Chicago Police Dept Fingered in Justice Department Report

Loretta Lynch has singled out the Chicago police department for specific condemnation over and above other even worse police departments such as Philadelphia.  A sprawling federal investigation into the Chicago police found that officers engage “in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force,” part of larger, ingrained failures in how the department trains officers and reviews misconduct, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced Friday.  The Justice Department released a scathing 164-page report elaborating on how police officers in the country’s third-biggest city use force, “including deadly force, that is unreasonable” as well as unconstitutional.  What I haven't found in the report is an explanation as to why the gun deaths figure in Chicago is so high.  Why don't they adopt Mike Bloomberg's philosophy of stop and frisk to help get dangerous firearms off the street.  For all the "proactive policing" we see in the report, none of it shows up as reduced crime figures.  This report is the culmination of a 13-month investigation into the Chicago Police Department, one launched amid a firestorm prompted by video footage of a white officer fatally shooting a black teenager.  Federal investigators excoriated the department and city officials alike for what they called “systemic deficiencies.” They said their inquiry found that the Chicago police force did not provide officers with proper guidance for using force, did not properly investigate improper uses of force and did not hold officers accountable for such incidents. Investigators also faulted the city’s methods of handling officer discipline, saying that process “lacks integrity.”  Vanita Gupta, head of the department’s Civil Rights Division, said that Chicago officers were found to have shot people who posed no immediate threat and shocked people with Tasers simply for not following verbal commands.  During the probe, investigators said they found cases where children were subjected to force for minor issues, including a 16-year-old girl hit with a baton and then shocked with a Taser for not leaving school when she was found carrying a cellphone. In another case described in the report, an officer “forcibly handcuffed a 12-year-old Latino boy” riding his bicycle near his father and refused to explain why.  Gupta faulted the department for inadequate training, saying it used decades-old videos that provided guidance inconsistent with current law and even the department’s own policies. She also described Chicago’s accountability system as “broken,” with officers rarely being held accountable for their misdeeds.   Twelve more specific examples can be found on the internet.  

[Read the full Justice Department report into the Chicago police]

WASHINGTON — The House gave final approval Friday for speedy action to repeal the Affordable Care Act, putting Congress on track to undo the most significant health care law in a half century.  By a vote of 227 to 198, the House approved a budget blueprint that allows Republicans to obliterate major provisions of President Obama’s health care law without the threat of a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.  The vote, coming a week before President-elect Donald J. Trump’sinauguration, places Republicans squarely in position to accomplish their long-held goal of dismantling Mr. Obama’s signature domestic achievement.  But the quick action by Congress adds urgency to the vexing question of what comes next. While pursuing repeal with zeal, Republicans are far from a consensus on how to go about replacing the health care law, under which more than 20 million Americans have gained health insurance.  Of course the expression was “Repeal and replace”, which Trump is on record as saying “It could be the same day or the same hour”.  The Republicans have had eight long years to come up with a “replacement” for the Affordable Care Act and no action has been taken.  I have not seen so much as one coherent plan which in any way could be called a “replacement” for Obama Care.

 The Obama administration after all these years is revoking the wet foot, dry foot policy.  If you make it to the United States clearly on dry land then they’ll let you stay in the country.  If however you are in a boat approaching the shore or even wading through the waves, then it’s a foot chase with the authorities. If they nab you before your feet are firmly on dry sand then you have to go back,.  Otherwise you are allowed to stay.  This policy was only with Cuba.  But now it’s no more. 

 After ten there was this call in guy on Thom’s show who said that Trump’s position with Russia is actually more awkward now because everyone has accused Trump of being under the control of Russia.  Now he has no negotiating room, so the argument goes.  So Trump will have to bend over backwards to prove he’s really tough with Russia and thus a major military confrontation with Russia is more likely and not less.  Here’s an example of the iron fist under the velvet glove when it comes to Russia and a more restrained view toward the Iranian nuclear treaty of March 2015.  Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the United States must honor the “imperfect ­arms-control agreement” with Iran that Trump has vowed to dismantle because “when America gives her word, we have to live up to it and work with our allies.”  He also took a more adversarial stance than Trump has toward Russian President Vladi­mir Putin and cited Moscow as one of the nation’s top threats.  “I’ve never found a better guide for the way ahead than studying the histories. Since [the 1945 meeting of world powers at] Yalta, we have a long list of times we’ve tried to engage positively with Russia. We have a relatively short list of successes in that regard,” Mattis said. “I think right now, the most important thing is that we recognize the reality of what we deal with [in] Mr. Putin and we recognize that he is trying to break the North Atlantic alliance.”   Someone pointed out yesterday that if Kennedy were under the same pressure to "be tough" and "prove himself" against the Soviet Union because there were rumors Kennedy was a secret Russian sympathizer than the nuclear option or at least a full scale invasion would be very much on the table during the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

Our frame of reference is so skewed we can sit around and talk about an incoming President being peed on by prostitutes in Russia without batting an eye.  He seems bent on out-doing the sexual exploits of Bill Clinton.  Meanwhile he has this secretary of Defense, General Mattis, who on multiple occasions has covered up war crimes of himself and others getting them out of legal peril.  Who knows what sort of frame of reference we’ll have in four years?  This sis the most thin skinned man we've ever had in the White House who tweets and takes offense at everything like throwing a childish tantrum.  There was something highly Fascistic and authoritarian about that press conference of the other day.  It would have been better just to throw the floor open to the reporter's questions the first thing and let the chips fall where they may.  We hear the number of inaugural balls is being cut from nine to three this year.  My guess is that President Trump won't be walking any part of the inaugural route.  There are scads of protests scheduled on Thursday and Friday and Saturday.  There is a marijuana "4-20" outfit that intends to pass out joints to anyone in attendance and four minutes and twenty seconds into the speech they all intend to light up.  This of course will be in violation of Federal Law, so we'll have to see how the authorities handle it.  And of course Stephanie Miller will be having her sexy liberal tour on January 21st.   And Rumor has it that the television media is going to be in a highly censoring mood and will bend over backwards to keep the public to find out what is really going on.  Of course this is part of the fascistic society age in which we are entering.  People thought the campaign was bad and how glad they'd be when it was over.  Of course this transition period is worse with Trump already making all these proclamations about the economy like he's already president.  I don't foresee things getting any better after he's President.   I think it really is the Twilight of Liberty in this country.  Didn't the patriot act and some of these other repressive laws passed by congress in the heat of 9 - 11 have sunset clauses.  That's a clause they put in a bill to aswage the wary and get their votes, "Yes, but it's only temporary".  I wonder how many of Adolph Hitler's "emergency plans" were "temporary" at first.