Abuse of Power Thread (Cops, Governments, Etc.) - Part 1

[RockSP]

Seeing as how the tensions are between black people and cops right now, I'm not surprised they would be making comments like that.

By "right now" you mean the entire history of this country, right?

 

[BatmanVSuperman]

There is no denying we are in a heightened period of tensions and both sides are saying stuff against each other. The media has focused on these stories a lot, and this has been turned into something bigger.

 

[KevanG]

And in today's news: What's causing Texas earthquakes? Fracking 'most likely,' report says

Hey DJ, you should answer that phone.

[BLACKOUT]BECAUSE I ****ING CALLED IT![/BLACKOUT]

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Haha Kev I never doubted you homie

 

[RockSP]

There is no denying we are in a heightened period of tensions and both sides are saying stuff against each other. The media has focused on these stories a lot, and this has been turned into something bigger.

In other words some people are starting to pay attention to what has ALWAYS been going on, thanks to the media focus (which is mostly about ratings, of course).

 

[Teelie]

For once the media's obsession with ratings is resulting in focusing on something important.

 

[Docker2.0]

There is no denying we are in a heightened period of tensions and both sides are saying stuff against each other. The media has focused on these stories a lot, and this has been turned into something bigger.

Not all cops are bad but making excuses for those guys sending those texts is beyond idiotic. There is no defense of this crap. Same as there is no defense of that kid getting killed in Cleveland. I have defended some cops in this thread but it seems that no matter what happens, you find a way to blame the victim which is wrong. God forbid you find yourself in a situation like Floyd Dent and your life is destroyed. It's starting to happen to all races now but much more to minorities.

 

[BatmanVSuperman]

I can understand the condemnation of the texts. I don't see any excuses for that I'm not sure about the kid getting killed, as the video really did look like a thug toting a gun around. He was reportedly told a few times, and didn't listen. It is messed up that it was a kid though, and certainly a shame.

 

[Docker2.0]

I can understand the condemnation of the texts. I don't see any excuses for that I'm not sure about the kid getting killed, as the video really did look like a thug toting a gun around. He was reportedly told a few times, and didn't listen. It is messed up that it was a kid though, and certainly a shame.

You are blaming the media for this happening but it's been going on for years, it's just that people now record the things going on around them. And come on! You saw the video of the kid with the gun in Cleveland. They drove their car up on him and shot him with no warnings given in less than 3 seconds. Do I think the media is pushing an agenda? I do! But the cops still have to answer for the wrong they've done. If I slap my girlfriend because she didn't make me a sandwich and she runs and tells people I did it, how can I get mad when it's true? Doesn't matter if the story is being pumped nonstop, what matters is if it's true.

 

[Docker2.0]

Quite possibly an old video but just saw it this morning.


http://news.yahoo.com/arrest-cop-kicking-black-man-signs-shift-prosecuting-174955849.html

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Yeah anyone who's seen the video knows Tamir Rice wasn't given much warning before being shot down.

The cop pulls up, jumps out his car, then fires immediately.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

I can understand the condemnation of the texts. I don't see any excuses for that I'm not sure about the kid getting killed, as the video really did look like a thug toting a gun around. He was reportedly told a few times, and didn't listen. It is messed up that it was a kid though, and certainly a shame.

Did you even watch the video? How quickly can you put down a toy gun to in a matter of seconds?

 

[Asgard]

Quite possibly an old video but just saw it this morning.


http://news.yahoo.com/arrest-cop-kicking-black-man-signs-shift-prosecuting-174955849.html

Goddamn that was a brutal kick. Youre not even allowed to do that **** in the UFC. Dude suffered a broken jaw after that kick.

Im surprised the first grand jury failed to indict that thug on an assault charge. They must have not seen the dash cam video.

 

[Docker2.0]

Goddamn that was a brutal kick. Youre not even allowed to do that **** in the UFC. Dude suffered a broken jaw after that kick.

Im surprised the first grand jury failed to indict that thug on an assault charge. They must have not seen the dash cam video.

Because it's a "jury of peers" so they know dude did something. Most of the time the jury is Martha and Essie Mae who tend to believe what the cops say though the evidence is right in front of your face.

 

[warhorse78]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/07/nsa-phone-surveillance_n_7231872.html

NSA Bulk Data Collection Illegal, U.S. Appeals Court Says



A small victory towards the justification of what Edward Snowden did. Probably doesn't mean he can come back home, though. Not yet, atleast.

Heh, if I were Snowden, I would just stay where he is now. If he came back to the states, he would probably be assassinated to keep quiet and teach other people a lesson about thinking you can question the almighty US government and get away with it.

 

[Teelie]

Because it's a "jury of peers" so they know dude did something. Most of the time the jury is Martha and Essie Mae who tend to believe what the cops say though the evidence is right in front of your face.

We are brought up and trained to trust and believe authority figures all our lives so when they claim something happened a certain way, we are inclined to believe them even when they are lying. It's not easy to distrust those we are supposed to give that kind of programming.

 

[Teelie]

“I’ll never ask for another pain pill again”: ℞ database damage in Utah

The abbreviated story: A police officer abused the third party doctrine law to illegally check on a former drug user's pain perscription renewals to steal pills during a "pill check" on them and then got a slap on the wrist (as opposed to jail time like the rest of us).

This law is abused particularly badly by among others, the NSA, DEA, and any other alphabet agency that wishes to snoop on citizen's private matters any time they feel like it. It's time Third Doctrine was either abolished or severely restricted.

For the most part, attorney Tyler Ayres practices criminal law in Draper, Utah. If you Google him, the first result reads “Utah DUI Attorney.” But recently, Ayres has grown into a de facto voice against the third-party doctrine and Utah’s drug database, a combination allowing authorities to access citizens' prescription drug histories nearly carte blanche. Ayres has represented at least a dozen people with unforeseen issues because of this arrangement. The worse abuse he’s seen involves two of his repeat clients: Candy Holmes and Russell Smithey.

Both Holmes and Smithey have extensive criminal histories. In a recent interview, Smithey conceded that he was an intravenous drug user and has since completed a drug court program. In 2011, his partner, Holmes, was picking up her prescription at a pharmacy near their home in Vernal, Utah. Both Holmes and Smithey regularly took Oxycodone and Methadone.

Ben Murray, an officer with the Vernal City Police Department, watched this Holmes encounter with the pharmacist, according to Smithey, and confirmed by deposition documents. Murray says that “she was so intoxicated that she couldn’t even get her money out.”

Smithey tells the story differently.

He says Murray saw Holmes take some of the medication and get into her car to drive home. It would have taken longer than the drive home for the pills to set in, he explains. Either way, the undisputed facts are that Murray contacted dispatch and Holmes was arrested in her driveway after failing a sobriety test.

During the course of another investigation, Murray visited Holmes in the home she shared with Smithey. Again, the two sides differ on the details from here. In deposition documents, Murray claims Smithey approached him with concern about his wife and her drug use, asking the officer to keep in contact with the family and check in on them.

Smithey told Ars that Murray showed up at their home a few weeks after the initial DUI incident in uniform, telling them he’d been assigned to review their prescription drugs and ensure they’re not misusing them. He told the couple he needed to count their pills and asked them to retrieve the medication from the bathroom.

This happened between 20 to 30 times, according to Smithey and confirmed by both local media reports and Ayres. In his deposition, Murray said he couldn’t remember how many times he visited the family. But what Murray and Smithey do agree on is that often on those visits, they would be short on pills.

“I didn’t want to get in trouble,” says Smithey. “I would admit to taking the pills because... just to stay out of trouble.”

The shortage caused turmoil in Smithey's already tumultuous life. He accused family members of stealing. "I filed charges against my sister, threatened my wife with divorce because I wanted to keep a handle on our drugs,” explains an emotional Smithey, his voice raising as he recounts what happened.

Eventually, Smithey and Holmes turned their suspicion to Murray.

VHS for justice

At the time, Smithey worked at a thrift store run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A lady donated a video camera, and Smithey asked his colleague if he could buy it. “I got it for $12.00,” Smithey says proudly. He set it up where Murray usually sat as he counted the pills and waited for the next “prescription drug check.”

In the corresponding video, Murray asks Smithey compassionately, “How are things going?” He’s not in a uniform, instead wearing a golf shirt with an ID card or something official-looking hanging around his neck. “I trust you 100 percent,” he tells Smithey.

Murray puts on rubber gloves and asks Smithey to count the Methadone. He then takes another vial—which Smithey says was the Oxycodone. The video shows Murray repeatedly slipping the pills into his pocket as he asks questions about an investigation relating to Holmes' daughter.

“Clearly you have medical issues,” says Murray. “How can I help you guys?”

When Smithey first watched the tape, he held onto it for two weeks and told no one. “I got really scared, got really nervous that I had a video,” he says. Eventually, he confided in Ayres, who had helped Holmes with a DUI in the past.

“I want you out here tomorrow,” Ayres told him over the phone.

The attorney soon contacted the attorney general, and officers worked with Holmes and Smithey to set up a surveillance operation in their home. With the couple’s assistance, Murray was called to the house for a “drug check,” where he was again caught stealing the medication—this time by the authorities. The officer was arrested in the same driveway where Holmes had been taken into custody for the DUI a year before.

Murray was charged with unlawful use of the controlled substance database and possession of a controlled substance, according to Ayres. He pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance but no contest to unlawful use of the database. A judge sentenced him to 18 months of court-supervised probation.

Denial

In deposition documents from a related civil suit, Murray says he took pills only those two times. But Ayres is adamant Murray used the database to gain information about which prescriptions the couple received and when they were being refilled. In his deposition, Murray says he used the controlled substance database to find out Candy’s prescription history “many times,” yet he did not use it for the purposes of knowing when to go over to the couple’s home and do the supposed pill check.

Unfortunately, the truth of the matter may never surface. Holmes and Smithey have since settled legal matters privately with Murray. The two now live with a deep mistrust of authority figures, medical professions included.

“That man convinced me he was trying to help us” but instead “turn(ed) us against each other,” says an emotional Smithey. “I’ll never ask for another pain pill again. Now I live in pain every day and I walk funny, but I won’t go to a doctor and ask for pain medication, no.” Smithey takes a second, pauses, and calms down. “It’s crazy—it’s ripped my life upside down in a way that’s hard to describe.”

Ars Technica

Also accompanied by: The big drug database in the sky: One firefighter’s year-long legal nightmare, a very long article on a similar abuse of the system.

A snippet of that is here:

The officer explained that, during the investigation of the morphine theft, Pyle’s personal prescription drug records had been pulled from Utah’s Controlled Substances Database. Pyle was being accused not of stealing morphine but of prescription drug fraud. The allegation doesn't necessarily involve selling pills; instead, authorities believed that Pyle had visited multiple doctors in order to obtain narcotics.

But the detective investigating the case had pulled far more than Pyle’s records; he had actually pulled the prescription records of all 480 employees of the local fire authority, sifting through the sensitive health information of firefighters, paramedics, and clerical staff, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Such prescription information could reveal whether the workers had anxiety disorders, chronic pain, insomnia, or AIDS. It could reveal if an individual identified as transgender or suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

As in 48 other states and the District of Columbia—Missouri being the only exception—Utah collects prescription drug information in a statewide electronic database so that healthcare providers can track what medications their patients use and ensure that they aren’t doctor shopping. However, unlike in many of the other states, Utah doesn’t require warrants before investigators can access this information. According to court documents, the search merely needs to be linked somehow to an open investigation within the officer's jurisdiction.

In Pyle’s case, there was no evidence to suggest he had anything to do with the morphine theft that sparked the investigation. While looking through his prescription history, however, the detective felt that something wasn’t right. Pyle had been prescribed short-acting and long-acting opiate-based painkillers for years after being diagnosed with an inoperable mid-back disc herniation from a dirt-bike accident.

“When I found out what was happening I left immediately,” Pyle said in a recent interview. He called his wife, a physician’s assistant with access to the same database. He urged her to look up his history.

“I can’t,” Tiffany Pyle told him. “You’re not a patient of mine. It would be illegal.”

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Prescription drugs in this country are really a nightmare. A buddy of mine is having to go to court for his script even though he has a prescription and provided documentation. It's idiotic

 

[KevanG]

They're a nightmare in Canada too. We have to go to the Doctor, get a checkup and THEN go to the pharmacy (which is many times located within a few blocks of the office/hospital) and wait for it to be filled.

Sarcasm aside I'm pretty gosh darn happy not to live in the 'Land of the Free'.

 

[KevanG]

Wisconsin bans poor from buying potatoes, ketchup and shellfish

Wisconsin Republicans are following through with their plan to be the cruelest state in the nation when it comes to the way poor people are treated by passing a bill that would ban them from eating a multitude of foods.

On Wednesday, Wisconsin Republicans in the statehouse took the first step in their agenda to punish people who use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Assembly Bill 177 seeks to ban people who rely on food stamps to survive on a daily basis from buying a huge list of products deemed unworthy for the mouths of poor people and their children.

The legislation specifically bans poor people from buying any kind of shellfish, including lobster, shrimp, and crab. This particular ban, perhaps coincidentally, has a strong religious connection to it since the Biblical Book of Leviticus outlaws shellfish. So perhaps without meaning to, it appears conservative lawmakers are not only banning these foods for poor people, they are forcing only poor people to abide by an unconstitutional biblical law written thousands of years ago in a foreign land. That sure sounds like Sharia law to me.

But the bill goes on to mention a list of groceries that poor people will no longer be able to purchase and let’s just say it takes the war on the poor to a whole new level of heartlessness and stupidity.

It disallows red and yellow potatoes but allows sweet potatoes and yams. It also disallows nuts, trail mix, herbs and seasonings.

No jarred spaghetti sauce for poor folks, or soups, salsa, or ketchup. No canned beans, except for green, wax or yellow beans.

All of these items are generally inexpensive and are often the basic foods found in the pantries of many people. Many families literally live on spaghetti and soups because they don’t cost a lot and can feed many people. After all, the average food stamp recipient receives a paltry $125 a month. But this bill would take all of these items away from poor people.

And that’s not all. If you think this is bad, you haven’t seen nothing yet.

The list of “disallowed” foods, which you can view here, also includes the following:

Cranberry sauce and pie filling. (Poor people can forget about making dessert for Thanksgiving dinner.)
Creamed vegetables
Baked beans
Pickles
Pork and beans
Frozen veggies that come in packages featuring pasta, nuts, rice, cheese, or meats
French fries and hash browns
Sharp cheddar cheese, Swiss, and fresh mozzarella, shredded and sliced cheeses (except American cheese of course), cheese food, spreads, and products. Even Kosher cheese is banned unless you apply to get a specific check for it which basically could identify who the poor Jewish people are.
Canned peas and green beans
Albacore tuna, red salmon, and fish fillets
Bagels, pita bread, English muffins
White rice and wild rice
Taco shells
Almond, rice, goat, and soy milk.
Brown eggs and any eggs produced by cage-free or free range chickens, which basically helps corporate chicken farms
Several kinds of infant food
Anything in bulk
Anything organic or natural

And speaking of 'Land of the Free'...

Yeesh. "You're poor, so how dare you try and eat decent food!"

 

[warhorse78]

Wisconsin bans poor from buying potatoes, ketchup and shellfish



And speaking of 'Land of the Free'...

Yeesh. "You're poor, so how dare you try and eat decent food!"

Oh, but the 100 dollar, 0 nutricious birthday cakes are still allowed?

Sounds to me that they want to implement the same thing that WIC has going on. But, with that aside, that list is ridiculous. I just wish schools would set up classes for people to learn how to grow their own gardens, then there would be plenty of food, of all sorts, for everyone. I know the Spanish neighborhoods near me do just that, have a community garden that everyone participates in. I pretty much exclusively buy my tomatoes, sauces, salsas and peppers from them (better tasting and better value for my money)

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Wisconsin bans poor from buying potatoes, ketchup and shellfish



And speaking of 'Land of the Free'...

Yeesh. "You're poor, so how dare you try and eat decent food!"

There was a morbidly obese woman on welfare who was using her food stamps to buy lobster. I can see who they are going after, but of course the system is riddled with holes that allow for abuse. Those people also make it harder for honest users of social welfare to use the system correctly.

 

[warhorse78]

There was a morbidly obese woman on welfare who was using her food stamps to buy lobster. I can see who they are going after, but of course the system is riddled with holes that allow for abuse. Those people also make it harder for honest users of social welfare to use the system correctly.

Tis always the case, a few bad apples make it hard for the rest of us. At my job, there were individuals that worked there, and they loved to get away with coming in late. If someone was on time, they would just punch thier friends in early even though those people would often arrive 15 to 20 minutes late. In the end, the company got rid of the punch card system, and went with a computerized system where you had to use your finger print to clock in and out.

Now, my biggest question is, why do they have to just bring in a whole new system when they could have just fired those that were literally altering their time cards.

 

[Teelie]

The dirty little secret of 2016 announcements

Political gerrymandering of the law at work. The way super Pacs work and declaring your bid to run for President means they can skirt the laws and get far more money than their opponents would if they follow the spirit and fairness of campaigning.

Republicans like Jeb Bush and Scott Walker are criss-crossing early primary states, doing TV interviews on their policy positions and meeting with campaign donors.

But they are not running for president. Not technically, anyway.

That's why when Jeb Bush accidentally said last week he was running, he quickly slipped in a correction - "if I run."

Of course he's running, but there's one overriding reason for Bush to be coy: money.

The dirty little secret of the 2016 campaign is that would-be candidates like Bush and Walker in particular can use super PACs, campaign accounts that allow unlimited contributions, to raise millions of dollars as long as they aren't official candidates. Until someone like Bush, Walker or New Jersey Gov. Christie formally declares for president, they are legally permitted to personally ask for money for a super PAC that will ultimately benefit their campaign. But once they formally acknowledge their candidacy, a legal wall goes up between the candidate and the super PAC that supports them.

This is the confusing new world of campaign finance in the era after the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010 removed most political spending limits on corporations and unions. Now, until they're an official candidate, politicians can accept millions from a single donor, though Bush has set a self-imposed limit of $1 million for his super PAC.

The quiet goal for Bush, Walker and, to a lesser extent, Christie is to raise as much money as possible for as long as possible without the fundraising limits that come with being a declared presidential candidate.

Different rules for senators

It is a fundraising advantage that sitting senators do not have, which is why Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio announced their candidacies in April. Sen. Lindsey Graham will announce his intentions June 1.

Legally, a federal office holder -- such as a senator -- is always a candidate for federal office, and therefore already bound by federal fundraising limits in a presidential run: $5,400 per maximum per donor, for the primary and general election combined. Super PACs that support them can raise money to use on their behalf, but they cannot coordinate in the same way Bush, Christie and Walker are.

So in the ever important money race, Cruz, Paul and Rubio are going to be judged by how much they raise inside a traditional Federal Election Commission filing quarter. This current quarter lasts from April 1 to June 30th. That is a major reason most GOP senators running for the White House declared at the beginning of April -- in order to squeeze as much fundraising time in as possible.

The super PAC phenomenon was born after the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, as well as other court and FEC rulings. But it has taken a while for campaign operatives to figure out the best way to use the rules to their advantage.

Aides to the campaigns-in-waiting of Bush and Walker in particular seem to have done just that.

"Anyone with smarts will hire very knowledgeable people that can help them navigate very tricky waters and take advantage of everything they can while still remaining on the good side of the law," said Ana Navarro, a Republican operative who supports Jeb Bush.

Being on the good side of the law means once a candidate officially declares, their campaign can no longer strategize -- or even communicate -- with its super PAC, which is generally run by a long-time adviser or aide.

In the case of Bush, Mike Murphy will run the "Right to Rise" super PAC. Walker's long-time chief of staff Keith Gilkes, who also ran Walker's 2010 gubernatorial race, is heading up the Walker Super PAC "Unintimidated," named for Walker's book about surviving his 2012 recall in Wisconsin.

Some non-partisan watchdog groups argue that by waiting so long to put up what is known in political circles as "the wall," they are following the letter of the law, but not the spirit.

"It sure doesn't hurt being a non-candidate candidate who leads his own super PAC until which time he hands it over to be run by his most intimate political supporters upon officially announcing a presidential run," said Dave Levinthal of the Center for Public Integrity. "The unspoken message will still be crystal clear: Support me with money and support me with lots of it."

Advisers to both Walker and Bush insist they go beyond the letter of the law and limit communication internally in order to avoid questions when they officially declare for president.

But that is being met with skepticism.

"It's basically the difference between a baseball manager sending in hand signals to his players and directly whispering the message into their ears," Levinthal said. "The message more or less gets through all the same."

Even after that so-called wall goes up between the campaign and super PAC, presidential candidates are allowed to attend super PAC fundraisers; they just can't explicitly ask for money.

Political operatives of all stripes say that makes a big difference, because it's harder for donors to say no to a candidate and because donors are usually wealthy, successful people who like their egos stroked.

It's not just money

Bush advisers insist it's not just the desire to raise tens of millions of dollars early that is driving his decision to wait until at least June to officially declare his candidacy. They note that he left public office nearly 10 years ago, so unlike sitting governors and senators who are running for president, he had no existing infrastructure to support him either on policy, politics or logistics. Bush sources are quick to remind that he is building an organization from the ground up, which takes time.

Sitting Govs. Walker and Christie, who have infrastructure around them, also still have day jobs with a very important role -- guiding, and eventually signing, their state budgets.

In both Wisconsin and New Jersey, the budgets must be signed by the end of June, and aides to both Walker and Christie call it critical not to declare their candidacies for president before finishing the budget back home.

That's especially true for Walker, who became a national GOP figure in large part because of his 2011 budget fight relating to Wisconsin unions.

CNN

 

[KevanG]

Colbert and Stewart pointed this out and mocked it openly on their shows for months leading up to a previous election with Colbert even having his own Superpac and giving power over to Stewart. It's complete bull**** but its politics and the only people who could change it are in power themselve making money off of it.