You just can’t make this stuff up. Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake claims many cities are jealous of the duration of the arson, looting, riots and lawlessness. It only lasted a “few hours”, and “many cities would be proud of that accomplishment”….

Of course the looted and burned businesses might have a divergent perspective. But I digress. (video in tweet)

MayorSRB on riots "lasting only a few hrs": "There's a lot of cities that would love to have that record" pic.twitter.com/zP4LCYGd8c

— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) July 19, 2015

A ruling this morning from the Wisconsin Supreme Court (read here), rendered official what observers have long known for a long time:

Wisconsin Democrats did, in fact, launch a massive, multi-county “John Doe” investigation of the state’s conservatives, featuring extraordinarily broad subpoenas and coordinated “paramilitary” raids of private homes; the “crimes” that provided the investigation’s pretext were not crimes at all, but First Amendment-protected speech; and the legal theory underpinning the investigation was bunk, “unsupported in either reason or law,” as the court put it.

[…] On October 3, 2013, multiple Wisconsin conservatives were awakened by a persistent pounding on the door, their houses were illuminated by floodlights, and police — sometimes with guns drawn — poured into their homes. Once inside, the investigators turned the private residences of these innocent conservative citizens “upside down,” seeking an extraordinarily broad range of documents and information. These raids were supplemented by subpoenas that secured for investigators massive amounts of electronic information.

The court was obviously disturbed: (more…)

What’s that they say about apples and trees?…

Things that make other things make sense – Oh boy, it looks like Marilyn “By-Any-Means-Necessary” Mosby has some serious issues in the background of her family and their life of crime while carrying badges.

WASHINGTON – Marilyn Mosby, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney, catapulted to national fame when she decided in early May to prosecute six police officers for the death of Freddie Gray. In her remarks, Mosby used her family of Boston police officers as a shield against critics who said she could not fairly prosecute the case.

“To the rank-and-file officers of the Baltimore City Police Department, please know that these accusations of these six officers are not an indictment on the entire force,” said Mosby. “I come from five generations of law enforcement. My father was an officer. My mother was an officer. Several of my aunts and uncles.”

Sources told me to look into Mosby’s family’s personnel records at the Boston Police Department. Two months ago, I put in Public Records Law request for personnel records for Mosby’s mother and two uncles. (more…)

NEW YORK – New York City has reached a settlement with the family of Eric Garner for $5.9 million, almost a year after the 43-year-old died in police custody.

The family filed a notice of claim in October, the first step in filing a lawsuit against the city, asking for $75 million.

Garner was stopped on July 17 outside a convenience store for selling loose cigarettes. A video shows Garner telling the officers to leave him alone and refusing to be handcuffed. Garner is taken to the ground in what appears to be a chokehold, banned by police policy. The officer claimed it was a legal takedown maneuver known as a “seatbelt.”  (read more)

NEW YORK – A $5 million settlement won’t satisfy the heartbroken family of Eric Garner.

A source familiar with ongoing negotiations between Controller Scott Stringer and the family of the Staten Island man killed by an NYPD cop say that his widow, Esaw Garner, turned down the hefty offer last week.

The source said the Garner family’s attorney, Jonathan Moore, is urging the family to accept the $5 million and then seek more money through a separate lawsuit against EMTs from Richmond University Medical Center.

They were captured on video failing to give Garner, 43, medical treatment — neither oxygen nor CPR — as he died at their feet July 17, 2014.

Negotiations are expected to continue until Friday, when a statute of limitations requires the family file a wrongful death lawsuit. The family has said it intends to sue the city for $75 million. (more…)

Gee, who didn’t see this coming?

(Daily Mail) Police departments across the country that have spent years boasting about plummeting crime numbers are now scrambling to confront something many agencies have not seen in decades: more bloodshed.

Houston, St. Louis, New Orleans and Baltimore have all seen significant spikes in the number of homicides this year. The totals are up in other cities, too, including New York and Chicago.

“We’re in scary territory,” said Peter Scharf, a professor at Louisiana State University who tracks homicides in New Orleans.

In Los Angeles, the number of slayings dropped slightly, but the number of shooting victims jumped more than 18 percent. And in Milwaukee, a homicide on Wednesday put the total for the year at 84 – just two fewer than happened in all of 2014. (more…)

Inside a Baltimore Sun article discussing reactions to the firing of Police Chief Anthony Batts, Councilman Nick Mosby, Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s husband, gives his opinion about the police union’s post-riot “After Action Report”.

Nick Mosby says he too wants to know why the police response to the rioting mob was so ineffectual and incompetent:

[…]  Mosby said he hadn’t yet reviewed the police union’s report. But he questioned why such a report hasn’t been issued by the police department itself or City Hall.

“Folks want answers,” he said.

That’s Rich.

Perhaps it was because Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake wanted to give the rioting mob “space to destroy“.  Perhaps it was because the police department received instructions from Chief Batts not to stop the mob…..  (more…)

Oh my !!

…”San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has deflected blame in the release of a Mexican national now facing murder charges in the Pier 14 slaying by demanding to know why federal authorities returned him to San Francisco to face a 20-year-old marijuana charge in the first place.

The answer, it turns out, is that the Sheriff’s Department asked federal officials to do so”… (link)

Chuck Ross has more…. (Via Daily Caller) A bitter dispute over who bears responsibility for the release of Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, the five times-deported illegal alien who fatally shot Kathryn Steinle last week in San Francisco, has taken a surprise twist with the revelation that the San Francisco sheriff’s department asked the Federal Bureau of Prisons for custody of the 45-year-old Mexican national back in March. (more…)

Many people were shocked when Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake fired the Baltimore City Police Commissioner (Chief) yesterday.   Almost everyone was left wondering exactly why did the firing take place with such fervor following the Fraternal Order of Police report.

Having followed the political fiasco since the crisis originally surfaced it is likely the answers lie in the following paragraph:

[…]  It should be noted that as part of this review, repeated requests, including a formal Maryland Public Information Act request, were made of the Baltimore Police Department to supply communications between commanders (both text and email), radio communications tapes and other documents to assist in the review. As of July 6, 2015, Baltimore City FOP Lodge #3 has only received one tape from April 27, 2015 and from only one channel — a small fraction of the information requested.

Full report pdf below:

(more…)

This is severely interesting:

UPDATE – Here’s Video

In a short statement sent to The Baltimore Sun, Rawlings-Blake’s office said: “Effective immediately, Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Davis will become Interim Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department.”

It’s unclear whether Batts resigned or was fired. Rawlings-Blake and Davis will hold a news conference at 4:15 p.m.

(more…)