damnedifIknow
damnedifIknow's JournalOfficer Darren Wilson Arrests Man for Filming Him ?
*As tension begins to build due to the pending grand jury decision to indict or not indict Officer Darren Wilson for the death of Michael in Ferguson, MO., a new video from 2013 reveals that Wilson had once threatened and arrested a man for videotaping him with a mobile phone.
The video was posted last week by a guy named Mike Arman. It shows Officer Wilson on Arman’s property at the edge of his garden path and telling him:
“If you wanna take a picture of me one more time, I’m gonna lock your ass up.”
“Sir, I’m not taking a picture, I’m recording this incident sir,” Arman responded. “Do I not have the right to record?”
“No, you don’t; come on,” Wilson said, and promptly arrested him.
*A Ferguson PD spokesman told the Guardian that the officer in the video is not Wilson, but the incident report says that Wilson went to Arman’s house that day to issue a court summons regarding derelict vehicles on his property."
Video at link: http://www.eurweb.com/2014/11/watch-im-gonna-lock-your-ass-up-officer-darren-wilson-arrests-man-for-filming-him/
Police Brutality Allegation Payouts
Darren Wilson Grand Jury Decision: 5 Possible Outcomes
1. The Grand Jury Could Choose To Bring Charges Against Wilson
If the jury decides there is probable cause to believe that a crime was committed, Wilson’s case will go to trial.
2. The Grand Jury Could Choose Not To Bring Charges Against Wilson
The jury could decide there is not enough proof that Wilson may have committed a crime.
3. The State Attorney General Could Choose To Prosecute Wilson
Should the grand jury not bring charges against Wilson, the state attorney general could choose to prosecute Wilson
4. The U.S. Justice Department Could Bring Charges Against Wilson
Federal investigators have conducted their own probe into Brown’s death. However, they would have to provide evidence that Wilson meets the high legal standard for a successful civil rights prosecution
5. Brown’s Family Could File A Civil Suit Against Wilson
Even if Wilson is acquitted on all indictments, Brown’s parents could sue the officer for wrongful death in civil court.
http://www.ibtimes.com/darren-wilson-grand-jury-decision-5-possible-outcomes-ferguson-police-officer-after-1723472
Jury Way Out on a Federal Prosecution of Darren Wilson
The moment that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson gunned down Michael Brown, the cry went up for a federal investigation and prosecution of Wilson on civil rights charges. Brown's family and attorney and many civil rights leaders had absolutely no confidence that Wilson would ever be arrested, charged or indicted.
A non-indictment tosses the ball back to the Justice Department. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder certainly has had a firm and visible handprint all over the Brown killing case. He quickly flooded Ferguson with teams of federal investigators in the aftermath of the killing, ordered an autopsy of Brown and made several high-profile appearances in Ferguson and St. Louis. He's also filed civil rights charges against nearly 400 cops during his tenure. That number far exceeds the number filed during the George W. Bush years."
*The official autopsy report that Wilson sympathizers in the St. Louis County coroner's office made sure was plastered all over the media appeared to give just enough credence to Wilson's contention that he was in a struggle for his life and had no choice but to shoot Brown even the multiple times that he did.
Holder will have the final say on a federal prosecution. But that further compounds the problem. Since he will soon depart the post, and with a GOP-controlled Congress, the public and political pressure will be even more intense for the department not to pursue charges."
Brown's family, their attorneys and civil rights leaders face the bitter reality that if Wilson walks, the feds may well not second guess the state and prosecute. The jury remains way out on that heartbreaking possibility."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/jury-way-out-on-a-federal_b_6139304.html
None Dare Call It Treason: Why Republicans Won
*Let's begin the 2016 campaign season by calling Republican politicians by their true name: traitors. Enemies of the United States of America.
The Republican descent into treason began with Ronald Reagan and his deplorable "Reaganomics." At the forefront of this philosophy were three big lies: helping the rich get richer would inevitably help everyone else; markets were inherently self correcting and therefore there was no need for government regulation; and the US did not need an economic strategy because that was a natural consequence of the free market.
In 1981, the Republican Party embraced plutocracy and ushered in a thirty-year period where America's working families were abandoned in favor of the rich. Inequality rose as middle class income and wealth declined. As corporate power increased, unions were systematically undermined. As CEO salaries soared, fewer families earned living wages.
*On August 29th, President Obama identified the Republican political strategy: "There has been a certain cynical genius to what [Republicans] have done in Washington. What they've realized is, if we don't get anything done, then people are going to get cynical about government and its possibilities of doing good for everybody" And the more cynical people get, the less they vote. And if turnout is low and people don't vote, that pretty much benefits [the Republicans] who benefit from the status quo." That's what happened in 2014. Republican voters turned out but Democrats were depressed about the prospects for change and didn't vote."
Liberals can fight back. We can call Republicans on their immoral plan to ruin democracy. Liberals must call Republicans by their true names: traitors."
http://www.opednews.com/articles/None-Dare-Call-It-Treason-by-Bob-Burnett-Republican_Republican-Extremism_Republican-GOP-Dirty-Tricks_Republican-Hypocrisy-141107-193.html
AG pick Lynch called strong civil rights defender
*Lynch has overseen corruption, terrorism and gang cases in her years as a federal prosecutor. But it's her involvement some 15 years ago in the Louima prosecution that gave her high-profile experience in step with a core priority of the Justice Department.
"It is certainly significant that she has a personal history of involvement in prosecuting police misconduct," said Samuel Bagenstos, the former No. 2 official in the department's civil rights division. "Obviously that will be helpful, and probably suggests that police misconduct cases will continue to be a priority of the Lynch Justice Department just as they were with the Holder Justice Department."
*"She has spent years in the trenches as a prosecutor, aggressively fighting terrorism, financial fraud, cybercrime, all while vigorously defending civil rights," Obama said in introducing Lynch at the White House ceremony Saturday. He said her prosecution of the officers in the Louima case was "one of her proudest achievements."
But there's also no doubt that selecting someone with civil rights experience could reaffirm the government's commitment to that cause. That figures to be an especially important signal to send as community members in Ferguson brace for the real prospect that state and federal investigations into the shooting death of Michael Brown will close without criminal charges, outcomes that could disillusion civil rights activists and community members."
http://news.yahoo.com/ag-pick-lynch-called-strong-civil-rights-defender-191002270--politics.html
Is there a link between religion and mental illness?
* 99.8% ofprison inmates are theists and more than 80% of them Christian. (1) A recent in-depth study shows that religiosity correlates negatively with societal health. (2) Teen pregnancy is highest in states with the most evangelical Christians. (3) Divorce rates are highestamong evangelical Christians. (4)
In addition to general social problems connected to Christianity, there is a whole gamut ofmental illnesses related to religion. Hyper-religiosity is a recognised mental illness – an obsession with religion to the detriment of the rest of the individual’s needs. (5) Religious scrupulosity – an anxiety disorder in which people agonise over their every action, concerned that they may have been committing a sin, until they can no longer live anormal life is a form of anxiety disorder for which psychiatrists are consulted. (6)
Most common of all is thought to be religious OCD although it is hard to know how many cases of this there actually are because it is unethical for psychiatrists to diagnose someone with a mental illness if their fears are supported by scripture or doctrine. Sufferers will be unable to prevent themselves thinking blasphemous thoughts, denying the holy spirit or imagining having sex with Christ and will then feel the compulsion to pray endlessly or recite bible verses multiple times to repent of the thought. "
*This is the problem in a nutshell –‘ the sufferer is not aware of the inappropriatenessand strangeness of their actions nor their unreasonable nature’ because all of this seems real and normal to the individual brought up to believe they are inherently sinful, that they are being judged at all times by an omnipotent being and may be cast into eternal torture. To be a thoughtful, devout Christian who accepts all the tenets ofChristianity is to accept the strange and the inappropriate and the unreasonable and toattempt to live your life by it.
How can this possibly lead to mental health?"
http://lifeafter40.net/2014/11/01/is-there-a-link-between-religion-and-mental-illness/
Mike Brown’s Mom Is Taking Her Son’s Case to the UN in Geneva
Lesley McSpadden, the mother of the 18-year-old boy whose death at the hands of a Ferguson police officer in August sparked weeks of protests, is going to Geneva, Switzerland next month to speak about her son and other victims of police brutality in front of the United Nations."
The trip — which was recently made public by organizers and promoted under the tagline "Ferguson to Geneva" — is meant to make a case, to as wide an audience as possible, that both Brown's killing and the militarized police response to protesters demanding justice for him, are a matter of human rights"
*Wade said he first thought to take Ferguson's fight for justice to the UN after learning of a similar initiative by a group of youth of color in Chicago, who planned to also go to Geneva this fall to denounce their experience as targets of police violence — an initiative they dubbed, "We charge genocide."
https://news.vice.com/article/mike-browns-mom-is-taking-her-sons-case-to-the-un-in-geneva
Justice Department lowers the boom on the Albuquerque Police.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Albuquerque, New Mexico, Police Department will undergo reform and be monitored for use of excessive force under an agreement announced on Friday between the city and the U.S. Justice Department.
The agreement follows a federal investigation that concluded the department used excessive, even deadly, force against passive civilians. People suffering from mental illness were disproportionately targeted, the investigation found.
Under the new rules, Albuquerque police will be prohibited from firing at moving vehicles, required to wear body cameras to record their encounters and limited in their use of electronic control weapons, such as tasers."
The Justice Department inquiry, which was prompted by public complaints, concluded that a majority of 20 fatal officer-involved-shootings from 2009 to 2012 were unconstitutional. In one high profile case, a U.S. veteran of the Iraq war suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder was killed in an incident that led to a $10 million civil judgment against the city."
A U.S. Department of Justice report cited Albuquerque police in April for engaging in a “pattern and practice” of using excessive force, and Police Chief Gorden Eden told officers the following month they could no longer carry their personal weapons – including AR-15s – in the field.
The DOJ report found officers would purchase expensive weapons they viewed as “status symbols.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/01/1340812/-Justice-Department-lowers-the-boom-on-the-Albuquerque-Police
How The Southern Baptists Are Still Completely Failing Transgender People
Back in June, the SBC approved a resolution “On Transgender Identity,” which declared that “gender identity is determined by biological sex and not by one’s self-perception,” describing transgender and intersex identities as manifestations of “human fallenness.” The resolution also expressed opposition to any form of physical gender transition, as well as any governmental or cultural validations of transgender identities."
*Insisting that the Bible dictates everything that a person needs to follow, Burk dismissed all of the research that shows that gender is fixed and that there are mental health consequences for denying a person’s gender identity. "
Brynn Tannehill, a transgender activist and Director of Advocacy for the transgender military organization SPART*A, took personal exception to Burk’s claims. She pointed out to ThinkProgress that there is an increasing amount of research that demonstrates that transgender identities have a biological origin."
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/10/31/3587156/erlc-transgender/
Personally I believe it takes outstanding courage to live as yourself, and I admire that courage.
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