damnedifIknow
damnedifIknow's JournalRichmond PD Chief Defends Joining Anti-Police Brutality Protest
ICHMOND (KPIX 5) – A Bay Area police chief who participated in a protest against police brutality said he would do it again, despite complaints from officers saying he broke the law because he wore his uniform during the march.
In an interview with KPIX 5, Magnus said, “Sure. I would do it again. I would like to be a little more prepared for perhaps the fallout.”
Magnus received an avalanche of reaction after someone snapped a picture of him at the protest, holding a sign with the popular hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter.”
KPIX 5, KCBS and Chronicle insider Phil Matier asked Magnus what his reaction would be if an officer held a sign showing support for Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot Michael Brown. Magnus said, “I would have been appalled. And I think there is a real difference because my statement was about building bridges. A statement like supporting Darren Wilson, especially under the circumstances, is incredibly divisive, I think inappropriate.”
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/12/15/richmond-pd-chief-defends-joining-anti-police-brutality-protest-holding-blacklivesmatter-sign-while-in-uniform-chris-magnus-march-political-statement/
Protests against police birthing new music
The killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown have inspired a musical outpouring perhaps unseen in the U.S. since Pete Seeger helped make "We Shall Overcome" a civil-rights standard in the 1960s. Older songs are being redeployed for a new generation. New compositions are being widely shared, including some from major-label artists."
One of the tunes gaining a following on the streets and social media was penned six weeks ago by Luke Nephew, a 32-year-old Bronx poet who also has composed event-specific cantos for protests at immigration detention centers, foreclosure auctions and other demonstration sites. It has four lines, starting with "I still hear my brother crying, 'I can't breathe.' Now I'm in the struggle singing. I can't leave."
http://www.dailyprogress.com/eedition/mapping/protests-against-police-birthing-new-music/article_f87c3fbc-41a7-5e43-8971-ee411a9c53f4.html
24-year-old man dead in Sanford NC officer-involved shooting
SANFORD, N.C. -
The family of a 24-year-old Sanford man say police fatally shot the man Wednesday when officers attempted to serve a warrant.
Family members of Travis Faison told WNCN that Faison was shot by an officer Wednesday at a home in the 600 block of Magnolia Street in Sanford when police attempted to serve a warrant at the address.
Sanford police confirmed a man died in an officer-involved shooting around 1:40 p.m. on Magnolia Street.
The State Bureau of Investigation will investigate the incident, Sanford police confirmed.
The family said a struggle ensued between Faison and the officer, which led to the shooting.
“The police came up to my cousin's house looking for a warrant. Shot and killed him,” said Tyrone Bell."
Video at link on this developing story: http://www.wncn.com/story/27598792/1-dead-in-sanford-officer-involved-shooting
Police Sadistically Tasering Non-Combative Inmates.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9e3_1418113892#7bGbGcjeZJju8BpL.9An anonymous source recently sent some disturbing videos to a Lafayette, La., TV news station. The videos (below) show police officers in Mamou, La., tasing unarmed inmates in jail cells from July to October in 2010."
Professor: Cops are getting the benefit of the doubt
Bowling Green State University Professor Phil Stinson, a former cop himself, has been trying to determine just how many people are killed by police, how many of those killings are determined to be crimes.
However, it’s not easy. The data he admits is not perfect, the reporting scant, law enforcement agencies, he says, sometimes don’t cooperate and respond honestly to surveys; but according to Stinson, in 2,718 cases involving police shootings from 2005 to 2011, just 41 sworn officers were ever charged with manslaughter or murder.
What’s more he says, is that in ten years of data on sworn officers involved in any kind of misconduct, on the job or off. Officers charged with crimes ranging from theft to murder are 33 percent less-likely to be found guilty, than the general public.
Prof. Stinson said, “They’re treated differently, and the people who have to make the decisions, either the charging decision in terms of returning an indictment or ultimately determining guilt in a criminal case. They’re just reluctant to do so.”
Nowhere is that more evident than Albuquerque. Municipal statistics since 2010 show the city has an officer-involved shooting rate twice that of Chicago, eight times that of New York, yet not a single Albuquerque police officer has even been charged, let alone convicted of using excessive force in the last 30 years."
Video at link: http://wwlp.com/2014/12/09/professor-cops-are-getting-the-benefit-of-the-doubt/
"Verschärfte Vernehmung"( May 29 2007)
The phrase "Verschärfte Vernehmung" is German for "enhanced interrogation". Other translations include "intensified interrogation" or "sharpened interrogation". It's a phrase that appears to have been concocted in 1937, to describe a form of torture that would leave no marks, and hence save the embarrassment pre-war Nazi officials were experiencing as their wounded torture victims ended up in court. The methods, as you can see above, are indistinguishable from those described as "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the president. As you can see from the Gestapo memo, moreover, the Nazis were adamant that their "enhanced interrogation techniques" would be carefully restricted and controlled, monitored by an elite professional staff, of the kind recommended by Charles Krauthammer, and strictly reserved for certain categories of prisoner. At least, that was the original plan. "
*In Norway, we actually have a 1948 court case that weighs whether "enhanced interrogation" using the methods approved by president Bush amounted to torture. The proceedings are fascinating, with specific reference to the hypothermia used in Gitmo, and throughout interrogation centers across the field of conflict. The Nazi defense of the techniques is almost verbatim that of the Bush administration... "
Freezing prisoners to near-death, repeated beatings, long forced-standing, waterboarding, cold showers in air-conditioned rooms, stress positions [Arrest mit Verschaerfung], withholding of medicine and leaving wounded or sick prisoners alone in cells for days on end - all these have occurred at US detention camps under the command of president George W. Bush. Over a hundred documented deaths have occurred in these interrogation sessions."
Critics will no doubt say I am accusing the Bush administration of being Hitler. I'm not. There is no comparison between the political system in Germany in 1937 and the U.S. in 2007. What I am reporting is a simple empirical fact: the interrogation methods approved and defended by this president are not new. Many have been used in the past. The very phrase used by the president to describe torture-that-isn't-somehow-torture - "enhanced interrogation techniques" - is a term originally coined by the Nazis. The techniques are indistinguishable. The methods were clearly understood in 1948 as war-crimes. The punishment for them was death. "
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2007/05/-versch-auml-rfte-vernehmung/228158/#more
White Florida deputy shoots black man who witnesses say had hands up
ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida sheriff called for calm after a 28-year-old unarmed black man in a stolen car was shot and critically wounded early on Monday by a white officer, after witness reports that the man had his hands up and amid racially charged protests nationwide about police violence."
Witnesses at the apartment complex said that the men had their hands up when the deputy opened fire, according to local media reports.
Cities across the United States have seen major protests in recent days after grand juries declined to indict anyone in the deaths of two unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers in New York and Ferguson, Missouri.
After locating a stolen car at an apartment complex just after midnight on Monday, Sergeant Robert McCarthy fired three shots, one of which hit Cedric Bartee.
Demings said Bartee failed to comply with McCarthy's commands and "made extensive furtive movements," making the deputy fear for his safety.
Bartee underwent surgery and was in stable but critical condition late in the afternoon, the sheriff said. A second man in the car was arrested unhurt.
The shooting also comes only a few days after a 32-year-old Latino man was shot and killed in a car by an Orlando detective investigating a burglary. Police said the detective opened fire after he saw Alejandro Noel Cordero had a gun."
http://news.yahoo.com/white-florida-deputy-shoots-black-man-witnesses-had-004052289.html
Hawaii under martial law was like ‘military dictatorship’ (1941-1944)
HAWAII — Islanders suffered under nearly three years of martial law from 1941-1944; so oppressive that it was later described by a federal judge as a “military dictatorship.” All manner of civilian liberties were replaced by oppressive military orders enforced by American soldiers."
*In declaring martial law, all forms of civilian law were suspended. An entire new system of justice and order was instituted and controlled at the absolute discretion of Lt. Gen. Short — the newly declared “Military Governor” of the islands.
The transfer of power meant that all civilian courts would be closed, and all government functions — federal, territorial, and municipal — would be placed under military control. The U.S. Constitution was suspended and civilians no longer guaranteed any individual rights or protections from the government. Civilians had no freedom of speech, self-defense, assembly, or protections from from unreasonable search and seizures, inter alia."
*After the war, federal district court magistrate Judge J. Frank McLaughlin condemned the conduct of martial law, saying, “Gov. Poindexter declared lawfully martial law but the Army went beyond the governor and set up that which was lawful only in conquered enemy territory namely, military government which is not bound by the Constitution. And they… threw the Constitution into the discard and set up a military dictatorship"
http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/ww2-hawaii-martial-law/
Jets' Sheldon Richardson stands by his comment that Ferguson cop Darren Wilson is a 'pig'
FLORHAM PARK -- Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, one of the team's biggest stars, did not back down Thursday from his comment that Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson is a "pig."
Richardson made the remark on his Twitter account Nov. 24, after a grand jury did not indict Wilson for shooting and killing Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old.
Richardson was further infuriated by another grand jury, on Wednesday, not indicting a New York City police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, for applying a banned chokehold to Eric Garner in Staten Island. Garner, who was also unarmed, died shortly thereafter.
"Don't get the word pig wrong," said Richardson, a second-year pro from St. Louis, which is right next to Ferguson. "I meant that, but don't take away from my message."
What was his message?
"A guy got murdered and guy got off for it," Richardson said. "It's just that simple. It just happened here in New York, too, so it's not just in St. Louis. It's getting where it's pretty bad everywhere now. So much for the justice system."
Richardson clarified that his "pig" comment was not a blanket statement about all cops.
"I've got friends who are cops," he said. "They laughed about it. They said, 'I can't believe you actually said it on your social media.' That's about it. It was referring to one guy. If you want to take it personal or make it personal, you know where I work at."
Richardson said he is not afraid about speaking his mind regarding these cases.
"Why would I be?" he said. "It's just words. The actions are being done by the police officers who I feel like are doing wrong. You're supposed to protect and serve, but you're out killing people."
http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2014/12/jets_sheldon_richardson_stands_by_his_comment_that_ferguson_cop_darren_wilson_is_a_pig.html
Professors and Experts Argue for Prison System Reform
The panel featured various professors and experts on America’s criminal justice system.
Prof. Travis Gosa, Africana studies, discussed arguments for the need to both reform and abolish the criminal justice system and mass incarceration.
“I am only here to complete abolition of prisons as part of a complex of surveillance policing incarceration, which has been used to reestablished an apartheid nation,” he said.
Both Gosa and Prof. Paula Ioanide, race and ethnicity, Ithaca College, agreed that mass incarceration is a “new Jim Crow [law].”
“There is an infrastructure of ideas which continues to legitimize the incarceration of so many people,” Ioanide said.
She said she believes Americans are “taught to fear” under what she described as the new Jim Crow system."
This country equivocates justice with punishment,” Ioanide said. “That removing this person has actually solved this problem, but all it does is sicken the entire country. [I want a] shift in consciousness around notions of justice.”
Prof. Joe Margulies, government and law, also discussed the impact that students may have in reforming the prison system.
“Criminal justice reform has never been so prevalent,” Margulies said. “It is apparent that there is more energy surrounding these questions now. This is a moment where people can get involved.”
Margulies also encouraged students to use the resources that Cornell offers in order to make an effort to improve the prison system.
“You’ve gotta take the first step,” Marguilies said."
http://cornellsun.com/blog/2014/12/04/at-panel-professors-and-experts-argue-for-prison-system-reform/
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