The Case of the “Houdini Handcuff Suicide”: Young Black Man Supposedly Shoots Himself in Back Seat of Police Cruiser in Louisiana (VIDEOS)

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro
Victor White III

Victor White III

By Elaine Magliaro

Here’s an interesting story about a young black man who was shot while in police custody earlier this year. Twenty-two-year-old Victor White III died in a Louisiana hospital on March 3rd. He was the “victim of a gunshot that police said White fired after being frisked twice, handcuffed and placed in the back of a New Iberia police cruiser.” According to a police press release on the day of White’s death, the young man shot himself in the back. A coroner’s report that was released months later, however, contradicted the police statement. The coroner said that White had been shot in the chest. That would be a difficult thing to do if your hands were cuffed behind your back…don’t you think?

NBC News:

But according to the full final report of the Iberia Parish coroner, which was released nearly six months later and obtained exclusively by NBC News, White was shot in the front, not the back. The bullet entered his right chest and exited under his left armpit. White was left-handed, according to family members. According to the report, the forensic pathologist found gunshot residue in the wound, but not the sort of stippling that a close-range shot can sometimes produce. He also found abrasions on White’s face.

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Posted in Countries, Crime, DOJ, FBI, Law Enforcement, Local Government, Louisiana, Racism, United States | Tagged , | 3 Comments

DIRTY TRICKS?: Koch-Backed Group Americans for Prosperity Mailed Out Incorrect Voter Information to Residents of North Carolina

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

North_Carolina_svgBy Elaine Magliaro

Americans for Prosperity, a right-wing advocacy group founded by the infamous Koch brothers, is up to its old voter suppression tactics again. This time the group sent out voter registration AFProsperityforms to people in the state of North Carolina where there is a close Senate race between Democrat Kay Hagan, the incumbent, and Thom Tillis. Tillis, a Republican, is the current House Speaker of the Tar Heel State. ABC reported that many people have predicted that this Senate race could become the most expensive in history.

The Raleigh News & Observer reported last Wednesday that hundreds of residents of North Carolina had received “incorrect voter registration information, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections.”

One resident said that she even received a voter registration form that had been addressed to her cat!

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Posted in Conservatives, Fascists/Corporatists, Politics, RNC, States, United States | Tagged , , , , | 22 Comments

Regarding the Killing of John Crawford III in a Wal-Mart Store in Ohio: Should the Police Officer Who Shot Him Have Been Indicted?

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro
John Crawford III

John Crawford III

By Elaine Magliaro

Previously, I wrote a post titled The Killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and John Crawford III: It’s Not about Race…It’s Never about Race!. John Crawford III, an African American, was shot and killed by a white police officer inside a Wal-Mart store in Beavercreek, Ohio, on August 5, 2014, “after a caller phoned police to accuse him of brandishing a gun and pointing it at other customers.” At one point during his conversation with the police dispatcher, the caller even claimed that Crawford had “just pointed it at like two children.” Crawford was actually holding a BB gun that he had taken off a shelf in the store. Democracy Now! has reported that newly released surveillance footage “shows major discrepancies between a 911 caller’s account, and what really happened.” Crawford didn’t appear to point the BB gun at anyone in the surveillance footage that was released.

Wal-Mart Surveillance Video of John Crawford III Shooting

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Posted in Courts, DOJ, Law Enforcement, Racism, Society, United States | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

“Vetted Moderate Syrian Rebels” Condemn U.S. Air Strikes

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Bob Stone

Has anyone else noticed a change public discourse regarding foreign affairs after passage of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012?    Why do I get the feeling that freeing the State Department to direct their “strategic communications” toward American citizens helped create the “fog” that lead us into this latest war?

In its haste to act in its own political interests, rather than doing its job and tending to the country’s best interests, Congress approved $500 million in support for “Vetted Moderate Syrian Rebels;” without barely a mention, much less a debate, about the need to re-authorize the use of military force.  Immediately thereafter, Congress ran home and began campaigning for midterm elections.  Bob Schieffer commented on this cowardice on CBS’ Face the Nation  last Sunday:

[W]hen congress approved arming the Syrian rebels, they stuck the legislation in a bill that also provided money to keep the government from shutting down. That way, if arming the rebels turns out to be a debacle, members can say, “I was never for arming the rebels, I just voted to prevent a government shutdown.”

Well, it turns out that “one of those same “vetted moderate” rebel groups currently receiving heavy weaponry from the U.S. has condemned the U.S. for airstrikes on ISIS in Syria earlier this week.”

Harakat al-Hazm, which was one of the first Syrian rebel groups to receive heavy weapons from the U.S. this year, issued a statement Tuesday denouncing the U.S. for the anti-ISIS attacks. Harakat al-Hazm has been hailed by the Washington, D.C. foreign policy establishment as “rebels worth supporting” and “a model candidate for greater U.S. and allied support, including lethal military assistance.”

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Posted in Neoconservatives, Propaganda, Syria, Uncategorized, War, War on "Terror" | 16 Comments

Police Chief of Ferguson, Missouri, Apologizes to Michael Brown’s Parents (VIDEO)

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro
Michael Brown

Michael Brown

By Elaine Magliaro

Thomas Jackson, the police chief of Ferguson, Missouri, apologized to the parents of Michael Brown in a video message earlier today. Jackson extended his apology to peaceful protesters who may think that he didn’t do “enough to protect their constitutional right to protest.” During the course of his video statement, Jackson told Brown’s parents, “I’m truly sorry for the loss of your son. I’m also sorry that it took so long to remove Michael from the street.” He explained that police investigators “were doing ‘important work’ trying to uncover the truth and collect evidence during those four hours.” He acknowledged that it took too long and that he was truly sorry for that. Jackson added, “Please know that the investigating officers meant no disrespect to the Brown family, to the African-American community or the people (in the neighborhood where Brown was shot). They were simply trying to do their jobs.”

Many people have criticized Jackson for the way his police department handled the shooting death of the unarmed black teenager by a white police officer—as well as the department’s response to the protests that followed the shooting. Many have also questioned “his decision to release a video that allegedly showed Brown robbing a convenience store.”

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Posted in Free Speech, Local Government, Missouri, Racism, Short Video, Society, United States | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

ACLU Files Lawsuit on Behalf of Mississipians Who Have Been Jailed Indefinitely without Being Indicted or Given Access to Counsel

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

Mississippi-StateSeal.svgBy Elaine Magliaro

Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Mississippi, and the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center filed a class action suit “against the Scott County (Mississippi) sheriff, district attorney, and judges…” The three organizations did so after learning that the Scott County Detention Center has been holding “people for as long as a year without appointing counsel and without indicting them.” The groups involved in the lawsuit claim that the “county’s practices violate the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments’ rights to counsel, to a speedy trial, and to a fair bail hearing.”

Excerpt from the ACLU’s press release:

“This is indefinite detention, pure and simple. Scott County jail routinely holds people without giving them a lawyer and without formally charging them for months, with no end in sight. For those waiting for indictment, the county has created its own Constitution-free zone,” said Brandon Buskey, Staff Attorney at the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project. “These prisoners’ cases are frozen, their lives outside the jail are disintegrating, and they haven’t even been charged with a crime. The county has tossed these people into a legal black hole.”

The ACLU said that Joshua Bassett, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, has been held in the detention center since January 16 of this year. He has been denied both an attorney and a grand jury hearing. Octavious Burks, another plaintiff, “has been in the jail since November 18, 2013.” Neither man could afford his bail. The ACLU added that “Mr. Burks has been through this ordeal twice before. Since 2009, he has been jailed in Scott County on three separate charges without indictment or counsel.”

The ACLU reportedly has evidence that many other individuals have also “been trapped in the Scott County Detention Center for months at a time because they couldn’t pay bail and, like Mr. Bassett and Mr. Burks, were denied counsel and a grand jury hearing.”

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Posted in Courts, Crime, Government, Local Government, Prison, States, United States | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

“The Face of Disgrace”: Charlie Pierce’s Brief Look at Three Failures of the Mainstream Media Since 2001 (VIDEO)

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

Today, Charlie Pierce has a post on his Politics Blog at Esquire titled The Face of Disgrace. The post is short—but points out the mainstream media’s failure to cover a few important events that occurred in this country since the beginning of 2001.

An excerpt from Pierce’s post:

On January 20, 2001, thousands of people assembled in Washington to protest the dubious installation of George W. Bush as the 44th president of the United States.

The major media covering the event ignored them.

So they weren’t there. So it didn’t happen. But President George Bush did.

Pierce also included a link to a clip from the movie Duck Soup in his post. I’m including the movie clip here for your convenience:

“This Country’s Going to War”- Duck Soup sequence

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Posted in Countries, George W. Bush, History, Media, Movies, Music, Politics, Propaganda, Short Video, Society, United States, War | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

Last Week Tonight (HBO): John Oliver Looks at the Miss America Pageant…and Its Claim about Educational Scholarships for Contestants

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

Last night, John Oliver did a segment on the Miss America Pageant. He talked about the “butt glue” contestants use to keep their bikini bottoms from riding up, the serious questions that contestants are expected to respond to in just twenty seconds, and—more importantly—called into question the pageant’s claim that it provides $45 million in scholarship funds to young “virginal” women who participate in its “beauty contest” every year.

Posted in Education, Media, United States | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

St. Louis Police Academy Announces “Highly Entertaining” Course on Officer Involved Shootings That Will Provide Students with Essential Strategies That Will Help Them Win with the Media

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

PoliceLogoBy Elaine Magliaro

The St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy seems to think it has come up with a good way to prevent future problems with the media when people like Michael Brown are shot to death by police officers. It’s offering a course titled “OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTING – YOU CAN WIN WITH THE MEDIA.” Really! I’m not kidding.

A flier announcing the course says that it will be “jam-packed with the essential strategies and tactics, skills and techniques that will help you WIN WITH THE MEDIA!” In addition, the training promises to be practical and not theoretical. Prospective enrollees are told that they will be able to take what they learn in class and put it to work “on the street right away!” Not only that—the class is advertised as being “highly entertaining…” It will feature numerous video clips that will illustrate “key points…” And there WON’T be any PowerPoint presentations.

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Posted in Law Enforcement, Media, Society, United States | Tagged , , , | 49 Comments

News Roundup—September 21, 2014

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

NewsHeadline

 

By Elaine Magliaro

 

 

ON THE RELIGIOUS FRONT

Judge: Hobby Lobby Decision Means Polygamous Sect Member Can Refuse To Testify In Child Labor Case (ThinkProgress)

Excerpt:
Citing Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court’s decision last June holding that the religious objections of a business’ owners could trump federal rules requiring that business to include birth control coverage in its health plan, a federal judge in Utah held last week that a member of a polygamist religious sect could refuse to testify in a federal investigation into alleged violations of child labor laws because he objects to testifying on religious grounds…

The federal child labor investigation arose from a CNN report investigating claims that Jeffs “ordered all schools closed for a week so children could go to work picking pecans off trees at a private ranch” in Utah. The report included video of “hundreds of children, many of them very small” working on the ranch. When the reporters arrived, CNN also caught video of the FLDS children fleeing the cameras.

Yet, according to an order signed by Judge David Sam, a Reagan appointee to a trial court in Utah, the federal officials investigating this alleged violation of child labor laws will not be able to require an FLDS member named Vernon Steed to provide information that could aid the investigation because Steed objects to giving certain testimony on religious grounds. Steed claims that he’s made “religious vows ‘not to discuss matters related to the internal affairs or organization of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.’” According to Judge Sam’s opinion, that’s enough to exempt him from providing the testimony he does not want to give.

*****

Religious right’s warped icon: Why Mike Huckabee is wingnuts’ best white hope for ’16
Imagine the smug smile of the Gipper plus the nasty politics of Ted Cruz. Why it’s a mistake to count Huckabee out (Salon)

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Posted in News Roundup | Tagged | 5 Comments