Showing posts with label Massachusetts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Massachusetts. Show all posts

Sunday, August 11, 2024

USSS bungle it again: nobody hurt this time other than feelings



The US Secret Service had to apologize to the owner of a Massachusetts salon for using the bathroom in her building without permission and duct taping over her security cameras ahead of a fundraiser for DEI 

They picked her door lock to gain entry.

The salon owner, Alicia Powers, told Business Insider (BI) that she knew that she had to close her salon but was never told the USSS Keystone Kopps would be using the salon's toilet for over a 2-hour period.

"They had a bunch of people in and out of here doing a couple of bomb sweeps again – totally understand what they have to do, due to the nature of the situation," Powers told BI. "And at that point, my team felt like it was a little bit chaotic, and we just made the decision to close for Saturday."

Footage from the salon's front-door Ring security camera shows an agent approaching the door with a roll of duct tape and observing the locked door and the camera. The agent then grabbed a nearby chair and stood on it to tape over the security camera.


"There were several people in and out for about an hour-and-a-half – just using my bathroom, the alarms going off, using my counter, with no permission," Powers said.

"And then when they were done using the bathroom for two hours, they left, and left my building completely unlocked, and did not take the tape off the camera," she added. 

Powers told the outlet that an EMS worker later told her the Secret Service agent in charge of security that day "was telling people to come in and use the bathroom." The Secret Service told BI that its agents "would not" have used the building without permission, but they acknowledged that an agent had taped over the camera.

"Whoever was visiting, whether it was a celebrity or not, I probably would've opened the door and made them coffee and brought in donuts to make it a great afternoon for them," Ms. Powers said. "But they didn't even have the audacity to ask for permission. They just helped themselves." [By 'audacity,' she probably meant 'decency,' but we get the picture.]


The building's landlord, Brian Smith, says no one gave the agents permission to use the building or even enter it. They just waltzed in, did their business and left. Nobody sprayed, nobody lit a candle after finishing their business.

"Me and my dad own the building, and I have a crazy eccentric guy that lives upstairs," Smith told BI. "And he didn't tell the Secret Service they could use it, and I didn't tell them, and my father didn't tell them, and they had no permission to go in there whatsoever."

[I'm from the government and I'm here to pee.]

Powers says a representative for the Secret Service's Boston field office called her to apologize after BI contacted the agency about the incident.

"He said to me everything that was done was done very wrong," Powers told the outlet. "They were not supposed to tape my camera without permission. They were not supposed to enter the building without permission."

Fortunately, nobody was injured or killed this time.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Mass: A teacher-student sex bill still being discussed by union

Here's a tough question that's going to be on the final exam: should the teachers' union outlaw sex between teachers and students 19 years old and younger? (Hint: the Massachusetts police strongly support the bill.)

Teachers are seen as authority figures by their students, just like Bill Clinton was an authority figure over his aide, Monica Lewinsky.

But the Massachusetts state teachers' union has yet to endorse the bill because, well, they're confused.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association (with the emphasis on "Ass" evidently) has 110,000 members. They told Fox News that they're currently reviewing the bill and have been reviewing it over and over for six months.

"The Massachusetts Teachers Association's priority is always to protect students and the educational environment," they lied. "While we are still examining the many components of this proposed legislation, we understand that its intent is to help ensure that our schools are nurturing places for students to learn and grow."

So what's the confusion?

Sen. Joan Lovely
The bill criminalizes teacher-student sex and outlaws sexual relations between a student and other adults employed by a school district, even if they're only a volunteer or work on a contractual basis. It would also protect youth in independent schools and youth organizations. 

Adults found guilty of having sex with these young people would face up to 5 years in jail, a $10,000 fine, or both.

But to be fair, the measure marks the latest effort in a long battle over the past several years to criminalize sexual activities between authority figures who call themselves teachers, and students who are vulnerable to authority demands, in a state which considers 16 to be the age in which a person can give consent to sexual activity.

The bill's sponsor is Sen. Joan Lovely (seriously) of Salem. She said that getting the teachers union to back it would boost efforts for its passing and would protect students.

The question is, however, does the union want to protect students more than it wants to protect its members?

Lovely (really, that's her name) said the Comprehensive Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Act of 2017 would add another layer to a system that already trains educators to spot child abuse and how to handle such situations.

The absence of language outlawing sex between a teacher and student 16 years or older, has made it almost impossible to take legal action against the adult in position of authority.

But the teachers union is willing to continue sitting on their hands.


Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Trump's order causes showdown between 'sanctuary' cities & states

President Trump plans to cut of millions of dollars in federal funds to cities who are not following the law of the land. Known as "sanctuary cities" they protect illegal immigrants by failing to cooperate with federal authorities. In other words, they provide sanctuary to illegal criminal immigrants, but they don't provide a sanctuary to their victims.

Trump's goal of ending sanctuary cities may be better carried out by GOP governors who share that goal.

"State governments can have a lot more control over local municipalities than the federal government does," Angela Morrison, professor at Texas A&M University's School of Law told Fox News.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is vowing to "remove from office" any local official who promotes sanctuary cities. He announced the legislation last week amid a dispute between Abbott and Travis County Sherrif Sally Hernandez. She said she would reduce her department's cooperation with federal officials when they request an inmate be deported.

The governor threatened to cut off about $2 million in state funding to Hernandez's office if she refuses to follow the law.

"The power of the purse is going to be big because the state can tie funding to existing laws," said Morrison.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Trump adviser, backs Trump's campaign promise and he may also cut funding to local governments who provide "sanctuary" policies but has thus far not revealed what he would do.

"I agree with [Trump]. I took the same position when I ran for president," Christie said on his monthly radio show. "Elected officials can't be allowed to pick and choose which laws they choose to comply with."

But Morrison said that New Jersey adheres to home rule which gives local municipalities much more power in administrating laws and would make it more difficult for Christie to enforce Trump's order.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is a Republican who appears to be missing his "man parts" as he refuses to say publicly where he stands on the issue of sanctuary cities. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a flaming liberal who was Obama's chief of staff and hates Trump, called on Rauner to say where he stands.

"We're going to stay a sanctuary city," Emanuel said. "Wherever you came from, you're welcome here." [Whatever you do while you're here, robbery, murder, rape, whatever, we will protect you.]

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, a fierce leftist, said he would do everything in his power to protect Boston residents living in the country 'without authorization' even if that means using City Hall, but not his home, as a shelter.

"If people want to live here, they'll live here. They can use my office. They can use any office in this building," he said, but he refuses to allow them to move into his neighborhood.

"Washington is advancing the most destructive and un-American threat on America during this campaign," he added. "The latest executive orders and statements by the president are a direct attack on Boston's people, Boston's strength and Boston's values."

Republican Gov. Charles Baker, much like Rauner, only sings in falsetto. He claims that he doesn't want Massachusetts to become a "sanctuary state," he believes cities and towns "should be allowed to make their own decisions," because then he doesn't have to grow a pair and take a stand.

It seems as if the left will only be happy when the United States of America becomes the Untied States of America and the country loses it sovereignty.


Saturday, August 9, 2014

In It But Not Really Committed to Iraq

President Obama told Americans on Saturday that we must be braced for a sustained military involvement in Iraq, adding that we are prepared to launch more airstrikes to protect our diplomats and citizens, but mostly our diplomats, and others under attack by ISIL, the terror group formerly known as ISIS, and now actually known as IS, not ISIL. 

"I don't think we're ah, going to solve this problem in weeks," Obama said. "This is, ah, gonna be a long-term, ah, project."

It's calming to know that the president sees the violence and barbarism as a project--he makes it sound like an extra-credit assignment in high school--but he went on vacation anyway.

The Yazidis fled into the Sinjar mountains in the north. They ran out of water and food and Obama's immediate strategy was to help them before going on vacation. Planes have dropped food and water, most of which hit the target, but some of which ended up in the bloody hands of IS troops. I imagine they had a good laugh over that and taunted us by waving empty bottles of Poland Spring.

Obama also said that he wants to provide safe passage for the Yazidis and allow them to return to the Kurdish regional capital Irbil.  (Obama's mother wanted to name him Irbil, but ended up with Barack upon the insistence of Barack Senior.)


Obama would like to help Iraq establish a functional and inclusive government, which is possible in a Muslim country that has no Jews to include. Obama hopes to do all of this by the 9th hole or 124 strokes, whichever comes first.

Currently, Mr. Obama, his broad wife and two sweet kids are vacationing at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. We know he brought his golf clubs and a basketball, but let's hope he remembered to bring a case of beer, just in case he needs to hold a beer summit.


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