Duncan Grant
Duncan Grant's Journal31 people in masks, riot gear pulled over in U-Haul near Coeur d'Alene Pride...
31 people in masks, riot gear pulled over in U-Haul near Coeur d'Alene Pride in the Park; arrested for conspiracy to riotCOEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - A U-Haul van filled with men in white masks and similar attire was detained by police on Garden Ave. off of Northwest Blvd., just a block away from the 6th annual Pride in the Park event.
Couer d'Alene police confirmed at a press briefing that 31 individuals were within the U-Haul, coming from numerous states including Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Illinois, South Dakota, Virginia, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, and Wyoming.
Those in the van were equipped with with shields and riot gear, and at least one had smoke grenades.
In the briefing, police say they received several tips from the community over the course of the week of potential threats, necessitating the heavy police presence from several agencies in the downtown Coeur d'Alene area. A phone call was received around 1:30 Saturday afternoon from a concerned citizen who claimed they saw around 20 people wearing masks jump into the back of a U-Haul, looking like 'a little army.'
Link
Cross-post from GD
It's a shame those tens of thousands of gay men with AIDS can't respond.
Allow me to remind us all: People made AIDS jokes. In public. And laughed. That’s how evil it all was (and is). Tens of millions said gay men deserved their suffering and deaths. If you struggle to understand the United States today — remember this.
So, miss me with the rehab of Koch’s legacy and life choices. And others like him. I know what I did and I can tell you, Ed Koch (and Tab Hunter, etc.) weren’t there.
I'm willing to defy institutional power if it endangers women's quality of life.
If the standard of law and the court are corrupted, the gloves come off.
How long should I be complicit before I say enough is enough?
When there’s justice for women, there’ll be justice for the court. Just my .02 cents.
I'm willing to accommodate the oppression of women to win elections.
You should realize by now just how self-serving, unprincipled and spineless I really am — or as I like to call it, pragmatism. Thank you for supporting me (and not you) calling the shots.
Homeland Security Watchdog Omitted Damaging Findings From Reports
Source: NYT
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general and his top aides directed staff members to remove damaging findings from investigative reports on domestic violence and sexual misconduct by officers in the department’s law enforcement agencies, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and two government officials familiar with the inquiries...
The draft report also described a pattern of the agencies using cash payments, with payouts as high as $255,000, to settle sexual harassment complaints without investigating or disciplining the perpetrators. But senior officials in the inspector general’s office objected to that finding, suggesting in written comments that it be removed from the report, which has never been published…
Mr. Cuffari, a Trump appointee who has served as inspector general since July 2019, has previously blocked investigations, against his staff’s recommendations. He blocked inquiries into the Secret Service’s role in the violent dispersal of protests against police brutality outside the White House in 2020, and on the spread of Covid-19 at that agency. He also delayed an inquiry into whether senior agency officials demoted an employee who criticized the Trump administration...
The investigations into sexual misconduct and domestic violence took place as law enforcement agencies within the department — particularly the Border Patrol, which is part of Customs and Border Protection — struggled to recruit women and advance them into leadership positions. They followed high-profile incidents of sexual misconduct over the past decade.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/us/politics/homeland-security-inspector-general.html
It’s far worse than these four paragraphs detail. Worth a read and bookmark, imho.
2021: Most challenged books? Those about black and lgbtq lives. (CNN)
Books about LGBTQ and Black people were among the most challenged books in 2021
Books that tell the stories of Black and LGBTQ people or by authors in those communities were among the 10 most challenged titles in 2021, the American Library Association said…
The majority of books were called inappropriate because some people considered them to be sexually explicit, have sexually explicit images or include sexual references. Some books dealt with the LGBTQ experience, and one was challenged for allegedly promoting “an anti-police message,” the ALA said…
Parents went from taking issue with books that mostly dealt with racism and racial justice in 2020 to a greater focus on books that discuss gender identity and sexual orientation…
The most-challenged book of 2021 was “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, which discusses the non-binary author’s journey with her own identity. Kobabe’s book has been banned or challenged from school libraries in at least a dozen states.
Will Smith puts no conditions on his remarks. No whining. No excuses.
It wouldn’t have helped his case in any way. After reading his statement, it looks as if he accepts that he - and he alone - was responsible for his actions.
“Change takes time,” he (Smith) concluded, “and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason.” — NYT
"Chris was keeping his head when everyone else was losing theirs," he (Packer) said.
Mr. Packer said that Mr. Smith reached out and apologized to him the morning after the Oscars. And he praised Mr. Rock for having kept his cool. “Chris was keeping his head when everyone else was losing theirs,” he said.
“I’ve never felt so immediately devastated,” Mr. Packer said of the incident.
Asked if, after hearing Mr. Smith’s acceptance speech, he wished that the actor had left the ceremony, Mr. Packer said that he did, noting that Mr. Smith had not used his remarks to express real contrition and apologize to Mr. Rock.
“If he wasn’t going to give that speech which made it truly better, then yes, yes,” Mr. Packer said when asked if he wished Mr. Smith had left the ceremony. “Because now you don’t have the optics of somebody who committed this act, didn’t nail it in terms of a conciliatory acceptance speech in that moment, who then continued to be in the room.” —David Packer “ Will Smith Resigns From Academy After Slapping Chris Rock at Oscars’’ (New York Times, accessed 4/1/22)
Isn't this known as pointless perseveration?
I’ll stand by my posts, thanks. Please bookmark and revisit in a year to see how accurate I’ve been.
A public relations piece intended to trivialize what millions saw with their own two eyes.
(Italics are pull quotes from the article, followed by my words.)
“It would seem that there’s a layer of hyper-violence that’s being projected on to Smith simply because he is a Black man who was defending his Black wife.”
Or it could be a serious transgression of social mores. You know, the rule of law stuff. Trivial, I know, but we should make an effort not to initiate criminal assault just because we’re pissed off. Kid stuff, right?
“Anyone who has been following these shows can see that Smith is being held up to much stricter standards than white men who have behaved just as badly or even worse in those settings.”
How did I miss all those white movie stars assaulting presenters and screaming expletives at them in front of an international audience? That didn’t happen, right? This is a public relations lie. Will Smith is no victim.
“The world is so used to seeing Black women as unworthy of being protected and fought for that it can’t see any merit to Smith’s actions or the emotions that spurred them.”
There’s no context that excuses violence against another at an awards show. It’s shameful to suggest there’s something chivalrous about Will Smith’s actions. There’s nothing meritorious about his conduct at the Academy Awards.
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Member since: 2003 before July 6th
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