NYPD Eliminates Entire Plainclothes Anti-Crime Unit In 'Seismic Cultural Shift'

If you want to be a criminal right now, NYC is the place.

After City Hall moved to strip $1 billion from the NYPD budget in the coming years, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced Monday afternoon what he described as "a seismic shift in the culture of how the NYPD polices this city." To wit, the largest police force in the country will eliminate its plainclothes anti-crime unit.

No officers will be fired due to the decision; rather, they will be transferred to detective units, or new 'neighborhood policing' units that will focus on the community policing model that some less-radical progressives who favor reform over police abolition have advocated. Shea said the unit is being shuttered because its officers are more likely to shoot suspects, whether armed or unarmed, according to a local TV station.

The decision is a consequence of the two weeks of unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd, while the killing of a black man in Atlanta Friday night by an APD officer has triggered major disruptions in the department, including prompting the resignation of the police commissioner in that city.

Across NYC, the NYPD often has plainclothes officers stationed in park cars around known hot spots - typically low-income neighborhoods where hard drugs are bought and sold, or where gang-related violence is more common. While it's not clear exactly what this unit was responsible for, the connotation is that the department will be pulling hundreds of cops off the street.

Notably, the NYPD decision comes just a day ahead of a White House press conference where President Trump is supposed to outline the administration's policing reform plan, which might be more comprehensive than critics expect.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/nypd-eliminates-entire-plainclothes-anti-crime-unit-seismic-cultural-shift

Victorian Labor Government in chaos amid branch-stacking scandal

New secret audio recordings could see athird minister brought downas Victoria is rocked by an explosive branch-stacking scandal.

New secret audio recordings could see a third minister brought down as the Victorian Government continues to be rocked by an explosive branch-stacking scandal.

Consumer Affairs Minister Marlene Kairouz allegedly encouraged parliamentary staff to work on the branch-stacking activities with powerbroker Adem Somyurek, The Age reports today, describing it as an “excellent” use of taxpayer-funded parliamentary officers.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews sacked Mr Somyurek and referred him to the state’s police and anti-corruption watchdog yesterday, but stood by Ms Kairouz saying she had assured him she had “acted appropriately at all times”.

Mr Somyurek will today enter his first parliamentary sitting since losing his job as a minister and his membership of the party.

It’s unclear whether the upper house MP will show up at Spring Street today, with coronavirus restrictions limiting the number of MPs who can attend.

But his now-former leader, Mr Andrews, is expected to face a barrage of questions about the claims as well as pressure to dump Ms Kairouz and Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Veteran Affairs Robin Scott, whose staff allegedly assisted branch-stacking efforts.

Mr Scott resigned from Cabinet on Monday night to avoid “distraction” for the Government but vowed to clear his name.

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien has called for Ms Kairouz, meanwhile, to also be dropped from Cabinet.

But the Premier has so far stood by the two MPs.

An investigation by The Age and 60 Minutes alleges Mr Somyurek handed over cash and used parliamentary employees to create fake branch members and amass political influence.

Mr Somyurek denies the allegations and wants police to investigate the recordings used in the exposé.

He claimed he was resigning solely due to offensive language used about fellow MP Gabrielle Williams. In the recordings, he describes her as “fing stupid b*ch”, a “stupid moll” and says he is “going to fing knock her f**ing head off”.

At another point Mr Somyurek was heard describing Young Labor members as “little passive aggressive f***ing gay kids”.

Mr Andrews described the comments as “wicked”, “shameful” and “deplorable” and said, contrary to Mr Somyurek’s statement, that he was “not offered an opportunity to resign”.

“He is not worthy of an opportunity to resign,” Mr Andrews said on Monday. “He was sacked. And that is the fact of the matter. Any statements to the contrary are simply false.”

Mr Andrews said he had asked the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and Victoria Police to investigate the branch-stacking allegations.

The Premier also asked the Labor national executive to expel Mr Somyurek, a step it was preparing to take before he resigned.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/politics/victorian-labor-government-in-chaos-amid-branchstacking-scandal/news-story/33ae0534ede45a62e90e76fb949845c9

EU threatens to blackmail illiberal countries’ budgets

Manfred Weber, the Leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), discussed the European Union’s plan to blackmail member states that don’t toe the bloc’s line on issues like migration, such as Hungary and Poland. This will be done by making their share of the EU’s budget contingent on how well they meet the bloc’s vague “rule of law” standards, Weber says, especially now that many countries have been hit hard by the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.

Weber, who leads the European Parliament’s largest party, made the remarks in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung last week.

The EU is currently in talks to prepare its next seven-year budget, which will come into effect in 2021. Weber discussed the proposal by Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s President, to make the allocation of each member state’s share of the budget, as well as its share of aid to deal with the effects of the pandemic, contingent on the “state of the rule of law” in each country.

This threat is clearly aimed at Hungary and Poland in particular, the two EU member states that have taken a hard line on illegal migration and which have also come under fire for alleged corruption in their judiciaries. The EU has invoked Article 7 of its Treaty against both countries in recent years, which can result in a suspension of a member states’ rights within the bloc. Both are still being investigated under the procedure.

Weber suggested that the EU needs to strengthen its control over its budget “in order to better fight corruption.” He said that given that many member states will be using EU funds to deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic, it is important that “strict conditions” must be attached to such aid.

Weber mentioned Hungary and Poland specifically, saying that it is “unsurprising” that the two countries are looking to prevent the “rule of law” requirement from being attached to the money. “Europe is not an ATM, but a community of values,” he said.

On Friday, the EU and the heads of the member states will begin discussing the 1.8 trillion euro budget for 2021-2027 for the first time: 1.1 trillion for the budget and 750 billion euros in aid to deal with the economic crisis resulting from the pandemic. Whether the pandemic aid will be distributed in the form of loans or in bonds is still being hotly contested. Weber’s EPP will play a crucial role in these negotiations.

The EPP has made its displeasure with Hungary in particular known on several occasions. The EPP’s current President, Donald Tusk, called for Hungary to be expelled from the party in March due to concern over the country’s controversial Coronavirus Protection Law, as previously reported by Voice of Europe.

https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/06/eu-threatens-to-blackmail-illiberal-countries-budgets/

Pennsylvania Man Admits To Sexually Abusing Girls At Kenyan Children’s Orphanage He Founded

A Lancaster County, Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty today to engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Special Agent in Charge Michael Driscoll of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office made the announcement.

Gregory Dow, 61, pleaded guilty to four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, before U.S. District Court Judge Edward G. Smith. Sentencing is set for Sept. 29, 2020.

According to the plea agreement, Dow, an American citizen, traveled to the Republic of Kenya in 2008 to start an orphanage which came to be known as the Dow Family Children’s Home. While running the orphanage with his wife, he sexually abused, on multiple occasions, four minor girls between October 2013 and September 2017. During this time period, he maintained ties to the United States.

The FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office conducted the investigation with assistance from Kenyan authorities and local law enforcement in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Trial Attorneys Lauren S. Kupersmith and Lauren E. Britsch of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy M. Stengel of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania are prosecuting the case.

https://breaking911.com/pennsylvania-man-admits-to-sexually-abusing-girls-at-kenyan-childrens-orphanage-he-founded/

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/pennsylvania-man-pleads-guilty-engaging-illicit-sexual-conduct-minors-republic-kenya

Does it piss anyone else off how the media is trying to make the protests more about race than about police brutality?

If you kill a black guy — you go to jail for murder.

If you kill a white guy — you go to jail for murder.

If you kill an asian guy — you go to jail for murder.

If a cop kills any of the above, he may or may not get suspended with pay.

It was never about race. It’s about police brutality and an out of control police force that basically is a gang of murderous brutal thugs that can commit crimes with impunity.

We all need to unite against this shit. The MAGAs, the left, the right, the center, everybody. Making it about race is so they can divide us. If it becomes all about BLM or just black people, then they stand a chance for NOTHING TO CHANGE. So they push that narrative. Many people buy into it.

Making it about police brutality and rights is something most Americans can get behind. So they are trying super hard to try and muddle it with racial issues, knowing that will turn off half the population. Don’t be fooled. They’re messing with you.

I’m looking at you too Trump people — you and I both know cops can commit crimes and get away with it. Some of the most violent police forces are in the South too. And they kill white people too — not just black people. Don’t be fooled. This is not about race. They want us to think that so (some of us) care about it less.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/does-it-piss-anyone-else-off-how-the-media-is-trying-to-make-the-protests-more-about-race-than-about-police-brutality/

Wife of jailed Russian national Bout ready to ask US to exchange him for Whelan

Viktor Bout, who is serving his sentence in Marion medium-security federal prison, Illinois, hardly knows about Paul Whelan’s sentence, she said

MOSCOW, June 16. /TASS/. Wife of Russian national Viktor Bout jailed in the United States is ready to send a request to the US authorities on exchanging her husband for US citizen Paul Whelan sentenced for espionage in Russia.

"If this is needed, then certainly, I’m ready to write any request and any statement to the US president and the US Congress. Because I want to recall that Viktor Bout has been jailed for 12 years and a half. This is nearly half of his sentence," Alla Bout told RTVI television on Monday.

Viktor, who is serving his sentence in Marion medium-security federal prison, Illinois, hardly knows about Whelan’s sentence, she said. "Unfortunately, Viktor now has no opportunity to get any information. He is practically fully isolated," she noted. "Over the past weeks, we have not been in touch with him. We had just one phone call a week ago for some 12 minutes. The jail’s authorities explained this by the situation currently observed in the US, besides the pandemic."

"I believe that everything here depends on the US political will because I know that our diplomats have addressed the US State Department and other agencies many times. Unfortunately, so far no answers from the US to the Russian embassy’s requests have been officially received, as far as I know," she said.

On Monday, the Moscow City Court found Paul Whelan guilty of spying against Russia and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.

US citizen Paul Whelan, who also holds British, Canadian and Irish citizenship, was detained by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on December 28, 2018 in Moscow while on an alleged spy mission. A criminal investigation was launched against him on espionage charges carrying a punishment of up to 20 years behind bars.

Whelan denied all the charges. His defense insisted that the case had been fabricated, while Whelan’s activity in Russia was of a strictly humanitarian nature.

Viktor Bout was detained in Thailand’s capital Bangkok on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by a local court based on a US request. He was charged with illegal supplying weapons to a group called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which Washington designated as a terrorist organization. In 2010, Bout was extradited to the United States. In April 2012, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $15 million.

https://tass.com/emergencies/1167973

>>9626374

Agreed but you always have to factor in that these people have been doing as they please for so long and they didn't think they'd get caught for any of it