Chuck Peruto: That Lying Coward Larry Krasner Won't Debate Me

Ralph Cipriano at BigTrial.net offers a piece on Philadelphia DA candidate Chuck Peruto and why DA Larry Krasner won’t debate him.   

Chuck Peruto says that Larry Krasner refuses to debate him. 

Why won't Krasner debate his Republican opponent before the Nov. 2nd election for D.A.? 

"He's a coward," Peruto said. But in February, when he first got into the race, Peruto says, he predicted that Krasner wouldn't debate him one-on-one. 

Why not? Because "I would slaughter him," Peruto said last week. "He [Krasner] needs to come down from his ivory tower and answer questions that deal with public safety that the public has a right to know about." 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

Chuck Peruto: That Lying Coward Larry Krasner Won't Debate Me | Big Trial | Philadelphia Trial Blog

You can also read my two Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat columns on Chuck Peruto via the below links:

Paul Davis On Crime: 'I'm Going To Kick Krasner's Ass': My Philadelphia Weekly 'Crime Beat' Column On Chuck Peruto's Run For Philadelphia District Attorney

Paul Davis On Crime: Peruto Means Business: Part Two Of My Philadelphia Weekly 'Crime Beat' Column On Chuck Peruto's Run For Philly DA  

America's Withdrawal From Afghanistan: Gold Star Families Blast Biden For Checking Watch During Ceremony For Fallen

The New York Post offers a cover story on President Biden’s disrespectful actions of repeating check his watch during the ceremony as the remains of the military members killed in Afghanistan returned to America. 

Family members of the US Marines killed in last week’s suicide terror attack at the Kabul airport are slamming President Joe Biden for his behavior at the dignified transfer ceremony over the weekend — with one Gold Star father accusing the commander-in-chief of “the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever seen,” as he repeatedly looked at his watch during the ceremony.

Darin Hoover, the father of Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Biden checked the time every single time a flag-draped coffin was removed from the hold of the Air Force C-17 Globemaster plane during Sunday’s ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in the president’s home state of Delaware.

“They would release the salute and he looked down at his watch on every last one,” Hoover said. “All 13, he looked down at his watch.”

Mark Schmitz — whose 20-year-old son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, died in the attack — corroborated Hoover’s story.

“I actually leaned into my son’s mother’s ear and I said, ‘I swear to God, if he checks his watch one more time …’,” Schmitz recalled, “and that was only probably four times in. I couldn’t look at him anymore after that, just considering, especially, the time and why we were there. I found it to be the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever seen.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

Biden blasted by Gold Star dads Darin Hoover, Mark Schmitz for checking watch during ceremony (nypost.com) 

'Over-The Horizon' Air Strike Kills 2 High-Profile ISIS-K Targets

 C. Todd Lopez at the DOD News offers a piece on a DOD press briefing: 

The U.S. military conducted an unmanned drone strike in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan — to the east of Kabul — which killed two ISIS-K individuals who were known to be responsible for planning and facilitation activities within the organization, the Pentagon's joint staff deputy director for regional operations said. 

During a briefing today at the Pentagon, Army Maj. Gen. William D. "Hank" Taylor said that an additional ISIS-K member was also wounded in the strike, and that there were "zero civilian casualties." 

You can read the rest of the piece and watch a video via the below link:

'Over-the Horizon' Air Strike Kills 2 High-Profile ISIS-K Targets > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News

Who Is Funding ISIS-K, Terror Group Behind The Kabul Airport Attack?

 Megan Henney at Fox News offers a piece on the ISIS-K terrorist group. 

An offshoot of the Islamic State accused of orchestrating the deadly suicide attack outside the Kabul airport this week emerged six years ago, despite U.S.-led military efforts to squelch the group – and it has rapidly transformed into a dangerous global terror threat. 

The group, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province or ISIS-K, is an Afghan affiliate of the group's core leadership in Syria and Iraq. After the Islamic State lost its territory following a five-year military campaign by local and international forces, the caliphate increasingly turned to Afghanistan for its fighters. 

ISIS-K was founded in 2015 by several hundred disillusioned Pakistani Taliban fighters. It attracted other extremists, including members of the Taliban – which just toppled the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan after a 10-day blitz – who believed the militant group had become too moderate and peaceful.  

On Thursday, the terror group claimed responsibility for a bombing attack that killed at least 13 U.S. troops and more than 170 civilians, outside of Afghanistan's main airport. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

Who is funding ISIS-K, terror group behind the Kabul airport attack? | Fox Business 

Philly GOP Chair Focused On Crime: My Philadelphia Weekly 'Crime Beat' Column On PA State Rep Martina White

Philadelphia Weekly published my Crime Beat column PA State Rep and Philly GOP Chair Martina and her views on crime in Philadelphia.

You can read the column via the below link or the below pages:

Focused on fighting crime - Philadelphia Weekly

You can click on the above and below to enlarge.

You can also read my previous Crime Beat column on White via the below link:

 Paul Davis On Crime: Can Peruto Defeat Krasner In Philly DA Race? My Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat Column On Pennsylvania Rep And Philly GOP Chair Martina White And Her View Of the Upcoming Philly DA Race 

Pentagon: Blast Outside Kabul Airport, No Word On Casualties

 Mike Glenn at the Washington Times reports on the explosion in Afghanistan. 

The Pentagon said Thursday morning that an explosion has occurred outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. 

“We will provide additional details when we can,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tweeted. 

The BBC reported that British officials earlier had warned of a “very, very credible” report of an imminent attack targeting the airport, the location for U.S.-led evacuation efforts in Afghanistan.. 

Officials say it’s not clear if the blast was caused by a terrorist group such as al Qaeda or the Islamic State. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/aug/26/pentagon-blast-outside-kabul-airport-no-word-on-ca/ 

On This Day In History Scottish Actor Sean Connery Was Born

On this day in 1930, Scottish actor Sean Connery was born. He died on October 31, 2020, at the age of 90. 

I’ve been a huge fan of Sean Connery since I was a kid and first heard him say those immortal words on screen, “Bond, James Bond,” in Dr. No. 

The great Scot went on to portray Ian Fleming's iconic character James Bond in other films such as From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, and then acted in other fine films such as The Man Who Would be King, The Hill, and The Hunt for Red October. 

You can read about Sean Connery’s life at Biography.com via the below link:

Sean Connery - Death, James Bond & Facts - Biography

Note: The top photo is the cover of Sean Connery's book Being a Scot, and the below photos are of Sean Connery in Dr No, Goldfinger, The Man Who Would Be King, A Bridge Too Far, The Untouchables, and The Hunt for Red October:

Fox News National Security Correspondent Slams Biden For ‘Empty Words’ On Afghanistan Evacuations: ‘We Did Not Keep Our Promise And It Is A National Shame’

Mediaite.com offers a piece on Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, an outstanding national security reporter, on President Biden’s speech about the hasty and disorganized withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin panned President Joe Biden’s latest comments on Afghanistan and called them “empty words.” 

The president spoke Tuesday afternoon on the continued Afghanistan evacuations, saying that the United States is on pace to evacuate everyone by the August 31st deadline, but is planning for contingencies. He did not take questions.

Minutes after he spoke, Griffin appeared on The Five and reacted by saying, “What continues to be amazing to me is that every time the president speaks, he sets a deadline that then the military has to scramble to adjust to meet. He doesn’t seem to understand what it takes to either evacuate people, the build-up, the time needed, the amount of people that he has promised that he was going to get out.”

You can read the rest of the piece and watch the video via the below link:

Jennifer Griffin Hits Biden for 'Empty Words' on Afghanistan (mediaite.com)

Giovanni's Ring: My Washington Times 'On Crime' Column Looks At Undercover Officer's Infiltration Of Organized Crime And The Real Sopranos In New Jersey

The Washington Times published my On Crime column on Giovanni’s Ring. 

The many fans of “The Sopranos” TV series might be interested in reading about a cop who infiltrated the real deal. Giovanni Rocco, a New Jersey police officer, detailed as an FBI undercover operative, infiltrated the notorious DeCavalcante Cosa Nostra crime family in New Jersey.

 

Mr. Rocco offers a story of his time undercover in “Giovanni’s Ring: My Life Inside the Real Sopranos.” The book, co-authored by Douglas Schofield, details how a 26-year-veteran New Jersey cop nearing retirement joined an FBI task force targeting the DeCavalcante family, the organized crime group that was reportedly the model for the fictional Soprano family in the popular HBO series.

 

Raised on the streets of New Jersey, Mr. Rocco knew the wiseguys and how they spoke, acted, and conducted their criminal enterprises. He spent two and a half undercover with the treacherous and violent mobsters while pretending to be a thief named “Giovanni Gatto.” The FBI case, codenamed Operation Charlie Horse, had Mr. Rocco aligned himself with several mobsters until he came directly under Charlie Stango, a capo, or captain, in the DeCavalcante crime family. 

 

... Mr. Rocco said the “The Sopranos” depicted a genuine look into the life of the Italian American Cosa Nostra and had several similarities to the DeCavalcante crime family.

 

“The DeCavalcante Crime family is one of the oldest Italian American Crime families in the United States based out of the NY/NJ areas,” Mr. Rocco explained. “They are a very close-knit organization with old school Cosa Nostra beliefs with a strong propensity for violence. Their reputation is the reason that other crime families respect them and have contracted out murder, extortion, and other crimes to them.”  

 

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/aug/23/giovannis-ring-undercover-officer-infiltrated-the-/ 

Mark Tartaglia, Good Friend and Detective That I Rode Through The Philadelphia Badlands With, Has Died.

 I just learned that my good friend of nearly 30 years, Mark Tartaglia, has died. 

Mark, a retired Philadelphia detective, was the subject of my 2006 Crime Beat column when I accompanied him on a ride-along to North Philadelphia’s “Badlands.” 

You can read the column below: 

Riding Shotgun Through the Philadelphia Badlands

By Paul Davis

“Saddle up,” Detective Mark Tartaglia said as he walked towards his unmarked car and motioned for me to sit in the front passenger seat.

His choice of a Wild West expression made me laugh to myself as, unbeknown to him, I thought of this outing as my riding shotgun through the "Badlands." Not the American Wild West Badlands, but rather the thoroughly modern Philadelphia Badlands.

In the Wild West, the front passenger seat of a stagecoach was called the shotgun seat, as the rider usually held one across his lap as they drove through hostile outlaw territory. I took the shotgun seat next to the veteran detective, who said he was counting down the days until his retirement.

In modern-day Philadelphia, “The Badlands” is the nickname the cops gave a 4-square mile section of North Philly. The Badlands are some of the worst neighborhoods in the city. The Philadelphia Badlands can be as hostile as the old frontier and modern-day outlaws rule the open-air drug markets.

I toured the badlands some years ago when I was covering  “Operation Sunrise,” for Counterterrorism magazine. At the time, a massive force of Philadelphia police, state troopers and federal agents rolled into to the Badlands to reclaim the neighborhood from the drug dealers who then dominated it and perpetuated violence on its decent, law-abiding citizens.

According to the DEA, Philadelphia has the dubious honor of having the purist heroin in the country. Philadelphia was a major distribution center, part of a triangle, with New York being one point, San Juan being a second point, with Philadelphia as the third point. Drugs are coming in at every level of sophistication, a DEA special agent told me. Drugs are coming in commercial cargo shipments in the thousands of pounds and people are bringing in pounds in suitcases. The DEA agent told me of an incident where one smuggler swallowed 99 condoms tied with dental floss and filled with 10 grams of heroin each.

The trafficking of drugs within the U.S. was for many decades principally controlled by traditional organized crime groups that lived and operated inside the country. According to The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement (1986), La Cosa Nostra controlled an estimated 95 percent of the heroin entering New York City, as well as most of the heroin distributed throughout the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s.

New York City’s organized crime families brought in heroin from Corsican sources that had French sailors ship the drugs directly to the U.S. The drugs were then distributed throughout the country by regional organized crime families to street level dealers.

The emergence of criminal syndicates based in Columbia and the shutting down of The French Connection, which was dramatized in Robin Moore’s true crime book and the 1971 Academy award-winning film, changed the face of the drug trade. The Colombian traffickers introduced cocaine into America on a massive scale, which set off a record rise in crime and violence.

The DEA reports that today the traffic in illegal drugs, from the manufacture to street-level sale, is controlled by international organized crime syndicates from Colombia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and other countries. Many of the dealers on Philadelphia streets are illegal aliens.

I’ve interviewed the Philadelphia police commissioner, the deputy commissioner, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern PA and the Philadelphia area special agents-in-charge of the FBI and the DEA concerning this problem. But on this day I was touring the area at street level with a veteran Philadelphia detective.

Detective Tartaglia is an Italian-American in his early 50s. Both the detective and I grew up in South Philadelphia. We were raised and continue to live in what we regard as a tough neighborhood, but South Philly is Disneyland compared to the badlands.

Tartaglia is armed with his ever-ready 9-mm standard police issue Glock, which he called “Betsy,” reminding me of the name of Davy Crockett’s rifle “Old Betsy." Tartaglia said he was issued his firearm and a radio and then you were on your own.

“You have to take care of yourself - and your partners.”

Like most police officers, the detective endures long periods of boredom, which can be punctuated with moments of terror. While performing his daily tasks – investigating, interviewing, arresting people – he knows that at any time he could be the target of any insane person or criminal.

“Parts of North Philly up here remind me of war-torn Berlin,” he said. “Look at the blocks and blocks of abandoned and boarded-up homes, empty lots – unbelievable.”

We drove past wall after wall of graffiti, burned-out cars and homes and vacant lots loaded with trash and junk. The detective pointed out the drug dealers, who were so blatant, they needed no introduction. Of course, they are smart enough not to be holding drugs as the police roll by. They rely on an elaborate hide & hand off system to thwart the police.

Driving up a main thoroughfare, I took note that all of the stores on one entire block were closed and boarded up, while the main commerce was of the open-market variety. Heroin packets are sold here with colorful brand names such as “Scarface,” Pure Hell” and “I’ll Be Back.”

One brand of heroin was so pure that it recently killed several addicts. Public service announcements were issued, hoping that the addicts would play it safe and abstain, but the deaths merely acted as an advertisement that the heroin was the good stuff.

Operation Safe Streets, a police plan that followed Operation Sunrise, moved many of the drug dealers indoors or to new areas of operation. Safe Streets, and the new and improved Safer Streets program, were meant to improve the quality of life by creating a partnership with the police, the city’s network of social services, the clergy and community groups.

Operation Safe Streets was supposed to return control of the streets by preventing any open-air drug markets. The police identified more than 200 “drug corners” and the plan was to “disrupt, dissuade, and deter” the drug trade by committing an unrelenting presence of police officers on the corners – which some have derisively call “scarecrow policing.” There have been inroads, but, as the detective noted, the drug trade is a deeply entrenched criminal enterprise. Drugs bring on other crimes as well, such as burglary, prostitution, theft and shoplifting. Drug wars and violent drug-induced altercations greatly contribute to the city’s high homicide rate.

I asked Detective Tartaglia if his daily tours through the badlands depressed him, and he replied that it was good in one way, as it made him appreciate what he had at home. But on the other hand, it was bad, as he saw so many awful things.

“Even in the Badlands, there are many decent people who try to live right,” Tartaglia explained. “I feel sorry for the decent people. It’s the crumbs here who make life bad.”

Tartaglia noted that when you drive through a safer neighborhood, you see young people and mothers with their babies. Kids out of school in the summer time. In the Badlands, the detective said you’ll see able-bodied people on the street selling drugs, hustling, robbing and committing other crimes.

“Here’s a guy and a couple of girls,” he pointed out as we rolled past one street corner. “They should be doing something constructive with their lives, but all they do is scam, sell drugs and drink and take drugs.”

Tartaglia said that he personally doesn’t have many problems or violent confrontations while working the badlands. A cop’s presentation, he said, makes the situation. A cop should be authoritative, yet casual.

“I just treat people like I want to be treated.”

As we cruised around the Badlands, Tartaglia talked about his career. He did not aspire to become a police officer, as he thought he had a future as a baseball player. But he had the opportunity to become a cop, and thinking of the good pay and benefits, he entered the Police Academy in 1981.

He worked patrol in South Philly until he was promoted to detective in 1985.

He married a neighborhood girl in 84, had a child in 85. He said he regretted that he missed out on much of his early family’s life due to his odd shifts and overtime.

“I thought that I was going to save the world, cleaning up whatever district I was in,” Tartaglia recalled. “It took about six months on the job to have that dreamed squashed,” he said, chuckling.

Homicide is the worst type of crime he encountered in his police career. Murder affects so many people and so many of the homicides he saw were horrible. Tartaglia recalled how he came on his first murder victim, a store owner who was behind the counter, wedged in, blood all over the place. They later discovered that the store owner’s partner murdered him. He also recalled his first visit to the morgue.

“You have to bring the body to the morgue and you get that formaldehyde smell – it’s the first thing that hits you – but what got to me was the sight of about six or seven gurneys with bodies on them covered up,” he said. “You eventually get so cold-hearted and callus.”

Another murder that came to mind occurred in the South Philly Passyunk Homes Project. They got the call of a report of a stabbing. He said there was a man standing outside who told the officers that he just came home from court and found his mother dead.

“We suspected him and stuck him in the wagon,” the detective said. “We went into the house and found the woman. She was stabbed repeatedly, blood all over. We checked his alibi and he was legit.”

That was a good alibi,” he said. “You can’t lie about being in court.”

Detective Tartaglia talked about other homicides cases involving drugs, organized crime, rape and robberies, as well as the less-severe crimes he has encountered, such as neighbor and family disputes.

In the Badlands, the police make arrests and then they see the criminals return all too soon to the same corners and bars.

"It’s disheartening," Tartaglia said.

As he swung out and headed back to his office, Detective Tartaglia again stated his sympathy for the good people who have to endure the drug gangs and the other criminals who inhabit the badlands.

The Badlands may be "outlaw country" – to use the Wild West term – but thankfully we have modern-day lawmen like Detective Mark Tartaglia, who “saddle up” every day and ride rough through the Philadelphia Badlands.

Note: The above column originally appeared in the Orchard Press Online Mystery Magazine in 2006. 

The top photo is of Mark's Philadelphia District Attorney Office ID. 

The above photo is of Mark and I in Puerto Rico. We visited the island while on a cruise in 2014 along with our wives and two other couples. My wife and I will always remember this vacation. 

Mark was funny and full of life. We shall miss him.   

My Threatcon Column: President Biden's Afghanistan Surrender To The Taliban

My Threatcon column on President Biden’s shameful surrender of Afghanistan to the terroristic and murderous Taliban was posted online at Counterterrorism magazine's website. 

You can read the column below:

 

President Biden’s Afghanistan Surrender to the Taliban 

By Paul Davis 

As I follow the news of the fall of Afghanistan, my thoughts are of the Vietnam War. 

My role in the Vietnam War was a minor one. I served as an 18-year-old seaman on the USS Kitty Hawk as the aircraft carrier performed combat operations on "Yankee Station" off the coast of North Vietnam in 1970 and 1971. 

Like most Vietnam veterans and many Americans, I felt a gut-punch when the Congress cut off funds to South Vietnam in 1975, ensuring a swift Communist victory over the South Vietnamese after America had expended so many lives and funds to hold the North Vietnamese aggressors at bay. 

Now, once again, to our shame, we are abandoning a country where we have expended many American lives and funds. In my view, the withdrawal from Afghanistan is another dark day in American history.  

Former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates noted famously in his memoir that Joseph Biden “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades." 

Biden’s latest error in judgement, the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan and surrender to the terroristic and murderous Taliban, will go down in history as a colossal blunder with deadly affects. 

I suspect that a second war on terrorism will commence once again from Afghanistan. 

Kenneth R. Timmerman, a Middle East correspondent who was held prisoner in 1982 for 24 days by Fatah guerrillas in Lebanon, offers a piece at the New York Post on Biden and Afghanistan. 

“For decades, Joe Biden has touted himself as a foreign policy genius. As a United States senator, he never had to make a decision or bear responsibility for running off at the mouth. As vice-president, he was given backwaters such as Ukraine that he reportedly turned into a family piggy bank,” Kenneth R. Timmerman wrote in the New York Post. “But now he is president. He owns the utter disaster that Afghanistan has become; and the sudden about-face of the Pentagon to send 3,000 fully armed combat troops back into the fray shows that even the woke military bosses Biden installed can wake up and smell the coffee.” 

Retired four-star general and Fox News senior strategic analyst Jack Keane stated on Fox, “It's a sad, frustrating moment to watch an ill-conceived -- and I emphasize ill-conceived, hasty withdrawal -- turn into what is now an embarrassing retreat. And why is that? Well, the IG from the Pentagon just reported the Taliban offensive began in May of this year, a month after President Biden made the announcement that we were pulling all U.S. troops out by August 31. 

“The Taliban knew full well that the United States, in that short period of time, had to close seven military bases, that the focus of the U.S. leadership and its troops would be on just that. No time and no resources to help the Afghan security forces during a major Taliban offensive. And by that I mean sustained, decisive air support, which they always had in the past, to stop normal Taliban offensives that occur in that period of time.” 

Keane, perhaps the best military mind in America, noted that warfare in Afghanistan is seasonal. He said that the Taliban begins fighting in the spring and the fighting ends in the fall. 

“And the Taliban pack up their bags and go to Pakistan during the winter. So why are we doing a withdrawal right in the middle of the fighting season, in the heart of it? The withdrawal should have been done during, what? The winter. And we should have extended our withdrawal out until sometime next year to get all of that done and make certain that as the Taliban offensive came this year, we were able to provide the resources to counter that offensive.” 

In an earlier appearance on Fox, Keane warned that Al Qaeda could very well set up safe havens if the U.S. completely leaves Afghanistan. 

"Al Qaeda did the same prior to the 9-11 attack. They bombed two embassies in Africa and the U.S.S. Cole. If we had destroyed the Al Qaeda safe haven in Afghanistan, there wouldn't have been a 9-11. Safe havens are critical to the radical Islamist movement,” Keane said. “"The president mentioned it himself. The reason why we're in Syria, Iraq, Eastern Africa is to prevent those organizations, radical Islamists, from having what? A safe haven from which to attack the United States. This is a multi-generational war. That is why we're still doing that. To walk away from Afghanistan and say this is not a multi-generational conflict is to ignore the reality of what is taking place." 

Who are the Taliban? 

According to the BBC, the Taliban, or "students" in the Pashto language, emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. The Taliban, once in power, introduced or supported punishments in line with their strict interpretation of Sharia law, such as public executions of convicted murderers and adulterers, and amputations for those found guilty of theft. Men were required to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering burka. 

“The Taliban also banned television, music and cinema, and disapproved of girls aged 10 and over going to school,” the BBC noted. “They were accused of various human rights and cultural abuses.” 

In closing, one should remember that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were planned in Afghanistan by bin Laden and al-Qaeda, who were protected and supported by the Taliban. 

President Bush took them out. President Biden let them back in. 

Paul Davis, a long-time contributor to the Journal writes the online Threatcon Column. 

Note: The U.S. Defense Department released the above photo.

Phoenix Man Sentenced To Over 11 Years For Operating International Drug Smuggling Ring Using Women As Mules Through Philadelphia And The Caribbean

The U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Pennsylvania released the below information: 

PHILADELPHIA – Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Delgardo Frazer, 52, of Phoenix, AZ, was sentenced to eleven years and three months prison, and four years of supervised release by United States District Judge Chad F. Kenney for organizing and leading an international cocaine trafficking operation which was discovered and dismantled in 2018.

In April 2021, the defendant pleaded guilty to all counts in a Superseding Indictment charging him with intent to distribute fentanyl, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The charges stemmed from an incident during which Frazer was arrested near Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) in connection with drug smuggling.

For his illicit trafficking organization, the defendant recruited and paid several young women from Arizona to serve as “drug mules,” who would travel at his behest to various Caribbean locations and then deliver suitcases containing kilos of cocaine to him in Philadelphia, PA, and to his conspirators in Orlando, FL. As part of the trafficking conspiracy, Frazer also distributed fake oxycodone pills which, in fact, contained fentanyl. The operation came to an end in July 2018, when one of the “drug mules,” after traveling a circuitous route through the Caribbean, was stopped by federal agents at PHL with two suitcases containing over 4 kilograms of cocaine. Frazer was waiting at a nearby hotel in Essington, PA, to pick her up at the airport. When he learned that she was stopped by law enforcement, he told her on a phone call to take a cab to the nearest cheap hotel, and at the same time he packed up and abandoned the hotel room five days ahead of schedule. The defendant was unaware that the woman was with federal agents who overheard that call.

The defendant drove out of the hotel parking lot quickly, and a Tinicum Township police officer on routine patrol observe him commit multiple traffic violations. The officer stopped Frazer and searched his vehicle at an on-ramp to Interstate-95, at which point approximately 485 fake oxycodone pills containing fentanyl were found in the gas cap, and a semi-automatic 9 mm Luger handgun loaded with 12 live rounds was found in the trunk. Frazer had a prior felony drug conviction in Arizona and was therefore not permitted to possess a firearm.

“Drug distribution and gun violence are an epidemic in Philadelphia, and the federal government is aggressively prosecuting both in order to be ‘All Hands On Deck’ to get dangerous criminals like this defendant off the streets,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Williams. “Delgado Frazer was a large-scale drug trafficker who exploited women to do the ‘heavy lifting’ of bringing illegal narcotics into our country through Philadelphia and other airports, which puts those communities in grave danger. We want to thank our law enforcement partners in this case, HSI and DEA, for their hard work and dedication.”

“Frazer admitted to organizing an international drug trafficking ring, putting deadly drugs in the hands of those struggling with addictions.  HSI is committed to working with its law enforcement partners to ensure that those seeking to make a profit off the vulnerable are arrested to face the consequences of their criminal acts,” said HSI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge, Brian Michael.

The case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrea G. Foulkes.

Kash Patel: I ran Team Trump’s Afghan Withdrawal — Biden’s Attempt To Blame Us Is Just Sad

Kash Patel, a Pentagon official in the Trump administration, offers a piece in the New York Post that debunks President Biden’s claim that he inherited Trump’s plan for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. 

President Joe Biden has sought to place blame for the shocking dénouement in Afghanistan on the situation he “inherited” from the Trump administration. What a sad-sack attempt at blame-shifting. Team Trump’s withdrawal plan was sound. What proved catastrophic were Biden’s changes to that plan.

I’m intimately familiar with former President Donald Trump’s Afghanistan strategy. In November 2020, I was named chief of staff at the Pentagon, where one of my primary responsibilities was to wind down the forever war in Afghanistan.

Trump instructed me to arrange a conditions-based, methodical exit plan that would preserve the national interest. The plan ended up being fairly simple: The Afghan government and the Taliban were both told they would face the full force of the US military if they caused any harm to Americans or American interests in Afghanistan.

Next, both parties would negotiate to create an interim-joint government, and both sides had to repudiate al Qaeda. Lastly, a small special-operations force would be stationed in the country to take direct action against any terrorist threats that arose. When all those conditions were met — along with other cascading conditions — then a withdrawal could, and did, begin.

We successfully executed this plan until Jan. 20, 2021. During this interval — when there were no US casualties in Afghanistan — President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban conducted multiple rounds of negotiations, and al Qaeda was sidelined. The result was a successful drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan to 2,500, the lowest count since the dawn of the War on Terror. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

I ran Trump's Afghan withdrawal — Biden's attempt to blame us is sad (nypost.com) 

Can Peruto Defeat Krasner In Philly DA Race? My Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat Column On Pennsylvania Rep And Philly GOP Chair Martina White And Her View Of the Upcoming Philly DA Race

Philadelphia Weekly published my Crime Beat column on State Rep and Philadelphia GOP Chair Martina White and her views of crime in Philadelphia and the upcoming DA race.

You can read the column online via the below link or the below page:

 Can Peruto defeat Krasner? - Philadelphia Weekly

(Click on the above and below to enlarge)

Bill Gertz: China Set To Join ‘Graveyard Of Empires’ In Afghanistan

Veteran national security reporter and author Bill Gertz (seen in the below photo) offers a piece in the Washington Times on China’s involvement in Afghanistan. 

China has reaped the benefits of costly American military and security efforts in Afghanistan but now faces a hostile Islamic regime near its western border, according to David Stilwell, former assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, who adds that the Biden administration should not help Beijing deal with its problems there. 

Mr. Stilwell, a former military attache in China, said the large and growing presence of Chinese officials and businesses in Afghanistan will become more prominent once more than 10,000 Americans depart the country. Then al Qaeda and other groups will begin conducting terrorist attacks against the Chinese in Afghanistan. 

Beijing has been quietly developing economic relations with Afghanistan for the past decade or more under its Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure program. Beijing also has signaled its support for the new Taliban regime in Kabul. 

Mr. Stilwell, who worked in the State Department during the Trump administration, recalled an encounter in China with a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officer who criticized him for what the officer said were “imperialist” U.S. policies that had turned Afghanistan into an American colony. 

Mr. Stilwell responded that he agreed it was long past time for the United States to depart the country. “I wished him and his PLA buddies luck in the graveyard of empires,” he told Inside the Ring. “Publicly, he pounded his chest and said that suited him fine. Afterward, he pulled me aside and said he hoped we wouldn’t leave anytime soon.” 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/aug/18/china-set-join-graveyard-empires-afghanistan/ 

 You can also read my Counterterrorism magazine Q&A with Bill Gertz via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: Communist China's Drive For Global Supremacy: My Q&A With National Security Reporter Bill Gertz

Journalist Joe Galloway, Chronicler Of Vietnam War, Dies

 Journalist and author Joesph L. Galloway, co-author of perhaps the best book on the Vietnam War, We Were Soldiers Once… And Young, has died. He was 79.

The 1992 book, written with the late Lieutenant General Hal Moore (Ret), was made into the 2002 film, We Were Soldiers, which starred Mel Gibson as Moore and Barry Pepper as Joe Galloway.

Directed by Randall Wallace, We Were Soldiers is perhaps the best film on the Vietnam War.

Gibson and Pepper offered fine performances in the film, as did actor Sam Elliot and other supporting actors. Elliot portrayed Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley, a gruff noncom and true hero. Elliot had the best lines in the film.

The Army Times, an independent newspaper that covers the U.S. Army, offers a piece on Joe Galloway’s life and work.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Longtime American foreign correspondent Joseph L/ Galoway, , best known for his book recounting a pivotal battle in the Vietnam War that was made into a Hollywood movie, has died. He was 79.

A native of Refugio, Texas, Galloway spent 22 years as a war correspondent and bureau chief for United Press International, including serving four tours in Vietnam. He then worked for U.S. News & World Report magazine and Knight Ridder newspapers in a series of overseas roles, including reporting from the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

Galloway died Wednesday morning, his wife Grace Galloway told AP, after being hospitalized near their home in Concord, North Carolina. He is also survived by two sons and a step daughter.

“He was the kindest, most gentle and loving man,” Grace Galloway said. “He loved the boys and girls of the U.S. military. He loved his country.”

With co-author retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, Galloway wrote “We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young,” which recounted his and Moore’s experience during a bloody 1965 battle with the North Vietnamese in the Ia Drang Valley. The book became a national bestseller and was made into the 2002 movie “We Were Soldiers,” starring Mel Gibson as Moore and Barry Pepper as Galloway.

Galloway was decorated with a Bronze Star Medal with V in 1998 for rescuing wounded soldiers under fire during the la Drang battle. He is the only civilian awarded a medal of valor by the U.S. Army for actions in combat during the Vietnam War. 

You can read the rest of the piece and watch a video interview with Joe Galloway via the below link:

Journalist Joe Galloway, chronicler of Vietnam War, dies (armytimes.com) 

You can also watch a clip on the great film via the below link:

We Were Soldiers (2002) - Trailer - Bing video 

Ralph Cipraino: Free Columbus, Fire Kenney: In Court, Christopher Columbus Triumphs Over 'Tyrant' Kenney

Ralph Cipriano at Bigtrial.net offers a piece on the legal battle to free the statue of Columbus in South Philadelphia, where I grew up and still live. 

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Paula Patrick has just reversed a city order to evict the 20-foot-high marble statue of Christopher Columbus from South Philadelphia's Marconi Plaza. 

In the process, the judge blasted the Kenney administration for lawless behavior. In a seven-page order, the judge pointed out seven errors of law committed by city officials. At the time, the servants of the woke Mayor Kenney were trying to give the more than 100 year-old statue the bum's rush for political reasons, without engaging in any due process for removing a historical monument, as mandated under the City Charter. 

But yesterday afternoon, Judge Patrick called Kenney and crew on it.  

"It is baffling to this court how the city of Philadelphia wants to remove the statue without any legal basis," Judge Patrick wrote in an order issued this afternoon. "The city's entire argument and case is devoid of any legal foundation." 

Under the leadership of Mayor Kenney, who was pandering to social justice protesters, the city tried to justify its unlawful eviction of Columbus by saying the statue posed an imminent threat to public health and safety. The imminent threat?  Alleged "civil unrest" associated with last year's George Floyd protests. 

But Judge Patrick found that the city was basing its witch hunt against Columbus on a few "transient and isolated incidents." In the city's legal arguments, the judge found that "no evidence of a history of civil unrest surrounding, and with respect to the statute existed, nor has any been present since June 23, 2020."  

George Bochetto, the lawyer who won the appeal of the city's decision to evict Columbus, had a message for Mayor Kenney last night.  

"I think the mayor needs to take a deep breath and start realizing he was elected mayor of an elaborate city government structured through the city charter, and he was not elected tyrant," Bochetto said. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

In Court, Christopher Columbus Triumphs Over 'Tyrant' Kenney | Big Trial | Philadelphia Trial Blog 

Taliban Leader Was Freed From Guantanamo Bay In 2014 Swap By Obama

Paul Sperry at the New York Post reports that a terroristic leader of the Taliban was released by President Obama in exchange for an American deserter in Afghanistan. 

When President Barack Obama released five Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for an American deserter in 2014, he assured a wary public that the dangerous enemy combatants would be transferred to Qatar and kept from causing any trouble in Afghanistan. 

In fact, they were left free to engineer Sunday’s sacking of Kabul. 

Soon after gaining their freedom, some of the notorious Taliban Five pledged to return to fight Americans in Afghanistan and made contacts with active Taliban militants there. But the Obama-Biden administration turned a blind eye to the disturbing intelligence reports, and it wasn’t long before the freed detainees used Qatar as a base to form a regime in exile. 

Eventually, they were recognized by Western diplomats as official representatives of the Taliban during recent “peace” talks. 

Earlier this year, one of them, Khairullah Khairkhwa, actually sat across the table from President Biden’s envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, in Moscow, where Khairkhwa was part of the official Taliban delegation that negotiated the final terms of the US withdrawal. The retreat cleared a path for the Taliban to retake power after 20 years. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

Taliban leader was freed from Guantanamo in 2014 swap by Obama (nypost.com) 

Biden’s Afghanistan Surrender

In my previous post, I wrote how former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates noted famously in his memoir that Joseph Biden “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades." 

Biden’s latest error in judgement, the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan and surrender to the terroristic and murderous Taliban, will go down in history as a colossal blunder with deadly affects. 

The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board offers their take on Biden and Afghanistan.   

President Biden’s statement on Saturday washing his hands of Afghanistan deserves to go down as one of the most shameful in history by a Commander in Chief at such a moment of American retreat. As the Taliban closed in on Kabul, Mr. Biden sent a confirmation of U.S. abandonment that absolved himself of responsibility, deflected blame to his predecessor, and more or less invited the Taliban to take over the country. 

With that statement of capitulation, the Afghan military’s last resistance collapsed. Taliban fighters captured Kabul, and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country while the U.S. frantically tried to evacuate Americans. The jihadists the U.S. toppled 20 years ago for sheltering Osama bin Laden will now fly their flag over the U.S. Embassy building on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. 

Our goal all along has been to offer constructive advice to avoid this outcome. We criticized Donald Trump’s deal with the Taliban and warned about the risks of his urge to withdraw in a rush, and we did the same for Mr. Biden. The President’s advisers offered an alternative, as did the Afghanistan Study Group. Mr. Biden, as always too assured of his own foreign-policy acumen, refused to listen.

Mr. Biden’s Saturday self-justification exemplifies his righteous dishonesty. “One more year, or five more years, of U.S. military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country,” Mr. Biden said. But the Afghans were willing to fight and take casualties with the support of the U.S. and its NATO allies, especially air power. A few thousand troops and contractors could have done the job and prevented this rout. 

You can read the rest of the editorial via the below link:  

Biden’s Afghanistan Surrender - WSJ