Investigator Timothy Dale Cole, Sr.Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Comanche County District Attorney's Office, Oklahoma
End of Watch Saturday, August 4, 2018
Age 61
Cause Gunfire
Incident Date Monday, June 18, 2007
Investigator Tim Cole succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained on June 18th, 2007, while attempting to serve a high-risk search warrant at a condominium at 2802 NE 9th Street in Lawton, Oklahoma.
Investigator Cole was assigned to the Comanche County Drug Task Force and was assisting members of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in serving the warrant at approximately 6:40 am. The subject had sold methamphetamine to undercover agents on two occasions was known to be armed.
As agents attempted to breach the door the man opened fire from inside, shooting through the door and striking Investigator Cole and an OBN agent. Other agents returned fired and killed the subject.
Investigator Cole suffered a spinal cord injury that rendered him a paraplegic. His health continued to deteriorate and he died from complications of his wounds on August 4th, 2018.
Investigator Cole is survived by his wife, three children, eight grandchildren, parents, and three siblings.
...While Obamacare has been neither repealed nor replaced, it is being superseded. As President Donald Trump said, “We will deliver relief to American workers, families, and small businesses, who right now are being crushed by Obamacare, by increasing freedom, choice, and opportunity for the American people.”
The total number of Americans with health insurance rose from 292.3 million in 2016 to 294.6 million in 2017, the Census Bureau reports. Some of the following new reforms have helped 2.3 million more Americans enjoy medical coverage and alternatives under Republican leadership rather than Democrat mismanagement.
- Republicans last December “ended the unfair individual-mandate penalty” under Obamacare, President Trump observed. “People are paying a lot of money for the privilege of not paying a lot of money for bad health care. And we’ve ended it.” Every single Democrat in Congress opposed individual-mandate repeal, which was part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
- Trump signed legislation in February to repeal the Independent Payments Advisory Board, also known as the “Death Panel,” that would have rationed Obamacare. IPAB is dead and threatens no one.
- As promised, Trump signed the Right to Try Act on May 30. Terminally ill Americans who have exhausted other options now are free to use drugs that have passed the FDA’s Phase 1 safety trials but not yet passed effectiveness tests. The FDA’s “compassionate use” program only helped some 1,200 patients annually, the White House estimates. It added: “‘Right to Try’ gives the over 1 million Americans who die from a terminal illness every year a new tool to fight and make potentially lifesaving decisions about their treatment.”
“People who are terminally ill should not have to go from country to country to seek a cure,” Trump said. “I want to give them a chance right here at home.”
The U.S. House’s roll call on this measure showed the parties’ true colors.
All 228 Republicans present voted for the Right to Try on May 22. But only 22 Democrats voted yes. The other 169 voted to deprive terminally ill Americans of the experimental drugs that might keep them alive. California’s Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters, Maryland’s Steny Hoyer, and New York’s Jerrold Nadler were among the pharmo-totalitarians who did not let even these imminent deaths tame their lust to control others...
-The Trump administration in June authorized “association health plans.” Entrepreneurs, small employers, and civic organizations (e.g., the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Association of Michigan) now may join hands and insure their employees and members, including across state lines.
Last summer, the administration extended the duration of short-term, limited health plans from three months to one year, with renewals permitted up to three years. In essence, Team Trump increased twelve-fold the allowable length of short-term policies. “For example, according to E-Health, the average lowest premium for an Obamacare plan for a 40-year-old woman is about $4,200 per year,” Trump noted. “By contrast, the average lowest premium for short-term coverage for this individual is about $1,300 a year — a savings of $3,000,” or 69 percent off.
These plans are cheaper because they lack many of Obamacare’s costly, needless, and foolish mandates. Every Obamacare plan must include pediatric vision coverage — even if the policy holder is childless, sterile, and mortally terrified of small, screaming objects.
The GOP’s cost-cutting, liberty-expanding dynamic contrasts vividly with the Democrats’ cruel, truncheon-wielding approach. As Health Secretary Alex Azar wrote in the Washington Post on August 15: “Such plans were offered for terms of up to 12 months for decades until, in an effort to push Americans into Obamacare, the previous administration restricted the plans to 90 days and prohibited insurers from renewing them beyond that time period.”
The administration in August required hospitals to post the prices of their procedures online and update them annually. Patients will be able to shop around when deciding where to get treated. Such competition should slow or even counteract medical-cost inflation...
Police Officer Adam Edward Jobbers-MillerRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Fort Myers Police Department, Florida
End of Watch Saturday, July 28, 2018
Age 29
Tour 3 years
Badge 524
Incident Date Saturday, July 21, 2018
Police Officer Adam Jobbers-Miller succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained on July 21st, 2018, after responding to an assault and larceny call at a gas station at 3915 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard at approximately 7:30 pm.
As officers arrived the suspect fled on foot along Flint Drive, with Officer Jobbers-Miller in pursuit. The man opened fire with a handgun, striking Officer Jobbers-Miller. Another officer transported him to Lee Memorial Hospital where he remained until succumbing to his wound on July 28th, 2018.
The subject was taken into custody at the scene after being shot and wounded.
Officer Jobbers-Miller had served with the Fort Myers Police Department for three years and had previously served as a firefighter with the Wayne Fire Department in New Jersey.
Police Officer Michael J. MichalskiRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Milwaukee Police Department, Wisconsin
End of Watch Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Age 52
Tour 17 years
Badge 3014
Police Officer Michael Michalski was shot and killed while attempting to apprehend a wanted subject in the area of 28th Street and Wright Street. The subject was wanted for weapons violations, narcotics violations, and violation of parole.
Officer Michalski and other members of the Special Investigations Division located the man in the area and attempted to take him into custody. The man fled on foot and the officers pursued him into a nearby home. The man ran up a set of stairs and encountered a locked door, at which time he hid in a large pile of clothing on a landing for approximately 10 minutes.
As officers searched the house, Officer Michalski walked up the stairs to check the second floor. The man suddenly emerged from the pile of clothes and shot Officer Michalski without warning with a .45 caliber handgun. He then shot and wounded two other officers before running out of ammunition and surrendering.
He was charged with Officer Michalski's murder and two counts of attempted murder in addition to other charges stemming from the incident and original warrants.
Officer Michalski had served with the Milwaukee Police Department for 17 years. He is survived by his wife and three sons.
Trooper Tyler James EdenhoferRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Arizona Department of Public Safety, Arizona
End of Watch Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Age 25
Tour 3 months
Badge 10449
Trooper Tyler Edenhofer was shot and killed after he and several officers responded to reports of a subject throwing objects at vehicles on I-10, near Avondale Boulevard in Goodyear, at approximately 10:00 pm.
Three Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers and two Goodyear Police Department officers responded to the scene and attempted to take the subject into custody. The man resisted arrested and engaged the officers in a struggle that lasted several minutes. The subject was able to obtain one of the officers' duty weapons during the struggle and opened fire, killing Trooper Edenhofer and wounding another Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper.
The subject was taken into custody.
Trooper Edenhofer had graduated from the police academy only three months earlier and was still in field training at the time of the incident. He was a U.S. Navy veteran.
ND cops arrest naked, high man who climbed into holy water
The 21-year-old climbed into the holy water font during Mass
MANDAN, ND — Police say a naked North Dakota man who was high on drugs climbed into the holy water font during Mass at a church.
Officers in Mandan, which is just across the Missouri River from Bismarck, were called to Spirit of Life Catholic Church at around 9 a.m. Tuesday and arrested the 21-year-old man on drug, criminal mischief and indecent exposure charges. Formal charges were pending.
Deputy police Chief Lori Flaten says the man had been at the church earlier trying to bless people and was asked to leave. She says he later returned, stripped, entered the fountain, and then walked down the aisle performing a lewd act.
Police Officer Diego MorenoRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Kent Police Department, Washington
End of Watch Sunday, July 22, 2018
Age 35
Tour 8 years
Badge 265308
Police Officer Diego Moreno was struck and killed by a patrol car while deploying spike strips during a vehicle pursuit.
The pursuit started after officers began investigating the sounds of gunfire they heard in the area of a mobile home park. They attempted to stop a pickup truck leaving the area, but the driver refused to stop and lead officers on a pursuit along Route 516.
Officer Moreno was attempting to deploy spike strips at the intersection of Route 516 and Meeker Street when he was struck by one of the patrol cars involved in the pursuit. The patrol car then crashed into several parked vehicles.
The truck continued to flee but crashed a short distance away. One occupant in the vehicle and the other two were arrested after fleeing the area. The driver was charged with murder and the other two were charged in connection with the initial shooting.
Officer Moreno had served with the Kent Police Department for eight years.
The Real Reason They Hate Trump
He’s the average American in exaggerated form—blunt, simple, willing to fight, mistrustful of intellectuals.
David Gelernter Oct. 21, 2018
Every big U.S. election is interesting, but the coming midterms are fascinating for a reason most commentators forget to mention: The Democrats have no issues. The economy is booming and America’s international position is strong. In foreign affairs, the U.S. has remembered in the nick of time what Machiavelli advised princes five centuries ago: Don’t seek to be loved, seek to be feared.
This has happened before, in the 1980s and ’90s and early 2000s, but then the financial crisis arrived to save liberalism from certain destruction. Today leftists pray that Robert Mueller will put on his Superman outfit and save them again.
For now, though, the left’s only issue is “We hate Trump.” This is an instructive hatred, because what the left hates about Donald Trump is precisely what it hates about America. The implications are important, and painful.
Not that every leftist hates America. But the leftists I know do hate Mr. Trump’s vulgarity, his unwillingness to walk away from a fight, his bluntness, his certainty that America is exceptional, his mistrust of intellectuals, his love of simple ideas that work, and his refusal to believe that men and women are interchangeable. Worst of all, he has no ideology except getting the job done. His goals are to do the task before him, not be pushed around, and otherwise to enjoy life. In short, he is a typical American—except exaggerated, because he has no constraints to cramp his style except the ones he himself invents.
Mr. Trump lacks constraints because he is filthy rich and always has been and, unlike other rich men, he revels in wealth and feels no need to apologize—ever. He never learned to keep his real opinions to himself because he never had to. He never learned to be embarrassed that he is male, with ordinary male proclivities. Sometimes he has treated women disgracefully, for which Americans, left and right, are ashamed of him—as they are of JFK and Bill Clinton...
...Reagan reduced the problem to its essence and correctly identified the trajectory. We tend to confuse the terms "intellectual" and "intelligent." An intellectual is a person who makes his living dealing in ideas. He is learned by profession. He could also be a moron. There is no guarantee that an intellectual is intelligent. At the same time, there are people who are enormously intelligent, but not at all intellectual. They do not make their living working with ideas. They are not learned. But their unencumbered intelligence can sometimes see the future more clearly than someone who is encumbered by complex ideas that their intelligence can't sort through. Reagan was no intellectual. That allowed him to see things that intellectuals could not see...
Senior Corporal Earl James "Jamie" Givens, IIIRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Dallas Police Department, Texas
End of Watch Saturday, July 21, 2018
Age 55
Tour 32 years
Badge 5484
Senior Corporal Jamie Givens was struck and killed by a drunk driver while conducting a funeral escort for another Dallas police officer at approximately 5:30 am.
The procession was being escorted by motor officers along I-20 to a location in East Texas. Corporal Givens stopped to block traffic entering the highway at Bonnie View Road. He was stationary on his motorcycle, with its emergency lights activated, when he was struck by a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed.
He was transported to Baylor Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The driver who struck him was arrested and charged with DUI.
Corporal Givens had served with the Dallas Police Department for 32 years.
Living with the Sacrifice
with Barbara A. Schwartz
Adam-12 celebrates 50 years on the beat
The TV series introduced the public to LAPD officers Jim Reed and Pete Malloy, inspiring thousands to seek a career in law enforcement
Fifty years ago, on September 21, 1968, Adam-12 premiered on network television during a period of tension between the public and police that was inflamed by news reel images of riots at the Chicago Democratic National Convention one month earlier.
“Adam-12 debuted in an atmosphere very much like today,” said Kent McCord, who portrayed LAPD officer Jim Reed, the rookie cop. Pete Malloy was portrayed by the late Martin Milner.
The Adam-12 episode guide reads like it is taken from today’s headlines: Two men with a camera follow Malloy and Reed from call to call and post photos in a newspaper that are taken out of context, sparking a brutality investigation against the officers. In another episode, ambushed officers return fire and kill an 18-year-old black man. Militants stand in front of news cameras and state that the man was “shot in the back” and “executed by the pigs.”
“We did not set out to cure the social ills of the day. The show was about the job, about two good guys in a black and white solving crimes and making people safe,” said McCord.
Retired LAPD Chief Charles Beck notes that we have cycled back in history and that is why Adam-12 remains relevant. “Every episode showed a facet of policing that still exists today,” said Beck.
Los Angeles Police Protective League President Craig Lally agrees: “The show has lasted through history because the scenarios are still the same – a lost child, traffic stops, domestic violence, family disputes and how things can go to crap really fast. This job basically comes down to people call police and police arrive on the call. That hasn’t changed in 50 years.”
Adam-12 changed the public’s perception of police
“The charm of Adam-12 was that we became a window to the public on what two cops in a black and white actually did,” McCord said.
During the first years of the show, officers told McCord and Milner that citizens had started treating them differently. People, especially kids, were no longer afraid to approach them.
“Both Marty and I were quite proud that the show had a positive influence on the profession,” McCord said.
McCord is also proud that for half a century the show has inspired people to pursue a career in law enforcement.
Lally is one of them. He became not only an officer, but an LAPD officer because of Adam-12. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Lally watched the show as a teen and journeyed 3,000 miles to be like Pete Malloy and Jim Reed.
What drew Lally in was the realism of the show. “It was almost like a training manual. Not just for policing, but also for LAPD policies and procedures,” Lally said.
Bob Cinader, the genius behind the show’s format and realism, mandated that the actors and writers go on ride-alongs.
Milner rode in Van Nuys and McCord rode in North Hollywood.
“Going on those ride-alongs, seeing what it was that officers did, and seeing how officers were treated by the public was one of the big revelations I had. That gave me the perspective I needed to do the show,” McCord said.
LAPD provided sergeants as technical advisors who edited scripts and made suggestions during filming. McCord and Milner trained with academy instructors on defensive tactics and firearms handling.
For Lally and Beck, the most realistic aspect of the show was the relationship between the patrol partners.
McCord admits that wasn’t acting. Their on-screen relationship reflected their off-screen friendship. “I was the luckiest guy in the world to have been associated with Martin Milner. He was not only a great actor, but also a great human being. We hit it off the first time we met.”
Malloy and Reed were the first cops to be videotaped
“Jack Webb warned us when we started the show that we were reflecting on real situations and real professional men and women out there doing the job every day. We would be the public face of that profession. We were becoming part of a small fraternity and to never embarrass it,” said McCord.
McCord believes officers today, under constant video scrutiny, need to heed Webb’s warning. McCord offers acting advice to officers wearing body cameras: “You have to have the mindset that your training officer is always observing you. You have to act and react like the professional you’ve been trained to be. You have to be the example others look up to. Your training is what separates you from those you have sworn to protect and serve.”
Officers can learn from Adam-12
Chief Beck points out that today’s officers can learn from Malloy and Reed. They practiced law enforcement with great morality, treating everyone fairly and with respect regardless of what they had done, and without bias.
“Adam-12 was the ideal of the way you should act as a cop,” said Beck. “They defined what it was to be a professional police officer. They put a human face on a profession that because of its very nature can be authoritative and distant.”
McCord relates a story about an officer who thanked him for what they did on Adam-12. “He said the show saved his life. When I asked him how, he said with the way he had been doing the job it was only a matter of time before he got blown away.”
The officer explained that when he started emulating how Malloy and Reed did things on the show his life and career turned around.
Television needs another Adam-12
Over the years, McCord has proposed similar series to studio executives only to be shot down. Networks wanted flawed characters, with bad cops doing bad things, and McCord refuses to cave in to the pressure.
Most current cop shows fail to portray police in the positive light that Adam-12 did.
McCord believes the entertainment industry has a responsibility in what it presents because TV shows and movies affect what the audience perceives and presumes about cops.
Commitment to officers
Milner and McCord developed a deep understanding of patrol work. Both actors championed the cause of police officers long after the show ended. McCord wore the uniform in real life as a Los Angeles School Police reserve officer. He retired with the rank of lieutenant.
McCord continues to advocate for officers and supports many police charities.
The public expects the police to treat them fairly and be fair. McCord maintains this goes both ways. The public needs to treat the police fairly, too.
“The heroic nature of what these men and women do every time they put on the uniform and go out on the street can’t be minimized. I wish everybody had the opportunity to do what Marty and I did with ride-alongs. That changes your perception very quickly,” said McCord.
Not everyone has the opportunity to ride-along with officers. By watching Adam-12, riding with Malloy and Reed, the public can gain an understanding of what policing with integrity means and what cops throughout this nation stand for and do every day.
“Law enforcement is the most noble of professions when done correctly,” said Beck. “Adam-12 displayed that nobility. That is what made the show great.”
Dallas Police Department Already Losing Some New Recruits
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A Dallas Police Academy graduate who was set to begin working for the police department Monday, instead turned in her resignation.
The 34 recruits in Academy Class #359 graduated on Friday, offering hope of much needed reinforcement to the department’s dwindling number of officers.
“It’s disappointing, certainly,” said Deputy Chief Bill Humphrey, who oversees personnel and training, of the new officer’s quick departure.
Humphrey recalled another recruit this year who left two days before graduation. “She was going to work for [the] Allen Police Department, City of Allen. They had hired her,” he said. “When you have officers who can make 15, 16, $17,000 more in another city, that speaks to some people.”
An e-mail from Assistant Chief Angela Shaw dated Tuesday shows nine officers of 167 who’ve graduated from the Dallas Police Academy within the last year are no longer with the department. According to the data provided, two recruits left two days after graduation; another quit after six days.
“We’re paying for them to be trained, as well as we’re paying them a salary while they’re being trained, and we’re losing them,” said city council member Jennifer Gates, whose questions prompted Shaw’s e-mail.
On Wednesday city staff estimated Dallas spends about $90,000 on each academy graduate, but there’s nothing requiring them to stay and work for the Dallas Police Department.
“I’ve got a lot of residents in Dallas that are like, “‘What?! We can’t require this?’” said Gates.
“We do pay for all the training. That’s correct, but once you’re out of the Academy, there’s no binding contract. You can stay or you can leave,” confirmed Humphrey.
Smaller police departments in nearby suburbs, that require applicants to already have a Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) license, can sometimes pay better starting salaries, too, enticing officers to jump ship.
“So, essentially, we’re paying for other municipalities’ law enforcement officers to get their TCOLE license,” said Gates.
Council members Wednesday discussed strategies to improve officer retention. And the problem isn’t limited to the police department. Dallas Fire Rescue Chief David Coatney told the city council that he too is losing recruits to higher paying departments. “They’re moving away from us after we train them,” he said...
Corrections Officer Kyle Lawrence EngRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Las Vegas Department of Public Safety - Division of Corrections, Nevada
End of Watch Thursday, July 19, 2018
Age 51
Tour 7 months
Corrections Officer Kyle Eng suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after struggling with an inmate in the Las Vegas Detention Center.
He began to feel ill after the inmate was subdued and went to the bathroom. Other officers found him unconscious in the bathroom and immediately began CPR. He was transported to University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Officer Eng had served with the Las Vegas Department of Public Safety for only seven months.
Corrections Officer Joseph GommRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Minnesota Department of Corrections, Minnesota
End of Watch Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Tour 16 years
Corrections Officer Joseph Gomm was beaten to death by an inmate at Minnesota Correction Facility–Stillwater at approximately 1:30 pm.
He was supervising inmates in the prison's industry building when he was attacked by one inmate with a hammer. Officer Gomm was transported to Regions Hospital, in St. Paul, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Officer Gomm had served with the Minnesota Department of Corrections for 16 years.
BIO
Age Not available
Agent Cadet Immanuel James WashingtonRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Louisiana
End of Watch Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Age 38
Tour 10 years
Incident Date Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Agent Cadet Immanuel Washington suffered a fatal heart attack while participating in morning physical training at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Training Academy in Baton Rouge.
He had just completed a 2-1/2 mile run with other cadets when he collapsed during a cool-down period. Academy staff immediately began CPR until he was transported to a local hospital. He passed away the following day.
Cadet Washington had served with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for only three weeks. He had previously served with the Youngsville Police Department and St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office for 10 years. He is survived by his wife and two young children. He had previously played on the University of Louisiana basketball team.
America’s Elite Needs to Get Back in Uniform
Military service is a unifying force in a time of deep division.
Odds are that any American reading this article doesn’t have family serving in the military. That’s the case for most Americans, perhaps especially the folks who read Foreign Policy magazine. In the United States, privately educated and upper-income people are strikingly unlikely to serve or to encourage their children to do so—only 3 percent of military recruits attended private high schools—even more so if they’re from the northern or coastal states, which are the most underrepresented areas for recruiting. U.S. military service can seem foreign or frightening. That’s a mistake—and it’s bad for the country.
Military service made no sense to me, once. As a Jewish psychiatrist’s daughter attending Bryn Mawr College and Princeton University, the military was deeply foreign to me.. Then I married into it and converted to the idea of military life...
...In the military, and in a military family, you learn to do something very hard and not of your own choosing, for a cause bigger than yourself. You’re working for a cause determined by the mechanisms of democracy, standing side by side with others who are fully committed. Current U.S. civilian life has a striking absence of “common causes”—tasks that remind us that there is more that unites us than divide us.
What makes every serviceperson valuable is not their wealth, SAT score, or political opinions, but that they have sworn to support and defend, as well as bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, no matter the personal cost.
Almost all the people who serve report feeling proud of the work they do—96 percent in the polls from Blue Star Families, the military family organization I lead, —and report that their experience has made them better. Military service affords the opportunity to live in a relatively egalitarian society —the highest-paid general makes 11 times what the lowest-paid private makes.
Military families get subsidized health care, housing, and child care. The military is integrated; it was the first place in the United States where blacks routinely commanded whites and it built the first integrated Southern schools in the late 1940s. The safest place in the United States for an African-American teen outside the home alone at night is probably on a military base.
But perhaps most relevant in a fiercely divisive political climate is that in the military, you learn to be an American.
The Founding Fathers conceived of the U.S. military as a crucial part of a self-governing democracy; a citizen military, not an army of mercenaries or a warrior caste. They devoted more clauses of the U.S. Constitution to the construction of the military than to any other task—17 in total—and embedded responsibility for it in the executive, the legislative, and the states to bind the military to the constitutional democratic process.
But the founders also saw military experience as an essential part of informed civilian governance—a tradition that lasted for nearly two centuries. True, the founders imagined a state-based military—hence the Second Amendment—but they would likely have approved of the first populist incarnation of our modern standing army.
In the 1950s, the majority of the graduating classes from Princeton, Harvard, and Yale went on to serve in the military. In the 1970s, nearly three-quarters of members of Congress were veterans.
Now, just 1 percent of Americans are currently serving, and since the abolition of conscription in 1973, that comes disproportionately from areas and from families with a history of service. Far fewer than 1 percent of top college graduates—those who go on to newsrooms, C-suites, and government committees—have or will serve in the military...
...Kathy Roth-Douquet is CEO of Blue Star Families, a national
military family organization, and co-author, with Frank Schaeffer, of AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes From Military Service - And How It Hurts Our Country...
U.S. Army and West Point both respond about ‘official socialist organizer’ and Army officer Spenser Rapone who is espousing Communism
Spenser Rapone went viral after being discovered as a socialist organizer espousing Communism
Spenser Rapone, a West Point graduate and current U.S. Army officer is under fire after being discovered to be a vehement Communist propagandist and ‘official socialist organizer” of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Rapone’s social media is filled with up to hundreds of posts, messages and photos which are now being circulated around the military and civilian communities.
U.S. Army spokesperson Valerie Mongello told American Military News:
“Both the Department of Defense and the Army have long-standing policies encouraging Soldiers to participate in the democratic process. Among other activities, Soldiers are encouraged to vote in elections and express their personal opinions on public issues. However, the Army has strict rules regarding the wear and appearance of Army uniforms.”
“All allegations of improper behavior by Soldiers are forwarded to the Soldier’s commander for review and final disposition. The appropriate Command authorities are reviewing the situation.”
Rapone has posted many images and messages on social media that show his vehement support for communism and socialism.
Rapone is a 2LT (Second Lieutenant) and an infantry officer in the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, NY.
He has posted pictures showing his Democratic Socialists of America membership card next to his military uniform along with many other posts...
‘Castrate their corpses,’ professor says of GOP senators. White ‘genocide!’ Tucker Carlson cries.
Saturday — two days before white 'genocide’
C. Christine Fair would later call the tweet an “experiment.” Not a performance, exactly. Not a trap, really. Certainly not a genocidal death threat, whatever it looked like at first glance.
“Look at [this] chorus of entitled white men,” the Georgetown University associate professor wrote Saturday afternoon, meaning the Republican senators who were defending Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh from sexual assault allegations. “All of them deserve miserable deaths while feminists laugh as they take their last gasps,” she wrote. “Bonus: we castrate their corpses and feed them to swine? Yes.”
An experiment, she insisted. A little bait tossed into the wilds of the Internet, to see what species of hate it would attract.
Unions Change Their Tune on Janus Supreme Court Ruling
It was the end of the world...until it wasn't.
Steven Greenhut | September 28, 2018
The U.S. Supreme Court is attacking working people by destroying public-sector unions. That's the gist of the argument that the union movement has made as the court considered Janus v. the American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees (AFSCME). Actually, their arguments were far more overheated, both before and after the high court ruled in June that government employees may not be forced to pay dues to unions—even for collective-bargaining purposes.
"The Janus case is a blatantly political and well-funded plot to use the highest court in the land to further rig the economic rules against everyday working people," intoned a typical statement last year from the American Federation of Teachers, in expectation of the decision. "The billionaire CEOs and corporate interests behind this case, and the politicians who do their bidding, have teamed up to deliver yet another attack on working people."
It wasn't only union officials who made apocalyptic predictions. In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan argued that the decision "will have large-scale consequences." She predicted that "public employee unions will lose a secure source of financial support. State and local governments that thought fair-share provisions furthered their interests will need to find new ways of managing their workforces. Across the country, the relationships of public employees and employers will alter in both predictable and wholly unexpected ways."
Three months after the ruling, however, union supporters have largely changed their tune. In fact, the pro-union website the74million.org argued this week that "Strangely enough, these kinds of apocalyptic predictions have given way to claims that the ruling has had little or no effect on union membership at all." Mike Antonucci concluded that Kagan's warnings may have been wrong. Instead of "wreaking havoc" on contractual relationships dealing with government workers, the main changes have come from union-friendly legislatures that are passing laws designed to mitigate the effects of the ruling. "If governments are designing new ways to manage their workforces, they are keeping it well hidden from view," he argued....
"...In a January article for the California Policy Center, I wrote, "Even many union officials and their staunchest allies recognize that eliminating mandatory dues could be a boon to unions. It's counterintuitive, but forcing unions to compete for members rather than take their funding for granted will put an end to the complacency that has dogged these noncompetitive institutions." I've also repeatedly warned critics of public-sector unions not to expect the decision to be the death knell for these unions. It's just the beginning of a long process of encouraging unions to focus more on providing benefits rather than on using the political system to achieve their ends...."
