Law

NYC To Try Settling Suit With Eric Garner’s Family

December 27, 2014 Associated Press, www.bigstory.ap.org Educate! Eric Garner, Law, New York City (NYC), NYPD

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer will attempt to negotiate a settlement of the $75 million civil rights claim brought forth by Eric Garner's family. If an agreement is reached, it would avoid what could be a long trial in federal court. And if a settlement is pursued now, it would also keep Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration out of the process. Officials with the comptroller's office said Wednesday that the push is part of Stringer's strategy to settle major civil rights claims before lawsuits are even filed. It was not clear that a settlement would be reached.

How States Are Redistributing The Wealth

December 27, 2014 David Sirota, www.truthdig.com Educate! Law, Wealth Ineqaulity

In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama was lambasted for supposedly endorsing policies of wealth redistribution. The right feared that under an Obama presidency, Washington would use federal power to take money from some Americans and give it to others. Yet, only a few years later, the most explicit examples of such redistribution are happening in the states, and often at the urging of Republicans. The most illustrative example began in 2012, when Kansas’ Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed a landmark bill that delivered big tax cuts to high-income earners and businesses. Less than two years after that tax cut, the state’s income tax revenues plummeted by a quarter-billion dollars—and now Brownback is pushing to use money for public employees’ pensions to instead cover the state’s ensuing budget shortfalls.

NSA Waited Until Christmas Eve To Reveal Self-Audit

December 27, 2014 Kevin Collier, www.dailydot.com Educate! ACLU, Law, NSA, Surveillance

In an extremely conspicuous move, the NSA chose Christmas Eve to release an internal review of the times the agency caught employees spying on Americans. The report is a collection of documents, heavily redacted, arranged by quarter, and ranging from the end of 2001 to the end of 2012. They largely catalog individual instances where a National Security Agency employee illegally or mistakenly used the agency’s powerful technology to search an American or a foreigner in the U.S. without a warrant, was caught, reprimanded, and the information deleted. According to Bloomberg, the report is due to the agency’s legal obligation to answer an ACLU Freedom of Information Act request, though the NSA doesn’t mention that as a reason.

Court Backs Chicago Curfew Law Used To Arrest Occupy Protesters

December 25, 2014 ABC Chicago, www.abc7chicago.com Resist! Chicago, Law, Occupy

A state appeals court says a Chicago curfew law invoked to arrest Occupy protesters at the city's best known park in 2011 doesn't violate free speech rights, declaring the First Amendment "does not guarantee the right to employ every conceivable method of communication at all times and in all places." The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 1st District Appellate Court reverses a lower-court finding that the 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew at the 319-acre Grant Park violated protesters' constitutional rights. In its unanimous, 21-page opinion posted Tuesday afternoon, the appellate court said Chicago has legitimate interests in shutting down such parks overnight, including to dissuade criminal activity after dark and to give maintenance crews unencumbered access.

Get Ready Now For Fast Track Fight

December 25, 2014 Dave Johnson, www.ourfuture.org Organize! Congress, fast track, Law, TPP

As soon as the new Congress is sworn in next year, the fight over Fast Track will begin. Start preparing now. David Cay Johnston, explains in “Full Speed Ahead On Secretive Trade Deal”: (Note the ‘t’ in his last name. I am David C JohnSON.) Early next year, after the 114th Congress begins meeting, a new Washington coalition will move quickly to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation trade agreement that will destroy American jobs, restrict individual liberty and burden American taxpayers. Oh, and it will do so without any real debate. … The agreement would even let foreign companies seek damages if U.S. or state rules threaten their profits. Plaintiff companies would not have to sustain damages to collect damages from American taxpayers. They would only need to show a threat to their profits, leaks from the trade talks have revealed.

Who Is In Charge Police Or Local Government

December 25, 2014 Scott Jay, www.libcom.org Educate! Government, Law, Police, Politics

The view that most in the US hold of the police, even many critics of police misconduct, is that they are ultimately accountable to the leadership of the city in which they operate. The mayor is the democratically elected chief executive and the police are committed to following their orders. Since city leaders typically defend and excuse police misconduct, the responsibility seems to rest with City Hall. However, police actions against Occupy Oakland, along with longstanding issues of police accountability during a decade-long negotiated settlement, show how little control Oakland City Hall has over its own police force. While long simmering disagreements between the Oakland Police Department (OPD) and Oakland City Hall have often been papered over by pubic relations efforts, they have come to the surface during several contentious moments over the years.

Cuomo Didn’t Stop Fracking, The Communities Did

December 25, 2014 Cliff Weathers, www.alternet.org Strategize! Environment, Fracking, Law, New York (NY)

Soon after the decision, Bill Lipton, director of the state’s Working Families Party, one of the groups behind the New Yorkers Against Fracking Coalition, said, "New York is worth more than the gas under our feet. Six years ago, the gas drillers told us hydrofracking was an inevitability. We believed in a better future for our state. Every New Yorker who spoke up, called their lawmakers, boarded a bus to Albany, signed a petition or put a sign in their yard deserves enormous credit." Gasland filmmaker Josh Fox praises the wisdom of activists relying on health and environmental research in the battle. He also said activism inspired more scientific studies.“If it was not for our movement there would not have been any science on the subject,” said Fox in a letter to activists. “In 2008, there was very little science on fracking at all.”

Marijuana Prohibition Is The Real Nuisance

December 24, 2014 Bill Piper, www.truth-out.org Educate! Law, Marijuana, Nebraska, Oklahoma

The attorneys general of Nebraska and Oklahoma have launched a lawsuit againstColorado claiming the state's 2012 voter initiative legalizing, regulating, and taxing marijuana is causing marijuana to come into their states, creating a public nuisance and consuming law enforcement resources. Leaving aside the fact that states, and for that matter the federal government, cannot force states to criminalize marijuana, the lawsuit gets things backwards – it is Nebraska, Oklahoma and other states with marijuana prohibition that are creating a public nuisance. As anyone who has ever taken an economics class knows, demand drives supply. If people want something, someone somewhere will make it and sell it to them. The U.S. has spent decades trying to stop marijuana and other drugs but the demand for them, like the demand for alcohol during Prohibition, ensures that they are widely available.

‘Citizenfour’ Producers Sued Over Edward Snowden Leaks

December 24, 2014 Eriq Gardner, www.hollywoodreporter.com Organize! Law, NSA, Snowden, Surveillance

Horace Edwards, who identifies himself as a retired naval officer and the former secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation, has filed a lawsuit in Kansas federal court that seeks a constructive trust over monies derived from the distribution of Citizenfour. Edwards, who says he has "Q" security clearance and was the chief executive of the ARCO Pipeline Company, seeks to hold Snowden, director Laura Poitras, The Weinstein Co., Participant Media and others responsible for "obligations owed to the American people" and "misuse purloined information disclosed to foreign enemies." It's an unusual lawsuit, one that the plaintiff likens to "a derivative action on behalf of the American Public," and is primarily based upon Snowden's agreement with the United States to keep confidentiality.

Grand Jury Fails To Indict Another White Cop

December 24, 2014 Sputnik, www.us.sputniknews.com Educate! Criminal Justice, Houston, Law, police brutality, Racial Justice

It's becoming an all-too-familiar story. After months of hearing testimony, a grand jury in Texas decided not to indict officer Juvenito Castro in the fatal shooting of Jordan Baker, an unarmed 26-year old, in January. Castro was off duty and was working as a private security officer at a strip mall when he confronted Baker on suspicion of burglary. Authorities indicated that a “brief struggle and foot chase” followed. Officers claim that at one point Baker stopped running and turned around. When he reached for his waistband, Castro fired. Castro was wearing his police uniform at the time of the incident. A string of burglaries had been reported at the mall that same month, though no evidence suggested that Baker was involved.

Spanish Government Strips Away Protesting Rights

December 24, 2014 Kevin Mathews, www.truth-out.org Educate! Civil Disobedience, Democracy, Freedom of Expression, Law

Spain is showing signs of fascism with its new anti-protest legislation nicknamed the “Gag Law.” This past week, Spain’s lower parliament okayed the law, pushing it much closer to reality. Among the restrictions cemented by the law, punishable by a $700-37,000 fine: Holding a protest without obtaining a permit from the government first, Protesting the day before an election, Insulting a police officer, Burning a flag, Photographing/filming police officers and sharing said photos/videos, Protesting at a bank, Blocking a home foreclosure, Assembling near a legislative building, Wearing hoods or masks, as they prevent authorities from identifying you.

Seattle Considering Creation Of A Public Bank

December 24, 2014 Matt Stannard, www.publicbankinginstitute.org Create! Law, Public Banking, Seattle

Seattle is at the forefront of cities taking back democracy. Seattle’s city council knows that the antecedents of democracy are material -- the ability to provide services, the ability to absorb the impact of economic shifts, the ability to make citizens feel invested in their communities. But one way the city can finance even more audacious and prosperous democratic participation, housing, social services and mass transit is with a public bank. The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times,Salon, and other national publications have recently touted the benefits of public banking; even the conservative Wall Street Journal admits that the Bank of North Dakota (the nation's only current public bank) outperforms "too big to fail" Wall Street banks.

Admission By Ferguson Prosecutor Could Restart Case Against Wilson

December 23, 2014 Judd Legum, www.nationofchange.org Organize! Ferguson, Law, Mike Brown, Police the Police

Ferguson prosecutor Bob McCulloch admitted that he presented evidence he knew to be false to the grand jury considering charges against Darren Wilson. In an interview with radio station KTRS on Friday, McCulloch said that he decided to present witnesses that were “clearly not telling the truth” to the grand jury. Specifically, McCulloch acknowledged he permitted a woman who “clearly wasn’t present when this occurred” to testify as an eyewitness to the grand jury for several hours. The woman, Sandra McElroy, testified that Michael Brown charged at Wilson “like a football player, head down,” supporting Wilson’s claim that he killed Brown in self-defense. McElroy, according to a detailed investigation by The Smoking Gun, suffers from bipolar disorder but is not receiving treatment and has a history of making racist remarks.

Over Half Of Foods Tested In The U.S. Contain Pesticides

December 23, 2014 Pesticide Action Network, www.panna.org Educate! Food and Agriculture, Law, Pesticides

“A majority of the foods sampled contained some level of pesticide residue. While the levels found were mostly below ‘tolerance’ levels established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, for many pesticides health impacts in children can occur at such low levels. For example, testing was done for the neurotoxic insecticide chlorpyrifos in 18 different types of food (mainly fruits and vegetables or products). While only a small number of samples contained the chemical, detections were in 12 of the 18 types of food. The chlorpyrifos residues were nearly all below EPA’s tolerance levels; yet it is worth noting that very small amounts of chlorpyrifos are associated with adverse effects. Epidemiological studies on children exposed to the insecticide have indicated associations with lowered IQ and effects on brain development at low doses.

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