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yourreddancer · 2 years

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Heather Cox Richardson

May 5, 2022 (Thursda

Fallout continues over the leaked draft decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the draft overturning Roe v. Wade.Tonight, in addition to the “non-scalable” fence erected last night, Capitol Police are placing cement barricades around the United States Supreme Court. Legal commentator Joyce White Vance tweeted: “Odd that the Supreme Court is acting like they’re under assault, when it’s actually us who are under attack by them.”

In today’s context, it seems worth noting that in 2014, the Supreme Court struck down a Massachusetts law mandating a 35-foot buffer zone around clinics providing abortion services, on the grounds that such buffer zones infringe on the First Amendment’s right to protest.

Today, Chief Justice John Roberts broke his silence about the leak, calling it "absolutely appalling" and saying that if "the person" or "people" behind the leak think it will affect the Supreme Court, they are "foolish." Interestingly, after the initial insistence—without evidence—by the right wing that the leak came from the left, there is reason to think that, in fact, the decision was leaked by a right-wing zealot afraid that Roberts, who did not want to overturn Roe v. Wade entirely, would pull at least one of the other right-wing justices away from the extremist stance of Justice Samuel Alito’s decision and weaken it.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo noted that on April 26, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by the editorial board suggesting this very scenario. The editorial board warned that Roberts seemed inclined to “find a middle way” in the Dobbs decision and that if he “pulls another justice to his side, he could write the plurality decision that controls in a 6–3 decision.” The editorial continued: “We hope he doesn’t succeed—for the good of the Court and the country…it would prolong the Court’s abortion agony…. Far better for the Court to leave the thicket of abortion regulation and return the issue to the states.” Regardless of who leaked the draft, in its wake, the political landscape in the country appears to be shifting.

The right wing seems to see this as its moment to accomplish the imposition of religious restrictions they had previously only dreamed of achieving. Talk of ending gay marriage, recriminalizing homosexuality, undermining public schools, and so on, is animating the radical right.

Media stories have noted that most democratic countries have, in fact, been expanding reproductive rights. Going the opposite direction is a sign of rising authoritarianism. The United States shares that distinction right now with Poland and Nicaragua.

In contrast, those interested in protecting the constitutional right to reproductive choice, as well as all the other civil rights now under threat, are speaking out powerfully. There is also mounting anger that five of the justices on the Supreme Court seem to have lied under oath in order to do the very thing they appeared to promise not to.

That open call for a rollback of rights we have enjoyed for 50 years seems to have been a wake-up call for those unable to see the rising authoritarianism in this country for years.

From 1995 to 2001, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was a Republican representative from Florida. Today he said, “[W]e need to look at what’s before us and how extreme these…MAGA Washington freaks are.” He went on to list some of the extreme statements of Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) and former president Donald Trump, and then said: “This is the party that brought you Jewish space lasers. This is the party that talked about that dude from Italy who they say stole the election with a satellite. Remember those bamboo particles that Republicans claimed were in Arizona ballots? And those ninja freaks or whatever they were called that went in and they were going to show that Biden stole the election but except it ended up that they get even more votes for Joe Biden. They’ve told one lie after another lie from websites run by Chinese religious cults…. This is what America wants?”

Scarborough continued: ‘“There’s always been one funny controversy after another churned up by Republicans so they can govern by gesture and proclaim their need to be radical so they could own the libs. But lately those politics of gesture morphed into actual policies that are hurting you…and your family. That are hurting Americans in Trump states. The Texas governor attacks truckers in his own state ‘cause he thinks that’s how he owns the libs, but he ended up costing Texans 4 billion dollars.”“There’s the Florida governor’s crazed attack on Florida taxpayers, going to cost them about a billion dollars, via his war on the Magic Kingdom—again to own the libs. But he’s just ending up owning his own taxpayers in central Florida. And yesterday a harshly written Supreme Court draft…will end a 50-year constitutional right…that only 19% of Americans support being stripped away. Only 19% of Americans want to ban abortion.”

This, of course, is not a conversation the Republicans wanted to have before the midterm elections, and thus they have tried to focus on the leak rather than its substance.

Today, Politico tried to suggest that the extremism of the party was limited to the “fighters” in the Republican Party, who are challenging “the governing wing.” Author Ally Mutnick contrasted Pennsylvania Republican nominee for the House of Representatives J.R. Majewski with Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX). Majewski “twice painted his lawn into a massive shrine of former President Donald Trump,” “raised thousands of dollars to escort a group to Washington for the Jan[uary] 6 rally that preceded the Capitol riots,” and ran a recent TV ad that “showed him walking through a shuttered warehouse with an assault-style rifle, vowing to do ‘whatever it takes’ to restore the country to its ‘former glory.’”

The article contrasted “hardliners who often refuse to negotiate” with “dealmakers who are eager to reach across the aisle.”The attempt to split the current Republican Party into a moderate wing and a radical wing is a dramatic revision of Republican Party history. In fact, moderate Republicans, who believed that the government had a role to play in regulating business, providing a basic social safety net, and promoting infrastructure, were purged from the party in the 1990s, when power shifted to leaders who believed that the country worked best when businessmen could organize the economy without meddling from government bureaucrats. Because their position was always to cut taxes and pare back the government, they were absolutists, unwilling to compromise with Democrats.

Now those extremists have themselves split into a business wing that wants small government to leave it alone and a theocratic wing that wants a strong government to enforce Christian beliefs on the country, but neither is moderate or willing to compromise with Democrats. Crenshaw might be more reasonable than Majewski, but he opposes abortion and Roe v. Wade, opposes gun control, wants to end the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and voted against both impeachments of former president Trump.

Next week, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will force a vote on legislation that protects the right to abortion. This will almost certainly fail, since the filibuster will enable Republicans to block the bill unless it can get 60 votes, which is highly unlikely. But it will put senators’ stances on the protection of reproductive choice—a very popular policy—on record.

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who expressed dismay that now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh misled her in what seemed to be promises not to overturn Roe v. Wade, has already said she will vote against the measure because she thinks it goes too far. She and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have proposed their own much more limited bill, but it has no cosponsors, and Democrats say it leaves the door open for states to impose severe restrictions. Schumer says he will not hold a vote on the Collins-Murkowski bill because he will not agree to cut back on constitutional rights. “This is about a woman’s right to choose—fully,” he said. “We are not looking to compromise [on] something as vital as this.”

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) added. “I do not think that 50 percent of America should be told that they have to put their bodies at risk of life or death without their consent.… I hope every human being in this country understands that when you take away a woman’s right to make her decisions about her health and well-being, she is no longer a full citizen.”

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brookstonalmanac · 25 days

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Events 4.2 (after 1980)

1980 – United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act. 1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands. 1986 – Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987. 1989 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations. 1991 – Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia. 1992 – In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison. 1992 – Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, into which armed Palestinians had retreated. 2004 – Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted. 2006 – Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed. 2012 – A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured. 2012 – UTair Flight 120 crashes after takeoff from Roshchino International Airport in Tyumen, Russia, killing 33 and injuring 10. 2014 – A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured. 2015 – Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others. 2015 – Four men steal items worth up to £200 million from an underground safe deposit facility in London's Hatton Garden area in what has been called the "largest burglary in English legal history." 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of confirmed cases reach one million. 2021 – At least 49 people are killed in a train derailment in Taiwan after a truck accidentally rolls onto the track. 2021 – A Capitol Police officer is killed and another injured when an attacker rams his car into a barricade outside the United States Capitol.

#Events

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ausetkmt · 4 months

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As the American civil war reached its bloody end in 1865, the Union general William Sherman seized land from Confederates and mandated it be redistributed, in 40-acre plots, to newly freed slaves.

The promise of “40 acres and a mule” was never fulfilled. But a debate has raged ever since about what America owes to the descendants of slaves, and to the victims of racial terror and state-sanctioned discrimination that persisted long after emancipation.

“We helped build this nation. We built the United States Capitol. We built the White House. We made cotton king and that built the early economy of the United States,” the Texas congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, the sponsor of a House resolution to study reparations, said in an interview this week.

“We were never paid, never given insurance, never received compensation for the more than 200 years of living and working in bondage. And we continue to live with the stain of slavery today.”

Jackson Lee said the disparities exposed by compounding national crises – a pandemic, an economic collapse and widespread protests over police brutality, all of which have taken an unequal toll on African Americans – are helping to make the case for reparations.

In the weeks since George Floyd died pleading for his life under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, an act many saw as an embodiment of the violent oppression black Americans have endured for centuries, public support for the Black Lives Matter movement has soared.

Reparations were once a lonely cause championed by black leaders and lawmakers. Now the debate has moved to the center of mainstream politics.

Several states, localities and private institutions are beginning to grapple with issue, advancing legislation or convening taskforces to develop proposals for reparations. Progressive candidates running for Congress from New York to Colorado to Texas have declared their support for reparations. And earlier this month, at an AME church in Delaware, Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, listened as the state senator Darius Brown challenged him on the issue.

“It shouldn’t be a study of reparations,” Brown said. “It should be funding reparations.”

But for scholars and advocates who have been making the case for reparations for decades, Biden’s support for studying the issue represents a dramatic break from the past.

John Conyers, who died in 2019 and was the longest-serving African American in Congress, first introduced a bill to study reparations for slavery in 1989. The Michigan Democrat reintroduced it every cycle for nearly three decades, until he resigned in 2017. Even Barack Obama, when asked by the author, Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose influential 2014 essay in the Atlantic reintroduced the subject, said he was opposed, arguing that reparations was politically impractical.

Jackson Lee reintroduced Conyers’ bill, which would develop a commission to study the legacy of slavery across generations and consider a “national apology” for the harm it has caused. The measure, designated HR 40 in reference to Sherman’s unmet promise, now has more than 125 sponsors, the blessing of Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, and the New Jersey senator Cory Booker introduced a companion measure.

On Juneteenth last year, a congressional subcommittee convened a first-of-its-kind hearing to discuss how the nation might atone for its “original sin”, as well as the Jim Crow segregation that followed and the modern scourges of mass incarceration, persistent inequality and police violence that still plague African Americans.

Such a commission would have to grapple with profound moral and ethical questions as well as profane matters of money and politics. Proposals vary widely, as do the cost estimates and suggested criteria for eligibility. But at their core is an attempt to make economic amends for historic wrongs.

William Darity, an economist at Duke University and the author of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century, argues that the wealth disparities between white and black Americans is the “most powerful indicator” of the cumulative economic toll of racial injustice in America.

The data paint a stark picture. Black Americans hold one-tenth of the wealth of white Americans. Just 41% of black families own their homes compared with more than 70% of white families. And black college graduates have a lower homeownership rate than white high school dropouts.

Darity says the objective of a reparations package should be to close the wealth gap, and that the best way to do that is by direct payments to eligible black Americans. As for political objections to the scale and expense of such a program, he notes that earlier this year Congress allocated $2tn for a coronavirus relief measure that included direct payments to Americans.

Others have suggested compensation in the form of educational vouchers, health insurance or investments in programs that address disparities in education, housing and employment.

That the debate has expanded to include discussions over feasibility and mechanics is a sign of progress, Darity said.

“We’re finally moving away from the question of whether or not it’s the right thing to do – because more and more people acknowledge that, at least in principle, it is the right thing to do,” he said. “And that is a major step forward because the logistical questions can be resolved.”

Still the notion of compensating descendants of American slaves is not widely popular. But there are signs that is shifting.

According to a Gallup Poll conducted in 2002, 81% of Americans opposed reparations, compared with just 14% who supported the idea. In 2019, Gallup found that 29% of Americans agreed the government should recompense descendants of the enslaved, with support rising among white Americans from 6% to 16%. The most dramatic increase was among black Americans, whose support climbed from a simple majority in 2002 to nearly three-quarters in 2019.

At the same time, young Americans are significantly more likely to agree that the legacy of slavery still impacts black Americans today, while also being more likely to say the US government should formally apologize for slavery and pay reparations, according to an AP-NORC poll published in September.

And supporters are hopeful those numbers will rise amid a national reckoning over racism and discrimination. Public opinion on race has shifted dramatically in the span of a few weeks, with a majority of Americans now in agreement that racial discrimination is a “big problem” in the United States.

In California, assemblywoman Shirley Weber said the protests fueled interest in her bill to study reparations in the state, which the chamber approved overwhelmingly last week.

“Something dramatic is going on,” said Weber, who is the daughter of sharecroppers and a scholar of African American studies. “Folks now begin to realize just how extensively, how deeply, issues of race are embedded in our society and how that can produce what we saw happen to George Floyd in Minneapolis.”

Reparations have long been met with strong resistance from conservatives and some prominent black leaders, who have dismissed the idea as impractical and unnecessarily divisive.

“I don’t think reparations help level the playing field, it might help more eruptions on the playing field,” Senator Tim Scott, the lone black Republican senator, told Fox News earlier this month.

Coleman Hughes, a fellow at the free market thinktank Manhattan Institute, worries a renewed focus on reparations was a “distraction” from the more pressing issues, like police brutality and mass incarceration, that has devastated America’s black communities.

Yet recompense for historical injustices are not without precedent in America.

After the second world war, Congress created a commission to compensate Native American tribes for land seized by the US government, though many say the approach was paternalistic. Decades later, Ronald Reagan signed legislation that authorized individual payments of $20,000 to Japanese Americans who were interned in the US during the second world war, and extended a formal apology from the US government.

In 2008, the House passed a resolution acknowledging and apologizing for slavery. The Senate approved a similar resolution a year later, but a disclaimer was appended to ensure the apology could not be used as a legal rationale for reparations.

Facing history is a necessary part of the healing process for nations cleaved by atrocity said Susan Neiman, an Atlanta-born academic based in Berlin and the author of Learning from the Germans.

She said it took time for Germany to confront the horrors of nazism and the Holocaust, Neiman said, and the process faced strong resistance. Since 1952, Germany has paid reparations, mostly to Jewish victims of the Nazi regime.

“It needs to be a multi-layered process, one involving schools, the arts, rethinking what values we want to honor in public space, and all manner of legal measures from reparations to ending police brutality,” she said. “Ideally, a broad democratic discussion must accompany such a process, and once it’s done, countries are actually better off for it.”

The cruelty of the Covid-19 outbreak, the economic crisis and police brutality against black Americans must be understood as part of “a continuum that began with the Middle Passage”, said the California congresswoman Barbara Lee, author of a new bill to establish a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Commission.

“This is truth-telling time,” she said. “We have to, as I say, break these chains once and for all.”

#Calls for reparations are growing louder. How is the US responding?#Reparations #William Darity #Sandy Darity #Reparations for Freedmen NOW

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pashterlengkap · 5 months

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Gay Rep. calls Marjorie Taylor Greene a “traitor” for treating J6 insurrectionists like “heroes”

Out Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) called out Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for her over-the-top support of the people accused of participating, organizing, or leading the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Speaking on the progressive MeidasTouch broadcast with host Ben Meiselas, Garcia called it “sickening” that anyone would suggest that the January 6 insurrection was a peaceful walk through the Capitol. Greene has repeatedly downplayed the attack on the Capitol that left five people dead and 114 police officers injured. Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene prays with gay Trump supporter that was crying inside a fake jail cell Authorities say Brandon Straka snitched on his fellow J6 rioters to get a lighter sentence, but at CPAC he was crying in a fake jail cell, pretending to be one of them. Then Garcia, who shares several committee assignments with Greene, talked about some of his first interactions with Greene when he started his term in Congress earlier this year. Get the Daily Brief The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you: Subscribe to our Newsletter “A lot of folks don’t know about this, when I first got to Congress as a freshman, which was just recently, Marjorie led a group, basically, of mostly Republicans, and two Democrats got invited, so I got sent on behalf of the committee on oversight to go visit all the January 6 insurrectionists that are actually in jail,” he said. “Marjorie Taylor Greene was leading this group and the first thing she does was, when we walk in and meet them, is greets them and hugs them and prays with them and apologizes and is treating them like heroes,” Garcia said. “And I’m sitting there going, ‘This is disgusting, these people attacked our government, they tried to overthrow our government.’” Meiselas expanded on what Garcia said, adding that the GOP sent a delegation to “the D.C. jail to chant ‘Let’s go Brandon’ and play frickin’ games with terrorists, with insurrectionists, and then they release a song, a musical that they play on Apple with the J6 choir which they play instead of the national anthem.” “I mean, when you went from mayor to member of the House of Representatives, you must be looking at this and go, ‘How the hell is this happening in the United States of America?'” Meiselas asked. Garcia was the mayor of Long Beach, California from 2014 to 2022. “One-hundred percent, it’s totally, it’s totally, it’s crazy,” Garcia responded. “She obviously has no business being in Congress and is completely, in my opinion, a traitor to the country.” “Her antics are getting worse and worse and worse. You see she’s trying to impeach just about everybody, from the president to every single Cabinet secretary. She has no clue what she’s actually doing, has no respect amongst any of her colleagues, and is a really destructive force. But that’s the Republican party today,” Garcia added. Robert Garcia says Marjorie Taylor Greene was hugging and apologizing to J6 defendants during the congressional visit to the DC Jail pic.twitter.com/sl2EEDtiC8— Acyn (@Acyn) November 24, 2023 Garcia: Greene has no business being in Congress and is, in my opinion, a traitor to the country… Her antics are getting worse. You see she’s trying to impeach just about everybody.. She has no clue what she’s actually doing. pic.twitter.com/b8yPbcc5GE— Acyn (@Acyn) November 26, 2023 http://dlvr.it/SzNV2S

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swldx · 1 year

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6195Khz 0457 7 FEB 2023 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from WOOFFERTON. SINPO = 55323. English, s/on @0458z w/Bow Bells int. then ID@0459z pips and newsday preview. @0501z World News anchored by Gareth Barlow. US President Joe Biden called on Republicans to help "finish the job" of delivering for hardworking families, in his State of the Union address. Mr Biden also said that two years after supporters of his predecessor Donald Trump rioted at the US Capitol, America's democracy was "unbowed and unbroken". He called on congress to pass a ban on assault weapons, protect access to reproductive services and safeguard patient data, and Police reform. Rescuers are desperately searching for survivors in southern Turkey and northern Syria after two huge earthquakes on Monday. As search efforts continue into a second freezing-cold night, time is running out for rescuers to find survivors under the rubble. Relatives of victims who lived in collapsed buildings have joined frantic rescue efforts in one of the worst-hit Turkish cities, using pickaxes and crowbars. Some anguished families have said rescue services took too long to respond in some areas. The Colombian government said Tuesday it was considering offering money to criminals who hand in their firearms in a bid to combat urban crime in a country racked by violence despite a 2016 peace deal. International investigators probing the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over eastern Ukraine are set to present new findings on Wednesday, including possibly naming additional suspects. New Zealand authorities have recovered 3.2 tonnes of cocaine, worth more than $300 million, found floating in the Pacific Ocean and believed to be bound for Australia. Microsoft has announced a new version of its search engine Bing, which incorporates the latest in artificial intelligence. @0506z "Newsday" begins. MLA 30 amplified loop (powered w/8 AA rechargeable batteries ~10.8vdc), Etón e1XM. 200kW, beamAz 160°, bearing 47°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 6312KM from transmitter at Woofferton. Local time: 2257.

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thesheel · 1 year

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Far-right militia groups have often resorted to violence to denounce the constitution of the country. While Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have often been in the spotlight for perpetuating violence in the country, the role of Three Percenters goes ignored. Commonly denoted as 3 Percenters, 3%ers, and III%ers, this group was at the forefront of attacking the US Capitol Hill on January 6. By advocating the so-called gun rights and posing resistance to the US government, Three Percenters try to pressure the government using their demonstrations. [caption id="attachment_11542" align="aligncenter" width="2500"] Apart from Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, Three percenters were at the forefront of January 6 capitol riots. However the role of the group is often being overshadowed by bigger groups.[/caption] Right-Wing Resorting to Violence: Three Percenters is Just Another Such Entity The group is given the name as, according to the legend, the maximum resistance against Britishers never exceeded three percent of the total colonists in the American revolution. Thus the group has a latent ideology that by comprising three percent of the total population, they can achieve their clandestine ambitions easily. Although the group is more of a threat to Canada than the United States, and it is considered as the most dangerous group of Canada, it is based in the United States, which signifies that the US government should also worry about it big time. At least six members of Three Percenters were arrested and charged in the Capitol Hill riots. Prosecutors in the case believe that the members of Oath Keepers planned the conspiracy through secret messages sent to the Proud Boys and Three Percenters. The year 2008 was historical in nature for the United States when the first-ever Black president, Barack Obama, was elected to the White House. However, in parallel to that, a far-right militia group, the Three Percenters, was also born, primarily under the threat that Obama would introduce stricter gun laws in the country. Likewise, the group also evinced that the president would introduce governmental outreach, a phenomenon that is often attached with left-wing governments. Thus, to defend the so-called liberty of the masses, the Three Percenters group decided to take the reins into their hands. The interesting fact is that just like Oath Keepers, most of the members of this group are also trained police and military members who decided to use their training for purposes other than defined in their oath. [caption id="attachment_11544" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Mike Brian Vanderboegh, the founding father of three percenters has died but his ideology continue persisting in the country[/caption] Three Percenters: A Child of Oath Keepers Both Oath Keepers and Three Percenters often go hand in hand, as the group itself was created by an Oath Keepers’ member named Mike Brian Vanderboegh in 2008. Thus both groups remain in touch in perpetuating violence, the classic example of which was the January 6 incident. With a history of being attached to right-wing groups, Mike’s allegiance to Three Percenters is no surprise at all. Just like other right-wing militia groups, Three Percenters claims not to discriminate against people based on color, but it is just a fancy slogan to attract people. In reality, their practices are far from this slogan. When the Black Lives Matter racial protests erupted in the aftermath of the Michael Brown shooting in Missouri in 2014, the Facebook page of the Three Percenters group featured radical racial comments against the movement, depicting its inherent hate against Blacks. Thus the group is based on white supremacist ideology that is itself motivated by Nazi practices. Final Thoughts The group was so widespread in the United States that many local chapters of Three Percenters started emerging all over America. After the Capitol Hill riots, some of these chapters started dissolving themselves as the group came into the limeli

ght. However, this was perceived as an admission of guilt by the groups which tried to denounce the identity after perpetuating violence. Thus, the federal authorities arrested a score of their personnel who tried to hijack the legislature on the vote confirmation day. Now, when Canada has labeled this group as a terrorist entity and the group is shattered in America, it is time for both of these countries combined to launch an all-out assault against this group to bring peace in both nations.

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feelingbluepolitics · 3 years

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Highest recommendation.

"A pro-Russia propagandist promoted the lie that [t]rump won the election in Pennsylvania and went to the US Capitol on Jan. 6, before abruptly disappearing and later resurfacing in Moscow, the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch reports in a new investigation.

"As Hatewatch previously reported, Charles Bausman moved to Lancaster, a key region in the battle for Pennsylvania's electoral votes in 2018. He purchased a home there for $442,000 after spending almost three decades as an American expatriate in Russia. Hatewatch's previous investigation revealed that Bausman established the pro-Russia website Russia Insider in 2014, and also that two racist junk websites shared the same Google Analytics account with Russia Insider. All three websites featured bylines from members of the white nationalist organization The Right Stuff. As an example of Bausman's open support of Nazism, Hatewatch reported that a 2019 post on Russia Insider was entitled 'Adolf Hitler's Spot-On 1936 Speech on the Evil of Soviet Bolshevism (Transcript).'

"Hatewatch has also previously linked Bausman to a far-right junk news site called Lancaster Patriot that sprung up in late 2020 and then went dark after a local news outlet exposed its editor as a white supremacist. But a physical version of the publication has appeared in recent months promoting vaccine skepticism.

"In addition to promoting anti-lockdown activism in 2020, Bausman joined protests seeking to overturn the presidential election in Lancaster County in late 2020, including one outside Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutlar's House that included several members of Rod of Iron Ministries, which venerates the AR-15 in its worship services. As Raw Story has previously reported, Rod of Iron Ministries member Robert Pickell scuffled with police outside the Columbus Doors on the east side of the Capitol on Jan. 6 and cult leader Sean Moon led members into the scaffolding on the west side of the building.

"Hatewatch reports that Bausman was also present during the Jan. 6 insurrection, advancing 'as far as the Capitol's balustrades after [t]rump's speech.' Soon after, the outlet reports, Bausman left the country for Moscow.

..."In one interview that aired in the immediate aftermath of the US Capitol attack, Bausman told a Russian interviewer that 'America is awake now,' according to Hatewatch. And referring to the willingness of [t]rump supporters to embrace Russia as an ally, Bausman reportedly said Russia 'now has the chance to build big bridges with half of the United States.' Hatewatch reported that Bausman 'described the US as being irrevocably divided following Biden's election.'"

..."In one television appearance in Moscow in January, Hatewatch reported that Bausman told host Arkady Mamontov that 'it would be naïve to believe the FBI didn't have provocateurs among the protesters' who stormed the US Capitol. Tucker Carlson suggested a similar theory months later on his Fox News show."

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cinebration · 4 years

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By My Rules (Quentin Beck x Reader) [Epilogue]

THE END.

Warnings: none

Gif Source: marvelheroes

TWENTY MONTHS LATER

While you had been to many places in the United States, you hadn’t stepped foot in Washington, D.C. It was the capital of professional grifters, con artists who had so mastered the art they were publicly endorsed and lauded.

Stepping out of Dulles airport, you breathed in the noxious fumes as cars swept by, among them taxis and shuttles vying for attention at the curb. Shouldering your travel bag, you turned away from just as Quentin emerged through the doors. Keys dangled in his hand.

“The rentals are this way,” he said, flashing his smile at you.

Following him down the line to the cars parked on the other edge of the parking lot, you slipped into the passenger seat as Quentin climbed in behind the wheel.

“City of thieves and liars,” you said, the words liquid gold on your tongue. “I could get used to it here.”

Quentin’s smile widened as he pulled out of the lot and eased onto the road leading into the city. Traffic was heavy for the time of day, but there was still plenty of time to arrive at your intended destination.

“Let’s go over it again.”

Quentin sighed. “I have it all memorized.”

“Again.”

Inhaling sharply, he began, “My name is Anthony Dukakis. I run a private contracting company, called SecuriThreat, created after the Battle of New York.”

“And I am?”

“Maribel Griggs-Dukakis, co-founder of SecuriThreat.”

“Good.”

Reaching over, you clicked on the radio and scanned across the AM frequencies for a news station. It didn’t take long.

“Two months ago, former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury was convicted of treason. Rumors as to whether he, along with others, are aliens in human disguises still persist despite a failure to prove them beyond the footage leaked to The Daily Bugle nearly two years ago. Fury’s conviction arrived shortly after S.H.I.E.L.D. was shut down due to H.Y.D.R.A. infiltration. The President himself ordered the complete dismantling of the law enforcement agency, including its international bases…”

Pride swelled up within you. The coup d’état had been perfect. No blood had been shed, and Fury still didn’t know who had cut him and the agency at the knees. It was the coup of the century, and you were determined to enact one final coup de grâce.

The Capitol Building loomed ahead. You squeezed Quentin’s knee.

“Kiss for luck?” he asked.

You leaned over and kissed him hard on the cheek.

“Frankly, I’m appalled the media is treating this like new information,” Senator Rufus Sturgess said, rolling his eyes. “The news about H.Y.D.R.A. was released in 2014, and the investigation was conducted then.”

You smiled warmly but without being too earnest. You needed the senator, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, on your side.

“Yes, but given the new information about potential extraterrestrial involvement in our own government, possible prior to the Battle of New York, it was better not to take any chances, no? It was already a vulnerable agency under Fury’s rule, and when he took the reins again, we discover he may have been an alien the whole time?” You shook your head. “It isn’t tenable.”

The senator frowned and shifted his gaze from you to Quentin. Quentin smiled thinly, the response you had trained him to give. Like “good cop, bad cop,” you were playing the part of the amenable seller, while Quentin was the stoic, no-nonsense partner lending gravitas to the proceedings. He sat in his chair with his back rigid, shoulder squarely set. You had given him a disconnected undercut to complete the image of a former military career.

“Those claims are unfounded,” the senator finally said. “The footage may very well have been doctored—”

“Do you really want to take that chance? With the Avengers scattered to the wind and their ‘replacements’ not passing muster, it’s better to err on the side of caution…” You leaned back in your seat. “And preemptive measures.”

“Hmm.”

The senator looked down at the file on his desk. It contained your proposal for the next phase of your plan. The fact the senator had allowed for you to schedule a meeting with hi, suggested that he had not only read the proposal but was actually considering it.

“Give me your pitch,” he said with a sigh, leaning back in his chair.

Straightening, you began, “The world needs an organization that polices superheroes, not coddles or acquiesces to them. The problem with S.H.I.E.L.D. was that it was entirely a government organization. That made it vulnerable to outside threats, and it would get bogged down in bureaucratic red tape.”

“It was weak under Fury’s leadership and even before that,” Quentin added. “If it wasn’t H.Y.D.R.A., another group would have infiltrated it and caused more damage.”

The senator sighed. “Hence it was dismantled.”

You nodded. “A privately funded oversight group unfettered by the government and given complete autonomy can decide its own actions—actions a government couldn’t sanction.” You paused, letting him arrive there on his own.

The senator’s eyes widened a fraction, almost unoticed if you hadn’t been looking for it. “A group like that would have to be held accountable.”

“And none of it would fall back on you or the United States government. Wouldn’t it be nice not to have another scandal of this magnitude?”

Sturgess tapped his lips with one finger and glanced between you and Quentin. “You want a government contract.”

“No. Merely permission, support, and authority.” You leaned forward. “Senator, the events in Europe just a few years ago have taught us that without control; these superheroes will disregard non-superhuman interests. Yet we are the majority. We must make them acknowledge us.”

The senator slowly nodded. “Okay. I will get this approved.”

You rose and extended your hand. “Sir, M.Y.S.T. will not disappoint.”

“May I ask what your first order of business will be?”

Quentin stood and glanced down at the senator. “We will ensure that Peter Parker answers for his crimes in Europe and the death of Quentin Beck.”

All according to plan.

#Quentin Beck x Reader #Quentin Beck #Quentin Beck imagine #Mysterio x Reader #Mysterio #Mysterio imagine #Jake Gyllenhaal #Jake Gyllenhaal imagine #Spider Man Far from Home #Spider-Man: Far From Home #FFH

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daniwoitkowski · 3 years

Text

A Closer Look at Milwaukee Zip Code 53206

After reading A Closer Look at Milwaukee Zip Code 53206, an article published in the Milwaukee Magazine in 2014, I’m ashamed of the city I currently call home.

Contained between I-43 to the east, 27th Street to the West and North Avenue and Capitol Drive to its south and north sides is one of the largest zip code areas in the city of Milwaukee. Zip code area of 53206 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is often written off as the poorest area in the largest city in the state.

An eyesore in Milwaukee, zip code 53206, is where a third of the city’s vacant lots reside. The greatest percentage, nearly 95% of its residents in zip code 53206 are African Americans. Surrounding counties implemented restrictive covenants preventing African American tenants' equal rights, which confined most African Americans to the northwestern portion of the city, or around the 53206 area. The Supreme Court ruled such covenants to be unconstitutional in 1948, they remained on the books until Congress passed the Fair Housing Act in 1968. Milwaukee known for being one of the most segregated cities in the United States.

Warren’s Lounge on Hopkins Avenue, owned by 81-year-old Warren Harper, a “Cheers” like bar hides itself in the middle of the deserted condemned buildings. Warren and his wife, Shirley, have been married for over 59 years, with four children and multiple grandchildren. Warren and Shirley bought the lounge back in 1970. Back in the lounge’s heyday factory workers from around the area would stop in for lunch or beer relaxing after their shift. During the time when the Green Bay Packers played at county stadium, players could be regularly seen enjoying the relaxing atmosphere.

Life has changed and the lounge is not the same, feeling the pain of the abandoned factories. Even though, their children attempt to sway them into having hip-hop bands play into the addition to the jazz and blues bands that periodically play at the lounge. Life has been hard on them, however they will not close, “It’s their life.”

Wandering around 53206 tends to make people, especially white people, uneasy. Too many businesses are either closed or enclosed in metal bars and padlocks. Even with a gem like, Warren’s Lounge, can be intimidating to its visitors as you enter through the small, dark doorway hidden behind a locked heavy metal grate with a bell that must be rung for entry.

Opportunities seem to climb and decline rapidly for African Americans in Milwaukee. So, what happened?

One generation hopes and dreams becomes heavy burdens on the forgotten generations that follow. Looking past educational statures, joblessness and the crime in the areas of poverty, we need to begin looking into the history of the African American population of Milwaukee, Wisconsin at once was and why it became what it is today.

The African American population increased with the Great Migration north, which affected the African American communities in Milwaukee. Like most African American families, Warren and Shirley moved to Milwaukee in 1957 during the Great Migration in search of a better life.

The Great Migration was when millions of southern African American people migrated north for better opportunities between 1916 to 1970. Many came to Milwaukee for the ever-growing jobs with the industrial factories at the time. Families settled down bought homes in the area, new businesses opened and grew, times were good. By the 1980s, times were not so good. Factories started to close in the area and businesses started to move out of the once flourishing neighborhoods. Some people moved out to the suburbs, while the majority of the African American population stayed behind and survived.

Barbara Miner, the Milwaukee-area freelance writer, purpose in this article was to educate by showing a face to the neighborhood around the Milwaukee 53206 zip code. The article brought tears to my eyes as I read about the longevity of people who make up the community even through the absence of jobs, transportation, and sort of conveniences that those of us who live merely blocks away take for granted. Then there is the stealthy growing abandoned housing market. However, many families have still stuck around to support their community or stay for the affordable housing.

Through the article, Miner, is attempting to educate the audience on the poverty in our own city. We have created this blind spot within our own community, and we tend to forget the area’s history. We are left with the assumption that the people living in these areas have chosen their fate instead of understanding the truth behind our ignorance. It’s well known what happened in Detroit after the auto industries started closing, but it is not known how the same affects had and still affects so many in our own city.

Beauty exists, such as with Dr. Carter, a retired Pharmacist who continues to go back and visit his community passing along trusted remedies to his neighborhood residents. Dr. Carter broke down barriers back in 1968 after he founded one of first Milwaukee black owned pharmacies. Now after selling his pharmacy, Dr. Carter can still be found at the store as a consultant in natural remedies.

Yet the media has forgotten about this area as though it doesn’t exist except for the inquiries pertaining to shootings in the area. The problem, or exigence, here is with the ignorance surrounding this forgotten and disregarded area of our city. I begin to ask myself, why do we have such a blind eye with our own neighboring areas? I wonder how the decline to industry in the city of Milwaukee and the poverty relates to the poverty that was created with the auto crisis in Detroit. I would have liked to see more of the information we read from the A Closer Look at Milwaukee Zip Code 53206 article on the non-existence of corporate businesses and declining public transportation and after school programs ties into the jobless market that intertwine in the poverty rates in these areas.

Current circumstances in 53206 go deeper than the loss of factories and that the jobs in the area.

“There’s investment out there, and there are jobs. But they’re in New Berlin or Waukesha. There’s no bus, so how are people going to get there?” (2015, Jan 28)

Perceptions have also been made that the housing bubble was the issue that affected people in this area, and they were of the many that shouldn’t have bought a home in the first place. However, a lot of families that lost their homes in 53206 were long-time owners.

Miner goes on to talk with a group of students from North Division High School who are studying zip-code-53206. Miner gathered their thoughts on how they feel about the area and what they would want people to know about the area, some of which that were mentioned as follows:

“Notice that we are here, that, like you, we are human, and we deserve the same things you want.”

“The police, I can’t explain it, but they don’t like black people.”

“It ain’t got no future.”

“Nothing’s going to change, ’cause nobody cares.”

Unfortunately, conditions such as the few mentioned have contributed to demolish government help enabling people to believe such areas are beyond any genuine rehabilitation, deeming the area in the past too black and ghetto.

Poverty is so much more then people just making bad choices or the wrong decisions in life. The purpose of the rhetors with this medium explain how trauma that stems from poverty begin way before one can make their own choices in life.

Regardless, parents in 53206 want the same things as any other parent anywhere in the world wants. We want our children to be safe, happy and a better childhood than we had. Is there anything wrong with the hope that our children grow up without the worry of crime surrounding them or to be able to go through school without bullying? We all want hope for the future.

Whether we live in Milwaukee or not we can relate to the exigences mentioned in the life cycle of the Great Migration and African Americans in Milwaukee mentioned, you cannot deny the purpose. The effects of poverty have an impact with your entire life, from childhood on through your adult life and passed on through the next generations. We become our parents, our community, our surroundings. We are what we are familiar with whether it be hiding money for emergencies like those who lived through the Great Depression to as unknowingly as our dialect or accent we commonly use day to day. If raised in poverty the traumatic affects you would carry through life, even if you leave those surroundings, the effects remain.

For Milwaukee, the future needs to bring education on the history of the African American population. Milwaukee doesn’t give the same possibilities to the people in the now poverty areas affected by the industrial decline. Such possibilities as, public transportation to give access to jobs and convenience stores, such as Wal-Mart or even McDonalds. Overlooking the truth and ignorance of the past never helped humanity in the future.

Source Cites:

Barbara Miner, Milwaukee. (2015, Jan 28). A Closer Look at Milwaukee Zip Code 53206. 1/28/2015 https://www.milwaukeemag.com/milwaukee-zip-code-53206/

Reggie Jackson, Milwaukee Independent. (2019, Apr 19). REGGIE JACKSON: REMEMBERING A TIME WHEN 53206 WAS KNOWN AS A LOVING COMMUNITY TO GROW UP IN. 4/19/2019 http://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/featured/reggie-jackson-remembering-time-53206-known-loving-community-grow/

Dan Schneider, Dollars & Sense. (2015, Nov/Dec). The Worst Place in the US to Be Black Is... Wisconsin 11/2015 http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2015/1115schneider.html

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queen-mabs-revenge · 3 years

Text

January 19, 2021

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader McCarthy, and Minority Leader Schumer:

We write to you today in the aftermath of one of the darkest days for American democracy. While we are all concerned about the security of the Capitol and armed attempts to interrupt our legislative business, we wish to state our strong opposition to the expansion of the domestic national security and surveillance powers of the United States government, as has often been the country’s reaction to horrific acts of violence like the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Trump mob’s success in breaching the Capitol was not due to a lack of resources at the disposal of federal law enforcement, and in this moment we must resist the erosion of our civil liberties and Constitutional freedoms, however well-intentioned proposed security reforms may be.

While we are not necessarily opposed to reforms to address the law enforcement and intelligence communities’ inability or unwillingness to seriously confront domestic white nationalist violence, we firmly believe that the national security and surveillance powers of the U.S. government are already too broad, undefined, and unaccountable to the people. To further degrade those rights and liberties in reaction to this attack would undermine our democracy at a time when we must join together to defend it with all our collective might.

While many may find comfort in increased national security powers in the wake of this attack, we must emphasize that we have been here before and we have seen where that road leads. Our history is littered with examples of initiatives sold as being necessary to fight extremism that quickly devolve into tools used for the mass violation of the human and civil rights of the American people such as:

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) -- As we all know, the HUAC -- born as a reaction to the rise of pro-Nazi, fascist elements in the U.S. in the lead up to the Second World War -- quickly turned a blind eye to domestic fascist activity and used its powers to target a wide variety of Civil Rights and leftist leaders (1), such as the Honorable Coleman A Young (2) and Langston Hughes (3).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) -- In the 1950s and 1960s, the FBI’s COINTELPRO domestic surveillance program, sold as a non-partisan program to target extremism on both ends of the political spectrum, failed to take serious action against the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) while targeting a wide array of Black, Indigenous, environmentalist, anti-war, leftist and peaceful protest groups with illegal wiretaps, warrantless searches, and other illegal, repressive activities (4). As the Department of Justice’s Nadine Frederique described in 2016, “The Bureau conducted a sophisticated vigilante operation aimed squarely at preventing the exercise of the First Amendment rights of speech and association on the theory that preventing the growth of dangerous groups and the propagation of dangerous ideas would protect the national security and deter violence.” (5) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) adds that “The FBI used the information it gleaned from these improper investigations not for law enforcement purposes, but to “break up marriages, disrupt meetings, ostracize persons from their professions, and provoke target groups into rivalries that might result in deaths.”” (6) It was under this program that the FBI and CIA aided domestic right-wing paramilitary terrorist organizations such as the Minutemen and the Secret Army Organization (SAO). (7)

The USA Patriot Act -- In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, Congress hastily passed this disastrous legislative attack on Americans’ civil liberties in the name of national security that significantly undermined many of the reforms that stemmed from the Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities’ (Church Committee) investigation into -- amongst other scandals -- COINTELPRO. For two decades Congress has tried in vain to reign in (or at least conduct oversight of) the Pandora’s Box of surveillance and domestic intelligence programs contained within this Act with little success. (8)

The FBI’s Assessment Authority and Operation IRON FIST -- Following the birth of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in 2014 in response to the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, the FBI has consistently utilized its “assessment” authority to target BLM activists for surveillance and harassment. By 2017, the FBI had invented a domestic terrorism category called “Black Identity Extremism movement.” Their justification? “An FBI intelligence report cited six unrelated incidents over a three year period in which Black subjects not associated with one another attacked police officers, to allege that a terrorist movement driven by ‘perceptions of police brutality against African Americans’ existed. (9) Put simply, this category is a bald-faced lie designed to terrorize Black Americans and their allies standing up to the very real terror of police brutality against the African American community. This lie was then used as a justification to conduct a nationwide assessment of an intelligence collection effort targeting BLM activists codenamed “Iron Fist.” The FBI prioritized this racist, pointless exercise over investigations into the very white supremacists and far-right extremists that attacked our nation’s Capitol on January 6th. (10)

These are just four examples from our recent history of expanded national security and surveillance powers being turned on law-abiding Americans. While it is clear that this attack represents one of the biggest intelligence failures in recent history, this does not mean that our government needs more national security and/or surveillance powers. To expand the government’s national security powers once again at the expense of the human and civil rights of the American people would only serve to further undermine our democracy, not protect it.

These white nationalist attackers and their forebears have benefited form increased state surveillance power at nearly every turn in our history. While not necessarily intentional, increasing the reach and power of our national security apparatus now would only serve to further the oppression of Black, brown, Indigenous, people of color, and leftist groups.

Instead we urge you to take action to achieve the following goals:

Fully investigate the violent January 6, 2021 attack in a non-partisan, transparent manner.

Commit today to release all findings from any investigations into the attack to the public.

Recognize white nationalist and QAnon groups as the national security threat that they are and take action to combat them through existing laws, powers, and regulations, which are more than sufficient to meet this threat

Recognize that the reason that the threat posed by these groups hasn’t already been adequately addressed is because of a deeply ingrained unwillingness and/or hesitancy to act against these groups within all three branches of government -- and especially in the law enforcement community, including the Department of Justice, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and the intelligence agencies -- and is not the result of insufficient domestic national security and/or surveillance powers.

Congress must have the courage to do what is right, not what is easy and popular. In the face of great tragedy, we must call on you to reject reactionary demands to further erode the rights and liberties of the American people. For our part, we pledge to oppose any attempts to expand the domestic national security or surveillance powers of the United States government at the expense of the rights of our people with every tool available to us as duly elected Members of Congress. We sincerely hope you will join us in this effort.

Sincerely,

Rashida Tlaib, Member of Congress

Jamaal Bowman, Ed. D., Member of Congress

Pramila Jayapal, Member of Congress

Mondaire Jones, Member of Congress

Ro Khanna, Member of Congress

Barbara Lee, Member of Congress

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Member of Congress

Ilhan Omar, Member of Congress

Ayanna Pressley, Member of Congress

--------------

(1) Brian L. Zirkle and Pam Dixon, House Un-American Activities Committee, in Surveillance in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics and the Law, 2016, p. 215-219

(2) Detroit Historical Society, Encyclopedia of Detroit: Young, Coleman, A., Detroit Historical Society (accessed January 11, 2021), https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/young-coleman.

(3) Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation of the Committee on Government Operations, Volume 2, Volume 107, Issue 84 of S. prt. Beth Bolling, ISBN 9780160513626, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Publisher: U.S. GPO. Original from the University of Michigan p.988.

(4) Nadine Frederique, COINTELPRO, Brittanica (July 21, 2016), https://www.brittanica.com/topic/COINTELPRO.

(5) Id.

(6) American Civil Liberties Union, More About FBI Spying, ACLU, https://www.aclu.org/other/more-about-fbi-spying.

(7) FBI Funds Right Wing Violence, Ann Arbor Sun (September 3, 1975), https://aadl.org/node/200028

(8) American Civil Liberties Union, Surveillance Under the USA/Patriot Act, ACLU (accessed January 11, 2021), https://www.aclu.org/other/surveillance-under-usapatriot-act

(9) Michael Germain, The FBI Targets a New Generation of Black Activists, Brennan Center for Justice (June 26, 2020), https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/fbi-targets-new-generation-black-activists.

(10) Id.

#rashida tlaib #the squad #a short history of surveillance and oppression

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uncloseted · 3 years

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my mom keeps badgering me about the capital event bc i really hated it but i support the blm protests and she says it’s hypocritical of me bc the protests were just as “violent” as the capital and “caused lots of deaths”. i never really have anything to say back to justify what went down, do you have any info i could use to explain myself? i know they were for completely different causes and one actually matters, but i don’t know how to justify the “violence” (i personally don’t think a majority of them were violent, all the ones where i lived were routinely peaceful and i think the extreme ones were sensationalized for the news). anyway sorry if it’s dumb i’m 14 and just trying to get into politics and stuff so i’m not super well informed and just trying to learn.

I’m sorry this has taken me a few days to get to. What happened at the Capitol is complicated, and I want to make sure I give you as full of an answer as possible. I also want to just quickly say that it’s awesome you’re getting involved in politics at such a young age and trying to help your parents understand these issues. I would love to answer any questions you have about politics or social issues (or just kind of anything in general, I’m not picky). Last thing and then I’ll get into the meat of this post- I’m a huge supporter of the BLM and police abolition movements and was a protestor over the summer, so I’m maybe a little bit biased. This situation makes me really angry on a personal level, but I’ll try to stick to just the facts as much as possible in this post and let you know when I’m showing my own opinions.

So the first thing I want to talk about is language. The Black Lives Matter protests were protests- a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards a political idea or action, usually with the intention of influencing government policy. In the US, protesting is a constitutional right protected by the First Amendment. The storming of the Capitol was not a protest, and it wasn’t intended to be. It was planned several weeks in advance with the explicit intention of disrupting the counting of Electoral College ballots. Their stated goal was to overturn Donald Trump’s defeat in the presidential election, an election that is widely considered to be the freest, fairest, and safest election in US history (ironically, in part due to Trump’s insistence that there was voter fraud in the 2016 election). Storming a public building is not a form of protest protected by the US Constitution. Further, an attempt to overturn a democratic election is an attempt to carry out a coup. The Capitol rioters will likely be charged with sedition (conduct that incites rebellion against the established order) and/or insurrection (a violent uprising against an authority or government). The Black Lives Matter protestors were not attempting to carry out a coup against the US government, and none have been charged with offenses as big as those.

Next, I want to touch on motivation. The Black Lives Matter protesters were protesting against police brutality towards minorities, particularly Black people. There has long been a documented history of police misconduct and fatal use of force by law enforcement officers against Black people in the US. Many protests in the past have been a response to police violence, including the 1965 Watts riots, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and the 2014 and 2015 Black Lives Matter protests in response to the murders of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Freddie Gray. By contrast, the Capitol rioters were not motivated by fact. They were called to action by the President of the United States, Donald Trump. They were told that the election had been “stolen” from Trump, and were encouraged to march over to the Capitol to “take back our country”. The idea that the election was stolen from the president is demonstrably false. They weren’t motivated by a social issue, a concern for their own lives, facts, or even really principle. “Our president wants us here...we wait to take orders from our president,” was what motivated them. The affiliations of those rioters are varied, but many of them are affiliated with either the far-right, anti-government Boogaloo Boys, the explicitly neofascist Proud Boys, the self-proclaimed militia The Oath Keepers, or the far-right militia group Three Percenters. Many are also on the record as being QAnon followers (followers of a disproven far-right conspiracy that started off as a 4chan troll, which states that an anonymous government official, “Q”, is providing information about a cabal of Satan-worshiping, cannibalistic pedophiles in the Democratic party who are running a child sex trafficking ring and plotting against Trump. Yes, really).

The intentions of BLM were largely peaceful. BLM protest documents encouraged protesters to be peaceful even in the face of police violence, because the BLM protesters knew what the price of being violent would be. We were encouraged not to bring weapons or anything that could be misconstrued as a weapon. Even non-violent protests were met with tear gas, rubber bullets, and riot gear. A reported 96.3% of 7,305 BLM protests were entirely peaceful (no injuries, no property damage). The 292 “violent incidents” in question were mainly the toppling of statues of “colonial figures, slave owners, and Confederate leaders”. There were also several instances of right wing, paramilitary style militia movements discharging firearms into crowds of protesters, and 136 confirmed incidences of right-wing participation at the protests (including members of the aforementioned Boogaloo Boys, Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, and Proud Boys). It was also rumored that off-duty police were inciting violence (although to my knowledge, that is unconfirmed). There is no evidence that “antifa” (a decentralized, left-wing, anti-racist and anti-fascist group) played a role in instigating the protests or violence, or even that they had a significant role in the protests at all. People who were involved in crimes were not ideologically organized, and were largely opportunists taking advantage of the chaos for personal gain.

By contrast, the “Storm the Capitol” documents were largely violent; messages like, “pack a crowbar,” and “does anyone know if the windows on the second floor are reinforced” were common on far-right social media platforms. One message on 8kun (formerly 8chan, a website linked to white supremacy, neo-Nazism, the alt-right, etc) stated, "you can go to Washington on Jan 6 and help storm the Capitol....As many Patriots as can be. We will storm the government buildings, kill cops, kill security guards, kill federal employees and agents, and demand a recount." The speakers at the Trump rally encouraged attendees to see themselves as foot soldiers fighting to save the country, and to be ready to “bleed for freedom”. The Capitol rioters were mostly armed; rioters were reportedly seen firing pepper spray at police officers, and pipe bombs, molotov cocktails, and guns (including illegal assault rifles) were found on the protesters. One protester was filmed saying, “believe me, we are well armed if we need to be.” Some protesters arrived in paramilitary regalia, including camo and Kevlar vests.

I quickly want to touch on scale. The George Floyd BLM protests are thought to be the largest protests in US history, with between 15 and 26 million (largely young, sometimes children, minority) people attending a protest in over 2000 cities in 60 countries. There were around 14,000 arrests, most being low-level offenses such as violating curfews or blocking roadways. 19 deaths have been reported, largely at the hands of police. Only one death is known to have been a law enforcement officer. The number of people who stormed the Capitol is still somewhat unclear, but it seems to be between 2,000 and 8,000 (largely older white, cis, straight, Christian men) people. 80+ people have been arrested for federal crimes, including 25+ who are being charged with domestic terrorism (something nobody associated with BLM is being accused of). There have been five deaths reported. One was a police officer, and the other four were rioters. Of those deaths, one was a police related shooting (a female Air Force veteran). The other three died of unrelated medical emergencies. One reportedly had a history of high blood pressure and suffered a heart attack from the excitement.

Now I want to look at government response. During the BLM protests, there was a huge response from law enforcement. 200 cities imposed curfews, 30 states and Washington DC activated over 96,000 National Guard, State Guard, 82nd Airborne, and 3rd Infantry Regiment service members. The deployment was the largest military operation other than war in US history, and it was in response to protests concerning, in part, the militarization of police forces. The police were outfitted in riot gear. They used physical force against BLM protesters, including batons, tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets, “often without warning or seemingly unprovoked,” per the New York Times. Anecdotally, everyone I know now knows how to neutralize pepper spray, treat rubber bullet wounds, build shields out of household items, how to prevent cellphones from being tracked, and how to confuse facial recognition technology to prevent being identified (as six men connected to the Ferguson protests mysteriously turned up dead afterwards, and the police were using cellphone tracking technology). Amnesty International issued a press release calling for police to end excessive militarized response to the protests. There were 66 incidents of vehicles being driven into crowds of protesters, 7 of which explicitly involved police officers, the rest of which were by far-right groups. Over 20 people were partially blinded after being struck with police projectiles. When the BLM protests were happening, Trump said that, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

In contrast, the response to the Capitol protesters was relatively tame, especially given that the US Capitol’s last breach was over 200 years ago (when British troops set fire to the building during the war of 1812) and the rioters weren’t being shy about their aspirations to conduct an armed insurrection incited by the sitting president. There was (widely available, able to be found through a Google search, everyone saw it) prior intelligence that far-right, extremist groups were planning on (violently) Storming the Capitol on January 6th, with the intention of interrupting the Electoral College ballot counting and holding lawmakers hostage. However, the US Capitol Police insisted that a National Guard presence would not be necessary for the protests, and Pentagon officials reportedly restricted DC guard troop from being deployed except as a measure of last resort, and restricted them from receiving ammunition or riot gear. They were instructed to engage with rioters only in self-defense, and were banned from using surveillance equipment. Despite prior knowledge of the “protests”, Capitol Police staffing levels mirrored that of a normal day, and no riot control equipment was prepared. The Capitol Police weren’t in paramilitary gear the way they were for the BLM protests. The mob walked in to the Capitol with little resistance. Some scaled walls, some broke down barricades, some smashed windows, and one video even seems to show Capitol Police opening a gate for the mob. Rioters traipsed around the Capitol (one of the most important government buildings in the country) with little resistance, looting and vandalizing offices of Congress members. Some rioters felt safe enough to give their names to media outlets, livestream their exploits, and take selfies with police officers. One man was (ironically) carrying a Confederate flag, a symbol of a secession attempt on the part of the South (and of racism). It took 50 minutes for FBI tactical teams to arrive at the scene, and the National Guard were initially directed by Trump not to intervene. Pence later overturned that ruling and approved the National Guard. Police used finally used riot gear, shields, smoke grenades, and batons to retake control of the Capitol, but notably no tear gas or rubber bullets. Video showed rioters being escorted away without handcuffs. Trump’s response to the riot was, "we love you. You're very special ... but you have to go home."

This is where I’m going to get a little editorial, but I think it’s important to say. If the people storming the Capitol Building were Black, they would have been met with a large, pre-coordinated military presence, violent restraint, arrests, and quite possibly would have been shot. They wouldn’t have made it inside the Capitol, much less been given free rein to wander around without immediate consequence. Hundreds of people during the George Floyd protests were arrested for just being present- 127 protesters were arrested for violating curfew on June 2nd in Detroit alone, twice the number of arrests made during the storming of the US Capitol. It turns out that the police do know how to use restraint, after all. What an absolute shock. It’s almost like they’re a corrupt and racist institution we should get rid off...

The last big thing I want to talk about is the outcome. The BLM protests were meaningful, but the outcome from them has been tame. Nobody has been accused of domestic terrorism. State and local governments evaluated their police department policies and made some changes, like banning chokeholds, partially defunding some departments, and passing regulations that departments must recruit in part from the communities they patrol. Only one city, Minneapolis, pledged to dismantle their police force. The response has largely been localized. I think the biggest impact it’s had is introducing people to the concept of police abolition and getting more people involved in the movement. By contrast, the Capitol riots have resulted in over 25 people being accused of domestic terrorism and the second attempt to impeach Donald Trump, something that has never happened before in the history of the US.

But what really concerns me is the precedent this sets. Donald Trump is an idiot, and he’s gotten this far. We can’t count on the guy who takes his place to be an idiot, too. The next guy could be clever, strategic, well-spoken, well-mannered... not to invoke Godwin’s law here, but people liked Hitler. He was a persuasive speaker and capitalized on conspiracy theories about World War 1 to gain support. His 1923 attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government failed, but sympathy for his aims grew. He painted himself as a good, moral man who loved dogs and children and was trying to do right by his country (by, among other things, arresting communists and leftists, and then eventually all minorities). Trump isn’t Hitler. He’s not even a Hitler analogue. But Trump has already done this much damage to the fabric of our society. He’s worn down our relationship with the media, with one another, with democracy, with morality, and with truth itself. We have to be prepared for the idea that the next guy might be a much better politician. Getting rid of Trump isn’t the end; it’s the beginning of a fight against fascism that’s only going to grow from here.

There are other differences you could point to. BLM protesters wore masks to prevent the spread of COVID (and indeed, researchers have reported that the protests did not drive an increase in virus transmission), for example, while the rioters were largely unmasked. But I think the bottom line is that the millions of BLM protesters were doing their best to be responsible citizens fighting peacefully for an evidence-based, human rights cause, even though they knew that as a primarily minority group of people, they would be met with violence. The thousands of far-right, white, Capitol insurrectionists were doing their best to overturn a free, fair, safe, and democratic election because of a call to action by Trump and a stringent belief in disproven conspiracy theories, which they knew would be met with minimal resistance despite the severity of their actions. The insurrectionists are fascists, full stop, and we should call them what they are. The BLM protesters were by and large just people, of all different political views and motivations, who wanted to fight against something they saw as unjust.

I’m sorry that this is such a long post. This topic has been on my mind all week, and I wanted to give it the nuance it deserves. All we can do from here is to keep fighting- for justice, for truth, and, hopefully, for peace.

#Anonymous #effys-closet #effys closet

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brookstonalmanac · 9 months

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Events (after 1950)

1950 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station begins operations with the launch of a Bumper rocket. 1959 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate". 1963 – The ship Bluenose II was launched in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The schooner is a major Canadian symbol. 1966 – Michael Pelkey makes the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping has now been banned from El Cap. 1967 – During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! ("Long live free Quebec!"); the statement angered the Canadian government and many Anglophone Canadians. 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean. 1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor. 1977 – End of a four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War. 1980 – The Quietly Confident Quartet of Australia wins the men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics, the only time the United States has not won the event at Olympic level. 1982 – Heavy rain causes a mudslide that destroys a bridge at Nagasaki, Japan, killing 299. 1983 – The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War. 1983 – George Brett playing for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident". 1987 – US supertanker SS Bridgeton collides with mines laid by IRGC causing a 43-square-meter dent in the body of the oil tanker. 1987 – Hulda Crooks, at 91 years of age, climbed Mt. Fuji. Crooks became the oldest person to climb Japan's highest peak. 1998 – Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial. 1999 – Air Fiji flight 121 crashes while en route to Nadi, Fiji, killing all 17 people on board. 2001 – The Bandaranaike Airport attack is carried out by 14 Tamil Tiger commandos. Eleven civilian and military aircraft are destroyed and 15 are damaged. All 14 commandos are shot dead, while seven soldiers from the Sri Lanka Air Force are killed. In addition, three civilians and an engineer die. This incident slowed the Sri Lankan economy. 2009 – Aria Air Flight 1525 crashes at Mashhad International Airport, killing 16. 2012 – Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the city of Girkê Legê. 2013 – A high-speed train derails in Spain rounding a curve with an 80 km/h (50 mph) speed limit at 190 km/h (120 mph), killing 78 passengers. 2014 – Air Algérie Flight 5017 loses contact with air traffic controllers 50 minutes after takeoff. It was travelling between Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Algiers. The wreckage is later found in Mali. All 116 people on board are killed. 2019 – Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after defeating Jeremy Hunt in a leadership contest, succeeding Theresa May.

#Events

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 years

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 20, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

President Joe Biden is trying to model a normal presidency as he stabilizes the nation after the drama of the past four years, rebuilds from the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic, and deals with crises around the world.

Today, Biden signed into law a bill to combat hate crimes, especially against Asian Americans, sparked by Covid-19. After former president Trump began blaming China for the coronavirus pandemic—calling the virus the “kung flu” for example—hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders spiked to more than 6600 between March 2020 and March 2021. “Hate has no place in America,” Biden tweeted.

Vaccine rates are up: more than 48% of the population has gotten at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, and in 19 states, more than half the population is fully vaccinated. This week, for the first time since March of last year, the seven-day average of deaths from Covid-19 has fallen below 500.

The economy is healing. Fresh claims for unemployment insurance fell again last week, by 34,000, showing an improving job market. Now at 444,000, they are still higher than they were before the pandemic. Nonetheless, more than 20 states have announced they are rejecting the $300 a week boost in federal unemployment benefits, insisting that the extra money is keeping people from going to work.

Biden is also dealing with foreign policy crises, to which he brings a longstanding interest in foreign affairs, including 34 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and 8 years in the vice presidency, dealing with foreign countries. He is the president most experienced in foreign affairs since at least George H. W. Bush, who had been U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

In managing foreign affairs, Biden appears to favor private pressure over public statements, leaving room for other governments to change direction without losing face domestically by backing down to the United States in public, a tendency he showed when he declined to sanction Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, instead increasing pressure on MBS by imposing penalties on 76 of the people around him.

Private pressure over public statements appears to have been Biden’s approach to the recent crisis between Palestinians and Israeli military that broke out on May 10, killing at least 230 Palestinians in Gaza (the 25-mile-long, 4- to 8-mile-wide strip on the Mediterranean side of Israel) including 63 children, leaving tens of thousands homeless, and badly damaging hospitals, schools, roads, and water and electrical systems. Twelve Israelis, including two children, have also been killed.

Biden has pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel’s bombing campaign against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza. Through allies, especially those in Egypt, which borders Gaza, the administration has told Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel. Today Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire brokered by Egypt. It is not clear if the cease-fire will hold: after similar hostilities in 2014, it ultimately took 9 truces to end the fighting.

But while there is a normal—and largely successful—presidency underway, politics in America is not at all business as usual. The Republican Party is radicalizing into a pro-Trump force that is throwing the country under the bus to defend their leader.

Dramatically, Republicans have come out this week against an investigation into the January 6 insurrection. This is a transparent attempt to protect former president Trump, as well, perhaps, as some of their own members; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) today refused to say whether he thought members of his caucus had communicated with the January 6 rioters.

This objection to an investigation of an attack of such magnitude is breathtaking. We have always had investigations of attacks on our country; Republicans themselves held 7 congressional investigations and 33 hearings about the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, that killed 4 Americans.

Today, journalist David Freedlander reminded us that in January, a number of Republican lawmakers, including McCarthy, argued against impeaching then-president Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection because, they said, a “fact-finding commission” was important. “I believe impeaching the president in such a short time frame would be a mistake,” said McCarthy. “No investigations have been completed. No hearings have been held….”

And yet, McCarthy and the Republican leadership are now opposing the creation of a bipartisan commission, although the Democrats gave them all their demands: equal representation on the commission, the power to subpoena witnesses, and a final report before the end of the year.

The story is the same in the Senate. On February 13, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), tweeted: “The 1/6 attack on the Capitol was horrific & appalling. Those who planned & participated in the violence that day should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I agree w/Speaker Pelosi—a 911-type investigation is called for to help prevent this from happening again.”

And yet, Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), whom Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman intercepted and led away from the mob on January 6, today told journalist Manu Raju that he wasn’t sure whether he will block debate on the commission bill. This indicates there will not be enough Senate votes to break a filibuster on the bill.

Today, Senator Angus King, Jr. (I-ME) came out and said it: “We need answers on the 1/6 insurrection—but many of my [Republican] colleagues are indicating they will vote against an independent investigation. When people start moving heaven and earth to block an investigation, I have to wonder if there is something to hide.”

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#political #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #partisanship #corrupt GOP #criminal GOP #denial of reality #January 6 2021 #assault on the US Capitol

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1samwitch · 3 years

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She #MiriamCarey couldn't even get out of her car, so HOW did they get in the building?

On October 3, 2013, in , Miriam Carey, 34, a dental hygienist from , attempted to drive through a security checkpoint in her black coupe, accidentally hit a security rail, and was chased by the Secret Service to the where she was fatally shot by law enforcement officers. A young child, Carey's daughter, was found unharmed in the car after it was ultimately stopped.

On October 3, 2013, in Washington, D.C., Miriam Carey, 34, a dental hygienist from Stamford, Connecticut, attempted to drive through a White House security checkpoint in her black Infiniti G37 coupe, accidentally hit a security rail, and was chased by the Secret Service to the United States Capitol where she was fatally shot by law enforcement officers. A young child, Carey's daughter, was found unharmed in the car after it was ultimately stopped.[2]

White House incident and police response[edit]

At about 2:12 p.m., a vehicle driven by Miriam Carey allegedly struck one of the White House barriers at the intersection of 15th St. NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.[3] At 2:13 p.m. she drove into a restricted White House checkpoint at 15th and E Streets NW, without authorization and without stopping. When an off-duty U.S. Secret Service officer placed himself and a metal bike rack in her path to block her exit, she struck the bike rack and the off-duty Secret Service officer who was standing behind it with her car, knocking both the bike rack and the officer onto the ground.[4] Secret Service attempted to arrest the suspect but she continued to drive the car evasively, colliding with one officer who fell on the hood of the car and rolled off.[5][6] Carey then drove 40–80 mph down Pennsylvania Avenue, weaving through traffic and ignoring red lights. Police gave chase east on Pennsylvania Avenue for a dozen blocks. The chase then proceeded south on 1st St. NW/SW between Peace Circle and Garfield traffic circle.[4]

At Garfield Circle, uniformed and plain clothes Secret Service officers attempted to box the car in with at least five marked vehicles and one unmarked cruiser, on United States Capitol grounds, on the sidewalk on the east side of the circle. Four uniformed and two plainclothes officers proceeded to surround the car on foot with guns drawn, shouting orders. Carey eluded the box-in by backing into the Secret Service cruiser behind her and driving away, striking a Secret Service officer in the process. The suspect proceeded north at high speed, circling Peace Circle twice and then proceeding east on Constitution Avenue. She got as far as the northeast corner of the Capitol grounds, in the vicinity of the Hart Senate Office Building and came upon U.S Capitol Police Truck Interdiction Point at 2nd St and Maryland Ave NE with raised barriers blocking her path.[7] She then made a sharp left and crossed over the median and struck an unmarked police officer's vehicle that had stopped in front of the Hart Senate Office Building. After ignoring multiple police commands, she revved her engine in reverse at a U.S. Capitol Police Officer who was approaching the vehicle from behind.[7] As the officer ran towards the median to avoid being struck by Carey's vehicle, he and another officer from the U.S. Secret Service started firing. The two officers fired nine rounds each at the vehicle. The vehicle crashed into the kiosk and came to a rest. She was unconscious and did not get out of the vehicle. No officers fired after the vehicle crashed. It was at that time that officers discovered there was a young child in the vehicle and they safely removed the child from the vehicle.[7]

A shelter in place order was issued for the Capitol building during the incident.[8] A Capitol Police officer was injured when his car hit a barricade[9] during the chase near 1st and Constitution Avenue, and was medevaced by a U.S. Park Police helicopter, call sign "Eagle One" (N22PP), to MedStar Washington Hospital Center with non life-threatening injuries.[10][11] A U.S. Secret Service officer was struck by Carey's car on the White House grounds.[1][9]

Aftermath[edit]

Carey was brought to MedStar Washington Hospital Center and pronounced dead. There was an 18-month-old child, believed to be the victim’s daughter, in the back seat of the car. The child was unharmed and taken to a children's hospital.[12] The FBI obtained a search warrant and conducted a search of the woman's home in Stamford, Connecticut to try to determine the possible motivation of her actions. As a precaution, a bomb squad robot was used to enter inside Carey's house at 114 Woodside Green.[13][14][15][16]

Both U.S. Capitol Police and Washington DC Metropolitan Police revealed that they believed that the incident was isolated and not part of a terrorist plot.[17] Miriam Carey's sisters have questioned police actions in this chase.[18] In February 2014, Carey's family officially announced a wrongful death claim against the US Capitol Police and the Secret Service but still have never officially filed a lawsuit. The statute of limitations for a wrongful death lawsuit is 3 years. That time has expired.[19] The Secret Service has been criticized by various organizations for its handling of the incident, questioning the use of lethal force for a traffic mixup, citing at least 22 instances in which intruders have successfully breached the White House itself without resulting in a fatality. Carey's U-Turn at the White House check point and her subsequent path away from the building was captured on video by Al Hurra TV videographer Danny Farkas which was used during the news cycle following her death, as well as evidence in the US Attorneys Office investigation. Footage from this video has been used to justify claims that Secret Service used excessive force on Carey.[20] The Secret Service has since refused to release the video of Carey's death.[21]

On July 10, 2014, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced that no charges would be filed against the federal officers and agents, stating, "After a thorough review of all the evidence, the U.S. Attorney's Office concluded that the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers who were involved in the shooting used excessive force or possessed the requisite criminal intent at the time of the events."[22]

Miriam Carey[edit]

Miriam Iris Carey (August 12, 1979 – October 3, 2013)[23] of Stamford, Connecticut was a dental hygienist licensed to practice in New York and Connecticut.[15][24][25] She was born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. She obtained an associate degree in dental hygiene from Hostos Community College and graduated from Brooklyn College in 2007 with a degree in health nutrition science.[13][26][27][28][29] According to a family spokesman, Carey had previously been hospitalized for postpartum depression.[30] Carey's mother told ABC News that Carey had been depressed since giving birth. Carey's sister attested that she was "not delusional" and had been placed on a one-year medicated treatment plan for her postpartum depression.[21] Dr. Steven Oken, her employer for eight years, described Carey as a "non-political person" who was "always happy".[30] On the day of the incident, Carey was supposed to be taking her daughter to a doctor's appointment in Connecticut.[31] The FBI found two medications in her apartment, as well as a laptop, a flash drive and three nonfunctional cell phones. Federal officials said she may have suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder [32][33] Federal officials said no weapons were found in the car.[34] Carey's boyfriend reported concerns about her mental health and delusions to the Stamford, Connecticut Police Department. On December 10, 2012 Stamford police investigated the complaint and noted that Carey believed herself to be the "Prophet of Stamford" and insisted that Barack Obama had her house under electronic surveillance. These police records were released after a Freedom of Information Act (United States) request made by several media outlets.[35]

On May 20, 2015 a vigil was held in Union Square, Manhattan as part of the Say Her Name campaign to recognize the lives and deaths of black women killed or injured by police. Miriam Carey's family attended the vigil and her name was highlighted as one of the women to be recognized.[36] Carey's name and story has also been featured in the Say Her Name publication "Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women".[37] Carey has been mentioned by critics of the Black Lives Matter movement as an example of the perceived lack of Intersectionality within the movement, citing the lack of coverage and continued discussion of her death.[38]

#miriam carey #say her name

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