Amid increasing signs that he intends to run for president, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will leave his position at Barclays on Dec. 31, according to a report.

The potential Republican 2016 contender is currently a paid adviser for the British bank.

It stuns me that we are still having a debate, as a country, over whether or not what the Bush Administration did to detainees in the war on terror was actually torture. I would hope that this helps settle things. The fact-checking outfit called PolitiFact confirms that a McCain statement from 2007, dredged up recently by Paul Begala, is accurate:

"I forgot to mention last night that following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was waterboarding," [McCain] told reporters at a campaign event.

....
You can argue that the techniques used by Americans on detainees were necessary and, because of the OLC memos, legal. I would disagree with you, but you could plausibly make that argument. What you cannot do any longer is pretend that those techniques do not meet the definition of torture that America has used in the past.

A brutal video catches an NYPD officer bash an alleged fare beater in the head with a baton, opening a gash in the man’s head and sending him stumbling around the Brooklyn subway station in a daze.

Blood spurted from Donovan Lawson's cut and sprayed witnesses and the walls at the Myrtle Avenue J, M, Z stop during the arrest Thursday just before 8 p.m., Marielle Anas told the Daily News.

“It was one of the most awful things I’ve ever seen,” Anas, 28, said. “I have blood all over my jeans. The brutality of the nightstick – it was crazy. It looked like his head exploded. I couldn’t believe I was seeing it happen.”

Lawson, 20, had “doubled up” with a pal, going through the turnstile together on a single swipe, cops said. He was sitting on a wooden bench when an officer threw at least three punches, Anas said.

“The kid wasn’t doing anything – that’s why I started recording,” Anas said. “If he can't subdue this kid – he wasn’t even resisting that much!”

After police in Kenosha, Wis., shot my 21-year-old son to death outside his house ten years ago — and then immediately cleared themselves of all wrongdoing — an African-American man approached me and said: “If they can shoot a white boy like a dog, imagine what we’ve been going through.”

I could imagine it all too easily, just as the rest of the country has been seeing it all too clearly in the terrible images coming from Ferguson, Mo., in the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown. On Friday, after a week of angry protests, the police in Ferguson finally identified the officer implicated in Brown's shooting, although the circumstances still remain unclear.

I have known the name of the policeman who killed my son, Michael, for ten years. And he is still working on the force in Kenosha.

Yes, there is good reason to think that many of these unjustifiable homicides by police across the country are racially motivated. But there is a lot more than that going on here. Our country is simply not paying enough attention to the terrible lack of accountability of police departments and the way it affects all of us—regardless of race or ethnicity. Because if a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy — that was my son, Michael — can be shot in the head under a street light with his hands cuffed behind his back, in front of five eyewitnesses (including his mother and sister), and his father was a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who flew in three wars for his country — that’s me — and I still couldn’t get anything done about it, then Joe the plumber and Javier the roofer aren’t going to be able to do anything about it either.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/08/what-i-did-after-police-killed-my-son-110038.html

In the past five years, more Utahns have been killed by police than by gang members.

Or drug dealers. Or from child abuse.

And so far this year, deadly force by police has claimed more lives — 13, including a Saturday shooting in South Jordan — than has violence between spouses and dating partners.

As the tally of fatal police shootings rises, law enforcement watchdogs say it is time to treat deadly force as a potentially serious public safety problem.

"The numbers reflect that there could be an issue, and it’s going to take a deeper understanding of these shootings," said Chris Gebhardt, a former police lieutenant and sergeant who served in Washington, D.C., and in Utah, including six years on SWAT teams and several training duties. "It definitely can’t be written off as citizen groups being upset with law enforcement."

Ferguson corrections officer raped woman in jail, lawsuit alleges

A pregnant woman says she was raped in jail by a Ferguson corrections officer last year, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday against the city and the officer, Jaris Hayden.

Hayden now faces four felony charges, including sexual contact with a prisoner and acceding to corruption by a public servant.

Hayden posted $10,000 cash bond on Nov. 12, the day he was arrested. Hayden, who is being represented by attorney Scott Rosenblum, is scheduled to appear in St. Louis County court for his arraignment Dec. 3.

J.W., whose full name is withheld from the suit, was stopped by a Ferguson police officer on Oct. 9, 2013 because her license plates were expired, according to the lawsuit.

A Ferguson police officer arrested J.W. and wrote her two tickets after she gave him a false name, according to the suit.

During J.W.'s booking, Hayden said to her, "You smell good," and, "This will teach you a lesson," according to the suit.

After J.W. complained of pain and discharges, Hayden checked with a superior and called an ambulance, according to the suit. After checking J.W.'s vital signs, paramedics told Hayden it was up to him whether they could take J.W., according to the suit.

J.W.'s boyfriend then posted bond, according to the suit, but while J.W. was signing papers, Hayden told her she had traffic warrants from other municipalities.

J.W. said, "I will do anything to go home," according to the suit, which specifies she was not talking about sexual favors.

Hayden then said "follow me," and took J.W. down various hallways, according to the suit.

continued at: http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2014/11/17/ferguson-police-officer-raped-woman-in-jail.html

A video uploaded to YouTube on November 14 has been brought to the attention of the Free Thought Project which allegedly shows Officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department, threatening to arrest a man for filming.

According to the person who took the video he was in fact arrested, and he claims Officer Wilson lied on his report.

“He told me I had permission to ‘record’ him. As soon as I started filming, his attitude changed, and he arrested me,” the man, who wishes to remain anonymous for the time being, tells the Free Though Project in an exclusive interview.

According to the man filming, Wilson put on the report that he only gave him permission to “audio record,” as if actual permission was needed to do either one of these things.

He was then arrested and put into Darren Wilson’s SUV.

This incident happened on October 28, 2013, he tells the Free Thought Project that he waited to release the video because he was scared of retaliation and wanted to move out of Ferguson prior publishing it.

Wilson was at the location asking to look at VIN numbers of two vehicles in the man’s backyard.

In a phone interview with the person who took the video, he tells the Free Thought Project that he was arrested for Failure to Obey an Officer; a charge that would later be dropped.

While we await the grand jury findings and an announcement on whether or not Wilson will be charged for the killing of Mike Brown, this video gives us a rare glimpse of the killer cop, and his threatening demeanor.

UPDATE:
Below is a copy of the police report showing the details of the arrest. It is signed by Darren Wilson.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/shock-video-darren-wilson-violates-1st-amendment-ill-lock-ass-up-arrests-man-filming/#mZEsfwuttYG50a0k.99

Washington (CNN) -- Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, is expected to be President Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, U.S. officials briefed on the matter said.

An announcement is expected in the coming days, though the timing is complicated by the president's plans to travel to Asia this weekend.

...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/07/politics/new-attorney-general-nominee-loretta-lynch/index.html