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The application of law in feudal America - know your place


thewhiteboardpig
Wed, 24 Dec 2014 18:21 UTC
Know Your Place
© www.digitalmediatree.com
It's no revelation that the majority of America is asleep at the wheel (both figuratively and literally). I get it. People are really busy taking the kids to soccer, sitting glued to American Idol, and buying up $300 pairs of Nikes manufactured in Vietnam for $1.68/each.

No one has the time or energy to care about trivial things like the killing of 5,000+ Americans or heads of state breaking international law.

The common folks are just too preoccupied to realize that they're paying multi-billion dollar companies welfare, all while complaining about "ghetto queens" buying a $3 Red Bull with an EBT card.

I feel for these people whose few spare moments are consumed with the socially necessary memorization of sports statistics and analysis of who sportsed the hardest at sports this week.

It is because of this empathy that I felt compelled to write a summary public service announcement which will inform people on proper behavior in our newly transformed society. I'm calling it...
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Arrow Down

A creative list of ways to be killed by the cops


thewhiteboardpig
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 18:07 UTC
OWS Protesters
© thewhiteboardpig
If only tittie grabs were the worst of our issues...
If only cops feeling up OWS girls were the worst of our problems...

First off, this is not a violation of my blog's foundational rules. This post merely contains a list. It is not a "list post".

My previous post that pointed out the destructive-to-the-cause nature of turning "all lives matter" into "black lives matter" ended up being quite controversial. Of course, it must be noted that "the cause" refers to the desire that many of us have to end America's police state and hold police to the same standards they hold the public. If your cause is to divide people, then this "black lives matter" narrowing of the issue is doing that beautifully.

The latter holds true for an unfortunately large number of people who are fully convinced that police brutality and police state America are solely black community issues and white people should mind their own business because these things don't affect them. Then of course there's this other large group of people, the "cops are just doing their jobs" and "being a cop is so stressful" and "there isn't actually a problem, it's being blown out of proportion" people.

I wanted to do something for both these groups of people, to help them see reality, to help them see the absurdity of their positions, and to reinforce my previous post. Both groups are doing harm to a cause that is ultimately going to decide whether future America will be a free country or not. They need to get back in touch with reality.

So, without further adieu, I give you my list...
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Heart

Paying it forward: Attorney pays stranger's fine to help him avoid felony conviction

Sean Kelly
Opposing Views
Sat, 27 Dec 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
© Colin Murphy and Castor Conley
Castor Conley and Colin Murphy
An attorney paid a stranger's $983 fine so he could help the man avoid having a felony conviction on his record.

Colin M. Murphy, a civil attorney in Portland, OR, was sitting in the gallery of a courtroom waiting for his case to begin when he overheard the attorneys and judge from a separate case discussing the defendant, who was about be convicted as a felon simply because he couldn't pay $983 in restitution.

Castor Conley, 27, a married father with a 17-month-old child, would have faced a misdemeanor sentence if he were unable to pay the fine.

Murphy, having never met Conley before, said he could tell that the court did not want to overly penalize the man and were just looking to compensate a man whose truck was damaged. He also realized that a felony conviction could seriously hurt Conley's ability to get a job or rent/buy a house. Murphy was compelled to help, approaching the judge and offering to pay the fine himself.

Comment: This was an incredibly kind gesture, and one that will likely change this stranger's life. Many people are being thrown in jail in the US these days, simply for being too poor to pay fines imposed by the courts, often for minor infractions. As an attorney, he is no doubt well aware of the descending spiral that the stranger faced for nothing more than being poor, and had a heart big enough to change this. Kudos!!

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Handcuffs

Police officer arrested for robbing businesses and homes on duty

Scott Kaufman
Raw Story
Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:38 UTC
Image
© Edwardsville Police Department
Officer Brian Barker
An Edwardsville, Illinois police officer was arrested on charges of having burglarized homes and businesses while on duty and in uniform, the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

Officer Brian Barker, a 19-year veteran, was arrested after being accused of entering Reality Salon and Spa and removing money from the cash register while on duty. When the Edwardsville Police Chief Jay Keeven discovered that the suspect was one of his officers, he turned the investigation over to the Madison County Sheriff's Department.

"It isn't that I don't have faith in my investigators, but for the public trust, it's best to have an independent agency investigate your agency," Keeven said.

Officer Barker is also accused of stealing money and weapons from a private residence, as well as a number of Edwardsville businesses, including Afsanehs Alterations, Edible Arrangements, Edison's Entertainment, Extreme Vapor, Headstrong Hair, The Little Gym, and Pedegos.

"We put all this trust, faith and power in police officers, but with that comes gigantic stresses," Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons told the New-Democrat. "When they breach that trust, it's so much worse. The magnitude of this breach of public trust necessitates a very harsh penalty, and we will be seeking prison time."

"It's really sad to see someone who's supposed to be the good guy go wrong. But the measure of character of leadership is what they do when it happens," he added. "In this case, [the Edwardsville Police Department] absolutely did the right thing."

Officer Barker stands accused of 10 counts of burglary, one count of residential burglary, and one counted of aggravated possession of stolen firearms.

Comment: Another example of police thinking they are above the law. Hopefully this officer is prosecuted for his crimes and realizes that even police officers are held to the standards of law like everyone else.

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Pistol

Sheriff deputy allegedly shoots and kills son on Christmas Eve

David Ferguson
Raw Story
Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:30 UTC
Image

Khamis Shatara
An off-duty sheriff's deputy from Palm Beach, Florida reportedly shot and killed his 21-year-old son on Christmas Eve at an apartment complex in Delrey Beach.

According to the Broward-Palm Beach New Times' Pulp blog, Khamis Shatara was shot and killed by his father, a Palm Beach Sheriff's Office deputy, in a dispute that took place on Wednesday.

The deputy's name is Shatara K. Shatara, who has been with the sheriff's department since 2006.

Khamis Shatara was a criminal justice major at Palm Beach State College and a staunch supporter of the police. He intended to enroll in the police force after graduation to follow in his father's footsteps.

Police were called to the apartment complex shortly before 8 a.m. on Wednesday. When they arrived they found Deputy Shatara and his son, who was dead of a single gunshot wound.
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Sheriff

Cop to driver recording stop: 'I'll find a way for the DA's office to arrest you'

Tom Boggioni
Raw Story
Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:19 UTC
Image

New York State Trooper Rosenblatt making traffic stop
A New York State Trooper, annoyed that a motorist was recording their interactions, threatened to "find a way to arrest" him during a recent traffic stop.

In the video recorded by John Houghtaling, the trooper - identified as Officer Rosenblatt - walks up to the car and immediately holds his hand up to block the view of his face from the camera.

"Put the phone down," The trooper tells Houghtaling, who asks the officer "why?" adding, "Am I not allowed to record, officer?"

After asking the trooper for his badge number, Houghtaling asks, "Am I being detained?"

The officer claims he stopped the car for a traffic violation and requests Houghtailing's license and registration, before once again complaining about being filmed and threatening Houghtaling.
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Network

2014: The year propaganda came of age

Raúl Ilargi Meijer
Automatic Earth
Fri, 26 Dec 2014 22:50 UTC
Image
© Dorothea Lange
Drought hit OK farm family on way to CA Aug 1936.
From just about as early in my life as I can remember, growing up as a child in Holland, there were stories about World War II, and not just about Anne Frank and the huge amounts of people who, like her, had been dragged off to camps in eastern Europe never to come back, but also about the thousands who had risked their lives to hide Jewish and other refugees, and the scores who had been executed for doing so, often betrayed by their own neighbors.

And then there were those who had risked their lives in equally courageous ways to get news out to people, putting out newspapers and radio broadcasts just so there would be a version of events out there that was real, and not just what the Germans wanted one to believe. This happened in all Nazi - and Nazi friendly - occupied European nations. The courage of these people is hard to gauge for us today, and I'm convinced there's no way to say whom amongst us would show that kind of bravery if we were put to the test; I certainly wouldn't be sure about myself.

Still, without wanting to put myself anywhere near the level of those very very real heroes, please don't get me wrong about that, that's not what I mean, I was thinking about them with regards to what is happening in our media today. I've mentioned before that I don't think Joseph Goebbels had anything on US and European media today.

Comment: That is exactly what we try to do here at SOTT: bring you the real news and the state of our world as objectively as possible.

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Better Earth

When the country is in trouble, its servants shouldn't rest: No New Year holidays for Russian government ministers - Putin


RT
Fri, 26 Dec 2014 19:08 UTC
Image
© RIA Novosti/Aleksey Nikolskyi
President Vladimir Putin (third right) and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (fourth right) attending at the Government House the president's final Cabinet meeting in 2014, December 25, 2014.
Russian President Vladimir Putin asked government officials not to take the traditional long vacation for New Year and Christmas, due to the country's economic situation. Cabinet ministers are particularly expected to be back at work earlier than usual.

"For the government, for your agencies, we cannot afford this long holiday, at least this year - you know what I mean," Putin said in a televised government session on Thursday, referring to the standard long vacation between January 1 and January 12 that is reserved for Russians to celebrate the New Year and Orthodox Christmas, which takes place on January 7.

"The hardships we are facing are not only external, they are caused not only by the sanctions restrictions or by restrictions linked with the objective international situation, they are also caused by our mistakes that have been made over the years," Putin said.

At the same time, he stressed that "we have been making efforts to change the structure of our economy, to refine it and make it more innovative...quite a lot has been done in this direction."

Comment: Putin provides other world leaders with another example of how public servants and government officials really should behave. He works hard for Russia and expects others in the government to do the same. No wonder people in other countries want Putin as their leader and ask for his help.
Image


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Handcuffs

Roger Waters: My Pink Floyd hit and this tragedy

Roger Waters
Daily Mail
Wed, 24 Dec 2014 21:21 UTC
Image

Shaker Aamer has been held without charge at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility since 2002

The revelations about the Americans' torture of terror suspects have rightly caused outrage across the world.

The U.S. government has owned up to the shadow of institutionalised brutality that has hung over 'The Land Of The Free' since the inception of the War On Terror after 9/11.

The sense of disquiet should extend to the political establishment in Britain, given the mounting evidence that our own intelligence and security agencies may have colluded with the CIA in rendition, torture and a disregard for international human rights law including the Geneva Conventions.

Nothing illustrates our own national disgrace more graphically than the case of Shaker Aamer, a 46-year-old family man from London, who has now been held for almost 13 years in the notorious detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, having been seized by the U.S. military in Afghanistan in November 2001.

During Mr Aamer's long spell of incarceration, he has never been put on trial or even had any charges levelled against him.

He has been subjected to systematic torture, humiliation and degradation, deprived not just of his liberty, but of all rights normally afforded to those in custody yet to be proven guilty of any crime.

The time has surely come for a judge-led inquiry to find out the true extent of Britain's role in the barbaric treatment of Mr Aamer.
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Snakes in Suits

Executives operating Fukushima plant during 2011 meltdown unlikely to be indicted for negligence


RT
Fri, 26 Dec 2014 18:47 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Toru Hanai
Tsunehisa Katsumata
Japanese prosecutors are expected again not to indict senior executives of the utility operating the Fukushima nuclear power plant with negligence over the facility's devastation in the 2011 quake and tsunami disaster.

The three former officials of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) are Tsunehisa Katsumata, 74, company chairman at the time of the disaster, and two former vice-presidents - Sakae Muto, 64, and Ichiro Takekuro, 68.

The Tokyo District Prosecutors Office has been investigating the case after a citizen's panel ruled in July that the three former senior officers should be indicted over their handling of the aftermath of the quake and deaths and injuries caused by it.

The final decision of the office is expected early next year, but according to Kyodo news agency and the newspaper Yomiuri the three former executives would not face charges.

Last year prosecutors declined to charge more than 30 government and TEPCO officials with negligence in responding to the disaster.

Comment: There are thousands, perhaps millions of people affected by the Fukushima disaster, yet the court handling the case is chickening out when it comes to placing blame at the hands of those directly responsible for handling the plant during the time after the initial meltdown. Is it possible that those same executives have paid off the courts in order to avoid prosecution?

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