Saturday, April 28, 2018

Someone's husband, father, brother or son was allowed to bleed to death. That is called manslaughter.

It didn't make the national news, but, it should have. This riot is about the fifth riot in the prison, but, it is the deadliest in 25 years in all of the USA. I do believe South Carolina has four other maximum security prisons in addition to this one.

Lee Correctional facility does not have angels for guards either. Recently, there were 14 arrests made for taking bribes and smuggling contraband.

April 25, 2018

Hoping to stanch "a crisis in contraband," (click here) federal prosecutors have indicted 14 former state corrections employees accused of taking bribes for smuggling cellphones and drugs into South Carolina's prisons....

There is nothing like guards that don't know how to guard or even know and respect the law. How convenient is it for guards to allow people to die if they can become a prisoner whistleblower?



 — Another hostage situation (click here) in just over three months at the same state maximum security prison have South Carolina senators wondering if they need to have Corrections Department officials answer questions about the facility.

Inmates held an officer for about five hours Thursday at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville. He was released with minor injuries. In the past four years, four large fights and three hostage situations have broken out at the prison.

"If it was a system-wide problem, you would be hearing about these situations at other places, right?" said Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, and a member of the Senate Corrections and Penology Committee....

Seven men were allowed to die, rather than guards ending the violence. The violence spread to three cell blocks before it stopped. Afterward, the warden stated there was not one of his men hurt. 

Well. The warden was wrong. All these men were under his supervision and care. Seven died and many wounded. The dead were piled on top of each other.

No tear gas, no nothing. The authorities in the prison simply stood by and let it happen. The riot started at 7:30 pm, the prison authorities didn't enter the prison until cell blocks until 11:30 pm where control is stated to easily return. Additional response occurred at 12:30 pm in another section and control was easily returned. The final two cell blocks came under control at 1:00 AM and prison counting began.

There was no excuse for this. If tear gas was sent into those cell blocks when the violence first started, it wouldn't have spread to other areas of the prison and seven men would still be alive.

This was one of South Carolina's maximum security prisons, that does mean everyone was on death row. Premature deaths in prisoners need investigation and prosecution.

From top row from left, Corey Scott, Eddie Casey Gaskins, Raymond Angelo Scott and Damonte Rivera; bottom row from left, Michael Milledge, Cornelius McClary and Joshua Jenkins. The seven inmates were killed, and at least 17 prisoners wounded, in a riot.

A timeline:

April 25, 2018

November 2017 (click here)

About 300 inmates are transferred to Lee Correctional Institution from McCormick Correctional Institution. Both facilities are maximum-security prisons. The transfer from McCormick occurs because that facility is understaffed. A dorm at Lee is cleared out for 250 of the inmates from McCormick. Another 50 to 60 inmates from McCormick are put in "restrictive housing" at Lee, meaning that they live in lockdown for most of each day....

...4:40 a.m.

According to Lee County Emergency Medical Services Director Tim Dubose, 12 ambulances and a bus are used to transport injured inmates to a total of five hospitals in Florence, Hartsville, Sumter and Richland County. The last of 22 inmates are transported from the prison infirmary to hospitals at 4:40 a.m....

Montana and the country needs Jon Tester.

Long before Donald Trump became a candidate, Senator Jon Tester was sponsoring and saw enacted a law that would assign reform to the USA Border, including a long needed increase in Border Patrol salaries. The immigration and USA border is not a new topic for Jon.

Jon Tester is not an obstructionist, he voted with Trump and the Republicans at least 37 times. That might not seem a lot, but, for a man with dearly little in common with skyscrapers and wheeling and dealing, that is a significant percentage.

113th CONGRESS
2d Session
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE
September 19, 2014

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

AN ACT

To amend title 5, United States Code, to improve the security of the United States border and to provide for reforms and rates of pay for border patrol agents....

This isn't the only bill he wrote, sponsored and passed into law.

Tester was the primary sponsor of 12 bills that were enacted (click here). The most recent include:

S. 544: A bill to amend the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to modify the termination date for the Veterans Choice Program, and for other purposes.

S. 719 (114th): A bill to rename the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Great Falls, Montana, the Captain John E. Moran and Captain William Wylie Galt Armed Forces Reserve Center.

S. 1580 (114th): Competitive Service Act of 2015

S. 1125 (114th): Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement Act of 2015

S. 1691 (113th): Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act of 2014

S. 2259 (112th): Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2012S. 997 (112th): East Bench Irrigation District Water Contract Extension Act

He is a prolific writer of legislation.

Additionally, he would never act against a nominee for the VA Administration unless he was provided significant information to excuse a nominee.  I believe both Senator Tester and Dr. Ronny Jackson was set up for the sole purpose of defeating Tester's return to the US Senate.

But, with 23 different military personnel, both active and retired, it sounds as though there is legitimacy to the position of Senator Tester. He is not going to engage any form of "Trump Loyalty" in his responsibility to the American people, especially veterans.

But, for Donald Trump to use this particular issue as a campaign slogan is disturbing and is what causes me to speculate about Trump's intention in the first place. 

Senator Tester doesn't provide classification to the Russians from the Oval Office and doesn't engage in any immoral, unethical or illegal activity. He is a Senator from Montana that recognizes the need for a strong presence in Washington, DC for his constituency. 

Trump is unethical and disgusting to seek out a campaign slogan against Senator Tester, when it was his own lack of judgment and preparation of a US Cabinet Secretary that put Dr. Jackson in a very awkward position.

Mostly what bothered me about Trump was his idea of a "High Quality Family." Really? Are there few high quality families in the USA that this one was so special? 

An award winning whistleblower.

The Goldman Environmental Prize (click here)

The entire episode with Synder's emergency manager law was insane. People had no idea at all what was occurring and why they were ill. That is maniacal. That is absolutely maniacal. No statements to the public, no mailings of the change of water, no town forums. It is absolutely maniacal.

April 27, 2018
By Sydney Stevens

After local authorities began relying on the Flint River as a water source, LeeAnne Walters and her family experienced health problems. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to uncover the real source of the problem.

LeeAnne Walters (click here) was a stay-at-home mother of four living in Flint, Michigan, when she and her children began noticing troubling health problems in the spring of 2014. Her 3-year-old twins kept breaking out in strange, burning rashes after their bath, and she and her daughters started losing clumps of hair in the shower. Her 14-year-old son was hospitalized several times for severe abdominal pains. At one point, Walters’ eyelashes fell out.