Anything to get reelected ...

Trump tells reporter ‘your supporters’ shot, killed protester in Portland
Sean Boynton

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday told a reporter that “your supporters” were behind the shooting death of a man during protests in Portland last weekend, while refusing to condemn the violent tactics of counter-protesters who support him.

Earlier Monday, Trump ...

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White Vigilantes Have Always Had A Friend In Police
New data shows that far-right vigilantes, often with support from cops, have threatened protesters nearly 500 times since police killed George Floyd.
By Christopher Mathias

Before Kyle Rittenhouse allegedly opened fire on anti-racist protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday night — killing two and severely injuring another — a video showed police essentially deputizing the 17-year-old.

Rittenhouse had been walking the streets of Kenosha carrying an assault rifle alongside other armed white men, a local self-styled militia formed for the purported purpose of protecting property from protesters.

“We appreciate you guys, we really do,” a cop can be heard telling the group over a loudspeaker before tossing Rittenhouse a bottle of water.

It was a scene familiar in American history: agents of the state conscripting armed white vigilantes to help violently suppress movements for racial justice and liberation. (“Cops and the Klan go hand in hand,” the common protest chant goes.)

So it wasn’t surprising to see Rittenhouse, in another video published Tuesday, walk toward police after allegedly killing the two protesters — or for him not to be apprehended until the following day, when he was arrested at his home in Illinois.

As historic uprisings against police brutality have swept the country in recent months, antagonistic right-wing vigilantes have been a constant, menacing presence. Often seen patrolling Black Lives Matter protests with the tacit — and very often explicit — support of law enforcement, these vigilantes have shot protesters, attacked them with cars, and beaten them.

And as political tensions intensify heading into ...

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Hard to argue that this isn't incitement ...

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson Touts ‘Citizen Soldiers’ To ‘Overwhelm Rioters’
Two protesters were killed in Kenosha because “citizens took matters into their own hands,” the Wisconsin senator told CNN’s Dana Bash.
Mary Papenfuss

Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said that “citizen soldiers” should mobilize to “overwhelm rioters” on the streets of America.

As for the fatal shooting of protesters in Kenosha last week, he said in a CNN interview Sunday: “Two people died because citizens took matters into their own hands. I’m not for vigilantism; I’m not sure that’s what was happening.”

Johnson declared that “the way you stop the violence, the way you stop the rioting, is you surge manpower and resources, citizen soldiers, National Guard, and you overwhelm the number of rioters.”

Ben Voelkel, a spokesman for Johnson, told HuffPost that the senator was “of course” referring to the National Guard as “citizen soldiers.” Guard members are known as citizen soldiers, but the term is also used to refer to private militias — like the Kenosha Guard that recruited members on Facebook until their page was shut down for violating the social platform’s ban on militias.

Voelkel did not comment on Johnson’s characterization of the killings of the protesters as “citizens” taking “matters into their own hands.”

Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, has been charged with ...

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One step closer to civil war.

Maybe we should have a thread called "Ridiculousness"? From FB

GOP Activist DeAnna Lorraine Praises Kenosha Killer Kyle Rittenhouse



Deplorable: GOP activist DeAnna Lorraine praises Kenosha Killer Kyle Rittenhouse, the domestic terrorist charged with murder after killing two BLM protesters and wounding another.

Lorraine, a Trump-loving Q-Anon conspiracy theorist who recently lost her 2020 primary bid to unseat Nancy Pelosi in California’s 12th Congressional District, used her Twitter account to ...

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If a Cowboys fan walks into an Eagles Bar with a baseball bat, and the hostess tries to take the bat away, the Cowboys fan doesn’t get to claim self defense when he beats the hostess senseless with the bat. ~ from somewhere on the internet

Trump supporters plotted trip to Kenosha to ‘pick people off’: feds
By Brad Reed

Two heavily armed supporters of President Donald Trump were arrested this week when the FBI received a tip that they were planning to drive to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where they hoped to “pick people off.”

Local news station WISN reports that Missouri residents Michael Karmo and Cody Smith were arrested by federal agents in a hotel parking lot this week after the FBI learned on Tuesday that they were driving to Kenosha armed with a large cache of weapons.

According to WISN, agents searched the men’s vehicle and hotel room and found “an Armory AR-15 assault rifle, a Mossberg 500 AB 12-Gauge shotgun, two handguns, a silencer, ammunition, body armor, a drone and other materials.”

Officials also say that ...

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https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/935j ... ody-camera

The official story (not mentioned in that article)seems to be that the three officers who originally executed the warrant were not wearing body cams - the pic shows one of the officers who arrived later. And they didn't arrive until all the shooting was over. Anyone really believe that the PD would execute a no-knock warrant with only three officers?

Trump bans 'anti-American' diversity training
US President Donald Trump has ordered federal agencies to stop racial sensitivity training, labelling it "divisive, anti-American propaganda".

A memo to government agencies says it has come to his attention that millions of dollars of taxpayers' money have funded such "trainings".

The document says these sessions only foster resentment in the workforce.

Mr Trump has previously said he does not believe systemic racism is a problem in the US.

The memo comes amid the social justice protests that have swept the nation in recent months.

'They push black people out and replace us with BLM signs'

They filmed police brutality - then faced a backlash

Friday's two-page document from Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is addressed to the heads of federal executive departments and agencies.

"All agencies are directed to begin to identify all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on 'critical race theory,' 'white privilege,' or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil," it says.

The memo says that "according to press reports, employees across the Executive Branch have been required to attend trainings where they are told that 'virtually all White people contribute to racism' or where they are required to say that they 'benefit from racism'."

Again citing press reports, the text says that some of the training sessions "have further claimed that there is racism embedded in the belief that America is the land of opportunity or the belief that the most qualified person should receive a job.

"These types of 'trainings' not only run counter to the fundamental beliefs for which our Nation has stood since its inception, but they also engender division and resentment within the Federal workforce."

It was not clear which reports Mr Vought was referring to or what prompted the memo. But such training sessions have been highlighted by the Discovery Institute, a conservative non-profit think tank based in Seattle.

Chris Rufo, one of its research fellows, told Fox News this week that the US Department of Treasury is among federal agencies that have hired such trainers.

Mr Rufo says his public records requests show these sessions have included teaching employees that white people uphold America's system of racism, and sending white male executives to mandatory training in which they write letters of apology to minorities.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who will challenge Mr Trump for the White House in November, has vowed to fight systemic racism if elected.

"For generations, Americans who are black, brown, Native American, immigrant, haven't always been fully included in our democracy or our economy," the former vice-president said in July.

SOURCE

live links at source

had enough, yet?

Massachusetts detective fired after post supporting Black Lives Matter
BY J. EDWARD MORENO

A Massachusetts detective has been fired over a social media post last month expressing support of her niece attending a Black Lives Matter rally.

According to a report from MassLive.com, Florissa Fuentes, who had recently joined the Springfield Police Department's Special Victims Unit, was fired on June 19 after a May post she made while not on duty.

“After I posted it, I started getting calls and texts from co-workers,” Florissa Fuentes told MassLive.com.


Fuentes says she removed the Instagram post on June 1 and that she received a call from the head of the Detective Bureau, who said the police commissioner was upset with her.

“I was initially confused, but then I realized they thought I was being anti-cop. I wasn’t,” Fuentes told the news outlet. “I was just supporting my niece’s activism. I had no malicious intent, and I wouldn’t put a target on my own back. I’m out there on the streets every day like everyone else.”

The photo that Fuentes shared was reportedly from protests that happened after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.

Fuentes said that Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood told her she was "getting pressure from the mayor's office" and to “fix” what she did. Fuentes said the police commissioner suggested she post an apology, so ...

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By all means that was the best act from the police I’ve seen in a while -- Job well done

https://www.facebook.com/OccupyDemocrat ... &ref=notif

Just a few bad apples ....

‘He’s a small child’: Utah police shot a 13-year-old autistic boy after his mother called 911 for help
Tim Elfrink



When Golda Barton dialed 911 on Friday, she hoped emergency responders could help hospitalize her 13-year-old son, who has Asperger syndrome and was having a mental crisis.

Instead, a Salt Lake City police officer repeatedly shot Linden Cameron after he ran away, leaving the boy in serious condition with injuries to his intestines, bladder, shoulder and ankles. Barton says he was unarmed, and police said they didn’t find a weapon at the scene.

“He’s a small child. Why didn’t you just tackle him?” Barton said in a tearful interview with KUTV on Sunday. “He’s a baby. He has mental issues.”

Barton said she’s gotten few answers from police. Salt Lake City’s mayor pledged on Sunday that an investigation into the incident would be quick.

“No matter the circumstances, what happened on Friday night is a tragedy, and I expect this investigation to be handled swiftly and transparently for the sake of everyone involved,” Mayor Erin Mendenhall (D) said in a statement to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Local autism advocates also decried the shooting and called for changes to how police respond to mental health crises.

“Police were called because help was needed but instead more harm was done when officers from the SLPD expected a 13-year-old experiencing a mental health episode to act calmer and collected than adult trained officers,” Neurodiverse Utah said in a statement.

Nationwide, police have seriously injured and killed scores of mentally ill people when called by relatives or bystanders to help, including in recent high-profile cases like that of Daniel Prude, a 29-year-old Black man who died of asphyxiation after Rochester, N.Y., police put a hood over his head during a mental health episode in March. The problem is so acute some cities have moved toward sending non-police crisis units to respond to mental health emergencies.

That’s the type of help Barton said she was hoping to find when she called an emergency line around 10 p.m. on Friday.

Her son is a typical 13-year-old, she wrote in a GoFundMe page for his medical bills — a boy who loves “video games, four wheeling, and longboarding” and “is always looking for ways to help people out.”

But he has also long battled severe separation anxiety when she leaves him alone, she told KUTV, and Friday was her first day back at work in almost a year. She called 911 when he suffered a mental breakdown, she said.

“You call them, and they’re supposed to come out and be able to de-escalate a situation using the most minimal force possible,” she told KUTV.

When police arrived, she said she told them that Cameron was not armed and just needed to be taken to a hospital.

“I said, ‘He’s unarmed. He doesn’t have anything. He just gets mad and he starts yelling and screaming,’” she said. “He’s a kid. He’s trying to get attention. He doesn’t know how to regulate.”

Police told her to stay outside while they entered her house, she said. Barely five minutes later, she said she heard them ordering her son to the ground and then, a volley of gunfire.

In a briefing with reporters later that night, a police spokesman suggested officers believed the boy might have a weapon. Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Keith Horrocks said officers showed up at the house after reports about “a juvenile that was having a mental episode, a psychotic episode, that had made threats to some folks with a weapon.”

Horrocks said Cameron fled the house on foot, and that one officer then shot him. Salt Lake City police handed the case over to outside investigators, and Horrocks pledged to hold a full briefing on the findings within 10 days.

“Our investigators obviously will be looking at body-camera footage,” he said.

Barton said after the shooting, her son was handcuffed and police couldn’t tell her whether he was dead. She said she still doesn’t understand why officers would shoot him.

“Why didn’t they Tase him? Why didn’t they shoot him with a rubber bullet?” she asked on KUTV. “You are big police officers with massive amounts of resources. Come on. Give me a break.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... -shooting/

At least this time somebody is (apparently) doing something about it

Video of Black Man Punched, Pinned Down by Police Prompts Georgia Sheriff's Probe

https://www.newsweek.com/sheriffs-offic ... an-1531514

Have to wonder how the “I’m for Truth, Justice and The American Way” Trump supporters, the one who claim he stands for “Law and Order” are going to spin this.

Trump brags about Bill Barr’s DOJ killing a man: ‘That’s the way it has to be’
Bob Brigham

President Donald Trump praised the killing of Michael Forest Reinoehl by a Department of Justice fugitive task force.

Hew was wanted for the fatal shooting of Aaron “Jay” Danielson, who was a member of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, which had organized a Trump caravan through Portland. Reinoehl had claimed the shooting was in self-defense.

“When police last week surrounded Michael Forest Reinoehl, a self-described anti-fascist suspected of fatally shooting a member of a far-right group in Portland, Ore., the wanted man wasn’t obviously armed, a witness to the scene said Wednesday,” The Washington Post reported Thursday. “In fact, according to ...

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Oregon Deputy Caught On Video Telling Militia Members How To Get Away With Killing Someone
by McKenzie Lynn Tozan

For many of us, September 11 has become a day of remembrance and a time to band together and take care of other people in any small way we can.

But for one sheriff’s deputy in Oregon, it was apparently an opportunity to share some dark advice amidst the wildfires that have spread in the Pacific Northwest.

A video was circulated online after an individual presumably wearing a body camera caught the deputy giving a group of armed White nationalist militia members tips on how to use force and kill civilians without getting caught or being charged.

The sheriff’s deputy has been identified as ...

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God, I'm glad I don't live in the United States. It must be terrifying.

Cars have hit demonstrators 104 times since George Floyd protests began

Dozens of people had gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a third night of protests demanding justice for Breonna Taylor when a carbarreled through the crowd, hitting several protesters.

"It just went straight into the middle of the crowd and veered off toward the left," said Samantha Colombo, 25, an Albuquerque resident who said they've been protesting with dozens of other people for three nights at the same intersection. No one appeared to be injured, Colombo said. Video of the incident began to circulate on Twitter on Friday.

"For the first two nights, the police blocked off the streets. Today they did not, so we had a couple cars blocking the streets for us and people lining up their bikes," Colombo said. "There was this one car that for a few minutes was just beeping for a minute or so straight, so a few people went up to the car to get them to move, and they eventually just ...

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vids at source

I don't blame some of these drivers - not the ones who are making political statements with their cars - but people who are just trying to get somewhere and there's a bunch of screaming morons surrounding their car. People seem to think, "oh we're protesting. We can do anything we want."

Ditto.

sounds like domestic terrorism to me.
if you disagree, imagine that every one of the attackers was a Muslim.