damnedifIknow
damnedifIknow's JournalThanksgiving In Ferguson
Thanksgiving.
I would precede that word with “happy,” but happy doesn’t seem to be the mood around the nation this year. And, while we are grateful for the time off of work, “happy” isn’t the overall mood of my house right now. We are sad, sombre, that not only is Michael Brown not alive to spend Thanksgiving with his family and friends, but the man who killed him is not facing the public for his crime."
*That is a mockery of the indictment process, as should be obvious to anyone looking at this trial. There is certainly probable cause to believe that Wilson violated the law, and the public and Mike Brown’s family deserved a public airing of the evidence to determine whether there was reasonable doubt that he was justified. That’s how the process is intended to work, but police/prosecutor collusion and racism kept it from working. It is wrong."
*You don’t have to be a radical, anti-police anarchist to understand that what happened here is a collusion of state power of epic proportions. You don’t have to be a “social justice warrior” to know that police officers target black people for the same “offenses” that white people commit in the same numbers, and that black people are jailed more frequently and are more frequently a target of unwarranted police violence."
http://thoughtsonliberty.com/thanksgiving-in-ferguson
Lesley McSpadden: “My Son Was Running for His Life” (Nov. 26, 2014) | Charlie Rose
Coming soon: An app to report police brutality
Washington (CNN) -- Reporting police brutality could just be a swipe away.
That's the motivation behind SWAT, a new app designed by college students Joe Gruenbaum and Brandon Anderson to counter excessive uses of force by police officers.
The app, which its creators would like to release by spring, will give witnesses of a police incident the ability to live-stream video from their smartphones to SWAT's secure servers. Once a video is on the servers, the team at SWAT can forward a copy to authorities, protecting witness recordings from possible destruction or seizure during the incident."
*The live-streaming function is step one of the SWAT process. In addition to recording secure video, a SWAT user will be able to file a police report in seconds. The app will generate a form, send the report to a nearby department with proper jurisdiction, and provide users with a summary of their local rights. "We want to make sure that people understand completely their protections, constitutionally and legally, when they're interacting with the police," Gruenbaum said.
The inspiration for the app comes from what happened in Ferguson, Missouri this year, as well as from Anderson's personal experience. A former U.S. Army satellite engineer, Anderson told CNN his partner died from injuries sustained during a confrontation with police.
"I lost my partner to police brutality, and the cops got away with it because of a lack of evidence," Anderson said."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/26/politics/swat-app-seeks-to-reduce-police-violence/index.html
Michael Brown's parents react to Darren Wilson interview: 'It sounds crazy'
The grief-stricken mother of Michael Brown says police officer Darren Wilson's first interview following a grand jury's decision not to indict him in her teenage son's shooting death "added insult to injury."
Lesley McSpadden, Brown's mother, called the Wilson's interview "disrespectful" on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday, a day after the officer's interview with ABC News aired.
"I don't believe a word of it," McSpadden said on "CBS This Morning."
Wilson's account of the events that led to Brown's killing on Aug. 9 "sounds crazy," Michael Brown Sr. said on "Today."
*"For one, my son, he respected law enforcement," Brown Sr. said. "Two, who in their right mind would rush or charge at a police officer that has his gun drawn? It sounds crazy."
"I know my son far too well to know he wouldn't ever do anything like that," McSpadden said on CBS. "He wouldn't do anything to provoke anyone to do anything to him, and he wouldn't do anything to anybody."
She said she believes Wilson was intent on violence.
"He didn't do what he had to do, he did what he wanted to do," McSpadden said."I don't think he wanted to kill my son, but he wanted to kill someone."
http://news.yahoo.com/michael-brown-parents-react-to-darren-wilson-interview-135728733.html
Driving While Black: the App
On May 5, 2003, a blue Chevrolet Cavalier was pulled over on North Skidmore Street, carrying 21-year-old Kendra James. What began as a routine traffic stop turned tragic as James was shot and killed by Officer Scott McCollister when she tried to drive away.
Lawyers Melvin Oden-Orr and Mariann Hyland have taken James’ story to heart and created a smartphone app to educate African American drivers about their civil rights during traffic stops.
The app is called “Driving While Black;” it will provide drivers with information about their rights, tips for parents to teach their children about driving and simulations that run through police traffic stop scenarios."
People may feel frightened, vulnerable, or singled out by the police while being pulled over. The Driving while Black team hopes that being armed with knowledge can save lives."
*“I vowed that I was going to do something to educate youth about how to be safe, how to save their life during a law enforcement encounter,” Hyland said.
Even a chance viewing of an MSNBC segment helped create the app. Hyland watched an interview of a man who had created an app for drunk drivers and had an epiphany.
“I thought, you know, we need an app for black drivers, that's something that we really need.”
The app is expected to be available by the end of this December and will work on both iPhone and Android operating systems. Learn more about the app at www.dwbtheapp.com
http://www.theskanner.com/news/northwest/22160-driving-while-black-the-app
NYC to Ferguson (Day 2)
http://new.livestream.com/JamesFromTheInternet/events/3616405Ferguson, goddamn: No indictment for Darren Wilson is no surprise.
*The students I teach at a community college in Manhattan – freshmen, like Mike Brown would have been right now, returning home to his family for Thanksgiving break – are relatively conscious of this regularity, of this apparent normality.
The young people know about John Crawford III, a 22-year-old black man who died after an Ohio police officer shot him for carrying an unloaded BB rifle in the pet-food aisle of Walmart, whose mother misses her son and doesn’t understand why an Ohio grand jury did not indict the cops responsible for this death.
The young people know about Eric Garner, the 43-year-old black father of six who died after a New York police officer put him in an illegal chokehold, whose family awaits in tears of rage as a grand jury still has not indicted any of the cops responsible for that death.
They know about Darrien Hunt and Vonderrit Myers Jr, another unarmed teenager shot dead by a white law-enforcement officer with a gun. After this weekend, they know about 12-year-old Tamir Rice and 28-year-old Akai Gurley. They know about Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell; I am teaching them about Edmund Perry and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. But do they know about Ezell Ford in Los Angeles or Marlon Horton in Chicago and all the black and brown bodies gunned down by cops every day since that August afternoon when Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown after those 90 seconds on Canfield Drive? Does a grand jury of our supposed peers – an extreme version of the kind I sat on – mean to say that if the cops are never wrong, they never shall experience any penalty or consequences for their errors, especially when they prove fatal? Or do we just expect this and that death, do we just embrace this failure of humanity?"
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/24/ferguson-no-indictment-darren-wilson-protest
Woman who lost her left eye in 'unjustified' police shooting after drunken 40-mile car chase sues
A woman who lost her left eye two years ago when a police officer fired a single shot at her following a drunken 40-mile car chase is suing the cop and police force involved.
Kristine Biggs Johnson was driving drunk through Morgan County, Utah, on November 24, 2012 when the shooting occurred.
At a press conference on Thursday to announced her legal action, Johnson said she couldn’t recall much from the evening in question - which doctors have put down to either head trauma or excessive alcohol intake.
In her lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Johnson’s lawyer argues that Sergeant Daniel Peay ‘utilized unreasonable, improper, unnecessary and excessive deadly force’."
On the night of the shooting, Johnson was traveling from Evanston, Wyoming, to California with her dog and all her possessions – including a bottle of vodka.
‘I hadn’t opened it and I had no plans to,’ she told The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday, but toxicology tests have since proved that Johnson was legally drunk that night.
When Morgan County sheriffs encountered Johnson she refused to pull over after a deputy tried to stop her for having a broken headlight.
A 40-mile chase into Davis County then ensued after Johnson drove off.
The officer called for backup and at some point during the chase, officers placed spike strips on the road, which destroyed three of Johnson’s tires.
The chase eventually ended in a cul-de-sac and dash-cam footage shows Johnson surrounded by three cop cars."
Video at link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2834189/I-m-sorry-actions-night-Woman-lost-left-eye-unjustified-shooting-following-drunken-40-mile-car-chase-sues-police-officer-involved-excessive-force.html
Three Ferguson Residents Share What It's Like in Their Hometown
At this point, I think everyone knows [Wilson won't be indicted]. They basically told us a long time ago he was going to walk. They’re not interested in investigating this murder, they’re not interested in finding out the real facts. They’re just interested in making sure no one loots, no one burns a building. They’re really not concerned with the life of Mike Brown. They’re more concerned with property and materialistic things, things that you can get back. But you can’t get Mike Brown back. That just shows you the essence of where we’re at in America right now. It’s terrible that a young boy can lie in the streets for four and a half hours and no one really cares until a QuikTrip burns down and a couple of stores get looted. I mean, all of the things lost in those stores can be replaced, but we can’t replace his life."
*We can go back to Emmitt Till, we can go to Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Jordan Davis. In St. Louis we got Cary Ball. Cary Ball was an armed, unarmed black man. He had a gun, he throws his gun on the ground, puts his hands up, looks at his witness and says, “Thank god you’re here.” The cop walks up to him, says something to him, puts a gun in his chest, and shot him. The witness saw him, saw everything, testified. Matter of fact, more than one witness testified. They always say they don’t agree with the looting and the rioting, and the boycotts, but even if you don’t agree with it, understand this: Without that, you wouldn’t know who Mike Brown was. You know why? Because Cary Ball’s life is proof."
http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/11/before-the-darren-wilson-grand-jury-announcement
Corporate hit-men, protests being ignored, new encryption, & Blackwater convicted
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