stemming from organized crime was also much higher last year than we expected. At the time, we believed that because no nationwide cartel wars raged, and many smaller clashes had moved beyond Mexico's major cities, the anticipated human toll would drop. But this also proved untrue: Last year's homicide rates in Mexico were 10 percent higher than 2015's, making it the country's deadliest year since 2012. We failed to foresee that the balkanization process would produce more flashpoints across Mexico, including in major cities such as Juarez, Acapulco, Tijuana and Veracruz. As a result, murder rates jumped in the states of Michoacan, Sinaloa, Veracruz, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, Colima and Chihuahua.

At the end of the day, the smaller groups that emerged from the bigger cartels' infighting were less stable, less predictable and more willing to fight tooth and nail to keep what little territory they had. Without a central leadership structure directing these groups' activities behind the scenes, Mexican authorities will have a tough time combating them. Though there are still a few ringleaders to target and capture — the government's favored strategy for tackling organized crime — Mexico City will have little choice in the year ahead but to pick off Mexico's many different groups and gangs one by one...

"Mexican Cartels in 2017: Continued Fragmentation is republished with permission of Stratfor."

Officer Down

Deputy Sheriff Colt Eugene Allery
Rolette County Sheriff's Office, North Dakota
End of Watch: Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Age: 29
Tour: 5 years
Badge # 4599

Deputy Sheriff Colt Allery was shot and killed following a vehicle pursuit of a stolen vehicle that ended in the area of 89th Street and BIA Road 7 near Belcourt, North Dakota.

Deputies and an officer from the Rolla Police Department located the vehicle after being alerted to its location by a remote monitoring company. The driver of the vehicle failed to stop and led officers on a pursuit until the car was remotely disabled on a gravel road by the monitoring company. As the vehicle came to a stop the occupant engaged the officers in a shootout in which he and Deputy Allery were both killed.

Deputy Allery had served with the Rolette County Sheriff's Office for three months and had served in law enforcement for five years. He had previously served with the Rolla Police Department, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians Tribal Police Department, and as a corrections officer with the Rolette County Sheriff's Office.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

China and intelligent weapons...

Last year I read a sobering novel called Ghost Fleet, the story of a near future (next 20 years) war between the United States and China. It reminded me of the techno-thrillers of Tom Clancy, not quite as fast but very detailed. And disturbing.

We have become dependent on technology to a great degree. I bemoan the fact a lot of my rookie officers cannot use a map well, but they do know how to use the map app on their smart phone. When I was a trainer I would occasionally take control of the car computer and direct my trainee to use his radio and a notebook only. Welcome to the analog world man, and rely on one fact. Technology will fail.

Now we have one of our two great adversaries making significant leaps on technology, but both civilian and military applications. It may mean serious changes to how we view power projection, especially with our carrier operations.

China’s Intelligent Weaponry Gets Smarter

Robert O. Work, the veteran defense official retained as deputy secretary by President Trump, calls them his “A.I. dudes.” The breezy moniker belies their serious task: The dudes have been a kitchen cabinet of sorts, and have advised Mr. Work as he has sought to reshape warfare by bringing artificial intelligence to the battlefield.

Last spring, he asked, “O.K., you guys are the smartest guys in A.I., right?”

No, the dudes told him, “the smartest guys are at Facebook and Google,” Mr. Work recalled in an interview.

Now, increasingly, they’re also in China. The United States no longer has a strategic monopoly on the technology, which is widely seen as the key factor in the next generation of warfare.

The Pentagon’s plan to bring A.I. to the military is taking shape as Chinese researchers assert themselves in the nascent technology field. And that shift is reflected in surprising commercial advances in artificial intelligence among Chinese companies.

Last year, for example, Microsoft researchers proclaimed that the company had created software capable of matching human skills in understanding speech.

Although they boasted that they had outperformed their United States competitors, a well-known A.I. researcher who leads a Silicon Valley laboratory for the Chinese web services company Baidu gently taunted Microsoft, noting that Baidu had achieved similar accuracy with the Chinese language two years earlier.

That, in a nutshell, is the challenge the United States faces as it embarks on a new military strategy founded on the assumption of its continued superiority in technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence...

..But the global technology balance of power is shifting. From the 1950s through the 1980s, the United States carefully guarded its advantage. It led the world in computer and material science technology, and it jealously hoarded its leadership with military secrecy and export controls.

In the late 1980s, the emergence of the inexpensive and universally available microchip upended the Pentagon’s ability to control technological progress. Now, rather than trickling down from military and advanced corporate laboratories, today’s new technologies increasingly come from consumer electronics firms. Put simply, the companies that make the fastest computers are the same ones that put things under our Christmas trees.

As consumer electronics manufacturing has moved to Asia, both Chinese companies and the nation’s government laboratories are making major investments in artificial intelligence.

The advance of the Chinese was underscored last month when Qi Lu, a veteran Microsoft artificial intelligence specialist, left the company to become chief operating officer at Baidu, where he will oversee the company’s ambitious plan to become a global leader in A.I.

And last year, Tencent, developer of the mobile app WeChat, a Facebook competitor, created an artificial intelligence research laboratory and began investing in United States-based A.I. companies.

Rapid Chinese progress has touched off a debate in the United States between military strategists and technologists over whether the Chinese are merely imitating advances or are engaged in independent innovation that will soon overtake the United States in the field.

“The Chinese leadership is increasingly thinking about how to ensure they are competitive in the next wave of technologies,” said Adam Segal, a specialist in emerging technologies and national security at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In August, the state-run China Daily reported that the country had embarked on the development of a cruise missile system with a “high level” of artificial intelligence. The new system appears to be a response to a missile the United States Navy is expected to deploy in 2018 to counter growing Chinese military influence in the Pacific.

Known as the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, or L.R.A.S.M., it is described as a “semiautonomous” weapon. According to the Pentagon, this means that though targets are chosen by human soldiers, the missile uses artificial intelligence technology to avoid defenses and make final targeting decisions.

The new Chinese weapon typifies a strategy known as “remote warfare,” said John Arquilla, a military strategist at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, Calif. The idea is to build large fleets of small ships that deploy missiles, to attack an enemy with larger ships, like aircraft carriers.

“They are making their machines more creative,” he said. “A little bit of automation gives the machines a tremendous boost.”

Whether or not the Chinese will quickly catch the United States in artificial intelligence and robotics technologies is a matter of intense discussion and disagreement in the United States.

Andrew Ng, chief scientist at Baidu, said the United States may be too myopic and self-confident to understand the speed of the Chinese competition.

“There are many occasions of something being simultaneously invented in China and elsewhere, or being invented first in China and then later making it overseas,” he said. “But then U.S. media reports only on the U.S. version. This leads to a misperception of those ideas having been first invented in the U.S.”

A key example of Chinese progress that goes largely unreported in the United States is Iflytek, an artificial intelligence company that has focused on speech recognition and understanding natural language. The company has won international competitions both in speech synthesis and in translation between Chinese- and English-language texts...

Another example of how the best laid plan never survives initial contact....

Beavis and Buttheada wanted to bump off some cops. Didn't work well.

San Angelo Couple, Gary And Brenda Wright, Set Up Ambush To Murder San Angelo Officers

Gary And Brenda Wright Charged

San Angelo, TX – A San Angelo couple, Gary and Brenda Wright, are in jail after planning an ambush against San Angelo Police Officers.

According to CW33, the incident occurred January 13, 2017 at the Wright residence in San Angelo. Gary, age 67, and Brenda, age 60, planned the ambush for weeks after they decided they were unhappy with life and especially with the manner in which the San Angelo Police Department handled a traffic crash. The couple viewed this as “the last straw” and put into place the plan they had spent weeks making.

But as plans often do, theirs did not go the way they wanted it to. Gary Wright called two local TV stations and told them to send reporters and “have their cameras ready.” He then called 911, told the dispatcher to send police because he intended to have a standoff and kill police officers, and asked for the neighborhood to be evacuated.

Mr. and Mrs. Wright, in the business we call that a "clue."

The house was set on fire by one of the suspects. Brenda Wright then hid in the bathroom, with a shotgun, waiting on San Angelo Officers. She was not able to stay in the bathroom due to smoke from the fire. Upon arrival, San Angelo Officers found Gary Wright near the front of the home, armed with a rifle. Brenda Wright was nearby. Gary refused to drop his weapon after repeated commands by the Officers, and was shot.

Gary and Brenda Wright were both transported to a local hospital for treatment. Brenda was discharged that same day and charged with Attempted Capital Murder of a Police Officer. Her bond was set at $250,000 Gary Wright was arrested on January 25, 2017 also for Attempted Capital Murder of a Police Officer, and is being held in the Tom Green County Jail with no bond.

On the day of the incident, after the scene was secured, Fire Marshal Ross Coleman found eight jars full of gasoline, screws, and syringe needles inside the home. Several aerosol containers placed around the home had exploded during the fire...

Again, can't get any good help these days! :<)

Good to hear no officers were harmed in the filming of this movie!

I am one with the Force, the Force is with me.

About the only thing I could think of.

Gonna be a long weekend, working a lot for the Super Bowl. Enjoy!

Excellent take down...

Not a fan of the website, but this is excellent work by the officer in literally taking a man off the ledge. Hopefully some time with mental health gets his right.

STRATFOR: The Islamic State Wreaks Havoc on Mosul's Bridges, February 1, 2017

Satellite Imagery: The Islamic State Wreaks Havoc on Mosul's Bridges is republished with permission of Stratfor.

New wound treatment technology...

A serious issue for cops everywhere is quick treatment of trauma. I live in Houston and we have 3 level one trauma centers (we actually need 5-6), an incredible hospital district, and over 50 hospitals in the area. But even with a quick pickup with from an ambulance, the possibility of bleeding out is real. Since the Boston Marathon Bombing, I've carried multiple tourniquet kits and other equipment for to stop bleeding.

Now look at these new toys. Rather interesting.

Thank you Rock D-Bo for the link!

Officer Down

Detective Jerry Walker
Little Elm Police Department, Texas
End of Watch: Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Age: 48
Tour: 18 years
Badge # 633

Detective Jerry Walker was shot and killed after responding to a call involving an armed subject on the 1400 block of Turtle Cove Drive.

Responding officers encountered the man standing behind a fence. As they ordered him to drop his weapon the man ran into a home and then started shooting out of the home's windows.

Detective Walker was struck in the neck by one of the rounds. He was flown to Medical City Denton where he succumbed to his wounds.

The subject remained barricaded inside the home for several hours. The man was found dead inside the home approximately six hours after the initial shooting.

Detective Walker was a U.S. Army veteran and had served with the Little Elm Police Department for 18 years. He is survived by his four children.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Nemo me impune lacessit

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

No, the stupid, it burns...

George Patton and Chesty Puller are turning in their graves.

Any veteran knows there is a lot of waste in the Pentagon's budget and the last eight years have only made it worse. Spending a fortune to retrofit submarines for women and using algae based fuel at multiples of the cost of conventional diesel. Now this stupidity:

Magic bullets: US Army pursues 'biodegradable' ammunition

(CNN)The traditional function of bullets is killing, but a new design could have the opposite effect.

The US army is seeking proposals for biodegradable ammunition to replace the existing rounds used in training -- including grenade and tank rounds - citing environmental concerns.

"Components of current training rounds require hundreds of years or more to biodegrade," states the Department of Defense brief. "Some of these rounds might have the potential to corrode and pollute the soil and nearby water."

The DoD stipulates that the new ammunition should, instead, contain seeds that produce food for animals: "This effort will make use of seeds to grow environmentally friendly plants that remove soil contaminants and consume the biodegradable components developed under this project. Animals should be able to consume the plants without any ill effects."

This eye-catching proposal may seem far-fetched, but the brief goes on to claim that US army researchers have already succeeded in embedding seeds into biodegradable material to flower months later.

Ripe targets

Military facilities account for 900 of the 1300 most polluted sites in the US, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A comprehensive clean-up could cost $165 billion, according to the DoD.

Much of the damage is historic, pre-dating awareness of environmental issues.

"(Military bases) tend to have older buildings with lead paint and asbestos problems," says Skip Kazmarek, an environmental lawyer who has studied military sites. "If a base was operating in World War Two it might have burn pits for waste oil and solvents, and it can be a pretty nasty area."

But modern sites also generate toxic waste; from burning explosives to chemical leaks and heavy metal deposits -- including massive lead pollution.

Lead poisoning can cause serious health conditions including brain damage, as well as polluting the environment. Millions of lead bullets are fired each year on military firing ranges, which rapidly reach high levels of contamination according to an Environmental Working Group report.
"The lead in ammunition tends to build up over years and it can leach into groundwater and pose threats to wildlife," says Kazmarek. "You could improve environmental quality with a change from lead bullets."..

And this stupidity would help WWII barracks how? BTY, are you really worried about a biodegradable Sabot round for a tank? It's composed of depleted uranium and you're worried about what the casing is composed of.

Secretary Mattis, I think I've found a place to cut the budget....