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Toyota

Since the Dilly, Dally, Delay & Stall Law Firms are adding their billable hours, the Toyota U.S.A. and Route 44 Toyota posts have been separated here:

Route 44 Toyota Sold Me A Lemon



Showing posts with label Cleveland PD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cleveland PD. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

CLG: Air Force officials won't say if radioactive material was released when nuclear missile was damaged




News Updates from CLG
26 January 2016
Previous edition: US sets up secret Syria air base and deploys special forces to 'fight ISIS'
Air Force officials won't say whether radioactive material was released when Minuteman III nuclear missile was damagedNuclear missile 'mishap' costs Air Force $1.8M --Air Force officials did not specifically address whether radioactive material was released when the missile was damaged. | 24 Jan 2016 | Three U.S. Air Force airmen were stripped of their nuclear certifications after a "mishap" caused approximately 1.8 million in damage to an intercontinental ballistic missile in 2014, officials said Friday. The incident occurred when the Minuteman III nuclear missile, assigned to the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, became "non-operational" during a diagnostic test, according to a statement released by the Air Force...Further details about the nature of the "mishap" are murky, as the full report from the military's Accident Investigation Board remains classified.
Pentagon Wants Psychologists to End Ban on Interrogation Role at Guantanamo Bay, Other National Security Sites | 24 Jan 2016 | The Pentagon has asked the American Psychological Association to reconsider its ban on the involvement of psychologists in national security interrogations at the Guantánamo Bay prison and other facilities. The Defense Department reduced its use of psychologists at Guantánamo in late 2015 in response to the policy approved by the association last summer. But in a letter and accompanying memo to association officials this month, Brad Carson, the acting principal deputy secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, asked that the group, the nation's largest professional organization for psychologists, revisit its "blanket prohibition."...James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, contractors who helped run the C.I.A.'s harsh interrogation torture program, were the most controversial examples of psychologists involved in George W. Bush-era interrogations before the abusive torture programs were ended.
Islamic State video purports to show Paris attackers, threatens Britain | 25 Jan 2016 | A video published on Sunday by the media centre of Islamic State [Langley, Virginia?] purported to show images and last statements of nine of the people who took part in the Paris attacks that killed 130 people on Nov. 13. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage, which showed the men delivering anti-Western diatribes and concluded with an apparent threat to attack Britain. The French Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the video.
Plane Diverted to Ireland After Bomb Threat | 24 Jan 2016 | A Turkish Airlines flight from Texas has been diverted to Shannon, Ireland, after a handwritten bomb threat. The Boeing 777, which had been heading to Istanbul, landed and all 209 passengers got off safely, a Shannon airport spokesman said...The Irish Times reported that flight TK-34 departed Houston at 9.07pm local time on Saturday (4.07am Irish time Sunday).
FBI Stages Weapons Purchase, Then Arrests Milwaukee Man for Allegedly Planning Temple Attack | 26 Jan 2016 | A Milwaukee man was arrested Tuesday on charges that he sought machine guns in order to carry out a terror attack on a Masonic temple, federal prosecutors said. Samy Mohamed Hamzeh, 23, was charged with unlawfully possessing a machine gun and unlawfully receiving and possessing firearms not registered to him. Hamzeh allegedly told two informants working with the FBI last week that the three should carry out an attack on a Masonic temple using machine guns equipped with silencers...The FBI set up a fake buy Monday and arrested Hamzeh after he paid for two fully automatic guns and one silencer, the FBI said.
Sydney teenager arrested over allegedly collecting documents linked to terrorism | 26 Jan 2016 | An 18-year-old Sydney man has been charged with three counts of collecting documents likely to facilitate terrorist acts. The NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team arrested Sameh Bayda, of Guildford, late yesterday and his bail has been refused, police said. When Bayda appeared in Parramatta Court today, police alleged that in December and January he collected images of documents likely to be used for a terrorist attack.
Ah, then came the dawn. Naval Medical Center Conducted 'Code White' (Active Shooter) Drill One Month Ago By www.legitgov.org | 26 Jan 2016 | (Images at link)

Police chief Shelley Zimmerman on Naval Medical Center incident: 'We trained for this' | 26 Jan 2016 | An apparently unfounded report of shots fired Tuesday morning at Naval Medical Center San Diego prompted lockdowns of the facility and nearby schools as law enforcement officers flooded the area and searched the hospital complex. About 8 a.m., authorities got word from a Department of Defense employee reporting what sounded like three gunshots seemingly coming from the basement of NMCSD Building 26, which houses a gymnasium and barracks, according to Navy Region Southwest...Mayor Kevin Faulconer hailed the "tremendous collaboration" displayed during the emergency. "This is what we train for -- as a region, as a city," he said. "The fact (is) that we had, at last count, seven law enforcement agencies from the federal, the state, the local level that all pitched in, (that) didn't wait."

Naval Medical Center San Diego 'Shooting': 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know 26 Jan 2016 A base spokesman told CW6 San Diego that personnel conducted an active shooter drill in December 2015. He added that the source of the investigation right now is the building's basement. That spokesman doesn't know if the basement has been evacuated. Non-emergency personnel have been advised to stay away from the building, reports ABC San Diego...The base is the jurisdiction of military police who are coordinating with local and federal agencies. NBC San Diego reports that two California Highway Patrol officers were seen entering the medical center at around 8:30 a.m. local time. Officer John Perryman told the San Diego Union-Tribune that there is a "minimum of 100" cops at the hospital.

'Active shooter' reported at San Diego military hospital in US | 27 Jan 2016 | An "active shooter" was reported at a San Diego military hospital, but an initial sweep of the building in southern California found no evidence a shooting had occurred, officials say. Navy spokesman Jon Nylander told AFP that a single witness had reported hearing three shots in the basement of the building at about 8:00am (local time). Local police, assisted by Navy dogs and California Highway Patrol officers, searched the building but there were no immediate signs of a shooting or reports of casualties.
Possible Shots Fired at Naval Medical Center San Diego | 26 Jan 2016 | Naval Medical Center San Diego was on lockdown Tuesday morning after reports of shots being fired in one of its buildings. "According to initial reports of a single witness, at approximately 8 a.m. this morning three shots were reportedly heard in the basement of Building 26, a combination gym/barracks," the federal health facility said in a press release. First responders and Navy dog units were on the scene, the Naval Medical Center said..."An active shooter has just been been reported in building #26 at Naval Medical Center San Diego. All occupants are advised to run, hide or fight. All non-emergency response personnel are asked to stay away from the compound," it posted on Facebook, just after 8 a.m. PT.
U.S. eases air travel, export financing sanctions on Cuba | 26 Jan 2016 | The United States on Tuesday announced changes to its sanctions on Cuba, lifting export payment and financing restrictions and facilitating airline travel in [capitalist-ruled] Washington's latest move to ease the U.S. embargo on the Communist-ruled island. The amendments, which take effect on Wednesday, "will remove restrictions on payment and financing terms for authorized exports and re-exports to Cuba of items other than agricultural items or commodities," according to a statement from the Treasury and Commerce Departments. The changes will facilitate travel to Cuba by allowing blocked space, code-sharing, and leasing arrangements with Cuban airlines, it said.
Thank the Ban: Food Sanctions Make Moscow One of Europe's Culinary Capitals | 25 Jan 2016 | The Kremlin's ban on the import of certain kinds of food from Europe, the US and Turkey have surprisingly transformed Moscow into one of the most interesting culinary capitals of Europe, leading to the renaissance of true Russian cuisine, according to an American weekly news magazine. Russian cuisine is enjoying "the strange, delightful renaissance" due to the Kremlin-imposed bans on the import of foodstuffs from Europe, the United States and Turkey, according to Newsweek magazine. Under the current circumstances, Moscow's restaurateurs decided to turn to a movement, popular in many parts of the world - locavore cooking - or consumption of only locally grown foods.
Denmark passes tough migrant law as Nordic refugee welcome dims | 26 Jan 2016 | Denmark's parliament passed measures on Tuesday aimed at deterring refugees from seeking asylum, including confiscating valuables to pay for their stay, despite protests from international human rights organisations. The measures, which also include extending family reunification among refugees from one year to three years, are the latest sign that the Nordic welcome for refugees is waning...The bill is the latest attempt by Denmark's minority centre-right government to curb immigration to a country that took in a record 20,000 refugees last year.
Zika virus set to spread across Americas, spurring vaccine hunt --The Zika outbreak comes hard on the heels of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. | 25 Jan 2016 | The mosquito[Fort Detrick lab]-borne Zika virus, which has been linked to brain damage in thousands of babies in Brazil, is likely to spread to all countries in the Americas except for Canada and Chile, the World Health Organization said on Monday. Zika transmission has not yet been reported in the continental United States, although a woman who fell ill with the virus in Brazil later gave birth to a brain-damaged baby in Hawaii...British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said on Monday it was studying the feasibility of using its vaccine technology on Zika, while France's Sanofi said it was reviewing possibilities. [Translation: Billions more for the military-pharma complex to cure a virus they likely created.]
Donald Trump to Skip Fox News GOP Debate - Lewandowski | 26 Jan 2016 | Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, held an impromptu media conference early Tuesday evening. Lewandowski said that Trump will not be attending the GOP debate hosted by Fox News.
Trump will 'definitely not' participate in Fox debate, campaign says | 26 Jan 2016 | Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says he will not attend a debate scheduled for Thursday night in Des Moines, an unexpected twist just days before voters here launch the election process. "I probably won't be doing the debate. I'm going to have something else in Iowa," he said during a press conference in a high school workout room on Tuesday afternoon. After the press conference, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski confirmed to The Washington Post that Trump would "definitely not" participate in Thursday's Fox News debate.
Lewandowski: Trump may stage town hall if Fox News won't dump Megyn Kelly | 24 Jan 2016 | With just five days until Fox News airs the final GOP debate before the Iowa Caucuses, Donald Trump is reigniting his war with [biased] Megyn Kelly. "Based on @MegynKelly's conflict of interest and bias she should not be allowed to be a moderator of the next debate," Trump tweeted while campaigning in Iowa on Saturday...Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, indicated that Trump could walk away from the debate if Fox won't exclude Kelly. "Let's see what happens," he told me.
Evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. endorses Trump | 26 Jan 2016 | Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., the son of the late televangelist, endorsed Donald Trump on Tuesday, giving the Republican front-runner the blessing of one of the evangelical community's biggest names just days before the Iowa caucuses. Falwell's move has long been expected since he has showered praise on the billionaire in recent weeks and developed a rapport with him. But the timing of the formal announcement is significant, coming as Trump and Ted Cruz compete intensely in Iowa for the support of social conservatives.
Corporatist Rick Perry Endorses Ted Cruz for President | 25 Jan 2016 | Former Texas Gov. [Koch troll] Rick Perry is throwing his support behind a fellow Texan -- [Goldman Sachs-owned] Sen. Ted Cruz -- in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The Lone Star State endorsement marks one of Cruz's most high-profile backers and aims to give his campaign a much-needed boost just one week before the crucial, first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa. Perry, who gave up his own unsuccessful presidential bid in September after just 97 [pathetic] days on the trail, had been plagued by stagnant polling and lackluster fundraising.
Millennials help Bernie Sanders close gap with Hillary Clinton | 26 Jan 2016 | Bernie Sanders is the oldest contender in the race, but he's drawing some of the youngest supporters on the campaign trail. The mobilization of his young army of admirers will help determine whether he's able to slow -- or stop -- Hillary Clinton's march to the Democratic presidential nomination...The 74-year-old Vermont senator has become one of the hippest candidates of the election cycle, at least in the digital world, where he's developed an unlikely following of young supporters.
Ben & Jerry's co-founder creates Bernie Sanders ice cream | 25 Jan 2016 | Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen announced Monday he has created a new flavor celebrating Bernie Sanders's White House run. "Nothing is so unstoppable as a flavor whose time has finally come," Cohen wrote on his Facebook page alongside a picture displaying a pint of "Bernie's Yearning" ice cream. Cohen's website describes "Bernie's Yearning" as plain mint ice cream beneath a solid layer of chocolate on top. "The chocolate disc represents the huge majority of economic gains that have gone to the top 1 percent since the end of the recession," the flavor's packaging states. "Beneath it, the rest of us."
6 Cleveland cops fired over 2012 chase, 137-shot barrage | 26 Jan 2016 | The Cleveland Police Department announced Tuesday that six of its officers involved in the 137-shot barrage that killed an unarmed pair after a car chase have been fired. Those officers included Michael Brelo, a patrolman acquitted of manslaughter charges in May for having fired the last 15 shots of the barrage in East Cleveland on Nov. 29, 2012...The deadly chase lasted 20 minutes, beginning in Cleveland and ending at Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland and involved more than 100 officers. At its conclusion, 137 shots were fired through the windshield of the vehicle, killing Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.
Grand jury clears local Planned Parenthood; indicts 2 accusers | 25 Jan 2016 | (Houston) A Harris County grand jury has cleared Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast of wrongdoing after a two-month investigation. Grand jurors indicted two Planned Parenthood accusers who made secret recordings with a Planned Parenthood official last August. Anti-abortion activists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt are charged with tampering with a governmental record. Daleiden also faces a charge related to the purchase of human organs.
Creator of anti-Planned Parenthood videos faces felony charge | 25 Jan 2016 | A Houston grand jury that was investigating accusations of criminal misconduct against Planned Parenthood on Monday instead indicted the leader of an anti-abortion group that recorded covert videos of the organization's employees. Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said David Daleiden, the director of the Center for Medical Progress, faces a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record and a misdemeanor count related to buying human tissue. Sandra Merritt, one of Daleiden's employees, was also indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record.
Auto safety regulators expect to add another 5 million vehicles to Takata air bag recalls | 24 Jan 2016 | Federal auto-safety regulators expect to add another 5 million vehicles to the Takata air bag recalls - partly because they have identified another death attributable to defective inflators, officials said Friday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that it believes a South Carolina driver was killed last month when an inflator in a Takata airbag exploded...The fatal air bag deployment occurred in a 2006 Ford Ranger pickup, making it the first death in a vehicle other than a Honda. It's the ninth death attributed to the air bag inflators in the U.S.
At Least 30 Dead After Deadly Blizzard Brings Heavy Snow, Winds, Flooding to East Coast | 24 Jan 2016 | A mammoth blizzard with hurricane-force winds that set single-day snowfall records in Washington and New York City and caused some two-dozen deaths, gave way Sunday to brilliant sunshine and gently rising temperatures, enabling millions to dig out and enjoy the winter. New York and Baltimore began lifting travel restrictions and hearty souls ventured out on snow-choked streets Sunday, while mass transit systems up and down the coast gradually restored service...At least 30 people have died as a result of the snowstorm, including in car accidents, from carbon monoxide poisoning, and from suffering heart attacks while shoveling snow.
'Sorry to report there was no pizza in sight!' Determined rat filmed tunneling through several inches of fresh snow in Brooklyn --His antics come in the wake of other New York rats whose determination has made them viral sensations | 25 Jan 2016 | Pizza Rat's epic quest to take a slice more than twice his size down some subway steps made him a viral sensation. And then, earlier this month, another pair of rodents teamed up to move some a comparatively huge piece of pita bread up a set of steps. So it's not surprising that even vast amounts of snow do little to stop the city's determined rats from getting to where they need to go. This video, posted on Instagram, shows a tiny rat battle the crazy conditions and manage to tunnel its way through several inches of snow during the weekend's blizzard.
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Saturday, January 23, 2016

RSN: Half the Foreign Policy Experts Signing Clinton's Anti-Sanders Letter Have Ties to Military Contractors, Armed Ships Embark on Secretive Plutonium Mission From Japan to the US




It's Live on the HomePage Now:
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Frank Rich | It's Time to Get Serious About Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders. (photo: Karen Bleier/Getty Images)
Frank Rich, New York Magazine
Rich writes: "Let's face it: This is going to be remembered as the election where almost no one in either party's Establishment or the political news media saw anything coming. So why should the Bernie Sanders surge be any different?"
READ MORE
Half the Foreign Policy Experts Signing Clinton's Anti-Sanders Letter Have Ties to Military Contractors
Lee Fang, The Intercept
Fang writes: "Hillary Clinton's campaign released a letter this week in which 10 foreign policy experts criticized her opponent Bernie Sanders' call for closer engagement with Iran and said Sanders had 'not thought through these crucial national security issues that can have profound consequences for our security.'"
READ MORE 
Hillary Clinton. (photo: Jewel Samad/Getty Images)
Hillary Clinton. (photo: Jewel Samad/Getty Images)

illary Clinton’s campaign released a letter this week in which 10 foreign policy experts criticized her opponent Bernie Sanders’ call for closer engagement with Iran and said Sanders had “not thought through these crucial national security issues that can have profound consequences for our security.”
The missive from the Clinton campaign was covered widely in the press, but what wasn’t disclosed in the coverage is that fully half of the former State Department officials and ambassadors who signed the letter, and who are now backing Clinton, are now enmeshed in the military contracting establishment, which has benefited tremendously from escalating violence around the world, particularly in the Middle East.
Here are some of the letter signatories’ current employment positions that were not disclosed in the reporting of the letter:
  • Former Assistant Defense Secretary Derek Chollet, former Pentagon and CIA Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash, and former Deputy National Security Adviser Julianne Smith are now employed by the consulting firm Beacon Global Strategies, a firm we profiled last year. Beacon Global Strategies’ staff advises both Clinton and Republican candidates for president, including Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. The firm makes money by providing advice to a clientele that is primarily military contractors. Beacon Global Strategies, however, has refused to disclose the identity of its clients.

  • Former Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is a senior counselor at the Cohen Group, a consulting firm founded by former Defense Secretary William Cohen. The firm “assists aerospace and defense firms on policy, business development, and transactions,” including deals in the U.S., Turkey, Israel, and the Middle East.

  • Former Undersecretary of Defense Jim Miller is an advisory board member to Endgame Systems, a start-up that has been called the “Blackwater of Hacking.” Miller is also on the board of BEI Precision Systems & Space, a military contractor.

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/34769-half-the-foreign-policy-experts-signing-clintons-anti-sanders-letter-have-ties-to-military-contractors



Donald Trump Retweets Nazi-Sympathizing White Supremacist
Emily Atkin, ThinkProgress
Atkin writes: "We're only one week away from the start of the presidential primaries, and the Republican frontrunner is promoting the commentary of a white supremacist."
READ MORE

e’re only one week away from the start of the presidential primaries, and the Republican frontrunner is promoting the commentary of a white supremacist.

On Friday, Donald Trump took to Twitter to insult one of his Republican opponents, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. After lambasting Bush for being a “low energy guy,” Trump retweeted another user’s photoshopped picture of a disheveled Bush holding a “Vote Trump” sign outside of the Trump tower.

The problem, however, is that the account he retweeted appears to be operated by a Nazi sympathizing white nationalist.

The account, @WhiteGenocideTM, tweets obsessively about white women allegedly raped by various minority groups. “Africans and Muslims rape more than anyone else,” reads one of the user’s retweets. “Don’t let them in.” Many of the tweets are accompanied by the hashtag “#rapefugees,” apparently a combination of the words “rape” and “refugees.”

The account also dabbles in support for Nazi Germany. “Hitler SAVED Europe,” reads another tweet.

This is not the first time Trump’s twitter account has interacted positively with white nationalists. In November, the leading Republican candidate retweeted a graphic falsely stating that 81% of whites who are murdered are murdered by blacks. In reality, the actual data shows that 14% of white murder victims are murdered by a black person.

Later, when confronted with the fact that the data was false, Trump said he shouldn’t be held accountable for his retweets beause they don’t come directly from him. “I retweeted somebody that was supposedly an expert,” he said. “Am I gonna check every statistic?”

Trump also has the support of prominent white nationalist groups. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, two prominent white nationalist groups have been making robocalls in support of Trump. In addition, the SPLC writes, “Former KKK grand wizard David Duke has endorsed Trump, as has Andrew Anglin’s Daily Stormer. Kyle Rogers, the former webmaster for the white nationalist group Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) is selling Trump t-shirts online and Brad Griffin, the CCC’s current webmaster, regularly praises Trump in his writings.”

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/34768-donald-trump-retweets-nazi-sympathizing-white-supremacist

Cleveland's Vile, Embarrassing Scheme to Avoid Paying Victims of Police Abuse 
Radley Balko, The Washington Post 
Balko writes: "Kyle Swenson draws attention to the case of Kenny Smith, whose family won a rare jury award of $5.5 million. Smith was killed by an off-duty Cleveland police officer outside of a bar. But thanks to some crafty moves from the city's law department, Smith's moment of justice might never come." 

Two police officers at their vehicle. (photo: Guardian Liberty Voice)
Two police officers at their vehicle. (photo: Guardian Liberty Voice)


ere at The Watch, we’ve frequently noted how difficult it can be for victims of police brutality and misconduct to recover any sort of compensation. Given the opaqueness with which police agencies are allowed to operate, the various “police officer bill of rights” laws, the qualified immunity afforded to police and the sovereign immunity enjoyed by states, cities and counties, it’s rare that police abuse lawsuits ever get in front of a jury. When a case does get that far, juries tend to be reluctant to rule against law enforcement officers. Only the more egregious cases tend to result in compensation, and even then, it’s usually due to political pressure on the city or county to offer a settlement before trial.
All of which makes what’s going on in Cleveland all the more reprehensible. Writing in the Cleveland Scene, Kyle Swenson draws attention to the case of Kenny Smith, whose family won a rare jury award of $5.5 million. Smith was killed by an off-duty police officer outside of a bar.
But thanks to some crafty moves from the city’s law department, Smith’s moment of justice might never come.
Across the country, piggy bank-busting civil judgments have become the best way to keep police and municipalities honest in cases of officer misconduct. From 2004 to 2014, for instance, Cleveland shelled out $10.5 million in settlement money to victims of badly behaving cops. Under state law and the terms of the union contract, chronically cash-strapped Cleveland indemnifies officers in the cases where they’ve been personally found liable, meaning ultimately, taxpayers foot the bill for an officer’s misconduct.
But now, in the two largest civil judgments currently sitting on the books — one being Kenny Smith’s death; the other a sloppy and malicious murder investigation that railroaded an innocent man — the city has pulled a move that one veteran civil rights lawyer calls “wrong, immoral, disingenuous and unethical.”
In both cases, the Cleveland law department used city funds to pay for cops saddled with judgments to move into personal bankruptcy. It’s a calculated effort, according to the attorneys fighting the move, for the city to skip out on their responsibilities to pay the judgments.
… Just as mayor Frank Jackson, clutching the Department of Justice’s 2014 consent decree, promised citywide soul-searching on police reform, Cleveland’s law department is messing with civil matters that have already been decided by a jury.
And the implications aren’t only local.
“This provides a road map for any municipality that wants to evade their obligations,” says Ruth Brown, a Chicago attorney currently locked in legal judo with Cleveland over the issue. “We fully expect that if Cleveland is allowed to get away with this, they will try this again.”
Normally in such cases, the city indemnifies police officers — since the officers are employees of the city, the city covers the award. In rare cases, a city will ask a court to release them from indemnification, but that’s generally limited to misconduct so egregious that the officers are found to have been acting outside the scope of their official duties. (An example might be a cop who, say, blackmails a suspect, or rapes someone while on duty.) Swenson cites a 2014 study that found cops were indemnified in 99.98 percent of cases the researcher surveyed.
Cleveland appears to refusing to indemnify these officers, then paying for their legal and filing fees so that they can declare bankruptcy. The city apparently hopes that this will take the awards off the books. It’s a crafty bit of legal maneuvering. It’s also a betrayal of both the public trust and a second betrayal of the victims in these cases. A man’s life was wrongly taken from him. Another man lost a decade of his life due to a wrongful conviction caused by the illegal actions of a Cleveland police officer. And all of this comes aftera jaw-dropping report from the Justice Department finding pervasive and systematic abuse, widespread civil rights violations, routine use of force that violates the Constitution and virtually no accountability. The Justice Department report found the city’s police department to be lacking in almost every area it investigated. And that report, published a little over a year ago, follows a similar report from a decade ago. And of course, this is all happening as the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice has made the city a focal point of the national debate over police reform.
In theory, civil rights lawsuits serve two purposes: They make victims whole, and they deter similar violations from occurring in the future. The hope is that substantial awards in these cases will spur political pressure on public officials to change the policies that allowed the rights violations to happen. The deterrent doesn’t seem to be particularly effective, except in a few cases in which large settlements have prompted a city’s municipal insurer to demand changes under the threat of terminating coverage. There are a lot of reasons for that, but I suspect it’s mostly because elected officials calculate that the pushback from police unions and police agencies against any proposed reforms is a far worse political headache than earmarking a few million dollars in each annual budget to pay off the victims of police abuse.
That’s what happens in most places, and it’s disturbing. But what Cleveland is doing is far more sinister. There’s also an argument to be made that indemnification insulates individual actors from any real accountability. There’s certainly a lot of evidence for that argument. Over the past few years, we’ve seen lots of reports about cities that pay out millions of dollars each year to compensate victims of police abuse, while almost never holding cops accountable for misconduct, even in cases of egregious abuse or repeat offenders. One idea I’ve seen suggested is to end both indemnification and qualified immunity but make police officers purchase personal liability insurance. In theory, this would eliminate a lot of the political barriers to police reform and impose real consequences for misconduct. In practice, it isn’t difficult to envision the problems that might accompany a system that would essentially hand policing policy over to the insurance industry.
For now, we have the system we have. It’s certainly flawed, but what’s happening in Cleveland isn’t just unfair; if it’s allowed to happen, it means that the system no longer even aspires to fairness or justice. The city is not only shirking responsibility for the policies and lack of oversight that allowed these abuses to happen, but it’s also actively seeking to deny the victims the compensation that the justice system has determined they deserve. It’s just outrageous.
At least with the current system, a victim with a case strong enough to merit a settlement or judgment is made whole. The city pays. That provides at least a little bit of an incentive to fix the problem. Eventually, a city will either have to deal with rogue cops and implement better policies or continue to pay out millions. Cops who are found guilty of abuse or misconduct are less effective witnesses. The incentives aren’t strong enough, but they at least exist.
As Swenson points out, the same lawyers representing the city of Cleveland are representing the individual officers in their bankruptcy cases. The decision of whether to indemnify an officer can spur — and has spurred — litigation between officers and the governments that employ them. It seems like some awfully shady ethics for the same attorneys to be representing the city and the officers after the decision not to indemnify. It certainly gives the appearance of some sort of arrangement. And it isn’t difficult to see how other city officials adopting this policy could, say, promise to not press criminal charges, to let an officer keep his or her job, or to not stand in the way of an officer working elsewhere in exchange for an agreement to declare bankruptcy and release the city from indemnification. The result: Even the relatively weak incentive for change that these payouts provide is removed. The individual cops responsible even for misconduct severe enough to merit a judgment escape serious punishment. And the victims are never made whole. It’s the worst of all possible outcomes.
I’m not a lawyer, but this also feels like bankruptcy fraud. Or if it isn’t, it ought to be. At best, it’s a second violation of people whose lives have already been ruined by government abuse and an utter abandonment of the idea that public officials serve the public.
If I lived, voted and paid taxes in Cleveland, I don’t know if I’d be more angry or embarrassed.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34767-clevelands-vile-embarrassing-scheme-to-avoid-paying-victims-of-police-abuse


How the West Creates Terrorism
Andre Vltchek, CounterPunch
Vltchek writes: "The West linked terrorism with Islam, which is one of the greatest cultures on earth, with 1.6 billion followers. Islam is big and mighty enough, to scare the shit out of the middle class housewives in some Western suburb! And on top of that, it had to be contained anyway, as it was essentially too socialist and too peaceful."
READ MORE
Haiti Cancels Elections Indefinitely
teleSUR
Excerpt: "The Provisional Electoral Council of Haiti has once again canceled the presidential runoff elections that were scheduled for Sunday, EFE reported."
READ MORE
Armed Ships Embark on Secretive Plutonium Mission From Japan to the US
Paul Brown, Climate News Network
Brown writes: "Two armed ships set off from the northwest of England this week to sail round the world to Japan on a secretive and controversial mission to collect a consignment of plutonium and transport it to the U.S."
READ MORE




Wednesday, January 6, 2016

RSN: Marc Ash | Mr. President, Madame Attorney General, You Must Act




It's Live on the HomePage Now: 
Reader Supported News

FOCUS: Marc Ash | Mr. President, Madame Attorney General, You Must Act 
A poster of slain 12-year-old Tamir Rice rests within a memorial at the Cudell Recreation Center in Cleveland, Ohio. (photo: Ty Wright) 
Marc Ash, Reader Supported News 
Ash writes: "While the killings of people confronted by law enforcement officers continues at record levels, the tenure of the Obama administration has been marked by compassion, but it has also been marked by nearly total inaction." 
READ MORE


ithout any doubt, the crisis of police use of force, often lethal, against the communities they serve in the United States of America has reached an unprecedented and unacceptable level.
While the killings of people confronted by law enforcement officers continues at record levels, the tenure of the Obama administration has been marked by compassion, but it has also been marked by nearly total inaction.
The Justice Department, under the guidance of then-incoming attorney general Loretta Lynch, in fact stated as an objective greater cooperation with police departments, with no apparent plan whatsoever to confront police killings raging across the nation. Officially, Attorney General Lynch hasn’t even recognized that a problem exists. As it stands now, it is the position of the attorney general that local and state police agencies should not even be required to keep statistics on the number of people they kill.
It is left to independent reporting to tabulate the staggering numbers. The Guardian’s running count of people killed by police is called The Counted. They list 1,136 people killed by U.S. police in 2015. Also quite helpful are the efforts of a small organization, KilledByPolice.net. They put the number of those killed by police in 2015 at 1,200.
Former attorney general Eric Holder was at least willing to litigate Consent Decrees mandating a few reforms at some departments. However no action was ever filed against any officer for any killing, regardless of the circumstances. Litigation cannot stop a bullet. When the killers go uncharged and unpunished, the killings continue.
The circumstances in many of the cases not only rose to the level of establishing probable cause, they often portrayed conduct on the part of the officers involved that was so brazen as to demand justice. But justice from the Department of Justice was never forthcoming.
The killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann was a stark example of the human cost, the suffering caused by police officers empowered to use lethal force with virtual immunity from prosecution.
The shocking video of Loehmann gunning down a child is just the first piece of evidence in a case that demands action. After shooting the 12-year-old, Loehmann falsified his report to investigators, telling them that he had instructed the child several times to drop the pellet gun he was holding. Loehmann was lying. He simply jumped out of the patrol car and gunned the boy down. No warning, no protocol – just two bullets.
The presence of a pellet gun in Tamir’s possession is used to justify his killing. A completely false premise. In fact, carrying an unconcealed firearm publicly in Ohio is completely legal. A choice made by the voters of that state.
It’s not surprising. One of Loehmann’s firearms training instructors was so concerned about Loehmann’s instability that he literally confiscated Loehmann’s guns during a training exercise.
The training instructor, Deputy Chief Jim Polak of the Independence Police Department, described an “emotional meltdown, dangerous loss of composure, dismal handgun performance.” Polak concluded, “Individually, these events would not be considered major situations but, when taken together, they show a pattern of a lack of maturity, indiscretion, and not following instructions ... I do not believe time nor training will be able to change or correct these deficiencies.”
Clearly there was a threat to public safety at the Cudell Recreation Center on November 22nd, 2014, but it was Police Officer Timothy Loehmann, not Tamir Rice. Tamir just paid the price.
The prosecutor, Timothy J. McGinty, was free to do or say anything he wanted with the Grand Jury convened in the case, and no one is ever allowed to know what that was. There is zero accountability, and as a result zero credibility there. None.
When state and local authorities will not prosecute local police, the last recourse for victims is the United States Department of Justice. You know well that this is your sworn duty.
The inaction of the Obama administration and the Justice Department can only embolden men like Timothy Loehmann. The message is: “Regardless of the facts, federal law enforcement will not intervene.” In fact, throughout the entire Obama tenure that has absolutely been the case.
Saudi Arabia has come under sharp attack for executing 47 prisoners this week, raising the number executed over the past year, by some estimates, to as high as 200. That number, however disturbing, pales in comparison to the staggering, appalling number of people killed in America by police. This is by every measure an immediate crisis. These senseless killings under color of law cause great harm and suffering at home and a devastating loss of credibility before the world.
It is imperative. You must act.

Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

Friday, June 12, 2015

RSN: Privately-Owned US Prisons Keep Inmates Longer, Study Finds, On Eve of Trade Vote, Bernie Sanders Pressures Hillary Clinton to Speak Up




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Bill Simpich | Obama Reminds Allies: "Remember What Happened to Dr. King?" 
John F. Kennedy on the campaign trail in 1960. (photo: Ted Spiegel/CORBIS) 
Bill Simpich, Reader Supported News 
Simpich writes: "McGovern just wrote the definitive argument on the disappointments of the Obama presidency - and why it will take an older and more independent individual like Bernie Sanders to get this country anywhere near back on track." 
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On Eve of Trade Vote, Bernie Sanders Pressures Hillary Clinton to Speak Up 
Janet Hook, The Wall Street Journal 
Hook writes: "With the House headed for a climactic vote on trade policy, Sen. Bernie Sanders Thursday lashed out at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for failing to stake out a clear position on legislation to make it easier for a president to negotiate and win approval of international trade deals." 
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Judge Rules 'Enough Evidence' for Charges in Tamir Rice Killing 
Phil Trexler and Kim Wendel, USA Today 
Excerpt: "Officials have enough evidence to charge a Cleveland police officer with murder in the shooting death last year of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a judge ruled Thursday."
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McDonald's Is Built to Be Union-Proof, but Labor Groups Believe They Can Force It to the Bargaining Table 
Lydia DePillis, The Washington Post 
DePillis writes: "This past weekend, the walls of Cobo Center on the Detroit River reverberated with more than the usual amount of cheers and chants, endlessly repeating a two-pronged demand: A minimum wage more than double the level of the federal baseline, and a labor union for the fast food industry." 
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Privately-Owned US Prisons Keep Inmates Longer, Study Finds 
teleSUR 
Excerpt: "The study is the first to compare time served in public and private prisons, and suggests financial reasons exist for keeping people behind bars." 
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Obama in Iraq: New Strategy, Old Mistakes 
Phyllis Bennis, CounterPunch 
Bennis writes: "Almost nine months after President Obama admitted that 'we don't have a strategy yet'; to challenge the Islamic State - and just days after he said he still has 'no complete Iraq strategy' - the non-strategy suddenly has a name: escalation." 
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Sea Shepherd to Pay Millions to Whale Killers 
Taylor Hill, TakePart 
Hill writes: "Sea Shepherd Conservation Society agreed to pay $2.55 million to Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research on Monday as part of a settlement to resolve a long-standing legal battle over the anti-whaling group's tactics against Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic." 
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