FBI NEWS: Would-Be Mass Shooters Sentenced

Couple’s Obsession Led Them to Plan Attack

Elizabeth Lecron and Vincent Armstrong were obsessed with mass shooters.

The Toledo, Ohio, couple immersed themselves in online subculture dedicated to the topic. In 2018, they traveled to Columbine High School to visit the site of the 1999 school shooting, where they took pictures of themselves dressed like the shooters and posing with weapons. Lecron also wrote to one notorious mass shooter in prison to express her admiration for him.

But investigators say it wasn’t just a morbid fascination.

The couple, led by Lecron, wrote detailed plans making it clear they intended to become mass shooters themselves. They expressed violent, anti-government beliefs and their plans to act on them.

“Unfortunately, we address these types of threats frequently,” said Special Agent Ryan Presley, who oversaw this investigation out of the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office. “The challenge is figuring out who is just talking and who is making serious plans.”

In this case, the would-be shooters documented their violent plans.

Thankfully, a concerned citizen who became aware of their activity called the Toledo Police Department, which shared the tip with Detective Louie Espinosa and FBI Special Agent Sara Pedersen of the Bureau’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).

The JTTF learned that the couple’s plans were serious and that they had stockpiled weapons and bomb-making materials.

“This is an example of why the JTTF model works—everyone worked together to keep our community safe from a potentially dangerous threat.”

Ryan Presley, special agent, FBI Cleveland

Lecron and Armstrong had scouted out venues for their attacks. One was a Toledo business the couple frequented. They knew the business had few entrances and exits, which they thought would make it difficult for potential victims to escape. They discussed details down to the type of shoes they would wear and how to create a diversion at the scene.

With the overwhelming evidence against them, Lecron and Armstrong both pleaded guilty. Lecron admitted to providing material support to terrorism and was sentenced in November 2019 to 15 years in prison. Armstrong pleaded guilty to a lesser conspiracy charge and was sentenced in December 2019 to six years.

Lecron’s prosecution is believed to be the first time a material support charge—a very serious charge usually brought against international terrorism suspects—has been used in a domestic terrorism case. Presley attributed this to the work of the investigative team and partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Ohio.

And without the tip from the concerned citizen, this story could have ended in a mass shooting—instead, the two would-be shooters are behind bars.

“I can’t say enough good things about the Toledo Police Department,” Presley said. “They have created an environment in which citizens feel comfortable bringing these types of things forward. This is an example of why the JTTF model works—everyone worked together to keep our community safe from a potentially dangerous threat.”

Resources

Toledo Woman Sentenced for Planning Two Terrorist Attacks

Toledo Man Sentenced for Planning Terrorist Attack in Toledo’s Entertainment District

How Do Chiropractors Relieve Pain From Injuries Or Accidents?

Gloucestercitynews.net (February 5, 2020)–Many people seek chiropractic care to relieve pain and aid recovery from falls, sports-related injuries, and injuries from car accidents. It’s popular as a component of a larger medical treatment plan to help people reduce their dependence on pain

image unsplash.com

medication and get back on their feet faster.

Chiropractic treatment isn’t a substitute for any other medical treatment, although it can be very effective for pain management with acute injuries and for regaining flexibility. Spinal manipulation

self-improvement tools

may also be an effective treatment for managing chronic pain and helping patients avoid more invasive surgical options.

How It Works

Trained chiropractors work to help you physically align your body and give your body the ability to heal quicker and more effectively on its own. They usually work with their hands to manipulate your neck and spine to alleviate nerve issues and vertebral problems. A

chiropractic adjustment

is called so because the chiropractor physically adjusts your spine by applying force with their hands.

Some chiropractors may also use massage or electrical stimulation as well. All of these methods of treatment are meant to aid your body in its natural healing process. You can discuss with your doctor and your chiropractor some of the different methods and how each may or may not serve your needs.

Benefits

Many patients appreciate chiropractic treatment because it helps them recover quickly without depending on habit-forming pain drugs and it doesn’t involve any kind of invasive operation. Manipulation by a chiropractor can help you align your body for better recovery, reduce pain and get your full range of mobility back after an accident.

Chiropractic adjustment has shown some benefits for treating sciatica, neck pain, back pain, shoulder issues, and migraines. Spinal manipulation may also be an effective treatment for

managing

chronic pain

and helping patients

avoid more invasive surgical options.

Risks

While chiropractic adjustment is not invasive and can be very beneficial, that doesn’t imply there are no risks. When you make your first appointment with a practitioner, they should go through your health history with you so they can consider whether or not doing an adjustment would be helpful and safe.

If you have low bone density because of osteoporosis, chiropractors will need to be extra gentle in your treatment. If you’re at risk for a stroke, you might also want to take some precautions with your treatment. In very rare cases, manipulation of the neck can damage an artery.

As with any health procedure, chiropractic treatment is not for everyone. You should talk to your primary physician about your condition first and ask them if they think it would be beneficial for you to work with a licensed

chiropractor

Making an Educated Decision

If you’re interested in giving chiropractic care a try, you should talk to your doctor about it and ask for a referral. You and your doctor will be able to make an informed decision together about what might work for you and your body.

How to Prepare a Car for Sale

Gloucestercitynews.net (February 4, 2020)–Every driver has at least once experienced the necessity to sell his/her means of transport. When this happens, the price at which it will be sold is crucially important. There is the possibility to refer to an agency and let an experienced vendor sell it. However, in this case, the amount of money one will get is considerably lower than in the event of selling on one’s own.

Hence, if you are looking for ways to sell your automobile and get as much money as possible, it makes sense to fulfill this by oneself. There are several hints that may help you out with this process.

The first step one should make is to carry out his/her Toyota or

Lexus VIN check

so that to make sure that the info available on VIN lookup services is true. In general, a car report contains valuable information on servicing, maintenance, repairs, accidents, etc. However, it may happen that something is missing, like important maintenance that has been carried out on time. In such a case, it is necessary to find corresponding documentation that may confirm this.

Tips for Getting Ready to Sell

Let your automobile look attractive. In other words, let it shine like a new coin – wash it inside and outside and clean seats, ceiling, and floors. If necessary, you can also polish it. Besides, it is necessary to check if there are any corroded parts. It is better to get rid of this and repaint these parts. The cost of this work is lower than the discount you will have to make when a potential purchaser finds this corroded element.

Take good pictures to post them with the announcement on the sale. Check the web and see which pictures are uploaded on such platforms. To increase the chances that a potential buyer will want to acquire your vehicle, it is recommended to upload as many pics as possible. In such a way, people will be able to decide if they like an automobile or not before seeing it. You will at least save time instead of meeting those who won’t purchase it.

Remember about a reasonable margin. Undoubtedly, a purchaser will bargain. Make sure that you can provide a discount. However, it is essential to remember that the price cannot be overestimated so that not to frighten potential buyers.

Be honest and answer all the questions. People who acquire pre-owned vehicles understand that the condition cannot be perfect. If there is a defect or trouble, it is better to honestly reply to this question. The truth will be revealed, and this deal will not happen.

It is not so easy to sell an automobile unless you are a professional vendor. However, selling own vehicle provides a great advantage as buyers are more prone to trust owners than vendors. Having this benefit, it is crucial to present your machine in the best possible way so that to increase the chances to sell it at the desired rate.

Different Instagram Apps To Grow Your Followers:

Gloucestercitynews.net (February 4, 2020)–Instagram has become one of the best-known platforms in history, so it is also said, which is one of the most extraordinary applications today.

Taking into account that the numbers never fail, this social network has reached more than 700 million active users. A study conducted by Social Media Marketing says that Instagram is the second most used network.

image unsplash.com

Also, it is called as a network where you get more customers since Instagram works with interactions and with the audience.

This does not mean that you can upload anything, if you want to stand out in the middle of the entire audience, you must generate quality content. Now We have created a list of the best apps to get more followers on Instagram.

Real Followers:

This application is not found in the Play Store since it is an APK (a package for the Android operating system). It is beneficial to gain followers on Instagram, extremely important.

Real Followers offers the option of “follow me and I follow you”, it also gives you input to see the posts that other people publish and that they can also see yours and finally, likerforlike you can like the publications of users and that they like you back.

Do not think that followers are bots, this is an app to get more followers on Instagram, and they are totally real.

In order to get real followers you need to post content consistently. You can post viral videos, photos and stories of other instagram influencers and give them credits. In this way you can give benefit to your account as well as the other influencers. You can easily

download videos

and photos of any instagram profile by simple using

instadownloaderpro

for absolutely free.

Instafollowfor Instagram:

This is also one of the apps to get followers on Instagram, it is one of the most used applications, since she shows you who are the people who have stopped following you or the followers you have obtained.

In order for you to have followers, you must hire the paid version (Premium) and know who has blocked you on this network.

It is very effective at the time of interacting and to show multimedia content, making these videos more viewed and win more likes.

GetFollowersBoost:

It is very simple and you can find it in the Play Store, it is very effective for creating hashtags and you can publish videos and photos on Instagram very easily and quickly.

Its only function is to position labels to generate likes and followers.

Later:

It is one of the many ways to generate followers and makes you known on Instagram through the original content publications, while the publications are constant, the more attraction you generate to users.

This application was called Latergramme, but today it is known as Later, the best completely free tool that allows you to always be connected with followers and also gain new ones.

With Later you can plan when you want to publish your posts, photos and videos, you can also manage several accounts, this application will also present you with a report with all the most outstanding searches.

Royal Likes for Instagram:

Royal is also one of the apps to get more followers on Instagram, what happens is that, if they fulfill what they promise but in one way, this means that they help to gain followers but those followers are not real.

Although not all people want followers to be bots or followers with fake names, or would you like it to be so? If your answer is Yes, then you are not clear what social networks are used for.

The idea of all this is that people are influences and can gain Followers, that they are people who really want to be part of what you publish.

But, if you don\’t mind if your followers are bots we present this application that is free. This application also shows you which are the fake accounts or followers.

The application is available in Play Store especially for Android versions from 4.1 onwards, you can start earning followers from now on.

OFFICER DOWN: Liberty County Deputy Sheriff Richard Whitten Succumbs to Injuries from Gunshot

Deputy Sheriff Richard Whitten

Liberty County Sheriff\’s Office, Texas

End of Watch

Monday, February 3, 2020

Liberty County, Texas (February 4, 2020)

–Deputy Sheriff Richard Whitten succumbed to complications of a gunshot wound sustained on May 29th, 2019, while responding to a shots fired call

in Cleveland, Texas.

He was en route to a training class and had just driven past the scene of the double-murder when the shooting was dispatched over the radio. As he responded back to the scene and encountered the suspect fleeing in a vehicle. Deputy Whitten and a member of the Cleveland Independent School District Police Department pursued the subject onto CR 2243, where the man immediately pulled into the parking lot of a veterinary office.

As Deputy Whitten challenged the subject the man produced a handgun and opened fire, striking him in the neck and paralyzing him. The other officer returned fire as the subject fled. The man later committed suicide after being located by other officers.

Deputy Whitten was flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital, in Houston, in critical condition. On February 3rd, 2020, he suffered a complication while undergoing physical therapy and passed away.

Deputy Whitten had served with the Liberty County Sheriff\’s Office for four years.

Via

Officer Down Memorial page

CNB Crime

Blue Line

CNBNews Tips and Snippets

CNBNews Point of View

BREAKING NEWS

published Gloucestercitynews.net | February 4, 2020

Stealing California from Bernie — again?

by Greg Palast

My dear Californians, I know you filled out that registration form at the DMV. Well, you know what? I’ll bet you that your name is not going to be there because there’s a 45% chance in California when you sign up to register to vote on a piece of paper, your name is never entered on the voter rolls. Guess what? California has one of the worst voting systems in the entire nation.

I checked out my own registration. I took my own advice. I went to the office of the Secretary of State. I typed in “Greg Palast” and it said “no such voter”. So I reregistered online. There’s a simple cure for all this stuff — but you have to know you’ve been purged or never had your name properly entered. Go check and then reregister online. People are afraid to do things online, but in California you get an instant receipt that says you’re now a voter, here’s your voter card on the screen. Take that screenshot. I’m telling everyone to do this because California is just awful.

And we have a March 3rd primary. The California presidential primary’s now been moved up. I saw

what happened to Bernie Sanders

in 2016. People were improperly registered, not registered. There were three quarters of a million, and I want to repeat that,

three quarters of a million ballots

which were cast provisionally or on the wrong ballot, which were thrown out. Alex Padilla, the Secretary of State of California, a little Katherine Harris, he threw out three quarters of a million ballots. They were mostly Bernie voters. We know that from the Roper Poll of the demographic. Bernie Sanders won California in June, 2016, if you counted all the votes…

If you want to vote in the Democratic primary, go online to the Secretary of State’s office. Make sure you’re registered — and make sure you are registered as a Democrat. I’m not saying you should

a Democrat. I’m just saying if you want to vote in the Democratic primary, forget the urban myth that you can vote in the Democratic primary if you’re not registered as a Democrat. Yes, there’s a way to do it. But it’s so difficult and in some cases it’s impossible because the nice lady behind the desk doesn’t know the procedure and could mess it up.

For those who want to know the procedure, it’s really awful. In California, almost everyone gets a mail in ballot. That is, they send you a ballot. Now, if you’re registered, some people call it Independent, but if you’re registered as No Party Preference, which is what they call it in California, if you’re No Party Preference, you’ll get a ballot but it won’t have the presidential candidates. There were literally a million people who were like, where’s Bernie Sanders on the ballot? The answer is, if you’re not registered as a Democrat, you don’t get one of those ballots.

So what do you do? You can mail your No Party Preference ballot, which only has a couple of races cause they can’t give you the partisan races with the NPP ballot, you have to mail it back to the state in time. You have to sign it in the corner where it says, I want this ballot replaced by — and you’ve got to get these words exactly: “Democratic party crossover ballot”. It has to say “crossover” because literally hundreds of thousands of Californians — hundreds of thousands — went in with their No Party Preference ballots, walked into the voting station, said, give me a Democratic party ballot.

Now different things happen, but in many counties, including Los Angeles, a lot of these people behind the desk said, oh yeah, here’s the Democratic party ballot. Well, guess what? That gets disqualified because you are not a Democrat. You have to have a “crossover ballot”. In Los Angeles alone, 66,000 people voted in the Democratic primary in 2016 who are No Party Preference voters, Independents, they got Democratic party ballots and every one of those 66,000 ballots — that’s just LA — was about to be disqualified and thrown out. But you have a fairly good county elections supervisor here, county clerk in Los Angeles, who said, you know what? That’s just throwing away legitimate votes.

But LA is the only place in California that didn’t throw away your votes. If you voted in San Francisco and Berkeley, and you’re a No Party Preference voter and you voted with a Democratic ballot, your ballot did not count. You did not count, unless it specifically said “crossover” at the top…

So to make your life easy, if you want to vote in the Democratic primary, sign up as Democrat. You can change it the next day. And in California, since 2012 — and most people don’t realize this — we have same day registration. So if you do show up and your name is not on the voter rolls, please bring ID with you, a driver’s license, whatever photo ID you can find, anything, including something with your address on it like a cell phone bill. Cause if your name is missing, you can reregister on the actual voting day. Now, they made it very difficult to do that, and it’s still not easy, but they made it easier this time. You can say, well, if I’m not there, I want to register today. But why go through that? Register right now or check your registration right now.

GREG PALAST

is America’s wittiest (and wickedest) muckraker. An award-winning

Guardian

investigative journalist, he is causing crooked election officials all over the country to shiver in their shoes as they wait for a knock on their door from the FBI – thanks to his explosive book and feature film (

“The Best Democracy Money Can Buy”

), which identifies these campaign cockroaches by name and exposes their illicit tampering with the 2016 election.

Cooler Weather is Good for You; Get Your Family Outside

Parents and guardians may be tempted to dial back outdoor activities when cold temperatures arrive, but getting outside is good for children and their families, even in the wintertime. The

TurfMutt environmental education and stewardship program

encourages families to appreciate and use the outdoors and offers the following tips:

Do outdoor activities that are fun.

Weather that adults consider to be “messy” can be a huge canvas for children and their imaginations. Fall leaf piles, snowball fights, and snow forts offer a wealth of opportunities for parents to play with their children and to explore and experiment in our living landscapes.

Encourage exploration.

Ask your child to look at how the landscape changes with the seasons. Talk about what happens after leaves fall, when snow arrives, when it’s windy, and more, linking these seasonable changes with basic science about clouds, rainfall, temperature changes and the earth.

Try something new

. Try your hands at cross-country skiing, igloo-building, fall or winter hiking, ice fishing, ice skating, snow sculpting, snowshoeing, or something else that your children want to try to give them an appreciation of the outdoors in all seasons.

Do yardwork as a family.

Involve everyone in seasonal yard chores to make the work go faster. Children can help put outdoor toys into storage and help tidy the yard. Just remember that if using outdoor power equipment like a lawn mower or leaf blower for your cleanup, children should be indoors and supervised, and they should not be near equipment when it’s operating.

Mention how getting outside helps our happiness.

Even winter sunshine can make kids happy—literally. Sunlight boosts Vitamin D, which helps regulate emotional and mental moods by increasing serotonin in the brain. Even exposure to weaker sunlight in the winter can cause this joy boost.

Tolerate some mess

. It’s a given that kids going outside in all sorts of weather will often return wet, muddy and messy. Be prepared for wet and cold kids and get them warmed up when they return from playing outside.

Process what they did. Ask kids to share about what they did outdoors or ask them to write or draw out their activities and observations. Did they see something new? Did something surprise them? What was fun?

Learn more about the TurfMutt program at

www.TurfMutt.com

and more about our living landscapes in all seasons at

www.SaveLivingLandscapes.com

Face of Defense: To the Moon … And Beyond!

FACE OF DEFENSE

AMERICAN HERO

Marine Corps Maj. Jasmin Moghbeli Job Title: NASA Astronaut Hometown: Baldwin, New York Unit: NASA Astronaut Group 22, \’\’The Turtles\’\’ Stationed: Johnson Space Center, Houston

JAN. 16, 2020 |

KATIE LANGE

, DOD NEWS

What was the process of getting into the astronaut candidate program?

I just submitted a resume on USAJobs.gov. It sounds almost underwhelming, right? Then, I came back here [to Johnson Space Center] for two rounds of interviews and got accepted to the program.

Tell me about the training you went through.

The training was really exciting and diverse. You have to be able to do a little bit of everything as an astronaut because, up in space, you\’re the doctor; you\’re the maintainer; you\’re the scientist and the spacewalker; and, so, the variety of things we\’ve learned over these two years has been incredible. Some of the major courses we learned were robotics, learning to speak Russian, learning about the International Space Station and its systems, and learning how to do spacewalks. Then, there\’s flying the T-38 jets!

What did you struggle with most?

The hardest part, for me, was the training in the neutral buoyancy lab. That’s where we trained for spacewalks. I’ve watched astronauts do spacewalks before, and you think, \’Wow, they make it look so easy and so smooth,\’ and that the suit is just an extension of their body. But then I got in there for the first time, and it’s just completely different than you\’d imagined. You now have to walk with your hands, and anytime you squeeze your hands to do anything, you’re fighting the pressure in the suit. It was just really tricky learning how to move within that suit. It\’s your own personal spacecraft at that point, and [you\’re] learning how to work with it by fighting against it.

What did you do best during training?

Something that I thought would be a challenge that I did well at was learning Russian. I\’ve really enjoyed learning another language, learning about their culture. We have one-on-one instruction, and my instructor is absolutely incredible. That was something I knew would be a real challenge, but I feel like I really progressed in it.

How did you feel when they announced that you were officially an astronaut?

I felt honored to be joining the company of so many amazing women and men.

Was this a dream of yours growing up?

I was actually born in Germany, but I grew up in Baldwin, New York, on Long Island. I went through kindergarten and high school there, and I dreamed of being exactly where I am today, which is really exciting for me. I wanted to be an astronaut since I was a kid, and when you say in sixth grade, \’I want to become an astronaut\’ nobody thinks you\’re actually going to become an astronaut. While it wasn\’t always the main focus of what I was doing at each point in my life, it\’s always been there in the background, driving the general path of where I\’ve been going.

Was the Marine Corps an asset to your success?

Being in the Marine Corps was a huge asset. It’s a testament to all those people and the mentorship. The Marine Corps played a very important part in shaping me and giving me a lot of the skills I needed – not just the hard skills but a lot of the soft skills, like how to communicate and how to take my entire team into consideration and not just my personal needs. It\’s hard to teach those things, but we do it very well in the Marine Corps. And my test piloting background — the operational experience and the engineering side of that — both tie in perfectly here.

As an official astronaut, what\’s next on your agenda?

It\’s a super exciting time to be in human space exploration. We\’ve been on the International Space Station for almost 20 years continuously now, and we\’ve got several new vehicles on the horizon. There\’s Boeing and Space X, both with their commercial crew vehicles. NASA is developing Orion and the Space Launch System to go onto the moon, and there\’s Mars with the [Lunar] Gateway program. So, there are a lot of exciting things. Right now, in my day to day, I\’m focused on the human lander system and getting us to the moon.

Do you think you could be the first female astronaut to get to the moon?

There is a chance, but at this point I’m just excited that I’ll know the first woman to be on the moon!

In 2015, Marine Corps Lt. Col. Nicole Mann became the first female Marine to graduate from the astronaut program and she mentored you. What would you say to her for that?

You\’ve been an inspiration to me. She was my mentor right from the beginning — called me before I ever showed up here and made sure I had what I needed. Watching you and knowing you\’re going to be the first person on the launch of a new spacecraft is such an inspiration.

What drives you to do better?

I think the same thing that pushes people in the military every day — your sisters and brothers to your left and right. We\’re in a similar job here where your failures … there are life or death situations here. What we do inherently is risky because we\’re constantly pushing the boundaries and just thinking, \’I need to focus because my buddy could be on that vehicle I was working on.\’ And I think that motivates me a lot.

What advice would you give to future generations of Marines?

Whatever you\’re interested in, have that vision of what you want to do, but also don\’t forget to focus on what you\’re doing in the moment. I wasn’t always assigned to the job I wanted to be assigned to, but I put my effort into that to the best of my ability and tried to do the best I could at that job. So, whether you\’re sweeping floors or doing something really cool, just do the best you can do.

Also, I think something that gets lost sometimes is being kind to others. When you\’re in the position to mentor someone, think back to when you were in their position and first learning something. Just remember we\’re all on the same team.

FACE OF DEFENSE

AMERICAN HERO

South Florida Federal Case Reveals Illegal Immigrants Buy, Rent Kids for Easier U.S. Entry

SOUTH FLORIDA–A federal case out of south Florida illustrates the perils of a U.S. policy that facilitates the entry of illegal immigrants with children over those traveling alone. The matter involves a Guatemalan national who obtained false documents in his impoverished Central American country to claim a 12-year-old boy as his son. The 35-year-old illegal alien, Walfre Eliseo Camposeco-Montejo, and his fake son were released by federal authorities as a family unit and remained free until the boy escaped. Camposeco-Montejo eventually pled guilty to providing and obtaining forced labor, alien smuggling and unlawfully transporting aliens. This month he was sentenced to

eight years in prison

for labor trafficking a minor.

Camposeco-Montego and the minor illegally entered the U.S. by crossing the Rio Grande in November 2016, according to the feds. Not coincidentally, there was a huge spike in family units entering the country via the southern border that year. In fact, Judicial Watch

reported

it after obtaining Department of Homeland Security (DHS) figures showing that, in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2016, the number of family units apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol nearly doubled from the previous year. The majority of the illegal border crossers remained in the country under former President Barack Obama’s special refugee and family reunification programs. The Rio Grande Border Patrol sector used by Camposeco-Montego saw an astounding 91% increase in family units the year he crossed it with the boy, according to the government figures.

“Upon their arrest by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, when crossing the border, Camposeco-Montejo lied about being the boy’s father,” according to a Department of Justice (DOJ)

statement

issued this month. “Based upon Camposeco-Montejo’s false representations, he and the boy were released as a family unit and subsequently made their way to Florida.” The Guatemalan illegal alien obtained false identification documents for the boy and forced him to work in south Florida farms for months to repay a debt from the human smuggling operation, according to federal prosecutors. The scheme was exposed because the boy was eventually able to escape and report his smuggler. Authorities say the smuggler promised the boy’s mother he would provide him with an education upon arriving in the U.S.

In the last few years federal agents along the Mexican border have uncovered thousands of similar cases in which illegal immigrants use children to practically assure entry into the U.S. Family units also avoid long-term federal custody. They are known as “fake families.” During

congressional testimony

over the summer, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) explained the situation: “By requiring the release of family units before the conclusion of immigration proceedings, seemingly well-intentioned court rulings and legislation are being exploited by transnational criminal organizations and human smugglers,” Matthew Albence told lawmakers during the July hearing. “These despicable smugglers have created an entire illicit industry with untold millions of dollars being made through the sale, rental, and recycling of children—utilized by unscrupulous adults to pose as family units.”

The word that kids are a ticket into the U.S. has spread like wildfire throughout Central America. The nation’s largest Spanish-language news network, also viewed throughout Latin America, even aired a segment titled

“Children as Passport”

that points out “arriving at the U.S. border with a child in hand has become the best passport for tens of thousands of Central American migrants.” Another major Spanish news conglomerate recently reported that immigrants

buy children for $130

to create fake families that facilitate crossing the border. One Spanish news story reveals that a Guatemalan man

rented

an 8-year-old boy to cross the Lukeville port of entry in Arizona. Throughout Central America and Mexico, a multitude of news reports and social media postings reiterate similar stories.

As a result, there has been a huge—and unprecedented—rise in family units at the southern border. In 2019 there were 473,682 apprehensions of family units, an increase of more than quadruple from the previous year, according to a

report

issued by the Pew Research Center. The nonpartisan think tank describes it as a “big shift from the recent past” in which individual adults far outnumbered family units or unaccompanied children. Family units also represented more than half of all apprehensions in 2019. “The changing profile of those being apprehended has strained the Border Patrol, which follows different legal protocols for detaining family members and single adults,” the Pew report states.

SOURCE

https://www.judicialwatch.org/

Police Departments in Pennsylvania Getting New Radio System

By Kim Jarrett |

The Center Square

Capt. Sean Georgia, acting director of Radio and Information Services Division of the Pennsylvania State Police, speaks January 30, 2020, alongside Auditor General Eugene DePasquale inside the Capitol Media Center in Harrisburg.

Photo courtesy of Commonwealth Media Services

HARRISBURG, PA (January 2020)-Pennsylvania’s former public safety radio system was not only costly, but a hindrance for troopers who often turned to their own cellphones to communicate, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said in announcing audit results on the purchasing process for a new radio system.

State officials decided to move to the P-25 public safety radio system after cost and performance problems with the former system, Open Sky. During a news conference Thursday, DePasquale said an audit of the purchase of the new system shows it is on budget.

Open Sky was estimated to cost about $179 million, but the actual costs were about $850 million over the last 20 years, according to the audit.

“The largest of the contracts for that system was awarded to Amp, Inc. and was later taken over by Harris,” DePasquale said. “The Office of Inspector General is currently looking deeper into the original contract for the system, and it is my understanding and the understanding of our department that the investigation is ongoing.”

Despite the high costs, the system was unreliable for public safety personnel.

“Its technical failures hampered numerous investigations, including the manhunt for convicted killer Eric Frein,” DePasquale said. Frein was convicted of the 2014 attack on the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Blooming Grove that killed one trooper and wounded another.

The new system is already being used by troopers in 45 counties. Twenty-two state police departments, the Legislature, federal, county, and municipal government agencies as well as public transit and utility companies will have access to the system by the summer of 2021.

A few issues have been encountered during the implementation of the radio system but so far all of them all have been fixed, said Capt. Sean Georgia, acting director of the radio and information services division for the Pennsylvania State Police.

“My team found that the State Police and Office of Administration followed all applicable procedures in the latest radio system upgrade, which had a price tag of $44.5 million,” DePasquale said. “Importantly, the new system will use some of the existing infrastructure such as towers and microwave relays, so taxpayers did not have to buy those items all over again.”

Ten recommendations were made in the 74-page audit report. The State Police and the Office of Administration agreed to the recommendations. One recommended better documentation of the final operational tests for the new system, according to a statement from DePasquale.

“Given the history of problems involving the old system, I believe State Police should go above and beyond to document that the new system is working as designed,” DePasquale added. “Our emergency responders and the residents they protect deserve nothing less.”

published Gloucestercitynews.net with permission