Showing posts with label police state. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police state. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The Arrest and Mysterious Death of #SandraBland

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Behold the mysterious case of Sandra Bland, a woman driving alone who was pulled over in Waller County, Texas for relatively minor infractions: she blew through a stop sign on what seems to be a deserted highway except for the police car. According to the cop's dashcam, he sped up and did a quick u-turn in order to follow Ms. Bland. When she changed lanes to the right, possibly to allow the speeding officer to pass her, she didn't use her turn signal and the same cop pulled her over.

From there, it just gets worse and worse. Yes, she argued with cop Brian Encinia, asking why she was being pulled over. This apparently outraged Encinia, who kept asking Bland to get out of her car and threatened her with a taser is she didn't comply. When she finally got out of the car, he carefully led her out of camera view and there ensued an altercation in which Ms. Bland was screaming about having her head slammed into the ground. Then she was arrested.

That was last Friday.

By Monday morning she was dead in the Waller County Jail. Of suicide.







From the Texas Tribune
Late Tuesday, DPS released dashboard camera video of the stop, which showed in graphic detail Trooper Brian Encinia losing his temper, threatening to Taser Bland and ultimately arresting her after she refused to put out a cigarette and come out of her vehicle.
"Get out of the car, now!" Encinia is seen yelling. "I will light you up." Bland is combative during much of the encounter, demanding answers from Encinia, calling him names and disobeying his instructions.
Three days later, Bland was found hanged to death inside the Waller County Jail. Her death was ruled a suicide by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences and the autopsy report, which has not been released, was forwarded to Waller County authorities who plan to take Bland's case to a grand jury.








More from the Texas Tribune
According to the mental health questionnaire filled out by the Waller County Sheriff's office during her booking, a deputy marked "yes" to the question: "Have you ever attempted suicide?"
The deputy also wrote "Lost Baby" and "2015" in the boxes next to that answer.
Bland also indicated to the jailers that she had suffered a loss with the death of a godmother, and that she had been diagnosed with epilepsy and was taking an anti-seizure medication.
However, she was not placed on monitoring as a suicide risk during her three days in in jail, according to the sheriff and district attorney's offices. Using a standardized grid of risk factors, jailers classified Bland as a "medium" risk of assault or escape.

Now people are questioning whether Sandra was already deceased in her mugshot photo, pointing out that she looks lifeless and appears to be lying down, plus she is already wearing an orange jumpsuit. However, we know that she spoke to a local friend from her cell this weekend, and possibly family members. So it's unlikely the photo was taken of an already-deceased woman, but so far this case is so strange that anything is actually possible.






















To make matters even worse, when the state of Texas released the video of the arrest and altercation, the video had clearly been edited in a strange way, while the audio is never cut. So far they are just claiming technical "uploading difficulties." Then they released a video that was 3 minutes shorter...

Original Dashcam Video Released
Longer, With Anomalies and Cuts



2nd Version Released the Next Day
Without Cuts, Shorter









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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Baltimore Burning Over Death of Freddie Gray

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Here we go again. On April 19, 2015, a group of policemen in Baltimore, Maryland, took custody of a man named Freddie Gray and after he was injured during the scuffle, they dragged him to an ambulance where later he died a mysterious death. Somehow he was killed inside an ambulance, completely severing his spinal cord. You cannot make up a horror story worse than the plight of African Americans in the hands of white cops these days.

From The Atlantic: The Mysterious Death of Freddie Gray
According to the city, an officer made eye contact with Gray, and he took off running, so they pursued him. Though he'd had scrapes with the law before, there's no indication he was wanted at the time. And though he was found with a switchblade, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, “We know that having a knife is not necessarily a crime.”

The police say Gray didn't resist arrest and that officers didn't use force, which seems to be mostly corroborated by video shot by bystanders. Gray seems to shout in pain, and his leg seems injured as officers drag him to a police van. (Someone off camera shouts, "His leg broke and y'all dragging him like that!") Gray also had asthma and requested his inhaler, but didn't get it. Yet it's not the leg or the asthma that killed him. Instead, it was a grave injury to his spinal cord. Gray's family said he was treated for three fractured vertebrae and a crushed voice box, the sorts of injuries that doctors say are usually caused by serious car accidents. The van made at least two stops before reaching the police station, but there's no footage to say what happened during the journey or at those stops.

It's a baffling conundrum. "None of the officers describe any use of force," Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said. "None of the officers describe using any force against Mr. Gray." And yet somehow Gray was fatally hurt while in police custody.

Baffling conundrum, indeed.

So what has happened since Gray's death? Protest marches have sometimes turned into riots, with looting and fires, and the Governor called in the National Guard. Hashtag Baltimore is turning into another Ferguson, Missouri. Or maybe EVERYWHERE is Ferguson these days, and the country has got to get this under control! The good news is that recently sworn-in Attorney General Loretta Lynch has already sent a team to Baltimore to investigate the circumstances. Which is fine, but at some point there has to be justice for black Americans who are scared for their lives and for their children.















































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Monday, November 24, 2014

#Ferguson Grand Jury Decision Part One ~ No Indictment, but Blame the Witnesses and Social Media

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Counting down to the Ferguson Grand Jury Decision at 9 p.m. - and now we have it. At 9:24 the Prosecutor said the Grand Jury chose not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Unfortunately, this guy is a total idiot, and his "speech" is a joke, so this is not going to end well. I will have Part Two with video up later.

Blame the Victim, Blame the Witnesses, Blame Social Media

9:25-9:30





9:23











9:06



9:02







8:59



8:47




8:46



8:44:




Earlier Tweets:




































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Rudy Guiliani Blames Black People for #Ferguson

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In a game of "change the subject," Ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuiliani appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and stated vehemently that the REAL problem these days is "black on black violence," which has nothing to do with the topic he was discussion, which was Ferguson, Missouri, in which a WHITE cop shot down a black unarmed kid, which has led to white police harrassing black protestors.

From MSNBC
The conversation erupted when “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd began discussing the disproportion of white police forces to the communities they serve in areas across the U.S. aside from Ferguson, including Newark, New Jersey and El Paso, Texas. ”All of those places could become future Fergusons,” Todd said.

Giuliani quickly pivoted the conversation, arguing “the fact is, I find it very disappointing that you’re not discussing the fact that 93% of blacks in America are killed by other blacks. We’re talking about the exception here.”

Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson chimed in, saying “First of all, most black people who commit crimes against other black people go to jail. Number two, they are not sworn by the police department as an agent of the state to uphold the law. So in both cases, that’s a false equivalency that the mayor has drawn, which has exacerbated tensions deeply embedded in American culture.”

...“What about the poor black child that is killed by another black child? Why aren’t you protesting that?” Giuliani asked.
“Those people go to jail!” Dyson fired back.

“White police officers won’t be there if you weren’t killing each other 70% of the time,” Giuliani added, as Todd attempted to ease the heated volley.

“This is a defense mechanism of white supremacy at work in your mind, sir,” Dyson replied.



















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Sunday, November 16, 2014

Thundersnow, Anonymous, and the KKK as Grand Jury Decision Looms in Ferguson, Missouri - With Updates

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Rumors are flying about when the Grand Jury decision may come down in the Ferguson, Missouri case, and whether there will ever be justice for Mike Brown, slain by cop Darren Wilson for no apparent reason.

After a Saturday of harsh winter weather in St. Louis, including thundersnow - an omen perhaps? - rumors flew that CNN was preparing to hear the decision on Sunday afternoon (today) but that has not been confirmed as of yet. Update: It didn't happen - just a rumor.

Bad Omen?







Today, protestors in Ferguson had a "Die In" on the street.






Last week was quite extraordinary, as Mike Brown's parents flew to Geneva, Switzerland to speak to the UN about their son's death.



Also last week the white mayor of Ferguson showed up in an NRA (National Rifle Association) hat as he spoke to reporters. Messaging?







The Governor of Missouri made a speech, talking about keeping people safe if there are riots after the decision is announced, including calling out the National Guard (again) if need be. Of course he isn't talking about keeping the protestors safe, since they have always been seen as the enemy.













Ferguson Police Chief, Tom Jackson, also had a press conference, saying he would reinstate killer Darren Wilson to his old job on the police force. Needless to say, that did not go over too well with the Ferguson protestors, or anyone with a brain.









Meanwhile, the hate group Ku Klux Klan announced that they were going to protect white people against the Ferguson protestors, which caused the internet group Anonymous to hack their websites and start looking into the identities of KKK members in St. Louis - to "dox" them, and release their Facebook pictures and other information. Some of the Klan members are apparently connected to law enforcement.

Members of a Missouri-based KKK chapter have been distributing fliers in the St. Louis metro area and on social media promising to use "lethal force" against Ferguson protesters they say have threatened police officers and their families.
In the flier, the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan refer to the protesters as "terrorists" masquerading as peaceful, and says that they have "awakened a sleeping giant."
"You have been warned by the Ku Klux Klan!" the flier exclaims. "There will be consequences for your acts of violence against the peaceful, law-abiding citizens of Missouri."
~ Via Vice.com















UPDATE: The KKK pushes back











And Anonymous Retorts:









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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Naomi Wolf Becomes a Snowden Truther


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Related Posts:
Edward Snowden Releases NSA Secrets
Edward Snowden: Hero or Villain?
Edward Snowden and the Chinese Phoenix







Naomi Wolf - the First Snowden Truther
The author of End of America has apparently lost whatever was left of her shpadoinkle and has written a lengthy screed with bulletpoints about how Snowden might’ve been an Obama Police State plant.
Personally, I think Naomi Wolf is a false flag for Alex Jones.
Up next? IBM, Raytheon, Bechtel, Radio Shack, the Trilateral Commission — they’re all in on it, too.
~ Bob Cesca on The Daily Banter

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From Naomi Wolf, Feminist Author, posted on her Facebook

My creeping concern that the NSA leaker is not who he purports to be

I hate to do this but I feel obligated to share, as the story unfolds, my creeping concern that the NSA leaker is not who he purports to be, and that the motivations involved in the story may be more complex than they appear to be. This is in no way to detract from the great courage of Glenn Greenwald in reporting the story, and the gutsiness of the Guardian in showcasing this kind of reporting, which is a service to America that US media is not performing at all. It is just to raise some cautions as the story unfolds, and to raise some questions about how it is unfolding, based on my experience with high-level political messaging.

Some of Snowden’s emphases seem to serve an intelligence/police state objective, rather than to challenge them.

a) He is super-organized, for a whistleblower, in terms of what candidates, the White House, the State Dept. et al call ‘message discipline.’ He insisted on publishing a power point in the newspapers that ran his initial revelations. I gather that he arranged for a talented filmmaker to shoot the Greenwald interview. These two steps — which are evidence of great media training, really ‘PR 101″ — are virtually never done (to my great distress) by other whistleblowers, or by progressive activists involved in breaking news, or by real courageous people who are under stress and getting the word out. They are always done, though, by high-level political surrogates.

b) In the Greenwald video interview, I was concerned about the way Snowden conveys his message. He is not struggling for words, or thinking hard, as even bright, articulate whistleblowers under stress will do. Rather he appears to be transmitting whole paragraphs smoothly, without stumbling. To me this reads as someone who has learned his talking points — again the way that political campaigns train surrogates to transmit talking points.

c) He keeps saying things like, “If you are a journalist and they think you are the transmission point of this info, they will certainly kill you.” Or: “I fully expect to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.” He also keeps stressing what he will lose: his $200,000 salary, his girlfriend, his house in Hawaii. These are the kinds of messages that the police state would LIKE journalists to take away; a real whistleblower also does not put out potential legal penalties as options, and almost always by this point has a lawyer by his/her side who would PROHIBIT him/her from saying, ‘come get me under the Espionage Act.” Finally in my experience, real whistleblowers are completely focused on their act of public service and trying to manage the jeopardy to themselves and their loved ones; they don’t tend ever to call attention to their own self-sacrifice. That is why they are heroes, among other reasons. But a police state would like us all to think about everything we would lose by standing up against it.

d) It is actually in the Police State’s interest to let everyone know that everything you write or say everywhere is being surveilled, and that awful things happen to people who challenge this. Which is why I am not surprised that now he is on UK no-fly lists – I assume the end of this story is that we will all have a lesson in terrible things that happen to whistleblowers. That could be because he is a real guy who gets in trouble; but it would be as useful to the police state if he is a fake guy who gets in ‘trouble.’

e) In stories that intelligence services are advancing (I would call the prostitutes-with-the-secret-service such a story), there are great sexy or sex-related mediagenic visuals that keep being dropped in, to keep media focus on the issue. That very pretty pole-dancing Facebooking girlfriend who appeared for, well, no reason in the media coverage…and who keeps leaking commentary, so her picture can be recycled in the press…really, she happens to pole-dance? Dan Ellsberg’s wife was and is very beautiful and doubtless a good dancer but somehow she took a statelier role as his news story unfolded…

f) Snowden is in Hong Kong, which has close ties to the UK, which has done the US’s bidding with other famous leakers such as Assange. So really there are MANY other countries that he would be less likely to be handed over from…

g) Media reports said he had vanished at one point to ‘an undisclosed location’ or ‘a safe house.’ Come on. There is no such thing. Unless you are with the one organization that can still get off the surveillance grid, because that org created it.

h) . . . WHERE IS SNOWDEN’S LAWYER as the world’s media meet with him? A whistleblower talking to media has his/her counsel advising him/her at all times, if not actually being present at the interview, because anything he/she says can affect the legal danger the whistleblower may be in . It is very, very odd to me that a lawyer has not appeared, to my knowledge, to stand at Snowden’s side and keep him from further jeopardy in interviews.

Again I hate to cast any skepticism on what seems to be a great story of a brave spy coming in from the cold in the service of American freedom. And I would never raise such questions in public if I had not been told by a very senior official in the intelligence world that indeed, there are some news stories that they create and drive — even in America (where propagandizing Americans is now legal). But do consider that in Eastern Germany, for instance, it was the fear of a machine of surveillance that people believed watched them at all times — rather than the machine itself — that drove compliance and passivity. From the standpoint of the police state and its interests — why have a giant Big Brother apparatus spying on us at all times — unless we know about it?

Naomi
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