Society's ChildS


Sheriff

Deputies use nunchakus to deliver a beating to inmate's arm

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:13 UTC
police beating
Two Denver Sheriff Department deputies have been suspended following an investigation into the use of excessive force on an inmate under their control. The deputies were seen on video using excessive force against their opponent - a single arm.

Deputy Daniel Trujillo, who's been with the department since 2014, received a 60-day suspension for his role in the incident. Deputy Matthew Hammernik, who has only been with the department since 2016, received an 18-day suspension.

The incident happened last October when deputies were distributing food to inmates. The inmate in question happened to be mentally ill, suicidal, and was known as a problem in the jail. When it came time to get him his food, the inmate stuck his arm through the door and refused to pull it back in.

As seen in the video, once the inmate had his arm through the door, a stand off between the cops and the arm began. Lasting over 5 minutes, the deputies resorted to multiple violent tactics - instead of simply stepping back, calling a supervisor, or just waiting.
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Pistol

Court rules that cop who shot woman in the face was justified

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:07 UTC
police shooting
The victim of a police shooting is devastated after the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the officer who shot her in the face for attempting to flee the scene of a traffic stop was justified.

The case has been ongoing for several years and the battle to hold the officer accountable has been uphill at best.

On Nov. 24, 2012, Kristin Biggs Johnson made the poor decision of getting intoxicated and driving her vehicle. The choice to drink and drive, lead police on a chase, and attempt to flee nearly cost her her life.

Johnson was blinded in her left eye when Sgt. Daniel Scott Peay fired into the cab of her pickup truck at the end of a 32-mile high-speed chase that ended in a cul de sac. Despite not have a reason, Peay made the decision to employ deadly force and shot Johnson in her face. Luckily, she was only blinded.

The dashcam video of the incident showed there was no reason to fire at all.
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Umbrella

Trump considering pardoning ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio


RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:55 UTC
Arpaio
© Carlo Allegri/ReutersEx-Sheriff Joe Arpaio, 'America's toughest sheriff'
President Donald Trump is considering pardoning ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Arpaio was convicted of disregarding an Arizona judge's ruling on the policing of undocumented immigrants.

Trump expressed that he didn't agree with the way the ex-sheriff had been treated in regards to his conviction. And on Sunday night, Trump told Fox News, "I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio. He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He's a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him," Trump said. "Is there anyone in local law enforcement who has done more to crack down on illegal immigration than Sheriff Joe? He has protected people from crimes and saved lives. He doesn't deserve to be treated this way," Trump added.

The ex-sheriff said he was surprised the president was aware of his legal problems when asked about the possible pardon. "I am happy he understands the case," Arpaio told Fox News. "I would accept the pardon because I am 100 percent not guilty."

On July 31, Arpaio, 85, was convicted of the misdemeanor of contempt of court by US District Judge Susan Bolton. Bolton's ruling stems from the 2011 decision by a federal judge, which stated that Arpaio needed to stop traffic patrols targeting undocumented immigrants. The 2011 ruling also stated latinos were specifically being targeted by Arpaio's policies. Arpaio refused for 17 months to stop the illegal practices while he was still sheriff, which has now led to his conviction. He eventually lost his bid for reelection as sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona in November 2016.

Comment: Trump's idyllic view of Arpaio does not negate the sheriff's disregard of the law at the time. Perhaps immigrants broke US law and deserved some penance. By not abiding within his legal and civil constraints, Arpaio did so as well.

See below for just a sampling of reports on 'America's Toughest Sheriff:'

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Eye 1

Silicon Valley and the far right - The ideological war

Rob Lever
PhysOrg
Sun, 13 Aug 2017 17:08 UTC
google campus
Google and other Silicon Valley giants are increasingly being targeted by the extreme right amid efforts to crack down on what is described as hateful speech
Silicon Valley is finding itself entrenched in battle with the far right over ground rules for the digital world, a conflict that mirrors the polarization of American politics in recent years. The recent firing of a Google engineer for questioning the internet giant's diversity efforts, which ignited a backlash from the "alt-right" and fueled charges of hypocrisy, is just one example.

Facebook has been accused of suppressing conservative voices and skewing information presented in its news feed.

Twitter has banned accounts from far right activists for violating its terms on "hate" speech.

Paypal refused to transmit donations to a group in Europe seeking to turn back refugees, claiming it does not support activities that promote "hate" or "violence."

And even Airbnb canceled accounts ahead of a white nationalist rally for promoting discrimination in violation of the terms of the home-sharing platform.
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Arrow Down

After decades of decline America's largest cities witnessing increases in violent crime

Andrea Noble
The Washington Times
Sun, 13 Aug 2017 00:00 UTC
Police crime scene tape
© Mohamed Al-Sayaghi / Reuters
Violent crime is on the rise this year in some of the country's biggest cities, according to statistics, which find Chicago still leads as the deadliest city while homicide cases have spiked in Baltimore and New Orleans.

The 62 police departments that provided data for the Major Cities Chiefs Association's midyear crime survey reported 3,081 homicides in the first six months of the year, an increase of 3 percent over the same time last year.

The departments recorded nearly 4,000 more aggravated assaults this year than at the same period in 2016, though reports of other violent crime - including rape, robbery and nonfatal shootings - remained about even.

National crime rates have dropped for two decades and remain far below peaks reached in the early 1990s, but violence in some of the country's biggest cities has drawn attention to the problem.

The Trump administration says it takes the numbers seriously.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions repeatedly cited statistics showing a rise in crime as he announced Justice Department initiatives aimed at reducing gun violence, illegal drug sales or combating gangs. He recently called on law enforcement leaders to help "reverse this new surge in violent crime."
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Megaphone

Protesters gather around Trump Tower as president makes 1st visit home


RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 14:47 UTC
Protesters wave anti-Trump signs during protests in front of Trump Tower
© Shannon Stapleton / ReutersProtesters wave anti-Trump signs during protests in front of Trump Tower in New York City, New York, U.S., August 14, 2017
Crowds have gathered inside and outside of Trump Tower in New York to take a stand against the president's comments after a weekend of deadly violence in Virginia, where white supremacist groups and counter-demonstrators clashed.

Hundreds of people gathered outside Trump Tower in Manhattan, chanting, "Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Donald Trump has got to go!" "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA," "Not my president" and "Love, not hate, will make America great."

Inside Trump Tower, "Hate has no home here" was seen on a pink board held up to the windows.
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Sheriff

Police officer probed for stupid comment mocking Charlottesville attack victim on Facebook


RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 14:20 UTC
Mourners at the scene of the car attack in Charlottesville
© Justin Ide / ReutersMourners and passersby surround an impromptu memorial of flowers at the scene of the car attack on a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville
A Springfield police officer is being investigated after he wrote a Facebook comment saying "Hahahaha love this," in reaction to the Charlottesville car ramming by a white nationalist on the weekend that left one person dead.

"Hahahaha love this, maybe people shouldn't block road ways," Officer Conrad Lariviere wrote under a news story about the attack shared on Facebook by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, MassLive reports.

Lariviere also wrote, "How do you know he was a nazi scumbag? Stop being part of the problem," in response to another commenter's post.
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USA

Best of the Web: Welcome to Charlottesville - proof that political correctness is destroying America

Robert Bridge
RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 13:57 UTC
White supremacists rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
© Joshua Roberts / ReutersWhite supremacists rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S., August 12, 2017.
The events that just rocked Charlottesville, Virginia are symptomatic of every ailment now infecting the US political body - extreme political correctness, intolerance of free speech, and a police presence that seems designed to promote violence rather than curb it.

If ever there was a lightning rod for attracting the disciples of Liberalism and political correctness, the new creed that is destroying honest debate and discourse in the 'Land of the Free,' you could do no worse than a bronze statue of Robert E. Lee in the town square. For those who never heard of the man, Lee was a very skilled general who led the South's Confederate forces against Lincoln's Union during the Civil War, the bloodiest US military conflict to date.
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Star of David

'Nowhere to go': Palestinian family on brink of eviction by Israel from home of 50yrs


RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 13:46 UTC
A general view shows the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in mostly Arab East Jerusalem
© Ahmad Gharabl / AFPA general view shows the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in mostly Arab East Jerusalem.
An elderly Palestinian couple have told RT they have "nowhere to go" if Israel carries out a decision to evict them and their relatives from the home they have owned in East Jerusalem for over 50 years. The EU is already urging Israel to reconsider the step.

The Shamasne family have been living in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood since 1964, when the area was under Jordanian rule. When Israel took over East Jerusalem in 1967, nobody claimed the rights to the property.

The issue came to light after an Israeli right-leaning settler group, the Israel Land Fund, found the previous owners of the house several years ago.

"We lived for 53 years in this house, it is a great injustice. Israel should give us back our land. They take our homes and claim it is theirs," 76-year-old Fahmiah Shamasne told RT.

Under Israeli law, property proven to have been owned by Jews before 1948 can be reclaimed. Four years ago the Shamasnes lost their appeal to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the family must hand over their home.
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No Entry

No going back: Crimean officials say Ukraine tourist blockade attempts have failed


RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 14:05 UTC
Crimeans on the beach
© Sergey Malgavko / Sputnik
Senior Crimean officials have said that despite the attempts of Ukrainian authorities to isolate the peninsular and damage its tourist-oriented economy, the flow of visitors has remained constant with many of them coming from Ukraine.

"An attempt to impose a 'tourist blockade' of Crimea has drowned in the thousands-strong torrent of Ukrainian citizens who, despite of all propaganda and lengthy queues, did not change their decision to visit Crimea," the head of the Crimean governmental committee for inter-ethnic relations, Zaur Smirnov, said in comments with RIA Novosti.

Smirnov said that the Ukrainian government had ordered border guards to create artificial delays at transition points, forcing Ukrainians to spend hours at transition points at the Crimean border. He added that in the end this plan had failed, however, as the interest in Crimea among tourists is only increasing.

"The Kiev officials got scared of their own citizens' outrage and of a social mutiny at border checkpoints," Smirnov said.
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