The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Never mind what the voters decided, MAGA knows better!

https://legiscan.com/OK/rollcall/HB1792/id/1281078

Lets make marijuana a felony again but cockfighting should just be a small fine:

Crimes and punishment; authorizing county option to reduce violations for cockfighting offenses to misdemeanors; effective date.
https://legiscan.com/OK/sponsors/HB2530/2023

Oklahoma at its finest. 

Well, maybe not.

Never at its finest.   Just gotta keep trying.

(https://i.imgflip.com/7hve7a.jpg)

Animal Wellness Action and SHARK have released a report on the leaders of the so-called Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission (OGC) detailing their unmistakable involvement in the cockfighting industry, providing footage of their gamecock farms, videos touting their marketing efforts and participation at cockfighting derbies, evidence of shipments of gamecocks through the U.S. mails, gamecock price lists, and more. The OGC is backing HB 2530 and SB 1006 to give them relief from Oklahoma’s comprehensive anti-cockfighting law and falsely characterizing their effort as criminal-justice reform effort.

The organizations have investigated the leaders of the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission, which donated $41,250 to 34 sitting House members and nine Senators, with the single largest recipient of contributions being Senator Lonnie Paxton, R-21 ($2,500). Mr. Paxton is the author of SB 1006 to allow counties to cripple penalties in the anti-cockfighting law. Rep. JJ Humphrey has the companion bill, HB 2530, and received $1,000 from the cockfighters’ PAC.

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/623502297/leaders-of-pro-cockfighting-campaign-in-oklahoma-are-major-traffickers-of-animals-for-fighting-say-animal-groups

Im unfamiliar with the source so cant speak as to its validity, but its out there...

I'm still stunned how pathetic it is that there's a cockfighting "industry". I always thought it was just a couple of farmers who were bored since the sheep rebuked their advances, so they get their eunich friends together for a night of cheap lite beer and watching chickens fight, but an "industry"? I really don't see ESPN vying for the rights to broadcast that.




Okay, Fox Sports probably would.

MAGA is not interested in democracy.

Avian flu probably got into the human population much the same way syphilus got into it.

I cant believe this is all the publicity this got:


TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — The House of Representatives voted in favor of House Bill 1792, which, among other things, would decrease the maximum fine for dogfighting from $25,000 to $500.

The bill itself is a 141-page criminal justice reform bill to reclassify penalties for crimes in Oklahoma. It does not contain any mention of jail time, only fines.

“Dogfighting would have the same fine as avoiding a roadblock," said Leighann Lassiter, director of Animal Cruelty Policy at the Humane Society.
The bill changes several offenses from violent to non-violent and reduces fines for several crimes, including cockfighting, animal sexual abuse, animal cruelty, and dog fighting.
“The ultimate goal is to again bring Oklahoma into the 21st century and, you know, and give us a sentencing guideline that comes in the form of a matrix," Representative Mike Osburn said.

“Violent crime, money laundering, narcotics traffic, illegal gambling - why would any lawmaker in the 21st century want to enable that?" said President of Animal Wellness Action Wayne Pacelle.
Advocates are concerned lowering fines in any capacity will give a green light to animal fighters.
“A $500 fine versus a $50,000 pot at the end of the night, that's pennies for these guys,” Lassiter said.
“There are good reasons why the fines are strong and the jail time is lengthy, and so for that to just be wiped away in the interest of criminal justice reform is absurd and very wrongheaded," said Oklahoma State Director at the Humane Society Cynthia Armstrong.

NewsChannel 8 asked Osburn for a response to animal cruelty advocates and Oklahoma possibly becoming the only state in the nation to go back on animal cruelty laws with HB 1792 when it was already one of the only states without a sentencing matrix.
“We have no intention of reducing any penalties on animal cruelty or anything like that," Osburn said. "I don't really know where they came up with, with the idea that we were doing that because there's literally absolutely no intention on anybody's part to reduce anything on those things.”

Animal cruelty advocates said this bill could have a national impact.
“There are both dog fighters and cock fighters that are watching Oklahoma and very closely saying that they can't wait to do the same thing in their state, that people are moving to Oklahoma," Lassiter said. "'If you reduce these penalties, we're moving our operations Oklahoma.'”

“That's not what Oklahoma wants. Oklahoma has been trying to attract business, you know, automobile makers and other manufacturers and high tech. What kind of stigma is it?" Pacelle said.

Osburn told News Channel 8 that some language in the bill is a placeholder and is still a work in progress.

Clearly there's a lot of Republicans in this state that want to rape sheep while they watch roosters kill each other. But you know, Democrats want universal health care so I guess both sides are bad.

Apologies to Republican TulsaNowers on this forum, I don't include you in my generalizations as I know you don't support these inbred idiots.

We dont know the half of it.  



OKLAHOMA CITY - The FBI has launched an investigation in McCurtain County following a disturbing recording obtained by News 9. The recording, captured by Gazette reporter Bruce Willingham, revealed county officials discussing plans to beat, kill and bury two newspaper reporters in Idabel, including Willingham's son, Chris."

He says he left his recording device inside a McCurtain County commissioners' meeting, where he intended to prove the officials were holding secret meetings.

The more than three hours of audio recordings include discussions about hiring hitmen to carry out the murders.
"I've known two or three hit men, they're very quiet guys, yeah, who would cut no f*** mercy, yeah, in Louisiana, cause it's all mafia around here," said one of the county officials.

The recordings also include discussions about where the reporters' bodies could be buried. Willingham identified Sheriff Kevin Clardy, commissioners Mark Jennings and Robert Beck, and Alecia Manning with the sheriff's department as some of the people heard in the recording.

"I can see where they might try to spin that as being a joke that part, but then Alecia comes back later on and starts talking about my daughter-in-law and she starts getting worried about who would get the blame. I don't see how you spin that as a joke," Willingham said.
https://www.news9.com/story/643c8027600c0b072e7b2dc6/fbi-investigating-alleged-death-threats-made-by-county-officials-against-oklahoma-newspaper-reporters


A voice identified as Jennings, the county commissioner, said he has two "pre-dug holes" if Manning ever needs them, and says he knows "two or three hit men" in Louisiana.
The conversation also included complaints about District Attorney Mark Matloff, district judges and Black people. One of those present, reportedly Jennings', says he longed for the day when law officers could knock Blacks around, throw them jail and "take them down to Mud Creek and hang them up with a rope."
The sheriff, Clardy, talks about removing the remains of the woman burned in the fire and says county personnel joked about eating barbeque afterward.
https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/oklahoma-governor-says-mccurtain-county-officials-caught-on-audio-should-resign/article_2737c4f6-dd2d-11ed-a7db-43921ed87a5c.html


An Oklahoma sheriff’s office says a newspaper’s audio recording in which the sheriff and others are reportedly heard discussing killing two journalists and hanging Black people was illegal and predicted felony charges will be filed.
“There is and has been an ongoing investigation into multiple, significant violation(s) of the Oklahoma Security of Communications Act ... which states that it is illegal to secretly record a conversation in which you are not involved and do not have the consent of at least one of the involved parties,” according to the statement.
Joey Senat, a journalism professor at Oklahoma State University, said under Oklahoma law, the recording would be legal if it were obtained in a place where the officials being recorded did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
https://apnews.com/article/mccurtain-oklahoma-racist-killing-journalists-recording-196ab0bf32fe8a5c0b48ef25c0af3c9f


McCurtain County Sheriff's Office said in a statement late Monday that the officials were the victims
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2023/04/20/mark-jennings-mccurtain-county-oklahoma-sheriff-recording-laws-kevin-clardy-alicia-manning/70126117007/

Same ole, same ole.   For at least 150 years around here.  Way before statehood.

The red flags that were missed:

https://www.fox23.com/news/local/wife-of-late-tulsa-man-files-wrongful-death-lawsuit-against-mccurtain-county-deputies/article_f9805390-df0a-11ed-a5e2-5f1496c5c0b0.html

Thanks for this link and the link to the article from The Oklahoman. The Oklahoman article helped answer a lot of questions I had about how this started and the KOKI link provided the pretext to the story. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Sounds like the for-profit-prison industry is spreading around some love again:

An important provision in the criminal justice reforms approved by state voters in 2016 would be repealed under legislation approved on a party-line vote in the Oklahoma House of Representative on Wednesday.

House Bill 3694, by Rep. John George, R-Choctaw, would lower the threshold for felony larceny from $1,000, set by State Question 780 eight years ago, to the $500 it had been previously.

Ten states now have thresholds of less than $1,000, and reform advocates insist that there is no evidence that those states have less thievery.

George, a former Oklahoma City police officer, said theft “tripled” in Oklahoma after the passage of SQ 780. Retailers, prosecutors and law enforcement officials have made similar claims.

The higher felony threshold was supposed to lower the state’s prison population and divert offenders to treatment while keeping felonies off their records, and in that respect it has been at least somewhat successful.

That did not seem to much impress George.
“I’m not that concerned with the prison population,” George said in response to a question. “We have to lock up the people who need to be locked up.”

Oklahoma prosecutors have argued that taking away the threat of a felony and jail time for nonviolent crimes such as theft, vandalism and drug possession have taken away their leverage.

Reformers disagree.
Referring to theft as “survival economy,” Rep. Mauree Turner, D-Oklahoma City, said, “Making sure we put more people in Oklahoma prisons doesn’t really do anything except make Oklahoma taxpayers pay more for people to live in our prison system. … What it’s going to create is a continuous cyclone of money into our prisons and our jails.”

The cost of incarceration to taxpayers is more than $20,000 per year per inmate, based on various estimates in recent years.

The vote was a blow for reformers who a few years ago seemed to have convinced conservative lawmakers that sending nonviolent offenders to treatment would be cheaper and more effective than prison or life with a felony record.

“It’s necessary for Oklahoma to adopt pragmatic legislation that not only holds violent offenders accountable but also confronts the alarming rise in crime rates,” George said after his bill’s passage. “We have two options: either we can take a lenient approach to crime or adopt smart strategies to combat it.”

https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/oklahoma-house-votes-to-roll-back-key-criminal-justice-reform-measure/article_f19d6f9c-dbfc-11ee-9cb7-232b9a5dc25c.html