DC police commander under investigation for allegedly manipulating crime stats
JULY 24, 2025
Friday, July 25, 2025
This will be an interesting story...
JPMorgan, Bank Of America Subpoenaed Over IPO Of China's CATL
Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has issued subpoenas to JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, requiring the banks to provide documents related to their roles in the initial public offering (IPO) of Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL).
In a July 24 statement, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chair of the committee, said CATL is “a key player in China’s military-civil fusion strategy,” which poses risks to U.S. investors and the national security of the United States.
Maoists lust for power, control and violence
India's Maoist crackdown leaves villagers grieving
On a rainy afternoon in Bodga, a remote village deep in the forests of Chhattisgarh, a state in central India, Sukli Oyam sits quietly on the mud porch of her thatched home.
She holds a photograph of her 22-year-old son, Ramesh, who was killed last year in a crossfire between government forces and left-wing Maoist rebels, known as Naxals or Naxalites.
The Naxals — named after the village in the foothills of the Himalayas where their armed campaign began nearly six decades ago — were inspired by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. Their insurgency against the government is mainly concentrated in central and eastern India.
Every time Oyam looks at her son's picture, her eyes fill with tears. The day he was killed is seared into her memory.
Oyam recalled how her family had gathered to celebrate the christening of Ramesh's younger daughter.
Ramesh, a millet farmer and the family's sole breadwinner, set out to his relatives' home to fetch a chicken for the evening feast. On the way, he stopped by the river to bathe. He never returned home.
Ramesh was hit by a bullet while on the riverbank, turning a day of joy into one of mourning, said Oyam.
"After my son's killing, we fear leaving our homes and my life has changed," 60-year-old Oyam told DW. "Now whenever the police enter our area, villagers like me hide inside their houses. During encounters, our life comes to a halt."
"I demanded compensation from the government for my son's death, but there has been no response," Oyam lamented.
Oyam's neighbor, Raje Oyam, recalled a similar encounter.
She told DW that security forces stormed into her house last March after mistaking it for a Maoist hideout. She said she was shot in the back while feeding her child, the bullet narrowly missing her spinal cord.
Raje described how other villagers rushed her to the hospital after they found her lying in a pool of blood. She survived her injuries — but a year later, she said she still struggles.
"After the injuries, my body isn't working. I'm not able to farm or go to the jungle for work," she told DW.
"My body has been almost paralyzed by the injury and I'm barely able to walk. Whenever I go to the forest and see soldiers, I fear they might kill me."
What do the Naxals want?
The Maoist insurgency has simmered deep inside India's forests for decades. It began in 1967 in Naxalbari, a small village in the Indian state of West Bengal on the east coast, as a Maoist-inspired peasant uprising for land rights and social justice.
Today, the Naxals claim to fight for the rights of India's Indigenous communities, collectively known as Adivasis. Their goal is to overthrow the Indian state through armed struggle.
What is the government's endgame?
Bastar, the region in Chhattisgarh where Bodga is located, has become heavily militarized in recent years.
Since 2019, the government has set up around 250 security camps in the area — part of a surge that has placed one armed personnel for every nine civilians, according to a 2024 report by Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact Foundation, a civil society organization.
Security forces have intensified their operations in the forests of Bastar since last year. In early 2024, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Operation Black Forest (also called Operation Kagar) to wipe out the Maoist movement.
Given the tough terrain of these vast jungles, large numbers of security personnel were deployed, along with advanced surveillance technologies and drones.
The past two years have been the bloodiest period for Maoist insurgents in over a decade, with more than 400 Naxals killed in the Bastar region alone, according to the state's Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai.
Mission to track down Maoists
Earlier this month, DW reporters followed the special task force, known as the District Reserve Guards (DRG), on a patrol in the Bastar region. The operation was led by DRG sub-inspector Sanjay Paul. Their mission: to track down Maoists operating in the area.
For Sanjay Paul, carrying out operations in these jungles is complex and risky. He told DW that the dense forests are the perfect hiding place for Naxal fighters to carry out ambushes.
"The Naxal ideology poses a huge threat to us and to our country, we will not sleep till we finish it," he told DW.
His words echo the stance of New Delhi. In February 2025, Interior Minister Amit Shah lauded the security forces for successful operations and set a deadline for eliminating the Naxal movement.
"I reassure the nation that by March 31, 2026, India will surely be Naxal-free," he said.
Locals, human rights activists detail human cost
As the heavy-handed approach tightens its grip on Bastar's forest villages, locals are left mourning their dead.
Many told DW that the line between Naxal fighters and villagers has blurred. They accused security forces of carrying out indiscriminate killings.
Iytu Oyam, a bereaved father from Komhu village in Narayanpur district, traveled to Bodga to meet with DW. He claimed that his son, Moto Oyam, was killed in a "fake encounter" by security forces last May while he was working on his farm.
"I want to tell the world that my son was innocent. He was not a Naxal. What was his crime that he was killed?" he said.
Activists and human rights lawyers have alleged that counter-insurgency operations have turned Bastar into a war zone where Adivasi communities, which make up most of the local population, live in constant fear from both sides.
They claim there is a pattern of extrajudicial killings, often called "encounter killings," where police allegedly stage civilian deaths to look like combat fatalities.
A region at a crossroads
Reports by groups such as Human Rights Watch have also documented arbitrary detentions, forced displacement and sexual violence by security forces.
"They have turned Bastar region into a graveyard, where almost every family has a story of human loss," according to lawyer Bela Bhatia, who is supporting Adivasi people in their claims against the state.
When DW confronted DRG officer Sanjay Paul with these allegations, the police officer denied any deliberate targeting of civilians.
"Sometimes it happens by mistake. During crossfires, civilians can die. But we do not kill civilians intentionally," he said.
Decades of Maoist insurgency, Naxal violence and state crackdowns have left nearly 12,000 people dead — including civilians, militants and security personnel, according to the latest figures from watchdog South Asia Terrorism Portal.
For Sukli Oyam, sitting with her son's photograph, justice feels like a distant dream.
"My son is gone," she said quietly. "The police didn't protect us. The Naxals who claim to fight for our rights didn't help us. We are just stuck in between."
Richard Kujur and Raunak Shivhare contributed reporting from Bastar, Chhattisgarh.
Edited by: Keith Walker
USDA to vacate several Washington buildings, relocate staff to regional hubs
USDA to vacate several Washington buildings, relocate staff to regional hubs
The US Department of Agriculture announced Thursday it will relocate much of its staff in the Washington, D.C., area to five regional hubs and vacate several buildings in the nation’s capital, including its flagship research center.
No more than 2,000 USDA employees will remain in the Washington area at the conclusion of the reorganization effort, the agency said in a news release.
The remaining 2,600 people will be relocated to hubs in Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City.
The USDA also said it will vacate several locations in the Washington area, including its flagship research center, the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, and one of its headquarters buildings on the National Mall.
Cambodia and Thailand fight over border
Tens of thousands flee their homes in Thailand and Cambodia as border clashes enter second day
Blame the Left's anti police rhetoric
Ohio officer Phillip Wagner dies after shooter lying in wait ambushed police who parked to eat lunch
Treachery
Arizona woman who admitted to helping North Korean tech workers infiltrate US companies gets prison time
An Arizona woman is headed to prison for nearly a decade after perpetuating a fraudulent foreign worker scam that benefited the North Korean government.
Christina Marie Chapman, 50, was sentenced to 102 months in a federal lockup for an elaborate scheme that involved helping North Korean residents pose as US citizens and helping them get remote IT jobs at 309 American companies, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The identities of 68 Americans were stolen in the process.
Chapman’s scam generated more than $17 million for herself and the government of North Korea and was perpetuated from 2020 to 2023.
Scandalous Organ Harvesting
Scandalous Organ Harvesting
There are terrifying indications that, in some cases, patients’ organs are being taken when they aren’t dead or wouldn’t have died. Medicine without morals is a recipe for disaster.
The Department of Health and Human Services reports that the organ transplant system is compromised. “Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs of life, and this is horrifying,” said Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “The organ procurement organizations that coordinate access to transplants will be held accountable. The entire system must be fixed to ensure that every potential donor’s life is treated with the sanctity it deserves.”
A House panel is now investigating, as well.
The medical field is full of people who do their jobs well, caring (deeply) for patients and lamenting every malady or misstep in treatment while working diligently to provide exactly the kind of care every patient wants and needs. I have many family members and friends who work or worked in the medical field, and they are excellent at what they do. The same could be said for countless others, as well.
Yet, sadly, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the medical establishment has made a hash of organ donations. This same establishment badly mishandled the coronavirus pandemic (including denying organ transplants for some unvaccinated people), has been aborting millions of children for decades, is increasingly pushing to terminate the elderly or terminally ill, and has been profiting mightily from those suffering from gender pathology.
There is, after all, a lot of money to be made from organ transplants, and if donors need a little “encouragement,” well, maybe it’s best for everyone. At least that’s the allegation.
Thanks to the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act of 1968, when you get a driver’s license in all 50 states, one of the questions you answer is whether you’ll be an organ donor. Roughly 170 million Americans have chosen to do so. “There are currently more than 103,000 men, women and children on the national transplant waiting list,” Fox News reports. “Each day, 13 people die while waiting for an organ transplant.” There are 56 authorized procurement organizations nationwide.
According to Cornell Law School, “The [Uniform Anatomical Gift Act] was revised in 1987 and again in 2006. The revisions made in 2006 aimed to address shortages and encourage donation. The 2006 revised act expanded the list of persons who can consent to organ donation on behalf of an individual, gave every individual the opportunity to donate their organs at or near death, and stated that individuals who refuse to donate must explicitly state so.”
It seems it’s now opt-out. “What safeguards are in place?” asked commentator Matt Walsh. What prevents hospitals from letting a patient die of circulatory failure (or worse) to cash in on lucrative organ donations?
Maybe not enough. Walsh, The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Review, and others tell the stories of multiple patients who were (sometimes almost) subjected to surgical organ removal when that likely shouldn’t have happened. In some cases, the donor died; in others, they later recovered. One patient woke up on the operating table. Another was discovered to have a beating heart after the surgeon cut into her sternum; doctors stopped and stitched her up, but she later died.
Walsh noted that such stories “led the Trump administration to investigate the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which administers the organ transplant program that Congress established.”
The aforementioned HHS report says that the Health Resources and Services Administration “examined 351 cases where organ donation was authorized, but ultimately not completed. It found:
"103 cases (29.3%) showed concerning features, including 73 patients with neurological signs incompatible with organ donation.
"At least 28 patients may not have been deceased at the time organ procurement was initiated — raising serious ethical and legal questions.
"Evidence pointed to poor neurologic assessments, lack of coordination with medical teams, questionable consent practices, and misclassification of causes of death, particularly in overdose cases.”
These are all cases of “heart death” as opposed to “brain death,” which tends to be clearer.
Did the HHS investigation just happen to find the worst cases? Is it an overestimate of the problem nationwide? Again, I’m asking those questions of the same establishment responsible for COVID tyranny, abortion, euthanasia, and gender mutilation, so my presumption isn’t kind.
The irony is that these instances of abuse will cause more people to think twice about or decline to be organ donors, which will leave those in need without hope. Organ recipients may always wonder if someone was killed to save their life.
My sometimes demented mind went to the hilarious “bring out your dead” sketch from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” The collector of dead bodies arrived to find a man protesting that he was still alive, though he was being carried by another man who wanted to be rid of him. “I feel fine,” the poor fellow insisted. “I think I’ll go for a walk.” The man with the cart soon whacked him on the head with a club so he could be taken on the cart to the morgue.
Like other Monty Python humor, that was supposed to be comedy, not an instruction manual. In real life, of course, it’s not even remotely funny.
In fact, the problem is precisely what Kennedy alluded to: Our society no longer values the sanctity of life. We’ve devalued it to the point of prioritizing “quality” or “convenience” over upholding the fact that we are each created in the image of God. Our Declaration of Independence, which will turn 250 in a year, recognizes that our Creator “endowed” us with “certain unalienable Rights,” and “that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The more our society deviates from and outright rejects the Judeo-Christian values upon which our Republic was built, the more we’re going to hear horrific stories about the way people are treated and killed for profit.
One of the most important provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill has gone completely unnoticed, but promises to make the auto industry great again.
Car Lovers Rejoice! After 50 Miserable Years, CAFE Standards Are Dead
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One of the most important provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill has gone completely unnoticed, but promises to make the auto industry great again.
For 50 years, the federal government has been forcing fuel economy standards on auto companies. If the average fuel economy of the cars sold in a year exceeded a federal standard, the companies had to cough up enormous penalties.
Passed in 1975 as a way to deal with an energy crisis (that was caused by government price controls), “corporate average fuel economy” (CAFE) standards – required the fleet of cars sold by an automaker to achieve an arbitrary miles-per-gallon goal. If they missed the goal, they paid hefty annual fines.
Fighting self important rouge judges
Trump DOJ to NJ Judges: Sorry, but This US Attorney Is Going to Stay
US-Japan Trade Deal Is a Masterpiece
US-Japan Trade Deal Is a Masterpiece
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
DC police commander under investigation for allegedly manipulating crime stats
The Metropolitan Police Department is embroiled in controversy over allegations related to its reported crime statistics.
The Washington, D.C., department placed Police Commander Michael Pulliam on paid administrative leave in May after a police union accused the MPD of deliberately manipulating crime data, several law enforcement sources told WRC-TV.
'This is deliberately done.'
Pulliam, who is under investigation, denied the allegations.
Gregg Pemberton, the chairman of the D.C. Police Union, a branch of the Fraternal Order of Police, explained to WRC how the statistics are manipulated to make it appear that crime has declined. The union also warned about a larger trend of supervisors instructing employees to engage in such practices.
"When our members respond to the scene of a felony offense where there is a victim reporting that a felony occurred, inevitably there will be a lieutenant or a captain that will show up on that scene and direct those members to take a report for a lesser offense," Pemberton said. "So instead of taking a report for a shooting or a stabbing or a carjacking, they will order that officer to take a report for a theft or an injured person to the hospital or a felony assault, which is not the same type of classification."
Pemberton stated that crimes that should be reported as involving a suspect armed with a dangerous weapon have instead been documented as felony assaults.
RELATED: Metropolitan Police Department refuses public access to Jan. 6 use-of-force reports
Photo by Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
"When management officials are directing officers to take reports for felony assault, or if they're going back into police databases and changing offenses to felony assault, felony assault is not a category of crime that's listed on the department's daily crime stats," he continued. "It's also not something that's a requirement of the FBI's uniform crime reporting program. So by changing criminal offenses from, for example, ADW bat or ADW gun to felony assault, that would avoid both the MPD and the FBI from reporting that as a part one or a felony offense."
Pemberton claimed that union members had reported that the directive came from command staff who want to ensure that the "classifications of these reports are adjusted over time to make sure that the overall crime stats stay down."
"This is deliberately done," he told WRC.
Pemberton called the MPD's reported severe drop in crime "preposterous," adding that there is "absolutely no way."
"Last year they suggested that it went down 34%," he said.
As of Thursday morning, the department's crime data stated that violent offenses are down 26% when compared to the same time last year. A breakdown of those violent offenses included a 47% decline in sexual abuse and a 28% decline in robberies.
RELATED: Trump mulls unique strategy to crush DC crime wave: ‘We're thinking about it’
Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
Chief Pamela Smith told WRC that the department cannot comment on an ongoing investigation; however, she did address the union's allegations.
"The Metropolitan Police Department is committed to upholding the trust and the confidence of the public," Smith said. "Any irregularity in crime data brought to my attention will be addressed immediately. I do not condone any official reclassifying criminal offenses outside the guidelines set in MPD policy. Any allegation of this behavior will be dealt with through our internal processes, which will ensure those members are held accountable. I have the utmost confidence in the command staff leadership currently in place across the Metropolitan Police Department."
The union's allegations follow comments earlier this month from President Donald Trump, who stated that he was considering having his administration run Washington, D.C., due to the local leadership's inability to significantly reduce crime.
"We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to," Trump stated. "We could run D.C."
He noted that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is "working very closely" with Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to reduce crime.
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