Tag Archives: Derek Chauvin

A Couple Of Thoughts …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry

You may remember the killing of a Black man, Botham Jean on September 6th, 2018, but in case you’ve forgotten, allow me to refresh your memory.

Mr. Jean, a college graduate and an accountant, was sitting in his living room on the 4th floor of his apartment building watching television and eating ice cream on that fateful evening.  Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was off duty and returning home from her shift.  Her apartment was one floor below Mr. Jean’s, on the third floor, but she somehow mistakenly went to the 4th floor and allegedly believed Mr. Jean’s apartment was her own.  She claims that his door was ajar, she assumed there was a burglar inside, and when she entered and saw him sitting there, she shot him dead.  When she called police, the dispatcher asked for her location, and she had to go look at the number on the door to see where she even was.  I don’t know about you folks, but if I walked into an apartment that wasn’t mine, I would immediately know I was in the wrong apartment!  And how many burglars are going to sit around in their shorts, watching television and eating ice cream???

When I first wrote about this murder shortly after it happened, I sensed that if Mr. Jean had been a white man, he would still be alive today.  Nothing I have read has changed my mind. A number of my readers also commented that there seemed to be some missing pieces, that there was likely more to the story than met the eye.

At any rate, it was several days before Guyger was arrested, and then she was only charged with manslaughter.  The charges were later upgraded to murder, and on November 30, 2018, Guyger was indicted on murder charges by a Dallas County grand jury.  The following year, on October 1st, 2019, Guyger was convicted on the charges of murder and sentenced to ten years in prison.   On August 7th, 2020, Guyger’s attorneys filed an appeal, alleging that insufficient evidence existed to convict her of murder. The appeal sought either an acquittal, or a reduction in charge to criminally negligent homicide with a new hearing for sentencing on the reduced charge.

This week on Thursday, August 5th, a panel of three state judges on the Texas appeals court upheld the murder conviction, denying her appeal.  She remains in prison and will become eligible for parole in 2024.  Sadly, Mr. Jean will not be eligible to have his life restored.  This is one of only two cases I am aware of in the past decade where a white police officer has been held fully accountable for the murder of an unarmed Black person, the other of course being the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.  It is good to see justice work, but there are so many more who need the long arm of the law to encircle them and carry them off to prison, such as officers Myles Cosgrove and Joshua Jaynes in Louisville, Kentucky, who shot and killed a Black woman, Breonna Taylor, while she slept in her own bed!

And since I’ve mentioned George Floyd and the conviction of Derek Chauvin, let me just touch on another topic that is disturbing me.  A coalition of news media outlets has asked the judge who oversaw the trial of Derek Chauvin to release the identities of jurors who convicted him in the death of George Floyd.  Attorneys for the coalition, which includes Fox ‘News’, the Associated Press, and even The Washington Post, is asking not only for the names of the jurors, which would be bad enough, but also for the juror profiles that would include such things as age, address, place of employment, etc.

Judge Peter Cahill had previously ordered the information sealed for the safety of the jurors.  Think about it … how many white supremacists were incensed by Chauvin’s conviction and sentencing to 22.5 years in prison?  How safe would you feel if you had been on that jury and one of these media outlets released your name to the public?

Attorney Leita Walker said the media and public have a right to information about a jury and said that that Chauvin’s trial is over “and there is no way that jurors’ fears of intimidation, harassment, or violence can unfairly impact their deliberations.” She also wrote that the coalition knows of no threat to any juror or prospective juror.  Well duh … did you think they would contact you and say “We plan to kill harass, intimidate, and kill the jurors, so give us their names”? She said the court’s desire to protect jurors from unwanted publicity or harassment are not grounds to keep their identities sealed under law, and that “much has changed” in the months since the jury rendered its verdict “and at this juncture, resistance to releasing their names appears based on little more than a desire to have them left alone.”

Make no mistake … I am all for freedom of the press, and transparency to the extent that it makes sense and is not endangering people.  However … jury duty is an important responsibility that ALL of us should take seriously, and most of us do.  We do not, however, undertake this responsibility in order to be harassed and intimidated, to feel that our lives are in danger.  Sorry, media, but this time you’re just plain wrong.

Snarky Legal Snippets …

Posted on by under animals, Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

I’m afraid I’m in a bit of a rant-y mode tonight.  I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a judge and hear some of the garbage excuses people come up with for the evil they do, but … no way I could do that job!  I’d be leaping over the desk and bashing heads in!

They let one of the terrorists skate!  WHY???

Federal prosecutors have dropped the case against one Christopher M. Kelly, a New York man who participated in the attack on Congress and the Capitol on January 6th.  The charges were obstructing an official proceeding, aiding and abetting, violent entry and disorderly conduct, and unlawful entry to restricted buildings or grounds.  Additionally, the FBI says that Kelly used a Facebook account to inform “associates” that he had breached the Capitol and was inside the building. Two days before the attack, he told another Facebook user that he planned to be in Washington “with ex NYPD and some proud boys.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui agreed to dismiss the case against Kelly after prosecutors said in a court filing on Tuesday that they discussed the merits of the case with Kelly’s lawyer and decided that ending the prosecution “serves the interests of justice” based on “the facts currently known to the government.”  No further elaboration was forthcoming.

Now, I want to trust the government again now that we have a president and his cabinet whom I can once again trust.  But … I find this dismissal sans explanation to be highly questionable.  Twice, prosecutors have postponed preliminary hearings, saying there were ongoing plea deal negotiations taking place.  Then on the eve of the rescheduled court date on Wednesday, prosecutors announced that they would move to “dismiss the complaint without prejudice, and end this matter.”  Dismissing it without prejudice gives prosecutors an opportunity to refile charges at a later date, if they decide to do so.  And assuming that at that point they are able to find Mr. Kelly who, unless I miss my guess, will conveniently disappear.

On December 28th, prior to the attacks, Kelly posted on Facebook …

“‘When good men do nothing, evil triumphs. Evil, sin and sinful men must be opposed. God commands those who are good, not just to avoid evil but actively oppose it.’ Where will you be on 1/6?”

He considers himself a ‘good man’???  Sounds like a freak to me!  Read on …

On January 6th, once inside the Capitol, Kelly wrote on a group chat …

“We’re in!  Taking this back by force now, no more bs. Tear gas, police, stopped the hearing, they are all headed to the basement. Fuck these snakes. Out of OUR HOUSE!”

Christopher M. Kelly, January 6th, 2021

I don’t know about you, but to me these do not sound like the words of an innocent man who should be allowed his freedom without penalty!  It seems to me that at the very least, We the People whose freedom was damn near destroyed on that day deserve some explanation for the dismissal of this case.  Are there others who will just walk away without paying a price?  I want justice, I want every single person who entered the Capitol during that attack to spend time in prison!

Probation???  I think not!

Yesterday, prosecutors filed a sentencing memo in the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who brutally murdered George Floyd, an unarmed Black man.  The prosecutors have asked for a 30-year sentence … one that I believe is entirely fair, given the fact that George Floyd’s death sentence at the hands of Chauvin’s knee is a life sentence.

Chauvin’s attorney, naturally, disagrees as I would expect him to.  I would expect him to try paring the sentence down to 5 years, 10 years, but Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, is asking for Chauvin to not serve a single day in prison, but rather to be given probation!  Say WHAT???  Says Nelson …

 “Mr. Chauvin’s offense is best described as an error made in good faith reliance his own experience as a police officer and the training he had received — not intentional commission of an illegal act.  A stringent probationary sentence with incarceration limited to time served would achieve the purposes of the sentence in this case.”

Bullshit!  For nearly ten minutes, Derek Chauvin kneeled on Mr. Floyd’s neck, listening to his gasps, his cries of “I can’t breathe”, heard him call out for his mother, watched him die.  Yes, Mr. Chauvin had a smirk on his face as he … WATCHED. HIM. DIE.  That is no “error in judgment”, that is murder.  No, probation is NOT good enough.  Chauvin is a murderer who killed Mr. Floyd because his skin was Black.  Period.  I sincerely hope the judge in the case sends him upriver for the full 30 years with no room for early release.

Stand Your Ground … against an iguana???

PJ Nilaja Patterson was arrested in Lake Worth, Florida last September on charges that he brutally beat and murdered an iguana.  The animal died as Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control was transporting it to be euthanized, so serious were its injuries.

Last week, Patterson’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charge.  On what grounds, you might ask?  Florida’s ‘stand your ground’ law that states deadly force can be used if a person “reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.”  Bullshit!  This is the same law that enabled George Zimmerman to skate free after brutally murdering a black teen, Trayvon Martin.  The iguana in this case was no more likely to kill Mr. Patterson than unarmed Trayvon Martin was to kill Zimmerman!

The story the lawyers tell is that their client was trying to save the iguana from getting run over by cars. When he brought it to safety, a crowd agitated the animal and it bit his right arm when he tried to move it, so he kicked it as far as he could kick.  Patterson’s attorneys said the animal was the first to engage in aggression, so Patterson had a right to defend himself …

“In this case, Patterson acted in a reasonable manner under all the circumstances because the wild iguana was first to engage with physical violence, during the encounter.”

Um, excuse me but an iguana is not versed in the ways of human laws, in what is ‘socially acceptable behaviour’.  The iguana was no doubt frightened and acted as any animal cornered will act.  Fortunately, Judge Jeffrey Gillen has better sense than Patterson or his attorneys and he rejected the motion last Friday.  Patterson will be back in court on July 30th. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted of animal cruelty.  I hope he serves every single day of those five years!

And to lighten the mood, just a couple of ‘toons …

A Good Cop’s Perspective

Posted on by under Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry

Last night, I came across an Opinion piece in The Washington Post, written by a police officer that really impressed me.  Halfway through reading the article, I was saying, “Oh yeah … this guy really gets it!”  The officer is Patrick Skinner, working on the police force in his hometown of Savannah, Georgia.  Officer Skinner is a former CIA operations officer and served in the United States Coast Guard as well as the U.S. Capitol Police, so he has a broad base of experience in law enforcement.  The man knows of what he speaks …

I’m a cop. The Chauvin verdict is a message for me, and for my colleagues.

Police officers can’t be defensive. We owe it to those we serve to change policing — and slow down.

by Patrick Skinner

I was at work as a police officer when the judge announced the jurors’ verdict Tuesday in a Minneapolis courtroom. I am a violent-crimes detective in my hometown of Savannah, Ga., but like the rest of America, I was worried about the verdict. I was worried that once again, a jury would, despite clear video evidence of guilt, find that it was somehow reasonable for a minor criminal matter to end in the death of an unarmed suspect at the hands of a police officer.

But I was also worried that we would view the outcome as the conclusion of a trial and not the beginning of change. Because as powerful as the murder conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin is, what we do next — as a country in general and as police in particular — will go a long way in determining whether systemic positive police reform is possible. It is in this time immediately after the verdict that several things, which are entirely within my control as a police officer, have to happen.

The first thing is actually something that needs to not happen: Police must not be defensive. We must not circle the wagons. “Not all cops” is exactly the wrong reaction. Even though that is true — of course not all cops are bad — it is irrelevant. Systemic reform is inseparable from individual change. We need both, and they have to feed off each other. There will be a natural desire by police, myself included, to say that the system worked, that Chauvin was found guilty by a jury of his peers and that a bad apple was sent to jail, no longer around to rot the bunch. Again, this is true, but it is also irrelevant. A nation so tense about a single trial, so uncertain about what was going to happen, is a nation in desperate need of much more. And we all have to take a first step. For me, the first step is that I need to take this verdict personally if I am to change professionally: That means I need to empathize more with my neighbors, and if they’re outraged or sad or just weary from police interactions — theirs and others’ — I need to work from that space. It means these outrages aren’t just outrageous to my profession, they’re outrageous to me personally. It means to step out of comfortable anonymity and demand that we change it all.

Here’s the second thing that needs to happen: We police need to fight the destructive reaction we have resorted to before in places like New York, where members of the police union had an unofficial but announced slowdown in 2019 after the dismissal of an officer implicated in the killing of Eric Garner by police in 2014. We have to stop saying, in effect, that if we can’t do our job the way we have always done it, well then, we won’t do our job at all. We might still collect a paycheck, but we will stop a lot of work because of an exaggerated fear of running afoul of the “new rules.” Rules such as “Don’t treat your neighbors like robots of compliance,” “Don’t escalate trivial matters into life-or-death confrontations” and “Treat your neighbors as if they were your neighbors.” That anyone would consider these rules “new” is a problem in itself. Few police officers reading them aloud would take issue with such anodyne statements, but put accountability behind the statements and now they’re an attack, not just on all police but the very foundation of American policing. The truth is that we do not get to tell our neighbors — those whose communities we police — how we will do our job. They tell us.

Faced with criticism that perhaps police should not be turning a traffic stop over an unarmed person’s vehicle registration sticker into something to be resolved at gunpoint, some will say, “What are the police supposed to do, let all criminals just run away?” There is a lot wrong with that reaction. To begin with, let’s slow down on calling someone with registration issues a criminal. And then let’s slow down everything, because we police are rushing to make bad decisions when time is almost always our friend. Tamir Rice most likely would not have been killed for having a toy gun if the Cleveland police officers had not rushed right up to him and shot him. There was no violence going on; the 12-year-old was alone in the middle of a park. Slow down, I tell myself in almost every police encounter. The risk to my neighbors in my rushing to a final judgment in very uncertain and fluid situations far outweighs the risk to myself. I’m often wrong in the initial assessment of chaotic scenes, and so I try to be wrong silently, allowing my judgment to catch up to my reactions, to allow my perception to catch up with my vision. Slow down.

I don’t know the third thing that needs to happen to lay the foundation for sweeping positive change in American policing because I’m so focused on the first two. I’m worried. I’m even scared. Not of big changes but that they might not happen. There is nothing easy or comfortable about any of this. To change policing in America requires confronting issues of race, poverty, inequality, injustice — the very issues too many in America say aren’t even issues anymore, as if history and its terrible weight started today.

I believe I was wrong for some time about not taking this personally. I’ve often told myself to not take well-deserved criticism of police misconduct and crime personally, because while as a police officer I am responsible, I was not personally responsible. I even wrote about this very thing here last year after the murder of George Floyd. I meant that I must not get defensive and to accept responsibility even if I wasn’t to blame. But now I don’t think that’s enough, at least for me. I think I have to take it personally: I have to be offended, I have to be outraged, and I have to act. That means I need to understand the goal of every 911 call, and that the compliance of those I encounter is not a goal; it might be a path to a goal but it’s not the goal. It means putting my neighbors first at every instance. It means often to act slower, to give my neighbors the benefit of the doubt because they are the point of my job.

None of this is abstract, none of this is a metaphor. All of this is senseless death in needlessly life-or-death situations. And all of this is personal.

I was at work when the verdict came in; I’ll be at work tomorrow, taking this verdict personally because my neighbors demand it. And they have always deserved it.

As I said, Officer Skinner is one cop who truly gets it, who understands what his job is, understands who he really works for … We the People, and sincerely wants police officers across the nation to learn from the tragedy of the George Floyd murder.  I give two thumbs up 👍 👍 to Officer Skinner!  The rest of the police need to take their cues from him.

Regarding the Derek Chauvin Murder Trial

Posted on by under Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

This afternoon, former police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts of murdering George Floyd. I planned to write a post later about it, but meanwhile I read Brendan’s piece, and … well, I couldn’t have said it any better, so I am re-blogging his. Thank you, Brendan.

Blind Injustice

The George Floyd Mural in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Like with many people in the United States, and across the world, my heart was beating at a mile a minute as the judge in the Derek Chauvin Murder Trial read the verdict on all three counts:

Guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty.

After I heard the verdict, I was personally relieved. I know many others who feel relieved with the verdict as well, for it meant that George Floyd’s life mattered enough that the police officer who killed him went to prison.

However, in my own humble opinion (humble because I do not have to worry about police on a daily basis like my friends of color do), what we saw today was not justice for George Floyd. Justice would’ve been if George Floyd didn’t get killed at the hands of Derek Chauvin.

Instead, what we got was accountability. Namely, accountability for a chokehold that…

View original post 283 more words

Thoughts On “Karen” and … Another DAMMIT

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

Sometime last year, I noticed I was seeing more and more news stories about women named ‘Karen’.  Now, I’ve known a few people named Karen in my live, and in fact even have a niece who is so-named, a former co-worker, and one of my daughter’s bandmates.  But suddenly there is a surge of women with this name.  I wondered if it were a generational thing, or what.  But then one day I read an article that ‘splained it to me.

Apparently ‘Karen’ is the name given to women who act like grade-A jerks, being racist and intolerant in this, the 21st century.  It rather makes me feel sorry for women who were given the name ‘Karen’ at birth and are stuck with it in this, the era of having to name every behaviour.  I have written about a few ‘Karens’ before , but today I have another one for you …

Last June, a woman named Debra Hunter was shopping at a Pier 1 store in Jacksonville, Florida where she was loudly verbally abusing the store’s staff.  Another customer, Heather Sprague, began recording the altercation because …

“I wanted her to know she was being held accountable for her actions. It only took her to decide she was done and to leave the store, which really was the goal.”

But, once Hunter turned and saw that she was being recorded, she flipped Ms. Sprague off and then walked over to her and coughed directly into her face.  This at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.  What Hunter could not have known is that Heather Sprague is a cancer patient, currently undergoing treatment for a brain tumour, but I somehow don’t think it would have made a difference even if she had known.

On Friday, a judge in Jacksonville sentenced Hunter to 30 days in jail and also ordered her to pay a $500 fine, serve six months’ probation and participate in a mental health evaluation along with anger management.  Hunter’s husband pleaded in her defense that they had faced numerous hardships leading up to the incident, including losing everything they had in a house fire …

“It was like air being inflated into a balloon, and it finally got to the point where she couldn’t handle any more air. And then she finally rubbed up against something and just popped.”

Hunter told the judge her family has paid the price for her mistakes, adding that her children continue to lose friends, and that they don’t go out in their community anymore.  It is sad that Mr. Hunter and the children are paying the price, but it doesn’t negate what Ms. Hunter did, and frankly from all I’ve read, there has been no sign or remorse or apology.

Okay, so there are lots of ‘Karens’ in the U.S. today, but … what do we call a guy who acts like a jerk?  Shouldn’t there be some equivalent for males?  Hmmmm … how about a ‘Mitch’ … or a ‘Tucker’ … or a ‘Matt’?

And now I must turn from the topic of Karens to … yep, you got it … another tragedy, another Black man killed by a white cop.

On Sunday there was another tragic shooting death of an unarmed Black man by a white police officer, this time just about ten miles from Minneapolis, where the trial of Derek Chauvin is entering its third week.

The victim’s name was Daunte Wright.  Say his name … SAY HIS NAME!

Duante Wright

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says he and his wife are ‘praying’ for Duante Wright’s family.  Sorry, guv, but that does not help … it does not help his family and it damn sure does not bring him back to life!  Keep your goddamn prayers and do something useful, like initiate some police reforms in your damn state!  First George Floyd and now Duante Wright.  How can you even sleep at night???

It started as a traffic stop.  Mr. Wright called his mother and told her he expected they had stopped him for the air fresheners he had dangling from his rear-view mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota.  But, when police checked his license they discovered that he had an outstanding warrant or warrants, so they attempted to take him into custody.  Mr. Wright jumped back into his vehicle and as he was attempting to drive off, Officer Kim Potter, a 25-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department, shot him through the window of his vehicle.

Mr. Wright managed to drive for several blocks before striking another vehicle.  Mr. Wright was pronounced dead at the scene.  He was 20 years old.

Officer Kim Potter

Yesterday it was reported that Officer Potter shot Mr. Wright “by accident”, that she thought she had fired her taser rather than her gun.  She’s been on the police force for 25 years, she’s president of the Brooklyn Center Police Officer’s Association, and she didn’t know the difference between a gun and a taser???  Oh please, don’t take me for a damn fool!

This community is already stressed, with the trial for Derek Chauvin, the officer who brutally murdered George Floyd, taking place just down the road a piece.  Naturally, protesters gathered ‘round the police department on Sunday night after Mr. Wright’s murder.

Police ordered the protesters to disperse, and when they refused, they were hit with tear gas, some were arrested, and shots were fired, though in honesty I do not know whether the shots were by protesters or police, as details remain sketchy.  Today, the schools are closed in this suburb of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Twins (a Major League baseball team) postponed their game against the Boston Red Sox.

I also do not know what the warrant or warrants against Mr. Wright were, but given the fact he was only 20 years old, I’m guessing they weren’t serious enough to end his life over.

This country has many, many causes for shame, but this … racism in police, the very people we hire and PAY to protect us … is among the biggest reasons that we should all hang our heads.  R.I.P. Mr. Duante Wright … you deserved better.

Some Not-Too-Snarky Snippets

Posted on by under Biden's Staff Picks, Bits 'n Pieces, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry

It’s been a few days at least since there was a Snarky Snippets post … long overdue, I think!  The difference between the Biden administration and the former one is … I can’t even describe it.  It is a breath of fresh air, it is like finding a TGI Fridays in the middle of the desert.  It is most noticeable in the news.  Oh sure, there are many things to snark over … always will be as long as we have politics, I suppose.  But today, two of my ‘snarky’ snippets bring good news … something that hasn’t happened a single time between 2017 and January 20th, 2021.

A promotion for Vindman!

I’ll start with the good news!  You remember when Alexander Vindman testified against the former guy in the first impeachment hearing last year?    Shortly thereafter, in a move that can only be dubbed revenge, Lieutenant Colonel Vindman was fired, as was his brother, Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman.   Both men, twins by the way, were employed by the National Security Council (NSC).

alexander-yevgeny-vindmanWell, despite the former guy’s attempts to derail their careers, at least one of the Vindman brothers has the last laugh.  Though fired from the NSC, Yevgeny Vindman remained in the military, while Alexander retired.  Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman, however, is soon to be promoted to a full Colonel!  Yep, Yevgeny Vindman is now on a list of colonel promotions that has been approved by the White House and is going to the Senate for formal confirmation!  Score one for good triumphing over evil!

In case you’re wondering what Yevgeny’s brother Alexander Vindman has been doing since his retirement, he is writing a memoir and also working toward a doctoral degree!  His memoir is a book I’ll definitely read!

Change of venue???

I wrote just two days ago about the upcoming trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who murdered George Floyd last May.  Well, the latest today is that his attorney, Eric Nelson, has asked the judge in the case for a postponement and … wait for it … a change of venue!

Now, a change of venue is typically requested when an attorney believes his client cannot get a fair trial in his own area due to excessive publicity.  But … in this case?  The George Floyd murder set off a domino effect that publicized it not only all across this nation, but around the globe! I think that if Mr. Nelson is seeking a venue where people perhaps haven’t seen the heart-wrenching video of Chauvin keeping his knee on the neck of a defenseless George Floyd, where they haven’t seen the protests that took place not only all over the U.S., but also in Europe, then I think perhaps the Arctic is about the only place for the trial.  Do they have courts in the Arctic?  Or perhaps Siberia, which would be a great place for Derek Chauvin … he would fit right in!

Nelson asked the judge to, at the very least, recall the seven jurors that were selected last week to ask them if they had heard of the settlement approved by the City of Minneapolis to the family of George Floyd in the amount of $27 million … basically an admission that their police officer is guilty.  Now, once again this is ridiculous, for of course they have all heard of it … hell, the entire nation has heard of it!  Judge Cahill did agree to call back the jurors for additional questions but said he would do so closer to the date of opening arguments, currently scheduled for March 29th.

Keep your eye on this one, folks … the future of holding police accountable for their actions rides on the outcome of this case.

Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior

Yesterday, Deb Haaland became the first Native American to serve in a cabinet position!  President Biden nominated her to serve as Secretary of the Interior, and yesterday she won Senate confirmation in a 51-40 vote!  (Where were the other nine senators?  Did they forget to come back to work on Monday?)

deb-haalandThus far, the president has met with little resistance to his cabinet nominees, with the exception of Neera Tanden whose nomination was withdrawn due to wide opposition as a result of certain tweets she had made in the past.  But Deb Haaland’s nomination was contentious, especially among republicans, for she has long taken a “keep it in the ground” approach to the fossil fuel industry – not a particularly popular stance among Republicans, many of whom are in the pockets of the coal, gas and oil industries.

In the final vote, only four Republicans joined all Senate Democrats present in the 51-40 tally that will install her as Interior secretary. Those votes came from Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, who said she “struggled” with her support, Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Dan Sullivan of Alaska.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said …

“Given the long and troubled relationship between the federal government and tribal nations, the ascension of Rep. Haaland to the top of the Interior Department is a profoundly important moment for America. For too long tribal nations have been denied a seat at the table where decisions were made that affected their lives and their land.”

Three cheers to Deb Haaland and those senators who voted to confirm her.

Say His Name: George Floyd

Posted on by under Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Seven jurors were selected this week for the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who, on May 25th, 2020 brutally murdered a Black man, George Floyd, by throwing Floyd facedown on the ground, handcuffed, and then keeping his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for over 8 minutes.  With only two more jurors to be chosen, I would expect the trial to begin next week.

Keep your eye on this one, folks, for there is so much evidence I don’t see how Chauvin can possibly escape conviction.  But he is white, Mr. Floyd was Black, and this is the United States of Bigotry.

My understanding is that Chauvin’s lawyers plan to try to make the claim that it was not Chauvin’s knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck that killed him, but rather that drugs were found in his system that led to his death.  ‘Scuse me, but that is the biggest load of crap I’ve heard in a long time.  The video plainly shows the truth, that Mr. Floyd was gasping, saying, “I can’t breathe,” while Chauvin kept putting his weight on Floyd’s neck and the other three officers stood by doing not one damn thing.

The coroner’s report indicates that Floyd had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death but not that the drugs were the cause of death.  Both the coroner’s report and an independent autopsy report have ruled Mr. Floyd’s death a homicide.  Can’t get much clearer than that.

On Friday, the city of Minneapolis approved a $27 million payment to the family of George Floyd to settle the wrongful death lawsuit brought against the city.  No, it can’t bring him back into his children’s lives, but it will at least ensure those children will have their needs met since their dad can’t be there to take care of them.  Said Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender …

“No amount of money can ever address the intense pain or trauma caused by this death to George Floyd’s family or to the people of our city. Minneapolis has been fundamentally changed by this time of racial reckoning and this city council is united in working together with our community, and the Floyd family to equitably reshape our city of Minneapolis.”

A twist, though.  Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, sought to block any mention of the payout by the city to the Floyd’s family, arguing it would be prejudicial.  Yes, perhaps it would be, but in the most honest way … the city is admitting that it was their officer(s) who murdered Mr. Floyd.  Well, it was … it’s all right there on video for the world to see!  What, is Nelson next going to request that the video not be played in court?  Or, what happens when Nelson realizes that every person on the jury is already aware of the city’s payout, as surely they must be, since it has been widely publicized in the press.  Will Nelson then move to declare a mistrial?

Time after time after time, police officers have gotten by with murdering Black people in this country and not been held accountable.  This time damn well better be different!  Chauvin is charged with second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.  The evidence is plain for all to see.  If he does not go to prison … then there is no justice left in this country.

On a related note …

On March 3rd, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.  Once again, the bill passed along partisan lines with two democrats voting against, and one republican voting for, but he later said it was a mistake, that he meant to vote ‘nay’ but accidentally hit the wrong button.  When the bill reaches the Senate, it will no doubt be subjected to a ridiculous filibuster by the republicans and will fail.  Let’s take a look at what these damn fools will be voting against …

The bill would ban chokeholds, end racial and religious profiling, establish a national database to track police misconduct and prohibit certain no-knock warrants. It also contains several provisions that would make it easier to hold officers accountable for misconduct in civil and criminal court. One proposal long sought by civil rights advocates would change “qualified immunity,” the legal doctrine that shields officers from lawsuits, by lowering the bar for plaintiffs to sue officers for alleged civil rights violations.

Do you see anything … one single thing objectionable in that?  I don’t.  It means that even someone the police are arresting has the right not to be murdered, and it means that police will be held accountable for their actions, just as they should be.  A person in a position of trust must be trustworthy.

Derek Chauvin had 18 complaints on his official record, two of which ended in discipline, including official letters of reprimand. He had been involved in three police shootings, one of which was fatal.  And yet, he was still on the police force and was still allowed to carry a gun … and use his knee to murder a man!  This is why we need the bill to pass in the Senate … Derek Chauvin is the poster boy for bad cops, and he is not alone.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act must pass, for if it doesn’t, it will be a thumbs up to every police officer that it’s okay to be a racist, that it’s okay to use excessive force, and that there will be no consequences.  Do your job, Senators!  By the same token, Derek Chauvin must be prosecuted and found guilty, else it will open doors that nobody in their right mind wants to walk through.  Do your job, jury!

Remember the Black Lives Matter protests last summer?  Almost all were peaceful until outside influences intervened, but I’m not sure the same will be true this summer if justice is not done, if Derek Chauvin is found to be above the law because his skin is white.

Snarky-Inducing Things On My Radar

Posted on by under Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

You would be surprised if I said I didn’t have any snarkiness built up and just waiting for an outlet, wouldn’t you?  Just when we think it’s gotten as bad as it can get here in the U.S., fate (or Donald Trump) steps in to prove to us that no, it can get much worse.  Which has me lying awake nights wondering … what’s next?  But, for today, here are a few of the things on my radar …

The press must do better!

I am fully supportive of our free press, I realize that they are the only thing standing between us and a dictatorship, but sometimes I get frustrated with them.  One example … the headline reads:

The president’s convention speech will be moved from Charlotte, N.C., after Republicans clashed with Democrats over virus concerns.

Makes it sound as if it were just more political fighting … democrats vs republicans, round 2,114.  But that was not the case at all!  North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper refused to allow a full-fledged, packed stadium style convention to take place in light of the precautions the state is taking due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Yes, Governor Cooper is a democrat, but his decision was not an attempt to stifle the Republican National Convention on political grounds, but rather to protect the people of his state.  That is, after all, his job!

Now, the republican leadership and Donald Trump may choose to view it as a political move, but the free press should be neutral, should be above the petty grievances of political parties.  I am disgusted and disappointed that the New York Times stoops to such cheap tactics.  Governor Cooper did offer a compromise, a smaller convention with safety measures in place, but Trump and the GOP said, “All or nothing at all.”  So fine, let them have it elsewhere — it looks like Florida’s Governor DeSantis is eager to invite more coronavirus cases to his state.  North Carolina may lose a bit of bar and restaurant revenue, but they may also save a heck of a lot of lives.  Thumbs up to Governor Cooper!

One bit of good news …

Representative Steve King of Iowa has been on my radar for several years.  He is a blatant racist and doesn’t care who knows it.  He even earned the Idiot of the Week award back in 2017.

In the past year or so, his rhetoric has become even more offensive, so much so that last year his own party stripped him of all his committee assignments.  But on Tuesday, Steve King got what he deserved!  He lost the Iowa primary by ten points to his contender, Iowa State Senator Randy Feenstra.

King claims that his loss came from an effort to “push out the strongest voice for Christian conservatism”.  He then went on to claim that the “spirit of America is being fractured by anarchists in this country.”  Yep, he’s still as much an idiot as he was in 2017!

Thumbs up to the people of Iowa for finally removing this ugly racist wart from our Congress!

Another good bit of news …

Donald Trump has been throwing his weight around (and there surely is a lot of it to throw around!) these past few days, and one of his threats has been to send the military into our cities to quell the protests, most of which are peaceful, that are a response to the continual racism in this nation.  Turns out that his Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, doesn’t agree with him.  Esper actually found his cojones and said in no uncertain terms that he opposes sending active-duty troops into U.S. cities to deal with violent protesters.

“The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations. We are not in one of those situations right now.  I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.”

Is it possible that even some of Trump’s sycophants are beginning to see what sort of tyrant they’ve aligned with?  We can only hope.

About damn time …

Finally, more than a week after the brutal murder of George Floyd by police in Minnesota, the other three officers involved who stood watching while Derek Chauvin choked Mr. Floyd to death, have been charged with “aiding and abetting murder.”  The three former officers are Thomas Lane, 37, J. Alexander Kueng, 26, and Tou Thao, 34.  Thus far, Thao is the only one who has been arrested, though there are warrants out for Kueng and Lane.

Tou Thao has faced six prior misconduct complaints in his career with the Minneapolis Police Department. He also was the subject of a lawsuit that claimed he and another officer punched, kicked and kneed an African-American man, leaving the man with broken teeth and bruises.

In addition to the charges against the three, charges against Chauvin were upgraded to 2nd degree murder on Wednesday, charges that carry a potential maximum sentence of 40 years.  I really hope he serves every single day of those 40 years.  And, since these are not federal charges, Trump won’t be able to pardon him!

And speaking of pardons …

On Tuesday, Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA, wrote on Twitter (do any politicians actually communicate in more than 280 characters anymore?):

“Roger Stone will serve more time in prison than 99% of these rioters destroying America All because he supports Donald Trump. This isn’t justice. RT for a full pardon of Roger Stone!”

Trump went on to share the tweet Thursday morning, writing in his own accompanying message:

“No. Roger was a victim of a corrupt and illegal Witch Hunt, one which will go down as the greatest political crime in history. He can sleep well at night!”

roger-stoneRoger Stone … a lifelong criminal with a list of crimes longer than my arm, can sleep well at night as Trump will pardon him, ensuring he doesn’t pay for his crimes. Meanwhile the rest of us lie awake worrying about the state of our nation with a madman at the helm.  See the irony here?

TrumpThe answer is “EVERYTHING!”

When Silence Is NOT Golden …

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

There is an old saying that, “Silence is golden”.  Sometimes that may well be true … I utter that line frequently when Trump is heard going off on another of his many tangents.  But, there are times when silence is criminal.

Last week, as you all know, a man by the name of George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, who kept his knee pressed into Mr. Floyd’s throat for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, causing Mr. Floyd’s death by asphyxiation.  Chauvin has been arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter, for which he could be sentenced to as much as 15½ years, or as little as 3½ years.  George Floyd will still be dead when Chauvin is released from prison.

But, there were four officers at the scene.  What did the other three officers do?  Not a damn thing.  They stood there looking on while their compadre killed a man for no reason.  In my book, they are just about as guilty as Chauvin, for they could have stopped him and instead they stood silently by.

Who were the other three officers?  We haven’t seen much about them in the media, have we?

  • Tou Thao, videotaped watching as Chauvin continued to press on Floyd’s neck with his knee, has left Minnesota, his lawyer confirmed Friday. Criminal defense attorney Robert Paule said Thao is “safely elsewhere” and that he couldn’t comment further.
  • J Alexander Kueng, one of the two first officers at the scene who helped pin Floyd down, is believed to be staying with family in Minneapolis.
  • Thomas K. Lane has left and didn’t tell anyone where he was going, a relative said Friday.

Although Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced murder and manslaughter charges against Chauvin and said he anticipated charges against Thao, Kueng and Lane, no such charges have been filed as yet … more than one week since Mr. Floyd’s murder on May 25th.  WHY???  It isn’t rocket science, Thao, Kueng, and Lane were complicit in the murder of George Floyd.  Are prosecutors hoping it will all simply disappear, as the three former officers have done?  Not.  Gonna.  Happen.

enablersThere were bystanders who can be heard on the video yelling at Chauvin to let him go, to remove his knee, to no avail.  But the bystanders … where was the one brave enough to push Chauvin off Mr. Floyd?  Sure, he probably would have been arrested, but so what, if he saved a life?  He (or she) wouldn’t have stayed in jail long, once the facts of the matter were revealed.  Where was that brave soul?  Not in the group of gawkers, that’s for sure.  Would you or I have been that courageous bystander?  I like to think I would have, but when push came to shove, would I have, or am I all talk and no moxie?

Courage.  It’s something within us that we likely don’t even realize is there until one day something happens and we just jump into the fray.  Twice in my adult life, there have been situations where I found that my brain disengaged completely, adrenaline took over, and I plunged into the middle of a fight, once stopping a man from beating his wife, another time keeping a group of teens from hurting a younger child.  Would I have jumped on Chauvin?  I still cannot say.  It’s one thing to threaten a man with a rolling pin if he hits his wife again, and quite another to assault a police officer who has a gun!

The point that I’m trying to make, though, is a larger point.  I have friends … we all do … who are content to ignore what is happening in the world today so long as their own little lives aren’t affected.  I often hear, “Oh, I ignore the news … it stresses me too much.”  Not all of us can actively protest in the middle of the city, but we can all do something.  Write a letter to the editor of your local paper, write to your representatives and senators in Congress, make your voice heard!  If you can join a peaceful protest (note that I am NOT encouraging any of you to loot or riot, for I cannot cover your bail!), then by all means do so!  But if you cannot, there are other ways of being heard.  Condemn the racism, condemn the attacks on our free press, condemn the rollbacks of environmental regulations … stand for something.  Those who remain silent, who are more interested in posting pictures of their meals on Facebook or playing games rather than waken to the fact that our nation is in crisis, are guilty of supporting the destruction of this nation.  Period.  There are times that silence is golden, but these are not those times.

Message to the Right: Racism is Alive and Well in America

Posted on by under Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

I realize I have covered this topic already in the last day, but our friend Jeff has written such a thoughtful post, expressing himself far better than I could, that I simply had to share it. Thank you, Jeff.

On The Fence Voters

When it comes to race in this country, I sometimes hesitate to weigh in. After all, I’m a 58-year-old white male. What gives me the right to comment on the plight of African-Americans and other people of color when I haven’t experienced the kind of institutional racism they have?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say anything, though. The rage I feel inside is real. It’s called empathy, the last time I checked. It’s putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, or at least an ability to think in that manner.

When I see a white cop with his knee on the neck of a black man screaming, “I can’t breathe!” my first instinct is to say to the white policeman, “take your goddamn knee off his neck, you’re killing him!” If that were me suffering the same fate, I’d like to think most would mouth those very same words.

It…

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