BLM ALLY
Popovich rips Trump's leadership amid George Floyd protests

By Jeff McDonald , Monday, June 1, 2020


Photo: Jeff Chiu /Associated Press

Gregg Popovich is part of an NBA Coaches Association committee formed to address racial conflict in each of the league’s cities.


Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, has sounded off on what he sees as a lack of national leadership in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd.
With protests begetting violent riots throughout the country, Pop called longtime friend Dave Zirin at the The Nation to vent.

Some highlights from Popovich:

“The thing that strikes me is that we all see this police violence and racism and we’ve seen it all before but nothing changes. That’s why these protests have been so explosive. But without leadership and an understanding of what the problem is, there will never be change. And white Americans have avoided reckoning with this problem forever because it’s been our privilege to be able to avoid it. That also has to change.”

RELATED: For Popovich, speaking out is intended to be uncomfortable

And also:

“It’s unbelievable. If Trump had a brain, even if it was 99 percent cynical, he would come out and say something to unify people. But he doesn’t care about bringing people together. Even now. That’s how deranged he is. It’s all about him. It’s all about what benefits him personally. It’s never about the greater good. And that’s all he’s ever been.”

And again:

“It’s so clear what needs to be done. We need a president to come out and say simply that ‘Black Lives Matter.’ Just say those three words. But he won’t and he can’t. He can’t because it’s more important to him to mollify the small group of followers who validate his insanity."

He’s not just divisive. He’s a destroyer. To be in his presence makes you die. He will eat you alive for his own purposes. I’m appalled that we have a leader who can’t say ‘Black Lives Matter.’ That’s why he hides in the White House basement. He is a coward. He creates a situation and runs away like a grade-schooler. Actually, I think it’s best to ignore him. There is nothing he can do to make this better because of who he is: a deranged idiot.”

Popovich went on to call the nationwide protests "very necessary" but said "they need to be organized better."

Popovich: "When Dr. King did a protest, you knew when to show, when to come back the next day. But if you’re just organizing protests and everyone is coming and going in every direction, it doesn’t work that way. If it was nonviolent, they knew to be nonviolent, but this is muddled. More leadership would be very welcome so these incredible mass demonstrations can’t be used by people for other means."

GOP REVEALS ITS RACIST FASCIST CORE

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton calls for the US Army's toughest soldiers to quell 'domestic terrorism' and suggests protesters should be shown no mercy

IT'S THE GOP NOT JUST TRUMP

Eliza Relman BUSINESS INSIDER 6/1/2020

Sen. Tom Cotton on Fox News Screenshot/Fox News


Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, on Monay pushed for the use of military force against Black Lives Matter demonstrators, some of whom have engaged in looting and other criminal acts. 

"If local politicians will not do their most basic job to protect our citizens, let's see how these anarchists respond when the 101st Airborne is on the other side of the street," Cotton said on Fox News. 

In a tweet, Cotton wrote that law enforcement should give "no quarter" to "insurrectionists, anarchists, rioters, and looters," using a military term to suggest protesters should be shown no mercy. 

Cotton's comments echoed Trump's rhetoric, which has included threatening "the unlimited power" of the US military against protesters.

Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, pushed for the use of military force against demonstrators who've taken to the streets and, in some cases, protested violently against police brutality and racism.

"If local politicians will not do their most basic job to protect our citizens, let's see how these anarchists respond when the 101st Airborne is on the other side of the street," Cotton said during a Monday morning interview on Fox News.

Cotton, who's closely aligned with President Donald Trump, elaborated on his position on Twitter, calling violence at protests "domestic terrorism."

"We need to have zero tolerance for this destruction," he wrote, calling protesters "Antifa terrorists." "And, if necessary, the 10th Mountain, 82nd Airborne, 1st Cav, 3rd Infantry — whatever it takes to restore order. No quarter for insurrectionists, anarchists, rioters, and looters."

The military term "no quarter" means a commander will not accept the lawful surrender of an enemy combatant and suggests the captive will instead be killed. "No quarter" is a war crime under the Geneva Convention, to which the US is subject. 

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The president later retweeted Cotton and endorsed his statements.
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 1, 2020

Cotton's comments echoed Trump's rhetoric, which has included threatening "the unlimited power" of the US military against protesters. Trump also threatened demonstrators outside the White House with "vicious dogs" and "ominous weapons" he said the Secret Service was prepared to use against them.

"That's when people would have been really badly hurt, at least," the president added.

In another tweet, Trump quoted a racist white police chief who sparked riots in the 1960s saying, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts."

Civil rights leaders and many others, including DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, have called Trump's comments racist dog whistles.
—The American Independent (@AmerIndependent) June 1, 2020
—Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) June 1, 2020

Fox News built a secret team led by a former Trump aide to discredit the company's critics

Eliza Relman BUSINESS INSIDER 6/1/2020

News headlines scroll above the Fox News studios in the News Corporation headquarters building, in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017. AP


Fox Corp has hired a former aide to President Donald Trump to lead a covert team of conservatives with the mission of discrediting Fox's critics, The New York Times reported. 

The company hired Raj Shah, a former deputy White House press secretary, last year as a senior vice president.

Since then, Shah has hired at least two former conservative media reporters to help him attempt to discredit Fox's critics, including the left-leaning groups Media Matters and Sleeping Giants. 

Fox Corp has hired a former aide to President Donald Trump to lead a covert team of conservatives with the mission of discrediting Fox's critics, The New York Times' Ben Smith, reported Sunday.

The company hired Raj Shah, a former deputy White House press secretary who previously directed opposition research against Hillary Clinton at the Republican National Committee, last year as a senior vice president.

This year, Smith reported, Shah has been building a staff that includes two former writers for the right-wing Washington Free Beacon, Elliott Schwartz and Alex Griswold. Schwartz also previously directed Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign war room.

The team is tasked with attacking and attempting to discredit Fox's critics, including the left-leaning Media Matters, which regularly reports on Fox, and Sleeping Giants, a social media account that's attempted to pressure companies to stop advertising on Fox News.

Smith wrote the team's role is to "defend Fox from criticism from progressive outlets like Media Matters and Sleeping Giants on social media, protect advertising dollars and discredit critics," according to three sources. It's unclear what efforts the team has been involved with.

Neither Schwartz nor Griswold, both of whom are active on Twitter, have publicly identified themselves as Fox employees.

There is a well-established revolving door between Fox and the Trump campaign and administration, and Fox Corp has long employed a robust PR team. But it is unusual for a news organization to have a team responsible for discrediting its critics.

Fox Corp declined Business Insider's request for comment.

President Trump says he is designating Antifa as a domestic terror organization following widespread protests. There are no legal consequences to that designation.

Alex Nicoll
May 31, 2020, 1:28 PM

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Antifa take to the streets in Washington, DC, July 6, 2019. 

Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post


America has seen major protests across the country for five nights, with frequent clashes between the police and protestors, following the death of George Floyd. 

President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr have both blamed the worst violence on anarchists and Antifa, a left-wing political movement. 

On Sunday, President Trump tweeted that he would designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. 

There are no legal consequences for designating a group as a domestic terror organization, but all 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces have been monitoring the protests. 

President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday afternoon that the United States would be designating the left-wing political movement Antifa a domestic terrorist organization.

The news comes after five nights of protests across America protesting the police killing of George Floyd. Saturday saw the highest tension yet, with police shooting tear gas and less-lethal projectiles at protestors, some of who responded by throwing bricks and bottles and, in some cities, lighting police vehicles on fire and looting stores.

On Saturday, the President blamed Antifa, short for anti-fascist, and other left-wing groups for the riots and looting.

"The memory of George Floyd is being dishonored by rioters, looters and anarchists. The violence and vandalism is being led by Antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting business and burning down buildings. The main victims of this horrible, horrible situation are the citizens who live in these once lovely communities," the president said.


The State Department can designate foreign organizations as terrorist organizations, but there is no law governing domestic organizations. At the moment, it is unclear what President Trump's tweet refers to in concrete legal steps. The Patriot Act defines domestic terrorism, but there are no federal crimes tied to domestic terror.

Trump said in July of 2019 that he was considering declaring Antifa an "Organization of Terror."

Another challenge is the nature of Antifa, which is less of an organization, with structure and leaders, than a decentralized movement. Antifa is a global movement largely made up of anarchists, socialists, and other left-wing groups that oppose right-wing authoritarianism and white supremacy, sometimes violently. Unlike other radical groups, there is no controlling organizational structure, choosing instead to operate semi-autonomously and without leaders.

Antifa is known for its black-bloc protest tactics, where protestors wear all black and cover up their face so that they can't be identified by police or right-wing opponents.


Antifa's name comes from the pre-World War 2 German group Antifaschistische Aktion, which resisted the Nazi German state, and birthed the design of Antifa's now infamous flag.

Getty Images

Antifa gained much more public attention under the Trump presidency, as the movement disrupted events with far-right speakers across the country, such as Vice and Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnis's speech at the Metroplitan Republican Club. Most notably, the organization faced off against the white nationalist Unite the Right rally.

Noted black clergyman and left-wing activist Cornel West told Democracy Now that Antifa protected him and other clergy from the worst of the white nationalist violence.

"We would have been crushed like cockroaches were it not for the anarchists and the anti-fascists," he told Democracy Now. "You had police holding back and just allowing fellow citizens to go at each other."


Trump, in his response to the Charlottesville protest, said that he blamed Antifa and the "alt-left" for violence as well.

"What about the alt-left who came charging at the alt-right?" Trump said at a press conference.

Attorney General William Barr also blamed "anarchist and far-left extremist" groups for the violence on Saturday. On Sunday, the Attorney General's office released guidance that said that the his office is working with the 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to "identify criminal organizers and instigators."

AG Barr: "To identify criminal organizers and instigators, and to coordinate federal resources with our state and local partners, federal law enforcement is using our existing network of 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF). " pic.twitter.com/mueuIo8LSa— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) May 31, 2020

It is unclear what other avenues the federal government may use to pursue enforcement actions against Antifa, but the FBI Agents Association has been lobbying for the creation of a domestic terrorism law.

Twitter flags tweet from Rep. Matt Gaetz about wanting to 'hunt down' protesters, noting that it glorifies violence
Grace Panetta

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) speaks to members of the media outside the hearing Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump, testifies at before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform at Rayburn House Office Building February 27, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images
On Monday, Twitter flagged a tweet from Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida as "glorifying violence."

The platform turned off replies and likes on a Monday message from Gaetz stating: "Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?"

THAT IS ISIS A FASCIST MOVEMENT NOT ANTI FASCISTS ANTIFA FOR SHORT
SO IF YOU OPPOSE ANTI FASCISM YOU KNOW THAT MAKES YOU A FASCIST 

The flagging of Gaetz's tweet comes amid a broader push from Twitter to fact-check politicians' tweets and crack down on those from public figures that violate the platform's rules. 

Twitter flagged a message from Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida about wanting to hunt down protesters as "glorifying violence" on Monday.

Gatez posted the tweet shortly before 2 p.m. on Monday, writing, "Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?

Twitter turned off replies and likes, and added a note that it violated the platform's rules.
—kate conger (@kateconger) June 1, 2020

The flagging of Gaetz's tweet comes amid a broader push from Twitter to fact-check politicians' tweets and crack down on those from public figures that violate the platform's rules.

Last week, Twitter similarly flagged a tweet from President Donald Trump as violating their rules against glorifying violence but added a notice stating they believed keeping the tweet available to view was "in the public interest" while disabling likes and replies.

Gaetz's tweet was referring to claims from Trump and other Republican officials that Antifa and other left-wing groups are directly contributing to violence.

Over the weekend, Trump posted several tweets blaming "anarchists" and "Antifa" on the violence and looting accompanying protests against police brutality in several American cities. H also said that he would designate Antifa, which is not a hierarchical organization but rather a broad, decentralized movement that resists white supremacy, a domestic terrorist group.

Experts, however, have said there is no legal mechanism for Trump to do so. As Business Insider noted on Sunday, the State Department has the authority to designate foreign organizations as terrorist groups, but there is no legal method to designate domestic actors as such.

Gaetz, a staunch Trump ally who has vocally criticized Twitter's attempts to fact-check politicians, continued to defend his sentiment in a number of follow-up tweets.

"We hunt down terrorists in the Middle East by having our government (not vigilantes) monitor their communications, freeze their money and stop them from committing attacks," he said. "American lives, businesses & property are more deserving of our strong protection than distant sand dunes."

NYPD chief takes a knee with protesters in an act of solidarity
Sarah Al-Arshani INSIDER
6/1/2020

Chief of Department of the New York City Police, Terence Monahan, hugs an activist as protesters paused while walking in New York, Monday, June 1, 2020. AP Photo/Craig Ruttle


New York City's Chief of Departments took a stand of solidarity with George Floyd protestors by taking a knee on Monday. 

Terence Monahan hugged and spoke with protestors in Washington Square Park.

New York City Police Department Chief of Departments took a knee alongside those protesting the death of George Floyd in Washington Square Park on Monday.

Video shows Chief of Departments Terence Monahan taking a knee and hugging and speaking with protestors.

According to WABC, this came after a few people threw bottles at the cops. In a tweet, Fox Correspondent Bryan Llenas said some protestors tried to deescalate the situation.

A protester told Monahan that demonstrators need support and help to organize.

"Thank you for supporting us," one person said in the video. "We gotta continue supporting each other."
—Bryan Llenas (@BryanLlenas) June 1, 2020

The protester also told Monahan: "I'm gonna come to your office, so we can talk. We gone talk so we can organize, alright."

He continued: "We gone continue marching peacefully. I promise you, alright. Have a good day. I love you."

Monahan told protestors to be safe.

"The people who live in New York want New York to end the violence," Monahan said. "Get the intruders that are not from this city the h--- out of here and give us back our city."

Monahan added: "We've had five days of war here, that needs to end. It has to end today."

He told peaceful protestors to go home when the sun goes down.

"Leave it out to those who are to cause damage and we'll get rid of them," he said. "We'll get rid of those that are ruining your neighborhood."

Protests erupted across multiple cities after the death of Floyd last week. A video circulated showing Floyd become unresponsive as ex-officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee to Floyd's neck. All four officers involved in the incident were fired, and Chauvin has been arrested and charged. Protestors are calling for the other three officers to be charged.

SAY HIS NAME
Ahmaud Arbery's murder shows how hard it is to prosecute cops, or even ex-cops
Anthony L. Fisher  May 7, 2020

A cross with flowers and a letter A sits at the entrance to the Satilla Shores neighborhood where Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed May 7, 2020 in Brunswick, Georgia. Sean Rayford/Getty Images



Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man whose family says he was just out for a jog, was chased by two white men who suspected him of being a burglar. One of those men them shot Arbery to death.

Graphic leaked video of the shooting went public this week, causing many on both the left and right to express outrage and disgust. 

The father-son duo that hunted Arbery both had ties to law enforcement. The father himself was an ex-cop who recently retired as an investigator for the District Attorney's office.

A prosecutor — who eventually recused himself from the case — wrote a letter to the police saying he saw no reason to press charges against Arbery's killers, saying they had a right to conduct a citizen's arrest and to shoot in self-defense.

The unwillingness of prosecutors to bring charges against people who run in their law enforcement circles is a problem that is brought to the forefront by the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.

The fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old Georgia black man, is such an obvious case of vigilante murder that it has united some prominent voices of both the left and right in universal outrage.


Though much of the early outrage has focused on the issues of race, open carry, and citizen's arrest laws — all-important issues in this case — there's another pertinent issue that deserves critical examination: the often too-cozy relationship between prosecutors and police.

Prosecutors are generally disinclined to bring charges against police officers, or even ex-police officers, as in the case of Arbery's killers.

Arbery was shot on February 23. But it took a tweet on Tuesday from activist Shaun King sharing a video of the shooting — roughly two and a half months later — for the prosecutor in charge, Tom Durden of Georgia's Atlantic Judicial Circuit, to say he is recommending the case be brought before a grand jury.

Durden is the third prosecutor assigned to the case because the previous two recused themselves for conflicts of interest.

Update: Minutes after this column was published, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced: "Gregory & Travis McMichael have been arrested for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery."
Vigilante murder

Arbery was shot twice by 34-year-old Travis McMichael, who with his 64-year-old father Gregory, chased Arbery in a pickup truck after Gregory saw him running down the street.

Arbery's family says he was an avid jogger and out for a run, and in the video he appears to be wearing workout clothes.

The elder McMichael thought Arbery looked like a burglary suspect he claimed to have seen in a surveillance video, and he and his son brought a shotgun and a .357 magnum along for the ride. A third man followed in another car, and appears to be the person who shot the video.

The 36-second video clip clearly shows the McMichaels' truck parked in the middle of the road, blocking Arbery's running path. Travis stands outside the vehicle holding a shotgun, while Gregory stands in the pickup's bed. Arbery runs around the right-side of the truck and though it is unclear who initiated contact, scuffles with Travis over the shotgun.

Within seconds, shots were fired, and Arbery collapsed to the asphalt. He died on the scene.

When police arrived, Gregory told them that "there have been several break-ins in the neighborhood," according to the police report. According to The Brunswick News, just one burglary was reported in the area from January 1 to February 23: a gun stolen from Travis McMichael's unlocked pickup truck on January 1.

Gregory also told police that they shouted "stop, we want to talk to you" before pulling alongside Arbery. At this point, he said, "Travis exited the truck with the shotgun" and Arbery "began to violently attack Travis."

However, the video clearly shows Travis standing holding the shotgun a full ten seconds before Arbery attempts to run around the parked truck. The police report doesn't mention that Arbery was unarmed. No arrests were made at the scene.

It wouldn't be until May 7 that the McMichaels were arrested.
A prosecutor saw the video and still believed the McMichaels' story

The first prosecutor, Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson, recused herself because the elder McMichael, a former police officer, had been an investigator in the DA's office. The next prosecutor, Waycross judicial circuit District Attorney George Barnhill, also recused himself from the case because his son currently works in Johnson's office.

Before his recusal, Barnhill sent a letter to Glynn County PD Captain Tom Jump, where he wrote, "I appreciate there is immediate pressure on your department as to the issue of 'Arrest,'" adding that he did "not see grounds for an arrest of any of the three parties."

Barnhill in the letter identified William Bryan (called "Roddy" in the police report) as the third man in pursuit of Arbery, and the person who shot the video.

The DA wrote that the video "appears" to show Arbery "running along the right side of the McMichael truck then abruptly turns 90 degrees to the left and attacks Travis McMichael."

That's an outrageous way to describe what actually happened.

In the video, Arbery is seen "running along the right side" of a stopped truck with two men brandishing weapons and waiting for him to approach.

Barnhill posited that "Arbery's mental health records & prior convictions help explain his apparent aggressive nature and his possible thought pattern to attack an armed man."

As often happens in the case of police-involved shootings, the victim's past became evidence to support the shooting. According to The New York Times, Arbery "was convicted of shoplifting and of violating probation in 2018" and that in 2013 "he was indicted on charges that he took a handgun to a high school basketball game."

Further, Barnhill wrote, the men were within their rights under Georgia state law to openly carry firearms. They were also in the clear because they were "'in hot pursuit' of a burglary suspect, with solid firsthand probable cause, in their neighborhood, and asking/telling him to stop." That, Barnhill wrote, put them within their rights to conduct a citizen's arrest and detain Arbery until police arrived.

Finally, Barnhill said, "Arbery initiated the fight" and grabbed Travis' shotgun. Therefore, "under Georgia Law, McMichael was allowed to use deadly force to protect himself."

It shouldn't have taken the video going public to launch a grand jury

Between 2005 and 2015, 54 police officers were prosecuted for a line of duty shooting, according to The Washington Post.

There are about 1,000 police-involved shootings in the US every year. It strains credulity that just 54 of the thousands of shootings met the criteria for a prosecutor to recommend charges to a grand jury.

Neither of the McMichaels are current police officers, but they have strong ties to law enforcement and the DA's office. It's entirely possible these ties had nothing to do with Barnhill's recommendation that they not be arrested for Arbery's shooting.

It's also entirely possible that Barnhill considered all the available facts and merely wanted to make his opinion known to the Glynn County PD, who were under public pressure to make an arrest.

But Barnhill recused himself from the case because he had a conflict of interest. His attempt to put his finger on the scales of justice before stepping aside is unethical, to say the least.

If he's too compromised to work on this case, he shouldn't be telling the police how to consider the evidence. And he should be made to answer for his misstatements of facts that are clearly contradicted by the video (if the video that went public is the same he saw, which seems likely).

The unwillingness of prosecutors to bring charges against people who run in their law enforcement circles is a problem that is brought to the forefront by the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

The John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2019 issued a study titled: "The Prosecutor's Role in Addressing Officer-Involved Fatalities and Critical Incidents."

Among its recommendations are the creation of "independent investigative bureaus" of prosecutors that work exclusively on officer-involved shootings, and don't "work with local law enforcement on any cases." It would essentially nip the conflict of interest issue in the bud. Some prosecutors would work with the cops, some would watch the cops.

Ahmaud Arbery did not die at the hands of police, but he did tie at the hands of an ex-cop and his son, who works with a prosecutor.

There's no shortage of available outrage to go around regarding this senseless death. Hopefully, some of that furor will go toward addressing an issue that's hiding in plain sight: prosecutors shouldn't be in charge of investigating their buddies.

This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author(s).

THIRD WORLD USA
Journalists demand end to harassment after US police launch over 100 attacks on the press this past weekend
Charles Davis BUSINESS INSIDER 6/1/2020

Police face off with activists during a protest march near the Manhattan Bridge on Sunday, May 31, 2020, in New York. Demonstrators took to the streets of New York to protest the death of George Floyd, who died May 25 after he was pinned at the neck by a Minneapolis police officer. AP Photo/Kevin Hagen

US police launched over 100 attacks on credential members of the press over the weekend, according to a count by the investigative news organization Bellingcat.

In a June 1 open letter, leading press organizations pleaded with law enforcement to "halt the deliberate and devastating targeting of journalists in the field."

Aaron Miguel Cantú, a freelance journalist in Los Angeles who was arrested over the weekend, told Business Insider that reporters are now learning that "police have grown so powerful that there is nobody left to meaningfully hold them accountable for their actions."

In Minneapolis, local law enforcement took aim at Linda Tirado, a photojournalist, and shot her eye out as she tried to cover protests over the police killing of George Floyd; they later subjected a black journalist from CNN to wrongful arrest. In Louisville, TV reporter Kaitlin Rust and her crew were targeted by local cops who peppered them with non-lethal bullets during a live broadcast.

In just four days, according to a count by the investigative news outlet Bellingcat, US police attacked journalists over a hundred times.

The police violence against a free press spurred a response Monday from leading journalism organizations, and a reminder for law enforcement: "These cities belong to all of us."

"You must persuade your colleagues, commanders and chiefs, and the mayors and governors who direct them, to halt the deliberate and devastating targeting of journalists in the field," reads a June 1 open letter to police endorsed by groups such as the Society of Professional Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the National Press Club.
Reuters security advisor Rodney Seward is treated by a medic for a deep gash under his left eye after being struck by a rubber bullet during nationwide unrest following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S, May 30, 2020. REUTERS TV/Julio-Cesar Chavez

"Over the past 72 hours police have opened fire with rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray, pepper balls and have used nightsticks and shields to attack the working press as never before in this nation," the letter states. "When you silence the press with rubber bullets, you silence the voice of the public. Do not abandon our Constitution and its First Amendment."


Aaron Miguel Cantú, a freelance journalist in Los Angeles who was briefly detained while covering protests on Saturday, told Business Insider that while this weekend's incidents may be alarming, what's new is the attention they are receiving.

"Journalists across the field are now learning firsthand what may having been saying for the last decade: American police have grown so powerful that there is nobody left to meaningfully hold them accountable for their actions, particularly at large street protests," Cantú said. In 2017, he was arrested and charged with "conspiracy to riot" while covering protests during President Donald Trump's inauguration; the charges were ultimately dismissed after a prolonged legal battle.

With the president declaring reporters "enemies of the people," harassment of the press is spreading to new quarters.

Freelance journalists have been targeted with "violence and arrest by police for years," Cantú noted, "and now this kind of targeting increasingly includes journalists by corporate media outlets."

NOT A REAL UNION
The head of the Minneapolis police union called protests a 'terrorist movement' and blamed politicians for unrest in a leaked email

Connor Perrett 6/1/2020

Police officers take measures as protesters continue to rally in response to the death of George Floyd, unarmed black man who died after being pinned down by a former white police officer in Minneapolis, MN, United States on May 30, 2020. ( Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
In a leaked email, the president of the Minneapolis Federation of Police said the ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd were a "terrorist movement" that has occurred following a "long time build up which dates back years." 

Lt. Bob Kroll blamed politicians for the ongoing tension, specifically targeting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. 

The former police chief of Minneapolis called on Kroll to resign, and Frey said Kroll was "shockingly indifferent to his role in undermining that trust and support" of the police force.

Calls for the president of the Minneapolis Federation of Police to resign are growing after he said ongoing protests were the result of a "terrorist movement" and said police officers were "scapegoats" in an email that leaked Monday.

"What has been very evident throughout this process is you have lacked support from the top," Lt. Bob Kroll wrote to members of the police union. "This terrorist movement that is currently occurring was a long time build up which dates back years."

Protests — many peaceful but sometimes violent — have spread across the US in response to the death of 46-year-old George Floyd, a black man who died May 25 while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers.

In the email, Kroll attributed the protests to a minimized police force and caused by "diverting funds to community activists with an anti-police agenda."

"Our chief request 400 more officers and was flatly denied any. This is what led to this record breaking riot," he added.

Kroll accused local politicians, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, of refusing to acknowledge "the work of the MPD" and for shifting the blame to the police force.

"It's despicable behavior," he wrote. "How our command staff can tolerate it and live with themselves I do not know."

In a tweet Monday afternoon, the Minneapolis mayor responded to Kroll's leaked message.
"For a man who complains so frequently about a lack of community trust and support for the police department, Bob Kroll remains shockingly indifferent to his role in undermining that trust and support," Frey said.
—Jacob Frey (@Jacob_Frey) June 1, 2020

"His categorical opposition to reform, his consistent disrespect for civilian leadership, and his lack of empathy for the community have done more to undermine trust in police than any 'community activist' ever has," he added.

Janeé Harteau, who served as the chief of the Minneapolis Police Department from 2012 until 2017, called on Kroll to resign.

"A disgrace to the badge!" she tweeted on Monday. "This is the battle that myself and others have been fighting against. Bob Kroll turn in your badge!" she said on Twitter.

Harteau was asked to resign by the city's then-mayor in 2017 after the death of Justine Damond by a Minneapolis police officer, according to the Star Tribune.

Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis is a vocal supporter of Trump. Photo by Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via Getty Images

As the Star Tribune noted, Kroll in 2007 was accused by five black police officers of wearing a "white power" patch on a biker jacket, though he denied the accusations. In October 2019, Kroll was a featured speaker at a Minneapolis rally for President Trump's re-election. At the rally, Kroll said the administration of former President Obama had led to the "handcuffing and oppression of police."

"The first thing President Trump did when he took office was turn that around — he decided to start let cops do their job, put the handcuffs on the criminals instead of [on] us," Kroll said last year, according to the Star-Tribune.

It's not the first time Kroll has described protestors as terrorists. In 2016, Kroll called the Black Lives Matter movement a "terrorist organization," according to WCCO.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 10: U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Minneapolis Police Union head Bob Kroll on stage during a campaign rally at the Target Center on October 10, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
In the message that leaked Monday, Kroll said that the media was not reporting what he called the "violent criminal history of George Floyd." He added he was working with the defense attorneys of the four officers who had been fired from the police force, and said they were fired "without due process."

Insider's requests for comment to both the POFM and MPD were not returned on Monday.

Four officers involved in the incident that led to Floyd's death have been fired from MPD, though only former officer Derek Chauvin has so far been charged with a crime. He was charged last week with third-degree murder and manslaughter for his role in Floyd's death.

In a video of the altercation, Chauvin was seen holding his neck to Floyd's knee for approximately eight minutes even as Floyd said he couldn't breathe and eventually lost consciousness. 

SEE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-fraternal-order-of-police-is-not.html


https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/police-rioted-this-weekend-justifying.html

Read more:

George Floyd's death was 'caused by asphyxia due to neck and back compression,' an independent autopsy found

Thousands across the UK, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and Canada condemn racism and demand justice at global Black Lives Matter protests

Gregg Popovich unloads on Trump in wake of nationwide protests, calling him a 'deranged idiot' whose 'presence will make you die'

TikTok apologized for the glitch affecting the 'black lives matter' hashtag after accusations of censorship: 'We know this came at a painful time'

Police rioted this weekend, justifying the point of the protests

Anthony L. Fisher BUSINESS INSIDER 6/1/2020

Police officers in Minneapolis on Saturday aiming at a Reuters TV cameraman during nationwide unrest following the death of George Floyd in police custody. REUTERS TV/Julio Cesar-Chavez

In cities across America this past weekend, many police officers committed acts of violence, callously violated citizens' rights, and abandoned the rule of law.

There's an institutional rot at the heart of policing in this country, which stems from privileges afforded to law-enforcement officers that allow them to break the law, abuse their authority, and hurt innocent people. 

The Supreme Court has the opportunity to squash "qualified immunity" for police officers, but even that wouldn't be enough.

Police unions almost universally resist any measures at transparency and accountability, and it is far too easy for bad cops to either stay on the job or find new law-enforcement jobs after they've been fired. 

THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE IS NOT A UNION 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-fraternal-order-of-police-is-not.html

Democrats need to get over their reflexive pro-union posture, and Republicans should drop their knee-jerk fealty to armed authority, and defend the civil liberties of Americans.

In cities across America over the past several days, many police officers rioted.

Wanton acts of violence were committed. Rights were callously violated. The rule of law was abandoned.

To be sure, there were plenty of good and noble acts by the police over the weekend. Some police chiefs marched peacefully with protesters; others made it a point to directly engage in dialogue with their community. Countless officers protected innocent people and their property and also did their best to ensure as safe an environment as possible for peaceful protesters.

No cops deserved to be attacked with projectiles. This shouldn't be controversial.

The violence and property damage associated with the civil unrest is inexcusable. The looting is indefensible. Both do incredible damage to any cause seeking justice, especially ones fighting to end police brutality and reform the criminal justice system.

None of that makes analyzing the events of the past few days, the underlying causes, and the motivations of the participants any easier. Far from a binary good-versus-bad determination, there are myriad issues to unpack. But any conversation focused only on the riots and looting and not law enforcement's penchant for excessive force and institutional resistance to accountability is both disingenuous and unserious.

For the moment, I'm going to focus on the institutional rot at the heart of policing in this country, in which the privileges afforded to law-enforcement officers allow them to break the law, abuse their authority, and hurt innocent people.

These privileges are codified into police-union contracts with governments and backed up by the conservative interpretation of an 1871 law known as Section 1983.

Under the interpretation, which protects police officers from facing liability in civil courts for violating citizens' civil rights, those who feel their rights have been violated by a police officer need to prove that a nearly identical situation was ruled a violation of civil rights in the same jurisdiction for the courts to even consider revoking so-called qualified immunity from the officer accused.
Police rioted

In Minneapolis — the city where the nationwide unrest was sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died May 25 after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on his neck for over eight excruciating minutes — members of the police and National Guard marched through a quiet neighborhood as if it were Fallujah in 2004.
—Tanya Kerssen (@tkerssen) May 31, 2020

The militarized police barked orders at citizens, commanding them to go back into their homes. Even though the city's curfew specifically allowed for residents to be outside on their own property, one officer took a look at a small group of women on a front porch and said, "Light 'em up," before one of his colleagues fired paint canisters at them.

They were on their front porch. They were observing curfew rules. The cops were the lawbreakers.


Another Minneapolis officer performed a drive-by pepper-spraying of peaceful protesters and media members in broad daylight.

As violence erupted in at least two dozen US cities, some of the worst instincts of law enforcement were on display.

In Louisville, Kentucky, the police seized and destroyed a substantial amount of bottled water being used for the relief of peaceful protesters.

In Salt Lake City, an armored police officer who had no crowd to disperse still felt compelled to walk directly toward an elderly man with a cane and shove him to the ground.

In New York, two New York City Police Department vehicles plowed through a barricade and into a crowd of protesters. A young man with his hands in the air had his mask pulled down by an NYPD officer, who then pepper-sprayed him at point-blank range. And in at least one attempt at crowd clearance, officers manhandled and assaulted anyone in their way.

In Charleston, South Carolina, a young man among a group of kneeling protesters gave a tearful speech at the armored cops opposite them. After he pleaded with their humanity, even telling the cops he loved them, a group of officers charged toward the protesters and pulled the speaker into custody. He was arrested while peacefully protesting and exercising his freedom speech.
—(っ'-')╮ (@sweeeetdee_) June 1, 2020

Police officers can often face mortal danger and extreme stress in their line of work. But with the government-sanctioned power to deprive citizens of both life and liberty, they are required to swear an oath that they will be responsible, honest, and lawful in the use of such power.

Police officers, by and large, try to uphold that oath. But police unions and many police departments do everything in their power to make that oath empty words by fighting any legitimate attempts at transparency and accountability when it comes to the use of force.

This has needed to change for decades. Now could be the moment it must.
The Supreme Court should squash 'qualified immunity' once and for all

Floyd's death won't be in vain if it leads to the Supreme Court finally doing away with the "qualified immunity" interpretation of Section 1983 of the US Code — which essentially provides cover to keep officers from being held accountable in civil courts for violating citizens' civil rights.

Clark Neily, the vice president of criminal justice at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, wrote in The Bulwark that the general conservative interpretation Section 1983 was a rare — and I'd say cynically hypocritical — instance of the right abandoning its "originalist" approach to the Constitution.

As Neily puts it, victims of police violence have little recourse in the court system "unless they can find a preexisting case in the jurisdiction with nearly identical facts" to their own incident. That puts the onus on victims to prove their rights were actually violated, because a basic interpretation of the Constitution won't do.

Floyd's family would essentially have to find a case in which a cop killed someone by kneeling on his or her neck for an obscene length of time to get Chuavin's qualified immunity waived. The fact Chauvin had at least 18 complaints against him alleging abuse and inappropriate behavior doesn't factor into the equation.

Originalists have to contort themselves into pretzels to interpret the statute's language so it gives law enforcement the exclusive benefit of the doubt in nearly every instance. Essentially, many constitutional conservatives believe in limiting government authority as much as possible, except when it comes to holding the police accountable for abusing their authority. And for now, the courts have backed that interpretation.

Floyd's killing could change that.

The Supreme Court has the opportunity this week to decide to take on any of the dozens of cases challenging the qualified-immunity interpretation.


But that's not the only systemic issue preventing any meaningful reforms of police accountability.

Police unions all over the country have negotiated into their contracts all kinds of inappropriate and unjust protections from facing justice for their actions.

The Black Lives Matter-associated group Campaign Zero created a valuable database of police-union contracts that shows "72 of the 81 cities' contracts imposed at least one barrier to holding police accountable."

Some of these include a grace period of up to several days after a fatal police-involved shooting before an officer can be interviewed. Others essentially keep disciplinary records from public view permanently.


The militarization of police — fueled by the Department of Defense's "section 1033" program that hands over surplus military equipment to local police departments — was curtailed near the end of the Obama administration but restarted in force by the Trump administration.

And then there's the fact that in this country, it is disturbingly easy for a police officer fired for abuse, corruption, or other causes to find another job in law enforcement. In some states, it's harder to get a license to braid hair than it is to be certified as an armed agent of the state.

Thanks to a confluence of public-sector union power, a federalist system of government, and the unwillingness of many local and state governments to keep and share databases containing the names of bad cops who have been fired for cause, bad cops keep working.
Policing isn't a basketball game

According to Teresa Nelson, the ACLU of Minnesota's legal director, the Minneapolis PD's union boss Lt. Bob Kroll told her in 2015 that he saw complaints against officers as similar to fouls in basketball.


"If you're not getting any fouls, you're not working hard enough," Nelson says Kroll told her, as reported in The New York Times.

Chauvin had at least 18 complaints. That's enough to foul out of three NBA games.

Kroll, according to public records, has had at least 29 complaints made against him.

Lest it needed to be said, policing is not a game and accusations of abuse are not basketball fouls. Policing, when done incorrectly, destroys life and liberty.


Kroll cavalier attitude about the community's relationship with police, and the offensively dismissive view of the need for accountability, is a major part of the reason these protests are happening at all.

Throw in all the incidents of heavy-handed to outright criminal behavior by law enforcement during this terrible weekend in American history and it's clear that change is needed.

When the dust settles, we don't need a "law and order" bootheel to make things better, we need the political will to demand that the law enforcement community reform itself away from its occupying army posture and make its disciplinary records transparent to the public.

If the police won't reform on their own, we need to summon the political will to fight the police unions — protected by Democrats' reflexive pro-union posture and Republicans' knee-jerk fealty to armed authority — and defend the civil liberties of Americans.

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This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author(s).

THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE IS NOT A UNION!

IT IS A FRATERNAL ORDER 

 LIKE THE KU KLUX KLAN IT ORIGINATED AS A  WHITE COP ONLY INITIATORY SECRET SOCIETY TO PURSUE ITS CAMPAIGNS AGAINST BLACKS, ANARCHISTS, HOMOSEXUALS, MIGRANTS, CHINESE, PUERTO RICANS ETC., ETC. 

 IT IS THE SOURCE OF POLICE BRUTALITY AND VIOLENCE, WHICH IT USES LIKE THE KLAN BUT WITH THE PROTECTION OF A COP BADGE. 


FOP NEEDS TO BE ABOLISHED IT IS PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!!

HISTORICALLY IT IS ALIGNED WITH THE REPUBLICANS AND THE FAR RIGHT 


Perhaps the biggest gift was delivered by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in person at the FOP’s annual convention in August. Sessions was the event’s keynote speaker and announced there that Trump would sign an executive order restoring the 1033 program, which gives local police departments surplus military equipment including bayonets, tanks, and grenade launchers. "We have your back and you have our thanks," Sessions told the crowd. According to news reports, the audience reacted “with roaring cheers.” (2017)

COMMENTARY
Why the Fraternal
Order of Police Must Go
The nation’s largest police organization
does more harm to public safety than good.

PAUL BUTLER

“A PACK OF RABID ANIMALS.” That’s how John McNesby, president of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, described local Black Lives Matter activists who picketed outside the home of a Philly cop who shot black suspects in the back on two separate occasions. After the officer was suspended, the local FOP had a fundraiser for him, with proceeds from the $40-per-ticket event going toward the officer’s living expenses.
This commentary was published in collaboration with The Nation.

McNesby made the remarks at a Back the Blue rally in August and caught heat for his choice of words. It wasn’t the first time. Another Philly cop made headlines last year for having a tattoo of a spread-winged eagle under the word “Fatherland.” McNesby defended the cop’s apparent shout out to the official emblem of the Nazi Party, saying the tattoo was “not a big deal.”

In my book “Chokehold: Policing Black Men,” I argue that the U.S. criminal justice system is premised on the control of black men and that this fact explains some of its most problematic features—mass incarceration, the erosion of civil liberties, brutal policing, and draconian sentences. The behavior of McNesby, and FOP leadership more broadly, further supports my claim.

Even as law enforcement has become more racially diverse, the FOP seems committed to putting white men in charge. Those leaders consistently take stances against the safety and rights of black Americans. As a result, the organization serves as a union cum fraternity for white cops and has a retrograde effect on policing, especially as it relates to civil rights.

The FOP is the nation’s largest police association, boasting more than 300,000 members belonging to its 2,000 or so local chapters—some of which are unions and others which are simply fraternal organizations. There’s also a national FOP that lobbies on various issues pertaining to law enforcement and labor.

The FOP’s national leadership consists of seven white men. Such a lack of diversity is striking in an organization that claims 30 percent of its members are officers of color. And many local chapters appear to be run by white cops—even in cities with police forces that are predominantly of color.

Baltimore’s police department, for example, is 44 percent black, but its FOP has never had a black leader. The D.C. FOP chapter board is mainly white, even though the Metropolitan Police Department is predominately black. The Chicago FOP has no black officers on the executive leadership team. Neither does the nine-member executive leadership board of the California state group.

Time and time again, those who are empowered to speak on behalf of the FOP have made it a point to support police officers involved in questionable shootings of black Americans and other alleged abuses.

One local chapter in Maryland raised money for Darren Wilson, the white officer who killed Michael Brown in Ferguson. After Chicago officer Jason Van Dyke was fired for shooting 16 bullets into Laquan McDonald, he was hired as a janitor by his local FOP.

After 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed by a Cleveland officer, the president of the Miami FOP tweeted “act like a thug, you’ll be treated like a thug.” Jay McDonald, president of the Ohio FOP and the current vice president of the national FOP, started an online “Stand with Cops” petition asking for support for officers in the midst of the backlash to Tamir’s killing.

Despite all of this, or perhaps because of it, the FOP has an outsized impact on criminal justice policy, especially in the Trump administration.

The organization endorsed Donald Trump for president during the 2016 race and soon after the election issued an "advisory" for the new administration’s first 100 days. The document reads like a wishlist of everything a fan of violent and undemocratic policing could hope for, and the FOP got most of it.

They got the deprioritization of the Obama administration’s policing commission recommendations, reversal of the DOJ’s ban on private prisons, the return of civil asset forfeiture, the end of DACA and a crackdown on sanctuary cities—all of which aimed to reduce the harm done to communities of color by the criminal justice system.

Perhaps the biggest gift was delivered by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in person at the FOP’s annual convention in August. Sessions was the event’s keynote speaker and announced there that Trump would sign an executive order restoring the 1033 program, which gives local police departments surplus military equipment including bayonets, tanks, and grenade launchers. "We have your back and you have our thanks," Sessions told the crowd. According to news reports, the audience reacted “with roaring cheers.”

Some might believe that the FOP’s behavior and agenda are functions of its role as an organization that advocates for police, but the example of other police organizations suggests that’s not the case.

The Major Cities Police Chief’s organization supported the Obama policing commission’s recommendations while the FOP advisory included "de-prioritizing" "some or all" of them. The FOP is known for defending just about any officer involved in the high-profile killing of a black man while the leadership of NOBLE, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, continually calls for police reform in response to such events.

Perhaps most striking: when the president urged police officers to not be “too nice” with suspects, his remarks were condemned by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Police Foundation, the acting director of the DEA, and police chiefs across the country. The president of the national FOP’s response? "The president's off the cuff comments on policing are sometimes taken all too literally by the media and professional police critics.”

To be sure, the FOP’s agenda is probably most informed by a warped sense of what it means to protect its membership and the law enforcement community more broadly. The result, however, is an organization that is regressive and anti-accountability with deadly consequences for communities of color, black communities in particular.

Something must be done.

Congress as well as state and local lawmakers should convene hearings on racial bias in the FOP to better understand an organization that operates with little transparency but is so heavily embedded in our system of policing. Additionally, civil rights organizations like the NAACP and the ACLU should target the FOP as a barrier to police accountability. Community organizations and activists should make it clear to their local police departments that citizens will never have confidence in cops who belong to a group so hostile to civil rights.

Finally, individual officers of conscience, and departments with a will to police democratically, should divest from the FOP. A mass resignation from the FOP by officers of color and their white allies would send the strongest message that an old boy network of Trump supporters does not represent the modern face of law enforcement.

The last part is maybe easier said than done. As unions, some local FOP chapters are entrenched in police departments around the country. They negotiate compensation and protect the labor rights of officers. Many provide life insurance, disability benefits, counseling services and legal representation for members. Still, they’re not the only game in town.

There are other police organizations, some with more diverse leadership and better track records on civil rights, poised to displace the FOP. It’s time that happens for all our sake.

The FOP, as currently constituted, should be relegated to the same historical dustbin as organizations like the Sons of the Confederacy and the White Citizens Council. Were it to go out of business, and more diverse voices in law enforcement lifted up, the streets would be safer and policing would be more transparent and accountable.

Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor, is the Bennett Boskey Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School and the Albert Brick Professor in Law at Georgetown University. He is the author of “Chokehold: Policing Black Men.”

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/10/11/why-the-fraternal-order-of-police-must-go  

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SEE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/police-rioted-this-weekend-justifying.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/not-real-trade-union-head-of.html