Category: American Injustice System,

Black Arkansas lawmaker is told ‘you need to stop’ by white colleague

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Local Interest,, Race,Leave a comment

“My son doesn’t walk the same path as yours do, so this debate deserves more time,” Flowers, who is the only black person serving on the eight-member committee, said to her colleagues. “When you bring crap like this up, it offends me.”

…As Flowers tried to explain why more discussion was needed on the matter, one lawmaker on the committee attempted to silence her.

Sen. Alan Clark (R), the chairman of the committee, could be seen telling Flowers: “Senator, you need to stop.”

“No, I don’t,” Flowers replied.

“Yes, you do,” Clark said.

“No, the hell I don’t. What are you going to do, shoot me?” Flowers said in response.

Black Arkansas lawmaker is told ‘you need to stop’ by white colleague | TheHill

hmmm

Paul Manafort sentence: Why did judge throw prosecutor’s guidelines out the window?

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

 “In D.C. you’re dealing with conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Five years each, a maximum of 10. The guidelines bring you to 10. The real question for D.C. Judge [Amy Berman] Jackson is does she give him the full 10 consecutive or concurrent. And this is a judge that has had a lot of experience with Paul Manafort in D.C., you’re dealing with the fact that she vitiated his plea of guilty and bail.”

Particularly stunning to many was the way Judge Ellis characterized Manafort as living an otherwise blameless life.

“That was a rather remarkable comment I think, to say the least,” Klieman said. “It’s one thing to look at his age, his health, the fact that he did not have any prior record. It is another thing to see someone engage in a life of crime for at least 10 years and call it unblemished.”

Paul Manafort sentence: Why did judge throw prosecutor’s guidelines out the window? – CBS News

hmmmm

Internal Investigation Launched After Officer Detains Man Picking Up Trash Outside His Home

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,Leave a comment

A police officer can be seen standing a short distance away from the man. The man can be heard shouting, “You’re on my property with a gun in your hand, threatening to shoot me, because I’m picking up trash.”

“I don’t have a weapon!” the man yells at the officer. “This is a bucket. This is a clamp.”

“I’m not sitting down and you can’t make me,” the man can be heard saying as more officers approach with their sirens on. “This is my property, this is my house, I live here.”

…The man counts out eight [emphasis: peanut gallery] police officers.

Internal Investigation Launched After Officer Detains Man Picking Up Trash Outside His Home – CBS Denver

sigh…

Federal Oversight Begins Friday For Chicago’s Embattled Police Dept.

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Local Interest,Leave a comment

Chicago police are now under federal oversight as the department officially begins its overhaul. A federal judge and independent monitor, named today, will oversee the changes to make sure they comply with agreed-to guidelines.

…That video, withheld from the public for more than a year, was released and shows a white police officer fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who is black. McDonald, a knife in his hand, appeared to be walking away from police.

…The withering DOJ report — issued in January of 2017 — called the Chicago Police Department’s use of force excessive and racially discriminatory. Soon afterward, Chicago police issued a new use-of-force policy emphasizing the “sanctity of life,” and started holding training sessions for officers.

…Under the consent decree, there are many more changes in store. For example, the Department must produce a monthly report about use of force incidents; it bans police from using Tasers on people who are simply running away. 

Federal Oversight Begins Friday For Chicago’s Embattled Police Dept. : NPR

hmmm

Becerra doesn’t rule out legal action against journalists

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Local Interest,Leave a comment

Earlier this year, journalists at the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and its production arm, Investigative Studios, filed public records requests to a state commission and received a database of thousands of police officers and applicants for law enforcement jobs convicted of crimes in the last decade. The data was released by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, known as POST, which determines whether officers and applicants have been convicted of crimes that would disqualify them from serving.

…The letter from Becerra’s office clearly [states] that the reporters could face consequences: “If you do not intend to comply with our request, the Department can take legal action to ensure that the spreadsheets are properly deleted and not disseminated,” the letter states.

The Berkeley-based journalists said Friday that they intend to continue reporting stories based on the database and rejected Becerra’s request to destroy it.

…A new law that went into effect this year mandated the disclosure of some police misconduct records, but some law enforcement agencies around the state have argued that the statute shouldn’t apply retroactively. The attorney general’s office is currently being sued by an open government group for not releasing its own retroactive records.

…“The law is quite clear that a reporter or a journalist can’t be charged with the crime they’re citing,” he said. “That’s clear in the statute itself, and it’s clear under the First Amendment.”

Becerra doesn’t rule out legal action against journalists

If law enforcement does not want to be compared to thugs they shouldn’t use organized crime tactics like intimidation and shake-downs.

DOJ: No civil rights charge in Tulsa police shooting that killed an unarmed black man

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Race,Leave a comment

A Tulsa County jury acquitted Shelby in May 2017 in the shooting death of Crutcher, who was holding his hands above his head when he was shot. Shelby testified she fired her weapon out of fear. …Crutcher was unarmed.

…The investigation aimed to determine whether Shelby willfully violated federal law, which Shores said required prosecutors to determine that Shelby acted with the “deliberate and specific intent” to do something illegal.

DOJ: No civil rights charge in Tulsa police shooting that killed an unarmed black man | WBMA

hmmmm

House subpoenas Trump over family separations at border

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Modern Parenting,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

The decision by the Oversight Committee will compel the heads of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to deliver documents to lawmakers.

The committee’s chair, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, has pledged to press the administration for documents and testimony on a wide swath of issues, but family separation was among his first priorities.

“I believe this is a true national emergency,” Cummings said.

…The committee wants details on the children separated, location and facilities where they were held, details on their parents, information on efforts to restore children to their parents and whether parents were deported.

…Cummings said the documents already submitted to the committee were vastly incomplete.

“The information we got was not one name, not one number,” Cummings said. “Zilch.”

…If any officials don’t comply with new subpoenas, the committee and eventually the full House could vote to hold the department in contempt, setting up a potentially lengthy court battle.

…An internal watchdog report recently found that thousands more children than previously thought may have been separated before the zero-tolerance policy officially began.

House subpoenas Trump over family separations at border

hmmm

Pay-to-Stay: Families of NH juvenile offenders are forced to pay for costs of care

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Granite State,, Modern Parenting,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

…When juveniles are incarcerated at the Sununu Youth Services Center or other treatment centers, are enrolled in Children in Need of Services (CHINS), [or] are placed into foster care, an elaborate system kicks in to force parents to contribute to the cost of that care.

Formulas come into play, Social Security benefits can be requisitioned, liens can be put on property, people can be hauled into court. Four thousand cases are currently open, the state says.

…Fees rack up quickly. An overnight stay at a secure or intensive facility can top $700 a day, and the state levies charges for services that range from family counseling ($86 an hour) to transportation ($21 an hour) to foster care ($23 per day). Collections continue four years after services end, meaning a person can be well into adulthood while a parent is still paying for their childhood misbehavior or other services.

…Most services continue to fall under the law requiring parental reimbursement: CHINS, whether voluntary or court-ordered; children judged delinquent and placed in the Sununu Center or other residential programs, whether voluntarily or court-ordered; and court-ordered services in cases of abuse and neglect.

…Parents of a minor who is a mother are responsible for their grandchild, if the child is housed at the facility where the minor mother lives. No mention is made of responsibility for the child’s father or his parents.

…When youth become involved with the juvenile justice system, their parents can be desperate for help, she said. They will sign anything without realizing the implications, she said. Then the bill arrives.

Pay-to-Stay: Families of juvenile offenders are forced to pay for costs of care | Crime | unionleader.com

Jeezus….

Oh, and the mother who signed her kid away to the courts only to spend all of her time begging the courts to give the kid back? This is what happens when you think the police and courts are going to help you parent. They’re not. They’re really, really not.

Supreme Court delivers a win to former addict in excessive fines case

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Gorsuch and Thomas, who did not sign onto Ginsburg’s opinion, each wrote separate concurrences agreeing with the majority’s conclusion. The two conservatives would have used a different mechanism to incorporate the 8th Amendment, they wrote, relying on the 14th Amendment’s privileges and immunities clause, rather than its due process clause, as Ginsburg and the rest of the court did..

…Ginsburg delivered a staunch defense of the prohibition against excessive fines, tracing the lineage of the protection back to the Magna Carta to the current day.

She wrote that protection against excessive fines has been a “constant shield” and argued that high tolls can be used to undermine other liberties, to “chill the speech of political enemies,” and as a form of retribution. Citing a brief filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Ginsburg wrote that the court’s concerns were “scarcely hypothetical.”

In its brief, the ACLU argued that the “explosion of fines, fees, and forfeitures has buried people under mountains of accumulating debt.”

The group wrote that the fines can “lead to a host of collateral harms — wage garnishment, loss of employment and housing, poor credit ratings, driver’s license suspension, incarceration, prohibitions on the right to vote, and even family separation.”

Supreme Court delivers a win to former addict in excessive fines case

hmmmm

Supreme Court civil forfeiture case: Justices back man whose $40K SUV was seized over $400 drug sale

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution’s ban on excessive fines applies to the states, an outcome that could help efforts to rein in police seizure of property from criminal suspects.

…Law enforcement authorities have dramatically increased their use of civil forfeiture in recent decades. When law enforcement seizes the property of people accused of crimes, the proceeds from its sale often go directly to the agency that took it, Institute for Justice lawyer Wesley Hottot said in his written arguments in support of Timbs.

…Ginsburg noted that governments employ fines “out of accord with the penal goals of retribution and deterrence” because fines are a source of revenue.

…The case drew interest from liberal groups concerned about police abuses and conservative organizations opposed to excessive regulation. Timbs was represented by the libertarian public interest law firm Institute for Justice.

…The case is Timbs v. Indiana, 17-1091.

Supreme Court civil forfeiture case: Justices back man whose $40K SUV was seized over $400 drug sale – CBS News

hmmmm

Troops do not view immigration as a ‘national emergency.’ Not even close.

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Military,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

What makes this group different than your typical illegal immigrant, Nunez-Neto said, is that they aren’t “trying to avoid detection,” and are in fact turning themselves over to officers at ports of entry to enter the asylum process.

…“If the people who have been arriving in increasing numbers are not trying to evade detection, I’m not sure a barrier will really address that flow.”

Troops do not view immigration as a ‘national emergency.’ Not even close.

Can’t see how a nation of immigrants taking in the poor huddle masses, especially refugees who are not trying to evade the law is a problem but it cannot be argued that the suggestion that a wall is a good way to stem the tide of people following the law and dutifully turning themselves in upon arrival at the border to have their refugee claim processed in accordance with United States law is anything but laughable.

Mississippi suit to cover all who lost voting rights, judge says

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Gulf Coast Region,, Race,Leave a comment

The Mississippi Constitution strips the ballot from people convicted of any of 10 felonies, including murder, forgery and bigamy. The attorney general later expanded that list to 22, adding crimes that include timber larceny and carjacking. The plaintiffs argue disenfranchisement violates the U.S. Constitution because it was adopted with the discriminatory intent of keeping African Americans from voting.

…African-Americans make up about 38 percent of Mississippi’s population and 36.5 percent of the state’s registered voters. Youngwood said 59 percent to 60 percent of people convicted of disenfranchising crimes in the state are black.

Some states automatically restore voting rights once someone gets out of prison, while others automatically restore rights once someone completes parole or probation. But Mississippi requires people to go through the arduous process of getting individual bills passed just for them with two-thirds approval by the Legislature, or getting a pardon from the governor.

Mississippi suit to cover all who lost voting rights, judge says

hmmm

2 American women sue U.S. claiming they were detained after speaking Spanish in Montana

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,Leave a comment

Ana Suda and Martha “Mimi” Hernandez, who were both born in the United States, have said they were detained by a Border Patrol agent after he heard them chatting in Spanish while buying groceries at a store in Havre, Montana, in May. 

…The ACLU also says in the complaint that the agent’s actions violated the women’s rights to equal protection and their Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure because there was “no legitimate reason to detain” them.

“Agent O’Neal singled them out based on race, relying on their use of Spanish as a justification and proxy for race,” the suit says.

…The lawsuit asks that the defendants — the CBP, its commissioner, the agent and others — be stopped from detaining individuals on the basis of race, accent or speaking Spanish, except for when when there are specific and reliable suspect descriptions.

2 American women sue U.S. claiming they were detained after speaking Spanish in Montana

Our hope is not only that they prevail and cause serious and prohibitive consequences be imposed on the offending officer and all of his superiors and supervisors but that this is the first of many suits against un-American conduct by officers of the law,

Deported parents’ stolen children to be forced into immoral adoptions by strangers, because the US is being run by what might as well be Satan, investigation finds

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Modern Parenting,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

…An anguished Araceli Ramos Bonilla burst into tears, her face contorted with pain: “They want to steal my daughter!”

…She was arrested crossing the border into Texas and U.S. immigration authorities seized her daughter and told her she would never see the girl again. [emphasis: Peanut Gallery]

An Associated Press investigation drawing on hundreds of court documents, immigration records and interviews in the U.S. and Central America identified holes in the system that allow state court judges to grant custody of migrant children to American families — without notifying their parents. [emphasis: peanut gallery]

…States usually seal child custody cases, and the federal agencies overseeing the migrant children don’t track how often state court judges allow these kids to be given up for adoption. But by providing a child’s name and birthdate to the specific district, probate or circuit court involved, the AP found that it’s sometimes possible to track these children.

…Three days after [mother and child’s forced] separation, court records show, the U.S. government labeled [the child who had entered the country with her mother] an “unaccompanied minor,” which meant she entered the bureaucracy for migrant youth, typically teens, who arrive in the U.S. alone. The toddler was issued a notice to appear on “a date to be set, at a time to be set, to show why you should not be removed from the United States.”

…[The mother’s] case was assigned to Oakdale Immigration Court in Louisiana, where the three judges had denied 95 percent of all asylum requests that year, compared to the national average of about 50 percent. She said she called the list of pro bono lawyers she was provided, to no avail.

Without a lawyer, her chance at asylum slipped away. Like everyone else around her, she was being deported.

The federal government offers all deported parents the chance to take their children with them, but [the mother] said she was ordered to sign a waiver to leave [her child] behind. “The agent put his hand on mine, he held my hand, he forced me to sign,” she said.

…At the time, it was unusual for parents to be deported while their children remained behind in federal foster care, but that occurred again and again this summer. More than 300 parents were deported to Central America without their children this summer, many of whom allege they were coerced into signing paperwork they didn’t understand, affecting their rights to reunify with their children. Some parents also contended that U.S. officials told them their children would be given up for adoption.

“And the reality is that for every parent who is not located, there will be a permanent orphaned child, and that is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration,” U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said in August while overseeing a lawsuit to stop family separations.

…When [the agency] placed [the child] in the Barrs’ home, the couple signed a form promising they would not try to seek custody because the Office of Refugee Resettlement was legally responsible for the child. But eight months later, [high on their own self-importance and mired in what appears to be abject racism,] that is exactly what they did.

…”The Barrs obtained their temporary guardianship order in violation of federal law,” U.S. prosecutors argued. The Barrs’ attorney and the Michigan judge also violated federal law by seeking and granting guardianship, and failed to inform Ramos or Alexa’s lawyers about the proceedings, they wrote.

…Children traumatically separated from their parents are more likely to suffer from emotional problems throughout their lives, according to decades of scientific research. And some more recent studies have found that separation can damage a child’s memory.

Deported parents may lose kids to adoption, investigation finds

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Finding all migrant children separated from their families may be impossible, feds say

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Modern Parenting,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

The Trump administration said in a court filing that reuniting thousands of migrant children separated from their parents or guardians at the U.S.-Mexico border may not be “within the realm of the possible.”

…Sualog said her office doesn’t have the resources to track down the children, whose numbers could be thousands more than the official estimate.

…“The Trump administration’s response is a shocking concession that it can’t easily find thousands of children it ripped from parents, and doesn’t even think it’s worth the time to locate each of them,” he said in a statement. “The administration also doesn’t dispute that separations are ongoing in significant numbers.”

Finding all migrant children separated from their families may be impossible, feds say

Jeezus f’ing Krrrreyest

Two Towns Forged an Unlikely Bond. Now, ICE Is Severing the Connection – Bloomberg

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

Workers, not employers, have been saddled with the brunt of the punishment when companies are caught employing undocumented immigrants. The main reason is that they’re easier to prosecute. If someone is caught working without proper employment status, he or she can be prosecuted relatively easily for using fraudulent documents. When going after companies, prosecutors have to show that the employer knew that the workers didn’t have legal status and employed them anyway—a much harder case to make.

…About 8,500 people live in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and for the past five years or so, the town has averaged 200 to 300 job openings on any given day.

…The job crunch has been intense for years all over town, but increased scrutiny from ICE has made filling open slots even more challenging.

***

…In the statehouse he’s considered a moderate on immigration issues, refusing to follow some colleagues who take a harder, more nativist line. He knows businesses in his district need those workers, and he insists he’s eager to embrace them as neighbors. But why don’t they embrace Mount Pleasant? “Don’t get me wrong,” says Heaton, who’ll retire from the legislature in 2019. “The only thing that upsets me is if they’re coming, they need to blend. I don’t need ‘barrios.’ I don’t need these certain sectors where everything is still the way it was where they came from. If you’re going to meld, then meld.”

By owning up to these mixed feelings, Heaton is a true local representative, voicing opinions that a lot of others share but won’t acknowledge on the record.

…“Who the hell would pull up from where they live,” Heaton wondered, “start out on a multithousand-mile journey, heading north to illegally enter the United States? Who is it that would leave their town, split their family, the whole bit? They must be living in terrible, terrible conditions. I can’t imagine.”

***

…Urizar had been in Mount Pleasant almost three years when Walfred started attending middle school in Uspantán. The boy told his mother the school was crawling with gangs. Older boys were pressuring him to run drugs, he said. Celia was horrified. She spoke to Urizar, and they agreed that the time had come. The boy was old enough to join his father in Mount Pleasant.

…Urizar dreams of a day when all of his children will be able to travel back and forth between the two countries without fear, when they can see their parents whenever they want, and when hard work pays off in peace of mind.

That day isn’t today.

***

…Young’s pastor at the First Presbyterian Church, the Reverend Trey Hegar, had helped arrange the [unofficial] adoption [of the now deported Urizar’s son,] and his congregation raised money to help pay Young’s expenses. When the details were being worked out, Hegar had met with the members of Young’s family, trying to calm their concerns, which were far from superficial. Young might be as sharp as any 82-year-old you’ll ever meet, but she has a bad back, has trouble with stairs, and tires easily. Her family worried that the stress of taking on an undocumented child might seriously erode her health. Even Young understood that fear. But the idea of the boy living alone, orphaned in Mount Pleasant, violated her concept of fairness. “I said, ‘It’ll kill her not to do it,’ Hegar recalled. “This is what she’s living for.”

…Young ducked into the living room to introduce herself and found them slouching on the couches, absorbed in their cellphones.

…“OK, fellas, we’re gonna have a little lesson here,” she said, ordering them to put down their phones. She explained that when a lady walks into a room, they should stand. She offered them a chance for redemption, introducing herself once again. “This is where you say to me, ‘Hi, nice to meet you!’ ”

She truly hated those cellphones, and she didn’t like how Walfred seemed to be adopting his friends’ obsession with them. When the other boys left, she asked Walfred if she’d embarrassed him. “No, Grandma,” he told her. “You were great.”

…As they fished out Walfred’s checkbook, Tangkhpanya took an immediate and protective interest in the boy. She offered an impromptu lesson in balancing an account—a service she’d offered countless newcomers over the years. “People need someone to show them how to do these things,” she says.

…His lobby doubles as a Trailways bus station, and for many foreign-born workers, the Heidelberg is the gateway to Mount Pleasant. Like Tangkhpanya, he’s become an informal guide for newcomers—another example of how the second wave of immigrants is melding with the first, some of whom have created a commercial support network that can be invisible to those who don’t need to look for it.

Next to the front counter, a bank of four red telephones sits on a table, and these attract a steady stream of customers, most of them Spanish speakers who’ve just collected their paychecks. They use the phones to wire cash to places such as Guatemala and Mexico.

…This is why Walfred asked Young to bring him to the Heidelberg. He wanted to send some of his spending money back to his father.

***

…Most of the 32 workers arrested at the Mount Pleasant concrete plant in May are still waiting for their court hearings. Even Urizar, from his house in Chocox, continues to unintentionally tie up courtrooms in Iowa, and his case illustrates the confusion and clutter that permeate the system. When he was transferred to the Hardin County Detention Center, his lawyers weren’t told about the move and had to search for him. Later, at his final hearing before a judge in late June, Urizar didn’t appear in court; no one showed up at the prison to drive him to the courtroom, three hours away. Then Urizar’s lawyers weren’t able to confirm his deportation until six weeks after he’d been flown to Guatemala. Meanwhile, a criminal case against him continues, charging him with illegal reentry into the U.S. and the fraudulent misuse of identification documents, including a Social Security number. His attorneys have repeatedly tried to get the case dismissed, arguing that Urizar’s constitutional rights to due process and legal representation are violated because he can no longer consult with counsel. As of late December, the criminal case against Urizar was still active.

Two Towns Forged an Unlikely Bond. Now, ICE Is Severing the Connection – Bloomberg

hmmmm