North Carolina will No Longer Shackle Inmates During Childbirth, but Many States Still Do

[image: © Lucy Nicholson / Reuters]

(RT) North Carolina has ended the practice of shackling of women prisoners while they are giving birth. The US state joins only 18 others that regulate the practice, according to civil rights groups.

State Prisons Director Kenneth Lassiter announced this week that restraints must be removed once an inmate is in labour unless she is a threat to herself or others or she poses an escape risk. Last year, 81 inmates gave birth while imprisoned in North Carolina.

The policy still allows a pregnant inmate to be handcuffed while being transported but the use of leg or waist restraints will end.

Only 10 states prohibit shackling pregnant women by law outright according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Eighteen US states in total have laws that regulate or prohibit shackling pregnant women while giving birth. However, eight states have no laws concerning the shackling of women who are giving birth at all. This means prisons can impose restraints, such as leg irons and handcuffs, on a woman at any point while she’s giving birth.

The use of shackles on women giving birth is highly controversial. Prisons argue that it is necessary in some cases to avoid escape attempts.  The American Medical Association (AMA) has described it as “a barbaric practice that needlessly inflicts excruciating pain and humiliation.”

The practice is “detrimental to the health of the mother and her newborn child.” the ACLU said, citing medical risks.

Thirty-one states do not have a policy that holds institutions accountable for shackling pregnant women without adequate justification, according to research cited by the AMA.

The policy change in North Carolina follows a press statement released by a coalition of advocacy groups, which called on the North Carolina Department of Public Safety to respond to the treatment of two unnamed inmates who were allegedly forced to deliver their babies while shackled.

“It is an important first step to ensuring the health, rights and dignity of people who are incarcerated.” Omisade Burney-Scott from SisterSong, one of the groups involved in the campaign, told RT after the announcement.

The US incarcerates more women per capita than any other country. In 2015, there were 210,000 women jailed in America, but there is little information about how their reproductive status, according to the Pregnancy in Prison Statistics (PIPS) project.

The post North Carolina will No Longer Shackle Inmates During Childbirth, but Many States Still Do appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Liberals Freak Out As House Approves Nationwide Concealed Carry Reciprocity

The House Judiciary Committee voted 19-11 late Wednesday for the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. This bill would amend the federal criminal code to allow the concealed carry of guns across state lines for all concealed carry permit holders.

Should this bill become a law, states will not be able to impose their individual requirements for a concealed carry license on those who have a license to conceal in a different state. The left is already terrified.

Republicans rejected Democratic amendments that would ban violent offenders from qualifying under the law (because violent offenders cannot obtain a concealed carry permit anyway), as well as a change that would have prevented forum shopping; which means a New York resident barred from obtaining a concealed carry permit could instead send away for one from somewhere else. The bill, which has more than 200 co-sponsors, almost all Republicans, will now head to the floor of the 435-member House. A similar bill, with 38 Republican co-sponsors, is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

All this bill does is extend the right to carry a concealed firearm IF one is licensed to do so in all 50 states, regardless of the state that issued the license.  There isn’t really a reason for liberals to freak out, yet they are.

A qualified individual must: (1) be eligible to possess, transport, or receive a firearm under federal law; (2) carry a valid photo identification document; and (3) carry a valid concealed carry permit issued by, or be eligible to carry a concealed firearm in, his or her state of residence. – H.R. 38

“This would end abuses in anti-gun states like New York and New Jersey and allow law-abiding concealed carriers to exercise their rights nationwide with peace of mind,” the NRA website states. “[The bill] would not, as some critics claim, affect how states issue their own concealed carry permits.”

U.S. Representative Richard Hudson, the North Carolina Republican who introduced the legislation, called the bill “welcome progress” in efforts to expand and protect access to firearms. 

The few states that target law-abiding concealed carriers from other jurisdictions for criminal prosecution consider the bearing of arms in public for self-defense a privilege reserved for the elite, rather than a constitutional right. When states trample on constitutional rights, Congress has the authority and responsibility to act.  –NRA-ILA

This is a small shred of hope for gun owners who seek to exercise their rights regardless of whether or not they cross an arbitrary line.

Confederate Flag Over NC Fire Department: ‘We’re Not Going To Take Down The Flag’

The Uwharrie Volunteer Fire Department is standing firm, and will not be taking down the Confederate flag that flies below Old Glory above their fire station. Even though they stand to lose funding over it, the fire department is holding their ground.

Unfortunately, the fire department, which is located in North Carolina, stands to lose at least $19,000 because of its refusal to remove a Confederate flag from its property. But the firefighters still won’t take it down.

The debate over the Uwharrie Volunteer Fire Department’s flag has simmered for months but complaints about it go back years, according to several news accounts. “The flag is not hurting a thing,” Lee Hudson, with the Uwharrie Volunteer Fire Department, told WFMY. “We are not a racist department. We are not in any way. Members or the department as a whole.”

The Montgomery County Commissioners want the flag to come down and are set on financially punishing the fire department should they continue to fly the Confederate flag. “The Board of Commissioners stated their position, that they did think the flag was inappropriate and requested for the fire department to take it down,” Montgomery County Manager Matthew Woodard told WFMY. 

The commissioners have even set a letter to the fire department demanding the removal of the flag, and stating the funding will be withheld until that is accomplished. The county will only be paying only for fuel and maintenance of the two county-owned trucks that firefighters operate until the flag is down. The county will also replace the Uwharrie name on the trucks with new graphics “in support of the county’s stance on equal rights and freedom of speech.” Do they mean the freedom of speech to display any flag that the fire department wants? Or no? Confederate flags must not be the right kind of speech.

The Charlotte Observer reported that the Uwharrie Volunteer Fire Department receives $19,000 a year from Montgomery County, plus $400,000 annually for fire trucks. The department was organized as a non-profit corporation in 1983.

But even with the threat of decreased funding, the fire department says the flag will stay. “We would love to work with the county and for them to support us,” said Hudson. “But, we’re not going to move on the issue of taking down the flag.”

Free speech means free speech. It means the right to offend. And if you’re offending the government, you’re probably doing something right.

Air Traffic Controller Busted With "Weapon Of Mass Destruction"

As if we needed another reason to fear air travel, authorities in North Carolina say an air traffic controller at an airport in the state has been arrested on charges of possessing a weapon of mass destruction.

Local media outlets report that the FBI says 30-year-old Paul George Dandan was arrested Friday in Charlotte. The FBI is assisting Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police with the investigation but, somehow, federal charges aren’t expected against Dandan at this point.

CNN reported that police received a 911 call last week that someone had a homemade explosive at a Charlotte home. When officers arrived, they found a homemade pipe bomb, authorities said. Though authorities didn’t confirm if this was the weapon. A WMD is legally defined as any explosive charge larger than four ounces, and in many cases aren’t all that deadly.

Investigators said another man, 39-year-old Derrick Fells, built the bomb to "use it against a neighbor with whom he was involved in an ongoing dispute." But Fells changed his mind and gave Dandan the device, police said. Both men were arrested in connection with the weapon on Friday. Fells was charged with three counts of manufacturing a weapon of mass destruction and one count of possession of a weapon of mass destruction, police said.

Police have not officially declared a motive - and at this point, Danden’s story about his friend having a dispute with a neighbor could merely be a ruse. Fortunately, the Federal Aviation Administration said Dandan"s access to the airport "was terminated."

In a statement, the Charlotte Douglas International Airport said Dandan did not have access to any aircraft.

"The FAA employee only had access to the "offsite air traffic control tower and had no access to the restricted areas of the terminal or ramp," the statement said.

The Mecklenberg County Sheriff’s Office website shows Dandan was being held at the county jail Friday night on $45,000 bond.

A Man Who Left Explosive Chemicals And Nails In Mason Jar Had A Mission: War On US Soil

A man who planted a Mason jar filled with explosive chemicals and nails at a western North Carolina airport last week vowed to “fight a war on U.S. soil,” according to court documents released Tuesday. The criminal complaint accuses Michael Christopher Estes of attempted malicious use of explosive materials and unlawful possession of explosives at an airport.

According to CBS News, the complaint, which was written by an FBI agent, said investigators found the improvised explosive device Friday morning at the Asheville airport near a terminal entrance. Asheville police bomb technicians then rendered it safe.

Person of interest identified & detained. Federal investigation ongoing. https://t.co/K7QjOrbH0G

— FBI Charlotte (@FBICharlotte) October 7, 2017

Court documents say that the authorities found the improvised explosive device around 7 a.m. Friday at Asheville Regional Airport. The IED contained ammonium nitrate and Sterno fuel, along with steel wool that was then wrapped around nails and a .410 gauge Winchester shotgun cartridge. An alarm clock was taped to the outside of the jar with and matches were attached to the arm that strikes the bells of the alarm clock. The alarm had been set for Friday at 6, according to the complaint.

Surveillance video showed Estes dressed in black pants, a jacket, and black hat approaching the terminal entrance shortly after 12:30 a.m. Friday and appearing to leave behind a bag, the FBI agent wrote. In nearby woods, investigators later found a backpack and a toolkit containing similar items to what was used in the explosive device: tape, Sterno fuel, and more shotgun shells. Investigators determined such items had been purchased at nearby stores earlier in the week, providing more surveillance video.

Estes was arrested Saturday, and the complaint says he admitted to leaving the explosive device at the airport. The complaint also states that Estes “claimed he was getting ready to ‘fight a war on U.S. soil,"” but didn’t elaborate on this alleged motive. He was being held at the Buncombe County jail without bond after a brief court hearing Tuesday. Jail records list him as a 46-year-old Native American.

The complaint said Estes waived his Miranda rights, answering questions and admitting to the building and planting of the device. “Estes described how he created the device … and then rigged the alarm clock to strike the matches and cause the flame necessary to trigger the device,” the complaint states. “More specifically, the alarm clock would go off, the matches would strike, the Sterno would heat up, and then the Ammonium Nitrate would explode.”

Estes claims he never actually set the device to go off, but the criminal complaint alleges that he had.

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Author: Mac Slavo
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Date: October 12th, 2017
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

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Battlefield America Is The New Normal: We're Not In Mayberry Anymore

Authored by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

“If we’re training cops as soldiers, giving them equipment like soldiers, dressing them up as soldiers, when are they going to pick up the mentality of soldiers?”— Arthur Rizer, former police officer

America, you’ve been fooled again.

While the nation has been distracted by a media maelstrom dominated by news of white supremacists, Powerball jackpots, Hurricane Harvey, and a Mayweather v. McGregor fight, the American Police State has been carving its own path of devastation and destruction through what’s left of the Constitution.

We got sucker punched.

First, Congress overwhelmingly passed—and President Trump approved—a law allowing warrantless searches of private property for the purpose of “making inspections, investigations, examinations, and testing.”

For now, the scope of the law is geographically limited to property near the Washington DC Metro system, but mark my words, this is just a way of testing the waters. Under the pretext of ensuring public safety by “inspecting” property in the vicinity of anything that could be remotely classified as impacting public safety, the government could gain access to almost any private property in the country.

Then President Trump, aided and abetted by his trusty Department of Justice henchman Jeff Sessions and to the delight of the nation’s powerful police unions, rolled back restrictions on the government’s military recycling program.

What this means is that police agencies, only minimally deterred by the Obama administration’s cosmetic ban on certain types of military gear, can now go hog-wild.

We’re talking Blackhawk helicopters, machine guns, grenade launchers, battering rams, explosives, chemical sprays, body armor, night vision, rappelling gear, armored vehicles, and tanks.

Clearly, we’re not in Mayberry anymore.

Or if this is Mayberry, it’s Mayberry in The Twilight Zone.

As journalist Benjamin Carlson stresses, “In today’s Mayberry, Andy Griffith and Barney Fife could be using grenade launchers and a tank to keep the peace.”

Contrast the idyllic Mayberry with the American police state of today, where local police—clad in jackboots, helmets and shields and wielding batons, pepper-spray, stun guns, and assault rifles—have increasingly come to resemble occupying forces in communities across the country.

As Alyssa Rosenberg writes for The Washington Post, “[The Andy Griffith Show] expressed an ideal that has leached out of American pop culture and public policy, to dangerous effect: that the police were part of the communities that they served and shared their fellow citizens’ interests. They were of their towns and cities, not at war with them.”

That’s really what this is about: a war on the American citizenry waged by local law enforcement armed to the teeth with weapons previously only seen on the battlefield

As investigative journalists Andrew Becker and G.W. Schulz reveal, “Many police, including beat cops, now routinely carry assault rifles. Combined with body armor and other apparel, many officers look more and more like combat troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Thanks to Trump, this transformation of America into a battlefield is only going to get worse.

To be fair, Trump did not create this totalitarian nightmare. However, he has legitimized it and, in so doing, has also accelerated the pace at which we fall deeper into the clutches of outright tyranny.

In the hands of government agents, whether they are members of the military, law enforcement or some other government agency, these weapons of war have become accepted instruments of tyranny, routine parts of America’s day-to-day life, a byproduct of the rapid militarization of law enforcement over the past several decades.

It’s a modern-day Trojan Horse.

Although these federal programs that allow the military to “gift” battlefield-appropriate weapons, vehicles and equipment to domestic police departments at taxpayer expense are being sold to communities as a benefit, the real purpose is to keep the defense industry churning out profits, bring police departments in line with the military, and establish a standing army.

It’s a militarized approach to make-work programs, except in this case, instead of unnecessary busy work to keep people employed, communities across America are finding themselves “gifted” with unnecessary drones, tanks, grenade launchers and other military equipment better suited to the battlefield in order to fatten the bank accounts of the military industrial complex.

In addition to being an astounding waste of taxpayer money, this equipping of police with military-grade equipment and weapons also gives rise to a dangerous mindset in which police adopt a warrior-like, more aggressive approach to policing.

The results are deadly.

As a study by researchers at Stanford University makes clear, “When law enforcement receives more military materials — weapons, vehicles and tools — it becomes … more likely to jump into high-risk situations. Militarization makes every problem — even a car of teenagers driving away from a party — look like a nail that should be hit with an AR-15 hammer.”

The danger of giving police high-power toys and weapons is that they will feel compelled to use it in all kinds of situations that would never normally warrant battlefield gear, weapons or tactics.

Suffice it to say, change will not come easily.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the police unions are a powerful force and they will not relinquish their power easily. Connect the dots and you’ll find that most, if not all, attempts to cover up police misconduct or sidestep accountability can be traced back to police unions and the police lobby.

Just look at Trump: he’s been on the police unions’ payroll from the moment they endorsed him for president, and he’s paid them back generously by ensuring that police can kill, shoot, taser, abuse and steal from American citizens with impunity.

Still, the responsibility rests with “we the people.”

As author Ta-Nehisi Coates reminds us:

The truth is that the police reflect America in all of its will and fear, and whatever we might make of this country’s criminal justice policy, it cannot be said that it was imposed by a repressive minority. The abuses that have followed from these policies—the sprawling carceral state, the random detention of black people, the torture of suspects—are the product of democratic will. And so to challenge the police is to challenge the American people who send them into the ghettos armed with the same self-generated fears that compelled the people who think they are white to flee the cities and into the Dream. The problem with the police is not that they are fascist pigs but that our country is ruled by majoritarian pigs.

When The Grid Goes Down...

Authored by Jeremiah Johnson (nom de plume of a retired Green Beret of the United States Army Special Forces) via ReadyNutrition.com,

Let’s just say that the unthinkable becomes the real and happening.  Let’s take this article and go over it.  This will be a segment in three parts, the next ones being immediate actions taken at work and at home.  I’m hitting on traveling first, as there are so many vacationers jaunting around happily over the landscape.  All kidding aside, traffic is congested during the summer, extending traveling time on the commutes.  Let’s game the scenario, and here it is.

Here’s the scenario:

You’re cruising down the highway in your 2013 four-door sedan, having just dropped the kids off twenty minutes ago to the swim club.  Now you’re on the open highway with a heavy traffic flow…about 5 miles from the edge of town and 7 miles from work.  You’re listening to the radio, when suddenly it crackles and goes dead, along with your engine.  You look around and pumping the brakes manage to slow down and then drive off the road onto the shoulder, just feet away from the back bumper of another vehicle.

The vehicle comes to a stop, and you try the ignition again.  You look at your watch, a Casio G-Shock, to find there is no display.  You reach for your cell phone.  Nothing.  It’s dead.  There are perhaps a dozen cars around you…half to your front and half to your rear.  All of them have stopped, and most of the drivers have gotten out.  You hear the sound of an engine, and looking up, see a ’58 Ford pickup truck weaving in and out of the stalled traffic, moving toward your rear, away from town.  The book “One Second After” has just played out in real life.  The United States has been attacked by an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) weapon.  You’re 15 miles from home, and the “S” has hit the fan.

On Friday 7/29/17, North Korea just successfully tested an ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) and experts from four different countries including the U.S. have determined that they have the capability of striking the U.S. anywhere.  That means the optimal point for an EMP strike (dead center of the continental U.S., at 300 km above ground) is not only their prime target but also attainable.

15 Tips to Get Safely Home Following an EMP

Back to our scenario.  Most will be clueless and unprepared.  Let’s do it up, down and dirty with the steps that you should take if you are “Citizen X” outlined in the scenario:

1. Have a plan already in place: That means to formulate one right now, if you haven’t already done so.

2. If there are a lot of people around, such as in the scenario, then immediately grab your gear and get out of there. What gear, you may ask?  We’ve “gamed” much of this to the point of nausea, but let’s list out those essentials:

“Go/Bug Out Bag”: This guy already needs to be packed and ready, in that vehicle that will become a 3,000-lb. paperweight. Three days’ supply of ready-to-eat food, one day’s worth of water and the means to filter more.  Compass, flashlight, knife, first aid kit, poncho, jacket/sweatshirt, extra socks, map, light sleeping bag, fire starting material, small fishing kit (hooks, line, bobber), sewing kit, MSW (Minor Surgical Wound) kit, extra cash ($20 denominations and smaller), ground pad, extra clothing (hat, OG bandana, etc.), and ammo. An EMP may be followed by radiological and nuclear consequences. Having an NBC gas mask and anti-radiation pills in your vehicle could be a lifesaver.

Weapon: Please don’t feed me “legal information,” or “I can’t do that in my state.” These are “sink or swim” rules.  If you don’t have a weapon now, you may not have one later.  If you don’t have the fortitude to take that weapon and be ready to use it when the time comes, then you probably won’t survive this or be able to help your family.  One rifle, one pistol, with ammo for each.

Grab that bag and put it on, securing your weapons. Then secure the vehicle, closing the windows and locking it up.  If nobody is around, throw it into neutral and push it off the road.  Camouflage it with branches and leaves…taking care not to cut them from the immediate area that you stash it.  Most likely it’ll be “violated,” so now is the time to take the stuff you need and get it out. If the scenario above applies, just secure the vehicle and get out of there.

3. Traveling: Do not walk on the roads. Skirt the road with about 50 meters (that’s about 150 feet) between you and the edge of the road.  Stay away from people unless you know them and trust them…both qualities are emboldened.

4. For metro people: If you are out in the suburbs or open road, and you must return to the city? It may be better for you and your family to arrange for a rallying point outside of the city.  If that isn’t possible, then you should exercise extreme caution.  Allow the nearest family member to secure the home and then wait for you.  Travel when it’s dark to be on the safe side.  Your visibility is cut down, and so is the visibility of those who may be hunting you.

5. Long distance to go? Forage along the way.  Refill your canteens/water bottles whenever you’re able, and take note of any freestanding water supplies or “blue” features (that’s the color of water on a military map) for use in the future.  DON’T MARK YOUR MAP!  If someone gets a hold of it, you do not want them to be able to find your home.  You must commit the route to memory and adjust your steps accordingly.

6. Dealing with the Stress of the Event: The power is not coming back on…ever…and it really has begun…the Day After Doomsday is here. Take a deep breath and concentrate on your training, your preparations.  If you don’t have any, then this piece is a wake-up call to get moving!  The best way to do it is immediately accepting what has happened without dwelling on it.  Concentrate on the tasks at hand: navigating home, scouting what is in between, and foraging for anything you need.  You have a job to do!  Reconnaissance!  We’ll go over that now.

Reconnaissance: You must see on the ground what is in between you and the happy Hallmark home you’re returning to. You should take note of any places that hold medical supplies, food, or anything you may need for yourself or your family.  You should take note of possible refuge sites to hide if you and the family hightail it out of the home instead of having a “Walton Family Homecoming.”  You must take note of water features, danger locations (cliffs or impassable terrain features), as well as dangerous individuals.  Yes, the ones who were jerks before all of this?  Wait until you see how they’ll be now, with no controls exercised over them.

7. The best advice I can give: Travel at night. This may be impossible for several reasons.  Firstly, if it’s an all-out nuke attack, there may be the problem of radiation for you, in which case you’ll have to either reach home immediately or seek shelter immediately to remain in place for several weeks.  Secondly, you may have other family members that need to be attended to and cannot wait for a long time.  The kids in the scenario are a prime example.  If it is an EMP only, there will be a “quiet period” of about 6 to 12 hours before everything breaks loose and the sequel to the movie “The Road” begins in real life.  Darkness is the best time to travel.  It hides you and helps you to cover your tracks until the morning light.

8.The rest of the family: They must KNOW THE OVERALL PLAN AND HAVE A PLAN OF THEIR OWN TO FOLLOW UNTIL YOU GET THEM OR UNTIL THEY REACH HOME. This is all going to take some preparation on your part and remember the saying: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Don’t put it off!

9. Avoid people, families, and groups of people. Your goal when traveling is to be invisible.  I wrote some articles on how to hunt and how to avoid the manhunt.  You may want to refresh yourself on those points, and follow a few basic rules I keep in my own mind and heart:

• When a disaster occurs, everyone is your “friend” even when they are not


• There is no interest but self-interest outside of you and your immediate family


• Whatever you need and have, they also need and want


• They will kill you for the barest of essentials of what you’re carrying


• Don’t talk to anyone: don’t exchange information, pleasantries, and do not tell anyone anything about yourself, your family, your general destination, or your home…it can be used against you later…and it will be.

10. Coming home: Don’t walk right on in. Use a roundabout route, and go to a spot where you can watch your house for at least half an hour or so before making your “triumphant return.”  The S has hit the fan, and this is not the return of the Prodigal…you’re just going to tiptoe in.  But before you tiptoe through the tulips and the window, keep in mind that Tiny Tim and his gang of marauders may have done it before you.  That is why you want to watch the house closely.  Best Advice I can give: Have your kids/spouse put up a long-distance-visible sign/signal so that you know everything is either OK or that you’ll have to come in and rescue the family.  For example, if the birdhouse is still on the corner of the porch, then all is well.  If the birdhouse is gone, or if it’s sitting on top of the post that holds the mailbox…well, time to play CQB (that’s Close Quarters Battle) and clear the house of the rats.

11. Never underestimate anyone’s ability to take your family members hostage: That goes for the “friendly neighbors,” most of all…the biggest rats on the block. If that happens, guess what?  You’re now the HRT (that’s Hostage Rescue Team), or you better have a couple of guys such as this in your survival group/pod/neighborhood unit.  The hardest guy or gal in the world will “cave” when their son or daughter is being held at gunpoint by some goon.

12. You’re home…Now, it’s time to fight! That’s right!  Just when you thought it would be cozy and comfortable…just you and the family and your happy supplies…here comes a whole bagful of “Gummi Bears” down the block…only these bears are armed with baseball bats, zip guns, chains, and crowbars.  Armed also with about a week of BO (that’s Body Odor), all twelve of them combined still have an IQ of 50, tops…and here they are, at your door.  They don’t want Halloween candy, by the way.  You just walked twenty miles.          Say, remember that article I wrote about using ginseng, and drinking coffee to help you keep alert and awake?  I hope that one comes to mind because it’s about to become a “festival” at your house.  We’re going to cover more on this in the next segment.

13. Obtain that “second set” of electronic equipment. Oh yeah, the one JJ continuously warns about!  Well, now that all your electronics that were exposed are junk, I hope you made some Faraday cages and stashed an extra one of those radios…or even several, for those of you who thought long-term.  You need to find out what’s going on.  Ham radios may help if you shielded them.  So may CB’s and satellite phones.

14. Arm the whole family: by the time you reach home, every family member either accompanying you (small children and toddlers excepted) should be armed. Time to really see how tight and full of solidarity you are as a real family unit…one that must fight in order to survive.

15. Exit stage left: You may just find that the homecoming isn’t; that is, you must write it off as a loss and get out of there…it’s either destroyed and burning or occupied by the marauders. Unless you have the skills and the ability to deal with all of them, it is better to retreat and stay alive.  You need a plan in place in order to make this work.

We’ve covered a lot of information here.  This is all designed to stimulate those creative thought processes.  The thinking alone is not enough: you must formulate a plan and then implement it.  A plan without action is of no use.  A plan executed too late is a tragedy: a funeral dirge getting ready to play.  Don’t be too late to formulate your plan for you and your family.  If the lights go out, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the party’s over…and the party may be one that never comes to an end.  Fight that good fight each and every day!  JJ out!

Dr Gets 18 Years for Healing Son With Cannabis as Cop Gets No Time for Raping, Urinating on Woman

The daughter of a doctor who was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he was reported for using cannabis to help his autistic son, is now speaking out about how the state went after her father and ensured that he received the maximum sentence.

To highlight how corrupt the system is, around the same time the doctor was sentenced to 18 years for helping people with a plant, a deputy who admitted to despicable acts against an innocent woman received no time behind bars.

Former deputy Robert Retford, with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department, was arrested last November on charges of sexual assault. His alleged victim was apparently seeking help from the deputy when she said he beat her, raped her and defecated on her, and then made her drink his urine. This month, Retford pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the woman and will not spend a single day in jail.

The blue privilege plea deal was negotiated last May, and for admitting to the heinous crimes against his victim, he was only sentenced to six months probation — no jail.

The Free Thought Project first reported on the story of Dr. Gordon Piland III in March. He was arrested after a school social worker reported that he was giving cannabis-infused goat milk to his autistic son. When conducting a follow-up search of Piland’s home, police found marijuana plants growing in the backyard, two bottles of decades-old prescription pills, and a small bag of poppy seeds, which was a gift from a horticulturist.

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In an exclusive interview with TFTP, Piland’s daughter Lucy Snow claimed the prosecution used the fact that Piland was in possession of his deceased parents’ prescriptions, and his property’s proximity to an unmarked daycare, as impetus to charge him with trafficking in heroin. As a result, Piland was sentenced to 18-24 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

As we previously reported:

“Monroe Gordon Piland III (69) has lived an amazing life according to some estimates. In the late 1960s early 70s, Piland served as a naval officer, during the Vietnam war. Upon his return to the states, he earned a degree in nutrition from The University of California – Berkeley, and later a medical degree from the prestigious Wake Forest University, formerly a Southern Baptist university. He completed his medical residency in Elizabeth City, NC, and was a board certified medical doctor from 1979-1984.”

While Piland has managed to keep his love for cannabis under the radar since in the 80s, he going through a tenuous custody battle over his autistic son. His son’s mother was not a cannabis advocate, yet Piland would offer his son goat’s milk infused with cannabis as treatment for his behavioral and cognitive deficits. When the school’s social worker discovered the fact, she sent police to his home to investigate.

READ MORE:  Police Chief Stops Arresting Opioid Addicts, Offers Help Instead – Crime & Addiction PLUMMET

As TFTP has reported, many parents—including some politicians—are now giving their children cannabis for autism with astounding results.

Piland is wearing the green hat

That home visit led to the medical doctor’s arrest and conviction in March. At trial, Piland didn’t stand a chance. Snow said her dad’s first mistake was to represent himself in court and take on Assistant District Attorney Alex Bass head-on.

“He was super content to go to court to share his knowledge of medical cannabis and let the chips fall where they may,” Snow said. “But, unfortunately, he couldn’t find a lawyer that wasn’t intimidated by Bass’s trumped up charges and that was willing to fight for him, so he resorted to representing himself, which had disastrous consequences.”

Snow said that instead of charging Piland with possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor in the State of North Carolina, Bass decided to charge him with trafficking heroin. Here is what Snow said was found by police when they searched Piland’s home:

“What was found: A 2009 half-full bottle of Percocet/Oxycodone in my grandmother, Lillian Piland’s name, that my dad had failed to dispose of/recycle properly. A single full bottle of Duramorph, belonging to my grandfather, but this wasn’t a charge or used in court as the bottle was full. A few poppy seeds were gifted from my uncle, my mom’s brother, who is a landscape architect and gardener.”

According to Snow, Bass used the Percocet belonging to Piland’s deceased mother and the fact that a home daycare was located nearby to throw the full weight of the law against her father. She said the fact that he was in possession of several pounds of marijuana was never presented in court, making the cannabis activist seem like a heroin dealer and not the curative shaman that he was.

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“I don’t know why my dad kept the old pharmaceutical pills, but he tended to be kind of a pack rat or just not be bothered by the little things,” Snow said, noting that one of the key pieces of evidence used against her father was something he didn’t realize he had. “Dad says he didn’t even remember having them as they were found in the back of a drawer.”

Snow said Dr. Piland was naive when he went to trial thinking, that if he just told the truth about his cannabis activism, no jury would convict him.

“After the search and seizure of his house, I think my dad really thought he had a chance to lay his life’s passion and work all out there. I think similar to say, Caitlyn Jenner, somewhere inside he just didn’t want to hide anymore, knowing what he knows and being the ripe age of 70. He was super content to go to court to share his knowledge of medical cannabis and let the chips fall where they may.”

After the prosecution presented its case, and without his own legal representation, the jury took less than 30 minutes to convict Dr. Piland of trafficking heroin—presumably due in part to his possession of 58 grams of poppy seeds. Here’s what about twice that amount looks like:

Snow told The Free Thought Project that she wishes her father had been given a plea deal, but said the prosecutor knew he could easily get a conviction, due to the fact that the senior citizen was choosing to represent himself. As a result, the physician’s daughter now views her father’s conviction with disdain, and especially resents ADA Bass who she says lied about her father and mischaracterized him.

“DA Alex Bass stated my dad had ‘a large cache of dangerous and highly addictive opioid drugs for sale and distribution’ and he knows this is a lie. The truth is only a SINGLE nearly decade old forgotten pharmaceutical bottle belonging to my deceased grandmother and the happenstance of living near an unmarked daycare was used as evidence for sending my non-violent father to prison for life.”

The teacher and daughter of a marijuana activist now accuses prosecutor Bass of sending an innocent man to prison and says he knew full well Piland was no heroin trafficker.

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“Bass’s decisions were not only immoral, but go against many standards that Prosecutors are sworn to uphold,” Snow said. “He knows good and well, without a doubt, as does anyone who looks at the evidence, that opium or heroin selling, trafficking, or usage was not occurring.”

Snow said the punishment does not fit the crime, and she pointed to other cases where people were convicted of trafficking in heroin but received much softer sentences.

Piland’s life story might have been written differently had he resided in a state other than North Carolina. To date, there are 29 U.S. states that have legalized medical marijuana in some form. In fact, in some of those other states, Piland may very well have been able to serve as a certifying doctor for medical marijuana, given the fact that he once held board certification as a practicing MD. But he chose to live in the state he loved, and now has to pay a heavy price for dabbling in marijuana.

Looking at the bigger picture, Piland’s case may serve as an indictment of a justice system and a pharmaceutical industry that will go to great lengths to ensure the truth about cannabis is never told. After all, Piland is a medical doctor who gave up his medical practice to pursue a lifetime of research into cannabis. Unfortunately, anyone who may want to glean from what he knows will have to go and visit him in the Marion, NC Correctional Institute.

Lucy Snow pictures with her family.

Police Chief Stops Arresting Opioid Addicts, Offers Help Instead – Crime & Addiction PLUMMET

Image Credit: CNN

Nashville, NC – A police chief in a small eastern North Carolina town, Chief Thomas Bashore, in collaboration with town manager Hank Raper, began a program — using compassion instead of violence — known as the HOPE initiative that is both saving lives and lowering crime.

Nashville, North Carolina, a town of 5,400 offers a unique program to help addicts recover, rather than continue the cycle of crime and addiction, by allowing addicts to turn themselves into police with their drugs and paraphernalia, without being thrown in a cage.

Instead of them facing arrest, they get help getting into a program to fight addiction.

Thomas Spikes, 24, has battled addiction since before he was a teenager, and credits Bashore with saving his life by putting him on a path to recovery from the deadly scourge of opioid addiction.

“He saved my life for sure,” he said. “I owe a lot to him and the program.”

As opioid deaths continue to rise dramatically across the United States, replacing car accidents as the number one cause of unintentional deaths, the state of North Carolina has seen a more than 340 percent increase in opioid deaths from 2010 to 2016.

“There’s no clear characteristic of what a heroin or opioid addiction looks like,” Raper told CNN. “It’s not a white problem, it’s not a black problem, it’s not a Hispanic problem, middle class, working class, upper class. It affects all peoples of all walks of life.” 

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The HOPE initiative was modeled on the “Angel” program in Gloucester, Massachusetts, which allows addicts to safely get medical help and police assistance—without fear of being arrested. These innovative programs are creating a new paradigm that reconfigures the manner in which law enforcement responds to addiction.

“They walk into the front door, if they have drugs or paraphernalia on them at any time, they can turn it in to us at that time, and have no charges filed. And we facilitate them into recovery,” Bashore said.

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“We have actually had individuals who have brought in heroin bags and turned that over because they knew that they were going to get into recovery and they didn’t want that around when they got out,” Bashore said.

To ensure that there would be no impediments to the HOPE program, Chief Bashore and Raper recruited the county district attorney, who was on board with the initiative, ensuring that addicts seeking help would not be charged. With the support of the county attorney, the HOPE program began on Feb. 9, 2016—with the first addict coming into the police station seeking help only eight days later.

“It was eye-opening,” recalled Bashore. “That individual came in and we spent the better part of 7 and a half hours getting him processed. Only then did I leave the hospital and come back to the police department to start calling facilities to start having him placed, after he left detox. You can spend hours on the phone, calling facilities, saying, ‘Do you have a bed?"”

Bashore has been intimately involved in the program, driving many of the 172 men and women that have been helped by the HOPE initiative. Revealing the changing nature of law enforcement’s fight against drug addition—and a clear movement from a punitive “War on Drugs” mentality, to a recovery-based model—Bashore has worked to build personal relationships with numerous rehabilitation facilities across North Carolina.

The business cards he passes out even have his personal cellphone number so that rehab facilities across the state can personally alert him when a space opens up for an addict.

“My cellphone, it rings all the time,” Bashore said. “Each participant who comes through the program and all their family members have it. So, when they need something, they reach out.”

In addition to helping numerous addicts get clean, the HOPE initiative has substantially changed the dynamics between the police and the community. Bashore said he is working to help people understand that substance abuse is a disease and that his department’s goal is to “supportive not only for their benefit, but for the community benefit.”

Revealing exactly how this new approach by law enforcement, to drugs and addiction, can drastically alter crime rates, Bashore said that crime is down 40 percent since the program’s inception.

READ MORE:  State Supreme Court Justice Just Called for the Release of All Those in Prison for Cannabis

“We’ve had a pretty significant drop in our crimes that are associated with substance-abuse disorder,” Bashore said. “Things like shoplifting and larcenies and breaking into cars.”

The beautiful thing is that HOPE does not limit its services to residents of Nashville, as people from across the state have taken advantage of the program—as well as people from as far away as California and Pennsylvania.

The initiative has no cost to participants in the program, and is funded through small grants, fundraisers, and donations.

“The chief paid for the first two months that I was there and the rehab I was at,” recalled Spikes. After spending over half his life in the grip of addiction, Spikes has now been clean for four months after leaving the rehabilitation facility.

In an interview with CNN, Spikes said that he first used drugs when he was 12 years old. “It started off with just smoking weed,” he said, “then occasional pills, and it progressed through the years.” Eventually, his addiction became a $200 to $300 a day habit at its worst.

After being caught with heroin and sent to jail in October 2016, he had his first encounter with Chief Bashore. Initially, Spikes was skeptical of any help police offered, and expressed a commonly held belief: “You don’t talk to cops, you don’t associate with them, they’re not your friends.”

Spikes’ perceptions quickly began to evolve when he recognized that Bashore was solely there to help him, no questions asked.

The chief “never tried to pry into anything in my life in that era,” Spikes said. “[He doesn’t] care who you hang out with, what kind of drugs you do.”

After having gone through countless rehab facilities in the past, Spikes said his life has changed because of Chief Bashore and the HOPE initiative.

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“He saved my life for sure because if it wasn’t for the HOPE Initiative, I wouldn’t have gotten help,” Spikes said. “My life has done a 180. I’m working, I have a vehicle, a house, I have a beautiful girlfriend with a baby on the way.”

This inspirational police chief decided that criminalizing addiction is a clear recipe for failure, and increased crime and death in his community—and made a decision to do something about it. By not comporting with the “get tough on crime” mentality that is often prevalent in law enforcement, Bashore is actually making a difference in people’s lives. He is also saving taxpayers money as the cost of rehabilitation is far less than prison, and it is being independently funded.

“Of those 172 people that have come through the program, I’ve actually been to two funerals. Knowing what the alternative could have been for Thomas … (who) just recently disclosed to me that his girlfriend’s pregnant, he’s going to be a father,” he said. “So, that’s an amazing thing. That touches me deeply.”

NC Law Allows Men to Legally Rape Women if They Change Their Mind During Sex

North Carolina — already not considered a democracy and characterized as more a dictatorial entity on par with Cuba and Indonesia — managed, with a fateful decision by the state Supreme Court in 1977, to pass a law allowing the legal rape of women who revoke consent to sex once the act has been initiated.

If actual, sexual penetration occurs under the banner of consensuality, that agreement to have sex cannot — according to North Carolina law for decades — be suddenly revoked, even if a man turns violent.

“If the actual penetration is accomplished with the woman’s consent, the accused is not guilty of rape, although he may be guilty of another crime because of his subsequent actions,” the North Carolina Supreme Court wrote in its decades-old decision in State v. Way.

“It’s really stupid,” understated 19-year-old Aaliyah Palmer — who allegedly agreed to sex — but revoked consent when the man she’d met at a party turned violent — to the Fayetteville Observer. “If I tell you no and you kept going, that’s rape.”

Palmer understandably surmised her brutal encounter amounted to rape — as it did — but discovered to her astonishment state law disagreed.

Now, a new bill seeks to jolt the fraught Southern state into the 21st Century — making legal rape illegal again.

“Legislators are hearing more and more about women who have been raped and are being denied justice because of this crazy loophole,” asserted North Carolina Senator Jeff Jackson, who introduced a bill on March 30 — similar to another he attempted in 2015 — to append the misogynistic law.

Jackson proposes, according to the text of the bill, “a person may withdraw consent to engage in vaginal intercourse in the middle of the intercourse, even if the actual penetration is accomplished with consent and even if there is only one act of vaginal intercourse.”

Seems simple — and, frankly, logical — enough.

“This really shouldn’t be a controversial matter,” Jackson opined to Broadly. “North Carolina is the only state in the country where no doesn’t really mean no. Right now, if a woman tells a man to stop having sex he is under no legal obligation to do so, as long as she initially consented. If sex turns violent, the woman has no right to tell the man he must stop.”

Let that last part sink in for a moment: A man in North Carolina can forcibly complete a sex act with a woman — even if he employs violence to get his way.

That’s rape by nearly any definition — except in the eyes of the repressive Southern state.

“Very few legislators are aware that this is the current state of our law,” lamented Jackson, who first encountered the anachronistic, justice-slaying law as a prosecutor when his office had to dismiss a rape charge for extenuating circumstances in line with the 1977 ruling. “They’re very surprised when I tell them. Most of my conversations have been educating our members about this plainly unacceptable loophole in our rape law. I have not had any members defend the loophole. Every legislator I’ve spoken to agrees we need to fix this.”

Despite what should be unfettered support for a bill rescinding a man’s apparent ‘right’ to rape women, the state senator has received surprisingly resolute pushback — primarily from conservatives who view Jackson’s proposed legislation as interfering with natural intercourse.

Broadly explains many of the right-leaning legislators follow a traditionalist blog — which expounded oh-so eloquently on Jackson’s efforts recently,

“And the ‘rules’ of fornication are the ‘pressing issues of the day’ ????”

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Of this tripe, Jackson noted tellingly, “This is a blog that unfortunately carries some influence with many of our conservative members. When it does, my bet is it passes unanimously. No one can seriously defend this loophole in our rape law.”

Ethically and morally, it would be pleasant to believe Jackson’s latter statement a comforting truth — yet, for 38 years this law has been permitted to languish on the books — depriving an untold number of rape victims from justice, human rights, and basic common decency.

“Aside from perpetrators not being held accountable, when women cannot revoke consent, then we are telling them violence can be perpetrated against them if they consented to begin with and then had a change of heart,” Angelica Wind, an advocate and executive director of Our Voice — a North Carolina-based crisis intervention and prevention agency for victims of sexual violence — told Broadly, adding, “allowing women to revoke consent would be transformative for the state of North Carolina.”

According to Broadly, North Carolina Senate Bill 553 will likely be tabled — meaning Jackson would next year, once again, have to revive the campaign to make forced sexual intercourse rape again.

Corruption Rampant in ‘Every Prison’ in North Carolina, Report Says

(The Daily Caller) Nearly 500 North Carolina prison employees have been either fired for misconduct or charged with criminal offenses like smuggling drugs, weapons, and cellphones inside prisons since 2012, the Charlotte Observer reported Wednesday.

The Observer’s research is extensive and damning, covering everything from the state’s hiring of corrections officers with violent criminal histories to counselors and officers carrying on long-term sexual affairs with inmates. Former prison officers and inmates say the prevalence of corruption is largely due to the state under vetting and underpaying employees.

The state’s new prison leaders vow to change those problems. George Solomon, the state’s recently retired director of prisons, is under no illusions about the grim situation he has left for his successor, Kenneth Lassiter.

“Do I think I have corrupt staff in every prison, in every (maximum-security) prison?” Solomon told the Observer. “I would be naive to say I didn’t.”

Phillip Boney, who served as a prison officer from 2006 to 2015, wrote four letters in 2013 to state prison leaders explaining the issues and requesting action. He wrote that while a minority of the state’s 8,000 prison employees were corrupt, their actions endangered colleagues and cost taxpayers money.

“About 90 percent of the staff … are praying for the day these dirty staff members are walked out,” he wrote.

He alleged that his co-workers sold drugs, cellphones, and even weapons to inmates. He also claimed they helped orchestrate attacks on inmates and one prison leader even promoted corrupt employees.

North Carolina prisons don’t pat down prison guards when they go on duty, making it remarkably easy for some to smuggle in contraband. One former inmate, Troy Person, told the Observer that he repeatedly bought liquor, cellphones, marijuana, and other contraband from two officers and then resold it to other inmates.

“Them officers are broke,” Person said. “That’s why there are so many cellphones in prison.”

North Carolina pays its prison officers far less than the $47,000 national average with yearly salaries between $32,000 – $35,000. The entertainment scarcity in prisons allows officers to charge hugely inflated prices for what they smuggle — a monetary temptation that some find irresistible.

“It’s sad to say, a lot of times I would trust gang members before I would trust my co-workers,” Chesenna Ray, a former officer told the Observer. “There’s so much corruption. Nobody knows who to trust.”

Erik Hooks, the state’s new public safety secretary has plans for reform, however, and raising pay for officers and introducing effective background checks before making new hires is the first step.

Since his own appointment in January, Hooks has appointed Lassiter as the new director of prisons and replaced three other prison administrators, but state leaders weren’t always so open to reform. Prison leaders fired Boney for insubordination in 2015 after he sent his four letters.

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Contributed by Anders Hagstrom of The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

'Resist 45' Activist Gets $45,000 Taxpayer Grant To Study 'Transgender Health'

The National Institute of Health (NIH), in its infinite wisdom, has just awarded nearly $45,000 to a post-doctoral student at Duke University, and unabashed "Resist 45" activist, for the specific purpose of studying "transgender health."  According to the NIH website, the project got underway on May 1st and is expected to continue through August 2018...at which point we"re almost certain more taxpayer money will be thrown at worthy follow-up projects.

But, perhaps even more important that the topic of the grant is the person to whom the grant has been awarded.  Ethan Cicero is a post-doctoral student at Duke University and an avid "Resist 45" activist.   He has written numerous previous research reports in the past on extremely critical healthcare issues like whether or not hospitals should ask individuals for their preferred pronouns and “be sensitive to shared spaces” by keeping the “gender to which they identify in mind” when placing transgender individuals in rooms.

Cicero has also attacked doctors for “incorrectly us[ing] sex and gender interchangeably,” since gender is “more abstract and refers to the complex relationships among gender biology (sex), gender identity (one’s sense of being female, male, both, or neither), and gender expression (outward presentation behaviors, and roles).”

Meanwhile, in an article published in the January 2016 issue of the Journal of Emergency Nursing entitled ""I Was a Spectacle…A Freak Show at the Circus": A Transgender Person’s ED Experience and Implications for Nursing Practice," Cicero went so far as to blame America"s emergency rooms for the high attempted suicide rates of transgender people.

"Few worry about clinician competence or are concerned that they may be denied care; however, transgender personal contemplating and ED visit sometimes face these issues.  The scarcity of of clinical providers adequately prepared to care for transgender persons is a major barrier to seeking care.  In addition, some transgender people encounter denial of services, discrimination, harassment, and even violence in healthcare settings.  The accumulation of barriers cause some transgender people to avoid seeking even routine preventative care.

The implication of these barriers is profound.  The lack of high-quality, equitable healthcare is directly  associated with a high lifetime suicide rate in the transgender community."

New flash, Ethan, everyone hates going to the emergency room...it has nothing to do with your "gender expression."

As the The Washington Free Beacon points out, Cicero"s controversial public statements go well beyond his emergency room research papers and were spread all over his FaceBook page before it was recently changed to private.  Perhaps he didn"t think that the NIH would appreciate his post alleging the Pence"s pro-life views only applied to “white, straight, and American individuals/babies.”

Ethan Cicero, a post-doctoral student at Duke University, received the grant. Cicero describes his employer as "The Resistance" on his now-private Facebook account.

Cicero"s cover photo on the social media platform reads "Resist 45," in reference to President Donald Trump. He changed his profile picture to "Not My President" on Inauguration Day.

"Hey Women"s Marchers, vagina does not equal woman," Cicero wrote on Facebook, referencing the liberal march the day after Inauguration Day that received criticism from transgender activists for not being inclusive to biological men who identify as women.

"Stop erasing trans/gender nonconforming people," Cicero said, linking to an article in the Washington Post with the headline, "It"s time to drop the vagina as a protest symbol."

Cicero"s Facebook account was changed to private shortly after the request for comment was sent.

We simply can"t wait to see what amazing things Ethan can write about with his new $45,000 budget. 

North Carolina Oath Keepers Summit – April 7, 8, & 9, 2017

Stewart Rhodes, Army Airborne Veteran, Yale Law School Graduate, OK Founder and President

Sheriff Richard Mack, Former Sheriff of Graham County, Arizona

John D. Shirley, Retired Duty Peace Officer - Houston, TX. National Lead Liaison to Peace Officers.

Jay Stang, Veteran US Marine Corps - Texas Chapter President

Jim Ayala, EMT Veteran, Oath Keepers Treasurer, Merchandise

Sgt. Maj. Joseph Santoro, Retired Army, infantry, EOD. OK National Operations NOC

Michele Imburgia, Texas State VP

Sheriff Denny Peyman, Retired Jackson County, KY Sheriff, OK National Peace Officer Liaison

John Kerriman, Current Missouri police academy instructor, police veteran, OK National Peace Officer/LEO Liaison

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US Troops Land in Norway for First Time Since WWII As Tensions Grow With Russia

January 16, 2017   |   Darius Shahtahmasebi

(ANTIMEDIA) — Shortly after the Obama administration began deploying American troops across Russia’s border in a number of countries, including Lithuania, some 300 U.S. Marines landed in Norway for a six-month deployment. Their Monday deployment marks the first time since World War II that foreign troops have been allowed to station in Norway.

The Marines will spend a year in total in Norwegian territory, and the current deployment will be replaced after their six-month service is completed.

Unsurprisingly, it’s doubtful Russia will view this move favorably. When questioned about the proposal to station U.S. troops in Norway in October last year, Russia questioned the motives behind such a move. As the Russian embassy in Oslo told Reuters:

“Taking into account multiple statements of Norwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to Norway we would like to understand for what purposes is Norway so … willing to increase its military potential, in particular through stationing of American forces in Vaernes?”

A spokeswoman for the Norwegian Ministry of Defense said the arrival of U.S. troops had nothing to do with concerns about Russia.

Clearly, that is not the case. In 2014, Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide told Reuters that Russia’s actions in Ukraine raised questions about NATO’s collective defense, stating, “[W]e are in a completely new security situation where Russia shows both the ability and the will to use military means to achieve political goals.”

Norway is Europe’s number two gas exporter after Russia and is a founding member of NATO. Despite this, relations between Norway and Russia have historically been good. In fact, the two countries were on track at the end of last year to strengthen ties even further after Norway and Finland revived economic and trade contacts with Russian ministers for the first time since the annexation of Crimea.

It is not in Washington’s interest to have a Europe that cooperates with Russia. Following the mainstream media’s dishonest hysteria over Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential elections, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed more Americans now view Russia as a threat.

This fear-based mentality is exactly what the U.S. establishment wants as it allows the U.S. to encircle Russia with troops, tanks, and missiles while it keeps the military-industrial complex rolling.

Why would this be?

In a few days, Donald J. Trump will take the top seat at the White House. His unpredictability and admiration and respect for Russian President Vladimir Putin, coupled with his intentions to normalize relations with Russia, might mean the United States will lose a valuable scapegoat and enemy in global affairs. It could also mean the U.S. will have to accept defeat in Syria.

By deploying troops to Russia’s borders, including to countries Russia is set to renew relations with, the Obama administration is locking the incoming Trump administration into an anti-Russia policy he may not be able to back out of without perceivably abandoning America’s NATO allies in the region.

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