Tag Archives: Los Angeles

Civil Liberties, Podcast, Police Accountability, US

Truth In Media with Ben Swann, Episode 13: Massive Police Response To Child’s Birthday Party During Lockdown

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LAPD sends out a massive response to a child’s birthday part because 40 people had gathered in one place. Meanwhile, a woman was arrested in NYC for violating social distancing guidelines and a Judge in Kentucky is ordering 2 Coronavirus patients to wear electronic ankle monitors so that they can be tracked.

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Gun Rights, Politics

Los Angeles Enacts “Confiscatory” Ban on Ammo Clips That Carry Over 10 Rounds

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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti signed an ordinance on Friday that bans the ownership of firearms magazines that carry more than 10 rounds. The new law, which was first introduced by City Councilman Paul Krekorian and passed Los Angeles’ City Council unanimously on July 28, is set to take effect in early September, and individuals found in violation of it will be charged with a misdemeanor.

According to Los Cerritos News, a 15-year-old statewide ban prohibits the sale, purchase, or importation of magazines with more than ten rounds, but a grandfather clause in the law allows gun owners to keep the magazines they owned prior to its passage. The City of Los Angeles’ new ordinance effectively repeals that grandfather clause within the city.

Guns.com’s Chris Eger, who called the magazine ban “confiscatory,” wrote, “People who currently possess such magazines, many for collectible firearms registered decades ago, have a 60 day window to remove them from the city, sell them to a legal gun dealer, or turn them in to the Los Angeles Police Department.” The ordinance exempts law enforcement officers, museums, movie prop masters, gunsmiths, and magazines that belong to legal collectibles for which smaller clips are not manufactured.

“I am committed to reducing the gun violence in our city,” read a statement by Mayor Eric Garcetti. “This ban is part of that larger effort. It will help keep our streets safer and help prevent the magnitude of mass shootings. We are sending a clear message – we will not wait for Washington to act, we are ready to act now.”

Courthouse News Service notes that City Councilman Paul Krekorian said of the new law, “Los Angeles is now the largest city in California to ban the possession of large-capacity magazines. These magazines may not be the cause of gun violence, but when shooters use them, tragedies turn into massacres.”

A National Rifle Association statement on the new rule read, “This ordinance will not prevent violent crime or mass shootings, but it does limit the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners who choose these magazines to defend themselves and their families. As most gun owners already know, magazines holding more than ten rounds are standard equipment for many popular pistols and rifles, especially those that are selected for defensive purposes. These standard capacity magazines are possessed by millions of law-abiding Americans for a variety of lawful purposes, including self-defense.”

Gun rights groups are planning to file a lawsuit against the ordinance. The National Rifle Association has in the past attempted to mount unsuccessful legal challenges against similar rules in Sunnyvale and San Francisco, Calif.

Civil Liberties, Featured, Government Accountability, Police Accountability, Police State, Politics, US, Videos

Video Emerges of Federal Cop in Military Gear Apparently Smashing Woman’s Camera

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A video posted Sunday on YouTube appears to show an armor-clad law enforcement officer with a long rifle confronting a woman as she films officers on the scene. In the above-embedded video, which includes adult language and was provided by the investigative journalism site Photography Is Not a Crime, the officer can be seen approaching the woman and grabbing what appears to be either a smartphone or a digital camera from her hands, then smashing it on the ground and kicking it out of range. The incident took place in South Gate, CA and was caught on video by another bystander, who was filming from across the street and out of view of the officer.

NBC Los Angeles is reporting that federal officials and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are investigating the incident. South Gate Police Chief Randy Davis told the NBC affiliate that the officer seen in the video works for the US Marshals Service. Chief Davis also specifically pointed out the fact that that the South Gate Police Department was not involved in the apparent camera-smashing incident, which he said took place on Sunday.

The woman was reportedly filming as police from a multi-agency task force responded to an incident involving a biker gang, during which there was an altercation between a biker and a police officer and six people were arrested. It is not yet known whether the woman in the video was just a bystander or associated with the individuals being arrested by officers on the scene.

A spokesperson for the US Marshals Service’s Central District of California told The Huffington Post, “The US Marshals Service is aware of video footage of an incident that took place Sunday in Los Angeles County involving a Deputy US Marshal. The agency is currently reviewing the incident.”

US

Cops Burn Man’s Genitals With Taser In Front Of His Family

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According to a lawsuit filed last month, Los Angeles police tasered 26-year-old Daniel Johnson in the genitals.

An officer knocked on Johnson’s front door on December 26. The lawsuit alleges that Johnson was then informed that his 58-year-old father would be issued a $1,000 littering fine for dropping a cigarette on the ground.

Johnson asked the officer if he could pick up the cigarette butt for his father rather than face the fine. Apparently, the father suffers from nerve damage which causes him to drop things by accident on a regular basis.

The exact details regarding what happened next are unclear, but at some point an argument broke out between Johnson and the officers outside on the front lawn. This resulted in two policemen tackling the 26-year-old to the ground, securing him in a “full Nelson” hold, and then tasering him in the genitals.

Johnson’s mother witnessed the incident and claims she was begging the cops to stop the entire time. According to the lawsuit, the family was able to smell “flesh burning from the tases.”

The family has made it clear that the police intentionally targeted Johnson’s genitals with the taser. Johnson said, “He was right above me as he tased me, so there’s no mistake that he was trying to tase me in my genitalia.”

Johnson was initially charged with battery, but it was dropped. We will keep you up-to-date on his lawsuit as news breaks.

Follow Kristin on Facebook and Twitter.

Politics, US

New Company Allows Organizations To Hire Fake Protesters

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So, no one supports your cause? No problem. You can hire supporters- even protesters. A company started last October by 22-year-old Adam Swart provides just this service.  In a telephone interview I spoke with Swart about his new found success. “I came up with the idea on a visit to Estonia,” says Swart. At the airport, Swart says he saw a man who was being swarmed by a crowd of excited onlookers. He tells me, “I thought- Why can’t I have that kind of attention?” And so, Swart’s company, Crowds on Demand, was born.

Swart says that business is doing extremely well. According to their website, their office is located in a swanky downtown LA office suite. He says his biggest client so far was a $10k contract, but he would not disclose the client. Not bad for a 22-year-old kid. “We do most of our business through word of mouth. We are able to provide our customers with top-notch service, so they spread the word to other potential clients,” says Swart.

When a reporter asked a paid protester what this protest was for- he told the reporter, "It's a day to ban guns, I think." -The Event was actually for a new movement called "Purge Day".
When a reporter asked a paid protester in the above image what this protest was for- he told the reporter, “It’s a day to ban guns, I think.”
-The Event was actually for a new movement called “Purge Day” dealing with mental illness.

Swart says the company does a lot of work in the political realm. He continues to say that they also do work for non-profits and private industries. He cites one recent client, an online marketing group named Virurl, that his company was hired for. According to Swart, having protesters at a convention where Virurl was present increased the company’s revenues by 500%. Apparently the protesters had been hired by Virurl to act against a form of marketing,  and Virurl provided a solution to this avenue of marketing. Multiple VIPs were at the convention, and Virurl stuck out when its employees began to show the solution to the protesters concerns to VIPs in the marketing industry.

Swart says that he pays his employees around $15/hour and has a solid staff. He continues, “We are operational in 5 major cities. However, if a big event is proposed then we have been known to travel in order to fulfill our customers demands. We’ve done business in New York, Washington D.C. and Vegas.”

He says that there are many critics, but he enjoys what he does and feels that he is contributing to society. When asked if he ever turns an organization away because of an ideological difference he says that clients are almost never turned away unless they are requesting his company breaks the law.

When I asked Swart whether his company was catering to more liberal, or conservative clients he was unwilling to give a clear answer. Swart seemed to me like a shining star of free market capitalism, so I asked him where he stood on it.

Swarts responded:

“I’m a huge fan of free market capitalism! I believe that the government must foster business and encourage innovation. Government needs to encourage people to innovate… Our government plays a vital role in job production and innovation of technology.”

Although Swart’s understanding of the free market is off-base, I feel perhaps he will develop a greater understanding of it as he matures. Whether you agree with his tactics or not- it is clear that there was a demand, and this young man supplied it.

-Let us know what you think in the comments below.