Category: American Injustice System,

Texas deputy arrested on allegation of child sexual assault

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

A sheriff’s deputy in South Texas is accused of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl and threatening the child’s mother with deportation if she reported him, authorities said.

…The sheriff said the assaults may have been going on for months, possibly years, and that there could be other victims.

…Authorities were notified of the alleged abuse when the child “made an outcry” and her mother, from Guatemala, took the girl to a fire station to make a report. The sheriff said authorities believe Nunez is related to the child victim.

Salazar said the criminal charge carries a minimum 25-year sentence. He reported on Sunday that the agency is filling out paperwork to give the mother protective status pending the case’s outcome, but declined to comment on the residence status of the child.

Texas deputy arrested on allegation of child sexual assault – Story | KTVU

Jeezus Christ,,,,

El Paso County Sheriff Prohibits Staff From Moonlighting at Tornillo Tent City for Children

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

El Paso’s sheriff has barred his deputies from working off-duty at a new temporary migrant children’s shelter, one of the most forceful steps yet from a growing chorus of law enforcement critical of the Trump administration’s practice of separating children and parents apprehended at the border. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this month opened temporary tent shelters in Tornillo, about thirty miles east of downtown El Paso, where the sheriff’s prohibition has taken effect. “The Sheriff’s Office will not be working at these facilities, as we don’t support the current administration’s position of separating children simply to discourage illegal immigration,” Sheriff Richard Wiles said. Law enforcement officers frequently work off-duty jobs to supplement their income, but such work requires approval from superiors.

Wiles said he was approached by federal officials to provide off-duty deputies for security work at the Tornillo facility but declined. “I just thought that if the citizens saw that we were working there in an off-duty capacity, it may be [seen] as if we were approving of the administration’s policy, and it would hurt our relationship with the community that we serve.”

El Paso County Sheriff Prohibits Staff From Moonlighting at Tornillo Tent City for Children – Texas Monthly

good

Pentagon: Two US military bases to house migrants

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

Speaking in Alaska, Secretary Mattis named the Texas bases but did not say whether they would house migrant children or families held together.

The Pentagon said last week it planned to house 20,000 detained children on military bases.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump repeated calls for deportations without judicial process.

…In his remarks, the defence secretary [defended the dramatic move as] a “legitimate governmental function.”

…The shelters will be run by HHS and not the Pentagon, according to the Associated Press, and facilities may be available as early as July.

US immigration officials say 2,342 children were separated from 2,206 parents from 5 May to 9 June.

While the adults are held in custody pending court appearances, the children are being sent to holding cells, converted warehouses and desert tents under the “zero tolerance” policy introduced in April.

Officials have gone to court to try to lengthen the time children can be held as parents are prosecuted.

…[Trump] has not made a distinction between economic migrants and those seeking asylum in his Twitter posts.

Pentagon: Two US military bases to house migrants – BBC News

Agggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

New video shows police officer stepping on Sterling Brown’s ankle and fellow officers discussing potential backlash of the wrongful arrest

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

In one of the videos, Brown is on the ground and handcuffed when an officer puts one of his boots on Brown’s ankle, holding it there and at one point pressing down.

..Other videos obtained by WISN-TV show an officer talking with two others who are seated in a squad car as they explained they were trying to protect themselves during the arrest. They also talk about how they could be perceived as racist for arresting a black Bucks player, with one saying if anything goes wrong, it “is going to be, ‘Ooh, the Milwaukee Police Department is all racist, blah, blah, blah.”

Another video shows an officer in his squad car, calling to let a supervisor know he’ll need to be on overtime before singing, “Money, money, money, money, money …”

…It’s unclear why the new videos were not released along with the first body camera footage.

New video shows police officer stepping on Sterling Brown’s ankle and others discussing potential backlash of arrest – Chicago Tribune

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Trump tweet proposes immediate deportations without due process

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Trump on Twitter Sunday proposed that immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally be immediately deported without due process.

[When it suits him though, Trump] is very fond of due process. In February, he plaintively asked on Twitter whether there is “no such thing any longer as Due Process,” apparently objecting to public critique of men accused of domestic abuse. 

Trump tweet proposes immediate deportations without due process

sigh…

Private prison company moves annual conference to Trump-owned golf resort

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

An investigation into the company’s activities found the GEO Group secured the Trump administration’s first contract for a detention centre reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars a year. 

This comes after the company’s spending on lobbying and donations rose sharply during the 2016 election cycle, with nearly half a million dollars donated to Mr Trump’s inaugural committee and to a pro-Trump super PAC.

..Early in his presidency, The Hill reported Mr Trump rolled back plans under the Obama administration to phase out the federal government’s use of private prisons. 

Private prison company moves annual conference to Trump-owned golf resort | The Independent

Agggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggh!!!!!!!!!!!

#PermitPatty Episode Blows Up on California Cannabis Company

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

Calling the Cops While White

Indeed, the incident comes amid heightened focus on calling the police over seemingly innocuous behavior by people of color.

On April 12, two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks after the barista called the police because the men, who were waiting for a colleague to join them for a business meeting, hadn’t purchased anything yet. In early May, a white Yale student called campus police on a black Yale graduate student for napping during an all-night study session in a dorm common room. That same week, a white woman on a tour of Colorado State University called the police on two Native American students who were on the same tour, because she said they made her “nervous.” Around the same time, a white neighbor in Rialto, California, called the police when she saw three black women exiting a nearby house that the women had rented as an Airbnb. The neighbor said she called the cops because the women didn’t wave at her.

Just across the bay in Oakland, the video of a white woman calling the police on a black man for enjoying a barbecue in a park near Oakland’s Lake Merritt went viral last month and sparked further outrage.

…In the cannabis world, the act of a white entrepreneur calling the police on a black entrepreneur for selling a product without a permit strikes a particularly sensitive nerve.

Today, as the legal adult-use cannabis industry takes hold in California, the industry remains predominantly white-owned and white-run, even though people of color suffered far greater harm during prohibition and the war on drugs. People of color who want to get into the business face greater hurdles in terms of access to capital, and are more likely to be held back by past cannabis arrests due to well-documented racial disparities in arrest rates.

So the optics of a successful white cannabis entrepreneur, operating her company with a state permit, calling the cops on a black person for operating without a permit, are not good. The fact that the black person happens to be a child, selling water at what is essentially a lemonade stand, turned Ettel’s “complete mistake” into an act whose symbolism has deep and troubling roots in both American history and the recent history of cannabis in California.

#PermitPatty Episode Blows Up on California Cannabis Company | Leafly

Yup.

23andme donating DNA kits to help reunite migrant families

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The CEO of the popular DNA-testing company 23andMe has agreed to provide DNA kits to help reunite the hundreds of migrant families separated at the border in recent weeks, after Congresswoman Jackie Speier approached the Mountain View-based company with the idea.

“They have committed to providing all the tests necessary to test the parents and the children,” Speier told this news organization.

23andme donating DNA kits to help reunite migrant families

hmmmm

Judge strikes down Kansas voter ID law and orders Kris Kobach to take additional CLE

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

A federal judge has struck down Kansas’ voter ID law and ordered Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to take additional continuing legal education classes for “repeated and flagrant violations” of federal rules requiring disclosure of evidence before trial.

…Robinson said it’s not clear whether Kobach violated his discovery obligations intentionally or through unfamiliarity with the federal rules. “Defendant chose to represent his own office in this matter, and as such, had a duty to familiarize himself with the governing rules of procedure, and to ensure as the lead attorney on this case that his discovery obligations were satisfied despite his many duties as a busy public servant,” she wrote.

As a result, Robinson said, Kobach must take an additional six hours of continuing legal education pertaining to rules of evidence or procedure, in addition to any state CLE requirements.

Robinson had previously held Kobach in contempt of court for failing to follow court orders regarding voter notices and ordered him to pay attorney fees to cover the cost of the sanctions motion.

Judge strikes down Kansas voter ID law and orders Kris Kobach to take additional CLE

the required classes are a nice touch

31 Orlando police officers sued over their response to Pulse nightclub massacre that left 49 dead

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

The lawsuit also lists 30 unidentified Orlando police officers who the plaintiffs allege either remained outside the nightclub while the shooting occurred or held witnesses against their will after they fled the massacre. The city of Orlando is listed as an additional defendant.

“While people, unarmed, innocent were inside a club getting absolutely massacred by a crazed gunman there were a bunch of people … with guns, with the training and capability to take that shooter out,” Solomon Radner, attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, told ABC News.

“Instead of doing their job, they worried about themselves, they stayed outside, they worried only about their own safety, knowing that people were literally getting mowed down by the dozens just a few feet away.”

…The police investigation showed that Mateen began the massacre around 2 a.m., but it wasn’t until around 5 a.m. that Orlando police officers shot him to death after they used an armored truck to breach a wall.

Among the 34 plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the estates of six people who were killed in the shooting. Nine of the plaintiffs were detained or “arrested” by police as they ran out of the nightclub, Radner said.

“As the people were running out of the club, thinking that they were safe, the police were there waiting for them, and the police, essentially, for all intents and purposes, arrested every single victim there and held them for 10 to 12 hours,” he added.

…”Virtually every victim they could get their hands on who wasn’t shot or dead, they basically arrested them. They were not free to leave, they were not free to call their loved ones, they were not even free to go to the bathroom or to get water.”

The officers violated the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures by detaining and holding the victims and witnesses against their will and confiscating the cellphones and vehicles of some of them, Radner said.

“The police are not allowed to detain you even if you are the victim of a terrible crime, even if they need to interview you,” Radner told ABC News. “You don’t get to decide that the Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply and to just go and arrest people. You don’t get to do that and that’s what they did.”

…”The only time you can sue a municipality is if you can demonstrate that the only reason those officers engaged in that unlawful conduct, that unconstitutional conduct, is because of a specific policy, procedure, protocol or custom either written or unwritten of the city which allows, encourages, approves or authorizes that conduct,” Radner told ABC News. “We certainly feel there’s enough here that demonstrates deliberate indifference on the part of the city.”

31 Orlando police officers sued over their response to Pulse nightclub massacre that left 49 dead – ABC News

hmmmm

Democrats press U.S. Justice Dept. officials on possible leaks to Giuliani

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

U.S. Senate Democrats on Monday pressed Justice Department officials about whether some FBI agents may have leaked damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to Rudy Giuliani, now an adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, shortly before the 2016 election.

…Monday’s Senate hearing followed publication last week of a report by FBI Inspector General Michael Horowitz that concluded that former FBI Director James Comey made a “serious error of judgment” when he announced he was reopening an investigation into candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server a few weeks before the election.

…At Monday’s hearing, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy asked Horowitz if his office had investigated “the leaks of FBI personnel who were actively taking steps to sway the election to Mr. Trump” in his report on the FBI’s handling of an investigation into Clinton’s use of email server.

“That’s correct …” [Horowitz replied.]

…Democrats have repeatedly raised questions about leaks to Giuliani because of public comments he made before the election.

Two days before Comey reported to Congress in October 2016 that the FBI was reopening the probe to review the newly discovered Clinton emails, Giuliani appeared on Fox News and predicted some “pretty big surprises” about Clinton.

Horowitz’s report said that a group of retired FBI agents was briefed on the Clinton email investigation on October 21, 2016, days before Comey’s announcement.

The report also discusses widespread problems with leaks to the media and said senior FBI officials were afraid that some officials in the bureau’s New York field office were behind some of the leaks.

Democrats press U.S. Justice Dept. officials on possible leaks to Giuliani | Reuters

hmmm

Fane Lozman wins First Amendment Supreme Court case

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Gulf Coast Region,, Media and Culture,, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The nation’s highest court ruled in favor of political gadfly Fane Lozman on Monday in a 8-1 decision, the culmination of more than a decade of work for Lozman after he was dragged out of a Riviera Beach city council meeting and arrested after speaking about the allegedly corrupt dealings of a Palm Beach County commissioner.

The court’s decision on Monday affects citizens who show up to public meetings to vent and question the actions of elected officials. If one official orders the arrest of someone speaking at a public meeting and the rest of the elected body doesn’t object, the person arrested can now have a cause of action against the municipality if he or she can prove animosity.

That means it’s harder for angry elected officials to use their power to arrest people they simply don’t like.

…The ruling in Lozman’s favor was narrow in the sense that it applied to elected boards and municipalities who boot speakers from their meetings. There were also questions within the lawsuit about people arrested by police during events like protests who are not engaged in the act itself, such as journalists and bystanders. Those questions weren’t part of the Supreme Court’s decision.

…Lozman was already victorious in his fight against Riviera Beach that led to his arrest in the first place. He saved other people’s homes from being taken via eminent domain for a new private marina in Riviera Beach, and he was able to keep the public marina out of private hands.

…The semi-retired South Florida stock trader-turned First Amendment crusader also won a Supreme Court case in 2012, when justices ruled 7-2 that Lozman’s floating home was not a “vessel” and therefore not subject to the federal maritime jurisdiction that eventually led local officials to seize and destroy it.

Fane Lozman wins First Amendment Supreme Court case | Bradenton Herald

hmmm

Desperate Asylum-Seekers Are Being Turned Away by U.S. Border Agents Claiming There’s “No Room”

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

The agents peer at everyone crossing, looking for people they think might be candidates for asylum. If the people say anything suggesting they might be requesting asylum — if they’re not Mexicans, and especially if they’re from Central America — the agents block their way and say to come back another time.

Local people who frequently cross the border started noticing the agents in early May, but did not know why they were on the bridge. Some people started calling Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House, a migrant shelter which encompasses a network of satellite shelters. The shelters have for years maintained a close relationship with ICE. They regularly take in immigrants who’ve been picked up by the Border Patrol, processed, and released by ICE pending the results of their immigration cases. Garcia says he is very familiar with how many people the government picks up from week to week, and with how much of their own space CBP and ICE have to process people.

…Garcia said he asked a low-level CBP agent, who was working at an international bridge, why Central Americans were being blocked. “This is a borderwide policy,” Garcia said the agent answered. Garcia believes the policy is connected to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s “zero tolerance” policy initiated in early May.

That is when the Trump administration began routinely splitting up immigrant adults and children who were caught crossing into the U.S. Most were families from Central America.

By blocking asylum-seekers from crossing legally, CBP is pressuring them to cross illegally. Garcia believes that this new practice gives the government an excuse to split up even more families.

…Ramirez, 25, crosses frequently between El Paso and Juárez. On her way to El Paso one day after looking at Facebook, Ramirez saw a group of people who looked distressed. Speaking with them, she learned that all were from Guatemala: a 16-year-old girl and a woman with a frightened preschool-aged daughter. The teenager told Ramirez they had been prevented from crossing for days. They said they were considering coming into the U.S. by wading and walking under the bridge.

Ramirez knew that the wading and walking would result in the mother being criminally prosecuted and separated from her child, so she decided to act, even though she felt shaky. “My whole life, I’ve been scared and intimated” by border agents, she said. She gathered the teenager, the woman, and the child. She walked them to the top of the bridge.

…A supervisor arrived and seemed angry. Ramirez tried hard to remember the text of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the part about “aliens” in U.S. territory having the right to claim asylum. She wanted to quote it to the supervisor, but apparently he already knew the law. She remembers him scowling but waving the Central Americans past the blockade and toward the port of entry.

…But without advocates or press at their sides, other immigrants are still not getting past the bridge blockade. On June 9, two journalists — Bob Moore, a freelancer, and Claudia Tristán, of El Paso’s KFOX-TV — stood on the southbound side of the bridge, where they were not immediately visible to the CBP officials. Each pointed their phones toward the northbound side and filmed a woman — whom they later determined was a Honduran asylum-seeker — and her small son walking several feet into the United States. Their videos show the two being turned back to Mexico.

Karolina Walters is a staff attorney at the Washington, D.C.-based American Immigration Council, one of three groups representing plaintiffs in the Al Otro Lado lawsuit. She says these turn-backs of people already on U.S. soil constitute civil rights violations and “get to the heart of the lawsuit.”

…Garcia is training some of his recruits to go to the bridges in shifts and take notes when they see refugees being turned back from requesting asylum. He has another group that is learning to accompany the immigrants to the invisible line. He hopes those volunteers will be able to help asylum-seekers exercise their rights in the face of blockading border agents.

Desperate Asylum-Seekers Are Being Turned Away by U.S. Border Agents Claiming There’s “No Room”

Jeezus….