After Cop Killing of White Woman, White Minn Mayor Promotes Caucasional Black Probot as Interim Police Chief

Put in Charge by Whom? From [HERE] Medaria Arradondo, 50, succeeds Janeé Harteau, who resigned Friday at the request of Mayor Betsy Hodges in the aftermath of the outrage by whites over last weekend's shooting death of Justine Damond, a white woman [in below photo], by a Black city patrol officer. Damond had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault near her southwest Minneapolis home and was shot when she went out to talk to police.

Arradondo, nicknamed “Rondo,” needs the city council’s approval before he can begin the job. He served as the department’s public face for most of a week after the July 15 police shooting of Justine Damond, until Harteau returned from "vacation" on Thursday.

According to the Atlanta Black Star [white] people who have worked closely with Arradondo say he has qualities that will fit well with the role: He’s friendly, forthright, has deep city roots and is African-American, which could help improve sour relations between police and the city’s black community. Rondo appears to be a proxymoronic black probot from The Moteasuh Tribe. 

According to Dr. Blynd in Funktionary,

probot is a propagandizing programmed robot. (An official  representative from an organization, agency or institution whose assignment is to make prepared statements and answer "cooked"  (prepared)  questions at news conferences, briefings and the like. A probot is a proxymoron who conveys programmed disinformation in computerized language and bureaucratese jargon. A probot is one who disseminates lies, distortions and convenient mass truths composed by a superior overruling elite. A Black probot, mechanically efficient but with no awareness, is a robot who has been programmed in service of white domination.  

proxymoron is one moron who speaks on behalf of another moron or a whole gang of morons. [MORE]

Mo' Tea Mam? Hiring probotic, proxymoronic Black persons from The Moteasuh Tribe [Mo-tea-sir?] and putting them in charge of police departments & other high places is part of the refinement of the white supremacy operating system. Other Black probot models are law enforcement bosses in Detroit (James Craig) Houston (Charles McClelland, retired but not replaced yet), Dallas (David Brown now replaced by Ulysha Renee Hall) and Milwaukee County (David Clarke, an older bot with outdated, less efficient programming).  

Here in the above video the new chief briefly discusses "procedural justice training" as a communication method to interact with non-white persons [at 25:23]. Such "procedural justice training" is being discussed in various urban environments. It is also part of the the refinement of racism/white supremacy and designed to mirror cosmetic changes in the criminal justice system [discussed infra]. It refers to police officers providing non-white persons with 'a show of respect' during on the street encounters or traffic stops. As Police Chief Medaria Arradondo says 'if a person believes he was treated with respect, dignity and with fairness he won't feel so bad about the outcome and he wll accept it better.'  Yet in a racist system, it is only 'a show of respect' because it is not also real or also resulting in "substantive" justice. During encounters with law enforcement the most important issue is whether cops are in-fact respecting a non-white person's alleged Constitutional rights.  

At its core the 4th Amendment is not about manners, politeness or respect. It is trickery to even conceive of your so-called rights in this manner. The Supreme Court has explained that the "central concern of the Fourth Amendment has to do with protecting liberty and privacy against arbitrary governmental interference." In the context of the traffic stop the 4th Amendment is said to "protect the travelling public from arbitrary action." [MORE] We know this is illusory nonsense when it comes to non-white people. 

An example of "procedural justice training" is on display in the above video of a pre-textual traffic stop of a young Black man for allegedly failing to yield to a pedestrian (the pedestrian actually had one foot on the curb & one foot in the street and the vehicle was in the far right lane on the opposite side of the street or 3 lanes removed from his vehicle [MORE]). After nearly an hour long traffic stop, the dummy white cops finally figured out they had not pulled over a drug kingpin. After interrogating him about his whereabouts, detaining him in public, searching him, his back pack, his car & trunk and FST DUI testing him and terrorizing him the white cop gives him "a break" by  letting him go with a traffic ticket and marijuana citation for possession. The cops were very polite. Thanks master. [MORE]

Does police stop and frisk or "papers please" become less Unconstitutional because a cop is polite as he stops you for an arbitrary reason? It is a tactic of white supremacy to give you something you already have and pretend it is something new. Steve Cokely calls this, "whitenology." He says "never play for your own sandwich" or for something that you already own or inherently possess. The procedural [only] 'show respect' and politeness is deception to make an unlawful police stop or interaction appear normal to you. A major goal of white supremacy is to make white people's domination and control over everything seem natural [MORE] Your belief or 'buy in' or consent enables you to participate and cooperate with your own subjugation. Racists depend on this reaction from us. 'Here, have some respect nigger' is a better way to control the plantation. 

In real life would no 23 ever play for his own sandwich?  If he wins, he would only get what he already has! 

This smarter approach to our domination quiets down non-white persons who are always searching for respect from persons in authority, such as white cops. Beggar politics engaged in by Blacks and Latinos who pretend they can demand things from powerful racists yet they have no power to compel or get what they want. Still believing in moral suasion, always trying to overcome the imaginary granfalloon of race to prove themselves or something to whites in order to change or transform them somehow. In so doing they are functioning as servants who only flatter their masters. Their power depends on this kind of relationship. Why do you depend on the opinions of others? Why so desperate for respect? Is it better to pulled over and have your rights violated by a polite racist cop or to not be pulled over for an arbitrary reason in the first place? Respect as performance is not authentic respect anyway. For what reason would respect ever need to be acted or performed? Neely Fuller said 'if you want some respect look in the mirror and give yourself some.'

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Protests Erupt @ Brooklyn Bar that Serves 40oz's of Rose Wine in Paper Bags to Racist Suspect Gentrifying Invaders

[gentrification = symptom of White Supremacy] From [HERE] Protest erupted at a Brooklyn bar after they released a press release advertising 40 ounces of rose wine in paper bags and 'genuine' bullet holes 

They met outside Summerhill, a 'boozy sandwich shop' in Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday to protest the 'bar's commodification of stereotypes that only serve to hurt the community'

Summerhill's racist suspect owner, Becca Brennan, wasn't in attendance for the protest but did release a statement condoning her remarks as being 'insensitive.'

In a press release on Monday was an advertisement for a mixed drink next to a 'bullet hole-ridden wall' which was supposedly part of a 'backroom illegal gun shop' In addition to the bullet wall, Forty Ounce Rose - wine bottled to look like a 40 ounce Colt 45 - was mentioned in the release with Brennan adding that she wanted to put them in paper bags

People on social media also voiced their disdain with the restaurant's publicity stunt and gave them one star on review sites such as Yelp. [MORE]

Above, affordable housing is on permanent hold in downtown D.C.

Gentrification is only a symptom of the problem of racism/white supremacy. Whatever happened or did not happen in Brooklyn is the result of white supremacists/racists; as they control everything in all areas of people activity (economics, education, entertainment, labour, law, politics, religion, sex and war) - 24/7, worldwide. 'When you move people around you destabilize them. They can never settle. Gentrification or "Racial Dislocation" is an Integral, Ongoing Part of White Supremacy.' - Neely Fuller. Here, the victims may play like they have a say in all this but they don't. That is the problem. Time to deal with things as they are and not as we want them to be. 

Now you must make an appointment to use the public field to play soccer in the Mission in San Francisco. 

NAACP is Revamping for a Faster-Paced Political Climate But Remains Terrified to Confront White Supremacy

The Fear of Confronting White Supremacy. From [HERE] As protests intensified after the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., three years ago, DeRay Mckesson had a thought familiar to many civil rights activists over the years.

“I remember being in the streets of Ferguson in the earliest days, we just knew the NAACP was going to come in for us,” the Baltimore-based activist said.

“And then it didn’t happen. Many of us realized we had to be the people that had to fight for us.”

Mckesson would emerge from those protests as a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement — which itself would emerge as a major voice in the struggle for racial justice. The NAACP did play a role — just one removed from the chaotic, confrontational scenes broadcast around the world. A local chapter worked behind the scenes to protect witnesses to the shooting. Later in the year, after a grand jury declined to indict the white officer in the killing of the black teenager, its national leaders organized a Selma-to-Montgomery-style march.

But as protesting has shifted in recent years to rapid-response efforts and social media campaigns, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization can come off as lumbering or missing in action — its size and the weight of its storied history unwieldy in today’s fast-twitch political landscape.

NAACP leaders, meeting in Baltimore through Wednesday for the organization’s national convention, say it needs to change with the times — but no clear consensus has emerged on how. Leon W. Russell, chairman of the NAACP board, said leaders have embarked on a “listening tour” to gather ideas for “bringing our operation into the 21st century.”

Some would say that the fact this is only now happening, 17 years into the century, is emblematic of the group, which is headquartered in Baltimore. At a time when masses can be mobilized at the drop of a Tweet — to descend on airports to protest the travel ban, or to call members of Congress to weigh in on the health care proposals — the NAACP is a largely decentralized organization of more than 2,000 local branches that work largely on their own issues, independent of each other.

Russell said the update will include improving communications between the NAACP’s local and national operations. But he believes the branches are the heart of its work.

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Derrick Johnson Named Interim CEO of NAACP

From [HERE] Mississippi NAACP leader Derrick Johnson has been named interim president and CEO of the national NAACP.

The executive committee of the board of directors unanimously selected Johnson, who currently serves as vice chairman of the board.

In a statement released by the NAACP, Johnson called it "an honor and a privilege" to head the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and we won’t waste any time getting to it," he said. "We are facing unprecedented threats to our democracy and we will not be sidelined while our rights are being eroded every day. We remain steadfast and immovable, and stand ready on the front lines of the fight for justice.”

A week ago, Johnson talked to reporters about kicking off a national listening tour in August to help the civil rights organization expand its reach, refine its message and re-energize members. [MORE]

Black Plaintiffs Argue: All Laws Passed by the Racially Gerrymandered NC General Assembly are Unlawful

From [HERE] When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that 28 State House and Senate districts were unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered, the North Carolina General Assembly and its actions became illegal.

That’s the argument the plaintiffs in North Carolina v. Covington plan to make next week, according to court documents filed Friday.

“Arguably, under State v. Lewis and Van Amringe v. Taylor upon issuance of that mandate the members of the illegally constituted General Assembly lost the protection of the de facto doctrine and became usurpers unauthorized to act to protect the health and [safety] of all North Carolinians,” the document states. “It is entirely possible that any legislative actions they take without being elected from legal districts could be subject to challenge under state law. This risk is not merely speculative.”

A usurper is someone who takes a position of power illegally or by force. The de facto doctrine is designed to validate the past acts of public officers illegally in office, according to the court document.

A court hearing is set Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. A three-judge panel will decide a timeline for state lawmakers to redraw the illegal district maps, in addition to deciding whether a special election will be ordered to remedy the constitutional violations.

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'Express Justice' When Cops Kill Whites: Minn Police Chief Fired After Outrage Over Shooting 1 Week Ago

Only the Powerless Need to Riot. And there will be no need for teddy bears, candles, signs or holding hands & singing here. Racism/White Supremacy is a White over Black system of vast unequal power. Can a powerless person really make a demand? In photo, Mayor Betsy Hodges at a news conference on Friday night in Minneapolis. During the news conference, protesters interrupted Ms. Hodges and called on her to resign also. 

Starbucks Quick. From [HERE] The Minneapolis police chief, Janee Harteau, resigned on Friday at the mayor’s request, less than a week after one of the city’s officers fatally shot an unarmed Australian woman who had called 911 for help.

Mayor Betsy Hodges said in a statement that “I’ve lost confidence in the chief’s ability to lead us further” and that “it is clear that she has lost the confidence of the people of Minneapolis as well.”

The fatal shooting of the white woman, Justine Damond, last weekend by Officer Mohamed Noor led to outpourings of grief in Minnesota and outrage in Ms. Damond’s home country, where the prime minister condemned the shooting and Ms. Damond’s family members have expressed frustration with how little they have been told about what happened. Noor is Black (“Somali-American”) [According to Anon, "in the history of modern law enforcement there has not been a a single instance of a black police officer shooting or killing an unarmed white person.This is not surprising but it is absolute proof that the black individual operating within a system of white supremacy cannot mistreat whites even if he or she is wearing a uniform, a badge, and carrying a gun."] [MORE]

Last Saturday, Ms. Damond, 40, called 911 twice to report a possible sexual assault near her home. Officer Noor and his partner, Officer Matthew Harrity, arrived at the scene in a dark alley several minutes later. Officer Harrity told state investigators that he had been startled by a loud noise just before Ms. Damond approached their cruiser. Officer Noor then shot her through the open window.

Officer Noor has declined to speak with investigators, and the authorities have provided no explanation for why he shot Ms. Damond. Neither Officer Noor nor his partner had turned on their body cameras.

Chief Harteau, a 30-year veteran of the Minneapolis police force, said in a statement that “the recent incidents do not reflect the training and procedures we’ve developed as a department.”

“I’ve decided I am willing to step aside to let a fresh set of leadership eyes see what more can be done for the M.P.D. to be the very best it can be,” Chief Harteau said. “The city of Minneapolis deserves the very best.”

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[The White Majority Values Hate Speech] After Ct Decision Whites Race To Trademark Racially Offensive Speech

Racists Pretend Hate Speech is a Legitimate View Point That Has Value. Racism is not simply an unpopular view which requires special governmental solicitude-it is, sadly, the majority view. Still confused? Most white people are racist. "Most white people hate Black people. The reason that most white people hate Black people is because whites are not Black people. If you know this about white people, you need know little else. If you do not know this about white people, virtually all else that you know about them will only confuse you." -Neely Fuller and [MORE] and [MORE]

From [NPR] Racially offensive trademark applications are piling up at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The Supreme Court decided last month the federal government couldn't ban trademarks simply because they're disparaging. NPR's Planet Money team talks to some of the people trying to trademark racial slurs.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Racial slurs can now be registered as trademarks - theoretically, at least. The Supreme Court decided in June that the government can no longer ban a trademark simply because it's disparaging. Ailsa Chang from NPR's Planet Money podcast talked to some people who are now trying to trademark slurs. A warning - her report includes some very offensive words. They're important to the story, though, because that sort of language is what this debate is all about. The piece runs just under four minutes. Here it is.

AILSA CHANG, BYLINE: Ed Timberlake is a trademark lawyer who's convinced the floodgates have opened. To him, what the Supreme Court has done is given the bigots of the world a green light to register the most disgusting trademarks ever. He's been making a list of all the trademark applications filed the last five weeks since the court's decision.

ED TIMBERLAKE: Gutter sluts, chink, damn vegans, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga and niggademus (ph).

CHANG: Wow. Wait; how many niggas did you just list off there?

TIMBERLAKE: There - at least five here, and there are probably more since then.

CHANG: So at least five have been filed since the Supreme Court decision?

TIMBERLAKE: Yes - a couple on the day of the Supreme Court decision.

CHANG: Wow, people were ready.

Here, the caucasional NPR writer interrupts her serious discussion [which lasted about 2 minutes] with a mindless diversion from a sleeping Black man who believes he can rehabilitate the word nigger and make some coin at the same time. NPR and the alleged brother don't get it. As explained by Derrick Bell, 'Protection of racism and its expression in racial invectives has favored the powerful against the powerless. Oppressive speech is as much a badge of servitude as segregation or employment discrimination. 

While the First Amendment may be "the Constitution's most majestic guarantee," it is nonetheless a limited guarantee.  Racial insults are particularly undeserving of First Amendment protection because the perpetrator's intention is not to discover truth or initiate dialogue but to injure the victim. In most situations, members of minority groups realize that they are likely to lose if they respond to provacative epithets by fighting and are forced to remain silent and submissive. [MORE] 

I decided to track down whoever filed those two applications for N-I-G-G-A on the same day the Supreme Court decision came down. Whoever it was, they were clearly determined, poised to pounce and own this word before anyone else. And it turns out both of those applications that day were filed by the same man.

CURTIS BORDENAVE: I'm in Columbus, Miss., right near the Alabama state line.

CHANG: Curtis Bordenave calls himself a consultant who helps businesses develop product lines and brands. He's filed a ton of trademark applications over the years, but trademarking nigga was about something very personal.

BORDENAVE: I thought that I had a duty - you know what I'm saying? - and a responsibility to protect that word, to secure that word - you know what I'm saying? - and to make sure that it's used in a way that I think would not disparage people.

[A Derogatory Term] As explained by Dr. Blynd in FUNKTIONARY:

NGHR - the consonant-letter-configuration for the ineffable (unmentionable) derogatory name ascribed to Afrikans, first by ignorant and degenerate Caucasians, then by us—especially here in racist Amerikkka. We use the unexpressed letters "NGHR" to convey the reality that we cannot delete (erase) the name, nor can the name '"'Nigger" for which it represents, be rehabilitated or commandeered to a word of endearment (without dire consequence)—even between two Afrikans conscious of the damage and semantic baggage the name carries and the atrocities carried out from its dehumanizing effects without—and the psychological effects of self-hatred deep within. When group slurs are used to insult an individual—in person our through the media—unwittingly a whole people are being attacked in the process. Using the "N-word" loosely among ourselves arms those who are our natural enemies the aided ability and added enmity to act out their madness upon us as we act-out (perpetuate) the self-hate buried within and behind the seemingly harmless expression that whenever spoken is exhumed and haunts us like a ghost off the Goree Island coast. The "brother" who playfully embraces you with a hug around the neck as he greets and speaks "My Nigga," is more likely (than not) the same one who will point a gun to your dome and pull the trigger. Supposedly though, you were his "Nigger," so now being a statistic only your survivors are left to go figure. Through the means of languacultural and literary exorcism the historical word "Nigger," whenever summoned by a writer, should now be written as "NGHR" to inform all others that you have consciously taken control over your use of the nefarious name and realizing that using it from now on will never be taken, given or accepted the same nor will it be spoken like its all just a harmless game. "NGHR" is also an acrostic for "Now Giving Honor Respectfully." That is, we are no longer giving the "N-word" circulation because its currency has always been spurious, inflammatory, "illegit" and strictly counterfeit.

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Barbara Lee on House Floor Over Removal of AUMF Amendment - Unlimited War Power for Incompetent President

This above floor speech features Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee talking about the 2018 defense spending bill this week. Lee denounced the removal of her amendment to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force from the bill. AUMF was originally passed after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and and granted the President authority to use force against al-Qaeda, the Taliban and associated groups. At the time, Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against it in 2001. [MORE]

The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), Pub. L. 107-40, codified at 115 Stat. 224 and passed as S.J.Res. 23 by the United States Congress on September 14, 2001, authorizes the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001 and any "associated forces". The authorization granted the President the authority to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those whom he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11th attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups.

The AUMF was signed by President George W. Bush on September 18, 2001. As of December 2016, the Office of the President published a brief interpreting the AUMF as providing Congressional authorization for the use of force against al-Qaeda and other Islamic militant groups.

On June 29, 2017, the House Appropriations Committee approved Rep. Barbara Lee’s amendment to repeal the 2001 authorization for the use of military force that was the foundation of the U.S.’s post-September 11 military actions. The amendment requires that the 2001 authorization for the use of military force be scrapped within 240 days. This amendment was removed from the bill by the Rules Committee so the AUMF remains in effect. [MORE]

From [HERE] Rep. Barbara Lee on Wednesday vowed to take her long-time efforts to repeal the current Authorization for Use of Military Force, which dates to 2001 but is used for a wide range of conflicts now, to the House Foreign Affairs Committee after Republican leaders removed it from a spending bill the California Democrat successfully attached the repeal to.  

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Florida Ct says "No Evidence for Conviction": Black Man Exonerated of Murder & Released from Death Row

From [HERE] Ralph Wright Jr. was exonerated and released from Florida’s death row on Tuesday after a circuit court acquitted him of a 2007 double murder.

“If an Air Force Sergeant and former Orange County Deputy Sheriff with no criminal record can be wrongfully convicted and sent to death row, it can happen to anyone,” said Mark Elliot, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

In May, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that there was not enough evidence to prove Wright was guilty of the murders and remanded the case back to the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court with instructions that Wright be acquitted.

Wright was convicted in 2014 of the murder of his ex-girlfriend and their 15-month -old son. No physical evidence linked Wright to the crime and there was no indication he was in the area at the time. Prosecutors said a single glove left at the scene belonged to Wright, but no DNA evidence linked the glove to him.

Wright was found guilty, nonetheless, with the jury voting 7-5 to recommend the death penalty. Governor Rick Scott has since signed into law a bill requiring that a jury vote be unanimous in order to recommend the death penalty.

“There is no fingerprint, footprint, blood, fiber pattern impression or other physical evidence tying Wright to the crime scene,” the Florida Supreme Court wrote. “There is no cell tower evidence placing him in the vicinity of the crime scene. There is no murder weapon. The only evidence presented by the state to prove that Wright was the murderer is the fact that he had motive and opportunity. But while motive and opportunity might create a suspicion that Wright committed the murders, even deep suspicions are not sufficient to sustain the convictions.”

Wright is the 27^th person to be exonerated from Florida’s death row and the 159th person in the nation to be exonerated from death row since 1973.

“Ralph Wright, Jr.’s exoneration is the most recent reminder that Florida’s death penalty system not only devalues life but also imperils innocent lives too,” Brian Empric with Florida Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty said, according to Florida Politics.

Black Man in Texas Seeks Stay of Execution; Was Represented by Disbarred Atty & Atty Who Relied on Wikipedia

From [DPIC] Lawyers for Texas death-row prisoner TaiChin Preyor (pictured), whose prior federal habeas lawyer relied on research from Wikipedia and the guidance of a disbarred lawyer, have filed motions in state and federal courts seeking to stay his scheduled July 27 execution. His pleadings allege that he was represented by a succession of inept counsel, including a penalty-phase lawyer who failed to interview key witness or seek critical mental health testing; a post-conviction lawyer who met him for the first and only time on the day of his state habeas evidentiary hearing; and federal habeas counsel consisting of a disbarred lawyer and a real estate lawyer who defaulted a significant constitutional claim of prior counsel's ineffectiveness. Preyor was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005. The prosecutor told his sentencing jury that Preyor came from a “wonderful family” full of “outstanding people.” The new pleadings, however, set forth facts recently discovered when new counsel was provided funding to investigate his case: that Preyor endured a "harrowing" childhood "marred by severe physical and sexual abuse," and that he "turned to alcohol and drugs at a young age to cope with this unrelenting abuse." Preyor repeatedly witnessed his mother being beaten by numerous boyfriends and was threatened with a knife by one of them when the boy attempted to intervene. While still in elementary school, he was repeatedly sodomized and digitally penetrated by a close family member. While a teenager, he broke his ankles jumping off a 4th floor balcony to escape his mother, who was chasing him with a knife. 

The recent court filings seeking to re-open his federal habeas proceedings say this information was never presented to the federal court because his federal habeas counsel — a probate and estate planning lawyer with no death penalty experience — was "woefully unqualified" and "relied on Wikipedia, of all things, to learn the complex ins and outs of Texas capital-punishment." That lawyer, Brandy Estelle, so clearly lacked the necessary qualifications that the Fifth Circuit refused to appoint her and a judicial clerk reviewing death-penalty cases contacted the Texas bar to seek replacement counsel. Further, the motions allege, Estelle was actually a front who did no more than sign the documents filed in court; Phillip Jefferson, a disbarred lawyer who had misrepresented himself as a lawyer to Preyor's family actually drafted the pleadings. According to Preyor's current counsel, Jefferson and Estelle collected money from the family for their services, while Estelle also submitted invoices for payment to the federal courts. The motions ask the state and federal courts to stay Preyor's execution while this "fraud upon the court," the ineffectiveness of prior counsel, and the newly discovered evidence can be reviewed and assessed by the courts.

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2 Former Ohio Attorney Generals Urge Gov John Kasich to Halt Scheduled Murders of Mostly Black Death Row

"The Death Penalty is Idiotic." Ohio's Death Row is 53% Black. From [HERE] Last week Ohio exoneree Dale Johnston penned an op-ed for the Columbus Dispatch in which he urged Governor John Kasich to reconsider his decision to resume executions in the state. Following Johnson’s piece, this week former Ohio attorney generals Jim Petro and Lee Fisher authored an opinion piece for the Columbus Dispatch in which they also call on the governor to not resume capital punishment after a nearly four-year hiatus.

According to the op-ed, Ohio has proposed to execute 27 people in the next four years—the first one scheduled to take place next week—but Lee and Petro write that “[t]here are numerous reasons why this would be too risky for Ohio.”

In 2014, a report released by the Ohio Supreme Court Joint Task Force on the Administration of Ohio’s Death Penalty highlighted various systemic problems within the state’s death penalty laws and practices. The report also outlined a number of recommendations, write Lee and Petro, “to make the system fairer, more reliable, and more just. . . . Yet none of the most consequential recommendations have so far been adopted.”

Lee and Petro write:

The death penalty is still sought disproportionately and used in some counties more than in others for comparable crimes. The death penalty is still much more often sought if the victim is white. The death penalty is still sought against defendants who have serious mental illness at the time of the crime.

Most worryingly, we still cannot say with confidence that Ohio is not preparing to execute people who are utterly innocent.

Nine people have been exonerated from Ohio’s death row in recent decades. Three have been freed since the state last executed. . .

. . . . Many of the recommendations made by the Supreme Court task force are intended to reduce the chances that an innocent person could be put to death. Until those safeguards are enacted, the possibility of a wrongful conviction leading to a wrongful execution is simply too high. . .

. . . . Ohioans and their leaders must continue to discuss capital punishment and its role in our justice system, but at this moment, the resumption of the death penalty would simply perpetuate the deeply flawed system of the past, and bring its attendant costs into the future.

We respectfully ask Gov. Kasich to maintain the moratorium on execution until the problems in Ohio’s capital punishment system can be meaningfully addressed and corrected.

[Eyewitness misidentification is the greatest contributing factor to wrongful convictions proven by DNA testing] Black Man Released in Houston Murder of Child

From [HERE] and [HERE] Police released the second suspect in the murder of an 11-year-old Texas boy after DNA testing excluded him as a perpetrator.

Andre Jackson was arrested in relation to the stabbing murder of Josue Flores, which occurred while the child was walking home from school in broad daylight in North Houston.

According to the Houston Press, Jackson was identified by tipsters after surveillance footage was released to the public showing a man running near the crime.

DNA from Jackson’s and Flores’ clothing and several knives found in the area was tested and, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Jackson’s DNA was not connected to any of the crime scene evidence.

The first person to be arrested and later cleared of Flores’ murder was Che Calhoun, who was selected by a witness from a live lineup based on the clothes he was wearing. Calhoun, however, had an alibi, which was corroborated by physical evidence and witness testimony.

“As [current District Attorney] Kim Ogg has said many times, we are evidence-based,” Tom Berg of the District Attorney’s office told the Press. “We have to follow the evidence whether it pleases us or causes us discomfort. This was a very difficult decision that we had to make.”

Eyewitness misidentification is the greatest contributing factor to wrongful convictions proven by DNA testing, playing a role in more than 70 percent of convictions overturned through DNA testing nationwide.

[Government is Snatching Kids from Blacks & Latinos] Foster Care as Punishment: The New Reality of Jane Crow

From [NYTimes] Maisha Joefield thought she was getting by pretty well as a young single mother in Brooklyn, splurging on her daughter, Deja, even though money was tight. When Deja was a baby, she bought her Luvs instead of generic diapers when she could. When her daughter got a little older, Ms. Joefield outfitted the bedroom in their apartment with a princess bed for Deja, while she slept on a pullout couch.

She had family around, too. Though she had broken up with Deja’s father, they spent holidays and vacations together for Deja’s sake. Ms. Joefield’s grandmother lived across the street, and Deja knew she could always go to her great-grandmother’s apartment in an emergency.

One night, exhausted, Ms. Joefield put Deja to bed, and plopped into a bath with her headphones on.

“By the time I come out, I’m looking, I don’t see my child,” said Ms. Joefield, who began frantically searching the building. Deja, who was 5, had indeed headed for the grandmother’s house when she couldn’t find her mother, but the next thing Ms. Joefield knew, it was a police matter.

“I’m thinking, I’ll explain to them what happened, and I’ll get my child,” Ms. Joefield said.

For most parents, this scenario might be a panic-inducing, but hardly insurmountable, hiccup in the long trial of raising a child. Yet for Ms. Joefield and women in her circumstances — living in poor neighborhoods, with few child care options — the consequences can be severe. Police officers removed Deja from her apartment and the Administration for Children’s Services placed her in foster care. Police charged Ms. Joefield with endangering the welfare of a child.

She was caught up in what lawyers and others who represent families say is a troubling and longstanding phenomenon: the power of Children’s Services to take children from their parents on the grounds that the child’s safety is at risk, even with scant evidence.

The agency’s requests for removals filed in family court rose 40 percent in the first quarter of 2017, to 730 from 519, compared with the same period last year, according to figures obtained by The New York Times.

In interviews, dozens of lawyers working on these cases say the removals punish parents who have few resources. Their clients are predominantly poor black and Hispanic women, they say, and the criminalization of their parenting choices has led some to nickname the practice: Jane Crow.

“It takes a lot as a public defender to be shocked, but these are the kinds of cases you hear attorneys screaming about in the hall,” said Scott Hechinger, a lawyer at Brooklyn Defender Services. “There’s this judgment that these mothers don’t have the ability to make decisions about their kids, and in that, society both infantilizes them and holds them to superhuman standards. In another community, your kid’s found outside looking for you because you’re in the bathtub, it’s ‘Oh, my God’” — a story to tell later, he said. “In a poor community, it’s called endangering the welfare of your child.”

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Fox [is mind control] pushes absurd claim that Trump’s election boosted economy by $4 trillion

From [MediaMatters] Fox Business host Stuart Varney celebrated the first six months of the Trump administration by ridiculously claiming that the election and inauguration of President Donald Trump are responsible for adding trillions of dollars to the economy and lifting wages for low-income workers around the country. Varney’s claims are the latest in a long-running right-wing media fantasy that the Republican Party’s economic agenda will unleash the American economy, which conveniently ignores more than six years of steady economic progress under the Obama administration.

On July 20, Trump celebrated the six-month anniversary of his inauguration as president of the United States. By any objective measure, Trump’s presidency has already been one of the strangest and most chaotic in living memory. The Trump administration is consumed by scandals of its own making, and, according to a Washington Post report published on Trump’s six-month anniversary, the president is beginning to ask his political and legal advisers “about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself.”

Despite these facts, the team at Fox News and Fox Business attempted to find a silver lining for the Trump presidency by falsely crediting his administration for the continued overall health of the American economy. In a July 20 op-ed published by FoxNews.com and a corresponding segment on Varney & Co., host Stuart Varney credited Trump with “add[ing] $4.1 trillion to the nation’s wealth” thanks to a post-election stock market rally. Varney also preposterously claimed that “during [Trump’s] presidency,” long-established American tech giants “Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Facebook” have “emerged as global technology leaders.” Varney’s ridiculous claims were promoted by the network’s social media accounts and parroted again from the Trump-friendly confines of Fox & Friends during a segment in which Varney also credited Trump for wage growth witnessed by low-income workers. From the July 21 segment:

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States Are Rolling Back Worker Wages and Rights

From [HERE] Earlier this month, NPQ wrote about the trend among states and cities of passing new workers’ rights laws. Now, we’re seeing some states rolling back city laws that raised the minimum wage. Covering the story for NPR’s All Things Considered, Yuki Noguchi said, “State legislatures and city halls are battling over who gets to set the minimum wage, and increasingly, the states are winning.”

The federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised since 2009. Over the last few years, dozens of city and county governments have passed minimum wage ordinances. So far, 27 states have passed laws requiring cities to abide by statewide wage minimums. The most recent to do so, Missouri, will roll back a $10-an-hour minimum wage to $7.70 an hour, to take effect next month. Iowa just rolled back wage increases in the spring.

Brooks Rainwater of the National League of Cities said, “People within cities, where the cost of living oftentimes can be higher, needed a raise, and city leaders have responded to that.” However, he notes that states are undermining city governments on this and other worker issues, including paid sick leave.

Business groups argue that “complying with disparate city laws is too complex, and that the additional costs would force them to curtail hiring which, in turn, hurts workers.” But we’ve all heard this argument before. One would think businesses are actually concerned with not hurting workers.

Compared to cities, state legislatures tend to reflect the wider conservative interests in a state, and business groups are making their cases there. Pat White, president of the central labor council for the AFL-CIO in St. Louis, calls this hypocritical, “given how [states] chafe against similar efforts at the federal government to control states.”

Rainwater said, “There used to be a shared value around this concept of local control, you know, whether a conservative or a liberal, the idea that the representative closest to the people would be able to decide many of these fundamental questions…Why have them even run for office, if they’re not allowed to govern their own area?”

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