Despite the Fact that Lawsuits or Funding for Police Budgets Have No Impact on Police Brutality, Gullible Reformers Celebrate Record Settlement for Protesters Violently Censored by NYPD in Liberal NYC

Rather than reducing tax dollars budgeted to cops as a remedy to somehow stop police brutality, “Defund cops” could simply mean community hired and fired trained security workers who have a contractual duty to aid people in peril and a natural right to come to the defense of others but who have no right to initiate unprovoked acts of violence on people. Therefore, there would be no need for a police department.

THE IMPLIED RIGHT TO FORCIBLY CONTROL AND RULE OVER OTHERS CANNOT BE REFORMED, “AUTHORITY” HAS NO LEGITIMATE BASIS FOR ITS EXISTENCE - IT IS LIKE REFORMING SANTA CLAUS. [MORE]

According to FUNKTIONARY

Freedomination – the liberty to choose the commitments, ideologies, covenants, contracts, judgments, and relationships that bind or restrain you within the Matrix. (See: The Matrix, Negative Hallucination, Phfreedom, Freedom & Liberty)

reformers – naïve politicians. They came to do good and stayed to do well. Reformers themselves get reformed into the structure, consciousness and content of the dominant exploitative system—and thus become the system. (See: Revolution)

COPS RETAIN THE RIGHT TO REMAIN VIOLENT. From [HERE] A federal judge signed off Friday on New York City’s highest per-person settlement in a mass arrest class action, awarding $21,500 each to at least 200 protesters who say the police brutalized them during a 2020 demonstration in the Bronx over the murder of George Floyd.

The New York City Police Department was criticized for surrounding protesters and forcing their arrests in a neighborhood called Mott Haven on June 4, 2020, using a technique known as “kettling,” essentially corralling them and giving them no choice but to break a curfew that the city had implemented to stifle fiery public unrest in the wake of Floyd’s death at the hands of the Minneapolis police department.

Members of the class who were given tickets to appear in court are eligible for $21,500 each plus an extra $2,500, meaning total payout from the lawsuit could cost New York taxpayers up to $10 million or more.

The 25-page stipulation approved by Senior U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon resolves just one of six related NYPD lawsuits consolidated before the Clinton appointee. New York Attorney General Letitia James brought another of the cases, which alleges that the NYPD violated the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments in its handling of protests and demonstrations across the city beginning on May 28, 2020, three days after Floyd’s death.

Friday's settlement resolves a class action filed in December 2020 by attorneys Joshua S. Moskovitz, Lance A. Clarke and Michael L. Spiegel.

During a discovery conference in February 2021, Judge McMahon promised that the parties of the half-dozen consolidated cases were “going to be on a rocket docket moving toward a trial."

Brooklyn-based civil rights attorney Gideon Oliver, who represents protesters in one of the pending putative class action suits — Sow, et al. v. City of New York, et al. — invoked McMahon’s rhyming metaphor in response to the announcement of the judge’s approval of the settlement.

“Despite the City’s boilerplate denials of fault, the hard-fought and historic settlement goes to show how violent and abusive the NYPD’s June 4, 2020 attack on the Mott Haven was,” he told Courthouse News on Friday afternoon. “Those of us on the remaining consolidated actions will continue litigating on the rocket docket the Court has set, seeking both compensation for the many others abused by the NYPD during the summer 2020 protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, as well as substantial changes to NYPD protest policing moving forward.”

Human Rights Watch released a report in October 2020 citing evidence that police planned an aggressive crackdown on the Mott Haven protesters. Police used bicycles to form a wall around protesters while officers, including some in riot gear, attacked demonstrators — beating them with batons, kicking and punching them, and spraying them with pepper spray, according to the report from the civil rights organization.

At least 61 people were hurt, with injuries including a broken nose, lost tooth, sprained shoulder, broken finger, split lip, black eyes and bruises.

The New York City Department of Investigation issued a scathing report in December 2020, concluding that standardized, agencywide, in-service training related to policing protests was lacking. 

In 115 pages, the report details “a number of key errors or omissions that likely escalated tensions, and certainly contributed to both the perception and the reality that the Department was suppressing rather than facilitating lawful First Amendment assembly and expression.” 

Attorney General James brought her civil complaint a month later in the Southern District of New York.

In 2014, the city spent $18 million to settle lawsuits related to protests during the 2004 Republican National Convention. 

Organizers Push Back on Police Microphones in so-called "High-Crime Neighborhoods" in (White, Liberal) Portland

From [HERE] More than 100 people tuned in Wednesday for the Town Hall on Gunshot Detection Systems hosted by the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing.

For three hours, nearly all speakers pushed back against the city’s proposal to pilot a gunshot detection system that would place microphones or sensors in high crime areas, alerting police to potential gunshots.

Aje Amaechi, a community organizer with Freedom to Thrive, said that “these alerts could cause a significant backlog, especially since the team is already behind.”

The city’s request for proposal says that where the pilot technology is implemented will be determined in part by PPB data on areas with the most gunshots reported and “community engagement and input gathered from outreach conducted prior to deployment.”

But community members claim there has been little-to-no engagement, and their input is being ignored.

“We all know while we’re sitting here that it is a done deal when y’all even bring it to a table,” one activist said. 

Celeste Carey of PCCEP added, “We don’t want gunshot detection technology, that’s what the public is saying.” 

Amanda Lamb, a law enforcement resource council with Oregon Justice Resource Center, said that community input is “just a box that the city wants to check.”

“They don’t want to meaningfully engage the community to get their opinions on whether or not to move forward with gunshot detection technology, because they’re already so far in the process,” Lamb said.

And while City Rep. Stephanie Howard, the director of community safety, said the concerns are being heard, but did not comment whether the city is willing to abort the problem.

“The question is, will Council just abort this?” Carey asked Howard. “What is the point of saying you will have further input opportunities, when we’ve already indicated we don’t want the technology?”

“I am not in the position to make that statement on behalf of council. No. I am absolutely in the position to report back to council, report to my boss, report to all my colleagues and other council offices and to continue this discussion,” Howard said.

Despite the frustration voiced by community members, Lamb encourages people to continue to engage by testifying before council and making sure their voices are heard.

“If the city does implement gunshot detection technology, continue to hold city leaders accountable for the outcomes of doing that,” Lamb said. “Continue to monitor how this technology is being used by police, whether it is being used to target community members, whether it is being abused, whether it works. This is their tax money. These are their elected leaders, and they do have a voice in this process.”

Contrary to Claims that ‘your privacy is protected’ and ‘your browsing or location data is Anonymous,’ an Internet User’s Real World Identity Can be Very Easily Identified According to Researchers

From [HERE] We’ve noted for a very long while how most of the explanations that corporations use to insist that your privacy is protected are effectively worthless. 

For example, corporations will routinely inform you that it’s no big deal that they’re over-collecting and selling access to your browsing or location data to any idiot with a nickel because that data is “anonymized,” protecting your identity. In reality, that term means nothing, and study after study have shown it’s easy to identify you with only a few snippets of additional information.

With that in mind, a new study about user privacy in the virtual reality and augmented reality era (full study here) tracked 50,000 users in VR and found some interesting data. Most notably, that it takes incredibly little actual data collected from device microphones, cameras, and other tech to accurately identify a user’s real-world identity. 

Like, very little:

The research analyzed more than 2.5 million VR data recordings (fully anonymized) from more than 50,000 players of the popular Beat Saber app and found that individual users could be uniquely identified with more than 94% accuracy using only 100 seconds of motion data.

Even more surprising was that half of all users could be uniquely identified with only 2 seconds of motion data. Achieving this level of accuracy required innovative AI techniques, but again, the data used was extremely sparse — just three spatial points for each user tracked over time.

Researchers found that the data they leave behind in virtual reality is more useful than a fingerprint to identify individuals. It also provides significantly more data to monetize, including a user’s height, handedness, gender, potential disability, strength, personal tics, etc. 

Combine this data with the profiles already commonly being built at major companies and ad brokers, and you could see how this might be a bit of an issue in a country that’s literally too corrupt to pass even a basic privacy law for the internet era (there was just too much money to be made, sorry). 

There have been so many studies at this point (including other previous studies of user VR data) showcasing how “anonymization” is a gibberish term. Yet the next time there’s a hack, breach, or huge batch of public data left unsecured in an Amazon cloud bucket, notice how quickly the term is immediately utilized as a catch all defense for sloppy privacy and security practices.

US Employment Commission Files Discrimination Suit Against ExxonMobil for Taking Almost No Action After 5 Hangman’s Nooses were Found at its Baton Rouge Complex to Intimidate Black Workers

From [HERE] The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Thursday filed suit in Louisiana federal court against ExxonMobil for unlawful employment practices based on racial discrimination. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, alleged that ExxonMobil violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964after the corporation failed to take necessary steps to fix and stop racial discrimination at its chemical plant and oil refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The EEOC is seeking relief for former-ExxonMobil employee Milferd McGhee under Title VII, including provisions requiring ExxonMobil to post and keep posted notices of unlawful workplace discrimination and make and preserve all relevant records pertaining to unlawful workplace discrimination or suspicion of such behavior. The organization is also asking the court to prohibit ExxonMobil and those actively participating with the corporation from discriminating against employees on the basis of race and order ExxonMobil to provide McGhee with compensation for injuries he faced resulting from the discrimination he faced.

According to the complaint, between April 2016 and December 2020, at least five hangman’s nooses were found at the Baton Rouge complex, the fourth of which was found by McGhee. Following the initial discovery of the noose at the complex, ExxonMobil reportedly investigated the occurrence and banned two contractors from the site but did not take other remedial measures to mitigate racial discrimination in the workplace, such as the institution of policies or training. The complaint also alleged that after the second incident, a supervisor took possession of the noose and the company’s safety department was notified of the incident. However, the human resources department was not notified and an investigation was not conducted.

Following the third incident, ExxonMobil conducted an investigation but was unable to find the individual who hung the noose on the premises. The company then filed a report that recommended additional measures to remedy workplace harassment, which the EEOC alleges it did not complete by the time the fourth incident occurred. It was the fourth incident that McGhee discovered, and ExxonMobil filed another investigative report with more recommended workplace harassment remedies, which the EEOC stated it did not take before the fifth and final incident.

Bank of America Wants Court to Dismiss Claims that it Deliberately Foreclosed on Mortgage Loans in Conspiracy to Maximize Profits at the Expense of Black and Latino Borrowers

From [HERE] Bank of America defended itself Friday at a motion to dismiss hearing on claims the bank deliberately foreclosed on mortgage loans as part of an extensive conspiracy to maximize profits at the expense of people of color in Hawaii and Florida.

The eight lead plaintiffs in the class action, a majority of whom are people of color, say they have been or are currently being foreclosed on, some for nearly two decades. They first leveled racketeering and Fair Housing Act claims against Bank of America and The Bank of New York Mellon in a July 2022 complaint. Although a majority of the plaintiffs’ foreclosure actions occurred in Hawaii, the suit also includes several plaintiffs who went through foreclosures in Florida. Three of the five Hawaii plaintiffs are of Native Hawaiian descent and the three Florida plaintiffs are women of color.

“Defendants BANA and BONYM devised a scheme or artifice to defraud, that involves the use of many sub-schemes, for the purpose of filing and prosecuting, or causing the filing and prosecution of, thousands of unlawful foreclosures complaints, in this district and nationally," the plaintiffs say in their complaint.

Bank of America attorney Jesse Smallwood of the Washington firm Williams & Connolly came straight out of the gate arguing the plaintiffs had not addressed a majority of the banks' core arguments that the plaintiffs had brought no cognizable claims.

“Grant our motion in full and with prejudice, based solely regarding those arguments without even having to get to the abstention and preclusion arguments that the plaintiffs do contest,” Smallwood told U.S. District Judge Jill Otake.

Smallwood, speaking for both Bank of America and The Bank of New York Mellon in the hearing, argued the plaintiffs could not back up their RICO and Fair Housing Act claims. He said the foreclosure actions are not criminal acts, as required to bring RICO claims, especially those associated with prior litigation.

As for the Fair Housing Act claims, Smallwood said the plaintiffs had failed to adequately plead them "by alleging and repeating several times in their papers that all plaintiffs, both FHA and non-FHA plaintiffs, were subject to the same treatment and the same impact…that all plaintiffs were subject to this alleged foreclosure scheme.”

The arguments revolved around the role of the foreclosures underpinning the lawsuit, some of which are still pending in state court without a final judgement.

The 264-page complaint, which Judge Otake called “way too long, way too confusing” during the hearing, details each of the eight plaintiff’s extensive foreclosure litigation history, only some of which feature Bank of America or The Bank of New York Mellon as direct parties. None of the plaintiffs claim fraud in the first place.

“Isn’t your general allegation regarding RICO about the defendant’s fraud in the state court action? And if that’s the case, then you are acknowledging that they were not involved in the state court action, how can your RICO claim survive?” Otake asked the plaintiffs' Honolulu-based attorney Frederick Arensmeyer.

Arensmeyer said there had been "a mix of both intrinsic and extrinsic fraud" and "an enterprise that precedes any litigation activity,” referring to the claims of false mortgage assignments and document-fixing done by the banks.

The plaintiffs also cite a history of shady foreclosures handled by Bank of America in their complaint, a matter the FBI investigated a decade ago.

“Class plaintiffs allege that while Bank of America did not originate any of the mortgage loans that are the sine qua non of this complaint, that the predatory and discriminatory loans originated by Countrywide and others (e.g. reverse redlining, infra), fit right into Bank of America’s historical mode of discriminatory loan servicing policies, practices and procedures, like a hand in a glove (e.g. redlining, infra),” the plaintiffs say in their complaint.

Arensmeyer also clarified the plaintiffs were not necessarily challenging the foreclosures themselves. “In this case, we are not challenging the assignment, we are not challenging the endorsements. We are pointing to these documents as evidence of a RICO enterprise," he said.

Smallwood pushed back at this, repeating that Arensmeyer had not made any of these arguments before in meetings or in opposition briefs, and that some arguments even contradicted the plaintiffs' complaint.

Bank of America dodged a recently dismissed case in federal court in which a Native Hawaiian advocacy nonprofit accused the bank of denying home loans to Native Hawaiians for property on Hawaiian homelands. The bank had promised millions for the loans that never came to fruition as the bank removed its retail presence in the state before the full amount could be paid out.

Black Strawboss Lightfoot Out in Chicago: Which Candidate Will Elite White Liberals Select as the New Subvassal in Charge of Locking Up, Surveilling, Miseducating and Failing to Protect Black People?

BLACK BORG OUT. From [HERE] Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her re-election bid by failing to garner enough votes to make a runoff election, a stunning fall for a candidate who had won all 50 of the city’s wards four years ago but had sparred with a powerful teachers union and been under fire for her response to rising crime.

The Associated Press declared Tuesday night that Paul Vallas, a more moderate Democrat who had won the support of the city’s police union, and Brandon Johnson, a liberal teachers union organizer, secured the two spots in April’s runoff election. 

Ms. Lightfoot, who ran in third place, conceded the race shortly before 9 p.m. local time, well before all votes were counted. It was the first time in 40 years that the city didn’t elect a sitting mayor who sought re-election. Ms. Lightfoot told supporters Tuesday that she had called Messrs. Vallas and Johnson to congratulate them and that she appreciated the love her supporters had shown her during the campaign.

After battling a pandemic, the teachers union and crime in the city, Ms. Lightfoot, 60 years old, faced a large field of opponents, with challengers on the left and right of her politically.

Mr. Vallas, a former public-school executive, Mr. Johnson, a Cook County Board Commissioner, and Jesús “Chuy” García, who currently serves in the U.S. Congress, were her main challengers. Mr. Garcia was in fourth place Tuesday night.“I am a lifelong Democrat,” Mr. Vallas said Tuesday night, listing what he said were his progressive credentials, and reiterating his focus on public safety and changing the city’s public schools as his top priorities.

Mr. Vallas also said if elected he would focus on the entire city, including those areas that have been neglected.

“I will not be a successful mayor until I’ve reversed the generations of disinvestments in Chicago’s poorest communities,” he said.

Mr. Vallas, 69, the grandson of Greek immigrants, served in the state legislature and then in the administration of longtime Mayor Richard M. Daley, including as head of Chicago’s public schools before running schools in other major cities. He has taken a tough-on-crime stance in the election and has staked out the wide-open political space to the right of Ms. Lightfoot. He has the backing of the Chicago police union, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7.

The police union didn’t respond to a request for comment. [MORE]

SNigger Puppetician AOC Under House Scrutiny for Met Gala Participation. Ethics Investigation Centers on hair, makeup, clothing and transportation expenses

From [HERE] House ethics investigators said they have evidence Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) ran afoul of congressional rules, after she was slow to reimburse vendors for clothing and other expenses tied to her participation in the 2021 Met Gala.

At the event, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez wore a white dress by fashion brand Brother Vellies with the words “tax the rich” scrawled across the back in red ink.

The House Ethics Committee on Thursday released a report by the Office of Congressional Ethics, an internal, nonpartisan ethics office that reviews allegations of misconduct against lawmakers. The probe had been disclosed in December, but neither the ethics committee nor Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s office had provided details.

The OCE stated in its June 2022 report that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez “may have accepted impermissible gifts” in the form of hair and makeup services, attire for the event and transportation provided by magazine publisher Condé Nast, fashion brand Brother Vellies and other vendors associated with the event. Those services totaled over $5,000, well above the limit on gifts for lawmakers set forth in federal law and congressional ethics rules, according to the OCE investigation. 

The OCE recommended that the House Ethics Committee review the matter, saying there is a “substantial reason to believe that she accepted impermissible gifts.”

The OCE also recommended ethics officials subpoena witnesses who didn’t cooperate with the probe, among them Brother Vellies founder Aurora James and other figures with ties to the company.

Condé Nast and Brother Vellies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. [MORE]

Oakland Fires Black Borg Police Chief for Alleged Misconduct Cover-up

From [HERE] The Oakland Police Department lost its seventh head of police in as many years Wednesday over the alleged cover-up of an officer’s misconduct in a scandal that threatens to extend two decades of federal oversight — the longest of any police department in the country.

Democratic Mayor Sheng Thao said at a news conference she was firing Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong after a probe concluded the chief and the department failed to properly investigate and discipline a sergeant who was involved in a hit-and-run with his patrol car and, in a separate incident, fired his service weapon inside an elevator at police headquarters. [MORE]

LA County Settles with Vanessa Bryant for $29M after Racist Suspect Cops and Firefighters Shared Gruesome Photos of Kobe Bryant and his Daughter's Severed Bodies and Remains for Their Amusement

From [HERE] Los Angeles County agreed to settle all remaining claims with Vanessa Bryant over graphic photographs shared by first responders to the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, their daughter Gianna, and seven others. The nearly $29 million settlement includes the $15 million awarded to Bryant by a federal jury in August 2022, Los Angeles County attorney Mira Hashmall said in a statement.

Throughout the 11-day trial in federal court in Los Angeles, lawyers for Bryant and Chester documented how the photos spread: They were flashed from a sheriff’s deputy’s phone screen to a bartender in Norwalk. They were shown to firefighters and their spouses during an awards gala at a hotel in Universal City in what amounted, one witness said, to a “party trick.” They were passed from one deputy to another as the pair played video games.

Attorneys for Bryant and Chester argued that it is unknown how far the imagesspread because the county did not thoroughly investigate. It wasn’t until most of the involved deputies had received new phones that officials hired a firm to conduct a forensic examination of employee devices. 

“The truth is, the county has no idea, no idea who had the photos and who they sent them to,” Lavoie said. 

The laptop of one fire captain who took photos, Lavoie said, was missing its hard drive when it was examined. The captain, Brian Jordan, who has since retired, claimed under oath that he did not remember being at the crash site at all.

The phone of Joey Cruz, a deputy who showed graphic photos to a bartender in Norwalk, had been reset before it was turned over to the firm, Lavoie said. When it was turned on, it was as if it was new, with no photos saved. County attorneys argued that Cruz had transferred his data to his new phone, which also had no crash photos saved on it.

And the identity of at least one firefighter who received the photos remains unknown. 

White Federal Judge Niggerizes a Crying 13-Year-Old Latino Girl by Having Her Handcuffed by Cops in Open Court During Her Father’s Probation Hearing

From [HERE] A white Southern District of California federal court judge decided to niggerize a child for attending a public hearing to support her father (article available here (link is external)).

The events arose from a final revocation hearing. After a Latino man admitted to violating his supervised release, he told the judge that he feels he needs to be able to leave San Diego to make a break from his problematic contacts. A reasonable request. He cited his young daughter, seated in the spectator area, as his motivation to build a new life because he feared that she might end up hanging around the wrong people if the family remained in his established San Diego circles.

The sentencing memo details what happened next (link is external).

Several minutes later, Judge [] asked a U.S. Marshal, “You got cuffs?” The Marshal confirmed he did. Judge Benitez then ordered the 13-year-old girl to leave the spectator area, approach the front of the courtroom, and stand next to her father’s lawyer. He told the Marshal to “[p]ut cuffs on her.”

The Marshal did so, cuffing the girl’s hands behind her back. As he did so, she was crying. Judge [] then instructed the Marshal to “put[ ] her over there in the jury box for me for just a minute.” The Marshal complied, placing the girl in the jury box in handcuffs. She continued to cry.

After a long pause, [the] Judge [] released the girl. But he did not allow her to immediately return to her seat. Instead he told her, “don’t go away. Look at me.” He asked her how she liked “sitting up there” and “the way those cuffs felt on you.” Still in tears, she responded that she “didn’t like it.” He told her she was “an awfully cute young lady” but that if she didn’t stay away from drugs, she would “wind up in cuffs” and be “right back there where I put you a minute ago.”

The judge then sentenced the man to 10 months and 2 years of supervised release. The case was transferred to another judge. The man’s lawyer cited the whole being forced to watch his daughter be abused by a federal judge thing in the sentencing memo as evidence that Puente has been punished enough and should be sentenced to time served. The new judge agreed.  

Video Shows White Saginaw Officer Grab Black Man, Slam Him to Ground and Repeatedly Punch Him While Kneeling On Him. Cop Charged w/Felony Battery. Cops Stopped Him for Walking in EMPTY Street @ Night

From [HERE] A white Michigan State Police trooper is facing criminal charges for repeatedly punching a small, Black man during an arrest, an incident that was captured on video.

Saginaw County District Judge Terry L. Clark on the afternoon of Friday, March 3, arraigned MSP Trooper Paul E. Arrowood, 43, on single counts of common law offense or misconduct in office and assault and battery. The former is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, while the latter is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Arrowood appeared for the arraignment via Zoom, seated within a vehicle. [how convenient to know there is no real possibility of pre-trial detainment for what would be an aggravated assault charge for non-cops]

According to the MSP, Arrowood and his partner were on patrol the night of Sept. 4 when they saw 28-year-old Michael D. Wilson walking on Webber Street near Julius Street on Saginaw’s South Side. According to Arrowood’s own report, the troopers initiated contact with Wilson for not walking on the sidewalk. No other people or cars are present and the small Black man’s conduct of walking seemed to interfere with no one at the time of arrest.

The video footage shows the troopers exit their vehicle and immediately approach Wilson, whose face is blurred out of the video to make it look less racial?, with Arrowood putting his hands on Wilson’s right arm. SO, cops approached, physically stopped him from walking and immediately put their hands on him with no explanation “because authority” in free range prison

“Time out, time out, time out,” Wilson tells the troopers as they try leading him to their vehicle. “I ain’t even doing nothing. I’m not even doing nothing. Ya’ll got your cameras on? Please do.”

Arrowood slams Wilson to the ground, who ends up chest-down. Wilson yells for help and says he can’t get his hands behind his back.

“Roll the (expletive) over,” Arrowood yells as Wilson continues screaming for help.

The other trooper pulls his Taser and says he’ll stun Wilson, while Arrowood grapples with him. Arrowood then repeatedly punches Wilson, calling him a “little b****.” Wonderful compulsory service (here, means undeclinable service) from public masters who have been delegated uncontrollable power to initiate unprovoked acts of violence onto citizen-servants, whom they are empowered to rule over, “voluntarily.” How did cops acquire this magical power that no citizens could have delegated to police?

“Put your hands behind your (expletive), (expletive) back,” Arrowood says as he keeps punching and kneeing Wilson.

Several more troopers arrive on the scene. They get Wilson on his feet and place him against a patrol vehicle as they frisk him, Arrowood asking him about a gun.

“I ain’t got no gun, ain’t never had no gun,” Wilson shouts.

“He just beat my ass,” he yells to the other troopers. “You a racist ass b****. Thank you for beating my ass. I hope your camera is on. He whupped my ass for no reason.”

Troopers lodged Wilson in the Saginaw County Jail on a charge of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing police. Prosecutors declined to charge Wilson with a crime related to the Sept. 4 incident.

The MSP suspended Arrowood on Sept. 30. He is to remain on unpaid suspension until his criminal case is resolved.

“The actions of Tpr. Paul Arrowood fall outside of MSP policy and procedure and they constitute an unwarranted use of force,” stated Col. Joe Gasper, director of the MSP. “The members of the Michigan State Police are committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, and we will tolerate no less. When we fall short of this standard, we will hold our members accountable.”

MSP added it has two more use-of-force cases pending prosecutor review, which could result in criminal charges against troopers. Those incidents are not related to the Arrowood matter, the agency said.

Grosse Pointe Farms attorney Paul Tylenda appeared at Arrowood’s arraignment and asked Judge Clark to enter a not-guilty plea. In arguing for bond, Tylenda said his client has no criminal history, resides in Flushing, and is not a flight risk.

“I don’t believe the scope of this case presents a danger to the community [as long as he is not police],” Tylenda said.

Clark set a $7,5000 personal recognizance bond for Arrowood, though he ordered Arrowood to visit the Saginaw County Jail to be booked and fingerprinted. As a condition of his bond, Arrowood is to have no contact with his alleged victim.

In October 2020, an MSP internal investigation found Arrowood violated departmental policies during a traffic stop conducted that July on a Black civilian in Buena Vista Township. The incident involved the civilian having a legally owned pistol in his truck.

The civilian did not immediately tell officers he had the gun in his vehicle. When the Arrowood and a fellow trooper saw it, they pulled their weapons and confronted the man, placing him in handcuffs. After about 20 minutes, the troopers released the motorist from the cuffs.

The civilian filed complaints with Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the MSP, alleging racial discrimination against Arrowood and the other trooper.

First Lt. Brody Boucher of the MSP’s Professional Standards wrote the investigation cleared the other trooper, but found Arrowood violated policies.

Boucher wrote he is prohibited by law from disclosing what corrective actions have been or will be taken against Arrowood due to the finding.

Arrowood is to appear for a preliminary examination at 10 a.m. on March 21.

Memphis Cops Caught on Video Beating Gershun Freeman to Death in Jail. At Least 10 Cops Repeatedly Punch, Kick and Stomp on Naked Black Man. Beating So Brutal it Looks Like the Video was Sped Up

From [HERE] A Black man having a psychotic episode died in custody last fall after Memphis jailors punched, kicked and kneeled on his back during a confrontation, according to a video released this week by a Tennessee prosecutor.

The Nashville District Attorney’s Office released video Thursday of Gershun Freeman, 33, at the Shelby County Jail in Memphis, news outlets reported. 

The video shows Freeman was beaten by at least 10 corrections officers on Oct. 5 after he ran naked from his cell.

Freeman had “psychosis and cardiovascular disease and died of a heart attack while being restrained,” Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said in a statement Thursday, citing the medical examiner’s report. 

Prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who is representing Freeman's family, said in a statement “he was naked and clearly suffering from a mental health crisis.” He called the death “another shocking example of police brutality” in Memphis.

Freeman’s manner of death is listed as a homicide in the autopsy report from the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center, although the report says this “is not meant to definitively indicate criminal intent.”

In his statement, the Shelby County sheriff said it was unfortunate the video does not show the whole episode. The video has been edited and includes multiple camera angles in different parts of the jail. 

The district attorney's office for Shelby County has brought in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to look into the death. It has asked the Nashville District Attorney General's Office to act as an independent prosecutor in the case. 

Freeman was booked in jail on Oct. 1 on charges of attacking and kidnapping his girlfriend, according to court records. [MORE]

Like Mistaking Bacon for Eggs, in the Presence of Color Racist Cops Often Confuse Taser w/Gun: White FL Cop Claims He Mistakenly Shot Naked Latino Man in the Back, Paralyzing Him for Life. Suit Filed

From [HERE] A Latino man who was shot in the back by an experienced white police officer filed a lawsuit against the city of Hollywood, the officer, and others on Wednesday, claiming that “my life was wrecked.” Henry Andrews, 50, the officer who is also facing a misdemeanor charge for the shooting in 2021 and Hollywood, Florida are the targets of Michael Ortiz’s unspecified millions of dollars in demands.

In July 2022, Michael called 911 while suffering a mental health emergency. Upon their arrival, as evidenced by surveillance video, Hollywood Police aggressively restrained Michael, placed him on the ground, tased him, and shot him in the back while he was naked and visibly unarmed. Michael is now paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair-bound.

Officers Dionte Roots and Jhonny Jimenez, who were attempting to restrain Ortiz when Andrews shot him, are also named in the federal civil rights case. According to Ortiz, not only had his life been shattered but also that of his mother, who now has to care for him and change his diapers. He dialed 911 for assistance while having a mental health crisis, but while handcuffed on the ground, he was shot.

Michael Ortiz needed assistance, but instead received a shot to the back, according to Crump. “There should have been greater accountability for the police,” Crump said. Officials from Hollywood declined to comment.

Another attorney will be engaged for the Ortiz claim, according to Jeremy Kroll, who represented Andrews in the misdemeanor culpable negligence prosecution. “Officer Andrews meant to use his Taser while reacting to a challenging and chaotic scenario, but accidently fired his gun. No malice was intended in this situation.

He admitted to using marijuana and had chest issues with them. He sounded suicidal and insane, the operators remarked. To relax, Ortiz took a shower. He wouldn’t go outside when paramedics arrived, so they had to contact the cops. Ortiz allegedly entered a corridor while naked and then became belligerent, threatening to commit suicide.

They claim that when Roots and Jimenez arrived, they were attempting to prevent him from jumping from a sixth-floor balcony. Although the city showed Shkolnik the security footage, it has not yet been made public. He claimed that after using his Taser to subdue Ortiz, Roots had him bound up and lying naked on the ground. According to Shkolnik, he was still struggling but wasn’t endangering himself or the officers if they had just backed off and allowed him to settle down.

Andrews exited the elevator as it opened. Roots attempted to Taser Ortiz once more, but the weapon did not fire. Andrews, an officer for more than 20 years, claimed in a court document related to his misdemeanor case that he reached for his Taser but instead grabbed his revolver and fired one shot into Ortiz’s back. According to Shkolnik, that occurred around ten seconds after the elevator door opened.

Andrews stated, “I truly thought I had grabbed my Taser and was firing it. Like other Tasers, Andrews’ had a handle and trigger that resembled those of a revolver. But, it was also bright yellow instead of black, a design choice meant to act as a visual alert to an officer in a crisis. In their training, police officers are taught to carry their weapons on their strong side and their stun guns on the other hip. Andrews carried out that.

War on People: Police Killed 1,096 in 2022 (only 49 Cops were Killed). While more Whites were killed by Cops, Black People were Killed at a Rate 2.5X Higher Based on their Percentage of the Population

From [HERE] The number of fatal police shootings across the country rose again last year, with officers killing 1,096 people, including a 2-year-old girl caught in a standoff.

Last year saw the most incidents since The Washington Post started tracking the deaths in its Fatal Force database in 2015, after a police officer killed Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager in Ferguson, Mo.

There were only 15 days without such a shooting in 2022.

Since 2017, the number has increased every year, and is now up about 10 percent compared with just three years ago. But criminologists caution that more data is needed to understand what is driving the rise.

“It’s hard to know if the increase is meaningful or random,” said Justin Nix, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “We really need a better understanding of when police shoot and injure people, but more so when police avoid shooting someone.”

The pace stayed consistently high in 2022 compared with prior years. Last year, officers killed about 90 people nearly every month, a tally reached only a handful of times in each of the past seven years.

With more than 18,000 police departments nationwide, it’s difficult to pinpoint a single reason for the increase, experts said. The rate of violent crime dropped steadily after 2016 but has climbed higher since 2020. Last year, only 49 police officers were shot and killed in the line of duty, compared with 61 the year before, according to FBI data.

The demographics of those killed have remained largely the same: While more White people were shot and killed by police overall last year, Black people were killed at a rate 2.5 times higher based on their percentage of the population.

Data on fatal police shootings remains sparse. The Federal Bureau of Investigation asks state and local departments to contribute voluntarily to its collection efforts. But in the past eight years, the bureau has recorded fewer police shootings each year even as The Post’s count has increased.

In 2019, the FBI started a new use-of-force data collection, which is not yet publicly available. So far, the bureau said that 10,000 law enforcement departments have contributed. But The Post found that more than 200 departments whose officers had fatally shot someone were not on the FBI’s list.

In a statement, the FBI said that it “makes every effort through its editing procedures, training practices, and agency outreach” to ensure its data is accurate, but that local departments are responsible for what they report. [MORE]

1 in 20 Homicides in US are Committed by Police and the Numbers are Increasing [Authority, the Implied Right to forcibly control citizens, is Immoral and Has No Rational Basis for its Existence]

From [HERE] In the US, an estimated one in 20 gun homicides are committed by police, as law enforcement killings have failed to decrease despite years of nationwide protests.

There were more than 25,000 total homicides in the US in 2020 and 26,000 in 2021, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). National data for 2022 is not yet available.

Police shooting deaths represented 5% of all gun homicides in 2020 and 2021, and total police killings represented nearly 5% of all homicides, according to the best available public data.

Because only a small number of deadly incidents each year receive wide media attention, many Americans may not realize that “a meaningful fraction of homicides in the US are police killings”, said Justin Feldman, a researcher at the Center for Policing Equity.

There is fear, with mass shootings and gun violence in general, but police contribute a large part to those numbers

The number of US homicide victims who die in mass shootings each year, for instance, is smaller than the number killed by police. While definitions of “mass shooting” vary, the estimated number of people killed in these incidents have ranged from a few dozen to 700 people a year in recent years.

“There is a lot of fear, with mass shootings and gun violence in general, that some stranger will show up wherever you are and kill you,” said Samuel Sinyangwe, the founder of Mapping Police Violence. “But police contribute a large part to those numbers.”

The circumstances for many murders are listed as unknown in the FBI’s incomplete national crime statistics database, but in 2020 nearly 4,000 people were listed as being killed by a friend or an acquaintance, and about 1,800 were known to be killed by a stranger.

Some police departments have much higher rates of police killings than others. In Vallejo, California, which is known for police violence, the police department was responsible for 30% of the city’s homicides in 2012. Police killed six people that year; a single officer killed three people in three different incidents, and was later promoted.

More than 32,000 Americans have been killed by police since 1980, but official public health statistics have undercounted the number of killings for decades, according to a 2021 study from University of Washington researchers published in the Lancet, a prominent medical journal. Over the past four decades, US police have killed Black people at a rate 3.5 times higher than white people, and have also killed Hispanic and Indigenous people at higher rates, the study estimated.

The rate of fatalities from police violence rose even when the nation’s overall homicide rate sharply declined, with the rate of deaths from police violence rising 38% from the 1980s to the 2010s, the study found.

The US has much higher rates of both police killings and overall homicides than other wealthy countries. In Europe, the combined number of police killings and state executions remains in the single digits each year in many countries, according to data from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). The US’s annual rate of police killings and state executions, with more than 1,000 deaths a year, is more comparable to Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Cameroon, Libya and Sudan, according to IHME data.

At least one international study has found the rate of police killings “strongly correlates” with overall homicide rates across multiple countries, but also noted that data on police violence is likely to be less reliable in countries where police kill more frequently.

A 2018 paper published in the American Journal of Public Health found that “police were responsible for about 8% of all homicides with adult male victims between 2012 and 2018”, or about one in 12. Frank Edwards, a Rutgers University sociologist and the lead author of that study, said it was not surprising that the current percentage of police homicides would be somewhat lower than 8% when factoring in the killings of women and well as men, and as the national total number of homicides had also increased sharply since 2020.

Public databases from news outlets and non-profits still offer more complete and reliable data on police killings than the US government, more than seven years after the nation’s FBI director called it “embarrassing and ridiculous” that newspapers produced a more accurate national count of US police shootings than the Department of Justice. Mapping Police Violence, for instance, tracks police killings using a combination of state law enforcement data and incident data drawn from media reports and public records requests.

It’s not only national crime data that’s flawed when it comes to homicides by police. For decades, more than half of police killings have been mislabeled as generic homicides or suicides in the CDC’s official death statistics database, said Eve Wool and Mohsen Naghavi, two of the authors of the Lancet paper on police killings.

The undercounting of police killings in public health data is a result of coding failures by coroners, medical examiners and other public health officials, many of whom “work for or are embedded within police departments”, the researchers found.

Because of the lack of official statistics, Feldman and Edwards said, comparing the count of police killings in non-profit databases like Mapping Police Violence with the CDC’s total homicide numbers is the most accurate way to estimate the percentage of homicides committed by police.

Global System of Authority and White Supremacy: UK Report finds Black Men are 7 Times More Likely to Die After Police Restraint

From [HERE] UK nonprofit group INQUEST Monday reported that Black men are 7 times more likely to die than their white counterparts following the use of restraint by police. INQUEST says that its findings highlight the continued “reality of institutional racism” in the UK criminal justice system. The report pointed to the recent deaths of three Black men, Chris Kaba, Oladeji Omishore and Godrick Osei, as a “reminder of the urgency of the action needed.”

INQUEST’s analysis of unpublished official data from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found that the categorisation of certain deaths is “obscuring” the extent of racial disproportionality. Often the deaths of Black people following police contact are categorised as “other deaths following police contact” instead of deaths “in or following police custody.” INQUEST says that this makes the annual number of deaths in custody “appear lower than the reality.”

The IOPC recommended that an officer be “reminded” of the standards of professional behaviour in only one case from 2015 to 2021. INQUEST says investigators “simply take at face value the officers’ denial that race played a part in their actions.” Currently the IOPC only determines whether a tribunal “could” find that the officer’s conduct amounted to misconduct. INQUEST’s analysis demonstrates that there has been “no real progress” following the watchdog’s acceptance of institutional racism.

The report also critically reveals patterns arising from death that evidence racist stereotypes of Black men from police, which it says are not substantially scrutinised, equating them with dangerousness and criminality. INQUEST highlights that this is an ongoing issue. However, in 2021, the UK Home Office claimed that Black men are not more likely to die in custody cases where use of force or restraint is present.

Director of INQUEST Deborah Coles highlighted that the “stark” evidence shows “institutional racism is embedded in police culture.” She warned that the failure to examine the potential role of race in deaths involving police “render racism invisible…and prevents justice, accountability and change.”

“Sitizens” on Panel to Determine Whether a Miami Cop Used 'Too Much Force' When He Grabbed a Black Man by His Throat and Dragged Him [Any Level of Force Used Offensively is Evil No Matter Who Does It]

From [HERE] The actions of three Miami police officers during a 2021 arrest are under scrutiny by the department and the city’s Civilian Investigative Panel, which says excessive force was committed and captured on police body camera footage.

The December 2021 video shows a Miami police officer, Sgt. Gary Sampson, in a heated exchange with a man named Georges Auguste.

Amid a verbal squabble, Auguste tells the officer: “You’re on my property, b----!”

Sampson then grabs Auguste by the throat.

That video and and another taken after Auguste’s arrest, showing the man being dragged by Officer Bens Mocombe at a local hospital, are now at the center of a Civilian Investigative Panel probe.

“So the police department believed the officer engaged in excessive force. We believe the same and our panel will hear that info and create their own recommendations and findings,” Rodney Jacobs, who leads the Civilian Investigative Panel, said.

Jacobs said it was MPD’s internal affairs department that brought the case to the panel’s attention during a routine audit.

The CIP’s report states: “Sergeant Sampson failed to document the fact he grabbed the male in the neck/throat area.”

Three officers in total are part of the excessive force and improper procedure investigation involving Auguste.

“(Investigators) found in their review of one of (the officers’) reports, it did not match what they saw in the body camera footage,” Jacobs said.

The case was presented to the panel to review the findings and offer recommendations Tuesday night.

Ultimately, Miami police will decide whether to impose discipline.

Even restricting immunity won’t remedy the source of the problem, which is authority; the police officer’s power to use force offensively against citizens. Contrary to legal truths, in actual reality the police officer’s entitlement to initiate unprovoked acts of violence on citizens is immoral and there is no legitimate or rational way to account for our belief in its existence. Acts that would be considered unjust or morally unacceptable when performed by people are just as unjust or morally unacceptable when performed by government agents. Putting your hands on another human being, not in self-defense but offensively, without their consent and ‘manipulating their body in disregard of their volition is evil’, whether its done by citizens or representatives of “authority” wearing blue costumes. Larken Rose explains, “authority is permission to commit evil – to do things that would be recognized as immoral and unjustified if anyone else did them,” - subconsciously we know and understand the right to rule over other people is irrational and barbaric. [MORE]

According to FUNKTIONARY:

sitizen – a spot-sitting strip-mined, split-mind captive-subject-vassal-member of a so-called “government.” (See: Onlooker, citizen, Sheople, Human Resources, Moron-majority, Psheep, SIT & Tick-Tock)

Force – the source or sources of all possible actions of the particles or materials of the universe(s). 2) the manipulation of a man or woman in disregard of its own volition or nature. 3) the use of an outside physical coercion of any kind by one or more humanoids against another or others in order to make him/her or them obedient and compliant to his/her or their will. 4) the basis of all social evils and can only be used in the sense of attack not defense. 5) You must! In the way I say! 6) the social disease. “Force (coercion) and fraud are the foundation of all social systems and the source of the aroma which they exhale.” ~Max Nomad. “Force” operates to remove personal volition from opportunity to act or not act. Someone “makes” you behave in a certain way by threatening to injure or enslave you, someone you love, or something you prize, if you do not behave in that way. Force operates to obtain an intended behavior when the forced party would otherwise have exhibited a different behavior. Punishment, pain, suffering, and discomfort characterize force. Unfortunately, governments only function by misuse of force—mistreatment, duress and coercion. Once established, they put laws into effect by threatening persecution, imprisonment, fine, or death against all who don’t comply with those laws—including the use of the force continuum. “That which is imposed by force is sooner or later deposed by force.” ~ Mikhail Naimy. In reality, force is neutral, it is how it is applied that colors its action. The greatest and highest force in the universe is love unfolding in each moment. (See: Government, Autonomy, Justice, Fiction, Fraud, Corporate State, Freedom, Forgery, Racism White Supremacy, Religion, Authority, Violence, Coercion, Deception, Language, Force Continuum, Capital Punishment & Gerp)

Video Shows Cop Carrying, Throwing Black Woman to the Ground in (Liberal) New Orleans; Agency Investigates Itself

VIDEO:Black New Orleans Cop throws a Black woman to the ground on Mardi Gras parade route on behalf of his White Liberal Masters. Enjoy your illusions, get out and vote for more liberal masters! pic.twitter.com/mrFys4r1UZ

— neworleanspulse (@neworleanspulse) February 23, 2023

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