From Heavy. The perp, James Wesley Howell, age 20 from Indiana, does not, at first glance, appear to be a jihadi, a lone wolf, or a known wolf. There is no known connection to the Orlando shooting. Definite 48 hour rule here.
Add at 0700 CT: more on this fellow, who more and more looks like a schizophrenic who slipped his leash and his meds, and who was, for a significant period of time, sliding into hell.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Either way a long drop with a short rope is good for him.
#4
"It isn't the fall but the stopping
That leaves you red-faced at the dropping,
And as the days shorten,
The piles are burnt, Norton.
Get hopping -- the girls are out shopping!"
Dunno... I just dunno... but I'm hearing that in the voice of Ralph Cramden.
In the nationwide sweepstakes among federal jurisdictions to put Mexican drug kingpin and escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on trial, the place currently leading the pack is far from the border: Brooklyn.
If he ever arrives in the U.S., which I doubt will happen...
Justice Department officials in Washington still aren't commenting on the closely watched decision involving seven prosecutor's offices that have indicted Guzman on drug conspiracy and other charges over the past two decades.
But two law enforcement officials familiar with the process told The Associated Press that it's likely that if transferred from Mexican to U.S. custody in the coming months, Guzman would be sent to the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss the decision.
Brooklyn, an office once run by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, has long been rumored to be the front-runner while Guzman has been vigorously fighting extradition, an effort that could drag out indefinitely.
His apprehension, along with Mexican authorities' decision to transfer him to a jail just across the border from El Paso in Ciudad Juarez, renewed speculation about a possible U.S. prosecution in one of the seven districts — Brooklyn, Manhattan, Chicago, Miami, San Diego, El Paso and New Hampshire. U.S. indictments in those cities accuse him of overseeing a drug empire that poisoned American streets by smuggling countless tons of cocaine, heroin and marijuana via tunnels or secret compartments in cars, trucks and rail cars.
In a move seen as aimed at smoothing the path to extradition, prosecutors in Brooklyn quietly revised their indictment last month to drop more than a dozen death-penalty eligible accusations of specific murders by his henchmen in Mexico, while preserving murder conspiracy charges that could still result in a life sentence. Around the same time, Mexico's foreign ministry said it had sought and received "sufficient guarantees" from U.S. officials that Guzman wouldn't be executed.
Only San Diego — the first to indict Guzman in 1996 — and El Paso have made formal extradition requests. But behind the scenes, it's likely that prosecutors from all seven districts have lobbied the Justice Department to land Guzman, in some cases traveling to Washington to lay out what they see as the strengths of their cases.
Their higher-ups would look to pick the one "that has the best chance to win and put Chapo in prison for the rest of his life," said Jodi Avergun, a former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn who has held various high-level positions at the Justice Department. "They know they only have one shot at this."
In Chicago — where a non-governmental crime commission has dubbed Guzman the first Public Enemy No. 1 since Al Capone — prosecutors bring to the table a case against Guzman that includes the cooperation of twin brother traffickers who recorded a phone call with the kingpin in 2008 negotiating the price of a shipment of heroin. The U.S. Attorney's office there also has secured the extradition and convictions of more than a half dozen of El Chapo lieutenants.
Weighing heavily in Brooklyn's favor is vast experience prosecuting international drug cartel cases, Avergun said. Starting in the 1990s, the office has built several complex cases strong enough to convince distant governments in Asia and South America to extradite defendants now serving lengthy sentences in US prisons.
Prosecutors in Brooklyn "have the sophistication to do this," she said. "They've been doing it forever."
There's also the strong possibility that prosecutors from two or more districts with the best witnesses and evidence against El Chapo would team up to bring the case in a single location like Brooklyn, she added.
Whether Guzman will turn up in the United States anytime soon is uncertain. On paper, he is fighting extradition with appeals. But news reports out of Mexico have suggested he may be open to come to the United States in hopes of a plea deal that would rescue him what he claims are abusive conditions in his current lockup. One of his lawyers has said the decision would be "an act of desperation."
El Chapo, the attorney said, "has reached his limit."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2016 00:00 ||
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If he ever arrives in the U.S., which I doubt will happen...
We can trade Eric 'Fast and Furious' Holder for him.
Authorities in Santa Monica found possible explosives as well as weapons and ammunition Sunday in the car of a man who told them he was in town for the L.A. Pride festival in West Hollywood, a law enforcement source said.
From other stories on the web tonight (Sunday), it looks more and more like the perp is a stupid, disturbed young man and not an ISIS-wannabe. 48 hour rule until we know.
Early Sunday, Santa Monica police received a call of a suspected prowler near Olympic Boulevard and 11th Street. Patrol officers responded and encountered an individual who told officers he was waiting for a friend. That led officers to inspect the car and find several weapons and a lot of ammunition as well as tannerite, an ingredient that could be used to create a pipe bomb.
The car had Indiana plates. The man, was was arrested, made comments that he was in town for the Pride event in West Hollywood this weekend.
He wasn't, however, planning to march...
The source said they believed there was no connection between the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., early Sunday morning and the Santa Monica incident.
They don't know that.
The investigation has been taken over by the FBI.
Which means we're not going to hear very much more.
The source said the man appeared to be white.
Authorities said the arrest occurred at 5 a.m. The suspect told authorities he was looking for a friend at the festival, said acting L.A. County Undersheriff Neal Tyler. The suspect is being questioned and authorities were trying to find the person he said he was looking for, he said.
Santa Monica Police spokesman Saul Rodriguez confirmed that the suspect was from Indiana and that weapons were found in the car, but added that police “were not aware of what the suspect’s intentions were at this point.”
Neighbors called police after he was spotted knocking on doors and “loitering in the area,” Rodriguez said.
Santa Monica Police were searching the suspect’s White Acura on Sunday morning near the intersection of 11th Street and Michigan Street where the arrest was made. All four of the car’s doors were open, and a drab green blanket, red gasoline canister and sever other smaller items were being piled on the sidewalk next to it.
A city official in West Hollywood also confirmed the arrest and stressed that officials were beefing up security at the gay pride event.
"They found him with weapons that were very disconcerting," said the source, adding officials are "taking the appropriate safety precautions."
The parade comes hours after the attack at the Orlando club that killed 50 people. One source in West Hollywood said there was discussion of calling off the parade but that officials decided to go forward, with heavy security including undercover officers in the crowd.
West Hollywood City Councilwoman Lindsey Horvath said in a statement that Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials are stepping up security efforts around Sunday’s parade and other festivities. But she said officials do not believe there is any threat around Sunday’s activities.
“We are hearing absolutely devastating news reports from Orlando this morning,” she said. “Gun violence on the LGBTQ family during Pride Month makes me sick. The deadliest mass shooting in America happened to LGBTQ people on Latin night. While we mourn this heartbreaking loss, we must also rededicate ourselves to the fight for full equality for all people. No one is equal unless everyone is equal.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2016 00:00 ||
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OK, so he had weapons and was in town for the L.A. Pride Festival.
He is something of a Goof, but, sans incriminating developments, the jump to a possible assault on Festival attendees is, at best, circumstantial (imho).
A blast caused by a bomb rocked the western part of the Lebanese capital late Sunday, with the interior minister saying a major bank had been targeted.
Might be nothing more than a bank robbery, Middle Eastern style...
An AFP correspondent saw almost all the entire glass facade of a branch of Blom Bank, one of the country's largest, blown out, with debris littering the ground.
Interior Minister Nuhad Mashnuq told AFP that a bomb containing about 3-4 kilos of explosives had been "placed behind the back wall of Blom Bank".
"It is clear that the bank was the target," he said.
Mashnuq gave no further details, but in comments to LBCI television channel he said the blast was "different" from other explosions that have occurred in Lebanon over the past few years. He said there were "no victims", but a civil defence official said one person had been lightly wounded.
Blom Bank director general Saad Al Azhari told reporters that no threats had been received by the bank.
There was confusion over where the bomb had been placed. Lebanon's National News Agency reported that the explosive device had been left under a car, but police chief General Ibrahim Basbous said it had been put in a plant pot.
The AFP correspondent also saw damaged cars near the scene of the blast in the Verdun business district before an army patrol arrived and kept reporters back.
The explosion that rocked Beirut Sunday evening and that targeted the HQ of BLOM Bank, was preceded by a series of “threat” messages the most recent was a report published by the Iranian Fars News Agency, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Monday.
The message enclosed warnings attributed to a figure associate of Hizbullah against the banking sector in Lebanon, it said.
The Iranian News Agency's report was published only two hours prior the explosion and it included a clear threat that Hizbullah is ready to put into implementation a plan similar to the “May 7” incidents in 2008, that brought the country to the brink of a new civil war.
In 2008, Gunmen belonging to Hizbullah and its allies swept through Beirut’s neighborhoods after the government of then PM Fouad Saniora tried to dismantle the group's telecommunications network. The fighting left scores dead and wounded.
Mustaqbal added “it is clear that there is a close link between the message intended from the bank blast and the mounting tension between Hizbullah and the banking sector after the U.S. sanctions against the party.”
But sources of Lebanon's Central Bank told the newspaper that “the message will not work because the banking sector has no option but to implement the U.S. and International laws.”
Saad Azhari, the head of BLOM bank, said no one should jump to conclusion as to who was behind the attack.
“We are interested in being a serious bank that serves the interests of all (Lebanese). We don't take measures to harm any one particular group," he told reporters at the scene of Sunday's blast in the Verdun area.
The blast preceded several fervent statements against Lebanon's banking sector, particularly when the Fars News Agency assured that the “confrontation has become inevitable between Hizbullah and the banks,” it said.
The report expressed dismay at the stance of the Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh when he said that Lebanon cannot but abide by the U.S. laws. The report voiced threats against Salameh and said that “abiding by the US law is gravely endangering the banking sector.”
A U.S. law was voted in December by the Congress and it imposes sanctions on banks that deal with Hizbullah.
In May, Lebanon's central bank instructed the country's banks and financial institutions to comply with the U.S. law.
Washington has labeled Hizbullah a global terrorist group since 1995, accusing it of a long list of attacks including the bombing of the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2016 00:00 ||
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Good. Throw this POS out
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday overruled the jury that awarded $1.8 million to former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in a 2014 defamation case.
Ventura won the award against the estate of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, whose memoir "American Sniper" described an altercation between him and Ventura that the former governor said did not happen. Kyle's widow, Taya Kyle, appealed the jury's verdict, which came after a three-week federal trial in St. Paul in July 2014.
In a 2 to 1 decision, the appeals court threw out the $1.35 million awarded to Ventura for "unjust enrichment." It ordered the district court to conduct a new trial on the $500,000 defamation judgment in favor of Ventura.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2016 11:50 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
