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Legal harassment of the poor and disenfranchised across the USA

Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 21:40 UTC
Puppet Master
© Ken Murray/New York Daily News
The NYPD said Kalan Sherrard’s incomprehensible puppet show created a hazardous condition and they charged him with disorderly conduct.
The following story is the latest in a series of articles I have written recently highlighting the over-prosecution and legal harassment of the poor and disenfranchised across the USA. While wealthy white collar criminals rape and pillage society with total immunity, those who have no voice are being increasingly stomped down upon by an unjust system. Some recent articles on the topic can read below:

Hyper-Sensitive Illinois Mayor Orders Police Raid Over Parody Twitter Account Charleston

Man Receives $525 Federal Fine for Failing to Pay for a $0.89 Refill The Homeless in

NYC Are Now Living in Tiny Spaces in the Frame of the Manhattan Bridge

In some of these cases, there is a ridiculous law on the books to allow such over-prosecution or harassment, while other times, such as in the case below, the cops appear to be making shit up and are acting completely outside of the law.

As someone who grew up in New York City and lived there for 28 years, I am quite familiar with street artists in America's largest metropolis.

Personally, I've always enjoyed them. Some are extremely talented, others not so much, but they always added to the unique character of the city and only rarely posed any sort of threat or engaged in threatening behavior. This is why the following story and video really struck an emotional chord with me and I became overcome with sadness. In so many ways, what happened to Kalan Sherrard is what is happening to our country and culture in general. We are being collectively transformed into drugged out, bland, soulless zombies by a parasitic and incredibly corrupt financial system coupled with unrelenting corporate and government propaganda. Anyone who is interesting or stands out is shouted down by the establishment as a "conspiracy theorist," a "radical," or as Harry Reid himself recently stated, a "domestic terrorist."

Make no mistake about it, what just happened to Kalan Sherrard is happening to us all. It's just that many of us don't see it yet.
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Cardboard Box

The American middle class is no longer "middle"

David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy
The New York Times
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
© Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that honor, and many Americans are dissatisfied with the state of the country. “Things are pretty flat,” said Kathy Washburn of Mount Vernon, Iowa. “You have mostly lower level and high and not a lot in between.”
The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction.

While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.

After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada - substantially behind in 2000 - now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans.

The numbers, based on surveys conducted over the past 35 years, offer some of the most detailed publicly available comparisons for different income groups in different countries over time. They suggest that most American families are paying a steep price for high and rising income inequality.

Although economic growth in the United States continues to be as strong as in many other countries, or stronger, a small percentage of American households is fully benefiting from it. Median income in Canada pulled into a tie with median United States income in 2010 and has most likely surpassed it since then. Median incomes in Western European countries still trail those in the United States, but the gap in several - including Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden - is much smaller than it was a decade ago.
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Stormtrooper

Albuquerque police execute third person in five weeks, this time a teenager SUSPECTED of stealing a truck


RT
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 19:24 UTC
Image

19-year-old Mary Hawkes, murdered in broad daylight by government enforcers
A 19-year-old woman was shot and killed by police in Albuquerque, New Mexico early Monday after being suspected of stealing a truck. This week's death of Mary Hawkes now marks the third time in five weeks that Albuquerque cops have killed a civilian.

Albuquerque Police Chief Gordon Eden told the Associated Press this week that an officer was pursuing the suspect on foot Monday morning when the woman reportedly "stopped, turned and pointed a handgun at close range." Recently retired Valencia County Magistrate Danny Hawkes identified his daughter Mary as the victim later that evening, and the Albuquerque Journal reported the next morning that the woman had two previous run-ins with police as an adult, in addition to charges lobbed at her as a youth.

Reports about the Monday morning incident that have surfaced in the hours since have focused heavily not on Mary Hawkes, however, but rather on the sordid actions that has brought the Albuquerque Police Department into the national spotlight as of late and spawned a series of protests.

Comment: DOJ investigation confirms: Albuquerque police 'executing' citizens

Protesters descend on Albuquerque City Hall calling for police reform

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Stock Down

Faltering economic system 'will likely lead to famine and civil unrest'

Mac Slavo
SHTFplan.com
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 10:52 UTC
molotov cocktail
© unknown
With China's debt now bursting at the seams and the economic outlook in the United States signaling a major recession the governments and central banks of the world are very rapidly running out of options.

So much so that well respected Swiss asset manager Egon von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management warns that they will have no choice but to ramp up monetary printing at an accelerated pace in 2014. Failure to do so will likely seize up the global flow of credit and lead to a massive financial collapse as liquidity gets sucked out of the system.

The problem, of course, is that policy makers have backed themselves into a corner and their only remaining option will likely lead to an even more disastrous outcome; one that will have a direct impact on your long-term financial well being and quality of life.
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Pistol

Crips gang-banger shot dead in courtroom after lunging at witness (VIDEO)


BBC News
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 18:16 UTC
Siale Angilau

Siale Angilau was the last of 17 people to be tried in the 2010 case
A man accused of robbery and assault was shot and killed in a Salt Lake City court after he lunged at a witness giving evidence.

Siale Angilau, 25, died in hospital after being shot several times by a US marshal in front of the jury at the new federal courthouse.

The FBI said he had rushed towards the witness with a pen in an "aggressive, threatening manner".

Angilau was the last of 17 accused gang members tried as part of a 2010 case.

The case included 29 counts, including assault, conspiracy, robbery and weapons offences.

Perry Cardwell, who was in the courtroom with his adult daughter, told the Associated Press news agency at least six shots were fired.

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2 + 2 = 4

Looking at costs and risks, many skip health insurance

Abby Goodnough
The New York Times
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 14:58 UTC
Image
© Credit Jabin Botsford for The New York Times
“I realize that I’m gambling,” said Steve Huber, who has chosen not to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
Steve Huber, an affable salesman who is still paying off an unexpected medical bill, was not among the millions of Americans who signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act during the enrollment period that ended March 31.

After seeing television ads for Kentucky's new online insurance marketplace, Mr. Huber, 57, made several attempts to explore the website but found it too complicated. Moreover, his income has dropped in recent years, he said, and he felt certain that he could not afford coverage. So he never priced plans or researched whether he qualified for financial assistance.
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Pistol

Chicago Easter weekend shootings: How Obama's hometown Chicago became 'Chiraq'

Michael Daly
The Daily Beast
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 00:00 UTC
chiraq
© John Gress/Reuters
This Easter weekend, 45 people were shot in the city that's come to be known as 'Chiraq.' And until Obama can get the guns off the streets of his hometown, the bloodshed won't stop.

President Obama may have gotten our troops out of Iraq, but the gunfire in his hometown of Chicago is still earning it a searing nickname coined by young people who live there.

Chiraq

On Easter weekend, 45 people were shot in the city, six of them children.

Five youngsters under the age of 15 - four girls and a boy - were shot in a playground where they had gone after Easter services at a nearby church.

Witnesses agree that a car pulled up and one of the occupants asked the youngsters if they were in a gang. There is some dispute about whether the youngsters even got a chance to say no before the people in the car started shooting.

The most seriously wounded, 11-year-old Tymisha Washington, was listed in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds. She is expected to survive.
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Nuke

Fukushima radiation killing children, government hiding the truth


RT
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 08:36 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Toru Hanai
Students walk near a geiger counter, measuring a radiation level of 0.12 microsievert per hour, at Omika Elementary School, located about 21 km (13 miles) from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture.
Katsutaka Idogawa, former mayor of Futaba, a town near the disabled Fukushima nuclear plant, is warning his country that radiation contamination is affecting Japan's greatest treasure - its children.

Asked about government plans to relocate the people of Fatuba to the city of Iwaki, inside the Fukushima prefecture, Idogawa criticized the move as a "violation of human rights."

Compared with Chernobyl, radiation levels around Fukushima "are four times higher," he told RT's Sophie Shevardnadze, adding that "it's too early for people to come back to Fukushima prefecture."
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Snakes in Suits

Killing of environmental activists rises across the globe


japantimes.co.jp
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 10:23 UTC
Image
© AP
In this July 6, 2012 file photo, candles are lit at the very spot where Dutch environmental activist Wilhem Geertman, a former religious missionary who helped poor farmers affected by illegal logging and mining, was killed allegedly in a robbery attempt in San Fernando city, Pampanga province, north of Manila, Philippines.
As head of his village, Prajob Naowa-opas battled to save his community in central Thailand from the illegal dumping of toxic waste by filing petitions and leading villagers to block trucks carrying the stuff - until a gunman in broad daylight fired four shots into him.

A year later, his three alleged killers, including a senior government official, are on trial for murder. But the prosecution of Prajob's murder is a rare exception.

A survey released Tuesday - the first comprehensive one of its kind- says that only 10 killers of 908 environmental activists slain around the world over the past decade have been convicted.

The report by the London-based Global Witness, a group that seeks to shed light on the links between environmental exploitation and human rights abuses, says murders of those protecting land rights and the environment have soared dramatically. It noted that its toll of victims in 35 countries is probably far higher since field investigations in a number of African and Asian nations are difficult or impossible.
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Pistol

Man calls to report a burglary, police arrive and shoot his dog in the head


Police State USA
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 08:33 UTC
Image
© Facebook / Justice for Candy Middleton
‘Candy’ lies dead after being shot by a Rains County TX deputy.
A man says that when he called police to report that his home had been burglarized, he waited hours for an officer to arrive - only to witness his dog promptly being shot in the head by the responding deputy. He says when more backup arrived, they mocked and intimidated him with a taser.

On April 18th, Cole and Jayna Middleton discovered that their home had been broken into. Several items had been stolen, including the family's firearms. Mr. Middleton phoned the Rains County Sheriff's Office for help.

Mr. Middleton, a farmer and cattle rancher, tended his crops while waiting approximately 2.5 hours for a deputy to arrive and take a police report. Middleton's father was in the pasture with him, along with the family's beloved pet and trusted cow-herder 'Candy.' Candy was a 3-year-old Blue Heeler (also known as an Australian Cattle Dog) and weighed approximately 40 pounds. She was sitting in the back of a pickup truck as they worked.

Comment: If you live in the USA, especially if you have a dog, calling the police for any reason at all is a recipe for total disaster.

      Read More...
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