Winning Hearts & Minds

‘Dorner’s Last Stand’ game surfaces as protesters decry LAPD brutality

"An online video game depicting ex-Los Angeles Police officer and quadruple-murder suspect Christopher Dorner’s battle with authorities surfaced online as demonstrators criticized his former department for mishandling the case. The New York Daily News reported on Friday that the game also features racist imagery and language. Meanwhile, about three dozen protesters gathered outside police headquarters criticizing the LAPD’s handling of the case, which included two shooting incidents that resulted in three people being injured after being mistaken for Dorner." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Dorner’s Last Stand’ game surfaces as protesters decry LAPD brutality

Woman taken down, handcuffed for not showing rental agreement quickly enough

"Robert Ferreira was sure someone was breaking in his neighbor's house in the early-morning hours of Aug. 22, 2009. He saw a woman he didn't recognize trying to pry open a garage door. So he called 911. Two St. Petersburg police officers, Neil Rambaran and Jonathan VanHouten, checked out the house, at 4042 32nd Ave. N. With guns drawn and flashlights in hand, they found a man and woman inside. Rambaran took the woman to the ground, drove his knee into her back and handcuffed her; VanHouten handcuffed the man. But the man and woman were not burglars. They had recently rented the place." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWoman taken down, handcuffed for not showing rental agreement quickly enough

Judge calls D.C. police officer charged with child sexual abuse a ‘danger’

"A District Court judge Tuesday ordered a veteran D.C. police officer to remain jailed after a second woman came forward to say he had sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager singing in a church choir he directed. During a preliminary hearing, D.C. Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz called Wendel Palmer a 'danger' who targeted adolescent girls. The hearing was for a charge that he repeatedly sexually abused a girl, beginning when she was 11 years old and lasting nearly three years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJudge calls D.C. police officer charged with child sexual abuse a ‘danger’

Colorado cops wrongfully shoot second dog in just two months

"For the second time in just two months, law enforcement officers in Colorado have been accused of wrongfully killing a man’s best friend. Business owner Jeff Fisher told KUSA that his 8-year-old dog, Ziggy, was shot and killed when Adams County deputies ended up at the wrong address while responding to a security alarm. Fisher recalled that Ziggy ran outside to check things out after deputies reportedly forced their way into his business. Seconds later, the dog was dead. In late November, home video showed officers in Commerce City shooting a pit bull named Chloe after she had already been restrained." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingColorado cops wrongfully shoot second dog in just two months

Banana Republics Have Nothing on New York City

"In a nation that incarcerates more people than any other, New York City hopes to jail a hefty proportion of its residents, too. The Daily News reports that the City now boasts more than a million 'open bench warrants' for such heinous 'crimes' as 'drinking a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon on a West Village stoop' and 'walking a dog without a leash.' The News lies somewhere to the left of Pravda, but even it marvels that an eighth of New Yorkers could languish in the pokey, which 'number of outlaws ... nearly matches the population of Dallas.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBanana Republics Have Nothing on New York City

Police spies slept with, abandoned female targets on taxpayer dime

"It was not unusual for undercover operatives working for the SDS or its sister squad, the national public order unit, to have sexual relationships with women they were spying on. Of the 11 undercover police officers publicly identified, nine had intimate sexual relations with activists. Most were long-term, meaningful relationships with women who believed they were in a loving partnership. It was all standard procedure for the SDS. Some operatives ended their deployments by pretending to have a breakdown and vanishing, supposedly to go abroad, sending a few letters to their girlfriends with foreign postmarks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice spies slept with, abandoned female targets on taxpayer dime

Saudi rights activists given heavy jail terms

"A Saudi court on Saturday dissolved a human rights group and handed down heavy jail terms to two of its members. He also upheld a six-year prison term for one the group’s members, Abdullah al-Hamed, by a court of first instance, while also handing him a new five-year sentence and an 11-year travel ban to come into force when he leaves jail. Another rights activist with the ACPRA, Mohammed Gahtani, was jailed for 10 years and banned from travelling for 10 years. The defendants were convicted of violating a law on cybercriminality by using Twitter to denounce various aspects of political and social life in the ultra-conservative kingdom." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSaudi rights activists given heavy jail terms

Obama won’t push Middle East peace initiative in Israel trip

"President Barack Obama on Thursday signaled there would be no big Middle East peace initiative on the table when he arrives in Israel later this month for his first visit as US leader. Officials have styled the trip as an effort to reconnect with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he had a delicate relationship during his first term and to coordinate on key issues like Iran and Syria. 'The President reiterated America’s unshakeable support for Israel and thanked the leaders for role they play in strengthening ties between the two nations,' the official said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama won’t push Middle East peace initiative in Israel trip

Pepe Escobar: El comandante has left the building

"Compare it with US President Barack Obama - in what sounds like a dormant cut and paste by some White House intern - reaffirming US support for 'the Venezuelan people'. Would that be 'the people' who have been electing and re-electing Chavez non-stop since the late 1990s? Or would that be 'the people' who trade Martinis in Miami demonizing him as an evil communist? El Comandante may have left the building - his body defeated by cancer - but the post-mortem demonization will go on forever. One key reason stands out. Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: El comandante has left the building

New sanctions on Iran introduced to Congress

"The bipartisan House bill would allow President Barack Obama to impose penalties on foreign entities that provide Iran with goods to help maintain its struggling economy. The Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013 also would provide Obama with broader authority to target strategic imports, such as mining or power generating equipment that could help Iran with its nuclear program, which the West and Israel say is a front for weapons development. The bill would designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew sanctions on Iran introduced to Congress