Nebraska - LINCOLN - Filibuster kills bill to repeal Nebraska's motorcycle helmet law

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BY: JOE DUGGAN
Source: starherald.com

Nebraska - LINCOLN - Nebraska's mandatory helmet law has survived another repeal effort. Supporters of the helmet law effectively filibustered a repeal bill Monday.
Backers of Legislative Bill 31, which would have allowed adult motorcyclists to ride without helmets, failed to reach the 33 votes necessary to cut off debate after eight hours of discussions. The bill died when 24 senators voted to cut off a filibuster, nine fewer than was needed. As a result, the bill is effectively done for the year.
It marked the second year in a row that a filibuster killed a repeal bill.
The measure was sponsored by Sen. Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins.
Repeal supporters said they believed in giving Nebraska's 97,000 motorcyclists freedom to choose whether they wanted to wear helmets.
The bill would have mandated helmets for riders younger than 21 and eye protection for all riders.
Supporters of the helmet law say repealing it would lead directly to more deaths and more traumatic brain injuries. They also made an economic argument, noting that survivors of motorcycle crashes frequently turn to state and federal programs to pay for their costly long-term care. The helmet law, they said, saves tax dollars by minimizing injuries.
A recent survey by Research Associates found that 77 percent of Nebraskans supported the helmet law, while 19 percent favored repealing it.
"I can't buy this freedom argument," said Sen. Robert Hilkemann of Omaha. "We're not here to take away motorcycles. We're not here to take them off the road."
Nineteen states require helmet use for all, and 28 states require helmets for younger riders but not most adults, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Three states, including Iowa, have no helmet requirements.
Four previous attempts to repeal Nebraska's helmet law have failed. Last year, the bill died when 25 senators voted to cut off a filibuster.

CA - Mongols indictment continues to reverberate in courts

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 Frank C. Girardot
Source: pasadenastarnews.com

California - Al "the Suit" Cavazos won't give in, won't give up and won't surrender. A West Covina resident, Cavazos and his brother Rueben "Doc" Cavazos and Rueben's son 'Little Rubes" were among dozens of members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club arrested in a federal gang probe that resulted in lengthy prison sentences and a reverberation of recriminations.
Five years later, The Suit says his family was railroaded. And he wants his questions answered.
He has reams and reams of proof and a list of politician and media addresses - of both the electronic and physical variety - that would make any public relations agency drool. He writes to all of them frequently, and amazingly often receives responses.
The most recent came from a staffer in Sen. Barbara Boxer's office who promised to forward allegations of corruption in the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to investigators in the (wait for it) ATF.
"See, we're not what they keep saying we are," The Suit said during a recent visit. "I think a lot of these people know that, but why don't they want to say nothing? You know what I mean? They don't want to get too involved, but they don't want to say I'm wrong, in case it comes out that I'm right? You see what I mean?"
As it stands, The Suit, Doc and Little Rubes have been permanently 86'd from the Mongols by president David "Lil Dave" Santillan, who says they are "out bad".
The ruling won't keep The Suit from going to every court hearing that he can.
On Thursday last week, The Suit was downtown at a pre-trial hearing in the case of David Martinez, accused of killing Pomona Police Officer Shaun Diamond in November.
In June, he'll watch as members of the Mongols, led by Santillan, will appear in federal court to defend their trademark. The image of a swashbuckling, pony tailed Mongol raider aboard a chopper is well-known in the Southwest.
Federal investigators have been working to bring the club to heel for years. And the outcome of the trademark suit could affect members on an international scale.
In his defense of the club, Santillan has tirelessly pointed to its founding by Latino Vietnam-era vets, who were denied membership in other clubs. He has also pointed to current membership as model citizens who will be denied basic rights if their trademark is heisted by the government.
"The Mongols Nation Motorcycle club consists of over 700 members worldwide. Our members include doctors, lawyers, professionals of all sorts, business owners, and loyal employees of others. I am informed and believe that many if not the majority of our members were formerly members of the U.S. armed forces," Santillan wrote in October. As it stands, the case comes down to whether or not the government can classify the Mongols as a criminal organization. And it could happen. Judge Otis Wright, hearing the case, clearly is no fan.
"This is a criminal enterprise as evidenced by the admissions of same by no fewer than 40 people who appeared before me," Wright said. "This is a dangerous enterprise."
The question Wright will pose is this, which he articulated at the same hearing in October:
"Is being a Mongol no different than them perhaps having been Lutheran ... ? It is not the same thing, is it? They are operating under the banner of the Mongols. It is that name, that reputation, that intimidation factor which enables them to do what they do, isn't it?" 

Cops in Colorado Could Soon Face $15,000 Fines if they Try to Stop People from Filming

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Matt Agorist

WOW! A new bill that protects the people from the police? Now, this is something we can get behind. If a cop takes or destroys your camera, the citizen could receive $15K. Talk about incentive to film and hold the police accountable. like emoticon
Learn more: http://bit.ly/1LP7gcs
Via - The Free Thought Project.com

Denver, CO — While Texas lawmakers are trying to make filming the police illegal, Colorado is taking a much better approach.
A package of bills that are designed to increase police oversight have been introduced in the Colorado Legislature. One of the measures included in the package would impose up to $15,000 in civil penalties for cops who interfere with someone trying to film them.
“Primarily, it came up as a result of the number of news reports we’ve been seeing about police officers telling people, ‘Give me your camera,’ or taking the data away, and that is unacceptable conduct,” said Rep. Joe Salazar, a Democrat from Thornton and co-sponsor of the bill.
According to 7 News Denver, Salazar said House Bill 15-1290 has support from both Democrats and Republicans and is not intended to penalize police.
“It takes a very special person to be a police officer,” Salazar said. “We want to honor them, but at the same time, we have a few bad apples who need to be aware that their conduct now has major, major consequences.”
One of the incidents that caught the attention of Salazar was the case of Bobbie Ann Diaz. Diaz was trying to film what happened after police shot and killed 17-year-old Jessica Hernandez. 
As Diaz was trying to film the incident, she says an officer stopped her and threatened her with arrest if she continued to film.
“At that time, (the officers) put Jessie down and they were on their knees yelling at Brianna that she better not record. She better not,” Diaz said. “She got scared. She got intimated. These are big officers and she didn’t want to make things worse.”
Diaz didn’t know that she was protected by law to film the police as long as she wasn’t interfering with their investigation.

“I wanted to cooperate with them,” she said. “And I didn’t know it was our right to keep recording on our property.”
Predictably this legislation is being met with opposition from police groups.
7News Denver Reports:

A spokesperson for the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police said, while it recognizes citizens’ rights to record law enforcement, it is opposed to the fine of up to $15,000 because there is already a court process that determines whether an officer acted appropriately.
“There’s already an existing process,” said Wheat Ridge Police Chief Dan Brennan. “It don’t think it’s appropriate to legislate penalties.”

However, it is apparent that the “existing process” isn’t enough to deter police from violating the rights of individuals. We’ve seen several cases, recently, in which police in Colorado have violated the rights of people who record them.
Last month we reported on the case of a man shopping at a Wal-Mart who saw police arresting a shoplifter. When the man filming, Chris Hoover, started recording this altercation with police, he was arrested, for filming. 
Also, in November, a man filmed Denver police as they beat a man and his pregnant wife. Officers took his tablet and deleted the video. However, they were too late as it had already uploaded to his Dropbox account.image: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cops-colorado-face-15000-fines-stop-people-filming/

CA MC PROFILING VICTIM STATEMENT DOC..

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If you attended our charity event on Saturday and/or tried to and were profiled and harrassed by the descriminatory gestappo tactics of the police / sheriffs... If you'd be willing to fill out and send us one of these, we'd appreciate it.
We intend to take the fight to them now, legally of course, and expose them for the little rotten bitches they are.
Thank you in advance, for your cooperation.

As far as where to send them, if you can scan them and private msg them to me or send to roadrage@violatorsmc.com   That's be great. 

Road Rage

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