"South Mpls. neighborhoods on high alert"

MINNEAPOLIS ALERT

From Channel 5 Eyewitness News:

Two neighborhoods in Minneapolis are on high alert, after a string of armed robberies on the city's south side.

There have been six robberies over the last week, right on the streets, in the Longfellow and Standish neighborhoods.

The cases appear to be similar. Police say one or two men approach the victims in the early evening and rob them at gunpoint. In each case, the victims were either getting home, or standing outside of the homes.

Witnesses say the robbers drove an older blue or black full-size SUV with tinted windows.Anyone with any information is encouraged to contact Minneapolis police.

Another Minneapolis Quagmire update & City Pages takes notice

Minneapolis police just issued a robbery crime alert dated 1/31/06, which closely follows the 1/26/06 robbery crime alert. The current alert is for businesses; the earlier alert is for street robberies (see also here).

3rd Precinct January 31, 2005

Armed Robberies of Business

Facts:

Minneapolis police are investigating a series of robberies of businesses that have taken place in recent weeks throughout the city, including some in the 3rd Precinct. The incidents have involved males entering small shops and convenience stores, usually wearing masks and carrying shotguns or handguns, and demanding money. Most of the robberies occurred from 5:00 to 11:30 p.m. Police encourage small business owners and employees to be alert and extra cautious.

Woe be unto Minneapolis come spring.

G.R. Anderson of City Pages takes note of the recent Minneapolis violence, and in particular (like Rambix has) points out that it occurred in a "good" neighborhood, which makes it especially striking.

Three murders and one reaction

Up until September 2004, I lived across the street from where Victor Garma lived. That's why when news broke earlier this week of his murder in a botched robbery in his townhome, I couldn't help but feel a little shaken.

And others in my social circle clearly felt the same way: Info on Garma's Ford Explorer, which the assailants used as a get-away, circulated via e-mail at work. My best friend, who lives on the block with his wife and three-year-old daughter, called me to express some well-founded anxiety and some barely calibrated fear. Televison news crews pumped the story beyond the 24-hour news cycle.

This was a "good" neighborhood, the conventional wisdom was saying--and because of that, this was an outrageous crime.

Mr. Anderson also points out the sad fact that murders and violence are so routine on the North Side, they garner little attention:

Beyond one Star Tribune story by David Chanen, Reier said not much was asked about the other two murders, since they happened on the North Side, where apparently these killings have become so routine that we generally don't acknowledge them much beyond the fact that they happened.

"Do you know how many incidents are logged on the Watch Command Report overnight?" Reier asked rhetorically. ""I read them every morning. Here's one: 9:15 p.m., multiple shots fired at Henry High School. 9:25, ten minutes later, uncooperative victim at North Memorial. It's noted that's not tied to the shots at Henry. Midnight, uncooperative gunshot-wound victim, north side. That's one evening.

"Almost every day or night, this goes on," Reier continued, "And 80 percent of it is on the north side. The rest are mostly out of the 3rd Precinct [south central]. It's only when it happens somewhere elsed you hear about it."

Violent crime is unacceptable anywhere it occurs; we're counting on the Mayor and Chief McManus to take proactive, uncompromising steps to crush the criminal insurgency in Minneapolis.

Fox 9 News reports on Minneapolis robberies

Minneapolis-based local Fox 9 News reports a string of 6 armed robberies in South Minneapolis. They interviewed a local Realtor who was actually showing a house to prospective buyers when armed gunmen approached, asked him the time, and stuck a gun in his face.

In a disappointing twist, Fox 9 News described the criminals only as young men driving an SUV. It's disappointing because it's usually the Red Star suppressing suspect information, and clearly Fox 9 is censoring details in this case. After all, they interviewed one of the victims in person .

If anyone knows the Realtor involved and can get the suspect descriptions, please pass them on to Rambix at rambix@ix.netcom.com, and it'll be posted. We can't rely on the MSM for that public safety information.

Exposing the left - Kos Kids and more

A fellow MOB blogger and Minnesota political analysis must-read, Kennedy vs. The Machine, has a nice run of posts which (1) expose the sordid underbelly of the Kos Kids Krew, (2) shine the light of truth on local "crime-fighter" Senator-wanna-be Amy Klobuchar's association with the radical left, and (3) uncovers Ms. Klobuchar's utter disregard for the will of the (majority) of the people in her non-support of a proposed Constitutional Amendment to ban homosexual "marriage".

Hennepin County Attorney Klobuchar is treading on dangerous ground (not that we discourage it!), and Gary and Andy and the boys are happy to publicize her mistaken ways.

Meanwhile the Kos Kids, representative of a large and growing part of the radical left, show themselves to be the crude, uncivilized, feral leftists that they are. Wider exposure of their antics is good for the right.

Behold! Another Minneapolis Robbery Crime Alert

The area of Minneapolis the Crime Alert encompasses is pretty much Normalville (other than being infested by liberals, but that's another story). In other words, this ain't the hood. And look at the times - not a lot of "high risk" behavior going on at 7 pm.

So strap on your gats, South Minneapolis liberals, and prepare to defend thyselves. Oh, that's right, you don't have any. Because you don't believe in having them.

Good luck! (And by the way, have you seen this in the Red Star?)

MINNEAPOLIS POLICE CRIME ALERT

3rd Precinct January 26, 2006

Facts:

Since January 20, there have been six street robberies that appear similar. One or two males have approached victims in the early evening hours and robbed them at gunpoint. In each incident, the victims were either arriving home in their vehicles or standing in front of their address. The victims may have been targeted by the suspects and followed from another location.

The incidents are:

1/20 33xx 44th Ave. S. 8:00 p.m.

1/23 43xx 40th Ave. S. 5:40 p.m.

1/25 40xx 18th Ave. S. 7:00 p.m.

1/25 40xx Standish Ave. 7:20 p.m.

1/25 35xx 22nd Ave. S. 7:55 p.m.

1/25 36xx 44th Ave. S. 10:15 p.m.

Suspect information:

Suspect #1: Black male, 15-20 years, 5'9", light build, dark complexion, clean-shaven, dark hoodie, armed with a silver handgun.

Suspect #2: Black male, 17-20 years, 6'2", dark hoodie, armed with a .38 revolver.

Vehicle description: Older blue or black full-size SUV (possibly a Suburban) with tinted windows.

Killer captured

The criminal with the claim to fame of being the first murderer of 2006 in Minneapolis has been captured: "Man arrested in Minneapolis' first murder of 2006"

Prosecutors charged the man they say committed the first homicide in Minneapolis this year.

The arrest of Andre Johnson follows the discovery of the victim's body on the morning of January 22, outside North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale.

This appears to be a case of domestic conflict, a condition that too often results in violence.

"According to police records, police reports from Saint Paul and Minneapolis.these two had a very violent past.domestic related relationship," says Captain Rich Stanek with the Minneapolis Police Department.

The last call to police was a week ago. According to the criminal complaint, Johnson fired his gun several times that night as he drove through a north Saint Paul neighborhood. Police say Janaya was also there and the two argued. Two days later, Janaya was dead.

One wonders if he was jailed following the gunshot episode. If not, he should have been. Maybe the young lady could have had a chance.

One down, too many more to go.


[Photo courtesy of Kare 11 News]

Isaiah Rider fulfills his potential

Remember Isaiah Rider, one of the early Timberwolves? Troublemaker? Time challenged?

It seems that he finally worked up to his potential: "Former T-Wolves Guard Charged With Kidnapping".

(AP) Marin, Calif. Troubled former NBA player Isaiah Rider appeared in court Friday to face kidnapping charges but did not enter a plea because he did not have a lawyer.

Rider, 34, was arrested Thursday on charges of kidnapping and battery, said Sgt. Bruce Baker of the Marin County Sheriff's office. Rider, who also faces an outstanding warrant for resisting arrest in Alameda County, was released Friday from Marin County Jail on $2 million bail.

Rider allegedly got into an argument Wednesday night with the unidentified female acquaintance and drove off with her against her will, Baker said. The woman began to scream, attracting the attention of police. Authorities tracked Rider down early Thursday morning and arrested him, Baker said. The woman was not injured.

He has indeed sunk to expectations.

Good luck to you, Mr. Rider. May you excise your demons.

Keep the thuggery on the field

When it comes to recruiting athletes for our University athletic programs, character is not always high on the list of desired attributes. If anyone had the opportunity in college to rub elbows with some of the athletes, in particular football and basketball players, you know that many are good people, but others are flat-out criminals and thugs. And sometimes when thugs will do some thuggery.

The Red Star reports today that two University of Minnesota athletes, one a football player, the other a wrestler, have been charged with 3rd degree assault for re-arranging the face of the victim at a house party:

Two University of Minnesota freshman athletes have been charged with third-degree felony assault and suspended from their teams for their roles in a December fight.

According to a criminal complaint, football player Marcel Jones and wrestler Nate Matousek punched and kicked a 20-year-old man at a house party Dec. 9. The victim suffered broken teeth and required reconstructive dental surgery.

Ouch.

Violence and aggression are rewarding on the field and the mat, but the athlete needs to know when to turn the switch off. Beating someone at a party is thuggish behavior, and these two should be sent packing forthwith.

More Blogger host problems [resolved]

UPDATE: Fixed. For now.

Apologies again for the appearance of the blog today. It had gone back to normal for awhile after yesterday's troubles.

Are we being hacked?

More Twin Cities racial violence

(H/T Nws377)

Last year brought us news of "reverse" racially motivated bus stop beatings, both involving black on white crime, "St. Paul bus stop beating - racially motivated?".

The latest news is no less troubling: "One injured, three arrested in St. Paul high school attack".

An incident at Harding High school appeared to be racially motivated and premeditated, principal said.

This appears to be yet another "reverse" hate crime (yes, it can work both ways). The authorities, of course, would like to play down the race angle.

A ninth-grade student at St. Paul Harding High School was hospitalized Wednesday night after he was beaten by three other male students as they returned to class from lunch. The attack, school officials say, may have been racially motivated. But a police spokesman said there is no evidence that race played a role in the beating.

The three students, who were taken into custody within minutes of the beating, are Asian. The victim is white.

Kudos again to the Red Star for reporting the possible racial angle. Could this be the start of a break from business as usual in the liberal-biased newspaper? Perhaps they got the message that readers want the truth, and not some sanitized and politically-corrected version of the news.

Or maybe the facts in this case were too overwhelming, especially when the school principal goes on the record with the racial angle.

"To the best of my information at this time, it may have been racially motivated," said Harding Principal Todd Hochman, based on statements from other students.

Hopefully this is an isolated incident. Whites are actually in the minority at Harding High School, so it departs from the typical dynamics. The violence is no more acceptable in the reverse racial combination. Our children should have at least a minimal expectation of safety in school, of all places.

No weapons were involved, "just feet and fists," Hochman said. And school staff members standing nearby responded almost immediately.

"One of our staff members was within six or seven feet when he saw punches thrown," Hochman said. "When the victim went to the ground, our staff member put his body over the victim, especially over the head of the victim, and took a few kicks trying to protect this kid from further harm."

The teacher, Thomas Song, has taught physical education and health at Harding for at least a decade. On Thursday, school and district leaders were praising his "courage." [Ed. - Why the quote marks for the word "courage"?]

It's particularly encouraging to see a teacher actually get involved physically in the defense of the victim. Lawsuit fear isn't always the impediment we anticipate.

Now let's hope for some meaningful punishment for the thugs, starting with expulsion.

Technical problems [resolved]

Apologies for the appearance of the Blog today. Blogger host appears to be having some difficulty.

UPDATE: Back to normal. For now.

The state of our schools

While there are good students and good teachers in both the Minneapolis and St. Paul schools, the reality seems to be that sending your precious little ones to these institutions of learning will subject them to, in no particular order: liberal indoctrination, disruption, incompetent administration, questionable values, and possibly violence.

We learn today that a 15 year old boy sustained a beat-down by a group of thugs, in school, sufficient to cause seizures and bleeding: "Fight lands St. Paul student in hospital".

A high school freshman was rushed to the hospital Wednesday after a brutal beating-- in school.

Students at St Paul's Harding High School say a group of students jumped a 15-year-old boy just after lunch in the hallway.

When police got to the school, they found the victim on the ground bleeding and having seizures.

"They got through a couple of hits and he just fell to the ground and started shaking," said Brandon Hammond, a student. "I was lookin’ out the window and I saw them carry him out on a stretcher."

How is your kid going to survive in that type of environment?

Meanwhile, the Minneapolis School system remains in disarray: "Board and Peebles plan to confer Friday".

After two abortive attempts to discuss her future, the Minneapolis school board plans to sit down with Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles on Friday in what may be a climactic meeting.

And people wonder why good families flee to the suburbs. More on this later.

More robberies in Twin Cities Metro area

Thanks to Nws377 for the tip and story referral on yet more Metro area robberies: "Masked men hit metro hotels before sunrise".

Masked men robbed hotels in Bloomington and Minnetonka before sunrise this morning.

According to police, armed robbers hit the Comfort inn at 1321 E. 78th St. around 5:40 a.m. Police say the robbers jumped the desk, forced employees to lie on the floor, and demanded money.

As the crooks pulled the till, it hit one of the clerks in the face, injuring her lip. They got away with an undisclosed amount of money.

Minnetonka police are also looking for three suspects after an early morning robbery.
Police say a trusting employee opened the hotel door for three men that she thought were just cold. They ended up showing a gun and demanding money. They left with $300.

The incident happened at the Hampton Inn at 10420 Wayzata Boulevard around 4:15 a.m., according to police.

More details on the robberies in the Red Star: "Armed robbers hit local hotels".

The suspects [in the Hampton Inn robbery] are three black men between 18 to 25 years old and about 6 feet tall. All were wearing dark jackets, dark pants, ski masks and gloves. One of the suspects had a fur-lined hood.

Much blogger props to the Red Star for publishing the suspect descriptions.

This question needs to be answered: Where are all these robbers coming from?

Minneapolis Quagmire: Robberies "Out of control"

It's not been a good start in 2006 for violent crime in Mayor Ryback's Minneapolis. This blog has documented the waves of violent crime enveloping the city from north to south throughout 2005, and now into 2006.

Because no meaningful offensive action had been taken against the ever more vicious criminal element, it was clear that 2006 would produce more of the same. Rambix predicted the violence would explode again in the spring.

Rambix was wrong. It's already started.

In today's Red Star, buried on what used to be the "B" section, the headline reads "Robberies are now out of control". Lt. Mike Fossum of the Minneapolis Police robbery unit reveals it's even worse than imagined:

Twenty hours on Monday and Tuesday strikingly illustrate the problem that Minneapolis police continue to battle: 24 people and two businesses were robbed, said Lt. Mike Fossum.

"That's how out of control it is," said Fossum, head of the department's robbery unit.

From this statistic you'd think it was October, not January 25th:

The city had 80 more robberies as of Monday than in the same period last year. And in 2005, robberies shot up 22 percent from 2004.

Why is this story buried on an inside section of the Red Star? This should be front page, above the fold.

Mayor Ryback and his crew apparently spending too much time celebrating diversity, the Chief has been otherwise occupied taking hero medals from his officers and playing to the community activists, and Henneping County Attorney Klobuchar has been spending more time campaigning than incarcerating the animals who are destroying what's left of Minneapolis.

Rambix wants know:

It's questionable whether the criminals are locally grown. Where are they coming from, and why?

If the majority of the violent criminals are coming from out of state, what specifically is drawing them to Minnesota?

What immediate plans are in place to crush the criminals and end the lawlessness before even more people get hurt?

Make no mistake, this is not a beat cop issue. Those men and women are doing all they can in the environment they're given. The responsibility is top down.

The Mayor in particular, if he cares at all about the city, should be very concerned about what's left of it's reputation. The liberals of Minneapolis are always barking about "peace"; well, let's bring peace by implementing a brutal offensive against the scum who stealing our peace and security.

Latest victims of Minneapolis Quagmire ID'd

The police have identified the latest victims of "high risk" behavior in Minneapolis (Walking on sidewalk at 6 pm, arriving home at 7:30 pm, and existing in North Minneapolis are the 3 most current examples): "Police Identify Three Murder Victims".

(AP) Minneapolis The Hennepin County medical examiner released the names Tuesday of three homicide victims who died in apparently unrelated killings within two days in Minneapolis.

Victor Garma, 26, was stabbed to death around 7:30 p.m. Monday after he and a female friend arrived at his south Minneapolis townhouse to find four or five suspects burglarizing it.
. . .

About 90 minutes before Garma was killed, Jesse James Maynor III was fatally shot while walking down a street near his home in north Minneapolis.
. . .

Authorities said Janaya Nicole Allen, 20, of St. Paul, died at the hospital entrance as a result of a gunshot wound to the head. Police had said she was apparently shot in north Minneapolis. . .

So, the lessons in Minneapolis are: Don't come home unexpectedly, don't walk on the sidewalk near your home, and don't exist in North Minneapolis.

There is an APB for the getaway vehicle in the Pillsbury Aveune murder:

The suspects are believed to be driving the victim's SUV which is a white 1996 Ford Explorer with Minnesota License plates RDL-043. It's possible the vehicle has a different set of plates which are CFV-835.

An APB has also been issued for Minneapolis Mayor Ryback: Hello? Hello? Your city's residents and potential visitors would like some reassuring words now.

From KARE 11 News website: "Violent Monday in Minneapolis".

[Photo courtesy Kare 11 News]

3 Minneapolis homicides in two days - killers on the loose

Police are investigating 3 homicides & and one associated robbery which occurred in Ryback's Minneapolis over the last two days. The killers remain on the loose. We're waiting for reassuring words from Minneapolis Mayor Ryback, Minneapolis Police Chief McManus, and Hennepin County Attorney Klobuchar.

Details emerge:

From the Red Star: "Man dies after robbery interrupted"

A man who arrived at his townhouse in south Minneapolis to find four or five suspects burglarizing it Monday evening was found dead in the attached garage when police got there.

Police said early this morning that they were still looking for the victim's vehicle, which they believe was stolen by the suspects.

Police said the man and a woman went into the home in the 4200 block of Pillsbury Av. S. in the Kingfield neighborhood about 7:30 p.m. and encountered the suspects.

There was an altercation, police said, and when officers responded they found the man dead. Neither the man's age nor cause of death was released.

WCCO TV Channel 4: "Minneapolis police investigating three homicides"

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) After making it through the first three weeks of 2006 without a homicide, Minneapolis police were investigating three killings that happened within two days of each other.

Also WCCO TV Channel 4: "Police Search For Suspects In Two Murders"

[Picture from WCCO TV website]










Inexplicably, there have been no suspect descriptions released. Surely the Mayor or the Chief will release those shortly in the interest of public safety.

Crime alert on Minneapolis robbery/homicide

To underscore the seriousness of the Minneapolis robbery homicide reported in the previous entry, the Minneapolis Police have issued an unusually prompt crime alert:

1/23/06

MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT
NEWS MEDIA RELEASE

OFFENSE: Robbery of Dwelling/Homicide CCN # : 06-19540

DATE: 01/23/2006 TIME: 7:30PM

LOCATION: 4235 Pillsbury Avenue South

VICTIM*: Male AGE: Unknown

* Homicides: No release pending notification of next of kin. Check with HCME.
* Sex Crimes: No release of names or address of victims.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF CIRCUMSTANCES OR INCIDENT:
Minneapolis Police Officers were dispatched to a Robbery of a Dwelling at 4235 Pillsbury Avenue South. When officers arrived, they were told by a female that multiple suspects had entered the home. When officers searched the residence, they located a male victim in the attached garage.

The age of the victim, and manner of death, is unavailable at this time. Members of the Minneapolis Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division have arrived at the scene and have begun the Homicide investigation.
There is no other information available at this time.

Minneapolis homicide & robbery/homicide

2006 has picked up where 2005 left off in Minneapolis - more violence in the city, particularly South Minneapolis. (For newer readers/non-residents of Minnesota, North Minneapolis is generally considered high crime, with much of the violence gang-on-gang and drug dealer-on-drug dealer, etc. South Minneapolis is where the "normal" tax-paying citizens live, and consequently the upsurge in violence there is especially shocking).

First, Fox9 News just ran a story about what is thought to have been a home-invasion robbery turned homicide at 42nd and Pillsbury Ave. S. This is a quiet residential neighborhood with families, unused to violence in the past.

The other murder occurred in North Minneapolis in what is generally considered a "hot" zone; no stranger to violence. Nevertheless, the boldness of the sidewalk killing is remarkable. The Fox 9 website reports here: "2nd and 3rd Homicide of 2006 in Minneapolis".

Minneapolis police are investigating the second and third homicide of 2006. A man was shot and killed at the corner of 34th and Girard Avenue North around six this evening. A person got out of a car and shot him while he was standing on the sidewalk, then got back in as the vehicle headed off down the street. Neither the suspect nor the vehicle, described as a dark sedan, has been found. The other homicide took place at 42and Pillsbury. It's being described as a robbery gone bad.

The news is breaking at the time of this posting, so details are scarce. Channel 5 Eyewitness news also reports: "Third murder of the year in Minneapolis"

Minneapolis Police were dispatched to a robbery on South Pillsbury Avenue. When they arrived a female at the home told them multiple people had forced themselves into the home. When officers searched the house they found a male dead in the garage.

Police are [sic] releasing any details about the victim at this time.

The people who entered the home did take the victim's car. Police describe it as a 1996 White Ford Explorer with Minnesota license plates RDL-043.

WCCO TV Channel 4's report: "Police Search For Suspects After S. Mpls. Robbery"

Let's help the police catch these sewer rats if we can.

Curiouser and Curiouser

The saga of much-maligned (by liberals, which can be bad or good, depending on your perspective) Minneapolis School superintendent Thandiwe Peebles continues, "School Board Postpones Discussion Of Peebles".

(AP) Minneapolis The Minneapolis School Board has again postponed discussion of Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles' future.

The board said Peebles is in Georgia with her son, who was injured in a traffic accident.

The board was to discuss the status of Peebles' contract at a meeting at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, but pulled the discussion from the agenda because Peebles won't be back in time for the meeting.

This could turn out to be the longest firing in history.

Rambix' most recent prior post is here.

Liberal bias in the MSM

And liberals can't understand why we complain of leftist bias in the MSM.

The International Herald Tribune's Elisabeth Bumiller writes today about President Bush's current reading choice, "Mao: The Unknown story", the "814-page biography that presents the Chinese dictator as another Hitler or Stalin".

The book might at first seem an odd choice for Bush, whose taste in biography, like that of other U.S. presidents, runs to previous occupants of the Oval Office. But it is not so surprising given that "Mao: The Unknown Story" has been embraced by the right as a searing indictment of Communism.

So far, so good. What could be more natural than a president who has just overthrown an evil dictator reading about an evil dictator of the past?

So what is the title of the article? "How biography of Mao offers insight into Bush".

Nice jab, IHT. Thanks for disabusing us of the notion that you're biased.

The next example is local.

Today's Red Star (1/23/06) has an article in "The World" section by Beth Duff-Brown about the upcoming Canadian vote today, which is particularly noteworthy because of the endemic corruption of the current liberal government (Exhaustively exposed by Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters).

If it had been a conservative government embroiled in the scandals, you can bet the article would be titled something like: "Likely ousting of Conservatives following corruption and scandal".

But no, our local Red Star (paper version), headlines the article "Canadians considering a change".

Good grief.

Exporting bodies from Minneapolis

Criminals in Minneapolis sometimes have the courtesy of dropping the bodies near a hospital or other friendly facility. In this case a body was exported from Minneapolis to North Memorial hospital in Robbinsdale.

(WCCO) Robbinsdale, Minn. A 20-year-old shooting victim was found dead in a car outside North Memorial Medical Center overnight, police said. Authorities believe the woman was shot at another location and driven to the hospital around 3 a.m. Sunday. The woman was most likely shot in North Minneapolis [ed. - what are the odds?], a police spokesperson said.

Since Minneapolis is a separate country from the rest of America, should Interpol be involved?

And in other news, one Minnesota's most notorius stalkers has been accidentally released from jail:

"We are actively searching for Mr. Murphy," he said. "The victims of his offenses have typically been judicial officials, and we take their safety very seriously. We have a long history of being very aggressive in locating Murphy."

Murphy's victims were notified of his release last week.

He pleaded guilty in 1994 to counts of making terroristic threats to judges, prosecutors and others in the judicial system. He admitted to vandalizing property with paint, slashing tires, scattering animal parts on doorsteps and placing a fake bomb in a mailbox.

Murphy was sentenced to eight years in prison and almost 40 years on probation [ed. isn't the sentence backward?]. He was initially released in 1998, but returned to prison in 1999 and 2001 on probation violations before his term ended in August.

Sleep well.

Sgt. May's brother reads Rambix?

As if from the blog of Rambix, this letter from Chris May, brother of hero Sgt. Dan May: in today's Red Star:

MAY GIVES BACK HIS MEDAL

No one had his back

With regards to Minneapolis Police Officer Dan May, the City Council and our pandering, spineless police chief have demonstrated why Minneapolis is becoming a laughingstock. It appears that "community leaders" and perpetual race-baiters like Spike Moss have our city leaders quivering at their feet.

As Chief William McManus and Mayor R.T. Rybak line up to apologize to the black community, my question is, what message does this send to our police officers? Do your extremely difficult job as you have been trained, and you can count on the support of virtually nobody!

I agree that awarding the Medal of Valor to Dan May now was a bad idea. Not because he doesn't deserve praise for doing his job (without the support of the chief, mayor and City Council), but because it opened old wounds -- not only for Tycel Nelson's family but also for Officer May's, of which I am a proud member.

Fifteen years ago, the shooting took a terrible toll on my brother and our family. The only support we apparently can rely on now is from the same people who were there the first time around -- Dan's fellow officers and the fellow Minneapolis residents who obey the law and support our cops.

I cannot help but wonder what direction our "leaders" are going. As we see a rise in violent crime in our city, I think it is time to stop pandering to activists and start supporting our cops, or I'm afraid they'll lose interest in our city as many others already have.

CHRIS MAY, MINNEAPOLIS

Well done, Chris May. Couldn't have said it better myself.

You're fired, and take that $250,000.00 with you

Couldn't see this one coming: "Peebles could be on her way out". It's like the bad movie that never ends.

Just get it over with, Minneapolis School Board! Give her the 250 large, and move on to your next mistake. The name Peebles really didn't have staying power anyway. Sounds too much like "peoples", like the People's Republic of Minneapolis.

The board's focus has shifted from weighing allegations of wrongdoing against Peebles to considering the conditions for her departure, say sources familiar with the discussions.

Those sources say that Peebles was told this week that the board is ready to fire her.

Too much talking. Just do it. What does Peebles care? She'll just take her sack of gold back East, and tell her friends funny stories about the dysfunctional liberal dunces in Minneapolis who threw money at her to leave, just like they did with Carol Johnson before her, and just like they'll do with the next one that comes along.

"There's not been the huge outcry that I expected," said [Minneapolis School] board member Lydia Lee.

That's because the taxpayers in Minneapolis expect their leaders to stumble and fumble, and they weren't disappointed, nor were they surprised. It's business as usual in the blue dot in the red state.

Minneapolis robberies continue

2005 was a banner year for violent Minneapolis robberies. 2006 is starting off with a bang: "2 Minneapolis robberies similar to others".

Police believe two robberies involving gunfire Tuesday are part of a pattern of "brazen" and "bold" armed robberies in north Minneapolis.

Chief McManus must be too busy taking medals away from his officers to comment on the continous cascade of robberies sweeping the city from south to north throughout 2005, and showing no abatement in this early part of 2006.

Have you heard Minneapolis Mayor Ryback, Hennepin county Attorney Klobuchar, or Chief McManus discuss the continuous waves of violent robberies in a meaningful way?

If the spring of 2006 is anything like the spring of 2005, look out.

Chief appeases friends of dead gangster

Minneapolis Chief McManus had a choice: support your officer or appease friends of the dead gangster who tried to kill said officer 15 years ago (see prior Rambix post: "Which side are they on?".

He chose appeasement.

Sgt. Dan May, in a news release Thursday, said the controversy "has adversely affected me and my family and has been a distraction to the police department. I hope that my decision to return the medal can put this matter to rest so that I, and everyone involved, can move forward."

Police Chief Bill McManus, in response to the criticism, said Wednesday that he would issue an apology to the family of 17-year-old Tycel Nelson, who was killed in December 1990.

Officer (now Sgt.) May had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the 1990 incident and the evidence shows that he heroically put his life on the line to stop an armed thug. So what's the problem? Why won't the Chief stand up for his officer? What are the front-line officers thinking? Will they hesitate next time they need to act, and will one of the good guys get hurt because of it?

In his news release, May said several investigations cleared him of wrongdoing in the case. "I have tried to move past this, but the refusal of some people to accept the facts and findings of the case is frustrating," he said.

May didn't refer to McManus' decision to offer an apology. Though he was returning
the medal, May said "it means a lot to have received validation" from the committee that awarded the medal and his colleagues.

Sgt. May is handling this contrived controversy with professionalism and class. If only the Chief had done so.

McManus told the City Council he would present a letter of apology on Thursday to Earline Skinner, Nelson's mother. The Rev. Ian Bethel, co-chairman of the Police Community Relations Council, co-signed the letter.

McManus also said he wanted to "put this to bed."

"There are a few steps I'll take to further resolve this by the end of the week," he said, saying the steps were internal.

There's no word yet on whether the "further resolve" will include having all future police decisions cleared first by "community activists" Ron Edwards and Spike Moss.

The ongoing liberal corruption in Minneapolis

***SEE NEW ENTRY FROM 1/18/06!***

From various sources (this list has been previously posted, and is continuously updated as more liberals are caught):

***NEW INDICTMENT 1/18/06***

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Former Minneapolis City Council Member Dean Zimmermann was indicted for allegedly using his position to solicit cash and property from businesses seeking help with zoning permits, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday (see: "Dean Zimmermann indicted on three counts") .

1) Former state DFL Sen. Winston "Win" Borden was sentenced today to serve 27 months in prison for failing to pay federal income taxes for the past six years. (10/27/04 Pioneer Press) CONVICTED!

2) State DFL Rep. Phyllis Kahn pleaded guilty to theft on Thursday for stealing campaign literature. Hennepin County District Judge Stephen Aldrich ordered Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, to pay $200 in prosecution costs but agreed to defer any additional sentence for a year and dismiss the misdemeanor charge then if she has no similar violations. (9/24/04 Star Tribune) PLED GUILTY, FINED!

3) A federal grand jury indicted former state DFL Rep. Loren Jennings on Tuesday on charges of mail fraud and money laundering and accused him of using the power of his legislative office to steer $650,000 in state grant money to a telephone-pole recycling business in which he had a financial interest.
(10/20/04 Star Tribune) CONVICTED!

4)A Minnesota sports entrepreneur who was awaiting sentencing for a fraud conviction is in jail after allegedly lying to try to borrow more money. Pat Forciea [Former DFL operative], 46, had pleaded guilty in July to fraud charges involving more than $5.6 million in bank loans he used to buy minor league hockey teams. [snip] In July Forciea admitted engineering a spree of wire fraud, forgeries and unauthorized cash transfers in an attempt to build a minor league hockey and baseball empire. His plan collapsed after one of his employees uncovered falsified business documents that inflated the worth of one of his hockey teams. (11/6/04 Pioneer Press) CONVICTED!

5) Brian Herron, Minneapolis City Council member served prison time for corruption. CONVICTED!

6) Joe Biernat, Minneapolis City Council member is has served prison time for corruption.
CONVICTED!

7) The Federal Elections Commission has fined the Minnesota House Democratic-Farmer-Labor Caucus $45,000 for campaign finance violations. The FEC ruled the House DFL caucus illegally transferred $69,200 between its state and federal campaign accounts between January and October 2002. FINED!

8. Twenty-first Century Democrats, a national political action committee that was active in Minnesota this year, has received a record fine for failing to disclose its donors to state regulators. Two fines, totaling $317,950, were announced Tuesday by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. (12/22/04 Pioneer Press) FINED!

Whew! That's it for now. The list was dormant for awhile, so if we missed some, let us know the story and the source, and we'll update the post.

***UPDATE***

MORE, thanks to GOP Newsline:

~Rep. Allan Welle misused the state's phone card and started a scandal known as "phonegate."

~Sen. Joe Bertram shoplifted a leather vest from a store in his district.

~Rep. Jeff Bertram was brought before the House Ethics Committee for bullying his constituents.

~Rep. Bob Johnson accumulated three drunk driving charges in three different counties in less than one year.

~Sen. Florian Chmielewski and Sen. Sam Solon pleaded guilty to misdemeanor telecommunications fraud.

~Sen. Skip Finn was convicted of twelve felony counts of misapplying funds from the Leech Lake Reservation.

BONUS liberal:

From a Rambix 12/14/05 post:

Duluth, Minnesota mayor Herb Bergson allowed the city's Ten Commandments monument to be removed from the city in early 2004, and things have gone downhill since.

DULUTH -- Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson, whose reputation and leadership ability were tarnished by a drunken-driving arrest last weekend, is compounding the damage by refusing to explain the incident, cloistering himself at home and missing important city meetings, officials and pundits said Tuesday.

Which side are they on?

Rambix previously posted here and here on the manufactured controversy surrounding the Medal of Valor awarded to Minneapolis Police Officer Dan May (now Sgt. May) for putting his life on the line to stop an armed gangster in 1990.

Black community "activists" support the gangster.

Rambix also noted how Minneapolis Mayor (Mr. Crime Control) R.T. Ryback and Police Chief McManus appear intent on ceding authority for decisions on awarding medals to ne'er-do-wells Spike Moss and Ron Edwards of the Community Relations Council.

The Red Star reports to day that the "controversy" is growing: "Outcry over officer's medal grows".

Taking an unusual public stance, the Minneapolis Urban League Tuesday sent a critical letter to Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Bill McManus over the medal given to a police officer in connection with the fatal shooting of teenager Tycel Nelson in 1990.

Community activist Spike Moss also met with Rybak's spokesman and asked that the mayor apologize to the community for the department's action. And Ron Edwards, a member of the Police Community Relations Council who spoke on behalf of Nelson's family, issued a letter to Rybak and McManus saying they should start the healing process by asking Sgt. Dan May to return his Medal of Valor.

There is no question the medal was earned, although it should have been awarded in a timely manner. Chief John Laux at the time declined to nominate Officer May for the award in order to avoid igniting racial tensions. No explanation has been offered as to why the good people of the black community would be offended by an officer recognized for defending his own life against an armed gangster. The criminal sealed his own fate when he brandished the gun.

The police brass have not stood tall on this matter:

Assistant Chief Tim Dolan said Tuesday that McManus asked May after he received his medal last week whether he would consider returning it. May didn't answer, Dolan said. McManus has said he wouldn't have approved the medal.

The police brass and the mayor's office are demonstrating to officers that they won't stand behind them when the going gets tough. The award was properly reviewed and approved by the appropriate committee and awarded in a low-profile ceremony. When asked to return the medal, Sgt. May's response should be: "pound sand".

Teen robber/murderer captured

Rambix has been tracking the Minneapolis Quagmire of violent robberies throughout most of 2005 as waves of crime have plagued the city. The robberies escalated in the late spring of 2005, then slightly declined (but still at a high rate) over the summer, with an almost freakish resurgence in the late fall.

There are still a lot of monsters out there, but one piece of garbage has been captured - at the ripe old criminal age of 17:

A juvenile was arrested Monday in connection with a robbery and a murder in South Minneapolis, police said.

There's no identifying information yet, but it will be posted when released.

Officials said the suspect was wanted in the robbery of a business in the 5400 block of 42nd Avenue South on December 11, 2005. Police said shots were fired, but no one was struck.

The suspect was also wanted in connection with a murder on December 14, 2005, in the 3500 Columbus Avenue South.

Police said they are pushing for charges against the suspect in both cases.

That would be a great idea. Now let's clean up the rest of these sewer rats.

(Nothing about this story, by the way, on the Red Star web site at the time of this writing)

Where have all the hippies gone?

If you went to San Francisco with flowers in your hair; if one pill made you smaller and one pill made you tall, and the ones that mother gave you didn't do anything at all; if you tuned in, turned on, and dropped out; then you might have prepared yourself for a life on the rotating protest circuit 40 years later.

One day might find you at the Lake St. bridge in Minneapolis,


Another day might find you protesting the Bush "regime" at the Minnesota State Capitol,


Or you might find yourself at the granddaddy of all Twin Cities protests, the weekly gathering at Alliance Techsystems (ATK, a space and defense systems manufacturer), where you hang out with your fellow hippies, shout a few slogans, try to get arrested, have coffee then go home and try to figure out what to do with the rest of your day,




They've been doing this for years.







ATK (and everyone else) has essentially ignored the weekly gathering. They have been nothing more than a harmless nuisance. Today, the Red Star reports a change in policy , "Edina: Weapons protesters get a break they don't want".

The protesters at Alliant Techsystems say an Edina ordinance stifles their dissent. The city says it's only trying to save money and streamline the courts.

The hippies' goal is to get arrested, but it's been difficult,because it's too much bother. Typically they're just cited and released.

Now the trespassing charges are being lowered to petty misdemeanors.

At first glance, the ordinance might seem favorable to the AlliantAction protesters, who have been showing up regularly for almost a decade.

There's no jury trial. And no jail time, often considered a badge of honor among some protesters. Instead, they face small fines or dismissals.

But from an activist's perspective, the ordinance seems to be an attempt to rob them of a forum -- the opportunity to add to the public record that a jury trial provides -- to protest the weapons made at Alliant Techsystems, known as ATK. Under the new ordinance, protesters, who sometimes act as their own lawyers, don't present their case to jurors, who sometimes have been sympathetic in the past. Instead, they only go before a judge, who is likelier to more strictly interpret the law.

Sorry, no more public legal forum for the protestors. A favorable change in the law has pushed them further into obscurity.

Christopher Renz, Edina's city attorney, said the ordinance is legal, reduces court costs and makes the penalty more fitting to what he said is a "victimless" crime. The ordinance wasn't intended to be secretive or vindictive, he said.

The reaction from protesters surprises him.

"I've never come across a defendant displeased about the lowering of the offense level," Renz said.

Where will all the hippies go?

Straight to Hell

One of the Rambix links that turns up most frequently on search engine hits relates to the matricide/fratricide killings in Hastings, MN in October of 2005. Here is one of the related posts, "Hastings (alleged) murderers & newspaper photos".

Many of the searches are for the killer's names, with "Niedere" and "Keister" being the most frequent. Matthew Niedere's parents were the victims, slaughtered by their own son and his friends.

The unspeakable horror struck the small sleepy town of Hastings like a bombshell. The killers were young, and generally remembered to have been good kids. The killings were cold, calculated, and businesslike. The motive was money.

Many of us cannot imagine the depravity involved in murder of another human being, much less a parent. What impulse, what evil, could impel Clayton Keister to fire a shotgun blast directly at Mrs. Niedere's head after several rounds from a .22 caliber handgun failed to kill her?

This crime was particularly henious, which may explain the frequency of the search engine hits leading to this blog.

While the psychic wounds of the Hastings murders are still fresh, and as yet unajudicated, details of yet another matricide crime from Chaska are emerging, with shockingly similar details:

Police are calling the shooting death of a 52-year-old woman a "calculated" slaying and have arrested four people, including the woman's 20-year-old son.

Nancy Lynn Everson was killed early Sunday and police arrested her 20-year-old son, a few hours later. Police Chief Scott Knight said Monday that three other suspects also were arrested.

The killing was "planned in advance, very calculated and coldly carried out," Knight said.

In both of these cases, the killers had friends as accomplices, the motives was ostensibly money, and both involved children murdering their parents in cold blood.

It's only by luck that Tom Everson escaped the wrath of his son:

Family spokesman Marsh Halberg, an attorney and longtime friend, said that when Tom Everson awoke, his wife was not in bed. He fled through a closet window in his bedroom and ran to a neighbor's house, where police were called.

Police found Nancy Everson dead in the home and hours later arrested her son in a vehicle a few blocks away, Knight said.

Both of these crimes represent a level of evil and depravity that is difficult for normal people to comprehend. They were not crimes of passion, not executed out of a fit of anger, and did not appear to involve mental illness, or anything else that would lend a degree of plausibility.

Why is our society failing our youth to such a degree? Why do we embrace or implicitly condone a culture of death? Why do we not think that negligence will have repercussions?

The reasons are many, and most are obvious. We simply have allowed evil in many forms to permeate our lives, and the result is that too many of our youth will find themselves going straight to Hell.

If anyone has a theory on why so many young people have turned to the dark side, please post it in the comments.

Deconstructing Peebles

Minneapolis liberals love spending other people's money.

When the Minneapolis School District needed a new Superintendent, they passed on an eminently qualified candidate, David Jennings, who was already in the city working as an interim Superintendent. The district chose to spend money on a nationwide search to find an outsider to come in and straighten up the mess known as the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Were they really looking for a reformer?

The search landed in Cleveland, settling on an educator named Thandiwe Peebles, who also had experience in the New York School system. She came on board in Minneapolis in July of 2004. Liberals were thrilled; Ms. Peebles was a minority, had dreadlocks, drove a stylin' Jaguar, and best of all, was from far away. Jennings was soon forgotten.

Here's what Minneapolis School Board member Judy Farmer said about Peebles in June of 2004:

Farmer says Peebles is also someone who can easily form relationships, and connect with community members.

How that tune has changed.

Peebles had a nice honeymoon period, but then her East Coast ways started to rub the milquetoast liberals the wrong way. It turns out she wasn't just the puppet they were looking for; she was actually trying to reform the system. And she was doing it in a direct manner, not in the passive-agressive way that urban liberals are used to. Now they needed to get rid of her, but how?

The liberals found themselves in a quandry - if she was a white male, it would have been easy. But she is a multicultural minority, and this presented a great dilemma. How would the liberals remedy this?

The Minneapolis educators who had been burdened by the sudden requirement of accountability needed an out with Peebles. Before long, an anonymous tip came in that she was using her staff for personal tasks. That was it! Just what the liberals were looking for.

Complaints were filed, meetings were held, and Peebles put into a kind of probationary limbo, but the momentum was building. Today, the Red Star reports on the current status, "Peebles has a lot at stake at meeting on Tuesday".

The city's school board is scheduled to convene a 3 p.m. meeting with Peebles at district headquarters to review an investigator's report on allegations that she misused her office and to assess how well she has handled specific assignments board members gave her last summer to improve her performance. The board also will review a survey about Peebles that was given to selected school staff members.

In other words, she's toast.

The parallel between the hiring of Ms. Peebles and Minneapolis Police Chief McManus are striking. As with the Superintendent search, the hiring of the Chief overlooked very qualified police department employees to spend money on a search for an out-of-stater. The results have essentially been the same. The Chief is an outsider who has failed to curb violent crime in Minneapolis, and Peebles is an outsider who has failed (or has not been allowed to succeed) in Minneapolis.

The Chief's results have been extensively documented in this blog; here is an example of Peeble's results from the Heartland Institute web site:

Despite facing similar challenges, St. Paul graduates 72 percent of its students, while Minneapolis graduates just 53 percent. Minneapolis spends approximately $1,000 more on each student than does St. Paul.

If Peebles leaves, business as usual dictates that Minneapolis will squander more taxpayer dollars:

If Peebles or the board decides that it's time for her to vacate the post, the decision could come with a financial cost. If the board fires her unilaterally, her contract would entitle her to almost $250,000 in salary, plus other accrued benefits.

Is there anything that can save Minneapolis from itself?

Here's some prior posts on the Peebles debacle:

Got Her Mind Right, She Did...

Minneapolis schools - will the last one out turn off the lights?

Minneapolis school follies

Peebles peoples

Chief McManus: Community activists to decide on medals

Chief McManus has announced that while it's too late to strip Sgt. May of his Medal of Valor, future medal awards for his officers will be decided by Spike Moss, Ron Edwards, the Police Community Relations Council, and a democratic vote of trustys of the downtown jail.

The criteria for awarding medals will also be revised, with a shift in emphasis from "protecting and serving the public" to those who are successful in "appeasing the unappeasable".

No patrol officers would return calls for comment.

Welcome to Minneapolis, officer: You're on your own

Congratulations to Minneapolis police hero Sgt. Dan May, who has received one of the department's highest honors. Thank you for putting your life on the line to defend the defenseless against a dangerous criminal. Surely Chief McManus will thank you; let's see what he has to say:

"Based on what I heard about this case, I wouldn't have approved the medal," he said.

Well, that's not really the reaction we'd expect. How about community "activist" Spike Moss?

"It's like somebody is trying to ignite the black community into something really crazy" he said.

"It's ugly, and it's only going to get uglier," he said.

That doesn't sound good, either. What is it that Sgt. May did to cause his Chief to disavow his actions, and for the community "activist" to imply oncoming racial unrest?

The shooting occurred after a party of Disciples gang members that was crashed by a group of rival Vice Lords. Then two Vice Lords had been wounded in shootings outside the house on 15th Avenue N., authorities have said.

May, the first officer on the scene, pulled out a shotgun and chased a man whom he believed was an armed suspect and whom he later identified as Nelson. After losing sight of the suspect momentarily, May has said, he spotted Nelson raising a gun at him with his right hand. He said he fired only after Nelson ignored his order to drop his weapon.

So Sgt. (officer at the time) May shot an armed gang member who didn't comply with a lawful order in order to defend his own life? What's the problem? Could this be one of those "high-risk" lifestyle situations Mayor Ryback has talked about?

Jailed twice on drug charges, Nelson had admitted his gang membership to police officers on a summer youth outing in the Boundary Waters the summer before he died. May had been on the police force less than two years the night he shot Nelson.

Nelson was no angel. And it wouldn't be a stretch to believe he was capable of doing what he did. Officer May was cleared of wrongdoing. He should be hailed as a hero. Another "activist" with nothing better to do suspects a larger conspiracy:

Ron Edwards, a member of the Police Department's community relations council, said he was absolutely shocked when he heard about the award May received. A longtime friend of the Nelson family, he believes somebody is trying to undermine McManus' relationship with the African- American community.

"Tycel's death left deep wounds that stay with a community for 50 years," he said. "I don't understand the obsession with an officer wanting to nominate May for this."

The obsession, Mr. Edwards, is to recognize a front-line officer for his heroic actions in stopping an armed criminal. This is an officer who puts his life on the line every day to serve and protect ingrates like you, and Mr. Moss, and Chief McManus, all of whom who don't appreciate his efforts.

Furthermore, why is the Red Star highlighting this story in the fashion it has? Why play up the racial angle? We don't need to hear from the malcontents. We should hear about the award, and the honor for the officer, and that's that.

A gang member chose to act in a way that brought on his own destruction, and an officer did what he is supposed to do and more. It's that simple.

Making Minnesota judges look conservative

A Vermont judge who "no longer believes in punishment and is more concerned now about rehabilitation" has sentenced a child-rapist to 60 days in prison. Only this judge could make Minnesota judges look reasonable. In fact, he may have even eclipsed the foolishness of this judge, except no one technically died in the child rape case.

Prosecutors expected an 8 to 20 year sentence (Does anyone feel that even that might be light?).

Thankfully, normal folks have unleashed some blowback on the judge:

. . .Vermont state House Republicans introduced a non-binding resolution yesterday asking Cashman to resign.

"We can't tell him what to do, but it would be a pretty powerful statement," Republican Rep. Kurt Wright told the Burlington Free Press.

The paper said Wright's resolution was one of several responses consider by legislators to the barrage of complaints from constituents and people across the country.

Gov. James Douglas has condemned the decision, saying it appalled him.

Fox News attack dog Bill O'Reilly is on the case. Say what you will about O'Reilly, he is constantly vigilant for liberal fool judges, such as Edward Cashman.

Fox host Bill O'Reilly is promoting an e-mail campaign to urge the governor and lawmakers to impeach Cashman. He stated last night the governor's office says it has received more correspondence on the 60-day sentence than any other issue in the history of Vermont.

In this case, the mistake can be righted before anyone else gets hurt. What is the matter with these judges? The judges actions in this case are egregiously disrespectful to the victim, and potentially negligent regarding future victims.

Justice has not been done. Yet.

Caribou's Islamic Shari'ah business plan

Apparently the Islamic Shari'ah Law business plan is not working out so well for Minneapolis-based and Bahrain-connected Caribou Coffee, as reported by the Red Star: "Caribou stock is roasted after company predicts loss".

Shares of Caribou Coffee Co. fell 21.6 percent Wednesday, after the Minneapolis-based chain said it will lose money this year.

Making its first annual profit forecast since going public last year, Caribou said it expects to lose $2 million to $3.8 million -- 10 to 20 cents a share. Analysts had expected a slight profit for the year of a penny a share.

A previous Rambix post traces the lineage of Caribou Coffee to Bahrain, noting that the company "operates its business according to the Islamic principles known as Shari'ah". We note that another more well known organization operates by the same principles: The Taliban. It hasn't worked out so well for them, either.

Other Rambix posts on Caribou:

Caribou coffee and Islamic Sharia law from 8/10/05.

Caribou Coffee and Islamic Sharia law from 10/14/05.

Stone-cold killer sentenced

Justice has been served (not really, as you'll see) in one of those cases that grabs the headlines, then fades into the obscurity of time. Daniel Angus has been re-sentenced for the cold-blooded murder of Anthony Basta on April 26, 2000.

Was this a drug deal gone bad? Gang on gang crime? A crime of passion?

It was none of the above. It was killing for sport and "for the fun of it". It was the senseless slaughter of a 17 year old bicycle rider, who was simply doing what thousands of us do in the warm months, enjoying a bike ride on a city trail. Death came from a passing car. From a City Pages news item dated 5/10/00:

THE APPARENTLY RANDOM murder of 17-year-old Anthony Basta two weeks ago left many in the victim's quiet St. Paul neighborhood reeling. So too, apparently, St. Paul-based KSTP-TV (Channel 5), which offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. Why would a media outfit become involved in a criminal investigation? Station spokeswoman Dayna Deutsch says Basta's murder hit especially close to home because the victim's cousin, Mark Ginther, is an assistant news director at KSTP. But according to Deutsch, that wasn't the primary motivation for offering the reward: "It's the senselessness of it, officially. It happened in a family neighborhood at 10:00 in the evening. It wasn't like he was out at 2:00 in the morning. Once in a while, something strikes a deep, deep chord. This was one of those things that moved people here."

That summarizes the theme of many Rambix posts - the crimes that affect normal people going about their everyday lives. This could have been any on of us.

Daniel Angus' original conviction and life sentence was overturned by the often reprehensible Minnesota Supreme Court. This, folks, is part of how we in Minnesota get our reputation as softies on criminals. From the WCCO TV News web site:

Angus was sentenced to life in prison, but the Supreme Court ordered a new trial, saying the trial court improperly denied a defense effort to exclude a black man from the jury. The defense said the issue was his credibility, not his race, and the high court said the lower court failed to establish that the defense's real purpose was discriminatory.

Two other criminals were charged and convicted along with Angus:

Angus was accused of providing the gun Dale Stewart used to shoot Basta. Stewart was convicted separately and sentenced to life, while the driver, Jonathan McNeill, was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge for testifying against Angus and Stewart and was sentenced to 251/2 years.

Following the re-sentencing, Angus was sentenced to 37 1/2 years in prison. With credit for good behavior, he'll be out in 25 years. His previous "life" sentence would have kept him in 30 years minimum.

Can you imagine giving a break to such an evil person?

Starbucks and domestic terrorism?

By now you may have heard of the explosive device found in a San Francisco Starbucks on Monday. The indefatigable Michelle Malkin takes up the story here.

From USA Today:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police defused an explosive device found in the bathroom of a Starbucks on Monday. No one was injured.

Authorities were called around 1:15 p.m., after an employee reported finding something suspicious in the store's bathroom. About 100 people were evacuated from the store and apartments above it, and the street was closed to traffic, said Sgt. Neville Gittens.

"This was a good device. If it had exploded, it would have caused injuries or damage," said Gittens, who would not describe its size.

The article leaves the impression that we're not getting the whole story. Who found the device? Why did it not explode? Is there security footage?

Once the device was disabled at about 2:10 p.m., police allowed people back into the apartment building and reopened the street. The store, located at a busy city intersection, remained closed Monday evening while authorities investigated.

There's nothing to indicate this wasn't a live device; many times they turn out to be phonys, but that doesn't appear to be the case here.

Starbucks, which employs very friendly radical liberals, has been targeted by anarchists and general rabble in the past:

In 2003, police said the windows of 17 Starbucks stores were clouded with glue and some of the door locks were jammed. Vandals also posted phony notices purporting to be from Starbucks management announcing the company's intention to abandon some of their San Francisco stores to make room for more locally owned coffee houses.

The FBI has concerns over growing domestic terrorism. Anti-Capitalist anarchists are particularly anti-corporation, including liberal outfits like Starbucks. Was this the work of a domestic terrorist group? Time will tell.

From the FBI:

While national attention is focused on the substantial threat posed by international terrorists to the homeland, law enforcement officials must also contend with an ongoing threat posed by domestic terrorists based and operating strictly within the U.S. Domestic terrorists motivated by a number of political or social agendas -- including white supremacists, black separatists, animal rights/environmental terrorists, anarchists, anti-abortion extremists, and self-styled militia -- continue to employ violence and criminal activity in furtherance of these agendas.

And specifically:

The potential for violence by anarchists and other emerging revolutionary groups, such as the Anarchist Black Cross Federation (ABCF), will continue to be an issue for law enforcement. The stated goals of the ABCF are "the abolishment of prisons, the system of laws, and the Capitalist state." The ABCF believes in armed resistance to achieve a stateless and classless society. ABCF has continued to organize, recruit, and train anarchists in the tactical use of firearms.

America's has enemies within that are every bit as serious as those that wish to harm us from a distance. We'll keep an eye on this story.

When is a crime not a crime?

When is a crime not a crime? When hardcore liberal judge Kevin Burke erases the criminal's records, that's when. "More Looking To Erase Criminal Records".

Did you know that 1295 cases were expunged last year? You'll be happy to know this, however:

Minnesota expungement law specifically prohibits violent criminals, such as sex offenders, some [emphasis added] murderers and kidnappers.

Judge Burke's heart bleeds:

"I think the 9/11 thing got a lot of people caught up," Burke said. "The number of people that are coming into court with some pretty compelling stories about, 'I can't get housing, I've done everything you asked, I can't get a job."

and,

"We live in an age now where you can look up a whole bunch of stuff on a computer and at what point do we say 'OK, let go of it?'" Burke asked.

At this point Rambix is forced to bring out an old truism: If you don't want a criminal record, don't commit the crime.

With the stroke of a pen, Judge Burke and others are wiping away justice for the victims, police investigative work, money spent on prosecution, and the ability of a future employer to know what kind of applicant he's dealing with.

The criminal can turn their lives around and demonstrate good citizenship post-conviction, but that doesn't mean we should forget the past. It's true that past behavior is still the best indicator of future behavior. Reform and repent, but you should not be able to erase the past.

Minneapolis police hiring the color

In the past, Rambix has dogged the local free weekly paper, City Pages, for its unending Marxist propaganda and its gradual move from simply a liberal publication to a left-left-leftist publication. In fairness, however, Rambix notes that City Pages has had a relevant history, as noted in a 6/26/05 post:

The City Pages had a history of some good investigative work, and some very interesting stories that papers like the Red Star would never print. They might write an expose on the local crime scene unit, or do a profile on some interesting local personality. Fun reads.

City Pages hasn't published much in recent years worth reading, but every once in a while they manage to do what they sometimes forget they do best: bust out a local investigative issue. A January 4, 2006 article by G.R. Anderson chronicles the (professional) relationship between the mayor and the Police Chief in Minnesota's most dysfunctional city, Minneapolis: "Splitsville?".

When R.T. Rybak brought Bill McManus to town to head the MPD, both men talked big about reforming the troubled department. But when the chief ran into political resistance, some say, the mayor blinked. Now their relationship has hit the skids, and the future of McManus and his bid to change the Minneapolis police are in doubt.

If nothing else, read the story for the Alice in Wonderland oddity of one Minneapolis liberal calling another Minneapolis liberal not "progressive" (liberal) enough. The characters in the story are alluded to with regard to their political (city politics) perspectives, but the reader tends to forget that no one involved is a centrist, much less to the right of center. That's how Minneapolis politics is played - everyone is to the left of center; the only difference is how far.

The article reveals some of the inner workings of the halls of power in Minneapolis, but it also reveals some information that city residents should find troubling. The city does not appear interested in hiring the best cops, rather it is more interested in hiring cops "of color". That's not to say cops of color may not be the best, but you'll notice merit is not the criteria. The main criteria is the color of their skin:

McManus apparently did not like the fact that the list of hires consisted of one African American, one Latino, one woman, and 11 white men (one of whom eventually dropped out). The chief had promises of his own to keep: Part of the reason he had been hired in the first place was to mend the MPD's terrible reputation in local minority communities, and to stem the tide of police misconduct complaints, lawsuits, and bad press. Toward that end, McManus had reshuffled the department brass to put more African American cops in positions of power and visibility, and he had pledged more officers of color on the street too.

It's understood that agreements have been made with the Community Relations Council, various citizen groups, and the race hustlers to increase minority representation among the police, but what is the justification for hiring based on race over merit?

The city has suffered escalated violent crime since the spring of 2005, yet crime suppression does not seem to be the focus of either Chief McManus or Mayor Ryback. In fact, the City Pages article barely touches on the immediate issue of keeping the citizens safe. "Diversity" and "Tolerance" seem to trump crime fighting, and the Mayor and the Chief of Police are silent on actual crime issues.

What would the survivors of Thomas Dahl have to say about that?

Edina robbery, Minneapolis robbery connection?

As many of you know, Edina is a "first ring" suburb that borders Minneapolis, and is home to a lot of money, and therefore a lot of banks. There are also several heavily traveled freeways that cut through the city, making it a preferred destination for bank robbers, because they can hit a bank and quickly get on a freeway to escape.

Last Friday, January 6, 2006, a TCF bank on W. 66th St. in Edina was hit by an armed robber using violent tactics, including threats of death. Though bank robberies are always serious, this "takeover" type scenario is much more troubling than some crackhead coming in with his finger sticking out of his pocket.

The robber is a black man (The idiot took off his mask while still on camera) described as having an East African accent. This description is reminiscent of two waves of Minneapolis robberies from spring and fall of 2005. Rambix has documented those crimes here in an 11/25/01 post. The suspects utilized guns and escalating violence in their robberies. In the fall crime wave, the criminals were described in a television news report as (paraphrasing): "A group of 20-25 Somali males, who are committing armed robberies around Minneapolis, and particularly Uptown." Uptown is not far from Edina.

You'll note in the 11/25/01 Rambix post, the suspects who were arrested in late spring of 2005 were East African in origin (Their charge status is unknown). The word at the time was that a group of Somali males was responsible for a large number of robberies plaguing the Uptown area in general. They may be the same criminals who returned with a vengeance in the fall of 2005.

Now a bank in Edina has been robbed by a possible East African suspect, not far from where dozens of robberies were committed by suspected East Africans. So is there a connection?

Rambix won't draw any conclusions at this point, but this is something track as we head toward the spring of 2006.

Edina bank robber suspect photos, courtesy of WCCO TV News:

Minneapolis Mayor Ryback interview

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Ryback speaks to Sarah McKenzie in a brief interview published in the Downtown Journal/Skyway News. There is not one mention of crime.

The mayor is, however, interested in foot traffic, retail, and "tremendous unique, one-of-a-kind restaurants".

Rybak: I’m very interested in improving the pedestrian experience so that
we can create excitement just in walking down the street.

Believe us, Mayor, its already very exciting walking the streets of Minneapolis (See previous post). With the job you and Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar are doing, there will be no shortage of excitement in Minneapolis in 2006, just maybe not the kind you envision.

Who's looking out for you, citizens of Minneapolis?

Minneapolis robbery alert: Robos de la Personas 4 de enero de 2006

Good luck if you only speak America's prior national language, English. The police are only alerting latino Spanish speakers (at the time of this posting) that they are about to be robbed. You English speakers mind your own business - this is Los Estados Unidos, after all.

The Minneapolis police have issued a robbery alert for (as best Rambix can translate) the area of Nicollet and 33rd-34th St, dated 1/4/06:

Área de Avenida Nicollet y Calles 33-34, Vecindad de Lyndale (1-4-2006)

Crime Alerts Home

Robos de la Personas 4 de enero de 2006

Área de Avenida Nicollet y Calles 33-34

Vecindad de Lyndale

Hechos:

Recientemente, 3 robos se han reportado al policía en las áreas antedichas. En algunos incidentes, los sospechosos demandaron acceso al edificio y atacaron las víctimas y robaron a dinero y carteras.

En otro incidente, los sospechosos usaron un cuchillo para asaltar a la víctima. La información sospechosa describa 2 barones morenos de 17-22 años en un robo y los otros sospechosos con cuchillos son barones Latinos de 17 años.

Qué puede hacer usted:

Si un ladrón le acerca, haga siempre como él dice. ¡Usted puede sustituir su dinero, pero no su vida!

Llame a 911 inmediatamente si es víctima de crimen o reconoce actividades o gente sospechosas.

Nunca lleve las cantidades grandes de efectivo en su bolsa. Si tiene que llevar mucho dinero, lleva casi todo de dinero en lugar escondido como su media o zapato.

Esté consiente de sus alrededores. Camina solamente en áreas bien iluminadas, bien pobladas.

Si vive usted en un apartamento seguro, nunca abra la puerta para gente desconocida.

Si tiene usted alguna información con respecto a estos robos, llame al escritorio del crimen de la característica en 612-673-5579.

John Reed, Especialista de la Prevención del Crimen

Policía de Minneapolis
3101 Nicollet Avenida Sur
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-673-5579

Minneapolis and St. Paul - rudderless and adrift

What is to be the fate of two medium sized cities, existing side-by-side, floating in the ether of liberalism, divorced from reality, and unable to reconcile mean truths with their fantastic visions of utopia?

Residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul, confined to their government subsidized housing at night for fear of encroaching crime, wonder what tomorrow will bring as their elected officials, overome by Chirac-like fits confusion and indecision, are nowhere to be found. Cries of despair echo unheard across the snowy boulevards, lost in the cacophany of random gunfire.

The wind whistles through the wind-blown shutters of 3rd floor City Hall, Minneapolis, through empty hallways and offices, interrupted by the occasional pitter-patter of mice scampering about. A solitary figure slowly ambles through the once-bustling corridors, pushing a broom through the void, resplendent in all her multicultural glory.

Later, much later, a voice is heard through the gloom. A helping hand is extended to the unseen leaders of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and a calm, caring voice says softly, "I have a solution to some, not all, but some of your problems. Let me help".

After a moment's hesitation or two, the leaders responded with weak and tiny voices; an answer was given: read on if you dare.

French chaos - Rape and pillage by immigrant gang

French society is deconstructing before our eyes. The latest outrage follows the Muslim riots, which had been extensively documented on Rambix and the Red Star. Now "North African immigrants" (read: Muslims) have unleashed new evils on the good citizens of France:

PARIS -- A gang of more than 20 youths -- thought to be North African immigrants -- terrorized hundreds of train passengers in a rampage of violence, robbery and sexual assault on New Year's Day, French officials said yesterday.

The five-hour-long criminal frenzy was "totally unacceptable," French President Jacques Chirac told reporters. "Those guilty will be found and punished, as they deserve."

Yes, Jacques, your lessons following the riots were so well learned. Hit them with another "unacceptable", and "found and punished". That'll show them.

The gang of between 20 and 30 youths boarded the train, heading from Nice on the French Riviera to Lyon, in eastern France, early on Jan. 1, as it carried 600 passengers home from New Year's Eve partying overnight.

Once inside, they went wild, forcing passengers to hand over mobile phones and wallets, and slashing seats and breaking windows.

A 20-year-old woman cornered by several of the marauders was sexually molested.

"It was a real scene of pillage on the train," said the regional state prosecutor, Dominique Luigi, adding that the passengers were in a state of "panic."

Can you imagine the terror these people experienced, especially the woman who was molested? What if this were your wife or daughter?

News of the violence shocked France, which still was reeling from three weeks of rioting that flared in impoverished suburbs across the country in late October and early November last year.

The opposition Socialist Party said it viewed the incident with "astonishment."

It said "such acts show a worrying lack of security" and questioned why it took so long for police to rescue the passengers and why so few arrests were made.

Is it safe to say France has an immigration problem? These type of incidents ought to close the book on discussions of criminal background screening, enforcement of our borders, and other common sense immigration measures as proposed by Minnesota Governor Pawlenty.

Vacation in France, anyone? By the way, did you read about this in the Red Star?