Three Police Dead, Three More Wounded in Baton Rouge Ambush. Oath Keepers Offers to Protect Police Families

by Stewart Rhodes

 

 

Local news Channel 4, WWL in Baton Rouge is reporting:

 

   BATON ROUGE, La. - Three officers - two from the Baton Rouge Police Department and one from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office - have been killed after as many as seven were shot in Baton Rouge Sunday morning, authorities from the East Baton Parish Sheriff's Office confirmed.

 

   One suspect is dead and others may be at large, according to the sheriff's office. Police could be seen checking the deceased suspect with a robot for explosives.

 

   "At approximately 9:00 this morning Baton Rouge Police officers and East Baton Rouge Sheriff's deputies were involved in a shooting incident on Airline Highway near Old Hammond Highway. Multiple officers from both agencies sustained injuries and were transported to local hospitals," said a statement from the sheriff's office.

 

   Authorities are asking the public to call 911 or local law enforcement agencies immediately if they see anything suspicious. Those in the area are advised to stay indoors.

 

   Two hospitals in Baton Rouge are on lockdown with police guarding the facilities with officers checking vehicles trying to enter the facility.

 

   The officers were shot early Sunday - and - as of 9:30 a.m. - a manhunt was on for the suspect or suspects.

 

   A witness told WBRZ-TV that a man was dressed in black with his face covered shooting indiscriminately when he walked out between a convenience store and car wash across from Hammond Air Plaza. Police closed the streets between the police department's headquarters and Interstate 12.

 

   Baton Rouge Mayor Holden is asking for prayers for the officers and their families.

 

   Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a statement on the attack."This is an unspeakable and unjustified attack on all of us at a time when we need unity and healing," he said.

 

   Earlier, Baton Rouge Police spokesman Sgt. Don Coppola confirmed that several officers were shot by gunfire, The Advoate reported. East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office deputies may have also been among those shot, Coppola said.

 

Read the rest here.

 

Breitbart is reporting:

 

Gunman opened fire close to Baton Rouge Police Department headquarters

* Three officers slain, three in critical condition

* One suspect is dead and two others are reportedly at large

* The attack comes two days after the funeral of Alton Sterling, a black man killed by police during an arrest

* Two Fridays ago in Dallas, a black militant named Micah X. Johnson shot and killed five police officers and wounded seven

 http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/07/17/officers-cops-shot-baton-rouge/ 

 

Among the "national news media" Breitbart.com appears to have the best updates, so I recommend you check there often.

 

A Baton Rouge local on Reddit says the attack happened at a local gas station where the police are regulars, down the street from the Baton Rouge PD HQ.   Shooter reportedly had a semi-automatic rifle.   There is a very active Reddit thread you should also monitor, with many Baton Rouge locals posting.   Locals posting on Reddit say that outside groups are the ones who are most militant and trying to stir up and radicalize the locals. We saw this in Ferguson and Baltimore too.

 

Baton Rouge local Redditor Ootika says:

 

   Born and raised in Baton Rouge. I was in town during the shooting. Immediately after the shooting, there were calm and peaceful protests. Local black community leaders were on the news regularly talking about the need to stay calm, that cops aren't a target, that black lives need to matter to blacks too (look at the murder statistics for Baton Rouge, usually 2 or 3 murders a week. Typically black on black. No protests for those people). I remember tuning into the national news a few days later and hearing talking heads almost complaining about the lack of violent protests. That's when the out of town groups came in. That's when I stopped seeing the local community leaders on TV.

 

   One group pointed shotguns at the police. Another group drove around wearing masks and holding posters that said "The purge is happening NOW". More people came in from out of town. The protests started getting more tense. The police started aggressively arresting people. They brought out the military vehicles and riot guns. The family of Sterling asked for peaceful protests on the news. They warned that outsiders were riling up the community. Now we're here. Now cops are being killed. What a tragedy.

 

   At least the pundits are happy now.

 

    

Another Baton Rouge local, Hochizo, replied:

 

   You're absolutely right that outsiders have been coming in. My spouse and I live in Baton Rouge, and my spouse is actually in the media. I remember last week, when the protests moved from the store where Alton Sterling was killed to police headquarters, all the local leaders were taken aback. My husband called the people who were leading the original protests to see what was up and they had no idea. The guy said "I don't know what's going on. We weren't protesting tonight. We had the night off. I don't know what they're doing right now, but I'm going over there now to try and straighten it out." This community was peaceful. Angry, but peaceful. And outside people weren't satisfied with that and came in to change it.

 

   And I can't really speak to the national media, but local media is sick of this shit. They don't like stories like this. These are people they know and interact with. This is their home and it's in chaos. They don't enjoy this. Especially because everyone is pissed at them. They're trying to stay neutral, but as most people know, when you're really neutral both sides hate your guts. The black community and their supporters think the media is taking the cops' side and the cops and their supporters think the media is taking the black community's side. There's no winning and they're exhausted. At least we are. We were finally getting some time to recoup this weekend. Got through two episodes of Stranger Things this morning before the phone started blowing up.

 

Again, this is exactly what we saw in Ferguson, MO too. Outside agitators came in and looted, burned, and shot at the police, leaving the locals holding the bag.   Natalie, of Natalie's Cakes and More told us "these people are NOT locals" which explains why they had no problem trashing her bakery and then trying to burn it down later.

 

 

LOUISIANA OATH KEEPERS RESPONSE AND CALL TO ACTION:

 

I am in direct communication with Oath Keepers in Baton Rouge and and our Louisiana chapter leadership (Duncan Simmons, our LA Coordinator, is a retired police officer).   At a minimum our LA chapter will be offering our assistance in protecting officers' families while the officers are on duty (under our existing "Family Safe" Program and as part of our new "Operation Backstop") so the officers can focus on doing their job with less fear for their families. We will offer this protection for police families not just in Baton Rouge, but all over Louisiana, because the threat is all over the state, and we will coordinate with each local police department on what else we can do to help.

 

In addition, I urge all Oath Keepers members and chapters to do likewise in your local communities nationwide. Reach out to your good local cops and offer to protect their families whenever they are in danger. Offer that now, and begin the process of coordinating with your local police on how you can work together to keep the whole community safe going forward. We have credible information that New Black Panther Party extremists in Louisiana intend to hold armed protests in small towns with small departments where they will outnumber the local police. Don't think that trouble can't come to your sleeply little town. Whether it is racist, Marxist wanna-be cop killers, or a jihadists, bad guys may target your little town specifically because you have few cops and are all warm and sleepy, thinking you are safe.   The interstate is right there ...

 

We will post more updates as information comes in.

 

For the Republic,

 

Stewart Rhodes

Hillary Clinton Blames Whites, Cops for Deaths of Young Black Men

208

by Neil Munro8 Jul 20169879

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Hillary Clinton used a CNN interview on Friday to completely embrace the Democrats’ claim that white people and cops must change to help reduce the number of African-Americans killed in tense exchanges with cops.

“I will call for white people, like myself, to put ourselves in the shoes of those African-American  families who fear every time their children go somewhere, who have to have ‘The Talk,’ about, you now, how to really protect themselves [from police], when they’re the ones who should be expecting protection from encounters with police,” Clinton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

“I’m going to be talking to white people, we’re the ones who have to start listening to the legitimate cries coming from our African-American fellow citizens,” she said.

“We’ve got to figure out what is happening when routine traffic stops, when routine arrests, escalate into killings … Clearly, there seems to be a terrible disconnect between many police departments and officers and the people they have sworn to protect,” she said.

Federal policing guidelines are needed because “we have 18,000 police departments… [some of which need more training to] go after systemic racism, which is a reality, and to go after systemic bias,” she said. 

“We’ve got to start once again respecting and treating each other with the dignity that every person deserves,” she said.

The statement echoed a tweet from Friday morning. 

White Americans need to do a better job of listening when African Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 8, 2016

To win in November, Clinton need a high turnout of African-American voters. 

Neither Blitzer nor Clinton suggested that African-American communities have a role in reducing police-encounter deaths, which usually occur in tense engagements between a few cops and a few suspects with extensive criminal histories.

In general, young African-American men are far more likely to commit crimes than young white men, young Asian men or young Latino men. A November 2011 report by the Justice Department showed that young African-American men are just 1 percent of the population, yet are responsible for a disproportionate percentage of murders in the nation. 

Clinton suggested that people who disagree with her agenda are racists. “There is so much more to be done… we can’t be engaging in hateful rhetoric or incitement of violence, we need to be bringing people together … we need more love and kindness.”

Obama Pushes More Federal Oversight of Cops After Dallas Attack on Cops

96

AP

by Neil Munro9 Jul 20169349

President Barack Obama is harnessing the increasing attacks on police — and the periodic shootings of people by stressed cops — to push his agenda to federalize state and local police forces.

“I want to start moving on constructive actions that are actually going to make a difference,” he said during his evening press conference in Poland when he was asked about the Dallas attack. 
Those actions, he said, would  be based on the recommendations of the panel that he picked after the 2014 street riots in Ferguson, Missouri. The panel offered “practical concrete solutions that can reduce — if not eliminate — the problems of racial bias,” Obama said. 
The dramatic shootings are an opportunity to push that agenda, Obama said. “If my voice has been true and positive, my hope would be that… [the panel] surfaces problems, it frames them, it allows us to wrestle with these issue and try to come up with practical solutions,” he said.
Obama began touting the panel’s recommendations in March 2015. The report, titled “President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Report,” was published in May 2015.
The report urges the federal government to federalize police training and practices, via the use of federal lawsuits, grants and threats to cut federal aid. So far, Obama’s deputies have cajoled and sued more than 30 police jurisdictions to adopt federal rules in a slow-motion creation of a national police system, similar to the slow-motion creation of a federal-run health-sector via Obamacare.
Obama also used the press conference to insulate his federalized police program — and his allies in the Black Live Matter movement — from popular rejection after the five police were murdered by the anti-cop African-American in Dallas.
“The danger is that we somehow think the act of a troubled person speaks to some larger political statement across the country — it doesn’t,” Obama insisted. 
Obama shrugged off growing criticism that his own anti-cop statements helped trigger the shootings in Dallas and several other cities on Thursday and Friday. “It is very hard to untangle to motives of this [Dallas] shooter …  you have a troubled mind … what feeds it, what sets it off, I’ll leave that to psychologists and people who study these kinds of incidents.”
Throughout his press conference, Obama tried to play the role of national healer. “As painful as this week has been, I firmly believe that America is not as divided as some have suggested. Americans of all races and all backgrounds are rightly outraged by the inexcusable attacks on police … that includes protestors, it includes family members who have grave concerns about police conduct, and they’ve said that this is unacceptable, there is no division there,” he said.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch gives a statement on the recent shooting of eleven Dallas Police and DART officers that left five dead during a news conference at DOJ headquarters in Washington, D.C. On July 8, 2016.

Lynch to Dallas protesters: ‘Do not be discouraged’

By Nolan D. McCaskill

07/08/16 12:24 PM EDT

Updated 07/08/16 01:34 PM EDT

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Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Friday encouraged protesters not to allow the “heinous violence” that occurred in Dallas to silence their “important” voices.
Five police officers died and seven more were wounded in an ambush during a peaceful rally in Dallas on Thursday to protest the deaths of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota who were shot dead by police this week. Two civilians were also injured Thursday.

Lynch stressed that she is “deeply grateful” to law enforcement’s commitment to difficult and dangerous work to keep America safe but vowed that the Justice Department would do all it can to help. And she urged peaceful protesters not to give up.

“I want you to know that your voice is important,” Lynch said Friday during a news conference at the Justice Department. “Do not be discouraged by those who would use your lawful actions as cover for their heinous violence. We will continue to safeguard your constitutional rights and to work with you in the difficult mission of building a better nation and a brighter future.”
Lynch announced that the Justice Department will offer assistance to local law enforcement in Dallas, a city she described as a community “severely shaken and deeply scarred by an unfathomable tragedy.” She said DOJ and the agencies within it, including the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office, will work alongside state and local officials there.
“We intend to provide any assistance we can to investigate this attack and also to help heal a community that has been severely shaken and deeply scarred by an unfathomable tragedy,” she said. “This is an unfolding situation. We will be providing additional information when it is available and appropriate. But more so, this has been a week of profound grief and heartbreaking loss.”
Thursday’s protest was held in the wake of the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old whose death outside a Baton Rouge convenience store was captured on video, and Philando Castile, a 32-year-old whose fiancée filmed the aftermath of his death via Facebook live in Falcon Heights.
The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the Louisiana encounter, and Lynch said DOJ will offer assistance to local officials leading the investigation in Minnesota.
Lynch mourned the “devastating loss” of the slain officers and empathized with the sentiments of much of the country, as Americans try to cope with the back-to-back police-involved killings this week that each gained national attention.
“Americans across our county are feeling a sense of helplessness, of uncertainty and of fear,” Lynch said. “And these feelings are understandable, and they are justified. But the answer must not be violence. The answer is never violence.”
The answer, Lynch maintained, is action — “calm, peaceful, collaborative and determined action,” she said. “We must continue working to build trust between communities and law enforcement. We must continue working to guarantee every person in this country equal justice under the law. And we must take a hard look at the ease with which wrongdoers can get their hands on deadly weapons and the frequency with which they use them.”
The DOJ chief called on Americans to consider what kind of country they want to pass on to future generations and to shun divisive impulses.
“We must reflect on the kind of country that we want to build and the kind of society that we are choosing to pass on to our children,” Lynch said. “And above all, we must reject the easy impulses of bitterness and rancor and embrace the difficult work — but the important work, the vital work — of finding a path forward together. And above everything, we must remind ourselves that we are all Americans, and that as Americans, we share not just a common land but a common life.”
And those lives lost this week, Lynch said, came from different neighborhoods and backgrounds but will be grieved by all.
“Today, they’re mourned by officers, by residents, by family and friends, by men and women and children who loved them, who needed them and who will miss them always,” she said. “They are mourned by all of us. To the families of all who lost their lives in this series of tragedies, we share your pain and your loss.”

WAR ON POLICE Black Lives Matter launches 'Weekend of Rage'

WAR ON POLICE

Black Lives Matter launches 'Weekend of Rage'

Hillary to whites: 'We're the ones who have to start listening'

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Protesters block interstate near downtown Atlanta

Demonstrations to denounce the fatal shooting of two black men by police officers this week exploded across the nation in what the group Black Lives Matters called a Weekend of Rage.
Following the surfacing of videos showing two African-American men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, who were shot by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, respectively, five Dallas police officers were gunned down and seven others wounded during a demonstration Thursday evening. But neither that tragedy nor growing tensions between the police and blacks was enough to quiet the protests.
“This has been a very painful week for the African American community,” said Jeanelle Auston, who organized an event at Fuller Theological Seminary’s Pasadena, California, campus. “The back-to-back killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in Minnesota by police officers have torn hearts across the nation.”
El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen, who is African-American, was tightly controlled but clearly furious at a press conference where he stated, “Black Lives Matter, as far as I’m concerned, is a radical hate group; and for that purpose alone, I think the leadership of this country needs to look at little bit harder at that particular group. The consequences of what we saw in Dallas is due to their efforts.”

Protests took place in many major cities, including Atlanta, New York, Rochester, Phoenix, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Nashville, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Paul and Washington, D.C.
Atlanta
The largest demonstration appeared to be in downtown Atlanta, where an estimated 2,000 protesters chanted, waved signs demanding justice and blocked part of Interstate 75/85 in a tense standoff with police.
Mayor Kasim Reed first tweeted, “”Today we have had less than ten people arrested during what has been a peaceful protest. We urge anyone protesting not to enter the highway.” Later he followed with a warning to protesters: “If you enter the highway, you endanger your own life, the lives of innocent motorists & the lives of our officers. We are better than that.”
The tweets were ignored. Footage from local news stations showed the crowd facing off with dozens of police vehicles that were stopped on a local interstate highway.
Baltimore
In Baltimore, about 200 people gathered in protest to march from McKeldin Square to the Baltimore police headquarters. Four people were arrested after some members of the group failed to comply with orders to move out of the street.
Baton Rouge
The FBI issued a riot alert in Louisiana. Judicial Watch reports the alert is dated July 7 and included disturbing images from social media, including one depicting a restrained uniformed police officer getting his throat slashed by a masked individual. Other social media images called for purging and killing all cops in Baton Rouge on July 9 and starting a riot by the courthouse in Shreveport. One social media post says, “It don’t matter what color you are.” Another says, “Must kill every police!!!!”
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About 300 protesters in Baton Rouge started off peacefully, but descended into chaos after several protesters hurled plastic bottles of water and cups of ice at police. Many officers were attired in riot gear, and people could be heard chanting obscenities at the police.
Breitbart reports the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) plans to be in town on Sunday to protest the police shooting of Alton Sterling, according to Minister of Education James Evans Muhammad.
Several protesters told Breitbart News they were unhappy to hear the New Black Panthers – which has made headlines for its incendiary uncompromising black liberation rhetoric – were coming to town.
Phoenix
Demonstrations in Phoenix turned violent when protesters threw rocks and other objects at law enforcement officers during an anti-police brutality rally Friday night. Agitators shouted “We should shoot you!” to officers.
An estimated 1,000 participants chanted: “Black lives matter” and “Hands up, don’t shoot” as they marched. Officers escorting the march weren’t dressed in riot gear.
The violence also caused massive transit shutdowns, particularly on Interstate 10. One of the civil rights leaders that helped stage the march, Rev. Jarrett Maupin, acknowledged the route of the march was changed to shut down Interstate 10. The Arizona Department of Transportation tweeted, “CLOSED: SR 51 SB to I-10 WB ramp is closed due to law-enforcement activity,” which prompted someone to respond, “Law enforcement activity? Do you mean THUG activity?”

Six people were injured and three were arrested, and police used pepper spray to bring the crowd under control.
New York
Protests occurred in both Rochester and New York City.
A Black Lives Matter protest took over Grand Central Station Friday night leading to disruptions and travel delays, just one day after thousands of activists went on a march throughout midtown Manhattan, taking over Fifth Avenue and Times Square.
In Rochester, some protesters sat in the street chanting “Black lives, black lives” while others stood in front of riot gear-clad police. Police Chief Michael Ciminelli said at a press conference that 74 arrests were made for disorderly conduct and two charges of resisting arrest. There were no injuries.
Law enforcement on high alert
Nationwide, law enforcement officers are on high alert. In many locations they are being ordered to partner up for assignments, wear bulletproof vests, and not to respond to calls alone.
The Washington Post noted police commanders nationwide began pondering Friday not only the significance of the tragedy in Dallas, but whether they need to reconsider how they do their jobs in a more highly charged environment when viral video and angry rhetoric can quickly ignite anti-police sentiment.
The NYPD’s chief of department James O’Neill sent an internal memo stating, “Effective immediately and until further notice, all uniform members of service are to be assigned in pairs,” adding “There will be no solo assignments citywide.”
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Washington Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said she gave the order to partner up at about midnight, hours after the attack in Dallas killed five officers and wounded seven others. She conceded, “Looking at the type of attack that happened in Dallas, a two-man car, a four-man car, a 10-man car, isn’t going to make much of a difference. But it makes the officers feel much safer.”
These orders were echoed in places like Boston, Las Vegas, St. Louis and other urban areas. St Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson gave orders to his officers, adding, “Although locally we are not experiencing any civil unrest, this decision is precautionary and is to maximize the safety of officers and our community.”
Meanwhile Politico reports Attorney General Loretta Lynch encouraged protesters not to allow the “heinous violence” that occurred in Dallas to silence their “important” voices.
“I want you to know that your voice is important,” Lynch during a news conference on Friday at the Justice Department. “Do not be discouraged by those who would use your lawful actions as cover for their heinous violence. We will continue to safeguard your constitutional rights and to work with you in the difficult mission of building a better nation and a brighter future.”
Lynch stressed that she is “deeply grateful” to law enforcement’s commitment to difficult and dangerous work to keep America safe but vowed that the Justice Department would do all it can to help. And she urged peaceful protesters not to give up.
Additionally, Hillary Clinton used a CNN interview on Friday to completely embrace the Democrats’ claim that white people and cops must change to help reduce the number of African-Americans killed in tense exchanges with cops.
The ‘Stop Hillary’ campaign is on fire! Join the surging response to this theme: ‘Clinton for prosecution, not president’
“I will call for white people, like myself, to put ourselves in the shoes of those African-American families who fear every time their children go somewhere, who have to have ‘The Talk,’ about, you now, how to really protect themselves [from police], when they’re the ones who should be expecting protection from encounters with police,” Clinton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“I’m going to be talking to white people, we’re the ones who have to start listening to the legitimate cries coming from our African-American fellow citizens,” she said. “We’ve got to figure out what is happening when routine traffic stops, when routine arrests, escalate into killings … Clearly, there seems to be a terrible disconnect between many police departments and officers and the people they have sworn to protect.”
Breitbart notes how Clinton suggested people who disagree with her agenda are racists. “There is so much more to be done … we can’t be engaging in hateful rhetoric or incitement of violence, we need to be bringing people together … we need more love and kindness.”
To win in November, Clinton needs a high turnout of African-American voters

How the Army Is Upgrading Its Standard Rifle

​The soldier's standard weapon is getting a lot of improvements.​

A new U.S. Army video shows how today's standard infantry weapon, the M4 carbine, is being updated to perform better on the battlefield. The Army is gradually converting its entire inventory of M4s to the improved M4A1 standard.

The M4 carbine is the standard issue weapon for the U.S. Army. Introduced in the early 2000s, the rifle has performed well in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a 2006 report prepared for the Pentagon, 89 percent of soldiers polled said they were satisfied with the performance of the weapon, the highest rating for all Army small arms.

Even so, there is room for improvement. A weapon like the M4 designed for a wide variety of environments and operating conditions—from the Arctic wastes to the high, hot mountains of Afghanistan—has to incorporate some tradeoffs. A light weapon is easy carry on patrol, but that means a lighter barrel more prone to overheating in sustained firefights. A weapon that restricts the user to semiautomatic and three-round burst nixes fully automatic fire, but helps conserve ammunition on distant battlefields.

The new M4A1 standard addresses these issues and others. Where the original M4 was capable of semi-automatic and three-round burst fire, the M4A1 trades burst fire for fully automatic. The carbine is fitted with a heavier barrel that can better withstand prolonged, full automatic firing.

M4A1 carbine at the range.

Another improvement makes the rifle easier to use for lefties. Previously, left-handed shooters had to take their hand off the grip and trigger to safe or arm their weapons. The carbine now has an ambidextrous fire selector.

The new carbines undergo extensive checks at the refurbishment facility. They're also put under a laser engraver that not only crosses out the "BURST" wording on the side of the receiver and replaces it with "AUTO", it also adds an "A1" to the M4 designation.

While many of the parts on the refurbished guns are new, it's surprising how worn the weapons look. These are not the guns of garrison army, but of an army that for nearly a decade has fought two wars at the same time. That said, the lack of finish isn't an indication of their functionality. Almost all of the key parts of an M4A1 are made of aluminum and steel and would take many decades to wear to the point of unserviceability.

Farmers lobbying for the right to fix own tractors / NOW THIS IS BULLSHIT

Farmers lobbying for the right to fix own tractors

Mick Minchow's tractors are marvels of modern machinery.

Farmer Mick Minchow takes a look at the fine components of his John Deere planter on Monday, June 20, 2016, at his farm in Waverly, Neb. Lincoln Journal Star via AP Kristin Streff

By NICHOLAS BERGIN Lincoln Journal Star

LINCOLN, Neb.

Mick Minchow's tractors are marvels of modern machinery.
They have air conditioning, guidance systems, satellite radio and more sensors than he can shake a corn cob at, all kept running by computer systems and software.
But there's one thing the Waverly farmer doesn't have: the right to fix his John Deere 8235 R if it goes on the fritz.
Gone are the days when farmers could be their own mechanics. Just taking a peek under the metaphorical hood of the computers that run the big tractor could put Minchow in violation of the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
It's the same for digital products from cellphones to printers to concrete crushers that rely on computer programs to run.
The Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/29ojbhB) reports that Nebraska is one of four states to consider legislation that would require manufacturers to make diagnostic, service and technical information available to farmers and independent repair technicians. The others are Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York.
While the Nebraska Fair Repair Bill (LB1072) failed to gain traction before senators adjourned this spring, the issue is far from dead. It has been referred to the Agriculture Committee for study over the summer, and advocates are pushing for the bill to be reintroduced during the next session.
Now, the makers of off-road and farm equipment and many consumer electronics require their products to be repaired by certified technicians.
That means if Minchow's tractor stops working he has no choice but to call the dealer. He can't check the system codes himself to decide whether it's an easy fix like changing a filter or something more complicated. And that grinds the Waverly-area farmer's gears.
"I want it to be my call. I don't want to have to make two trips to the service department - one to diagnose it and one to fix it," said Minchow, who has been farming north of Waverly for more than 40 years.
And as dealerships have closed or consolidated, he said, technicians have gotten further away and service bills more expensive.
John Deere, in a 2014 comment to the U.S. Copyright Office, said the people who buy its tractors don't own the software that makes them run. Instead, each has an "implied license for the life of the vehicle to operate the vehicle."
In some cases, the company said, software could be subject to third-party restrictions and accessing it could violate copyright, trade secret or contractual rights.
But farmers work when they can, and every hour matters when storms, frost and mud leave them with few suitable days. A malfunctioning combine can bring the fall harvest to a standstill.
Waiting for a dealer to diagnose and fix a problem could mean hours, days or weeks lost.
Proponents of Nebraska's Fair Repair Bill say it would let farmers work on their own equipment and allow independent mechanics to help get machines running quicker.
The Nebraska Farm Bureau, the state's largest agriculture advocacy group, has not taken a stance on the issue but its members are talking about it, said Jordan Dux, the state Farm Bureau's director of national affairs.
"For the time being, we remain neutral on it but that very well might change as we work through our policy development process," he said during a recent web forum.
Some Farm Bureau members, Dux said, are concerned about taking business away from dealerships at a time when the ag economy has slowed and few farmers are buying new machinery.
"Keeping those dealerships in their communities is important," he said. "Repairs are going to be the way a lot of these dealerships are going to make money for the time being simply because folks aren't buying a lot of new equipment."
Another concern, Dux said, centers on what farmers should do if they buy equipment and find the previous owner made changes to the software they don't like.
Kyle Wiens, a software engineer and leading figure in the national Right to Repair movement, said in the same web seminar that new owners of used equipment would have what they need to restore factory defaults if manufacturers provided diagnostic tools and software.
John Hansen, president of the state's second largest agricultural advocacy organization, the Nebraska Farmers Union, supports the Right to Repair efforts saying farmers should have the same option to get their tractor fixed by an independent mechanic as they do when they need to get their truck fixed.
"This is a fairness issue. Folks in agriculture shouldn't be singled out and treated differently than the automotive customers or truck customers," Hansen said in the web forum.
"Competition is what makes our system of economics better. When you take competition out of the equation there is almost always a reduction in choice and quality and an increase in cost to the consumer."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/technology/article88653497.html#storylink=cpy