January 8, 2016

Ex-officer in Md. sentenced to 5 years for pointing gun at man’s head

A former Prince George’s County police officer convicted of assault and misconduct in office for putting a gun to a Maryland man’s head was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.

Jenchesky Santiago received the sentence for the May 2014 incident in which the officer was trying to impress friends, according to prosecutors.

Department officials condemned Santiago’s actions, which were captured on a cellphone video, and fired him Dec. 18.

Santiago, 26, had two friends from New Jersey riding in his police cruiser when he pulled over in front of the home of William Cunningham in Bowie. Cunningham was in a car with his cousin when Santiago repeatedly asked the men what they were doing and insisted that they were illegally parked, which prosecutors said was not true.

Santiago pressed the two men even after they explained that Cunningham lived in the home and said they planned to get out of the car and go inside. The incident escalated as Cunningham headed to the front door of his home.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/ex-officer-in-md-to-be-sentenced-for-pointing-gun-at-mans-head/2016/01/07/12c3f9c8-b3ef-11e5-9388-466021d971de_story.html?postshare=6651452273623219&tid=ss_tw-bottom

January 8, 2016

Guys Named ‘D-Money’ and ‘Shifty’ Are Bringing Heroin Into Maine and Impregnating White Girls?

Maine Gov. Paul LePage used what many believe was racially charged language during a town hall meeting Wednesday, when he claimed that people with names like "D-Money," "Smoothie" and "Shifty" were coming to the state to sell their heroin and impregnate a "young white girl before they leave."

According to CNN, the comments came after LePage was asked what the administration was doing to stop drugs in the area.

"These aren't the people who take drugs," LePage said, in comments first reported by the Portland Press Herald.

"These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty. These type of guys. They come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, then they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we've got to deal with down the road," the governor said.

Peter Steele, a spokesman for LePage, told CNN that the governor wasn't singling out any race but was addressing the issues of drug trafficking and kids who are born as a result.

"The governor is not making comments about race. Race is irrelevant. What is relevant is the cost to state taxpayers for welfare and the emotional costs for these kids who are born as a result of involvement with drug traffickers. His heart goes out to these kids because he had a difficult childhood too. We need to stop the drug traffickers from coming into our state," Steele said.


According to CNN, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign was one of the first to call LePage's comments "racist rants."

"Gov. LePage's comments tonight are not only offensive and hurtful, but they try to cover up the very real epidemic of drug abuse facing people in his state and across the country," Marlon Marshall, director of states and political engagement and a top African-American staffer for the Clinton campaign, said in a statement.

"LePage's racist rants sadly distract from efforts to address one of our nation's most pressing problems," he added.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/01/maine_gov_believes_people_named_d_money_and_shifty_are_bringing_heroin_into.html?wpisrc=burger?wpisrc=mostpopular

http://www.pressherald.com/2016/01/07/lepage-accused-of-making-racist-comment-at-bridgton-meeting/


I love how these comments supposedly weren't about race, but the Governor needed to mention those poor, pristine, victimized white girls...

January 8, 2016

She Botched the Zimmerman Trial, but Will Angela Corey Get Re-Elected in Fla.?

If you live in one of the 10 or so swing states for the 2016 presidential election, about 12 hours ago, you started getting bombarded with zillions of ads.

Whether they’re ads suggesting that Marco Rubio is an absentee senator or ads in which Donald Trump is promising to build a wall against Mexicans or Martin O’Malley is reminding you that he’s still actually running, their goal is to make you think the presidential election is the only important one in the country. But it isn’t.

Throughout 2016, The Root will be running a series called Race Watch 2016, in which we will highlight local races, policies, elections and issues that may not be getting national press but still deserve attention. We encourage you to write, donate and get involved in each of these elections. It may be your district, or maybe not, but whatever happens in these races has an impact on us all.

What’s the Election?

Florida, like many states, allows voters to elect local state attorneys. State attorneys are incredibly powerful and influential when it comes to issues of justice, jurisprudence and basic maintenance of rights, especially for African Americans. For every Marilyn Mosby who makes the nation exhale that perhaps justice will be done, there are literally hundreds of other state attorneys who don’t take their jobs seriously, who don’t perform their duties with integrity and whom voters should really consider in terms of whether or not they serve their communities.

Who’s Running?

Angela B. Corey, to represent Florida’s 4th Judicial Circuit, covering Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.

Corey’s name has faded into history over the last several years as high-profile cases with horrific videos have dominated the news, but her office is at ground zero for some of the most egregiously incompetent trial failures in recent history. Corey’s office prosecuted the horribly mismanaged trial of George Zimmerman, in which both her strategy and the effort of her office to secure a conviction came into question.

Since she was functioning as an objective officer of the court, no one expected her to pull a Chris Darden when Zimmerman got off, but you would have thought she was going to the Zimmerman team’s after-party, given her smirking, glib press conference after the trial. Corey also initially failed to get a murder conviction against Michael Dunn, who shot into a car full of black teenagers at a gas station, killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis, because he thought their music was too loud. (Dunn was later convicted in a retrial.)

Despite Corey’s ambivalence or incompetence in pursuing justice for the killing of unarmed black teenagers at the hands of white, cisgender male vigilantes, she seemed to have no problem seeking first a 20-year, then a 60-year sentence against Marissa Alexander, a black woman who fired warning shots to stave off her abusive husband. Corey has one of the lowest legal ratings of any state attorney in Florida, and when Law & Order: Special Victims Unit makes an episode about your shoddy legal work and has to add in a Paula Deen character to hammer home the point, perhaps it’s time for local voters to consider other options.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2016/01/race_watch_2016_she_botched_the_george_zimmerman_trial_but_will_angela_corey.html

January 8, 2016

"...Raise your kids not to play with fake guns stupid bitch..."

Cleveland school police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave after a local news station started asking about a Facebook post calling the mother of Tamir Rice a “stupid b*tch.”

Rice, a 12-year-old Cleveland boy, was shot and killed last year while playing with a toy gun by police officer Timothy Loehmann. Prosecutors last week declined to file charges against him. Two days after the decision was announced,Cleveland Metropolitan School District officer Matt Cicero posted the comments to his Facebook page, according to NewsNet5.

Cicero patrolled the school district Rice attended.

The page has since been deleted, but NewsNet took screen shots of the comments, errors included:

Tamir rices momma just want money. Lets make the proper changes……raise your kids not to play with fake guns stupid bitch. All this media because the are notgetting what they want…… Again pleeeeze anyone who does not like what I post…..unfriendly me or block me your not worth my time

Cicero responded to a Facebook friend who said the child didn’t deserve to die for simply playing with a toy by saying, “You pull out a gun you get shot. I don’t have time to ask questions and coddle kids that wave guns around.”

When asked about the post this week by NewsNet, Cicero wouldn’t comment.

Cleveland City Councilman Jeff Johnson said Cicero should be fired.

“It’s disrespectful to women, it’s disrespectful to African-Americans,” he said. “The fact that he’s so insensitive and he’s placing the blame of Tamir’s death on Tamir, for me that’s enough for him to be not working with children in the Cleveland school system.”

Cleveland Metropolitan School District spokeswoman Roseann Canfora called Cicero’s statements insensitive.

“While we respect every employee’s right to freedom of speech, with those rights comes a responsibility to do so in ways that are appropriate and sensitive to others, particularly to the people we serve,” she wrote in a statement to NewsNet.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/cleveland-school-officer-to-tamir-rices-mom-raise-your-kids-not-to-play-with-fake-guns-stupid-btch/

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/investigations/cmsd-resource-officer-under-investigation-after-newschannel-5-asks-about-his-tamir-rice-comments

January 8, 2016

Man with Greatest Name EVER Born on this day:

:

https://twitter.com/HighHeatStats/status/685470503629393920

January 8, 2016

Florida Man Who Sexually Exploited Middle Schoolers Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison

SAN DIEGO – Tony McLeod of Tampa, Florida, was sentenced in federal court today to 324 months in custody and a lifetime of supervised release for multiple sexual crimes against two Escondido children.

Following an eight-day trial and less than two hours of deliberation, McLeod was convicted by a federal jury in June of 2015 of seven counts of sexual exploitation of a child, one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a child, one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity as to a 14-year-old victim, and one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a child as to a 15-year-old victim. McLeod has been in custody since his arrest in Tampa, Florida in June 2013.

According to evidence presented to the jury, in spring 2013, McLeod struck up a friendship with the minor victims through on-line gaming. These friendships spilled over into phone calls, texts, and video chats between McLeod and the minors in which they discussed their personal lives and McLeod learned they were in middle school. Around May of 2013, McLeod’s relationships with these minors turned sexual in nature, which involved the exchange of sexually explicit photographs and videos. After one of the minor’s family members discovered the illicit relationship, McLeod traveled from his home in Tampa, Florida to Los Angeles, California, picked up that minor from his middle school in Escondido, and then transported that minor (under an alias) on a flight from California to Florida. On arrival of the flight, McLeod was arrested and taken into custody.

During the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino, the victims and their parents testified about the impact of McLeod’s actions. One of the minors, who was 14 years old when he travelled on the plane with McLeod, told Judge Sammartino, “I lost my childhood and lost my innocence.” The other victim, who had just turned 15 years old at the time of the offense, told the judge that McLeod’s actions and the aftermath “almost completely destroyed my family.” The mother of the 14-year-old victim testified that “we as a family have lost our sense of security.”

http://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/florida-man-who-sexually-exploited-escondido-middle-schoolers-sentenced-27-years-prison

Fucking sick....

January 8, 2016

Trooper in Sandra Bland traffic stop indicted, fired

HEMPSTEAD, Texas — A Texas state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland after a contentious traffic stop last summer was fired Wednesday after being charged with perjury for allegedly lying about his confrontation with the black woman who died three days later in jail.

Trooper Brian Encinia claimed in an affidavit that Bland was “combative and uncooperative” after he pulled her over and ordered her out of her car. The grand jury identified that affidavit in charging Encinia with perjury, special prosecutor Shawn McDonald said Wednesday night.

Hours after the indictment, the Texas Department of Public Safety said it would “begin termination proceedings” against Encinia, who has been on paid desk duty since Bland was found dead in her cell.

Bland’s arrest and death — which authorities ruled a suicide — provoked national outrage and drew the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement. Protesters linked Bland to other black suspects who were killed in confrontations with police or died in police custody, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/1231906/trooper-perjury-sandra-bland

January 6, 2016

USNS John Lewis

https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/684841235807354881

January 6, 2016

2 Navy Sub Commanders Relieved of Duties This Week

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa -- Two Navy submarine commanders were relieved of their duties this week because of a loss of confidence in their ability to command.

Capt. Dave Adams of the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Georgia was relieved Jan. 4 by Rear Adm. Randy Crites, the commander of Submarine Group 10 at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, during an investigation into a Nov. 25 crash that caused approximately $1 million in damage, a Navy statement said. The Georgia was reportedly returning to port when it struck a channel buoy and ran aground. The investigation remains open.

Adams was temporarily assigned to Submarine Group 10 and replaced by Capt. William Breitfelder, deputy commander of Submarine Squadron 16, the statement said. Breitfelder will assume provisional command until a permanent replacement is found.

Cmdr. Mike Conner of the Guam-based Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Oklahoma City was relieved Jan. 6 by Capt. Jeffrey Grimes, commander of Submarine Squadron 15, for unspecified reasons. A replacement for Conner has not been announced. He has been administratively reassigned to the staff of Submarine Squadron 15.

"Commanding officers are held to the highest standards of professional conduct and accept the responsibility of command with full regard for its consequences," the statement said.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/01/06/2-navy-sub-commanders-relieved-of-duties-this-week.html

What the hell is going on out there?

January 6, 2016

Thousands watch livestream of puddle in Newcastle(?)

It's currently blocking a popular pathway in the city centre.

Richard Rippon became so fascinated by the different ways people are tackling the large pool of water, he began streaming it on Periscope.

"Some people are Jesus-walking across it," he told Newsbeat,

"Some people are running and jumping."

As it became a "spectator sport" in his own office, he decided to set up a the live feed at 11.20am.

As many as 20,000 people have been watching.
Someone placed a caution wet floor

"We haven't had anyone fall in yet but there's still time," he says.

"The depth of the puddle varies. It's quite deceptive," he adds.

The puddle is on the way from Jesmond station to the centre of Newcastle "so quite a few people do pass through".

He explained: "There's a kind of British resilience to it. No one has turned back yet."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35245437/drummond-puddle-watch-thousands-watch-livestream-of-puddle-in-newcastle

https://www.periscope.tv/w/1YpKkrVPNVyxj