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Gun control advocates keep claiming that guns are only used to kill people and that people should just rely on the police to protect them.

But gun controllers actions keep showing that they dont believe that. When it comes to their safety, they understand that guns save lives. Guns are for them, not the untrusted, unwashed masses.

Over the weekend, Womens March leaders, such as co-president Linda Sarsour, were walking around with private armed security.

After all, the police were just yards away, not a phone call and an eight to 10minutes' wait for officersto arrive.

Of course, Michael Bloomberg and the executives at his Everytown for Gun Safety dont go anywhere without their security details.

The Womens March participants carried signs such as Real men dont need guns or Loaded guns under beds are bad, but their actions presumably imply that at least women need guns for protection when they are out in public.

The media gives extensive negative news coverage to conservatives who are caught engaging in extramarital affairs because of the family values hypocrisy angle. The hypocrisy is said to be what makes the story newsworthy, but one will search in vain to see any of the mainstream media pointing to this hypocrisy by gun control advocates.

This hypocrisy is nothing new.

Gun control advocates from politicians such as former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to Media Matterss David Brock to celebrities such as Rosie ODonnell have all criticized gun ownership for others while they have guns being used to protect themselves.

It is understandable that gun control advocates want to protect themselves, but they arent the people really at risk.

And, thankfully, being a gun control advocate isnt a particularly risky occupation. After all, it isnt like being a poor black living in cities like Chicago or Washington, D.C.

Even after his retirement, ChicagoMayorRichard Daleysurrounded himself with round-the-clock armed police officers for protection, at the cost of $40,000 per month.

Yet, he supported banning handgun licenses for people to keep a gun in their home, even in the most dangerous parts of the city.

At the time, Chicago had the highest murder rate of any large city in the United States, but Daley had no problem imposing large penalties on Chicago taxi drivers who refused certain fares over fears of crime.

David Brock, the founder of Media Matters, had a personal assistant illegally publicly carry a concealed handgun in the District of Columbia in order "to protect Brock from threats.

Few organizations have declared their opposition to gun ownership or concealed carry laws as strongly as Media Matters.

Brocks actions were arguably much worse than the hypocrisy of others as carrying a concealed handgun in Washington, D.C., in 2012 was completely illegal.

Remember comedian Rosie ODonnell, who in 2000 emceed the so-called Million Mom March for gun control?

She claimed: I also think you should not buy a gun anywhere. It created quite a ruckus when her bodyguards applied for permits to carry concealed handguns.

But the media blackout on the hypocrisy over using guns for protection wasnt the only media bias shown in their coverage.

In January, the Womens March reportedly involved 2.6 million participants.

The Womens March in front of the NRA headquarters managed to draw something in the low hundreds.

Yet, none of the media coverage pointed out how few people Michael Bloombergs Everytown and the Womens March could muster between their two groups.

All too often gun control advocates really do understand the safety benefits of gun ownership when it comes to their protecting their own personal safety. Remember that the next time you hear them calling for gun-free zones as a way to protect people.

John Lott is the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and the author more recently of The War on Guns (Regnery, 2016).

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

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Media shows its true colors on guns at women's march | TheHill - The Hill (blog)

For a year, the big question of Russiagate has boiled down to this: Did Donald Trumps campaign collude with the Russians in hacking the DNC?

And until last week, the answer was no.

As ex-CIA director Mike Morell said in March, On the question of the Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians there is smoke, but there is no fire, at all. Theres no little campfire, theres no little candle, theres no spark.

Well, last week, it appeared there had been a fire in Trump Tower. On June 9, 2016, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort met with Russians in anticipation of promised dirt on Hillary Clintons campaign.

While not a crime, this was a blunder. For Donald Jr. had long insisted there had been no collusion with the Russians. Caught in flagrante, he went full Pinocchio for four days.

And as the details of that June 9 meeting spilled out, Trump defenders were left with egg on their faces, while anti-Trump media were able to keep the spotlight laser-focused on where they want it Russiagate.

This reality underscores a truth of our time. In the 19th century, power meant control of the means of production; today, power lies in control of the means of communication.

Who controls the media spotlight controls what people talk about and think about. And mainstream media are determined to keep that spotlight on Trump-Russia, and as far away as possible from their agenda breaking the Trump presidency and bringing him down.

Almost daily, there are leaks from the investigative and security arms of the U.S. government designed to damage this president.

Just days into Trumps presidency, a rifle-shot intel community leak of a December meeting between Trump national security adviser Gen. Michael Flynn and Russias ambassador forced the firing of Flynn.

An Oval Office meeting with the Russian foreign minister in which Trump disclosed that Israeli intelligence had ferreted out evidence that ISIS was developing computer bombs to explode on airliners was leaked. This alerted ISIS, damaged the president and imperiled Israeli intelligence sources and methods.

Some of the leaks from national security and investigative agencies are felonies, not only violations of the leakers solemn oath to protect secrets, but of federal law.

Yet the press is happy to collude with these leakers and to pay them in the coin they seek. First, by publishing the secrets the leakers want revealed. Second, by protecting them from exposure to arrest and prosecution for the crimes they are committing.

The mutual agendas of the deep-state leakers and the mainstream media mesh perfectly.

What kind of world-altering, miraculous changes are next in the world of Trump? Find out in the fascination book The Trump Prophecies: The Astonishing True Story of the Man who saw Tomorrow and What he Says is Coming Next

Consider the original Russiagate offense.

Confidential emails of the DNC and John Podesta were hacked, i.e., stolen by Russian intelligence and given to WikiLeaks. And who was the third and indispensable party in this Tinker to Evers to Chance double-play combination?

The media itself. While deploring Russian hacking as an act of war against our democracy, the media published the fruits of the hacking. It was the media that revealed what Podesta wrote and how the DNC tilted the tables against Bernie Sanders.

Like the reporting you see here? Sign up for free news alerts from WND.com, Americas independent news network.

If the media believed Russian hacking was a crime against our democracy, why did they publish the fruits of that crime?

Is it not monumental hypocrisy to denounce Russias hacking of the computers of Democratic political leaders and institutions, while splashing the contents of the theft all over Page 1?

Not only do our Beltway media traffic in stolen secrets and stolen goods, but the knowledge that they will publish secrets and protect those who leak them is an incentive for bureaucratic disloyalty and criminality.

Our mainstream media are like the fellow who avoids the risk of stealing cars, but wants to fence them once stolen and repainted.

Some journalists know exactly who is leaking against Trump, but they are as protective of their colleagues sources as of their own. Thus, the public is left in the dark as to what the real agenda is here, and who is sabotaging a president in whom they placed so much hope.

And thus does democracy die in darkness.

Do the American people not have a right to know who are the leakers within the government who are daily spilling secrets to destroy their president? Are the identities of the saboteurs not a legitimate subject of investigation? Ought they not be exposed and rooted out?

Where is the special prosecutor to investigate the collusion between bureaucrats and members of the press who traffic in the stolen secrets of the republic?

Bottom line: Trump is facing a stacked deck.

People inside the executive branch are daily providing fresh meat to feed the scandal. Anti-Trump media are transfixed by it. It is the Watergate of their generation. They can smell the blood in the water. The Pulitzers are calling. And they love it, for they loathe Donald Trump both for who he is and what he stands for.

It is hard to see when this ends, or how it ends well for the country.

See the rest here:
The real crime: Collusion between media, leakers - WND.com

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Kingston is on a roll with its HyperX gaming brand. What started with high-performance memory 15 years ago has recently branched out to peripherals, with great success. Its headphones and gaming mice are lauded for delivering a lot of bang for the buck, and its Cloud II headset is our hands-down favorite for the price.

Now, the company has expanded its keyboard line with its latest model, the HyperX Alloy Elite (See it on Amazon). It's similar to the Alloy FPS and addresses most of that model's annoyances in a less-portable footprint. If your keyboard stays attached to your gaming PC all the time, the improvements in the Elite are easily worth the measly $10 price hike.

Design and Features

The Alloy Elite shares much in common with the Alloy FPS, design-wise. Both are heavyweight, durable keyboards with a steel frame and a thick braided USB cable. Its got a nice charcoal black finish with matching keys, and Kingston throws in a set of textured, colored keycaps for the W-A-S-D and 1-2-3-4 keys. Those are red on the FPS; theyre silver on the Elite.

The keyboard is available with your choice of three different Cherry MX switches: Blue (clicky), Brown (tactile bump but not clicky), or Red (smooth linear motion). Of these, gamers tend to prefer the Brown or Red variants. Hardcore typers like the old-style audible click and firmer action of the Blue switches. My test unit came with Red switches.

In terms of how the Alloy Elite differs from its predecessor, first you must understand that there are three essential issues with the Alloy FPS model: There are no individual buttons for the lighting and media controls (you have to use Function keys), the USB port is for charging only, and there is no wrist rest. The Alloy Elite addresses all of these.

Though the keyboard offers only a red backlight, there are six lighting modes, the same as those found on the Alloy FPS: Always on, breathing (pulsing), wave (a left-to-right motion), trigger (keys light up as you press them, then slowly fade), and explosion (tapping key creates ripples of light). The sixth mode is programmable, so you can select which keys you want illuminated (it defaults to W-A-S-D, CTRL, Space, and 1-2-3-4). My favorite by far is the trigger mode. The slick fade effect looks awesome as youre furiously typing away.

Though I would prefer RGB lighting the red backlight looks great with the black keyboard and fits the HyperX branding. While the Alloy FPS has five lighting levels, the Alloy Elite has just four: off, low, medium, and high. Frankly, theres no practical need to have more.

You get dedicated media controls too: mute, play/pause, forward, back, and a slick volume wheel. And of course theres a gaming mode button, which disables the Windows key so you dont accidentally pop open the Start menu in the middle of a heated match. Thats par for the course with all gaming keyboards.

But while the Alloy FPS puts lighting and media controls on the Fn keys to save space, the Alloy Elite adds a bar up above the keys, dedicated to the lighting and media controls. This makes them drastically more user-friendly. I especially love the wide, vertically-rolling analog volume wheel. The control area is separated from the keys by a thin line that follows the lighting pattern and adds a touch of style to an otherwise workmanlike design.

The USB cable is permanently attached to the keyboard rather than detachable as it is on the Alloy FPS, a clear sign that this is not meant to be tossed in a bag to travel with you. But Kingston did correct the FPSs annoying charge only USB port, upgrading it to full USB 2.0 pass-through on the Elite. Now its good for more than charging your phone; its a handy place to plug in a USB headset or wireless controller dongle.

Finally, typists who want a comfortable wrist angle usually opt for a keyboard with a wrist wrest, and the Alloy FPS doesnt include one. The Alloy Elite does, and while its plastic, it feels sturdy and nicely matches the soft black finish of the metal keyboard deck.

These are all great features, but the Alloy Elite is a little spartan compared to fancier (and pricier) keyboards due to its lowish $109.99 price tag. For example, there are no programmable macros, no headphone jack, no full-color RGB lighting. You can get these sorts of features from other keyboards, but youll usually pay more for it. Kingstons approach has one stand-out benefit: its 100% driverless. Theres no software to install; just plug it in and play.

Gaming Performance

Theres no doubting the build quality of this thing. Its built like a tank. The heavy steel frame is apparent the moment you pick it up, and that extra heft really keeps the keyboard in place. It doesnt slide around at all.

Then you have the genuine Cherry MX switches. Some other budget mechanical keyboards opt for cheaper switches, like those from Outemu or Kailh. And Logitech and Razer have their own custom mechanical switches, which have met with mixed reviews. But Cherry MX endures because of its consistent and reliable performance. Theres a whole internet subculture devoted to mechanical keyboards, and Cherry MX are so popular that a cottage industry has sprung up to provide replacement switches, custom keycaps, and mods like O-ring switch dampeners.

I like the smooth motion of the Cherry MX Red switches our test unit came with. The activation point is right around 2mm with the reset point just a shade above that, which is great for fast-paced key tapping. Cherry MX Brown are very similar, but with a noticeable bump as you press down for a tactile feel. Cherry MX Blue have that tactile bump and an audible click, which remind you of old IBM keyboards from the early PC days. But theyre less suitable for gaming, as the activation point is beyond 2mm and the reset point is around 1.5mm. This means you must press the key down further to make it register, and let it go back up further before it can register again.

Game Tests

In addition to using the Alloy Elite to type thousands of words over the past couple weeks, I also used it with a variety of games, from intense FPS titles like PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds and Overwatch to more sedate fare like Planet Coaster and Stardew Valley. I couldnt have asked for better performanceno keypress ever went unregistered, I never felt like response was anything other than instant, and even my most heated moments didnt cause the keyboard to slide on my smooth desk. Just to confirm Kingstons n-key rollover claim, I fired up Aqua Key Test and, sure enough, you can press as many keys at once as you want without any of them failing to register.

I can also appreciate that the keys are raised up above the key deck. If youre the type to enjoy a few snacks while gaming, youll appreciate that its easy to get under and around the keys to clean everything off.

Purchasing Guide

The HyperX Alloy Elite has an MSRP of $109.99 and is available for pre-order today on Amazon:

See the HyperX Alloy Elite on Amazon

The Verdict

At $109.99, the HyperX Alloy Elite is a steal. Thats only $10 more than the Alloy FPS, and for that minor difference in price and a little less portability, you get some nice quality-of-life improvements. There are dedicated controls for lighting and media, including an excellent analog volume wheel, a wrist rest, and full-powered USB pass-through. You dont get fancy programmable macro buttons or RGB lighting, but you also dont ever have to mess with drivers or software. It didn't blow us away with amazing new innovations, but if you want a well-made mechanical gaming keyboard at a fair price, you'll love the Alloy Elite.

Read more here:
Kingston HyperX Alloy Elite Review - IGN

Over the past three days, members of the pro-Trump media have settled on their answer, characterizing the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, as a leftist with ties to the Obama administration. The idea quickly drifted upward to some of the most influential figures in right-wing media, and then ultimately to President Trump himself, who referenced some of its underpinnings during a Thursday press conference in France as he attempted to explain away his son's meeting with the Russian lawyer.

The theory is based on bits of fact that have been taken out of context or spun in misleading ways to paint a picture that the President and his supporters prefer to the one currently dominating much of the media.

The narrative appears to be untrue, but in some ways that's beside the point. The pro-Trump media has employed a consistent strategy when responding to damaging reports about the President and his allies, one it will likely continue to use should more revelations concerning Russian interference in the election emerge. Instead of covering those revelations, pro-Trump media outlets often turn to entirely new stories or controversies.

Any factual problems or logical holes -- in this case, that it would make little sense for Democrats to have entrapped Trump Jr. before the election only to hold on to the damaging information for almost a year after Election Day -- don't matter so long as these alternative narratives last long enough to confuse audiences during otherwise bad news cycles.

"All that right-wing media needs to do is just throw out some things that appear to be substantive that have some stray facts that the cult will hang on to, and the cult will do everything else themselves," John Ziegler, a conservative media columnist and former talk radio host, told CNN. "They don't need a full theory. No one ever provides a narrative that explains all this. It's just poking holes and pretending the whole story is fake news. It's a classic trick really. It's a shame that's what the right-wing media has been reduced to."

Related: How an FBI raid fed a rumor that Orrin Hatch was about to become president

This week's theory was given its first sparks of life on Monday, when Mark Corallo, a spokesman for President Trump's outside counsel, pointed to Veselnitskaya's loose ties to the firm that produced the infamous Russia dossier -- that firm had worked for a law firm which represented a company for which Veslnitskaya worked -- and suggested they were relevant to discussions of Trump Jr.'s meeting with her.

Soon after, Trump supporters discovered and began to circulate a photo on Twitter of Vesenlitskaya with Michael McFaul, who was US Ambassador to Russia under President Obama. The image was picked up by the Gateway Pundit, a far-right website, which characterized the picture as evidence of Veselnitskaya "hanging out with Obama officials just days after her meeting with Donald Trump Jr." Hours later, far-right Internet personality Mike Cernovich posted a video on Twitter in which he used the photo, in part, to ask whether Veselnitskaya was a "Democratic plant" who was sent to "wire tap Trump Tower." That video had been retweeted more than 15,000 times as of Friday afternoon.

But the story really grew legs when it landed on the Drudge Report, which often acts as the de-facto assignment editor for right-leaning media. The website linked to the Gateway Pundit's post, giving it the headline, "PICTURED WITH OBAMA AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA."

On Wednesday, conservative talk radio king Rush Limbaugh told his national audience that he believed Veselnitskaya was part of a "setup" targeting Trump. Fox News host Sean Hannity also questioned on his radio show why Veselnitskaya was seen pictured with McFaul, telling his audience there was a picture of the two "in existence," as if it was damning evidence.

But the truth, which those discussing the photo typically either played down or ignored altogether, was more innocent. The photo of McFaul and Veselnitskaya did not show the two "hanging out" with each other -- it's of a Congressional hearing, open to the public, at which McFaul testified. Veselnitskaya was sitting in the audience, in the row behind McFaul. McFaul told CNN this week that he had no control over who attended or where they were seated, that he had never met with Veselnitskaya and that he only learned her name this week.

"It's ridiculous," McFaul said. "It's silly. And I think it shows the desperation in a world where facts don't matter. That's the part that bothers me as an academic and American. Basic facts don't seem to matter in these debates."

The photo of the hearing was not the only image cited as supposed evidence as the theory grew in popularity. Trump supporters online also pointed to a photo Veselnitskaya posted to Facebook, of Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican who's been critical of Trump, with a Russian opposition lawyer, claiming it was proof she'd been inside McCain's office.

That was not the case. In a press release warning of "fake news," McCain said the assertion was false and that Veselnitskaya "did not attend that meeting." She had only for whatever reason posted the image of him and the lawyer to her Facebook page, McCain said.

But the theory got its biggest boost Wednesday night, with a story published by The Hill. The Hill reported that Veselnitskaya got into the U.S. only because the Department of Justice under President Barack Obama and led by Attorney General Loretta Lynch let her in after she'd been previously denied a travel visa. The report, which was co-written by John Solomon -- a journalist fresh off stints in conservative-leaning media, who has recently written a number of articles favorable to the narratives of Trump supporters -- said in its second paragraph that "it was the Obama Justice Department that enabled the newest and most intriguing figure in the Russia-Trump investigation to enter the country without a visa." It was only in its 16th paragraph that the article explained why she had been let in: to help a company owned by a client defend itself in federal court.

Related: Pro-Trump media scrambles to react to bombshell emails

This latest piece of news jolted through the pro-Trump media system. Drudge blared a pair of banner headlines on his website. A post on the popular pro-Trump sub-Reddit "The Donald" held it up as evidence she had been confirmed as an "OBAMA PLANT." Fox News splashed a lead story on its homepage under a headline claiming the former attorney general "LYNCH PINNED Trump."

Finally, on Thursday afternoon, the conspiracy theory reached its apex. Trump, speaking at a press conference in France, invoked elements of it, appearing to reference the photo of Veselnitskaya and McFaul at the Congressional hearing that had made its way through Gateway Pundit, Cernovich, Drudge, Limbaugh, Hannity and others, as well as The Hill's story.

"Now the lawyer that went to the meeting, I see that she was in the halls of Congress," Trump said. "Somebody said that her visa or her passport to come into the country was approved by Attorney General Lynch. Now maybe that's wrong. I just heard that a little while ago, but I was a little surprised to hear that. So she was there because of Lynch."

Following Trump's comments, a spokesperson for Lynch said in a statement provided to CNN that the former attorney general had "no personal knowledge" of the Russian lawyer's travel. The spokesperson explained that the "State Department issues visas, and the Department of Homeland Security oversees entry to the United States at airports."

Lynch wasn't the only one to push back against suggestions she was part of a larger plot to frame the Trump campaign.

In a text message to CNN, Veselnitskaya responded to a question asking whether she had been working with the Clinton camp to entrap the Trump campaign.

"Yes, of course!" she wrote in a tongue-in-cheek message on Thursday. "And with Hugo Chavez and Kim Jong-un."

--CNN's Emma Burrows contributed reporting.

CNNMoney (New York) First published July 14, 2017: 2:52 PM ET

See more here:
Trump Jr.'s Russia meeting a Democratic plot? Pro-Trump media wants you to think so - CNNMoney

Over the past few weeks, national security units have shipped in massive equipment such as crowd-control vehicles, guns and tear gas to deal with any mass protests after August 8 elections.

The timing and the type of hardware being shipped in point to an assessment by the security forces that there could be violence after the announcement of the results of another hotly-contested election between the incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta of Jubilee and National Super-Alliance flag-bearer Raila Odinga.

That security forces will not leave anything to chance is attested by the ongoing training of security personnel in Embakasi, Nairobi, in rescue operations and crowd control using the latest technology and methods.

Also in a no-nonsense statement, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet, warned those who will engage in violent activities: We are ready and waiting for you!.

Signs that the forces have picked intelligence and are bracing for possible heady days ahead was discernible from the fact that the national elections body in its estimate has asked for at least 150,000 security officers to be deployed on election-related duties.

ALSO READ: Group raises the red flag over low voter education

Water canons

At least a dozen new South Korean made riot control vehicles arrived in Nairobi at the weekend, increasing to more than 30, the number of water canons for police use to quell chaos.

The fleet of new armoured vehicles with advanced features is in addition to a new consignment of anti-riot gear including teargas canisters, batons, anti-riot wear and guns that have come through the port of Mombasa.

Security sources explained the new anti-riot gear has been distributed to various parts of the country in the past month alone as authorities prepare to secure elections and deal with violence should it break out.

State agencies have mapped out 30 counties as election violence hotspots.

The agencies include National Police Service Commission (NPS), Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) and Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

Yesterday, top IEBC officials and senior security personnel met to review the situation and plan accordingly, with focus on areas already flagged as potential hotspots.

ALSO READ: The Executive is hell-bent on killing judicial independence

The new fleet is manufactured by Jino Motors which on its website prides itself with specialty in production of world class highly effective riot-control vehicles without fatal blow.

Various security units have been training jointly on crowd control and how to crush riots with authorities keen to ensure the killings and destruction witnessed in 2007 doesnt recur.

The Standard team, last week, witnessed the security teams training at the Embakasi Military Base where they have simulated various situations, including response to civil unrest, terrorism and other forms of insecurity.

The essence of the training organised by the ministries of Interior and Defence for the multi-agency team is to ensure rapid and co-ordinated response.

Officers are drawn from Kenya Defence Forces, NPS, the National Intelligence Service, Kenya Wildlife Services, Kenya Forestry Services, National Youth Service.

The programme is dubbed Exercise Dumisha Utulivu is being conducted at the Humanitarian and Peace Support School in Embakasi. Officials say the training will enable the officers understand the role of the recently formed National Multi-Agency Coordinating Centre,

The officers will also be equipped to understand the chain of command from the strategic down to the tactical level models.

ALSO READ: The Executive is hell-bent on killing judicial independence

But questions have been raised on whether the scale of the arming of police could lead to use of lethal force in the event violence occurs.

More than 1,000 people were killed in ethnic violence following the disputed 2007 presidential election, with police blamed for the shooting to death of at least 400. More than 500,000 were displaced during the chaos.

The new anti-riot vehicles have the capacity to carry 9,000 litres of water and are fixed with various riot control mixing stuff including foam, tear gas and paint that stick to and single out protestors running away.

Gun shooting

The vehicle, according to the manufacturers website, has capacity to mix the chemical from the cabin while water gun shooting.

It has a nozzle of shooting distance of minimum of 25 metres and maximum 70 metres with an elevation of 90 degrees and rotation of 320 degrees. Each of the new trucks has two water cannons on top of the cabin.

It also has a fully automated and centralised control system, a cabin protector and can carry seven crew at a time.

Other features include run-flat tyre so that it can drive under damaged conditions for 50km at 50km per hour. It also has Cabin Pressure Control System for increasing the pressure of the cabin to keep external gas out, ventilation and air pressure control.

ALSO READ: IEBC to ask for extra security in clash-prone regions

Tonnes of tear gas canisters are also among resources that have been mobilised and sent to various places ahead of the polls.

The tear gas canisters were sent on lorries to various places perceived as hot spots to help in dispersing crowds in case of violence.

Security chiefs have identified various conflicts that are a risk to national security. These include cattle rustling, terror attacks, protests and riots, ethnic clashes and conflict between herders and farmers over scarce resources.

Given that the 2017 General Election is attracting unprecedented competition among political parties and aspirants at both grassroots and national level, there are more fears of violence.

Senior police officers are being reshuffled as part of efforts to bolster operations.

A meeting of senior police commanders is scheduled for Thursday in Nairobi to fine-tune their plans for the elections.

Boinnet said they are ready to provide security during the polls, even as the European Union observer teams warned there is a possibility of violence breaking out.

Boinnet said his regional commanders have been holding regular meetings to review their plans and exuded confidence they are now ready for the polls.

NPS is ready and prepared to provide a safe, secure and peaceful environment for Kenyans to participate in the 2017 elections, he said.

ALSO READ: IEBC: Elections will not be held on August 8 if we obey court orders

Boinnet also assured that police will be neutral during the period.

We are set. We are up to the task. We are satisfied with the security arrangements so far and wish to assure Kenyans no (security) agent will be partisan. We will be non-partisan, he said.

He made the remarks amid concerns there would be challenges in many parts of the country and especially in Northern Kenya and Lamu where Al Shabaab militants have been staging attacks, killing and displacing many.

Boinnet explained they have been working with IEBC to know where to deploy officers and the numbers.

We have mobilised all needed logistics that will enable us provide a secure environment for the polls. We assure all they will vote, he said.

The logistics include helicopters, vehicles, boats and other anti-riot gear that will help them manage rowdy crowds.

Other insiders said there is increasing fear among police officers that there could be an outbreak violence before or after the polls, given emerging events in the country.

NPS is mobilising helicopters from other agencies to respond to any violence within the shortest time possible.

Police have three working helicopters and will arrange for more from Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Pipeline, KenGen, Kenya Power, Kenya Forest Service and other agencies to move troops and other resources to places of need.

More than 5,000 vehicles have since 2013 been leased for police at an undisclosed cost and most of them will be deployed to cover the polls. Further, several government agencies have been ordered to surrender their vehicles to police ahead of the elections.

Whereas there are about 100,000 police officers, IEBC says it needs at least 150,000 security officers for the exercise.

Training officers

The rest will be sourced from Prisons, National Intelligence Service, Kenya Wildlife Services, Kenya Forestry Services and National Youth Service but they will have to be gazetted as special police officers.

IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati told a forum they are in the process of training security officers on election management in a programme being undertaken in partnership with security agencies while affirming IEBCs readiness to punish those who contravene the electoral code of conduct.

He said that 600 officers have already been trained and that a similar number to follow. The programme will continue until at least 150,000 security officers are trained and deployed across the country.

This programme will see a total of 150,000 officers cascaded down to the ground for purposes of polls. We want to assure you there will be security throughout the country, Chebukati said.

Before he died, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery said all the security agencies have been sensitised to facilitate the security and integrity of the elections.

Nkaissery further said that 29 counties with a higher likelihood of violence had been identified and adequate measures put in place to pre-empt occurrences of unrest during the electioneering period.

This is where insiders say these water canons will be sent.

For instance, at least three canons will be sent to Uasin Gishu. We have mapped out security conflict hotspots and developed focus mitigation strategies.

Weve identified particularly 20 counties and therefore women candidates in those counties will be given security based on the situations obtaining in specific hot spots, explained Nkaissery during a meeting in Nairobi.

It will help them plan and conduct time sensitive response to incidents during electioneering period, he added.

Link:
More tear gas, guns arrive to deal with mass protests after August elections - The Standard