Law Enforcement and Governance: Perspectives from Former Sheriff David Clarke | Episode 59

In this eye-opening episode of the Straight Talk podcast, former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke dives deep into the complexities of the ongoing war in Ukraine, shedding light on the untold human cost and the dire situation on the ground. Clarke critically examines the global response to the conflict, the role of the United States in international diplomacy, and the stark contrasts in media coverage compared to other global conflicts. Additionally, Clarke explores the broader geopolitical landscape, including tensions between the US and Israel, and critiques domestic policies with a keen eye on public safety and the implications of recent actions in New York. Join us for a discussion that challenges mainstream narratives and uncovers the harsh realities of war, diplomacy, and security. Thanks for listening and please subscribe and share!

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Website: https://americassheriff.com

Host: Sheriff David Clarke, America's Sheriff

Executive Producer: Judy L. Wilkinson, JL Wilkinson Consulting, LLC 

Producer: Josh Wentz | wentzjosh93@gmail.com

Copyright 2024  Straight Talk Podcast With America's Sheriff David Clarke     

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Transcript

0:42

Welcome to a new episode of the straight talk podcast. I am your host former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. Let's get right at it Talk about a couple things today. First of all, let's stay on the war front or start on the war front I should say let's start in Ukraine, you know this which is turning out to be an endless war Who knows how long this is going to go on but it's been bloody. It's been deadly the the virtual literal I should say destruction Of Ukraine. I don't know what's going to be left before this thing ends, but also the body count. Now, Zelensky and Ukraine doesn't release official casualty figures. I don't know why not. I, I, I think it's because the figures would be staggering and I think there'd be more pressure to end this thing some kind of way. It's going to have to be a negotiated settlement. You can't force Putin to come to the negotiating table, but you can, we can, the United States can force Zelensky. To at least make an offer of some sort of settlement. And I don't know what that settlement should be, but I just know that the, the death toll, the human death toll is a lot more than what's gone on in, in Gaza, in the West bank, uh, in that war. And look at all the pressure on Israel and you hear the figures and nobody knows for sure, they're not really accurate, but the death toll, the women and children and, and all that nonsense. And it's nowhere near casualty figures in Ukraine, but you don't hear anybody, you don't hear the UN, you don't hear, uh, any other countries pressing for an end to that battle in Ukraine. But here's a story here, I mean, just to kind of put a picture on it. This is from businessinsider. com. A Ukrainian soldier said that Ukraine's losses are so heavy, Where he's fighting that they struggle to recover the bodies. Ukrainian soldier fighting near the country's northern front line has described the menace of Russia's bombardment Telling the Times of London's, the London that they are losing so many people, there are so many bodies We can't even bring them all back Describing the fighting as, and he uses the f word, I'll spare you of that, but describe, describing the fighting as F ing awful The soldier identified by the paper as Lemur added that Ukrainian forces in the area can't move forward, we can barely hold the line. Struggling to push Russian forces back, Ukraine has forfeited its own defensive line. Folks, they're losing this war. And yet, from time to time, every once in a while, you'll see some liberal publication write a story about how Ukraine is holding their own, they're doing well, they're, they're Uh, on the verge of victory, and they're not even close to winning this war. They're getting slaughtered. They're getting hammered. And the United States is okay, under Biden, when I say the United States, to continue to pour billions of dollars to keep this damn thing going. With no concern for the Ukrainian people who have been killed in this war, no concern for all of the soldiers and the death toll on both sides. There's a quagmire over there right now. And you know what, Russia, they'll wait. They can wait this thing out, fight a war of attrition, wear them down. But I don't understand why there's this, there's this push by Biden and Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to try to end this war in Gaza, but no such push to end the war in Ukraine. I think we know why that is, it's the politics of it. So let's go back to Russia. Get to Israel and the war against Hamas, couple things here. First of all, I was glad to see that Netanyahu, after Chuck the Schmuck Schumer called for regime change in the state of Israel, Netanyahu responded, and he called Schumer's comments totally inappropriate. It says here, in this column here from the Washington Times, It's totally inappropriate, Mr. Netanyahu said on CNN's State of the Union. It's inappropriate. To go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there, that's something the Israeli public does on its own. I'm glad he slapped Schumer down. So Netanyahu is up to his eyeballs fighting a war for the survival of Israel. And now he has to fight on another front, the United States government. So he's fighting two battles here, and they're supposed to be allies. So, the other thing that, uh, Netanyahu said, is that the majority of Israelis support the policies of my government. It's not a fringe government, Mr. Netanyahu said. It represents the policies supported by the majority of the people. If Chuck Schumer opposes these policies, He's not opposing me, he's opposing the people of Israel. Exactly. And speaking of that, there's this new push now by the Biden administration and Blinken back over in the Middle East, trying to forge a ceasefire, actually I shouldn't say that, I should choose my words carefully, force Israel into a ceasefire when they're on the verge of victory. But there's an aspect of this that just, that, that really chaps my rear end. It's that in trying to forge some sort of settlement here or ceasefire, they're allowing Hamas or trying to allow Hamas to use the hostages they took on October 8th as a bargaining chip. Originally, I said on this podcast, absolutely not. You cannot allow Hamas to use the hostages as a bargaining chip. That's why they took the hostages and what you will do if you allow that, is you will encourage other. Enemy states, if they're going to attack anybody, to take some hostages so that you have a bargaining position later on, should you need one. So, now the latest deal trying to be patched together to force Israel into it. I hope Netanyahu, uh, rejects this out of hand just like he has the other ones. But it says here, U. S. calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal in draft U. N. resolution. The United States has drafted a new U. N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza amid mounting pressure on Israel to halt its military campaign and allow the delivery of substantial amounts of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory. Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented the resolution As calling for an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages. The U. S. has consistently argued that the route to a ceasefire has to be through a hostage deal. But the new draft resolution presented on Thursday, seen by the Guardian, the Guardian newspaper, is more ambiguous about the link, the linkage. The draft says, The UN Security Council determines the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire to protect civilians on all sides, allow for the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance, and alleviate humanitarian suffering. Towards that end, unequivocally supports the Ongoing international diplomatic efforts to secure such a ceasefire in connection with the release of all remaining hostages. Let me stop there. And it's why I have put my foot down that Netanyahu should reject this thing out of hand once again. And it goes beyond me saying you can't, you shouldn't allow Hamas to use the hostages as a bargaining chip. Because that's why they took hostages. But there's another aspect this To take hostages in an armed conflict and to make demands on the other side for the return of those hostages, folks, is a violation of the Geneva Convention. Nobody has mentioned this. Nobody. And I would challenge you to find any media, I would challenge you to find any political figure, or any of these experts that have said this. I'm the first one to raise it, to allow Hamas and for the U. S. to suggest that the hostages have to be part of a negotiated settlement is a violation of the Geneva Convention and the rules of war. So I went to the Geneva Convention, what do you, I don't know what you'd call it, pact that all these nation states signed on to for rules of war and rules for conflict. And I found the section, it's rule 96. Now, how come nobody else has done this? Why is Blinken, and why is Joe Biden, why do they want to violate the Geneva Convention? These are war crimes, what Hamas did, and taking those hostages, and butchering and slaughtering unarmed civilians on October 8th, October 7th, I'm sorry. Why would they want to violate the Geneva Convention? So let's go through What Rule 96 of the Geneva Convention says, and you'll see why I believe Netanyahu should reject this out of hand and not allow Hamas to use those hostages as a negotiation ploy. It says here, State practice establishes this rule as a norm of customary international law applicable in both international and non international law. armed conflicts. Here's what it says. Common article three of the Geneva Convention prohibits the taking of hostages. It also prohibits, it's also prohibited by the fourth Geneva Convention and is considered a grave breach thereof. I'm going to excerpt this, pull out some, uh, uh, some of the sections here. I can't read the whole thing. It would take me several hours. However, in addition to the provisions in the Geneva Convention, practice says Then shows that the prohibition of hostage taking is now firmly entrenched in customary international law and is considered a war crime. It goes on to say, the prohibition of hostage taking is recognized as a fundamental guarantee for civilians and persons during combat. Under the statute of the International Criminal Court, the taking of hostages constitutes a war crime in both international and non international armed conflicts. Numerous military manuals prohibit the taking of hostages. Instances of hostage taking, whether in international or non international armed conflicts, has been condemned by states. That's the, the, the countries that have signed on to this Geneva Convention. In particular, the United Nations has condemned such instances in respect to war. So the U. N. and Blinken introduced this draft resolution in the U. N. Why did nobody, why did nobody from the U. N. say, Mr. Blinken, you can't do that, that's a violation of the Geneva Convention? Because all of a sudden this doesn't matter, but with what Israel's doing, I'm here hearing the anti Semitic haters calling Netanyahu a war criminal. Uh, committing war crimes and atrocities and, no he's not. He's not targeting civilians. They might be collateral damage, but he's not targeting them. But anyway, let's get back to this, this using hostages as a negotiating tool here. You can't do it. So it also says here under this Rule 96 of the Geneva Convention, It calls on parties to both international and non international armed conflicts to refrain from taking hostages. It says the UN Commission on Human Rights has stated that hostage taking, whenever and by whoever committed, is an illegal act aimed at the destruction of human rights and is never justifiable. The International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages defines the offense as a seizure or detention of a person, the hostage, combined with threatening to kill, to injure, or continue to detain the hostage. Here's the key part, ladies and gentlemen. In order to compel a third party, that would be Israel, to do or abstain from doing any act, As an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostages. This rule 96 of the Geneva Convention says they cannot do that. You cannot allow Hamas, a terror organization for heaven's sakes. Has Blinken forgotten that? When did the U. S. start negotiating with terror organizations again? I thought we made that clear in the Iraq war with Al Qaeda and ISIS. Do we not negotiate with terror organizations? Well, apparently now we do. And the Biden administration. But anyway, this specifically says, I just read it to you. If you want to go look it up yourself, like I did, easy to do it. Just put in a search engine, Geneva convention on hostage taking. That's what I did. And this pops up. So for, for Blinken and Biden and anybody else, the UN, where's the world court? Why on October 8th, the day after October 7th, when they found out, when the world found out, when the UN found out, when the U S found out. That hostages were taken, why on October 8th was there no demand by anybody in the world to immediately release and return those hostages? Why not? Why not? And they're still not doing it. They're allowing Hamas, a terror organization, to use the hostages as a bargaining chip. Ladies and gentlemen, this is sickening. To watch this go on, and to have a simple guy like me Find this stuff and bring it to light because I like to poke around and I like to ask questions And I'm curious so with all the talk, you know There's hostages have to be a part of the the ceasefire and the ceasefire has to be part of a hostage return. No Absolutely, not Hamas a terror organization has no leverage and bargaining and they should be told you will not use the hot Hostages will be returned immediately And we will not allow you to use them as a condition, as it says, for a third party to do a certain thing and, and Ahmad is saying, well, you have to, you know, Israel has to immediately withdraw and a permanent ceasefire, and we'll return the hostages. Absolutely not. Some of this stuff is unbelievable, ladies and gentlemen. It just It's right here, plain as day, for all to see. You can't use hostages as a negotiation, a negotiation ploy. Or Chip, you cannot do it, under the Geneva Convention, unless the United States is going to say the Geneva Convention no longer applies. So finally, we want to, I want to circle back on this, uh, Governor Haakel in New York putting the National Guard on the New York subway system. There's a, an added twist here. You know, she ordered, I don't know, 750 guard, National Guard soldiers and 250 state police officers to patrol the New York subway system. I don't know if they're actually doing it or not anymore. I mean, they had a big news conference. I said, it was nothing more than a dog and pony show. And I questioned the legality of it. I mean, we need to have a discussion. Before we start searching. Strap hangers on the New York subway system without a warrant. Remember what the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, under the Bill of Rights of the Constitution says. No unreasonable searches and seizures. It also says for it to be reasonable, it has to be accompanied by a warrant. Now, you can volunteer to be searched or seized, but if the, and Hocko said this, if a person, and because the media asked her if somebody Refuses to be searched. Is that okay? She says, yeah, but then you can't get on the subway system. Well, then that's not Voluntary that's coerced. Look I gotta get to work So people just submit right and you should see some of the footage of the people being searched And, and of this, this dog and pony show going on at the news conference, you know, they show a guy, he looks like to be in his mid thirties, you know, casually dressed, and he's standing at one of the tables and they're searching his backpack. I said, that guy's not a threat to anybody on the subway system? That's why I said this is just a dog and pony show. I think it's offensive. I think it's an unreasonable intrusion into people's privacy, and it's not going to do a damn bit of good. And I'm not the only one who thinks that. First of all, I happen to know a little thing about safety and security, my 40 years in law enforcement, I know what works and what doesn't, I know what's effective in terms of crime fighting, in terms of tactics, and it's not this. So anyway, some law enforcement veteran officials have chimed in on this with their opinion as to whether this is going to work or not. And remember this too, this thing was under control. I talked about it in the last podcast under Giuliani. And NYPD Commissioner Bill Braden, they went after crime, violence, and disorder on the New York subway system and cleaned it up, cleaned it up. And then Bloomberg comes into office and he continues the same policies with Commissioner Bernard Carrick, kept it clean. Then de Blasio comes along and screwed it all up. Yeah, de Blasio, a Democrat. Leave it to a Democrat to screw something up that's already working. Just look at our border. Trump had it under control. A Democrat Biden comes along and screws it up. So in addition to Giuliani and Bloomberg, and then de Blasio comes along and screws it up. Then Governor Hockle comes with this dog and pony show. Oh, we're going to put the guard in. She didn't call out the guard as I've said before. She didn't call out the guard when the riots were going on after George Floyd. Eric Garner. She didn't call out the guard. So anyway, some veteran law enforcement officials pushing back on this. And they would know. Frontline people. Oh, by the way, there was a, another dog and pony incident by the NYPD. And I'm not, I'm not criticizing the frontline officers. I'm criticizing the brass. You have commanders now riding subway cars. To ask people about how things are going on the subway system. Have these people been in a coma? These commanders for the last couple years? This thing has been out of control for at least the last two years. And now they're just getting around to going down under the subway cars to have a discussion with people. About how they're feeling about safety on the subway system. This stuff is kooky. You don't already know. The stories have been printed. The stories have been written about. And now you want to go down to find out what's going on? This is embarrassing, ladies and gentlemen. Bratton, Carrick, would have fired these commanders for not knowing. You know, he used to hold these compstab meetings, well written about, well documented. I attended several of them. I was invited by Bill Bratton to come out and spend some time with him and see how NYPD was getting it done under Broken windows, policing, order maintenance. And I attended a ComStat meeting where he holds commanders feats to the fire, to know what's going on in their precinct and to be able to lay out a plan of action to deal with the problems going on. It's pretty intense. If you didn't come into those meetings prepared, you got embarrassed. Bratton didn't care whether he embarrassed you or not. He held commanders accountable. That's why I said, if I would have seen this. Or I would have been made aware that there's problems on the subway system and the commander didn't know and didn't tell me, I'd fire those people. Maybe you can't summarily do it, but I'd replace them, and I'd demote them. For not knowing what the hell's going on in their beat in their precinct. You give them officers, you give them resources. I mean, the, the, the budget of the NYPD's like six billion dollars. But anyway, this is what some law enforcement veterans are saying about this. They say criminals are clever enough to see past the farce in New York. It's theater. Here's a quote from Bernard Kerrick, former NYPD commissioner. It's theater because number one, some thug from Brooklyn or the Bronx that runs back and forth to Manhattan on a train is not carrying a duffel bag with guns, said Bernard Kerrick. who served as NYPD Commissioner under Rudolf Giuliani. Instead, he said, crooks are stuffing pistols or knives into their pants, especially when they see the checkpoints. The result is a public safety performance that Mr. Carrick says is not going to reduce violence in the subway system, not 45% Year over year in January, but down 13 percent in February. That's what I mean when I say if these commanders didn't know this, and didn't tell me, and then be able to tell me what he's doing about it, they wouldn't hold those positions long. So it says here, a small number of repeat offenders are responsible for much of the violence on the rails. NYPD said 38 people arrested on transit assaults last year were tied to more than 1, 100 other crimes throughout the city. Officials said the state's lax bill reforms are a problem. Hackel! Skip the National Guard and repeal the law that allows these towns and cities to not enforce bail for criminal offenses. You want to help? That's a good start. So it says here, it's a quote, We find ourselves arresting the same people over and over again, and we've got to ask ourselves, We've got to ask ourselves, Why are we arresting certain people dozens of times, some people over 100 times? Where are the consequences for these recidivist criminals preying on our riders? You see what I mean? And the commander's gotta go down and talk to the strap hangers to find out what conditions are like on the subway system? Are you kidding me? As I said, this is impossible. That last quote was from NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Michael Kempfer. Passengers have told local media that the uniformed guard members bring a sense of security, but Mr. Carradine Said plainclothes police riding the rails with commuters would be more effective. He said the NYPD is limited by its lack of manpower. Right. Harker, you want to help? You want to help? Take some of those state police, put them in plainclothes. You have the uniforms on the platforms, the uniformed cops, highly visible, visible deterrent. But you have plainclothes officers riding the subway cars. Why? They can immediately intervene where they see some idiot causing a disturbance or committing a crime. That's why. This is police work 101, ladies and gentlemen. It's not rocket science. We're not trying to put a module on the moon or on Mars. That's difficult. This is plain old fashioned police work. Create a, a, a sense of omnipresence so the bad guys look and go everywhere I turn. There's a uniformed cop and there might be a plainclothes cop among the people standing on this platform stop here. They'll get it. But instead we have this dog and pony show by the governor of the state of New York. Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for joining me. Have a good week.