12/14/2017 by Mike

Almost Zero Chance Police Will Turn Up Anything In Weapon’s Cache Investigations…

We were made aware that Karima Hudson, the woman at the forefront of the alleged shipment of weapons and ammunition discovered In Miami destined for Jamaica turned herself in to police roughly a week ago.

She was reportedly taken into custody on Monday by detectives from the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch (C‑TOC).
She was detained on suspicion of conspiracy to import firearms onto the island.
Her Attorney Oswett Smith told the Media that he suspects they are unable to make out a case against his client and that it was probably for that reason that so far she has not been charged with a crime.

It’s kinda funny how there are always high profile Lawyers, immediately a regular guy on the street is likely to be charged with a serious crime!
Wonder where the money comes from to pay these guys?
Anyway.…

I was reliably informed that the Police have just finally gotten around to searching her home. What if anything they found is still a mystery thus far.
In fairness to the police, [incredibly hard to support the police with their ineptitude these days] I am unaware of what impediments may have hampered their ability to secure a warrant to search her home before?
I do know that it takes time to interview witnesses and that based on what they say, police may determine that it makes good sense to search a suspect’s home.

When a person of interest decides to turn him/herself in, its also logical to assume that he or she may destroy materials they believe may have evidentiary value or may implicate them.
Notwithstanding, to detectives, this is never a deterrent, trained officers know what to look for, they generally find materials of evidentiary value useful for filling out the puzzle.
With that said, it boggles the mind that the JCF with all of the emphasis placed on bringing in educated people into the department still cannot conduct and complete investigations in a way which would make law-abiding Jamaicans proud.

Let me be clear, I do not believe this woman is guilty as a principal in this case.
I have no evidence outside that which has been reported on in this case. Nevertheless, I believe wholeheartedly that to the extent that Karima Hudson, is somehow criminally connected to this case her involvement is peripheral.

The idea that a woman who worked in a council office has the kind of money, connections, and gravitas to attempt a criminal act of this magnitude is an assault on our intelligence.
What is obvious is that in the same way that somehow the real importers of the arms shipment was somehow tipped off and subsequently did not attempt to collect the shipment, I believe the Investigators in the JCF looking at this matter are looking no further than this poor woman.
I believe if this Investigation is approached with professionalism and fortitude the revelations on its conclusion would be earth-shattering.

Now, granted that it would be ludicrous to believe that the aborted shipment was the only such shipment attempted, the logical conclusion is that several such shipments have already slipped through undetected.
With 316 homicides in the Parish of St, James alone thus far this year and hundreds and hundreds of high powered weapons, grenades and other war paraphernalia recovered by the police this case can be a bombshell.

This case if investigated properly could blow the lid off much of what has been happening particularly in the western parishes of the Island.
Alas, if precedent is any indicator we will end up with no charges filed against Karima Hudson, no pressure applied with a promise of a carrot with a view to flipping her in the event she has some minor role in all of this.

Let us be clear-eyed about this, there is a big fish somewhere in Jamaica to whose stewardship this consignment was intended. He or she need not worry about ever being investigated and busted for his/her part in flooding the Island with guns resulting this year in well over 1500 dead Jamaicans.
I have no confidence that despite the hifuleten acronyms C‑TOC or whatever that this investigation will yield a damn thing.
No belief that Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime (C‑TOC) is anything but another fancy titled bunch of jokers and posers.

Maybe just maybe they will cause me to shut up but I have little fear of that.

12/13/2017 by Mike - 1 Comment

Public Sector Wage Demands Fair But.…

Without taking sides in the public sector wage debate occurring in Jamaica, and understanding full well how any increase given to workers is gobbled up by inflation, I would like to ask this question.

Given the same IMF loan stipulations to Jamaica as years ago when the previous Government issued an across the board public sector wage freeze, why is it that 6% is so insulting?

Look, the wage demands of public sector workers are just and fair nevertheless present demands must be balanced against the constraints of the Government’s ability to pay.

They should also be approached with the same degree of deference given to the previous Government, considering that it unilaterally imposed an across the board wage freeze.

Public sector workers should approach their wage negotiations with the very same degree of professionalism and realism regardless of who occupies Jamaica House.

The cause is just the fight is long but there comes a time when reality must guide our decisions.

12/13/2017 by Mike

Taming The Enemy Within.….…

We are getting mighty close to what is called critical mass with the general arc of crime in Jamaica.
The stark reality is that the present situation seems to be outside the control of local authorities.
We have now passed the stage where apportioning blame is useful in this ongoing saga which is the shocking deteriorating security situation on the Island.
Sure we know that both political parties share blame for the existing situation, some with greater culpability than others but there is little doubt that arguing about who is more guilty will do nothing to remedy the situation.

The increase in the number of homicides this year over last year and that of last year over the preceding year have seen administrations of both political parties presiding over what appears to be a homicide and another serious crime wave over which neither have control.
If we are able to suspend the omnipresent predisposition to see everything purely from political perspectives we may have a shot at actually having a meaningful conversation about how to resolve this issue before it’s too late.
In order for us to begin to arrest this very serious problem, we need to agree that no one person has all of the answers and that the course we are on is not working.

Veteran Journalist Dan Rather speaking to an alleged scammer…

CAUSATION

We need to take a different look at what are the issues fueling this crime monster.
The universally accepted idea that poverty is the cause of crime in the country is intellectual indolence and maybe an attempt to deflect attention away from the real reasons.
We can agree that poverty is not going to be eliminated from Jamaica anytime soon. If the focus can be diverted to the issue of poverty as the reason that people are decapitating others while others are bringing large caches of weapons into the country, then we will continue as a dog chasing its tail into perpetuity, while those who benefit from crime continue to fatten themselves.

There is no denying the reality that ” a hungry man is an angry man”, with that in mind, the actions of the man who goes out and steals in order to eat can be viewed within the context of poverty.
Looking at the totality of the nation’s crime problem, however, purely from the point of view of poverty must subsequently be seen as simplistic and to some degree disingenuous.
The question then, is, to what end is the nation being misled into an acceptance of the murder madness under the guise of poverty?
As I have written before there are countries across the globe and indeed in our own hemisphere with lower standards of living and significantly less crime to boot.

If we intend to be honest with ourselves we must agree that the massive caches of weapons coming into the country are not being imported by people in poverty, neither are the drugs coming in and passing through have impoverished people behind them.

FACTS

Earlier this year caribbeannationalweekly.com published a report released by the United States State’s Department of State, which stated that several countries in the Caribbean are major illicit drug producing and drug-transit countries with some also being major money laundering countries.
The US Department of State’s “International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR),” notes that the Bahamas, Belize, Haiti, and Jamaica, are among 22 countries worldwide considered major drug producing or major drug transit countries.

The foregone gives a slightly clearer view as to what are really some of the factors fuelling the massive crime wave in our country.
The local police have stridently maintained that the illicit lotto-scamming is a major contributor to the homicide rate as well.
Thus far this year there are over 300 deaths in St. James the epic center of the lotto scam epidemic which leaves over a thousand other homicides which the police would be hard pressed to pin on that trade.
Even if there were another two hundred which could credibly be attributed to the lotto scam making it a total of say 500, there would still be in excess of 800 other homicides which were committed for other reasons.

Argentian-police-operating-against-narco-terrorists.

SOLUTION

Police cannot enforce laws which do not exist.
Corrupt police officers are vastly less effective than honest cops.
The penalty for serious crimes under the penal code does not have sufficient deterrent components.
As long as the rights of murderous criminals are viewed with the same importance as their victims there will be no differentiation between the two categories of Jamaicans.
If we are unable to differentiate between how we treat murderers over how we view their victims we have already lost the war.

I know of no country in which the rights of criminals are viewed with such delicacy. No other place where criminality is so accepted by the broader society and excused.
No other place !
We have the answers to the problems the country faces, the Colombians certainly faced their problems head-on when they chose to say no to narco-terrorism from the Medellin and Cali cartels.

We can continue the pretentiousness as a country while hiding behind layers of grill fortifications, pretty soon however, no one will be safe not even those who believe they are in charge with their police escorts.
Massive corruption and the lethality of the weapons in the hands of the criminal underworld renders their police escorts null and void against whats to come.
A few patriots will have to balls up and make some sacrifices for the life of our beloved Island. The nonsense which comes out of Mona will not save our country it will take balls and courage like that exhibited by Paul Bogle and Nanny.
This time the enemy is within.……

REFERENCE

The Colombian Government and decent law-abiding people understood that putting the cart before the horse was a prescription for failure.
Within that context, average people decided to take their children’s and their own future into their own hands.
Summing up the story of Colombia a country once on the verge of becoming a failed narco-state was an Article written for the Daily Telegraph by Journalist Szu Ping Chan in 2015.

Colombian security forces deal decisively with drug and criminal kingpins

Diplomacy, hard work and compromise have helped to transform the country over the last decade. The iron fist of former president Álvaro Uribe that helped to destroy many rebel strongholds in 2002 has been put back inside the velvet glove held by the current president, Juan Manuel Santos.The former defense minister is edging closer to signing a historic peace deal with the FARC rebels, although the toughest part of the negotiation — amnesty, and reparations — has yet to be agreed.
Meanwhile, Colombia’s middle class is on the rise, climbing from 16pc of the population in 2002 to 27pc in 2011. In the streets of Bogotá, Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Armani line up next to high street names Zara and Mango.

The poverty rate – defined by the World Bank as anyone living on less than $1.25 (81p) a day – has fallen from almost 50pc to 34pc over the same period. While policymakers have more to do, Colombians are lifting themselves out of poverty. Entrepreneurial spirit means many choose to sell goods in little stalls or on the streets. Old jeans and used shoes are sold alongside trinkets and food. In the center of Bogotá, one seller has around 100 dolls piled up on a tarpaulin. An improving economy means the advertising slogans are very different now. “Colombia, magical realism”, is a homage to the country’s most famous author, Gabriel García Márquez, who died last year.

Note that the Government of President Alvaro Uribe understood fundamentally that he had to deal with the country’s crime problem with an Iron fist.
After toppling the cartels the new President Juan Manuel Santos slid the iron fist back into a velvet glove.
As I have said for years we need an attitudinal change in how we approach this issue. The rights of murderers is inconsequential when we consider them against what they did to their victims and their families.
There need to be a 180 degree paradigm shift in how we go after those who kill and those behind them.
Sending a clear uniquovical message that their methods will not be tolerated is the only message they understand.
It is the only solution which will begin the process of reversing this madness.

12/12/2017 by Mike

Why I Responded Live On The Air To A Viewer Who Called Me A Racial Slur

Image result for journalist sharon reed

I really don’t think I had a choice.

When that vile email came across my computer at 9:26 p.m., I saw an opportunity. Yes, opportunity.

We were on the air live, discussing the role of race in the Atlanta mayoral election. Two women ― one white and one black ― were the last candidates standing in an extremely contentious election to succeed Mayor Kasim Reed. The campaign season had offered up subtle and not-so-subtle undertones of race throughout.

Race, and racial bias, was the story.

The format for our 9 p.m. show is loose and interactive. We put skin in the game (no pun intended) as anchors, sharing our opinions and viewpoints, and we invite viewers to give us their take. We promise to put their comments on the air whether they agree with our presentation of the issue or not.

I looked at my email and saw the word “Niger” ― (this particular viewer couldn’t spell the slur) ― and got a knot in my stomach. Adrenaline kicked in.

But it was a gift in real time. Black journalists, including yours truly, actually do get attacked by racist trolls. I could use this email to show anyone watching what we deal with ― sometimes every single day. Opportunity.

To hide it or censor it ― in my view, on that night ― seemed inherently wrong and the height of fake news.

People at home deserve to know the truth, not some version of events sanitized for them from our perch on the anchor desk. Especially when it goes to the heart of the matter. If we can’t keep it real during a discussion about race on the air in Atlanta, then when and where can we?

In the minutes after I read it, at 9:34 p.m., I forwarded the email to our executive producer. I asked if we could get this on the air and told him only that I’d like to comment. He wrote back immediately and said yes.

There wasn’t time to get my thoughts together. Truthfully, I could’ve used a few more minutes. I wanted some breathing room to get it just right and considered begging off until after the next commercial break. Ultimately, I decided to be authentic in the ad-lib ― and to trust the audience.

What came out of my mouth at 9:47 p.m. ― 21 minutes after receiving this offensive email ― wasn’t artful or polished, but it was real.

I can only speak to my experience, but make no mistake: It is a shared experience. Other black journalists are called “nigger,” too. In fact, if you know any black person who hasn’t had this happen, now there’s a story!

Many people have been reaching out to reaffirm just that, and to say thanks for putting it front and center.

The frequency ebbs and flows. Sometimes it’s related to content, or perceived opinions based on our skin color. Check these out. These are just a FEW of what appeared in my inbox over the course of only a few days.

SHARON REED

Why do racists feel they can do this, that they can get away with this?

Because they can and generally do. I really don’t think there’s anything deeper. Racists often like to spit that word, because there is hardly ever any personal consequence for doing so. Especially now. In a time when we are calling people “white nationalists” instead of what their speech and actions actually dictate. Cool story, bro, but not one rooted in any fact.

Every single day, journalists of color get emails like the one I got. Most of us continue to do our jobs with excellence. You never even know. That seems like one of the reasons some people were stunned by how casually yet pointedly racist the email I got was.

Another factor: Most people are decent and just don’t harbor or peddle such trash. But ignorance of the lowest common denominator among us seems rooted in something else, too. We don’t have enough honest conversations about racism in mixed company.

It feels like some white people have a fear of being verbally pounced on for saying something awkward. And blacks? I certainly know the feeling. Some of us fear we might not be able to hold back … and could keep it too real.

Having had a minute to reflect on how things unfolded, I realize that the decision to put that email on the air was rooted in hurt, defiance and even “I told you so” to all of the people out there who doubt this happens. All of that, and on behalf of so many who sit in silence and simply take it. Our #MeToo.

I have an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and master’s from Northwestern University. I’ve worked hard on my craft for years and I believe I am a skilled, balanced journalist who is naturally curious. It’s still not enough for another yahoo foaming at the mouth with racism. But then came the response to what I said on TV that night. Immediate. Swift. Overwhelming.

Phone calls … emails … messages from new “friends” on social media.

People across the country are speaking up and expressing a phenomenal amount of support. I’m grateful for so many of those views, but not because most people are supportive. It’s because, collectively, they offer a powerful lesson that I actually did not consider.

Nearly a week after my “clapback” went viral, after reading so many comments and listening to the voicemails, I realize there’s an equally important takeaway: Even though white people cannot ever know the black experience firsthand, most people get it when you simply serve up the details to them raw.

Common ground.

It reaffirms my belief in transparency in TV journalism. But, be certain ― even as I write this piece ― some in this industry claim disbelief, and even suggest I manufactured the email myself. Their displays show extreme callousness regarding the deep pain, divide and consequences of racism.

That’s a dark pivot. In truth, I have received enough racist emails for a small book.

In other news the sky is blue, the earth is round and common sense is something you pick up when you go outside and talk to people who don’t look like you or believe everything as you do. It also seems personal insecurities are validated when you choose to believe that an experienced colleague cannot possibly be poised or principled enough to actually confront a racist on the spot.

My final thought? It’s actually an acknowledgment. This has not been easy for our station management to navigate, but to their credit, my bosses handled it with grace and never-ending support.

And to the next journalist who is subjected to any kind of personal hate, my advice is to be strong, be honest, and don’t overthink the moment. Trust your instincts. They’re probably spot on. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sharon-reed-atlanta-viral-clapback-racial-slur_us_5a2ffa13e4b078950283e80a?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

12/12/2017 by Mike

Police 8 Point Plan, Mirror Image Of 10 Plan I Submitted A Day Ago…

YESTERDAY I SUBMITTED A 10 POINT PLAN AND TO HELP FIGHT CRIME IN ST JAMES AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
HERE IS MY PLAN.

Desperate times require strong measures. In order to impress the citizens of St, James the Police Commissioner must buck some trends and go big.
Going big means transferring every single cop stationed in the Parish to other Parishes.

#2
Do not send DCP Blake to the Parish he has no practical policing experience and may very well have been promoted above his capabilities. Since those wrongs are not going to be righted today there is no reason to further exacerbate the situation by parachuting a technocrat who has no idea what he is doing.
Sending Blake to St. James guarantees one outcome, disgruntled demoralized cops who drop their hands further.

#3
This Police Department of 2017 must begin once again to value the difference a robust Criminal Investigations Branch brings to any police department.
This has nothing to do with the creation of multiple supposed Investigative arms which are based in Kingston and cannot investigate itself out of a brown paper bag.

#4
Fresh police officers in the Parish and a push toward community-based policing is critical while getting capable undercover cops embedded into the communities is critical to any success the Police Department is going have going forward.
The Police must get back to gathering intelligence if it is to have any hope of reversing this crime wave.

#5
Commissioner Quallo, it is critical that the officers operating in the communities have a senior sub-officer at all times.
Having seasoned sub-officers on the ground reduces the likelihood of citizens abusing younger officers and it reduces the likelihood of officers abusing citizens.
It also reduces the potential for corruption.

#6
There are serious well-connected players operating in the Police Area 1.
Out of those connections emanate the lotto-scam, guns for drugs, the cocaine trade and other transnational crimes which are having devastating consequences on the security of Jamaicans.
It is imperative that the links between those well-connected figures and police officers are disconnected.

#7
Commissioner Quallo, you must demand that the Prime Minister and his lackeys as well as the PNP and its lackeys step aside and allow the Police to do its work unobstructed.
Failing which Commissioner, you must Investigate the Politicians who as much as lift a finger to obstruct, hinder, or otherwise ingratiate themselves into the operational procedures of the police department regardless of where they operate from, be it Jamaica House or Flankers.

#8
If the Prime Minister and his lackeys or the PNP and it’s lackeys refuse to stand aside while the police department does what it is mandated to do by virtue of the Jamaica Constabulary Force Act, tender your resignation and reveal through the media what they did to hamper your work.
Do not allow anyone to use you as a scapegoat while they are absolved of responsibility for whats happening.

#9
Initiate a push aimed at breaking up the Gangs operating in those spaces, it is important that you create an anti-gang task force solely for the western Parishes. This task-force must be relentless, not just operating during the daylight hours, but must be so relentless and lethal that no one wants to be associated with a gang.
Yes, I said lethal, I specifically used that term to annoy the bleeding heart frauds who pontificate about human rights as if the rights of killers supersede those of their victims.

#10
Commissioner Quallo, one of the best qualities of a good leader is that leader’s ability to inspire, to motivate. The ability to make something out of nothing, to get subordinates to go the extra mile.
Not because of the goodness of the Organization or even the nobility of the cause but because they want to work for that leader.
Your Agency is doing a tremendous disservice to the young men and women who join, remember that the agency is having a difficult time attracting suitable candidates to fill existing spots.
Additionally, over 500 officers are leaving each year, trying to imprison them in order to keep them in is a waste of time, it is unconstitutional.
The attitude of your senior staff to the men and women under their command is a huge part of the reason police officers are fleeing the department.
Being a leader does not make one a Lord, get that message to your commanders and maybe, just maybe some of your problems will be averted.

A DAY LATER THE POLICE SUBMITTED A PLAN.
HERE IS THE POLICE 8 POINT PLAN.

Improving intelligence capacity

Enhancing investigative capabilities

Greater use of technology to assist with investigations

Reviewing and redefining the divisional command and staff structure

Increasing collaboration with local, regional and international law enforcement authorities, especially transnational and financial crimes

Strengthening partnerships with various public and private sector stakeholders

Boosting the morale of staff through increased training and development for persons within St James division.

Enhancing community collaboration with community stakeholders and groups

12/12/2017 by Mike

Where There Is Smoke There Is Fire In This Troupe Saga…

There are conflicting reports surrounding a cache of weapons which was intercepted by US Customs and Border Protection (CBT) and Outbound Enforcement Team (OET) at the US airport on November 13. The shipment was reportedly destined for Montego Bay Jamaica.

Reports indicate the cache of a hundred and nineteen(119) weapons of varying calibers and 200 rounds of assorted ammunition, as well as firearm parts, were discovered by cops who later coördinated with their Jamaican counterparts.
It is reported that a sting was set up on the Jamaican end but the consignee, a woman who was employed to PNP Councillor Michael Troupe as his secretary.
The million dollar question is,” who told the consignee not to turn up to receive the shipment”?
If there was a collaboration between Florida law enforcement and Jamaican authorities, as have been reported, it is important to know who was in possession of said information in Jamaica where the leak was certain to have emanated from?

Reports indicate that no one turned up to receive the shipment, which is incredibly odd on the face of it. Why wouldn’t the person/s to whom this massive shipment of guns and ammunition not turn up to receive the shipment, unless of course, someone tipped them off that the shipment was already intercepted by law enforcement?
The question which must be asked at this point is, who in the corrupt Jamaican sewer had access to the information that a sting was set up to nab the recipient?

As soon as the story broke the PNP issued a statement indicating that the woman to whom the shipment was consigned was at one time in the employ of Troupe but three months ago she walked off the job without even giving a reason for leaving.
More digging reveals that that statement may have been a lie.
The PNP has been scrambling to distance itself from this hot potato even as it pretends to be aggressively interested in a rapid resolution of this toxic matter.

Troupe has since hired a lawyer who has intimated that the statement put out by the PNP may have been premature.
Troupe attorney Henry McCurdy insists “We do not know if the name that appears in the social media post is the same person who worked for Mr. Troupe and left her job without even saying to Councillor Troupe that she was leaving the job.
She just walked off the job and never returned.”
How convenient?

Troupe in cuffs for alleged lotto scamming

In the meantime, Michael Troupe has taken to social media to try to ingratiate himself with the public and to offer his own take on events even as he threatens to see whoever questions his integrity in court.
Trying to intimidate critics using threats of legal action is a common tact employed by well-placed criminals when they are unable to gun down their victims.
Said Michael Troupe “I have made meaningful contributions to my country, my parish and, of course, my division. Therefore, for all those who are slandering my name, I am prepared to see you in court. I stand tall in the face of adversity.”

In 2012 Michael Troupe was one of two parish councilors in the People’s National Party arrested for lotto-scamming.
Michael Troupe, the then deputy mayor of Montego Bay; and Sylvan Reid, who represented the Salt Spring Division — were among five persons taken into custody by the police in connection with the lottery scam.
At the time the Police said they seized a large sum of cash and motor vehicles in the pre-dawn raids at the homes of both politicians.

The latest on this is that the woman in question received payment from Councillor Troupes as late as three weeks ago.
Troupe shot back that even though she was paid by his office three weeks ago she had long left his employ.
Troupe went on to say that in fact, it was because of the untimely nature of payments to workers why the woman in question left his employ.
This latest statement contradicts earlier statements made by Troupe that he had no idea why the woman walked off the job.

Whether Troupe bears any culpability in this matter is yet to be determined by the Police. Personally, I will not hold my breath with this Police Department that it is capable of conducting an investigation without fear or favor.
Between the corruption, lack of know-how and the fear inherent in these cops I hardly expect a positive outcome for the nation despite the fact that the woman in question is now reportedly in their custody and is being questioned.

Wherever there is smoke there is fire, wherever there is a lot of smoke there is likely a big fire.
This incident is an eye opener for the Jamaican people. Many of us have been saying for a long time that there is a lot of connections behind the massive amounts of weapons which have been flooding the Island.

Oh for a Police Department which is unafraid and unconcerned about where investigations will lead and simply follow the evidence where it leads?

12/11/2017 by Mike

This Judge Isn’t Buying The Trump Admin’s Excuses For Holding A U.S. Citizen ‘Incommunicado’

WASHINGTON ― A federal judge on Monday aggressively questioned a Justice Department attorney about the Trump administration’s contention that it can continue holding an unnamed U.S. citizen ― who has asked for an attorney ― out of the reach of lawyers who wish to represent him.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said she was “not sure” it was “conscionable” that she could allow the U.S. government to continue holding the American, who was taken into custody in Iraq three months ago, without giving him the ability to challenge his prolonged detention as unlawful, through what’s known as a habeas corpus petition.

“What the government is suggesting is an end run around the right to habeas,” Chutkan said. “He wants counsel, which is an assertion and request that I don’t think I can ignore.”

The American Civil Liberties Union had filed a habeas corpus petition on behalf of the unnamed American, an alleged fighter for the Islamic State militant group. Chutkan, an Obama appointee, indicated on Monday that she’d made her ruling in the case “as quickly” as possible.

Justice Department attorney Kathryn Wyer, representing the Trump administration, argued that the government was trying to resolve the situation quickly. Wyer said the American “didn’t give any indication of urgency” to the FBI when they met with him and when he requested a lawyer.

Wyer suggested the unlikely possibility that the American might know the details of a legal battle involving the habeas rights of prior Guantanamo detainees, or that he knows the difference between habeas corpus and his Miranda rights ― a distinction most people are unfamiliar with. She suggested it was possible that the American only wanted a lawyer for questioning, not to assert his habeas corpus rights.

Chutkan didn’t seem to buy that.

“He says he wants counsel ― isn’t that enough?” she asked. How on earth, the judge said, would this person be able to exercise their habeas corpus rights if they’re effectively being held incommunicado?

“Under those circumstances, the right to habeas is meaningless,” Chutkan said.

Wyer argued that standing was still an issue, and that the ACLU was a “third-party stranger” to the case. But Chutkan said the ACLU isn’t just some person off the street ― it’s a group with “extensive experience” with these types of cases.

Jonathan Hafetz, the ACLU lawyer, said he was “flabbergasted” by the government’s arguments, and said the government was asking for a “blank check” to hold U.S. citizens overseas for indefinite periods of time, even when they’d requested a lawyer.

Chutkan shook her head in agreement several times during Hafetz’s presentation, and had no questions for him. She didn’t explicitly say how she’d rule, but left little doubt that she’d come down against the government. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/american-isis-aclu-case_us_5a2eb5d8e4b0c780113741ef?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

12/11/2017 by Mike

Commissioner Quallo, If You Want To Fix St.James Clean House Now.…

The Police high command is supposedly convening a top-level meeting to devise strategies to tackle the astronomical crime rate in the Parish of Saint James which has so far this year resulted in over 310 people murdered and many more shot and injured not to mention property destroyed.

Just recently the Police announced that Deputy commissioner Clifford Blake would be sent to the Parish to tackle the monster there which is causing massive loss of life and extreme embarrassment for the police.
I am unsure of what DCP Clifford Blake will bring to the table which will change the trajectory of crime in St. James or anywhere for that matter.
Speaking to cops on the ground about this they snicker when Blake is mentioned.
They have long complained that DCP Blake’s claim to fame is to antagonize officers about whether their whistles are clean and shiny as well as making demands that they wear the official uniform, replete with cummerbund instead of the more practical denim dress for duties in places like Riverton city and other gritty places in the Saint Andrew South Police Area.

Set the absurdity of a Clifford Blake impact aside.
For decades it was an open secret that cops in the western parishes which make up the police Area 1 were largely corrupt.
Without tarring and feathering all of the officers who have passed through the Police Area 1 over the years, it is fair to say that there is much truth to those whispers.
Having served in the Mobile Reserve which distributed cops across the Island to cool hot spots, it was not lost on us whenever we went to the parish of Saint James that there were two police departments, Police Area One and the rest of the Constabulary.

This consignment never landed in St. James, the question on everyone’s lips is, how many did get through?

Those who make the argument that a corrupt police department cannot have success in containing crime are absolutely correct.
The stranglehold with which crime has taken over the western parishes and the stubbornness with which it has withstood remedies suggests that the police is an integral part of the crime culture there.
While all of this is happening crime is mushrooming across the Island with alarming ferocity. This is not happening in a vacuum, for years I have been warning that if the country does not push back hard and decisively criminals will continue to push the envelope with alarming brazenness and it may eventually overwhelm the Island’s already suspect security infrastructure.

A police operation in Salt Spring (file photo)

Though not the first time we have had brazen shooters enter a church, just yesterday 9 mourners were shot in a church on Winward Road as they attended a funeral service. According to published reports, there were fatalities among the injured.
For the record that was an act of terrorism whether the Island’s political leadership wants to admit it is neither here nor there.

So what does the police hierarchy do about the crime situation across the country and specifically in St James?
Listen closely!
The Police Area 1 did not get to be the crime haven it is overnight, it won’t be remedied overnight. In order to begin to reverse the trend, the leadership of the force will have to begin the arduous task of regaining trust from the citizenry.

Gang Violence is a major factor, break up the gangs.

That is going to be a monumental task and so in order to change the perceptions of a corrupt police the department will have to be heavy on the optics.
Even so, it will require a considerable amount of time before the citizens being to talk to officers again about what is happening in their communities, who are committing those acts and where to find them.
If citizens are unable to distinguish cop from criminal how can they be expected to risk their lives to furnish intelligence when that noble act of citizenship may end up costing them their lives.

Talk to any cop of the past who had any success dealing with criminals within their areas of operation and they will tell you that they were able to get good intelligence from the people they served. It is a partnership between the protected and the protectors which require mutual respect and collaboration.

COMMISSIONER QUALLO, USE THIS SHEET TO HELP YOURSELF AND JAMAICA DEAL WITH THE CRIME SCOURGE

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12/09/2017 by Mike

Black Pastors Selling Their Congregants…

(#1 in a series.)

I take the liberty to write on issues I deem topical at any given time, issues which in my humble opinion affect people’s lives on a daily basis.
I do so with the sole intention of effecting change and if at all possible making this world a better place.
Having had the audacity of taking it upon myself to have an opinion on issues of the day has definitely had its highs and lows.
Nevertheless, like hammering away at sold rock each blow brings the person wielding the hammer one step closer to his desired goal.
I write because I see directions those in power take and I know they will only lead to failure and destruction, generally at the tremendous loss of blood and treasure.

Someone asked me some time ago why I write?
I told him why as I stated above, yet I felt the question was curious, does one ask a Rapper why he raps, an actor why he acts, a singer why he sings?
One does not have to be a great rapper, actor, singer, or painter to pursue his chosen passion. Does one have to give an accounting why he chooses writing as a communication vehicle over say dance-hall reggae?
Writing is no different. Many Artistes never lived to see the acclaim their work garnered and that’s okay, as long as someone’s life is enhanced by that work.

The Rev. Darrell Scott, a pastor at Cleveland Heights’ New Spirit Revival Church Ohio and Donald Trump.

On the instances in which I dare to offer an opinion on issues whether its religion, race, politics or the rule of law or whatever, I find that readers are the least interested in the issue of religion.
Yet despite this, the issue of religion touches our lives in ways we sometimes do not consider, and have larger and farther reaching consequences on our lives than any other subject.
For example, Donald Trump’s recent decision to unilaterally declare Jerusalem the capital of the Israeli state to satisfy certain local pressures and to appease Benjamin Netanyahu will have far-reaching consequences, not just for the people living in that region but collaterally for the entire world.
Yet there is precious little if any dialogue on this far-reaching and consequential decision which Presidents of both political parties have avoided stepping into.

BIBLICAL PROPHECY SEEM TO BE COMING TO PASS EVEN AS WE MISS EVENTS WHICH BEAR OUT THOSE PROPHECIES

One does not have to be a Bible-thumping ideologue to agree that much of what is written in the Scriptures seem to be happening in front of our eyes today. The Apostle Paul speaking to the Thessalonians (2) Thessalonians 2:1 – 3 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ²not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ^[a] had come. ³Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin^[b] is revealed, the son of perdition.

Recent events have certainly seemed to be placing the Christian Church in disrepute. Here in the United States, many are looking at the Evangelical movement with increased suspicion and trepidation.
How they ask, can a movement which purports to represent the divine God be a movement which discriminates against others on the basis of race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs etc?
They argue correctly, that Jesus taught the concept of loving all people even when we disagree with them. In fact James 4:12 teaches There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?
Joel 3:12 Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations.

According to the (Pewresearch.org), Perhaps the most striking trend in American religion in recent years has been the growing percentage of adults who do not identify with a religious group. And the vast majority of these religious “nones” (78%) say they were raised as a member of a particular religion before shedding their religious identity in adulthood.
Several of the respondents in the Pew research poll think religion is too much like a business and others mention clergy sexual abuse scandals as reasons for their stance.
This is not unique to the United States, not only are Christians among young people not adhering to the faiths of their fathers, religious persecution forms a sizeable part of the reason people are shunning the faith.
According to the (guardian.com) The persecution of Christians is at a level we’ve not seen for many, many years and the main impact is the migration of Christian people. There are huge swaths of the world which are now experiencing a very sharp decline in the number of Christians.”
Forced falling away is falling away nonetheless, or is it?

Perhaps most consequential to the conversation is the fact that these are young people who were raised as members of different religious faiths, not just Christianity are now turning their backs on the faiths they previously held.
Is this the falling away of which the Bible speaks, are we there yet?
Like everyone else Christians are entitled to their political beliefs, churches of various faiths are ripe and pliant institutions to be manipulated for political purposes, evangelical congregations are no exceptions.
Let us be reasonable it takes some degree of faith to believe wholeheartedly in someone you have never seen and a thing you cannot prove.
swaying congregations, however, depends on whether you are able to convince the Pastors of those congregations about the validity of your cause, or make some offer which makes it worthwhile for him.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump © speaks to the media after meeting with a group of black pastors at his office in the Manhattan borough of New York November 30, 2015.

The tragedy inherent in those deals is that there is precious little in it for the congregants. The Pastors generally do well whenever they attach themselves to campaigns even if money never changes hands.
The press and exposure they receive elevate them within their communities and that generally translates into more money for them usually as they become more sought after to speak to different congregations.
It’s a kind of I wash your back you wash mine which has precious little to do with the interest of their congregations much less the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sadly for many, they are manipulated on the basis of race, come Sunday morning the churches across America are some of the most segregated places where people gather.
How could people who claim to worship the same God be unwilling to coexist as brothers and sisters, children of that same God you ask?
Despite this major discrepancy, some church leaders are willing to sell their flock for a mere photo-op, despite knowing that the cause to which they are selling them is antithetical to their very existence.

This Article is one in a series of several which will be written on this subject.
Read like and share.…

12/08/2017 by Mike

Tivoli Payout Robbing Those Who Play By The Rules To Pay Those Who Don’t

Two hundred million dollars $200 million)has been approved by Cabinet as compensation to aggrieved persons who were affected by the operations of the security forces in West Kingston in May 2010. This was disclosed by Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck in a statement to the House of Representatives.

This writer has no quarrel with government compensating property owners whose property has been damaged by operations of the state.
As a homeowner, I would certainly be unhappy if my home was damaged or destroyed by the government and I was not appropriately compensated.
With that said, I find it appalling that the Government would apologize to the community of Tivoli Gardens after what that community did to the Jamaican state.

A soldier stands guard on a street in the community of Tivoli Gardens after the incursion…

While we are on the question of compensation to a community which has lived free on the public’s dole, a community which largely operated without paying for the commodities it used, a‑la electricity, water, etc.
I would also like to ask the administration and indeed the Opposition this, who will compensate Jamaicans like myself who have worked hard, played by the rules, paid our taxes and broke no laws. Who will compensate us the taxpayers whose resources built the police stations they burned, who will compensate the families of the members of the security forces who were killed by people from that community?

An attack on State — Police stations set ablaze, mercenaries parade high powered weaponry.

How does a government with the full acquiescence of the Opposition compensate a community which has thumbed its nose at the broader society and operated outside the bounds of the law with impunity?
This is an egregious stain on our history, the rule of law, and a scandalous departure from the norms of a modern society. This action is a disgraceful departure from whats right and a representative sample of how to destroy the moral fiber of said society. I am ashamed of my country.

This transcends political affiliations or allegiances, the people of Tivoli Gardens operated as most in Arnett Gardens and the other Garrisons across the Corporate area did prior to 2010. They looked to criminals for leadership and the dispensation of a kind of justice which can only be characterized as jungle justice.
They thumbed their noses at law enforcement and the nation’s laws while giving deference and reverence to common murderous thugs.

The taxpayers of Jamaica including this writer have borne the cost of electricity, water, housing etc for those who live in zones of political exclusion for decades.
Sure we paid, did you think that the JPS does not get paid for the kilowattage of electricity it generated? The water commission charges those of us who paid for those who did not. Who paid for the houses people in these communities live in without paying any mortgages, while many of us working stiffs could not afford to own one of those little boxes ourselves?

Denham Town Police station, razed with gunfire

Apologizing to the community for disrespecting the rule of law, for giving its allegiance to a thug is a precedent which will haunt this country for generations to come.
The apology and fullsome compensation offered by the government with the full acquiescence of the opposition party is demonstrably the greatest example that hard-working people who play by the rules are at a disadvantage.
The political parties loyalty is to their base in the most gritty lawless communities, hence this despicable action.

The Darling Street Police Station burned

I do understand that in the toxic polarized swamp which is Jamaica’s politics this logic will find no fertile soil.
With that understanding, the lack of outrage becomes far more illuminating.
This is simply an act of rewarding bad behavior with an apology and then some.
Set aside all of the grandstanding and the hyperbolic nonsense you read on the pages of the newspapers in Jamaica, they have their own agenda, which is to further the breakdown of the rule of law.
Instead, see this action for what it truly is, a slap in the face of ordinary Jamaicans who obey our laws, pay their taxes and play by the rules.
Political support for criminality is deeply embedded into the body politic, this is just another example of the ordinary citizen being held up and fleeced on behalf of those who made the decision to say fuck you to the rule of law.
Only this time they did not do so at the point of a gun.

12/08/2017 by Mike

Trump’s Jerusalem Gambit Will Speed The Colonization Of Palestinian Land

But Palestinians will continue to seek ways to secure their rights to freedom and equality.

By Nadia Hijab and Zena Agha

The United States has long been a contradictory player in Palestinian and Israeli affairs, attempting to broker “peace deals” on the one hand while providing Israel with billions of dollars in military aid and political backing on the other. Now Donald Trump has honed this double-edged US role to a devastating point with his calamitous decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — even as he calls for a two-state solution “if agreed” by both sides.

As always, Trump has his own interests at heart. In one fell swoop, he has managed to placate his major donor Sheldon Adelson, who contributed nearly $40 million to Trump’s election and inauguration, and please both Israel and pro-Israel Christian evangelists, while kicking the can down the road for the next president to deal with. (White House aides say it will take at least three years for a new embassy to be built.) Most important of all for Trump, given his desire to make his mark, he can boast that he has delivered something other presidents have sidestepped for 20 years.

In shredding decades of established policy, Trump doesn’t seem to care a bit that his move jeopardizes his country’s interests in the region — or that it poses a direct threat to the Palestinians. Nor do the basic precepts of international law seem to have crossed his mind. Not only is East Jerusalem considered occupied territory, but the international community does not recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Under the 1947 United Nations partition plan, which provided an international imprimatur for Israel’s creation, Jerusalem is a corpus separatum with an international status. The consensus was that this status should not be changed without agreement between the sides. As a result, no country in the world maintains an embassy in the city.

So where does this leave the Palestinians? Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has anchored his hopes to US mediation since he assumed power over a decade ago. But he immediately rejected Trump’s speech — Trump’s lip service to “peace” and promise to hold off on final-status issues were apparently cold comfort — and declared that the United States could no longer serve as mediator. But the reality is that Abbas has nurtured few diplomatic alternatives to the United States. When the global outrage quiets down, he may find himself increasingly isolated and weakened, sidelined by the machinations of the so-called Arab Quartet (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt) in tandem with Washington.

On the ground, Trump’s position will heavily reinforce Israel’s colonization drive. It will amplify calls from the right wing, including senior government officials in Israel such as Naftali Bennett, to annex Area C — an area accounting for some 60 percent of the West Bank where Israel retains full control over security and civil affairs — if not the entirety of the occupied territory.

First on the list is the E1 corridor, a strategically significant strip of land measuring approximately 12 square kilometers that is located between Jerusalem and the illegal Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. An ongoing push to annex the area has left 1,400 Palestinians facing eviction, including all 32 families from the village of Khan Al-Ahmar, which is under an order for immediate demolition.

E1 is “strategic” because it would secure Ma’ale Adumim’s contiguity with Israel by creating an urban Jewish block between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem. This would bolster Israel’s grip on East Jerusalem by surrounding and dwarfing its Palestinian districts with Jewish neighborhoods. Significantly, it would all but cut the West Bank in half, making a contiguous Palestinian state impossible.

At the center of it all are the Palestinian Jerusalemites. Ever since Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 and expanded its boundaries, its Muslim and Christian inhabitants have been gradually but forcibly transferred. In a bid to “Judaize” the land, Israel has enforced a series of discriminatory laws and policies designed to reduce the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem, whether through the destruction of Palestinian homes or the revocation of the residency of Jerusalem’s Palestinians. From 1967 to the end of 2016, Israel has revoked the residency of at least 14,595 Palestinian Jerusalemites.

Jerusalem has always been the economic and cultural center of life for many Palestinians, particularly in the West Bank. However, Israel’s drive to separate Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, through the construction of its unlawful wall and a ring of Jewish settlements, means most Palestinians can no longer enter Jerusalem to do business, study, visit, or receive medical care.

If Trump’s declaration has clarified one thing, it is that the United States is an antagonist and the road to a just peace lies elsewhere. That clarity may push European countries, however reluctantly, into a position of leadership in tackling the conflict, which will necessitate holding Israel accountable for its violations of international law. And it will only reinforce the determination of the Palestinian people to forge alternative paths to secure their rights to freedom, justice, and equality. https://www.thenation.com/article/trumps-jerusalem-gambit-will-speed-the-colonization-of-palestinian-lands/

12/07/2017 by Mike

Govt & Opposition Apologize To Garrison : Weapons And Ammo Pour In And Murders Escalate..

If you want to know what a failing state look like, take a look at Jamaica.
Yes, this is statement is insidious, brazen and will attract a huge backlash, not that I ever worry about those, because it is a correct assessment of our country at present.

Definition of a failed state: A state whose political or economic system has become so weak that the government is no longer in control.
According to the Global Policy Forum, Failed states can no longer perform basic functions such as education, security, or governance, usually due to fractious violence or extreme poverty. Within this power vacuum, people fall victim to competing factions and crime.

From this definition, you may extrapolate that a failing state would have a veneer of control by the government but peeling that veneer away will reveal the true state of that rotting failure.

The Jamaican Prime Minister yesterday stood in the nation’s parliament and did the Jamaican nation a tremendous dis-service by apologizing to the community of Tivoli Gardens for the 2010 security incursion.
There is precious little bi-partisanship in Jamaican Politics but as was to be expected Peter Phillips and his opposition PNP was in agreement with the apology.

An understanding of Jamaican Politics will inform, that the only issues which evoke bi-partisanship in Jamaica seem to be the things which further erodes the rule of law and social order.
Phillips, wanting to gain one-upmanship told the house a truth commission was necessary to address not only the issues of May 2010 but events dating back to the 1960s and 1970s.
The idea to apologize to this community which has thumbed its collective nose at the Jamaican state for decades and more so under the Jungle leadership and control of International criminal Christopher (Duddus) Coke came from the David Simmons-led commission of inquiry.

That Commission commissioned by Phillips own Party whilst in Government was designed to score political point rather than out of any concern for the people who died or suffered in Tivoli Gardens.
To suggest that the intent of that commission was to ferret out the truth in furtherance of the people of that community is tantamount to Donald Trump saying he fired Jim Comey because he was mean to Hillary Clinton.

Tivoli panel.
Hazel Harris, David Simmons, and Anthony Harriott

The partisan Kangaroo Tivoli Gardens commission which was set up by Portia Simpson Miller the then intellectually infantile Prime Minister was a disgrace of a commission. That commission had a demonstrable bias against the security forces and its head Barbadian David Simmons had a clear disdain for things Jamaican.

In order to understand why a truth and reconciliation commission would be in the best interest of a nation, it would be instructive to look at the model adopted by Nelson Mandela after he assumed the Presidency in South Africa in 1995.

[Truth and Reconciliation Commission, South Africa (TRC), a court-like body established by the new South African government in 1995 to help heal the country and bring about a reconciliation of its people by uncovering the truth about human rights violations that had occurred during the period of apartheid. Its emphasis was on gathering evidence and uncovering information — from both victims and perpetrators — and not on prosecuting individuals for past crimes, which is how the commission mainly differed from the Nürnberg trials that prosecuted Nazis after World War II. The commission released the first five volumes of its final report on Oct. 29, 1998, and the remaining two volumes of the report on March 21, 2003.] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Truth-and-Reconciliation-Commission-South-Africa.

This is what Jamaica has come to, the government and opposition party apologizing to a community which thumbed its collective nose at the rule of law

The events which necessitated the Security forces entry into the community of Tivoli Gardens in 2010 bears zero resemblance to the events which occurred in South Africa.
Without re-litigating events which occurred there it is important to understand the seriousness of a situation in which the nations security forces cannot enter a part of a country which can fit almost twice into the state of Connecticut one of the smallest states in the United States.
Daily the Police recover staches of guns across the Island and at the ports of entry.
Additionally, foreign law enforcement agencies intercept large shipments which could only truly be explained as going to furnish an army.
So while Rome burns the nation’s leaders fiddle and those who should be lowering the lifeboats are busy organizing the deck chairs on the sinking Titanic.

I am all for a truth commission in which Peter Phillips and every other politician from both political parties are willing to truthfully and comprehensively testify to every crime they ever committed and every action they ever took which has brought us to this place.
If they are unwilling to do that then I strenuously implore them not to waste any more money on these flights of fancies.

In light of what occurred in 2010, the Government and Opposition ought to be engaged in bi-partisan support of our security forces, ensuring that they get all of the support they deserve to do the job that is asked of them.
Instead, both Government and opposition are actively and pretentiously engaged in destructuring the powers and fortitude of the security forces ability to do their jobs.

So here are the facts.
While the Government continues to pretend that the serious and existential threats facing the Island can be remedied by stupid ZOSO’s, the country is being flooded with weapons, ammunition, and spare parts for those weapons.
The arsenal in the hands of the criminal underworld far exceeds that which the police has. Earlier this year police officers in St Ann trying to intercept a wanted terrorist faced live grenades which injured one officer, in addition to the automatic weapons fire.

Instead of expeditiously and decidedly taking steps to ensure that our country will not be taken over by terrorists necessitating a foreign takeover to restore order the entire political leadership is engaged in placating a community which has for decades operated outside the nation’s laws.
Then they wonder why young men pick up guns?
It is the guaranteed way for them to gain respect from the people who never respected anyone before.

12/06/2017 by Mike

Massive Gun And Ammo Shipment Destined For Jamaica Intercepted In Miami

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Miami International Airport (MIA) Outbound Enforcement Team (OET) conducting a routine inspection identified a shipment containing two blue shipping barrels said to contain personal effects. A physical inspection revealed various food items, cat litter, a cardboard box labeled as a four-drawer dresser, and one cardboard box labeled as a television stand. Further revealed that the personal effects actually contained 2 rifles, 115 pistols, 2 rifles, 139 magazines, 103 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, 50 rounds of .357 ammunition, 50 rounds of .45 ammunition, 24 rounds of .40 ammunition, 40 rounds of .223 ammunition, 9 handgun back straps, 5 magazine parts, 3 pistol grips, 3 buttstocks, and weapons parts. All items were placed on a Customs Hold and transported to the CBP-OET office for further processing. The shipping documents listed the consignor as Karima HUDSON of 3610 Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, Florida 33065. The consignee was Monique HASTINGS, telephone number 0018764305161. The shipment was due to be exported from Miami to Montego Bay, Jamaica via Caribbean Airlines flight BW8040 on 20/11/2017. BW8040 was scheduled to arrive in Montego Bay from Miami at 1045 via Kingston where it was scheduled to land in 0830.

This story is still developing.

12/06/2017 by Mike

Officials: Trump To Recognize Jerusalem As Israel’s Capital, Direct State Department To Move U.S. Embassy

Donald Trump will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Wednesday and direct the State Department to begin the process to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, senior administration officials said.

The decision, which is already being cheered by the President’s supporters and the Israeli government, is expected to roil the region, with U.S. Arab allies warning Trump on Tuesday that it will undermine regional stability and stymie the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump will sign a waiver delaying the embassy move for another six months to comply with the law, as senior administration officials said it will take years for the move to be completed.

The Trump administration on Tuesday cast the move, which Trump will announce Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET, as a “recognition of reality” that Jerusalem has long been the seat of the Israeli government. Officials stressed that the decision would have no impact on the boundaries of future Israeli and Palestinian states as negotiated under a final status agreement.

Senior administration officials briefing reporters Tuesday evening rejected suggestions that the decision would hurt the peace process, but offered no arguments to suggest the move would advance the peace process or U.S. interests in the region.

Instead, the officials said keeping the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv — despite legislation calling for a move to Jerusalem — had not advanced peace in more than two decades.

“It seems clear now that the physical location of the American embassy is not material to a peace deal. It’s not an impediment to peace and it’s not a facilitator to peace,” one senior administration official said. “After having tried this for 22 years, an acknowledgment of reality seems like an important thing.”

Another senior administration official said Trump “came to the judgment that this was both the right time and the right step to take specifically with respect to his hopes that a peace can be achieved,” but offered no further specifics.

The officials said Trump would reaffirm that he is prepared to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if both sides can agree to such a deal.

Despite the announcement, a senior administration official said Tuesday Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would not change the US policy opposing Israeli construction of settlements in East Jerusalem.

Ahead of his announcement, Trump spoke Tuesday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Jordan’s King Abdullah, prompting statements from each leader’s country opposing the plan, warning that it will undermine regional stability and scuttle any hopes of peace for the foreseeable future.

Palestinian leaders have already called for three “days of rage” in protest and the State Department issued a travel warning about the West Bank and Jerusalem’s Old City.

Trump also spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long lobbied for the embassy to move to Jerusalem.

The President is expected to make a public announcement Wednesday declaring his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his intent to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv, diplomatic officials and a person familiar with the plans tell CNN. Trump is also expected to sign a waiver delaying the embassy move for six months, citing the logistical challenges of moving U.S. personnel.

The move is roiling U.S. allies because it bucks international norms and has the potential to destabilize the region. Recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital could upend efforts led by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to revive Mideast peace talks; could spark regional protests that might put U.S. military and diplomatic personnel at risk; and could hand a propaganda weapon to militant groups and Iran, analysts say.

Reaction was swift, with Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar criticizing the anticipated decision and urging the administration to reconsider.

The European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, used a press appearance with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to make EU displeasure clear. Any action that could undermine an eventual peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians “must absolutely be avoided,” Mogherini said.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed in a phone call with Trump the long-held international position that the status of Jerusalem should be resolved through peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, “and particularly those relating to the establishment of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security with Jerusalem as their capital,” France’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The administration itself braced for blowback. State Department security services were told to prepare for unrest at missions overseas and the Pentagon repositioned troops who usually protect embassies to be closer to countries where protests may break out.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the decision was the result of a “very thoughtful inter-agency process,” but people familiar with the White House deliberations portray it as being driven by Trump’s domestic political concerns.

The President is increasingly worried about losing his political base and insists that he must be seen as fulfilling campaign promises on Israel, part of an effort he’s taken in the past few weeks to galvanize conservative support, according to a person familiar with the White House deliberations.

The same source also stated that the President sees the Jerusalem issue as key to placating concerns among his core supporters that he’s going soft on his campaign positions.

Previous US presidents promised to move the embassy and then set that pledge aside due to regional concerns and Jerusalem’s contested status between Israelis and Palestinians, both of whom claim the holy city as their capital.

Under the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, the US embassy must be moved to Jerusalem or the State Department faces the penalty of losing half its appropriated funds for the acquisition and maintenance of buildings abroad. Every six months, however, presidents can sign a waiver to avoid these penalties on national security grounds.

The resistance from allies reportedly led to some debate within the White House over how to balance the move with the recognition of Palestinian claims to Jerusalem, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

In the meantime, the President’s personal political concerns aren’t likely to sway foreign allies that could be directly affected by any fallout from the decision.

“I haven’t heard anyone articulate a single national security interest as to why now,” said Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute. “It hasn’t been done. Everybody knows why it hasn’t been done. It’s a bad idea and it remains a bad idea.”

And while Jerusalem functions as the de facto Israeli capital, David Makovsky, director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said an announcement will kill any chances of a peace deal.

“There is a historic justice in it, in that every president, Democratic or Republican, speaks in the Knesset,” said Makovsky, referring to the Israeli parliament. “U.S. businessmen routinely do business with Israelis in their capital. That’s been the reality since 1949, but if you say you recognize an undivided capital, you’ve pre-empted peace negotiations.”

Shibley Telhami, a professor at the University of Maryland, said an announcement would serve as propaganda fodder for extremists. “It plays into the hands of every conceivable Islamic militant group. It plays into the hands of Iran,” Telhami said, making it harder for Gulf countries that might share security goals with Israel to openly coöperate. “It makes the situation of each one of those governments tougher, let alone what it does to American troops stationed in the region.” http://ktla.com/2017/12/05/trump-to-recognize-jerusalem-as-israels-capital-direct-state-department-to-move-u-s-embassy/

12/05/2017 by Mike

Lower Murder Stats Of The Past A Result Of Hardcore Policing: Not Despite, Or Worse, A Result Of It…

Chicago is the capital city of the state of Illinois, the population of the city of Chicago is approximately 2.7 million residents.
The city is considered one of the most violent places in the United States, according to Newsweek Chicago is known for having the highest number of homicides in the United States, and it’s living up to that reputation by already topping 400 killings for 2017, after four people were killed among 36 shot over last weekend.

Despite these frightening homicide numbers, the killings are concentrated only in certain areas of the city which are heavily populated. You are free to guess who lives in those violent, heavily populated areas.

Jamaica is an Island nation whose population is roughly the same as the city of Chicago’s 2.7 million residents.
Of the fourteen small parishes which makes up the tiny Island nation of Jamaica, the Parish of St James is among the smaller parishes with a land size of approximately 594.9 square kilometers or (230 square miles).
So far this year St James which is vying for the new wild west title while boasting it is the epic center of Caribbean tourism has registered over 310 homicides.

Leaders, please listen to me, you are doing something wrong!
Blacks killing Blacks in the city of Chicago is not outside the realm of an acceptable solution for other interests in a racially polarized country like the United States.
Jamaicans killing Jamaicans at that alarming rate within those tiny spaces cannot be viewed with the same lens. The reverberating traumatic consequences of this will be felt for generations to come, granted that there is anyone left.

You simply cannot build a shiny new city in a great big forest without first doing some serious clearing and establishing an infrastructure.
The notion that we can build a society of promise and prosperity in an environment of lawlessness and bloodshed is a pipe dream.
This latter statement is not meant to be a critique of the present Administration or any previous or future administration, it is simply a statement of fact.

Part of a community adjoining the city of Montego Bay.

So where are we going wrong?
We need a complete 180 degree turn from the way we see our responsibility to the crime monster.
As far as is evidenced there is a misguided perception among the educated on the Island that crime is a social phenomenon which must be handled with nuance and care.

If that is what they teach them at the University of the West Indies our country is in for a rude awakening. Most of the country’s academic elites came out of that cauldron of leftist ideological stew.
The problem with their worldview is that it has failed and failed dismally, so much so that even the most powerful nations which embraced those philosophical underpinnings have come to the realization that they guarantee only failure and poverty for their populations.
Subsequently, even as Russia and China still cling to their totalitarian past they have moved to modernize their economies, moving them in line with the more market-driven western models.

Percival James Patterson former PM presided over
years of corruption and failed leadership

On those models are built the principle of the rule of law, a concept which is not perfect but one which has demonstrably resulted in a better standard of living for western democracies.
The notion that our security forces should be cautious and careful in the fight against dangerous 21^st-century killers has no basis in reality.
Neither does it guarantee that the fight in which our security forces are engaged is winnable using those mind-numbingly stupid rules of engagement.

Our Country has a decision to make. Much of what the old neanderthals like Delroy Chuck, Peter Phillips, et al embrace are the failed teachings which came out of the 70’s when Michael Manley was leading throngs of people to free criminals from police stations. This ignorant mindset has seeped into Andrew Holness and the younger generation of leaders who do not fully understand the concept of the rule of law.

The stark reality is that criminals must know that our security forces are coming for them and if they resist they will be killed, end of story.
The constant attack on the techniques of the past now championed by Holness and many in the JLP and the PNP fail to speak to the most important facts.
Their argument that the security forces had their way and look where it got us, is again a lie which is not supported by the facts.

When have the Jamaican security Forces ever had their way in Jamaica? Was there ever a time in which the political administration of both political parties did not have their grubby little fingers in the police department?
When was the security forces not starved of training resources and pay?

So let’s deal with what they are really dealing with when they broach this subject of police having their way.
It was failed leadership and the nurturing of criminals which necessitated the Suppression of Crimes Act which gave police additional powers to combat the dangerous criminals Jamaica produce.
Other Law Enforcement Agencies like the London Metropolitan Police and the New York City Police Department have attested to the ferocity and heartlessness of Jamaica’s killers.

Portia Simpson Miller.
Failed leadership on crime ..

It was the politics of political interference which created the lack of respect for law enforcement in the first place.
It was both political parties which created political garrisons and made them veritable no-go zones for the security forces.
It was the creation and maintenance of these zones of exclusions(garrisons) which metastasized into incubators of criminal activity resulting in the Shower Posse, Spanglers, Ratbat, Wareika Hills gangs and the now thousands of gangs which have taken over the Island.

Jamaica did not become the murder capital because of tough policing Peter Phillips and Andrew Holness, Jamaica became a criminal paradise because that type of policing was not allowed to continue and expand.

murder-rate-jamaica

Year	# of Murders
1970	152
1971	145
1972	170
1973	227
1974	195
1975	266
1976	367
1977	409
1978	381
1979	351
1980	899
1981	490
1982	405
1983	424
1984	484
1986	449
1987	442
1988	414
1989	439
1990	543
1991	561
1992	629
1994	690
1995	780
1998	953
1999	849
2000	887
2002	1045
2003	975
2004	1471
2005	1674
2006	1340
2007	1574
2008	1601
2009	1680
2010	1428
2011	1125
2012	1097
2013	1200
2014	1005
2015	1192
2016	1350

Based on the numbers above it is clear that between 1970 and 1972, under the leadership of the Island’s best law and order Prime Minister, Hugh Lawson Shearer, the homicide numbers fluctuated from a high of 145 to 170. An average of just over 155 dead Jamaicans each year to violence.

By 1972 the nation elected a leftist Prime Minister on a platform of better must come. By 1973 under Michael Manley’s leadership murders had jumped to 227.
After two terms of Michael Manley’s leadership in 1980 murders were up to 899. In that 8 year period not only were 3095 Jamaicans murdered according to police reports, the average yearly homicide rate had jumped from 155 under Hugh Lawson Shearer to 386.875 under Manley’s stewardship.
The sampling I used to arrive at this conclusion included only the years 1970, 1971 and 1972 under Shearer stewardship while the sampling represented (8) years of Michael Manley’s stewardship.

Given that the data does not include years before 1970, and we do know that murders were markedly less in those years it is fair to argue that if the statistics were averaged over a period of eight years under the Jamaica Labor Party the yearly average would have been exponentially lower than the 155 average using just the three years under Hugh Lawson Shearer.

By 1980 Edward Seaga was elected to office and homicides again dropped from the anomaly year of 1980 when 899 were slaughtered to 490 in 1981.
Based on existing data murder never reached the 490 number ever again under the leadership of Prime Minister Edward Seaga.

By 1988 a reformed and penitent Michael Manley was returned to office and for the very first time homicide had surpassed the 500 mark, for the first time ever in 1993 when 543 people were murdered( not on list).

Citing ill health Michael Manley stepped down and Percival Patterson was appointed Prime Minister.
Under Patterson’s policy of “anything, a anything” crime galloped away from 629 homicides annually when he assumed office in 92 to 1574 in 2007 when Orette Bruce Golding assumed office as the nation’s Eight Prime Minister.

It is important to note that by 2005 Murder had reached its highest peak of 1674 under the do as you please attitude of Percival Patterson.

The trend lines are clear, Jamaica’s crime rate and more specifically it’s homicide rate increased under political leadership in which criminals were given the upper hand by politicians whether through commission or omission.
The homicide rates under both Hugh Shearer and even later under Seaga after which the nation had endured 8 years of Michael Manley policies indicate that stronger law enforcement resulted in fewer dead people.

These numbers are available for all to look at and extrapolate from them the truth. That is the reason I am and will be a critic of Andrew Holness who as a JLP Prime Minister has departed from the tried and proven orthodoxy of his conservative labor party predecessors.

There is one way and one way only to go after hardened criminals who have made it clear that they intend to destroy our societies.
That way is with an iron fist and resolve of steel.
That law enforcement officer who risks their lives to go after dangerous killers must be hypersensitive to the human rights of those killers is retarded thinking.
Criminal play by their own rules, which means there are no rules. Tying the hands of police in that regard is strictly tantamount to aiding and abetting criminals.

Unless we stop with the pretense and the hifalutin bullshit coming out of the legal and criminal rights communities we can kiss our country goodbye.

12/04/2017 by Mike

Judiciary Giving Lotto-scammers Double Bonanza: Legislature Must Act Now..

One of the most longstanding issues hobbling Jamaican Authorities ability to decisively deal with crime is the attitude of the Judiciary toward this vexing issue.

Jamaica’s Judiciary though not wholly corrupt, is certainly not incorruptible as certain quarters of the Island’s population would have you believe.
We know differently.
For the most part, the Islands judges have long mischaracterized the concept of “Independent Judiciary” to mean free to do as they please with bail and sentencing.

The idea of an independent judiciary and Press are two of the few safeguards citizens have against tyrannical Governments which would otherwise trample on their rights and liberties.
As such, the press and the judiciary have sacred responsibilities to be as judicious as possible in the way they carry out their functions.

Jamaican Judges A Large Part Of The Murder Problem/Ask Dexter Pottinger

Both have failed in carrying out those sacred functions.
For its part, the once respected media on the Island has denigrated into cheerleaders for political parties and special interest groups despite the growth in mediums.

The police have long maintained that judges are far too lenient on criminals who are brought before the courts. In fact, the archaic nature of the Island’s laws makes a mockery of the criminal justice system.
Juxtapose that with the mockery the judges make of the system and there is little wonder at the reason crime is so out of control.

The Island’s crime epidemic cannot be wholly laid at the feet of judges, or that of the press, but both groups play a part, as have others in the massive escalation of crime on the Island.
The judiciary has turned the system into a mockery of a revolving door. It releases dangerous killers back onto the streets regardless of how many people they kill, the gruesome nature of their crimes or how many times they have been arrested on homicide charges and are still awaiting trial.

This brain-dead practice has over the years resulted in a number of problems, not the least of which is perceived police extrajudicial killings, police corruption, a breakdown in the rule of law, lack of respect for the nation’s laws and law enforcement officers, and a general reliance on community so-called Dons as more effective entities to mete out justice.
Amidst all of this, the Judiciary continue to adopt a pompous attitude as it maintains that bail was never intended to be punishment. In the meantime, the court continues the insane practice of releasing the Island’s most dangerous killers back onto the streets as soon as the police arrest them.
According to police statistics over one hundred and forty of the murders committed on the Island this year were committed by people on bail.

Bear in mind that that figure represents ‘s only those homicides which the police have effectively solved and were able to cross-reference them by deterrmining that at the time they killed someone they should have been locked up in jail.
The number of homicides committed by people granted bail is much higher and is a large part of the reason the Island’s homicide rate is so high.
https://mikebeckles.com/jamaican-judges-grants-bail-to-murderers-they-then-kill-cop/

It should come as no surprise then that since the well-learned judiciary plays God Almighty by repeatedly granting bail to mass murderers they would have no problem releasing Lotto-Scammers with a tiny slap on the wrist and a smile.
Never mind that the Island’s law enforcement agencies have repeatedly said the Lotto-scammers are using their illicit gains to fund the illegal gun trade and by extension is responsible largely for the tremendous increase in homicides.

From my experience, the seriousness of the charges brought against Jamaica’s criminals has never seemed to be important to many of the judges I have seen on the bench.
One gets the impression that their singular focus has always been to find ways to release them back into the communities as soon as possible.
There is now strong evidence that there is a collaborative process in place between some on the bench and certain defense attorneys which includes money changing hands for prisoners to get bail and for lenient sentences.

Reporting on the disposition of cases in the Hanover circuit court should prove to even the most loyal supporters of the Judiciary that something is radically wrong here.
The paltry fine of $367,000 imposed on fifteen defendants who plead guilty to lottery scamming is a damning indictment of the judiciary.

Judges Have A Responsibility As Officers Of The Court To Follow And Apply The Law, Obviously Not In Jamaica..

The reports indicate that seven were fined $30,000; five were fined $20,000 while two were fined $25,000. The other man was fined $7,000 and ordered to pay restitution of US$580.
Senior law enforcement official notes that the Law Reform Fraudulent Transaction Special Provisions Act, commonly called the Lottery Scam Act, provides stiffer fines and up to 15 years in prison.
The official described the fines as scandalous and says they do not take into account the links between the lottery scam and the increase in violent crimes in western Jamaica.
The official also pointed out that in each case the fines were less than US$200, significantly less than the fines imposed on Jamaicans convicted in the United States on charges related to the lottery scam.

Indeed they are.
An independent judiciary was never intended to be a judiciary which aids the proliferation of crimes, it was intended as articulated earlier in this article.
Since the courts have refused to do its job, the Legislature must now act to protect the country.
A judiciary is not free to do as it pleases, it is unelected and must carry out its mandate independently from Government, nevertheless when the needs of the people change and the actions of the courts are not in conformity with the wishes of the people the people’s representatives must act.

That action must come in the form of mandatory minimum sentences for certain categories of crime.
It must remove from judges, the discretion and ability to grant bail to murder accused, unless with stringent conditions prescribed in law.
Those conditions should include electronic monitoring, house arrests, confinement to certain geographic locations among others.
These conditions should only be in law if the country is able to supply the security forces with the equipment necessary to enforce said conditions.

In this fight to take back our country from the desperadoes, it must be all hands on deck. The country cannot afford a few unelected bureaucrats to continue to derail our system of justice.
Judges must be given strict guidelines to follow in certain categories of crime. It would also be a good idea to allow Prosecutors to appeal a sentence if he feels that the sentence was incommensurate with the crimes an offender was charged with.
Finally, Judges must be appointed from the prosecutor’s side, the country can ill afford to have the judiciary populated with former defense lawyers.

Principles:
2.4 Judges should exhibit and promote high standards of judicial conduct
so as to reinforce public confidence which is the cornerstone of judicial
independence.
3.1 Judges should ensure that their conduct is above reproach in the view
of reasonable, fair-minded and informed persons, and that their behavior
is such as to reaffirm the confidence of the public in the integrity of the
judiciary. (Jamaica judicial conduct guidelines).

12/02/2017 by Mike

More Weapons Off The Streets..

The Jamaican Police continue to remove dangerous weapons from the streets.
Almost daily across the Island, the police remove caches of weapons which would normally end up taking the lives of many innocents.

Even as we support the police in this fight we implore them to try to find ways to stop the weapons at the points of entry.

12/02/2017 by Mike

Blame Obama! White House Offers The Lamest Response To Flynn Charges

The White House didn’t mention Obama fired Flynn, or that he warned Trump about potential risks of hiring Flynn.

After President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the transition period, the White House seemed to distance itself from Flynn by throwing former President Barack Obama under the bus.

“Today, Michael Flynn, a former National Security Advisor at the White House for 25 days during the Trump Administration, and a former Obama administration official, entered a guilty plea to a single count of making a false statement to the FBI,” White House lawyer Ty Cobb said in a statement on Friday, per press pool reports.

The statement continued, “The false statements involved mirror the false statements to White House officials which resulted in his resignation in February of this year. Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn. The conclusion of this phase of the Special Counsel’s work demonstrates again that the Special Counsel is moving with all deliberate speed and clears the way for a prompt and reasonable conclusion.“https://www.salon.com/2017/12/01/blame-obama-white-house-offers-lamest-response-to-flynn/