Category: #GoodCops

#GoodCops, capitalism crimes, Environmental, LGBTQIA, Post Racial\, Uncategorized

1/14/17 Full Episode – Trans Woman Attacked And Sandy Hook/Alex Jones Update

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/winecellarmedia/2019/01/15/11417-full-episode–trans-woman-attacked-and-sandy-hookalex-jones-update

^^^^^^FULL EPISODE LINK^^^^^^

Food inspections by the FDA have been sharply reduced, alarming criticsImage result for capitalism meme

The furloughing of hundreds of Food and Drug Administration inspectors has sharply reduced inspections of the nation’s food supply — one of the many repercussions of the partial government shutdown that are making Americans potentially less safe.

The agency, which oversees 80 percent of the food supply, has suspended all routine inspections of domestic food-processing facilities, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in an interview. He is working on a plan to bring inspectors back as early as next week to inspect facilities considered high-risk because they handle sensitive items such as seafood, soft cheese and vegetables, or have a history of problems.

Teen charged with murder of transgender woman

CHICAGO (Fox 32 News) – A 17-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting a transgender woman last year in a secluded area on the South Side was ordered held without bail Sunday.

Tremon T. Hill was charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 13 slaying of Dejanay Stanton, a 24-year-old trans woman he was in a sexual relationship with, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Britt Steinberg said at a bail hearing in the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

Stanton received a text from Hill the morning of her killing asking her to meet him in a lot in the 4000 block of South Calumet Avenue in Bronzeville, Steinberg said.

Passenger carries firearm through TSA screening at Atlanta onto Delta flight

(CNN)A traveler carrying a firearm boarded a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and flew to Tokyo Narita International Airport on January 3, according to a statement from the Transportation Security Administration.

“TSA has determined standard procedures were not followed and a passenger did in fact pass through a standard screening TSA checkpoint with a firearm at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on the morning of January 3,” the release states.
The passenger had forgotten the firearm was in their carry-on luggage, the TSA said. The incident was not part of a test.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is going to Canada for surgeryImage result for Sex Workers

Developer Jim Skaggs ‘couldn’t believe’ when he heard that a neighbor allegedly assaulted U.S. Senator Rand Paul outside his home in Bowling Green. Matt Stone/Louisville Courier Journal

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of the fiercest political critics of socialized medicine, will travel to Canada later this month to get hernia surgery.

Paul, an ophthalmologist, said the operation is related to an injury in 2017 when his neighbor, Rene Boucher, attacked him while Paul was mowing his lawn. The incident left Kentucky’s junior senator with six broken ribs and a bruised lung.

He is scheduled to have the outpatient operation at the privately adminstered Shouldice Hernia Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario during the week of Jan. 21, according to documents from Paul’s civil lawsuit against Boucher filed in Warren Circuit Court.

Fortnite Creator is Buying Entire Forests to Prevent Them From Being Chopped DownImage result for alex jones meme

Fortnite is one of the biggest games of this decade, and it rose to prominence in a very seemingly organic way. Tim Sweeney, the game’s creator has been at work for decades in fact, developing different, intricate and interactive realms in the digital world for players.

 

 

 

#GoodCops, Rape culture

Pennsylvania Cop Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Third Woman During Traffic Stop

A police officer in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania is facing even more charges after a third woman came forth accusing him of sexual assault.

Two other women have made similar accusations against Mark Eric Icker.

Icker’s newest charges of official oppression and indecent assault were filed Friday.

The woman spoke with investigators on Dec. 26, and said she was pulled over by Icker in June on suspicion of DUI. Icker then transported the woman to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital for a blood alcohol content test, according to the report.

Icker then offered to take the woman to her home after having her car towed. While at the woman’s residence, Icker asked to use the woman’s restroom, which she allowed, the Times Leader reports.

Icker then reportedly asked the woman if she had any tattoos or body piercings, to which the woman replied she had her nipples pierced, according to the report. Icker then pulled the woman’s shirt down and exposed her bare chest, according to the report.

“Oh, they’re nice, they look like that would hurt,” Icker said to the woman, the Times Leader reports citing a criminal complaint. “And I wonder how they taste.”

Icker then put his number in the woman’s cell phone, and he repeatedly texted her saying “they could work something out,” according to the report. The woman’s BAC test came back in July, and Icker told the woman she was over twice the legal limit, and told her to reach out “if you wanna met up and try to work something out,” according to the report.

The charges came the same day that Icker fought to have his $1 million bail reduced.

Icker initially appeared before Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough via video on Friday as his attorney, Bernard J. Brown, argued the bail imposed last month by District Judge Joseph Spagnuolo Jr. was excessive, Times Leader reports.

Icker’s bail was then reduced to $100,000 straight cash – once he was arraigned on his new charges before District Judge Donald Whittaker later in the day, Whittaker denied bail for Icker, sending him back to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.

Icker had been working at three different police departments – Ashley and Sugar Notch in Luzerne County, and Jessup in Lackawanna County.

Times Leader reports Icker has been suspended from his job in Ashley, and fired from his part-time job in Sugar Notch.

#GoodCops, WTF

Alabama Police Blame Crime Rates On Satan

A rural Alabama police department that used social media to scold community members for rejecting God is coming under fire from a group that opposes mixing government and religious faith.

A statement posted on Facebook by the Opp Police Department on Tuesday blames a spike in area homicides on the idea that young people have turned away from God and “embraced Satan.” The post followed two gunshot killings in as many days in Covington County, located on the Alabama-Florida line.

But the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation says police in the town of 6,500 people are wrongly promoting religion with the social media message. The group says it’s illegal for a government entity to endorse or criticize religious belief.

Opp police didn’t immediately return a phone call Thursday seeking comment.

This was the Facebook message:

THIS PAST SUNDAY, A YOUNG MAN WAS SHOT AND KILLED IN KINSTON. MONDAY NIGHT, A MOTHER WAS SHOT AND KILLED IN NORTHERN COVINGTON COUNTY. THERE HAVE BEEN FIVE MURDERS IN COVINGTON COUNTY IN 2018. THESE MURDERS HAVE BEEN DONE BY OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. THIS IS HAPPENING BECAUSE WE HAVE TURNED AWAY FROM GOD AND EMBRACED SATAN. WE MAY HAVE NOT MEANT TO DO SO BUT, WE HAVE. IT IS TIME TO ASK FOR GOD’S HELP TO STOP THIS. IT IS TIME TO BE PARENTS AND RAISE OUR CHILDREN, NOT HAVE THEM RAISE US. IT IS TIME TO FULLY SUPPORT LAW ENFORCEMENT AND STAND BY THE OFFICERS AND DEPUTIES THAT ARE FAR TOO OFTEN HAVING TO WALK INTO THESE DANGEROUS SITUATIONS AND CLEAN UP THE MESS. FRIENDS, IT IS TIME TO STAND UP AND BE RESPONSIBLE, GROWN UP LEADERS IN OUR COMMUNITY. BOTTOM LINE, THERE ARE SHEEP; THERE ARE WOLVES AND THERE ARE SHEEP DOGS. WHICH GROUP DO YOU BELONG TO ?

Du0api-WwAImwJB

Opp police appear to regularly promote Christian messages on their Facebook page.
“God bless each and all on this Monday,” one post read earlier this week, while another said: “May God bless you and protect you.”

#GoodCops, capitalism crimes, Post Racial\

Portland Police Shoot Homeless Man

A Portland police officer fatally shot a man Sunday at a Southeast Portland home after the landlord reported a stranger who appeared to be homeless and suffering from a mental illness lying on a tenant’s door stoop.

An East Precinct Officer responded about 2 p.m. to a report of an “unwanted person” at the home in the 9600 block of Southeast Market Street, said police spokesman Sgt. Chris Burley. The man allegedly wouldn’t leave the property.

Lidiya Omelchenko Omelchenko told OPB she called police after her neighbor told her there was a man who appeared to be sleeping directly outside his home.

“[My neighbor] came and talked to me, somebody sleeping on his porch, steps,” Omelchenko said in an interview. “I told him, ‘call the police.’ After this, I went to see this man and I called [the police] too.” She then waited for an officer to arrive, pointed to the man, then went into her nearby house.

“I thought I should call the police, they could help him, find him an apartment, a place to sleep,” she said. She also said the man appeared to be African American.

About 10 minutes later, she heard a single “pop,” Omelchenko said.

When she came out, the man was being carried out of the house with a sheet over him, she said.

The man was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he was declared dead, Burley said.

Burley didn’t identify the man or the officer involved. The officer has been placed on administrative leave under standard police policy and will be identified within 24 hours, Burley said. Police will identify the dead man after an autopsy is completed and relatives are notified, he said.

Omlechenko expressed dismay at the man’s death.

Portland police have faced criticism in the last two years for officer shootings of black men, including Patrick Kimmons, 27, last year in downtown Portland and Quanice Hayes, 17, in Northeast Portland in 2017. Grand juries ruled both police shootings justified. The Police Bureau also is under a federal settlement reached after an U.S. Justice Department investigation found officers often used excessive force against people with mental illness.

#GoodCops, #WhiteOnWhiteCrime

Sheriff Tries to Avoid DUI By Using Badge

ALKASKA, Mich. — A police report and bodycam video show that a Michigan sheriff accused of drunken driving asked a deputy not to arrest him.

Television station WJRT obtained bodycam video from the Nov. 16 arrest of Midland County Sheriff Scott Stephenson, who later pleaded guilty to driving while impaired.

Stephenson is heard on the video asking that he not be arrested. He says, “Jesus Christ, I’m a sheriff.”

Stephenson was suspected of drunken driving after leaving a deer hunting camp in Kalkaska County. A breath test revealed a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit for driving.

The video shows a deputy knocking on Stephenson’s window and waking him up while his vehicle was parked along the side of a road. The deputy tells Stephenson: “Someone thought you were dead over here.”

Stephenson later issued a public apology for his “poor choice.”

In his apology, he noted his “poor choice has made a difficult time for my family and loved ones, and I truly appreciate the support they gave, and continue to give to me.”

Stephenson pleaded guilty Thursday to operating a motor vehicle while visibly impaired. He was placed on probation for a year and fined.

Stephenson said he drank alcohol at the camp and left to get cellphone reception. He says he felt the alcohol “take an effect while driving,” so he stopped before his arrest.

#GoodCops, capitalism crimes, White Terrorist

Amazon To Sell Facial Recognition Technology to Help Police Harass Pedestrians

According to the ACLU, a patent application from Amazon that became public that would pair face surveillance — like Rekognition, the product that the company is aggressively marketing to police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — with Ring, a doorbell camera company that Amazon bought earlier this year.

While the details are sketchy, the application describes a system that the police can use to match the faces of people walking by a doorbell camera with a photo database of persons they deem “suspicious.” Likewise, homeowners can also add photos of “suspicious” people into the system and then the doorbell’s facial recognition program will scan anyone passing their home. In either case, if a match occurs, the person’s face can be automatically sent to law enforcement, and the police could arrive in minutes.

The ACLU and other civil rights groups have repeatedly warned that face surveillance poses an unprecedented threat to civil liberties and civil rights that must be stopped before it becomes widespread. The history of discriminatory government surveillance makes clear that face surveillance will disproportionately harm people already targeted by the government and subjected to racial profiling and abuse — immigrants, people of color, and the formerly incarcerated.

Despite the risks to civil liberties and racial justice, Amazon has chosen to ignore questions from members of Congress and calls from consumers, civil rights groups, and its own employees and shareholders to take responsibility for the consequences of its technology on communities where it is deployed.

This patent application also suggests that Amazon has no plans to stop at identifying people based on their faces. The company anticipates targeting an arsenal of other biometrics, including fingerprints, skin-texture analysis, DNA, palm-vein analysis, hand geometry, iris recognition, odor/scent recognition, and even behavioral characteristics, like typing rhythm, gait, and voice recognition.

Don’t expect Amazon to limit tracking technologies to doorbells or homes. The patent application makes clear that any audio/visual device — such as Amazon’s popular line of Echo products — can be outfitted with the appropriate biometric surveillance features. It confirms that Amazon wants to enable the tracking of everyone, everywhere, all the time. And it’s apparently happy to deliver that data to the government.

#GoodCops, Sex Workers Rights

Police in Iceland Lose Assets After Raid on ‘Champagne Club’

Cash and other assets totaling about 1 million Krona (ISK), which equals about $8,180 (USD) that were seized in a raid on a “champagne club” have disappeared from police custody. Police said the disappearance was the result of poor work practices, but investigations have ended without any suspects.

So-called “champagne clubs” offer customers a chance to have alcoholic beverages and chat with the staff, who is female and wearing provocative clothing. The clubs began opening a law passed that prevented new strip clubs from being licensed in 2010.

When the club, called Strawberries was subjected to a police raid in 2013, under suspicion of engaging in sex work, many assets were seized. This included cash, jewelry and watches totaling about 1 million ISK. Only police officers had access to these assets.

Vísir now reports that all of these items and cash have disappeared. Investigations were conducted both within the police and the prosecutor’s office without any results. No suspects were arrested.

Police concluded that work practices for possession of seized assets were not followed well, making it impossible to trace where these valuables went to or at what point they disappeared from custody.

Amazingly, the police believe that nothing indicates that these assets were stolen, although they could not confirm what led to their disappearance. As investigations have concluded, it is unlikely that the assets in question will ever be found.

#GoodCops, Meanwhile... In Florida

Florida Court Gives Cops the Right to Stand Their Ground

In 2013, Jermaine McBean, a 33-year-old information technology worker, was walking home while wearing earbuds and carrying an unloaded air rifle. Someone thought the gun was real and called the cops. Broward Sheriff’s Dep. Peter Peraza then killed McBean.

Peraza later claimed he was forced to shoot the 33-year-old in self-defense. He cited Florida’s controversial and demonstrably racist Stand Your Ground law. That was a novel and largely unheard-of use of the statute.

While civil-rights advocates worried Peraza’s defense set a concerning precedent, the Florida Supreme Court today unanimously affirmed that on-duty cops can claim they are “standing their ground” when killing citizens.

In layman’s terms, the court ruled that, because the law gives stand-your-ground rights to all “persons” in Florida without making any distinctions for their jobs, cops can use the law to defend themselves while on duty.

Peraza now gets to claim he was standing his ground in a case many civil-rights advocates say was a travesty from the start. Peraza says he shouted at McBean to get him to drop his air file. The cop says the 33-year-old, who was at the time also undergoing a mental-health crisis, did not comply. But McBean’s lifeless body was photographed wearing earbuds: His family, to this day, wonders if he was simply listening to music and not able to hear the cop.

“Put simply, a law enforcement officer is a ‘person’ whether on duty or off, and irrespective of whether the officer is making an arrest,” the court ruled. The judges also stated that Peraza was “immune from criminal prosecution.”

The ruling is a victory for the National Rifle Association and Florida’s top NRA lobbyist, Marion Hammer, who wrote the law in 2005. It is also a win for Florida cops and police unions, who already benefit from significant legal protections when they kill people while on duty.

Civil-rights advocates and public-health experts have begged the state for years to repeal Stand Your Ground. The law, which lets anyone who fears for their life shoot to kill in self-defense, was the first of its kind in America. Importantly, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association tied the law to a “sharp, sustained” increase in homicides across the state. Murders were actually decreasing before Florida passed it.

 

#GoodCops, Women's Rights

Jail Death Results in 10 Million Dollar Judgment

A federal judge in Oregon has approved a $10 million judgment against Washington County and Corizon Health, following the 2014 death of a woman who died in the county jail.

The settlement is the highest Corizon — a private health care company which operates in jails and prisons across the country — has ever paid in a judgment of this kind and means the company and county accept responsibility.

On April 24, 2014, Madaline Pitkin, 26, was found dead in a cell in the Washington County Jail where she was detoxing from heroin.

In 2016, Pitkin’s parents, Mary and Russell Pitkin, filed a lawsuit against Corizon and the county over their daughter’s death.

“What we wanted to accomplish with this lawsuit, was to help make change,” said Russell Pitkin, during an emotional news conference Friday in downtown Portland. “We wanted Washington County and Corizon to acknowledge that they were responsible for what happened and to make changes. There are too many of these kinds of deaths.”

Portland defense attorney David Sugerman, who didn’t work on the case, said the judgment is significant.

“The company has determined this is so risky, they would rather admit fault — which is very rare — and pay $10 million, than face the possible consequences of what a federal jury would do,” he said. “The company has admitted responsibility rather than face the wrath, the potential of a much higher outcome, a much higher verdict.”

Attorney John Coletti, one of the attorneys who represented the Pitkins, said their daughter needed basic medical care; an IV to stay hydrated while she detoxed.

“This is not cutting-edge medical care,” Coletti said. “The ability to provide an IV is not heroic on any level.”

The CEO of Corizon Steve Rector released a statement pointing out that he had not been at the company when Pitkin died.

He added that the company has gone through a significant restructuring and that the amount of the settlement “reflects how far removed the facts of this case are from our standards and expectations of care.

“For whatever small comfort this may provide, the lessons we’ve learned from this case have been catalysts for significant changes we have made and are still making to our clinical program.”

At a press conference after the settlement was announced, Madaline’s father said that his daughter “was smart, beautiful, talented, funny and a person who stood up for others. So, we felt we needed to stand up for her.”

#GoodCops

Cop Gets 90 Day Sentence For Sexually Assaulting Handcuffed Woman

A Colorado police officer who forced a handcuffed woman to have sex with him was sentenced to 90 days in jail followed by four years on probation after admitting the sexual assault. His victim was left with PTSD.

The victim told Broomfield police she had gone to the emergency room at the same hospital the night before after “self-admitting for alcoholism,” an affidavit about the 2017 incident stated. Hospital staff called the police to report the woman had stolen something from the ER and Curtis Lee Arganbright, 41, was dispatched.

The hospital decided not to press charges and Arganbright agreed to take the woman home. It was on the way to her house that she says the sexual assault took place.

Arganbright stopped his Westminster police patrol car during the ride home, ordered the woman out of the vehicle, and forced her to have sex on the front while she was still cuffed.

He then made her perform oral sex on him before driving her home, warning her “she better not tell anyone about this,” and handed her his business card telling his victim to “call me sometime,” the affidavit said about the incident, which took place on August 24, 2017.

She returned the hospital the following day saying she had been sexually assaulted. Officers from Broomfield Police were called to the hospital to bring a rape kit.

Addressing the incident when it first came to light in August 2017, Westminster Police Chief Tim Carlson said Arganbright’s actions had a “devastating impact” on the officers working in his department, CBS Denver reported.

“The alleged conduct described in this arrest sickens my soul,” Carlson said. “That it describes the conduct of an on-duty officer in my department has left me numb. The impact on the victim in this case is something I can’t begin to imagine.”

Arganbright was arrested and, while he was suspended without pay, resigned from Westminster Police Department.