Tag: police state

Maine Democratic Governor And GOP Senate Leader Oppose Bill To Decriminalize Drugs And Invest In Treatment

Maine saw a reduction in the number of overdose deaths in 2023. But with hundreds upon hundreds of drug-related deaths last year, advocates and lawmakers say the state is still in the midst of a serious crisis.

In total, there were 607 confirmed or suspected overdose deaths in 2023, a 16 percent drop from the record total of 723 in 2022. Along with the 607 deaths, there were 9,047 confirmed nonfatal overdoses last year (compared to 9,760 in 2022).

“I think it’s hard to talk about this because that’s still 607 people who died last year and I don’t want to celebrate that whatsoever,” said Courtney Gary-Allen, organizing director of the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project. “That being said, there is a reduction, and I think we should be proud of the work that we’ve all collectively done on this issue.”

Gary-Allen cited investments in treatment by Gov. Janet Mills’ administration, the bipartisan consensus that substance use is a serious crisis that needs to be addressed, and the passage of the Good Samaritan law—which created enhanced protections from prosecution at the scene of an overdose to encourage people to call for help—as possible reasons for the reduction in deaths in 2023. Others have also cited the increased availability of the opioid overdose reversal naloxone.

Still, Gary-Allen said there is much more to do to address the overdose epidemic.

“I still have the faces in my head” of those who have died from drug overdoses, she said.

One proposal, backed by advocates in the recovery community and sponsored by Rep. Lydia Crafts (D-Newcastle), is to decriminalize the personal possession of illegal drugs and invest in an array of treatment options.

Supporters of the measure argue that criminalizing drug use pushes people into the shadows, making it harder for them to get help. Policing drug use and imprisoning people for substance use-related crimes also takes money away from a treatment-based approach, proponents of the bill say.

In all, policy analysts estimate the state could save around $45 million a year from not punishing people for possession of small amounts of drugs. Under the terms of the proposal, that money would then be invested into expanding what advocates say are often scant treatment options around the state.

Keep reading

‘Deliberately indifferent’: Jailers ridiculed woman wrongly arrested for DUI after suffering massive brain hemorrhage in crash, lawsuit says

A Washington state woman alleges in a lawsuit she was arrested for a DUI when she was suffering from a medical emergency after a car crash and the nightmare she endured to get immediate treatment led to a lifelong severe traumatic brain injury.

Nicole McClure, 38, alleges in a lawsuit that authorities ridiculed her for being drunk and offered her “another shot” at the Thurston County Jail on March 21, 2022, and only took her to the hospital the next morning after finding her unresponsive in a puddle of urine on the jailhouse floor.

“Dubin Law Group takes Nicole’s injuries and experiences very seriously,” said her attorney, Anne Vankirk, in a statement to Law&Crime. “She is fortunate to still be alive today, but she will never be the same person she was that night. Justice for Nicole is at the forefront of our considerations.”

The lawsuit, alleging negligence, breach of duties, and vicarious liability, names as defendants Thurston County, the jail and Washington State Patrol (WSP). Chris Loftis, a WSP spokesperson, said the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation. The trooper involved was not disciplined, he said.

The complaint obtained by Law&Crime lays out the allegations that started that March night, when McClure was in a collision as a result of a medical emergency while driving home from work.

Before the crash, a trooper noticed her vehicle was traveling “at a noticeably slow rate of speed.” He approached with lights and sirens, but McClure’s vehicle continued to travel slowly west.

The trooper deactivated his lights and sirens and called for backup. Then McClure’s vehicle collided with the center of a roundabout at a traffic circle in Olympia. The impact disabled her vehicle.

She was arrested at gunpoint and handcuffed and was not given a Breathalyzer or roadside sobriety test, court documents said. Troopers saw that her eyes were bloodshot, and her speech was repetitive and slurred. Her eyelids were tremoring.

“Troopers observed that plaintiff’s behavior was erratic and she had difficulty following very simple instructions,” the complaint said.

She was taken to a hospital, where her blood was drawn, but a trooper made no mention of the crash to medical staff, the lawsuit alleges.

After the hospital visit, McClure was booked into the Thurston County Jail on charges of DUI and felony eluding, court documents said.

Over the next 24 hours, “jail staff made fun of plaintiff and ridiculed her for being a drunk,” court documents said.

“Jail staff offered plaintiff ‘another shot’ but did not get her the basic medical care she desperately needed, or even attempt to complete the booking process,” the documents added.

She was found the next morning unresponsive in a pool of her urine. She couldn’t stand and began vomiting profusely. She was taken to a hospital emergency department a few hours later.

Medical staff quickly took her into surgery. She had part of her skull removed to try to relieve pressure and to save her remaining brain function. She was hospitalized for 17 days.

Court documents said the delay in treatment resulted in sunken brain syndrome, a cranioplasty, and a lifetime of decreased capacity.

She continues to suffer from hemorrhage symptoms and a significant brain injury. She can’t work and will never be the same again, her lawyer said.

Keep reading

An Alabama Couple’s Lives Were Upended by an Unconstitutional Police Raid. A Jury Awarded Them $1 Million.

Six years ago, Greg and Teresa Almond were left destitute and living in a utility shed after sheriff’s deputies in Randolph County, Alabama, illegally raided their house and seized their savings over a misdemeanor drug crime.

Now the Almonds will be made partly whole, at least financially. Last month, a jury in their federal civil rights lawsuit awarded the couple $1 million in punitive and compensatory damages after trial testimony showed the deputies never got a warrant to search the Almonds’ property.

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Department’s 2018 raid on the Almonds’ house, first reported by the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, exemplified the worst aspects of the war on drugs and civil asset forfeiture—a practice that allows police to seize property when it’s suspected of being connected to criminal activity. 

On January 31, 2018, a Randolph County sheriff’s deputy showed up at Greg and Teresa Almond’s house in Woodland, Alabama, to serve Greg court papers in a civil matter. The deputy reported that he smelled marijuana.

A county drug task force returned two hours later, busted down the Almonds’ front door, threw a flash-bang grenade at Greg Almond’s feet, detained the couple at gunpoint, and ransacked their house. The search only turned up $50 or less of marijuana, which the Almonds’ adult son tried in vain to claim as his, and a single sleeping pill outside of a prescription bottle with Greg’s name on it.

Using the paltry amount of narcotics as justification, deputies seized roughly $8,000 in cash, along with dozens of firearms and other valuables, under Alabama’s civil asset forfeiture laws. The deputies took the money right out of his wallet, Greg Almond told Reason in 2019.

More than a year after the initial raid, the Almonds were indicted on two misdemeanor charges: unlawful possession of marijuana for personal use and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, thus violating “the peace and dignity of Alabama.” However, prosecutors dropped the charges, and a judge ordered their property to be returned.

The Almonds filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2019 alleging that the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department used excessive force; stole, lost, or failed to inventory their missing property; and violated their constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, as well as their right to due process.

That was in addition to the other injuries they suffered. As a result of the raid and arrest, the Almonds’ missed a crucial deadline to refinance loans on their farm and lost their house. Their reputation was tarnished, and their ability to earn a living was practically destroyed.

What’s more, depositions and trial testimony showed that the deputies never obtained an official search warrant from a judge for the raid.

Keep reading

Over Half of Fani Willis’ Campaign Contributions Allegedly Tied to Illegal Money Laundering, New Complaint Claims

Soros-funded Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is now at the center of a scandal involving her campaign finances.

A new complaint filed alleges that nearly half of Willis’ campaign contributions, amounting to approximately $168,000, are linked to illegal activity, including money laundering and identity theft.

The Gateway Pundit first reported Fani Willis’ money laundering network way back in September 2023.

A bombshell investigation has uncovered jaw-dropping connections between Fani Willis and a sprawling web of election fraud and money laundering activities.

The investigation, which spans across multiple states and multiple jurisdictions, has revealed a complex network of illicit operations aimed at undermining the very foundation of our Constitutional Republic and the rule of law.

Sources close to the matter suggest that Willis was a massive beneficiary in the Federal and Georgia RICO enterprises. It appears that she is currently playing a key role in orchestrating a systematic scheme to manipulate election outcomes, casting doubt on the integrity of the entire electoral process.

In the lead up to the 2022 midterm elections, my team uncovered a massive money laundering network of campaign finance contributions being made via ActBlue. One of the top beneficiaries of this money laundering RICO enterprise was none other than Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock. The Gateway Pundit was the first news organization to cover the massive money laundering network that financed the Raphael Warnock campaign.

As our investigation progressed, we expanded our efforts into other states such as Missouri, Maryland, Wisconsin, Arizona, and then into every single state.

Working with the Epoch Times investigative journalist Steven Kovac, we made a stunning find. Many of the top ActBlue “Contributors” never made the individual contributions. Many of these “Not Employed Individual Contributors” were the victims of a highly sophisticated money laundering scheme.

The scheme was further exposed when I provided the data to James O’Keefe and his people at O’Keefe Media Group who captured many unwitting “Money Laundering Smurfs” in Maryland.

This massive ongoing money laundering operation involves wire fraud, evasion of campaign finance limits, structuring of financial transactions, tax fraud, non profit fraud, identity theft, and elder abuse.

The RICO operation is still in operation today. Using the identities of unwitting elderly, and other democrat voters, this massive RICO money laundering enterprise is the fuel for the entire election fraud RICO operation.

The information on Fani Willis campaign contributions was obtained directly from the State of Georgia campaign finance database “HERE”.

The first item we identified in the Fani Willis campaign finance report was that there were 222 contributions to her campaign that had ZERO donor information.

You can check the names for yourself using the FEC campaign finance database “HERE”.

Keep reading

Ohio Lawmaker Warns Colleagues They Risk Losing Reelection For Undermining Voter-Approved Marijuana Legalization Law

An Ohio lawmaker is warning colleagues that passing legislation to undermine voters’ decision to legalize marijuana in the state will jeopardize their reelection prospects—specifically cautioning against proposals to redirect tax revenue to law enforcement.

Rep. Juanita Brent (D)—who has previously emphasized the need to involve people who’ve been disproportionately impacted by cannabis criminalization in the legalization implementation process—spoke about the politics of marijuana policy in the legislature during a panel organized by the Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center last week.

With a primary election in Ohio coming up next month, Brent said that “if we go against the people in the state of Ohio, I don’t expect any of us to get reelected because we are not going for what the people want.”

“I know sometimes people feel like they know best when it comes to people, but the people who know best is the people who got me here elected and the people who who voted” for legalization, she said.

Fifty-seven percent of Ohio voters passed a legalization measure at the ballot in November, but the Republican governor and GOP leadership has insisted that further changes to the law are needed, particularly as it concerns the timeline for legal sales.

Other proposed changes have proved more controversial, including a push from Gov. Mike DeWine (R) to use cannabis tax dollars to support law enforcement.

Brent said that “what we can do is we allocate this money and make sure that people have access to it, instead of giving all this money to police training.”

“It blows my mind—particularly how much money they want to put towards police training within the state—but particularly for hospital agencies which came out of the Senate. It to me is ridiculous,” she said. “People have told us time and time again when Issue 2 was passed what they want. All we’re doing right now is going against the people’s will.”

Keep reading

‘Cruel and unusual’: Daughter of inmate with bipolar disorder who killed self sues prison for failing to provide adequate mental health care

An inmate classified as among the most severely mentally ill killed himself in solitary confinement at a Wisconsin state prison after officials failed to provide adequate mental health care and medications, the man’s daughter alleges in a federal lawsuit filed this week.

Dean Henry Hoffmann, 60, died in June at Waupun Correctional Institution (WCI), a beleaguered facility with chronic inadequate staffing and inmate overcrowding, more than an hour northwest of Milwaukee.

“Every day I fight for some type of change within the system, and I’m hoping that this really drives that home, and something like this — holding them accountable — will lead to change,” Megan Hoffmann Kolb told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Prison officials declined to comment, citing a policy against commenting on pending litigation, the newspaper reported.

Court documents obtained by Law&Crime outline the events leading up to Hoffmann’s suicide after he was sentenced last February to 28 years in prison after his conviction for assaulting his ex-girlfriend.

Hoffmann had a history of mental illness that included bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, hypothyroidism, diabetes, and anti-social personality disorder, court documents said.

Before his trial, he had been deemed by mental health professionals and the court as being mentally ill but competent to stand trial, even though there was strenuous disagreement, the lawsuit said. In custody, he was categorized as “MH-2A,” the most severe category of mental illness, court documents said.

On April 10, Hoffmann was transferred to WCI with about 30 days of medication. When he went in, the facility had been locked down for safety reasons after some inmates had broken prison rules, court documents said. Because of lockdown restrictions, Hoffmann was never given a psychological exam and had received only some of his prescribed medications, the lawsuit alleges. He had only been able to use the phone twice in the first weeks. Guards unplugged the phone on him mid-conversation in one call.

He asked for medical treatment and showed serious symptoms of mental illness, including severe anxiety, paranoia, pressured speech, poor judgment, poor insight, loss of appetite, weight loss and insomnia, court documents said.

His frustrations mounted on June 20, when he refused to return to his cell after showering, citing “fear of his safety because of threats his cellmate made to him,” the lawsuit said.

When guards ordered him into his cell, he refused. He was handcuffed and escorted into the prison’s Restricted Housing Unit for “a minor incident despite Mr. Hoffmann expressing concerns for his safety.”

While in solitary, Hoffmann began to rapidly deteriorate mentally and physically.

Keep reading

Treasury Department’s Janet Yellen Dodges Questions on Financial Surveillance of “MAGA,” “Trump”

A wave of backlash for the Biden administration has been triggered following a probe into a surveillance mission by the Treasury Department targeting Americans. Republicans have been seeking answers about the initiative, which involved surveilling bank records of Americans for “extremist” activities post-January 6.

Recent reports revealed a controversial directive from the Treasury Department regarding the monitoring of financial transactions. Under this directive, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) asked financial institutions to investigate their clients’ transaction data for terms such as “MAGA” and “Trump.” This sparked an outcry from Republicans who questioned the government’s monitoring strategies.

This comes following a revelation of the specific sectors and demographic being targeted — Trump supporters, patrons of outdoor stores like Cabela’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Bass Pro Shops, and individuals who bought religious texts. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen encountered numerous questions about these retrieval requests during her appearances on Capitol Hill this week.

However, these intense inquiries were deflected by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who responded that the matter was under investigation and that she didn’t have extensive knowledge about the situation.

Keep reading

Cops Arrested Him for a Fictitious Traffic Violation Because He Flipped Them Off

On a Friday night in July 2018, Des Moines police officers Ryan Steinkamp and Brian Minnehan saw Domeco Fugenschuh, a 22-year-old black man, driving west on Hickman Road. Steinkamp and Minnehan, both white, were assigned to a “special enforcement team” focused on illegal guns, drugs, and gang activity. They had no reason to believe Fugenschuh was involved with any of that, but they decided to follow him anyway because he “sat up slightly” and “turned his head to stare at the officers” as he passed them.

After the cops followed Fugenschuh for several blocks, he expressed his irritation at the unjustified attention by giving them the finger. Steinkamp and Minnehan did not like that, so they continued following Fugenschuh and pulled him over for an invented traffic violation. During the stop, the officers handcuffed Fugenschuh, roughed him up, searched his car, and arrested him for the alleged traffic infraction. They also charged him with marijuana possession after the car search turned up a bit of pot and a portable phone charger that they mistakenly thought was a digital scale.

When Fugenschuh sued Steinkamp and Minnehan for a litany of constitutional violations, they argued that they were shielded by qualified immunity, which bars federal civil rights claims against government officials unless their alleged misconduct violated “clearly established” law. Last Saturday, U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Helen C. Adams rejected that defense, ruling that a jury should hear Fugenschuh’s allegations because it might reasonably conclude that Steinkamp and Minnehan ignored constraints that should be familiar to every police officer in the country.

The decision was a small victory for civil liberties, and the abuses that Fugenschuh suffered pale beside the sort of outrageous police conduct that tends to attract national attention. But this run-of-the-mill case nicely illustrates the wide discretion that the Supreme Court has given police officers to harass motorists for no good reason—leeway that cops nevertheless manage to exceed on a regular basis.

The facts of the traffic stop are mostly undisputed, conceded by the officers and/or verified by dash and body camera footage. Steinkamp and Minnehan pulled Fugenschuh over after he stopped at a red light, signaled a right turn, and turned onto 30th Street. When Steinkamp approached Fugenschuh’s car, he initially refused to explain the justification for the stop. Instead he ordered Fugenschuh out of the car and handcuffed him.

After Fugenschuh “asked numerous times why he was stopped,” Steinkamp claimed Fugenschuh had “cut off” a car that was moving north on 30th Street, as evidenced by the fact that the driver had applied his brakes. Fugenschuh disputed that account, which apparently irked Steinkamp, who “proceeded to bend Fugenschuh over the hood of the patrol car,” “pull his handcuffed arms up above his body,” and push his face into the hood of the car.

While frisking Fugenschuh, Steinkamp asked if he had insurance, at which point Fugenschuh began cursing at the cops. “You’re going to jail now,” Steinkamp responded.

Keep reading

OUTRAGEOUS! FBI Refuses to Turn Over Seth Rich Laptop – Is Still Hiding Its Contents from American Public Despite Court Order – And Now Makes Up Ridiculous Story to Prevent It’s Release

Attorney Ty Clevenger is the bulldog attorney who has been after the DOJ and FBI for years to get to the bottom of the Seth Rich murder.

Clevenger also investigated who supplied the DNC and Podesta emails to the DNC during the 2016 election cycle This was always the key to the Trump-Russia collusion nightmare.  No proof was ever offered up by the fake news legacy media, Democrats, or the intelligence community on this scandal. If Russia did not supply the DNC emails to WikiLeaks then this was more proof that the DOJ’s Russia collusion story was a complete lie used to fool the American public.

After years of denying they had anything related to Seth Rich, the FBI and DOJ were caught lying over and over again.  In September 2023, a judge finally demanded the FBI and DOJ provide all they had regarding Seth Rich to Attorney Clevenger. The FBI responded requesting another 66 years before releasing the information. They wanted it moved out like the JFK assassination reports.

Then in late November, a Federal Judge ruled the FBI must hand over evidence regarding former DNC employee Seth Rich’s murder to Ty Clevenger.

This is big news since one year earlier the FBI was attempting to bury the information on Seth Rich for 66 years.

No media outlet has covered the Seth Rich story as extensively as The Gateway Pundit.

After weeks of waiting for the FBI to release Seth Rich’s laptop to Attorney Ty Clevenger, we now have a new update from Ty.

The FBI is completely dug in in the coverup of the Seth Rich murder. Chris Wray’s FBI continues to defy the court and will not release the laptop computer.

And now, according to Attorney Ty Clevenger, the FBI is making up a new story and a new excuse on why they cannot release the laptop.

The FBI is clearly hiding something.

Could it be that the Seth Rich computer confirms that he leaked the Hillary Clinton emails to Wikileaks as its founder Julian Assange implied?

Could it be that the FBI blamed Russia for leaking the emails when they knew that was not the truth? There was no computer hack. The emails were leaked.

And could this explain Seth Rich’s mysterious death?

Keep reading

Lockdowns Were Counterterrorism, Not Public Health 

As previously reported, in the United States, the Covid pandemic response was designed and led by the national security branches of government, not by any public health agency or official. 

Furthermore, we do not have a public record of what the national security pandemic plan actually stated. 

So what? You might ask. Why should we care if Covid policy was determined by the National Security Council (NSC) instead of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)? What’s so bad about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) taking over as lead federal agency for pandemic response, replacing Health and Human Services (HHS)?

National security is about protecting us from threats of war and terrorism

The answer to these questions is, in short, that the national security pandemic response plans, devised under the rubric of biodefense, are aimed at countering bioterrorism attacks. They focus on preventing hostile actors from obtaining bioweapons, surveilling for potential bioweapons use, and developing medical countermeasures. 

According to the World Health Organization, “biological and toxin weapons are either microorganisms like virus, bacteria or fungi, or toxic substances produced by living organisms that are produced and released deliberately to cause disease and death in humans, animals or plants.” 

In the rare event of an actual bioweapons attack – the biodefense strategy can be summarized as quarantine-until-vaccine: keep individuals as isolated from the bioweapon as possible, for as long as necessary, until you have an effective medical countermeasure (medicine/vaccine). 

Keep reading