[like the NY Times] TMZ Lying About What really happened to Ivanka Trump on JetBlue

ThinkProgress

On Thursday, JetBlue Airways grounded a passenger who confronted Ivanka Trump about her father, President-elect Donald Trump.

The narrative of the account was set by TMZ, which has a friendly relationships with the Trumps. The gossip site, which did not cite sources, wrote that “an out-of-control passenger on her flight began verbally berating [Ivanka] and ‘jeering’ at her 3 kids.” Conservative website The Daily Caller said that Ivanka had been “berated” and “harassed.”

“To do that to a woman who was on there with her children, I don’t care what your political background is or what your thoughts are, that’s not the way we as Americans need to act,” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said Thursday on Fox News.

That narrative, however, was flatly contradicted by someone who actually witnessed the incident. Marc Scheff, who sat in the “next row up from Ivanka,” wrote in a Facebook post that Daniel Goldstein, the passenger who confronted Ivanka, had been “agitated for sure” and that she told JetBlue staff, “I don’t want to make this a thing.”

He did not yell. He was also not what I would describe as calm. Agitated for sure. His husband behind him was very calm. His son is adorable and sharply dressed.

When the JetBlue staff went back to speak to the man I overheard Ivanka say to them “I don’t want to make this a thing.” My assessment is that she was happy to let the man take his seat. She handled the situation calmly and with class. Security made the call to remove the man.

And for good reason. The man’s calm husband had tweeted earlier that his husband was “chasing them down to harass them.”

Goldstein himself had been calm when he told Ivanka that her father is “ruining our country,” according to his husband Matthew Lasner.

Lasner tweeted at the time of the incident, “My husband expressed his displeasure in a calm tone, JetBlue staff overheard, and they kicked us off the plane.” However just an hour earlier the Daily Mail reported that Lasner tweeted, “My husband chasing them down to harass them.”

Lasner’s account has since been deleted.

TMZ’s portrayal differed radically from on-the-record accounts. This follows a pattern of favorable coverage of Trump by TMZ, which has been rewarded with access. President-elect Trump gave TMZ founder Harvey Levin a private tour of his home in New York City for a television special. The “OBJECTified: Donald Trump” special was meant to show a kinder side to Trump where he shared memories growing up in Queens, NY.

No one who was not on the plane knows exactly what transpired. There is certainly a case to be made that Ivanka was with her children and should not have been approached at all.

But TMZ’s unsourced sensationalized coverage set the tone for how other tabloid and media outlets covered the incident. The New York Post front page said “Dems are attacking Trump’s kids” while the New York Daily News called Goldstein a “plane idiot.” [MORE]

United Nations demands Israel to end settlement building

Dilemma X

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the adoption of a Security Council resolution which states that the establishment of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, have “no legal validity,” constitute a “flagrant violation” under international law and are a “major obstacle” to a two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.

“The resolution is a significant step, demonstrating the Council’s much needed leadership and the international community’s collective efforts to reconfirm that the vision of two States is still achievable,” the UN chief’s spokesperson said in a statement.

“The Secretary-General takes this opportunity to encourage Israeli and Palestinian leaders to work with the international community to create a conducive environment for a return to meaningful negotiations,” the spokesperson added. “The United Nations stands ready to support all concerned parties in achieving this goal.”

Earlier this afternoon, the 15-member Council adopted the resolution by a vote of 14 in favour and with one abstention – the United States abstained from the vote. The resolution had been put forward by Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela.

In the resolution, the Council reiterated its demand that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard.”

The Council also underlined that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations.

The resolution called for immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction, and for accountability in that regard, as well as for both parties to act on the basis of international law, including international humanitarian law, and previous agreements and obligations, “to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric.”

It further called for compliance with obligations under international law for the strengthening of ongoing efforts to combat terrorism, including through existing security coordination, and to clearly condemn all acts of terrorism.

The Council also urged for intensification and acceleration of international and regional diplomatic efforts and support aimed at achieving, without delay a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions, the Madrid terms of reference, including the principle of land for peace, the Arab Peace Initiative and the Quartet Roadmap and an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967.

Study shows deep racial division when it comes to attitudes about cops — but it’s driven by experience

WashPost

The Cato Institute recently published the results of a survey of 2,000 people about their attitudes toward policing. The results are pretty striking.

First, 68 percent of white people had a favorable view of police, against just 40 percent of blacks and 59 percent of Hispanics. Blacks (73 percent) were much more likely to say that police are too quick to use lethal force than whites (35 percent) and Hispanics (54 percent). A healthy majority of whites (64 percent) say their local police department treats people of different races equally; only a minority of blacks (31 percent) and Hispanics (42 percent) think so. Among all three groups, only a majority of white people believe that cops are usually held accountable for misconduct.

There’s a common perception among some on the right that attitudes toward police are more affected by class than race. This survey suggests otherwise. While it’s true that upper-income whites generally have more favorable attitudes toward law enforcement than lower-income whites, among blacks opinions generally remain the same among all income groups. Another interesting statistic: While 85 percent of Republicans believe police only use lethal force when necessary, just 36 percent of black Republicans do.

Those latter figures suggest that attitudes toward police aren’t born of ideology so much as of actual experience. More figures from the survey back this up. The study found, for example, that blacks were twice as likely as whites to report that the police had directed profanity at them. Blacks were twice as likely to report knowing someone who was abused by cops. And upper-income black Americans reported getting stopped by police more frequently than lower-income whites. Overall, blacks were five times more likely than whites to report experiencing some sort of mistreatment at the hands of police. As the study’s author Emily Ekins writes, “abuse at the hands of an individual police officer — whether individually or vicariously experienced — may be internalized and help explain differences in favorability toward the police.”

The only real conclusion to draw: Black people are more mistrustful of police not because black people are more likely to commit crimes, or because black people are less interested in law and order, or because of some other cultural issue, but because, quite simply, black people are much more likely to have been victimized by the police — and they’re much more likely to know others like them who have been victimized as well. [MORE]

Ohio Supreme Court says 'functional life sentences' for juveniles are unconstitutional

Cleveland.com

A divided Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday said that "functional life sentences" -- or sentences long enough that the inmate would likely not live to see his or her parole date -- were unconstitutional to impose on juveniles not convicted of homicide.

The justices in a 4-3 decision overturned the 112-year sentence Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge R. Scott Krichbaum imposed on Brandon Moore, a now 30-year-old inmate who went on a violent crime spree in 2001.

Moore is not eligible for release until he is 92 years old.

The justices said Moore's sentence was unconstitutional because it runs contrary to Graham v. Florida, a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that said juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole for crimes that are not homicides. Since Moore's release eligibility date is set for far beyond his life expectancy, Graham extends to Moore's sentence as well, and it violates Moore's constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment, wrote Ohio Justice Paul Pfeifer.

"It does not take an entire lifetime for a juvenile offender to earn a first chance to demonstrate that he is not irredeemable," Pfeifer wrote.

(You can read the full opinion here or at the bottom of this story.)

The Ohio Supreme Court's opinion is in line with other state and federal decisions regarding harsh sentences for juveniles.

The facts of Moore's case "do not engender a sense of sympathy for appellant," Pfeifer notes at the outset of the opinion. On Aug. 21, 2001, when Moore was 15, he robbed two people at gunpoint. Later that night, he ambushed a woman at Youngstown State University, ordering her into her car and robbing her as he drove her car. Another man, Chaz Bunch got into the car, and they raped the woman.

Moore and Bunch were tried as adults and found guilty at trial. Krichbaum sentenced Moore to 141 years in prison, a sentence later reduced by 29 years. At a re-sentencing hearing, Krichbaum told Moore that he felt "you should never be released from the penitentiary," the Ohio Supreme Court opinion says.

Pfeifer wrote the U.S. Supreme Court did not outright bar life sentences for juvenile offenders not convicted of homicide. Rather, it prohibits judges from making that decision when the juvenile is first sentenced.

In other words, that decision should be made later, by a parole board or a judge, after the offender has served part of their sentence.

Justices Sharon Kennedy, Terrence O'Donnell and Judith French dissented from the majority. French argued that Moore's appeal was not filed in a timely manner.

Kennedy and O'Donnell also argued that Graham was distinguishable from Moore's case, as the Supreme Court "did not decide whether the imposition of consecutive, fixed-term prison sentences for multiple non-homicide offenses that result in a lengthy aggregate sentence violate the Eighth Amendment."

The Ohio Supreme Court, in a separate decision, also ruled Thursday that mandatory transfers of juvenile criminal cases to adult courts are unconstitutional.

Albuquerque concedes forfeiture was illegal, continues with illegal forfeitures

WashPost

Last year, New Mexico passed one of the most restrictive asset forfeiture laws in the country. It requires state and local governments to actually get a criminal conviction before they can take a suspect’s property. It essentially does away entirely with “civil” asset forfeiture, a practice most people tend to find appalling once you convince them that it actually happens.

Somehow, Albuquerque didn’t get the message. There’s ample evidence that the city simply chose to ignore the law and continued with the seizures. It’s easy to see why — over about five years, the city brought in more than $8 million in revenue by taking property from people who were never convicted of a crime. In some cases, it took cars from people who could prove they had nothing to do with the alleged crime associated with their automobile. Last November, two state lawmakers sued the city to make it stop.

Additionally, several citizens sued. One of them was Arlene Harjo, whose car was seized after her son was pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence. With the assistance of the Institute for Justice, she went to court, and was scheduled to have a court date this week. Instead, the city conceded defeat and returned her car. (All the while, Harjo has had to continue to make payments on the car, despite not being able to use it.)

But the city’s lawyers found a way to concede without giving a state court the opportunity to halt its continued flouting of the state law. The city claimed that Harjo’s car was outside city limits when it was taken (and that the police officer who claimed otherwise wasn’t telling the truth.) Therefore, the argument goes, the city didn’t have jurisdiction to take the car. By admitting to violating one law, the city hopes to continue violating another. As the Institute for Justice attorney points out in the linked article, the city had no interest in determining whether the car was within city limits when police initially seized it, nor when the city demanded Harjo pay $4,000 to get it back. It was only when Harjo put millions of dollars of city revenue at risk that Albuquerque officials bothered to check whether the officer had broken a different law.

The good news is that the state judge rejected the city’s request this week, and Harjo’s lawsuit to halt the city’s illegal forfeitures will continue. Ideally, this will end with not only a halt to the illegal forfeitures, but also an investigation into appropriate sanctions for the city officials who decided that the city didn’t need to obey the law.

Two 'deadliest' police departments in US to be investigated in California

The Guardian 

The two largest law enforcement agencies in Kern County, California, labelled the deadliest police departments in America following a Guardian investigation, will be investigated by state authorities, California attorney general Kamala Harris announced on Thursday.

The Bakersfield police department and the Kern County sheriff’s office killed people at a higher rate than departments in any other county in America during 2015 and have been criticised for a culture of violence, corruption and impunity unearthed by the Guardian.

Harris, the US senator-elect for California who will step down as attorney general at the end of the year, said the decision to open the investigations was driven by media reports and community complaints alleging “use of excessive force and other serious misconduct”, which her department had been examining for over a year.

The “patterns and practices” investigations will probe for civil rights violations at both department, Harris said in a statement, adding: “Excessive use of force and police misconduct erode and undermine the public’s trust in our law enforcement agencies.

“These investigations will objectively, impartially and thoroughly examine whether the Kern County sheriff’s office or the Bakersfield police department engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force or other civil rights violations.”

In 2015, 14 people were killed by law enforcement in Kern County, a jurisdiction with a population of just under 875,000. In the same time frame, 10 people were killed by the New York police department in the five counties of New York City, which is populated by nearly 10 times as many people and has about 23 times as many law enforcement officers.

The rate of killings has significantly declined in Kern County in 2016. Earlier in December, however, a Bakersfield police officer shot dead an unarmed 73-year-old man suffering from dementia.

That shooting prompted further complaints of violent misconduct. The Bakersfield police department has requested that the FBI review the incident.

In a series of five extended reports, entitled The County, the Guardian examined how Kern County and law enforcement agencies reviewed fatal encounters involving police, revealing that the vast majority of investigators at the district attorney’s office were former police officers with the departments they were tasked to investigate.

The series also revealed that the Kern County sheriff’s office offered morally dubious cash payments to a number of women who had been sexually assaulted by sheriff’s deputies, in exchange for their right to sue. In some cases such payments were as low as $200.

Bakersfield police chief Lyle Martin said in a statement the department would fully cooperate with the review, and planned to meet state officials in January to discuss the scope and timing of the investigation.

“The trust and confidence of the public is vital to the credibility and effectiveness of the Bakersfield police department,” Martin said.

A spokesman for the Kern County sheriff’s office said it would “fully cooperate” with the investigation. The county sheriff, Donny Youngblood, was unavailable for comment. 

The separate investigations could take up to two years to complete.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with the sheriff’s office and the police department,” Harris said, “as well as with the community, to address any civil rights violations or other issues that we may find during these investigations.”

Racist Degenerate Trump NY co-chair Wishes Death on Obama and Calls Michelle a Transvestite

TheHill

Carl Paladino, who served as New York co-chairman for President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, on Friday said he wants President Obama to die in 2017 and made racist attacks on first lady Michelle Obama.

Paladino, a Buffalo real estate developer, let loose a series of offensive statements about the Obamas in the New York arts publication Artvoice.

The outlet asked Paladino, “What would you most like to happen in 2017?”

His response: “Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford. He dies before trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to [senior White House adviser] Valerie Jarrett, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her being a nice person and decapitated her."

Asked "What would you like to see go in 2017?" Paladino attacked the first lady in sexual and racist terms:

“Michelle Obama. I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortable in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”

Paladino on Friday verified to The Buffalo News that his comments were real, attacking the newspaper for inquiring about them.

“Of course I did,” he said when asked if he had uttered the remarks. "Tell them all to go f--- themselves.”

“Tell that Rod Wilson I made that comment just for him,” Paladino added, referring to one of the newspaper's black columnists and editors.

Paladino called Obama the worst president in U.S. history and accused him of “putting criminals back on the streets.”

“Yeah, I’m not politically correct,” Paladino said. "They asked what I want and I told them.”

The Trump transition team disavowed his comments. 

Spokeswoman Jessica Ditto called Paladino’s comments “absolutely reprehensible” and said “they serve no place in our public discourse" in a statement to the Huffington Post.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Friday condemned Paladino's remarks as “racist, ugly and reprehensible.”

“While most New Yorkers know Mr. Paladino is not to be taken seriously, as his erratic behavior defies any rational analysis and he has no credibility, his words are still jarring,” he said in a statement.

“His remark do not reflect the sentiments or opinions of any real New Yorker and he has embarrassed the good people of the state with his latest hate-filled rage.”

Cuomo trounced Paladino in the 2010 gubernatorial race after Paladino won the GOP nomination.

Paladino has made controversial comments about the Obamas before, insisting in August that the president is secretly Muslim.

“In the mind of the average American, there is no doubt he is a Muslim,” he said, according to The New York Observer. "He is not a Christian.”

NC Voters Beg Legislature: 'Please Listen to Our Input' [No Democracy Here]

ThinkProgress

Here’s a quick recap of some news from North Carolina: Republican legislators reneged on a deal to repeal HB2, a deeply unpopular and discriminatory bill targeting the state’s LGBTQ residents. Outgoing Governor Pat McCrory finally conceded the election after he unsuccessfully tried to disenfranchise minority voters. Republicans, dismayed by the results of the election, staged a virtual coup, stripping incoming Democratic governor Roy Cooper of some of his authority.

And that’s just in the past month.

If that sounds to you less like a democracy and more like an authoritarian state, you are not alone. Andrew Reynolds and a team of researchers from the Electoral Integrity Project, which monitors elections in more than 150 countries to quantify how free and fair they are, published an op-ed in the News & Observer on Thursday night in which he argues that North Carolina can no longer be described as a democracy.

Using the EIP’s grading system for measuring the integrity of individual elections, North Carolina’s handling of the 2016 election scored the state a 58 out of 100. That’s in line with countries like Cuba, Sierra Leone, and Indonesia, according to Reynolds.

The score is based on a number of metrics that the EIP weighs during each election. Access to polls, fair representation, equal treatment under the law: curb any one of those, your score will fall. In North Carolina, where a federal court ruled last month that the state has to throw out its congressional district boundaries because they directly target minority populations for disenfranchisement, the score on fair representation was unprecedented.

“When it comes to the integrity of the voting district boundaries no country has ever received as low a score as the 7/100 North Carolina received,” wrote Reynolds. “North Carolina is not only the worst state in the USA for unfair districting but the worst entity in the world ever analyzed by the Electoral Integrity Project.” [MORE]

Marcus Garvey's Son Is Asking Obama to Pardon Him

Black Probot Kym Worthy Clears Cops Who Killed 'Disobedient' Unarmed Black People in 2 Separate Incidents

ML Live

Worthy Ruling on Kevin Matthews Shooting 12-21-2016 by MLive.com on Scribd

Worthy Ruling on Janet Wilson Shooting 12-21-2016 by MLive.com on Scribd

On a chilly morning in Detroit, attorneys for the family's of two people killed by Dearborn police officers over the last year walked into the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice. 

They boarded elevators to the 12th floor and exited to meet with Wayne County assistant prosecutors.

There they learned Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy will not charge Dearborn police officers who shot and killed Kevin Matthews, 35, on Dec. 23, 2015; or Janet Wilson, 31, on Jan. 27, 2016.

She said the use of fatal force appeared justified in each case. 

Worthy said in a statement Wednesday:

Our goal is to make sure that we make just decisions according to the applicable law. These decisions were particularly difficult and heart wrenching for all parties involved, including me. We take our responsibility very seriously and both cases had many issues to investigate. This added significant time to our ability to come to just decisions. We interviewed numerous witnesses, reviewed reports, analyzed all the physical evidence, police training materials, medical records, and consulted with multiple experts. Thoroughness takes time.

After careful analysis we have concluded that we cannot prove the Matthews case beyond a reasonable doubt because of the laws of self-defense. We also cannot prove the Wilson case beyond a reasonable doubt because of the law of self defense, the law of defense of others and the law regarding apprehension of a fleeing felon.

Worthy's assistant prosecutors told attorney Milton Greenman, along with the relatives of Matthews, whom he represents, the investigation didn't yield enough evidence to warrant criminal charges. 

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office found Matthews reached toward the officer's firearm during a struggle. The officer was trying to stop Matthews, who was on foot, and he disobeyed orders prior to his death, police said. 

"The struggle ended in the driveway when Mr. Matthews, while standing over the officer, pulled the ammunition magazine from the officer's duty belt, which was positioned next to his firearm," Worthy's office said in the decision not to charge. "The officer, still on his back, fired nine shots from his weapon which struck and killed Mr. Matthews."

The officer who shot Matthews spotted him walking while conducting an unrelated traffic stop about 1 p.m. Dec. 23, 2015. About 1:50 a.m. earlier that day, a belligerent Matthews was recorded on video steeling a Red Bull energy drink from a gas station and escaped Dearborn police, the Prosecutor's Office said. 

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the officer was aware of the theft, as well as an outstanding warrant Matthews had in another jurisdiction. He intended to arrest Matthews.

"There was no discussion about the actual shooting, there was no discussion about the nine bullets shot into his body but there was in fact a struggle and the officer likely was going to suggest self-defense," Greenman said after meeting with assistant prosecutors Wednesday. " ... I have had contact with witnesses myself where the last words stated before Kevin Matthews was shot and killed was, Kevin Matthews saying, 'Stop it, stop it' -- and then the bullets."

Worthy didn't attend the meeting with Greenman or Matthews' relatives.

Greenman said his clients are unhappy with the decision and the delay in reaching it. 

Worthy's office shared their decision two days prior to the year anniversary of Matthews death. 

Police said Wilson was disobeying orders to stop her car after causing a disturbance at Fairlane Town Center mall in Dearborn when she was fatally shot.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said three officers were outside Wilson's vehicle when they caught up to her outside the mall parking lot.

One officer "was repeatedly pounding on the driver's side window, telling her to unlock the door and turn the car off."

She did not obey, according to police, and began to drive forward, toward another officer, who was positioned in Wilson's path.

The officer "began to step away from Ms. Wilson's vehicle and shot three times through the front windshield on the passenger side and one time through the passenger side car window," Worthy's office said. "Ms. Wilson continued to drive forward until she slowly lost control. he car began to drift until it was stopped by the patrol vehicles."

Worthy's office didn't name Wade or Matthews' shooter in the statements released.

A. Vince Colella, an attorney and partner with Southfield-based Moss & Colella, responded to Worthy in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon.

"Today marks another dark day in the criminal justice system," Colella said. "Janet Wilson's family is deeply disappointed in the prosecutor's decision and disagrees with her analysis of the evidence, notably the discrediting of valid eyewitness testimony. " ... The Michigan state police thoroughly investigated this case and, fully aware of the elements that must be established to obtain a conviction, verbally told me months ago that they recommended charges be filed against the officer."

In response to Colella's statement, State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said: "We don't recommend charges; that's up to the Prosecutor's Office."

Attorney Neil Rockind, who's' assisting Colella with the civil lawsuit, said: If the shooter hadn't been wearing a uniform, "he'd be charged. This is particularly true where the officer involved has a documented history of excessive force and inappropriate behavior, as Wade does."

Wade has previously been the subject of internal police investigations related to the injury of an alleged drunk man being escorted to jail Dec. 27, 2014; the arrest of four people at Fairlaine Town Center mall April 9, 2015, whom security kicked out and claimed might have a gun; and a near-collision while trying to stop a fleeing vehicle April 1, 2012.

"Prosecutor Worthy's decision not to charge is another example of how the criminal justice system is ill-equipped to deal with fatal police shootings and rogue police officers who use excessive force against citizens," Colella said.

Wilson's family filed a $10-million-plus wrongful death lawsuit against Dearborn and Wade. 

"The criminal justice system has obstacles that protected the officer involved in this case," Colella said. "The federal legal process, where this case is headed now, does not. Justice for Janet will be obtained with or without the help of the State of Michigan or Wayne County." 

Both Wilson and Matthews were unarmed and suffered from schizophrenia or other mental illness, according to relatives. 

The family of Matthews also filed a civil lawsuit asking for $10 million or more from Dearborn and the officer who opened fire. 

Matthews was struck by nine bullets, Wilson at least four. 

"The pattern of shooting shows different directions, some front, some to the side, and I do understand that there's been a suggestion issued soon after the shooting ... that Kevin Matthews was the proverbial, 'Going for my gun," Greenman of the Thurswell Law Firm said in October. "Going for my gun doesn't result in nine gunshot wounds from different directions into the body of an unarmed civilian."

Dash-cam footage hasn't been released in either shooting. 

Worthy said there was little useful dash-cam footage of the Matthews shooting, only about a 10-second clip of the officer chasing Matthews prior to the struggle and shooting, and no audio.

"The video shows (the firing officer) backing away from her car as he continues to shoot," the Prosecutor's Office said of the Wilson case. "It does not make sense that he would move backward and discharge his weapon unless he felt the need to immediately move to a place of safety while Ms. Wilson's car was moving. "This is especially true given how close his fellow officers were to the car and how many civilians were in the area."

Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor and spokeswoman Maria Miller said all video was returned to the investigating agencies. Detroit police investigated the Matthews death and state police the death of Wilson. 

MLive is requesting video in both cases. 

The Department of Justice announced publicly in April it was making grant funds available to the Dearborn Police Department for use-of-force training.

The Prosecutor's Office released investigative timelines for each police-shooting case that explains why the investigations took nearly a year. 

Black men 2.7 times more likely to be killed by US police than white men, study finds

Independent UK 

Black and Native American men are more than two-and-a-half times more likely to be killed by the police, according to a new study.

The researchers, who looked at 2,285 deaths attributed to law enforcement between 2010 and 2014, found that among black men the death rate from police action was 6.8 per million of population with the figure for Native Americans slightly higher at 6.9.

This compared with 4.1 per million for Hispanic men, 2.5 for white men and 1.5 for Asian men or those from the Pacific islands. [MORE]

Mayor Daley scheduled for deposition in police brutality case

ABC 7

Former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is scheduled to give a deposition next month in a police brutality case. A federal lawsuit claims Daley ignored evidence of police torture by ex-Cmdr. Jon Burge. Over 100 people are accusing Burge and officers under his command of using torture to get false confessions. Daley was ordered to give depositions in similar lawsuits, but the city settled those cases.

Why Unpopular Loser Trump’s Electoral College win is hardly a ‘landslide’

NPR

Despite coming up 2.86 million votes short, President-elect Donald Trump was awarded 306 Electoral College votes on Monday — more than enough to become the next president of the United States.

But while Trump and his top aides have described his Electoral College margin as a “landslide” and a “blowout,” these claims are simply not true. When compared to the previous 57 elections, Trump barely eked out a win, securing 57 percent of the Electoral College vote.

Trump repeated the landslide claim on Monday after the Electoral College voted to put him over the 270-vote threshold needed to secure the White House.

In fact, Trump ranks 46th out of 58 in terms of winning the electoral vote — a spot far down on the list, sandwiched between Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy’s narrow 1960 win.

Ronald Reagan’s 1984 victory marked the most recent electoral landslide. He won 97.6 percent of the electoral votes after carrying every state in the nation except for Minnesota. Bill Clinton won 70 percent of the electoral vote in 1966. President Obama’s electoral margins rank 32nd (in 2008), and 37th (in 2012).

Even Abraham Lincoln won a greater percentage of electoral votes (with 59.4 percent) than Trump in the 1860 election, when the country was on the brink of the Civil War.

George W. Bush’s 50.4 percent electoral vote total in 2000 ranks 56 out of 58. (The only two elections that produced smaller margins are 1824 and 1876; both ended in an Electoral College tie and were decided by the House).

In the lead up to yesterday’s Electoral College vote, critics revived the long-running debate over a system designed by Alexander Hamilton more than two centuries ago.

Hamilton made his case for the Electoral College in Federalist No. 68, writing that the system would protect the country from electing a president with “talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity.”

Under the constitution, states are awarded electors based on their number of U.S. senators and House members, with one elector for each member of a state’s congressional delegation.

The system was designed to compensate for less-populous slave-holding states. Although slaves were not considered citizens by law, they were counted towards a state’s population under the Three-Fifths Compromise. Ever since then, critics have argued that voters in less populous states have an outsized voice in elections.

More than two centuries later, there’s no justification for keeping the system around, said George Edwards III, an author of a book about the Electoral College and political science professor at Texas A&M.

“The Electoral College opposes the fundamental principles of democracy,” Edwards said. “That each vote counts equally, and whoever wins the most votes, wins.”

Following Trump’s victory, movements like the Hamilton Electors sought to sway electors to vote for someone other than Trump. Ultimately, only four so-called “faithless electors” on the Republican side switched their votes. (Four Democratic electors backed someone other than Hillary Clinton).

“These types of campaigns have happened in the past,” said Robert Alexander, a political science professor at Ohio Northern University. “It’s not something that’s wholly new, [it’s] just more public and visible” this year than usual.

The American Civil Liberties Union has opposed the Electoral College since 1969, arguing that the system gives disproportionate power to states with small populations.

“A voter in Wyoming thus has over three times as much influence on the presidential election as a voter in more densely populated California,” ACLU President Susan Herman wrote in a column on Monday.

Currently, 29 states require their electors to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote. But Alexander predicted that more states would follow suit and pass laws to deter “faithless electors” in the future.

Since the election, multiple Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation to abolish the system. But a constitutional amendment to eliminate the Electoral College is a longshot at best: there have been more than 700 proposals in the past two centuries to change or end the Electoral College system, and all have failed.

A change in response to the 2016 election isn’t likely, several experts said. It helps that Trump and his supporters have backed the system since his Nov. 8 win.

But Trump’s claims of a landslide are a far cry from his previous position on the Electoral College. During the campaign, the president-elect repeatedly said that the system was “rigged.” And that wasn’t the first time Trump slammed the system.

After the 2012 election, Trump took to Twitter to question the system that would ultimately propel him to the Oval Office. “The electoral college,” Trump wrote, “is a disaster for democracy.”

Uncivilized Allegheny County Jail sued over pregnant women placed in solitary confinement

New Pittsburgh Courier

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the state’s second-largest county for putting pregnant inmates in solitary confinement in its jail.

The federal lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of five pregnant women. Four of the women are or recently were in the Pittsburgh jail, and the fifth is at risk of being jailed if she violates terms of her house arrest.

Online court records show at least three of the pregnant women have recent drug-related offenses or probation violations for drug-related crimes, though it couldn’t immediately be determined whether any of the drug offenses or probation violations occurred once the women were pregnant.

“It is widely recognized that placing pregnant women in solitary confinement is extremely dangerous _ for both mother and child,” said attorney David Fawcett, who is donating his time to assist the ACLU in the lawsuit. “The routine and thoughtless use of this practice is a real black mark on our county and must end now.”

The U.S. Department of Justice has advised against placing pregnant women in solitary confinement except in rare circumstances. The lawsuit contends pregnant women in the Allegheny County jail are sometimes sent to solitary for minor rule violations without proper disciplinary hearings: One pregnant plaintiff was punished for having three pairs of shoes instead of just the two allowed by the jail.

Allegheny County officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs spent between six and 22 days in solitary, and one woman showered just twice during a 10-day stint, the lawsuit contends.

Solitary inmates are confined to cells between 22 and 24 hours a day, shower infrequently and are denied other privileges. In one instance, two pregnant women in solitary shared a cell, but because pregnant inmates can’t sleep on the top bunk for safety reasons one slept on the bottom bunk while the other slept on the floor, the lawsuit contends.

When one plaintiff filed a grievance in June claiming “serious psychological stress, pain and anxiety” the grievance was dismissed weeks later with this written response: “If this is a problem don’t come to jail.”

The lawsuit seeks to end the practice and bolster the diets of pregnant inmates, who allege they’re often hungry and not given prenatal vitamins and medications.

Congressman Cedric Richmond to Lead the Congressional Black Caucus

Dallas Weekly

Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond has been elected chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus for the 115th Congress, which begins Jan. 3, 2017.

“I commend Representative Richmond on becoming the new chairman,” said G. K. Butterfield, the outgoing chairman. “We have much work ahead of us during the 115th Congress, and I am confident Representative Richmond will provide strong leadership on issues we champion to ensure all Americans have an equal and equitable opportunity to achieve the American Dream.”

The 43-year-old Richmond represents Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes most of New Orleans. He is a native of New Orleans.

Greg Palast on Trump's Election Theft & Why Clinton Didn't Push for Michigan Recount - Part 1 of 2

Devil Trump Can't Be Questioned b/c He Refuses to Have Press Conference

Racist Suspect Bill O'Reilly: "Abolishing The Electoral College" Is "All About Race"

Media Matters

BILL O'REILLY: Abolishing the Electoral College, that is the subject of tonight's Talking Points Memo. After Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, the left in America is demanding that the Electoral College system put into place in 1787 be scrapped. But there's a hidden reason for this.

As we reported, even though Secretary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.8 million, the progressive state of California provided all of that margin. Clinton defeating Trump there by about 4.3 million votes. So if the Electoral College were abolished, presidential candidates could simply campaign in the nation's largest states and cities,New York, L.A., Chicago, Houston, and rack up enough votes to pretty much win any election. That's what the left wants. That's what they want. Because in the large urban areas and blue states like New York and California, minorities are substantial. Look at the landscape. Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami. In all of these places the minority vote usually goes heavily to the Democrats. And to that New York City, L.A., Chicago, San Francisco, don't really have a national election anymore, do you? You have targeted populations. Newspapers like the New York Times and the L.A. Times have editorialized to get rid of the Electoral Cllege. They well know that neutralizing the largely white rural areas in the Midwest and South will assure liberal politicians get power and keep it. 

Talking Points believes this is all about race. The left sees white privilege in America as an oppressive force that must be done away with. Therefore white working class voters must be marginalized and what better way to do that than center the voting power in the cities. Very few commentators will tell you that the heart of liberalism in America today is based on race. It permeates almost every issue. That white men have set up a system of oppression. That system must be destroyed. Bernie Sanders pedaled that to some extent Hillary Clinton did. And the liberal media tries to sell that all day long. So-called white privilege bad. Diversity good.

If you look at the voting patterns, it's clear that the Democrats are heavily reliant on the minority vote. Also on the woman vote. White men have largely abandoned the Democrats and the left believes it's because of racism that they want to punish minorities, keep them down. So that's what's really going on when you hear about the Electoral College and how unfair it allegedly is.Summing up, the left wants power taken away from the white establishment. They want a profound change in the way America is run. Taking voting power away from the white precincts is the quickest way to do that.

Coin Operated SNigger Omarosa Joins Trump’s Transition Team

Black Enterprise

Reality star Omarosa Manigault has officially joined President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team executive committee, Politico reports.

The 42-year-old TV personality—who admitted to being a former, lifelong Democrat—dropped her ties to the Democrat Party and began helping Trump court black votes on the campaign trial in July, as his director of African American Outreach. Now, she’ll join the real estate mogul in the White House. Defending her oppression as freedom, she will serve her masters well. 

Last month, she made headlines when she claimed that the Trump campaign was keeping a list of enemies. “Let me just tell you, Mr. Trump has a long memory, and we’re keeping a list,” she said. In addition, in September she told Frontline, “Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump. It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.” Fuck Trump. 

Omarosa is a SNigger. According to Dr. Blynd, 

SNigger ---a sold-out snitching-smiling Sambo-Negro. 2) a South-Bender offender. SNiggers smile for nothing except an empty mind while selling-out their own kind. They typically have an intellectual base yet are devoid of intelligence, thus promoting the on-going smiling face. They also often giggle and have a frivolous conception of society and scant knowledge of the vestiges of the trans-Atlantic slave trade that even brought their sorry-ass selves to shore. SNiggers are traitors and pawns of the downpressors. [MORE] 

President Obama Grants granted clemency to 231 people who are deserving of a second chance

Whitehouse.gov and CNN

Today, President Obama granted clemency to 231 deserving individuals — the most individual acts of clemency granted in a single day by any president in this nation’s history. With today’s 153 commutations, the President has now commuted the sentences of 1,176 individuals, including 395 life sentences. The President also granted pardons to 78 individuals, bringing his total number of pardons to 148. Today’s acts of clemency — and the mercy the President has shown his 1,324 clemency recipients — exemplify his belief that America is a nation of second chances.

The 231 individuals granted clemency today have all demonstrated that they are ready to make use — or have already made use — of a second chance. While each clemency recipient’s story is unique, the common thread of rehabilitation underlies all of them. For the pardon recipient, it is the story of an individual who has led a productive and law-abiding post-conviction life, including by contributing to the community in a meaningful way. For the commutation recipient, it is the story of an individual who has made the most of his or her time in prison, by participating in educational courses, vocational training, and drug treatment. These are the stories that demonstrate the successes that can be achieved — by both individuals and society — in a nation of second chances.

Today’s grants signify the President’s continued commitment to exercising his clemency authority through the remainder of his time in office. In 2016 alone, the President has granted clemency to more than 1,000 deserving individuals. The President continues to review clemency applications on an individualized basis to determine whether a particular applicant has demonstrated a readiness to make use of his or her second chance, and I expect that the President will issue more grants of both commutations and pardons before he leaves office. The mercy that the President has shown his 1,324 clemency recipients is remarkable, but we must remember that clemency is a tool of last resort and that only Congress can achieve the broader reforms needed to ensure over the long run that our criminal justice system operates more fairly and effectively in the service of public safety.