Buck, a white man in his 60s, was investigated previously by authorities after the death of Gemmel Moore, who died of a methamphetamine overdose in Buck’s home in July 2017. Since Moore’s death was classified as an accidental overdose, numerous young black gay men have alleged that Buck has a fetish for shooting drugs into black men he picks up off the street or on hookup sites. Moore had written about Buck injecting him with dangerous drugs before his death.
“I’ve become addicted to drugs and the worst one at that,” Moore wrote in his journal in December 2016. “Ed Buck is the one to thank. He gave me my first injection of crystal meth.”
Buck claims he’s not responsible for Moore’s death and did not furnish him with drugs. The Los Angeles County District Attorney declined to file charges against Buck, saying there was “insufficient evidence.”
The name of the person who died in Buck’s home in the early hours of Monday has not been released. Wehoville described him as a young African-American man and featured a picture of a body being removed on a gurney.
Community activists like Jasmyne Cannick have accused Los Angeles officials of declining to prosecute Buck in 2017 thanks to his contributions to powerful politicians such as Hillary Clinton, California Gov. Jerry Brown, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, and numerous West Hollywood City Council members. Cannick is organizing a vigil and rally for tonight in front of Buck’s home, at 1234 Laurel Ave.
“City Council members John D’Amico and Lindsey Horvath have reached out to City Manager Paul Arevalo, asking him to request that newly elected Sheriff Alex Villanueva put priority on investigating [the young man’s] death,” Wehoville reports. “Councilmember Lauren Meister also has pressed for the homicide division to investigate.”
Buck’s attorney, Seymour Amster, characterized the death today as an accidental overdose and said Buck is cooperating with investigators. “From what I know, it was an old friend who died of an accidental overdose, and, unfortunately, we believe that the substance was ingested at some place other than the apartment,” Amster told the Los Angeles Times. “The person came over intoxicated.”
“He’s shaken up,” Amster said of Buck. “All indications are he had nothing to do with this tragedy.”
Pollak: Michael Flynn Sentencing Document Shows Collusion — Between Media, Deep State, and Obama Admin
Drain the swamp, Trump. The clock is ticking
Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed a sentencing memorandum Tuesday with the federal court in Washington, D.C. that recommends General Michael Flynn receive no jail time after pleading guilty to the crime of lying to the FBI, citing “substantial” assistance to the government in its investigations.
The mainstream media interpreted that remark as evidence that Flynn gave Mueller key information against President Donald Trump and Russian “collusion.”
More likely, however, Mueller’s request reflects the fact that Flynn did not actually commit the crime to which he pleaded guilty. No less than then-FBI director James Comey told Congress last March that Flynn had not, in fact, lied to the FBI.
If Flynn had demanded a trial on the merits, he could have subpoenaed Comey in his defense. The Special Counsel likely pressured Flynn to cooperate using other accusations — against him, or perhaps his family.
It is not clear exactly what information Flynn provided Mueller. The only other crime referenced in the sentencing document is Flynn’s failure to register as a foreign agent for Turkey.
Again, though, that is rather flimsy. It is rare that anyone in Washington is prosecuted under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and rarer still that anyone is pursued under the Logan Act, which was the reason Flynn was under surveillance in the first place.
In fact, the most explosive piece of information in the sentencing document is not about collusion with Russians, but about the collusion between the media, the intelligence services, and the outgoing members of the Obama administration.
The document begins its recitation of Flynn’s offenses by citing information that had appeared in the Washington Post from a leaked, classified surveillance transcript in which Flynn’s name had been “unmasked”:
Days prior to the FBI’s interview of the defendant, the Washington Post had published a story alleging that he had spoken with Russia’s ambassador to the United States on December 29, 2016, the day the United States announced sanctions and other measures against Russia in response to that government’s actions intended to interfere with the 2016 election (collectively, “sanctions”). See David Ignatius, Why did Obama Dawdle on Russia’s hacking?, WASH. POST (Jan. 12, 2017).
That information, the document suggests, led the FBI to interview Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017 — the conversation in which he did not (according to Comey) lie to them, but which landed him in trouble.
The government had the surveillance transcripts, and it knew what Flynn had told the Russian ambassador. But the Post‘s intervention was crucial in setting the trap in which to ensnare Flynn and turn him into a government witness.
Mueller’s sentencing document does not mention the fact that the information published in the Post was illegally leaked to the press by the intelligence services. And the reason that happened was that the outgoing Obama administration changed the rules on the sharing of classified surveillance among government agencies, weakening privacy protections, probably intending that such information be more difficult to keep secret, and easier to leak.
Moreover, someone in the Obama administration — we do not yet know who, though it had to be someone senior — “unmasked” Flynn’s name to make sure he was exposed.
So while we do not yet know Mueller’s next moves, what the Flynn sentencing document reinforces is the that the Russia collusion investigation was tainted from the start by a crime committed against Flynn himself — with the collusion of the media, the deep state, and Obama’s loyalists.
Report reveals 92 percent of foreign nationals in federal prisons are illegal immigrants
A new report published Thursday by the Trump administration shows that 92 percent of foreign nationals in federal prisons are in the U.S. illegally — a revelation that Attorney General Jeff Sessions said proves why the U.S. needs to follow through on President Trump’s proposed immigration reform.
The 2017 report, from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, found that more than one in five individuals imprisoned were not born in the United States. In addition, 94 percent of foreign nationals in the custody of either the Federal Bureau of Prisons or the U.S. Marshals Service entered the U.S. illegally.
Sessions said in a statement that Americans “are being victimized by illegal aliens who commit crimes. … The simple fact is that any offense committed by a criminal alien is ultimately preventable. One victim is too many.”
The attorney general also noted that, based on sentencing data, “non-citizens commit a substantially disproportionate number of drug-related offenses, which contributes to our national drug abuse crisis.”
By the end of the 2017 fiscal year, 58,766 known or suspect foreign nationals were imprisoned in the United States.
Newly-confirmed Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen added that the report highlights “that more must be done,” and added the department “will continue to pursue President Trump’s immigration priorities.”
The report did not include information on incarcerations in state prisons or local jails. “State and local facilities do not routinely provide DHS or DOJ with comprehensive information about their inmates and detainees—which account for approximately 90 percent of the total U.S. incarcerated population,” the report said.
This past October, the Trump administration announced it was seeking several major changes to the country’s immigration system, as the president pushes forward with his plans for a wall along the Mexico border. The requests included additional crackdowns on “sanctuary cities” that protect illegal immigrants; reducing the number of incoming refugees; 10,000 more Customs and Border Patrol agents; and new initiatives curbing the number of unaccompanied immigrants who come to the U.S. illegally as children. Democrats already have said many of the White House’s terms are off the table.
It remains unclear when the wall might actually go up. Trump campaigned on building it and set an ambitious timetable for construction. But aside from potential funding and political complications, there have been court challenges from geologists.
Critics also have said the barrier would be ineffective and costly. On the campaign trail, Trump said Mexico would pay for the bill, which Mexico has flatly denied. The actual cost of the wall has not been clear.
A New Mexico gas station clerk is mad as hell after being suspended from her job for shooting an armed robber this week, according to a report.
Jennifer Wertz, an employee at the Circle K store in Albuquerque, says she was suspended for two weeks for opening fire on a man who pulled a gun on her Monday night during her shift, KOAT Action 7 News reported.
“He pointed the gun at my face, I grabbed my gun from my pocket, I cocked it and I shot,” Wertz told the news outlet.
Wertz said she had her gun on her Monday because she was slated to work until 10 p.m. and often feels unsafe walking to her car at night.
She says she put her gun in her pocket after she heard that a nearby convenience store was knocked off.
Wertz told the news outlet that robberies happen all the time at gas stations and workers are ordered not to defend themselves.
“We are not to chase or provoke. We are just supposed to stand there and give them what they want and they leave,” she said.
When Wertz was asked why she didn’t abide by those orders Monday, she responded, “I’m sick and tired of being a sitting duck,” according to the report.
Management at Circle K did not respond to a request for comment by KOAT.
Police say the 23-year-old suspect, identified as Ferron Mendez, was struck once in the torso and is expected to survive.
He will be formally charged after he’s released from the hospital.
A black man suspected of fatally gunning down five middle-aged white men in sneak attacks in Kansas once threatened to shoot up a school and “kill all white people,” according to court records.
A city citation for harassment shows that Fredrick Demond Scott, 22, made the threats in January 2014 at the Center Alternative School in Kansas City, The Kansas City Star reported Wednesday.
“I want to shoot the school up, Columbine-style,” Scott was quoted as saying, according to the report.
Scott was charged with murder Tuesday in the deaths of Steven Gibbons, 57, and John Palmer, 54, and named as a suspect in the killings of three other men, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced.
All of the victims, ranging in age from 54 to 67, were shot from behind — and most of the shooting happened along Kansas City walking trails, prosecutors said.
Scott’s mother told The Star that her son suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, but did not show any hatred towards white people.
“As far as I know Fredrick never had a problem with white people,” his mother told the news outlet. “He would do odd jobs for people and some of those people were white men.”
Baker said that there is no known motive in the surprise slayings so far. Scott told investigators he was angry about the stabbing death of his half-brother, who was killed during a robbery in 2015, according to police.
Scott has been jailed in Jackson County on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action in the deaths of Palmer, who was shot on Aug. 19, 2016 in a wooded area and Gibbons, who was shot in the back of the head along a city street.
The other victims include Mike Darby, 61, who was found dead on May 18 along a trail; David Lenox, 67, who was found slain on Feb. 27, steps away from his front doors while walking one of his dogs; and Timothy S. Rice, 57, who was found killed at a shelter in a park.
Baker said there was not enough evidence at the moment to charge Scott with those deaths.
Mother charged in baby’s hot car death was getting hair done: police
(Reuters) – A 25-year-old South Carolina woman was in jail on Tuesday on a murder charge for the death of her 13-month-old daughter, who police said she left in a car last month while she went to a hair salon in suburban Atlanta.
The mother, DiJanelle Fowler, kept the car running with the air conditioning on, but the car’s battery died while she was inside the beauty shop in Tucker, Georgia, on June 15, said DeKalb County Police spokeswoman Shiera Campbell.
Police believe Skylar Fowler was dead by the time her mother returned to the car a few hours later, Campbell said.
“Instead of calling 911, she called roadside assistance to get her battery jumped,” Campbell said in a phone interview.
Fowler concealed the baby from the person who helped restart her car, then went to a hospital and called 911, Campbell said.
The mother told police she herself had passed out from some sort of medical condition, Campbell said. But the child’s condition indicated she had died sooner than the time Fowler suggested, the police spokeswoman said.
The high temperature in DeKalb County that day was 92 degrees Fahrenheit at 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
Fowler left the area after her daughter’s death. She was arrested late on Monday after turning herself in to DeKalb County Police, who had been searching for her, Campbell said.
In addition to the second-degree murder charge, she also is charged with second-degree cruelty to children and concealing a death, jail records show. Court records did not show whether Fowler had hired a lawyer.
