Live updates: Ex-cop Amber Guyger found guilty in murder of Botham Jean – CNN
A jury gets it right. When a police officer kills someone without cause it is called murder.
Category: American Injustice System,
Sacramento officers who killed Stephon Clark to return to duty | The Sacramento Bee
One of the Clark family’s lawyers, Dale Galipo, said he was “disappointed but not surprised because I think with few exceptions in the last 10,000 police officer shootings there’s been no criminal prosecutions.”
Galipo, who three weeks ago finalized a $2.4 million settlement with the city for Clark’s two sons, still represents Clark’s parents and grandparents in a pending federal civil rights lawsuit and said the city’s decision to retain the officers could be problematic if they are involved in another shooting down the road.
…“It’s negligent not to be able to recognize the difference between a handgun and a white cell phone.”
…“Sacramento police should know the difference between a gun and a cell phone and my brother should be with us today.”
…“I think people are in shock in this moment that there has been no accountability when it comes to Stephon Clark,” he said. “Today just continually opens up that wound without any healing. … It’s a repeated pattern of no accountability.”
“What does this tell us as community that two killer police will now be on full active duty on our streets?” said Berry Accius, founder of Voice of the Youth and community activist. “What is the message that is being sent to us? … The message to me is, basically, saying it doesn’t matter how much we infiltrate the system; it doesn’t matter how many trainings they create.”
Sacramento officers who killed Stephon Clark to return to duty | The Sacramento Bee
sigh…
Prosecutor rips Amber Guyger’s ‘garbage’ testimony during closing arguments of former Dallas police officer’s murder trial
Guyger was “an intruder” in Botham Jean’s apartment when she fatally shot him in September of 2018.
mmmhmmm
And this is the caliber of people that law enforcement hires and protects above the citizens they are sworn to serve.
Make cops carry liability insurance: The private sector knows how to spread risks, and costs
Like police, doctors have a difficult and stressful job that sometimes involves making life-or-death decisions under conditions of uncertainty. But unlike police, doctors don’t expect the rest of us to pay for their mistakes. Instead, doctors carry professional liability insurance, which pays to defend them against malpractice claims and protects them from financial ruin by paying out damage awards to successful plaintiffs.
…Unfortunately, police departments have a hard time getting rid of their own bad apples: For example, the officers who tried to frame Wiggins are still employed by the NYPD; no charges have been filed against them.
…This is the policy change we need to better align police incentives with public safety and respect for constitutional rights. Police officers are engaged in a profession that, while indispensably crucial, also poses serious risk, and that risk is causing taxpayers to foot an enormous bill when the officers fail to meet the standard of care.
…The relationship between police and many of the communities they serve is in a state of crisis. Much of that is due to a perception that police are insufficiently respectful of people’s rights and too quick to use force.
Private liability insurance provides an extremely powerful tool for distinguishing between the best and the worst cops.
hmmm
Marijuana Banking Bill Passes House in Historic Vote | National News | US News
The legislation, if ultimately made into law, would protect financial institutions and ancillary firms that serve marijuana businesses from criminal prosecution and other consequences – a long-awaited move that would provide stability and security to the multibillion-dollar cannabis industry.
…The bill moved out of the House Financial Committee in March and was sponsored by more than 200 lawmakers at the time of the vote. It is backed by a slew of national banking groups, including the American Bankers Association, the Credit Union National Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America, which have pushed Congress to act on the issue for some time. The National Association for State Treasurers, a bipartisan group of more than 30 state attorneys general, and the governors of 20 states have urged Congress to pass the bill.
Marijuana Banking Bill Passes House in Historic Vote | National News | US News
hmmm
Prison Gerrymandering Suit Can Proceed | New Haven Independent
Connecticut’s practice of counting incarcerated people in the places they are locked up instead of the place they reside, for the purposes of redistricting. The suit argues that at least five state House of Representative districts and possibly as many as nine districts — Districts 5, 37, 42, 52, 59, 61, 103, 106, 108 and Senate District 7 — have an inflated amount of political power because of this practice.
That means white and rural areas gain political power at the expense of cities.
Prison Gerrymandering Suit Can Proceed | New Haven Independent
Jeezus….
A police officer is fired after arresting two 6-year-old children
State Attorney Aramis Ayala said Monday that her office would not prosecute the misdemeanor battery charges against either child.
“I refuse to knowingly play any role in the school-to-prison pipeline at any age,” she said. “These very young children ought to be protected, nurtured and disciplined in a manner that does not rely on the criminal justice system to do it.”
The Orlando Police Department oversees the school resource officer who made the arrest, and they say the situation was not handled properly.
“On behalf of myself and the Orlando Police Department, I apologize to the children involved and their families,” Rolon said.
A school resource officer is fired after arresting two 6-year-old children – CNN
It sounds very much as if the reasons given for not pursuing charges are that procedure was not followed, and not that it was wrong to arrest a six year old child for having a temper tantrum in the first place. [Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!]
Well, at least the shitty officer was fired.
Hawaii becomes 26th state to decriminalize marijuana – ABC News
Under the new law, people caught with small amounts of marijuana will no longer face a misdemeanor charge that had been punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Now people caught with 3 ounces or less of weed can still be hit with a citation carrying a $130 fine, but no jail term.
…While Ige took a hands-off approach to decriminalizing pot, he vetoed two other marijuana bills passed by the legislature.
He struck down legislation that would have made it legal for people to transport medical cannabis from island to island, and another bill that would have created an industrial hemp licensing program.
Hawaii becomes 26th state to decriminalize marijuana – ABC News
hmmmm
Trump Didn’t Bribe Ukraine. It’s Actually Worse Than That.
Using presidential power to withhold aid to a nation that was recently invaded by Russia unless its investigates your political rival sounds like the definition of a criminal quid pro quo. The possibility that Trump pressured another nation to interfere in the next presidential election on his behalf—not long after the completion of a multiyear investigation into interference in the 2016 presidential election by Russia on his behalf—is jaw-dropping.
…What is abhorrent about the alleged conduct here is not that Trump is pushing a foreign government to do something, but rather that he might have used his presidential power to get a foreign government to help him win the next election.
…What Trump is alleged to have done is not a garden variety crime; it’s worse. It involved misusing $250 million in aid appropriated by Congress for his benefit—the kind of gross misconduct that easily clears the bar of high crimes and misdemeanors set by the Constitution when impeaching a president.
Labeling Trump’s alleged conduct as “bribery” or “extortion” cheapens what is alleged to have occurred and does not capture what makes it wrongful. It’s not a crime—it’s a breach of the president’s duty to not use the powers of the presidency to benefit himself. And he invited a foreign nation to influence the 2020 presidential election on the heels of a nearly three-year investigation that proved Russia had tried to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Trump Didn’t Bribe Ukraine. It’s Actually Worse Than That. – POLITICO Magazine
hmmmm
Hate crime trial launches today for former Bordentown Township police chief Frank Nucera Jr. – CBS News
For officers who are charged over excessive force, courts and juries are often reluctant to second guess an officer’s actions on the job, according to Stinson. But Stinson said he’s not sure whether that will hold true in the Nucera trial because of the “allegations of blatant racial discrimination and violence based on race by a police chief.”
…Racism and bigotry in law enforcement “destroys the integrity of the judicial system as a whole” because any an officer’s racist beliefs would likely drive who they choose to arrest or target, said Beirich, of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
…”There’s nothing more dangerous than a person who has a gun and has authority over someone who is motivated by hate,” Beirich said.
hmmm
New Jersey Police Chief Who Called Donald Trump ‘Last Hope For White People’ on Trial For Hate Crime
A police chief in New Jersey who allegedly said he wanted to “mow down” African Americans and claimed Donald Trump was “the last hope for white people” is currently being tried on hate-crime charges.
…[An] officer testified that retired Bordentown Police Chief Frank Nucera Jr. routinely used racial slurs and said black people should be shot.
…Nucera, who retired abruptly in 2017, has been charged with hate-crime assault, as well as civil rights violations and lying to the FBI.
…Roohr also said Nucera directed K-9 officers to use police dogs to intimidate black people.
New Jersey Police Chief Who Called Donald Trump ‘Last Hope For White People’ on Trial For Hate Crime
Who cares if the officers testifying are doing because they ‘knew his behavior was wrong’ or if they just don’t like him.
Anytime an officer provides evidence to the courts of an other officer stepping outside the lines of common decency and their job purview it’s more than a good. thing.
Without consequences for bad behavior police officers are nothing more than armed gang.
Executive Council Rejects AG’s Plan To Have Former Manchester Chief Oversee County Atty’s Office
MacDonald wanted Mara to oversee all criminal cases at the office, which MacDonald said lacked leadership under the elected County Attorney, Michael Conlon.
hmmm
Cop Charged With Punching Black Student, Lying About It
When police arrived, the school resource officers already had one juvenile in custody and the aunt of the child who was attacked was at the scene. The second video shows the officer approaching the aunt while yelling: “You want to go to jail? You want to go to jail? Let’s go!”
When the teen steps in between his aunt and the cop, Lawson punches the kid squarely in the face, sending the boy to the pavement.
When the cops wrote up the incident report, they claimed that the student “attempted to assault the officer,” and that he only delivered an “open palm” to the student. According to a federal lawsuit filed by the victim’s parents, Lawson ordered the child’s aunt to stop recording the incident and tried to confiscate the aunt’s phone. Lawson arrested the 17-year-old, charging resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
….[Lawson] told internal investigators that the child had balled up his fists, “bladed his body” and gave him an angry look.
…although the child’s face wasn’t visible in the footage, both hands were open and not making a fist. Lawson’s incident report also said that he immediately handcuffed the youngster but the video shows him kneeing the high-schooler in the chest.
….Lawson will turn himself in to authorities and face the charges of misdemeanor battery, false information (a misdemeanor), felony perjury, felony obstruction of justice and official misconduct—a felony.
[and then the prosecutor said some petty shit, casting aspirations at the Aunt of the boy was originally attacked. Because… douchebag’s gonna douchnozzle and nothing say douchenozzle like getting all patronizing and Trump level self-righteous in an attempt to divert attention away from the real asswipe in the situation.]
Cop Charged With Punching Black Student, Lying About It
hmmmm
The Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA’s Base for Mind Control Experiments
These were the most gruesome experiments the U.S. government ever conducted on human beings. In one of the them, seven prisoners in Lexington, Kentucky, were given multiple doses of LSD for 77 days straight. In another, captured North Koreans were given depressant drugs, then dosed with potent stimulants and exposed to intense heat and electroshock while they were in the weakened state of transition. These experiments destroyed many minds and caused an unknown number of deaths. Many of the potions, pills and aerosols administered to victims were created at Detrick.
…A decade of intense experiments taught Gottlieb that there are indeed ways to destroy a human mind. He never, however, found a way to implant a new mind in the resulting void. The grail he sought eluded him. MK-ULTRA ended in failure in the early 1960s. “The conclusion from all these activities,” he admitted afterward, “was that it was very difficult to manipulate human behavior in this way.”
Nonetheless Fort Detrick, as it was renamed in 1956, remained Gottlieb’s chemical base. After the end of MK-ULTRA, he used it to develop and store the CIA’s arsenal of poisons. In his freezers, he kept biological agents that could cause diseases including smallpox, tuberculosis and anthrax as well as a number of organic toxins, including snake venom and paralytic shellfish poison. He developed poisons intended to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba.
The Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA’s Base for Mind Control Experiments – POLITICO Magazine
Jeezus…
Casey Viner: Teenage US gamer jailed over deadly 911 hoax
Casey Viner: Teenage US gamer jailed over deadly 911 hoax – BBC News
OK, good.
But what of the cops who shot and killed the wrong person?
Philly Police Investigating Alleged Racial Profiling Incident in Viral Video
Philly Police Investigating Alleged Racial Profiling Incident in Viral Video
Another officer who should lose his badge
Illinois is going to expunge marijuana convictions from 800,000 criminal records
The state’s new Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, which takes effect in 2020, allows people to automatically receive clemency for convictions up to 30 grams of cannabis. Those convicted with larger amounts, from 30-500 grams can petition a court to have the charge lifted.
The bill defines expunge to mean to “physically destroy the records or return them to the petitioner and to obliterate the petitioner’s name from any official index or public record, or both.” But it doesn’t require the physical destruction of circuit court files.
The bill also includes a “social equity program,” which makes it easier for those with marijuana convictions to get business licenses. The program also allocates $12 million for startup businesses related to cannabis, as well as funding for job training programs in the state’s cannabis industry, the Marijuana Policy Project says.
The state’s Department of Agriculture and its community college board are creating pilot programs to get people ready to work in the newly legal industry, and the state will require them to focus on enrolling the low income students into those programs.
Illinois is going to expunge marijuana convictions from 800,000 criminal records – CNN
hmmmmm
‘Get real’: Senior Democrats shut down Kavanaugh impeachment push – POLITICO
“We’ve got to get beyond this ‘impeachment is the answer to every problem.’ It’s not realistic,” Durbin said. “If that’s how we are identified in Congress, as the impeachment Congress, we run the risk that people will feel we’re ignoring the issues that mean a lot to them as families.”
…“Mitch McConnell would block any impeachment. So that’s a moot point,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a former Judiciary chairman. He said the lesson to be learned is not to rush lifetime confirmations.
…Many Democrats are not eager to wade into a battle that energizes conservatives, who quickly dismissed Democrats’ impeachment calls. Though the effort to oust Kavanaugh is popular on the left and quickly became a litmus test in the presidential primary, Republicans indicated they relish the return of an issue they believe helped them keep the Senate in 2018.
‘Get real’: Senior Democrats shut down Kavanaugh impeachment push – POLITICO
hmmmm
Patrick Firman out as Denver sheriff
The resignation follows weeks of intense media scrutiny after a woman sued the sheriff’s office because she was left to give birth alone in a jail cell and the city reached a $1.5 million settlement with multiple female jail deputies who alleged the sheriff’s office did not protect them from sexual harassment from inmates.
Patrick Firman out as Denver sheriff
hmmm
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