I've spent the whole month covering shootings and cop-related protests so you can scroll down the side and look for the related links. Sorry.
"All charges dropped against Detroit cop in girl’s death" Associated Press January 31, 2015
DETROIT — At the prosecutor’s request, a judge Friday dismissed the last charge against a Detroit police officer who fatally shot a 7-year-old girl during a raid, and the judge said she’s willing to be the “scapegoat” if critics don’t like the result.
Joseph Weekley shot Aiyana Stanley-Jones as she slept on a couch in a Detroit home in 2010. It occurred during a frenzied raid by elite officers who burst through the door to search for a murder suspect after throwing a flash grenade to confuse anyone inside. A reality TV crew recorded the scene from the street....
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Related: Detroit Cop's Murder Charge Dismissed
It would be a surprise if it was not.
"Chief: Not clear how officer was hurt when teen was killed" Associated Press January 30, 2015
DENVER — A Denver police officer involved in the deadly shooting of a 17-year-old girl may have been injured trying to get out of the way of a stolen car the teenager was driving, the police chief said Thursday.
The possibility raised during a preliminary investigation of the shooting clouded Chief Robert White’s initial statement that two of his officers opened fire after one was struck by the car.
The shooting occurred early Monday after the officers found Jessica Hernandez and four other teenagers inside the car in an alley. White said the officers told the teens several times to get out of the vehicle.
A passenger in the car, who spoke on condition of anonymity, has disputed the official account, saying that officers approached the car from behind and fired four times into the driver’s side window. The passenger also said that officers did not yell commands before firing and that the car struck the officer after Hernandez was shot and lost control of it.
Department policy encourages officers to move out of the way of a moving car rather than use their firearm. But it also allows them to shoot if they have no other way to prevent death or serious injury.
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Also see:
St. Louis police review board hearing cut short over scuffle
2 brothers shot dead on Brockton street
Not shot by cops, I hope.
"New Orleans to end smoking in bars" Associated Press January 31, 2015
NEW ORLEANS — In three months, it will no longer be legal to smoke in bars and while gambling in the Big Easy.
On Friday, Mayor Mitch Landrieu signed into law a new ordinance that prohibits smoking inside bars, gambling halls, stadiums, and hotels in what will be a big change for a city known for its libertine ways.
“I’m really proud to sign this ordinance today,” Landrieu said.
There are more than 500 bars within the city limits and several large gambling establishments. Bars and the gambling industry, who said a ban would hurt business, sought to stop the ban but failed.
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Related: The Party is Over
Must be the smokescreen.
"Rap mogul arrested in Calif. fatality" New York Times January 31, 2015
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Marion Knight, the former chief executive of Death Row Records who is better known as Suge, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of murder after authorities said the vehicle he was driving struck two men in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant.....
The incident is the latest in a long line of violent brushes with the law by Knight, 49, the former hip-hop mogul who helped usher Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg into the mainstream.
A Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman, Sergeant Diane Hecht, said Knight became involved in an argument at 3 p.m. Thursday with several men who were working on a movie in Compton, Calif., where Knight and Death Row made their name.
Shortly after, authorities said, Knight put his truck in reverse and struck two people who had been standing behind the vehicle.
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"Single mom who lost job jailed in bomb threat bank heist" AP January 29, 2015
BELLEVUE, Pa. — A single mother who told police she recently lost her job has been jailed on charges she tried to rob $40,000 from a Pennsylvania bank by claiming to have a bomb in her car at a drive-through window.
Brandy Greulich, 33, of Pittsburgh, remained jailed Wednesday on charges stemming from the robbery attempt a day earlier at a PNC Bank branch in Bellevue.
Greulich pulled up and handed the teller a note claiming she had a bomb in her car, according to a criminal complaint filed by Bellevue police.
The note said ‘‘they were being watched and that there were bombs in the car and throughout the bank and at the homes of the employees and if they got caught they would all die,’’ the complaint said.
The teller hit an alarm, summoning police. Greulich, at first, continued to tell police that she was forced to rob the bank by unidentified perpetrators, saying, ‘‘They said they would kill me and my son if I didn’t’’ rob the bank, the complaint said.
Eventually, Greulich acknowledged making up the whole thing, police said.
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"Zimmerman assault case dropped" Associated Press January 31, 2015
ORLANDO — An aggravated assault case against George Zimmerman that was opened when his ex-girlfriend said he threw a wine bottle at her has been dropped because she recanted her story and stopped cooperating with investigators, according to a prosecutor.
State Attorney Phil Archer said Friday that he wouldn’t file a formal charge against Zimmerman, 31, the former neighborhood watch leader who was acquitted of killing Trayvon Martin. The fatal shooting of the unarmed black teen touched off protests across the country.
Related: Lights Flashing in Ferguson
The media reported the Martin-Zimmerman altercation wrong, too.
The ex-girlfriend had made it clear she didn’t want to cooperate with Lake Mary Police officers, and there were no other eyewitnesses, Archer said.
“While it is clear that the officers had probable cause to arrest Mr. Zimmerman . . . the subsequent recantation by the victim of her initial statement . . . precludes my office from proceeding further,” Archer said in a statement.
Zimmerman was arrested three weeks ago. Three days later, in a sworn statement, Brittany Brunelle, 28, asked that no charges be filed against Zimmerman. She said she was under no pressure and had been offered no money to make the statement. It was released Friday by the state attorney’s office. Previously, officials hadn’t identified her.
Brunelle didn’t return a call to her cellphone Friday.
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Related:
"Authorities are investigating racist graffiti that was discovered inside the Pollard Middle School in Needham on Thursday, police said. The racist statement, written with a deodorant stick, was found in the boys’ locker room and is believed to have been written after 6 p.m., Needham police said in a statement. It is not yet known if the person who committed the vandalism is “a member of the Pollard community,” according to an e-mail sent to families from principal Tamatha L. Bibbo. The school plans to have meetings during lunch times and after school for any student who wants to talk about the incident, Bibbo said in the e-mail."
"Officials say they're questioning two teenage girls who allegedly spray-painted swastikas on a car and a tree in Northampton earlier this week. Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz said the city is taking the incident seriously and police are conducting a full investigation. MassLive.com reports that the swastika and the word "Jews" were discovered Monday. It says authorities later questioned two girls aged 14 and 15 who, police say, stated they wanted to do something "shocking."
Related: Awash in Swastikas
Once the flags come down....
"Students were evacuated from Monson High School on Thursday morning after a bomb scare, officials said. The evacuation took place after a student discovered writing on the wall of the boys’ locker room that said “bomb” with Thursday’s date written underneath it, Monson Fire Chief Laurent McDonald said. The letters “bom” had been on the wall for some time, McDonald said, but the second “b” and the date were only recently added. More than 300 students and 50 faculty members were evacuated at about 9 a.m., School Superintendent Cheryl Clarke said. The building was searched using two bomb-sniffing dogs, and it was determined to be safe."
Was the FBI instigating that psyop, or was it just a drill?
"Boy Scouts settle California suit over abuse" by Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press January 30, 2015
LOS ANGELES — The Boy Scouts of America settled a sex-abuse case Thursday involving a 20-year-old California man who was molested by a Scout volunteer in 2007 — a decision that will keep years’ worth of files detailing sex-abuse allegations secret from the public.
The announcement of the settlement in the Santa Barbara case came after three days of trial. The terms were confidential at the Boy Scouts’ request, said Tim Hale, the plaintiff’s lawyer.
‘‘I can’t go into details about the number, but it was a great result,’’ Hale said....
Why are all the alleged wholesome institutions filled with perverts?
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Related: Boy Scout Schedule
The top cop:
"AG nominee Lynch cautiously backs immigration policy" by Sari Horwitz, Washington Post January 29, 2015
WASHINGTON — Attorney general nominee Loretta E. Lynch, 55, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said she supports the use of the death penalty as effective punishment and considers waterboarding ‘‘torture and thus illegal.’’
One out of two right.
She said it was the Justice Department’s job to enforce the laws Congress passes, but when pushed about Holder’s decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act said there are ‘‘rare instances’’ when careful analysis of existing laws raises constitutional issues.
I'm sorry, there IS NO BUT!
Immigration proved to be the most significant flashpoint during the hearing, with Republicans voicing continuing outrage over the administration’s executive actions.
At the start of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, which was interrupted many times as senators left to vote, the committee’s chairman, Senator Charles Grassley, and Iowa Republican, asked whether the president could defer deportations ‘‘for millions of individuals in the country illegally and grant them permits and other benefits, regardless of what the US Constitution or immigration laws say.’’
Lynch said it was important for the Justice Department to ensure that any executive action be legal, but said she was not involved in the decisions leading up to the president’s decision.
Referring to a Justice Department memo on the president’s authority on immigration matters, she said: ‘‘I don’t see any reason to doubt the reasonableness of those views.’’
Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, who has said he plans to vote against Lynch, said he was ‘‘very disappointed and frustrated’’ with her responses.
‘‘I have a huge concern regarding what I think is the president’s illegal, unconstitutional executive amnesty, and I have a huge concern of the fact that you think it is within the law,’’ Vitter said.
Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, agreed with Vitter and said after the hearing that he will vote against Lynch.
Lynch is the first Obama Cabinet nominee to face a confirmation hearing since Republicans took over the Senate this year. The department she has been selected to oversee has been a regular target of Republicans’ ire on a range of issues, from investigations into the IRS and the Benghazi attacks to a botched gun-trafficking operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
The infamous Fast and Furious program that armed Mexican drug cartels.
Holder — whose six-year tenure overshadowed Wednesday’s hearing — had a particularly rocky relationship with Congress. Lynch has chaired the Justice Department committee that advises him on policy decisions.
Among the points of contention between the administration and Congress has been the Justice Department’s policy on marijuana in response to the legalization of the drug in Colorado and Washington state. The department announced it would not challenge those state laws and later said that in prosecutions it would prioritize offenses such as the distribution of marijuana to minors.
Asked about her own views on marijuana, Lynch said she does not support legalization.
Sessions asked Lynch whether she agreed with a remark made by Obama — and published last year in the New Yorker magazine — that the drug was no more dangerous than alcohol.
‘‘I certainly don’t hold that view and don’t agree with that view of marijuana,’’ Lynch said. ‘‘I certainly think that the president was speaking from his personal experience and personal opinion, neither of which I’m able to share.’’
When pressed on the legality of the National Security Agency’s controversial surveillance programs, Lynch replied that she believed they were ‘‘constitutional and effective.’’
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Related: Attorney General nominee wins GOP endorsements
Approval is nearly guaranteed, and she has been in on some patsy prosecutions as well as clearing cops.
"DEA dropped plan to scan plates near gun shows" Associated Press January 29, 2015
WASHINGTON — The Drug Enforcement Administration abandoned an internal proposal to use surveillance cameras for photographing vehicle license plates near gun shows in the United States to investigate gun-trafficking, the agency’s chief said Wednesday.
They are saying they abandoned it because they got caught.
DEA Administrator Michelle Leonhart said in a statement that the proposal memorialized in an employee’s e-mail was only a suggestion, never authorized by her agency and never put into action. The AP also learned that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives did not authorize or approve the license plate surveillance plan.
Automated license plate scanners take pictures of every vehicle that passes their field of view and record the information in a database that can be used to track a vehicle’s movements over time.
Federal, state, and local police agencies routinely use the cameras mounted on patrol cruisers or in fixed locations, such as utility poles or busy intersections.
The scanners have raised significant privacy concerns.
The Wall Street Journal reported the DEA’s aborted plan in Wednesday’s editions.
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"Nuclear scientist imprisoned for 5 years" Associated Press January 29, 2015
ALBUQUERQUE — A disgruntled, former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist promised to build 40 nuclear weapons for Venezuela in 10 years and design a bomb targeted for New York City in exchange for ‘‘money and power,’’ according to secret FBI recordings released Wednesday.
Oh, no, another pathetic patsy plotter!
In the recordings, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni tells an agent posing as a Venezuelan official that the bombs would prevent the United States from invading the oil-rich nation and brags to his wife that the passing of secrets would make him wealthy.
‘‘I’m going to be the boss with money and power,’’ the naturalized US citizen from Argentina is heard saying.
He's an idiot!
Mascheroni said his New York bomb wouldn’t kill anyone but would disable the city’s electrical system.
Yeah, if the electricity grid goes down it was the Venezuelans, right.
The recordings were played Wednesday in US District Court in Albuquerque before a federal judge sentenced Mascheroni, 79, to five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Mascheroni and his wife, Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, pleaded guilty in 2013 to offering to help develop a nuclear weapon for Venezuela through dealings with an undercover FBI agent.
It's another f***ing frame-up!
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NDUs:
"Seeing the big picture, going after the small things. His “Broken Windows” philosophy of cracking down on the minor offenses that can lead to public disorder is under attack like never before, but he is holding firm. Internally, morale is low. An internal poll found that 85 percent of officers admitted that the threat of citizen complaints made them tentative on the street, that 70 percent fear they will be sued even if they carry out a lawful action or arrest."
I don't listen to rap music, sorry.
