Showing posts with label police. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police. Show all posts

Monday, October 07, 2013

Why Does 83-Year Old Peace-Activist Nun Face 30 Years When So Many Violent Criminals Walk Free?

Today, the majority of police resources are dedicated to arresting people for nonviolent crimes like marijuana possession, non-violent protest, and "crimes" that present no danger to others, while violent criminals, and elitist criminals above the law, walk free.   81% of all drug arrests are for simple drug possession!

Take Sister Megan Rice, 83, and two elderly peace activists, who staged a non-violent protest, symbolically disarming Oak Ridge.  

“An octogenarian Roman Catholic nun, jailed for breaking into a nuclear weapons facility in Tennessee, is facing up to 30 years in prison after losing her plea for the most serious charge to be dropped.

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Sunday, May 19, 2013

Every 28 Hours a Black Person is Killed by Law Enforcement.

FBI statistics are becoming increasingly race neutral in their reportage, and for a good reason, they don't want you and I to know the truth: that, despite our Black president, racism did not disappear, it's alive and well, albeit, much more intelligent, a new invisible racism, if you will.

The disproportionate number or percentage of African Americans that are mass incarcerated (prisons are criminogenic--breeders of crime), murdered as a result of the "war on drugs",  extra-judicially executed (killing by police/security guards--non self-defense--that happens without trial or any due process), not to mention the  doubled rate of unemployment and lack of opportunity is clearly a systematic attack on the Black community. This does not bode well for future generations.

There is no centralized database that documents killings by police, extrajudicial or otherwise, so Kali Akuno of the Malcolom X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) and his colleagues, combed through all the mainstream media and police reports from 2012, cross referencing the names, race, factors and circumstances surrounding their deaths, and then following up on leads, concluding in the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement report: A Curriculum for Operation Ghetto Storm: Report on the 2012 Extrajudicial Killings of 313 Black People by Police, Security Guards and Vigilantes that every 28 hours, a Black person--primarily Black males between the ages of 18 and 30--is executed by law enforcement. At the very least, without due process, 313 Black people were killed in 2012, most of whom were unarmed. Please note that this does not include the number of Latinos.

“The United States government is intent on creating more and more laws and practices that target Black, oppressed, and impoverished communities. The aim is social control to maintain the status quo, and they will go to whatever extent necessary, including extrajudicial killings and acts of genocide, to achieve this aim." -- Kali Akuno, organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement..
The government structuring of underground economies, in particular, the drug/sex trade, and its international circuit of capital underlies and perpetuates the ongoing attack on Black America, which relies on police brutality, police brutality that is rooted in the American system itself, a system based on violence, inequality, racism, white privilege, and profit-seeking exploitation.

From Your World News:



“What does this do? This message -- this is a very skillful message used by racists to make the whites who aren’t racists think that the rate of crime in the Black community is so high. This keeps the Black community in the image of a criminal. It makes it appear that anyone is the Black community is a criminal. And as soon as this impression is given, then it makes it possible, or paves the way to set up a police-type state in the Black community, getting the full approval of the white public when the police come in, use all kind of brutal measures to suppress Black people, crush their skulls, sic dogs on them, and things of that type. And the whites go along with it. Because they think that everybody over there’s a criminal anyway. This is what --the press does this. -- Malcolm X”

“They accuse us of what they themselves are guilty of. This is what the criminal always does. They’ll bomb you, then accuse you of bombing yourself. They’ll crush your skull then accuse you of attacking him. This what the racists have always done -- the criminal, the one who has criminal processes developed to a science. Their practice is a criminal action. And then use the press to make you victim -- look like the victim is the criminal, and the criminal is the victim.” -- Malcolm X

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Monday, April 22, 2013

This is a Test of the National Elite Big Brother Association!

Terrorism is not defined by its intentions to kill a few people, or even more than a few people; it is to bring about mass terror...to paralyze a people in fear, and to dent the public purse of their target. The Boston Marathon was a relatively small event, in comparison to let's say a nuclear attack on one or more of our cities. Yet, despite this, our government launched full scale--extraordinarily expensive-- martial law, which, incited much more fear than the attack itself. House to house paramilitary searches of homes, making innocent American citizens blatantly submit to the state is about as un-American as it gets.

What happened to, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Meanwhile, those in authority treat the public as if they're in Kindergarten: "Stop asking questions," and "Wait for further instructions."

Not to say that there is a lot of subtle disinformation out there regarding the Boston Marathon bombing. You have to really pay attention to catch it, otherwise, it appears legitimate. However, there are more than enough signs that this event is much bigger than the two boys accused.

One, being the the questions that the authorities refuse to take seriously.

Two, the lack of tangible quality evidence--video, images, etc.-- presented to the public.

Three, the lack of due process afforded to the accused.

Fourth, the media frenzy that surrounded this event. Always a red flag!

Lastly, but perhaps, most importantly, the unbelievable and unprecedented scale and nature of the response from the American government to supposedly, catch a teenage "terrorist". Even if he was a terrorist, shutting down an entire city, and overrunning its streets with paramilitary-cops, in humvees with manned machine gun turrets on top, barking orders in residential neighborhoods, while snipers aim at innocent families, with orders that people come out of their homes, and then the invading and searching--without legal basis-- of those homes, is that the kind of nation we want to live in?

They claim it wasn't martial law, that it was a "Stay-In-Place" order, and that compliance was somehow, voluntary. Really? When dozens of cops dressed in SWAT gear--armed with fully automatic rifles--trained snipers positioned on neighboring rooftops, and tanks parked outside your house, what kind of choice is that? I don't care how many guns you own, you're outgunned. To protest would be suicide. I think the message is clear, "cooperate, or else". You and your family have no choice. Not to mention, it gives the police ample opportunity to plant evidence. However, there was a choice made to cheer the tyrannical oppressors after all was said and done. What's funny if there is anything funny in a situation like this, is that the seige everyone cheered for did not find the suspect.

So, what now?

Will cities, states, perhaps, even our entire nation go into "lock down" mode every time a serial killer's on the loose? Every time an "underwear bomber" gets loose? Every time a bomb goes off?

Read more...

Thursday, October 18, 2012

U.S. Ruling Class and the Expendable Class

Whether it's Paul Ryan showing up uninvited to clean already clean pots and pans at a homeless shelter, or the military and/or SWAT teams hunting the homeless for target practice, or the extensive toxic experimenting on the homeless, African Americans, and the lower-income, inner-city folks , revealed recently, or the overwhelming percentages of people from the lower socioeconomic strata behind bars for non-violent offenses, or the overwhelming number of minority poor awaiting execution,  it's clear how America's "naturally selected" cultural, political and socioeconomic ruling class regard  the lower class: expendable, disposable, nonessential, replaceable, unimportant, and only useful insofar as they function as lab rats to further their own interests...to quench their insatiable appetite for profit, power and privilege.

Just recently, it was reported that potentially deadly human experimentation is taking place this very day – sanctioned by the U.S. government! That's right. Illegal human experimentation by the EPA for the purposes of determining the effect of poisons is taking place right now. And let's not forget that 40-49% of homeless men are veterans. That's the thanks they get for fighting the wars that  line the already lined pockets of the rich and powerful.  That is, those who survive bloody combat.

The aforementioned examples are only a drop in the bucket.   Dig deep enough and one could fill an encyclopedia with cases illustrating the attempt by the "naturally selected" to dehumanize the portion of the population who were not born into, or have not "achieved" worldly success.  In other words, those "unfortunates", who were not naturally selected to become gods upon the earth. Because that is exactly how the ruling class see  themselves--as gods, or emerging gods. 

"The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press, usually the Church as well, under its thumb. This enables it to organize and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them.” -- Albert Einstein
Of course, none of this is new. Not at all. However, there is no doubt that as the wealth becomes more concentrated in the hands of the few, and technology continues to replace human beings in the workplace, and elites have no allegiance to anything but chasing the highest returns and cheapest labor around the globe, an ever-increasing number of us join the ranks of the easily sacrificed.

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Monday, July 23, 2012

Marine Corps Creates Law-Enforcement Battalions

Cops are getting militarized and the military is taking on policing, despite the fact that police and soldiers are Marines are trained for high intensity combat. They act first, and ask questions later.

The Marine Corps has created its first law-enforcement battalions — consolidated units of military police officers trained to investigate a variety of crimes. Combat in Iraq and Afghanistan has underscored the relevance of such a force, as Marines have increasingly found themselves playing street cop in addition to combat duties.

The battalions will be capable of helping control civil disturbances, handling detainees, carrying out forensic work, and using biometrics to identify suspects. Durham said they could assist local authorities in allied countries in securing crime scenes and building cases so criminals end up behind bars and not back out on the streets because of mistakes.

“Over the past 11 years of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, some lessons learned painfully, there has been a growing appreciation and a demand for, on the part of the war-fighter, the unique skills and capabilities that MPs bring to the fight,” Durham said. “We do enforce traffic laws and we do write reports and tickets, and that’s good, but we do so much more than that.”

Durham said the Marine Corps plans to show off its new battalions in Miami later this month at a conference put on by the Southern Command that is expected to be attended by government officials from Central American countries, such as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize.
And then U.S. Army tanks were rolling down residential neighborhoods of St Louis City. Residents were warned to not be alarmed at the sight of after sightings of the vehicles provoked fears of martial law. However, as one former marine commented, "We have great Urban training environments, mock-up towns, and training facilities at Marine bases."

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Friday, March 30, 2012

Woman Arrested After Begging For Care At Hospital, Then Dies In Jail

It is said that all it takes for the triumph of evil is for "good" men to do nothing. Good? How is a man good if he does nothing to help another human being who is suffering? Dying? Especially if that man has taken an oath to watch over the life and health of  their fellow human beings (doctors), or has sworn to protect their fellow human beings (police). 

Sadly, for Anna Brown, a 29-year-old African American woman left homeless after a tornado in 2010 that destroyed her home, after she lost her job at a sandwich shop, met with the most blatant and callous disregard in her time of need, instead. 
Ms. Brown, 29, had sprained her ankle that week and on September 20, went to Saint Louis University Hospital for treatment. The X-rays were negative and she was given painkillers and discharged. But Ms. Brown was not satisfied, sensing something more was wrong with her. She refused to leave the hospital, so police were called. Hospital security called police, so Ms. Brown, in a wheelchair due to the pain in her legs, rowed herself next door to a children’s hospital. Though doctors there said she did in fact have tenderness in her legs, they said they could not treat her because it was a pediatric hospital. Refusing to return to SLU Hospital, an ambulance took her to SSM St. Mary’s Health Center, a hospital with a mission statement emphasizes “special concern for people who are materially poor and vulnerable.” Ms. Brown was homeless and on Medicaid after a tornado in 2010 destroyed her home and she lost her job at a sandwich shop.

Ms. Brown was given ultrasounds on both legs, which did not find any blood clots or other abnormalities, according to State inspectors who examined her medical records. The hospital gave Ms. Brown the number to several homeless shelters and sent her on her way. But Ms. Brown returned eight hours later, now complaining of leg and abdominal pain. Hospital staff refused to treat her, giving her discharge papers which she refused to sign. Richmond Heights Police, who were already at the scene, wheeled Ms. Brown out of the hospital, as she yelled “my legs don’t work!” At the request of the hospital, police arrested Ms. Brown and charged her with trespassing.

When they arrived at the jail, Ms. Brown told the police she could not put pressure on her legs, so they dragged her out of the car by her arms. Police listed “possible drug use” as their reason for Ms. Brown’s behavior, since hospital staff told them she was “fit for confinement.” Though the woman moaned in pain and begged for help, police dragged her into a jail cell and laid her on the concrete floor, even though a cot was right next to her. Ms. Brown stopped moving and breathing fifteen minutes later. Paramedics tried to revive her without success, so they rushed her back to St. Mary’s, where she died within an hour. The autopsy revealed she died from blood clots in her legs that ultimately lodged in her lungs.

Read more...

Sunday, August 07, 2011

What's Fueling the London Riots ?



There has been looting in a number of boroughs in north, east and south London by small and mobile groups. Groups of youths continue to attack police officers and a number of police vehicles have been damaged. Three officers have been taken to hospital after being hit by a fast moving vehicle at approx 00:45hrs. The officers were in the process of making arrests in Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest, in connection with youths looting a shop. Two officers are believed to have superficial injuries and the other has an injury to his knee. Earlier tonight in Walthamstow Central more than 30 youths, many in masks, vandalised and looted a number shops including BHS. Officers attended the area and the situation is currently under control. Groups of youths are continuing to target shops in Waltham Forest and officers are on scene. In Brixton there has been disorder and looting. LFB are dealing with a fire at Footlocker on Brixton High Road.

London riots are being blamed on economic malaise

Those looking to explain the unexpected riots that broke out in the northern London neighborhood of Tottenham on Saturday over the shooting death of 29-year-old Mark Duggan have zeroed in on an all-too-familiar culprit: the global economic downtown. Like other working class neighborhoods in England, Tottenham has been hit hard by cuts in social services, which were implemented as part of the British government’s austerity plan, and the unemployment rate among local youth is high. Said one resident: “This will happen again. These kids don’t care. They don’t have to pay for this damage, we do. Working people do. What do they have to lose?” The storm has been brewing for a while:

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Thursday, June 09, 2011

SWAT Teams Taking on Student Loan Default?

It's bad enough that recent college graduates and the African-American population face an unemployment rate nearly double that of the rest of the population. It's bad enough that the cost of a college degree is at an all-time high, up 3,400% since 1972.   But, as Kenneth Wright, who woke up to hear SWAT team members kicking in his front door, can tell you, it's even worse than that.  Why was the elite of the municipal police force  kicking in his door?  To collect on his ex-wife's defaulted student loan, who didn't even live at the address. Who ordered the raid? The Department of Education, who ordered 27 shotguns, last year.

After the SWAT team broke down Wright's door, he was handcuffed and locked into a hot police car for over six hours. This terrorized his 3, 7, and 11-year-old children, of course, who were held at gunpoint, and then locked into the car with their father.

Wright is not alone. SWAT teams raid over 100 homes per day, many times, for non-violent crimes ranging from possession of marijuana, to student loan collections or fraud, depending on who you believe. There are over 150 cases of nightmarish SWAT teams waking innocent families, who then violently search them at gunpoint. There are other cases of SWAT teams apprehending the medical marijuana of patients, many of whom are bedridden.

Why is this happening? Two reasons:  One, the "War on Drugs" that started in the 1980s, in which, the U.S. has seen a 1,300% increase in the number of SWAT team deployments, from 3,000 per year in 1981, to more than 40,000 per year in 2001 (the number is likely even higher today). Two, the militarization of law enforcement by The Homeland Security Act of 2002 signed by President George W. Bush. This "SWAT team" finds its home at the federal Office of Inspector General, who was granted law enforcement powers.  And, let's not forget the draconian student loan laws* .

"The HSA of 2002 first authorized IG special agents in large offices to carry firearms, make arrests, and execute search warrants on their own. The Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 – enacted one month before the election – reaffirmed that IGs must be appointed based on competence and without regard to political affiliation. It established new pay levels, required the President to give Congress 30 days’ notice before trying to remove or transfer any IG, and created a new unified Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. All IG offices now will get certain law enforcement powers."
Now, the DOE claims the raid was ordered due to an ongoing probe into alleged financial aid fraud, but then refused to discuss the case any further.  Let's just say that this is true. Does it call for a visit from the terror squad? It's a non-violent crime! It was the wrong address! If police state intimidation tactics are the new normal...please, let us start with the real criminals:  banksters, hedge fund managers...people who have plundered  billions, perhaps, trillions of dollars.

Overall, the substantial increase in SWAT raids on non-violent American citizens is alarming, to say the least. Testimony before the House Subcommittee on Crime on June 21, 2007 concerning militarized police forces (using military-style weapons, tactics, training, uniforms, and even heavy equipment by civilian police departments) claimed that the dramatic rise in paramilitary SWAT teams since the 1980s can largely be attributed to acts passed by the U.S. Congress, at the time...basically, thanks to the War on Drugs.

Links:

*
Administrative Wage Garnishment
As the agency responsible for administering the programs that provide this Federal loan financing, the U. S. Department of Education (ED) pursues collection of student loans aggressively through debtor contact, credit reporting, litigation, collection agencies and offset against Federal payments, such as Federal income tax refunds. ED also uses another tool for collection of defaulted student loans— garnishment of wages of defaulted borrowers. Section 488A of the Higher Education Act authorizes ED and student loan guarantors to collect defaulted Federally-financed student loans by means of an administrative garnishment order to the employer, without the need for a court order. This order requires the employer to withhold and pay over to ED a portion of the debtor’s disposable pay. Federal law authorizing this action supersedes any state law that might limit or prohibit wage garnishment, or would require a creditor to obtain a judgment or use specific procedures for wage garnishment. Beginning in 2003, ED will issue garnishment orders to employers to withhold 15% of wages from student aid debtors, in reliance on a newer law, part of the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996.
[...]
34 CFR Part 34: These regulations implement for the Department of Education the provisions for administrative wage garnishment in the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA). The DCIA authorizes Federal agencies to garnish administratively, that is, without court order, the disposable pay of an individual who is not a Federal employee to collect a delinquent nontax debt owed to the United States. These regulations implement this authority for a debt owed to the United States under a program administered by the Department of Education.

Read more...

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Church Prunes Gay Trees in Sin.

Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church, in Charlotte, NC, has been hit with a $4,000 fine for excessive pruning. That's right...$100 per branch, for trimming its own trees...incorrectly!

The Charlotte Observer reports, that city officials slapped Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church with a fine of $100 per branch for “excessively pruning” its crape myrtles.

Now,  it just so happens that is the same church at which the debate to end the "ban on gays and lesbians becoming clergy and lay leaders in the Presbyterian Church took place, which culminated in a vote of 162-154 to change the denomination's constitution by removing a 1997 amendment that said the ordained must either be single and chaste or in a heterosexual marriage".
The Presbytery of Charlotte added its support Tuesday to ending the ban on gays and lesbians becoming clergy and lay leaders in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Presbyterian church leaders from the seven-county Charlotte region voted 162-154 to change the denomination's constitution by removing a 1997 amendment that said the ordained must either be single and chaste or in a heterosexual marriage.

Going into Tuesday's local vote, that change already had won the backing of a majority of presbyteries in the country. It was scheduled to become effective in July, whatever the Charlotte vote.

Still, Tuesday's debate at Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church drew about 40 speakers - in addition to the two Charlotte pastors chosen to present the two sides.
Could it be, perhaps, that some of the church's more homophobic members,  who just so happened to be in the employment of the city, blamed, what they assumed were "gay" trees, for influencing the end of the ban on gay clergy? Because, you see, the fine will be dropped if the trees are REPLACED...with homophobic trees, no doubt.
"Tom Johnson, senior urban forester for the Charlotte Land Development Division, said, the fine would be dropped if the church replaced each of the improperly pruned trees".
Just a thought.

Read more...

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Death by Taser

According to Amnesty Int.,  over 400 Americans were Tasered to death, since TASER International introduced their "more than likely to kill than not" torture weapon, and it appears Florida police can't get enough.

In, Tallahassee Florida, On April 26, 2011, Kevin Darius Campbell died after police Tasered him.

And on April 22, 2011, another Florida man, Adam Spencer Johnson,  with no prior history of arrest, who just turned 33-years old, died after police Tasered him.

Apparently, children are not off limits. An 11-year-old Florida girl  was stunned by a Taser in March 2008 after she swung at a deputy. The latter’s nose was bloodied. The girl was “taken to Florida Hospital East to have the Taser prongs removed.”

On October 14, 2007 (video below), Robert Dziekanski, a man who did not speak or understand English, died minutes after being shocked by Royal Canadian Mounted Police at the Vancouver International Airport.



Now, if you think TASER International's gotten away with murder...well, you're right.  In 2008, a federal jury in San Jose, California, found TASER International, Inc., responsible for  the death of 40-year-old Robert C. Heston who died after being Tasered in February of 2005.  The jury found TASER failed to warn police agencies that repeated TASER shocks can cause cardiac arrest. However, shorty after, the Judge threw out all punitive damages awarded in the case. 

On June 6, a jury had found TASER International 15 percent responsible for the death of Mr. Robert C. Heston during an arrest on February 19, 2005 in which five law enforcement officers discharged five (5) TASER M26 ECDs deploying six (6) cartridges. The jury also found that Mr. Heston's own actions, including toxic methamphetamine ingestion, were 85 percent responsible for his death.

"TASER International is obviously very pleased with Judge Ware's ruling with respect to punitive damages, which leaves $153,150 in net compensatory damages remaining," stated Doug Klint, General Counsel for TASER International. "The jury, in this case, clearly exceeded its ability to award punitive damages which are not permitted under California law on a finding of negligent failure to warn."

"Notwithstanding the favorable ruling on these motions, TASER International will continue to consider all appropriate legal channels available in this case, including filing an appeal," added Klint.
Links:

Woman Confronts Bus Driver About Daughter Being Bullied


Shocking News: Taser Wins!

Read more...

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Your ISP is About to Become the Internet Police


It's not what these companies say they are planning to do, tracking down copyright infringement, it's what they could potentially do; act as "Big Brother". The incestuous relationship that exists between government and big corporations is enough to give us a reason to be concerned.

Mr. Cicconi said that AT&T has been talking to technology companies, and members of the MPAA and RIAA, for the last six months about implementing digital fingerprinting techniques on the network level.

“We are very interested in a technology based solution and we think a network-based solution is the optimal way to approach this,” he said. “We recognize we are not there yet but there are a lot of promising technologies. But we are having an open discussion with a number of content companies, including NBC Universal, to try to explore various technologies that are out there.”

Internet civil rights organizations oppose network-level filtering, arguing that it amounts to Big Brother monitoring of free speech, and that such filtering could block the use of material that may fall under fair-use legal provisions — uses like parody, which enrich our culture.

Rick Cotton, the general counsel of NBC Universal, who has led the company’s fights against companies like YouTube for the last three years, clearly doesn’t have much tolerance for that line of thinking.

“The volume of peer-to-peer traffic online, dominated by copyrighted materials, is overwhelming. That clearly should not be an acceptable, continuing status,” he said. “The question is how we collectively collaborate to address this.”

Read more...

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