Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Knox County cop fired immediately after photos show brutal choking of student

April 28
Usually, after charges of police brutality, police officials take their time reacting while they follow procedure to determine who did what. But this episode in Knoxville, Tenn., was so extreme and well-documented that the local sheriff fired the officer immediately.
Frank Phillips, a Knox County Sheriff’s officer, was fired Sunday night after a series of pictures taken by photographer John Messner were published in the Daily Mail in Britain. They showed an officer identified by the Sheriff’s Office as Phillips grabbing 21-year-old college student Jarod Dotson around the neck and squeezing him until he fell to his knees.
WBIR reports that law enforcement responded to a “disturbance” near the University of Tennessee where a house party with about 800 people had reportedly become unruly and spilled out into the street.
According to a police report, Dotson ignored repeated instructions to go inside, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. Deputy Brandon Gilliam wrote in the official report that Dotson “began to physically resist officers’ instructions to place his hands behind his back, and at one point grabbed on to an officer’s leg.”
Messner, a freelance photographer who documented the incident, told The Washington Post that Dotson showed no signs of resisting arrest.
Messner’s still pictures, arranged by The Post in the GIF below, show two officers cuffing Dotson’s hands behind his back when Phillips came over and choked Dotson until he collapsed to his knees. Messner said that as Dotson was being pulled up he was smacked in the back of the head, “a snap-out-of-it kinda smack under the circumstances.”
Jarod Dotson was charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest. He was released from jail on a $500 bond Sunday morning.
In a press release on Sunday night, Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones said:
“In my 34 years of law enforcement experience, excessive force has never been tolerated. After an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards, I believe excessive force was used in this incident. The investigation will now be turned over to the Knox County Attorney General’s Office to determine any further action.”
Nick Kirkpatrick is a digital photo editor at The Washington Post. Follow him on Instagram or on Twitter.

Monday, December 1, 2014

KU Journalism Major Shreds “Case” Against Mike Brown

http://kansasexposed.org/2014/11/29/ku-journalism-major-shreds-case-against-mike-brown/

KU Journalism Major Shreds “Case” Against Mike Brown

 
 
 
 
 
 
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864 Votes



Shelby Lawson is a student at the University of Kansas, majoring in Journalism and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Lawson posted the following to her Facebook page: 
“Alright y’all. I’d like to clear a few things up. This is a general address to the long list of misconceptions and inconsistencies and abuses of power that exist surrounding the killing of Mike Brown. I have researched these points and provided sources in case you wish to do some reading of your own.
-The most common misconception I’m hearing is that Mike Brown was significantly larger than Officer Wilson. This is incorrect. On page 198 of the official grand jury transcript, you can see that Officer Wilson testifies he is 6 ft 4 and weighs 210 lbs, the same size as Mike Brown.
(source)
-Mike Brown was NOT stopped because he was a suspect in crime. He and his friend Dorian Johnson were stopped for jaywalking, as Darren Wilson testifies to on page 208 of his grand jury testimony.
-Mike Brown WAS fleeing from Officer Wilson when he was fatally shot. Wilson confirms this on page 281 of his grand jury testimony.
-Officer Wilson broke police self-defense protocol, which teaches to disarm and incapacitate rather than kill and teaches officers to go for body shots. Officer Wilson shot Mike Brown twice in the head, after he shot him four times in his arm and torso.
(source)
-Ferguson Police ignored protocol and refused to interview or take a statement from the eyewitness present from Officer Wilson’s initial contact with Mike Brown until his death.
(source)
-The forensic examiner broke protocol by failing to take crime scene photos. On page 95 of the grand jury transcript, she claims that this was because her camera had died, however, she goes on to describe how she immediately followed Wilson to the hospital in order to photograph his “injuries.”
-Forensic investigators broke protocol by failing to test Officer Wilson’s gun for fingerprints, since Wilson claims that Brown grabbed his gun and caused it to misfire. Page 39, grand jury transcript.
-Darren Wilson was then allowed to break protocol by washing the blood off of himself before it could be photographed, making it impossible to analyze blood spatter patterns and determine what position Mike Brown was in when Wilson first shot him. Wilson recounts this on page 10 of his official police interview.
(source)
-While Officer Wilson’s story of what happened that day has changed at least three times, six separate eyewitnesses, four of whom have never met each other, all have identical accounts of what happened. They were never interviewed by police.
(source)
-These eyewitnesses all agree that Darren Wilson was the aggressor and that Mike Brown was shot while surrendering, with his hands in the air and that his last words were “I don’t have a gun. Stop shooting.”
-This is backed up by Mike Brown’s autopsy, which suggests that Mike Brown would have had to be in the hands-up position for the bullets to enter his hand and arm the way they did.
(source)
-Furthermore, in a press conference, the coroner who performed Mike Brown’s autopsy relays that there was no trace of gun shot residue anywhere on his body, proving that Wilson’s claim that Mike Brown grabbed his gun, causing it to misfire, is impossible and untrue.
(source)
-Ferguson Police lied about the distance Mike Brown was from Officer Wilson when he was killed. They reported it was 35 ft. but it was in fact 148 ft.
(source)
-Owner of Ferguson Market states that he did not call police to report a theft of cigars, that the theft had nothing to do with Mike Brown, and that the man on the security footage is not Mike Brown.
(source)
-The prosecuting attorney for the case against Darren Wilson has helped raise $600,000 in donations for Darren Wilson, creating a clear conflict of interest.
(source)
-The police department that Officer Wilson worked for prior to coming to Ferguson was disbanded after multiple instances of racial profiling.”
(source)

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Sam Pepper - The Real "Reveal" (Warning: Explicit Content)


Published on Sep 24, 2014
Before you say you need more proof, go here: http://anonsurvior111.tumblr.com/post...

& Hospital Records: http://anonsurvior111.tumblr.com/post...

I'm not going to make other girls stand alone with their stories. I have spent the last two and a half months searching the internet for other girls who might have encountered Sam in the way I did. I'm asking you to come forward, even though it's scary. We are not alone:
Anonymous Rape Confession #2: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis...
Laci: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9qVa...
Dottie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wgvi...
Neesey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA9ZN...
Shirley: http://shirleyhatessam.tumblr.com/pos...
Bryony and Abbey: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis...

Friday, September 26, 2014

Sam Pepper Exposed - Open Letter by Laci Green


Published on Sep 25, 2014
TW. the disturbing unheard stories & what we can do about sexual predators on youtube

twitter for updates - http://www.twitter.com/gogreen18

let's be facebook friends! http://www.facebook.com/officiallacig...

Tumblr for gifs & pics! (SFW) - http://lacigreen.tumblr.com

Need my help or someone to talk to about possible YouTube abuse? You can reach me at lacigreen[dot]tv/contact.

My Open Letter to Sam: http://lacigreen.tumblr.com/post/9808...

Book Laci at your school for sexual violence prevention programs: http://www.lacigreen.tv/programs

TESTIMONIALS AND STORIES
Dottie, assaulted on a date: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wgvi...

Shirley J, assaulted on a date: http://shirleyhatessam.tumblr.com/pos...

Anonymous video rape admission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vIh2...

Sam solicits nude pictures from a minor: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis...

SUMMARY
In this video, Laci Green reviews Sam Pepper's history of sexual harassment/assault in YouTube videos and the subsequent reveal of behind the scenes sexual abuse. She also sheds light on other people assaulting women in their YouTube videos and calls the community to action with a few simple steps.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

REPORT: Bush Released 171 Gitmo Prisoners Who Returned to Battle; Obama? Just 7

http://firebrandprogressives.org/report-bush-released-171-gitmo-prisoners-returned-battle-obama-7/

By now, anyone who follows politics and is able to think with a rational mind can clearly see the double standards in the reactions from Republicans to similar events which occurred under both George W. Bush and President Obama.
Lets start with BENGHAZI! The typical malleable Fox News viewer likely has the impression that nothing similar occurred under the Bush regime, probably because Fox conveniently didn’t bother to cover it extensively, or much less ever question the circumstances surrounding those events, or criticize the Bush administration for anything that they might have done wrong. They have a viewpoint to live up to, dammit, as well as a willfully ignorant audience to cater to.
But under Bush, there were 13 similar events that occurred when he was
ruining the countrypresident for (gulp) 8 years. Under President Obama, Benghazi is the only attack which resulted in fatalities, four in that case. Under Bush, a total of 60 people were killed – not counting any attackers who perished – including a total of 11 Americans.
Where were the congressional investigations into those attacks, especially given that in some of those attacks, there were sufficient warnings that American consulates were about to be attacked by foreign interests? We’re now on our 8th congressional investigation of what happened with Benghazi, because apparently the first 7 didn’t do enough to implicate President Obama or the likely next president if she runs, Hillary Clinton. Where were all the Republicans and right-wing media gasbags when these embassy and consulate attacks took place under President Bush?

Well, we know the answer to that. They were looking the other way, or were too busy trying to justify a clusterf*ck war being fought on false pretenses in Iraq. And they were fighting a culture war, trying to save Christmas from the millions and millions of Americans who are out to destroy it.
That brings us to the latest trumped up scandal: The swap of 5 Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay for the release of American soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held captive for 5 years in Afghanistan. In between obsessing over Bob Bergdahl’s Muslim-y beard, Fox News and other conservative outlets have been railing on President Obama for releasing 5 bad guys from Gitmo who may end up attacking U.S. interests again.
Well, here again we must take a hard turn away from the Fox News script and point out that while even President Obama acknowledged the released bad guys could indeed end up back on the battlefield against U.S. interests, there were just a few more bad guys released from Gitmo under Bush. A total of… wait for it… 532! And out of those 532, 171 of them were confirmed or suspected of having returned to the battlefield. Under President Obama, only 7 have met that description.
And according to the U.S. Intelligence Agency, that includes Ibrahim Sen, who was later arrested in Turkey charged as the leader of an active al Qaeda cell, and Abdullah Mahsud, whom Pakistan government officials accuse of directing a suicide attack in April 2007 that killed 31 people.
And further throwing a monkey wrench into the conservative media’s talking points is that another one of the bad guys released under Bush is suspected of having been involved in the Benghazi attack.
How’s that for irony?
Apparently, the Republican strategy consists of throwing as much mud as possible at Democrats and hoping enough of it sticks so they have a fighter’s chance of winning back the Senate and even the presidency in the coming elections. And to conveniently ignore their own transgressions, which occurred under a much greater scale on many fronts under the disastrous George W. Bush reign of terror.
H/T: Liberaland

Friday, June 6, 2014

What Republicans Don’t Want You to Know: 500 + Detainees Were Released from GITMO Under Bush

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/06/05/500-detainees-released-transferred-guantanamo-george-w-bush.html



Yet another exercise in exploring the depth of Republican hypocrisy and hysteria. This one is about OH MY GOD IMPEACHING OBAMA BECAUSE GITMO TRANSFEREES!
In a June 2nd press briefing, questions were asked regarding the transfer of the five Guantánamo (Gitmo) detainees in exchange for the successful recovery of Sergeant Bergdahl, a prisoner of war in Afghanistan. Press Secretary Jay Carney explained that there were restrictions made in the prisoner exchange, which is not an uncommon occurrence in armed conflicts.
From the White House transcript:
Q As you know, there have been detainees who have returned to the battlefield. What are the guarantees, other than just a one-year ban on travel on these five detainees that they won’t go back and target U.S. interests, U.S. personnel, U.S. military?
MR. CARNEY: Again, I’ll re-stipulate that prisoner exchanges are not uncommon in armed conflicts. Secondly, I’ll say that without getting into specific assurances, I can tell you that they included a travel ban and information-sharing on the detainees between our governments, between the United States and Qatar. I can also tell you that the assurances were sufficient to allow the Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, in coordination with the national security team, to determine that the threat posed by the detainees to the United States would be sufficiently mitigated and that the transfer was in the U.S. national security interest.
So this was done after the appropriate consideration and analysis, and it was the judgment of the Secretary of Defense in coordination with the entire national security team that there was sufficient mitigation in place and assurances in place to allow the exchange.
Republicans are acting as if Obama never should have done this. Senator Lindsey Graham is talking impeachment if Obama releases any more prisoners or tries once again to close Gitmo. Yet, in 2009, PolitiFact confirmed that “More than 500 Guantánamo detainees were released or transferred under Bush.”
Indeed, government documents indicate more than 500 detainees were released or transferred from Guantanamo while George W. Bush was president. A White House executive order issued on the second day of Obama’s presidency said, “The federal government has moved more than 500 such detainees from Guantánamo, either by returning them to their home country or by releasing or transferring them to a third country.”
That’s backed up by a fact sheet from the military task force that runs the detention camp, which says 520 detainees had been released or transferred by March 2009.
PolitiFact then got into the weeds of release versus transfer, with a transfer being a situation where there are restrictions (as appears to be the case with the prisoners transferred in exchange for Bergdahl). Maybe someone should tell Lindsey Graham, too.
But the Pentagon says there is a difference between a release and a transfer to another country. The vast majority of detainees leave Gitmo under a transfer, which means they are transported to another country that places them under some type of restrictions. Some are incarcerated in those countries because of criminal charges, while others face monitoring or travel limitations.
Carney noted we successfully recovered Sergeant Bergdahl (this is exactly the sort of discussion Republicans are hoping to avoid), “(T)his was the right thing to do, because we in the United States do not leave our men and women in uniform behind during an armed conflict. And five years is a very long time to be a prisoner.”
The bottom line is Obama got Osama, and now Obama successfully recovered our single prisoner in the Afghanistan war. So, Republicans are attacking Bergdahl and his family in dishonorable and stunningly disturbed ways, hoping to mitigate what they see as another Obama success.
Republicans have muddied the waters of every single Obama success. There has not been one occasion upon which they have been able to set aside their partisan agenda in order to cheer or praise a positive occurrence under Obama. They made sure no one gave Obama credit for bin Laden and now they’re at it again.
Ironically, even if the Republican smear campaign against Bergdahl and his family was accurate (and no one judging Bergdahl is in any position to sift through the facts as broken down here, so the discussion is irrelevant and ridiculous), the bottom line is we don’t leave our troops behind.
Clueless Republicans might want to note that it’s not because we deem them all heroic characters fit for the black and white world in which conservatives live — the ultimate Good Guy. It’s because practically speaking, we need to protect our assets, including information. If we have reason to suspect an asset has been compromised it behooves us to determine to what extent.
Republicans have chosen to troll Obama’s national security successes until the press is embroiled in discussing their accusations rather than the success. We can’t have a moment of national pride in a job well done—oh, no. Not while a Democrat is in the White House.
Note: Per the Pentagon’s distinction, the title to this article should read “released or transferred”. However, for the sake of brevity and due to common usage in the national dialogue on this issue, we’ve used “released”.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

VOTE!!

Disrespectful NOT to Vote - let alone Not Voting is a Vote AGAINST your best interest - we fought hard to make our voices heard - at the very least make your voice heard - even if what you vote for loses - put your voice on record - it Really is the LEAST you can do for America.

http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Voting.shtml

http://registertovote.org/index.html

Murder, So Rote - The Daily Show

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is sadly all too on point with this segment. "Of course there's nothing we can do to stop this from happening. Even though pretty much every other developed country has somehow stopped this from happening."
Love Jon Stewart - weird that a Comedy Show is on Point and the So-called News is so Off Point. We need to go back to regulating Journalism & Real News - you used to have to face jail time if you aired an news story without facts or relieving your news source - now it is ALL lies and spin - so sad that Truth is sniffled and all we have are stories to pacify America - to make us 'Good Puppies' to be easily controlled so the 1% can keep stealing from the rest of us and taking Our Money Out of America - they are literally Raping America & All Americans!!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

tax on wealth (such as suggested by Thomas Piketty) “un-American?

I debated a conservative Republican yesterday who insisted that a tax on wealth (such as suggested by Thomas Piketty) was “un-American.” He said it would be “double-taxation” since the income that created the wealth had already been taxed. I explained we already have a tax on wealth. It’s called the property tax on home values. But because homes are the major (and often sole) asset of the middle class, while most of the wealth of America’s rich is held in stocks and bonds, the property tax is regressive. So why not get rid of the property tax and substitute a broad-based wealth tax, whose revenues could be used to give all Americans a first-class education? What do you think?