Former Alabama Police Investigator Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Handcuffed Arrestee

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by: U.S Department of Justice

Tallahassee, AL - April 22, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- The Department of Justice announced today that a former Tallassee Police investigator, Brandon Smirnoff, 27, pleaded guilty to assaulting a handcuffed, 24-year-old man.

According to the guilty plea, Smirnoff, who was on duty as an investigator with the Tallassee Police Department, used his patrol car to pursue the victim, J.M., who was on a four-wheeler. After the pursuit, J.M. stepped off his four-wheeler, laid face down on the ground, and allowed several Tallassee police officers to handcuff him. While J.M. was handcuffed and compliant, Smirnoff lifted him into the air and then slammed him to the ground. Smirnoff then repeated the assault. Moments later, before Smirnoff placed the victim into his patrol car, Smirnoff slammed the victim’s head into the side of the vehicle. For each assault, the victim was handcuffed, compliant, and did not pose a threat.

“Police officers who willfully use excessive force not only violate the Constitution, they erode public trust in law enforcement,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division is committed to protecting victims of these abuses and upholding the Constitution and laws that protect us all.”

“It is especially important in a climate of distrust between law enforcement and the public, that officers act ethically and within the bounds of the law,” said U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin for the Middle District of Alabama. “This police officer’s brutal behavior was unacceptable and criminal. He violated this young man’s constitutional rights and the trust placed in law enforcement officers to faithfully, ethically, and morally enforce the law. You can be sure that anytime an officer steps over the line and into criminal behavior, as this one did, my office will hold that individual accountable.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge James E. Jewell stated, "the FBI supports our state and local law enforcement partners but will not tolerate the intentional abuse of a citizen. The position of police officer should convey compassion as well as trust and we intend to hold that line."

Smirnoff faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Montgomery Division. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise Simpson of the Middle District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Michael J. Songer of the Civil Rights Division.

An Open Letter to Alabama Voters

From The MAGA Coalition

The eyes of the nation are upon you. December 12th vote will be a crucial test of honor, morality, justice and wisdom. As is often the case in politics, nothing will be black or white. There will be no “right” answer, no unequivocal fact, and no pundit, politician or personality who holds the moral high ground. Myself included.

However, our MAGA Coalition made the call on this race months ago when we endorsed Judge Roy Moore for US Senate. It would be a shameful abdication of our duties to shy away from clarifying that endorsement in a time of trial and tribulation. In fact, there is no greater test of one’s mettle than to weigh in on matters such as the election facing Alabama voters.

This is the new and obscene American political landscape — a place where the lowest common denominator reigns, and charges of depravity rule the day. Are we so desensitized that we don’t flinch at 40-year-old charges, lobbed like a hand grenade, 30 days before an election? The methods deployed by the Washington Post in printing their latest bit of “organic” journalism, is almost as repugnant as the charges alleged within. As we watch the establishment powers that be in Washington D.C., trying to wrestle away the autonomy and integrity of elections for all Alabamians, we can only offer our contempt for the manner in which their charges against Judge Roy Moore have been staged.

To be clear: the campaign of Doug Jones, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the mainstream media, have turned a US Senate election into a binary choice on individual morality. The implication being, if you don’t vote a certain way, we will paint your entire state as moral degenerates. Not too dissimilar from the efforts of those who sought to define Donald Trump by surreptitious recordings from an Access Hollywood show. This playbook is well-worn and dog-eared by now, yet the masters of political war in Washington plow forward. They see themselves as the sole moral arbiters and purveyors of truth, and voters as simple tools to advance their agenda. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Alabama is now the tip of the spear. Each man and woman of voting age will be transformed into an agent of justice on December 12th. Every voting booth will be transformed into a jury box; not for the guilt or innocence of Judge Roy Moore, per se, but for the whole political system. A vote for Roy Moore is not a vote on what may or may not have happened in 1979. The moral equivalency game is not a winnable one. If the biblical parable of Solomon’s wisdom is to hold true: who in this scenario is prepared to split the child? One side is willing to sacrifice this election rather than allow the grassroots another win. That much is clear.

It feels to us like there are unseen forces at work, seeking to replace our hope with hostility, our faith with fear, and our judgment with theirs. On November 8th, 2016, the world watched as we made our choice. Now, on December 12th, the nation looks to you, Alabama. There, in the solitude of the voting booth, you will have your say. Nothing, and no one, can take that moment from you. May you all be blessed, even if only in that moment, with the Wisdom of Solomon.

God bless Alabama and God bless America.

Adam Gingrich

President – MAGA Coalition, Inc.

See more headlines at The Ponder News Web Site

ICE, NFL, Graham-Cassidy Bill, Planned Parenthood, Alabama, Election, Terrorism, Earthquake, Taxes, Drugs, Overtime Rule, Title IX

The links can be accessed on this page: http://thepondernews.blogspot.com/2017/09/ice-nfl-graham-cassidy-bill-planned.html

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Roy Moore's Victory Shows Voters Want an End to Business as Usual, says Family Research Council Action

Source: Family Research Council Action

Washington, D.C. - September 27, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- Family Research Council Action offered congratulations to Roy Moore on his primary election as the next U.S. Senator from the state of Alabama.

FRC Action PAC, the political action committee connected with Family Research Council Action, endorsed Moore’s Senate candidacy.

Family Research Council Action President Tony Perkins released the following statement:

"Alabama voters are sending a clear and unmistakable message to Washington: ‘We want an end to business as usual.’ Roy Moore’s victory will echo throughout the country and help bring an end to the Senate’s trail of broken promises.

“Despite voters giving Republicans the majority in the House, the Senate and now control of the White House, almost every promise made to voters over the last seven years has been broken in the U.S. Senate.

“While Republicans in the House working with President Trump approved a measure to repeal Obamacare, it died in the Senate. The House approved a measure that would end taxpayer funding of abortion, and it died in the Senate. The House approved a measure that would repeal the onerous provision of Dodd-Frank that is choking our economy. And again, it is buried in the Senate.

“Judge Moore was elected because he is a promise keeper who will stand up for our Constitution. I congratulate Roy Moore and look forward to working with him on important issues in the U.S. Senate,” concluded Perkins.

Congratulations to Roy Moore of Alabama!

by Shonda Ponder

When I read that Donald Trump endorsed Luther Strange, I thought I read that wrong. After all, Roy Moore, the outspoken Alabama judge against same-sex marriage, pro-2nd Amendment, and dubbed the "10 Commandments Judge" was also running for senate. How could Donald Trump go against Roy Moore?

Thank God I wasn't the only person who thought like that. Alabama agreed with me, and now Roy Moore has won the Alabama early GOP primaries.

Let that sink in, Democrats: We didn't elect Donald Trump to look good. We elected him because he was one of US. And, so is Roy Moore.

Congratulations, Judge Roy Moore!

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