BREAKING: Judge Dismisses ALL Charges Against Bundy Family, Bars Retrial

The court"s decision marks an end to the federal case against the Bundy family for their role in the 2014 armed standoff over cattle-grazing rights in Nevada.

Bundy Trial Landmark Day – January Eighth

THE INFORMATION THEREIN PROVIDES FURTHER EVIDENCE OF FLAGRANT GOVERNMENT MISCONDUCT.

by Terry Noonkester   1-4-2018

Judge Navarro is scheduled to rule on which classification of mistrial is appropriate for Cliven, Ryan and Ammon Bundy, and their co-defendant, Ryan Payne.  The classification she decides on will make a huge difference and could bring anything from a retrial, or the end of this case.  Her decision could also affect the other 15 defendants indicted in USA v Cliven Bundy et al.

Judge Navarro indicated that the remedy for the Brady violations she was seeking was only for the evidence that was in violation for missing the October 1st, 2017 deadline, which would indicate only the four defendants in this trial. On December 20th, when Navarro declared a mistrial, she mentioned two options.  A mistrial without prejudice would allow the prosecution to retry the current four defendants; or a mistrial with prejudice would bar a retrial.  The status of all other defendants in Cliven Bundy et al would remain as they were unless they individually appealed to a higher court.  The lawyers representing the four defendants, and the prosecution filed their briefs, as instructed, on December 29th.

Myhre wrote in his brief;

…“The Brady violations found by the court are regrettable and benefit no one,”…. “But because the government neither flagrantly violated nor recklessly disregarded its obligations, the appropriate remedy for such violations is a new trial.” 

Ryan Bundy’s brief, referred to the “Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 26.3 Mistrial” that states;

     “Before ordering a mistrial, the court must give each defendant and the government an opportunity to comment on the propriety of the order, to state whether that party consents or objects, and to suggest alternatives”… “The Rule ensures that a defendant has the opportunity to dissuade a judge from declaring a mistrial in a case where granting one would not be an abuse of discretion”.  

Judge Navarro not only failed to give the defendants this opportunity, but when Ryan Bundy requested to comment, she refused to allow it.  Because of Navarro not following this procedure, the mistrial should be with prejudice.

There is a third option that Navarro failed to mention but the defense lawyers have strenuously brought to her attention in the briefs they filed on December 29th. They are in favor of a “dismissal of the indictment, with prejudice”.  The grand jury Indictment, the formal accusation that a person has committed a crime, would then be dismissed. This type of dismissal was the choice in the USA v Chapman case,  also headed by Steven Myhre as prosecutor, dismissed with prejudice on May 06, 2008.  A dismissal of the indictments would bolster the legal status of the other 15 defendants in all tier groups of the trials.

As the Chapman case was concluded, two new Assistant United States Attorneys appeared on behalf of the government to argue against dismissal. The district court listened to the arguments and then granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss an indictment with prejudice.  Myhre had acted “flagrantly, willfully, and in bad faith”.

Such a severe finding regarding Myhre’s misconduct as the lead prosecutor did not stop him from becoming the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Nevada.  On the federal level, the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Inspector Generals Office were in the chain of command for disciplinary actions, but those institutions failed to protect the public from Myhre’s unethical prosecutions.  The Nevada Bar Association was responsible for disciplinary actions at the state level.

When a prosecutor violates the defendants constitutional rights, the court is supposed to pay for their wrongdoing by giving the defendants an advantage.  In USA v Cliven Bundy et al,  the defendants seemed to be well on their way to an acquittal.  It is clearly to their disadvantage to start over with a new jury.  The prosecution would have the advantage of a fresh start with a new jury that might not see the same struggle the defense team had to make to overcome the Brady violations that blocked crucial evidence. The government witnesses that have already impeached themselves have learned not to get caught in some of their own lies.  Giving the prosecution another chance to correct their mistakes would put the defense at a disadvantage and therefore ‘dismissal without prejudice’ should not even be considered.

A district court may dismiss an indictment on the ground of outrageous government conduct if the conduct amounts to a due process violation.  If the conduct does not rise to the level of a due process violation, the court may nonetheless dismiss under its supervisory powers.  Judge Navarro had found the Brady violations in the Bundy trial were to the level of due process violations.

The nineteen men arrested for the Bundy Ranch Protest were indicted together by the same grand jury.  The trial was later broken up into three tiers, each having their own trial for the courts convenience.  That arbitrary division should not block any group or groups from the benefits of a dismissal of the indictment. In the best case scenario of dismissing the indictment with prejudice, Judge Navarro’s decision could help in termination of past plea bargains, convictions and both Tier 1 and Tier 2 group trials.

There is also evidence of worse prosecutorial misconduct that is not a part of the court record.  Judge Navarro has not discussed this evidence, in the form of the ‘Wooton email’ publicly.  This is the 17 page email plus a cover page written by BLM’s lead investigator of the Bundy case.  Wooten held this position for nearly three years until he was removed on February 18th, 2017.  Myhre requested Wooten’s removal from the Bundy investigation to Wooten’s BLM supervisor just the day or days before.  Special Agent Larry Wooten’s summary of the email subject reads: “Bureau of Land Management Law Enforcement Supervisory Misconduct and Associated Cover-ups as well as Potential Unethical Actions, Malfeasance and Misfeasance by United States Attorney’s Office Prosecutors from the District of Nevada, (Las Vegas) in Referencer to the Cliven Bundy Investigation.”

There have been several sealed hearings in Judge Navarro’s courtroom since Larry Wooten’s email was made public by Washington State Representative Matt Shea and Shari Dovale of Redoubt News.   Also, the “Motion to Dismiss” written by Public Defenders Brenda Weksler and Ryan Norwood in behalf of defendant Ryan Payne stated: “While violations already found by this court are already enough to justify dismissal, there remain other issues that have yet to be explored—notably those arising from (half a line of text redacted) provided to the defense on December 8, 2017.

The “Motion to Dismiss” continues;  “The information therein provides further evidence of flagrant government misconduct, and a pervasive, willful failure to provide the defense exculpatory evidence.  The Court should direct an extensive inquiry into the matter if it does not dismiss the indictment.”  They later stated; “THE INDICTMENT SHOULD BE DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE”.  The attorneys give several court case examples that prove that the misconduct of the prosecution of the Cliven Bundy case fulfills the requirements to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, and then it continues with the statement; “The facts relied upon by the Chapman court to dismiss the case with prejudice pale in comparison to this case.”

Mixed in with heavily redacted pages is the following information;  “The court should also hear evidence from the other parties directly involved with his dismissal, (redacted text), and Acting U.S. Attorney, Myhre,”…“A fair inquiry into circumstances (redacted text) will make the US Attorney a necessary witness, and will require their recusal from the case.”  The heavily redacted text in this December 29th brief can be taken as a warning that there are still far too many governmental secrets involving this case.

The prosecution used false statements and hid evidence to make false charges against nineteen men indicted by the grand jury, the only remedy to preserve justice is to go back to the root of the deceit and dismiss the indictment, with prejudice.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Wednesday, January 3rd, 2018, that Dayle Elieson will replace Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre effective Friday, January 5th, 2018.  Myhre will return to his role as First Assistant U.S. Attorney.  Elieson was one of 17 interim U.S. attorneys appointed by Sessions in districts throughout the United States.

January 8th, 2018 will be a historic day, not only for the trial of USA v Cliven Bundy et al, but for many legal proceedings to come.  Judge Gloria Navarro will decide between liberty and tyranny.

The Judicial Doctrine of Immunity states that “Immunity applies even when the judge is accused of acting maliciously and corruptly”…”Judicial immunity is not overcome by allegations of bad faith or malice,” the Supreme Court said in its opinion in Mireles v. Waco.  The opinion went on to  explain; “… judges lose their immunity only in two circumstances: when they are sued for a ‘nonjudicial action,’ like a personnel decision, or when they are sued for an action that, ‘though judicial in nature,’ was ‘taken in the complete absence of all jurisdiction.’”

However, the Supreme Court does not have the authority to block impeachment of a judge through the U. S. House of Representatives, an avenue that Washington D.C. attorney Larry Klayman may be taking  with the complaint he has filed.

The climax to the USA v Cliven Bundy et al trial will be at the Lloyd George Federal District Courthouse, 333 S Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, Nevada, 9:00 am on January 8th, 2018.

Redoubt News

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.

 

The post Bundy Trial Landmark Day – January Eighth appeared first on Oath Keepers.

The Myth Of India's Information Technology Industry

Authored by Jayant Bhandari via Acting-Man.com,

A Shift in Perception – Indians in Silicon Valley

When I was studying in the UK in early 90s, I was often asked about cows, elephants and snake-charmers on the roads in India.  A shift in public perception - not in the associated reality - was however starting to happen. India would soon become known for its vibrant IT industry.

Friends and family are helping students taking university exams with cheating. 2.5 million candidates, many of them with PhDs or post-graduates, recently applied for 6,000 of the lowest level job positions (“grade D”) available in West Bengal, which require no more than an early-stage school education. While India produces the largest number of PhDs, engineers, etc. in the world, the educational system is in reality in a shambles and a complete joke. Most of these people are in fact unemployable. [The incredible scene above took place in Bihar and is explained in greater detail here. Relatives of students are scaling the walls of the examination center to pass on cheat sheets to their offspring. Policemen who were supposed to guard examination buildings were often bribed to look the other way. A total of 6 to 7 million people across India were estimated to provide  cheating assistance. [PT]]

 

A similar scene at another examination center in Bihar. In several locations parents and relatives even clashed with police who tried to keep them from scaling the walls (which is actually quite risky). Here is a You-tube video showing a TV report on the “massive family affair” the exam turned into, which is in parts quite funny. You will inter alia notice that students who get caught cheating by their teachers sometimes have to expect the kind of traditional instant punishment that would be frowned upon in politically correct Western societies, but which probably has the advantage of being memorable (here is another video of the collective cheating effort; and here is Mr. Bean taking an exam). [PT]

As more IT graduates from India moved to the US to work, they lobbied to change how India was viewed, not because India had actually changed or because they cared for India, but because from their tribal perspective, this reflected well on them. This process went hand in hand with the emerging trend toward political correctness in the West - people in the West became keen to exaggerate the successes of India and other “emerging markets” to prove their non-racist orientation.

Today, Silicon Valley has quite a visible Indian population and many of its members are very talented and in top positions. This helped change the perception of India. There are a total of one million Indian engineers and scientists in the US.  To put this number into perspective, the population of India increases by more than a million souls every month.

These were the best and the brightest of India, and while their number is not even noise in the grand scheme of things, the exception to the rule began to be seen as the rule. A completely faulty assumption was taking root, namely that India is a land of high-tech people. Neither Indians nor politically correct Westerners challenged this notion.

Indians were hired by Americans based on meritocratic principles, but as more Indians rose to the top, they tended to hire based on tribal affiliations. Again, this tribalism has nothing to do with trying to help their brethren.  Mostly  it is about the comfort tribal people feel working with their own kind, despite harboring concomitant feelings of disdain. An Indian boss finds it easier to get away with abusing his Indian staff.

Apart from visible high-caliber Indians in the IT industry in the US, most of these employees are actually C-level, sweatshop labor, who work for a lot less than what Americans would be prepared to accept. Many of those who did not learn programming in the US are known for writing error-prone code that cannot be maintained. Moreover, they have developed a reputation for being pompous. Americans find it difficult to complain, as they don’t want to risk looking racist.

An outsized number of Indians in the position of recruiters tend to favor Indians, once again not for reasons of empathy, but merely for the comfort they feel in managing expectations. The lottery system associated with H1B visa is riddled with manipulated multiple filings and fake resumes – stories about this abound.

The IT Industry in India

Even within India, the IT industry is not what many people believe it to be. The IT sector accounts for 9.3% of the country’s GDP, or about $150 billion. While the Indian IT industry looks big from an Indian perspective, it is miniscule even in comparison with China, let alone the US.

In total, a mere 3.7 million out of India’s population of 1,350 million people are employed in the IT industry. Again, most of them are working as better-paid sweat-labor, forever ready to jump to a slightly better job offer. Creative, innovative work is almost never sent to India.

As time has passed it has become increasingly difficult for political correctness to suppress the fact that much of the code written by Indian IT programmers is of inferior quality. Indian IT firms are losing business and sadly the one industry that led most of India’s growth over the last three decades is rapidly shedding employees.

An Indian friend who has worked for many years in the IT industry, in and outside of India told me:

“The Indian IT sector, excluding the work that gets done at Microsoft, Google, Intel and few research-based companies, is the biggest joke of the millennium. Service-based companies within India, including well-known Indian names, try to skim clients big-time and operate with meager productivity. It really doesn’t make surprise me when many Indians in IT are losing their jobs because of their irresponsibility and indecent behavior. They treat their offices as their own private place to hang around, chit-chatting with colleagues, talking about their private lives publicly. Managers, mostly incompetent at work have zero-tolerance towards their subordinates, are sexist, and lure their female subordinates.”

Will Indians one day sit back and reflect that their lack of reason, their tribalism and superstitions are the reason for the utter backwardness and wretchedness, which is letting the one small advantage Indians had slip by?

The flaws of Indian coders have made headlines before. The article from which the above exhortation was taken appeared in 2015 after “Snapdeal cheerfully declared that ‘right programmers are rare in India’” and inter alia notes that “India’s education system has failed its citizens”. The problems with many Indian coders are deemed to consist of “rote-learning, lack of research and Gestalt skills and an inability to be innovative even while they possess the talent”. Two years earlier, the Atlantic had already published a “behind the scenes” article on the topic as well, which also blames the Indian education system for the situation and includes a forecast that the amount of coding work outsourced to India is likely to drop – to the chagrin of many newly-minted, but apparently poorly trained Indian programmers. [PT]

Here is a comment by Vidyanshu Pandey, who in the past worked as a coder, in delivery management, as a software architect, and is currently in IT sales and management consulting:

“ The combination of all these factors creates IT services that are cheap, but unsustainable. Wage hikes and inflation will make Indian IT services non-competitive. Moreover, the Chinese have rapidly become quite good in English and programming. The quality of their work is high, they have excellent skills in cyber-security, data-science and AI, and they constantly win the International Programming Olympics, a recognition that has mostly eluded Indians. Chinese coders are also happy to put in long hours, without complaining. Also, I find Filipinos to be very good, as well as the Vietnamese. I see a decline coming in India’s IT industry soon. The easy money of the past several years has encouraged materialism, hedonism and decadence. As IT has spearheaded growth of the middle class, its coming downturn may well herald its decline.”

Quiet Changes

Inside the country, Indians have increased their gold hoarding. There is no way to know how much they are really buying, as a lot of gold comes into the country  through smuggling. Those who can are moving their gold and wealth abroad. They are increasing their purchases of properties outside the country, in the process contributing to property price increases in the US, in London, Thailand, and so forth.

A very large number of Directors of publicly-listed Indian companies are officially residents of Singapore, Hong Kong or Dubai. 30% of the people living in the UAE are from India. Of course, not much of this shows up in statistics.

Every Indian I know would emigrate today if he could. Most want to live under  institutions created by Europeans. Hypocritically, those who cannot emigrate, and particularly those who do manage to do so, vociferously claim that European colonization of the third world was somehow an unmitigated calamity. It wasn’t. Without the British running India, India is rapidly on its way to utter chaos, disintegration and what will likely end up becoming a major humanitarian crisis.

This is Why People are Angry, Cop With 90 Misconduct Complaints Promoted to Commander

Chicago, IL — For many professions, one solitary charge of misconduct is enough to get someone fired. While some people might get forgiveness and a pass on one charge, multiple charges will, more often than not, lead to termination of one’s employment. But with police officers, as The Free Thought Project has consistently reported over the years, they seem to wear reports of misconduct as a badge of honor and are often promoted.

“Cmdr. James Sanchez has been a subject of at least 90 formal complaints since joining the force in 1985, according to the records, obtained through the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Most of those complaints alleged excessive force or improper searches,” writes WJCT. Sanchez, a Chicago police officer, was recently promoted to Commander, even after amassing nearly one hundred cries from the public of misconduct, leaving many to speculate just how many more citizens refused to come forward, fearing retaliation for filing a report against Sanchez.

Based on the findings in the FOIA request, “Sanchez, who was promoted…to commander last August, has nearly twice as many complaints as any of the department’s other 21 district commanders — and about five times their average.”

Going further into the claims of misconduct reveals a few disturbing accusations, not the least of which was Sanchez’ involvement in the framing of a local gang leader for murder. While working as a detective, Sanchez was accused of coercing witnesses and fabricating evidence to frame Jose’ Lopez. Lopez, after spending 3 years in jail, was acquitted of the crime, and later sued the department and the city, winning a $750,000 settlement in court.

READ MORE:  Restaurant Owner Tells 9-1-1 to Send Anyone But Police, "We Don"t Allow Police"

“They targeted Latinos in particular, breaking into their homes, falsely arresting them, kidnapping people, so they could rob them,” said Futterman, the attorney. “There were lots of complaints but nobody was connecting the dots. Nobody was looking at them. That was going on for years,” said Chicago law professor Craig Futterman.

Of the nearly 100 complaints against Sanchez, only three resulted in punishment for the officer. And just as TFTP has reported is customary with police departments all across the country, he only received a three-day suspension for his alleged misdeeds and criminal conduct.

As TFTP has documented, victims of crime seldom come forward to file a police report. It can be assumed, fewer still will present themselves at a police precinct to file misconduct charges against a police officer. As Futterman puts it, “You work in places with higher crime, you have more contact with people, no one likes to be searched, no one likes to be arrested, you get complaints…But it’s a rare occasion when someone who is searched or arrested actually goes out and files a complaint. And the vast majority of those officers haven’t accumulated extraordinary numbers of complaints.”

Futterman has been fighting for years in court to have the criminal complaints against Chicago police officers be released. Even though there exists the Freedom of Information Act, a federal law which calls for complete disclosure, he’s found the CPD to be less than forthcoming, often stalling and delaying his efforts to have the light of truth shine on police officers’ records.

Unfortunately, the CPD may not have done due diligence investigating Sanchez’ work history before promoting him to commander. But after all, they’re the police. They can, will, and do, anything they want, even promoting a man who probably should have been arrested on corruption charges years ago.

Swedish Cop Who Spoke Out About Migrant Crime Now Being Investigated For "Hate Speech"

Earlier this week we wrote about the veteran Swedish police officer who, despite acknowledging that his actions might result in a pay cut, demotion and/or termination, posted an epic rant to Facebook about migrant crime in his country.  Among other things, the officer, Peter Springare, listed the crimes that he had spent the week investigating and subsequently attributed pretty much all of them to the beneficiaries of Merkel"s "open border" policies.  From his Facebook post:

"Here we go; this is what I’ve handled from Monday-Friday this week: rape, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, rape-assault and rape, extortion, blackmail, assault, violence against police, threats to police, drug crime, drugs, crime, felony, attempted murder, rape again, extortion again and ill-treatment."

“Suspected perpetrators; Ali Mohammed, Mahmod, Mohammed, Mohammed Ali, again, again, again. Christopher… what, is it true? Yes, a Swedish name snuck in on the edges of a drug crime. Mohammed, Mahmod Ali, again and again."

“Countries representing all the crimes this week: Iraq, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Somalia, Syria again, Somalia, unknown, unknown country, Sweden. Half of the suspects, we can’t be sure because they don’t have any valid papers. Which in itself usually means that they’re lying about their nationality and identity.”

Now, despite an outpouring of support on social media and from fellow officers, Springare is being investigated for a "hate crime", to our complete shock, of course.  According to Breitbart London, Maria Sterup, chief prosecutor of the Special Prosecution Office in Malmö, will be reviewing Springare"s Facebook post which, if found to be criminal, could result in his dismissal.

But now the department of internal investigations is probing Mr. Springare for incitement to racial hatred as a result of the post, police have confirmed.

Communications officer at Örebro police, Anders Sjöberg, said the police officer will continue to work until the investigation is concluded. If Mr. Springare’s Facebook activity is found to be criminal, his position in the police will be reviewed, Bergslagen human resources manager Olov Augrell told SVT.

“It is a crime in the Criminal Code so I decided to start a preliminary investigation”, said Maria Sterup, chief prosecutor of the Special Prosecution Office in Malmö.

Of course, Springare isn"t the first Swedish cop to speak up about migrant crime.  Mikaela Kellner, Sweden"s now infamous "bikini cop", announced her resignation back in December saying that she didn"t "think that personnel were being treated fairly, as they should."

I bet this guy was trying to get caught. Bikini-clad Swedish cop makes arrest while sunbathing https://t.co/EuxnrYpis2

— Neil Combee (@NeilCombee) August 6, 2016

Though Kellner didn"t specifically mention it, many attributed her departure to Sweden"s police force being plagued by understaffing and a rapid rise in violent crime that seemingly corresponded with the arrival of thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Northern Africa.  The level of violence within certain areas rose to such a level that police abandoned efforts to control the streets, leading to the establishment of 55 "no-go zones" (something we discussed in further detail here:  "Sweden Creates 55 "No-Go Zones" As It Loses Control Of Refugee Crisis").

But we"re sure it"s nothing...just a bunch of cops who suddenly became xenophobic hatemongers right around the same time, by pure coincidence of course, that a bunch of foreign migrants showed up and started plowing trucks through crowded public squares and blowing up buildings.

* * *

For those who missed our post earlier this week about Springare"s Facebook rant, here it is:

A Swedish police officer recently offered up a little more truth than people are used to when he posted an epic rant on Facebook about immigrant crimes plaguing his police department and his country.  In the beginning of the post, the police officer said that he was "so fucking tired" and warned that "what I will write here below, is not politically correct."  With that warning, below is brief taste of what followed courtesy of RT:

"Here we go; this is what I’ve handled from Monday-Friday this week: rape, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, rape-assault and rape, extortion, blackmail, assault, violence against police, threats to police, drug crime, drugs, crime, felony, attempted murder, rape again, extortion again and ill-treatment."

“Suspected perpetrators; Ali Mohammed, Mahmod, Mohammed, Mohammed Ali, again, again, again. Christopher… what, is it true? Yes, a Swedish name snuck in on the edges of a drug crime. Mohammed, Mahmod Ali, again and again."

“Countries representing all the crimes this week: Iraq, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Somalia, Syria again, Somalia, unknown, unknown country, Sweden. Half of the suspects, we can’t be sure because they don’t have any valid papers. Which in itself usually means that they’re lying about their nationality and identity.”

The Facebook post was published by Peter Springare, a senior investigator at the serious crimes division at the Örebro Police Department with 47 years under his belt.  Springare noted that what he had to say could harm an officer"s position and/or pay grade which is why most officers never speak out. 

And here is a loose translation of the full post from Facebook that has been shared over 17,000 times in a matter of days:

Not surprisingly, Springare"s rants ignited an immediate national firestorm with supporters applauding his courage for speaking up while others blasted his rant as racist and xenophobic. 

People supporting Springare’s rant started a group on Facebook that quickly amassed over 75,000 members including several of his fellow police officers.  Meanwhile, according to news website Nyheter Idag, the police station where Springare works received at least 60 bouquets of flowers addressed to him on Monday – a “bloombomb” from admirers.

Of course, not everyone was thrilled with Springare"s post, with at least one person referring him to the special prosecutors" office for an official investigation into whether he violated police regulations. 

Others were not happy with the investigator’s remark, calling him right-wing or even racist. The post was referred to the special prosecutors’ office, which handles crimes involving law enforcement, to see whether it violated police regulations, according to Swedish media.

National Police Commissioner Dan Eliasson said that it was important to distinguish what an officer does in the line of duty and outside of it.

“When he acts in his professional capacity, he should be extremely careful with issues of ethnicity. If he wants to talk about the problems of crime among immigrants in his spare time, he has freedom of expression like any other,” he told P4 Extra radio, adding that he knows Springare as a “very good person.”

In a second post, Springare denied accusations of right-wing sympathies.

“If you can"t discuss the problem of crime among immigrants without somebody attributing it to racist propaganda, we are in deep trouble,” he said. “The problem is that nobody wants to talk about this.”

Turns out the U.S. isn"t the only place where providing actual facts/statistics about crime can result in a person being labelled a racist.

2016 Chicago Homicides Even Higher Than Originally Reported

2016 was a record breaking year for the city of Chicago, unfortunately just not in any positive ways.  Throughout 2016 we noted several grim milestones that plagued the Windy City: the deadliest month in 23 years, the deadliest day in 13 years, 4,300 people shot...the list goes on and on.  And, as we noted a couple of weeks ago, when it was all said and done Chicago was thought to have recorded around 762 murders in 2016 (see "Chicago Violence Worst In 20 Years: "Not Seen This Level Of Disrespect For Police Ever"").  To put those numbers into perspective, Chicago recorded over 20% more murders in 2016 than New York and Los Angeles combined, despite having a fraction of the population.

And as bad as all those figures are, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, the actual number of homicides recorded in Chicago in 2016 were even higher than the official police data would suggest.  The discrepancy is largely due to the fact that the Medical Examiner"s office tallies “homicides” while the official police data tracks “murders," which exclude intentional killings that are deemed "justified" (e.g. police shootings).  So while the official police data suggests there were 762 murders in 2016 the county numbers reflect 812 homicides including all of the "justified" killings.

The record-setting violence in Chicago is even worse than announced as new evidence shows the city suffered 50 more homicides last year than the numbers publicly reported in the past week.

The city posted a decades-high homicide count of 812 in 2016, per the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. That’s 15% greater than the 762 murders reported by the city"s police department.

The discrepancy is largely due to the fact that the county tallies “homicides” while the police number counts “murders.” Murders are defined as violent acts subject to criminal prosecution. Homicides, according to the medical examiner, include instances “when the death of a person comes at the hand of another person. This does not imply that all homicides are murders that would be subject to criminal prosecution.”

The city police count is also lower because it excludes violent, intentional deaths if the act is deemed justified, including police killings of residents.

Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of Chicago"s homicides came a result of gunshot wounds while ~80% of the victims in Cook County were African American.

Gun violence is the leading cause of death for victims of homicide in Chicago with 725 decedents being felled by at least one gunshot wound.

African Americans also bore the brunt of the violence in Cook County, which includes Chicago. They accounted for 710 of the county-wide total of 915 (88% of which occurred in the city). Men comprised 90% of the homicide victims in the county.

On a positive note, after a violent opening weekend to the year (see "3 Killed, 27 Wounded As Chicago Opens 2017 With A String Of Murders"), shootings and murders over the past week seem to be much lower than the run-rate for most of December.  Per HeyJackAss!:

And while we would like to hope the recent data points to a less violent 2017, the collapse in shootings seems to be perfectly correlated with a 5-day period of frigid temperatures that likely kept Chicago"s violent youth indoors for a few days.

Three Strikes - You're Out... Of Freedoms

Submitted by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

In the nineteenth century, the Americans invented a new sport—baseball. At one time thought of by us Britons as a sort of “poor man’s cricket,” baseball eventually became an international sport and, at this point in time, in virtually any country in the world, the exclamation “Three strikes—you’re out” means to all and sundry that the individual in question is finished for the time being.

And the phrase is sometimes used in investment circles. One investor can be heard advising another, “Don’t buy that stock—they’re underfunded, have poor management and an unsustainable business plan. You’d have three strikes against you even before you started.”

If the investor receiving the advice is wise, he would, of course, avoid the stock as he would avoid a plague. Although there might be some chance of success, the odds are so thoroughly stacked against him that he’s almost certain to lose his money.

But what of an entire country where the investor has three strikes against him before he starts? What if some country were to pass a series of laws that were so draconian that, whilst it may be possible that the investor might survive, the odds are stacked so much against him that loss is almost a certainty?

An excellent example of such a country is the home of baseball—the USA. Once regarded worldwide as “the land of opportunity,” the US has declined precipitously in recent decades and, as developed countries go, has become one of the world’s dodgiest jurisdictions in which to retain wealth.

Strike One: Confiscation of Wealth

In 2010, the US government passed the massive (2,300 pages) Dodd-Frank Act. Ostensibly, Dodd-Frank was intended to end the excessive risk-taking that had led to the 2008 crash. Although Congress could simply have reinstated the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 (a mere 37 pages, the 1999 repeal of which led to the crash), it passed Dodd-Frank. Many congressmen admitted that they had never even read it before passing it. Unfortunate. Buried in that bill was legislation that allowed the opposite of what the bill was claimed to have been meant to do. It allowed US banks to confiscate account holders’ deposits—in other words, it codified the bail-in process.

Although no confiscation has yet taken place, a trial balloon for confiscation was sent up in Cyprus in 2013 and the world accepted the concept. The path is now paved for similar confiscation in the US. In essence, this means that any funds that are entrusted to any bank in the US are unsafe.

Strike Two: Civil Forfeiture

The stated purpose of the civil forfeiture law is to seize property that may have been connected in some way to a crime. In the 1980s, the US Congress gave the green light to law enforcement agencies to retain the proceeds of their seizures. In addition, the traditional “innocent until proven guilty” principle was thrown out. The onus was now on the accused to prove that his property was not connected to a crime. If he could not do so, the authorities could keep the proceeds.

But the enforcement of this law has not been focused on wealthy drug kingpins. Nationwide, it has been focused on the average citizen, who is limited as to his ability for recourse. Typically, he’s stopped by police as he’s driving down the road. His possessions (particularly cash) are seized on the claim of a minor traffic offense. Another method of seizure is to raid a home or business premises. Often, anything of value is taken, under the assumption that it “may have been connected to a crime.” And often, the charges are trumped-up and the arguments flimsy.

The accused must then fight in court to regain his property, which happens rarely. Most cases never reach the courtroom. In many that do, the individual finds he cannot afford the legal fees, so he either gives up or settles. Abuses abound and in some jurisdictions, seizure has become a full-time activity, netting hundreds of millions in value, little of which is ever returned, even if no charges are ever filed against the accused.

Strike Three: Removal of Free Speech

In December of 2016, the US Congress passed the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act, following a television campaign warning that “fake news” created by Russia had increased support for presidential candidate Donald Trump, allowing him to defeat Hillary Clinton.

The law provides for the implementation of an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth” to counter “foreign disinformation and manipulation” that ostensibly threatens “security” and “stability.”

No single government agency has been charged with the enforcement of this law, which suggests that any government agency that objects to published information that disagrees with its own will have the power to take action. It may punish “the extensive and destabilising foreign propaganda and disinformation operations being waged against us.”

The upshot of this is that the US government will have the authority to crack down on any group or individual that it decides is disseminating “propaganda,” including punishing and/or shutting down any source it deems guilty of disseminating information that does not match its own propaganda.

And so, returning to our investor, he’s looking at a country in which he already has three strikes against him. He’s almost certain to lose. What will he do? Well, sad to say, human nature dictates that he’s most likely to simply put his head in the sand and continue on regardless. If he’s already neck-deep in the US investment game, he’ll be inclined to continue and hope for the best, much to his eventual regret.

Historically, whenever any country declines to the point that its government has removed the rights of property ownership and freedom of speech, most people do tend to just hang in there and ride the train to the bottom.

Very few choose to vote with their feet and decamp to another jurisdiction where the laws are not so draconian. For whatever reason, that which is so easy to understand in baseball is very hard to understand with regard to investment and residency.

*  *  *

Unfortunately most people have no idea what really happens when a government goes out of control, let alone how to prepare… The coming economic and political collapse is going to be much worse, much longer, and very different than what we’ve seen in the past. That’s exactly why New York Times best-selling author Doug Casey and his team just released an urgent video. Click here to watch it now.