Bad Brains - Live at the CBGB's 1982 (Full Concert)

Unlimited War [only on Non-White People] Budget: Pentagon reveals no-bid $10 million contract for mercenaries and spies to fight ISIS in Syria

BlackListed News

It’s not just U.S. troops battling ISIS. Now the Army is sinking millions of dollars into private intelligence contractors for the fight.

Every day at 5 p.m., the Pentagon releases a list of that day’s contracts worth more than $7 million. On July 27, buried in the daily email was an eye-catching detail: Military contractors would be working inside Syria alongside the roughly 300 U.S. troops already deployed there.

This appears to be the first time the Pentagon has publicly acknowledged that private contractors are also playing a role in the fight against the so-called Islamic State inside Syria, and it’s one more signal that the U.S. military is deepening its involvement in the fate of the country.

The contract announcement said Six3 Intelligence Solutions—a private intelligence company recently acquired by CACI International—won a $10 million no-bid Army contract to provide “intelligence analysis services.” According to the Pentagon, the work will be completed over the next year in Germany, Italy and, most notably, Syria.

Beyond this, details are scant. For example, it is difficult to say, given how little information is available, how many contractors might have to go into the country under this contract. It could be just a few (presumably well-paid) intelligence analysts augmenting a military unit or it could be many more.

CA. Prosecutors who falsify or withhold evidence could become felons under proposed state legislation

OC Register

Prosecutors who intentionally withhold or falsify evidence could be charged with a felony under a new bill winding through the state Legislature.

The proposal by Assemblywoman Patty Lopez, D-San Fernando, comes as prosecutors in Orange County face accusations that they’ve routinely misused jailhouse informants and withheld information from defense attorneys.

But the problem of prosecutorial misconduct predates Orange County’s snitch controversy. A 2010 study by Santa Clara University School of Law looked at misconduct statewide, concluding: “Courts fail to report prosecutorial misconduct (despite having a statutory obligation to do so), prosecutors deny that it occurred, and the California State Bar almost never disciplines it...The problem is critical.”

The study noted that just six out of 600 prosecutors accused of misconduct in California between 1997 and 2009 were punished by the state Bar.

“As a member of the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, I believe that accountability for California’s prosecutors is critical to ensuring that justice in our courts is truly served,” Lopez said Wednesday by email.

The bill is scheduled to go before the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday. It would boost penalties to between 16 months and three years for prosecutors who violate the law. Current statutes make it a misdemeanor for anyone to withhold or falsify evidence, while law enforcement officers can be charged with a felony.

The law also currently allows a judge to fine prosecutors and report them to the state for various types of misconduct. In some cases, judges can remove prosecutors from a case entirely. Last year, an Orange County superior court judge, citing such abuse, removed the Orange County District Attorneys Office from the penalty phase prosecution of Scott Dekraai. Dekraai killed eight people at a Seal Beach salon in 2012.

At least six other attempted murder and murder cases in Orange County have been overturned or otherwise affected by allegations of misconduct by prosecutors or police.

Ignacio Hernandez, a spokesman for the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, said Orange County’s controversy reinforces the need to increase the penalties for prosecutorial misconduct.

“We’re seeing the problem in many parts of the state, in many counties,” Hernandez said.

The bill is supported by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, who says it should apply to all attorneys as well.

Opposing the measure is the 500-member union representing Orange County lawyers, including deputy district attorneys, public defenders and county counsel. The group’s board on Tuesday voted 8-3 to oppose the bill. [MORE]

Justice Department to Streamline Tracking of Police Killings

NY Times

The Obama administration is moving forward with a plan to better track killings by police officers, as heightened national scrutiny of such deaths has reinforced criticism of its reliance on self-reporting by state and local law enforcement agencies. 

In a notice published in the Federal Register this week, the Justice Department said it would ask law enforcement agencies and medical examiner’s offices to fill out forms when there is a news report or another indication that a person died while in police custody.

Under the proposed system, which would cover 19,450 state and local law enforcement agencies and about 685 medical examiner’s or coroner’s offices, they would also be asked to fill out forms about the total number of such cases every three months. The department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics would then compile that information.

The proposal comes as police killings of African-Americans have fueled protests in recent years in places like Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore, and led to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. The resulting scrutiny of the issue has focused attention on the lack of reliable and comprehensive data about how many people are killed by the police each year.

The government’s existing system is called the Arrest-Related Deaths program, which is intended to be a census of a variety of causes of such deaths, including suicides, accidents and deaths from natural causes. Critics say it does not provide accurate data about killings by police officers in part because it relies on self-reporting by law enforcement officials.

In 2014, for example, The Wall Street Journal gathered data on police shootings from 2007 to 2012 from 105 of the nation’s largest police agencies and compared it to the F.B.I.’s statistics. It found that more than 550 police shootings were not included in the national database or were not attributed to the agency involved. 

The Guardian, which reported the Justice Department proposal on Monday, and The Washington Post are conducting projects that will try to fill the gaps by compiling data on arrest-related deaths across the country. [MORE]

Minnesota White Party [GOP] Congressional Nominee Has Fun, Creative Views On Women, Slavery, Everything

Wonkette

Red SilverJ: Why Racists Are Glad Dr. Sebi Is DEAD: Curing AIDS Since 84!

RedSilverJ

The [unaccountable] NYPD's Civil Forfeiture System Has Taken Millions From Low-Income Non-White New Yorkers

From [HERE] Just how common, and exactly how much money the NYPD is currently taking from low-income New Yorkers, is the basis of a lawsuit filed last week against the NYPD by the Bronx Defenders, alleging effective denial of the public defender’s FOIL requests on how much money the NYPD is seizing from New Yorkers and under what specific justification it's doing so. After years of stonewalling by the NYPD, it finally released to the Bronx Defenders just a single year’s worth of property clerk’s data, revealing that it had more than $68 million in seized cash on hand, only $6.5 million of which had been legally forfeited that year. The department still gave no specific accounting of where the money came from or through which process it was taken.

Since 2014, there have been multiple efforts made to try to rein in the NYPD’s cash grabs — a bill introduced last year by Bronx councilman Ritchie Torres would mandate that the NYPD provide a full accounting of the items it seizes from those it arrests, how much money it takes in from them, and where, exactly, that money goes. That legislation is scheduled to come to a vote this fall, but considering the de Blasio administration’s hesitance to legislate any police reform whatsoever, it might never see the light of day. A separate lawsuit by the Bronx Defenders did find some success, however. A federal case against the Bronx district attorney is now on hold after the D.A. agreed to streamline its property release process, just one of a series of hurdles that people have to go through to retrieve their money or possessions.

Breaking the story in 2014, I wrote about how, for decades, the NYPD has been taking the money and possessions of anyone it arrests, or even stops on the street, under the legal pretense of civil forfeiture. The idea of seizing money or goods during an arrest originally became popular in the 1970s to take money and yachts out of the hands of drug dealers, even if they ended up beating the case anyway. Law enforcement was able to make a case against the money — possible criminals would have to prove exactly how they came to possess such amounts. Now, however, the NYPD uses the practice primarily to take money and property from the pockets of those who can least afford to get it back. Almost all of the time, the NYPD and the district attorney decline to actually pursue any type of forfeiture after they’ve seized it during an arrest. Typically, the NYPD never had a reason to take the money in the first place, and certainly not a good enough reason to hold up in court. But the process of getting your money back from the NYPD’s convoluted and arcane bureaucracy, even if you were never charged with a crime, can be so labor-intensive and maddening that many people give up.

“Because you’re not provided with a lawyer for this type of case, almost everyone tries to navigate it pro se,” said Adam Shoop, an attorney with the Bronx Defenders, stressing that those who can afford lawyers are the most likely to be able to retrieve their cash. [MORE]

Palast: The Hidden Billionaires behind Trump The Foreclosure King, The Three-Headed Dog from Hell and Goldman Sachs

Greg Palast

Trump desperately needs to get his tiny hands on some cash to fund his presidential campaign. On TV, Trump may play the role of a gazillionaire, but the reality of his reality TV persona is that it’s all paid for with other people’s money. His self-funding pledge is going the way of all Trump’s promises — down the gilded crapper. This week on The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: Election Crimes Bulletin, we focus on where and how Trump is going to get his campaign funds — and the deal he’s made with Wall Street’s devils in order to get it. [MORE]

White Man who shot up "Draw Muhammad" event was urged to "tear up Texas" by undercover FBI agent

BlackListted News

Elton Simpson is one of the two men who fired assault rifles at people gathered for a "Draw Muhammad" event in Garland, Texas before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer; in the weeks leading up to the attack, Simpson had corresponded with an undercover FBI agent who urged him to "Tear up Texas." When a Daily Beast reporter phoned the FBI to ask about the message, the FBI spokeswoman Carol Cratty hung up on her. This is the latest in a string of domestic terror incidents that involved undercover agents and informants who provided encouragement, plans, and even weapons to would-be terrorists.

Newly released American drone policy explains how US citizens, other targets can be chosen

CLG

The Obama administration has released a previously secret 18-page policy guidance document [President Policy Guidance, or PPG] that lays out how potential drone targets may be chosen and approved and the President's role in the decision-making process...If the target is a US citizen or someone living in the US, or if there is not unanimous agreement among the President's key national security officials regarding the nomination of the target, it will be submitted to the President for a decision. However, the head of the nominating agency themselves can approve lethal action against a proposed individual if all of the major national security officials unanimously agree it should be undertaken, but the President has to be apprised of the decision.

JP Morgan Accused of Ripping off Inmates

Bloomberg

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s contract to provide debit cards to inmates released from federal prison may have backfired after a former convict raised a ruckus.

The bank agreed to pay a total of $446,822 to thousands of ex-prisoners to settle a class-action suit claiming JPMorgan ripped them off with $10 fees to withdraw money from a teller window and $2 charges for using non-network ATMs, according to a filing on Monday in federal court in Philadelphia.

JPMorgan’s contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons was a scheme “to exploit one of the most vulnerable groups imaginable -- releasees from federal corrections facilities,” according to the complaint. “Every cent counts for federal releasees who are coming out of prison without an immediate means of income.”

The New York-based bank also agreed to pay as much as $250,000 in plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs, the filing said. The relatively small payout to inmates, which almost 50,000 ex-cons qualify to share in, doesn’t faze the lead plaintiff in the case, 33-year-old Philadelphia artist Jesse Krimes.

Principle and Precedent

“It’s about the principle of the matter, and setting a precedent for future litigation against similar predatory practices,” said Krimes, who made artwork from prison-issued sheets and soap while serving six years after pleading guilty to distributing cocaine. (The accord comes just in time for a solo exhibition in New York starting Aug. 4.)

“I left prison with $120,” an unidentified former inmate said in the complaint. “Because of the fees, I was only able to use about $70 of it.” [MORE]

lawcropping basics - These broke lawyers don’t get paid enough; at least pay them on time

A BUNCH OF LAWYERS complaining about not getting paid promptly ordinarily wouldn’t generate a whole lot of public sympathy. But the way the state treats Victoria Bonilla and about 3,000 other attorneys like her is practically criminal.

For nearly a quarter century, Bonilla has carved out time from her practice to act as a bar advocate — a private lawyer appointed by the state to represent the indigent in Massachusetts’ courts. The work is “demanding,” she says, but hugely gratifying. It’s also far from lucrative. She earns $50 or $60 an hour, depending on whether a case is heard in district or superior court, but there’s a limit of eight billable hours a day, even when she logs 10 or 12. If it takes all morning for a docket number to be called, too bad — the state won’t pay for more than an hour of waiting. Hours spent traveling don’t count either, and if she needs legal secretarial assistance, it comes out of her own pocket.

Bonilla and other bar advocates say they accept those restrictions (and more). After all, no one forces them to take on the cases of men, women, and children in desperate straits. They shouldn’t, however, have to put up with what has become an annual fabricated crisis on Beacon Hill. As the fiscal year nears its end on June 30, the state invariably runs out of money to pay for services bar advocates already have rendered, forcing them to go weeks without compensation. After a series of unnecessary procedural delays, Governor Charlie Baker late last month signed off on supplemental funding to replenish the budget. The money, about $14.2 million, was dispersed through the Committee for Public Counsel Services, a state agency charged with overseeing bar advocates, as well as a smaller number of underpaid public defenders who are on staff. Bonilla only recently received her tardy check — $2,664 that covered late April through June. Other bar advocates, many of whom were waiting for much more, also just got paid. “We still have mortgages,” says Bonilla. “Life goes on. It becomes an issue.”

In an e-mail after the supplemental budget was approved, the committee told the attorneys it understood the “frustration and concern this delay has caused for many of you.” But empathy doesn’t count for anything on a credit card statement. The state owes it to bar advocates to more accurately estimate how much money will be needed to run the program annually, instead of knowingly underfunding it year after year. Beyond that, the Committee for Public Counsel Services ought to be able to anticipate when a shortfall might be looming, long before it’s a fiscal emergency. Baker says a $30 million supplemental budget already has been filed for the current fiscal year to ensure that attorneys receive timely payments. That’s encouraging, but the measure requires approval by the Legislature when it convenes for a new session in 2017, so don’t bank on it yet.

Understandably, some lawyers long ago grew frustrated with the state’s payment system and opted out of taking on cases as bar advocates. Fortunately, there are many others who continue to represent people — guilty and innocent — who can’t afford to hire someone to stand up for them in front of a judge. Bar advocates perform an important and often thankless service. They help uphold basic constitutional rights. The state shouldn’t make it any more difficult for them to do so. [MORE]

Osho: To React is to be a plaything in the hands of others. Response is Responsibility. Response is Authenticity. Response is Living in the Moment.

MUSO, THE NATIONAL TEACHER,

AND ONE OF THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS MASTERS OF HIS DAY,

LEFT THE CAPITAL IN THE COMPANY OF A DISCIPLE

FOR A DISTANT PROVINCE.

ON REACHING THE TENRYU RIVER

THEY HAD TO WAIT FOR AN HOUR

BEFORE THEY COULD BOARD THE FERRY.

JUST AS THE FERRY WAS ABOUT TO LEAVE THE SHORE

A DRUNKEN SAMURAI RAN UP

AND JUMPED INTO THE PACKED BOAT,

NEARLY SWAMPING IT.

HE TOTTERED WILDLY AS THE SMALL CRAFT

MADE ITS WAY ACROSS THE RIVER.

THE FERRYMAN,

FEARING FOR THE SAFETY OF HIS PASSENGERS,

BEGGED HIM TO STAND QUIETLY.

'WE'RE LIKE SARDINES IN HERE,'

SAID THE SAMURAI GRUFFLY.

THEN, POINTING TO MUSO,

'WHY NOT TOSS OUT THE BONZAE?'

'PLEASE BE PATIENT,' MUSO SAID,

'WE'LL REACH THE OTHER SIDE SOON.'

'WHAT!' BAWLED THE SAMURAI, 'ME BE PATIENT?

LISTEN HERE, IF YOU DON'T JUMP OFF THIS THING'

I SWEAR I'LL DROWN YOU.'

THE MASTER'S CALM SO INFURIATED THE SAMURAI

THAT HE STRUCK MUSO'S HEAD WITH HIS IRON FAN,

DRAWING BLOOD.

MUSO'S DISCIPLE HAD HAD ENOUGH BY THIS TIME,

AND AS HE WAS A POWERFUL MAN,

WANTED TO CHALLENGE THE SAMURAI.

'I CAN'T PERMIT HIM TO GO ON LIVING AFTER THIS,' HE SAID.

'WHY GET SO WORKED UP OVER A TRIFLE?'

MUSO SAID WITH A SMILE.

'IT'S EXACTLY IN MATTERS OF THIS KIND

THAT THE BONZAE'S TRAINING PROVES ITSELF.

PATIENCE, YOU MUST REMEMBER,

IS MORE THAN JUST A WORD.'

THEN HE RECITED AN EXTEMPORE WAKA:

THE BEATER AND THE BEATEN:

MERE PLAYERS OF A GAME

EPHEMERAL AS A DREAM.'

WHEN THE BOAT REACHED SHORE,

AND MUSO AND HIS DISCIPLE ALIGHTED,

THE SAMURAI RAN UP

AND PROSTRATED HIMSELF AT THE MASTER'S FEET.

THEN AND THERE HE BECAME A DISCIPLE.

SEEKING for something, desiring for something, is the basic disease of the mind. Not seeking, not desiring, is the basic health of your being.

It is very easy to go on changing the objects of desire, but that is not the way of transformation. You can desire money, you can desire power... you can change the objects of desire - you can start desiring god - but you remain the same because you go on desiring.

The basic change is to be brought not in the objects of desire, but in your subjectivity.

If desiring stops - and remember, I am not saying that it has to be stopped - if desiring stops, then you are for the first time at home, peaceful, patient, blissful, and for the first time life is available to you and you are available to life. In fact, the very division between you and life disappears, and this state of non division is the state of god.

People come to me from all over the world; they travel thousands of miles. When they come to me and I ask, 'Why have you come?' somebody says, 'I am a seeker of god.' Somebody says, 'I am a seeker of truth.'

They are not aware what they are asking. They are asking the impossible. God is not a thing. God is not an object. You cannot seek him. God is this whole. How can you seek the whole? You can dissolve in it, you can merge in it, but you cannot seek it. The seeking simply shows that you go on believing yourself separate from the whole - you the seeker and the whole the sought.

Sometimes you seek a woman, sometimes you seek a man. Sometimes, frustrated from the world, you start seeking the other world - but you are not yet frustrated with seeking itself.

A seeker is in trouble. A seeker is confused. He has not understood the basic problem itself. It is not that you have to seek god, then everything will be solved. Just the opposite - if everything is solved, suddenly there is god.

Click to read more ...

Farrakhan on Hillary Clinton: 'That's a Wicked Woman"

Yale sets up committee to rename buildings deemed racist, offensive

Yale.edu

Committee to Establish Principles on Renaming

In recent years, and with increasing intensity during the past year, a wide-ranging conversation has taken place at Yale and elsewhere about the role of naming and renaming in acknowledging and confronting our history. Although decisions at Yale and other universities have been widely publicized, the issue is not limited to college campuses: there has been discussion and debate about renaming monuments, buildings, counties, streets, and other public spaces around the country and around the world.

Charge

The charge of the Committee to Establish Principles on Renaming is to articulate a set of principles that can guide Yale in decisions about whether to remove a historical name from a building or other prominent structure or space on campus—principles that are enduring rather than specific to particular controversies. The committee will review the experience both at Yale and in other institutions and communities that have addressed the question of renaming. In doing so, it will consult with experts, communicate and coordinate with other universities that are addressing similar issues, and collaborate with other groups at Yale that have been charged with related work, such as the Committee on Art in Public Spaces. After the committee's recommendations have been articulated, approved, and disseminated, Yale will be able to apply these principles to requests for the removal of a name. 

Community Input

The committee will collect input from the Yale community and review input already received on this topic during the conversations of the past year. To send an email to the members of the Committee to Establish Principles on Renaming, follow the "Contact the Committee" link at right.