Another Gun-Grabbing Criminal Bloomberg Mayor Guilty

Fake backdrop and false front — as phony as his oath to the Constitution … (Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres/Facebook)

“The mayor of Paterson, New Jersey, resigned on Monday, a city official said, after the mayor pleaded guilty last week to a state criminal conspiracy charge that he ordered city employees to perform work at a warehouse leased by his family members,” Reuters reports. “Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres, 58, pleaded guilty on Friday in state superior court to second degree conspiracy as part of an agreement in which prosecutors will recommend a five-year prison sentence…

“The plea agreement also required that Torres relinquish his office, never again hold a government job in New Jersey and repay Paterson $10,000 for the time city workers spent at the private warehouse,” the report explains. Left unsaid is another ironic result of the felony conviction: Torres is now a “prohibited person,” forbidden by law to own a gun.

I say “ironic” because Torres was a vocal member of Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition of oath-breaking urban chief executives committed to treating “shall not be infringed” as an option to ignore or eviscerate as suits their agenda.

When he was mayor of New York City, Bloomberg actually called Torres out for special recognition in a “State of the City” address:

“Today, we’re joined by the mayor of Paterson, Jose (Joey) Torres. Mayor Torres, New York City offers its deepest condolences to you and your city. And we’ll also join you in working to bring sanity to gun policy in our nation. Next week, more than 50 mayors from across the country — who are part of our coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns — will gather in Washington, D.C., to take up this challenge.

“And I’m happy to say that Mayor Torres will be with us. Our goal will be getting Congress to overturn a wrong-headed law — one that blocks access at the local level to federal data that would let us hold gun dealers accountable for illegally selling to gun traffickers. Mayor Torres and I have a simple message for Congress: It’s time to take ideology out of crime-fighting and time to give mayors — the people who are responsible for policing our streets — the tools we need to protect our citizens.”

In other words, not content to disregard the Bill of Rights in their own ruined corners of the Republic, they’re intent on imposing their edicts everywhere, in Everytown, bending everyone to their will.  And as for that “wrong-headed law” Bloomberg and Torres sought to overturn? If they do, they’re likely to screw things up and get people killed:

“Both BATFE and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) oppose release of trace data. In fact, BATFE has fought for years in the federal courts to keep trace records confidential, because they contain information (such as names of gun buyers) that could jeopardize ongoing investigations—not to mention law enforcement officers’ lives.”

It’s like Mos Eisley in Star Wars: “A wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

The galling thing about this to gun owner rights advocates is that criminal mayors like Torres appear to be the exception rather than the rule. Just two weeks ago I reported on another Bloomberg coalition member who resigned after years of child rape accusations.  It’s actually something I’ve been reporting on for years, documenting instance after instance of corruption, violence, substance abuse, sexual perversion and more.

Then add in the conduct of other gun-grabbing politicians higher up in the food chain, like California gun-runner-to-the-gangs Leland Yee, or just sentenced while weeping control-for-thee-but-not-for-me freak Anthony Weiner.

That society compensates such corrupted ethics with political power, when by all objective standards these degenerates should be regarded as weaklings and reprobates, speaks not of their achievements but of the misplaced cultural values they exemplify and feed off of. These oath-breakers conduct their lives with arrogance, deception, deviancy and gall. They seek to control good Americans when they won’t control themselves, and as such merit nothing but loathing, defiance and resistance.

—–

If you believe in the mission of Oath Keepers, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, please make a donation to support our work.  You can donate HERE.

—–

David Codrea’s opinions are his own. See “Who speaks for Oath Keepers?”

Tags: Anthony Weiner, BATFE, David Codrea, Every Town, Fraternal Order of Police, Leland Yee, Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Michael Bloomberg, New Jersey, Paterson

Florida Sheriff Gets It Right on Armed Defense While Mississippi Counterpart Fails

Sheriff Ivey understands who mans that first line of defense. (Facebook photo)

“A Florida sheriff’s office posted a controversial message on social media, urging citizens to arm themselves in self-defense,” WSVN 7 News Miami reported Friday. “Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey posted the video on Facebook Wednesday, two days after a deadly workplace shooting in nearby Orlando claimed the lives of five people.”

Why that would be controversial to any but tyrannophiles and their useful idiot followers remains unstated, but a handful nonetheless weighed in. Unsurprisingly, they used the same fake talking points they always bring up to sow disinformation and to alarm the gullible:

“Some residents applauded his stance while others criticized it, calling it ‘fear-mongering’ and encouraging vigilantes.”

So preparation is “paranoia,” and fighting for your life is “taking the law into your own hands”?

If terms can be redefined to favor attackers, why wouldn’t calling for help be considered “snitching”? Which is naturally what Opposite Day “progressives” say you should do, never having an answer for the familiar truism that “when seconds count, the police are minutes away…”

Rather than reprise what the sheriff said, take a few moments and get it straight from the man himself:

Sherriff Ivey’s “common sense” approach is a welcome and refreshing change from the “Only Ones” attitudes and efforts to undermine the right to keep and bear arms that we’ve noted recently from the Fraternal Order of Police “leadership.” That “us vs. them” approach is promulgated by all too many politically-motivated police chiefs who put their personal professional exclusivity before their oaths to support the Constitution. And that elitist attitude was reiterated in the WSVN piece:

Ivey’s message is at odds with some others in law enforcement, who argue that more citizens carrying guns exposes officers to more dangerous situations, and could prevent them from doing their jobs safely.

Leonard Papania, the police chief in Gulfport, Mississippi, spoke out against weakening gun regulations to the New York Times, saying, “Do you want every incident on your street to escalate to acts of gun violence?”

Pants on fire much, chief?

That “blood in the streets/ Dodge City over fender benders” hysteria has been a false alarm pulled by the gun-grabbers every time there’s a chance RKBA restrictions will be relaxed and rights recognized. Honest LEOs have admitted as much.

As for the ones now trying to gin up public panic over pushes for nationwide reciprocity and/or for so-called “Constitutional carry,” not only have fake fears been disproven in multiple states, a recent study shows Vermont, the original “permitless” concealed carry state, has an overall ranking of “safest state in America” in the “personal and residential safety” category.

That makes it fair to wonder why anyone would listen to Chief Papanias, considering that per the Neighborhood Scout crime index, Gulfport is given a rating of “5” out of a possible “100.”

So much for his methods working and being the ones the rest of us should emulate.

—–

If you believe in the mission of Oath Keepers, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, please consider making a donation to support our work.  You can donate HERE.

Tags: "Only Ones", Brevard County Sheriff, Chief Leonard Papania, concealed carry, Constitutional carry, David Codrea, Florida, Fraternal Order of Police, Gulfport, oath-breakers, Sheriff Wayne Ivey, Vermont

Oath-Breaking FOP Leadership Widens ‘Us vs. Them’ Divide with Opposition to Ohio Gun Bills

FOP leadership has President Donald Trump‘s ear. Shouldn’t Oath Keeper FOP members have theirs? [White House photo]

“Representatives Ron Hood (R-78) and Tom Brinkman (R-27) have introduced House Bill 201, a bill which seeks to have Ohio join the growing number of states which allow ‘constitutional’ carry, or lawful carry of a concealed firearm without a license,” Buckeye Firearms Association announced. “Similar bills have been proposed in Ohio in every General Assembly for more than a decade.”

It’s a pretty good bill, and I’m happy to see my representative is a co-sponsor. My main beef is the presumption that it “grants the person the same right to carry a concealed handgun in this state as a person who was issued a concealed handgun license.”

Rights that are granted are mere privileges that can be bestowed or withheld as rulers find expedient. It’s easy to see how lawmakers think that though, with so many gun owners and their advocacy groups having accepted the Faustian bargain of “permits.” Still, HB201 does present a major incremental gain even if some in power look at it as something they’re giving us.

So will it pass this time? If it doesn’t, Republicans will need to do some serious explaining on how a 65 to 34 House majority, a 33 to 10 Senate majority and an NRA “A”-rated governor could so totally let supporters down.

Opposition, of course, will be strong and loud, with the media acting as amplifier for voices giving the same dire (and long proven false) “blood in the streets” warnings. And one of the most influential (and strident) of those is “The Voice of Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers,” the Fraternal Order of Police.

“Michael Weinman, director of governmental affairs with the Fraternal Order of Police, said the organization opposes the legislation,” The Canton Repository reports.

“Weinman said firearms training, currently necessitated by the licensing process, should be required of concealed-carry holders,” the report elaborates. “The police union opposes the bill.

“We’re very leery of … what crimes you’d be allowed to carry with,” Weinman is quoted. “Does it open it up for people who assaulted police officers to be able to now carry?”

What a load that last bit of lying fear-mongering is. “Prohibited persons” won’t suddenly become “unprohibited,” and Weinman knows that. But he’s been picked as the flack to justify FOP leadership oath-breaking, of which this is but the latest example.

“The national president of the Grand Lodge Fraternal Order of Police, Dewey Stokes, introduced [President Bill] Clinton by strongly praising the president’s work on gun-control and anti-crime legislation,” United Press International reported back when the 1994 so-called “assault weapons” ban was being lauded. They also lobbied for “reauthorization” of the ban 10 years later, supporting the House effort by Republican quisling Tom Davis, and the Senate version pushed by Dianne Feinstein.

More recently, FOP National President Chuck Canterbury publicly urged the Senate to end private sales, increase ATF funding and enact more due process-denying “mental health” gun ownership disqualifiers, presenting all as “absolutely critical elements of addressing gun violence.”

And perhaps nothing displays the “Only Ones / us vs. them / we’ve got ours” mentality better than the naked hypocrisy of supporting nationwide carry for cops and retirees, but opposing it for “ordinary” citizens. FOP even wants special recognition status at NFL games, as if their main justification, “anger and, now that they must disarm, concern for their personal safety while attending football games,” does not apply to all gun owners who believe they have a right to keep and bear arms.

We hear that the rank and file by and large rejects “gun control,” yet the FOP leadership gets away with endorsing infringements with no repercussions. Supposedly group has “over 325,000 members in more than 2,100 lodges,” all having been “sworn officers,” leading to the obvious question:

Just what was it they swore to?

No doubt many current and retired law enforcement members of Oath Keepers are also FOP members. You are the logical “embedded assets” for reaching out to other FOP members and educating them on what that oath they took means and why it’s important for them to regard it as more than a ceremonial formality. The network is there for you. And the tools with which to accomplish that are right here at your fingertips on the Oath Keepers website.

Ultimately, your leadership is what it will take to change theirs.

—–

If you believe in the mission of Oath Keepers, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, please consider making a donation to support our work.  You can donate HERE.

Police Union Warns Trump That Forcing 'Sanctuary Cities' To Obey Laws Could "Risk Public Safety"

Yesterday, President Trump and VP Pence hosted the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the nation"s largest police union and a big supporter of Trump"s 2016 campaign, at the White House as part of his effort to keep an "open dialogue" with law enforcement officials of the country. 

It was an honor to welcome @GLFOP to the @WhiteHouse today with @VP Pence & Attorney General Sessions. THANK YOU for all you do 24/7/365! pic.twitter.com/UOKsiqMpsx

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2017

But the meeting likely got a little more controversial than expected when FOP Executive Director Jim Pasco pressed Trump on his decision to de-fund so-called "sanctuary cities"...a move which he argued would "endanger public safety."  Per Reuters:

Leaders of the largest police union in the United States have warned President Donald Trump that he could endanger public safety if he follows through with cuts in federal grants to immigrant "sanctuary cities," the union"s director told Reuters after a White House meeting.

In a move that concerned the Fraternal Order of Police, one of Trump"s biggest supporters in the 2016 election campaign, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Monday that the Justice Department would restrict grants to jurisdictions that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Sanctuary cities, such as San Francisco and New York, refuse to cooperate sometimes by not notifying Department of Homeland Security agents when illegal immigrants are being released from incarceration.

Dozens of local governments and cities have joined a "sanctuary" movement aimed at protecting immigrants. Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration and in general, these cities offer safe harbor and often do not use municipal funds or resources to advance the enforcement of federal immigration laws.

We have to presume that Pasco overlooked the inherent irony of suggesting that the federal government taking steps to actually require state and local municipalities to enforce laws would make cities less safe.

Of course, the comments followed Attorney General Jeff Sessions" surprise appearance at Sean Spicer"s daily White House press briefing earlier this week to announce that his DOJ would be taking steps to not only require that so-called "sanctuary cities" enforce federal immigration laws but would also be seeking to claw back past DOJ awards granted to those cities if they refuse to certify compliance.

"Today, I"m urging states and local jurisdictions to comply with these federal laws.  Moreover, the Department of Justice will require that jurisdictions seeking or applying for DOJ grants to certify compliance with 1373 as a condition for receiving those awards."

"This policy is entirely consistent with the DOJ"s Office of Justice Programs guidance that was issued just last summer under the previous administration."

"This guidance requires jurisdictions to comply and certify compliance with Section 1373 in order to be eligible for OJP grants.  It also made clear that failure to remedy violations could result in withholding grants, termination of grants and disbarment or ineligibility for future grants."

"The DOJ will also take all lawful steps to claw back any fines awarded to a jurisdiction that willfully violates Section 1373."

Sessions" full comments can be viewed below:

Attorney General Sessions says sanctuary cities "cannot continue" https://t.co/YiS9doT3IE pic.twitter.com/nGmICgmiA6

— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) March 27, 2017

Of course, all of this just serves to once again illustrate why government only grows larger and more corrupt...because the guy looking to rein in spending or enforce some level of discipline is an easy political target...that said, we"re not sure the current President plays such games.

Largest Police Union In U.S. Demands Amazon Pull Black Lives Matter Shirts

Submitted by Joseph Jankowski via PlanetFreeWill.com,

The largest police union inside the United States is demanding that Amazon.com pull Black Lives Matter shirts from its inventory because the apparel is “offensive.”

Fraternal Order of Police president, Chuck Canterbury, wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in an open letter to ask the online retailer to “prohibit the use of the Amazon name and website for the retail” of shirts and sweatshirts with slogans “Bulletproof”, “Black Lives Matter” and “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” which Canterbury described as “offensive” and the spread of “urban myths.”

While demanding the apparel be shunned from the popular online retailer, the FOP president applauded the company for “demonstrating the reality of the American dream” and its philanthropic work and expressed his hope that it shares “FOP’s goal of increasing the bonds of trust between the men and women of law enforcement and the communities they serve.”

“I wanted to let you know that my members are very upset that you and Amazon are complicit in the sale of this offensive merchandise,” Canterbury added, cautioning that the sale of the apparel could “damage your company’s good name amongst FOP members and other active and retired law enforcement officers.”

Canterbury, who has served as the FOP president since 2003, went on to express sadness over the fact that some “third party sellers are making money by exploiting racial divisions” in the US.

Neither Amazon or Black Lives Matter have responded to the FOP’s open letter and the “offensive” apparel still remains available for purchase on the Bezos run platform.

Just last week, the FOP sent a letter to Walmart asking the retail giant to pull similar Black Lives Matter apparel. On the same day the letter was received, Walmart said it would remove the shirts which say “Bulletproof,” but not the “Black Lives Matter” shirts.

Since its inception, Black Lives Matter has openly expressed disdain for law enforcement and has even been connected in the murder of police officers across the United States.

Black Lives Matter was founded by militant feminists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opel Tometi, who cite Marxist revolutionary and convicted cop killer, Assata Shakur, as one of the groups most influential figures.

The movement’s supporters famously celebrated the sniper attack in Dallas earlier in the year which killed 5 police officers.

A BLM leader was caught on tape back in July calling for supporters to shoot police and run them over.

Black Lives Matter protest leader calls for running over, shooting police.pic.twitter.com/EPoK7gWsRs

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 11, 2016

Members of the Black Lives Matter movement have been connected in the murder of 11 police officers since its inception in 2014.