Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) helped get Trump impeached, but now there’s a new battle: his SCOTUS pick. She worked within the government’s Internal Affairs department and became one of the impeachment managers in Trump’s case after 27 years as an Orlando police officer. And impeached he was. So on this members-only bonus episode of The New Abnormal, co-host Molly Jong-Fast asks for her thoughts on Trump’s SCOTUS appointment and how exactly Democrats and citizens alike can stop it. Source link
Police brutality
110 posts
Every element of the criminal system is implicated in the failure to secure justice for Breonna Taylor. The cops, per the judge who signed off the warrant that set the events leading to Taylor’s murder in motion, likely obtained that paperwork using fabricated information. Shoddy police work saw Louisville law enforcement raid Taylor’s home despite the fact that the suspect they sought was already in their custody. The three officers who killed Taylor wildly fired more than 30 rounds between them into the darkness of her apartment, pumping at least six fatal shots into her body. They then ignored their own […]
Paramount Network might have canceled Cops earlier this year but evidently the show is not dead yet; its production company has begun filming new episodes. Cops and the similarly-themed A&E show Live PD were both canceled earlier this year amid protests against police brutality. Although new episodes will not air in the U.S., a representative for Cops producer Langley Prods. told Deadline they will still debut in international territories. After George Floyd died at the hands of four police officers in Minneapolis, Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the country—spurring a re-evaluation of America’s relationship with its police force and, by […]
A Texas sheriff has been charged with tampering with evidence in the case of Black man whose death while in police custody was caught on camera by the controversial reality TV show Live PD. A Williamson County grand jury on Monday indicted Sheriff Robert Chody for allegedly destroying or concealing the Live PD footage showing the arrest and death of Javier Ambler, a 40-year-old Black man who was tased by authorities four times in March 2019. Former Williamson County general counsel Jason Nassour was also indicted on a felony evidence tampering charge for destroying recordings “with intent to impair their ability […]
Sometimes there is a difference between law and justice. On Wednesday, Kentucky Attorney General Dan Cameron announced that a police officer would be charged in the shooting incident that killed Breonna Taylor. But the officer who was charged is not one of the officers who shot at her. Former Detective Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing shots that entered a neighboring apartment where a couple and their five-year old child were sleeping. They were not physically harmed. Hankinson was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department after the incident for violating policy that forbids shooting […]
The Seattle Police Department is investigating after a video showed one of its cops rolling a bike over the head and neck of a fallen protester at Wednesday night’s Breonna Taylor demonstrations. Protests erupted in the city in response to officers in Louisville, Kentucky, not being charged for fatally shooting the 26-year-old Black woman. The SPD confirmed in a statement that 13 people were arrested at the Seattle demonstrations and complained that multiple officers had been injured, including one who was struck in the head with a baseball bat. However, the shocking video, which appears to show an SPD officer rolling […]
Does Brooklyn Nine-Nine qualify as “copaganda?” That’s a question that Joe Lo Truglio and the rest of the cast probably never imagined having to answer when they signed on seven years ago. As Lo Truglio tells me on this week’s episode of The Last Laugh podcast, the NBC comedy’s eighth season is currently scheduled to start production the day before the 2020 election. When the cast and crew finally return to the set after a longer than expected hiatus, it will be in a culture that thinks very differently about how police are portrayed on television. “I know the writers have […]
On Tuesday night, Avengers star Mark Ruffalo joined a socially distant version of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. After exchanging some light pleasantries, the two got down to business, discussing the shooting of Jacob Blake—by a police officer, seven times in the back; the ongoing protests and riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin; and Trump’s divisive rhetoric in the wake of it all. You see, the Oscar-nominated actor is perhaps the most famous living person from Kenosha—since Orson Welles is no longer with us—and as such, the unrest in the city hit close to home, literally. “These protests have been predominately peaceful. […]
In October of 2006, the FBI released an intelligence assessment titled, “White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement.” Though the document—culled from FBI investigations and open sources—was heavily redacted, it reached a number of disturbing conclusions. The assessment revealed that white supremacists “have historically engaged in strategic efforts to infiltrate and recruit from law enforcement communities”; that many of these white-supremacist infiltrators are known as “ghost skins” who “avoid overt displays of their beliefs to blend in”; and that the KKK have longstanding “ties to local law enforcement.” These firm ties between white supremacists and law enforcement persist to this day. Last […]
Minneapolis prosecutors argued Friday that the four ex-cops charged in George Floyd’s death should face a single jury after participating in the May 25 incident “together”—but their lawyers argued a collective trial would be against the “interest of justice” in the latest indication the men are turning on each other. During a court appearance, attorneys for Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, Thomas K. Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng argued each of their clients should get their own trial, highlighting the media scrutiny of the case and the differing roles each played in the tragic arrest. In filings prior to Friday’s hearing, each […]
Chaos erupted in Rochester, New York, following the posting of footage showing police violently arresting a man who later died in the hospital. The incident saw the entire management staff of the police force resign after they were linked to the killing. Over a dozen semi-naked protesters wearing “spit hoods” sat in protest at the entrance to Rochester’s City Hall on Thursday, following the death of Daniel Prude in police custody. Protesters sat in front of the City Hall entrance on Church Street, with mesh coverings, known as “spit hoods,” over their heads, in reference to the way Prude was arrested and later died on […]
The chief of the Rochester Police Department announced he would resign Tuesday following the release of shocking footage of the March death of a 41-year-old Black man in police custody. La’Ron Singletary leaves the department after 20 years under heavy scrutiny over the death of Daniel Prude. His top two officers in the department—Deputy Chief Joseph Morabito and Deputy Chief Mark Simmons—also handed in their resignation. Singletary did not name a successor. City council members told Rochester’s Democrat & Chronicle they learned of the resignations as they happened. The city’s mayor, Lovely Warren, had previously accused Singletary of failing to handle […]
The Metropolitan Police Department on Thursday released bodycam footage of an officer fatally shooting 18-year-old Deon Kay seconds after arriving at the scene in Washington, D.C. Officers say the Black teen “brandished a firearm” during the Wednesday encounter, prompting one cop to shoot him in the chest. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, spurring immediate protests across the nation’s capital that continued into Thursday outside the mayor’s home. Officials revealed Thursday the officer who shot Kay is Alexander Alvarez, who joined the MPD in 2018. The body-camera footage, which was released less than 24 hours after the incident, […]
A 41-year-old Black man suffocated to death in March after police in Rochester, New York, pinned him to the ground. Though Daniel Prude’s death occurred nearly six months ago, details became public at a press conference organized by his family Wednesday, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Body camera footage of the altercation also became available Wednesday, which Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren called “disturbing.” She said, “I can sympathize and empathize with the family.” Joe Prude, the victim’s brother, called the police’s actions “cold-blooded murder” and said officers treated him “like a damned animal.” “I placed a phone call to […]
Riots ignited in Kenosha and other US cities after white police, called to the scene of a domestic incident last week, shot African American Jacob Blake seven times in the back. Sputnik is live from Kenosha, Wisconsin, where protesters are marching on Saturday against police brutality and racial discrimination following the shooting of African-American Jacob Blake by a white police officer named Rusten Sheskey. In May, authorities accused Blake of unlawfully entering a home and sexually assaulting a woman, before leaving with her vehicle, according to media reports. Following the shooting by Sheskey, Blake underwent several surgeries and is recovering in […]
I dare you to examine the 1989 murder of Yusuf Hawkins and tell me America has changed. Yusuf Hawkins was a 16-year-old Black teenager who, along with three friends, went to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, one summer night to look at a used car his buddy Troy had found for sale in the newspaper. Yusuf didn’t know anyone in Bensonhurst, but he and his friends found themselves surrounded by a mob of 30 young white men swinging baseball bats, wielding handguns, and accusing them of not belonging in their all-white neighborhood. The mostly Italian men forced themselves between Yusuf and his friends, pinned […]
At 9:30 p.m., as hundreds of protesters marched down Kenosha’s streets to protest a police shooting that left 29-year-old Jacob Blake paralyzed, National Association of Police Organizations President Michael McHale took to the stage at the Republican convention to chide Democrats for disrespecting America’s police officers. “Chaos results when elected officials in cities like Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York make the conscious and very public decision not to support law enforcement,” McHale told millions of Americans who have watched as scenes of police violence consume our daily lives. “The violence we are seeing… isn’t happening by chance; it’s the direct […]
Before the NBA kicked off its rebooted season in Disney World, promises were made. The league and Commissioner Adam Silver swore that despite being ensconced in a semipermeable bubble in Orlando, Florida, players would in no way be hindered from participating in the nationwide uprising against police brutality and state-sanctioned violence largely inflicted upon people of color. In fact, their voices would not only be heard, but amplified, according to Silver, as long as they continued to both literally and figuratively play ball. At the time, some players weren’t convinced. They voiced concerns that once the vast bulk of the sports-loving […]
Before Jacob Blake was shot at least seven times in the back on Sunday night, the Kenosha, Wisconsin police department had long been plagued by aggressive officers, claims of corruption, and a lack of accountability—including the grisly beating of two teenagers on video and a fatal shooting by a cop who was on his first day back at work after another shooting. “Corruption, lies, multiple evidence plantings, and deceit existed throughout the entire Kenosha criminal justice system,” concluded one report, commissioned by the Wisconsin state Supreme Court in 2017 after officers allegedly lied and planted evidence in a murder case. Bystander […]
As Kenosha, Wisconsin, braces for a third night of protests against the shooting of Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old’s family on Tuesday decried racial injustice while calling for peace and the “healing of our country.” “My son has been fighting for his life, and we just really need prayers. As I was riding through here, through the city, I noticed a lot of damage. That doesn’t reflect my son or my family,” Julia Jackson, Blake’s mother, said in a Tuesday press conference. “If Jacob knew what was going on, as far as that goes, the violence & destruction, he would be very […]
After an evening of unrest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Wisconsin authorities vowed that “justice will be served” as the city of Kenosha imposed a curfew and the governor called in the National Guard. A video of the shooting that was recorded by a bystander appears to show a Kenosha police officer shooting the Black 29-year-old several times at point-blank range as he tried to get into a van with his children. Immediately after the video was posted on social media, protesters took to the streets in outrage, with some setting fires and vandalizing parts of the city. “Justice […]
Biden said Trump plans to cut $500 million from the 1994 crime bill he co-authored but which critics say put more black people in jail. Joe Biden has accused President Donald Trump of planning to “defund police”, recycling the Republican attack line against Democrats. Speaking to ABC news on Friday, Biden denied that he would cut funds to police if elected president this November. “I don’t want to defund police departments. I think they need more help, they need more assistance,” he said. Trump levelled that accusation after several Democrat-controlled city councils moved to defund their police departments amid the wave […]
What is it about courtside at the Oakland Arena that really brings out the worst our country has to offer? You may recall, during the 2019 NBA Finals, when Golden State Warriors’ part-owner and venture-capitalist scumbag Mark Stevens took a second out of his night to shove Raptors guard Kyle Lowry and then call him a “piece of shit,” all for the crime of trying hard at his job. It was a moment of pure id from the billionaire class—a rank display of how they regard the people they lord over, even when those people are multi-millionaire future Hall of Famers. […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/0b/1080130046_0:42:3079:1773_1200x675_80_0_0_3fa0db5851d423b1a729f4ad4f040b65.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202008111080130025-demonstrators-take-to-streets-of-portland-to-protest-against-police-brutality/ US President Donald Trump on Monday said the National Guard is prepared to act promptly to safeguard the city of Portland and has accused both the mayor and the governor of putting people’s lives at risk. People take to the streets of Portland for another round of protests against police brutality and racial discrimination hours after US President Donald Trump reiterated that the National Guard was ready “to act immediately” to get the situation under control. Protests against police brutality and racism erupted across the US after the death of African American man George […]
More than 100 people were arrested Monday, and at least two were shot, following a night of chaos in Chicago’s upscale Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of downtown after crowds smashed windows and looted storefronts in a move that city authorities are calling “pure criminality.” Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the looting an “assault on the city,” and officials have stressed it was not connected to any organized protest, but seemingly spurred after a police-involved shooting in the city’s Englewood section on Sunday afternoon. Hours after the shooting, police responded to reports of widespread vandalism just after midnight on North […]
The former Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks during a June arrest after he fell asleep in his car at a Wendy’s drive-thru is suing the mayor and interim police chief over his termination, claiming the decision violated his constitutional rights. Garrett Rolfe, 27, currently faces 11 charges—including felony murder—for shooting Brooks on June 12 as he was running away through the crowded fast-food parking lot. After shooting him twice in the back, Rolfe then kicked the 27-year-old man “while he was lying on the ground,” prosecutors allege. Rolfe was fired the following day after footage of the police […]
Amnesty International’s latest report details that it has logged at least 125 separate cases of police violence against US residents within two weeks of the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Officers across the nation were accused by Amnesty on Tuesday of violating the human rights of peaceful protesters, bystanders and members of the press 125 times between May 26 and June 5. According to the international human rights organization, these incidents occurred in 40 US states and the US capital of Washington, DC, while demonstrators were mourning the killing of Floyd, whose death has since been declared […]
Police in Colorado have been forced to apologize after a shocking viral video showed them detaining four clearly distressed young Black girls in a parking lot after mistaking their vehicle as stolen. The Gilliam family were reportedly in Aurora to get their nails done—but, before they could reach an open salon, the family’s four kids were ordered at gunpoint to lay facedown in the parking lot. Two were handcuffed. In the video, the Black girls, who are aged between six and 17 years old, can be heard screaming for their mom. “I want my mother,” one of the girls can be […]
It has been 20 weeks since Breonna Taylor was shot and killed in her own home. And the cops who killed her still have not been arrested. “If you’re online a lot, you’ve probably seen Breonna Taylor being turned into just another meme,” Trevor Noah said on Thursday night near the top of the 12-minute segment he dedicated to her story. While the people keeping her name “trending” may be “well-intentioned,” the Daily Show host said they were “essentially using her name as a punchline.” “Memes are not the best way to honor someone who has passed,” he continued. “It’s the […]
As several Arkansas police officers pinned Lionel Morris on the floor of Harps Food Store in February, with the knee of one officer pressing into his back, the 39-year-old begged for help, repeatedly crying out “I can’t breathe.” The Conway Police Department said that on Feb. 4, the supermarket reported that two men had removed a drone from its packaging. When officers arrived on the scene, Morris ran away, prompting a chase around the food store—until he was tased multiple times and punched at least twice. But newly released body-camera footage shows the officers continued to use excessive force on Morris, […]
A criminal investigation has been launched by the Virginia State Police after a trooper was observed gleefully taunting and threatening a motorist during an April 2019 traffic stop on the Capital Beltway. Footage published on Monday by civil rights attorney Joshua Erlich shows Virginia State Trooper Charles Hewitt reaching through Derrick Thompson’s car window and unlocking the driver-side door, despite the motorist’s repeated protests. “I am a f**king specimen right here,” the state trooper asserted while pointing at his own face. Thompson continued to narrate the traffic stop while facing away from Hewitt’s direction and into his phone’s camera. “You’re going […]
The family of George Floyd is suing the city of Minneapolis and the four officers involved in the unarmed 46-year-old’s death, in which his final pleas of “I can’t breathe” became a national rallying cry. The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota alleges that the city and the Minneapolis cops involved in the May 25 death “deprived” Floyd of “his clearly established rights as secured by the Fourth and Fourteen Amendments.” It also alleges the Minneapolis Police Department has a history of providing and permitting “warrior-style” training and that the city allowed a […]
On July 4, 11-year-old Davon McNeal stopped at his aunt’s house in Washington, D.C., to pick up a phone charger. Shortly after he stepped out of his family’s car, gunshots rang out. McNeal fell to the ground. His mother thought he was taking cover, but soon realized he had been caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between men he didn’t even know. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he died. McNeal’s grandfather, John Ayala, is all too familiar with the reality of violence in America as a member of the D.C. Guardian Angels. But as the tragedy of […]
A Wilmington, North Carolina police officer who was fired for taking part in a violently racist conversation has filed an appeal, claiming his comments were protected religious speech. Wilmington Police officer James “Brian” Gilmore was one of three officers fired last month for taking part in recorded racist conversations. One of those conversations, for which Gilmore was not present, involved racist slurs and talk of massacring Black Americans in a second Civil War. Gilmore claims that, because he only explicitly made reference to white people “worshipping” Black people, his comments were not racist but stemmed from his religious convictions against idolatry. […]
The Minneapolis Police Department, in a training manual issued to all new officers, detailed how to execute the same neck restraint that killed George Floyd, lawyers for one of the officers involved in the May 25 incident argued in a Wednesday motion. The training manual, which provided pictures of the “non-deadly” maneuver in which officers put an arm or leg on the back of a suspect’s throat if they are resisting arrest, was filed Wednesday in a motion to dismiss the charges against Thomas Lane—one of four officers charged in Floyd’s death. The manual included a PowerPoint slide with a photo […]
The Phoenix Police Department is under fire after several officers were caught on video surrounding a parked car on July 4 and threatening a man inside before unloading at least ten gunshots in a gruesome incident that has sparked renewed protests. James “Jay” Porter Garcia, 28, was fatally shot while parked in a sedan outside his friend’s one-story Maryvale home, a police spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast. In a now-viral video captured by a bystander, at least four officers can be seen surrounding his car—two with their guns drawn—after responding to an aggravated assault call. “Hey, stop fucking moving. I […]
Breonna Taylor, a Kentucky EMT worker fatally shot in her home in March, died as a result of a politically-driven police operation “to clear out” a Louisville street to make way for a multi-million gentrification plan, a lawsuit filed by the 26-year-old’s family states. Taylor, who worked for two local hospitals, and her boyfriend were asleep in their apartment on March 13 when three officers executed a “no-knock” search warrant looking for a suspected drug dealer who lived in a different part of town. Taylor was shot eight times, spurring an FBI investigation and unleashing a wave of protests alongside the […]
Police departments that get more equipment from the military kill more civilians than departments that get less military gear. That’s the finding from research on a federal program that has operated since 1997 that I have helped conduct as a scholar of police militarization. That finding was recently confirmed and expanded by Edward Lawson Jr. at the University of South Carolina. This federal effort is called the “1033 Program.” It’s named after the section of the 1997 National Defense Authorization Act that allows the U.S. Defense Department to give police agencies around the country equipment, including weapons and ammunition, that the […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107977/95/1079779593_0:142:1524:1000_1200x675_80_0_0_ab5995e545684c9aca31c6f9d846435a.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202007021079779694-this-will-not-stand-us-officer-suspended-after-punching-woman-at-miami-airport-terminal—video/ A Miami-Dade police officer has been relieved of his duties after now-viral body camera footage showed him punching an unarmed, 21-year-old woman in the face at Florida’s Miami International Airport on Wednesday. “I am shocked and angered by a body cam video that i [sic] just saw involving one of our officers. I’ve immediately initiated an investigation and ordered that the involved officers be relieved of duty,” Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez III said in a Twitter thread on Wednesday night. The South Florida Sun Sentinel identified the victim as 21-year-old Paris Anderson and […]
When Brandon Sicilia was named the police chief of Price City last July, some residents of the small Utah town were “horrified.” While the 47-year-old law enforcement official had spent over two decades serving the Carbon County city of 8,715 residents, he also had a history of posting vile, racist comments on Facebook. “Ol’ Busta, once again demonstrated the prime example of a Typical coward N—er. BTW: I don’t use the term much… But, when I do, It’s equivalent to one satanic S.O.B,” Sicilia wrote in a 2016 post, obtained by The Daily Beast, that didn’t censor the N-word. In a […]
Cops lie, not just often, but with the bravado and confidence of people who know they will neither be caught nor held accountable. And plenty of those lies are made against people working for crap wages and no benefits in the service industry. In recent weeks, New York City officers fabricated poisoned Shake Shack milkshakes, a Georgia cop paranoia-conjured a tainted McMuffin, and a Los Angeles officer tweeted photos of what is definitely not a tampon-contaminated coffee. The trail of lies goes back years prior, and includes a Utah cop accusing a Subway employee of putting THC and meth in his […]
A shocking video filmed Sunday night in Detroit shows a police SUV plowing through a group of peaceful protesters, sending people flying from the vehicle’s hood. The footage, posted to Twitter by demonstrator Ethan Ketner, shows a protest group surrounding the vehicle before it speeds off. The SUV hits multiple people and some demonstrators, who had climbed onto the cop car, are sent spinning as the driver accelerates. Onlookers can be heard screaming and telling the officer to stop. Ketner wrote: “Detroit Police Department just ran straight through a bunch of our protesters… Myself and 10-12 others were struck by this […]
CNN star Van Jones has a habit of upsetting his fellow Black activists, progressive policy advocates, and liberal Democrats by cozying up to the Trump White House. He did it again late last month, during the flap over a Black bird watcher in Central Park and a white Hillary Clinton voter who dialed 911 after refusing his pleas to leash her dog. Jones enraged Hillary loyalists—already exasperated by his willingness to concede her flaws as a 2016 presidential candidate in televised food nights with Trump acolyte Kayleigh McEnany—when he compared Clinton supporters unfavorably to the Klan. “It’s not the racist white […]
The same day that Attorney General William Barr insisted there is “no pattern” of him working to advance the personal interests of President Donald Trump, several sources cited by The New York Times said one of his first moves after being sworn into office in early 2019 was trying to find ways to undermine the conviction of longtime Trump fixer Michael Cohen. Barr had reportedly repeatedly questioned prosecutors over the charges against Cohen, who pleaded guilty in August 2018 to financial crimes that included hush-money payments to women who alleged they had affairs with Trump. He went so far as to […]
Elijah McClain was walking home from the convenience store on an unusually cool Saturday night in August when three Aurora police officers approached him. According to the official police report, a resident called 911 because the 23-year-old massage therapist was wearing a ski mask and “acting weird” by “waving his arms around,” prompting the officers to approach him and attempt to pat him down. But McClain, who had made the quick grocery run to pick up bottled tea for his cousin and wore an open-faced ski mask because he had anemia which often made him cold, was unarmed and simply listening […]
The police chief of Tucson, Arizona, offered to resign Wednesday afternoon after releasing a disturbing video of a Hispanic man’s death while in police custody in April. Carlos Ingram-Lopez, 27, died on April 21, after authorities restrained him with his head on the ground for more than 12 minutes. His grandmother had called 911 to report a domestic disturbance, Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said in a Wednesday press conference. “In this video, we see a person who is clearly distressed. A person asking for water, asking for help, asking for his nana,” Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said Wednesday, before proposing […]
Ten days after Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot by an Atlanta police officer after he fell asleep in his car in a Wendy’s drive-thru lane, friends and family of the 27-year-old will honor his life at the church where Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. Beginning at 3 p.m. ET, the public viewing Monday at Ebenezer Baptist Church will serve as the start of a two-day memorial service for Brooks, whose June 12 death has sparked widespread outcry, the resignation of Atlanta’s police chief, and criminal charges against the two officers involved. The service will be livestreamed by the church. “Ebenezer […]
During South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy, I was directly involved in the transformation of the police force to a police service. Today, as the United States is confronted with the need for changes in police culture and behavior, perhaps some of the lessons learned in those tumultuous times may prove useful. After Nelson Mandela was released from 27 years in prison in 1990, the lid was lifted off the centuries-old subjugation of Blacks in South Africa. It is not surprising that the injury and pain spilled over into violence, which threatened to destroy the dream of the New South Africa. […]
WARNING: The video below contains graphic content. Two years before George Floyd pleaded with a Minneapolis police officer to remove his knee from his neck, Timothy Coffman screamed out for help while he was pinned face down on the ground in Florida—his ankles tied while officers used the same move to restrain him. Coffman, a 36-year-old who struggled with mental illness, was beaten with a baton and tased several times before two South Daytona officers pressed their knees into his back and neck for more than four minutes on June 28, 2018, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in the Middle District […]
One man’s knee was for killing and another’s a plea for mercy for victims of racism. Yet Donald Trump was more put out by that “son of a bitch” Colin Kaepernick he wanted dragged off the field for taking a knee to protest police brutality than he’s been by the actual brutality of officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into the neck of George Floyd for nine agonizing minutes. That atrocity prompted the NFL to admit “we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier” and encouraging peaceful protests, but not Trump. “Could it be even remotely possible that in […]
Jay Pharoah opened up to Gayle King about a frightening run-in with Los Angeles police during Wednesday’s CBS This Morning. The former Saturday Night Live cast member said he was stopped by police in April while jogging, and that he had not discussed his experience, which was captured on video, until recently for fear of taking away from discussions of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. But now he’s ready to discuss what happened. “I’m walking across the street and then all of a sudden I hear, ‘Get on the ground,’” Pharoah said. “The cop from the left of me… he’s coming. […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107964/16/1079641666_0:221:3050:1936_1200x675_80_0_0_489c4c6dde9662f85bb026950ec03fb1.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/europe/202006171079641706-people-protest-in-paris-call-for-release-of-nurse-arrested-at-previous-demonstration—video/ On 16 June, police arrested a 50-year-old nurse named Farida during a demonstration demanding an increase in salaries and improvements in working conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic. Live from Paris, France, where people have gathered in front of a police prefecture to demand the release of a nurse who was arrested at a protest the day before and is currently being held at the facility. Footage of the incident that was shared on social media showed the 50-year-old nurse being arrested by a group of more than 10 police officers while she screamed and begged […]
A Minneapolis police dispatcher was so alarmed by real-time footage of George Floyd’s violent arrest that she flagged the situation to her supervisor, telling him over the phone, “I don’t know you can call me a snitch if you want.” “I don’t know if they had to use force or not, but they got something out of the back of the squad, and all of them sat on this man,” the unidentified 911 dispatcher said in a recording of the call released Monday by the city of Minneapolis. The dispatcher, who has not been identified, watched Floyd’s death as it was […]
In a new interview with The New York Times, Jon Stewart insisted that he does not miss hosting The Daily Show. “If you’re asking, Do you wish you had a show? Sometimes I do,” he said. “But not the one that I had. The one that I had is in wonderful hands and continues to elevate in a way that I couldn’t have.” That statement has never been more true than in our current political moment. As the only Black host on mainstream late-night television, Trevor Noah has met the moment when it comes to systemic racism and police brutality. And […]
As activists across the United States have united behind the slogan “defund the police,” with some using that to mean shifting a share of funding to social services while others call for the elimination of policing altogether, a new study points to the danger of an abrupt or haphazard withdrawal of policing. In a working paper released this month by Harvard economist Roland Freyer and researcher Tanaya Devi, the pair found that in five major cities where deaths of African-Americans in police-involved incidents went viral and state and federal authorities subsequently placed police departments under investigation, homicides and other forms of […]
It happened in Atlanta. In San Francisco. In D.C. and in Charlotte. Over and over again in recent weeks, black female mayors have stepped onto the national stage—and been forced to publicly face their contradictory roles. Not only are these women in positions of power and obligated to uphold the law, but they also find themselves promoting racial justice in a movement that does not always fight for black women. “I’m in charge of this city,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed told The Daily Beast, but “I’m still a black woman who is sadly still being treated in a disrespectful way, […]
On Sunday night, John Oliver took some more shots at his new favorite target: Tucker Carlson, the white nationalist-adjacent Fox News anchor, former bow tie enthusiast, and heir to the Swanson TV dinner fortune. Two weeks ago, when Carlson claimed that the protests in Minneapolis were worse than “police brutality,” Oliver said, “OK, first: Fuck you, Tucker… people like Tucker love to venerate order at moments like this, and that’s easy to do when order in its current form is designed to benefit and protect you.” Carlson’s George Floyd protest rant (and all the dog-whistle-filled rants in its wake) cost the […]
As the tear gas clears across America, the nation is facing an unprecedented reckoning about systemic racism and, particularly, the criminal justice system. What makes this moment even more unique, though, is how it’s unfolding not because of presidential leadership—but, almost uniquely in American history—in spite of the president. There are moments when history unfolds quickly, when America’s foundational quest to strive toward becoming a more just and equitable nation overcomes inertia and major shifts happen in weeks and months after years and decades of delay. In the summer of 2015, in the two weeks after Donald Trump’s escalator ride down […]
Democrats might have stumbled into nominating the only Democrat in America who is immune to being canceled or woke: Joe Biden. While many activists and Democrats were embracing the suicidal “defund the police” slogan, Biden called for policing reforms and firmly stated he does not support defunding the police. Then, he stuck by his guns, defending his decision on The Daily Show. Whatever progressives mean when they invoke that ill-advised hashtag (should we take it seriously, but not literally?), most Americans will interpret it to mean actually defunding the police—that is, having no one answer the phone if their house is […]
The chief of the Atlanta Police Department resigned on Saturday, hours after an officer fatally shot a 27-year-old black man in a Wendy’s parking lot. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a press conference that the officer involved in the Friday night shooting should be fired. “I firmly believe that there is a clear distinction between what you can do and what you should do. I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer,” she said. Bottoms named an interim police chief to succeed Erika Shields […]
From one vantage point, the death of Akai Gurley was a familiar story. On Nov. 20, 2014, while walking down a darkened stairwell with a companion in Brooklyn’s Pink Houses projects, the unarmed 28-year-old black man was shot by a New York City Police Department officer. Though ambulances were called to the scene, Gurley didn’t survive. At a present moment in which George Floyd’s murder has sparked nationwide (and global) protests against racist police brutality, Gurley’s tale resounds as a case study of the very prejudiced violence so many are now confronting, and seeking to systematically dismantle. However, as Down a […]
Even as new protests in Seattle have Donald Trump engaging in his usual bluster, Norm Stamper, the former police chief in that city, has watched the recent images and videos of cops cracking down on nonviolent protesters with tear gas, batons, and pepper spray across the country with the same feelings of sadness and wrongness that have gripped so many Americans. But Stamper had an extra layer of frustration: “We must be suffering from some kind of learning disability,” he told me from his home on Orcas Island, Washington. “We really are incapable of learning from our experience.” Stamper ran the […]
President Donald Trump says Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, a largely police-free community space fashioned amid protests, is run by “domestic terrorists.” Seattle’s police department made (and walked back) a claim about anarchists “extorting” businesses in the area. But actual businesses around the zone say they’re watching Ava DuVernay films, handing out granola bars, and having a nice time. Following several nights of showdowns between police and protesters, in which cops made liberal use of tear gas and flash grenades, Seattle reached a detente with activists on June 9. The city would open up a few streets for Black Lives Matter […]
Dave Chappelle released an unannounced Netflix special in the early hours of Friday that tears into the media and calls on America to listen to the protest movement that has risen up to demand an end to more than a century of oppression. The comedian said he couldn’t bring himself to watch the killing of George Floyd for a week, but as soon as he did, he understood why the U.S was witnessing one of the most widespread protest movements in 50 years. “This kid thought he was going to die, he knew he was going to die. He called for […]
As a Muslim American, I want to offer some sincere advice to the good police officers of America: If you don’t start vocally denouncing the bad cops, you and every other police officer will soon be defined by the worst cops out there—if you aren’t already. Is that fair? No. Yet it’s what the Muslim community faced after 9/11. Countless times in the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, people on the right—and even some on the left—called us on to denounce terrorist acts committed by Muslims. The reaction at first by many in the Muslim community—including myself—was: Why should […]
A release of body camera footage by the Oklahoma City Police Department (OKCPD) has reignited calls for reform and justice, as officers depicted in the video recording are overheard denying a dying man’s request for his medicine and countering his plea of not being able to breathe. The previously withheld raw footage of the OKCPD shows cops responding to a call of a man brandishing a weapon on May 20, 2019. After catching up to fleeing suspect Derrick Ollie Scott, officers detained the 41-year-old and removed the weapon from his person. “I can’t breathe,” Scott pleads as cops attempt to get […]
Two months into her first term as a member of Congress, Florida Democrat and former police chief Rep. Val Demings was asked on national television whether “all lives matter.” “When we hire law enforcement to do the job, we need to let them do their job, sit back, and not let, when a group of society feels like they’re being mistreated, let them go in there and tear up a city or town,” declared Randy, a Virginia Democrat who called in to Demings’ inaugural appearance on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal with more of a comment than a question. “Because once you do […]
The ongoing anti-racism protests have been prompted by various reasons which are going beyond the problem of police brutality and supposed racial bias against African Americans in the US, say American academics, shedding light on the driving forces and the timing of the unrest. The death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, last month became the catalyst for nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. The US has not seen such a massive protest movement since the 2014-2015 Ferguson unrest over the deaths of two African American men, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, killed by white policemen. Black Lives […]
Joe Biden’s campaign has made it clear that the former vice president does not support the campaign to “defund the police.” On Wednesday night, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah tried to see if he could get him there. “You know, many activists and organizers have come out saying, there have been repeated attempts to reform many police departments,” Noah said. “Were it not for civilian cameras, we wouldn’t know the truth oftentimes.” As police departments continue to be “contradicted” by video evidence, the host asked Biden directly, “If you were to become president, do you think that there would be […]
Congress’ first hearing about police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s murder was marked by raw and emotional testimony from his brother and some well-meaning words from members of both parties about working together to reform law enforcement in the U.S. “The people elected you to speak for them, to make positive change. George’s name means something. You have the opportunity here to make your names mean something, too,” said Floyd’s brother, Philonise, in his opening remarks. Later, weeping, he said “Justice has to be served. Those officers, they have to be convicted… His life mattered. All our lives matter. […]
George Floyd’s brother was among the witnesses invited by Democrats to speak at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on police brutality Wednesday morning. Republicans invited Fox News contributor Dan Bongino. Bongino, a former U.S. Secret Service agent who has made several unsuccessful bids for Congress, used his opening statement to endorse the “few bad apples” theory of police misconduct. But by the time he was getting questioned by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), he was going full “All Lives Matter.” Jeffries listed off the many familiar names of black men and women who have been unjustly killed by police officers. “But Mr. […]
On Tuesday night, Trevor Noah addressed the Democrats’ kente cloth fiasco as only he could. “While the movement in the streets has been building up steam, Democrats in Washington have been scrambling for a way to respond. And yesterday, I think they’ve figured it out,” offered Noah. The Daily Show host then threw to footage of the Senate Democrats kneeling in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in honor of George Floyd—while inexplicably donning African kente cloths, even though Floyd is an American. The move was widely ridiculed on social media, with The Roots’ Questlove pointing to […]
A police chief in Washington State was replaced on Monday after spreading a conspiracy theory that antifa activists were planning to destroy the community, the latest in a slew of law enforcement officials disciplined or ousted for their conduct during nation-wide protests against the killing of George Floyd. Keith Rogers, now the former Snohomish Police Chief, referred to a May 31 demonstration, in which armed residents turned out to protect the city from supposed leftist looters, as a “festive” night of tailgating. He was reassigned amid public calls for his resignation. A spokesperson for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to […]
It’s been 10 days since Trevor Noah delivered a sobering 18-minute monologue on the police killing of George Floyd that quickly racked up tens of millions of views across various social platforms and helped change the conversation about the “social contract” between black people and cops. After taking last week off, he was back hosting The Daily Show from home Monday night and the story has only become bigger. “Never before in American history has there been an uprising like this, exactly like this, where you have huge numbers of people coming out every single day, in every single state in […]
COLUMBIA, South Carolina—Steve Benjamin, the black mayor of Columbia, was pissed. “Take your asses home,” he ordered. It was Saturday evening, May 30, in this city of 140,000. A day of protests over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police had started peacefully. That afternoon, hundreds of people gathered at the state capitol building at the southern end of the city’s bustling Main Street. They held signs. They chanted. They sang hymns. But they didn’t break any laws. Nothing burned. What happened next maps onto the experiences of other, bigger cities across the United States. The demonstration escalated, and the […]
In Brooklyn on Sunday evening, a crowd chanted and danced around Grand Army Plaza, where a drum circle brought applause. Earlier in the day, hundreds gathered in silent meditation for Black Lives Matter in Herbert Von King Park. Marchers on Manhattan’s First Avenue passed a hospital and were cheered on by hospital workers, while more demonstrators sat down on Central Park West. Even on the North Shore of Staten Island, protesters filled the streets and raised their fists. Nearly two weeks after the death of George Floyd—which sparked days of unrest and violence across America’s cities—scenes throughout New York City were […]
This story was published in partnership with Investigative Post, a non-profit investigative reporting center in Buffalo, New York. It’s the shove seen round the world: two Buffalo cops push a demonstrator who falls, slams his head on the pavement, and immediately begins to bleed from the ears. City officials wasted no time in suspending the two officers seen on the video shoving the demonstrator, who, it turns out, is 75 years old and fighting cancer. On Saturday, the officers were charged with assault in the second degree. Suffice to say, this is not a good look for the police. But never […]
It sounds a full-time job, and then some. “Pretty much all my time is dedicated to this,” one of the reporters behind the NYC Protest Updates 2020 (@protest_nyc) Twitter account told The Daily Beast. “I wake up and open my laptop. If I’m on the streets that day, I eat and then fall asleep as soon as I get home. If I’m not, I’m on the scanner, doing research or organizing logistics pretty much all day.” Since its creation last week, over 11,000 people have followed NYC Protest Updates for fast, on-the-ground reporting conducted by self-described “young, independent journalists.” These reporters, […]
Nearly two weeks into protests against the killing of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis police custody, a slew of different cities across the country have been forced to confront the brutal methods used by their own police officers as videos emerged of harrowing incident after harrowing incident. And on Friday, it seemed a reckoning of sorts was in the air: Police officers in multiple cities were suspended, hit with charges, or stripped of their powers after they were caught on camera treating peaceful protesters like combatants. In New York City, where earlier this week authorities had praised the police department’s […]
A video of Buffalo police officers shoving an elderly police activist to the ground, then walking by him as a pool of blood collected around his head, shocked the nation. Their colleagues? Not so much. All members of the Emergency Response Team resigned from the unit on Friday in support of the officers who were suspended without pay for their aggression toward Martin Gugino, 75. “Fifty-seven resigned in disgust because of the treatment of two of their members, who were simply executing orders,” Buffalo Police Benevolent Association President John Evans told local station WGRZ. The 57 officers will remain on the […]
One by one this week, New York Times staffers started tweeting “Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger” along with the screenshot of an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) titled “Send in the Troops.” On Thursday night, Seth Meyers entered the fray. As the Trump administration “defends violent crackdowns on peaceful protesters,” the Late Night host called out the Republican Party as a whole and Sen. Cotton in particular for “openly embracing calls for military violence towards American citizens.” Meyers highlighted this line from the “chilling” op-ed: “One thing above all else will restore order to our streets: an […]
At the end of a day in which Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) was forced to excoriate his colleague Rand Paul (R-KY) for blocking an anti-lynching bill, he spoke frankly and emotionally about his own experience with racism and the police on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Booker began by saying he almost feels “embarrassed” that he wasn’t with the protesters in Lafayette Park this week to “confront what has been, in my opinion, in my lifetime, one of the greatest affronts of our most sacred principles and ideals.” For President Trump to speak “from one side of his mouth” about […]
The Georgia man who shot 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery while he was he was jogging on a residential street allegedly called him the n-word after the fatal incident, investigators said Thursday. During a probable cause hearing in Brunswick Thursday for three men accused in Arbery’s Feb. 23 slaying, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Richard Dial revealed that Travis McMichael called Arbery a “fucking n—er” as Arbery lay on the ground. Dial said eyewitness William Bryan, Jr., who has also been charged with murder, reported hearing the slur. It was also captured on video. McMichael, and his father Gregory, are facing murder and aggravated […]
Anti-racist protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement were held simultaneously in two Nordic capitals yielded dramatically different outcomes. While the demonstration in Helsinki wrapped up peacefully, Stockholm police had to use teargas. Thousands of protestors gathered at Helsinki’s Senate Square on Wednesday evening to demonstrate against racism and police brutality against blacks, inspired by the protests over the death of African-American George Floyd that have gripped the US. The protests gathered people of all ages and backgrounds, including speakers from local activist groups, academics, entrepreneurs, and artists. At the start of the protest, those present were invited to […]
Wednesday morning, a Change.org petition circled the internet calling to “Have TikTok remove any content involving the ‘George Floyd challenge!!’” The page featured a disturbing layout collage, cropped to reveal only the bottom two photos. In each, two white guys mugged for the camera, as one knelt on the other’s neck—both mocking the murder of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis cop knelt on his windpipe for eight minutes and 46 seconds. By that evening, the petition passed its goal of 5,000 signatures. The new goal is now 7,500. “There is a challenge currently ‘popular’ on the app TikTok,” the […]
The three other Minneapolis cops involved in the police killing of George Floyd—an unarmed black man who was filmed repeatedly saying he couldn’t breathe while an officer held his knee on his neck for several minutes—are being charged in his death. The Star Tribune reports that the three officers —Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Kueng—will be charged by Attorney General Keith Ellison with aiding and abetting murder. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) also announced on Twitter that Ellison is upgrading charges against Derek Chauvin, who held his knee on Floyd neck for almost nine minutes, to second-degree murder. Chauvin was […]
US 08:11 GMT 03.06.2020Get short URL https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107949/07/1079490720_0:132:3072:1860_1200x675_80_0_0_690bd17a4025cd35bbbd2c9d8703b4cd.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202006031079505416-george-floyd-protesters-detained-in-new-york-for-violating-curfew-orders—video/ As protests against the death of a black man at the hands of the Minnesota police and law enforcement brutality at large sweep across the US, states have increasingly introduced curfews to curb the wave of social unrest. In New York, the arrest of Black Lives Matter demonstrators has been captured on camera. The video shows police standing besides handcuffed demonstrators nabbed for violating the curfew hours, which daily start in the Big Apple at 8 p.m. Large-scale protests, not infrequently turning into full-blown riots with looting and […]
Surveillance video released by police suggests that beloved Louisville barbecue chef David McAtee fired a gun before cops and National Guard soldiers shot and killed him early Monday morning. “The video appears to show Mr. McAtee firing a gun outside of his business door as officers who are using pepper balls… were approaching,” interim Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder said. “The video does not provide all the answers, but we are releasing it to provide transparency.” Before the footage was released on Tuesday afternoon, Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher showed it to McAtee’s mother, Odessa Riley, at her home. The video is […]
There has never been a TV President at the level of Donald Trump. Yes, it’s his reality-TV origin story. But it’s also his state of existence: Camera constantly trained on his face, airwaves at his disposal, us as his audience rapt. He is as infatuated with this televised permanence as we seem to be with subsisting it. But, as came into sharp focus Monday night, that reliance on television as his own political tool has only exposed how ill-equipped he is for the constant scrutiny and the realities of the changing landscape. Since his inauguration, there have been countless critical essays […]
Tom Brenner/Reuters “American history isn’t a fairy tale,” Joe Biden said from Philadelphia City Hall Tuesday morning. “The battle for the soul of this nation has been a constant push and pull for 240 years. At our best the American ideal wins out. But it’s never a rout. It’s always a fight.” It is, and maybe more people are joining it. I’ve noticed something interesting on my Facebook feed over these recent harrowing days. A number of people I have known for many years who aren’t usually very political—and more interestingly, some who are political but are conservative—have been posting statements […]
It’s ridiculous writing about celebrities right now. It’s ridiculous being a celebrity right now. The nation is alight with people demanding justice, dignity, equality, and life for black people in our country. The attention, for once, is not on the rich and famous. Nor should it be. But the fact remains that these are people with platforms, whether they deserve them or not and whether we want them to have them or not. For once, they seem to be using those platforms correctly. It’s always complicated when it comes to these things. And the praise isn’t uniform. CNN anchor Don Lemon […]
A man has died in Louisville after being shot at by LMPD and Kentucky National Guard forces, according to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. In an earlier statement, Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Steve Conrad confirmed that a man had been shot and killed, but did not say whether or not the individual had died as a result of shots fired by law enforcement. Conrad linked the shootout to the protests in the city. Protests have gripped Louisville in response to the death of Breonna Taylor, 26, a black EMT killed by police during a botched no-knock raid on her apartment on […]
On Sunday night, John Oliver kicked off his Last Week Tonight monologue by addressing the protests that have spread across the nation in response to the captured-on-video killing of George Floyd, who begged and pleaded for his life as then-Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin grinded his knee into his neck for nine excruciating minutes. “Look, it’s been a truly brutal week with protests across the country in response to the horrific killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police, and there is clearly a lot to discuss here: How these protests are a response to a legacy of police […]
As protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody boiled over in New York City on Saturday and video of an NYPD vehicle driving into demonstrators sparked outrage, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would not “blame” police officers facing such an “impossible situation.” “If those protesters had just gotten out of the way and not created an attempt to surround that vehicle, we would not be talking about this,” de Blasio said in a call-in appearance on NY1 just before a hastily scheduled late-night press conference. That was his first live appearance in over two nights of nationwide […]
MINNEAPOLIS—A night after Minneapolis burned, protests on Saturday were mostly calm—until cops and the National Guard moved in with force against those breaking curfew. The protests in Minneapolis, where 46-year-old George Floyd died after a white cop knelt on his neck for several minutes, began peacefully on Saturday as hundreds of residents marched alongside police officers. But just after the 8:00 p.m. curfew passed and all major highways into the Twin Cities were shut down, police appeared in full gear. They began to fling tear gas, flashbangs, and rubber bullets at protesters and journalists alike—pushing crowds away from police precincts that […]
The brother of George Floyd said Saturday that he spoke to President Donald Trump but the conversation was so quick that he “he didn’t give me the opportunity to even speak.” “It was hard, I was trying to talk to him, but he just kept pushing me off like ‘I don’t want to hear what you are talking about,”’ Philonise Floyd told MSNBC’s Al Sharpton. “I just told him I want justice. I said that I can’t believe that they committed a modern-day lynching in broad daylight.” Floyd said he also spoke to Joe Biden and poured out his heart to […]
MINNEAPOLIS—Mahado Ali stood outside a convenience store just across the street from the Minneapolis Police Department’s first precinct headquarters, confronting looters who had pried open the business and were ransacking it. Out of the store ran two young white women, among others of all races, carrying a case of Bud Light and marijuana paraphernalia, laughing. Behind them came a young white man with a handful of cigarette lighters. He walked past Ali and she began filming. “Why would you give them a lighter?” she asked the man, who had passed out several to a group of other young protesters. “You gave […]
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Saturday he was taking the unprecedented step of fully mobilizing the state’s national guard for the first time in history after another night of protests and destruction following the death of George Floyd. “The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd,” Walz said. “It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities.” But the first term Democratic governor said outside forces who don’t share the state’s values are playing a major role in causing the chaos that has troubled the area in recent days. […]
Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/Getty Four days and three nights of unrest after Derek Chauvin’s knee was on the neck of George Floyd, the now former Minnesota police officer was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said the state investigation moved with “extraordinary speed,” noting that his office has never charged a police officer in “that kind of timeframe.” And yet, after viewing the video of Floyd’s death, most wonder why Chauvin wasn’t charged sooner. The answer is that the law deliberately stacks the deck in favor of police officers. All criminal defendants have […]