Amy-Strange
Amy-Strange's JournalPhiladelphia police inspector gets applause from officers before surrendering on charges of assaulti
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Philadelphia police inspector gets applause from officers before surrendering on charges of assaulting protester
A Philadelphia police staff inspector received cheers and applause from dozens of officers on Monday before turning himself in on charges stemming from the alleged assault of a protester.
Staff Inspector Joseph Bologna was charged last week with aggravated assault, simple assault, possession of an instrument of crime and recklessly endangering another person after video showed him striking a Temple University student who was peacefully protesting in Philadelphia following the death of George Floyd.
As Bologna left a Fraternal Order of Police lodge to turn himself in, video captured a huge crowd of officers applauding him. Bologna, who was escorted by his lawyer and police union head John McNesby, was then driven to the police district, where he surrendered to the charges.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/philadelphia-police-inspector-gets-applause-from-officers-before-surrendering-to-charges-of-assaulting-protester/ar-BB15cWbd?ocid=spartandhp
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Lone Wolves, Self-Styled Anarchists: the Disparate Actors Accused of Protest Violence
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Lone Wolves, Self-Styled Anarchists: the Disparate Actors Accused of Protest Violence
As flares of violence and destruction have disrupted largely peaceful demonstrations against police brutality over the past two weeks, federal and state officials have warned that members of extremist groups are at work behind the scenes.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr said Thursday the Justice Department had evidence that “extremist agitators” were hijacking protests to “pursue their own separate and violent agenda”—an assertion he and President Trump have repeated throughout the national unrest. Minnesota officials described a professional campaign of urban warfare involving domestic terrorists seeking to destroy Minneapolis and St. Paul. New York Police Department officials have said outside agitators were working to provoke violence and sow fear.
What has emerged from the protests—and in criminal charges filed across the country—is a diffuse collection of what appear to be self-styled anarchists and opportunists, lone actors and clusters of alleged extremist cells, with a range of allegiances, interests and motivations. Some may be bent on revolution, while others, bound by no apparent ideology at all, have been accused of vandalism, theft and violence.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/lone-wolves-self-styled-anarchists-the-disparate-actors-accused-of-protest-violence/ar-BB15bsLQ?ocid=spartandhp
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A Virginia police officer faces charges after using a stun gun on a black man who cried, 'I can't br
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A Virginia police officer faces charges after using a stun gun on a black man who cried, 'I can't breathe'
A police officer in Fairfax County, Virginia, faces up to three years in prison in connection with his arrest and use of a stun gun on a black man who cried out, "I can't breathe."
Fairfax County police released bodycam footage of the incident, which appears to show Officer Tyler Timberlake using a stun gun on the man without provocation.
In a news conference Saturday night, Chief of Police Col. Edwin C. Roessler Jr. said the footage -- dated Friday, June 5 -- showed the officer violating the department's use-of-force policies and committing "criminal acts" that "violate our oath of office" and "ignore the sanctity of human life."
"The video also erodes the public's trust of police officers, not only in Fairfax County," Roessler said, "but throughout this world. These acts are unacceptable."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-virginia-police-officer-faces-charges-after-using-a-stun-gun-on-a-black-man-who-cried-i-cant-breathe/ar-BB15aaWp?ocid=spartandhp
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'Defund the police' is a lousy slogan
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Protesters need a better slogan than "defund the police."
Most people chanting "Defund the police!" don't actually want to eliminate police. Maybe some do — the mayor of Minneapolis, for example, was chased from a protest yesterday after saying he did not want to abolish police. But most people who say "defund the police," I think, just want police budgets reduced and the money instead invested in other emergency, health, and community services.
In some jurisdictions, this probably makes sense. The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, and other innocent Americans, as well as the absurdly aggressive police response to the current protests, show that militarized police often don't "serve and protect." Instead, they frequently shoot, gas, batter, choke, attack, and kill.
So reallocating a portion of police some budgets to more helpful and peaceful community services would be smart.
But eliminating police would be ludicrous.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/defund-the-police-is-a-lousy-slogan/ar-BB15cUKw?ocid=spartandhp
RELATED ARTICLE:
Calls to reform, defund, dismantle, and abolish the police, explained.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/calls-to-reform-defund-dismantle-and-abolish-the-police-explained/ar-BB15dfyB?ocid=spartandhp
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COMMENT: I don't think it's a lousy slogan, but it does seem to be misinterpreted by a lot of stupid people.
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GOP responses to Floyd protests show their 'small government' mantra is a lie
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GOP responses to Floyd protests show their 'small government' mantra is a lie
Republicans like to claim the mantle of being the party of "limited government" and individual liberty. As the recent #BlackLivesMatter protests have thrown into sharp relief, however, nothing could be further from the truth. The Republican Party might want government to be "smaller" when it comes to providing essential services, but it wants the violent authority of the state to be a constant intrusion into the day-to-day lives of many Americans, particular the lives of people of color, women and/or poor people.
The op-ed that Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., widely seen as a rising star in the party, wrote last week for The New York Times is a much better reflection of what American conservatism is really about than their mantra of "small government." A nearly fascistic call for the military to be called in to violently suppress the mostly peaceful protests spurred by the ongoing, unjustified and unjustifiable killings by police of multiple Black men and women, it has deservedly cost the opinion editor of the Times his job. (Cotton is reportedly raising big money off both the piece and the fracas.)
Opinion
There is no bigger government than one that can kill its citizens at will for protesting the government killing them at will. It's one reason the right to protest is our First Amendment.
But President Donald Trump certainly reflects the Republican spirit of that type of big government. Sure, the signature achievement of the Trump administration was an upper-class tax cut, and they nearly passed a partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which they proclaimed a victory for smaller government. (Our national debt is the highest on record, and government spending as a share of GDP has not returned to the lows of the Clinton era by any stretch of the imagination.) But the tax cut does nothing to materially enhance the "liberty" of the American people, unless one counts as "freedom" the ability of Jeff Bezos' heirs to never have to work for a living. Similarly, taking away health care from people is a net negative loss to their freedom — not least because there's nothing "free" about extremely ill or dead.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-responses-to-floyd-protests-show-their-small-government-mantra-is-a-lie/ar-BB15cLoR?ocid=spartandhp
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'They saved me': How protesters protected a lone cop, a moment captured in powerful photos
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'They saved me': How protesters protected a lone cop, a moment captured in powerful photos
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Officer Galen Hinshaw heard the call over the radio. One of his fellow officers was in trouble.
A crowd of protesters had surrounded a police cruiser at the base of the Clark Memorial Bridge. The officer inside radioed for help as protesters — strobed in blue and red patrol car lights — banged on the car’s hood and windshield.
Hinshaw, a Fourth Division patrol officer and part of Louisville Metro Police Department's Special Response Team, drove as close as he could to the scene. As he got out of his cruiser, he was immediately surrounded by protesters.
Some yelled profanities. Others balled their fists.
He made his way through the crowd wearing 40 extra pounds of safety gear — a baton, vest, helmet and body armor.
He was alone.
As the crowd grew, Hinshaw detoured to the front of Bearno’s pizzeria so he could keep his back to the wall. He needed a place to stop and reassess the situation — to be sure that nobody could get behind him. He also needed to keep an eye on his trapped colleague.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/they-saved-me-how-protesters-protected-a-lone-cop-a-moment-captured-in-powerful-photos/ar-BB158Fm3?ocid=spartandhp
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Prince's Estate Releases a Powerful Handwritten Letter From the Singer About Racial Intolerance
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Prince's Estate Releases a Powerful Handwritten Letter From the Singer About Racial Intolerance
Prince may be gone, but never forgotten.
On Sunday, which would have been his 62nd birthday, the singer's estate shared a handwritten letter he once wrote about racial intolerance. The release of the note comes just a few weeks after the fatal arrest of George Floyd, which has sparked outrage and protests across the country.
"Nothing more ugly in the whole wide world than INTOLERANCE (between) Black, white, red, yellow, boy or girl. INTOLERANCE," Prince's message read.
The caption for the post further explained how Prince "dedicated his life to speaking out against injustice, advocating for black excellence, and spreading the message of 'Love 4 One Another.'"
"In this note that he kept in his personal archives, he wrote a message that still resonates today," the caption continued.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/celebrity/princes-estate-releases-a-powerful-handwritten-letter-from-the-singer-about-racial-intolerance/ar-BB15ctDQ?ocid=spartandhp
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4 police chiefs on the need for change: "There's a lot of silence"
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Protesters, who have flooded the streets across the United States following the killing of Geroge Floyd, have demanded an end to police brutality and the defunding of police forces.
The heads of four police departments — Dallas, Texas Police Chief Reneé Hall; Santa Cruz, California Police Chief Andrew Mills; Camden, New Jersey Police Chief Joseph Wysocki and Raleigh, North Carolina Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown — spoke with "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King about the flaws in the system and the need for change.
Read part of their conversation below, beginning with their reactions to the video of Floyd's death. Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis who pressed his knee onto Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes while he was handcuffed and pleading for air.
Chief Reneé Hall: I was angry at the profession because it took me back to why policing even exists in the first place. Police officers exist because of slave patrols. ... So there's something that goes back to that.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/4-police-chiefs-on-the-need-for-change-theres-a-lot-of-silence/ar-BB15csgL?ocid=spartandhp
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DC mayor: Trump treated military 'like toy soldiers' to intimidate Americans
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Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) accused President Trump on Monday of using the U.S. military as "toy soldiers" to "intimidate Americans" in her city.
Bowser has repeatedly hit Trump for his decision to use force to remove protesters from the streets around St. John's Episcopal Church on June 1. She has since had public works personnel paint in giant letters "Black Lives Matter" on 16th Street NW near the White House.
Bowser has also criticized the Trump administration and the federal government for sending military vehicles into the city to control demonstrations.
"We saw the American military moved around like toy soldiers around the country to intimidate Americans in Washington, D.C.," she told The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart during a discussion Monday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/dc-mayor-trump-treated-military-like-toy-soldiers-to-intimidate-americans/ar-BB15cwO0?ocid=spartandhp
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What it's like to be a black police officer, navigating two turbulent worlds
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The New Jersey officer and a fellow officer were patrolling the streets of East Orange when a black woman and her daughter accidentally stepped in front of their police cruiser.
The other officer, who was white, rolled down his window.
"What the hell are you doing, you effin' ns?" Davis recalled him saying, while censoring out the racial slur.
Davis, who is black, is now retired from the force. But that moment 30-something years ago was just one of the many times he realized how some of his white colleagues viewed his community.
"The 'few bad apples' theory is a theory that I think is postulated by my colleagues and politicians to minimize the impact of this racism that is baked into the culture of policing," Davis said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/what-its-like-to-be-a-black-police-officer-navigating-two-turbulent-worlds/ar-BB15cHio?ocid=spartandhp
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Profile Information
Name: Dave AyotteGender: Male
Hometown: Plainfield, CT
Home country: USA
Current location: Tukwila, WA
Member since: Mon Oct 21, 2019, 12:03 AM
Number of posts: 854
