Murder a kid, plant a gun — take a vacation

by William N. Grigg (LewRockwell.com) - Victor Steen, a 17-year-old high school senior from West Pensacola, Florida, was murdered while riding a bicycle home from a post-Homecoming Game party last October 3rd. His murderer, Jerald Ard, ran him down in an automobile. According to eyewitnesses, Ard dragged the victim a considerable distance, nearly severing his body in half.

Ard had endangered other drivers and pedestrians as he veered into the wrong lane and even drove onto a sidewalk in pursuit of Victor, repeatedly attempting to shoot the teenager with a lethal weapon. After he ran down the youngster, Ard tried to cover up his crime by planting a gun on the victim.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Ard is a police officer.

(Full article)

Fines, small tax bill send Baltimore home to tax sale

(Baltimore Sun) - Tim Nickels' rowhouse in Baltimore went to tax sale over less than $4 in unpaid property taxes and hundreds of dollars in citations for a messy yard.

Perfectly legal, under the city's rules. But Nickels was flabbergasted.

Baltimore's annual tax sale, an effort by the city to collect on delinquent accounts, has drawn criticism for putting residents at risk of losing their homes over municipal bills as small as $250. Nickels' past-due tab of $955.60 — including the citation fines and late fees — was one of 6,421 unpaid city bills recently sold as liens to investors, who can move to foreclose later this year if the owners don't pay up with interest.

(Full story)

TSA agent: A pedophile's dream job

Agents of the Transportation Security Administration, prancing around airports in their government-issued cop costumes, have one of the most useless jobs in the nation. Contrary to what the state and its willing accomplices in the media would have you believe, they aren't there to thwart would-be terrorists from smuggling weapons and explosives onto commercial flights, though there is always a slight chance that could actually happen. Their primary purpose is to intimidate airline passengers into submission.

Working as a TSA agent has always been the perfect alternative for those who couldn't qualify for military service or a job in what most would consider "law enforcement," but now it could be the perfect job for pedophiles. As a recent incident in Tampa illustrates, no one is safe from the probing eyes of the TSA.

A 12-year-old girl was returning home to Baltimore with a friend when she was pulled aside and subjected to a full-body image scan. In other words, she had nude pictures taken of her without her consent. Even in the U.K., where violations of civil liberties have reached Orwellian proportions, these types of scans are not conducted on children under 18 because they would violate child pornography laws.

The plan here in the U.S. is to have these porn machines in every airport. You may not mind that kind of invasion of privacy, but what would you say to having your child undressed and ogled by costumed perverts? Of course, you could opt out of the image scan and just have your kid physically groped instead.

But that's the price we pay for what passes for "freedom" in this country. Really, is there anything we Americans won't tolerate in order to feel safe?

Officer suspended in wake of stun gun incident

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. (TheIndyChannel.com) - A Martinsville police officer accused of using a stun gun on a 10-year-old boy was suspended on Tuesday.

The Police Department recommended Officer Darren Johnson be suspended without pay for 45 days, with five days already served, and remain on probation for two years, 6News' Joanna Massee reported.

(Full story)

Girl punched by cop apologizes

A jaywalking incident in Seattle that resulted in a costumed tax-feeder sucker punching a teenage girl has been resolved. The girl has apologized to the cop, apparently for bruising the poor man's fragile ego.

So let's review: A 19-year-old girl gets attacked for the (non-)crime of jaywalking, her friend tries to defend her, the attacker hauls off and slugs the 17-year-old in the face, and then she has to apologize to him. What bothers me is that most Americans will automatically side with the cop, praising him for "just doing his job." Personally, I would hope that any man in the position of having to arrest young girls for simply crossing the street in the middle of the block would do some serious soul-searching and consider doing something productive for a living.

Obama administration authorizes CIA to kill US citizen

(TruthOut) - The Obama administration has lowered another legal barrier shielding Americans from extrajudicial punitive action by their own government, in this case authorizing the CIA to kill a US citizen suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda in Yemen and links to two attacks inside the United States last year.

Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim cleric born in New Mexico but now living in Yemen, may be the first US citizen targeted for assassination by the CIA under a counter-terror policy established by President George W. Bush and since embraced by President Barack Obama.

(Full story)