Category: Domestic Affairs,

The federal government has helped the militarization of police

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

The 1033 program …transferred surplus military-grade equipment from the Pentagon to police, [and] didn’t require any training or oversight for the equipment’s use. …Police had to deploy the equipment at least once within a year to keep it, [providing the motivation] to use the gear when it wasn’t necessary.

Police often deployed military-grade equipment …sometimes agitating the situation and causing demonstrations to unnecessarily escalate into tense and even violent conflicts.

The federal government has helped the militarization of police – Vox

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Kamala Harris closes campaign offices and fires staff in New Hampshire

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Asked by reporters on Wednesday in Iowa how she plans to stay competitive in New Hampshire if she’s pulled all her resources, Harris said, “We are still committed to New Hampshire.”

Kamala Harris closes campaign offices and fires staff in New Hampshire – CNNPolitics

  1. She was never committed to NH.
  2.  If the Senator thinks firing her staff is how to show commitment, she’s not much of administrator
  3. When you are committed to something, you show up.

Kamala Harris shutters offices throughout New Hampshire

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Granite State,Leave a comment

“The campaign has made a strategic decision to realign resources to go all-in on Iowa, resulting in office closures and staff realignments and reductions in New Hampshire,” said spokesman Nate Evans.

…The campaign’s field organizers working in the state were all laid off Thursday, per a campaign source. The remaining skeletal staff will work out of Manchester.

The office there appeared closed and empty during two visits in the morning, but a light was on later in the day. A man walked out in the early afternoon and said the campaign was going well. There were still dozens of bright yellow lawn signs, a big drawing of the phonetic pronunciation of “Kamala” and information about how to receive text messages from the campaign.

New Hampshire has never been seen as a priority for Harris, though until this week she had insisted that she intended to compete vigorously here.

…The top-tier Democratic candidates have dozens of staffers on the ground here, some over 60, with offices in each of the ten counties throughout the state.

Kamala Harris shutters offices throughout New Hampshire – POLITICO

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Boulder County Sheriff’s Office sued after video shows inmate being tasered while strapped down

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

Sgt. Chris Reiss can be heard on body cam footage telling Gotthelf, “Based on your suicide statements, you’re going on suicide watch.”

Gotthelf is heard denying she made any suicidal statements but there is no body cam that recorded what she may have said [earlier.]

…”You guys are nuts,” is what Gotthelf is heard saying to deputies when told she has to strip and put on a suicide smock.

…Deputies determined Gotthelf was not cooperating even though she can be seen on body cam following orders to place her hands behind her back.

According to the lawsuit, multiple deputies strapped “her into a restraint chair, and inflicting multiple pressure point pain compliance techniques, and culminating in Sergeant Reiss tasing her despite the fact she was fully retrained and could not move.”

…”That’s just sadistic,” said attorney Mari Newman, who represents Gotthelf and filed the lawsuit claiming excessive force and disability discrimination.

…”She was fully restrained, handcuffed behind her back and strapped into a restraint chair with somebody’s hands around her neck. I mean, she could not move if she wanted to and yet, they tased her,” said Newman.

The lawsuit states after Gotthelf was tasered, she was forced to remain in the restraint chair for four more hours.

Boulder County Sheriff’s Office sued after video shows inmate being tasered while strapped down | FOX31 Denver

Remorseless sadism.

Former CIA director: secure US elections with open-source voting machines

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Privacy,Leave a comment

In the case of voting, open-source software systems would be overseen by public-private partnerships between counties and vendors.

Open-source systems are tried and tested. A majority of supercomputers use them. The Defense Department, NASA and the United States Air Force all use open-source systems, because they know this provides far more security. Every step in our voting process should use software that follows these examples.

Former CIA director: secure US elections with open-source voting machines / Boing Boing

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Missouri officials tracked patients’ periods in abortion clinic battle

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Privacy,Leave a comment

At the St. Louis Clinic, four out of more than 4,000 patients who received abortions remained pregnant after the procedure, according to the data made public at the hearing. There’s no reason such a rate — less than one in 1,000 — should have concerned state officials, Brandi said: “It sounds, actually, like a quite safe facility.”

Failed abortions have become a focus of abortion opponents around the country in recent months, with President Trump and others claiming that infants are being born alive after abortion attempts and doctors are killing them (which experts say does not happen). But by using the narrative of abortion failure as an excuse to create a spreadsheet with patients’ periods, the health department is dragging their medical data into a larger effort aimed at shutting the clinic down, Planned Parenthood says.

…The health department director had previously not said much publicly about his position on abortion but at the hearings this week, he said he is “pro-life,” the Star reported on Tuesday.

…The fact that Missouri state officials were analyzing patients’ period data has inspired shock and concern among many. “State law requires the health department director to be ‘of recognized character and integrity,’” Democratic state Rep. Crystal Quade told the Star in a statement. “This unsettling behavior calls into question whether Doctor Williams meets that high standard.”

Meanwhile, Yamelsie Rodriguez, president of Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, called the news of the spreadsheet “deeply disturbing” in a statement to media. “Missouri’s top health official, Randall Williams, scrutinized menstrual cycles of women in this state in order to end abortion access,” she said.

Missouri officials tracked patients’ periods in abortion clinic battle – Vox

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Missouri tracked Planned Parenthood patients’ periods to control them.

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

According to the Star, the spreadsheet “was based on medical records the investigator had access to during the state’s annual inspection, also included medical identification numbers, dates of medical procedures and the gestational ages of fetuses.” It was created in an attempt to find so-called failed abortions, the reason state health officials are giving for refusing to renew the clinic’s license. State officials denied that the director of its health department requested the data, despite the spreadsheet being attached to an email entitled “Director’s request.”

…Missouri passed a law earlier this year forbidding abortions after the eight week of pregnancy, not even making an exception for rape or incest.

…The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is responsible for the health and safety of unaccompanied minors who enter the United States,  …was tracking pregnancies among the cohort, putting such details as the length of their pregnancy and whether they requested an abortion on a spreadsheet. The office’s former head Scott Lloyd — who is writing a book about his antiabortion beliefs — read the spreadsheet on a weekly basis.

Missouri didn’t track Planned Parenthood patients’ periods to protect women. It was to control them. – The Washington Post

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The public deserves action regarding our insecure election systems

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Infrastructure and Transportation,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Privacy,Leave a comment

The software that is used to tabulate the ballots and generate the initial vote counts is one of the weakest links in our entire election process.

Currently, this software is supplied (and controlled) by private corporations. This creates a plethora of problems. For one, the software is proprietary, so it can’t be audited by the large numbers of software security experts, from university professors to hi-tech security firms. For another, the corporations are motivated by profits, which is actually at odds with providing the most robust solution possible.

The public deserves action regarding our insecure election systems – The San Francisco Examiner

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Keystone pipeline leaks oil in northeastern North Dakota

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Environment,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

State regulators were on the scene Wednesday afternoon, and they estimated that the area of the spill was 1,500 feet long by 15 feet wide. Glatt said some wetlands were affected.

…The company was still working to contain the spill Wednesday afternoon.

…It has experienced problems with spills in the past, including one in 2011 of more than 14,000 gallons of oil in southeastern North Dakota, near the South Dakota border.

In 2017, the pipeline leaked an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil onto agricultural land in northeastern South Dakota, in a rural area near the North Dakota border.

Keystone pipeline leaks oil in northeastern North Dakota – StarTribune.com

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Romney on Trump

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

“By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling,” Romney tweeted earlier this month.

In recent weeks, the senator’s acts of rebellion against the commander in chief have been flagrant: from publicly confirming “Pierre Delecto” as the secret identity he used to counter Trump on Twitter to bashing Trump’s Syria policy on the Senate floor to positioning himself on the front edge of any move by GOP lawmakers to break away and either censure the president or vote to remove him from office if the House follows through with impeachment.

Here’s the price Mitt Romney is paying for standing against Trump

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Romney’s big suggestion about Trump and Turkey

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, International Affairs,, Military,Leave a comment

[Romney] suggested Trump got bullied into the withdrawal by Turkey — and that he backed down.

“Are we so weak and inept diplomatically that Turkey forced the hand of the United States of America? Turkey!?” Romney said. “I believe that it’s imperative that public hearings are held to answer these questions, and I hope the Senate is able to conduct those hearings next week.”

…Most of the theorizing about what happened has focused on the idea that Trump got rolled by Erdogan, who has been pitching the idea that Turkey could take over the fight against ISIS in northern Syria for a long time. The possibility that Trump gave away the farm because Erdogan was particularly convincing or because of something else — Trump’s business interests in Turkey, his desire for Middle East withdrawals, etc. — is a well-trafficked theory among Trump’s opponents.

…Trump basically got told what was going to happen and essentially let Erdogan dictate the terms of a withdrawal. We are talking about a relatively small country forcing the hand of the United States and the supposed dealmaker in chief.

Romney’s big suggestion about Trump and Turkey – The Washington Post

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In Edward Snowden’s New Memoir, the Disclosures This Time Are Personal

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

Snowden, of course, is the former intelligence contractor who, in 2013, leaked documents about the United States government’s surveillance programs, dispelling any notions that the National Security Agency and its allies were playing a quaint game of spy vs. spy, limiting their dragnet to specific persons of interest. 

…Sweeping up phone records of Americans citizens, eavesdropping on foreign leaders, harvesting data from internet activity: For revealing these secret programs and more, Snowden was deemed a traitor by the Obama administration, which charged him with violating the Espionage Act and revoked his passport, effectively stranding Snowden in Moscow, where he has been living ever since.

…The internet of the 1990s was a liberating space, he says, where adopting and discarding different avatars could open up possibilities for more authentic expression and connection.

…What does it mean to have the data of our lives collected and stored on file, ready to be accessed — not just now, by whatever administration happens to be in office at the moment, but potentially forever? Should such sensitive work be outsourced to private contractors? What entails effective “oversight” if the public is kept in the dark? When can concerns about “national security” slip into bids for unchecked power?

In Edward Snowden’s New Memoir, the Disclosures This Time Are Personal – The New York Times

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Edward Snowden: My Hope in Obama Was ‘Misplaced’

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

Snowden also wrote that America had engaged in “self-destruction” after 9/11, “with the promulgation of secret policies, secret laws, secret courts and secret wars.”

…“I fully supported defensive and targeted surveillance,” Snowden writes, but he called the government’s “bulk collection” of data hypocritical. According to The New York Times, Snowden felt like Obama was doubling down on the Bush administration’s surveillance programs.

Edward Snowden: My Hope in Obama Was ‘Misplaced’

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Trump wrongly tells female astronauts they’re first women to spacewalk

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

“This is the first time for a woman outside of the space station,” Trump, who appeared to be reading from a script, said on the phone call. “They’re conducting the first-ever female spacewalk.”

In fact, the first woman walked in space in 1984 — the cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya holds that record. The NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan became the first American woman to do so later the same year.

…”We don’t want to take too much credit because there have been many other female spacewalkers before us,” Meir, who was doing her first-ever spacewalk, said. “This is just the first time that there have been two women outside at the same time, and it’s really interesting for us. We’ve talked a lot about it up here, you know, for us, this is really just us doing our jobs. It’s something we’ve been training for for six years.”

Trump wrongly tells female astronauts they’re first women to spacewalk – Business Insider

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