Trump Signals Retreat From Consent Decrees, Giving Thumbs Up to Racist, Unaccountable Police Departments Under Review

From [NPR] and [HERE] The leader of the U.S. Justice Department has ordered federal authorities to emphasize building partnerships with local law enforcement over hard-nosed investigations of them, asking a federal judge in Baltimore to delay a hearing this week on a deal to overhaul the city's troubled police force and casting a cloud over a host of other federal consent decrees that target unconstitutional law enforcement practices.

The new directive by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the bid to reconsider an agreement in Baltimore are the strongest signs yet that the Trump administration not only plans to scale back the number of new investigations it launches into unconstitutional policing, excessive force and other law enforcement misconduct allegations but also the likelihood it will seek to reopen agreements the Obama civil rights unit had already negotiated.

Baltimore is one of nearly two dozen cities — including Ferguson, Mo.; Cleveland; and Seattle — that were the subject of aggressive efforts by the Obama administration to improve relations between the police and the communities they serve. That effort produced so-called consent decrees with 14 departments.

The broad review announced Monday could threaten some of those decrees if the Justice Department seeks to change its past stance about systematic police abuses in the affected agencies. But the Justice Department would not be able to unilaterally unwind the agreements without court intervention.

"Local control and local accountability are necessary for effective local policing," Sessions wrote in a memo to department officials and U.S. Attorneys late Monday. "It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies."

In the two-page memo, Sessions urged federal authorities under his command to do more to promote officer safety and morale. He also directed the deputy attorney general and the associate attorney general to review "all department activities—including collaborative investigations and prosecutions" to ensure they follow his lead. "The misdeeds of individual bad actors should not impugn or undermine the honorable work that law enforcement officers and agencies perform in keeping American communities safe," he added.

This is B-More cop Wesley Cage. In November he was convicted for shooting an unarmed Black Man in the groin as he lay in the doorway of an East Baltimore corner store after two other officers had already shot him. [MORE]

But police reform advocates and former Justice Department investigators said the extraordinary change of course by the Trump administration is missing the point. Most of the two dozen police investigations the Obama administration pursued under a law passed after the brutal beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles uncovered patterns of brutality and racial discrimination, problems the DOJ attributed to sweeping, systemic problems in local law enforcement agencies, not a few bad apples on the force.

"The request for a delay is alarming and signals a retreat from the Justice Department's commitment to civil rights and public safety in Baltimore," said Vanita Gupta, who ran the civil rights division under President Obama until January. Gupta added that the Baltimore agreement had been the product of extensive negotiation among the city, residents, the police department and a law enforcement union "in order to address serious constitutional violations that had undermined public trust and public safety in the city."

A spokeswoman for the attorney general said Justice Department lawyers are merely asking the judge in Baltimore for more time to review the agreement, considering the new Sessions memo "and the progress toward reform Baltimore has made in the pasts several months." The spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, said more time "will help ensure the best result is achieved for the people of the city."

Local officials in Baltimore, including the mayor and the police commissioner, said they saw no reason to delay the court hearing, scheduled for Thursday, and that they hoped to continue working to build trust between law enforcement and community members there.

The Sessions memo also raised anew the specter that cities and states whose law enforcement agencies accept federal monies from the Justice Department could see a cut off if they do not adhere to federal laws. The attorney general's new review will cover not only police probes but also federal grant awards, offers of technical and participation in law enforcement task forces. The department has already warned it could slash grant funds to jurisdictions that call themselves "sanctuaries" from federal immigration agents.

Who Do They Work For? NYPD Alerts Feds to Court Appearances of Non-White Immigrants facing deportation despite 'sanctuary' vow

From [HERE] The NYPD alerts federal immigration agents to the Criminal Court appearances of non-white immigrants facing deportation, the Daily News has learned.

As a “sanctuary city,” the city currently only complies with Immigration and Customs Enforcement “detainer” orders to hold a defendant until federal agents can take custody in cases involving violent or serious felonies.

But in the process of verifying warrants against a defendant, officials said the NYPD will contact relevant law enforcement, including ICE, thereby alerting the agency to an immigrant’s upcoming appearance in a city courtroom.

Advocates slammed the practice, saying it amounts to “collusion” with immigration officials that goes against the spirit of Mayor de Blasio’s pledge that the city will remain a sanctuary city.

Public defenders representing two men in ICE’s cross hairs during separate court appearances in Queens told The News they were stunned to learn the NYPD communicated with the federal agency about both men before they appeared before a judge.

On March 2, an NYPD administrative aide noted in the Central Booking system that he had “notified ICE” about the arrest of David Gonzalez, 51, screenshots obtained by The News show. The deported felon had reentered the U.S. and faced misdemeanor charges of allegedly rubbing against a woman on the No. 7 train.

On March 15, the same administrative aide noted he was “awaiting call from local ICE office” regarding Milton Chimborazo, 35, who faced burglary charges. He had a standing deportation order.

In both cases, screenshots show the city did not comply with ICE “detainer” orders. Instead, immigration agents just showed up to court.

ICE took Gonzalez into custody after a judge released him. He was awaiting deportation last week. ICE inquired about Chimborazo but chose not to arrest him for reasons that are unclear.

“I think it really is outrageous,” said Lori Zeno, co-founder and deputy director of Queens Law Associates. “We’re supposed to be a sanctuary city. What does it mean if our own court system is participating in turning folks in to ICE?”

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Showcase Blacks Continue to Shadowbox Kevin Durant in Service of Racism/White Supremacy

"Showcase Blacks" like Stephen A. Smith are high-profile blacks that are constantly paraded before the public. They may be political dignitaries, pro athletes, entertainers, educators, business people, judges or elected officials. Their real purpose is to mask the REALITY of being black in America. [MORE] They are rewarded handsomely for their activities by elite whites who control the media and the domain of discourse. Rarely critical of each other, showcase Blacks are pet negros who stroke each other's egos for master's benefit - as said created personas are a career investment. However, promoting stupid beefs among non-showcase Blacks is one of their assigned tasks. 

Showcase Blacks are a necessary illusion of the media, which Dr. Blynd calls  a "mind shampoo"- shaping the thoughts and understandings of non-white people with miseducation about themselves and their environment giving them a false consciousness - a mind filled with lies, non-realities and self-hatred. 

Racial Shadow Boxing occurs when victims of racism (non-white people) are directly or indirectly, "assigned", bribed, coerced, and/or otherwise influenced, by the racists (white Supremacist), to speak or act to do harm to other victims of racism. White Supremacists oftentimes hide behind others whom they use as shadows of themselves. [MORE] Shadowboxing is a tool used by racists to filter out Blacks who are perceived as threatening [for some reason] to elite racist whites or who have fallen out of favor with them. Shadowboxing also is used to set the parameters or outer bounds of conduct & discussion by Blacks - conduct/speech deemed undesirable by racists is ridiculed [Kapernick]. In contrast, showcase Blacks are awarded, promoted for their shenaniggerisms or sniggering conduct [Kevin Hart].  

Full of fury and noise, signifying nothing in video above vaginal, massa-bator, Steven A. is 'gonna take it to streets.' lol. In the system of white supremacy/racism Blacks are programmed to act and function like children with each other and in their roles with whites - who act as their functional parent, masters. [MORE] This man has spent a lifetime filling his mind with accumulated nonsense and argues about nothing day in and day out. His masters at ESPN are obsessed with Durant and wittle Wussell Westbrook's feelings about wim weaving to play with the warriors. Go jump in the fucking lions den at the zoo sambo mf.   

From [HERE] and [HERE] Plenty of people have delivered strong opinions about Kevin Durant’s free agency choice to join the Warriors. Many of those have been former NBA players with TV microphones in their face.

James Worthy is one, apparently, and it got back to Durant in a funny way. Durant told the story on a recent podcast with The Ringer’s Bill Simmons. 

“We played in Vancouver, first (preseason) game in a Warriors uniform,” Durant said on the podcast. “And I see James Worthy walking out as I was leaving the game. It’s a legend here. ‘Big Game James.’ I didn’t get to see him play but I just know all about him. I’m a little skeptical at this point to even talk to anybody from the generation before because I don’t even know how they feel about me as a person, as a player because these dudes — they look at me as like, ‘Oh you switching teams, you chasing this, you chasing that.’ So I’m just gonna keep it moving.”

But Worthy came up to talk to him.

“He was like: ‘Man. Don’t worry about that stuff. People change jobs every single year, every single day. Don’t worry about that. Just go out there and keep working and go win,'” Durant said. “So I’m like: ‘Man that’s nice.'”

Durant flew back to the Bay Area feeling really good about his interaction with Worthy.

“So I came back home that night and my boy Randy (Williams) — I was like: ‘Man. James Worthy was cool. He showed me so much love. I appreciate that,'” Durant said. “(Randy) was like: ‘Huh? He was talking so bad about you on TV. He was saying Magic wouldn’t have done that. I wouldn’t have done that.’ I was like, yo, stop selling out. Stop selling your brothers out. This is a fraternity. Stop selling us out for NBA TV, Turner Sports, ESPN, stop doing that man and then come in my face talking that nonsense.”

Full of Shit: Trump made a big show of handing over his salary, but his budget slashes the Department of the Interior by 12%

Always Showcasing Blacks in the Background.  In photo, White House press secretary Sean Spicer, right, holds up a check during the daily briefing with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, left, and Harpers Ferry National Historic Park Superintendent Tyrone Brandyburg is present like a potted plant or a court appointed defense attorney - just for show. All racists are liars. White supremacy is carried out by deception & violence. 

From [HERE] President Donald Trump, whose budget proposal would slash the Department of the Interior budget by $1.6 billion, would like to be congratulated for donating his first quarter presidential salary of $78,333 to the National Park Service.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced the donation at his Monday press conference, where he handed a physical check on-screen to Trump Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and a National Park Service officer.

Pressed by reporters later in the conference, Spicer lashed out at questions about the cost of the president’s frequent visits to his resort at Mar-a-Lago. Trump has spent seven of his weekends since inauguration at the Florida resort. Estimates peg the taxpayer cost of each trip at over $3 million.

“This is a day the president just donated a significant amount of money of his salary to the federal government. So respectfully, it’s — at what point does he do enough?” Spicer said during Monday’s briefing. “I think to be able to say — he isn’t taking a salary, he’s stepped down from his business, he’s walked away from a lot. I think — at some point he’s done quite a bit in terms of making a donation to the government.”

Trump hasn’t stepped down from his business in any meaningful way. He has handed day-to-day management of his vast empire to his sons; however, profits from the business are funneled into a revocable trust that he can access at any time. Eric Trump, one of his father’s trustees and managers of his business, told Forbes that he might give his father profitability reports as often as every quarter, directly contradicting any illusion of separation.

And as far as his donation, it falls well short of the cuts Trump himself would impose on the National Park Service’s supervising agency, the Interior Department.

Trump’s budget calls for a punishing 12 percent cut to the department, which manages the United States’ public lands. It would eliminate some of the department’s programs altogether, including the $13.2 million National Wildlife Refuge Fund and the $20 million funding for the nation’s 49 National Heritage Areas. It would also decrease funding for land acquisition — such as land that would be added to the nation’s national parks, and then stewarded by the NPS — by $120 million.

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Judge to Trump: No Free Speech Defense for His Speech Inciting Violence & Racist Taunts Against a Black Woman @ Rally

From [HERE] and [HERE] On Sunday a federal judge rejected [opinion, PDF] President Donald Trump's free speech defense in response to his alleged inciting of violence among protesters during his presidential campaign. The current lawsuit against Trump alleges the then-presidential candidate attempted to incite violence among his supporters by saying "get 'em out of here" in response to protesters at his Kentucky rally.

Trump's lawyers sought to dismiss the lawsuit by three protesters who say they were roughed up by his supporters at a March 1, 2016 rally in Louisville, Kentucky. They argued that Trump didn't intend for his supporters to use force.

Two women and a man say they were shoved and punched by audience members at Trump's command. Much of it was captured on video and widely broadcast during the campaign, showing Trump pointing at the protesters and repeating "get them out."

Judge David J. Hale in Louisville ruled Friday that the suit against Trump, his campaign and three of his supporters can proceed. Hale found ample facts supporting allegations that the protesters' injuries were a "direct and proximate result" of Trump's actions, and noted that the Supreme Court has ruled out constitutional protections for speech that incites violence.

"It is plausible that Trump's direction to 'get 'em out of here' advocated the use of force," the judge wrote. "It was an order, an instruction, a command."

Plaintiffs Kashiya Nwanguma, Molly Shah and Henry Brousseau allege that they were physically attacked by several members of the audience, including Matthew Heimbach, Alvin Bamberger and an unnamed defendant they have yet to be able to identify.

Bamberger later apologized to the Korean War Veterans Association, whose uniform he wore at the rally. He wrote that he "physically pushed a young woman down the aisle toward the exit" after "Trump kept saying 'get them out, get them out," according to the lawsuit. 

Heimbach, for his part, sought to dismiss the lawsuit's discussion of his association with a white nationalist group and of statements he made about how Trump could advance the group's interests. The judge declined, saying such information could be important context when determining punitive damages.

The judge also declined to remove allegations that Nwanguma, an African-American, was the victim of racial, ethnic and sexist slurs from the crowd at the rally. This context may support the plaintiffs' claims of negligence and incitement by Trump and his campaign, the judge said.

"While the words themselves are repulsive, they are relevant to show the atmosphere in which the alleged events occurred," Hale wrote.

Lawyers for Trump and his campaign also argued that they cannot be held liable because they had no duty to the plaintiffs, who assumed the risk of injury when they decided to protest at the rally. The judge countered that under the law, every person has a duty to every other person to use care to prevent foreseeable injury.

"In sum, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have adequately alleged that their harm was foreseeable and that the Trump Defendants had a duty to prevent it," the judge ruled, referring the case to a federal magistrate, Judge H. Brent Brennenstuhl, to handle preliminary litigation, discovery and settlement efforts

Flint Water Crisis likely the Cause of Deadly Legionnaires Outbreak - Michigan officials Blocked CDC Investigation

From [HERE] Virginia Tech Professor Marc Edwards released to CNN the unpublished results of a study that show the Flint water crisis most likely caused the deadly outbreak of Legionnaires disease that killed at least 12 people since 2014.

Edwards is the independent Virginia Tech researcher who found lead in Flint's drinking water back in 2015, when state officials still denied it was leeching into the water supply.

The engineering professor says he recreated the crisis in his lab this winter and found that the corrosive water created an environment where bacteria could flourish.

"What we discovered was that when the Flint River water went into the system it released a lot of iron, and removed the disinfectant from the water," Edwards said. "And in combination, those two factors, the iron as a nutrient and the disinfectant disappearing, allowed legionella to thrive in buildings where it could not do so previously."

Flint's water crisis happened because state officials made a temporary switch in the water supply and did not properly treat the water with an anti-corrosive agent. That decision caused the harsh water to eat away at the pipes as it traveled to homes. Lead pipes leeched lead into the water, poisoning hundreds. Iron pipes leeched iron, Edwards said - and created the conditions for the Legionnaires outbreak.

"The triggering event was very clearly the use of Flint River water without any corrosion control," Edwards said.

"Had the corrosion control been in the water, disinfectant would have been higher, iron would have been lower, probably the outbreak would not have occurred."

Investigations into the outbreak

Edwards' experiment compared bacteria levels of corrosive Flint water in his lab to levels in properly treated water in Detroit. He has been studying what happened in Flint since before the crisis was even acknowledged by the state of Michigan. Edwards predicted during the water crisis that a lack of corrosion control could lead to a Legionnaires outbreak.

"It was only later that we realized that one was, it just wasn't public knowledge," Edwards told CNN.

Legionnaires' disease is a respiratory bacterial infection usually spread through mist that comes from a water source; it isn't spread person-to-person. Symptoms include fever, chills and a cough.

The Flint outbreak was one of the largest in U.S. history, and Edwards said it's likely the first to originate in a drinking water system. Twelve people died, and almost 90 were sickened during two waves of the outbreak in 2015.

There has never before been a scientific link to the cause of the Flint outbreak, because, as a CNN investigation revealed last spring, state officials allegedly stopped the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from coming to Flint to determine the cause during the first wave of the outbreak.

Even though the CDC said it wanted to investigate, the CDC said the state insisted on handling it. Michigan did provide assistance, but never found the cause of the outbreak.

According to CDC protocol, a state must "invite" the CDC to investigate an outbreak, and the county said Michigan did not do that.

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Chomsky says Magician Trump May Need to Stage a False Flag Operation to Maintain the Illusion Among his Believers

From [Alternet] and [HERE] Jan Frel: Do you observe any meaningful signs of the key power factions in Washington aligning against Trump?

Noam Chomsky: Well, the so-called Freedom Caucus, which is a Tea Party outgrowth, has been refusing, so far, to go along with the health plan that he has advocated. There are other indications of the Tea Party-style far-right, separating themselves from Trump's proposals. 

On the other hand, if you take a look at what is actually happening in Washington, apart from the rhetoric and what appears in Sean Spicer's press conferences and so on, the old Republican establishment is pretty much pushing through the kinds of programs that they have always wanted. And now they have a kind of open door that is Trump's cabinet, which draws from the most reactionary parts of the establishment. It doesn't have much to do with Trump's rhetoric. His rhetoric is about helping the working man and so on, but the proposals are savage and damaging to the constituency that thinks that Trump is their spokesperson.

JF: Do you think there will ever be a moment of awakening, or a disconnect for Trump's supporters of his rhetoric and what he's been doing in Washington, or can this just keep going? 

NC: I think that sooner or later the white working-class constituency will recognize, and in fact, much of the rural population will come to recognize, that the promises are built on sand. There is nothing there.

And then what happens becomes significant. In order to maintain his popularity, the Trump administration will have to try to find some means of rallying the support and changing the discourse from the policies that they are carrying out, which are basically a wrecking ball to something else. Maybe scapegoating, saying, "Well, I'm sorry, I can't bring your jobs back because these bad people are preventing it." And the typical scapegoating goes to vulnerable people: immigrants, terrorists, Muslims and elitists, whoever it may be. And that can turn out to be very ugly. 

I think that we shouldn't put aside the possibility that there would be some kind of staged or alleged terrorist act, which can change the country instantly.

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New GOP Law Would Allow FBI To Know Every Website You Have Visited & All Recorded Content You Have Viewed

From [WashPost] Many are outraged about congressional efforts to eviscerate Internet privacy regulations set by the Federal Communications Commission under President Barack Obama. But a frightening aspect to the bill remains underappreciated: If signed, it could result in the greatest legislative expansion of the FBI’s surveillance power since 2001’s Patriot Act.

Don’t believe anyone who suggests that the law merely returns us to the state of the world before the FCC finalized its landmark privacy rules in October. The obvious reason Internet service providers burned through time, money, political capital and customer goodwill to push for this law was to ask for a green light to engage in significantly more user surveillance than they had ever before had the audacity to try.

This must be the reason, because on paper, the law accomplishes little. President Trump’s handpicked choice to head the FCC, Ajit Pai, already began work to roll back these rules in a more orderly fashion. Make no mistake: ISPs aren’t just asking for relief from a supposedly onerous rule; they want Congress’s blessing. Once Trump signs the bill, diminishing the FCC’s power to police privacy online, ISPs will feel empowered — perhaps even encouraged — by Republicans (no Democrats voted for this measure) to spy on all of us as they never have before. And spy they will.

How, then, does this law — which would directly affect only private behavior — benefit the FBI? From 2001 to 2005, I worked for the Justice Department and spent a lot of my time advising law-enforcement agents and prosecutors who wanted to track Internet behavior. Many of our investigations led directly to a specific IP address — the identifier for a particular computer or device — which then prompted a request to an ISP for more information. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of these requests arrive at ISPs around the country every year.

Many — perhaps most — of these requests do not involve criminals; instead, they lead to victims of crimes, mere witnesses or otherwise innocent people. These requests have typically sought only information about the identity of the person associated with the IP address because the FBI understands that this is the only information ISPs tend to collect.

But because of the way ISPs are likely to react to this law, FBI agents and other law-enforcement officials will understand that ISPs will be able to reveal much more about every one of us. By adding a single short paragraph to an application for a court order through the Stored Communications Act (this wouldn’t even a require a search warrant), the FBI would be able to order your ISP to divulge every website you have contacted and every app you have used. In cases in which the FBI has obtained a search warrant, it could ask your ISP to reveal every single piece of content that it has a record of you having viewed — over the course of years. Our government-access laws do not require the FBI to tell you about these requests, and the FBI almost always forces a gag order on ISPs, ensuring that you will never find out.

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US Court Blocks Release of Videos Showing US Soldiers Force Feeding Non-White Inmates @ Guantanamo

From [HERE] A US federal appeals court on Friday blocked the release of videos showing a prisoner being force-fed at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba, citing national security.

The three-judge court in Washington said in its ruling that the public interest in what happens at the prison housing US terror suspects is trumped by "the government's compelling interest in guarding national security."

The court reversed a lower federal court ruling that had approved the release of the videos after a lawsuit filed by more than a dozen media companies arguing the public had the right to see them.

The release of the videos had been suspended in anticipation of the appeals court decision.

The US Army filmed the force-feeding of Syrian-born Jihad Diyab, a prisoner on a hunger strike at Guantanamo, to provide training to those who conduct the controversial measure.

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Connecticut Lawmakers Propose Law Allowing Police to Use Drones [to Kill Blacks & Latinos in Urban Areas]

From [HERE] and [HERE] If lawmakers have their way, police in one US state could soon be using drones as lethal weapons against the citizens they're supposed to protect. On Thursday, Connecticut's judiciary committee approved a new drone regulation bill that, if passed, would make it the first US state to let cops use deadly drones later this year.

Titled "An Act Concerning the Use and Regulation of Drones", the bill effectively bans weaponised drones for everyone in the state except for police officers, permitting them to use drones equipped with tear gas, incendiary and explosive devices and "remote deadly weapons".

"Obviously this is for very limited circumstances," State Senator John Kissel told the AP. "We can certainly envision some incident on some campus or someplace where someone is a rogue shooter or someone was kidnapped and you try to blow out a tire."

The legislation was introduced as a complete ban on weaponized drones but just before the committee vote it was amended to exclude police from the restriction.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, was reviewing the proposal, "however in previous years he has not supported this concept," spokesman Chris Collibee wrote in an email.

Civil libertarians and civil rights activists are lobbying to restore the bill to its original language before the full House vote.

"Data shows police force is disproportionately used on minority communities, and we believe that armed drones would be used in urban centers and on minority communities," said David McGuire, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Connecticut.

"That's not the kind of precedent we want to set here," McGuire said of the prospect that Connecticut would become the first state to allow police to use lethally armed drones.

In 2015, North Dakota became the first state to permit law enforcement agencies to use armed drones but limited them to "less than lethal" weapons such as tear gas and pepper spray.

So far, 36 states have enacted laws restricting drones and an additional four states have adopted drone limits, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

If Connecticut's Democratic-controlled House passes the bill it will move to the Senate, which is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

Representative William Tong, a Democrat from Stamford, nor Senator John Kissel, a Republican from Enfield, who are co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee, were not immediately available for comment.

Human Rights Group Helping Non-Whites Allegedly Put on US "Kill List," Targeted for Drone Strikes Sue US Gov

From [HERE] Human rights group Reprieve has filed a lawsuit [text, PDF] in the US District Court for District of Columbia [official website] against the US government for allegedly placing them on a "kill list" to be targeted for a deadly drone strike. Former Al Jazeera Islamabad [Newsweek report] bureau chief Ahmad Zaidan and freelance journalist Bilal Kareem claimed that they were erroneously added to the said list and stated that it was a violation of the U.S. Constitution and international law because of the lack of due process. The two journalists are seeking for declaratory and injunctive relief to remove their names from the said list.

According to Reprieve's website, "Reprieve is an organisation of courageous and committed human rights defenders. Founded in 1999 by British human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, we provide free legal and investigative support to some of the world’s most vulnerable people: those facing execution, and those victimised by states’ abusive counter-terror policies – rendition, torture, extrajudicial imprisonment and extrajudicial killing." 

Our lawyers and investigators are supported by a community of people from all around the world, connected by a belief in human rights and justice. Together, we fight for the victims of extreme human rights abuses with a combination of public pressure and legal action. [MORE]

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Is ICE Targeting Undocumented Non-White Activists for Arrest? Organizers Speak Out After 11 Days in Jail

Death Row Prisoners at Angola Prison Confined for 23 hours a Day in Small, Windowless Cells Challenge Uncivilized Detention

From [HERE] A class action claims death row inmates at Louisiana’s Angola prison are subjected to solitary confinement regardless of their behavior, a violation of their human and constitutional rights.

In a complaint filed in the Middle District of Louisiana on Wednesday, the three lead plaintiffs challenge the “cruel and baseless placement of prisoners who are in prolonged and complete isolation on death row.”

They say they are “subjected to indefinite extreme isolation, devoid of mental stimulation and having only sporadic human interaction.”

One prisoner said that once placed in isolation he only comes into contact with another human being when he is placed in shackles before the one hour a day he is let out of his cell.

Louisiana State Penitentiary is located on the former site of a plantation, on a remote 18,000 acres near the Mississippi Louisiana- border. It is enclosed on three sides by the Mississippi River, and was long ago nicknamed “Angola” after the country that most of the slaves on the former plantation came from.

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Since 2007, the DEA has taken $3.2 billion in cash from people not charged with a crime

From [HERE] The Drug Enforcement Administration takes billions of dollars in cash from people who are never charged with criminal activity, according to a report issued today by the Justice Department's Inspector General.

Since 2007, the report found, the DEA has seized more than $4 billion in cash from people suspected of involvement with the drug trade. But 81 percent of those seizures, totaling $3.2 billion, were conducted administratively, meaning no civil or criminal charges were brought against the owners of the cash and no judicial review of the seizures ever occurred.

That total does not include the dollar value of other seized assets, like cars, homes, electronics and clothing.

These seizures are all legal under the controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture, which allows authorities to take cash, contraband and property from people suspected of crime. But the practice does not require authorities to obtain a criminal conviction, and it allows departments to keep seized cash and property for themselves unless individuals successfully challenge the forfeiture in court. Critics across the political spectrum say this creates a perverse profit motive, incentivizing police to seize goods not for the purpose of fighting crime, but for padding department budgets.

Law enforcement groups say the practice is a valuable tool for fighting criminal organizations, allowing them to seize drug profits and other ill-gotten goods. But the Inspector General's report "raises serious concerns that maybe real purpose here is not to fight crime, but to seize and forfeit property," said Darpana Sheth, senior attorney of the Institute for Justice, a civil liberties law form that has fought for forfeiture reform.

The Inspector General found that the Department of Justice "does not collect or evaluate the data necessary to know whether its seizures and forfeitures are effective, or the extent to which seizures present potential risks to civil liberties."

In the absence of this information, the report examined 100 DEA cash seizures that occurred "without a court-issued warrant and without the presence of narcotics, the latter of which would provide strong evidence of related criminal behavior." [MORE]

Massachusetts Drug Lab Scandal Could Overturn 23,000 Convictions

From [HERE] In the annals of wrongful convictions, there is nothing that comes close in size to the epic drug-lab scandal that is entering its dramatic final act in Massachusetts.

About 23,000 people convicted of low-level drug crimes are expected to have their cases wiped away next month en masse, the result of a five-year court fight over the work of a rogue chemist.

"It's absolutely stunning. I have never seen anything like it," said Suzanne Bell, a professor at West Virginia University who serves on the National Commission of Forensic Science. "It's unbelievable to me that it could have even happened. And then when you look at the scope of the number of cases that may be dismissed or vacated, there are no words for it."

The dismissals will come in the form of filings from seven district attorneys ordered by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to decide who among 24,000 people with questionable convictions they can realistically try to re-prosecute.

Their answer, due by April 18, is expected to be "in the hundreds," a spokeswoman for Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said this week. An exact number was not available because the prosecutors are still working through the list, the spokeswoman, Meghan Kelly, said in an email.

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