Fourth of July perspectives on our star-spangled banner – By Dave Skocik – with Letter to the Editor – kra
My friend, Dave Skocik, a PR guy, probably spends as much of his time honoring our military as he does on his job. He’s a big asset to society, and he had this piece published in The Delaware State News of 7/3/20.
I don’t entirely agree with him on this one. He is quite right when he says “The symbol of our nation should not be part of any political statement.” No doubt about that, just as politics should have no part in criminal justice and the Courts. But, alas, both the flag and the justice system have been hijacked for political purposes, and I say that those who kneel before the flag recognize a dramatic way to call attention to serious social (and in many cases, legal) injustice.
Concerning this language: “The flag has always been the symbol of our freedom from foreign rule. Tyrants across the globe know that to attack an American vessel, aircraft or citizen is to risk the loss of their own power.” I say that today’s “kneelers” are protesting domestic tyranny, and that dissent is every bit as patriotic as the gallant service of our men and women in uniform. Dave invokes the late great Sen. John McCain, who was just starting to see and speak out about domestic tyranny when he died.
I think Sen. McCain would see the patriotism in kneeling.
In his fervor, Dave writes: “I urge veterans and their organizations to express their concerns to the leaders of schools and organizations that disrespect the flag and withdraw their individual and collective support if nothing changes.” However, I know of no school or organization, save some extreme right wing groups, which disrespect our flag. Schools and organizations allow their members to exercise their right to free speech. As I said, many disrespect domestic tyranny.
The Article:
On July Fourth, Americans celebrate the birth of the fight for our independence. The 56 influential men who signed the strident Declaration of Independence, affirming the right to be free from foreign rule, were guilty of treason to the king of England. They risked confiscation of all they owned, including their lives.
The symbol of that defiance has always been the flag, hoisted on ships’ masts, on ramparts and in public places – and defended to the death. It was the survival of the giant banner over Baltimore’s Fort McHenry during the British naval bombardment in 1814 that prompted lawyer Francis Scott Key to write that “the flag was still there” the following morning. It convinced the British, who had burned Washington, D.C., that they could not capture Baltimore.
The flag has always been the symbol of our freedom from foreign rule. Tyrants across the globe know that to attack an American vessel, aircraft or citizen is to risk the loss of their own power.
It was the subject of World War II’s most iconic photo at Iwo Jima as four Marines and a Navy corpsman raised it on Mount Suribachi under enemy fire. Today, it covers the remains of those who made the ultimate sacrifice as they arrive at Dover Air Force Base.
Now, kneeling during the national anthem is returning. It’s disheartening to see a growing number of people, particularly the young, who see no problem taking a knee, not in reverence, but in submission to the concerns of others.
The symbol of our nation should not be part of any political statement. It’s a “look at me” intrusion that only solidifies resentment against those who force their opinion on others.
Throughout history, kneeling has always been a sign of submission before kings and tyrants. It preceded the execution of American prisoners of war in some World War II Japanese prison camps and, more recently, people executed by ISIS.
Those who kneel before the flag to feel good about themselves are offending not only the majority of their fellow Americans, but especially veterans and their families. It’s shameful so many are woefully ignorant of our history that they fail to understand that.
The late Sen. John McCain told of fellow Vietnam War POW Mike Christian, captured in 1967. Using scraps of material and a bamboo needle, he secretly crafted an American flag and sewed it inside his shirt. Every afternoon, when they were allowed to gather for a bowl of soup, McCain and others hung the shirt on the wall and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. “In that stark cell, it was indeed the most important and meaningful event,” said McCain.
When the flag was discovered, the guards beat Christian for several hours. “He was not making the flag because it made him feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to pledge our allegiance to our flag and country,” said McCain. Days later, Christian began crafting another flag.
The respect we rightfully provide others should also be extended to the smallest minority of all. They are military veterans of all colors, backgrounds and creeds, who have served, fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy. For them, more than any other group, the flag is the symbol of our nation – all of us. That banner, paired with our national anthem, can bring tears to a battle-hardened veteran.
Veterans’ organizations provide a lot of community outreach, including volunteerism, scholarships, contributions and coaching. As we enter the new sports season, I urge veterans and their organizations to express their concerns to the leaders of schools and organizations that disrespect the flag and withdraw their individual and collective support if nothing changes.
We too can picket events. It led to the establishment of our veterans’ home in 2007.
Dave Skocik is president of the Delaware Veterans Coalition. He lives in Dover.
The Whole Story
………………..
Letter to the Editor – Remember, Dissent is Patriotic- 7/3/20
My friend, Dave Skocik, a PR guy, probably spends as much of his time honoring our military as he does on his job. He’s a big asset to society, and he had this piece published in The Delaware State News of 7/3/20, concerning our National Anthem.
I don’t entirely agree with him on this one. He is quite right when he says “The symbol of our nation should not be part of any political statement.” No doubt about that, just as politics should have no part in criminal justice and the Courts. But, alas, both the flag and the justice system have been hijacked for political purposes, and I say that those who kneel before the flag recognize a dramatic way to call attention to serious social (and in many cases, legal) injustice.
Concerning this language: “The flag has always been the symbol of our freedom from foreign rule. Tyrants across the globe know that to attack an American vessel, aircraft or citizen is to risk the loss of their own power.” I say that today’s “kneelers” are protesting domestic tyranny, and that dissent is every bit as patriotic as the gallant service of our men and women in uniform. Dave invokes the late great Sen. John McCain, who was just starting to see and speak out about domestic tyranny when he died.
I think Sen. McCain would see the patriotism in kneeling.
In his fervor, Dave writes: “I urge veterans and their organizations to express their concerns to the leaders of schools and organizations that disrespect the flag and withdraw their individual and collective support if nothing changes.” However, I know of no school or organization, save some extreme right wing groups, which disrespect our flag. Schools and organizations allow their members to exercise their right to free speech. As I said, many disrespect domestic tyranny.
Ken Abraham, former prosecutor and founder of Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE, Dover, DE 302-423-4067
…………
Judge Sanctions Mountaire in Delaware Wastewater Lawsuit – Not Enough! – kra
These clowns polluting our land and waters are as bad as prison officials in disobeying Court Orders! More severe sanctions are needed to get the attention of such a giant, unruly, corporation!
This article touches on two hugely important problems: the rule of law, and pollution. And Donald J Trump has done much to cause both. He mocks the law and tells his staff and others to ignore lawfully issued subpoenas. Even his cherry-picked U S Supreme Court shot him down on that one.
As for pollution, I have no doubt that the most dangerous and widespread physical damage (he also has caused significant economic and societal damage) tRump has caused to Americans is his elimination of or relaxation of EPA rules and regulations! Millions are becoming sick and dying because of our poisoned land, air, and water, and our Poisoner in Chief is going the wrong way.
Excerpts from the Article:
A Superior Court judge has ordered an Arkansas poultry processing company and two Delaware subsidiaries to pay more than $28,000 in sanctions for repeatedly refusing to provide information to plaintiffs suing the company over wastewater violations in southern Delaware.
The judge this week ordered Mountaire Corp. and the subsidiaries to pay $18,000 in attorneys fees to the plaintiffs and more than $10,300 for the plaintiffs’ share of billings from a special master appointed by the court to help manage the case.
Judge Craig Karsnitz noted that he had repeatedly warned attorneys on both sides about “the lack of civility which permeated the case.”
“My urging to civility has fallen on deaf ears,” Karsnitz wrote. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Millsboro-area residents against Mountaire Corp., Mountaire Farms Inc. and Mountaire Farms of Delaware Inc.
The plaintiffs claim they have suffered both property damage and personal injury from wastewater discharges at Mountaire facilities in Sussex County.
The plaintiffs also have intervened in a federal lawsuit involving a proposed consent decree between Mountaire and Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. The consent decree is aimed at resolving spray irrigation and land application permit violations cited by DNREC in 2017 involving Mountaire’s Millsboro facility.
Area residents argue that the consent decree is not fair, reasonable or consistent with federal environmental laws. They are seeking permission from a federal judge to obtain information about the settlement negotiations between DNREC and Mountaire.
Meanwhile, Mountaire agreed in December to pay a $420,000 penalty and upgrade its wastewater system as part of the proposed consent decree. The company also agreed to pay a $230,000 administrative penalty regarding violations at its Selbyville facility and other violations in Millsboro that are not related to the 2017 wastewater treatment system failure.
In his sanctions ruling, Karsnitz pointed to a February 2019 court decision that allowed limited information sharing in the state lawsuit to determine whether his court had jurisdiction over Mountaire Corp., and whether the plaintiffs had met the requirements for a class-action proceeding. The two sides could not agree, however, on what information the plaintiffs were entitled to receive, including minutes of Mountaire Corp. board meetings and shareholder meetings. The special master subsequently ordered Mountaire to produce minutes from such meetings that involve the formation and operations of its facilities in Delaware. The plaintiffs later complained of “extensive redactions” by Mountaire in documents it had provided. Mountaire was then ordered to produce unredacted copies of several documents, including meeting minutes. After seeing the unredacted documents, the plaintiffs asked for sanctions.
Karsnitz noted that “even a cursory examination” of the documents shows that they contained information that “clearly and obviously” covered relevant issues and had direct bearing on the jurisdictional issue.
“The redactions were intentional, and … without any legal basis,” Karsnitz wrote, noting that five separate orders required Mountaire to produce the documents requested.
DNREC also had argued that the information was subject to attorney-client privilege and was protected because it was part of settlement discussions, and that having to provide it would unduly burden the agency. “A statutory obligation cannot be an undue burden,” the judge noted.
The information sought from DNREC included documents gathered in its investigation of Mountaire’s environmental violations and information from settlement discussions between DNREC and Mountaire.
Karsnitz noted that DNREC had an obligation under Delaware law to provide the public with information about environmental inspections, violations and enforcement actions.
Colorado: New Law Expands Governor’s Authority to Pardon Those with Marijuana Convictions
Certainly more states should follow this lead! In most states the Clemency process is costly and time consuming for any offense, hence unjust. I specialize in Applications for Clemency nationwide.
Excerpts from the Article:
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed legislation into law on Tuesday providing the Governor’s Office with expanded clemency powers for those with marijuana convictions on their records.
Under the new law, the office of the Governor may “grant pardons to a class of defendants who were convicted of the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana without an application and without seeking the comment of the District Attorney and judges for those cases.”
While the Governor’s office already possessed the authority to issue pardons in certain circumstances, this measure expands those powers so that the Governor can do so unilaterally for persons with minor marijuana convictions.
The Governor can begin unilaterally issuing pardons in 90 days.
Legislation (HB 1266) previously enacted by the state legislature in 2017 permits those with misdemeanor cannabis convictions to petition the courts to have their records sealed.
Other provisions in the legislation (House Bill 1424) remove the prohibition on those with past felony convictions for marijuana-related activities from seeking industry licenses, among other changes to facilitate greater social equity within the retail cannabis space.
“My office in the Marijuana Enforcement Division is making equity a priority in engaging stakeholders around this topic because, for too long, the consequences of not having equity across too many areas of society – cannabis being one – are simply too severe,” Gov. Polis said.
The Whole Story:
Colorado: New Law Expands Governor’s Authority to Pardon Those with Marijuana Convictions
Woman driving near protests says LAPD foam round injured her, files $10-million claim – Non Lethal Force – kra
Any alternative to lethal force is progress, but police still should show restraint whenever possible. This woman may have a valid claim; the courts will determine that.
Excerpts from the Article:
A woman who was at a Los Angeles intersection near a protest over the killing of George Floyd filed a legal claim Monday, alleging she was struck in the head by a foam bullet fired by Los Angeles police, leaving her with stitches, a fractured cheekbone and a brain injury. Jasmine Morales, 26, spent nine days hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and is seeking $10 million from the city of Los Angeles for injuries she suffered during the May 30 incident, according to the claim.
The projectile, likely a 40-millimeter hard foam round, flew in through her open driver’s side window near the Grove about 8 p.m. as she was driving to a Target store, according to the legal filing and her lawyers. The impact nearly knocked Morales unconscious, according to her claim. Neama Rahmani, one of her lawyers, said that based on eyewitness accounts, the officer had fired the projectile from inside a police car.
Morales’ attorney said she was traveling through the area and was not a part of the protests.“For an officer in a black-and-white to shoot a nearby driver in the face is not tactical police work so much as a drive-by shooting,” Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, said. The claim, the required legal precursor to a lawsuit, alleges the LAPD officer clearly violated department guidelines for using such force.
Photographs Morales’ attorneys said were taken in the aftermath show the left side of Morales’ face bloody and bruised with a wound on her temple and a black eye. Morales, according to the claim, never heard any warning or order from the officers, and protesters were not around her Toyota but were nearby. The incident unfolded as a protest in the Fairfax district escalated into violence, with officers using batons and firing hard foam rounds into the crowd, some of whom set fire to parked police cars.
Morales required 20 stitches, and the Los Angeles resident suffered a fractured cheekbone, traumatic brain injury, bruising and impaired vision, the legal claim said. Morales was released from the hospital June 8, according to Rahmani. “In brain injury cases, she could get better in a matter of weeks or suffer lifelong impacts,” Rahmani said. Houman Sayaghi, another of Morales’ attorneys, said the foam projectile did not fall into the car after it struck his client, but he hopes video footage from surrounding security cameras, including a nearby bank, will help reconstruct events.
During the protests May 30, Los Angeles police deployed a “40-millimeter Less-Lethal Launcher” using single-shot hard foam projectiles. It is a device the LAPD and other police agencies claim allows for more precise targeting of violent suspects, thereby reducing the risk of serious injuries caused by other “less-lethal” alternatives.
But Rahmani said that an officer firing the weapon at a motorist is clearly an indiscriminate use of force against a person who posed absolutely no threat and was nothing but an innocent bystander passing through the area.
The civilian Los Angeles Police Commission and its inspector general’s office have said they will review all complaints of excessive force against the department.
An LAPD spokeswoman previously said the department is reviewing use of the 40-millimeter launcher and plans to release the findings “at a later time.”
In the wake of multiple accusations of indiscriminate fire by officers, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he had directed the LAPD to “minimize” use of the less-lethal weapons when dealing with peaceful protesters.
A Times review of dozens of instances of police force during protests over the police killing of Floyd found that demonstrators suffered a range of injuries at the hands of the LAPD, including minor bruising from baton strikes and falls as police skirmish lines advanced, and serious injuries to some protesters’ genitals and heads from foam and sponge bullets and beanbags being launched into crowds, sometimes from close range.
A 2017 analysis of 1,984 people struck by rubber or plastic bullets found that 3% were killed and 15% permanently injured. The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal BMJ Open, reviewed 30 years of scientific papers worldwide on injuries from kinetic impact projectiles, or KIPs, which include rubber-coated bullets, beanbag rounds, sponge rounds and others.
Dr. Rohini Haar, the study’s lead author and an emergency room physician, told The Times that the so-called sponge rounds fired by the 40-millimeter launcher had not reduced problems.
The Whole Story is in the L A Times.
Trump administration made it harder to investigate police abuse – True and Tragic – kra
This is old news, but the EFFECT of it is more important now than ever. tRump is a disaster for criminal justice in many ways … from his use of private prisons (which Obama, wisely, was phasing out) to his total incompetence with the issues. He does not care about meaningful reform, does not care about individuals’ rights, and is as “lost in space”on criminal justice as he is on many other issues!
Remember, justice is the result sought. B4 this move by Sessions, the D OJ had significant clout to help lead toward that end. Not anymore.
Excerpts from the Article:
President Donald Trump’s decision in May 2018 to disband a National Security Council unit focused on preventing pandemics flew largely under the radar — until the coronavirus began its deadly march across the globe. Now, it’s the subject of widespread attention.
There’s a similar story unfolding around a different and less-noted decision made six months later by outgoing U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, one that’s now a key backdrop to the protests against police abuse of Black Americans that have swept the nation following the death last month of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis officers.
In November 2018, shortly before he left office, Sessions signed a memo restricting U.S. Department of Justice investigations into alleged abuse in local police departments. Such past probes — in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore, Newark, N.J., Detroit and beyond — had followed high-profile killings by police. Sessions’ move followed an 18-month review he’d ordered of all previous probes, some of them dating back decades.
Sessions’ decision significantly weakened a federal oversight tool the Department of Justice had used since 1994 to investigate allegations of police abuse and to force reforms through court-ordered consent decrees — sometimes the only viable route for causing systemic change in municipal police departments.
Sessions’ move set higher hurdles to start DOJ investigations of new claims of abuse, with more complex and difficult criteria. In formal resolutions, the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners and their counterparts in other cities urged Sessions not to weaken the federal controls, to no avail. His successor, Attorney General William Barr, has kept those changes in place.
The FBI and DOJ are investigating Floyd’s death, but in light of Barr’s continuing restrictions, a broader probe of the entire Minneapolis police force is uncertain.
It worked in Detroit
In Detroit, a Free Press series about local police shootings of civilians sparked a DOJ probe that began in December 2000. The subsequent 30-month investigation focused on allegations of excessive force, illegal dragnet arrests and mistreatment of prisoners.
The investigation produced two June 2003 consent decrees that placed the Detroit Police Department under the supervision of a federal monitor to track compliance with 175 reforms. Key changes modified the department’s detention procedures and arrest criteria, along with the circumstances in which officers could use forceful restraint and fire or even point their weapons. Others revised use-of-force policies and training, putting an emphasis on de-escalation.
Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver, right, looks on during a 2003 press conference as U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins announces an agreement on two court-backed consent decrees that will force the DPD to cease practices that led to civil rights abuses. Also pictured are Assistant Attorney General Ralph Boyd and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. With more than 200 citizen complaints having languished for years, the agreement compelled DPD to complete thorough internal probes of alleged police misconduct in a timely fashion.
The consent decrees were in effect until August 2014, followed by a two-year transition period to full freedom from federal oversight. Judith Levy, now a federal judge based in Ann Arbor, played a leading role in overseeing implementation of the police reforms as an assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit working in the office’s civil rights section. “Reforms were adopted, and they became Detroit Police Department policy,” Levy said in an interview. “It was painful, it was long, it was expensive, but we got it done. Of course, it’s way more expensive (for police) to shoot people and pay them in settlements.”
“It does affect morale, but it affects morale because too often police departments don’t want to change,” Levy said. “And perhaps the fact that it affects police morale speaks volumes about how concerned we ought to be about police culture. That’s the last reason to back off.”
“We are using the tools that we have,” he said in an interview earlier this month. “Where we think that things need to be investigated, we investigate them.”
While Schneider acknowledged that his office has received complaints about police, he repeatedly declined to say whether there are any current investigations based on those complaints. He pointed to a separate probe instead.
There’s literally no way to tell if any local police departments are under investigation. A DOJ website on the conduct of law enforcement agencies invites readers to click on links to see “results of our work.” But the page has not been updated since Sept. 4, 2017.
Beneficial outcomes
Former Detroit Deputy Mayor Saul Green was the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan when the DOJ probe of the city police department began in late 2000. He and then-Mayor Dennis Archer had gone to Washington and argued for an investigation.
“Based on a series of police events relative to the use of force and deaths in holding cells, the decision was made to request that DOJ start an investigation,” Green said in an interview.
Among the signs that the DOJ probe and subsequent consent decrees produced results are a significant drop in lawsuits against the police department and reduced city payouts for abuse, the Detroit News reported earlier this month.
Even before the Detroit police department emerged from oversight, conditions improved. There were fewer fatal shootings of suspects and fewer false arrests, and fewer deaths in police holding cells, the Free Press reported. The number of holding-cell deaths also decreased, according to Bridge Magazine.
“It has had a beneficial effect in Detroit. I don’t think there’s any question about it,” Green said in an interview. “The police force is better trained, and they’re implementing the policies they’ve been trained upon. The result is you get policing that’s more equitable with fewer instances where citizens are harmed.”
Green, however, believes that such federal oversight doesn’t tackle broader social problems that police often are compelled to address.
“With all this talk about ‘defunding the police,’ what they’re really talking about is funding organizations that can address the hard problems police are really bad at,” he said. “Issues like mental health. They’re not trained in that. Homelessness is another issue they should not have to respond to. There’s a whole myriad of issues that police are called on to solve that they’re not trained in.”
During the protests over Floyd’s death, Detroit has not seen the looting, burned cars, damaged buildings or shootings of police that other cities have experienced.
Levy sees a clear link between the consent decree that reined in the police department here and the city’s relative lack of violence in recent weeks. And so she regrets that other police departments can’t benefit from the kind of DOJ investigation, thanks to Sessions and Barr that forced Detroit police to tackle deep-rooted problems.
“It’s too much work now if they use force,” she said. “Our consent decree redefined use of force. Now if you take your weapon out of the holster and acquire a target — any target, person, dog or house — you have to write a report justifying it. Cops don’t like to fill out paperwork.”
DNA Database of NYC’s Chief Medical Examiner Plagued with Errors
Wrongful convictions occur for a number of reasons, but a sloppy Medical Examiner Lab should not be one of them!
Excerpts from the Article:
Darrell Harris was arrested for a home burglary that occurred in December 2018.
A detective from the New York Police Department (“NYPD”) told Harris his DNA had been recovered from a window of the home. Even though the arrest cost Harris his job at the John F. Kennedy Airport, he paid $25,000 for a lawyer and provided an alibi placing him in New Jersey when the burglary was committed. Then, in June 2019, police dropped the charges.
An investigation revealed that a lab technician from New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner (“OCME”) had cross-contaminated the DNA sample from the window with a sample Harris had earlier provided in a sexual misconduct investigation.
“Errors like these, and the lab’s inability to detect them, should concern the public,” said Terri Rosenblatt, staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society (“Society”). “More and more often, criminal cases rise and fall on DNA evidence.”
The Society filed a Freedom of Information Law request and learned of other errors at the OCME’s DNA lab, including:
• a man who was wrongfully arrested for rape based on a confirmed DNA match from the lab (the man provided an ironclad alibi — he was in prison when the rape occurred);
• DNA profiles in the database taken from witnesses and victims (these are prohibited by law);
• DNA profiles in the database that were taken from minors without parental consent (again, prohibited by law); and
• DNA profiles in the database from deceased persons and victims of homicide.
The Society, along with NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, are insisting the City Council impose tougher regulations on the OCME lab. “These changes are common sense and incorporate feedback we have gathered without compromising the ability for officers to successfully identify criminals, build strong cases and bring justice for victims,” Shea said in a New York Times article.
Currently, the OCME is required to disclose errors to the City Council only if one or more of the following occurred: (1) intentional analyst misconduct leading to fabricated results; (2) significant errors affecting the accuracy of a report; (3) a failure to follow protocols that affected a report’s accuracy; or (4) misleading statements in testimony by laboratory employees.
Two Effingham Co. jail officers arrested for bringing controlled substances into the facility
Contrary to what prison officials say, the truth is that more than 90% of contraband is brought in by D O C staff, not “visitors”. If convicted, they need prison time!
Excerpts from the Article:
Two Effingham County jail officers have been arrested and two more on paid administrative leave after a three month investigation. Jaleen Connerly, 32, and Betrice Taylor, 50, were arrested and charged with numerous things to include bringing a controlled substance inside the facility.
Connerly is charged with:
Obtaining, procuring, or giving an inmate tobacco or tobacco product without consent of jailer
Attempt or conspiracy to violate Georgia controlled substance act
Bribery
Unlawful for person/employee to associate with criminal street gang to conduct/participate in criminal activity
Unlawful to come inside guard lines to deliver to inmate a controlled substance, giving to or possession by inmates prohibited items
Giving to or possession by inmates prohibited items
Taylor is charged with:
Unlawful for person/employee to associate with criminal street gang to conduct/participate in criminal activity
Giving to or possession by inmates prohibited items
Unlawful to come inside guard lines to deliver to inmate a controlled substance
Attempt or conspiracy to violate Georgia controlled substance act
Both women posted bail and have been released. The ongoing investigation also indicated two other employees that will remain on leave until the investigation is completed.
An unarmed 23-year-old black man died after police stopped him. The Colorado governor wants a new probe.
I saw the video. This is another police murder. They stopped him for “being suspicious”! The kid was walking down the sidewalk! “Being suspicious”? What the hell does that mean, being Black? INVESTIGATE.
You don’t have to be a Racist to work here, but if you are I don’t suppose anyone will notice.
Excerpts from the Article:
Facing mounting pressure from the public, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) vowed on Wednesday to explore how the state could re-examine the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old black man who died after being detained while walking down the street in Aurora, Colo.
McClain’s death has come back into the public spotlight during the last month of demonstrations against racism and police brutality, following the death of George Floyd, who was killed after police in Minneapolis pinned him to the ground for several minutes.
McClain was walking home wearing a ski mask and dancing to music on Aug. 24, 2019, when someone called 911 to report him as suspicious. Police tried to stop him, but he kept walking, insisting he had done nothing wrong and had a right to continue his walk.
Then, officers tackled him, placed him in a chokehold and restrained him. A paramedic who arrived on the scene later injected him with ketamine to subdue him. McClain had a heart attack while being taken to the hospital. He suffered brain damage and was placed on life support until he died on Aug. 30, 2019, the Denver Post reported.
After an internal investigation, the Aurora Police Department found the officers involved in the stop had acted within the bounds of acceptable policy and training. The local district attorney declined to prosecute any criminal charges related to McClain’s death.
The city had proposed an independent review of the case, but after the first man chosen to head the inquiry turned out to be a former police officer, Aurora officials scrapped that effort and asked the city manager to nominate a different investigator.
Celebrities like Michelle Branch and Kacey Musgraves have recently voiced support for a new inquiry into McClain’s death, and an online petition to suspend the officers and reconsider the case has more than 2.6 million signatures.
“Public confidence in our law enforcement process is incredibly important now more than ever,” Polis said on Twitter. “I am hearing from many Coloradans who have expressed concerns with the investigation of Elijah McClain’s death. As a result, I have instructed my legal council to examine what the state can do and we are assessing next steps.” Despite Polis’s willingness to pursue a state-level investigation, it remains to be seen if he can order such an action. Past attempts to intervene in local police investigations have not succeeded, the Denver Post reported.
Some local Aurora officials have voiced support for potentially reexamining the case, however.
Mayor Mike Coffman (R) on Wednesday accelerated a vote to choose a new independent investigator to scrutinize the actions of the police and paramedics involved in McClain’s death. City council member Curtis Gardner sent a letter on behalf of the city’s public safety committee to the city manager, urging him to nominate a neutral investigator to take a second look at the case.“Over the last several days, we have received thousands of contacts from all over the country – phone calls, text messages, emails and social media tags,” the committee said in the letter. “The community has made clear they support our call for an independent investigation.”
Also read this excellent article about the murder of young Mr. McClain
FBI’s Long History of Squelching Political Dissent Under the Guise of National Security
The FBI is a great national asset and crime fighting agency. But it must further rein in those who would abuse its power. No doubt tRump and Barr are using it inappropriately, and that is what we must guard against.
Politics should have NO role in any law enforcement agency.
Excerpts from the Article:
For nearly a century, one of the most important duties of the FBI has been to act as the primary counterterrorism force on American soil. Unfortunately, throughout that time, the FBI has shown a troubling tendency to surveil dissidents and view challenges to the status quo as national security threats. This tendency began with the young Bureau’s first large-scale raids and has continued, according to a recently released report, up to today.
The FBI began as the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation in 1908. Founded by Theodore Roosevelt despite congressional resistance, this early Bureau was intended to be the leading edge of a national response to anarchists and violent unionists. After successfully silencing opposition to World War I, the Bureau began raids in 1919 aimed at what it called “subversives and Communists” but which really targeted Eastern European immigrants, Italians, and labor organizers, according to Alice Speri in her article, “The FBI Has a Long History of Treating Political Dissent as Terrorism.”
The so-called Palmer Raids (after then-Attorney General Mitchell Palmer) lasted months and led to the arrests of over 10,000 people in a dozen cities, though none of those arrested were even tied to any of the violence that purportedly inspired them.
The raids did, however, have consequences. The first was the founding of the American Civil Liberties Union, organized just a few months after the raids began. The second was the dramatic career advancement of the young federal agent who orchestrated them—J. Edgar Hoover.
Hoover’s genius for policing dissent would come to the fore again in the 1960s. The FBI pursued an operation called COINTELPRO. Systematic efforts to infiltrate and sabotage civil-rights groups and anti-war protesters were carried out under the auspices of guarding national security.
The exposure of these efforts led to congressional investigations and the application of some oversight. While this oversight may have reined in some of the Bureau’s worst excesses, there is evidence that old tendencies remain firmly in place.
After 9/11, many civil-rights activists expressed concern about what they believed was an FBI campaign targeting Muslim Americans. Eventually, the inspector general of the Justice Department would release a report in 2010 that acknowledged the Bureau had exceeded agency guidelines, but the report declined to definitively conclude that any action had resulted from political or religious bias.
In October 2019, civil liberties group Defending Rights and Dissent published a report detailing a long list of political activists who have been the object of FBI surveillance and worse.
The Bureau has watched Occupy Wall Street, Abolish ICE, Palestinian solidarity groups, and organizations dedicated to normalizing relations with Cuba and Iran. The report, based largely on public-records requests, reveals a broad effort of surveillance and infiltration, even at times before a group had staged a single protest.
Recent efforts aimed at domestic political dissent have shown several disturbing trends. The first is what appears to be a near single-minded focus on progressives and the left, despite the fact that most politically motivated violence over the last 10 years had its ideological origin on the right. Social justice, anti-war, and environmental activism remain the primary targets of FBI interest, just as they were during the Palmer Raids.
Secondly, the targeting of progressive causes is paired with what appears to be disproportionate targeting of immigrants, Muslims, and people of color. Some Muslims and African immigrants in the Minneapolis area report being “used to being surveilled by the government,” according to Mustafa Jumale, an activist with the Black Alliance for Just Immigration.
More troubling are instances of co-opting local law enforcement to pursue operations that could arguably be called entrapment. Creation of the Joint Terrorism Task Forces after 9/11 allowed the FBI to utilize manpower and resources from local law enforcement to pursue its policies while often escaping stricter federal rules. At the same time, as long as surveillance and infiltration failed to reveal criminal activity or violence, FBI agents or informants have reportedly resorted to acting as agent provocateurs. In one instance, after the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, FBI informants reportedly recruited and equipped two protestors with fake bombs and a list of targets. This type of activity is not legally entrapment, according to the courts.
Without a statutory charter outlining its authority or real oversight of its activity, the FBI seems committed to continue confusing dissent and terrorism.
U.S. Must Release Children From Family Detention Centers, Judge Rules The ruling applies to children held in the nation’s three family detention centers for more than 20 days. They must be let go by July 17, a federal judge ruled on Friday.
How bad is the tRump administration? It doesn’t get worse than killing people, and so far their incompetence has killed more than 125,000 via the coronavirus, and hundreds of thousands more with their dismantling of the EPA, poisoning land, water, and air.
But a close second is their cruelty to CHILDREN! You saw the kids in cages. I have written and posted several articles about it. Here is the latest decision by a federal judge, hammering ICE and saying: “The family residential centers are on fire and there is no more time for half measures.” Many of the children never should have been detained at all; they should have been placed with loved ones already in America!
Excerpts from the Article:
Citing the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, a federal judge in Los Angeles on Friday ordered the imminent release of migrant children held in the country’s three family detention centers.
The order to release the children by July 17 came after plaintiffs in a long-running case reported that some of them have tested positive for the virus. It applies to children who have been held for more than 20 days in the detention centers run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania.
There were 124 children living in those facilities on June 8, according to the ruling.
In her order, Judge Dolly M. Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California criticized the Trump administration for its spotty compliance with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To prevent the virus from spreading in congregate detention facilities, the agency had recommended social distancing, the wearing of masks and early medical intervention for those with virus symptoms.
“The family residential centers are on fire and there is no more time for half measures,” she wrote.
Given the pandemic, Judge Gee wrote, ICE must work to release the children with “all deliberate speed,” either along with their parents or to suitable guardians with the consent of their parents. The order was the first time a court had set a firm deadline for the release of minors in family detention if their parents designated a relative in the United States to take custody. Recent orders had required their “prompt” release.
“Some detained parents facing deportation brought their children to this country to save them from rampant violence in their home countries,” said Peter Schey, counsel for the class of detained children, “and would prefer to see their child released to relatives here rather than being deported with the parent to countries where children are routinely kidnapped, beaten and killed.”
Judge Gee oversees compliance with the 1997 Flores settlement agreement that sets national standards for the treatment and release of detained immigrant children.
The Trump administration has been trying to terminate the settlement for the last two years, but those efforts have been blocked by Judge Gee and are currently being appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Eleven children and parents have tested positive for the coronavirus at a family detention center in Karnes City, Texas. Some migrants at a family facility in Dilley, Texas, are awaiting test results after workers there tested positive for the virus.
Over all, about 2,500 immigrants in ICE detention have tested positive for the virus. The agency has said that it has released at least 900 people with underlying conditions and that it has shrunk the population in each facility to mitigate the spread of the virus.
The Whole Story
Contact Us
Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE
430 Kings Hwy
Ste 414
Dover DE 19901
302.423.4067
