Category: Crime

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Crime Elections Links from other news sources. Politics Reprints from others. Uncategorized

Two Face Tim Ryan. Vance calls Ryan’s pledge to decriminalize ‘all drug possession’ a ‘slap in the face’ of victims’ families

Fentanyl drives surge in US overdose deaths in wake of nation's opioid epidemic

 

Thanks to the folks at FOX. The whole article is here.

FIRST ON FOX: Ohio Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan was slammed by his opponent, Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance, over his pledge to decriminalize the possession of all drugs while simultaneously pushing to label fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction.”

Ryan wants to label the deadly opioid fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction” but previously made an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) pledge to decriminalize “all drug possession.”

“If Tim Ryan wants someone’s vote, he will tell them whatever they want to hear,” Vance told Fox News Digital in an exclusive quote. “The fact that he would pledge to decriminalize the deadly fentanyl flooding our streets is a slap in the face to every family in Ohio that has faced this poison head-on.”

Ryan’s 2019 ACLU pledge while running for president to cut the prison population in half. The pledge also included a provision to decriminalize “all drug possession,” which would include illicit fentanyl.

The ACLU pledge also calls for bail reform “that reduces the number of people we lock up before trial, often simply because they are too poor to afford cash bail.”

Categories
Corruption Crime How sick is this? Politics The Law

CEO Declares San Francisco Has ‘Descended Into Chaos’ as He Pulls Company from City

The San Francisco Police Department says people should stay away from Dolores Park.
SF crime wave — mapped in 3D

Another company is calling it quits in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home city.

Outdoor active-wear brand Cotopaxi is closing its San Francisco store after only a year following rampant theft that left the store’s staff “terrified.”

The company’s founder, Davis Smith, announced the closing in a LinkedIn post Tuesday.

“It’s sad, but San Francisco appears to have descended into a city of chaos,” he wrote. “Many streets and parks are overrun with drugs, criminals, and homelessness, and local leadership and law enforcement enable it through inaction.

“One of the most beautiful and amazing cities in the world is now a place where many no longer feel safe visiting or living.”

Smith’s LinkedIn post featured two photos of broken and boarded-up windows.

Smith further outlined a pattern of property crimes, theft, and burglaries affecting his company’s San Francisco location in a Thursday interview with KABC-TV.

According to San Francisco Police Department data, overall crime in San Francisco is up 7.4 percent so far this year compared to the same period last year. But that number tells only part of the story.

In some districts of the city, crime was up over 20 percent. The data also includes only those crimes reported to the police; one would expect that as crime increases and law enforcement shows a general unwillingness or inability to act, reporting would die off even though crime is alive and well.

Moreover, the SFPD uses a “hierarchy rule,” so that in incidents involving multiple reported offenses, “only the highest offense is represented in the dataset.”

In other words, the only thing we can say for sure about crime in San Francisco is that the SFPD database doesn’t capture it all.

Smith’s post not only lamented the crime but the refusal of local officials to address it.

Smith is blaming city authorities and local law enforcement for inaction in the face of the neighborhood’s condition and is closing the store until the situation improves.

“Many streets and parks are overrun with drugs, criminals, and homelessness, and local leadership and law enforcement enable it through inaction,” Smith continued.

“We opened a retail store a year ago on Hayes Street, the charming shopping district just blocks away from the famous Full House home,” he wrote. “Our first week there, our windows were smashed and thousands of dollars of product was stolen. We replaced the window, and it immediately happened again (four times). We replaced with window with plywood as we waited for a month+ to get a metal security gate installed (demand for those gates is creating huge delays).”

As a result, he said, the company was left with no choice but to shutter the location, one of 10 that had been operated by Cotopaxi. The company website lists the location as “temporarily closed,” but Smith didn’t sound optimistic about the chances that it would re-open any time soon.

Security guards don’t help because these theft rings know that security guards won’t/can’t stop them.

“As of today, we are closing the store due to rampant organized theft and lack of safety for our team. Our store is hit by organized theft rings several times per week. They brazenly enter the store and grab thousands of dollars of product and walk out. We started keeping the door locked and opening it only for customers, but even then, they’ll have a woman go to the door, and then hiding individuals rush into the store as soon as the door opens.

“Our team is terrified. They feel unsafe. Security guards don’t help because these theft rings know that security guards won’t/can’t stop them.”

The rule of law is fundamental to human flourishing. Without governmental authorities bearing their sword to the terror of bad actors, chaos ensues.

“For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad,” Paul tells us in Romans. “Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

That’s why, he says, we pay taxes — a point not lost on Smith.

“It’s impossible for a retail store to operate in these circumstances, especially when cities refuse to take any action (despite us paying taxes well above any other state we operate in),” he wrote. “The city recently announced a reduction of police presence in this neighborhood, despite mass-scale crime.”

Smith expressed his sorrow at closing a shop in a city he is fond of — but that’s when he made his most striking point:

“I grew up in Latin America and spent much of my adult life there, and I never felt this unsafe there. Something has to change in San Francisco.”

This comes from two separate articles in The Western Journal.

Categories
Crime Reprints from others.

Biden Pardons THOUSANDS of Violent Felons in Time for the Midterms Yeah, you can trust the Democrats on crime.

MJ is a plea down.

I want to thank a co writer from substack for this article Ann Coulter

The New York Times reported:

“President Biden on Thursday pardoned all people convicted of marijuana possession …

“The pardons will clear about 6,500 people who were convicted on federal charges of simple possession of marijuana from 1992 to 2021 and thousands more who were convicted of possession in the District of Columbia, officials said ahead of the president’s announcement.”

NO ONE GOES TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR MARIJUANA POSSESSION! I don’t care what the “conviction” says. “In 2021, 98.3 percent of federal cases ended up as plea bargains,” as the Times admitted back in June.

We want to know what’s in the arrest report, not what the plea bargain says. Criminal defense lawyer: They’re charging you with manslaughter, so I recommend plea— Criminal: Okay, I’ll plead to Murder One.Criminal defense lawyer: No, no, no! How about illegal possession of a gun, assault … marijuana possession? Criminal: Oh I see! I plead to something LESS.

You don’t strike a deal with the prosecutor to plea to the worst crime you’ve committed. You plea to your least serious offense: Armed robbery = illegal gun possession Rape = indecent exposure Felony assault = marijuana possession

You also plead guilty to the crime that can be proved . Guess what can’t be intimidated out of testifying? Guns and drugs. “Snitches get stitches” won’t get you out of a “possession” crime.

When Biden says he’s pardoning those convicted only of “marijuana possession,” he’s actually pardoning violent criminals and drug traffickers. But he is willing to put thousands violent felons on the streets and allow them to legally purchase guns, just so they can vote in the midterms.

Categories
Abortion rights? Crime How sick is this? Life

Shot for her beliefs? Woman Shot Handing Out Pro-Life Literature in Michigan

What happens when you support babies? You get shot. Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Shot for her beliefs? Woman Shot Handing Out Pro-Life Literature in Michigan. For months now the left was saying how the pro life folks were coming after a woman’s right to kill her baby. Well who’s doing the shooting? Another case of Senior citizens being attacked.

We have this report from CNA.

An 84-year-old pro-life volunteer was shot on Sept. 20 while going door-to-door in her community to talk about a ballot measure concerning abortion in Michigan, the group she was volunteering with said.

The woman from Lake Odessa was speaking about Proposal 3, a proposed state constitutional amendment that would advance abortion, according to a Right to Life of Michigan (RLM) press release.

The press release said that the woman was shot in the back-shoulder area while leaving a residence during a heated conversation. The man who shot her was not involved in the conversation and the pro-life volunteer does not know his identity or motive.

Local news outlet WOOD TV8 reported police as saying that the pro-life volunteer was handing out pamphlets when she was shot, after getting into what police called an “alleged verbal altercation.”

The outlet noted that, after getting shot, the woman drove herself to the Lake Odessa Police Department. From there, she was taken to the hospital where she was treated and released.

The RLM press release said that the Michigan State Police are investigating the case, and will forward the results to the Ionia County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

 

 

Categories
Corruption Crime Elections Politics

It ‘Could Cause a Lot of Problems’ FBI took Trump’s Will (That’s a document covered by the warrant???)

Do they really just throw "classified" documents on the floor like that?

Former President Donald Trump said during a Wednesday night appearance on the Fox News show “Hannity” that his will is missing and he thinks the Justice Department has it.

Last month, the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, and confiscated boxes of documents, claiming they should not have been in his possession and included classified material.

The former president denounced the unprecedented raid and said the FBI took a wide range of private papers along with other documents.

On Sunday, Trump made his first trip to Mar-a-Lago since the raid, and he spoke about that with host Sean Hannity in an interview at the Florida estate Wednesday night.

Hannity noted that Trump had lost about 500 pages of documents protected by attorney-client privilege.

“They took a lot. I think they took my will. I found out yesterday,” the former president said. “I said, ‘Where is it?’”

“Am I in it?” Hannity asked as Trump repeated, “I think they took my will.”

“That could cause a lot of problems,” he said, smiling at the Fox News host’s question.

“That could cause a lot of problems if that gets published for people who won’t be so happy, or maybe will be very happy,” Trump said.

The former president said the Justice Department “shopped” until it found someone who would sign the warrant to raid his property.

Trump, who was not at Mar-a-Lago for the raid, said he learned of it when a worker called him.

“I was in New Jersey. I got a call in the morning from somebody that’s here. … ‘Sir, the FBI just came in.’ I said, ‘What? The FBA? Who?’ And they go, ‘The FBI.’ And I said, ‘How many people?’ And he said, ‘Many, many people, sir. Many, many people.”

He said he was told the FBI wanted to do the raid “quietly, silently.”

The former president told Hannity that after he received questions from the media about the raid, he put out a statement announcing it.

“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump wrote in a statement on Aug. 8.

“Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate.”

video
play-sharp-fill

During the “Hannity” interview, Trump said, “I declassified everything.”

That question was debated Tuesday in a hearing by special master Raymond Dearie, who wanted the former president’s attorneys to point to a specific instance or document proving Trump’s claim, according to The New York Times.

Dearie indicated that absent such proof, he would be inclined to agree with the Justice Department on the issue, meaning documents it says were classified will be treated as such.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the conduct of the FBI during the raid.

“Arrived in Florida last night and had a long and detailed chance to check out the scene of yet another government ‘crime,’ the FBI’s Raid and Break-In of my home, Mar-a-Lago. I guess they don’t think there is a Fourth Amendment anymore, and to them, there isn’t,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“In any event, after what they have done, the place will never be the same. It was ‘ransacked,’ and in far different condition than the way I left it. Many Agents — And they didn’t even take off their shoes in my bedroom. Nice!!!”

Categories
Crime Reprints from others.

FETTERMAN’S MURDEROUS CAMPAIGN AIDES: HOW IT REALLY HAPPENED Dr. Oz should never shut up about the Horton brothers.

A great piece from a co writer at substack Ann Coulter.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, recently attacked his opponent, the ridiculous Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, for a pro-criminal record that would embarrass George Soros. Specifically, he criticized Fetterman for employing as aides on his campaign Dennis and Lee Horton, who spent 27 years in prison for a horrific armed robbery murder.

Drunk on his own self-righteousness, Fetterman sanctimoniously responded: “Does Dr. Oz believe that the wrongfully convicted should die in prison?” He added that the brothers “spent 27 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.”

Members of the media, who fervently believe our prisons are just bursting at the seams with completely innocent men, didn’t need to hear more. Suddenly, the entire media-big tech-entertainment conglomerate was screaming at Oz: HOW DARE YOU, YOU MORALLY BANKRUPT DOUCHEBAG! THESE TWO MEN WERE PROVED INNOCENT!

Were they now?

Here’s how the media tells “the actual story,” as somberly delivered by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, who majored in “Easily Fooled” studies at Brown University:

“According to brothers Dennis and Lee Horton [and who would know better?], on Memorial Day 1993, they were out for a joyride when they picked up their friend, a guy named Robert Leaf.

“What they did not know was that Leaf had just murdered Samuel Alemo and was currently being pursued by the police [sketch that scene for me, Chris]. They were pulled over and all three men were arrested.

“The police involved with the case were accused of using a whole host of problematic tactics during the investigation [yes, they were “accused” — accusations laughed out of court by Democratic judges]; eyewitnesses changed their story [they did not] after prosecutors tried to pin the crime on all three of them — the Hortons as well.

“And the district attorney’s case file, which was not made available till 2018 [I think we know why, Larry Krasner!], included a note stating Leaf is the shooter and a police note indicating Leaf acknowledged his role — all seeming to clear the Hortons. [total B.S.]

The Horton brothers, who are black, refused a plea agreement because they said they didn’t want to plead guilty to a crime they did not commit.”

Below, I have edited Hayes’ description to include only those parts that are relevant and actually true:

“on Memorial Day 1993 …

“a guy named Robert Leaf

“They were … pulled over and all three men were arrested.

“The Horton brothers … are black.”

Luckily for people interested in knowing the truth — a group that decidedly does not include Chris Hayes — the Horton brothers spent their years in prison clogging up the courts with frivolous appeals, so it’s possible to find out how these innocent lambs were somehow convicted of A CRIME THEY DIDN’T COMMIT!

In dismissing their most recent appeal, here’s how the Pennsylvania Superior Court summarized the “evidence adduced at trial” — that is, evidence presented in open court, supported by physical evidence and eyewitness testimony, subjected to cross-examination, and believed by 12 members of a jury:

“On May 31, 1993, [Dennis Horton], his brother Lee Horton (‘Lee’), and a co-conspirator Robert Leaf (‘Leaf’) robbed Filito’s Bar located at 5th Street and Hunting Park Avenue.

“During the course of the robbery, [Dennis Horton], who was carrying a rifle, shot Samuel Alemo multiple times. Alemo later died from his gunshot wounds. [Dennis Horton] also shot Luz Archella and her daughter Luz Martinez, injuring both. Leaf brandished what appeared to be a black pistol while Lee took money from bar patrons. After leaving the bar, the three men fled in a blue automobile.

“A passerby was able to supply police with a description of the vehicle and a partial license plate number. A radio call was sent out, which included a description of the three assailants, their vehicle, and the last four digits of the license plate. A police officer observed the vehicle a short time later only a mile from the crime scene, and placed [Dennis Horton] and his companions under arrest.

“Police recovered a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle from the backseat of the car, as well as a black pellet gun under the front passenger seat. Ballistics testing identified the rifle as the same weapon used during the robbery at Filito’s. [Horton], Lee, and Leaf … were taken to the hospital where Martinez and her daughter, as well as another bar patron, Miguel DeJesus, identified them as the robbers.”

(The judges, incidentally, were all Democrats, including the only black woman on the 38-member appellate court, who subscribes to the theory that prison is “The New Jim Crow.”)

As you can see right away, one problem with the media’s version of events is: What the hell happened to the other two guys?

This was a daytime robbery of a bar, where two of the perpetrators walked around, taking the patrons’ wallets at gunpoint — not a nighttime mugging witnessed from 20 yards away. The victims had plenty of time to observe the perps. However much criminal defense lawyers attack eyewitness testimony, the patrons certainly knew it was three guys, not one; that they were black, not white; and they were male, not female.

But more important, right after the murdering thieves sped off, a passerby called the police with a description of the car, including four of six numbers from the license plate. Within minutes, that very car was stopped by the police a mile from the bar. And you’ll never guess what they found in that car … three black guys and a recently fired rifle!

Explain, again, how the Horton brothers happened to be in that car?

 

Right after their arrest, all three men were positively identified at the hospital by the people they’d shot at earlier that day. But even without that identification, again: They were caught in the getaway car, mere minutes after the crime.

So if I understand it correctly, the media’s theory of the crime is as follows:

Immediately after the robbery — and I mean immediately! — Leaf told his REAL accomplices: I’ve got a fantastic idea! You guys get out of the car. I know these two brothers — the Hortons — who look exactly like you and I’m pretty sure are wearing the exact same clothes. Also, their car is identical to yours and — you’ll never believe this — their license plate number is only off by two digits. I’ll just call them to come pick me up and wait here by the side of the road with the long-barreled — and easy to conceal! — rifle we just fired — OH CRAP! IT’S THE POLICE!

Look, it would be one thing if Fetterman defended his years-long PR campaign on behalf of the murdering Horton brothers by saying, They’ve served long enough! Everybody deserves a second chance. I would disagree, especially because the brothers continue to deny their guilt — but in that case, at least Fetterman would only be a gullible fool, and not a despicable, bald-faced liar.

     COPYRIGHT 2022 ANN COULTER

Categories
Corruption Crime Politics The Courts

Philadelphia DA Found in Contempt by State Lawmakers One Day After Judge Says He Made ‘False’ Claims to Court to Free Man from Death Row

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 25: Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks to a reporter at of the election party of public defender Tiffany Caban moments before she claimed victory in the in the Queens District Attorney Democratic Primary election, June 25, 2019 in the Queens borough of New York City. Running on a progressive platform that includes decriminalizing sex work and closing the Rikers Island jail, Caban narrowly defeated Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and scored a shocking victory for city’s the progressive grassroots network and criminal justice movement (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)
Adam Klasfeld  For Law & Crime  Sep 14th, 2022, 7:03 pm

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D), one of the first of a wave of progressive prosecutors elected on a criminal justice reform platform, made “false” claims that his office communicated with the family members of the victims of a man that he sought to free from death row, a federal judge found.

The following day, in what could only be described as a rough week for the top prosecutor, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt for failing to cooperate with the committee investigating his possible impeachment.

“Extremely Disappointed to Learn of the District Attorney’s Stance”

According to a scathing 28-page memorandum opinion, the district attorney’s office wrongly suggested the relatives of the Pennsylvania couple killed by Robert Wharton supported his release from death row. In fact, U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg found, Krasner’s office did not even contact the sole surviving victim of the attack: Lisa Hart-Newman, who was an infant when Wharton killed her parents, turned off the heat, and left her inside the house to die.

“This Court (which only learned of the family’s opposition through the Attorney General’s Office) is not the only one who considered the District Attorney’s representations misleading,” the opinion states. “Lisa Hart-Newman, the infant, now age thirty-seven, who was left to die by Wharton after her parents were murdered, stated she was ‘extremely disappointed to learn of the District Attorney’s stance and very troubled that he implied that the family approved of his viewpoint.’ […] Michael Allen, one of the brothers of the deceased, also noted, ‘[I]t would appear that there was a substantially deficient briefing by the DA’s office regarding the significance and implications for vacating Wharton’s death penalty.’”

Krasner, who worked at the Federal Public Defender’s Office before becoming an elected prosecutor, is an opponent of capital punishment, and one of his early actions in office was to drop dozens of drug charges as the city braced to decriminalize marijuana. His office sided with Wharton in his federal habeas death penalty case on the grounds that his lawyer failed to properly investigate and present evidence of his positive adjustment to prison.

The DA’s office argued they did not they did not need to present a full investigation of the facts for and against Wharton, but Judge Goldberg noted that the Third Circuit gave prosecutors precisely the opposite instruction.

“Trial courts and lawyers take direction from appellate judges,” wrote the judge, who — ethics disclosure here — is the father of Law&Crime’s director of podcasting Sam Goldberg. “This is such a basic legal principle that no precedential or statutory citation is needed.”

“‘Egregious’ and ‘Exceptional’”

Finding Krasner’s office committed “egregious” and “exceptional” violations of the federal rules of procedure, the judge ordered the DA to “send separate written apologies” within 30 days of the ruling to victim family members Tony Hart, Michael Allen, Patrice Carr, and to victim Lisa Hart-Newman. Goldberg, who is approaching his 14th anniversary of his appointment to the federal bench by George W. Bush in 2008, also ordered more candor from the DA in future cases in his courtroom. He declined to impose financial penalties.

The day after Monday’s ruling, a committee of the GOP-dominated Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted to hold Krasner in contempt. Calling itself the Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order, the body was formed over the City of Brotherly Love’s rising crime and murder rates. One Republican lawmaker called for Krasner’s impeachment over what he called the top prosecutor’s “dereliction of duty.”

According to the New York Times, Krasner spurned the legislature’s investigation as antidemocratic and illegitimate. He was voted into office twice by significant margins. The Philadephia Inquirer reported that even large members of his party supported the contempt resolution over his refusal to comply with a subpoena, which passed by a 162-38 margin with almost all Republicans and some 49 Democrats.

The Times reported that the resolution could subject Krasner to a range of penalties — up to imprisonment, but the legislature has not decided upon what to pursue.

Krasner’s office did not immediately respond to Law&Crime’s email requesting comment.

Read the ruling below:

[photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images]

Law&Crime’s managing editor Adam Klasfeld has spent more than a decade on the legal beat. Previously a reporter for Courthouse News, he has appeared as a guest on MSNBC, BBC, NPR, PBS, Sky News, and other networks.

Categories
Crime How sick is this? Just my own thoughts Opinion Politics Progressive Racism

No stories that would make black people — or more to the point, white liberals — feel uncomfortable.

Dems: A Killer on Every Block and Two Rapists in Every Backyard Ann Coulter photo.

My inspiration for this story is from fellow Writer/ Journalist, Ann Coulter’s piece on substack.

Let’s hope that Republicans especially in blue districts point out the huge rise in crime since January 2021. And the recent alleged kidnapping and killing of a white person by a black made page 21 on a large city newspaper. But no white folks have started to riot.

Ann says it much better than I.

But aren’t you glad Democrats have a zillion “crime” proposals that will take guns away from the law-abiding? Just think of what might have happened if we introduced guns into this situation! Under Biden’s “Safer America Plan,” attempted kidnappings will be fought mano a mano: a delicate 130-pound woman vs. a 6-foot, 175-pound man.

Yeah, you can definitely trust Democrats on crime, America.

Democrats enthusiastically supported the 2020 BLM riots that did more than a billion dollars’ worth of damage just in the first two weeks and left at least 25 people dead.

Categories
Crime Human Traficking Opinion Politics Reprints from others.

California Senate Votes Down Amendment to Bill To Make Human Trafficking a Serious, Violent Felony

Stop the loons. Senator Shannon Grove. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe

 

An article from the California Globe.

The California Senate rejected new amendments made by Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) to Assembly Bill 2167 on Monday, rejecting that human trafficking should be considered a serious and violent felony.

AB 2167, authored by Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) and Senator Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), would require courts to consider alternatives to incarceration, including collaborative justice court programs, diversion, restorative justice, and probation. The bill also notes that criminal cases should use the least restrictive means possible.

According to Assemblyman Kalra, he wrote the bill to “encourage restraint in the overuse of incarceration by requiring courts to first consider other alternative options in sentencing decisions.” In his pitch to the Assembly, Kalra tried to win over many on the fence about the issue by pointing out cost differentials, noting that the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) found that incarceration per inmate every year in California is $106,000, while the price of supervised probation a day is $12. This argument however, failed to win many over.

“So the state saves some money each year by doing that,” victim survivor’s advocate Kenji Taylor, who lost her sister to a murder committed by a criminal out on probation, told the Globe on Monday. “What would they say is the price of a human life? Is saving that money really worth people dying for? They never have an answer for that and always think of the criminal more than the people wronged.”

Despite the controversial nature of the bill, AB 2167 managed to pass the Assembly by a tight 42-23 with 13 abstentions in a vote in May, with Republicans and some Democrats either opposing it or not voting on it. Prior to the Assembly vote, the bill had been heavily amended, including writing out a portion that would have heavily favored the use of probations over all other punishments and courts being given the discretion to determine an appropriate sentence rather than it being a rigid system outlined by the bill.

A proposed AB 2167 amendment

While it moved to the Senate, many Senators, both Republican and Democrat, have continued to oppose AB 2167. However, with opposition possibly not being enough to stop the bill from being passed by the end of the session, many have tried to change it through amendments. This included Senator Grove introducing an amendment that would have human trafficking be put down as a serious and violent crime so that probation and other “restorative justice” measures could not be applied to those crimes.

“In California, human trafficking is defined as a non-serious felony and a non-violent crime,” said the Senator during comments on Monday. “How can raping and selling of a child over and over and over again be considered a non-violent crime? I ask that we amend language into this bill and send a message to all Californians that this heinous act will not be tolerated. I’m asking you to give many victims of human trafficking justice and law enforcement to arrest these perpetrators and put them in prison for a very long time. ”

However, on Monday, Senate Democrats rejected adding in the new amendments, voting 31-8 to table to new amendment and not add it in.

“California must prosecute these horrendous acts as the serious and violent crimes that they are,” Senator Grove said after the vote. “The fact that Democrats refuse to do so should concern all Californians.”

In addition, the vote surprised many justice advocates, who thought that it would have been added to the bill as an amendment.

“Look at who voted yes on that amendment question,” continued Taylor. “31 people just don’t care about victims. They can say otherwise all they want, but that single vote just put a hell of a lot of people in danger. I’m just upset and baffled. Why would they choose to protect criminals more than victims?”

AB 2167 is expected to go to a full Senate vote in the next 9 days.

Categories
Back Door Power Grab Corruption Crime Elections

Follow-up: The Curious Case of Jinhua Konnech Inc. and YU Jianwei (于建伟)

How free is an election that uses software written in Wuhan, China?

In the first article, I explained how Konnech Inc., a U.S. software company based out of East Lansing, Michigan, helps manage the poll workers, poll locations, campaigns, assets, mail-in ballots, and supplies necessary to run elections in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Although, the American technology company is used by the U.S. Department of Defense and ‘thousands of election offices across North America’, Konnech Inc., which was founded in 2002, previously built a ‘communication platform’ called ChineseBrief.com for the Confucius Institute.

Furthermore, many of the company’s software engineers and employees graduated from Chinese universities such as Zhejiang University, Nanjing University, University of Science and Technology of China, Beijing Language and Culture University, China Agricultural University, and HuaZhong University of Science and Technology.

For instance, Eugene Yu, the CEO of Konnech Inc., graduated from Zhejiang University in Zhejiang, China, with a bachelors degree in 1982 before receiving his MBA from Wake Forest University in 1988.

Moreover, in Queensland, Australia’s 2020 elections, “count reporting problems on election night” were partly the result of “a new computer system not being tested as planned because ‘coding resources’ were locked down in Wuhan”, according to the digital news company InQueensland.

In fact, these Wuhan coding resources led to four members of the Queensland Parliament — MP Crandon, MP Lister, MP Simpson, and MP Robinson — asking the Queensland Premier on July 15, 2020, why Konnech was given the contract to produce the software administering Queensland’s elections using “China based coders”?

MP Robinson questioned the Premier, “Can the Premier guarantee that Konnech, Inc. does not have a connection to the Chinese Communist Party through its China based subsidiary Jinhua Konnech Inc.?”

And that is where today’s story begins.

Jinhua Konnech Inc.

Consider that a patent application was filed in China for a system of “network voting of absent electorates” by Jinhua Konnech Inc. on February 4, 2015, under two inventors named Chen Wei (陈伟) and Shao Guojun (邵国君).

The rights of that patent were then transferred on October 7, 2015, from Jinhua Konnech Inc. to Jinhua Hongzheng Technology Co., Ltd. (金华鸿正科技有限公司), a Chinese election technology company also founded in 2015.

https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/CN-104618378-A
https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/CN-104618378-A

Rather impressively, Jinhua Hongzheng Technology Co., Ltd. is a software provider for the National People’s Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China.

Hongzheng Technology builds hardware and software including mobile applications for more than 400 NPC clients in more than 20 provinces across China.

Hongzheng Technology is also partnered with Lenovo, Huawei, China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile and has branch offices in Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Wuhan among other places, according to the company’s website.

http://hongzhengtech.cn
Source: Apple App Store

 

Here are some of Hongzheng Technology’s election products:

http://www.hongzhengtech.cn/product/176.html
http://www.hongzhengtech.cn/product/54.html
http://www.hongzhengtech.cn/product/58.html
http://www.hongzhengtech.cn/product/59.html
http://www.hongzhengtech.cn/product/326.html

Interestingly, Hongzeng Tech. was only established on April 13, 2015 which is relatively recent for such a successful company.

The company started with seven investors, two of which that had the last name Yu, which should be familiar to you at this point in the story.

In China, first names and last names are reversed so Yu Lin (于林) would own 99.4% of the company and Yu Jun (于君) along with five other investors would each receive 0.1% of Hongzeng Tech.

Shao Guojun (邵国君), the aforementioned Chinese inventor listed on the Jinhua Konnech Inc. patent, which was transferred to Jinhua Hongzheng Technology Co., Ltd., was also one of the initial investors 0.1% of the company.

The total equity was distributed as follows:

  • He Qiong (何琼) Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%
  • Jiang Zhaoling (江照灵) Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%
  • Shao Guojun (邵国君) Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%
  • Tang Ruixin (汤瑞新) Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%
  • Yu Jun (于君) Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%
  • Zhao Xiangkun (赵祥坤) Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%
  • Yu Lin (于林) Contribution: 497; Percentage: 99.4%

Incredibly, once upon a time, on April 18, 2012, Shao Guojun (邵国君) and Yu Jun (于君) co-applied for a U.S. patent with none other than Konnech Inc. and Eugene Yu.

co-applied for a U.S. patent with none other than Konnech Inc. and Eugene Yu.

https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/US-20130104090-A1

Meaning Shao Guojun (邵国君) not only turns up on a patent with Eugene Yu and Konnech Inc. in the United States, but his name also appears on a Chinese voting technology patent transferred from Jinhua Konnech Inc. to Jinhua Hongzheng Technology Co., Ltd in 2015.

A company which Shao Guojun (邵国君) is a part owner of and a company that is actively building software technology for the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China and openly partnered with Lenovo, Huawei, and numerous Chinese government-owned telecom giants.

A deeper dive into the internet archives on Eugene Yu further reveals that he was once a financial advisor at Prudential Securities Inc. after graduating from Wake Forest University.

https://archive.ph/MDNFc.

To better understand Eugene Yu, an archived 2005 magazine produced by the China Association for Science and Technology in the United States and the American Zhu Kezhen Educational Foundation reveals that Yu was an officer of the American Zhu Kezhen Education Foundation in 2000 and 2001, a foundation which stated mission is to bridge Zhejiang University with American universities.

Most importantly, you will notice that the 2005 magazine list Eugene Yu followed by a Chinese name, Yu Jianwei (于建伟).

https://archive.ph/OFVCf.
Web Cached Magazine

That same magazine with a cover page that says, “Overseas Scholars” provides this paragraph (translated via Google) on Yu Jianwei validating that he is none other than Konnech Inc’s CEO Eugene Yu:

“During this period, I was honored to have Wang Feiyue, Zhu Cheng, Yu Luping (Chemistry 82) and Yang Fang to join the senior Yu Jianwei (Thermophysics 81). Huge help. Under the auspices of Yu Xin (Biochemical 82) and President of Zhejiang University Pan Yunhe, Jianwei holds an MBA degree.

He was the financial advisor of Prudential Company, which seriously held the annual department of Zhu Kezhen’s famous scholar with the support of the famous American. He gave us a lecture, Every year, I invite several academic masters to talk about the same leading into many professional financial systems and investment approaches.

He later studied the frontier progress in the field, which made a huge frontier progress in the academic improvement of Zhejiang University, which made a huge contribution to the academic improvement of Zhejiang University, construction and installation of communications equipment.”

To understand the timeline of how all of these events coincide, I must now introduce you to the Substack article that I stumbled across on Thursday evening that led me to these patents, Shao Guojun (邵国君), and Yu Jianwei (于建伟).

diggersleuth’s Newsletter
A dive into a voter software company
Konnech Inc. was incorporated in 2002 in Michigan by Eugene Yu. In 2005, Jinhua Yulian Network Technology Co., Ltd. was established in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, China with $130,000 USD funds by Yu Jianwei, a person who was a “foreign national person” to China. Is Eugene the Americanized name of Jianwei…

Read more

4 days ago · 1 like · 2 comments · diggersleuth

This next segment will be a timeline featured directly from the author’s excellent analysis that further explains all of these connections.

Timeline

(all domains noted below were registered to Konnech)
  • 2002-03-20 Konnech Inc. Incorporated in Michigan ID Number: 800599006. Eugene Yu holds all officer titles: President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Director of Konnech, Inc. (2021 is the most recent Annual Report with officers listed)3
  • 2002-03-30 konnech.com domain created
  • 2005-11-29 Jinhua Yulian Network Technology Co., Ltd. established in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, China with $130,000 USD funds. Principal of the company is Yu Jianwei (于建伟), a foreign natural person (ie, a US resident).4
  • 2006-01-16 bestbrief.com domain created
  • 2006-01-16 schoolbrief.com domain created
  • 2009-01-08 pollchief.com domain created (Election management software, Election services, Poll worker training)
  • 2009-03-25 Konnech filed for PollChief trademark. Serial Number 77698702, Registration Number 39513965
  • 2010-11-12 abvote.com domain created
  • 2011-04-26 Trademark registered for PollChief
  • 2011-09-07 Konnech filed for ABVote trademark. Serial Number 85416420, Registration Number 43845776
  • 2012-04-18 US Patent application US-20130104090-A1 “Device and method for selection of options by motion gestures“.7 8
    Inventors:

    Eugene Yu (Okemos, MI)

    Jun Yu (Zhejiang)

    Guojun Shao (Jinhua) (See 2015-04-13 and 2015-10-07)

  • 2012-09-05 ipetitioner.com domain created (Signature Verification Software)
  • 2012-09-26 plocation.com domain created
  • 2012-10-12 Konnech filed for iPetitioner trademark. Serial Number 85752482, Registration Number 43910139
  • 2013-04-25 US Patent granted “Device and method for selection of options by motion gestures”. 10 11
  • 2013-08-13 Trademark registered for ABVote
  • 2013-08-27 Trademark registered for iPetitioner
  • 2014-2015 Jinhua Yulian Network Technology Co., Ltd. engaged in “Research and Development of Network Election Backend Server Subsystem”.12 [Translated via Google]
  • 2014-06-06 votedge.com domain created (a Konnech shake to vote app)
  • 2015-04-13 Jinhua Hongzheng Technology Co., Ltd. established13
    Initial Investors
    He Qiong 何琼 Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%

    Jiang Zhaoling 江照灵 Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%

    Shao Guojun 邵国君 Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%

    Tang Ruixin 汤瑞新 Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%

    Yu Jun 于君 Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%

    Zhao Xiangkun 赵祥坤 Contribution: 0.5; Percentage: 0.1%

    Yu Lin 于林 Contribution: 497; Percentage: 99.4%

  • 2015-07-31 hongzhengtech.cn domain created14
  • 2015-10-07 Transfer of patent application right for a Chinese Patent (CN-104618378-A & CN-104618378-B). System and data processing method for network voting of absent electorates. Rights transferred from JINHUA KONNECH, INC., TO JINHUA HONGZHENG TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.15

    Inventors:

    Chen Wei 陈伟

    Shao Guojun 邵国君

2015-10-07 Transfer of patent application right for a Chinese Patent (CN-104618378-A & CN-104618378-B). System and data processing method for network voting of absent electorates.

For starters, you will notice that Jinhua Yulian Network Technology Co., Ltd. (金华宇联网络科技有限公司) was established in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, China on November 29, 2005 by Yu Jianwei (于建伟), a “foreign natural person” to China.

Furthermore, utilizing Chinese search engines, you will find business registrations claiming that Jinhua Yulian Network Technology Co. is the “China R&D subsidiary of Konnech Inc.”

Nothing to see here folks. Move along.