Hurricane Katrina & TARP Are Going To SCOTUS

I was down in New Orleans with Mayor Mitch Landrieu who showed John Conyers, Jr. & me, all the wonderful downtown redevelopment.

We went to the Jazz Conference where I spoke to people from the 9th ward.

I was told military ops came in, set explosives and blew the levy so the 9th ward would flood and save the homes of the wealthy who lived up the hill.

Those who ran up the hill to safety were shot.

I always got a kick out of the masses dehumanizing the people of New Orlean,s through the propaganda campaigns, who ended up living in abject poverty after living a life in poverty, for not having enough money saved to leave town when they were warned.

The first of the month was a week away and it is sorta difficult to catch a bus to leave town in a national crises emergency situation, you know.

But that is okay, because New Orleans established a land bank.

It is called the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority and has federally funded U.S. Treasury programs like NSP2, through Public Private Partnerships, to sell its properties to only those who could afford to have not lived in the 9th ward like those who qualified for special funding because they migrated into the U.S.

Priorities, you know.

Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr. for the Hearing on “New Orleans: How the Crescent City Became a Sanctuary City” Before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security

Many of these families relocated to Detroit where the Detroit Land Bank Authority stole their homes a second time.

But hey, what do I know?

I know many foster kids just disappeared and no one to this day had done a thing about it.

I know many families had their children Legally Kidnapped when CPS placed them in foster care and shipped them off to other states because of Katrina, or rather hailing from "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth).

I also know Elizabeth Warren allowed it all to happen on her watch because she sat on the TARP Congressional Oversight Committee.

Dirty Bitch.

Ray Nagin Sentenced 10 Years For Fraud, Detroit Mentioned

Hurricane Katrina v US - Petition for Writ of Certiorari by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Members of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel
Final Report: March 16, 2011

 On November 14, 2008, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appointed Richard H. Neiman, Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York, Damon Silvers, Director of Policy and Special Counsel of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO), and Elizabeth Warren, Leo Gottlieb, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, to the Panel. With the appointment on November 19, 2008, of Congressman Jeb Hensarling to the Panel by House Minority Leader John Boehner, the Panel had a quorum and met for the first time on November 26, 2008, electing Professor Warren as its chair. On December 16, 2008, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell named Senator John E. Sununu to the Panel. Effective August 10, 2009, Senator Sununu resigned from the Panel, and on August 20, 2009, Senator McConnell announced the appointment of Paul Atkins, former Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to fill the vacant seat. Effective December 9, 2009, Congressman Jeb Hensarling resigned from the Panel, and House Minority Leader John Boehner announced the appointment of J. Mark McWatters to fill the vacant seat. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appointed Kenneth Troske, William B. Sturgill Professor of Economics at the University of Kentucky, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Paul Atkins on May 21, 2010. Effective September 17, 2010, Elizabeth Warren resigned from the Panel, and on September 30, 2010, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the appointment of Senator Ted Kaufman to fill the vacant seat. On October 4, 2010, the Panel elected Senator Kaufman as its chair.

It seems the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel did not do a very good job because we are going to SCOTUS.

TARP Congressional Oversigh... by on Scribd

NOTE TO SELF: START A PAGE WITH THE TSUNAMI OF SCOTUS CASES OF 2019

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Ray Nagin Sentenced 10 Years For Fraud, Detroit Mentioned

Oh my, the prosecutors used Detroit as a sentencing gage.

I wonder how Mike Duggan is doing right now.

Ex-New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin sentenced to 10 years

NEW ORLEANS — Former mayor Ray Nagin, the businessman-turned-politician who became the worldwide face of the city after Hurricane Katrina, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday.

Nagin, 58, was ordered to report to federal prison Sept. 8 and to pay restitution of $82,000. He was found guilty Feb. 12 of fraud, bribery and related charges involving crimes that took place before and after Katrina devastated the city in August 2005.

Prosecutors immediately objected to the sentence, which falls well below typical guidelines that called for 15-20 years.

"What Ray Nagin did was sell his office over and over and over again," Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Coman said outside the courthouse. "The damage that Ray Nagin inflicted upon this community ... is incalculable. We as a community need not and should not accept public corruption."

Coman said a decision on whether to appeal will be made by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli.

Judge Ginger Berrigan determined that Nagin did not have a leadership role in the criminal conspiracy, saying all defendants are "equally culpable."

"Mr. Nagin's crimes were motivated in part by a deeply misguided desire to provide for those closest to him," she said.

Before announcing the sentence, Berrigan indicated she would "downwardly depart from guidelines" and that "sentencing imposed should reflect Nagin's ability to harm the public again."

Nagin said he would "trust in God that this would all work out."

A jury convicted Nagin of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes — money, free vacation trips and truckloads of free granite for his family business — from businessmen who wanted work from the city or Nagin's support for various hurricane recovery projects.

Prosecutors asked the court to send Nagin to prison for a long time. They argued that he was found guilty of 20 of 21 counts in the indictment, and that he participated in and orchestrated a years-long conspiracy to enrich himself and his family.

The government also argued that Nagin spent years covering up his crimes and that his testimony during the two-week trial showed an unwillingness to accept responsibility for his actions.

Coman compared Nagin's crimes with those of other public officials who drew stiff sentences, including former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (28 years), former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (14 years) and former Birmingham, Ala., mayor Larry Langford (15 years).

"Nagin's widespread and corrosive breach of the public trust — lasting through much of his tenure in office — equals even the worst of these state and local corruption cases," Coman wrote.

Nagin's defense attorney, Robert Jenkins, petitioned the court for a lighter sentence. He pointed out that his client is a first-time offender with no criminal record.

Jenkins also argued that the allegations and evidence presented during the trial showed behavior inconsistent with his otherwise outstanding life as a businessman, family member and citizen.

"Mr. Nagin has been a devoted father, husband and supportive child to his parents, and greatly cares for the well-being of his family, and is their caretaker," Jenkins wrote.

According to Jenkins, a 20-year sentence would amount to a "virtual life sentence."

Jenkins noted that former governor Edwin Edwards received a 10-year sentence in a public corruption scheme that netted up to $5 million in ill-gotten gain.

The court previously calculated Nagin's take at more than $500,000.

The court received several letters of support for Nagin, including from members of his family. His wife, Seletha, asked that he remain out of jail until allegations of prosecutorial misconduct could be fully investigated.

"I am asking that you delay these sentencing proceedings until we are allowed to see all the reports that have thus far only been summarized but clearly show a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct," Seletha Nagin wrote.

Her letter detailed the family's financial ruin and personal anguish.

"We are mentally and financially drained," she wrote in the four-page letter dated July 1. "We have exhausted our savings, borrowed from family, gone on public assistance (for the first time ever) and even had to file bankruptcy to avoid being homeless. We have even sold much of our furniture and all of our jewelry with the exception of our wedding rings."

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Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr. for the Hearing on “New Orleans: How the Crescent City Became a Sanctuary City” Before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

I want to preface my remarks regarding today’s hearing, which deals with community policing policies, by observing that our Nation’s conscience continues to be rocked by a series of tragic events involving law enforcement and the loss of too many black lives.

In our court rooms, in our streets and on our televisions, we confront a never ending body count.  Earlier this summer, my Congressional colleagues and I staged an unprecedented sit-in – just to try to get a vote on common sense gun legislation. 

In this Committee, Chairman Goodlatte and I formed a bipartisan Policing Strategies Working group to begin examining how we can best ensure that Congress takes responsibility for the conversation about race and policing in America.  I believe this working group is one of the finest examples of how we can come together at a time when the nation needs leadership to reduce the levels of violence in our communities.

And, just this past week, I joined my Congressional Black Caucus colleagues in protest of yet another series of senseless killings of black men and black children by police in Cleveland, Tulsa, and Charlotte.

When you add to this volatile mix the attacks on police officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas, the nation risks being forced into a battle of whose lives matter most.

We mourn the loss of all of these lives and want to see an end to this violence across the United States, including in the iconic American City of New Orleans.

To achieve this, first, we need to ensure police accountability, prevent violent attacks on law enforcement, and improve the relationship between police officers and the communities they are sworn to protect and serve. 

Community trust policies are integral to smart law enforcement for diverse communities, including those with immigration populations like New Orleans and my district in Michigan.

Second, studies show that crime rates actually decrease after localities adopt community trust policies.  Further, these studies find that strong-arm policies – such as Secure Communities – fail to lower crime rates.

Instead, they can make communities less safe because residents become more fearful and therefore less likely to report criminal activity or cooperate with investigations.

We share the common goal of community safety.  To suggest that local leaders and law enforcement officials are purposefully pursuing policies that make their communities less safe is simply false and offensive. 

Finally, if we are looking for real solutions, we should be undertaking comprehensive immigration reform.

Unfortunately, this hearing, which pejoratively refers to New Orleans’ community trust policy as a “sanctuary city” policy, is not about comprehensive immigration reform; it is about anti-immigrant politics and fear mongering.

An immigration reform bill – such as the measure that passed the Senate in 2013 or the legislation that had 201 House cosponsors in the last Congress – would allow law-abiding immigrants to come out of the shadows and get right with the law.  And, it would enable Immigration and Customs Enforcement to focus its resources on deporting the worst criminal elements. 

That kind of solution would help ensure that the City of New Orleans and all communities, citizens and immigrants alike, as well as the brave men and women serving in law enforcement, are protected from harm.

In closing, I thank the Chairman and I look forward to hearing from our witnesses.

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FBI New Orleans Danziger Bridge Charges

This is an example how public perceptions are distorted based upon propaganda campaigns.

Here we have the end result of an intensive investigation that will probably never meet main stream media in what really happened that day on the bridge in New Orleans.

The only thing we know is the news.

No one reports on the struggle to survive, or the struggle to survive the propaganda that makes them automatic targets of the imperialistic morality parade.

This is why I rise and give honor to the FBI. Thank you for your dedication.

Six New Orleans Police Officers Indicted in Danziger Bridge Case

WASHINGTON—Six officers with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) were charged today in connection with the federal investigation of a police-involved shooting on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina, the Justice Department announced today. The incident resulted in the death of two civilians and the wounding of four others.

The indictment charges four officers—Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon, and Anthony Villavaso—in connection with the shootings, and charges those four officers and two supervisors—Arthur “Archie” Kaufman and Gerard Dugue—with helping to obstruct justice during the subsequent investigations.

The indictment alleges that officers Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso open fired on an unarmed family on the east side of the bridge, killing 17-year-old James Brissette and wounding Susan Bartholomew, 38; Leonard Bartholomew, III, 44; the Bartholomews' daughter, Lesha, 17; and the Bartholomews' nephew, Jose Holmes, 19. The Bartholomews’ 14-year-old son ran away from the shooting and was fired at, but was not injured.

The second shooting occurred minutes later on the west side of the bridge, where officers shot at brothers Lance and Ronald Madison, killing Ronald, a 40-year-old man with severe mental disabilities. The indictment alleges Faulcon shot Ronald Madison in the back as Ronald ran away. Bowen is charged with stomping and kicking Ronald Madison while Ronald was wounded, but not yet dead. Ronald later died at the scene.

“As our investigation of the Danziger Bridge incident shows, the Justice Department will vigorously pursue anyone who allegedly violated the law,” said Attorney General Holder. “Put simply, we will not tolerate wrongdoing by those who have sworn to protect the public.”

“In the days following Hurricane Katrina, the people of New Orleans were relying upon law enforcement to protect public safety. The officers indicted today are accused of abusing their power and violating their public trust. Today’s indictment exemplifies the department’s commitment to aggressively prosecute any officer who violates the law either by engaging in misconduct or a conspiracy to deny justice,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

“Today’s indictment should serve as compelling evidence of our unswerving and unconditional commitment to achieve essential goals: to achieve true justice for any victims of the charged killings, shootings and abuse on the Danziger Bridge, and the alleged corrupt cover-up that followed; to unmask and bring to justice those officers who according to the indictment abused their power in committing violent crimes against the unarmed citizens they were sworn to protect; to restore the trust in the men and women of law enforcement who do serve the people and honor the badge; and to make certain that no one should ever have to fear those whose job it is to protect them,” said Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

“The charges announced in today’s indictment show the commitment by the FBI to hold individuals who break the law accountable, regardless of their positions in a community or the circumstances under which the crimes occurred,” said Kevin L. Perkins, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.

“One year ago, FBI New Orleans made a commitment to dedicate all the necessary resources to ensure this matter was thoroughly and fairly investigated to a logical conclusion. Today’s indictments indicate that we continue to honor that commitment,” said David W. Welker, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office.

The four officers charged with killing civilians face maximum penalties of life in prison or the death penalty. The officers face additional penalties for the remaining counts, which include charges related to a conspiracy to cover up what had happened on the bridge, and conspiracies to file charges against two of the victims, Lance Madison and Jose Holmes, on the basis of false evidence.

According to the indictment, officers at the scene of the shooting arrested Lance Madison and charged him with eight counts of attempting to kill police officers. Officers collected no guns or shell casings on the day of the shooting, and 30 casings they collected more than a month later were allegedly fired by officers rather than civilians. Madison was held in jail for three weeks, but was eventually released without indictment.

The indictment accuses Kaufman and Dugue of joining the other four defendants in a conspiracy to cover up what had happened on the bridge and to make the shootings appear justified. Kaufman is charged with obtaining a gun from his home and claiming to have found the gun at the bridge on the day after the shooting, and with making up witnesses and then creating statements from the fictional witnesses to help justify the shooting. Kaufman and Dugue are also accused of holding a meeting, in an abandoned and gutted out NOPD building, at which homicide sergeants instructed officers involved in the shooting to get their stories straight before giving formal audiotaped statements about the shooting.

Kaufman and Dugue, who concluded in a formal report that the shooting was justified and that Lance Madison and Jose Holmes should be arrested, are also accused of conspiring with each other and with other officers to have Madison and Holmes prosecuted on the basis of false evidence.

Kaufman faces a maximum penalty of 120 years in prison, and Dugue faces a maximum penalty of 70 years in prison.

Today’s indictment follows guilty pleas from five former NOPD officers who admitted that they participated in a conspiracy to obstruct justice and cover up what happened on Sept. 4, 2005. The officers include former Lieutenant Michael Lohman, former detective Jeffrey Lehrmann, and former Officers Michael Hunter, Robert Barrios, and Ignatius Hills.

The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This case, which is ongoing, is being investigated by the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office, and is being prosecuted by Deputy Chief Bobbi Bernstein and Trial Attorney Forrest Christian of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia K. Evans of the Eastern District of Louisiana.