Rose City ANTIFA’s Culture of Violence

Posted on June 7, 2020 by admin
Shadowy Secretive Terrorist disorganization plots mayhem, arson, treason, and the violent overthrow of government, indeed–society itself, which it considers the enemy and itself at war with.
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LAPD Vehicular Assault & Violence against BLM Protestors

Posted on June 4, 2020 by admin
By JAMES QUEALLY, KEVIN RECTOR, RICHARD WINTON JUNE 4, 2020
In one video, at least eight Los Angeles police officers surround a woman lying in a Hollywood street as the buzz of a Taser fills the air. People scream from apartment balconies for the officers, who appear to be firing the stun gun at the woman, to stop.
In another video, an LAPD vehicle barrels into a crowd of protesters in Pershing Square, nearly driving over one before backing up and speeding away as protesters throw objects at the car.
On Tuesday, footage of a curfew arrest in Hollywood ends with the unarmed arrestee held at gunpoint and pleading for mercy as a police radio squawks with orders for officers to take anyone they see into custody. In L.A. County, sheriff’s deputies in one video appear to shoot pellets out of a moving vehicle at young men on the street, and those in another video punch and knee a young man on the ground in Compton.
An LAPD officer chases a suspected looter in an alley behind Hollywood Boulevard earlier this week.
With cellphone cameras everywhere and social media providing a livestream of unprecedented protests against police brutality, there has been a steady stream of new videos showing troubling police behavior.
It will take time for a full assessment of how police in Southern California performed and how widespread cases of misconduct have been. Protesters and some civil liberties activists have slammed the police tactics as unacceptable. And even city leaders admit there have been problematic incidents and have called for investigations and reforms based on what has emerged.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said the LAPD would reduce the use of foam rounds after many complaints from protesters who were hit by the projectiles. The mayor also said Wednesday that he would support the creation of a special prosecutor to review officer criminal misconduct cases, a longtime demand of activists.
The Times reviewed more than a dozen videos and shared several with police officials for comment. Josh Rubenstein, a police spokesman, said officers had been responding for days to “dynamic and at times dangerous situations” and had had rocks and bottles thrown at them.
But Rubenstein declined to provide explanations for the specific actions of officers caught in videos that have gone viral, including several in which officers can be seen aggressively beating non-violent protesters with their batons.
The Rodney King beating 29 years ago and riots the following year sparked major reforms in the LAPD that continued over the last few decades. That includes rules around the use of force, restrictions on holds and using flashlights as weapons and, more recently, deescalation training designed to make officers less likely to get into violent altercations with people. Even some longtime LAPD critics have said the department has made progress.
LAPD cruiser fires at fleeing BLM pedestrians
More info of #LASD shooting at unarmed law abiding teenagers in Hollywood with rubber bullets:
From an eyewitness account:
“June 1st 7:35 PM Mansfield and Higman Avenue between Fountain and Delongpre. The kid with the skateboard was hit in the back of the leg.”
But the protests of the last week show much more needs to be done, they said.
“It’s nothing but a confirmation of what black activists have been saying for decades — that police abuse and excessive force is real,” said Najee Ali, a longtime South Los Angeles civil rights leader. “Now, with the spread of social media and everyone having a cellphone, we can actually document what we feel is abuse.
“We finally have the proof.”
Ali said he and other leaders planned to gather outside LAPD headquarters Thursday morning to demand an audience with LAPD Chief Michel Moore and L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, to share videos community members have gathered so that officials can launch investigations.
They aren’t alone in demanding answers.
In recent days, the Police Commission and two City Council members have called on the department to review its use of force during the demonstrations. The department’s tactics also have come under fire from business owners, who say responding officers have repeatedly opted to arrest nonviolent protesters instead of looters at various scenes across the city.
Amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, former President Obama urged every mayor in the nation Wednesday to review their cities’ police use-of-force policies and commit to needed reforms.
LAPD uses gun to assault innocent pedestrian heading home
My friend got arrested for WALKING. HOME. TODAY. On Hollywood Blvd where most people WALK HOME from work (Including myself sometimes) Listen closely to what the officers are saying on the speakers in the background.
While Moore, Villanueva and Garcetti have largely commended officers for their handling of the unrest in recent days, they too have acknowledged that problems have arisen. Moore has said internal affairs officers are working around the clock to investigate specific incidents — including the one in which a patrol vehicle was driven into protesters.
The LAPD issued a statement Thursday acknowledging the footage and urging the public to contact Internal Affairs investigators or the department’s Office of the Inspector General if they believed they had been the victims of unjust force or misconduct
“We are aware of individuals who have posted videos online and on social media depicting encounters with the police that they believe constitutes excessive force or misconduct during these demonstrations,” the statement said. “We will investigate each instance thoroughly and hold any officer who violates department policy accountable.”
Rubenstein said complaints could be filed with the department’s Professional Standards Bureau toll-free at (800) 339-6868, or with the inspector general at (213) 893-6400 or (213) 893-6464, or by e-mail at oigcompl@lapd.online.
Villanueva said his department was investigating misconduct allegations and videos of potential misconduct. He said the scene in Compton came after an officer “narrowly escaped being killed by fleeing looters” in a vehicle, and the one in which officers are seen shooting out of a vehicle — which was retweeted to millions of people by rapper Lil Nas X — involved pepper balls being deployed. Both incidents are under investigation.
Some protesters and other police reform advocates say a reckoning is needed, beginning with the ouster of Moore — who was forced to apologize this week after he said looters were as responsible for Floyd’s death as the officer who had his knee on Floyd’s neck — and continuing with criminal charges for officers caught assaulting people. Garcetti and some police commanders have expressed support for Moore.
There is no question officers face unusual challenges. Though the vast majority of the protests have been peaceful, some people have thrown objects at officers, and more than two dozen officers have been injured. One had his skull fractured. It’s unclear how many protesters have suffered injuries. Looters hit scores of businesses, smashing windows and stealing merchandise.
But several witnesses say the police actions have been intentional and inexcusable.
8 LAPD cops mob & tase prostrate woman
My friend lives on Hollywood & Argyle. He just sent me a video of a pile of police taser-ing a woman. The police are now shooting rubber bullets at anyone who comes out over the overlook to stop filming of the incident. Police brutality needs to end.
Nicholas Flickinger, a 29-year-old social worker who recorded the video of officers in Hollywood piling on top of a woman, said he had had to call police for help multiple times at work. But, he said, images like the one he recorded Tuesday left him feeling an animosity toward law enforcement he’d never felt before.
“The way the LAPD has dealt with everything, I’ve never felt so anti-police or -LAPD,” he said. “I’ve always been of the opinion that there’s good and bad in every group … but even if there’s a majority of good officers, they’re not doing anything. It sounds like the cliche, canned thing, but they’re all complicit in what’s going on.”
Jonathan Uttenreither, 48, of Hollywood said he was near a police skirmish line on 3rd Street in the Fairfax District on Saturday when police started advancing, firing foam rounds “indiscriminately” into the crowd.
“They were not aiming low, that was clear,” he said.
As he started to flee, he saw a young woman also running away suddenly drop to the ground. Rushing to her aid, he realized she had been hit in the back of the head with one of the police projectiles. As blood ran down her neck and he and another man tried to carry her away, rounds popped off the ground around them, one grazing his arm.
“I realized the police were still firing on us as we were attempting to carry this wounded woman off the street. They were intentionally shooting at us,” Uttenreither said.
The fact that such actions are part of an orchestrated police response is outrageous, he said.
“It crushes hope that there’s any intention from the police to force themselves or the politicians that control them to have any accountability,” he said. “It’s like the police putting themselves at war with the population they are supposed to be serving rather than attempting to deescalate and solve problems.”
At least 2,500 people were arrested by the LAPD from Friday through Tuesday, and Moore has acknowledged that only 200 of those people were taken into custody on suspicion of looting or burglary offenses. The figures jibe with complaints from lawyers and activists, who contend the department used curfew violations and dispersal orders in recent days to squelch protest rather than ensure public safety.
“It was just a colossal expenditure of time and money that didn’t have to occur while you could have been dealing with other much more serious activities,” said civil rights attorney Carol Sobel, who has successfully sued the department in the past over its handling of protests.
Although not commenting directly on use-of-force incidents, Moore has said the department needs to become more aggressive in response to sustained looting and mounting injuries to officers.
Police have also been increasingly set on edge by reports of serious violence against officers in other cities. A Las Vegas police officer was shot in the head while responding to a protest on the Strip on Tuesday night, and three New York City officers were stabbed and shot Wednesday in Brooklyn. The NYPD officers are expected to survive.
But in L.A., many fear the LAPD is escalating an already tense situation with each misstep.
Flickinger said he and his boyfriend had been part of a march in Hollywood on Tuesday night but decided to get off the street rather than risk arrest due to a curfew violation. Around 7:30 p.m., he saw a woman walking away from a group of police officers on Argyle Avenue near Hollywood Boulevard. The officers had been yelling at her to stop, but the woman did not appear to be carrying anything or armed, according to Flickinger, who said the woman was then taken to the ground.
“One officer went at her and then seven people piled on top. As you can see in the video there’s six or seven officers all pressing their knees on her,” he said, evoking imagery similar to Floyd’s last moments. “They had their hands behind her back and you can hear the sound from the video of just them continuing to Taser her and Taser her. That’s why everyone started screaming, myself included.”
Brooke Forston, a woman who says she was among the protesters struck by an LAPD cruiser in Pershing Square on Sunday, has filed a notice of claim against the city and accused the officer behind the wheel of escalating an already tense situation.
“Tens of thousands of peaceful protesters gathered to have our voices heard and the driver of this LAPD vehicle chose to create chaos where there had been peace,” her attorney, V. James DeSimone, said in a statement. “At no point did Brooke attempt to harm anyone, and instead the LAPD turned a peaceful march into something dangerous for everyone.”
Lexis-Olivier Ray, a 30-year-old reporter for L.A. Taco, is one of several reporters who say they have been injured by police covering Southern California protests in recent days.
Ray was reporting from a skirmish line between police and demonstrators at 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue on Saturday afternoon, near where Uttenreither had been, when officers began lashing out with batons without having given any dispersal order, he said. He was struck in the stomach.
“I was staying out of their way and I was working peacefully and just doing my job,” he said.
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Bronx/St. Louis Cops Shot/Runover 6-1-20

Posted on June 2, 2020 by admin
by Chris Irvine (6-1-20)
Chris Irvine
Police officers across the U.S. were targeted in shootings and vehicular attacks Monday night as protests continued in major cities for the seventh night despite President Trump’s vow to clamp down on violence.
The demonstrations on Monday marked a week of unrest since unarmed black man George Floyd died when a white Minneapolis officer jammed his knee into the back his neck in a shocking incident caught on video. Despite tens of thousands marching peacefully in demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism, protests over Floyd’s death have been nonetheless overshadowed by violence, looting and vandalism that has engulfed U.S. cities.
In St. Louis, Mo., Monday night, four police officers were shot during protests in the city’s downtown area, two in the leg, one in the foot and one in the arm.
Police Chief John Hayden said they were hit by gunfire by “some coward” while standing on the side of a police line.
“As we speak we’re trying to get control out of this city, still hearing gunfire and everything,” he said. I don’t know what else to say. This is horrible. Thank God, they’re alive.”
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that all of the officers were conscious and breathing after being rushed to the hospital.
In Las Vegas, Nevada, an officer was shot in the head at the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino on the Strip. A source told 8News Now that the officer was in a fight with another suspect when someone walked up behind and shot the officer, who is now on life support.
It was one of two officer-involved shootings in the city; police said officers fired on a suspect at the Federal Courthouse in a separate incident. The suspect was hit several times.
Meanwhile, in Richmond, Va., two police officers and a suspect were injured after a shooting, according to NBC.
MACY’S HERALD SQUARE LOOTED AS CURFEW FAILS TO STOP PROTESTERS FROM DAMAGING STORE
RPD officers were called to investigate a report of an armed person on Semmes Avenue early Tuesday morning. When they arrived, gunfire erupted. The two cops and the suspect were taken to local hospitals.
In Buffalo, N.Y., an SUV plowed through a group of law enforcement during a Floyd demonstration, injuring at least two officers.
Video posted by a witness showed a line of officers, backed up by an armored personnel carrier, rushing and tackling a man who was being interviewed by a man with a TV camera about 9:30 p.m.
People being chased by police run past pedestrians near Union Square, Monday, June 1, 2020, in New York
Moments later, officers ran as the SUV barreled through a cluster, with at least one appeared to go under the vehicle’s wheels. The SUV was then able to drive round an armored vehicle and speed off.
In a similar incident in the Bronx in New York City, an NYPD officer investigating reports of break-ins was struck by a vehicle early Tuesday in a hit-and-run. The officer is in a stable condition.
And in another incident in the Bronx, an NYPD officer was attacked by several men as witnesses recorded the incident.
The disturbing footage was tweeted by New York’s Sergeant’s Benevolent Association.
The latest wave of protests came hours after President Trump vowed in a Rose Garden speech to restore law and order, and police under federal command forced back peaceful demonstrators with tear gas so he could walk to a church near the White House known as “The Church of the President” that was set on fire during Sunday night’s rioting.
The president demanded an end to the violence in remarks from the Rose Garden and vowed to use more force to achieve that aim.
If governors throughout the country do not deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers to “dominate the streets,” Trump said the U.S. military would step in to “quickly solve the problem for them.”
“We have the greatest country in the world,” the president declared. “We’re going to keep it safe.”
More than 5,600 people nationwide have been arrested over the past week for a myriad of offenses, according to a count by The Associated Press.
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Seattle’s Violent BLM Rally: Nat Guard & Weapons Ban/Theft

Posted on May 31, 2020 by admin
Seattle, WA. (5-30-20). — GEORGE FLOYD PROTEST IN SEATTLE: Rally turns violent. National Guard called in, weapons banned citywide, police rifles stolen. 5:00pm Curfew Imposed.
by Casey Martin, Eilis O’Neill, Gil Aegerter, Megan Farmer– (KUOW)
Casey Martin
Gil Aegerter
Megan Farmer
Demonstrators moved through downtown Seattle on Saturday evening to protest the police killing of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis.
Over the afternoon and into the evening, the demonstration gave way to incidents of violence and destruction.
Black Lives Matter
What to know:
  • A peaceful march protesting police violence and killings of black people in America appears to have been taken over by violent groups in downtown Seattle.
  • Two AR-15 rifles were stolen from police cars (both have been recovered); several cop cars were set on fire; several community members and police officers have been injured; no serious injuries have been reported.
  • Mayor Jenny Durkan implemented a citywide curfew for 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, May 30 and May 31. Residents of downtown Seattle have been instructed to shelter in place.
  • Gov. Jay Inslee has activated 200 unarmed members of the state National Guard. Those guard members will be assisting with infrastructure protection and traffic for the next seven days.
  • City officials report that the demonstrations during the day were peaceful, but they turned violent as a group began to throw Molotov cocktails into buildings and cars. They also shot fireworks into the crowd of demonstrators and at police. Firefighters were prevented from getting to the fires and were eventually escorted to the blazes by police.
Chauvin Home

Live updates on the situation in downtown Seattle

A timeline update, created by KUOW graphics designer Teodora Popescu:
Update 10:20 p.m. The crowd appears to have diminished downtown. Some groups remain. Police are using flash bangs around 6th Avenue and Pine Street.
Update 8:25 p.m. Law enforcement agencies other than Seattle police responded to the violence in downtown Saturday. Washington State Patrol troopers have been spotted along the street, as well as officers from Tukwila, and deputies with the King County Sheriff’s Office.
Casey Martin@caseyworksReplying to @caseyworks
Small groups of protesters still being broken up. Washington State Patrol and King County Sheriff assisting Seattle Police.188:38 PM – May 30, 2020 · Westlake ParkTwitter Ads info and privacy15 people are talking about this
Casey Martin@caseyworksReplying to @caseyworks
Washington State Patrol is out on corners near Convention Center.
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128:14 PM – May 30, 2020 · Regal Meridian & 4DXTwitter Ads info and privacySee Casey Martin’s other Tweets
Update 8:10 p.m. KUOW Reporter Casey Martin reports that some shops in downtown Seattle have been broken into.
Casey Martin@caseyworksReplying to @caseyworks Back outside downtown where Starbucks, Cheesecake Factory, and many other stores have been broken into and are being emptied right now.
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168:07 PM – May 30, 2020 · The Cheesecake FactoryTwitter Ads info and privacySee Casey Martin’s other Tweets Update 8:05 p.m.
Mayor Jenny Durkan✔@MayorJenny · 4hReplying to @MayorJenny
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan briefs the press after demonstrations turned violent May 30, 2020, causing various fires in the downtown area.
If you are still out, I ask you to stay home and abide by the curfew. You can find more questions about the curfew here: https://durkan.seattle.gov/2020/05/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-curfew-order/ …Frequently Asked Questions About the Civil Emergency Curfew Order – Office of the MayorToday, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan issued a civil emergency that includes a citywide curfew from Saturday, 5:00 p.m. to Sunday 5:00 a.m. and from Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Monday 5:00 a.m. The FAQ below will…durkan.seattle.gov
Mayor Jenny Durkan✔@MayorJenny
I hope that we treat each other with the kindness and compassion that we all deserve during this unprecedented and trying moment in our history.
I think we will see the message of destruction is not as strong as the message of hope, love, and peace.658:05 PM – May 30, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy138 people are talking about this
Update 7:45 p.m. The Seattle Police Department reports that all rifles stolen from its patrol vehicles earlier Saturday have now been recovered.
Seattle Police Dept.✔@SeattlePD
Earlier today two rifles were stolen from SPD patrol cars that were set on fire. We have since recovered both rifles. We currently have no reports that the rifles were fired while they were out of our possession.1,2657:45 PM – May 30, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy487 people are talking about this
Update 7:43 p.m. At a Saturday evening briefing, Mayor Durkan responded to a question regarding police body cameras and why they were turned off during the protests.
Seattle Police Car
“Seattle has a long standing law and culture of not believing that police surveillance is appropriate. And before and police inappropriately gathering intelligence on lawful and peaceful demonstrations is prohibited. And so police department, we do not turn the body cameras on unless we think there’s going to be criminal activity or they have to take actions as a police officer, our, our policies are written and were well thought out they were developed with the assistance of a number of people, because we do not want people to believe that police are there to surveil and record lawful protests. And so the body cameras were not on, not to hide what was happening but to respect the right of the protesters.”
Update 7:25 p.m. The Seattle Fire Department reports that there remains several fires throughout the downtown area.
Seattle Fire Dept.✔@SeattleFire
Multiple vehicles currently on fire at 4th and Pike St. Avoid the area. Firefighters arriving on scene and will work towards extinguishment as it’s safe to do so.1157:25 PM – May 30, 2020 · Seattle, WATwitter Ads info and privacy74 people are talking about this
Seattle Fire Dept.✔@SeattleFire
Our firefighters are out there working incredibly hard to keep you safe. There have been many vehicle fires across the downtown core and injuries to both police officers and members of the public. Read remarks from Chief Scoggins on Fireline: https://fireline.seattle.gov/2020/05/30/remarks-from-fire-chief-harold-scoggins-in-response-to-downtown-protests/ …1577:12 PM – May 30, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy43 people are talking about this
Update 7:15 p.m. At a briefing earlier Saturday, Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said that firefighters were not initially able to reach fires in the downtown area. They were eventually escorted to blazes by police.
Scoggins stressed that he supports the right to protest and demonstrate.
“This is not the way to do it, by causing unnecessary chaos and danger to those who are protesting and those in the community,” he said. “This situation has escalated quickly and has become very dangerous.”
Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins briefs the press after demonstrations turned violent May 30, 2020, causing various fires in the downtown area.
Update 7 p.m. At her briefing earlier Saturday evening, Mayor Durkan said that the city will be investigating reports of police use-of-force, and also looking over video posted on social media showing police interaction with demonstrators.
The city will also look into reports that some officers had covered their badge numbers.
Update 6:30 p.m. The Downtown Seattle Association released a statement saying: “A peaceful protest in Westlake Park this afternoon was hijacked by people a block away who were intent on destruction. Messages of peace and pleas for change were overshadowed by burning cars, black smoke and broken windows….
It’s shameful that some individuals have exploited the tragic killing of George Floyd by resorting to violence and destruction, putting the lives of others at risk, including first responders and those who came downtown to peacefully gather. These are cowardly acts that have no place in our city.”
Update 6:20 p.m. At a press conference this evening, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said she issued a civil emergency over the demonstrations and “escalated violence and destruction” in downtown Seattle.
“I understand the immense rage and grief and sense of betrayal felt by so many in our community and communities across this country,” Durkan said.
“However, the escalated incidents of destruction and violence do not honor Mr. Floyd,” she said. “His own family has spoken against such violence and has urged everyone to demonstrate peacefully. The criminal acts that took place during today’s demonstrations cannot and will not be allowed to continue. They jeopardize the health and safety of all those involved from those demonstrating peacefully, to our first responders, to civilians who happen to be in the area.”
George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis who has since been charged with third-degree murder, and who is in custody.
Durkan said it was a difficult decision to make, approving the curfew and weapons ban, given that people who live in Seattle enjoy the right to come together.
“It is clear that there was a large number of people who came to protest peacefully. That organizers like Andre Taylor and others were able to speak. The crowd was able to march, and they maintained themselves very peacefully.
“But then we had many thousands of people flow into downtown who obviously were coming, primarily for destruction and very rapidly, the amount of destruction escalated and the situation deteriorated quickly.”
Update 5:50 p.m.
Casey Martin@caseyworks · 7hReplying to @caseyworks
Downtown Seattle smells strongly of tear gas. Sirens ring constantly in the distance. Protesters added a pallet & debris to this car fire. The 5 o’clock downtown curfew has come and gone. #GeorgeFloydprotest #seattleprotest
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Casey Martin@caseyworks
There is a tense standoff now between protesters and police on Pike in front of Nordstrom’s. More flash bangs, stores broken into, and a lot more riot police just arrived with batons. #seattleprotest #GeorgeFloydprotest345:50 PM – May 30, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy24 people are talking about this
Update 5:50 p.m. Two AR-15 rifles were stolen from Seattle police vehicles. One remains outstanding; police recovered the other.
This tweeted video of a live KOMO TV feed shows what is likely the recovery of one of those rifles. Brandi Kruse of Q13 FOX News explained that this man is her team’s security guard and “took the AR 15 from the rioter and disabled it. We called 911 and waited to hand it over.”
Naveed Jamali✔@NaveedAJamali
White guy in #seattle protest open carrying, what appears to be an AR15, has his weapon taken away by an undercover police officer at gun point. 18.9K4:43 PM – May 30, 2020 · Seattle, WATwitter Ads info and privacy9,648 people are talking about this
Meanwhile, weapons have been banned in the city of Seattle, per a civil emergency signed by Mayor Jenny Durkan. Weapons, per the order, include guns, rocks, pipes, clubs and flares. The emergency order is citywide, not just confined to downtown.
Several Seattle Police vehicles have been set on fire, the mayor’s memo says.
Multiple people have been injured in the protest, including community members and police officers, according to the mayor’s memo.
Durkan’s memo on Saturday night included more information about the unarmed National Guard personnel called in by Gov. Jay Inslee at the city’s request: They will be assisting for the next seven days.
Demonstrators threw bottles and lit fireworks into crowds, the memo says.
The Seattle Fire Department has limited / completely restricted access to buildings that are on fire.
5:23 p.m. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee announced that the National Guard has been activated and sent to Seattle to assist with the situation there.
Governor Jay Inslee✔@GovInslee
At the request of @CityofSeattle I have activated 200 members of the @WANationalGuard to help protect against property damage and manage crowds and traffic in downtown Seattle. They will be unarmed and work under the city’s leadership. https://www.governor.wa.gov/news-media/inslee-activates-national-guard-request-city-seattle …Inslee activates National Guard at request of City of SeattleGov. Jay Inslee today activated up to 200 members of the Washington National Guard in response to a request from the City of Seattle to help protect against property damage and manage crowds andgovernor.wa.gov2,2515:23 PM – May 30, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy2,554 people are talking about this
Update 5:20 p.m. Mayor Jenny Durkan declared a curfew in Seattle beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday after an afternoon of protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Mayor Jenny Durkan✔@MayorJenny
I will soon be signing an emergency order and the @CityofSeattle will be imposing a 5 pm curfew soon. Crowds need to disburse from downtown immediately.1,7604:46 PM – May 30, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy2,740 people are talking about this
She made the announcement at 4:46 p.m. on Twitter — 14 minutes for hundreds, perhaps thousands of people to get word, and then disperse.
And then at 5:18 p.m., officials announced that the state National Guard had been activated. Guard members would be unarmed.
Mayor Durkan requested the Guard to assist with Seattle Police, Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement.
“The National Guard is on stand by to assist the Seattle Police Department as requested by Mayor Durkan,” Inslee said. “They will be unarmed and assist with infrastructure protection and crowd movement. They will only be utilized if absolutely necessary and we appreciate their efforts to help in this important work.”
Durkan said the curfew is in effect until 5 a.m. tomorrow and then will be in effect again Sunday at 5 p.m.
She said it’s intended to prevent any violence or property damage … and to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
Residents are advised to remain in their residences “to the extent possible” and to refrain from traveling in and through Seattle.
The mayor’s office said the curfew is intended to “prevent violence and widespread property damage, and to prevent the further community spread of COVID-19 through continued gathering.”
Officials said the curfew does not apply to people who need to commute to work during these hours, homeless people, people in a medical emergency or people in a dangerous situation, first responders, health care workers, and the news media. They said it also does not require businesses to close while it is in effect, and it will not alter public transit schedules.
Update 5:18 p.m.
Casey Martin@caseyworks · 8hReplying to @caseyworks
Protesters run from rubber bullets and tear gas as cars downtown wait for the light to change.
Casey Martin@caseyworks
Downtown Seattle smells strongly of tear gas. Sirens ring constantly in the distance. Protesters added a pallet & debris to this car fire. The 5 o’clock downtown curfew has come and gone. #GeorgeFloydprotest #seattleprotest
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475:18 PM – May 30, 2020 · Nordstrom Corporate HeadquartersTwitter Ads info and privacy26 people are talking about this
Update 4:47 p.m.
Casey Martin@caseyworks · 8hReplying to @caseyworks
Just south of me: large cloud of tear gas. To the north downtown: black smoke from a reported car fire. #seattleprotest #GeorgeFloydprotest 1
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Seattle BLM Riots Block I-5
Casey Martin@caseyworks Protesters run from rubber bullets and tear gas as cars downtown wait for the light to change.154:47 PM – May 30, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacySee Casey Martin’s other Tweets
Update 4:15 p.m.: Hundreds of people have walked onto Interstate 5 in downtown Seattle during protests over the death of George Floyd.
They entered on the Spring Street entrance and were southbound. The Washington State Patrol said southbound I-5 was closed.
Outside the Nordstrom downtown, a burning police car sent up clouds of dense smoke.
A police car burns outside the Nordstrom in downtown Seattle on Saturday, May 30, 2020.
Update, 3:30 p.m.: Protesters clashed with police in downtown Seattle on Saturday amid nationwide unrest over the death of Floyd in Minneapolis.
Police used pepper spray, and explosions were heard near Westlake Park as thousands of people converged on the area. It was not clear if anyone had been arrested.
Casey Martin@caseyworks
Multiple flash bangs going off near Westlake in downtown Seattle. #GeorgeFloydprotest #seattleprotest992:41 PM – May 30, 2020 · Westlake
At least two rallies had been planned for downtown Seattle on Saturday, and initially they were peaceful as people rallied outside police headquarters and marched to Westlake.
A bystander washes pepper spray from the face of a protester outside the Macy’s in downtown Seattle on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Thousands of people were protesting the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd at the hands of police.
Update, 3 p.m.: Seattle police say they’ll review an incident during protests overnight Friday in which officers used force.
A video of the incident that circulated on social media appeared to show officers punch a person as they arrested him.
In a statement Chief Carmen Best said:
“During the demonstrations last night, amidst property destruction and confrontations with officers, there were several arrests. In one arrest, which has received media attention, officers used force. Under SPD’s policies relating to crowd management and review of force, any force that is used during the course of last night’s event will undergo a high level of scrutiny and review by the chain of command, SPD’s Force Review Board, the Office of Police Accountability, and the Office of the Inspector General.”
The incident came amid several arrests overnight in downtown Seattle over the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd at the hands of police.
Best also addressed reports that officers were ordered to turn off video cameras worn on their uniforms. She said it was untrue.
“Last night, as we do during all First Amendment events, officers only activated the cameras if they believed they were going to witness criminal behavior (SPD Policy 16.090).”
She said under city ordinance, officers are not supposed to record people lawfully engaged in protest.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jay Inslee urged protesters to demonstrate peacefully in honoring Floyd.
“Everyone has the freedom – and the right – to demonstrate and speak their mind,” he said. “However, violence and destruction have no place in Washington state or our country.”
Update 2:41 p.m.
Casey Martin@caseyworks
Multiple flash bangs going off near Westlake in downtown Seattle. #GeorgeFloydprotest #seattleprotest992:41 PM – May 30, 2020 · Westlake ParkTwitter Ads info and privacy79 people are talking about this
Update, 1:35 p.m.: A crowd gathered Saturday in downtown Seattle, protesting the death of George Floyd and those of other African Americans at the hands of police.
Seattle police officers stood by as hundreds of people listened to speakers in the rain outside Police Department headquarters at 5th Avenue and Cherry.
Many in the crowd wore masks as protection against the coronavirus, though it appeared social distancing was difficult.
The crowd then began walking toward Westlake Park, where another protest was planned.
ORIGINAL POST:
Unrest in Seattle over the death of George Floyd led to damage downtown and arrests overnight Friday. More protests are planned Saturday.
People marched downtown Friday evening after a rally in the International District. TV news video showed people breaking windows along Fifth Avenue and clashing with police.
The Seattle Police Department said seven people were arrested.
There have been protests in other cities across the U.S. over the case of Floyd, the African American man who died in Minneapolis after a white police officer kneeled on his neck. There was widespread damage in downtown Portland overnight, according to news reports.
Several protests were planned for Saturday in Seattle.
André Taylor, the founder of Not This Time, organized one of those, set for 3 p.m. at Westlake Center.
Update, 3 p.m.: Seattle police say they’ll review an incident during protests overnight Friday in which officers used force.
A video of the incident that circulated on social media appeared to show officers punch a person as they arrested him.
In a statement Chief Carmen Best said:
“During the demonstrations last night, amidst property destruction and confrontations with officers, there were several arrests. In one arrest, which has received media attention, officers used force. Under SPD’s policies relating to crowd management and review of force, any force that is used during the course of last night’s event will undergo a high level of scrutiny and review by the chain of command, SPD’s Force Review Board, the Office of Police Accountability, and the Office of the Inspector General.”
The incident came amid several arrests overnight in downtown Seattle over the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd at the hands of police.
Best also addressed reports that officers were ordered to turn off video cameras worn on their uniforms. She said it was untrue.
“Last night, as we do during all First Amendment events, officers only activated the cameras if they believed they were going to witness criminal behavior (SPD Policy 16.090).”
She said under city ordinance, officers are not supposed to record people lawfully engaged in protest.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jay Inslee urged protesters to demonstrate peacefully in honoring Floyd.
“Everyone has the freedom – and the right – to demonstrate and speak their mind,” he said. “However, violence and destruction have no place in Washington state or our country.”
Update, 1:35 p.m.: A crowd gathered Saturday in downtown Seattle, protesting the death of George Floyd and those of other African Americans at the hands of police.
Seattle police officers stood by as hundreds of people listened to speakers in the rain outside Police Department headquarters at 5th Avenue and Cherry.
Many in the crowd wore masks as protection against the coronavirus, though it appeared social distancing was difficult.
The crowd then began walking toward Westlake Park, where another protest was planned.
ORIGINAL POST:
Unrest in Seattle over the death of George Floyd led to damage downtown and arrests overnight Friday. More protests are planned Saturday.
People marched downtown Friday evening after a rally in the International District. TV news video showed people breaking windows along Fifth Avenue and clashing with police.
The Seattle Police Department said seven people were arrested.
There have been protests in other cities across the U.S. over the case of Floyd, the African American man who died in Minneapolis after a white police officer kneeled on his neck. There was widespread damage in downtown Portland overnight, according to news reports.
Several protests were planned for Saturday in Seattle.
André Taylor, the founder of Not This Time, organized one of those, set for 3 p.m. at Westlake Center.
He said it was important for people to be able to express their anger over Floyd’s death and the police action that led to that.
“It was disgusting the cavalier attitude the officer had with his hands in his pockets,” Taylor said, referring to the police officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck.
“It was like he was saying, ‘Eff the cameras. I’m going to show you as a white police officer what I can do to an unarmed black man and there will be no recourse.’ What’s the next step? Well, we lead the rest of the country: When we see incidents like this in our cities, here in Washington state, that we make sure that people are convicted for unjustified homicide.”
After Floyd’s death on Monday, the officer, Derek Chauvin, was fired then later charged with third-degree murder. A criminal complaint against Chauvin says he kneeled on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds — even after Floyd apparently ceased to breathe.
Organizers of the afternoon protest at Westlake are being asked to use social distancing and masks to avoid spreading the coronavirus.
Other groups have organized two other protests: one Saturday morning at Nathan Hale High School, and one at noon Saturday in downtown Seattle.
In a statement to her officers on Friday, SPD Chief Carmen Best called video of the Floyd incident “disappointing, and infuriating.” She said it was troubling that officers stood by while Floyd called for help.
“As a police officer, you have a sworn duty to uphold the law and do what is right. We prioritize the sanctity of life in every situation,” Best said.
“If you see a co-worker doing something that is unsafe, out of policy, unacceptable, or illegal, you need to act. This goes beyond reporting. If someone’s life is unnecessarily in danger, it is your responsibility to intervene.”
“We each have a right to go home at the end of the day, but we also have a responsibility to ensure that others enjoy that same right.”
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Portland’s White ANTIFA Destroys City 5/29/20

Posted on May 30, 2020 by admin
White ANTIFA terrorists mask criminality behind Civil Rights and BLM pretext as they loot/destroy Portland’s business district.
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Toddler tries to wake dead mom @ Bihar’s Muzaffarpur RR

Posted on May 28, 2020 by admin
A video of toddler’s vain attempt to wake up his dead mother from eternal sleep on a railway platform in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur on Wednesday has gone viral on social media. The video has presented the most poignant picture of the massive migrant tragedy unfolding across several states.
A video tweeted by Sanjay Yadav, an aide to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, shows the child walking unsteadily up to his mother’s body, tugging at the blanket placed over her, and when failing to wake her up, covering his own head with it.
As the mother lay still, he wobbles away from her, announcements continuing in the background about the arrival and departure of trains that would bring in tens of thousands of people in a rush to get away from hunger and hardship they face in large cities that could sustain them no more.
“This small child doesn’t know that the bedsheet with which he is playing is the shroud of his mother who has gone into eternal sleep. This mother died of hunger and thirst after being on a train for four days. Who is responsible for these deaths on trains? Shouldn’t the opposition ask uncomfortable questions?” Yadav wrote while tweeting the video. However, the police had a different story to tell.
As reported by PTI, Ramakant Upadhyay, the Dy SP of the Government Railway Police in Muzaffarpur, said the incident occurred on May 25 when the migrant woman was on way to Muzaffarpur from Ahmedabad by a Shramik Special train. He told reporters the woman, who was accompanied by her sister and brother-in-law, had died on the Madhubani bound train.
“My sister-in-law died suddenly on the train. We did not face any problem getting food or water,” the officer said, quoting the deceased’s brother-in-law who he did not name. He said on getting information, police brought down the body and sent it for postmortem.
Citing the brother-in-law of the deceased, Upadhyay said she was aged 35 years and was undergoing treatment for “some disease” for the last one year in Ahmedabad. “She was also mentally unstable,” he said.
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White NYC Drama Queen Attempts to Frame Black Birder

Posted on May 27, 2020 by admin
Christian Cooper posted a video of a white woman, Amy Cooper, calling police on him after he asked her to leash her dog in Central Park.
She is just the latest in a long line of white people calling the police on black Americans. By Anna North  May 26, 2020.
Christian Cooper was bird-watching in New York’s Central Park on Monday when he saw a woman with an unleashed dog.
Leashes are required in the Ramble, the part of the park where the two were walking. “That’s important to us birders because we know that dogs won’t be off leash at all and we can go there to see the ground-dwelling birds,” Cooper told CNN.
So Cooper decided to say something. What happened next was captured in a video that’s now been seen by millions of Americans.
The woman, Amy Cooper, refused to put her dog on a leash or move to another area. So Christian took out some dog treats he carries for situations like this. At that point, according to Christian, she began to panic — and he started filming.
In the video, posted to Facebook and shared thousands of times, Amy approaches Christian, potentially violating social distancing guidelines. Then she threatens to call the police, saying, “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.” Finally, she actually calls the authorities, saying that an “African American” man “is recording me and threatening me and my dog.” Cooper says very little on the video, and certainly nothing threatening.
When police arrived, both Christian and Amy had already left the park. And after the video went viral, Amy issued an apology and was fired from her job. But for many, the incident is a reminder of larger ills in American society: the willingness of white people to call the police on black people, and the epidemic of violence against black Americans by both police and white civilians, including the recent killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
“We live in an era with things like Ahmaud Arbery, where black men are seen as targets,” Christian Cooper told CNN. “This woman thought she could exploit that to her advantage, and I wasn’t having it.”

Amy Cooper called the police after a dispute about her dog

Christian Cooper told CNN he was “pretty calm” when he asked Amy Cooper to abide by the park’s leash rules. But Amy claims he was screaming at her. “He was running in an open field,” she told CNN. “He came out of the bush.”
When she refused to leash her dog, he says he told her, “if you’re going to do what you want, I’m going to do what I want, but you’re not going to like it.” He meant he was going to film her, but Amy says, “I didn’t know what that meant. When you’re alone in a wooded area, that’s absolutely terrifying, right?”
She now claims that fear is the reason she decided to call the police. “I think I was just scared,” she told CNN. “When you’re alone in the Ramble, you don’t know what’s happening. It’s not excusable, it’s not defensible.”
Amy also says she wants to “publicly apologize to everyone.”
“I’m not a racist,” she told CNN. “I did not mean to harm that man in any way.”
Amy also told CNN that her “entire life is being destroyed right now” — after calls on social media for her employer to fire her, she has been let go by Franklin Templeton, the investment company where she worked.
“Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately,” the company said on Twitter. “We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton.”
Amy Cooper has also surrendered her dog to the shelter where she adopted him, after some people noted that she appeared to be choking him with his collar in the video.
“The dog is now in our rescue’s care and he is safe and in good health,” shelter staff said in a Facebook post, according to CNN.

The incident was part of a long history of white people calling the police on black Americans

In this particular case, no arrests were made and Christian was not physically harmed. But there’s a long history of such 911 calls by white people resulting in arrests, interrogation, and violence against black people.
This dangerous pattern received greater national attention in 2018 whentwo black men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks while doing nothing more than waiting for a business partner to arrive. Soon after, a white Oakland woman became the subject of countless “BBQ Becky” memes after she called the police on a black family who were barbecuing in a park — the family were detained and questioned for an hour. Also in 2018, Chikesia Clemons was arrested and thrown to the ground by police at an Alabama Waffle House after restaurant staff called over a dispute with the bill. The officers exposed Clemons’ breasts and threatened to break her arm.
As P.R. Lockhart wrote at Vox in 2018, “if ‘shopping while black’ and ‘driving while black’ have been long used to describe a tendency for people and police to treat black people with suspicion, recent incidents have provided an increasing number of scenarios to add to the list.”
Indeed, black bird-watchers have long spoken out about the dangers of “birding while black.” In a 2016 essay by that name, J. Drew Lanham wrote about encountering Confederate flags and KKK graffiti while out looking for birds, and having to give up a promising research project because a white supremacist group became active in the mountainous area he was supposed to study.
“In remote places, fear has always accompanied binoculars, scopes, and field guides as baggage,” he wrote.
Many in the birding community have voiced support for Christian Cooper since the incident became public.
“Black Americans often face terrible daily dangers in outdoor spaces, where they are subjected to unwarranted suspicion, confrontation, and violence,” Rebeccah Sanders, senior vice president for state programs at the Audubon Society, said in a statement. “We are grateful Christian Cooper is safe. He takes great delight in sharing New York City’s birds with others and serves as a board member of the New York City Audubon Society, where he promotes conservation of New York City’s outdoor spaces and inclusion of all people.”
For his part, Christian Cooper told the Washington Post, “I don’t think there’s an African American person in America who hasn’t experienced something like this at some point.”
But, he said, “I don’t shy away from confronting the scofflaw when I see it. Otherwise, the park would be unusable — not just to us birders but to anybody who enjoys the beauty.”
The Toxic Intersection of Racism and Public Space
Brentin Mock
by Breentin Mock (MAY 26, 2020)
For black men like Christian Cooper, the threat of a call to police casts a cloud of fear over parks and public spaces that othersassociate with safety.
That Christian Cooper is still alive should not be taken for granted. His encounter with Amy Cooper in Central Park could have ended in any number of ways. Arrest. Injury. Gunfire. We don’t know whether Amy Cooper, a white woman, considered any of those outcomeswhen she called the police on Christian after he admonished her for refusing to leash her dog in a bird garden, per park rules. But in the viral video of the encounter, we can hear malice in her voice.
The way she says, “I’m going to tell them an African American man is threatening my life,” — when Christian was armed with nothing but dog treats — gives a clear indication thatat the very least, she believed referencing his race would matter in the police response. By identifying Christian as an African American man when calling 911, she was dialing it up to mark her call urgent.
Fortunately, neither of the Coopers were still in the park when police arrived on the scene. Hadthey remained, the situation had high potential for escalation, especially given that Christian Cooper visits the Ramble bird garden frequently. He is a birdwatcher and invested in protecting the Ramble bird habitat from an influx of dog-walkers spurred by Covid-19 social distancing guidelines, even though the habitat is clearly marked as prohibiting unleashed dogs.
Aftera heavy dose of Twitter-shaming, Amy Cooper apologized for her actions.(She also gave up her dog and was fired from her finance job amid the backlash.) But the casual encounter between the white and black Coopers raises questions about who and what are considered to be deserving of protection when it comes to public spaces. Urbanists have been calling for more green spaces and open streets where cars are limited or prohibited, to encourage walking and biking. Many cities have answered this call at least temporarily during coronavirus lockdowns. Study after study shows that more parks and green spaces in cities can yield positive mental health benefits — something especially useful in the current pandemic.
But policies intended to foster feelings of safety and liberationcan also invite more anxiety for black people so longas they are viewed as threatening, or, at best, with suspicion in public spaces. This becomes more magnified under the mandate of wearing masks, which under any other circumstance would invite an even more prejudiced view of black people.
“Contact with nature reduces precursors to crime like stress and aggression, making people feel happier, and less inclined to engage in criminal acts,” wrote researchers Lincoln Larson and S. Scott Ogletree. “And when people gather in parks and other green spaces, it puts more ‘eyes on the streets,’ exposing criminals to constant community surveillance.”
Those kinds of observations must be tempered by the day-to-day realities of those who don’t have the cheat codes of whiteness to help them avoid racial harassment, especially from police.The Jane Jacobian idea of“eyes on the street” very easily becomes “eyes on the black people” — which is why some African Americans disengage from public spaces like parks altogether. These peaceful green spaces just as easily induce anxiety and trauma for black and brown people, especially when they know the cops can be unleashed at any moment.
White people can weaponize the police against people who aren’t white, and that power only flows in one direction. The way Amy Cooper reacted in the video shows that she was aware of that power dynamic. All it took was for a white person to send a bat signal — or in Amy Cooper’s case, a racial dog whistle — to make a garden unsafe for a black person. So long as people of color, and black men in particular, are seen as a potential danger, the issue of racial equity in parks and other open and public spaces goes unresolved.
Acknowledging Christian Cooper’s bird-watching mission in this, the National Audubon Society released a statement:
“Black Americans often face terrible daily dangers in outdoor spaces, where they are subjected to unwarranted suspicion, confrontation, and violence,” said Audubon SVP for State Programs Rebeccah Sanders. “The outdoors — and the joy of birds — should be safe and welcoming for all people.”
But it doesn’t really matter that Christian Cooper is a card-carrying Audubon Society member, or that he is a Harvard grad. Here he is discussing birds:
Audubon Audio
These titles have no sentinel function for black people if they have no reasonable expectation of equal protection under the law. With just one sentence and a phone, Amy Cooper was able to unfurl a whole U.S. history of police — and police wannabes — apprehending, hunting, and killing black people in open parks and streets to remind him that this was a space that he was not entitled to be in, unlike herself. The park rules? Those were for the birds.
Christian Cooper did not run when she unholstered this history; he stood his ground.
“I am not going to participate in my own dehumanization,” he told The Washington Post.
Had he run, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t have been chased down by anyone in the park who believed their whiteness deputizes them by birthright to police black people out of any public space. There was no guarantee that if police showed up that they wouldn’t have acted just as they did with Eric Garner — or with George Floyd, the latest unarmed African American man to die while being restrained by police in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.
Just as with Garner, Floyd was killed by police on a public street with dozens of people watching — “eyes on the street” were of no help to them.
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Minneapolis Police Murder George Floyd 5-27-20

Posted on May 27, 2020 by admin
^^^NEW Video pre-arrest of George Floyd^^^
Alternate Reality: Portuguese Soccer Fans Mob Badged Thugs
by Audra D. S. Burch and John Eligon
The Minneapolis police statement was short and sanitized. An allegation of forgery. A suspect who “appeared to be under the influence,” who “physically resisted officers” and who appeared to be “suffering medical distress.”
 A memorial in Minneapolis for George Floyd, who died after being taken into custody by the police. A bystander’s video shared widely on Tuesday showed an officer pressing his knee into Mr. Floyd’s neck.
The video that emerged hours later told a drastically different story. It showed a white police officer pressing his knee into the neck of a black suspect until he appeared limp and unconscious. Throughout the encounter, the man, George Floyd, could be heard saying “I can’t breathe” again and again. He later died at a hospital.
Demonstrators in Brunswick, Ga., gathered to protest the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. A video of the fatal encounter drew international outrage and increased pressure on the authorities to press charges.
The explosive footage of Mr. Floyd, 46, taken by a bystander and shared widely on social media early Tuesday, incited community outrage, an F.B.I. civil rights investigation and the firing of the police officer and three colleagues who were also at the scene. “Every bit of what I saw was wrong,” Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, said in an emotional interview with reporters on Facebook Live shortly after announcing that the officers had been fired. “It was malicious. And it was unacceptable. There is no gray there.”
The video clip laid bare, once again, a phenomenon of the cellphone era: official police versions of events that diverge greatly from what later appears on videotape.
This year alone, video recordings have altered the official narratives of numerous encounters, raising the question of what might have occurred had no cameras been around.
In Georgia, three white men were charged with murder after chasing Ahmaud Arbery, who had been jogging, through a neighborhood near Brunswick and then shooting him. Charges were not filed for months, and the initial police report repeated the account of one of the men — a retired law enforcement officer — that Mr. Arbery, a black man, was pursued because he was suspected in a rash of break-ins.
Surveillance videos later showed Mr. Arbery walking into a house that was under construction but not taking anything. And a video of the fatal encounter was so horrifying it drew international outrage and increased pressure on the authorities to press charges against the man who fired the fatal shots; his father, who had participated in the chase; and the neighbor who filmed the video, who had joined the pursuit in his own vehicle.
In an example of a video raising questions about the police narrative, a police officer in suburban Sacramento was caught on a videotape last month punching a 14-year-old boy several times while arresting him. The police news release of the encounter acknowledges the existence of a video but does not specifically mention the punches. It describes the boy as “physically resistive” and says the officer “attempted to maintain control of the juvenile without his handcuffs and while alone.”
Videos of police interactions with civilians, whether captured by the people involved or bystanders, now act as a central witness, often challenging official accounts.
“There’s been enough incidences and evidence that show that too often police don’t tell the truth about what really happened,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer in Minneapolis. “And the public has a right to know the truth. It undermines public trust when we find out that law enforcement officials have covered up the truth.”
Minneapolis police said they were investigating an accusation of forgery on Monday night in the southern part of the city. They confronted a man who was sitting on the top of a blue car. The police said the suspect had “physically resisted officers” as he was placed in handcuffs. He appeared to be “suffering medical distress,” according to the police statement released on Monday night after an ambulance was called to the scene.
But hours later, a 10-minute video taken by a bystander was posted to Facebook, showing a different story than the first police statement or the subsequent update. Neither mentioned what was apparent in the video: a white police officer kneeling on the black man’s neck for several minutes as bystanders and the man himself pleaded for the officer to stop.
Even after the man, later identified as Mr. Floyd, appeared unconscious, the officer did not release the pressure until paramedics arrived. By then he was motionless.
“Please, please, please I can’t breathe. Please, man,” Mr. Floyd, who worked as a security guard at a local restaurant, said at one point.
Mayor Frey said he was unsure how the inaccurate initial police statement came to be.
“I think it’s important that we are absolutely as transparent as possible,” he said in a Facebook Live interview with North News, a community newspaper in North Minneapolis. “It’s the kind of thing where you don’t hide from the truth. You lean into it because our city is going to be better off for it.”
Police training typically dictates that officers should keep suspects on their stomachs while handcuffed as briefly as possible because that position can cause them to asphyxiate, said Seth W. Stoughton, a law professor at the University of South Carolina and former police officer.
“I just cannot fathom an officer in 2020 honestly saying, ‘Yes, I thought it was OK to keep him in that position for almost four minutes after he passed out,’” said Mr. Stoughton, an expert on the use of force. “That’s just mind-boggling to me.”
The encounter drew comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, a black man who died in New York police custody in 2014, after a white officer held him in a chokehold. Mr. Garner’s repeated plea of “I can’t breathe” — also recorded by a cellphone — became a rallying cry at demonstrations against police misconduct around the nation.
The F.B.I. is conducting a federal civil rights investigation into Mr. Floyd’s death, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in a statement. The state bureau also said that it was conducting its own investigation at the request of the Police Department, and that it would release its findings to the Hennepin County district attorney’s office.
“Being black in America should not be a death sentence,” Mr. Frey said in a statement. In his interview, he said the killing of Mr. Floyd and other black men “prematurely” was an unacceptable pattern.
“This is not just this one instance that we should be angry about,” he said. “These are repeated instances where black men have had their lives taken from them prematurely, yes in Minnesota and all around the country.”
Another episode over Memorial Day weekend led to similar discussions about how the police respond after black people are accused of crimes. A verbal dispute in New York’s Central Park was far less serious on its face than the raw videotaped encounters that took place elsewhere, but a video of the altercation that went viral showed how even panicked calls to 911 are not always what they seem.
Christian Cooper, a black man who was bird-watching, asked a white woman, who was identified later as Amy Cooper, to leash her dog as required by park rules. That resulted in the woman calling 911 to report a nonexistent crime. She is captured on Mr. Cooper’s cellphone video saying, “I’m going to tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life.”
Eliza Orlins, a public defender who is running for Manhattan district attorney, said 911 calls had led to some of her clients being held in jail, where being locked up for even a day can produce devastating results. People can lose jobs, homes or custody of their children while they sit in jail on unproven charges, she said.
“This isn’t this one woman or this unique thing — this is a systemwide problem,” she said. “I think it’s chilling when you listen to just the audio of her 911 call, and you think about how credibly someone like her would present in court. There are so many consequences.”
Police officers arrived a short time after the 911 call but did not issue any summonses or make arrests. Online outrage focused on what could have happened and who would have been believed without the video. Ms. Cooper, who publicly apologized on Tuesday, was later terminated from her job at Franklin Templeton, an investment firm.
“Videos paint a story inside of a culture where a lot of the public has been trained and encouraged to not believe black people,” said Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization.
Christine Hauser contributed reporting.
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The Evolution of Infectious Diseases w/Justin Meyer

Posted on May 26, 2020 by admin
Lecture 14 – Applying SIR Models: Predicting Pathogen Spread and Virulence Evolution
5/22/2020; 83 minutes
UC San Diego professor of biology Justin Meyer, who specializes in infectious disease research presents his course The Evolution of Infectious Diseases with special attention to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the COVID-19 disease and its pandemic spread throughout the world. In this lecture – how SIR models can predict the spread and behavior of pathogens. Recorded on 05/19/2020.

Links & Resources

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How Fructose Frucks Us Up

Posted on May 26, 2020 by admin
Fat Chance: Fructose 2.0 — University of California Television (UCTV)
Dr. Robert Lustig, UCSF Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, updates his very popular video “Sugar: The Bitter Truth.” He argues that sugar and processed foods are driving the obesity epidemic, which in turn affects our endocrine system.
Eating for Health (and Pleasure): The UCSF Guide to Good Nutrition (https://www.uctv.tv/good-nutrition)
Explore More Health & Medicine on UCTV (https://www.uctv.tv/health)
UCTV features the latest in health and medicine from University of California medical schools. Find the information you need on cancer, transplantation, obesity, disease and much more.
UCTV is the broadcast and online media platform of the University of California, featuring programming from its 10 campuses, 3 national labs and affiliated research institutions. UCTV explores a broad spectrum of subjects for a general audience, including science, health and medicine, public affairs, humanities, arts and music, business, education, and agriculture.
Launched in January 2000, UCTV embraces the core missions of the University of California — teaching, research, and public service – by providing quality, in-depth television far beyond the campus borders to inquisitive viewers around the world. (https://www.uctv.tv)
Watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth: http://www.uctv.tv/shows/Sugar-The-Bi…
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