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AUSTIN (KXAN) A three-month long surveillance operation of a 53-year-old man suspected of running an illegal gambling ring in the Austin area culminated in his arrest by SWAT officers in Hutto on Monday.

The Austin Police Departments Human Trafficking/Vice Unit began their surveillance of Chong Pak in late January 2017 and, after several search warrants at various game rooms and the cooperation of people involved, detectives were able to identify Pak as the alleged owner of the operation.

On Monday, APD and Williamson County SWAT teams searched Paks home in the 1200 block of Augusta Bend in Hutto. Detectives say they found several documents linking Pak to illegal gaming operations.

They seized $724,736 in cash, believed to be income from the game rooms, three vehicles worth $94,550 and around $7,500 in gold and silver ingots, similar to gold bars.

Pak has been charged with first-degree felony money laundering and a state jail felony for engaging in organized crime. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Troy Officer, commander of the APD Organized Crime Unit, says there are about 80 illegal game rooms operating in Austin. Just one small game room can make at least $1.2 million a year, he said.

Anyone who says these game rooms are a victimless crime and people are willingly taking part in this, have no idea what the ultimate pocket is for the illegal activity, Cmdr. Officer said, estimating the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash confiscated from Paks home is just a drop in the bucket.

The commander says game rooms are a breeding ground for robberies and violent crimes, and he wants to put their operators on notice. We may not get you today. We may not get you tomorrow, but we will get you, we will put you in jail, and we will come after your money and take what you covet most about doing these operations: your illegal games.

Cmdr. Officer says the money could be used for anything from financing drugs to terrorism. He says Paks game rooms were strictly running 8-liner machines, which are video slot machines.

The police department saying illegal gaming operations are bringing in millions of dollars every month citywide. Cmdr. Officer says theyve arrested around nine suspects related to Paks operation leading up to the arrest of the alleged ringleader himself. Investigators believe he owns six to eight game rooms and leases the machines for many of the other game rooms in the city, located in warehouses, homes or storefronts.

Police still consider this to be an active investigation and, with the help of the Internal Revenue Service, they expect to issue additional search and arrest warrants.

Heather Crawford lives two doors down from Paks home in Hutto. Its real quiet, everyone kinda keeps to themselves but everyone is real friendly with each other, Crawford said.

That quiet turned to a bit of chaos Monday morning for her and her family.

We heard another explosion and it shook the house and we thought, Oh my goodness whats going on? So my husband came outside to the front porch and he saw the police, he saw guns drawn. It was scary. Crawford said.

When the family found out hours later what the raid was for, Crawfords gut feeling kicked in.

Weve always kind of been suspicious of maybe illegal activities going on in the house, she said. There were always a lot of cars parked in the area and a lot of cars coming and going.

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Alleged leader of Austin gambling operation faces up to life in prison ... - KXAN.com

Washington, D.C. -Illegal immigrant crime is facing new opposition with the launch of the Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime (AVIAC).

The group was founded by Mary Ann Mendoza and Don Rosenberg, who both lost their children to illegal immigrant felons. The founders are joined by more Americans whose children and loved ones have been killed by illegal immigrants. AVIAC aims to be a resource for victims of illegal alien crimes, such as assault and battery, identity theft and rape; the organization also seeks to serve families of these victims.

Representative Steve King (R-IA) is one of the organizations strongest advocates, promising to push legislation such as Sarah's Lawand KatesLaw. Rep. King is a proponent of strong immigration policy and was the keynote speaker at AVIACs launch event. He cited a heavy amnesty time period under President Ronald Reagan:

In 1986, Ronald Reagan was honest. He called his legislation amnesty. Now, they just call it comprehensive immigration reform. We know it means amnesty...I thought he would veto it [amnesty] because I thought he understood that we have to uphold the rule of law.

Were on the cusp of restoring the rule of law, he said on the new administration.

Rep. King rightfully pointed out the sad truth that is often untold about illegal immigrant crimes: that each and every one is avoidable.

Every one of those lives that have been snuffed out by someone who is unlawfully in America, illegal aliens, is a preventable death, he said.

Rep. King brought up that although illegal immigrants commit more crimes than American citizens, the most crucial offense is executed on arrival by illegal immigrants. Coming to America illegally is a federal crime. He criticized Democrats for overlooking the immigration problem, and using it for political capital.

Hillary Clinton would fast track citizenship to anyone who would vote as a Democrat, King said.

Attendees of the event had the opportunity to hear from the families who lost their children and loved ones at the hand of illegal immigration. The group gathered from across the country, from California to Massachusetts, in support of the same cause, and with losing loved ones in common.

Michelle Root, who lost her daughter Sarah, who is the namesake of Sarahs Law, spoke to the support aspect of AVIAC:

When my daughter Sarah was killed last year, I wish I had an organization like this to turn to...AVIAC is important to me and the rest of the families standing here today, and many Americans...because we share the same grief. All of our loved ones would still be here today if it werent for the person who was here illegally.

We stand here today to speak truth, standing up for loved ones we lost, for other victims who have been silenced and for future generations of Americans who deserve to be safe and secure, she added.

The rest of the families shared their stories and passion for taking action on illegal immigration. The unique variety of tragic stories and diversity of the group proved that everyone is affected by illegal alien crime; and illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.

Watch the launch video for Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime here:

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"These Deaths Are Preventable:" Grieving Families Join Together To Take Action on Illegal Immigrant Crime - Townhall

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A benefits cheat rom Derby who said she "was virtually unable to walk" was caught out - when it was discovered she was a drummer in a marching band.

Rhona Vessey told the Department of Work and Pensions "could only walk 20 metres without getting out of breath" and "felt anxious if people looked at her" when she was out.

The 50-year-old, of Little Eaton, also said she often "could not carry a shopping bag" because of her physical impairments.

But, following a tip-off from a member of the public, investigators carried out undercover surveillance on Vessey and on three occasions watched as she banged a drum with the marching band.

Handing her a 10-week community order, District Judge Jonathan Taaffe said: "This is not a victimless crime because there is no bottomless pit of money that people can fraudulently claim from.

"You claimed benefits you were not entitled to and the reality is that society and the courts take a serious view on crimes like this.

"You made the claim and then participated in marching activities with others."

Lynn Bickley, prosecuting at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court said Vessey submitted a benefits claim on October 3, 2014 and continued receiving money, which totalled 6,251.04, until October 26 the following year.

Our reporter with the case details:

She said: "We says this was a claim that was dishonest from the outset.

"She made the claim saying she was virtually unable to walk, needed attention to her leg three times during the day and prolonged attention during the night.

"In her claim she said she could only walk between 20 and 50 metres without getting out of breath.

"She said often she could not go outside her front door, or go to shops and supermarkets on her own.

"She said she could often not use shopping bags and felt anxious if people looked at her when she was outside.

"But information was received that she was a member of a marching band and regularly took part in lengthy and complex marching routines."

Miss Bickley said investigators for the DWP went to spy on Vessey, of Church Lane, to see if the allegations were founded.

She said: "The result of the surveillance was that on three occasions she was observed marching in the band with a drum strapped to her shoulder and there were no limitations on her mobility."

Vessey was interviewed and claimed her claim was genuine and that her condition was getting worse.

But she later pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and the court was told she is currently paying back the money she illegally claimed.

Judge Taaffe ordered that she pay 85 costs, an 85 victim surcharge and handed her a 10 week curfew, confining her to her address between 7pm and 7am each day.

Peter Jones, for Vessey, said his client had lost her husband "relatively recently" and is currently jointly claiming employment support allowance with her new partner.

He said: "This is a lady that feels great shame that she before the court."

He said she understood that it was wrong for her to not reveal she was playing in a marching band.

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Benefits cheat who said she was 'virtually unable to walk' was drummer in marching band - Derby Telegraph

Sens. Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein recentlyintroduced the Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues (SITSA) Act of 2017. This act would create a Schedule A classification, banning importing new synthetic drugs deemed substantially similar to existing illegal drugs before testing their safety. If passed, the SITSA Act will be another step down the unfruitful path of prohibition.

Prohibiting a drug causes more problems than it solves. When a substance is banned, people can no longer rely on the government to enforce contracts for the sale and transport of the substance. This means that the only way to protect property and selling rights is through violence. Drugs dont cause violent crimeprohibition does.

Two years after Colorado legalized marijuana, the stateexperienced a 12.8 percent decrease in homicide rates. Colorado prosecutors charged 11,000 people with marijuana-related crimes in 2011 and charged only 2,100 people for marijuana crimes from January to October of 2015. It seems obvious that the number of charges would decrease when the drug became legal. What is less obvious, though, is the time, energy, and money saved when police arent wasting time on victimless crimes.

Prohibition often makes drugs stronger and more dangerous. In 1971, just before President Richard Nixon started the official War on Drugs, overdose deaths rates in the United States were slightly above one in 100,000. By 2008, this number jumped to 12 in 100,000.

If possession of a substance is a federal crime, many dealers and users cease using the drug in low concentrations. The more potent the drug, the more worthwhile the risk, versus potential profit. This is why we saw aspike in hard alcohol consumption during prohibition while beer and wine consumption dropped significantlyand why all these consumption rates returned to normal after the 21st Amendment was ratified. The War on Drugs makes drugs deadlier.

The SITSA Act is an attempt by Congress to ban substances before the government can even identify them. Substances could be banned for a predicted physiological effect on the human body. Grassley and Feinstein want to restrict drugs that they think might have an adverse effect on human health with no substantiated evidence.

The governments role is not that of an overprotective babysitter or frightened parent. Americans should be able to decide for themselves what substances to use if no federal testing has found them to be harmful.

This is reminiscent of the hilariously frightening pass it to see whats in it Obamacare debacle. Government officials want the power to ban substances without even knowing what they are. Dont worry, though, the government will figure out how harmful the drug is after its off-limits for an indefinite amount of time. Federal regulation has stopped U.S. scientists from researching medical uses for marijuana, MDMA, LSD and other illicit substances. Prematurely banning the transport of new drugs will keep them unavailable for private medical testing.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the man who just asked Congress to let him prosecute medical marijuana companies, claims the U.S. is in the throes of a historic epidemic of drug use. He predicts more violent crime and a huge public safety risk if medical marijuana operations arent shut down. Sessions doesnt understand that the danger, violence, and public health crises caused by drugs is not in their use but in their prohibition.

Portugal faced a similar situation in the late 1980s. At first, the country tried a rigorous conservative approach to drug use including social vilification and harsh legal penalties. It didnt work. By 1999, almost one percent of the population was addicted to heroin.

In 2001, the country decided to tackle the problem in a different way. Portugal decriminalized all drugs and focused on harm reduction measures. Since then, drug-induced deaths, AIDS diagnoses, and overall drug use have fallen significantly.

The U.S. government is actively harming its citizens with its predatory drug policy. The SITSA Act insults Americans, implying that the government knows what we should and shouldnt put into our bodies without any research to back up its claims. To curb the drug problems in America, we need to realize that prohibition invariably makes things worse.

Dylan Moore is currently a Young Voices Advocate.

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Congress Proposes Outlawing Drugs Before Knowing What They Are - Observer

Let us speak then of victimless crimes, the pretense that somehow by expunging certain acts from the criminal justice system we are in fact advancing civilization, casting aside the repressions, the myths, the lies our churches told us for centuries upon centuries that those acts were evil when of course we the educated sophisticates know ever so much better that they are not evil merely pleasures that do no harm to no one else. If I choose to smoke a little dope, wheres the victim? Well there are one or two or several dozen victims you know, the ones exploited and yes occasionally killed by the higher levels of the drug trade. Then legalize it, you say and I will agree but lets not pretend that getting whacked out of our skulls leaves no fingerprints on anyone elses soul.

Perhaps the word soul makes you uncomfortable, makes you wish that this what is this, a book review or a sermon? piece of writing would just move along and get to the plot and sentence structure, leaving this talk of souls behind. Oh no, I beg your pardon but we cannot speak of this novel Harvesting without a few good words about souls.

I actually believed for a good many years that prostitution was a victimless crime. That position was very much part of the values in the home I grew up in; all other parties being long since dead, I am not causing anyone any blush of embarrassment, no averting of the eyes when the Priest speaks from the pulpit at Sunday Mass. No, both my mother who was a journalist and my grandfather who was a properly progressive MP felt that prostitution fulfilled a need in society. After all, men who were single or men who were (much worse than single) in unhappy marriages or (much worse than unhappy marriages) married to women who because of frailty could no longer satisfy mans need for sexual pleasure, why those men require somewhere to go. Otherwise, just think of what the rape and abuse statistics would be like!

Then of course if one studies enough or actually listens to the women in ones life, the realization dawns finally that if one out of three women and there are higher estimates than that have been or will be sexually assaulted at some time in their lives then how does that justify the supposed noble purpose of prostitution? And there too, why is the focus on the needs of the men? Kingsley Amis might have said that male virility is like being chained to the devil, but hold on a minute. People quit smoking, heroin, drinking and eating meat and they seem to survive. Are you really telling me that a period of abstinence is all that hard (or pardon me, I suppose I might have said difficult)?

What of the women? Ah well, theyre paid for it so thats no bother. Its just business dealings, a commercial transaction, everybody knows what theyre doing so there is no victim there. After all, if we didnt have prostitution we wouldnt have the stage musical Sweet Charity or the movie Pretty Woman. How bad can prostitution be when it inspires romantic comedies?

The Irish novelist Lisa Harding makes an incredibly wise choice in Harvesting. The story of two young girls, one Irish and one Moldovan, thrown together as captives in an under-age sex trade prison, has no description of sex in it whatsoever except for only the most allusive. At first, I thought that Harding had made this choice for literary, character-based reasons; by not including the specifics of what these grotesque clients did to these girls that would so reflect the effects of repressed memory, willed amnesia and so forth. Now while that may have entered into Hardings consideration, I suspect that she had a much, much more chilling reason to leave the sex on the cutting room floor. She did not want this novel to be at all titillating. Think about it. Harding clearly did, and I imagine it was a chilling thought imagining a book about exploitation of children for sexual purpose being passed about with the hot bits dog-eared and highlighted. Well done to the author in avoiding that.

Without ever being pedantic or at all lecturing, Harding builds a case step-by-step against this so-called victimless crime by framing it in the narrative voices of Samantha and Nico. Samantha is the street-wiser or the two, receiving the attention of the older boys at her Dublin school as a pseudo-replacement for an alcoholic mother and an often absent father. Nico is a farm girl, raised in a male-dominant family that betrays her upon reaching puberty by selling her to a sex trader.

It is not just the families that fail the two young women. Time and again, whether it is the drivers who take the victims to their clients, the clients who realize the girls are under-age, the barmen who serve them, the social services who do too little, or the police forces who allow these operations to exist, the systems of civilization fail. At one point Samantha escapes from hospital and when she realizes that she has effectively escaped into captivity she thinks that she must be in the news, the goal of a nationwide search. Of course she isnt. To whatever degree we think about such things as teen prostitutes gone missing, we either shrug it off, ignore it, assume shell grow out of it, or at a darkest level wonder if perhaps shes searchable on Pornhub.

Harvesting is not a light-hearted read, a book to be tossed into the beach bag for a summer weekend day trip. Although, you know, perhaps it should be. There you are with your partner and the kids, the latter playing on the beach, and you lift your eyes from your book and look at the people further down along the sand. What are they looking at through their Ray-Bans? Are they looking at your children? And more what are you looking at and thinking?

The sexual exploitation of women is as old as society itself. It exists in all nations, all cultures, throughout all history. Slavery, which we like to pretend had been eradicated in the nineteenth century, still exists. The rights of children are still ill-defined when it comes to parents custodial rights. True justice will only occur when we face the ills that pervade within our cultures, acknowledge them, yet never accept them. One novel, no matter if it is as well-written and gripping as Harvesting is barely heard as a muted whisper against all the media that assumes girls or women exist purely for sexual pleasure. And yet, Lisa Hardings voice is still a voice, and one whisper joined by the whispers of her readers can in combination become a shout. That, at least, supplies us some hope.

Be seeing you.

Harvesting

Lisa Harding (New Island Books 2017, Trade Paperback) 308 pages

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Book Review: Harvesting by Lisa Harding (novel) - The London Economic

The Scottish Borders has joined a national two-month campaign to help prevent child sex abuse.

Police Scotland and local authorities have launched the initiative with the charity Stop It Now! Scotland.

The charity provides confidential support to people who are having sexual thoughts about children and young people, supporting them manage these and control any associated behaviour.

1,600

people sought help to stop looking at sexual images of children online in 2016.

14

crimes of possessing indecent images of children in Scottish Borders between 2015/16.

The campaign is being supported by the City of Edinburgh Council, West Lothian Council, Scottish Borders Council, East Lothian Council and Midlothian Council with partners in NHS Lothian and NHS Borders.

Stop it Now! Scotland has worked with hundreds of men arrested for viewing sexual images of children.

For many, being arrested was a real wake-up call. Many knew what they were doing was wrong, but struggled to change their behaviour on their own. Thats where our work comes in.

We make sure these men understand the harm they have caused the children in these images, and also the serious consequences for them and their families if they dont get to grips with their online behaviour. Once they understand this, they become far less likely to reoffend.

But there are thousands of men out there viewing sexual images of under 18s. We need to get to them too, to help them understand what they are doing is illegal and incredibly harmful to the children and young people in the images and to get them to stop."

Stuart Allardyce, National Manager of Stop it Now! in Scotland

Our ultimate goal here is to protect children.

Accessing these images is not a victimless crime. A child is re-victimised every time an image of them is viewed and this creates further demand for these appalling materials.

We have a highly experienced and dedicated Cyber Crime Unit with access to extensive investigative techniques to pursue perpetrators of these crimes.

The consequences of this behaviour for an individual are life-changing and can include losing your job, being imprisoned and registered as a sex offender.

Id urge anyone who is having inappropriate thoughts about children to seek help from Stop It Now! Scotland. Otherwise, expect a visit from officers.

Detective Chief Inspector Brian Stuart of Police Scotlands Cyber Crime Unit

To get help, call Stop It Now! Scotland confidentially on 0131 556 3535 or visit get-help.stopitnow.org.uk where further advice, including a self-help section, is available.

Last updated Mon 26 Jun 2017

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Borders joins national campaign to stop child sex abuse | Border ... - ITV News

Hospital exec reflects on deck collapse, thanks all for work to assist patients

On the afternoon of June 17, local hospital staff responded to a mass casualty event that occurred south of Lakeside. More than 50 people were injured and transported to nearby hospitals. Of those patients, 37 were treated at Flathead County hospitals nine at North Valley Hospital and 28 at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

This was the largest mass casualty event in memory for many staff, yet our teams were prepared and operated like clockwork. Within 20 minutes after the first notification, there were three operating rooms prepared to accept surgical patients. The ALERT air ambulance team flew multiple trips transporting the injured. The flight medic stayed on the scene to assist in transporting others by ground. Surgeons evaluated every patient, and radiologists stayed close by to read images. Operating room staff worked well into the night and Sunday morning. Special areas were established for patients families to gather, and staff brought in food and drinks for them. Many employees, including those from nursing, clinical areas, nutrition services, housekeeping, spiritual care, social work, patient registration, lab, security, the communications center and more dropped what they were doing to help or came in on their days off to lend a hand.

As a member of this community, Im very thankful for the amazing level of medical care available here. As an administrator at Kalispell Regional Healthcare, Im immensely proud to be associated with such a remarkable team of employees and medical staff. There are too many names to list individually, but we are thankful for each one of the first responders, the clinical staff who cared for the injured and all the hospital personnel and volunteers who provided support in a variety of ways. But most of all, we are grateful that all the patients affected by this tragedy are on the road to recovery. Curtis Lund, Kalispell, Kalispell Regional Healthcare Interim CEO

I once thought that Nancy Pelosi was the dumbest person in Washington when she said we must pass Obamacare to read whats in it.

Now we even have someone who is dumber than a box of rocks Trumps Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who said that Hitler didnt even sink to using chemical weapons during World War II. What did he use on the Jews?

Bashar al-Assad and Sean Spicer should both be taken out of office. One for using chemical weapons and one for using his mouth without engaging his brain both deadly weapons. Phillip Gregoire, Whitefish

I am running for Whitefish Municipal Court judge for one reason: to make the court and our community the best it can be.

My initial goal is to reduce your taxes. I will make the judge position part-time, with a corresponding reduction in salary, to save your tax bill. I want to increase efficiency.

I will use video arraignments to free county deputies for patrol rather than transporting prisoners. This will also make scarce jail space available for more serious offenders.

I will improve case resolution by implementing simple business practices, such as telephone conferences, so citizens will not miss work to resolve a parking ticket and visitors will not have to make multiple return visits for a traffic violation.

I will punish domestic violence. On average, a woman is beaten 25 times before she makes a police report. Women are killed by abusers at twice the rate of our troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Of those deaths 50-75 percent of them are when she leaves her abuser. I will issue restraining orders when a victim makes the courageous decision to seek help, and will strongly punish domestic abusers.

I will protect our community from drunk drivers and those without insurance or licenses. These are not victimless crimes. I will impose maximum penalties, including treatment and interlock devices, to protect each of your families and our community.

I will do more with less of your tax dollars. You are being taxed for a new high school and the Haskill Basin conservation easement. Soon you will be asked to pay for a new middle school and a new county jail. As I said, I will reduce the courts budget, beginning with the judges salary.

I will bring experience to the job. I am the only candidate who has served as Brad Johnsons sub-judge. As Brads sub-judge, I handled all cases when he was absent, had a conflict of interest or did not want to handle the case.

I am the only candidate who has committed to Montanas Commission of Political Practices Code of Fair Campaign Practices agreeing to adhere to the basic principles of decency, honesty and fair play.

I have long been a public servant. I have lived and practiced law in Whitefish for 26 years. I have been Planning Board chairman, Flathead Countys Employer of Choice and the Whitefish Chambers Citizen of the Year.

For more information on my background, experience and goals, go to my website at http://www.tornowforwhitefish.com or call me at 862-7450.

With all these things in mind, I respectfully ask for your vote in November so that together, we can make the court and our community the best it can be. Tom Tornow, Whitefish

I find it quite interesting that liberal Democrats have their knickers in a twist over possible Russian interference in the last presidential election, but are fighting to the death to prevent an investigation into voter fraud. The Russian so-called interference in the election, for the most part, involved the release of emails proving how the DNC and various members of the party used dirty tactics to disadvantage Sen. Bernie Sanders and favor the campaign of Hillary Clinton information that the public deserved to know if this were an honest world.

Our government has done much more to influence foreign elections ... just look at Obamas election team trying to unseat Prime Minister Netanyahu in his last election in Israel in revenge over his opposition to the pathetically flawed Iran nuclear giveaway.

On the other hand, there are many prosecutions of voter fraud in states where the attorney generals actually care about the integrity of our elections. Illegal aliens and dead people are known to populate voting roles. I doubt the presidents claim that 3 million aliens voted in the last election, but I firmly believe that the number is certainly higher than zero. Why dont the liberal Democrats care about the impact of voter fraud on our elections?

The simple answer is that they are intimately involved in this fraud, especially since illegal aliens are part of their constituency. Instead of protecting the legitimacy of our elections, liberals continually degrade the process by fighting voter ID laws and those seeking to clean up outdated and inaccurate voter registration roles, all of which promote such shenanigans. Add a dash of a Democrat Attorney General Eric Holder failing to investigate or prosecute voter intimidation by Black Panther thugs at polling places in 2008, and we have a system rife with domestically generated fraud ... we dont need to worry that much about the Russians.

The Democrats have found a way to protect the swamp and prevent real reform in D.C. As long as they and their accomplices in the media keep screaming the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming, and ignore how tough the current administration has been on Russian transgressions, they hope to derail any real changes in Washington. Hopefully, elitist liberals have miscalculated the intelligence of We the People. Hopefully Jonathan Gruber, a proud liberal MIT professor involved in the passage of Obamacare was dead wrong when he proudly declared that the passage of Obamacare depended on the stupidity of the American voter to forward their agenda. One can only hope. P. David Myerowitz, Columbia Falls

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Letters, published June 25, 2017 - Daily Inter Lake

The world says: You have needs satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Dont hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more. This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder. Fyodor Dostoyevsky

By Denrele Animasaun

We often take our citizenship for granted, we automatically assume the privilege of being a Nigerian is ours for the taking and that we can jolly well use it, discard it at will, when we choose or when it pleases us. We should know that with these privileges, come responsibilities. And we should take our responsibilities seriously if we value the privilege of truly being a Nigerian. We should do more and throw away these assumed feelings of entitlement. We feel that we are owed this for being who we are. Actually, we are not. If everyone feels this way, then who are we expecting to deliver these entitlements and privileges? So in the meantime, we are squandering our birth-right and not fully recognising that we are custodians and that we have to hand over this responsibly to the next generations like those before us did. History will tell if we did our duties as custodians.

When I was growing up, the values and responsibilities of being a Nigerian was very much instilled in us; we strive to be a good person, we guarded our family names so proprietorially and, with pride, we are told that with hard work and pride in what we do, we will make it in life. We were told by our elders and those in authorities that it was important to truly be responsible and neighbourly; that it was important to truly give back and we did for the general good and not for ourselves and the privileged few. We did coin the adage that: it takes a village to raise a child didnt we? So when and what are you doing to help raise decent Nigerians?

There was a time we were compassionate to one another and it did not matter if you were from one tribe or another or you were from another religion or a different political party. We were then all Nigerians and that was all that mattered. We obeyed laws and had the confidence that the rules and laws were safe in the hands of our hallowed institutions and establishments. We knew the law was there to protect us as citizens and took our responsibility very seriously as we knew failure to do so had consequences. We took pride in the green, white, green; it was the colour of pride, real pride and privilege. It sounds simple doesnt it? But how many of us can truly say that we do our best as Nigerian citizens in the true sense of the word?

Do not worry about what others are doing, what are you doing to be a good Nigerian? Remember what you do is reflecting and will reflect on your children and their offspring. We have often used the old chestnut; that everybody is on the take that is why things are the way they are. I have got news for you: you are either the problem or the solution. You are a Nigerian after all, so you choose. So I ask you, what makes you a Nigerian? Before you answer, make sure that you have proved your worth to be called a Nigerian I believe a good citizen makes a good country and it is time we act as we deserve the right to call ourselves Nigerians.

Evans got caught

Funny how Nigerians express shock and horror whenever some new disaster or criminality is unearth in Nigeria. Let us be clear here, Life in Nigeria is far from normal. The yardstick of normal ceased a long time ago when the moral compass was broken. Majority of Nigerians are always looking for ways of making money quick and no matter how depraved or dishonest. Not many want to make an honest living. There lies the problem and our present dilemma of seeking money by all means necessary. One of the lines of current criminal activities are: kidnapping, human trafficking, drugs trafficking, baby making factories, of course, politicians.

In the last couple of days, police have nabbed the notorious kingpin kidnapper called Evans. They got him in his lair, in his ill-gotten wealth; he had made millions in kidnapping rich people for ransom and has done so for many years.

People claim they were unaware of his criminal activities in spite of living amongst ordinary people. Some have got as far as to seek for his release! No one knew what this guy did and his wife now spins a tale: that she was not aware of her husbands criminal business as she defends this by telling all who would listen, that he couldnt be that bad because he reads Psalm.23!

Of course, she said that they go to church! So this makes it all right, as far as she was concerned, he was religious. Those things do not absolve him off his crimes.

Uchennna Onwuamadike, wife of notorious kidnap kingpin, Chikwudubem Onwuamadike, also known as Evans, expects the Nigerian authorities to spare the life of her husband because of her children. Does she understand the horrors that her husbands victims have had to endure and she has the gall to plead for clemency on his behalf?

According to her, He reads Psalm 23 a lot. Even his phone, he sets alarm for 12 noon to read Psalm 23. He took part in our daily prayers in the morning, evening and night. He used to lead us in prayers. We attend Anglican Church. He has never given them money to show off. We used to give N5000 or N10,000 and the highest we have given so far was N50,000 when we baptised one of our children, she said. So what happened to the victims? For seven years, he has been peddling his brand of crime and his victims have been living a nightmare. Can someone explain to Evans wife, that his victims have families too and what gave her husband the right to kidnap innocent people, abduct them, torture them and then extort money off their family with menace and threats? Kidnapping is not a victimless crime, and for seven years, he was building his evil empire and living the life of OReily and he has the gall, to want to die because he feels that the police would not give him a fair treatment because of his crimes. He is looking for a cowards way out.

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One day - Vanguard

Each year, shoplifters steal roughly $14.7 billion worth of goods from stores. (So says the Retail Theft Barometer.) Each year, employers steal roughly $15 billion from their workers by paying them less than the minimum wage, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute.

The treatment of these two kinds of crime, however, are completely different.

Many more resources go into trying to deter, detect, and punish the guy trying to pinch a video game system off the shelf at the local big-box store than into the grand theft the store itself may be perpetrating against its own employeeseven if the retailer is taking millions of dollars from workers paychecks. Its one more way that the economic crimes of the powerful are treated far less seriously than the transgressions of those with less power.

In a recent study, I compared the damage from shoplifting with that from just one form of wage theft, the failure to pay workers the legal hourly minimum. Other forms include failing to pay overtime, stealing tips, making employees work off the clock, and still more employer schemes to pocket money that workers have legally earned. While it is more difficult to estimate the total loss from these other forms of wage theft, there is no question that they dwarf the losses attributable to shoplifting.

The impact that wage theft and shoplifting have are not remotely comparable. While shoplifting is certainly not a victimless crime, its consequences pale in comparison to wage theft. In fact, an estimated 4.5 million working people are victimized by minimum-wage violations alone, pushing 302,000 families across the nation into poverty.

Yet despite the tremendous magnitude of wage theft, retailers spent 39 times more on security in 2015 than the entire Department of Labor budget for enforcing wage standards that year. This disparity in funding creates a disparity in personnel: While there are 43,930 security guards working for retailers, the Department of Labor only retains 1,000 investigators tasked with enforcing wage laws for 7.3 million U.S. workplaces and 135 million workers. Under Trump administration budget proposals, resources for enforcement would face even greater cuts.

The security guards and federal wage inspectors arent the only enforcers of these respective laws, of course. On the retail security side, other employees, from fitting room attendants at a clothing store to convenience store clerks, are expected to play a role in preventing shoplifting, as are the thousands of local police officers enforcing laws against shoplifting. On the wage-theft side, state and local labor departments and attorneys general can support federal efforts to enforce wage laws, but they generally have access to even fewer resources than the federal government.

What happens when shoplifters and wage thieves get caught? Shoplifters may end up in jail, facing a fine and months behind bars for a misdemeanor conviction. Depending on the state, a thief caught making off with merchandise worth as little as $200 can face felony charges. In contrast, criminal charges of any kind are rare in cases of wage theft, even when millions of dollars are systematically stolen from employees over months or years. The fines imposed by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act often amount to a slap on the wrist; theyre too weak to act as an effective deterrent.

Worse yet, employers increasingly prevent workers from going to court to recover stolen pay by imposing arbitration agreements that curtail employees ability to sue the company or participate in a class-action lawsuit.

A look at the victims and perpetrators reveals a great deal about why the deck is stacked in favor of wage thieves. The victims of minimum-wage violations are, by definition, working people who are supposed to be paid the minimum wage and yet receive lesscertainly not the most politically or economically powerful group in our society. And while any working person can be cheated out of wages, women, people of color, and immigrants (especially undocumented workers) are not only more likely to work in low-wage jobs, but disproportionately become victims of wage theft when they do. Victims of shoplifting, on the other hand, are businesses, including some of the nations most powerful corporations. And while shoplifters may be of any race or ethnicity, the phenomenon of shopping while black reveals that people of color, particularly African American consumers, are disproportionately profiled as potential shoplifters, contributing to the racial disparity that plagues the criminal justice system.

At a time when our economy is clearly tilted in favor of power and privilege, strengthening laws against wage theftand providing more resources for detection and enforcement at the state, local, and federal levelswould help un-rig this part of the system, making it fairer for us all.

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Wage Theft and Shoplifting: Same Cost, Different Deterrents - The American Prospect

In response to the worrying upward trend in opioid overdoses, the Massachusetts Medical Society voted overwhelmingly in favor of opening supervised injection facilities throughout the state.

Shifting from outright prohibition and criminalization to a focus on life preservation, medical professionals in Massachusetts hope that this will turn the tide in the fight against the opioid epidemic.

Dr. Barbara Herbert, a Massachusetts addiction specialist who voted for the measure, toldNBC Boston:

"You have to stay alive to get better..."

(Photo: Insite/CTV News)

When liberals and progressives point to Portugal as a prime example of a successful shift in drug policy from blanket prohibition to overdose reduction, this is the kind of thing they mean.

In 2001, Portugal decriminalizedalldrugs, reallocating some of the billions of dollars they'd been spending fighting victimless crimes towards investing inhealth clinics, injection sites and other medical initiatives.

And guess what? In just 11 years, the drug use rate in Portugal fell from around 45% to well below 30%.

That's a glimpse of what might just happen in America if we decided to treat addiction like the public health crisis it is, and not a sign of criminality.

(Photo: Insite/Vancourier/Dan Toulgoet)

On this side of the Atlantic, Vancouver, British Columbia has been opening supervised injection sites across the city since 2003, and they've seen a similar drop in addiction rates. Since 2003, Vancouver has seen a 35 percent reduction in overdoses and, perhaps most importantly, a 30 percent increase in users seeking treatment.

So Massachusetts wants to follow something like the Vancouver model, but apply it in the suburban and rural areas in the western part of the state, where opioid abuse rates have been climbing steadily and emergency resources are especially scarce.

Dr. Barbara Herbert laid out the supervised injection site concept, saying:

"The idea that someone would show up and inject in front of me is not an appealing idea.

But the idea that they would go two blocks away and die is so much worse."

While the Medical Society's vote is a big step towards implementing supervised injection sites across the state, the plan still has to be passed into law by the state assembly. While that may be quite the uphill climb, at least the ball is already rolling.

Read More ->What Is A 'Pot Powwow' And How Can It Help The Native American Community?

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Massachusetts Medical Society Votes To Approve Opioid Injection Facilities - Konbini US