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State Violence

Increased Restrictions On Protest Won’t Keep Communities Safer

November 6, 2018 Shane Burley, Wagingnonviolence.org , , , ,
On Oct. 15, the Portland Police Bureau held a press conference to announce a new ordinance that would expand police power to limit protest activity. The proposal comes after two years of catastrophic attacks poised as political theater, including mass melees downtown that left people in the hospital, white nationalist contingents taking the streets and an acolyte murdering two people on public transportation when interrupted in the middle of an Islamophobic attack. Every time Patriot Prayer, the Trumpian far-right group who allies with white nationalists, takes to the streets, the entire city revolts. On Aug. 30, Patriot Prayer returned to Portland after a rally a month earlier where attendees brutally assaulted counter-protesters.

America Is On The Brink Of A Nervous Breakdown

November 2, 2018 John W. Whitehead, Rutherford.org , ,
Yet another ratcheting up of the calls for the government to clamp down on the citizenry by imposing more costly security measures without any real benefit, more militarized police, more surveillance, more widespread mental health screening of the general population, more threat assessments and behavioral sensing warnings, more gun control measures, more surveillance cameras with facial recognition capabilities, more “See Something, Say Something” programs aimed at turning Americans into snitches and spies, more metal detectors and whole-body imaging devices at so-called soft targets, more roaming squads of militarized police empowered to do more stop-and-frisk searches...

Does Domestic Use Of The Military For Immigration Violate The Posse Comitatus Act?

November 2, 2018 By Heather Timmons, Qz.com , , , ,
The US is sending thousands of troops to “harden” the border with Mexico, Pentagon officials said today (Oct.29), as thousands of asylum-seekers approach on foot from Central America. The armed forces will send 5,200 personnel, three helicopters, several military planes, and more than 150 miles of razor wire to border locations, starting in Texas, Air Force Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command, told reporters Monday (Oct. 29) afternoon, confirming earlier reports. Customs and Border Protection officers will continue to enforce immigration law on the border...

Report Shows That US Police Militarization Does Not Reduce Crime

September 20, 2018 Erik Schreiber, Wsws.org , , ,
“On average, militarized police units do not appear to provide the safety benefits that many police administrators claim,” said Jonathan Mummolo, Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Affairs at Princeton University, the study’s author. The results of Mummolo’s research may not seem surprising, but they directly contradict the assertions of law enforcement officials across the country, from the local to the federal level. After police responded to the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri with assault rifles and tanks, Col. John Belmar, the top police officer in the county, claimed that military equipment had kept civilians and officers safe during the protests.

Vigilantes With A Badge: Warrior Cops Endanger Our Lives And Freedoms

August 30, 2018 John W. Whitehead, Rutherford.org , ,
I have known a lot of good cops, I have defended a lot of good cops, and I have been fortunate to call a number of good cops friends. So when I say that warrior cops—hyped up on their own authority and the power of the badge—have not made America any safer or freer, I am not disrespecting any of the fine, decent, lawful police officers who take seriously their oath of office to serve and protect their fellow citizens, uphold the Constitution, and maintain the peace. My beef is with the growing squads of warrior cops who have been given the green light to kill, shoot, taser, abuse and steal from American citizens in the so-called name of law and order. These cops are little more than vigilantes with a badge. Indeed, it is increasingly evident that militarized police armed with weapons of war who are allowed to operate above the law and break the laws with impunity have not made America any safer or freer.

Newly Released Documents Show Gina Haspel Oversaw Torture, & Sen. Burr Knew

August 14, 2018 Ray McGovern, Consortiumnews.com , ,
Newly released declassified documents prove once and for all that CIA Director Gina Haspel oversaw torture in Thailand, which the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee knew all along. Newly released official documents obtained by the National Security Archive showing that CIA Director Gina Haspel directly supervised waterboarding at the first CIA “Black Site” simply confirm what Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) already knew as he orchestrated the charade that was Haspel’s confirmation hearing.  Burr allowed her to “classify” her own direct role in waterboarding and other torture techniques so that it could be kept from the public and secure her confirmation—-further proof that this Senate oversight committee has instead become an overlook committee.

Anonymous Snipers And A Lethal Verdict

June 7, 2018 By Amira Hass, Haaretz.com , ,
We know her name: Razan al-Najjar. But what’s his? What’s the name of the soldier who killed her, with direct fire to the chest last Friday? We don’t know, and we probably won’t ever know. In contrast to the Palestinians suspected of killing Israelis, the Israeli who killed Najjar is protected from exposure to the cameras and an in-depth breakdown of his family history, including his relatives’ participation in routine attacks on Palestinians as part of their military service or their political affiliation. Demanding Israeli microphones will not be pushed into his face with probing questions: Didn’t you see she was wearing a paramedic’s white robe when you aimed at her chest?

Supreme Court Rules Against Workers In Arbitration Case

May 22, 2018 Nitasha Tiku, Wired.com , , , , ,
ON MONDAY, THE Supreme Court slowed recent momentum to give workers—including many in the tech sector—the right to a day in court. The Supreme Court case centered around clauses in employment contracts that require employees to resolve disputes through arbitration, and preclude them from joining with others to file class-action lawsuits. In a 5-to-4 decision, the court ruled that those clauses are enforceable under federal law, which means companies can prohibit employees from banding together both privately or in court. Such binding-arbitration clauses are widely used at technology companies, and critics say they helped allow sexual harassment to flourish by hiding complaints. More recently, some firms have taken steps to limit the practice. Uber last week said it would eliminate arbitration agreements for employees, riders, and drivers with sexual misconduct claims.

“Killing Gaza” Captures Culture Of Resistance

May 21, 2018 Max Blumenthal, Electronicintifada.net , , ,
Westerners witnessed Israel’s massacre of protesters at the culmination of Gaza’s Great March of Return on 14 May mostly through bytes of imagery transmitted onto flat screens and smartphones. They saw montages of horse-drawn carts carrying bloodied bodies and zig-zagging through thick clouds of teargas, flashes of young men charging at the high-tech fences and militarized fortifications that hold their lives in a soul-sapping stasis, rescue workers overwhelmed by the sheer number of casualties, and grainy footage of snipers in olive drab hunting their prey with laser range finders and terminating 62 lives with the flick of a trigger.

Police Union Is Lobbying To Expand Powers To Tase People Who Don’t Pose A Threat

May 21, 2018 By Michael Arria, Inthesetimes.com , , ,
The San Francisco Police Officers Association is aggressively pushing a ballot measure that would allow police to use tasers on members of the public even if they aren't violently resisting. If passed, the city’s police officers would be able to electrocute people who pose no physical threat or resist arrest as a result of mental illness. Last November, San Francisco’s Police Commission approved tasers for the city’s police. This March, it finalized a policy for how those tasers should be used. That policy, which is backed by Police Chief Bill Scott and San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell, requires police to implement de-escalation tactics before using their tasers. However, the San Francisco Police Officers Association, with a membership of roughly 2,200, believes that these criteria are too narrow.

Fatal Encounters: 97 Deaths Point To Pattern Of Border Agent Violence Across America

May 4, 2018 Sarah Macaraeg, Theguardian.com , , ,
In the last 15 years, agents with Customs and Border Protection have used deadly force in states up to 160 miles from the border, from Maine to California. For six long years the family of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez have been caught in a legal saga seeking justice for the 16-year-old who was killed by a US border patrol agent who fired 16 times from Arizona into Mexico. Ending criminal proceedings that have dragged on since 2012, a jury last week cleared agent Lonnie Swartz of second-degree murder and could not agree on a verdict for two lesser charges of manslaughter. The shooting has compelled judges up to the US supreme court to deliberate whether the American government can be sued in civil court for wrongful deaths on Mexican soil – placing the incident, and eight other cross-border fatal shootings, at the center of scrutiny surrounding the use of force by agents in response to allegedly thrown rocks.

Israel: Arms Embargo Needed As Military Unlawfully Kills And Maims Gaza Protesters

April 30, 2018 Staff, Amnesty.org , , , , ,
Israel is carrying out a murderous assault against protesting Palestinians, with its armed forces killing and maiming demonstrators who pose no imminent threat to them, Amnesty International revealed today, based on its latest research, as the “Great March of Return” protests continued in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military has killed 35 Palestinians and injured more than 5,500 others – some with what appear to be deliberately inflicted life-changing injuries – during the weekly Friday protests that began on 30 March. Amnesty International has renewed its call on governments worldwide to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel following the country’s disproportionate response to mass demonstrations along the fence that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel. “For four weeks the world has watched in horror as Israeli snipers and other soldiers, in full-protective gear and behind the fence, have attacked Palestinian protesters with live ammunition and tear gas.

Brazil Gov’t: ‘Probable’ Police Involvement In Franco’s Murder

April 19, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net; Telesurtv.net , , ,
Brazil's government declared Monday that human rights activist Marielle Franco was “very likely” killed by “militias,” according to Minister of Public Security Raul Jungmann. “There are basically one or two promising leads: I would say that in one of them, investigators have moved forward significantly. The most probable hypothesis is the involvement of Rio de Janeiro's militias,” said Jungmann in an interview with local radio CBN. Militias refer to criminal groups whose members are former police officers or active and corrupted officers, controlling large parts of the city. They function as paramilitary groups and compete with other drug-trafficking groups over the control of favelas, affecting primarily the marginalized populations living there.

Palestinians Will Not Cease To Demand Their Rights

April 1, 2018 Basem Naim, Counterpunch. , ,
The West has long been enamored with the specter of passive resistance with tens of thousands of unarmed demonstrators facing off against a heavily armed and ruthless force in pursuit of justice. Today hundreds of thousands of peaceful unarmed demonstrators marched towards the rim of the sealed off Gaza Strip. They got no closer than several hundred yards from Israeli snipers before shots rang out leaving hundreds of Palestinians injured and at least ten dead. This is not a movie. It is Gaza. It is Palestine.

Israel Arrests Child With One-Third Of His Skull Missing

February 28, 2018 Ali Abunimah, Electronicintifada.net , ,
Israeli occupation forces raided the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh in the predawn hours of Monday in the latest episode of Israel’s premeditated revenge campaign against the Tamimi family. They detained Muhammad Fadel Tamimi, the 15-year-old boy shot in the head with a rubber-coated metal bullet at close range and seriously injured by Israeli forces in December. Bassem Tamimi, the father of detained teenager Ahed Tamimi, wrote on Facebook Monday morning that a large force of Israeli soldiers armed with weaponized bulldozers and skunk water raided homes in the village during the night and detained 10 people. Six of those arrested were children, the youngest aged 14, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society. They included Muhammad’s 17-year-old brother Tamim. Bassem said that Muhammad Fadel Tamimi’s detention put the child’s life at risk.
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