#may 20 2017

[loonathearchivez]

[Preview] 이달의 소녀/김립 (LOONA/Kim Lip) Single Album "Kim Lip"

[dogstomp]

[theyearofapril]

[pokemon-every-day]

Day 52: Meowth

[saraaadezzz]

yesterday was sunny, beautiful and hot. we spent the day biking all over town, eating great food and drinking cheap wine.

today we’re heading to the beach with the augdog and i am so excited. im not usually a summer person (i sweat a lot) but this year i am really looking forward to it.

[aceandart]

President Trump wants to streamline the process to add 5,000 new agents, but critics say cut corners could again leave the agency vulnerable to corrupt hires.

Now, as President Trump plans a similar hiring surge at the Border Patrol, Mr. Luna’s case is casting a large shadow. The president wants to make 5,000 new hires, under a streamlined process that critics fear could open a door to other rogue agents like Mr. Luna.

Agency officials, some members of Congress and the Border Patrol union say the current process has made it too hard to hire agents. It typically takes more than a year to vet candidates and get them on the job.

At the center of this notoriously slow and stringent process — which Customs and Border Protection, the patrol’s parent agency, put in place after a number of corruption cases — is a mandatory polygraph test. Officials are considering changing the test, and in some cases the agency would simply waive it.

[...]

Three weeks ago, the agency began using a different lie detector test that takes less time than the current one and asks fewer questions. And legislation moving through Congress would grant the agency the authority to waive the polygraph for some former law enforcement officers and military veterans.

Top officials said the changes would allow the agency, which is losing agents faster than it can replace them, to compete for qualified candidates with other law enforcement agencies more effectively without sacrificing standards. Applicants would still undergo a background check in addition to the shorter polygraph test, officials said.

“No one wants corrupt agents inside the Border Patrol,” said Jayson Ahern, a former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. “What C.B.P. is proposing is a sensible way to weed out corruption but speed up the hiring.”

But some current and former Department of Homeland Security officials said the proposed changes could expose the agency to corrupt individuals who could use their position to help drug cartels or human smugglers. Border Patrol agents work largely by themselves in isolated areas and are routinely targeted by criminal organizations.

“It could put C.B.P. at significant risk,” said John Roth, the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general. “While it may sound reasonable to say you could waive requirements from former military personnel because they have passed a polygraph, Border Patrol agents work in a different environment that is not as controlled as the military.”

Mr. Roth said the agency needed to identify other ways to make hiring “more efficient without sacrificing integrity and effectiveness.”

James Tomsheck, a former head of the agency’s internal affairs division who helped design the original polygraph tests, said the new exam would not be useful in weeding out applicants with drug problems or ties to cartels. It is “designed for the intelligence community, not law enforcement professionals,” he said.

[...]

As the number of Border Patrol agents doubled between 2001 and 2009, from nearly 10,000 to over 20,000, dozens of agents were eventually arrested and charged in corruption cases, according to government documents and court records.

Among the most notorious is Mr. Luna.

[...]

Last year, a report by a Homeland Security advisory panel found that corrupt border agents “pose a national security threat.” It called for more aggressive measures to root them out, including increasing the number of internal investigators, because the department was inadequately staffed.

But Mr. Tomsheck, the former Customs and Border Protection official, said the agency seemed to be doing the opposite in its efforts to meet Mr. Trump’s hiring goals.

“The measures they are proposing weaken a screening process that already has shortcomings,” he said. “They’re just asking for more Joel Lunas.”

[fyeahgrantgust]

ulises_r_franco: So uhhh we met Grant Gustin again but at the beach today, I’m so happy. I didn’t know it was him when I was buying ice cream but all I heard was his voice. Fuck I’m so happy rn it’s gonna be a good day. #TheFlash #grantgustin

[fyeahgrantgust]

Grant with LA via @cassbelll’s Instagram Story