In today's news, here are a bunch of upstanding citizens exercising their second amendment rights, and using good judgement in doing so.

Video released of Waco biker shootout - YouTube

Passing anti-gun laws does not stop criminals from using guns.

Passing pro-gun laws does not stop idiots from exercising bad judgement.

A deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was arrested on suspicion of performing sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl.

The sheriff's department said it assisted the Costa Mesa Police Department with the arrest of 26-year-old Jovanni Argueta in Whittier on Wednesday.

Costa Mesa police said they were called by staff from Costa Mesa Middle School on the morning of Oct. 22, regarding a suspicious man seen on campus.

The man was later identified as Argueta and he left the campus before officers arrived, police said.

Detectives said it was learned Argueta and a 13-year-old student from the middle school originally met online a year earlier through an online fantasy computer game.

Over the course of the year, when the girl was 12-years-old, Argueta met with her on numerous occasions, according to police.

Detectives said Argueta reportedly performed sexual acts with the girl and would meet her both on campus and away from school.

The sheriff's department said Argueta was immediately relieved of duty pending the outcome of his case.

Argueta was hired as a deputy in August of 2014 and was working at a local men's jail.

In a statement, the sheriff's department said in-part, "The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department expects all of its members to hold themselves to the highest ethical and professional standards at all times. Allegations of this magnitude are disturbing and disappointing."

Argueta has been charged with child molestation and child annoyance. He posted bond on Thursday and was released from jail.

A police officer in Texas who was being criminally prosecuted for shooting dead an unarmed black man has persuaded a judge to throw out the charge against him by arguing that he enjoyed immunity under the US constitution.

Charles Kleinert, who killed Larry Jackson Jr while serving as a City of Austin police officer, will no longer face a manslaughter trial after a federal judge ruled on Thursday that Kleinert had protection from state charges because he also worked for a federal taskforce.

Judge Lee Yeakel ruled that Kleinert was shielded by the supremacy clause of the constitution when he shot Jackson in the neck during a struggle at the end of a pursuit in July 2013. Kleinert, 51, was indicted for manslaughter by a grand jury last year. He claimed that he fired his pistol accidentally and had intended instead to strike Jackson with the weapon.

Yeakel said the Texas courts had no jurisdiction over Kleinert because he had been investigating an unrelated bank robbery for his federal task force when he began to chase Jackson, and because he believed his actions against the 32-year-old “were no more than was necessary and proper”.

The decision was described as a “complete outrage” by Adam Loewy, an attorney for Jackson’s family, who said he planned to respond by pleading with the US Department of Justice to bring an unlikely federal prosecution against Kleinert.

“This is a legal technicality that will allow a killer to walk free,” Loewy said on Thursday evening. “It is one of the most horrendous moments in the history of civil rights in this country.”

The supremacy clause of the constitution says federal law “shall be the supreme law of the land” and takes primacy over state law. In 1890 special deputy US marshal David Neagle succeeded in having a murder charge against him in California thrown out by arguing to the US supreme court that thanks to the supremacy clause, a federal officer enjoyed immunity from state prosecution for carrying out “necessary and proper” federal duties.

In Texas Kleinert succeeded in arguing that despite being employed by Austin “he was a specially deputised agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a specially deputised United States deputy marshal, and a member of a federal taskforce and was pursuing his duties as a federal officer when he shot Jackson”.

Eric Nichols, an attorney for Kleinert, said in a statement that the court’s decision was “100% correct” and the prosecution “should never have been brought”. Nichols suggested Texas prosecutors had attempted to “second-guess, Monday morning quarterback or micromanage the conduct of a federal officer”.

‘It is one of the most horrendous moments in the history of civil rights in this country,’ the attorney for Jackson’s family said of the ruling. Photograph: Family photo
The state prosecutors had argued that Kleinert was operating as an Austin police department detective when he decided to pursue Jackson, who had abruptly fled after trying to enter the locked door of the bank where Kleinert was collecting surveillance footage of the earlier armed robbery. It was suggested that Jackson may have been attempting to cash a fraudulent check.

The judge agreed with Kleinert despite the fact he flagged down a car and yelled at the driver: “Austin police – stop!” and showed her his Austin police ID badge before ordering her to help him chase Jackson. According to Kleinert’s attorneys, at the time he was on full-time assignment to the taskforce and used office space at the FBI’s Austin bureau.

When the driver asked if Jackson was dangerous, Kleinert replied: “No.” After getting out of the car and chasing on foot Kleinert caught up to Jackson and struck him twice before firing his gun, which he claimed was accidental.

Texas prosecutors said Jackson was “unarmed, fleeing and posed no threat of serious physical harm to anyone”, and that Kleinert’s actions violated Austin police policies.

Yet the court ruled [PDF] that Kleinert had been entitled to pursue Jackson over suspected bank fraud and was entitled to physically restrain him. “The court concludes that Kleinert subjectively believed that his actions were necessary and proper,” said the judge, who added: “There is no evidence that Kleinert intentionally shot Jackson, nor is Kleinert charged with intentionally shooting Jackson.”

The use of the supremacy clause to have charges against law enforcement officers thrown out has been seen most notably in the cases of full agents of the FBI or other federal agencies. In 1998 a federal judge cited the clause in dismissing an involuntary manslaughter charge against an FBI sniper who six years earlier had killed Vicki Weaver, the wife of the white separatist Randy Weaver, during the siege at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

Former Gov Mitch Daniels and now President of Purdue University, gets pulled over for driving 42 in a 20 AND running a stop sign, and is immediately let off after officer recognizes him

"Daniels was not given a written warning for speeding or running through the stop sign, not asked for his license and registration, and was not told of the dangers of opening his door. The entire encounter lasted 1 min, 13 seconds."

Police in St. Louis say they chased an 18-year-old man down a street until he stopped, placed a gun against his face and shot himself dead.

But witnesses say police shot the man, who has been identified as Amonderez Green, only to later claim he had shot himself.

And although several people were recording, there does not appear to be a video of the actual shooting.

However, one video captures audio of the man’s mother exclaiming, “don’t shoot my baby,” following by a single gunshot.

Then a man can be heard yelling, “don’t kill me, please, oh God!”.

And several video surfaced online of witnesses saying he did not shoot himself along of one video showing his distraught mother asking for her son.

The shooting took place Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Normandy, a municipality just south of Ferguson, where the Green was said to be from.

St. Louis County police issued the following statement:

On 10/28/2015 at approximately 2:00 pm, Normandy Police Officers responded to the 5800 block of Bermuda Drive for a report of a suicidal subject. The individual was being followed by members of his family, who were seeking police and medical intervention.

Normandy officers made contact with this individual, an 18 year old male, in that area, and attempted to open a dialogue with him. The male was uncooperative with the officers and members of his family, and continued walking into the 7700 block of Ellington.

Normandy officers exited their patrol vehicles and again attempted to speak with the individual at which time the male retrieved a handgun from his waist band and began firing shots at the officers.

A Normandy officer deployed their less lethal department issued taser which was ineffective. Officers returned fire, however it appears at this time the male was not struck by law enforcement gunfire. The individual fled through the rear yards on Ellington into the 7700 block of Paddington.

Officers in pursuit of the male momentarily lost sight of him, however, heard one additional gunshot.

As officers turned the corner, they observed the male lying on the ground unresponsive and immediately began rendering first aid. The male was transported to an area hospital where he is in critical condition. Normandy police recovered a handgun lying next to the subject at the scene.

The Normandy Police Department requested the Saint Louis County Police Department’s Bureau Crimes Against Persons to conduct the investigation.

A St. Louis cop investigating a double-homicide Wednesday pulled out a gun to kill a dog, but ended up shooting the dog’s owner instead, who happened to be the mother of one of the murder victims.

The woman was struck in the leg and will survive.

The dog, who was not shot, apparently did not attack the cop as he had feared. The cop’s name has not been released.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

A woman whose son was killed in a double homicide Wednesday was shot in the leg when police fired at her dog during an incident at a home near the homicide scene Thursday afternoon.

Chief Sam Dotson told reporters that at least three officers responded to a home in the 4400 block of Taft Avenue at the request of Missouri’s Children’s Division, as social workers tried to remove a 1-year-old from the home. Officers also were in the area investigating a double homicide that occurred in front of the home about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, he said.

When the social workers and at least one officer made their way into the home, a pit bull jumped a waist-high barricade that was keeping it confined to the kitchen and ran toward the officer and the social workers, Dotson told reporters.

The officer then fired one shot at the dog fearing it would attack him or the social workers, but struck a 42-year-old woman in the leg who was trying to contain the dog, he said.

Dotson characterized the woman’s injury as non-life-threatening and minor.

The shooting is reminiscent of another incident that took place in Iowa in January where a cop, also fearing for his life, shot at a dog, only to strike the dog’s owner, Autumn Steele, killing her.

The dog was only grazed and did not attack Burlington police officer Jesse Hill, who was cleared of any wrongdoing in that incident.

Then in June, an Ohio cop, also fearing for his life, shot at a family dog, only to strike a four-year-old girl instead.

Ava Ellis was struck in the leg and survived. And miraculously the dog did not attack Columbus police officer Jonathan Thomas as he had feared, even though it did not get shot.

Ellis, who is now five, continued to ask her mother, “Mommy, am I going to die?” after she was shot.

a Dallas police recruit is under investigation after a night at a strip club ended in a shooting.

The department says the rookie officer called in sick for his shift, then went to "club v live" with a friend.

That's when investigators say the officer got into an argument with someone there.

The officer wound up getting shot in the ankle at a nearby gas station.

He then drove to a hospital in Irving to get treatment and apparently tried to give them a fake name.

The officer is on leave, while the department investigates.

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has been fighting hard for years hide details about its use of so-called stingray surveillance technology from the public.

The surveillance devices simulate cell phone towers in order to trick nearby mobile phones into connecting to them and revealing the phones’ locations.

Now newly released documents confirm long-held suspicions that the controversial devices are also capable of recording numbers for a mobile phone’s incoming and outgoing calls, as well as intercepting the content of voice and text communications. The documents also discuss the possibility of flashing a phone’s firmware “so that you can intercept conversations using a suspect’s cell phone as a bug.”

The information appears in a 2008 guideline prepared by the Justice Department to advise law enforcement agents on when and how the equipment can be legally used.

The Department of Justice ironically acknowledges in the documents that the use of the surveillance technology to locate cellular phones 'is an issue of some controversy.'
The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California obtained the documents (.pdf) after a protracted legal battle involving a two-year-old public records request. The documents include not only policy guidelines, but also templates for submitting requests to courts to obtain permission to use the technology.

The DoJ ironically acknowledges in the documents that the use of the surveillance technology to locate cellular phones “is an issue of some controversy,” but it doesn’t elaborate on the nature of the controversy. Civil liberties groups have been fighting since 2008 to obtain information about how the government uses the technology, and under what authority.

Local law enforcement agencies have used the equipment numerous times in secret without obtaining a warrant and have even deceived courts about the nature of the technology to obtain orders to use it. And they’ve resorted to extreme measures to prevent groups like the ACLU from obtaining documents about the technology.

Stingrays go by a number of different names, including cell-site simulator, triggerfish, IMSI-catcher, Wolfpack, Gossamer, and swamp box, according to the documents. They can be used to determine the location of phones, computers using open wireless networks, and PC wireless data cards, also known as air cards.

The devices, generally the size of a suitcase, work by emitting a stronger signal than nearby towers in order to force a phone or mobile device to connect to them instead of a legitimate tower. Once a mobile devices connects, the phone reveals its unique device ID, after which the stingray releases the device so that it can connect to a legitimate cell tower, allowing data and voice calls to go through. Assistance from a cell phone carrier isn’t required to use the technology, unless law enforcement doesn’t know the general location of a suspect and needs to pinpoint a geographical area in which to deploy the stingray. Once a phone’s general location is determined, investigators can use a handheld device that provides more pinpoint precision in the location of a phone or mobile device—this includes being able to pinpoint an exact office or apartment where the device is being used.

In addition to the device ID, the devices can collect additional information.

Investigators also seldom tell judges that the devices collect data from all phones in the vicinity of a stingray—not just a targeted phone—and can disrupt regular cell service.

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The documents add, however, that the devices “may be capable of intercepting the contents of communications and, therefore, such devices must be configured to disable the interception function, unless interceptions have been authorized by a Title III order.”

Title III is the federal wiretapping law that allows law enforcement, with a court order, to intercept communications in real time.

Two top senators are probing use by the Internal Revenue Service of secret cellphone tracking systems that are more often utilized by federal or local law enforcement agencies.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen admitted this week that the agency does use the technology, known as cell-site simulators, or StingRays. The admission came after a report by The Guardian that indicated the IRS has spent more than $71,000 to upgrade a version of the device and to receive training from a company that manufactures the devices.

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“We were surprised to learn that IRS investigators may be using these devices,” Mr. Grassley, Iowa Republican, and Mr. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, wrote in the letter. “While the devices can be useful tools for identifying the location of a suspect’s cell phone or identifying an unknown cell phone, we have previously expressed concerns about the privacy implications of these devices.”

Cell site-simulators work by mimicking cellphone towers to trick cellphones to connect to them, enabling investigators to obtain identifying information about the phones and their locations. Law enforcement officers often deploy the suitcase-sized StingRays by hauling them around in vehicles as they drive through neighborhoods looking for a suspect’s phone, scooping up data on the cellphones of any passers-by in the process.

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Texas cops told a man it was against the law to take photos of people’s homes from public property.

Eustace cops were wrong, of course, but we all know cops depend on people being ignorant of the law in order to assert their authority.

In this case, the man knew his rights.

The video was uploaded to YouTube Wednesday by a man named James Meyer, who described it as “my first detainment for having a camera on my neck and walking down the street.”

Meyer is a photographer who apparently is the son of a local firefighter and audio visual technician named Tim Meyer.

This is relevant because at one point in the video, he tries to identify himself to an arriving cop, who apparently is the chief, that he is “Tim’s son.”

Eustace is a town of less than 1,000 people, according to Wikipedia, so apparently everybody knows everybody.

Except the cops didn’t know James, not that it should make a difference.

The cops claimed they were responding to a call of “suspicious activity” – which might sound serious, but it’s vague and holds no concrete grounds for detainment.

“Anytime somebody is around the schools taking pictures, we talk to them,” one cop said.

Sure, but that doesn’t mean the person has any obligation to talk back with them.

The cops went on to tell him that it’s an “invasion of privacy” to photograph people in their front yards from a public street.

And that it’s just better not to take pictures in the direction of their homes anyway, just to be on the safe side.

Meyer admittedly is a rookie when it comes to these audit videos, but he would have done us all a favor had he kept the camera trained on the faces instead of their crotches.

The off-duty officer who was driving the car had posted a photo on his Instagram hours earlier of three shot glasses full of alcohol. In his Instagram post, Officer Pedro Abad identifies the drinks in the photos as “Jack Daniels Fire.” He was at a strip club with a number of other police officers for several hours until they eventually left in a car together and crashed into a tractor trailer going the wrong way down a one-way street.
Read more at Cop Who Posted Shot Pics Before Killing People in Drunken Car Crash Claims He Was Drugged | The Free Thought Project

I guess I was simply a brown face in an affluent neighborhood. I told the police I didn’t like to walk in the rain, and one of them told me, “My dog doesn’t like to walk in the rain.” Ouch!

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Although I am not related to Sandra Bland, I thought about her, Freddie Gray and the dozens of others who have died while in police custody. For safety’s sake, I posted the photo of the officers on Facebook, and within hours, more than 100 Facebook friends spread the news from New York to California.

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For anyone who doesn’t think racial profiling happens, I can assure you it does happen. For a sanity check, I stopped by the mayor’s house and asked him, “Do I look like a criminal?” Mayor Bill Heidemann said no and shook his head in disbelief. I appreciate the mayor being a good neighbor, but why should he need to verify that I am not a menace to society?

At 9:46 p.m. on Tuesday, Tucker can be seen on surveillance video unlocking the back door of a patrol car, while deputies Branden Routh and Salvador Orona remain focused on a computer in the parking spot next to their cruiser. According to Sheriff Donny Youngblood, the deputies rolled down Tucker’s window because he complained of nausea and gave him longer handcuffs because he complained of back problems. Instead of following protocol, the deputies also did not escort Tucker directly to jail and allowed him to escape.

For those of you who have never been arrested, cops don’t roll down your window, they don’t offer you longer handcuffs, and they certainly don’t leave you unattended in the parking garage no matter what excuses you give them. Even if Routh and Orona were engrossed in hardcore **** or fantasy football, they would have easily seen Tucker escaping from the next parking spot over or heard his flip-flops echoing across the garage as he ran towards the ramp.

Although Sheriff Youngblood doesn’t think Tucker had inside help escaping from the garage, the sheriff admitted that he doesn’t understand how Routh and Orona were unable to see or hear Tucker escape right next to them. Youngblood later speculated,

Cali was a fun-loving, caring, peaceful family dog. On March 19, 2014, she escaped the backyard fence.

When cops saw the dog, the situation turned tragic.

When the cops pulled up, Officer Brice Woolley stepped out of the car.

He then went to his car, pulled out his shotgun and shot Cali in her neck.

After he shot her, he laughed and bragged about how “awesome” it looked when her collar flew off.

She had done nothing to provoke the officer. She died immediately.

Woolley informed the animal control that he had shot the dog.

He was then seen laughing and sneering, saying, “Did you see her collar fly off when I shot her? That was awesome!”

Woolley is then reported to have said, “We’ll just write in the report that it tried to attack people in the neighborhood.”

Police have a history of bragging and laughing after committing horrendous crimes.

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