Category: Media and Culture,

Colorado State investigates why Native American students on admissions tour were reported to police

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

That two young Native American men could be pulled from a tour for police questioning on the basis of a call from one woman who didn’t report that they had done anything remotely illegal.

…Students join admissions tours late all the time. Some students are chatty with others on the tour and others aren’t. But these behaviors are all pretty standard for teenagers and not seen as cause for calling the police.

….The student tour guide posted a letter to the Native American students’ mother in which she said that their behavior was not the least bit threatening or out of the ordinary. “I cannot believe someone on my tour interpreted what your sons ‘did’ (nothing) as suspicious. When they joined my tour, minutes after I left, I was just pleased that they were able to find us. When they didn’t introduce themselves, I responded in the way that I have to countless other teenagers who don’t feel comfortable speaking in front of a group of 20 strangers — with a self-deprecating joke,” wrote the tour guide.

“I can’t explain fully the actions of the other mother. I have no idea what she was feeling because she didn’t tell me. But I know racism lives and breathes on my campus and in our country. I know that I am so saddened by how your sons were treated because I want everyone on my tour to feel like they’ve stepped into their new home. I am angry that they had to feel unwelcome because of actions I knew nothing about.”

Colorado State investigates why Native American students on admissions tour were reported to police

Blatant and gross misuse of police resources. The woman should face charges. If CSU hasn’t banned her from campus they should face charges for encouraging terrorism, intimidation, and hate crimes.

CSU’s offer of paying expenses incurred and a VIP tour is a joke. If they actually cared and wanted to make up for this hateful behavior they themselves facilitated they would offer free tuition for both boys, for four years. Anything short of free tuition and banning the offending ‘mother’ is tacit support of her calling 911 in the first place.

Before you say, isn’t banning the woman from campus and wanting her to face criminal charges is harsh, realize that her actions did not give the boys the benefit of the doubt and it was her intention to have them removed from campus and face charges. Since the parameters were already set by her actions, there is no valid reason for her not to be judged and treated by those exact parameters. She should be required to experience the same consequences she selected for others.

If the mother faces no consequences then it is tacit sanctioning of her thinking and her actions. Consequences that involve police action, criminal prosecution, and permanent banning from CSU’s campus is required. anything less is a spit in the face of both justice and law and order.

Colorado State University: 911 audio released after parent called cops on Native American brothers because they made her ‘nervous’

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

Colorado State University: 911 audio released after parent called cops on Native American brothers because they made her ‘nervous’ – CNN

The mother who called the police should be banned from the college campus. she should also face charges for wasting police resources on her racism. If the school takes no action against her they are sanctioning this injustice.

If I were the parent of the two boys involved I’d sue Colorado State University and the responding police force all the way to the stone ages for enabling this backwards woman to use tax=payer funded resources to terrorize two innocent children.

Without severe consequences for actions like this there is no motivation for small minded individuals to stop being such outrageous and entitled assholes.

Stormy Daniels’ lawyer: Cohen got $500K from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg

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

Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, also detailed other transactions he said were suspicious, including deposits from drug giant Novartis, the state-run Korea Aerospace Industries, and AT&T — which confirmed it paid Cohen’s company for “insights” into the Trump administration.

…Avenatti said his investigation uncovered eight transactions between January and August 2017, totaling half a million dollars, from U.S.-based Columbus Nova, which he said is controlled by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg and his cousin Andrew Intrater.

The money was deposited into a First Republic account for Essential Consultants, Avenatti said. That’s the same company Cohen created in 2016 and then used to wire $130,000 to Daniels to stop her from going public with her account of an alleged sexual affair with Trump a decade ago.

…Vekselberg — one of the richest men in Russia with a fortune from aluminum and oil — also attended a much-discussed 2015 dinner in Moscow where Michael Flynn, soon to become Trump’s national security adviser, was seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Daniels’ lawyer: Cohen got $500K from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg

hmmmmm

FCC Delays Are Keeping Broadband From Rural School Kids

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,, Schools,Leave a comment

Under the Trump administration, rural schools requesting funding for broadband expansion have faced record delays and denials, according to the non-profit EducationSuperHighway, which works to get schools connected to the internet. By their count, more than 60 eligible fiber projects have been unfairly denied since 2017, a rate that EducationSuperHighway CEO Evan Marwell says has spiked dramatically from years prior. Meanwhile, more than 30 schools have been waiting about a year for approval. On average, they currently wait 240 days for an answer. That’s despite state governments having put up $200 million in funds to supplement broadband expansion projects. “The table is set, and what we’ve run into is a bunch of red tape,” says Marwell.

…One of the overriding themes you’ve seen from the Trump FCC has been eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse above all else,” says Marwell. That was FCC chairman Ajit Pai’s justification for proposing new restrictions on the Lifeline program, which supplies internet service to poor families.

Now, USAC asks E-rate applicants detailed questions about the precise cost of each fiber construction project, the route the fiber would take to get to the school, and other specifics that the small schools asking for these funds have struggled to answer. Often, the problems preventing students from getting online prove to be blandly bureaucratic.

FCC Delays Are Keeping Broadband From Rural School Kids | WIRED

sighhh

More hidden Mass State Police pay surfaces. This time? Millions in perks

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

Troop F is locked in public battle with Boston police over who patrols — and thus earns lucrative overtime and detail shifts — in the Seaport District. Troop E is at the center of an overtime scandal, in which at least 30 troopers allegedly put in for shifts they didn’t work. Meanwhile, there have been a handful of other controversies and major turnover in the top ranks.

…Under fire for failing to disclose pay data, state officials last week quietly released new State Police figures, revealing more than $3.4 million in additional payouts over four years.

Most, if not all, of the money appears tied to a single, generous perk: Troop F members got a $40 per diem for driving their own cars to work.

Troopers cashed in on the opportunity, earning up to $13,000 each year in per diems alone, and adding to salaries that included five- and six-figure overtime payouts.

…For State Police, the commuting perk is just one of a handful of benefits outlined in the State Police Association of Massachusetts contract, which covers most employees.

For example, staffers earn $75 a week if they commute at least 75 miles each way to work. They get a monthly $62.50 clothing stipend if they wear “civilian clothing” 10 days or more each month. And employees who work a five-day workweek get an extra 17 days off per year, in order to be fair to those who work four days on duty, then get two days off.

More hidden Mass State Police pay surfaces. This time: millions in perks – The Boston Globe

hmmm

White Male Workers Respond Poorly To Women And Racial Minorities In Power And Take It Out On Colleagues

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

How do white male executives handle it when a woman or person of color become CEOs of their company? Not well.

…Researchers found that white male executives working under a female and/or racial minority were also less likely to provide help to fellow colleagues, with an especially negative effect on help provided to minority status colleagues.

White Male Workers Respond Poorly To Women And Racial Minorities In Power And Take It Out On Colleagues: Report

hmmmm

Emails Suggest the Department of the Interior Is Prioritizing Fossil Fuel Interests Over Wildlife Well-Being

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

A top official at the Department of the Interior (DOI), Vincent DeVito, appears to take credit for helping to delay federal protections for the species at the behest of fossil fuel industry groups, one of several examples of his willingness to prioritize the needs of extractive industries with business before the government, according to public records.

…”We really hope that you can intervene before this species gets listed next month,” Samantha McDonald, the IPAA’s government relations director, wrote to DeVito. In his reply, DeVito asked that McDonald keep him apprised of “what you may be hearing as this unfolds.”

Less than a month later, in August, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service granted the delay that IPAA sought. McDonald again wrote DeVito, as well as the acting director of the fish and wildlife service, in an email with the subject line “THANK YOU!”

“On behalf of my members, I wanted to thank you for the six-month delay on the Texas Hornshell,” she wrote, adding that it was “a good call.”

DeVito responded to McDonald that same day. “No problem,” he wrote.

…DeVito’s penchant for “energy dominance” has played out in other ways as well. As chairman of the DOI’s royalty policy committee, he helps determine the royalty rates that energy companies must pay to drill and mine on federal lands and waters, effectively encouraging or disincentivizing them.

At his Americans for Prosperity speech, DeVito described how he consulted closely with fossil fuel groups before recommending to Zinke in February that the DOI reduce royalty rates on offshore oil and gas drillers by a third, from 18.75 percent to 12.5 percent.

…On June 14th and 15th last year, DeVito traveled to West Virginia and came to the industry’s aid. According to records, his trip was planned in part by the West Virginia Coal Association itself, which submitted a trip schedule to one of DeVito’s colleagues. The schedule included meetings with the coal association as well as both state and FWS regulators overseeing crayfish conservation in the region.

Four days after DeVito’s trip, the Fish and Wildlife service approved the Berwind mine’s “protection plan” for the crayfish. In his speech to Americans for Prosperity, DeVito highlighted his role in enabling the mine’s approval.

…Conservationists, however, say the DOI’s decision to approve the Berwind mine’s crayfish protection plan was deeply flawed.

Emails Suggest the Department of the Interior Is Prioritizing Fossil Fuel Interests Over Wildlife Well-Being – Pacific Standard

Sigh….

A major California housing bill failed after opposition from the low-income residents it aimed to help. Here’s how it went wrong

On By peanutgallerynhIn Local Interest,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

When Chinese, Filipina and black tenant activists spoke to fears that expanding housing this way will displace residents of their communities, supporters of the measure drowned out their voices with chants of “Read the bill.”

…The scene of predominantly white protesters shouting over people of color fed a criticism that has dogged backers of recent legislative efforts to boost home building.

…Activists for low-income residents and communities of color said that they were blindsided by state Sen. Scott Wiener’s proposal and that subsequent efforts by the senator to protect against potential displacement and gentrification were inadequate. Wiener (D-San Francisco) and his allies have acknowledged they need to build better relationships with advocates for poor Californians and vowed to introduce a new bill in 2019. But for now, there is a fundamental disconnect between the approach of the senator and his supporters on one side and influential anti-poverty organizations on the other.

…Some of the most passionate debates were over SB 827’s effects on those in poverty, many of whom can’t afford steep increases in housing costs. Wiener contends that by allowing for much more housing overall — alongside providing protections for existing residents — SB 827 would have helped keep people in their neighborhoods.

…Neighborhood activists in historically black and Latino South Los Angeles spent a decade devising blueprints to guide future growth that the Los Angeles City Council approved at the end of last year. Many of the same organizations supported a successful 2016 citywide ballot measure that allows developers to increase density and raise height limits near certain transit stops — but only if they agree to set aside portions of their projects for low-income residents.

SB 827, which in an early iteration would have in effect rezoned broad swaths of Los Angeles, alarmed activists, said Laura Raymond, campaign director for Alliance for Community Transit-Los Angeles. Raymond said her members believed the bill would have undermined their prior work and forced those they represent out of their homes.

…One of California YIMBY’s first shows of support for SB 827 was a letter from more than 120 tech company executives, who are some of its biggest funders and often serve as lightning rods in the state’s gentrification debates.

A major California housing bill failed after opposition from the low-income residents it aimed to help. Here’s how it went wrong

Sigh….

Speaker Ryan Backs Down From House Chaplain Fight

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Religion,Leave a comment

In a sharply worded letter, Conroy, a Jesuit priest, suggested bias against his Catholic faith in the speaker’s request for his resignation last month. Conroy alleged Jonathan Burks, Ryan’s chief of staff, had said “maybe it’s time we had a chaplain that wasn’t a Catholic” during an April 13 private meeting in which Burks informed Conroy that the speaker wanted him to step down.

Speaker Ryan Backs Down From House Chaplain Fight : NPR

hmmmm

Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive policing technology

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Gulf Coast Region,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

…[In 2009] the National Institute of Justice began issuing grants for pilot projects in crime forecasting. Those grants underpin some of the best-known — and most scrutinized — predictive policing efforts in Chicago and Los Angeles. Programs vary, and the algorithms are often proprietary, but they all aim to ingest vast stores of data — geography, criminal records, the weather, social media histories — and make predictions about individuals or places likely to be involved in a crime.

The company provided software to a secretive NOPD program that traced people’s ties to other gang members, outlined criminal histories, analyzed social media, and predicted the likelihood that individuals would commit violence or become a victim. As part of the discovery process in Lewis’ trial, the government turned over more than 60,000 pages of documents detailing evidence gathered against him from confidential informants, ballistics, and other sources — but they made no mention of the NOPD’s partnership with Palantir, according to a source familiar with the 39ers trial.

…Predictive policing technology has proven highly controversial wherever it is implemented, but in New Orleans, the program escaped public notice, partly because Palantir established it as a philanthropic relationship with the city through Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s signature NOLA For Life program. Thanks to its philanthropic status, as well as New Orleans’ “strong mayor” model of government, the agreement never passed through a public procurement process.

…The relationship between New Orleans and Palantir was finalized on February 23rd, 2012, when Mayor Landrieu signed an agreement granting New Orleans free access to the firm’s public sector data integration platform.

…In January 2013, New Orleans would also allow Palantir to use its law enforcement account for LexisNexis’ Accurint product, which is comprised of millions of searchable public records, court filings, licenses, addresses, phone numbers, and social media data. The firm also got free access to city criminal and non-criminal data in order to train its software for crime forecasting. Neither the residents of New Orleans nor key city council members whose job it is to oversee the use of municipal data were aware of Palantir’s access to reams of their data.

…The data on individuals came from information scraped from social media as well as NOPD criminal databases for ballistics, gangs, probation and parole information, jailhouse phone calls, calls for service, the central case management system (i.e., every case NOPD had on record), and the department’s repository of field interview cards. The latter database represents every documented encounter NOPD has with citizens, even those that don’t result in arrests. In 2010, The Times-Picayune revealed that Chief Serpas had mandated that the collection of field interview cards be used as a measure of officer and district performance, resulting in over 70,000 field interview cards filled out in 2011 and 2012. The practice resembled NYPD’s “stop and frisk” program and was instituted with the express purpose of gathering as much intelligence on New Orleanians as possible, regardless of whether or not they committed a crime.

…NOPD then used the list of potential victims and perpetrators of violence generated by Palantir to target individuals for the city’s CeaseFire program. CeaseFire is a form of the decades-old carrot-and-stick strategy developed by David Kennedy, a professor at John Jay College in New York. In the program, law enforcement informs potential offenders with criminal records that they know of their past actions and will prosecute them to the fullest extent if they re-offend. If the subjects choose to cooperate, they are “called in” to a required meeting as part of their conditions of probation and parole and are offered job training, education, potential job placement, and health services. In New Orleans, the CeaseFire program is run under the broader umbrella of NOLA For Life, which is Mayor Landrieu’s pet project that he has funded through millions of dollars from private donors.

…Of the 308 people who participated in call-ins from October 2012 through March 2017, seven completed vocational training, nine completed “paid work experience,” none finished a high school diploma or GED course, and 32 were employed at one time or another through referrals. Fifty participants were detained following their call-in, and two have since died.

By contrast, law enforcement vigorously pursued its end of the program. From November 2012, when the new Multi-Agency Gang Unit was founded, through March 2014, racketeering indictments escalated: 83 alleged gang members in eight gangs were indicted in the 16-month period, according to an internal Palantir presentation.

Call-ins declined precipitously after the first few years. According to city records, eight group call-ins took place from 2012 to 2014, but only three took place in the following three years.

…Palantir marketing staff first contacted the Chicago Police Department in late 2013 about the possibility of selling a predictive policing package based on the firm’s New Orleans work, eventually settling on a $3 million price tag. Through a series of federal grants awarded to CPD beginning in 2009, Chicago Police and academics at the Illinois Institute of Technology had already created their own crime-forecasting program that assigned a risk score to individuals based on criminal data and social media histories.

…Palantir provides data analysis and integration for the Los Angeles Police Department, but the arrangement was made through the LA Police Foundation rather than the LAPD itself. In New York, the firm’s contract was not disclosed by the city comptroller for security reasons (NYPD does this with surveillance equipment contracts), and it was never brought to the city council for approval. Palantir’s work with NYPD only became public when documents about its tumultuous relationship with the country’s largest police force were leaked to BuzzFeed reporter William Alden.

…Licenses and tech support for Palantir’s law enforcement platform can run to millions of dollars annually, according to an audit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

…As more departments and companies began experimenting with predictive policing, government-funded research cast doubts on its efficacy, and independent academics found it can have a disparate impact on poor communities of color. A 2016 study reverse-engineered PredPol’s algorithm and found that it replicated “systemic bias” against over-policed communities of color and that historical crime data did not accurately predict future criminal activity.

……Even within the law enforcement community, there are concerns about the potential civil liberties implications of the sort of individualized prediction Palantir developed in New Orleans, and whether it’s appropriate for the American criminal justice system.

…It’s especially disturbing that this level of intrusive research into the lives of ordinary residents is kept virtually a secret,” said Jim Craig, the director of the Louisiana office of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center.

…Cities around the country have recently begun to grapple with the question of if and how municipalities should regulate data sharing and privacy.

“The same flaws that were in the Chicago predictive program are going to be amplified in New Orleans’ data set,” Isaac said.

The secrecy surrounding the NOPD program also raises questions about whether defendants have been given evidence they have a right to view. Sarah St. Vincent, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, recently published an 18-month investigation into parallel construction, or the practice of law enforcement concealing evidence gathered from surveillance activity. In an interview, St. Vincent said that law enforcement withholding intelligence gathering or analysis like New Orleans’ predictive policing work effectively kneecaps the checks and balances of the criminal justice system. At the Cato Institute’s 2017 Surveillance Conference in December, St. Vincent raised concerns about why information garnered from predictive policing systems was not appearing in criminal indictments or complaints.

“It’s the role of the judge to evaluate whether what the government did in this case was legal,” St. Vincent said of the New Orleans program. “I do think defense attorneys would be right to be concerned about the use of programs that might be inaccurate, discriminatory, or drawing from unconstitutional data.”

Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive policing technology – The Verge

Sigh….

White House press on defensive after Michelle Wolf torches Trump, Sanders

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,Leave a comment

White House press on defensive after Michelle Wolf torches Trump, Sanders | TheHill

Good lord, the press is engaging in this massive game of make believe and pretending that not a single media outlet has ever heard of the correspondents dinner. Yes people, it happens every year. Yes, every year it is a roast. …And every year they roast the President and White House staff. Every. Single. Fucking. Year. People.

Agggghhhh, enough of this willfully delusional “news” already!

High Alert: State Warns Drivers To Use Caution On 4/20

On By peanutgallerynhIn Drugs & Drink,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

High Alert: State Warns Drivers To Use Caution On 4/20 « CBS Boston

What an odd mix of unsubstantiated alarmist craziness and bizarre wanna-be urban legend…

It is important to note that: ” At no point in this study is it confirmed that the road fatalities were in fact caused by stoned drivers, or drivers who had been drinking in addition to consuming cannabis, or if other factors were at play. The study does not offer conclusive evidence that, to use Reuters’ headline, ‘auto crash deaths multiply after April 20 cannabis parties’.”

The quaint fantasy about high schoolers and the Grateful Dead is just, well…. It sounds like a game of paranoid suburban soccer mom telephone gone wrong.