It was revealed today that slained Border Agent Brian Terry was armed with bean bags when he got into a gunfight with his killers, who by the way were armed with rifles supplied by the United States Government.
(Fox News) The Justice Department on Monday unsealed an indictment charging five individuals allegedly involved in Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s death, and announced a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the arrest of those suspects still at large.
For the first time, federal officials also revealed that Terry and an elite squad of federal agents initially fired bean bags — not bullets — at a heavily armed drug cartel crew in the mountains south of Tucson in December 2010. During the exchange, Terry was shot and killed.
The 11-count indictment, originally handed up by a grand jury in November 2011, implicates five defendants in the killing. A sixth suspect has also been charged in a related incident.
How long until the White House blames the Bush administration for arming the US Border Patrol with Beanbags?
Here is more on the charges from the FBI bulletin:
According to the indictment, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, Ivan Soto-Barraza, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, and Lionel Portillo-Meza are charged with crimes including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, attempted interference with commerce by robbery, use and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, assault on a federal officer, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. A sixth defendant, Rito Osorio-Arellanes, is charged only with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery.
The 11-count third superseding indictment (Case Number: CR-11-0150-TUC-DCB-BPV), which was handed up by a federal grand jury in the District of Arizona on November 7, 2011, alleges that on December 14, 2010, five of the defendants (Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, Ivan Soto-Barraza, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, and Lionel Portillo-Meza) engaged in a firefight with Border Patrol agents. During the exchange of gunfire, Agent Terry was shot and killed. The indictment alleges that the defendants had illegally entered the United States from Mexico for the purpose of robbing drug traffickers of their contraband. In addition to the murder of Agent Terry, the indictment also alleges that the five defendants assaulted Border Patrol Agents William Castano, Gabriel Fragoza, and Timothy Keller, who were with Agent Terry during the firefight.
United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy said, “Agent Terry died in the line of duty while protecting his country. But he was more than a federal agent—he was a son, a brother, a co-worker, and a friend to many. The indictment unsealed today reflects the progress our dedicated law enforcement team has made piecing together this complex murder case. But there is more work to be done and we will not rest until we bring justice to the family of Brian Terry.”
“United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry made the ultimate sacrifice in December of 2010, while protecting our border,” stated James L. Turgal Jr., FBI Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix Division. “Today’s announcement is an important step forward in the pursuit of justice for Border Patrol Agent Terry and his family. It is our hope that the publicity surrounding this case will lead to information concerning the whereabouts of the remaining four fugitives. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue those individuals responsible for the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.”
Manuel Osorio-Arellanes has been in custody since his arrest the night of the shooting. Rito Osorio-Arellanes has been in custody since December 12, 2010, when he was arrested by Border Patrol agents on immigration charges. The indictment is being unsealed today in order to seek the public’s assistance in locating the fugitive defendants.
This case is being prosecuted in federal court in Tucson by attorneys from the Southern District of California, Special Attorneys Todd W. Robinson, David D. Leshner, and Fred A. Sheppard. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona is recused. This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
An indictment is a formal charging document and defendants are presumed innocent until the government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Taxmageddon is coming.
CNN’s write-up of President Obama’s speech today:
President Barack Obama revitalized his push for holding down middle class tax rates Monday, calling on Congress to pass a one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for people earning less than $250,000 a year.
In a White House statement delivered while people described as working Americans stood behind him, Obama said his proposal would provide the certainty of no tax increase next year for 98% of Americans.
Noting that Republicans seek to maintain all of the Bush tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, Obama said both sides therefore agree on extending the lower rates for middle class families.
“Let’s agree to do what we agree on, right?” Obama said to laughter and applause in the East Room. “That’s what compromise is all about.”
Breitbart News’ John Nolte sums up why ending the Bush taxcuts now would be a bad move for small business owners.
Regardless, as a general rule, there is no worse time to raise taxes than when the economy is slowing (as it is now). Taking money out of the private sector as though the government can somehow spend it better is a formula for economic suicide. But to take money directly away from those who create jobs in this country is grossly irresponsible, although, for this president, not at all surprising.
What Obama’s obviously doing here is again ginning up the class warfare weaponry; cynically attempting to pit the middle class against the wealthy, even if that means hurting those who create the jobs that employ the middle class and the poor.
The second bomb this unbelievably cynical and failed president is dropping on his failed economy today is more uncertainty. Currently, America’s job creators are not only worrying about what kind of bureaucratic hell ObamaCare will rain down on them; they now have to worry about where this tax debate will lead. Until today, Congressional Democrats favored extending the cuts up to those making $1 million. So this is a real kick in the teeth.
If you’re a small business owner thinking about hiring or expanding but you have the spectre of all the costs and hidden costs of ObamCare hanging over you, that’s bad enough. But now Obama is signaling a fight to raise your taxes on top of that.
Least we forget, President Obama believes the private sector is doing just fine — so is anyone truly surprised at his push to raise taxes yet again?
After growing increasingly frustrated with my web host I decided to dump the host completely and move the publishing network Tumblr. And trust me after all the up and downtime we were experiencing before on the old host’s servers this decision was a no-brainer. Cost-wise Tumblr is FREE, which means I no longer have to worry about fitting hosting into my monthly budget. However, if you still want to donate I’ll be sure to get the donate button on the sidebar.
Immediately, you’ll notice there are some technical differences between the previous site setup and Tumblr. The main change being there are no longer site categories. I loved posting to different categories because it gave the content some focus. And if someone wanted to learn more about the topic I was writing about at the time all they needed to do was click on the category tag. This change shouldn’t be a huge issue for that many people.
Also, Tumblr doesn’t support all the funky post customizations I was doing on the old set-up. Again, this is something you as a reader don’t care about, but I found having control of those customizations to be one of the struggles I had with making this move.
But I believe being on Tumblr is the best decision I could have made. (Just look at how fast this page loaded!)
The site motto is the same, I still want to expose the leftist agenda and write about the absurdities these leftists say. From Van Jones, to Obama, to The Occupy movement and beyond. Let’s get posting, or as they say here on Tumblr, tumbling!
It’s story time!
Everyone gather around the computer screen with your loved ones and listen to this wholesome tale on how a group of leftist misfits tried to manipulate the 24-hour news cycle into pushing their agenda by using a team of fake Twitter accounts, over-hyped political campaigns, and a dash of pure evil.
This is the story of Brett Kimberlin, The Speedway Bomber, a habitual liar who is known for abusing the legal system to void the first amendment rights of anyone who dares to write about him.
This is the story of Neal Rauhauser, The Internet Troll, a social media genius who can push any idea on Twitter, Facebook, and blogs and get the media talking about it the same day.
This is the story of Ron Brynaert, The Conspiracy Theorist, a sociopathic fiction writer who believes there is an ulterior motive behind every single message posted online.
This is the story that connects everything together: from Brett Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution, to the internet scandal known as Weinergate, and the SWAT-ting of Conservative bloggers. All these stories are connected and they can be explained through a logical timeline of events.
Prologue: It’s all about Brett Kimberlin
If you have been following the blogosphere for the past couple of weeks you probably already have good handle on who is Brett Kimberlin. The newly established Wikipedia entry has a non-biased description of Kimberlin:
“Kimberlin is an American political activist best known as the perpetrator of the Speedway bombings in 1978. Since his release from prison, Kimberlin has co-founded the non-profit Justice Through Music Project and the activist organization Velvet Revolution. He has also been involved in various legal disputes.”
While the article you are currently reading doesn’t spend any time on the Speedyway bombings I feel it is important for anyone who reads further to Google Brett Kimberlin’s name. His past actions speak volumes about the man’s character. As Greg Allmain notes the story of Brett Kimberlin all started with a little girl and gets increasingly deadly. When this The Brett Kimberlin saga began I knew very little about him. But, through the efforts of Lee Stranahan’s “Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day” and the great work bloggers have done after it has sort of came very clear Brett Kimberlin truly is behind it all.
Before I explain what I mean I want to spend some time exploring the past of some of the other characters involved. (Note: And for a preview check out The Other McCain right now!)
Part 1: How Brett Kimberlin Met Sally
Ron Brynaert is just one of the characters involved in the whole Brett Kimberlin story. Not many people have a true grasp of the relationship he and Kimberlin have had over the past decade. And I have to admit there are only a handful of facts that connect the two. To some it might feel like we are playing a game of connect the dots to establish this connection between Kimberlin and Brynaert. But, who doesn’t like to play connect the dots?
According to Ron Brynaert’s own personal bio, he was born in New York and attended Syracuse University where he majored in Literature and minored in History. After exiting college he worked as a video store manager in the Big Apple while he perfected his fiction writing craft.
ADD Moment: Does anyone else remember the comment Lee Stranahan made last year pondering if all the fake Weinergate Twitter accounts were operated by someone who had a background in creative writing?
After the Iraq War began in 2003 Brynaert wrote a play about a journalist embedded in the middle eastern conflict. The play titled “The Rules of Embedment or Why Are We Back In Iraq?” was about a fictitious journalist named Ted Wolf who found himself embedded with the United States army in Iraq.
ADD Moment: Ted Wolf has no connection to Dan Wolfe, aka @PatriotUSA76, aka the man that sent Andrew Breitbart a photo of Anthony Weiner’s underwear, right?
A cut scene of the play was published on Brynaert’s website and the dialogue seems eerily similar to something one would hear at any Occupy Wall Street protest a decade later:
POLICEMAN #1 - Please, people! Listen to me! For your own good, get back!
POLICEMAN #2 - Move back! Everybody better get the fuck back NOW!
(Some of the people near the front take a step back and try to urge the crowd behind them to do the same. PROTESTOR #1 - a young woman with peace marks written in black magic marker on her cheeks - slips through the crowd and approaches the barricades to address POLICEMAN #1.)
PROTESTOR #1 - Let us through, damn it! You cops don’t have the right to stop us from getting to the rally!
(PROTESTOR #2 - a young man in his thirties carrying a ‘No Blood For Oil’ sign - begins an ubiquitous protest chant while cupping his hands over his mouth.)
PROTESTOR #2 - Whose streets?
(Most of the people in the crowd, including PROTESTOR #1, back him up.)
CROWD - Our streets!
PROTESTOR #2 - (louder) Whose streets?
CROWD - (even louder) Our streets!
(POLICEMAN #2 waves his club in the air at the awakening crowd.)
POLICEMAN #1 - Look, lady, it’s for your own protection. The city wasn’t expecting this many people. You should be thanking us. We’re providing public safety.
(POLICEMAN #2 stops taunting the crowd with his nightstick.)
PROTESTOR #2 - Safety for who, all the merchants and storeowners? None of us want your ‘neighborly’ help.
Needless to say, it didn’t garner any attention and was never put into production. In at least one journal entry on Ron Brynaert’s blog he happily approved of the Velvet Revolution’s agenda - in 2005. Shortly thereafter, according to Brynaert’s own bio, he realized he had a ‘knack for investigative blogging’ and was quickly propelled to the main editor gig for RawStory.com.
Brett Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution began as a coalition of leftist groups with a single agenda in mind — to expose Karl Rove’s alleged manipulation of the 2000 and 2004 elections. One of the organizations that was part of this coalition was a progressive Drudge-clone named, RawStory.com. Three months before Ron Brynaert joined Raw Story the website described its connection to Kimberlin’s non-profit organization:
“For the sake of full disclosure, RAW STORY is a member of the [Velvet Revolution] coalition but holds no financial stake.”
The relationship between Velvet Revolution and Raw Story continued after Brynaert took the helm as main editor. In a 2008 interview, Brett Kimberlin was introduced as being the moving force behind Raw Story. (Patterico and Seth Allen) Meaning, any political agenda Brett Kimberlin and Velvet Revolution needed spread on the internet would first be published on Raw Story after Ron Brynaert’s approval.
ADD Moment: A show of hands: who else knew about Velvet Revolution’s agenda in 2005?
I would be completely shocked if all those years when Ron Brynaert was the main editor of Raw Story if he didn’t have a professional relationship with Brett Kimberlin. Completely shocked.
Part 2: The Big Failure of Velvet Revolution’s first agenda.
Coming Soon
Sunday morning BreitbartUnmask, an anonymous Twitter account that many believe is operated by the Speedway Bomber Brett Kimberlin himself, tweeted his support of violent ‘Black Bloc’ tactics.
‘Black Bloc’ is a tactic where protesters change into all black clothing to conceal their identities. They then participate in more direct and violent actions against capitalism targets. In some instances ‘Black Bloc’ protesters have been known to set cars on fire and throw crude bombs at police.
In the message retweeted by BreitbartUnmask is a video that in part suggests more should take part in ‘Black Bloc’ tactics as a means to air their grievances against the government.
“Alone, our powers wane in the face of increased governmental scrutiny. Combined, we have the capacity to become an unstoppable force within the movement. For those of you who dare to raise your fist and voice in defence of our very freedom, join us.”
If the BreitbartUnmask account is indeed operated by Brett Kimberlin then this would be a shocking and potentially dangerous development. In 1981 Kimberlin was convicted in the Speedway Bombings.
Last February another one of Brett Kimberlin’s proxy accounts Occupy Rebellion posted a blatant lie about violence at Occupy Wall Street. She suggested that the late Andrew Breitbart was paying individuals to commit crimes at Occupy. Then BreitbartUnmask retweeted her. One has to wonder what has changed in the past few months that these Brett Kimberlin supporters would suddenly favor violent tactics.
