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Anti-Game-Violence Legislator Arrested, Faces Gun Trafficking Charges
Several readers sent word that California State Senator Leland Yee was arrested today. He's accused of conspiring to traffic guns and commit wire fraud, to defraud citizens of honest services, and bribery. The complant (PDF) also names 25 other defendants. Yee is known for pushing legislation that would ban the sale of violent video games to minors.
"Federal prosecutors also allege Yee agreed to perform official acts in exchange for the money, including one instance in which he introduced a businessman to state legislators who had significant influence over pending medical marijuana legislation. In exchange, the businessman -- who was actually an undercover FBI agent -- agreed to donate thousands to Yee's campaign fund, according to the indictment. The indictment also describes an August 2013 exchange in which [former school board president Keith Jackson] told an undercover officer that Yee had an arms trafficking contact. Jackson allegedly said Yee could facilitate a meeting for a donation."
Hypocrites rule!!!!
There for a while he was pushing for a ban on a bit of a work around that 'gun-nuts' in California came up with to get around it's ban on so called 'Assault Weapons' A weird little device called a bullet button that makes it so that the magazine in a firearm can't be easier removed. Pretty clever work around for a completely asinine law.
Glad they nabbed him.
He'll probably get a month's probation.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Rule of thumb:
If it don't have a letter,
It's a Democrat matter
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
... too much GTA on this one :P
I used to read these things and go "Hahaha! Get 'im!" but now I know that there's a really good chance that the FBI just made up about 98% of the whole thing.
[Parent poster talks of ONE of his many anti-gun (i.e. anti-gun-in-private-hands) projects.]
Prohibition of something means the illegal providers of it have less competition and can thus sell for a higher price. So it's very convenient for those sellers. Thus, for instance, drug lords are just fine with keeping the drug laws strong and complex, and opposed to legalization of their product (which would put them in competition with efficient conglomerates who could compete the pants off them).
(Incidentially: I suspect Yee's opposition to video games was a spinoff of his antigun agenda.)
By the way: Pro-gunners are celebrating tonight. (The call from a friend a few hours ago with the news made both my wife my own day. B-) )
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
the irony.
Then legalise it. Presto, problem solved.
It makes complete sense. If those kids can play GTA, some of them might be inspired to go into competition with him.
in which [former school board president Keith Jackson] told an undercover officer that Yee had an arms trafficking contact. Jackson allegedly said Yee could facilitate a meeting for a donation."
Didn't catch the guy with a cache of weapons...
Didn't catch the guy with a known weapons trafficker...
All they have is hearsay from a guy kicked out of public office, probably with an axe (non-assault weapon) to grind...
Suborbital [spaceflight] is the special olympics of spaceflight. - Rei
If you want to make anything and crime go hand in hand, make that thing illegal. This has worked more times than there are rivets on the underside of your bridge.
only because people like you drive up the cost of drugs for a chance at finger wagging and sanctimonious preaching.
Btw, I bet I'm cleaner than you are.
Politicians like to keep pointing fingers at other people at being the bad guys so less people points fingers at them.
As long as the law says it is legal to bribe politicians with campaign contributions, the only way someone will get in a significant office is if they're willing to take bribes. The system is designed to get crooks in office and keep honest folk out. Mandatory corruption is generally unsustainable in the long run.
God spoke to me
it's wild. Apparently the guy running the show was the "Dragonhead" of a tong in San Francisco. Seriously? They still have titles like that? It's like a freakin' Bruce Lee movie.
This kind of behavior should be banned, will hurt others!
This is nothing more than a 160+ year continuation of San Francisco Chinatown corruption and bizarre happenings. It has nothing to do with party.
But the press trumpets party when a Republican, and hides or omits it when Democrat.
There's really not much difference between the parties. The reason to vote Republican is that the press pays FAR more attention to Republican corruption, and sweeps Democrat-branded corruption under the run as long as possible. The Democrat in this story would not have been able to run a gun-smuggling operation for nearly so long had he been a Republican, he would have had the press sniffing all around him much earlier.
Both sides having corruption is also a great argument for smaller government, which by its nature reduces corruption.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm a Republican (or at least that's what the card says), and I have no idea what party this politician happens to be, nor do I care.
I myself am a Libertarian, and I DO care. I care very much that the press tries to harm as much as possible one major party and tarnish every member with the brush of a few lunatics, while shielding the Democrats as much as possible from any negative behavior by members and making sure that each and any infraction is isolated from any and every other Democrat.
The reason I care is because the press is supposed to be the watchdog that keeps people honest. Instead it's busy rigging the game in conjunction with politicians, and if you don't care about that then all is lost.
I'm not making it a source of division, I'm pointing out a major flaw with an institution that's supposed to keep politicians in check.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
People like this are against those games because ever since games like GTA, gun crime in many urban area's in the US has actually gone down.
and if you're in the gun trade, less gun crime = less guns sold...
These kinds of people are the real rats of society and should get jailed for life...
Federal prosecutors also allege Yee agreed to perform official acts in exchange for the money, including one instance in which he introduced a businessman to state legislators who had significant influence over
Okay so you just explained the entire political system and yet your only going after one person because he profited!!! Oh wait the others do that too. Hmmm... [sarcasm]
I am aware of what he has done, but it's the oxymoron of it all!!!
The "war on drugs" isn't what caused a militarized police force, go back and look at the civil rights protests, you'll see that has been with us for years. It is about terrorism, Gang activity, protesters, you name it and the government uses it as a means to implement over reaching laws/rules, that give the police the power they have now.
Another oxymoron, the NSA being targeted by the very morons that gave them their power now want to limit it [aka, PR stunt]
but cops blatantly abusing their power, with more corruption, and right violations then ever, is okay? You know what the police need? Even more over reaching power!! In my state alone the corruption is rampant, from local to State, and all the Federal Agencies. We have DEA wanna b's, ATF wanna b's, all are "special forces to the Sate Attorney General/Prosecutors".
He's actually a Democrat. It's not mentioned in the article, but he's definitely a Democrat.
Once again another politician doesn't understand that most minors receive the violent games as gifts from their family, so passing law to restrict the game purchases wouldn't change much.
Only Dems do this? WTF, did you forget Senator Larry Craig? You know, the guy who railed against homosexuality while making a habit out of nailing dudes in airport bathrooms. Or Ted Haggard, the leader of the country's biggest "Christian" ministry who was actually a meth addict who would hire men to suck him off? At least when Dems do something like this, they are essentially banned from the limelight. Haggard has started a new mega-church.
Of course he is. If he were a Republican, it would have been in the summary in all capital letters, bold, italic, and blinking.
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The summary didn't mention party affiliation. Therefore it was safe to assume he is a Democrat.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Replace marijuana with alcohol and you could have made exactly the same argument during prohibition.
I'm mildly allergic to marijuana (its only effect on my brain is to make it hurt, a lot), so I have no personal stake in legalisation. But I do want to see people who smoke it taxed at the same rate that I am when I buy a beer.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
my theory is the elite want guns to be abolished and they need all violence blamed directly on guns and not games. Violent games can't steel the limelight from gun bans.
Why would any sane person dedicate their life to 'public service'. In the majority of the 'civilized world', meaning that portion which operates under a more-or-less democratic system, Politicians work long hours for negligible direct reward. End result, they are looking to maximise their 'expenses' and 'allowances' and are highly partial to the odd junket or two to build up relationships with folks who will employ them in other capacities... What we should do is pay them a very good salary and ban them and their family from receiving any perks or benefits or taking on any outside roles. Build in a satisfaction vote at polling time, and if the incumbent has done a good job they can be voted a bonus at the end of their term. Of course that would mean that the vast army of lobbyists, analysts, opinion peddlers, marketeers and PR people across the country would be redundant, and the 'hospitality industry' would lose a big chunk of business, but hey we would actually be paying people to represent us instead of 'fact-finding' in Bora Bora! Until then, it's a human type compromise - we get by with good enough and the odd bad apple gets found out sooner or later...
(Courtesy John Winterton)
davecb@spamcop.net
If there is one analogy that perfectly describes the "difference" between the political parties here in the US it is something along the lines of "Which way would you prefer do die, fed feet first into an industrial meat grinder or ran over by a steam roller."
With control comes power and with power comes capital(money). Everybody in Washington DC is a self serving opportunist which is part of the human condition. Unless we have computers or robots managing this country, corruption won't go away.
As a candidate for a local school board, I decided not to accept any money for my campaign. Easy to do in a local election, I get enough exposure in the paper and at candidate forums, but not so easy to do on a state or national level. We have created a system where, it seems, the more dollars a candidate can raise the better their chances of getting elected. Let's stop the madness and make it illegal to take any (or spend any) money for a campaign. Rely on media coverage as they must give equal time and allow a personal website and whatever other social media that is free. That would certainly eliminate the temptation to do what Yee did and might help to bring in new blood.
If he was Republican, the FBI would have left him alone instead of conducting a sting operation. They are ALL corrupt. If they solicit a bribe on their own initiative, they get arrested which is fine. What we've got here is a situation where they wait quietly to be offered bribes, and the FBI picks and chooses who they want to go after. So all the sting targets lately seem to be Democrats. Chris Christie also went after a lot of those when he was a federal prosecutor in NJ. He did it to members of both parties at first, til he built up a reputation for being unbiased. After that it was democrats all the way.
After all, if he is right in the middle of it, so must everyone else
I think it's more a case of "if guns are harder to get, illegal gun sales will be more profitable"
With how commonplace it is for Republicans fundraisers to embezzle, moralists to molest, and budget hawks to feather with pork, it's important that "Democratic party affiliation" be mentioned, because otherwise we'd assume it was just another Republican and "patriotic Americans" would just carry on and ignore the story.
I'm in favor of prosecuting crooks with power, no matter their affiliation. Bold type on Republicans? Really? People would think that was the average weight of a font if we did that.
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
Obama has been unable to make most of his Federal prosecutor appointments and it's been clear that as much as 7 times more investigations occur on Democratic appointments and politicians. While we have the IRS scandal, Republican connected 401C charities were investigated less and stopped less.
We also have minorities targeted more often by random drug sweeps and stop and frisk in certain parts of the country - and that results in more arrests of minorities.
Your chance of using a "Stand Your Ground" law is something like 384 times more likely if you are caucasian than you are a minority.
If Republicans and Caucasian established people never get investigated and handled with kid gloves -- then apparently that should mean it's not a crime if you are a caucasian Republican. Let's not pretend we are living in a society that is rapidly falling apart because of different standards of justice.
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
This makes absolutely no sense....In America, isnt "agreeing to perform official acts in exchange for the money" a fundamental part of how the American government works?
Isnt this how their Senate operates? The media tend to call it "lobbying", and the "lobbying industry" has sprung up around this practice, so how come this politician was arrested for this?
Im confused, isnt this a perfectly legal thing in the USA? Its been going on for so many decades, why start charging people now?
This article vs. the recent one about a Republican doing something bad, and his party is right there early in the summary.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
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