"The Making Of The Warrior Cop " Militarizing Local Police

"SWAT teams were created for extreme situations like mass shootings or hostage taking. But today, the highly armed units more commonly serve warrants."

"All that battle gear you saw in Ferguson was acquired not from the military, but from private companies like the ones touting their wares at Urban Shield."

above quotes from Shane Bauer's article "The Making of The Warrior Cop" at Mother Jones who notes that vendors of this weaponry play on the fears of the police of being outgunned by the bad guys and being in greater danger than ever of being shot and killed in general while ignoring the inconvenient reality and selling lies and half-truths and paranoid fantasies to potential customers .

"...This was a common theme: Since the bad guys are well armed, police need better defenses and an intimidating appearance. And it's true that guns on the street have gotten bigger—but it's also true that being a cop today is the safest it has been since 1964. The most dangerous year in recent decades was 1973, when there were 134 felony killings of police officers in the line of duty. By 2012, that number had dropped to 47. Some of that might be because police are better protected, but they are also not being attacked as often: Assaults on cops are down 45 percent since their peak in 1971. Indeed, violent crime overall is down in America—it has fallen by nearly half since 1991."

Published on 29 Oct 2014
http://democracynow.org - In a new cover story for Mother Jones magazine, "The Making of the Warrior Cop," senior reporter Shane Bauer goes inside the corporations and government departments involved in enabling police departments to acquire anything from bayonets to semi-automatic rifles and drones.

Reporting from the exposition called "Urban Shield" -- which organizers call the largest first-responder training in the world -- Bauer says that the equipment police departments have received from the military pales in comparison to the amount of gear purchased from private companies. The Department of Homeland Security has provided some $41 billion in funding to local police departments to buy the equipment from various corporations, on top of more than $5 billion from the Pentagon since 1997.

Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,300+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9am ET at http://democracynow.org.

See major article at Mother Jones:

Urban Shield and The Making of the Warrior Cop at Mother Jones by Shane Bauer, Oct. 2014

This summer, images of armored vehicles and police pointing semi-automatic rifles at demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, set off a debate over what journalist Radley Balko has termed the "rise of the warrior cop." A National Public Radio analysis found that since 2006, the Pentagon has given local cops some $1.9 billion worth of equipment—including 600 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs), 80,000 assault rifles, 200 grenade launchers, and 12,000 bayonets (yes, bayonets). But those totals pale in comparison to the amount of gear purchased from private companies. The Ferguson Police Department, for example, received some computers, utility trucks, and blankets from the military—but all that battle gear you saw on TV was bought from corporations like the ones pitching their wares at Urban Shield. Outfitting America's warrior cops, it turns out, is a major business, and one fueled in large part by the federal Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Defense has given $5.1 billion worth of equipment to state and local police departments since 1997, with even rural counties acquiring things like grenade launchers and armored personnel carriers. But Homeland Security has handed out grants worth eight times as much—$41 billion since 2002. The money is earmarked for counterterrorism, but DHS specifies that once acquired, the equipment can be used for any other law-enforcement purpose, from shutting down protests to serving warrants and executing home searches.

And the writer notes these newer weapons are examples of high tech adding to the growth of the surveillance police state. These new bits of technology in the hands of local police in fact sound more like the ravings of the paranoid than being a description of what actually does exist and there are those willing to use these high tech gadgets to limit even further the rights of citizens.

"...Farther down the hall, Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate was showcasing a drone. It not only captured video, but was designed to drop objects at specified GPS coordinates, "like Hunger Games, if you will," a representative from Robotics Research, DHS's contractor on the project, told me. Buzzing around her booth was a cylindrical, remote-controlled robot that sold for $1,100. If the robot was too big to fit into, say, a building's ventilation system, the police could make a smaller body on-site using a 3-D printer, then transfer the electric wiring."

and so the vendors at Urban Shield in order to sell more of their product in general argue there is a need for the police to have greater fire power because the bad guys have bigger guns than they used to and so have supposedly increased the risk to the public and to police officers but this is not quite true and is part of an Urban Myth and propaganda sold to and by the police so vendors can sell more and the police can have better toys to hunt down mainly people of color in America as Shane Bauer points out:

"...Today, 85 percent of SWAT operations are for "choice-driven raids on people's private residences," Peter Kraska, an Eastern Kentucky University researcher who studies tactical policing, said in a recent Senate hearing. According to a study released by the American Civil Liberties Union earlier this year, 62 percent of SWAT deployments were for drug raids. The study found that in these raids, drugs were found only half of the time. When weapons were "believed to be present," they were not found in half of the cases for which the outcome was known.

The study also found that while white people were more likely to be involved in the types of scenarios SWAT teams were intended for—like hostage or active-shooter situations—71 percent of today's SWAT raids (when race was known) target people of color. The racial disparity can be much higher in some places: In Burlington, North Carolina, the study notes, African Americans are 47 times more likely to be affected by SWAT raids than whites.

SWAT officers have even come to be used to conduct "saturation patrol," where extra police are deployed in a specific neighborhood. One SWAT commander told Kraska, "The key to our success is that we're an elite crime fighting team that's not bogged down in the regular bureaucracy. We focus on quality of life issues like illegal parking, loud music, bums, troubles."

and as for police versus the bad guys :

"...This was a common theme: Since the bad guys are well armed, police need better defenses and an intimidating appearance. And it's true that guns on the street have gotten bigger—but it's also true that being a cop today is the safest it has been since 1964. The most dangerous year in recent decades was 1973, when there were 134 felony killings of police officers in the line of duty. By 2012, that number had dropped to 47. Some of that might be because police are better protected, but they are also not being attacked as often: Assaults on cops are down 45 percent since their peak in 1971. Indeed, violent crime overall is down in America—it has fallen by nearly half since 1991."

and so it goes,
GORD.

Haaretz's Bradley Burton Criticizes Netanyahu & Max Blumenthal On 3rd Intifada

Netanyahu needs Israel in constant state of despair, Haaretz's Bradley Burston tells Aimee Amiga

And here's Max Blumenthall at The Real News Network speaking about Israel's harsh and brutal treatment of Palestinians which may lead to a third Intifada:

...BLUMENTHAL: My friends who are there are telling me that an explosion could be likely, and we've been hearing about the possibility of a third intifada for years. This is the first time, based on my most recent trip and the time that I got to spend in Shuafat, which is really the epicenter of the mini-intifada that's burning right now, that I really think that something like that could be on the horizon.

And the difference between today and the second intifada is that Israel's put in a much more sophisticated and brutal matrix of control. The Separation Wall really prevents people from the West Bank from participating in any of the rebellion or protests in East Jerusalem and vice versa. And the Israeli police, which are basically an ancillary of the Israeli military, are able to contain protests and riots in East Jerusalem to one neighborhood.

But we're seeing, I think, another difference, which points in the direction of a widespread revolt, is the composition of the Israeli government. I mean, what Netanyahu is doing, authorizing over 1,000 new settlement units yesterday, is really pandering to the right wing of his coalition, which is incipient and powerful. It's also the right wing of his own party, which represents the future of the Likud Party.

And then, finally, what we're seeing in Jerusalem is kind of just the continuation of the violence that raged all summer, beginning with the kidnapping of three Israeli teens that led straight to the revenge killing of Mohammed Abu Khdeir of Shuafat. He was burned alive. And Shuafat has been on fire ever since then. And having spent time with the Abu Khdeir family, been in their house, and seen the police repression--you know, the Israeli police are doing everything they can to provoke and escalate the violence. I mean, they've kept this family and this neighborhood under siege. And Netanyahu is now proposing economic sanctions on the parents of stone throwers. And he said that we will win this war in Jerusalem, which is essentially a holy war being incited by the right wing of his coalition.

also see:

Israel ranked 4th in child poverty, 2nd in wage inequality, Oct. 29, 2014, i24News

International report also ranks Israel first in rate of young adults who don't study or work - 30.7%

Two international reports issued this week give Israel poor marks in terms of child poverty and women's equality.

Israel ranks fourth in child poverty in the developed world, and is the second least equal country in the world in terms of wage equality between men and women.

Child poverty has increased from 35.1 to 35.6 percent, placing Israel behind Greece (40.5 percent), Latvia (38.2 percent), and Spain (36.3 percent), said a UNICEF report, which warned that “the longer these children remain trapped in the cycle of poverty, the harder it will be for them to escape.”

Overall, the number of children living in poverty in affluent countries has increased by 2.6 million since the global recession began in 2008, to an estimated 76.5 million.

While fourth in child poverty, Israel had the highest rate of young adults who are not in education, employment or training - 30.7 percent.

and so it goes,
GORD.

Fox News Lies About UN IN Gaza

UN in Gaza spokesman gives it both barrels on Fox News Independent.co.uk,Oct. 27, 2014

A spokesman for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees savaged a pro-Israeli writer and journalist who claimed his organisation had been sheltering weapons for Hamas militants. Chris Gunness, spokesperson for UNRWA, said he had gone through a film by David Bedein, director of the Centre for Near East Policy Research, in which the claims were made against UNRWA, “frame by frame”.

“This is joke journalism on a Noddy network and it astonishes me that Fox News can give credibility and airtime to a catalogue of falsehoods,” Mr Gunness said of claims that UNRWA had been complicit in Hamas storing rockets in its schools.

Mr Gunness, who became a familiar face to viewers during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza earlier this year, said the only reason the world knew about Hamas weapons being stored in UNRWA schools was because UNRWA had discovered them, condemned Hamas and alerted the relevant authorities, including Israel. “We proactively condemned as a flagrant violation of our neutrality the hiding of these weapons in our schools,” he added.

You can watch the full exchange below:

Response from UNRWA Spokesperson Chris Gunness:

Bedein’s imaginary UNRWA “Camp Jihad”
Posted: August 23, 2013 by Rex Brynen in factcheck, Gaza, UNRWA, West Bank PRNN.wordpress, Aug. 23, 2013

In the last couple of weeks a documentary alleging anti-Semitic indoctrination at UNRWA summer camps has received wide circulation and comment (such as here and here). The video was produced by David Bedein, who has a remarkable history of producing rather fraudulent accounts of alleged UNRWA misdeeds.
UNRWA has now conducted an investigation, and found the allegations of incitement in the video to be “baseless”.

UNRWA Rejects Allegations of Incitement as Baseless: Statement by UNRWA Spokesperson Chris Gunness

22 August 2013East Jerusalem 

In recent days, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been attacked after an Israeli film-maker released a film, “Camp Jihad,” alleging that UNRWA promoted anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in its ‘summer camps’. These false accusations have been repeated in various media outlets.

UNRWA has conducted a lengthy and detailed investigation into the film and we categorically reject the allegations it contains. The film is grossly misleading and we regret the damage it has caused to UNRWA and the United Nations.

The film-maker concerned has a history of making baseless claims about UNRWA, all of which we have investigated and demonstrated to be patently false. It has long been the practice of the film-maker to show non-UNRWA activities and portray them as activities of UNRWA. He has done this again and we again reject his allegations. Our repeated rejection of his falsehoods is a matter of public record.

The main accusation in the film is that incitement is promoted during UNRWA ‘summer camps’. The ‘summer camp’ shown in the West Bank was not affiliated with or organized by UNRWA. The only UNRWA summer activities actually depicted are those shot in Gaza. However, our investigation of the film has revealed that absolutely nothing anti-Semitic or inflammatory was done or said in the scenes filmed in Gaza.

In addition, those interviewed in the film are presented with captions that identify them as UNRWA staff members. However, only one of those interviewed is an UNRWA staff member. The comment she makes does not violate UNRWA’s neutrality policy.

Some of the interviews filmed in the West Bank took place during the course of a third party’s activities inside what is indeed an UNRWA installation. However, UNRWA did not organize or manage these activities, and – here, too – none of the interviewees were UNRWA staff members. In addition, the interviews were organized by the film-maker and conducted with children, without parental consent, in an unethical, highly ‘leading’ manner, by a media organization he contracted.

We firmly condemn the anti-Semitic and inflammatory statements made during some of the interviews filmed in the West Bank, and we have suspended our relationship with the third-party organization, pending a review. However, we reject in no uncertain terms the allegations that UNRWA promotes incitement and the notion that UNRWA is responsible for the views expressed in the film.

UNRWA is committed to fostering human rights and tolerance, and teaches these values through the curriculum in its schools. UNRWA is one of the few organizations that has implemented human rights and conflict resolution training for millions of Palestine refugee children in the complex political environment of the Middle East for over 12 years.

also see article at Electronic Intifada which details David Bedein's ties to Zionist extremist Samuel Sokol who is a follower and admirer of Rabbi Meir Kahane and the Kach Party :

Video: UNRWA’s Chris Gunness demolishes anti-Palestinian activist on Fox
Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Sun, 10/26/2014

...Bedein co-wrote one of his films, For the Sake of the Nakba, with Samuel Sokol, “an apparent supporter of the violent racist group Kahane Chai (Kach), a designated foreign terrorist organization in the US, Canada, and most other Western countries.” 

...In 2009, Bedein and Sokol jointly authored a hit piece on the I’lam Media Center, a Nazareth-based nonprofit organization founded by Palestinian journalists in present-day Israel. 

In its response debunking what it called a catalog of “slander and misrepresentation,” I’lam published this image of Sokol in an army uniform, allowing a small child to handle his weapon. This is certainly ironic given the Bedein film’s allegation that it is Palestinians who violently indoctrinate their children. 

The armed and dangerous Sokol now revels in the title of “Jewish world” reporter for The Jerusalem Post, where he has continued to write Nakba denialist tracts. 

UNRWA has also thoroughly debunked the Bedein-Sokol co-production. 

Targeting refugee rights 

It is important to understand that the attacks on UNRWA by Bedein and others are not motivated by simple hatred of Palestinians or the UN, though such sentiments are evident in their constant denigration of both. 

Rather, they stem from a persistent theory among many anti-Palestinians that Palestinian refugees exist not because Israel expelled them from their homes and refuses to allow them to return, but because UNRWA itself keeps them in existence by providing health and education services to them in refugee camps. 

Dismantling UNRWA, the logic goes, would make the Palestinian refugees disappear along with their troublesome demand to return home, which in the view of Zionists negates Israel’s so-called “right to exist as a Jewish state.” 

Much of Bedein’s propaganda, therefore, is aimed at pressuring US lawmakers to cut the American contribution to UNRWA. 

Of course the logic that getting rid of UNRWA would eliminate Israel’s Palestinian refugee “problem” makes as much sense as believing that closing down all hospitals would eliminate disease. 

The “disease” here is not Palestinians, but the denial of their rights.
When confronted with facts and logic from Gunness, it is no surprise that Bedein flounders.

 And here's a bit more on Rabbi Meir Kahane who proclaims Arabs in Israel are a "cancer" and refers to Arabs as dogs and as dirty etc. while claiming to have respect for Arabs .

Rabbi Meir Kahane interviewed on 60 minutes

and so it goes,
GORD.

Almost 9-months pregnant woman arrested in Bahrain & faces 7 years in jail.

American Exceptionalism at Play in Interpreting the Convention on Torture

Amnesty International Condemns Police Response In Ferguson; UN Criticizes City of Detroit & Voter ID Laws Violate Civil Rights

And here's more on the propaganda and myth of American Exceptionalism which is undercut by the reality Of American society , politics and foreign affairs.

*Human rights of protesters in Ferguson violated by Police response
*Voter ID laws violation of voters rights in USA intended to discourage citizens from voting
*UN report says Detroit violating rights of citizens to clean affordable water

Amnesty International report condemns police response in Ferguson

Published on 24 Oct 2014
ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI)-Amnesty International is holding a rally in Kiener Plaza Friday night release a report on what it says are several abuses by police during protests in Ferguson, MO. The 23 page report by the human rights group titled “On the Streets of America: Human Rights Abuses in Ferguson.”
The report condemns the police response to the protests following the shooting of 18 year old Michael Brown by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson. Amnesty International says local police overreacted and abused the rights of protesters who gathered in Ferguson after the looting and rioting.

NAACP : The right is making it more difficult for people to vote — and it’s deliberate MOYERS & COMPANY 25 OCT 2014

All this talk of voter ID at the polls has some people scratching their heads wondering — what’s the big deal?

Bill Moyers guests this week, Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Ari Berman, a contributing writer for The Nation magazine, agree that the problem is this: The right is making it more difficult for people to vote — and it’s deliberate.

In fact a federal judge in Texas recently found that the state’s photo ID law was actually created to intentionally discriminate against black and Latino voters. That’s a blatant violation of the United States Constitution.

“We know that more than 600,000 registered voters will not be able to vote in this November’s election because they lack the photo ID required by the new Texas law,” Ifill says. So, why would anyone want to keep people from the polls on purpose?

That’s part of a longer story, which Ifill and Berman cover in their full interview with Bill. The short answer is this: There’s an effort underway to keep people from voting that tends to lean to the left in elections.

These efforts began after a Supreme Court decision last year in Shelby County v. Holder, which revoked an essential provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That decision has encouraged many states to try to impose restrictive voter ID laws, as well as limit registration and voting hours.

Berman — who closely covers voter suppression efforts — tells Bill here about “three crucial swing states in which there are new voting restrictions on the books.”

The right says it is imposing these restrictions because there is rampant voter fraud. The problem is, Berman and Ifill say, it is simply not true.

As Ifill puts it: “If you look at all of the data that’s been collected and analyzed by the best political scientists and social scientists, there is no evidence of statistically significant voter fraud. So you’ve created a system that disenfranchises millions of voters to try and solve a problem that you can’t prove exists.”

UN Issues Statement on Human Rights Violations in Detroit, Oct. 22, 2014, The Real News Network

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire says mass struggle against the powers that be is required in Detroit - October 22, 14

and so it goes,
GORD.

David Bromwich at TomDispatch ON The Immorality of " American Exceptionalism "

Picture Shining City upon a hill

'Unconditional love of our country is the counterpart of unconditional detachment and even hostility toward other countries,' writes Bromwich. 'None of us is an exception, and no nation is.' (Poster: Public domain)

"The Importance of Being Exceptional:From Ancient Greece to Twenty-First-Century America" by David Bromwich at TomDispatch via CommonDreams.org, Oct. 23,2014

"...On the whole, is American exceptionalism a force for good? The question shouldn’t be hard to answer. To make an exception of yourself is as immoral a proceeding for a nation as it is for an individual. When we say of a person (usually someone who has gone off the rails), “He thinks the rules don’t apply to him,” we mean that he is a danger to others and perhaps to himself. People who act on such a belief don’t as a rule examine themselves deeply or write a history of the self to justify their understanding that they are unique. Very little effort is involved in their willfulness. Such exceptionalism, indeed, comes from an excess of will unaccompanied by awareness of the necessity for self-restraint.

Such people are monsters. Many land in asylums, more in prisons. But the category also encompasses a large number of high-functioning autistics: governors, generals, corporate heads, owners of professional sports teams. When you think about it, some of these people do write histories of themselves and in that pursuit, a few of them have kept up the vitality of an ancient genre: criminal autobiography.

All nations, by contrast, write their own histories as a matter of course. They preserve and exhibit a record of their doings; normally, of justified conduct, actions worthy of celebration. “Exceptional” nations, therefore, are compelled to engage in some fancy bookkeeping which exceptional individuals can avoid -- at least until they are put on trial or subjected to interrogation under oath. The exceptional nation will claim that it is not responsible for its exceptional character. Its nature was given by God, or History, or Destiny.

An external and semi-miraculous instrumentality is invoked to explain the prodigy whose essence defies mere scientific understanding. To support the belief in the nation’s exceptional character, synonyms and variants of the word “providence” often get slotted in. That word gained its utility at the end of the seventeenth century -- the start of the epoch of nations formed in Europe by a supposed covenant or compact. Providence splits the difference between the accidents of fortune and purposeful design; it says that God is on your side without having the bad manners to pronounce His name.

Why is it immoral for a person to treat himself as an exception? The reason is plain: because morality, by definition, means a standard of right and wrong that applies to all persons without exception. Yet to answer so briefly may be to oversimplify. For at least three separate meanings are in play when it comes to exceptionalism, with a different apology backing each. The glamour that surrounds the idea owes something to confusion among these possible senses..."

and David Bromwich concludes his article by comparing America to a family insular and self-obsessed left to define moral values without recognizing the sanctity of other families of the other or the outsider a family dynamic which is sociopathic :

...At a national level, the doctrine of exceptionalism as unconditional love encourages habits of suppression and euphemism that sink deep roots in the common culture. We have seen the result in America in the years since 2001. In the grip of this doctrine, torture has become “enhanced interrogation”; wars of aggression have become wars for democracy; a distant likely enemy has become an “imminent threat” whose very existence justifies an executive order to kill. These are permitted and officially sanctioned forms of collective dishonesty. They begin in quasi-familial piety, they pass through the systematic distortion of language, and they end in the corruption of consciousness.


The commandment to “keep it in the family” is a symptom of that corruption. It follows that one must never speak critically of one’s country in the hearing of other nations or write against its policies in foreign newspapers. No matter how vicious and wrong the conduct of a member of the family may be, one must assume his good intentions. This ideology abets raw self-interest in justifying many actions by which the United States has revealingly made an exception of itself -- for example, our refusal to participate in the International Criminal Court. The community of nations, we declared, was not situated to understand the true extent of our constabulary responsibilities. American actions come under a different standard and we are the only qualified judges of our own cause.


The doctrine of the national family may be a less fertile source of belligerent pride than “my country right or wrong.” It may be less grandiose, too, than the exceptionalism that asks us to love our country for ideals that have never properly been translated into practice. And yet, in this appeal to the family, one finds the same renunciation of moral knowledge -- a renunciation that, if followed, would render inconceivable any social order beyond that of the family and its extension, the tribe.


Unconditional love of our country is the counterpart of unconditional detachment and even hostility toward other countries. None of us is an exception, and no nation is. The sooner we come to live with this truth as a mundane reality without exceptions, the more grateful other nations will be to live in a world that includes us, among others..."

Meanwhile US forces accused of deliberate bombing of civilians this time in Syria

Thick smoke from an airstrike by the US-led coalition rises in Kobani, Syria, as seen from a hilltop on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, and its surrounding areas, has been under assault by extremists of the Islamic State group since mid-September and is being defended by Kurdish fighters. (Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)

"Dozens of Civilians Killed by US-Led Bombing of Syria: Report In addition to hundreds of fighters reported killed in month of airstrikes, women and children among the many innocent bystanders left dead" by Jon Queally, staff writer via CommonDreams.org, Oct. 23, 2014

And US forced to destroy its own weapons which were taken by ISIL terrorist group:

"US Destroys Its Own Weapons in Enemy Hands:'Until and unless the US understands that the answer to the world’s problems is not war and that arming the world will lead to continuous wars and kill millions of innocent, we will not see an end to an increasingly unstable world.'"
byThalif Deen, IPS News via Common Dreams.org, Oct. 23, 2014

UNITED NATIONS - When the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) captured a treasure trove of U.S. weapons from fleeing Iraqi soldiers last month, one of the rebel leaders with a morbid sense of humour was quoted as saying rather sarcastically: “We hope the Americans would honour their agreements and service our helicopters.”

As fighter planes continue attacking ISIL targets, some of the U.S. airstrikes are, paradoxically, aimed at U.S.-made helicopters, Humvees, armoured personnel carriers and anti-aircraft artillery guns originally supplied to the Iraqi armed forces and currently deployed by the rebel group.

Not surprisingly, they are all under U.S. warranties for maintenance, repair and servicing.

The whole military exercise has degenerated into a political farce compounded by last week’s airdrops of weapons to Kurdish forces battling ISIL, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), in Kobani, inside Syria.

And US and EU backed Ukrainian forces accused of various war crimes and other violations of International Law:

Ukraine: Widespread Use of Cluster Munitions: Government Responsible for Cluster Attacks on Donetsk HumanRights Watch,OCTOBER 20, 2014

(Berlin) – Ukrainian government forces used cluster munitions in populated areas in Donetsk city in early October 2014, Human Rights Watch said today. The use of cluster munitions in populated areas violates the laws of war due to the indiscriminate nature of the weapon and may amount to war crimes.

Kiev also accused of using white phosphorus on rebels and in populated areas

Ukraine: Kiev using white phosphorus near Donetsk say Vostok Battalion

A large support for US backed Ukraine government is from NeoNazis who are determined to create an ethnically pure Ukraine getting rid of all Russians, Poles , Jews etc.

Neo-Nazi threat in new Ukraine: BBC NEWSNIGHT

Obama, America and EU supporting neonazis in Ukraine.
These Neonazis want to ethnically cleanse Ukraine of those they view as non-Ukrainians such as Russians and Jews and Poles

Neo-Nazi brigades fight alongside Ukraine army in East
Published on 10 Sep 2014
Amnesty International says a volunteer battalion fighting in the country's east, has committed human-rights violations. In a newly published report, the group says the paramilitary unit - which is on the side of Kiev - was responsible for arrests, abductions and blackmail.

Kiev's 'war crime': HRW evidence clear, Ukraine must stop rocketing civilians

Published on 27 Jul 2014
Human Rights Watch said that the Ukrainian army may have committed a war crime when it kill16 civilians with unguided grad missiles. The group says that the grad systems are just too inaccurate to be used on populated areas. HRW is calling on both sides in the conflict to stop using this kind of weapon if it wanted to avoid civilian casualties. One of the authors of the report said the Ukrainian military should be held accountable for the killing of civilians.

And so it goes ,
GORD.

Blacks Only 25% of Boston Population, 63% of Stop & Frisk: #RacismUSA

White Kids Riot & Loot, Media Yawns-White Thugs

White Privilege Even Applies To Riots - The Proof Is In The Pumpkins

Black Man Gets Arrested For Drinking Iced Tea

Looters VS Rowdy & Mischievou from Tumblr & FairHuntress

 Media coverage is different when presenting a stories about Blacks or one's about whites
can you tell the difference

tumblr_ndp9gqAduz1rvwdbto1_1280.jpg (600×600)

Fox News and Republicans and NRA Won't Admit Lack Of US Surgeon General Their Fault

America does not presently have a surgeon general because the person appointed by Obama Vivek Murthy was not approved by the Republicans and so was defeated in March 2014.
Meanwhile illogically the Republicans claim this is Obama's fault-he should have appointed someone of whom they approved .

But who would the conservative movement approve someone who was on Abortion pro-choice or was in favor of more regulations to curb health problems such as obesity or heart disease and thereby labeling of food products so people can make healthier choices-no way say conservatives . Would they support someone who proclaimed marijuana was not a major health issue or
who argued the war on drugs was not healthy for Americans that treatment would be better than incarceration or would they prefer someone who wanted more focus and a substantial increase in spending on mental health issues
They want a Surgeon General who is not in any way confrontational or controversial that he tow the conservative Republican Christian right line and not be too specific in his proposals concerning public health whatever that means or as narrowly defined by said conservatives and the NRA and Big Pharma and other corporate interests including gun and ammo manufacturers etc.

So let's set the stage as the NRA takes on the first amendment right to free speech while defending second amendment rights which trumps all other rights such as the right to liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness when in fact the only real right is the right to bear arms and stand your ground and shoot anyone you don't like.

Jon Stewart rips NRA for blocking Obama's surgeon general nominee by Bruinkid via DailyKos,TUE MAR 25, 2014

Last night, Jon Stewart tore into the NRA and exposed the hypocrisy of the pro-gun senators who are helping the NRA block Obama's surgeon general nominee, the extremely well-qualified Dr. Vivek Murthy.

So what were Dr. Murthy's comments about guns?

SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER, R-TN (2/4/2014):

In your tweets of October 16, 2012, "tired of politicians who are scared of the NRA". Those are some of the words. And I would hope you would know that Americans have a First Amendment right to advocate the Second Amendment.

"Yes, Americans have a First Amendment right to advocate the Second Amendment. Apparently, you don't have a First Amendment right to have a different opinion from that. Everyone knows the First Amedment only applies to saying positive things about the Second Amendment. That's all. Says in there, you have the First Amendment right unless you don't have anything positive to say about the Second Amendment. Then you have to shut the fuck up. You have to shut the fuck up, is what I'm saying."

Not to mention that in addition to that tweet, Murthy also supports majority-popular ideas like background checks and an assault weapons ban. In other words, stop him!!

Chuck Todd Challenges GOP Senator : Should NRA Have Veto over Surgeon General Nominee?

Published on 19 Oct 2014
With calls for an ebola czar flying left and right, some attention has been paid in the past couple weeks to the U.S.’s lack of a surgeon general, who has been awaiting confirmation for over a year in large part because Dr. Vivek Murthy earned the wrath of the NRA, which has successfully pressured senators to balk on his confirmation. On Sunday morning, Meet the Press host Chuck Todd challenged Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) to the defend the NRA’s “petty” actions.

CNN: 'Hostage Crisis' in Obama's Cabinet as NRA Set to Block Surgeon General Nominee?

Megan Kelly and Fox News act as stooges for NRA accuses nominee of being radical political activists who is anti-second amendment. In other words any criticisms of the NRA or of guns in any way is seen as seditious that one is therefore considered against the American constitution .
So we see it is up to the NRA and Fox News Channel who is to appointed as the Surgeon General.
Megan says appointee may not be qualified which is laughable given the unexceptional people appointed under the Bush Regime such as "Helluva Job Brownie" in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina debacle or Iraq's blundering Czar Paul Bremer who did everything wrong .

Obama picks rabid anti-gun advocate to be Surgeon General

Jon Stewart: Save Americans From Ebola & ISIS, But Not From Guns & Heart Disease (Pt 1)

Published on 3 Oct 2014
Posted: Between ISIS and Ebola, Republican lawmakers are demanding swift action to do whatever it takes to save American lives. But as Jon Stewart pointed out on Thursday night's "Daily Show," that demand doesn't extend to other major killers of Americans. In recent years, Republicans have been preventing implementation of Obamacare, blocking attempts at gun control and even fighting efforts to improve the American diet. "All keep hearing is 'we must do whatever it takes to save American lives' -- unless it's stopping the things that are actually killing Americans," Stewart said. Check out the clip above for the full takedown.

Jon Stewart: Save Americans From Ebola & ISIS, But Not From Guns & Heart Disease (Pt 2)

Rand Paul Roadblocks Obama's Surgeon General Nominee

Paul wrote:

"Historically, the Surgeon General of the United States has been a position with the purpose of educating Americans so that they may lead healthier lives, rather than advancing a political agenda. Dr. Murthy has disqualified himself from being Surgeon General because of his intent to use that position to launch an attack on Americans' right to own a firearm under the guise of a public health and safety campaign."

However, some Surgeon Generals in recent years have had agendas that some would define as radical or political. For example:

In 1986 during Republican Ronald Reagan's administration, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop called for AIDS education in early elementary school grades. His AIDS report fully supported using condoms for disease prevention.

In 1994 during Democrat Bill Clinton's administration, Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders stated during a UN AIDS conference that masturbation should be promoted to prevent young people from engaging in riskier forms of sexual activity.

note Rand Paul forgets for instance that conservatives joined the tobacco industry to fight against government regulating smoking in any way.
He and others also are against the government educating public about heart disease and labeling products so consumers can know what's in a product at a store or a fast food chain or restaurant etc.

Rand Paul: Obama Surgeon General Nominee To Push For Gun Confiscation

"Ted Cruz: GOP Blocked Obama's Surgeon General Because Guns Are 'Not Connected To Public Health'" By David via Crooks& Liars.com, October 19, 2014

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday accused President Barack Obama's pick for surgeon general of not being a "health care professional" because the doctor had backed a ban on military-style assault rifles.

During an interview on CNN, host Candy Crowley pointed out that the surgeon general should "voice" of public health during the Ebola crisis, but Republicans in the Senate had blocked the appointment of Dr. Vivek Murthy.

"Of course we should have a surgeon general in place," Cruz told Crowley. "And we don't have one because President Obama, instead of nominating a health professional, he nominated someone who is an anti-gun activist."

"And a doctor," Crowley pointed out. "That's a health professional."

"He's a doctor," Cruz admitted. "Where he's made his name is as a crusader against Second Amendment rights, and as a consequence, he didn't have the votes among Republicans or Democrats."

"And so was it a mistake for the president to nominate an extreme partisan on an issue that is not connected to public health?" the Texas senator added. "Yes, that was a mistake."

What Ted Cruz and his interviewer Candy Crowley at CNN both accept is the dubious or debatable notion and assumption that gun control is not to be considered a public health issue. But gun violence in America is an issue and can be deemed a public health issue as are other issues such as smoking tobacco or the use of seatbelts or airbags to make driving safer or controls on air pollution or providing reliable information on the spread of diseases such as Ebola or Sexually Transmitted Diseases such as AIDS or problem of obesity and the labeling of food products and so on.

According to Ted Cruz gun control is not a public health issue but is rather a constitutional law issue and it is an absolute right which cannot under any circumstances be breached.

But if the numbers of injuries and deaths can be significantly reduced through more gun control then this is a matter of public health and safety.In countries with strict laws on gun ownership the numbers of injuries and deaths due to guns is significantly than those countries with laxer laws and regulations regarding gun ownership and the use of fire arms.

In the 1980s the Surgeon General a Reagan appointee Everett Koop claimed the AIDS epidemic had to be treated as a public health issue and not a moral or religious issue. Whereas conservatives believed that the issue had to do with immorality and homosexuality and that to many religious conservatives AIDS was the Gay Plague sent by God to punish homosexuals. These conservatives were also reluctant to discuss such sexual private matters in public or sending such information even in flyers to individual households or set up AIDS and sex education programs in the public schools. C. Everett Koop believed that knowledge about the disease and its transmission combined with basic sex education and promoting the use of condoms were the key to fighting the epidemic.

Reagan and the Republicans and the Religious Right choose Everett Koop because they believed he was one of them a right wing conservative and moralist who would defend conservative Christian values since he was anti-abortion, anti-euthanasia but when it came to his public office he believed that his personal beliefs should not prevent him from doing what was medically and scientifically right for public health.

On the case of Surgeon General Everett Koop see:

In the end :

"Former liberal critics of Koop were pleasantly surprised while his erstwhile conservative supporters were taken aback by the explicit language and the lack of moral censure in his AIDS report, and above all by Koop's promotion of sex education in elementary schools. Yet, as Koop himself saw it, his approach to AIDS was consistent with his long-standing professional commitments as a pediatric surgeon, as well as with his religious faith: "My position on AIDS was dictated by scientific integrity and Christian compassion. . . . My whole career has been dedicated to prolonging lives, especially the lives of people who were weak and powerless, the disenfranchised who needed an advocate: newborns who needed surgery, handicapped children, unborn children, people with AIDS." "

and astoundingly :

"In May of 1988, Koop sent an eight-page, condensed version of his AIDS report to all 107,000,000 households in the United States, the largest mailing in American history and the first time that the federal government provided explicit sex information to the public. His report, speeches, and television appearances did much to change the public debate on AIDS in the United States and, along with it, attitudes towards public discussion of sexuality. In April of 1988, the first condom ad appeared on national television. By then, analogies between AIDS and the great epidemic scourges of the past were heard less often; so were calls for mandatory testing and quarantine of AIDS carriers, the most rigorous public health measures employed during past epidemics. Instead, following the lead of the Surgeon General, physicians, government officials, politicians, and the public were coming to view AIDS as a preventable and manageable disease, even if it was not curable. With the advent of AZT (zidovudine, formerly called azidothymidine) in 1986, and especially with the development of a more effective combination of antiretroviral drugs in the mid-1990s, AIDS in the United States changed from an epidemic to a chronic disease, with the focus as much on the long-term medical care and medical costs, employment opportunities, and civil rights of AIDS patients as on AIDS education and prevention."

see: The C. Everett Koop Papers AIDS, the Surgeon General, and the Politics of Public Health

C. Everett Koop's two terms as U.S. Surgeon General coincided with the rise of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, an epidemic that, scientists and health officials predicted, would turn into the greatest public health catastrophe of the twentieth century. After his superiors relegated him to the sidelines of the AIDS debate during his first four years in office, Koop dedicated almost all of his time and energy to the disease in his second term. In 1986, he was finally authorized to issue a Surgeon General's report on AIDS. In 1988, he mailed a congressionally-mandated information brochure on AIDS to every American household. As he recollected, during this period "AIDS took over my life." Through his report and his many speeches and interviews on AIDS Koop did more than any other public official to shift the terms of the public debate over AIDS from the moral politics of homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, and intravenous drug use, practices through which AIDS was spread, to concern with the medical care, economic position, and civil rights of AIDS sufferers. Similarly, Koop promoted redefining the prevalent scientific model of the disease, from a contagion akin to bubonic plague, yellow fever, and other deadly historic epidemics that required the strongest public health measures--mandatory testing and quarantine of carriers--to a chronic disease that was amenable to long-term management with drugs and behavioral changes.

During the height of Koop's nomination battle, in June 1981, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported five cases of homosexual men in Los Angeles who were dying from Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, a rare form of pneumonia most often contracted by people with weakened immune systems. A month later, the CDC reported on twenty-six young homosexual men recently diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma, an equally rare skin cancer. During his forty-year career as a surgeon Koop had seen two cases of Kaposi's sarcoma; twenty-six cases in a single report, he realized, were the makings of an epidemic disease, a disease that was destroying the immune system of otherwise healthy adults, who then succumbed to other, opportunistic diseases. The disease, which in 1983 was named Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, was traced the same year by French and American scientists to a virus, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Researchers discovered the means by which AIDS was spread, namely through sexual intercourse, the sharing of contaminated needles among intravenous drug users, transfusion of infected blood, and transmission from pregnant mother to child in utero, during birth, or during nursing. A blood test to detect antibodies to HIV and a technique for killing the virus in blood products were developed in 1985, making the blood supply once again safe for transfusion, and clotting factors safe for hemophiliacs. Yet, also by 1985, nearly 12,000 cases of AIDS had been reported in the United States, and just under 6,000 of those infected had died. One of those who died that summer was movie star Rock Hudson, a friend of President Ronald Reagan whose death drew nationwide attention to the epidemic.

and for instance:

C. Everett Koop: The Surgeon General Who Put Science Before Personal Ideology by Martha Kempner at realitycheck.org, February 28, 2013

By all accounts he was a person of strong personal beliefs who nonetheless placed medical and scientific evidence, and the health of U.S. citizens over his or his administration’s ideology. While this should be the norm, in today’s political world it is shockingly rare.

and so it goes,
GORD.
----------------------

Maddow Ron Paul And Rand Paul Are RACISTS!

What The People Have to Say: Voices of Protest in Ferguson and St. Louis

Ferguson Protests at St.Louis University- The Real News Network

Police intimidate and harass protesters in Ferguson.

Black Americans Frustrated By On Going Police Racial Profiling, Harassment ,use of excessive force and shooting to kill Black Suspects

AlterNet Comics: Matt Bors on Police Spilling Black Blood What if it had been ebola blood?





comic via Alternet.org


Worth watching important message from the Advise Show I came across on YouTube in case you missed it
This commentary was in February long before the Mike Brown shooting in Ferguson but the police across the USA still seem to have little regard for the rights of black people and little regard for their lives -it seems blacks are eexpendable
Black Americans frustrated by on going police racial profiling , stereotyping ,harassment , police tthuggery brutality and shootings.

NYPD Thugs Terrorize Black Man That Did Nothing Wrong
Published on 26 Feb 2014
Visit My Website:http://www.adviseshow.com

Kahreem Tribble
David Hooks
Carlos Alcis

NYPD pistol whipping teenage suspect

Published on 7 Oct 2014
NYPD Officers Tyrane Isaac and David Afanador are under criminal investigation after allegedly beating and pistol-whipping an unarmed teen in Brooklyn, as seen in the brutal video below. Kahreem Tribble, 16, had his hands up at the time of the attack. The two officers were pursuing Tribble after he allegedly dropped a bag of weed and began running at 1311 St. John's Place in Crown Heights. When the clip begins, Tribble gives up the chase, turning to face Isaac, and Isaac gives him a right hook to the head. Tribble puts his hands in the air, then Afandor arrives, gun drawn, and smacks him in the face with it. By this point, the teen is slumped over against a wall, but Isaac throws another punch just in case. Officer Christopher Mastoros then enters the frame, but does nothing to stop the wanton violence.

According to DNAinfo, which published the video, Tribble was left with cracked teeth and bruises. Afanador was suspended from his position without pay, and Isaac was stripped of his badge and his gun and placed on modified duty. The men, both nine-year veterans, are under investigation from the NYPD's internal affairs bureau and the Brooklyn District Attorney's office. Each has two previous cases against him claiming false arrest or excessive use of force, DNAinfo reports.

No knock raid: SWAT kills Georgia grandpa after getting bogus tip from meth-head
David Hooks killed by police

So here's what a SWAT Team forced entry looks like -is this reasonable - was the whole family the head of some international drug cartel -
do those suspected of drug offenses have no civil or legal rights
this just appears to be part of the militarization of police forces who have come to view the public in general as the enemy as US soldiers have done in Iraq and Afghanistan- everyone is considered a potential threat to the police-

Swat Team Raid A House In Fort Worth Without Knocking, Kills Father In Front Of Whole Family!

Published on 15 Jun 2014
Swat Team Raid A House In Fort Worth Without Knocking, Kills Father In Front Of Whole Family! The family of Carlos Alcis blames his death on the encounter. Alcis, 43, got into a dispute with cops after they knocked on his door in Brownsville around 5:...

also see:

Gary Younge: The Low, Low Cost of Black Life in America: Is there a price to pay for summarily killing a man? Oct. 12, 2014 at The Guardian

and:

Black Teenager's Mysterious Hanging Death in North Carolina Evokes Painful Imagery:Police say they have no evidence of foul play in the death of Lennon Lacy. His family doubts that. by Ed Pilkington at The Guardian, Oct. 9, 2014

and so it goes,
GORD.

The Myth of "America" : Information Clearing House - ICH Columbus V ISIL

The Myth of "America" :  Information Clearing House - ICH




and so it goes ,

GORD.

Ferguson October: 4 Days Of Protests See 17 Arrests Racism USA/Civil Rights

Actor Jesse Williams Joins Ferguson October: This Is a Basic Desire Not ...

DOZENS ARRESTED in FERGUSON PROTESTS BREAKING NEWS 2014

Thousands descend on St. Louis for Ferguson October-Justice For All March

Thousands Of Protesters Gather For 'Ferguson October'

Ferguson protesters rise again for Michael Brown

Daily Show's Samantha Bee's On Non-existence of Stats On Police Shootings & More

Today's Items:


Daily Show Samantha Bee's satirical piece about Stats on police shootings do not exist
Unarmed teen hit in face by police
white woman protects black man from police
Black teen pepper sprayed in his own home
baby injured by police with a flash bang grenade
Swat team kills innocent man in his own home


First off a satirical look at how police forces in the USA are not required to keep stats on police shooting civilians and the DOJ has no interest in such numbers. Congress, White House , Obama ,DOJ all MIA.
Either the attitude is that civilians killed accidentally or on purpose with just cause or not is of no importance to the government or they just don't believe that this data should be seen by the public.Transparency is not something local police departments or the US federal government is interested in. This of course just adds fuel to the controversy over police shootings and gives ammunition to conspiracy theorists of various sorts.

“The Daily Show” uncovers a disturbing truth about police shootings (October 7, 2014)
Published on 8 Oct 2014
“The Daily Show’s” Jason Jones and Samantha Bee filled in for Jon Stewart on Tuesday night.
Bee was naturally miffed that Jones got to take the host position behind the desk. So, she took matters — and the segment — into her own hands, churning out report on how many civilians were shot by police last year.
What she found was rather disturbing: Nobody seems to know how many people were shot by police last year — not even Nate Silver — and records are woefully off due to a broken system. Want to know how bad it is? Watch Bee’s report below:

And in related news regarding police racism and racial profiling in the USA :Sad but true it took a white woman who is an attorney to prevent police from abusing and or arresting innocent black man . She did a good deed but what does the incident say about racism and white privilege in America.


" D.C. police investigating burglary stop man" Washington Post,Oct. 7, 2014



and see: "White woman defends innocent black man from US police" by Anthony ZurcherBBC News, Oct. 8, 2014


And the NYPD involved in another case of police brutality and the use of excessive force :

VIDEO: NYPD Officer Hits Unarmed Teen in the Face With His Gun by Murray Weiss,DNAinfoNewYork, Oct. 7, 2014

BROOKLYN — Two NYPD officers are under criminal investigation after punching and using a gun to bash a 16-year-old suspect in the face despite the teen raising his hands to surrender, according to a video obtained by DNAinfo New York.
The surveillance footage obtained exclusively by “On The Inside" shows the two officers catch up to marijuana suspect Kahreem Tribble after a brief chase in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
As the teen stops running, one officer throws a punch at his face. Then, as the suspect raises his hands, the other officer hits him with his gun.
Tribble was arrested for possessing 17 small bags of marijuana and disorderly conduct on Aug. 29. At his arraignment, he pleaded guilty to a violation and was released with cracked teeth and bruises.

sorry video unavailable

Also see: NYPD cops caught on video punching, pistol-whipping teen 10/07/14 MSNBC.com by Trymaine Lee

In another police racial profiling incident:

POLICE PEPPER SPRAY WAKE COUNTY TEEN INSIDE HIS HOME AFTER HE'S MISTAKEN FOR BURGLAR" by Andrea Blanford, Oct. 8, 2014, ABC11via

FUQUAY-VARINA, N.C. (WTVD) --

 The parents of a Wake County high school student are outraged that police pepper-sprayed him inside their home after a neighbor mistook him for an intruder. It happened Monday afternoon on England Avenue in Fuquay-Varina. Ricky and Stacy Tyler have fostered 18-year-old DeShawn Currie for about a year. The Tylers, their three young children and DeShawn moved to Fuquay-Varina in July. They said while they're still getting to know their neighbors, it's hurtful someone would assume DeShawn was a burglar just for going about his normal routine of walking home after school.  "He's my baby boy just as much as my other three children are," said Stacy. She left the side door to their home unlocked Monday for DeShawn, who was coming home early from school.  Fuquay-Varina police said when a neighbor saw DeShawn walk in; they called 911 to report a break-in. Soon, three officers were inside the house, all to DeShawn's surprise. 

 ...Eighteen-year-old DeShawn Currie was walking into his foster parents’ unlocked side door after school Monday afternoon, when a neighbor called 911 to report what they perceived to be a burglary on the residential block in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. When cops arrived, they walked inside the house and ordered Currie to put his hands up, as Currie, confused, questioned what he had done wrong. Cops responded by pointing to a picture on the wall that showed several white children together, implying that Currie, black, did not belong.

By the time Currie’s foster mother Stacy Tyler came home, EMTs were treating Currie in the driveway for having been pepper sprayed in the face by the officers, WTVD reports. Police said in a statement they pepper-sprayed Currie because he would not follow orders. Stacy and Ricky Tyler had been fostering Currie for about a year, and have done all they can to show Currie that he is just as much a member of their family as the other three children.

 “Everything that we’ve worked so hard for in the past years was stripped away yesterday in just a matter of moments,” Ricky Tyler told WTVD. Currie said he wasn’t sure if he would be able to move past the incident.

Also see:  "Black Teen Pepper-Sprayed By Cops After Entering His White Foster Parents’ Home" DemocraticUnderground.com

 and add another to the pile of dead : " Meet 59-year-old David Hooks, the latest drug raid fatality " by Radley Balko Washington Post, Oct. 6, 2014

 Phillip Smith at the Drug War Chronicle sums up the news reports detailing the latest casualty in the never-ending U.S. war on drugs.  A Georgia SWAT team shot and killed an armed homeowner during a September 24 drug raid sparked by the word of a self-confessed meth addict and burglar who had robbed the property the previous day. No drugs were found.

David Hooks, 59, becomes the 34th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

 and story & video from article at "David Hooks' family investigating his death " by Sophia Danner-Okotie, 13WMAZ

Sorry Video unavailable


And update via AlterNet.org on infant targeted by police with a flashgrenade:   " OUTRAGE: After Disfiguring Toddler in Botched Drug Raid, Cops Face No Charges Officers tossed a flash grenade in a baby's crib, burning him badly." by Zaid Jilani at Alternet.org, Oct. 8, 2014

a SWAT team of police officers in Habersham County, Georgia raided the home of the Phonesvanh family. The raid was a “no-knock” operation, meaning that the police entered the house unannounced. During the course of the raid, police threw a stun grenade threw a stun grenade into a baby's crib, badly burning toddler Bounkaham Phonesvanh who was hospitalized in a coma. No one living in the house had any drugs.

Young Bounkham Phonesvanh eventually came out of the coma, but was left with a disfiguration. He is also in need of intensive ongoing medical care, including ongoing facial and chest skin grafts, which could amount to nearly a million dollars. The county has refused to pay for it.

The boy's family hoped that at least the court system would deliver some justice. But on Monday, a grand jury in Habersham County decided to bring no charges on any of the officers involved. The attorney for the family told the press they were “devastated” by the decision. Since the raid took place, a diverse coalition of activists has sought to reform the use of “no-knock” raids in Georgia, bringing together both tea partiers and progressive lawmakers, similar to the coalition formed after the Ferguson protests.

And so it goes,
GORD.

Media Hysteria over Ebola & ISIS

(1) Timeline Photos - Media Matters for America



Meanwhile Fox News is increasing hysteria over ISIS by falsely claiming ISIS is at the US border

Rachel Maddow Reports about: "Crazy Rep. Duncan Hunter: ISIS Fighters Were Apprehended At Southern Border" By Heather October 9, 2014 via Crooks & Liars

Another day, another right wing politician doing his best to scare the hell out of the viewers at Faux "news."

The Department of Homeland Security has called right wing flamethrower Rep. Duncan Hunter's claim that there have been at least 10 ISIS fighters apprehended at out Southern border "categorically false." That didn't stop his office from telling Rachel Maddow's staff that they stand by his statements and "may release more information tomorrow." As Maddow noted on this Wednesday's show, if he does make true on his promise it will probably be on Fox, just like the interview he gave last night, where even host Greta Van Susteren was skeptical of his assertions.

Racist Cardinals Fans & Police Break Car Window Taze Black Man & CNN Legal Analyst Explodes over Police Racism

Cardinals Hat Placed Atop Michael Brown's Casket 

Jamal Jones Tazed and dragged out of car by police

Jamal Jones screams as he is being Tazed by Indiana Police



Racist Cardinals Fans St. Louis confronting Peaceful Ferguson Protesters

Today's Items:

*Racist Cardinals Fans versus Ferguson Protesters
*Police Break Car Window Taze Black Man over seatbelt stop
*CNN Legal Analyst Explodes over Police Racism



  "WATCH: Cops smash window to use Taser on passenger during seat belt traffic stop" by TRAVIS GETTYS at RawStory ,07 OCT 2014                

  AN Indiana family filed a lawsuit after police drew their guns, broke out a car window, and used a Taser on an adult passenger during a traffic stop.
Lisa Mahone said she was pulled over Sept. 25 by Hammond police for a seat belt violation as she drove with her boyfriend and their two children to a Chicago hospital, where doctors had said her mother was near death.
She handed over her driver’s license and proof of insurance, and police asked her boyfriend, Jamal Jones, for his ID.
Jones told police he did not have an ID because he had recently gotten a ticket, and he reached into a book bag on the back seat to show them the ticket.
Officers drew their guns on the couple and their 14-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter, and the teen began recording the encounter on a cell phone.
Mahone called 911 to report she feared for her life after officers drew their weapons, and she told the dispatcher that she hoped to reach the hospital before her mother died.
“I said, ‘Oh my god, he’s pulling me over like I robbed a bank,’” Mahone told WFLD-TV.

 Hammond Police Dept Break Through Vehicle Window and Taze Passenger - Extended

 CNN legal analyst explodes over ‘inherent’ police racism: ‘This is what it’s like to be a black person’
DAVID EDWARDS at RawStory ,07 OCT 2014

 The case of a police using a Taser on a young African-American car passenger became personal for CNN legal analyst Sonny Hostin on Tuesday when her colleague, Paul Callan, tried to claim that abuses of power did not have a racial component.
CNN’s Susan Candiotti reported that an Indiana family was suing the Hammond police department for a Sept. 25 traffic stop that ended with officers breaking a passenger-side window and tasing Jamal Jones because he would not produce an ID.
Callan said that police had mishandled the case, but predicted that the city would prevail.

...“Of course, they were afraid,” Hostin said. “And I’ve got to tell you I’m so upset. I think actually Paul is correct [about his prediction], but this is the hazard of being a black person in the United States today! I mean, there’s a family in a car and they are completely complying. You see that [the mother] has called 911. He isn’t even driving the vehicle. He has provided several pieces of paper as identification.”
“This family was tortured for over 13 minutes. Those children were traumatized. And guess what? The law as it stands right now probably protects the police officers’ actions.”
“And as a woman of color, I don’t know what to do!” Hostin exclaimed in frustration. “Because this could happen to me, this could happen to my child, this could happen to my father, this could happen to my husband. What do we do about the inherent racism over and over and over again in these United States during these traffic stops!”     

 CNN's Sony Hostin and Paul Callan debate police racism and abuse of power via Rawstory

         
---------------
 In an article  Tom Ley  lists some of the more outrageous and egregious racist comments of Cardinal fans when confronted with a peaceful MichaelBrown protesters who were protesting against police racism and the use of excessive force and brutality in dealing with black citizens.


  " Cardinals Fans Get Ugly In Clash With Ferguson Protesters" by tom Ley at Deadspin,Oct. 7, 2014

...Here is a video of some of the protest from last night, via Argus Streaming News. It's rather long, so I'll point out some of the egregious cases of Cardinals fans being shitty below.

 We start off with a bang. At about the 22-second mark, an old white Cardinals fan begins telling the protesters—all of whom appear to be black—that they need to get jobs. He looks right in the camera, proudly, and says, "That's right! If they'd be working, we wouldn't have this problem!"
At about the 1:30 mark, the crowd of Cardinals fans begin drowning out the protesters' chants with a "Let's go Cardinals!" chant. Well, they could be saying worse things...
At the 2:40 mark, they start saying much worse things. The "Let's go Cardinals!" chant has turned into a "Let's go Darren!" chant. Cool.
At 8:10 one of the Cardinals fans calls one of the protesters a "crack head" and tells him he needs to go see a dentist.
At 8:50 the "Let's go Cardinals" chant starts up again.
At 9:05 one of the Cardinals fans starts telling one of the protesters that if he ever "saw him in the street" he would "look at the ground." They argue for a bit about who would and would not whip whose ass.
At about 10:25 a small blonde lady starts yelling at the protesters: "We're the ones who gave all y'all the freedoms that you have!"
At about 12:14 an older female Cardinals fan begins telling the man holding the camera, who claims he is a former Marine, that she doesn't believe he is a veteran. The conversation does not go well for her.
At 14:54, the Cardinals fans start in on a very loud "USA! USA! USA!" chant.
At 16:07, another Cardinals fan begins yelling at the protesters, telling them that they need to get jobs.
At 16:43, a female Cardinals fan begins chanting "Africa! Africa! Africa!" at the protesters.
At 17:10, a Cardinals fans tells the protesters that they need to remove their hats and pull up their pants.

 also see for instance: " Viral video shows the worst of St. Louis, reopens old debate " by JoanNiesen at Sports Illustrated , Oct. 7, 2014

and so it goes,
GORD.

#MikeBrown Protesters Disrupt St. Louis Symphony Performance

"Requiem For Mike Brown" Protests
   Police Violated Constitutional Rights Of Ferguson Protesters, Federal Judge Rules
  Teacher fired for doing the right thing defending black student from white bullies

  Ferguson protests over the police killing of Michael Brown continues with changing venues "Requiem For Mike Brown" Protests

  " Requiem for Mike Brown protest in the St. Louis Symphony exposes both white privilege and support" by Shaun King via DailyKos.com,Oct. 5, 2014

Last night a beautifully diverse group of women and men came together to stage a protest
inside of the St. Louis Symphony they are calling, "Requiem for Mike Brown".  Not only
was it perfectly executed, the reactions it elicited from attendees and members of the
symphony, ranging the spectrum from utter disgust to total support, created something of
a microcosm of America.

 "Ferguson Protesters Disrupt St. Louis Symphony With Song For Michael Brown " The Huffington Post, By Ed Mazza Oct. 6, 2014

 Protesters disrupted a performance of the St. Louis Symphony on Saturday night, unfurling banners and launching into song just as the show was about to resume after intermission, according to reports.
As conductor Markus Stenz took to the stage for a performance of Brahms' "Requiem," several members of the audience stood and sang a version of the protest song, "Which Side Are You On?" They were soon joined by several others in different parts of the auditorium as Stenz and the musicians on stage quietly looked on, according to video posted online.
From the balcony, protesters unfurled at least four banners.
 One featured a drawing of the Gateway Arch and St. Louis skyline along with the words "Racism Lives Here," while another called on people to "Rise Up And Join the Movement."
"When we discovered that Brahms' 'Requiem' would be on the calendar, for Mike Brown, it was a beautiful connection that seemed fated," protest organizer Sarah Griesbach told KSDK-TV. "A requiem is a song for the dead."

  " Police Violated Constitutional Rights Of Ferguson Protesters, Federal Judge Rules" Posted: 10/06/2014 By Ryan J. Reilly at Huffington Post

 WASHINGTON -- Police overseeing security at protests in Ferguson, Missouri, in August violated the constitutional rights of demonstrators and journalists by forcing them to stay in constant motion and not stop walking, a federal judge ruled on Monday.

Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry held that the "practice of requiring peaceful demonstrators and others to walk, rather than stand still, violates the Constitution." She issued a preliminary injunction banning St. Louis County Police and Missouri State Highway Patrol officers from using the tactic.

"The evidence from plaintiff’s witnesses shows that the police, including those from St. Louis County, told many people who were either peacefully assembling or simply standing on their own that they would be arrested if they did not keep moving," wrote Perry, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. "Some law enforcement officers told people that they could stand still for no more than five seconds. Others gave instructions that people were walking too slowly, or that they could not walk back and forth in a small area. Some law enforcement officers did not make people keep moving, others did. Some officers applied the strategy to reporters, others did not. Many officers told people who were standing in small groups on the sidewalks during the daytime hours that they would be arrested if they did not keep moving."

Perry ruled that individuals who wished to gather "in the wake of Michael Brown’s tragic death have a constitutional right to do so." She also noted that "they do not have the right to endanger lives of police officers or other citizens." She said that nothing in her order restricted the ability of police officers to do their jobs.

“Vague rules that are applied in a haphazard fashion tend to increase community tension,” Tony Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, said in a statement. “Judge Perry’s injunction is a huge win for peaceful protesters and those who believe in the rule of law." The ACLU chapter had brought suit over the issue.

Here's a video from Huffington Post:

and on the issue of racism here is another bizarre story as a teacher is fired for defending a black student from white bullies.


 Teacher fired for Doing the right thing


  " Arizona Teacher Fired for  Breaking up Racist Bullying of 4th Grader " byFrank Vyan WaltonFollow at Dailykos.comOct. 2,2014

 25 year veteran Elementary Teacher Pam Aister was fired this week by the Fountain Hills Arizona School District after breaking up an incident of Racial Bullying by Four Students against one other.
“He was called the n-word, ‘monkey’, and ‘coon,’ Aister told KNXV.
Ainster told KTAR-FM that she also said to the group, “If you’re picking on him, you’re
picking on me. It’s not five against one, it’s five against two, and there will be no
more taunting, teasing or racial names.”
But parents of the alleged offenders claim that Ainster used abusive language telling
them to "shut up" and that one had an "ugly face", an allegation that Ainster denies.  In
the end the School Board, following the recommendation of their attorney, voted to
terminate Ainster on the basis of reports from the parents.
Isn't it an interesting world, assuming Ainster's claims are essentially true and even
that the counter claims against her are valid, where a pack of bigoted bullies can rely
on their parents to protect and escalate their bullying in order to remove a teacher
whose primary crime was to stand up against their racist taunting - even if somewhat
vehemently - in order to protect and defend a vulnerable child?

&nbsp
and :

Arizona Teacher Fired After Defending Black Student From Racist Bullying
Kayode Kendall Oct.2 ,2014

CBS 5 - KPHO

and so it goes,

GORD.

Fox News HYsteria and Fear Mongering Over Ebola, ISIS, illegal Immigrants

 What should be obvious is that the Fox News Channel is not fair and balanced but rather is partisn and a propaganda machine for ultraconservatives . Fox News is anti-Obama and racist ,anti-immigration,anti-science ,Islamophobic, sexist and homophobic and in favor of military actions rather than diplomacy etc.

 Fox News main agenda is creating hysteria and fear mongering while beating the drums of war and promulgating various right-wing conspiracy theories ie the war on Christmas; birtherism that Obama is not an American citizen ; that the US government is planning to take everyone's guns away; to impose martial law and create internment camps for conservatives and to deny white Christians their rights and so on.

 Comedian John Cleese formerly of Monty Python and his series Faulty Towers comments on the problem with the people on Fox News and many of their viewers and why it is difficult for them to be objective and critical of their entrenched beliefs :

  John Cleese on (Fox News) stupidity via DailyKos.com, by Jen Hayden & Scout Finch, Sept. 29, 2014
 






 O'Reilly Continues The Fox Poutrage Over Being Mocked By President Obama By Heather October 4, 2014 at Crooks & Liars

Poor Bill-O has some bruised fee fees after mean old President Obama went after his network during a speech at Northwestern University.
 It seems the crew at Fox & Friends weren't the only ones terribly upset with mean old President Obama giving their network some long overdue criticism during a speech at Northwestern University this week.
Bill O'Reilly used the occasion to pile on as well and to pretend that his network has been "fair and balanced" with their coverage of President Obama. Apparently O'Reilly doesn't watch his own show and can't remember anything he ever said on the air, and never watches any of the rest of his network's coverage if he's actually delusional enough to believe that's true.

That being noted here is Fox News fueling hysteria over Ebola by allowing a faux expert to spew nonsense giving the audience the impression that he knows what he's talking about and that there is some controversy about how the disease is spread and that the CDC and President Obama are lying to the public and even that Obama might welcome such an outbreak.


 PBS Science Correspondent 'Embarrassed' By Fox's 'Level Of Ignorance' On Ebola
By David October 5, 2014 at Crooks & Liars.com

 Miles O'Brien, the science correspondent for PBS "Newshour", lamented on Sunday that he was embarrassed at some of the coverage of Ebola on Fox News that had a "racial component," and seemed intended to scare viewers.
 On the Sunday edition of CNN's Reliable Sources, host Brian Stelter looked back at the last week's coverage of Ebola on Fox News. In one case, Fox News host Elisabeth Hasselbeck seemed almost disappointed when an expert downplayed the threat of the disease in the United States.
"We've heard the words 'Ebola in America,' a lot the past few days," Stelter noted. "It's technically true. There is a case of Ebola here in America. But to say Ebola is here, doesn't that sort of inflame people's fears?"
"It borders on irresponsibility when people get on television and start talking that way when they should know better," O'Brien explained. "They should do their homework and they should report in a responsible manner."
"Unfortunately, it's a very competitive business, the business we're in, and there is a perception that by hyping up this threat, you draw people's attention," he added. "That's a shame to even say that and I get embarrassed for our brethren in journalism."
Stelter also pointed to Fox News host Andrea Tantaros, who had warned viewers that West Africans might come to the U.S. infected with Ebola, and then go to a "witch doctor" instead of the hospital.
 "We could digress into what motivated that and perhaps the racial component of all this, the arrogance, the first world versus third world statements and implications of just that," O'Brien remarked. "It's offensive on several levels and it reflects, frankly, a level of ignorance which we should not allow in our media and in our discourse."

 Fox 'Expert' Lies About How You Can Catch Ebola By Vegasjessie October 4, 2014, at Crooks & Liars

 On the Kelly File, "expert consultant" J. Christian Adams says you can catch Ebola when the patient is asymptomatic, because he said so, science be damned.
 The main job of the alarmists at Fox News is to frighten people with overblown facts and contrived fiction, more often the latter. Friday night's The Kelly File was accompanied with the usual level of misinformation about the latest hysteria, the Ebola Virus. Kelly began the segment with,

"New questions are being raised about why the administration isn't doing more to prevent the spread of a disease."
Megyn Kelly found a guest who would not only insist on an ineffective travel ban from West African countries, but he knew nothing of how the disease is spread, so he made up his own facts. She brought on J. Christian Adams, author of the New York Times bestseller Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department and Ten Reasons to Impeach Eric Holder .

One might deduce he harbors a bit of racism against the administration, insisting they play the race card, not he and his buddies at PJ Media. You can follow his insanity on Twitter at @ElectionLawCtr. He's very proud of his hysteria-inducing tweets about a flight that has landed at JFK in New York and insists that the disease will spread like "wildfire," and Obama won't lift a finger to stop it.

 Director Of NIH: 'Illegal Immigrants' Using Ebola For Bioterrorism Is 'Far-Fetched' By John Amato October 5, 2014 at Crooks & LIars

 The director of the NIH threw cold water on conservative pundits who claim terrorists are using illegal immigrants to cross the border, bringing the Ebola virus with them.
 Conservative xenophobes have been instilling fear into their followers by warning them that illegals crossing the Texas border could be used by terrorists to bring Ebola into our country to attack us with.
Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the NIH about this possibility and after his answer, even Wallace had to agree that it was nonsense.

 also see:

  Attkisson Cries On Fox News' Shoulder About The Non-Story CBS Killed By karoli October 6, 2014, Crooks & LIars.com

 Raise your hand if you're surprised that terrorists use social media to organize.
What? No hands raised?
Yesterday's episode of "Howie Kurtz Rehabilitates Dead Careers" was special, because he had Sharyl Benghazi! Anti-Vax Attkisson on to explain that media isn't covering terrorism because Obama argle-bargle.

Sharyl is associated with the Heritage Foundation now -- a fact not disclosed on Howie's show, by the way. And her explanation for why the media didn't cover ISIS' expansion in 2013 was laughable.

We begin by reviewing clips of defense agency personnel testifying before Congress. So there's your answer right there, Sharyl and Howie. The media doesn't cover Congress because then they would have to cover the striking amount of non-governing Republicans do. God forbid that ugly little truth would ever escape DC.

And then Sharyl tells her own story of how the media edits terrorism stories. It seems she had one about how the Arab spring was organized on social media. Because to Sharyl, the Arab Spring is just like terrorists organizing!
At any rate, we move on from there to her "exclusive" story about how terrorists organize on social media. Except anyone with half a brain knows lots of terrorists and other malevolent types organize there. Like Republicans. And Al Qaeda. And conservatives associated with the Heritage Foundation, for example.

Here's an exclusive for Sharyl: Good guys use social media, too. Because "social." That "exclusive" was a non-story that didn't need to be told. Good for CBS for killing it.

 6 Idiotic Right-Wing Moments This Week: War on Science and Knowledge Rages On Because who needs science when you can have hysteria instead? by Janet Allon, Oct. 4, 2014 at Alternet

also see Fox News hysteria and fear mongering over the (imaginary)threat to America posed by The New Black Panthers.

 Fox News Runs Incendiary Video Of New Black Panther's Racist Rant. Here Are Some Other Racists They Don't Show You.
By David Neiwert July 7, 2010 at Crooks & Liars

 As part of its campaign to promote their phony story claiming that Obama's Justice Department is shunning cases of voter intimidation by nonwhites, Fox News yesterday devoted a great deal of attention to the New Black Panthers Party, a couple of whose members are at the center of the hue and cry over GOP operative Christian Adams' absurd claims about the DOJ.
At one point, they actually ran an incredibly incendiary video showing one of the two men in question ranting at length about how much he hates white people. Mind you, to most folks in mainstream media, this is normally considered an irresponsible sort of clip to run because it is needlessly incendiary and racially divisive and, moreover, gives these otherwise fringe figures far more attention than they deserve -- not to mention that some of the people who absorb these rants will be persuaded by them.
But when it helps underscore the long-running Fox theme that Obama is a black radical racist who secretly hates white people, they'll run anything, apparently.






...Meanwhile, what have the New Black Panther actually done? Sent a couple of shady-looking dudes to stand outside a mostly black precinct and where no one reported that they were intimidated by their presence. That's it.

So a little perspective is perhaps helpful here: There are indeed black racist hate groups (the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors is another). However, they are dwarfed both in size and in sheer numbers by white racist hate groups. Check the SPLC's compendium of hate groups and you'll see what I mean: they outnumber anti-white racists by about 99 to 1.

Oddly enough, we never get any reporting about these hate groups from Fox News -- except when they want to attack the Department of Homeland Security's bulletin warning about the rising likelihood of violent terrorism from right-wing extremists. Then, they're all too eager to simply whitewash away the very existence of white supremacists and far-right terrorists.

Well, for our readers' edification, we've compiled some of the haters that Fox News won't show and the things they say:

and so it goes,

GORD.