Free Republic

'Cowboy cop' who planted crack under couple's car seat to boost arrest quotas escapes jail after SOBBING in court. A veteran NYPD detective framed an innocent couple by planting crack in their car during a search. Arbeeny was convicted of ‘flaking,’ the practice of planting drugs on blameless people to reach their quota of felony collars and claim overtime, the New York Daily News reported. He was found guilty of putting a twist of crack under a car seat in Yvelisse DeLeon and Juan Figueroa’s car during a January 2007 bust in Coney Island, New York. The trial which ended...

‘Crack 4 sale’ sign in Houston — business advertisement or cautionary tale? Signs advertising garage sales and companies claiming “We Buy Ugly Houses” are common sights for drivers heading through the Brooksmith neighborhood on the eastern edge of the Heights. But on Tuesday morning they were treated to a different sort of DIY marketing. Sometime overnight, a hand-painted sign was posted on a telephone pole on W. Cavalcade near I-45 pointing the way to “crack 4 sale” just east of 45. And, according to the sign, this crack is available 24 hours a day without any fear of H.P.D. interference....

Really, how many times do we have to say this? If your drug dealer shorts you, steals your money, or provides a substance other than the illegal one sought, do not call 911. Suzanne Basham, 47, made that mistake yesterday morning when she dialed police in Springfield, Missouri to report that she had paid $40 for crack cocaine that turned out to be sugar. Basham, who was not seeking a sugar high, asked cops to arrest her dealer for theft (and, of course, secure a refund for her). While patrolmen went to the address where Basham said she purchased the...

While giving an economic speech in Osawatomie, Kan., President Obama said, “It is great to be back in the state of Texas.” Watch as he quickly corrects himself.

A huge, emerging crack has been discovered in one of Antarctica's glaciers, with a NASA plane mission providing the first-ever detailed airborne measurements of a major iceberg breakup in progress. NASA's Operation Ice Bridge, the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown, is in the midst of its third field campaign from Punta Arenas, Chile. .. The glaciers of the Antarctic, and Greenland, Ice Sheets, commonly birth icebergs that break off from the main ice streams where they flow in to the sea, a process called calving. The crack was found in c, which last calved a significant...

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 20 (UPI) -- A Missouri kindergartner brought his mother's crack pipe and an ounce of drugs to his school's show-and-tell day, police said. The children had been told to bring important family items to class at the Sweet Springs school, and school officials called police when the child produced the pipe and several baggies of drugs from his backpack, KCTV, Kansas City, reported Monday. Police said the child's mother, Michelle Marie Cheatham, 32, has been charged with possession of a controlled substance and one count of first-degree child endangerment. Police Chief Richard Downing said a child...

Megan Kelly presented this scientific explanation for the unsuspected Earth Quake that has affected DC

Canada has lagged behind us when it comes to securing natural rights, but in the realm of liberal rights, they are still miles ahead. While our bureaucrats grant people the right to force others to pay for their cell phones, Canada’s benevolent rulers are bestowing free crack pipes: Vancouver health officials will distribute new crack pipes to the city’s non-injection drug users this fall as part of a pilot project aimed at engaging crack cocaine smokers and reducing the transmission of disease such as hepatitis C.

Currently, mouth pieces are available for free, but not the pipes themselves. Officials hope it will reduce exposure to diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis. ... free heroin needles are also already available around Vancouver at safe injection sites. Free crack pipes are also available to addicts in Seattle

On the heels of a law signed last year by President Barack Obama limiting sentences for crack cocaine offenses, thousands of prisoners for crimes related to the drug will be eligible for early release, the U.S. Sentencing Commission ruled Thursday. More than 12,000 prisoners nationwide who have been convicted of felony crimes related to the possession, sale and trafficking of crack could have their sentences reduced in light of the decision, which piggybacks off the Fair Sentencing Act. The law, which more closely aligns recommended sentences for crack to those for powder cocaine and which was signed last August, didn’t...

Obama has to get his “crack” vote ready for 2012. So what a better way then to give at least 12,000 early releases from jail via the “Fair Sentencing Act.” Did you know the Democrat controlled Congress last year passed this bill? I guess everyone was focused on the ObamaCARE bill and the nightmare Frank-N-Dodd bills. The so called “Fair Sentencing Act” is describe by the Washington Post as “narrowing the huge disparity in punishment” given to those convicted of possessing crack cocaine versus those found with the drug in powder form. Wow, I’m sure glad they cleared that up...

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - Police arrested a 41-year-old man last week after he called 911 and told officers that he was not given the correct change after buying crack cocaine from a drug dealer.

Upset that his cocaine dealer had given him the wrong change, a South Carolina man called police to complain about the unsatisfactory transaction and, of course, was promptly arrested. According to cops, Dexter White, 41, called 911 to report that he paid his dealer $60 for crack cocaine, but had received only $20 worth of the drug. White contacted police with his consumer complaint around 4:30 AM Friday (an hour at which Better Business Bureau operators apparently were not standing by). A North Charleston Police Department report notes that White, in a written statement, identified his supplier as “C,” and...

ELYRIA — A Norwalk woman accused of shoplifting fled an Elyria Walmart yesterday in only a bra after getting into a scuffle with a security officer, according to an Elyria police report. Police were dispatched to Walmart, 1000 Chestnut Commons Drive, at just after 11:30 p.m. Friday to reports a woman had fled the store wearing only a bra and carrying store merchandise that had not been paid for, the report stated. Officers were told the woman was running through the Walmart parking lot and had gotten into a vehicle on Chestnut Commons Drive.

Brooke Mueller walked into a pawn shop in Inglewood, CA. early this morning, and tried to hock an expensive men's watch and a stereo ... and sources tell TMZ Brooke has fallen off the wagon. An employee at the shop, Jack Feldman, tells us ... Brooke was desperately trying to get cash for the two items ... but the store would not make the purchase because Brooke did not have a valid I.D. In the surveillance footage from the store obtained by TMZ, Brooke nervously and anxiously paces around the store while the employees check out the items.

Chemical, sawdust, newspaper mix used to plug leak at nuclear plant By the CNN Wire Staff April 3, 2011 -- Updated 1015 GMT (1815 HKT) Tokyo (CNN) -- Workers on Sunday poured a chemical compound mixed with sawdust and newspaper into a crack at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility that's been a conduit for highly radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean, a utility company official said. This follows an unsuccessful attempt a day earlier to use concrete to plug the 2-meter-deep (6.5-foot-deep), concrete-lined basin, where authorities had found water gushing directly into the sea via a roughly 20-centimeter...

Crack in concrete called source of radioactive water leaking into sea By the CNN Wire Staff April 2, 2011 -- Updated 0719 GMT (1519 HKT) Tokyo (CNN) -- Highly radioactive water from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is leaking into the Pacific Ocean from a cracked concrete sump near the No. 2 reactor, an official with the plant's owner said Saturday. Water from the two-meter deep, concrete-lined basin could be seen escaping into the sea through a roughly 20-cm (8-inch) crack, an official the Tokyo Electric Power Company told reporters Saturday afternoon. But the company could not explain...

A Fort Pierce, Fla., man riding a bicycle thought he had the perfect spot to hide his crack, but he didn't count on a police dog's sense of smell. Clarell Jamar Colbert was arrested after police found a tube of crack in his buttocks after a drug-sniffing dog smelled a "narcotic odor coming from his rear," according to tcpalm.com. According to a police report, Colbert, 19, was spotted by a St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office deputy Feb. 18 riding his bike in the middle of the street, where he was obstructing traffic. When the deputy approached Colbert, he jumped off...

"Strunk v Paterson (Obama): First time in the USA since 1824; Judge has opined on what Natural Born citizen is; Concludes Obama is not a NBC. Via Chris Strunk; The first time anywhere in the USA since 1824, that any Judge has opined on what Natural Born citizen is and concluding that BHO Jr. is not NBC. This affidavit will be notarized tomorrow and duly served by two days mail upon Justice Schmidt and the State in regards to the appearance on a personal and confidential basis with the intent that Plaintiffs understanding of the record of the hearing be...

The half-gram bottle of bath salts promises an "invigorating" and "energizing" experience. But to local and federal authorities, it's another dangerous product misused as fake cocaine that's sending youths to emergency rooms and mental hospitals in Florida and across the country. As federal officials prepare to ban synthetic marijuana, specialty shops and convenience stores across Florida have started stocking up on bottles of bath salts. Louisiana and Florida authorities have linked these bath salts to at least two suicides in Louisiana, 21 calls to Florida poison control centers and dozens of hospital visits in Central and South Florida in the...

This year, Floridians learned that burials at sea don't work if the body doesn't sink, giant snail mucus can make you sick and that an underwire bra can stop a lawyer from visiting her client in prison. Florida lived up to its reputation for being an odd state in 2010, with residents committing stupid crimes, making poor decisions and exhibiting general weirdness. There was the man pulled over in Manatee County who claimed the crack in his crack wasn't his. Officers found bags of marijuana and crack cocaine stuffed between the man's butt cheeks. He said the pot was his...

Ten years ago, days before Christmas, President Bill Clinton changed my life forever. I was in federal prison, serving the seventh year of a 24-year sentence for a first-time nonviolent crack cocaine offense. Clinton's mercy and acknowledgement that my sentence was unjust led him to grant me a commutation. Had he not done so, I would be in prison until 2016...Indeed, I went to prison for being complicit in my abusive boyfriend's crack cocaine trafficking operation. Prosecutors in the case acknowledged that I never sold, handled or used any drugs.

Deputies arrested a man Friday who is accused of hiding crack cocaine in his buttocks. Charles Everette Robinson, 30, of the 3300 block of Ellington Court, Fort Myers, was charged with battery on a nurse, trafficking cocaine, introduction of contraband into a detention facility and two felony counts of driving while license is suspended/habitual offender. Bond was set on all but one of the driving counts which had bond denied. He remained Monday in Lee County Jail. According to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office reports: While deputies searched Robinson after his arrest, they believed he was “possibly holding something in...

PROSPECT HEIGHTS (WPIX) — Police say an "Ugly Betty" actor held his mother hostage and then murdered her with a samurai sword while screaming Bible passages Tuesday in Brooklyn. Neighbors identified the suspect as Haitian-American actor Michael L. Brea, who has had roles on the TV series "Ugly Betty" and movie "Step-Up 3-D." He was also the face of a campaign for the energy drink Coca-Cola: Full Throttle, according to Haiti Internet movie database website BelFim.com. Neighbors on the first and third floors of 501 Park Place in Prospect Heights heard screams coming from the apartment on the second floor...

Liquor stores reassess Four Loko for ‘liquid crack’ reputationBy Meaghan Beatley Updated: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 06:10 Recent concerns over the popular alcoholic energy drink Four Loko have prompted at least one Boston liquor store to stop selling the beverage that is often referred to as "liquid crack" and "cocaine in a can." Four Loko was linked to a recent incident involving nine Central Washington University students, some of whom were hospitalized on Oct. 9 for alcohol poisoning, according to a statement by the Washington Attorney General's office. Emmett McDermott, department manager of Liquor Land in Dorchester, said the store...

Barack Obama is a reformed doper, so of course he's against legalizing marijuana. Another disappointment for the legions of politically progressive fans who'd taken to Obamania as though it was its own opiate. Who is this guy, anyway? He's said he smoked dope and snorted coke in his youth. So where's the empathy, man? But forget about its effect on his policies. His druggie past is not helping him shape the overarching grit of his public character nearly as much as it could be. Weed and cocaine? Who's going to be impressed with that, when his hugely successful contemporaries like...

..."Contemporary characterizations and depictions suggest that African American males harbor a lifelong disregard for their own personal development, and a lack of commitment to their loved ones and society in general," a societal attitude that keeps them from being helped, he said. Black male youths are likely to grow up in single-parent homes. The boys often don't have fathers residing in the home to serve as role models...Black males, even as boys, are more likely than other male peers to suffer from stress-induced depression and other physical and mental health problems that may result in homicidal and suicidal behaviors as...

Seattle area drug users have relied on a University District needle exchange for two decades, but now, crack addicts can get a safe fix as well. Shilo Murphy runs the Non-Profit Peoples Harm Reduction Alliance, which organizes the U-district needle exchange. "A participant came up to me and said, you give out syringes for injection drug users but you don't care about the ones who use crack. Where are our services?'" he said. So Murphy did some research, "There's a real disease issue that no one to my knowledge is doing anything about," he said. Certain Hepatitis strains can be...

A pregnant La Crosse woman on probation is accused of trying to rob a South Side restaurant for drug money late Tuesday only to fail when she could not pull her weapon - a hammer - from her shorts. "I want a soft shell and this is a stickup. Give me all your money," the woman reportedly told the cash-ier about 10:40 p.m. at Taco John's, 1211 Jackson St

I guess affirmative action applies to drug traffickers, too. From US News: Under the current penalty structure, established during the so-called "crack epidemic" of the late 1980s, possession of crack can carry the same sentence as the possession of a quantity of cocaine that is 100 times larger. "So-called "crack epidemic""? No bias there. According to U.S. Sentencing Commission figures, no class of drug is as racially skewed as crack in terms of numbers of offenses. According to the commission, 79 percent of 5,669 sentenced crack offenders in 2009 were black, versus 10 percent who were white and 10 percent...

Data Show Racial Disparity in Crack SentencingObama signed the Fair Sentencing Act to make punishments for crack and cocaine more equal By Danielle Kurtzleben Posted: August 3, 2010 It's not often that the federal government relaxes sentences for drug crimes, especially with strong bipartisan support. **SNIP** The disparity in cocaine penalties grew out of the skyrocketing use of crack in the 1980s and the trends in violence that accompanied it, especially in urban areas. Indeed, there appears to be more violence associated with crack offenses. U.S. Sentencing Commission statistics show that 29 percent of all crack cases from October 1,...

Congress has finally reduced the... unjust sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses... ...The Fair Sentencing Act will reduce the 100-to-1 federal sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, substances that are chemically indistinguishable, to 18-to-1. The bill also eliminates the mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession... Under current law, possession of five grams or more of crack cocaine possession triggers a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison; simple possession of any quantity of most other controlled substances by a first time offender, including powder cocaine, is a misdemeanor offense punishable by a maximum of one year...

They toppled Hillary Clinton, crushed John McCain and managed to get the first black man elected president of the United States. But now a series of recent missteps just keeps getting worse for Barack Obama's political operation, already under fire from inside the party for losing its golden touch. The second-guessing of the White House political shop — which is coming in part from top House Democrats — was sparked anew late Wednesday by news that the White House tried and failed to coax another Democratic Senate candidate out of making his race by dangling administration jobs in front of...

A woman is arrested for selling crack cocaine after a month-long investigation. Broome County Special Investigations Unit executed a narcotics search warrant at 9 Maria Manor and arrested 20-year old Chaliscia Shorts of Binghamton.

David W. Johnson has worked for Gov. David A. Paterson for much of his adult life. He began as a young, ambitious intern from Harlem when Mr. Paterson was a state legislator. He rose to be Mr. Paterson’s driver, serving as a kind of protector and scheduler. In recent months, however, Mr. Johnson’s ascent has been striking: he is now one of the most senior people in the governor’s administration, paid $132,000. He is described as Mr. Paterson’s closest confidant, a man with a designated room in the Executive Mansion, and a broadening role in areas like campaign fund-raising, government...

Carlos Laurel, 31, and Andre "Sug" Hardy, 39, of Lincoln Street, face eight charges related to cocaine trafficking. Police arrested Laurel and Hardy after they showed up at a Kingston residence and allegedly delivered 50 bags of cocaine to the unidentified occupant Tuesday at about 5:53 p.m. Police estimate street value of the cocaine was $2,500. Hardy, who is on federal parole for previous cocaine distribution charges, also had 10 bags of marijuana hidden in his waistband, cash and a cell phone. Laurel is on Luzerne County probation until 2013 and has been previously arrested on drug-related charges, according to...

If you happen to be walking down the streets of Brooklyn and a tuxedo-clad dolphin tries to sell you crack, don't be concerned. It's not real. Neither is the dolphin. The not-so-illegal narcotics scheme is just performance artist Nate Hill's latest act. Every other Saturday night, Hill dons a dolphin headpiece and white tuxedo and delivers $1 bags of "crack" – packs of crushed up sugar cubes flavored and colored with snow cone syrup, in actuality – to anyone in Williamsburg and Greenpoint who calls in an order. He peddles his wares between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. like a...

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric Holder sought support Wednesday for erasing the gap in prison sentences for crack and powder cocaine crimes, a disparity that hits black defendants the hardest. The effort to change federal sentencing laws for cocaine has broad support but may still unravel amid disagreements about how equal the sentences should be, and whether the whole sentencing system needs to be changed. "One thing is very clear: We must review our federal cocaine sentencing policy," Holder said at a legal discussion sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus.

FORT PIERCE — A 40-year-old man who is suspected of trying to sell bread as crack cocaine to pay bills is facing charges, according to an arrest affidavit released Monday. A deputy about 12:50 a.m. Sunday saw a man identified as Timothy Allen Riggin, of the 600 block of Avenue E, peeking around the rear building of the Nowalk Motel. Riggin ran from the deputy, but was apprehended near U.S. 1. Investigators turned up several pieces of faux crack cocaine in his pocket, according to the affidavit. “When I located the counterfeit crack, the male immediately said it was bread,”...

High on the hog: Slaughtered pig traded for crack, Syracuse police say by Robert A. Baker / The Post-Standard Friday June 05, 2009, 3:44 PM Syracuse, NY -- A Fulton resident was arrested Thursday for drug possession after police witnessed a drug transaction that was paid for, in part, with a half of a slaughtered pig, Syracuse police said. Police were conducting surveillance about 7:40 p.m. in the 200 block of Merriman Avenue when they saw the two men conduct a drug transaction including the half of pig, Lt. Joe Cecile said. The half of pig and $10 were used...

fter nearly 20 years of quietly handing out free, clean needles to drug users on Berkeley's streets, the city's needle exchange is coming out of the shadows. In April, a year ahead of its 20th birthday, the Needle Exchange Emergency Distribution became a registered charity, a certified nonprofit group and last year was able to get a state grant that increased its yearly budget to more than $100,000. "We've really grown a lot in the last year," said NEED's 22-year-old director Christina Muller-Shinn. "When we got the money from the state, we were able to hire staff and before we...

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said the administration believes Congress' goal "should be to completely eliminate the disparity" between the two forms of cocaine. The Obama administration joined a federal judge Wednesday in urging Congress to end a racial disparity by equalizing prison sentences for dealing and using crack versus powdered cocaine. "Jails are loaded with people who look like me," U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, an African-American, told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing. Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said the administration believes Congress' goal "should be to completely eliminate the disparity" between the two forms of cocaine. "A growing...

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is asking Congress to close the big gap in prison sentences for dealing crack versus powdered cocaine, a law that critics say is unfair to blacks. Such sentencing reform efforts tend to focus on lowering the mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine possession, but in prepared testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer did not spell out exactly how the administration hopes to make the law more fair. "The administration believes Congress' goal should be to completely eliminate the disparity in prison sentences between crack cocaine and...

VIENNA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama should recognize traditional uses of the coca leaf because not all production becomes cocaine, Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Wednesday. Morales, a former coca farmer, also called on participants at a United Nations drug policy meeting in Vienna to lift a ban on coca for some uses. "My top aim (in coming here) is to defend coca, to fight for coca," Morales told a news conference through a German translator. Bolivia is the world's No. 3 cocaine producer after Colombia and Peru. Coca, the raw ingredient of cocaine, is used by millions of...

The Cecil County Sheriff's Office said a deputy about to take a bathroom break at a gas station smelled crack cocaine and made a quick arrest.

Wow! I never knew spiders would hve these reactions.Link

Earlier this year, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Commission finally succumbed to years of immense political pressure from the NAACP, left-wing judges, the ACLU and other liberal groups to decriminalize the federal penalties for trafficking in crack cocaine. Now upwards of 20,000 crack dealers will be released back on inner-city streets within the next 12 months. They’ve all had years of a steady diet of “gangsta” rap music and made new drug contacts in prison, and now will not be intimidated by the new, puny prison sentences for selling gram amounts of crack cocaine. Many argued that the mandated five-to-10-year sentence...

He said he would ask President-elect Barack Obama to push for legislation to help cities, particularly for infrastructure renewal and employee pensions.

Truth is stranger than fiction. Last night I appeared on a pre-taped segment of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” The reporter on the satirical show, John Oliver, and I discussed community organizing. I said in the segment that aired, “community organizers use crack cocaine in exchange for votes.” The segment aired, coincidentally, the night before another story about community organizers and cocaine broke. KyPost.com reported today that a self-identified ACORN worker who allegedly uses crack and is allegedly a prostitute just got arrested in Ohio. Returning to the statement I made on “The Daily Show” that has been...

Today I received the following email via Facebook from Dan Mitchell, a New York Times reporter. It was a reaction to my appearance last night on the satirical news show, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” On the show I talked about community organizing, ACORN, electoral fraud and related matters. Mr. Mitchell wrote: I notice that you have a picture of you and Oliver there. This seems to be fairly common among people who have humiliated themselves before millions of people on shows like the Daily Show -- they pretend they were in on the whole thing and it's all...