Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
FreakinDJ
FreakinDJ's Journal
FreakinDJ's Journal
August 17, 2014
Be prepared to see a lot of lying going on in the coming days / weeks
Was it legal for Darren Wilson to shoot Michael Brown?
Was it legal for Darren Wilson to shoot Michael Brown?
The department also released documents about the circumstances of the shooting — suggesting that Brown was the primary suspect in a "strong-arm robbery" of a convenience store shortly before Wilson encountered him. However, in a later press conference that same day, the Ferguson Police Chief clarified that officer Wilson did not know about the robbery at the time of his initial contact with Brown. Rather, Wilson stopped the teenager for walking in the middle of the street
So what are the standards by which Wilson will be judged for killing Michael Brown? There are plenty of guidelines for use of force by police, but it often boils down to what the officer believed when the force was used — something that is notoriously difficult to quantify — regardless of how much of a threat actually existed. We talked to two experts to break down the fraught issue.
Constitutionally, "police officers are allowed to shoot under two circumstances," says Klinger. The first circumstance is "to protect their life or the life of another innocent party" — what departments call the "defense-of-life" standard. The second circumstance is to prevent a suspect from escaping, but only if the officer has probable cause to think the suspect's committed a serious violent felony.
It's most likely, however, that the whole question is moot. From the Ferguson Police Department's statements on the afternoon of August 15th, it doesn't sound like Wilson even knew about the robbery at all. In that case, there's no way for him to claim that he was justified in keeping a violent felon from fleeing, because he didn't even know Brown was a suspect in a crime at all.
http://www.vox.com/2014/8/13/5994305/michael-brown-case-investigation-legal-police-kill-force-murder
The department also released documents about the circumstances of the shooting — suggesting that Brown was the primary suspect in a "strong-arm robbery" of a convenience store shortly before Wilson encountered him. However, in a later press conference that same day, the Ferguson Police Chief clarified that officer Wilson did not know about the robbery at the time of his initial contact with Brown. Rather, Wilson stopped the teenager for walking in the middle of the street
So what are the standards by which Wilson will be judged for killing Michael Brown? There are plenty of guidelines for use of force by police, but it often boils down to what the officer believed when the force was used — something that is notoriously difficult to quantify — regardless of how much of a threat actually existed. We talked to two experts to break down the fraught issue.
Constitutionally, "police officers are allowed to shoot under two circumstances," says Klinger. The first circumstance is "to protect their life or the life of another innocent party" — what departments call the "defense-of-life" standard. The second circumstance is to prevent a suspect from escaping, but only if the officer has probable cause to think the suspect's committed a serious violent felony.
It's most likely, however, that the whole question is moot. From the Ferguson Police Department's statements on the afternoon of August 15th, it doesn't sound like Wilson even knew about the robbery at all. In that case, there's no way for him to claim that he was justified in keeping a violent felon from fleeing, because he didn't even know Brown was a suspect in a crime at all.
http://www.vox.com/2014/8/13/5994305/michael-brown-case-investigation-legal-police-kill-force-murder
Be prepared to see a lot of lying going on in the coming days / weeks
August 17, 2014
Police need to stop shooting down our children like dogs in the street
If they can't get they're act together some one is going to do it for them.
Personally - I will vote against any politician that raises the police budget ever again - Dem or Republican
August 16, 2014
Waistband Shootings
Last Thursday, a San Diego Police Department detective fired into a home before serving a drug warrant, wounding two men. The detective apparently attempted to knock on a window, causing the window to shatter. She then says she saw one of the men reaching for a gun. There were six people inside the house. None of them had a gun.
•Last month, deputies from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department shot and killed 33-year-old Michael Napier while serving a drug warrant. Napier was in the garage working on a bicycle when the police confronted him. They say they opened fire when he appeared to reach for his waistband. Police later reported that Napier was unarmed.
•Last April, police in El Cajon, a town in San Diego County, fatally shot homeless man Raymond Lee Goodlow after attempting to pull him over for riding his bicycle on a sidewalk. Police say they fired because Goodlow reached into his waistband. He was not carrying a gun, although they did apparently find two knives in other parts of his clothing.
•In another “waistband” shooting, a San Diego Police Department Officer shot and killed Angel Miguel Lopez, a fugitive parolee, last January when he fled as a SWAT team descended on the house where he was hiding out. Lopez is the least sympathetic of these victims—he had a long record, including a prison stint for armed robbery. But in the coverage of the shooting, I’ve yet to discern whether or not he was actually armed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/03/03/a-rash-of-police-shootings-in-san-diego/
•Last month, deputies from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department shot and killed 33-year-old Michael Napier while serving a drug warrant. Napier was in the garage working on a bicycle when the police confronted him. They say they opened fire when he appeared to reach for his waistband. Police later reported that Napier was unarmed.
•Last April, police in El Cajon, a town in San Diego County, fatally shot homeless man Raymond Lee Goodlow after attempting to pull him over for riding his bicycle on a sidewalk. Police say they fired because Goodlow reached into his waistband. He was not carrying a gun, although they did apparently find two knives in other parts of his clothing.
•In another “waistband” shooting, a San Diego Police Department Officer shot and killed Angel Miguel Lopez, a fugitive parolee, last January when he fled as a SWAT team descended on the house where he was hiding out. Lopez is the least sympathetic of these victims—he had a long record, including a prison stint for armed robbery. But in the coverage of the shooting, I’ve yet to discern whether or not he was actually armed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/03/03/a-rash-of-police-shootings-in-san-diego/
August 15, 2014
The Rising American Police State
The Rising American Police State
It is shameful to see The United States of America, a nation born of liberty, a nation whose citizens have the constitutionally guaranteed right to protect themselves and their property with arms, turn into the police state that it has. Police raids have been increasing in frequency, 40,000 per year by one estimate in 2001, more than 50,000 in 2005, according to Peter Kraska, a criminologist at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, and likely more raids in the years since. Common targets of these raids are nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians. Many victims of these wrongful raids have their homes invaded in the middle of the night, and it is a common claim that the police do not identify themselves correctly, or at all, before entering.
The results of these raids are unnecessary violence, abusive and unlawful actions against nonviolent individuals, and drug offenders who are guilty of nonviolent crimes. The police in the US have become accustomed to shooting first instead of asking questions, and lying later instead of taking responsibility.
Adam Arroyo, an Iraq war veteran, had his home wrongfully invaded, during which the police executed his 2 year old pit-bull, Cindy, during an attempted drug raid. Another man in Utah was shot and killed within seconds of his parents home being stormed in the night. When the police raided the home, the man had unfortunately been holding a golf club in his hands, which apparently was threatening enough to the police officers to warrant execution. It seems reasonable that he would have been holding a golf club, or some sort of object, seeing as his home was being invaded in the middle of the night. I guess you could exercise your right to protect your life, and property if you feel you are being violently raided, but it might result in an unfortunate trigger-finger attack from the police.
Another unfortunate case of mistaken identity occurred when a 61 year old man was shot at least 3 times, after police wrongfully entered his home to execute a drug raid. His wife believed that their home was being invaded, when she claimed that the police didn’t properly identify themselves. Even more, a lawsuit filed in federal court in Minneapolis accuses the local police department of shooting the dog of the Franco family, during a raid. The suit claims that the children were also forced by police, to sit next to their lifeless pet for over an hour.
http://www.exposingtruth.com/american-police-state/
It is shameful to see The United States of America, a nation born of liberty, a nation whose citizens have the constitutionally guaranteed right to protect themselves and their property with arms, turn into the police state that it has. Police raids have been increasing in frequency, 40,000 per year by one estimate in 2001, more than 50,000 in 2005, according to Peter Kraska, a criminologist at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, and likely more raids in the years since. Common targets of these raids are nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians. Many victims of these wrongful raids have their homes invaded in the middle of the night, and it is a common claim that the police do not identify themselves correctly, or at all, before entering.
The results of these raids are unnecessary violence, abusive and unlawful actions against nonviolent individuals, and drug offenders who are guilty of nonviolent crimes. The police in the US have become accustomed to shooting first instead of asking questions, and lying later instead of taking responsibility.
Adam Arroyo, an Iraq war veteran, had his home wrongfully invaded, during which the police executed his 2 year old pit-bull, Cindy, during an attempted drug raid. Another man in Utah was shot and killed within seconds of his parents home being stormed in the night. When the police raided the home, the man had unfortunately been holding a golf club in his hands, which apparently was threatening enough to the police officers to warrant execution. It seems reasonable that he would have been holding a golf club, or some sort of object, seeing as his home was being invaded in the middle of the night. I guess you could exercise your right to protect your life, and property if you feel you are being violently raided, but it might result in an unfortunate trigger-finger attack from the police.
Another unfortunate case of mistaken identity occurred when a 61 year old man was shot at least 3 times, after police wrongfully entered his home to execute a drug raid. His wife believed that their home was being invaded, when she claimed that the police didn’t properly identify themselves. Even more, a lawsuit filed in federal court in Minneapolis accuses the local police department of shooting the dog of the Franco family, during a raid. The suit claims that the children were also forced by police, to sit next to their lifeless pet for over an hour.
http://www.exposingtruth.com/american-police-state/
August 14, 2014
Where are all the "Police Apologist" now
Where are all the defenders of Police shooting 13 yr old boys now
What happened to all the "You can't blame all cops for the actions of 1 bad cop" or in this case 1 Bad Police Department
Every week we learn of yet another unarmed innocent citizen gunned down and the cop walking away free of charges and returned to duty -WITH A GUN. You want to defend that ...
THIS THE RESULTS OF THE SUPREME COURT 1998 DECISION
and this is not going to end well until the Supreme Court reverses that decision
August 14, 2014
Remember over 25% of ALL police shooting victims are UNARMED
and given the very loose interpretation the courts give the phrase "I was in Fear" we must truly consider these people "Victims"
There in a section dedicated to "police abuse" he read a statistic he regarded as probably exaggerated: that 25 percent of all law enforcement shootings involve unarmed suspects. That launched him on a long and continuing quest for more details about officer-involved gunfights that has turned up a series of surprising - and disturbing - findings.
Not only did the ACLU statistic turn out to be not as far off as he imagined but Aveni has made other unexpected discoveries - pertaining especially to hit ratios, low-light shootings, multiple-officer confrontations, mistaken judgment calls and less-lethal technology - that have convinced him police firearms training needs a significant overhaul.
http://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/117909-Study-reveals-important-truths-hidden-in-the-details-of-officer-involved-shootings/
Not only did the ACLU statistic turn out to be not as far off as he imagined but Aveni has made other unexpected discoveries - pertaining especially to hit ratios, low-light shootings, multiple-officer confrontations, mistaken judgment calls and less-lethal technology - that have convinced him police firearms training needs a significant overhaul.
http://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/117909-Study-reveals-important-truths-hidden-in-the-details-of-officer-involved-shootings/
August 7, 2014
Dash cam video
http://www.wbrz.com/videos/exclusive-dash-cam-video-shows-shooting/
The dash cam video shows Magee cold blooded execution of Harris
While the Supreme Court authorized the suspension of our Constitutional Rights - I don't believe they intended to allow the police to obtain the role of Judge, Jury, and Executioner
Police Officer orders drunken man to move care - then shoots him dead for it
Dash cam video evidence - multiple witnesses - the victim pleaded with the police officer NOT to be ordered to drive the car - then the officer shoots him 5 times killing him because he complied with the officers orders
When will the Supreme Court give the citizens of the country relief from abuses of the Supreme Courts 1998 decision
Of course the officer claimed "I was in FEAR" and was cleared of all wrong doing and is now back on duty - WITH A GUN
On March 6th, 2011, Baton Rouge police officer Christopher Magee shot and killed Carlos Harris, 21, in the parking lot of Club Insomnia off Florida Boulevard. Harris was at the bar with a friend, Ryan Dominique, the night he was shot.
Leading up to the incident, police were called to the scene related to Domingue driving recklessly in the parking lot. As events unfolded and he was taken into custody, Magee either told or asked (accounts differ) Harris to move Dominique's car despite witnesses saying Harris told Magee he was drunk.
Harris was shot while moving the car after he smashed into various vehicles in the parking lot, including police cruisers. Magee said at the time he was worried for his safety, and those around him, so he opened fire. Harris was shot dead. Magee also suggested Harris had some sort of weapon.
"He told [Officer Magee] he was drunk...[But Magee] commanded him to move the car," witness Aisha Loliss
http://www.wbrz.com/news/exclusive-dash-cam-video-reveals-why-there-is-a-495-000-settlement/
Leading up to the incident, police were called to the scene related to Domingue driving recklessly in the parking lot. As events unfolded and he was taken into custody, Magee either told or asked (accounts differ) Harris to move Dominique's car despite witnesses saying Harris told Magee he was drunk.
Harris was shot while moving the car after he smashed into various vehicles in the parking lot, including police cruisers. Magee said at the time he was worried for his safety, and those around him, so he opened fire. Harris was shot dead. Magee also suggested Harris had some sort of weapon.
"He told [Officer Magee] he was drunk...[But Magee] commanded him to move the car," witness Aisha Loliss
http://www.wbrz.com/news/exclusive-dash-cam-video-reveals-why-there-is-a-495-000-settlement/
Dash cam video
http://www.wbrz.com/videos/exclusive-dash-cam-video-shows-shooting/
The dash cam video shows Magee cold blooded execution of Harris
While the Supreme Court authorized the suspension of our Constitutional Rights - I don't believe they intended to allow the police to obtain the role of Judge, Jury, and Executioner
July 10, 2014
The Free Trade Agreements has forced their children to our borders
In 2005, over half of the rural population in El Salvador was living on less than U.S. $2 dollars per day (Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo 2003: 42). The harsh reality of economic subsistence obligates children in El Salvador to contribute to their family’s survival. Employers providing this frail economic lifeline inevitably acquire control over the children. This economic control is a prominent aspect of contemporary slavery and is manifested through violence or exploitation. The enslavement of children in El Salvador not only steals their youth and opportunity to receive an education, but it also places innocent beings into a dangerous work force.
https://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/slavery/elsalvador.pdf
https://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/slavery/elsalvador.pdf
Children in Nicaragua are engaged in the worst forms of child labor, especially in hazardous work in agriculture and commercial sexual exploitation.(2-6) Children work in hazardous conditions producing crops such as coffee, bananas, tobacco, and African palm.(7-13) Children have been found working in dangerous conditions in the production of oranges, rice, and sugarcane, although the extent of the problem is unknown.(2, 7, 8, 10, 12) These children often carry heavy loads, use dangerous tools, and are exposed to hazardous pesticides and fertilizers.(7, 8)
Children also work long hours risking injury in tasks such as breeding livestock, crushing stone, extracting pumice, mining for gold and collecting shellfish.(2, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13) Children are employed as domestic servants in third-party homes in which they may face long hours and are often subjected to abuse.(2, 3, 15, 16) Some children engage in construction, which may expose them to intense heat and dangerous machinery.(7, 13, 17) Children may also work as bus drivers’ assistants, often riding precariously on the exterior of vehicles or entering and exiting moving vehicles.(6, 13) Children work as street vendors and street performers at traffic lights, which may expose them to multiple dangers, including severe weather, vehicle accidents, physical and psychological risks, and crime.(2, 8, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19) Some children work as garbage scavengers and are exposed to toxic substances.
http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/nicaragua.htm
Children also work long hours risking injury in tasks such as breeding livestock, crushing stone, extracting pumice, mining for gold and collecting shellfish.(2, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13) Children are employed as domestic servants in third-party homes in which they may face long hours and are often subjected to abuse.(2, 3, 15, 16) Some children engage in construction, which may expose them to intense heat and dangerous machinery.(7, 13, 17) Children may also work as bus drivers’ assistants, often riding precariously on the exterior of vehicles or entering and exiting moving vehicles.(6, 13) Children work as street vendors and street performers at traffic lights, which may expose them to multiple dangers, including severe weather, vehicle accidents, physical and psychological risks, and crime.(2, 8, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19) Some children work as garbage scavengers and are exposed to toxic substances.
http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/nicaragua.htm
July 10, 2014
If you want it to stop don't treat the symptoms - treat the disease
Don't allow these Corrupt Profiteers to continue to exploit the indigenous peoples of these countries and profit by it
The "Why" of Countries dumping their children at our border
For us here in the US it seems unimaginable to send off our children as young as 11 years old to a foreign country never to be seen again. For the parents of these children it is a decision of love and compassion and just maybe the only chance the child possibly has to see adulthood
In a Countries where the Wealthy Ruling Elite, and "Moneyed" Multi-National Corporations write the rules through a Corrupt Government the working class or peasant farmer class doesn't stand a chance
Nicaragua
“This disease eats our kidneys from inside us,” Martinez said. “We don’t want to die, and we feel grief because we already know that we’re hopeless.”
Martinez’ illness stands at the heart of a lethal mystery — and legacy of neglect by industry and governments, including the United States, which have resisted pleas for aggressive action to spotlight the malady and find a remedy. Wealthier nations are more focused on spurring biofuels production in the region’s sugarcane industry and keeping up the heavy flow of sugar to U.S. consumers and food manufacturers than the plight of those who harvest it.
So many men have died in some parts of rural Nicaragua that Maudiel Martinez’s community, called The Island, now is known as the Island of the Widows — La Isla de las Viudas.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2011/12/12/7578/thousands-sugar-cane-workers-die-wealthy-nations-stall-solutions
“This disease eats our kidneys from inside us,” Martinez said. “We don’t want to die, and we feel grief because we already know that we’re hopeless.”
Martinez’ illness stands at the heart of a lethal mystery — and legacy of neglect by industry and governments, including the United States, which have resisted pleas for aggressive action to spotlight the malady and find a remedy. Wealthier nations are more focused on spurring biofuels production in the region’s sugarcane industry and keeping up the heavy flow of sugar to U.S. consumers and food manufacturers than the plight of those who harvest it.
So many men have died in some parts of rural Nicaragua that Maudiel Martinez’s community, called The Island, now is known as the Island of the Widows — La Isla de las Viudas.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2011/12/12/7578/thousands-sugar-cane-workers-die-wealthy-nations-stall-solutions
Ecuador: Widespread Labor Abuse on Banana Plantations
Human Rights Watch found that Ecuadorian children as young as eight work on banana plantations in hazardous conditions,
Ecuador is the world’s largest banana exporter and the source of roughly one quarter of all bananas on the tables of U.S. and European consumers.
Carolina Chamorro told Human Rights Watch that after aerial fumigation, “I felt sick twice. I was ten years old. . . . I began to shake.” She said that she thought she was going to faint and told her boss, who sent her home. Cristَbal Alvarez, a twelve-year-old boy, also explained, “That poison - sometimes it makes one sick. Of course, I keep working. I don’t cover myself. Once I got sick. I vomited [and] had a headache . . . after the fumigation. I was eleven years old. . . . I told my bosses. They gave me two days to recover.”
http://www.hrw.org/news/2002/04/24/ecuador-widespread-labor-abuse-banana-plantations
Human Rights Watch found that Ecuadorian children as young as eight work on banana plantations in hazardous conditions,
Ecuador is the world’s largest banana exporter and the source of roughly one quarter of all bananas on the tables of U.S. and European consumers.
Carolina Chamorro told Human Rights Watch that after aerial fumigation, “I felt sick twice. I was ten years old. . . . I began to shake.” She said that she thought she was going to faint and told her boss, who sent her home. Cristَbal Alvarez, a twelve-year-old boy, also explained, “That poison - sometimes it makes one sick. Of course, I keep working. I don’t cover myself. Once I got sick. I vomited [and] had a headache . . . after the fumigation. I was eleven years old. . . . I told my bosses. They gave me two days to recover.”
http://www.hrw.org/news/2002/04/24/ecuador-widespread-labor-abuse-banana-plantations
Guatemala
coffee pickers have to pick a 100-pound quota in order to get the minimum wage of less than $3/day. A recent study of plantations in Guatemala showed that over half of all coffee pickers don't receive the minimum wage, in violation of Guatemalan labor laws. Workers interviewed in the study were also subject to forced overtime without compensation,
http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/coffeelabor.htm
coffee pickers have to pick a 100-pound quota in order to get the minimum wage of less than $3/day. A recent study of plantations in Guatemala showed that over half of all coffee pickers don't receive the minimum wage, in violation of Guatemalan labor laws. Workers interviewed in the study were also subject to forced overtime without compensation,
http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/coffeelabor.htm
If you want it to stop don't treat the symptoms - treat the disease
Don't allow these Corrupt Profiteers to continue to exploit the indigenous peoples of these countries and profit by it
July 9, 2014
Countries that Dump their "Unwanted Children" on the US Border
From the Child labor in the Sweat-shops of New York in the early 1800s to the Border Children of 2014 - My how we've changed - NOT !!!
From Flyers being handed out in the streets, to dis-information being taught in their schools. South of the border countries are attempting to forsake their moral responsibilities to care for and educated their children - in the name of "Profit"
These same countries are increasingly exporting goods to Western Countries and around the world. Because of Government corruption and the "Stranglehold" placed on it by the Wealthy Ruling Elite, and Multi-National Corporations in those countries, rather then educate and care for those children funded through taxation, they choose to forsake their responsibility altogether. Through a campaign of propaganda designed to make the parents believe the child's only chance in life is to cross the border illegally into the United States.
Where obviously for a lack of proper English speaking skills and a proper education the child will only grow up disadvantaged and doomed to a life of minimal paying jobs at best.
That's not treating the problem - that's exploiting those children twice
The Parent in the Room needs to take action
Goods from these countries needs to be abandoned on the docks not allowed to be processed into this country. The only way to grab the attention of the Corrupt Government, the Wealthy Elite, and Multi-National Corporations causing this crises is to speak to them in a language they can understand. And by effecting their profits - only then do these children have a chance.
If anyone here thinks that this is anything less then an organized effort to Dump these children on the US - then you really need to get in touch with reality.
Profile Information
Member since: 2002Number of posts: 17,644
