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What To Do When You're Stopped By Police - The ACLU & Elon James White

What To Do When You're Stopped By Police - The ACLU & Elon James White

Know Anyone Who Thinks Racial Profiling Is Exaggerated? Watch This, And Tell Me When Your Jaw Drops.


This video clearly demonstrates how racist America is as a country and how far we have to go to become a country that is civilized and actually values equal justice. We must not rest until this goal is achieved. I do not want my great grandchildren to live in a country like we have today. I wish for them to live in a country where differences of race and culture are not ignored but valued as a part of what makes America great.

Friday, September 30, 2016

Analysis: Trump's Alicia Machado Tweet Storm Points to Deeper Problems - NBC News


Analysis: Trump's Alicia Machado Tweet Storm Points to Deeper Problems - NBC News

Heavily Armed White Man Arrested Alive After Shooting at Police Officer

"The racist double standard in American law enforcement continues.



62-year-old William Bruce Ray, who is white, was arrested alive Tuesday afternoon by police in Wake County, North Carolina, despite pointing his shotgun at oncoming traffic and even firing a .22 caliber pistol at officers responding to the scene. According to local media, Ray threatened deputy D.R. Farmer with his shotgun before reaching for the handgun in his pocket, saying, “I got something for you.”



Sheriff Donnie Harrison told WRAL-TV that Farmer was able to subdue Ray peacefully, though Ray’s pistol did discharge into the air as he was subdued.



“The deputy luckily grabbed the barrel and pushed him back,” Harrison said. “Luckily, nobody got hurt. That’s the good thing. God was looking out for us… (Ray) was very fortunate that he didn’t get shot, very fortunate that anybody didn’t get shot.”



Ray was charged with two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and is being held at the Wake County Jail on a $150,000 bond. Prosecutors say his charges may be upgraded to attempted murder. According to WRAL, Ray had been drinking. His neighbors told local media that he had a mental illness.



The treatment of Ray comes as the widely-shared videos of police killing Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philandro Castile in Minnesota, both of whom were black, have caused national outrage and protests. While both men were armed, Sterling never once reached for his gun during his final moments, and Castile told the officer who pulled him over for a broken tail-light that he had a firearm in his possession, which he had a license to carry. Unlike Ray, neither man became belligerent with police."


Heavily Armed White Man Arrested Alive After Shooting at Police Officer

Heavily Armed White Man Arrested Alive After Shooting at Police Officer

"The racist double standard in American law enforcement continues.



62-year-old William Bruce Ray, who is white, was arrested alive Tuesday afternoon by police in Wake County, North Carolina, despite pointing his shotgun at oncoming traffic and even firing a .22 caliber pistol at officers responding to the scene. According to local media, Ray threatened deputy D.R. Farmer with his shotgun before reaching for the handgun in his pocket, saying, “I got something for you.”



Sheriff Donnie Harrison told WRAL-TV that Farmer was able to subdue Ray peacefully, though Ray’s pistol did discharge into the air as he was subdued.



“The deputy luckily grabbed the barrel and pushed him back,” Harrison said. “Luckily, nobody got hurt. That’s the good thing. God was looking out for us… (Ray) was very fortunate that he didn’t get shot, very fortunate that anybody didn’t get shot.”



Ray was charged with two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and is being held at the Wake County Jail on a $150,000 bond. Prosecutors say his charges may be upgraded to attempted murder. According to WRAL, Ray had been drinking. His neighbors told local media that he had a mental illness.



The treatment of Ray comes as the widely-shared videos of police killing Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philandro Castile in Minnesota, both of whom were black, have caused national outrage and protests. While both men were armed, Sterling never once reached for his gun during his final moments, and Castile told the officer who pulled him over for a broken tail-light that he had a firearm in his possession, which he had a license to carry. Unlike Ray, neither man became belligerent with police."



Heavily Armed White Man Arrested Alive After Shooting at Police Officer

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

What Donald Trump Got Wrong on Stop-and-Frisk - The New York Times

"Donald J. Trump attributed a nonexistent increase in murder to actions that never happened, namely, the ending of the stop-and-frisk practice by, variously, “a judge, who was a very against-police judge,” and the “current mayor.”



This was multilayered fiction.



Murder declined. A judge did not end stop-and-frisk. Neither did the current mayor.



In fact, the Police Department began to drastically curtail its use in 2012, under the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, an independent. This is well documented but only lightly noticed. On July 9, 2012, an editorial in The New York Post warned that the reduction in its use would lead to “more blood in the street.”



By the way, did more blood run in the street?



No, less blood did.



Murder is down 32 percent since 2011, the last year of the old stop-and-frisk era, having dropped to 352 homicides in 2015 from 515 in 2011."





What Donald Trump Got Wrong on Stop-and-Frisk - The New York Times

The Daily Show - Sparks Fly at the First Trump-Clinton Presidential Debate

Trump Lies about His Birther Past: A Closer Look

Donald Trump ATTACKS Former Miss Universe ALICIA MACHADO Over WEIGHT Gai...

Record number of Brookhaven car break-ins reported | www.ajc.com

Record number of Brookhaven car break-ins reported | www.ajc.com

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Cop Who Choked Garner Earning More Money Than Ever

"The cop who was filmed putting Eric Garner in a fatal choke hold has been doing pretty well for himself recently. In the two years since Daniel Pantaleo was placed on desk duty over his role in the incident, the NYPD officer has earned significantly more money than he did prior to the incident.


Politico reports that during the 2014 fiscal year, before Garner died, Pantaleo made $99,915, including $17,189 in overtime pay. He appears to have gotten some kind of raise in 2015: “In that 12-month period, ending June 30, 2015, Pantaleo earned $105,061, with $76,488 base pay, $17,109 in overtime and $11,673 in additional earnings, records show.” It was even better in 2016:



Pantaleo earned $119,996 in fiscal year 2016, which includes earnings between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016. His base pay was $78,026 and he earned $23,220 in overtime, according to a review of payroll records. He received an additional $12,853 in unspecified pay, which could include retroactive pay or bonuses.

As Politico notes, that’s a 14 percent increase in overall compensation — and a 35 percent increase in overtime — compared to 2015.



When asked about the upward trend in Pantaleo’s earnings, an NYPD spokesperson said only, “At times, officers are required to work beyond their scheduled tour of duty. This includes officers on modified assignment.” Pantaleo avoided criminal charges in Garner’s death, setting off widespread protests. He remains the subject of a federal civil-rights investigation."



Cop Who Choked Garner Earning More Money Than Ever

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Obamacare Has Increased Insurance Coverage Everywhere | FiveThirtyEight

"When congressional candidates last hit the campaign trail in 2014, one word seemed to be at the top of the agenda for virtually every Republican: Obamacare. But that was before most of the law’s provisions took effect. Two years later, the health law seems to have faded as a campaign issue.



New data released this month might give a hint as to why: The uninsured rate — the share of the population without health insurance — dropped in every congressional district in the country between 2013 and 2015, according to the American Community Survey."



Obamacare Has Increased Insurance Coverage Everywhere | FiveThirtyEight

New videos, photos and documents provide fresh look at 2011 St. Louis police killing | Law and order | stltoday.com




New videos, photos and documents provide fresh look at 2011 St. Louis police killing | Law and order | stltoday.com

Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby Charged in Terence Crutcher Death - The Daily Beast






"Tulsa County’s district attorney announced Thursday that charges have been filed against Betty Shelby, the police officer who shot and killed Terence Crutcher last Friday afternoon. Steve Kunzweiler said in a press conference that the county will charge Shelby with first-degree manslaughter for the 40-year-old unarmed black man’s death. Dashcam and helicopter footage showed Crutcher with his hands up in the air before Shelby fired at him, but the officer claimed that he was non-compliant, that she felt “threatened” by him, and that she suspected him of being high on PCP. In filing the charges, the district attorney’s office wrote that Officer Shelby “acted unreasonably by escalating the situation” while Crutcher attempted to surrender."



Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby Charged in Terence Crutcher Death - The Daily Beast

Charlotte Police Shooting Video Not ‘Definitive,’ Chief Says - The New York Times

With the city staggered by two nights of violent protests after the fatal police shooting of a black man, the Charlotte, N.C., police chief said on Thursday that a video of the episode did not definitively show the victim, Keith L. Scott, pointing a gun.



The chief, Kerr Putney of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, said that while he had no plans to release the video of the shooting to the public, he did intend to show it to Mr. Scott’s family, at their request.


Charlotte Police Shooting Video Not ‘Definitive,’ Chief Says - The New York Times

'Wells Fargo isn't the only one': Other bank workers describe intense sales tactics - Sep. 22, 2016



'Wells Fargo isn't the only one': Other bank workers describe intense sales tactics - Sep. 22, 2016

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

1 shot during uptown protests over officer-involved shooting




"One person was shot and hospitalized with life-threatening injuries during protests in uptown Charlotte Wednesday night, Medic confirmed.



Medic said on Twitter that it was treating the patient for a gunshot wound en route to Carolinas Medical Center at about 8:45 p.m.



The person was shot in the area of North College and East Trade streets, according to Medic.



Medic said it was responding to “multiple incidents uptown related to the situation in the College Street area” but was no more specific.



Moments earlier, police fired tear gas at protesters at the entrance to the Omni Hotel in uptown Charlotte. Loud booms sounded, and police said explosives had been used.



“Your life is in danger, you need to move!” police in riot gear yelled.



Protests had remained peaceful in uptown on Wednesday, after the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. But the scene turned chaotic after 8:30 p.m., when protesters went from Marshall Park to the Epicentre dining and entertainment complex and the Omni on Trade Street.



Businesses in the Epicentre closed hours earlier in anticipation of the protests. Police also blocked off streets as the situation deteriorated outside the Omni.



Several hundred protesters had gathered at the Omni before tear gas began scattering the crowd.



Protesters blocked Trade and Tryon streets at about 8 p.m. and then moved to the Epicentre.



Hours earlier, a group of two dozen protesters stood silently in front of the Bank of America Tower at the same intersection. They held signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and “Stop Killing Us.”



Protesters then gathered outside Charlotte-Mecklenburg police headquarters before gathering at Marshall Park for a 7 p.m. rally."





1 shot during uptown protests over officer-involved shooting

Saturday, September 10, 2016

"A Continuous War Mentality": Richard Falk on Israel's Human Rights Abuses

"Israel's treatment of Palestinians mirrors the abominable system of apartheid in South Africa, but many members of the "international community" who fueled the gradual delegitimization and eventual collapse of South Africa's apartheid regime are failing to apply similar pressure against Israel. In fact, many nations are even strengthening their ties with the Israeli government.
Even Greece has established close ties to Israel under the opportunistic Syriza government, while Sultan Erdogan in Turkey has also begun a process of kissing up to Israel after a few years of pursuing an "antagonistic" relation with the US's closest ally under the pretext of expressing solidarity towards the Palestinian cause. Meanwhile, the increased militarization of Israeli society continues to intensify the oppression and subjugation of Palestinians.
"Israel's treatment of Palestinians mirrors the abominable system of apartheid in South Africa, but many members of the "international community" who fueled the gradual delegitimization and eventual collapse of South Africa's apartheid regime are failing to apply similar pressure against Israel. In fact, many nations are even strengthening their ties with the Israeli government.
Even Greece has established close ties to Israel under the opportunistic Syriza government, while Sultan Erdogan in Turkey has also begun a process of kissing up to Israel after a few years of pursuing an "antagonistic" relation with the US's closest ally under the pretext of expressing solidarity towards the Palestinian cause. Meanwhile, the increased militarization of Israeli society continues to intensify the oppression and subjugation of Palestinians.
The Israeli government has recently suggested that a "normalization" process is underway with the Palestinians,but in reality Israel's construction of illegal settlements continues unabated, and the right-wing politicians inside Israel who portray Palestinians as an "inferior race" are gaining ground. This is exactly what "normalization" has always meant in Israeli political jargon: continuing to commit abominable human rights violations against Palestinians while the world looks away. Indeed, apartheid, annexation, mass displacement and collective punishment have become core policies of the state of Israel."
"A Continuous War Mentality": Richard Falk on Israel's Human Rights Abuses

'Religious Freedom' Means Putting LGBT Americans Back in the Closet - The New Civil Rights Movement

"Over the past few years, nearly every time someone claims their freedom of religion is being violated, it involves being completely horrid to other people. This observation has some terrifying implications for the LGBT community, given where we are legally.



For example, refusing to provide wedding services to lesbian and gay couples has been the cause célèbre for years. The people doing the discriminating walk away with a cool half million dollars, and the queer people end up with nothing but a lot of death threats and hate mail. People are telling LGBT people "we don’t serve your kind" in other commercial areas as well. Doctors are refusing to treat children with gay parents. Restaurants are telling transgender customers they’re not welcome.



In most states, all of this is perfectly legal. We usually only hear about it when it happens in a state where it is against state law to discriminate on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. Despite the statistics on poverty, abuse, violence, unemployment, depression, suicide that dog the LGBT community, religious bigots roll around on the floor and scream about being the real oppressed whenever someone calls them out on their actions against LGBT people.



When it comes to LGBT people, the religious right believes that it’s not really discrimination or persecution unless LGBT people are being executed by the government. Both Ted Cruz and conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren have said on camera that LGBT people in the United States don’t have anything to complain about unless they’re being thrown off of buildings to their deaths. This also hints darkly that they believe the U.S. is merciful for being tolerant enough to choose not to do so.



But this is where it gets really scary…"



'Religious Freedom' Means Putting LGBT Americans Back in the Closet - The New Civil Rights Movement

Thank you Hillary for telling the truth. - Clinton Half of Trump supporters 'deplorables'

Thursday, September 08, 2016

Appeals court has concerns over possible Gitmo video release

" A federal appeals court expressed concerns Thursday about the prospect of ordering the Obama administration to release graphic videos of a former Guantanamo Bay inmate being force-fed during a hunger strike.

"Judges hearing arguments in the long-running legal dispute considered whether any First Amendment interest in releasing the footage is outweighed by possible harm to national security.
The Associated Press and 15 other news organizations say the public has a constitutional right to see the videos.
The government says the tapes are classified and warns they could be used as propaganda by extremist groups to incite anti-American sentiment.
U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler last year rejected the government's concerns as vague and speculative. She ordered the videos released with redactions to protect the identities of U.S. personnel, but the release has been on hold pending appeal.
The three-judge appeals panel gave no obvious indication of how they would rule. But at times, they pressed lawyers on both sides over how much deference courts should give to the government's interest in protecting national security.
The videos show former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Abu Wa'el Dhiab being forcibly removed from his cell, strapped to a restraining chair and force-fed his meals through a tube."


Appeals court has concerns over possible Gitmo video release

Sunday, September 04, 2016

Robert Mugabe lambasts Zimbabwe judges over protests - BBC News

Members of the main opposition parties protest outside the Harare Magistrates Courts (26 August 2016)





"He said the judges showed a reckless disregard for peace, and warned that they should not dare to be negligent when making decisions.

The opposition has accused him of trying to intimidate the judiciary.

On Monday, opposition supporters are going to court to challenge a two-week ban on demonstrations.

There have been a number of violent protests in Zimbabwe in recent weeks as the country's economic crisis deepens.

The president recently warned protesters there would be no Zimbabwean uprising similar to the "Arab Spring".

He has routinely blamed the country's economic problems on sabotage by Western critics of his policies - which include the seizure of white-owned commercial farms for black people."



Robert Mugabe lambasts Zimbabwe judges over protests - BBC News

What Religion Would Jesus Belong To? - The New York Times







"ONE puzzle of the world is that religions often don’t resemble their founders.



Jesus never mentioned gays or abortion but focused on the sick and the poor, yet some Christian leaders have prospered by demonizing gays. Muhammad raised the status of women in his time, yet today some Islamic clerics bar women from driving, or cite religion as a reason to hack off the genitals of young girls. Buddha presumably would be aghast at the apartheid imposed on the Rohingya minority by Buddhists in Myanmar."



What Religion Would Jesus Belong To? - The New York Times

Saturday, September 03, 2016

Dumb, dumb and dumber. Trump's Top Cop Has a Plan to Clean Up Chicago

When Police Unions Impede Justice - The New York Times







"Across the country, municipal governments have signed contracts with police unions including provisions that shield officers from punishment for brutal behavior as well as from legitimate complaints by the citizens they are supposed to serve.



That may soon change, as public outrage over police killings of civilians is ratcheting up pressure on elected officials to radically revise police contracts that make it almost impossible to bring officers to justice.



The most striking case in point is Chicago, which has been roiled by a police scandal stemming from a cover-up in the case of a 17-year-old named Laquan McDonald, who was executed by a police officer nearly two years ago.



The Police Department first claimed that Mr. McDonald was brandishing a knife and moving toward officers when he was killed. A video — probably available to the city within hours of the shooting but not made public until last November, more than a year later — showed that Mr. McDonald was moving away from the cops when they shot him 16 times, and that the police were obviously lying.



But it was not until last month that the city’s inspector general recommended firing several officers, some of whom have since retired, for making false statements.



That recommendation was passed on to the police superintendent, Eddie Johnson. Mr. Johnson, who lacks the power to fire the officers outright, has filed administrative charges against five officers with an agency known as the Chicago Police Board, whose members are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council.



It is incredible that this is the first official disciplinary action taken against the officers, 22 months after the killing. And even if the board votes to dismiss the officers, they will be able to challenge their dismissals in court.



As a task force appointed by Chicago’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, noted in April, “The collective bargaining agreements between the police unions and the city have essentially turned the code of silence into official policy.”





When Police Unions Impede Justice - The New York Times

Friday, September 02, 2016

Trump anti-immigrant speech follows dark pattern of US history | MSNBC




Trump anti-immigrant speech follows dark pattern of US history | MSNBC

Judge Collins Reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court For Jailing A Domestic Violence Victim

Georgetown Confronts Its Ugly Past - The New York Times











"Georgetown University is taking a series of historically important steps to atone for the acts of 19th-century Jesuits who held African-American men, women and children in slavery and sold 272 of them to Southern sugar plantations to keep the college that became Georgetown operating.



The new measures include naming a building for one of the men who was sold and giving preferential admissions treatment to descendants of those who were enslaved. These are important milestones in the journey toward reconciliation, but before completing its plans, the university needs to confer closely with descendants whose families were broken by the 1838 sale and who deserve a significant voice in the reconciliation effort.



Many universities have ties to slavery. But the Georgetown sale of African-Americans is distinguished by its size, its direct relationship to the financial health of the university and the fact that the names of the enslaved were recorded, which made it possible for genealogists to track down their descendants.



Last year, Georgetown’s president, John DeGioia, established a working group on slavery and reconciliation — made up of professors, students, alumni and others — and asked it to recommend how best to recognize the university’s debt to human bondage. The group would have benefited from input from descendants, but it was nearing the end of its work when it became aware of them. At the very least, it should have conferred with them on the contents of the report, which was released Thursday.



The report recommends that the university offer an apology for its participation in slavery, build a public memorial and rename a university building for a person listed only as “Isaac” in the 1838 document of sales. Critics of the proposed name — Isaac Hall — rightly point out that using the first name alone repeats the racist condescension of slave holders who commonly refused to acknowledge the surnames of the human beings they owned. Beyond that, the Georgetown Memory Project, a nonprofit group that has been tracking descendants, maintains that Isaac understood his surname to be Hawkins. His descendants should clearly be allowed to decide how his name is used."





Georgetown Confronts Its Ugly Past - The New York Times

Donald Trump, Deporter in Waiting - The New York Times

'tt was a mass-deportation speech, even if he avoided that phrase. Its intent was hard to miss.



Leave aside the bit about the “impenetrable” wall, an applause line for an engineering fiction. To understand what’s so appalling and frightening about Mr. Trump, focus instead on some things he could actually try to do, if America gives him the job and Congress gives the money:



1. “Under my administration, anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country and back to the country from which they came. And they’ll be brought great distances.”



Donald Trump, Deporter in Waiting - The New York Times

Why Trump is unbelievable on immigration | MSNBC



Why Trump is unbelievable on immigration | MSNBC

Hermine makes landfall in Florida | MSNBC



Hermine makes landfall in Florida | MSNBC