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Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Day After Obama Removes Cuba from Terror Sponsor List, Terror Group Sponsored by Cuba Kills 10 -

Day After Obama Removes Cuba from Terror Sponsor List, Terror Group Sponsored by Cuba Kills 10 - 



Yesterday, President Barack Obama announced that the United States would be removing Cuba from the U.S. State Sponsors of Terror list as part of his push to normalize relations with the communist dictatorship. But just hours later, a terror group long fostered by Cuba — even today, the Castro brothers are harboring several wanted members of the group — murdered 10 Colombian soldiers and wounded 17 others in a terror attack on a military base.

Reported Agence France Presse:

Ten Colombia soldiers killed in apparent FARC attack

Ten soldiers were killed and 17 injured in western Colombia Wednesday, in a dawn attack on an army garrison that officials blamed on leftist FARC guerrillas.

The attack occurred in a small town in Cauca province, governor Temistocles Ortega told Blu radio, adding that four of the injured soldiers are in serious condition.

The Cauca region has been a stronghold for the rebel fighters, who are in peace talks with the Bogota government to end more than a half-century of hostilities.

“This is precisely the war that we are trying to end,” President Juan Manuel Santos said on Twitter.

The FARC in December declared a unilateral ceasefire, which it has said was meant to advance the negotiations, which have been under way since November 2012.

The Colombian government last month temporarily halted air raids against the Marxist rebels.

The five-decade-long conflict has killed more than 200,000 people and uprooted more than five million.

Yesterday, in an article titled “Why Cuba Was, And Must Remain, On Terror List,” PJ Media’s Henry Gomez reported that Cuba has not changed its policy of fueling and defending leftist terror whatsoever since they were initially placed on the list. Wrote Gomez:

The Castro brothers continue to harbor international terrorists from Spain’s Basque separatist group ETA and Colombia’s Marxist rebels FARC, as well as American domestic terrorists from groups like the Black Liberation Army.

Nothing has really changed on this front. It’s estimated that 70 U.S. fugitives are being harbored by Cuba, including Joanne Chesimard (AKA “Assata Shakur”), a convicted cop killer.

Apologists for the Castro regime try to argue that Cuba does not meet the criteria of state sponsor of terrorism via technicalities. They insist that the Basque terrorists in Cuba are a matter for Spain to resolve bilaterally with Cuba, and that the FARC terrorists don’t count because Cuba is hosting peace talks between FARC and the Colombian government, and that Chesimard doesn’t qualify as a terrorist because she didn’t kill a civilian, conflating a police officer with a member of uniformed armed forces in a declared war.

Needless to say, the straws they grasp at paint no more of a flattering picture of the totalitarian dictatorship they defend, which is in its sixth decade.

Gomez is correct in his description of the apologists’ behavior as “grasping at straws.” Harboring terrorists matches the qualifications required for the list, as this act was specifically included in every yearly report dating back to Cuba’s being placed on the list in 1982. 

For example, see this State Department report from 2012:

Cuba was designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1982. Reports in 2012 suggested that the Cuban government was trying to distance itself from Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) members living on the island by employing tactics such as not providing services including travel documents to some of them. The Government of Cuba continued to provide safe haven to approximately two dozen ETA members.

In past years, some members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were allowed safe haven in Cuba and safe passage through Cuba. In November, the Government of Cuba began hosting peace talks between the FARC and Government of Colombia.

There was no indication that the Cuban government provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups.

The Cuban government continued to harbor fugitives wanted in the United States. The Cuban government also provided support such as housing, food ration books, and medical care for these individuals.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has identified Cuba as having strategic anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism deficiencies. In 2012, Cuba became a member of the Financial Action Task Force of South America against Money Laundering, a FATF-style regional body. With this action, Cuba has committed to adopting and implementing the FATF Recommendations.

Read more - 
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/04/15/day-after-obama-removes-cuba-from-terror-sponsor-list-terror-group-sponsored-by-cuba-kills-10/

Leaked Document From Mayor to Police: Your Paycheck Depends on How Many Tickets You Write -

Leaked Document From Mayor to Police: Your Paycheck Depends on How Many Tickets You Write - 



Edmundson, MO– While police and their supporters continue to insist that police are out there keeping our streets safe, an internal document sent from the Edmundson Mayor John Gwaltney implies otherwise. The letter, which was included with the paychecks of the town’s police officers, spells out in very plain terms their actual role in the community – extorting money for the state.

In the document obtained by ThinkProgress, the mayor is careful to point out that the town does not have quotas. He states that he only wants “good tickets” written but adds that he is still very disappointed that the Department had been extorting fewer people. Gwaltney goes on to threaten the officers’ bank accounts, stating;

“The tickets that you write do add to the revenue on which the P.D. budget is established and will directly affect pay adjustments at budget time.”
He doesn’t stop with their pay, either, the mayor then goes on to imply that the officers benefits may be in danger, should they not get their ticket production up by budget time.

“It has always been the desire of myself and the Board to provide a safe and pleasant work place with good compensation and benefits for everyone.  However, our ability to continue doing this is being compromised by your work slow down.  I realize that your work production records are directly effected by many extenuating circumstances and those factors are always accounted for as your work records are reviewed by myself and human resources,” the mayor warns.

One fifth of Edmundson’s population is below poverty level, and the town collects 35% of its revenue from tickets and fines.

While departments will usually deny quotas exist, more and more police have been admitting to their existence, despite the careful wording to leave enough wiggle room for plausible deniability.




However, just last week we reported on “the world’s worst cop” who also admitted to the use of quotas and was captured on video.

“This is the last day of the month. I get every stat I need just off of you guys,” says the officer as he begins his rights violating confession.

“So you guys gotta make quota, huh?” asks the detained teen.

“We don’t have a quota. We have expectations. And what that means is, you will make so many arrests a month, you should write so many tickets a month, and you should haul so many dumbasses to jail a month. If we’re gonna pay you $100,000 a year, we should expect something back from you, shouldn’t we?” says the officer.
When the man replies, ‘yes’ that he understands what the officer just said, the cop then asks, “Would you like to be part of my quota tonight?”

The young man then asks the cop, “On what grounds [would you arrest me]?”

To which the cop replies, “‘On what grounds?’ Oh, I don’t know, I’ll think of something. How about aiding and abetting reckless driving?”

There is no money in solving murders and rape cases, but pursuing victimless crimes such a minor traffic violations and catching a kid with a joint provide a steady stream of revenue for the city.  Protect and serve, or stalk and extort?  Perhaps it is time to change that motto.

Read more - 
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/internal-document-mayor-police-paycheck-depends-tickets-write/