I just saw this thread and video about that:
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The Law Enforcement Violence Trump Won’t Talk About
Law enforcement officers have used sharpshooters to maim people, swept protesters away in unmarked cars, and brutally attacked journalists, legal observers, and medics.
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Naomi Osaka winner of the US Open wears a different mask with those people who tragically were murdered as a tribute to Black Lives Matter.
- Breonna Taylor
- Elijah McClain
- Ahmaud Arbery
- Trayvon Martin
- George Floyd
- Philando Castile
- Tamir Rice
She’s out in front with this…
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Matthew Beiber was arrested for burglary, stole the police car he was in, rammed it into several other police cars, led police on a chase, turned around & tried to RUN POLICE OVER, & never had a single bullet fired at him.
We live in 2 different Americas.
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Article from August (and UK paper) revealing that the Compton police force has a lot of gang members. This weekend two cops where shot in an ambush-style shooting, and I can not help but wonder about what the motives were. Horrible situation…and reflects the virulent forces at play here.
A violent gang of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who call themselves “The Executioners” control a patrol station in Compton through force, threats, work slowdowns and acts of revenge against those who speak out, a deputy alleges in a legal claim.
Austreberto Gonzalez, a former Marine and a sheriff’s deputy since 2007, said in a notice of claim ahead of a planned lawsuit that the gang retaliated against him for months after he anonymously reported a fellow deputy for allegedly assaulting a coworker in February “to further the reputation of the gang”.
Mr Gonzalez later received a text message with a photo of graffiti at the station, he said. The graffiti allegedly said, “Art is a rat”.
On Tuesday, Councillor Michelle Chambers said she saw the graffiti at the station as recently as last week. It has since been removed, she said.
Ms Chambers said at a news conference that it’s unacceptable Compton residents are still dealing with reports of excessive force in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody last May.
Los Angeles County deputies are out of surgery after ambush shooting in Compton
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Veterans Fortify the Ranks of Militias Aligned With Trump’s Views
The vast majority of veterans do not join militias, but some fast-growing militias have many veterans among their ranks.
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DHS draft document: White supremacists are greatest terror threat
The documents are slightly different drafts of the same annual threat assessment, which is not yet published.
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Breonna Taylor’s Family to Receive $12 Million Settlement From City of Louisville
In the aftermath of the botched police raid in which Ms. Taylor was killed, the city also agreed to institute changes aimed at preventing future deaths by officers.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After months of protests that turned Breonna Taylor’s name into a national slogan against police violence, city officials agreed to pay her family $12 million and institute reforms aimed at preventing future deaths by officers.
The settlement in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the mother of Ms. Taylor, a young Black woman who was killed by white police officers in a botched raid last March, was expected to be announced Tuesday by her legal team and city officials.
The agreement they reached was relatively quick compared to other cases of police shootings, which have often dragged through court, taking years. It was sizable, with her family receiving more than double the amount paid to the relatives of Eric Garner, the New York man who died in a police chokehold in 2014. Most of all, it was unusual because of the range of reforms — a dozen in all — that the embattled city agreed to adopt in an effort to quell the protests here, which have left the downtown boarded up.
The policing changes would require more oversight by top commanders, and make mandatory safeguards that were common practice in the department but, for reasons that are unclear, were not followed the night of the March 13 raid.
“Based on at least 20 years of tracking these types of cases, I’ve never seen something life this,” said Christopher 2x, a community organizer who was the first person Ms. Taylor’s family turned to after her death. “The bottom line is the monetary amount, combined with the reforms, is unprecedented for us. In the past, it was monetary or nothing, and usually the city would fight you for years.”
Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, died after her boyfriend mistook police officers for an intruder, as they rammed in the door of her apartment after midnight to execute a search warrant. He fired his handgun, striking an officer, setting off a response in which a torrent of bullets sliced through Ms. Taylor’s apartment and two adjoining ones, leaving her bleeding in her hallway.
There was no effort to render her aid, as the officers outside scrambled to get an ambulance for the wounded officer.
The protests began locally and have grown in volume and intensity. They have ravaged the downtown of Kentucky’s largest city, where businesses and government offices are boarded up. And the young woman’s death has burrowed deep into the national conversation: Both the former first lady Michelle Obama and the vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris called out her name at the Democratic National Convention last month, Oprah Winfrey bought dozens of billboards demanding justice for the young woman and W.N.B.A. players have placed her name onto their jerseys.
The top demand of the protesters who gather nightly in a downtown square has been that criminal charges be brought against the three white officers who shot into Ms. Taylor’s home. But because the officers were fired upon first, legal experts say their actions may be protected under Kentucky’s statute allowing the police to use lethal force in self-defense. For that reason, they say it is unlikely that a criminal inquiry underway by the state’s attorney general will result in charges against at least two of the officers, who were standing directly in front of Ms. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, when he opened fire first.
The same legal experts believe that only a charge of wanton endangerment could be brought against a third officer, whom the police department fired, citing reckless conduct. He left the formation at the door, ran into the parking lot and began blindly firing into the young woman’s window and patio door.
The results of the attorney general’s investigation are expected to be released soon. If no charges are brought, or if the charges are minor, the settlement announced this week may be the closest Ms. Taylor’s family comes to justice.
“This is a good first step,” said Sam Aguiar, one of the family’s lawyers. “The city obviously doesn’t have the power to bring charges which still rests in the hands of the attorney general. But what the city can do is change its police practices, and it can acknowledge through a settlement that a lot of things went wrong that night.”
He described the settlement as the largest in Louisville’s history for a police shooting. “It’s a marathon and this is the first mile,” he said.
Across the country, the largest publicly disclosed settlements in cases involving police killings have included a $38 million award to the family of a 23-year-old Maryland hairstylist, Korryn Gaines, who was killed inside her apartment during a standoff with the police, and $20 million to the family of a 40-year-old yoga instructor who was killed by an officer, when she approached his car in Minneapolis. A handful of other settlements have ranged from a high of $18 million to $13 million, but many families were forced to spend years litigating their loss in court.
The dozen reforms that were also part of the settlement come on the heels of substantive changes that have already been passed.
Months before the agreement was reached, the city passed “Breonna’s Law,” which banned the use of “no knock” search warrants which have been blamed for numerous fatalities across the country. That was the type of warrant issued for the search of Ms. Taylor’s apartment, allowing the police to punch in the door of her home without warning. It was one of five such warrants signed by a local judge that were carried out the same night, targeting a criminal drug syndicate operated by Ms. Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, a convicted drug dealer who had repeatedly been seen at her apartment in the months before the raid.
What the police had missed in their sloppy surveillance is that Ms. Taylor had broken up with her ex several weeks before the raid. The officers heading to her apartment that night were told in a pre-operational briefing that she was home alone, when she instead returned from a date night with her boyfriend, Mr. Walker, a licensed gun owner. And hours before the officers rammed in her door, the no-knock warrant was changed to a knock-and-announce, requiring the officers to knock and identify themselves as police, something that did not appear to have been done loudly enough, setting in motion the confusion that followed.
Mr. Walker later told police investigators that he reached for his gun, believing that Ms. Taylor’s ex was about to bust into their home.
Among the reforms are a requirement that commanding officers review and give written approval of all search warrants, a change that was instituted recently in Lexington, the second largest town in Kentucky, and which has led to a dramatic drop in the riskiest raids, said Peter B. Kraska, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University who is an expert on police reform.
The department has also agreed to overhaul how simultaneous search warrants are conducted, likely a result of the manner in which the five warrants were obtained for Ms. Taylor’s residence and four others used as “trap houses” by her ex-boyfriend.
An early warning system will be adopted to flag officers with disciplinary problems, a measure that seems aimed at Detective Brett Hankison, one of the three officers involved in the shooting, and the only one to be fired. Detective Hankison had received multiple complaints of excessive use of force as well as sexual misconduct, according to portions of his personnel file obtained by The Times.
And to promote better relations between the department and the community, officers will be encouraged to perform two hours of paid community service each week and will receive housing credits to encourage them to live in the neighborhoods they police, according to a summary provided by Mr. Aguiar.
Many of the changes appear aimed at addressing the specific lapses that led to Ms. Taylor’s death: It will now be mandatory for ambulances to be idling nearby when the police conduct a search. Although it was common practice to do so, an ambulance was initially sent to Ms. Taylor’s residence before the raid, only to be canceled and sent elsewhere in the hour before police officers beat down her door. The lawsuit filed on behalf of her family claimed she was alive and bleeding for up to six minutes after the shooting, but received no medical care, in part because no ambulance was nearby.
But one of the enduring problems of police reform is that — to date — police departments around the country have not been able to create a mechanism for enforcing changes. “It absolutely will make no difference if there is not a lot of follow-up and accountability,” Mr. Kraska said.
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With all the protests occupying the country, and seeing the militia types, or radicals who create a different kind of havoc - inciting violence and zealously harming others - FBI’s Wray is trying to define who they consider the most dangerous. Certainly White Nationalists are within this group, and wondering which others they consider who might be ‘jihad’ like.
This is separate from what T or Barr may do to send in their unmarked police to ‘clean up the streets.’
FBI Director Christopher Wray says individuals who self-radicalize online and take advantage of readily available weapons pose the most significant threat domestically.
Wray was asked during a hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee what domestic group poses the greatest threat to the homeland, and whether it belongs to the political left or the right.
The FBI doesn’t see politics in that way, he said.
“We assess that the greatest threat to the homeland, to us here domestically, is not one organization, certainly not one ideology, but rather lone actors largely self-radicalized online who pursue soft targets using readily accessible weapons,” Wray said. "Those include both domestic violent extremists of a variety of sorts, as well as homegrown violent extremists who are motivated by foreign jihadist type sources."
Those two groups, Wray said, pose the greatest threat in part because of the difficulty of identifying them before they commit violence. The FBI director acknowledged that the bureau has pursued inquiries involving recent demonstrations but said it does based on peoples’ actions, not the causes they espouse.
“When ideology leads someone to commit criminal acts, the FBI will not hesitate to take appropriate action,” he said.
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More from Wray, that Russia is deep in ‘active measures’ in election and descriptions of those threats we should watch. He notes Antifa is NOT an organization, which purposefully sets T’s constant remarks about the Antifa threats as untrue.
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday described “very active efforts” by Russia to interfere in the 2020 election, primarily by working to damage former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Wray said Russians have been using social media, as well as “proxies, state media, online journals" and other vehicles to hurt Biden and what it views as anti-Russian factions in U.S. politics.
Wray’s assessment affirms the findings of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which last month described Russia’s efforts to damage Biden and specifically identified Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker who has met with President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, as an agent of Russia’s influence operations.
Wray’s testimony to the House Homeland Security Committee affirmed that Russia is continuing to take an active role in the 2020 campaign with less than 50 days until Election Day. He offered no new specifics in the early-going of the hearing, but emphasized that the intelligence community has not seen evidence that Russia is reprising its 2016 attempt to target election infrastructure, such as voter databases.
In testimony to the Homeland Security Committee, Wray also diverged from Trump’s claim that “antifa” is a terrorist organization. Rather, Wray said antifa is “more of an ideology or a movement than an organization” and though there has been violence by some who self-identify as antifa, it has not appeared to be part of a central organization.
“Antifa is a real thing,” Wray said. “But it’s not an organization or a structure.”
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Hundreds of Heavily-Armed Gun Activists Surround Michigan State Capitol
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Some Athens parents outraged over Black Lives Matter survey
Some parents are outraged after students were given surveys about the Black Lives Matter movement in a local high school.
According to Athens High School Parent Lynyrd Jenkins, his child was given a survey that contained some of the following questions:
Do Black lives matter? Is BLM a domestic terrorist movement? Does the BLM movement glorify thugs? Why or why not? Does racism exist in the United States? Why or why not? Is looting a form of protest? Are all cops bad? Why or why not? Should Derek Chauvin be charged with murder? Should cops be able to shoot looters? (Ex: The Target situation)Jenkins said he was shocked when his daughter came to him in tears about the survey assigned to her on Black Lives Matter. He said the survey was inappropriate for anyone of any age, let alone a teenager in high school.
“She was having trouble with a survey and I asked why and she showed me, well I could tell, it didn’t look like something an adult would put,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins says the students in the science class were asked to make surveys for the other students.
The survey mentioned above was reportedly approved by the teacher and given to the students.
“Once you start addressing subjects like that, in a manner that I want to say is not understandable yet. I was just appalled that the whole thing happened," Jenkins said.
Jenkins said he’s confident that Athens High School will handle the situation, but thinks they may need to stay on top of issues that will affect minority students, especially right now.
“The community is not really like that," Jenkins said. “It’s just a couple of bad apples that I really think need to be dealt with.”
Athens School District Superintendent Scott Laird responded to our inquiry about the survey with this statement:
“We are aware of the situation and we are addressing it."
Jenkins said his daughter is still upset by the survey.
Jenkins said he has had issues at Athens High School related to race here and there, but they have always been addressed.
He hopes they can create an environment for students that is hate-free.
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Trump’s father was a huge believer in eugenics. Trump himself LOVES to talk about his genes… and has been known to talk about Obama’s ‘genes’ also.
We all know what he means. And so do his followers.
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Have one for the BLM Crisis thread:
A callback:
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From the DOJ
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The calm before the storm…
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FFS. Trump supporters are running around with semi-automatic weapons and the DoJ turns a blind eye.
Meanwhile, Trump warns of a mythical crime spree of Bumble Bee Tuna flingers.
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Yet another for the BLM thread, and another showing the police lied about events.
Attorneys say independent autopsy shows Dijon Kizzee was shot 15 times
Attorneys representing the family of Dijon Kizzee said the 29-year-old man sustained 15 gunshot wounds and disputed the Sheriff’s Department’s assertion that he pointed a gun at deputies before he was shot in South L.A. last month.
At a news conference Tuesday, attorney Carl Douglas said deputies fired some of the shots when Kizzee was already on the ground, and that the gunfire didn’t immediately kill him. He said those findings came from an independent autopsy commissioned by the family and displayed a body diagram showing the entry point of each wound.
“What this shows is he was alive and breathing and writhing in pain when the officers continued to stay away,” Douglas said, suggesting that deputies did not render aid during those critical moments as Kizzee bled to death on Aug. 31. Kizzee’s family members stood by, wearing black face masks that said, “Justice for Dijon Kizzee.”
The shooting occurred in the 1200 block of West 109th Place in the Westmont neighborhood after the deputies alleged that Kizzee was riding his bicycle in violation of vehicle codes. The Times has identified the two deputies as a trainee and his supervisor.
Douglas said witnesses reported that Kizzee did not have anything in his hands when he was shot. The witnesses also said that deputies did not try to deescalate the encounter or give warnings before shooting, Douglas said. He did not identify the witnesses.
The news conference followed a briefing last week at which Sheriff Alex Villanueva and other sheriff’s officials offered new details of what led up to the shooting, which has generated national attention and triggered days of protests.
They said Kizzee was riding his bike on the wrong side of the street when he was stopped by two deputies from the South L.A. station. Capt. Kent Wegener said Kizzee made a U-turn in front of deputies, dropped his bike on the sidewalk and ran.
As one deputy caught up to Kizzee, Wegener said, Kizzee lifted his arms, clothes in each hand, struck a deputy in the face, and a pistol dropped to the ground.
“He bends over, reaches, picks up the gun and is shot as he stands with the gun in hand,” Wegener said. “You will see that the deputy struggling with Kizzee does not arm himself until Kizzee bends down to pick up the gun he dropped.”
That narrative conflicts in some ways with prior versions of events. Sheriff’s officials had previously said that the shooting occurred after the gun fell to the ground. A day later, the Sheriff’s Department said it happened when Kizzee “made a motion” toward the gun.
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On the one hand, illegally arresting reporters. On the other hand, it’s the Daily Caller…
Also, site won’t let me post on the BLM thread for some reason even though mine is not the most recent post.
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