The Blue Wave (@acklover) | Twitter
bahahahahaha – whoever put that together… nice one!
Category: Domestic Affairs,
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.
Erdogan: There was no deal to free US pastor Andrew Brunson
Erdogan: There was no deal to free US pastor Andrew Brunson – CNNPolitics
Trump is really bad at negotiating.
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.
New Manafort docs appear to contradict own lobbying claims
New documents filed in court by Paul Manafort’s lawyers appear to contradict his legal team’s own claims that the former Trump campaign chairman’s team only lobbied on behalf of the Ukrainian government in Europe.
The revelation could be important as Manafort is trying to fend off charges from special counsel Robert Mueller that Manafort failed to register as a foreign agent in connection with his lobbying work for the Ukrainian government.
…Several exhibits included in the court filing seem to contradict Kilimnik’s assertion that the Hapsburg group never lobbied in Washington.
New Manafort docs appear to contradict own lobbying claims – POLITICO
hmmm
EPA worried about Scott Pruitt’s toxic desk but chose not to warn or protect the public from the exact same risk
Former EPA chief Scott Pruitt’s staff planned to take precautions to protect him from the toxic effects of formaldehyde in a fancy new desk – but months later, his top aides blocked the release of a report on the health dangers of the carcinogeno.
…Pruitt was wrapping up a more than $9,500 redecoration of his office when a top official noticed a California warning on a desk the administrator wanted to order saying it contained the chemical.
…Although an EPA regulation limiting formaldehyde emissions from such items had been put on hold by Team Trump, California regulates the chemical.
…A few months later, top EPA officials took steps to block a health report produced by another division at the agency that found the levels of formaldehyde that many Americans breathe every day are tied to leukemia and nose and throat cancer, among other ailments.
EPA worried about Scott Pruitt’s toxic desk but not enough to warn public
Grrrr
Montenegro: We’re too small to start a new world war
…US President Donald Trump suggested this week that this tiny Balkan country could be the crucible for a new global conflict.
Montenegro begs to differ.
“We have no intentions whatsoever to start World War III, we are too small for that,” the country’s foreign minister, Srdjan Darmanovic, told CNN in an exclusive interview. “It was fun to hear about it, actually like a good joke, but we are a very peaceful nation.”
…The newest NATO member was thrown into the spotlight when Trump described its people as “very aggressive.”
…Carlson questioned why the US should have to defend Montenegro, as required by Article 5 of the NATO treaty.
Trump responded: “I’ve asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. … They are very strong people. They are very aggressive people, they may get aggressive, and congratulations, you are in World War III.”
…Montenegro joined NATO in 2017. Its membership bid was opposed by Russia, which maintains close relationships with neighboring Serbia. The Montenegrin government accuses Moscow of orchestrating a coup as part of an effort to prevent it joining NATO.
Montenegro: We’re too small to start a new world war – CNN
U.S. gathering on religious freedom sets up competing narratives
The gathering gives Trump a high-wattage spotlight for showing his pro-Christian bona fides to the evangelical voters who helped him win the Oval Office. But it also gives the president’s critics a platform to assail what they see as his hypocrisy on human rights, especially when it comes to Muslims, whom Trump once proposed banning from U.S. soil.
…According to a State Department staffer, countries that managed to snag seats include Bahrain and Hungary, whose governments have been accused of hostility toward some religious groups. In Bahrain, Shiite Muslims, many of whom are opposition activists, have faced crackdowns by the Sunni-led monarchy. Hungary’s increasingly autocratic ruling party has faced a backlash over a law stripping recognition from a range of religious groups.
…The State Department staffer said that Russia and Turkey, whose religious-rights records have been increasingly problematic, were left off the invite list. The staffer added that administration officials hoped to highlight in particular the religious abuses by the government of Iran, an Islamist-led country that the Trump administration has singled out for pressure to the point where analysts say it is effectively aiming for regime change.
On the civil-society front, the administration is taking an inclusive approach: Invitees range from atheists to Scientologists, according to the State Department staffer. Representatives of more broad-based organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, are also on the list. Many are hosting side events.
…Trump ….avoids church.
U.S. gathering on religious freedom sets up competing narratives – POLITICO
hmmmm
White House removed Putin support for Trump from official video, transcript
Te White House had appeared to delete a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s support for President Trump in an official video of the leaders’ joint press conference in Helsinki, Finland.
The U.S. government is essentially following the Kremlin’s playbook.”
…The Atlantic was the first news outlet to point out the differences. Maddow added that the Russian government’s transcript from the event nixes Mason’s question completely.
Maddow: White House removed Putin support for Trump from official video, transcript | TheHill
hmmm
Ivanka Trump to shut down fashion company
Ivanka Trump’s company saw an increase in profits in early 2017 after her father’s presidential win, according to a person with direct knowledge. But since that gain, profits have declined, the source added.
…Nordstrom isn’t the only retailer to distance itself from the brand.
The company that owns TJ Maxx and Marshalls decided to no longer promote the brand in stores, and earlier this month, Hudson’s Bay, one of Canada’s largest department stores, chose to phase out Ivanka Trump products, according to company spokeswoman Tiffany Bourré.
…The government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called the news that Ivanka Trump will be shutting down her company “a notable step in the right direction,” but added that it “comes much too late.”
…Ivanka is expected to address her company’s staff on Tuesday in New York, according to a source with knowledge of her decision-making process. The same source said 18 people will be affected by the company shutting down.
Ivanka Trump to shut down fashion company – CNNPolitics
18 whole employees….
hmmmm
What You Need To Know About The Much-Discussed Carter Page FISA Document
The FBI’s Russia investigation began in the summer of 2016 when investigators learned that a Trump campaign foreign policy aide, George Papadopoulos, had been importuned by Russian intelligence operatives in London. They offered him “dirt” on Hillary Clinton and “off-the-record” meetings with Russian officials.
Counterintelligence officers began to look into what was going on. By October, they were focusing on Page, who had left the Trump campaign earlier in the year after he, too, had served as a foreign policy aide.
In the new document from that month, the FBI not only argues that Page might have been conspiring with the Russians, it wrote that it believed he was a full-blown Russian agent.
…In the filing, investigators cited a number of reasons they believed it, including the FBI’s past experience in dealing with Page — who had been targeted for recruitment by Russia’s foreign intelligence service — and then-new reports the FBI was getting from a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele.
…Now that portions are public, it is clear that the FISA application does not name Trump or Clinton or Fusion GPS or Simpson or Steele nor detail the political background.
Nunes argued in February that law enforcement officials should have included these details many times but didn’t:
“In the case of Carter Page, the government had at least four independent opportunities before the FISC to accurately provide an accounting of the relevant facts,” Nunes wrote. “However, our findings indicate that, as described below, material and relevant information was omitted.”
The Justice Department and FBI responded before the release of Nunes’ memo that, in fact, he was the one who had omitted important information about the way FISA process works — which the agencies said gave them “grave concerns.”
…Entire sections of the file, including one under the heading “Clandestine intelligence activities of the Russian Federation,” are blacked out.
What You Need To Know About The Much-Discussed Carter Page FISA Document : NPR
hmmmm
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