Buffalo Police Officer Responds to Nuisance Call, Plays Football Instead | wgrz.
Look what’s possible….
Category: American Injustice System,
She warned America that Russia hacked our voting rolls. Why is she in jail?
It was a Democrat, Barack Obama, who ran in 2008 with a promise to extend protections to whistle-blowers, only to betray those words as president. Under Obama, eight whistle-blowers were prosecuted, initially, under the Espionage Act, far more than any commander-in-chief who came before him. Most of the persecuted made the same difficult choice as Winner, pleading guilty to lesser charges because of the Kafkaesque nature of the Espionage Act.
…Timm said any solution would start with rewriting the Espionage Act, to make it clear that the law is targeting treasonous spies, not patriotic whistle-blowers. Likewise, he said federal law could also be reformed to allow whistle-blowers like Winner or Kiriakou to present evidence on whether their leak was motivated by the public interest or whether national security was, in fact, harmed.
What’s more, we need more big shots in Big Media with the biggest megaphones to help remind people that it was leaked information that let the public know about the depths of Watergate, the crimes committed at Abu Ghraib, and the Vietnam War lying that was laid bare in the Pentagon Papers. In fact, it’s a little crazy — and maybe revealing — that while the journalism world was going ga-ga over the Pentagon Papers-era defiance in the movie The Post, very little ink was spilled in defense of Reality Winner.
She warned America that Russia hacked our voting rolls. Why is she in jail? | Will Bunch
hmmmm
John Legend wants Louisiana to remove ‘white supremacy’ from its constitution
Voters in Louisiana will be asked in November if they want to amend the state’s constitution to remove the clause that allows non-unanimous jury decisions.
“During Louisiana’s all-white constitutional convention in 1898, delegates passed a series of measures specifically designed to ‘perpetuate the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race in Louisiana,'” the piece states. “Non-unanimous juries were one of those measures, and the intent was clear: If the federal Constitution required that African Americans be allowed to serve on juries, the state constitution would make sure that minority votes could be discounted.”
John Legend wants Louisiana to remove ‘white supremacy’ from its constitution
hmmm
Police use Taser on 87-year-old woman cutting dandelion green in a vacant lot across from her house
Police use Taser on 87-year-old woman cutting dandelions with a knife – CNN
Jeezus Christ…
The fact that the police responding to this call, even after the caller said it was an older woman cutting vegetation.
The caller should be facing charges of harassment and making a nuisance call and the officer who fired his taser should be relived of his badge immediately and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If the officer didn’t posses the ability to employ better judgment than that they had not business in the uniform.
Brock Turner Has Lost His Appeal And Remains Guilty Of Sexual Assault
Brock Turner Has Lost His Appeal And Remains Guilty Of Sexual Assault
And a little good news to add to the mix…
Korematsu decision finally rejected by Supreme Court
In her dissent to the majority’s ruling on the travel ban, Sotomayor compared the decision to the Korematsu v. US case, saying there are “stark parallels” in the reasoning.
“As here, the exclusion order was rooted in dangerous stereotypes about a particular group’s supposed inability to assimilate and desire to harm the United States,” Sotomayor wrote.
The comparison triggered an angry response from Roberts, who chastised his colleague for using “rhetorical advantage” and said that Korematsu had “nothing to do with this case.”
Roberts was troubled enough with the comparison, however, that he did something that no party involved in the travel ban case had expressly asked for: He announced that the Supreme Court was overruling Korematsu.
…For her part, Sotomayor allowed that Roberts took an “important step of finally overruling” Korematsu. But it wasn’t enough, she said.
“By blindly accepting the Government’s misguided invitation to sanction a discriminatory policy motivated by animosity toward a disfavored group, all in the name of a superficial claim of national security, the Court redeploys the same dangerous logic underlying Korematsu and merely replaces one gravely wrong decision with another,” she said. She was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Under normal circumstances a justice ends a dissent with “I respectfully dissent.” Sotomayor said simply, “I dissent.
Korematsu decision finally rejected by Supreme Court – CNNPolitics
hmmm
Detaining Immigrant Kids Is Now a Billion-Dollar Industry
Detaining Immigrant Kids Is Now a Billion-Dollar Industry | Time
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Pennsylvania’s bail system keeps poor people in jail
Fishman and other reformers say pretrial incarceration has cascading effects on defendants, causing them to lose their jobs and housing, and breaking up their families. People jailed before trial are more likely to plead guilty and receive harsher sentences. And those who scrape together the money to post bail often do so by borrowing from relatives and friends, creating additional financial stress.
…The whole philosophy behind [reform] is that our traditional system in the United States of requiring cash bail is unfair to those who are indigent, who are living on the margins,” said Judge Stephen Baratta, who spearheaded Northampton County’s initiative during his recently ended tenure as the court’s president judge.
…“It seems anomalous that in our system of justice, the access to wealth is what often determines whether a defendant is freed or must stay in jail,” Circuit Judge Michael Chagares wrote. “Further, those unable to pay who remain in jail may not have the ‘luxury’ of awaiting a trial on the merits of their charges; they are often forced to accept a plea deal to leave the jail environment and be freed.”
…Even for those lucky enough to afford bail, posting it can be expensive. Lehigh County Chief Public Defender Kimberly Makoul said bail amounts that seem insignificant to many people are astronomical to her office’s clientele — even if just a few hundred dollars.
Given the court fees that accompany bail, some of the money is never returned, regardless of whether the accused makes all of his or her court dates — and even if there’s ultimately an acquittal.
For someone posting $10,000 in cash in Northampton County, court fees total $180. For someone posting a bond for that amount, the fees total $200. And that’s not counting the private fees that someone using a bail bond company must pay to the bondsman.
Lehigh County’s fees reach $248 for someone posting $10,000 cash, and $300 for someone relying on a bond.
There’s no evidence that monetary bail makes people more likely to show up in court, Cherise Fanno Burdeen, CEO of the Pretrial Justice Institute, said. Steps as simple as sending low-level offenders text messages to remind them of court dates can improve appearance rates. For higher-risk offenders, electronic monitoring, regular check-ins with court officials, and orders to stay away from victims are effective alternatives to bail, she said.
Northampton County has initiated bail reform to jail fewer defendants before trial. Before it was implemented, pretrial services director Nina Reynard tracked 51 low-risk defendants in February 2017. Her findings:
*They spent an average of 16.5 days in Northampton County Jail before posting bail or resolving their cases.
*It cost $97,000 to incarcerate them before trial
*All but four ultimately received sentences that didn’t call for incarceration, for instance probation or fines.
Pennsylvania’s bail system keeps poor people in jail – The Morning Call
Sigh….
Cincinnati Police Officer Shoots 11-Year-Old Girl With Taser for Shoplifting
Cincinnati Police Officer Shoots 11-Year-Old Girl With Taser for Shoplifting
The officer’s reckless reaction was dangerously out of line with the context of the actual situation. Their badge needs to be surrendered immediately because their lack of judgement poses an imminent and immediate danger to the citizen’s they are there to protect and serve.
Court rules Mexican mother can sue over cross-border Border Patrol shooting
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz is not entitled to qualified immunity, saying that the Fourth Amendment — which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures — applies in this case.
…”Based on the facts alleged in the complaint, Swartz violated the Fourth Amendment. It is inconceivable that any reasonable officer could have thought that he or she could kill J.A. for no reason,” Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld wrote in the majority opinion.
…“The court made clear that the Constitution does not stop at the border and that agents should not have constitutional immunity to fatally shoot Mexican teenagers on the other side of the border fence,” he said in a statement. “The ruling could not have come at a more important time, when this administration is seeking to further militarize the border.”
Court rules Mexican mother can sue over cross-border Border Patrol shooting – POLITICO
the fact that the officer was cleared of criminal charge is a crime in itself.
Video: Louisiana man dies after officers put him in choke hold
A criminal justice expert says Avoyelles Parish law officers who wrestled a Marksville man off a tractor while serving an arrest warrant last year used too much force, needlessly escalating a confrontation that ended with the man’s death. [They also] acted negligently by failing to administer aid once Armando Frank was unconscious.
…A forensic pathologist hired by the parish had said in a report that manual strangulation was the primary cause of Frank’s death. The video shows Spillman mount the tractor behind Frank and apply a choke hold while another officer tries to pull him down. For a time, Frank is doubled-over while resisting. Officers had to carry Frank to a patrol car after his body went limp.
…“His level of resistance starts out as passive. It doesn’t go to active and aggressive until he’s physically assaulted by these deputies,” Gregory Gilbertson, director of the criminal justice program at Centralia College in Centralia, Washington, said Thursday.
…Gilbertson said Frank’s questions as to what he was being arrested for, and who signed the warrant, were reasonable.
“There’s no exigent circumstance here,” Gilbertson said Thursday. “He’s not attempting to flee, he’s not assaulting anybody, he’s sitting on a tractor and he’s asking reasonable questions they are refusing to answer.”
…The report by Youngsville pathologist Christopher Tape labels the death a homicide for “medicolegal purposes,” noting that officers compromised Frank’s breathing for more than six minutes by placing him in neck holds and pressing him from behind. The report, which relies on an autopsy and body camera video, also notes that officers did not attempt to resuscitate Frank.
…Tape’s review of body camera footage highlights several points at which Frank struggled to breathe — points that Spillman’s narrative and the Sheriff’s Office’s reports do not include. Louisiana State Police also investigated the incident, but State Police spokesman Scott Moreau referred all questions to the Sheriff’s Office, which he said is the lead agency in the investigation.
Spillman’s neck hold on Frank was temporarily interrupted by the errant stun gun strike, Tape notes, at which point Frank could be heard breathing heavily. The struggle continued once Frank was off the tractor, with Frank coughing as he was pressed onto the tractor from behind, according to Tape’s report.
Less than half a minute later, Frank “can be heard to be coughing and gasping,” Tape wrote, and law enforcement continued pressing him against the tractor for another 78 seconds. During this time, Frank said “let me up” three times “in an increasingly deep and strained voice,” Tape wrote, adding that this was Frank’s “last verbal communication.”
Until officers of the law are held legally responsible for murders like these there is no law and order.
Why the Justice Department Is Targeting Affirmative Action
The Justice Department’s New Civil-Rights Cause: Discrimination Against Whites – The Atlantic
Ooooo, oooo, ooooo. [raising hand and waving it wildly]
I got this one. Is it white male fragility stoked by a flaming helping of both bigotry and greed?
Smith College Employee Called Police On Black Student Eating Lunch
Smith College Employee Called Police On Black Student Eating Lunch | HuffPost
Jeezus kerrrr-eyest.
You know, fellow white people? Maybe it’s time for a conversation on how it’s nice that you are able to see the police as helpful and protective of you but perhaps we as a people need to slow our fucking roll on calling them up every freaking time something makes one of us the least fucking bit uncomfortable or confused.
Confused about something? Not understand why somebody is doing whatever they’re doing? (Ahem, like, say, being alive while black???) Try actually fucking speaking with the person. See what they are about. You know, BEFORE you snap to judgement and way the fuck before you reach for that phone to try to have them dragged off to jail???!
Fucking A….
North Miami Beach officer fired after allegedly kicking pregnant woman in the stomach
When unwarranted aggression and violence on the part of officers of the law becomes less common place this society will be a much, much safer place.
As long as behavior like this is tolerated and not roundly condemned by all members of law enforcement, everyone wearing a badge neither protects nor serves, they actually pose a danger to everyone around them.
Actor Ving Rhames said neighbor called 911 to report him as ‘a large black man’ living somewhere she was too racist to believe he lived
[Rhames] was watching television in his Santa Monica home when he heard noise coming from the backyard. …It was police.
…”I get up, I open the door, there’s a red dot pointed at my face from a 9 millimeter,” Rhames said …on Friday. “And they say, ‘Put up your hands.”
…”My problem is, as I said to them, what if it was my son, and he had a video game remote or something? And you thought it was a gun, just like you know, I don’t know, Trayvon had a bag of Skittles,” he said in the interview.
Actor Ving Rhames said neighbor called 911 to report him as ‘a large black man’ breaking in
Actions that negative effect others should have consequences.
On that note, two things….
One, there should be punitive legal consequences for civilians who call 911 because of their own racial profiling. Call the police on your neighbor? The police should come for you instead.
Two, the officers clearly did not look into who residing in the home before they arrived. Bad police-work like that gets people killed. They should face punitive consequences for not doing a better job of assessing the actual situation before they went into action. When the police don’t think before they act, people get killed and that can not be tolerated.
It doesn’t matter if they, the officers, were not being overtly racist by responding to this call. They did a shoddy job of performing their work responsibilities and -like in any other industry- that should merit negative consequences.
Police fatally shoot Bronze Star recipient after he saved his family from a home intruder
“Mr. Black goes and gets his sidearm and shoots the intruder and saves his grandson,” Rathod said. “Mr. …Black’s wife had called the police and ran outside. She specifically told the police what her husband was wearing and there was a naked man attacking her grandson. Mr. Black walks out and is shot by police.”
Police fatally shoot Bronze Star recipient after he shot home intruder – ABC News
Simply unacceptable. If an officer can stay calm in a situation like this he should not be there (or wearing a badge) in the first place. If the officer was not informed of the outfit the resident of the home had on then those who did not pass that information on should be tried for murder right along with the sad excuse for an officer.
Minneapolis police shooting: No charges to be filed against officers in death of Thurman Blevins
14 shots at someone who is fleeing and not shooting back? that’s not self-defense. That’s murder, clear and simple. Hope the family sues the city into bankruptcy.
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