Giuliani: Dealing With The Black Side.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- (CBS screen grab)

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — (CBS screen grab)

Oh look, another old white man is going to help us all out by whitesplaining this whole black people dying at the hands of police business. Turns out that a lot of black people aren’t being murdered by cops at all, no, it’s just sensationalism, that’s all. The real culprits are…black people! Bet you’re all surprised, right?

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani dismissed concerns of African-Americans who are afraid that their children might become the next Alton Sterling or Philando Castile if they are stopped by a cop, saying they should teach their kids to fear other black children instead.

Appearing on Face The Nation, the former Republican politician and failed presidential candidate stated that black kids need to be more “respectful to the police.”

“If you want to protect black lives, then you got to protect black lives not just against police, which happens rarely, although with tremendous attention,” he claimed. “If you want to deal with this on the black side you’ve got to teach your children to be respectful to the police.”

“When you focus in on 1 percent of less than 1 percent of the murder that’s going on in America and you make it a national thing, and all of you in the media make it much bigger than the black kid who’s getting killed in Chicago every 14 hours, you treat it disproportionately,” he asserted.

[…]

Giuliani, however, claimed that police are still nothing to worry about within the black community.

“You’ve got to teach your children that the real danger to them is not the police,” he continued. “The real danger to them, 99 out of 100 times are other black kids who are going to kill them, that’s the way they’re going to die.”

Giuliani is also on record saying that BLM is racist, and he’s doubled down on that view:

(CNN) Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani stood by his recent comments Monday that the Black Lives Matter movement is “inherently racist.”

“It’s inherently racist because, number one, it divides us. … All lives matter: White lives, black lives, all lives,” he told Fox News on Monday. “Number two: Black Lives Matter never protests when every 14 hours somebody is killed in Chicago, probably 70-80% of the time (by) a black person. Where are they then? Where are they when a young black child is killed?”

Giuliani told CBS on Sunday that he thinks the activist movement, aimed at preventing violence toward the African-American community, exacerbated racial tensions by putting a target on the backs of police officers.

I have eight words for you, Mr. Giuliani: Go fuck yourself, and shut the fuck up.

Via Raw Story.

Once You’ve Broken the Law, There Is No Safe Space.

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The stormtroopers in Baton Rouge have been particularly scary the past few days, and their more than questionable behaviour continues. Cops everywhere have been making up little Catch 22s that will see people arrested no matter what. Prior to DeRay McKesson being arrested, people were told to get on the sidewalk. When Protesters pointed out they were on the shoulder, because there wasn’t a sidewalk, they were arrested. In Baltimore, bus service to the protest area had been stopped by cops. Cops told people to disperse, but many of them had no way to do that because there were no buses. So, arrested for not dispersing. Ieshia Evans was arrested for impeding traffic, while that massive line of armored stormtroopers blocking the street was somehow just dandy for traffic. Now, when a homeowner offered her property as a safe place for protesters, the cops twisted about and came up with excuses to roust and arrest people anyway, saying there is no safe space, because you know, you just fucking might break the law at some point.

Hundreds of people in Baton Rouge who were peacefully protesting on private property Sunday evening were thrown into the street by police—and then several were arrested for being on the street.

Approximately 500 people had gathered at France and East in downtown Baton Rouge after first coming together at a nearby Methodist church to protest the police killing of Alton Sterling. Meeting the protesters were about 100 officers in riot gear. A homeowner gave the protesters safe refuge on her front lawn so they would not be arrested for being in the street.

“No justice, no peace!” they yelled.

After 90 minutes of peaceful assembly, police charged the crowd for no apparent reason. Protesters scattered, many running down a side street. Those protesters were then arrested for obstruction of a highway.

A wall of riot police then pushed the scattered protesters further away, block by block, and arrested some at the front of the crowd. “Clear the streets and leave the area!” one officer shouted through a bullhorn. “This is an unlawful assembly!”

The homeowner told CBS News she was “stunned” by police behavior.

“I kept telling them: ‘This is my property, please do not do that, I live here,’” she said. “They just looked at me and ignored the things I was saying.”

Lt. Jonny Dunham of the Baton Rouge Police Department said the protesters were arrested for previously breaking the law by obstructing a public passage by trying to get on an interstate on-ramp. “Once you’ve broken the law, there is no safe space.”

Throughout the confrontation, police threatened to arrest all journalists without credentials.

Allow me to emphasize that statement: “Once you’ve broken the law, there is no safe space.” We are fucked. All of us. If there’s no reason to arrest, they will make one up. Arrests will be justified on the basis of possible intent. Welcome to the dystopian nightmare.

Via Daily Beast and Raw Story.

Hands Up, Shot 10 Times.

CREDIT: Facebook, Alva Braziel

Yesterday, I posted about the death of yet another black man at the hands of cops in Houston. At that time, his name had not been released. His name was Alva Braziel. I just read an article where there was the usual laundry list of every wrong thing he ever did in his life, oh hey, he had done time, so sad, too bad. Absolutely infuriating. If you watch the footage from a nearby store / gas station, you can clearly see Mr. Braziel with his arms in the air, high up over his head, then he was shot. 10 times. 10 fucking times.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/AlvaBraziel?src=hash

Think Progress has an article up. Before any other idiot wants to defend the cops, read first:

For example, in a majority-white neighborhood of Houston this weekend, an armed suspect fired seven rounds at police officers. Yet police managed to end the standoff with gas and other non-lethal means without killing the man. He may now be transported to a psychiatric center for evaluation and treatment.

 

Time to Play “What If?”

Anthony Vigliotti -- (Branford police photo)

Anthony Vigliotti — (Branford police photo)

Here’s a man who had a rather bad attack of road rage, and the target of his anger happened to be an off duty cop.

A Bradford Connecticut man was released without having to post bail after he was taken into custody at his home for pointing a handgun at an off-duty police officer on Thursday, reports WFSB.

Anthony Vigliotti, 29, faces charges of second-degree threatening, first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree breach of peace and following too close with intent to harass during a road rage incident that was called in by the cop.

According to off-duty officer, Vigliotti had been tailgating him and blowing his horn, presumably because the officer was driving too slow.

At an intersection, police say Vigilotti pulled a black semi-automatic handgun out, pointed it at the victim before roaring away.

When police took him into custody at his  home. he turned over his  .45-caliber handgun as well as his pistol permit.

After being charged, Vigilotti was released with a promise to appear in court on July 19.

Okay, everyone, time for “what if” – What if this man had been black? Anyone think this scenario would have played out the same way? The difference in treatment could not possible be more stark, and yet so many people keep denying there’s any imbalance at all, let alone a race based one.

Via Raw Story.

The Truth About Race and Policing.

Truth
A protest in Cleveland, Ohio, after police officer Michael Brelo was acquitted for the shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. | Ricky Rhodes, Getty Images.

I’m a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing by Redditt Hudson on July 7, 2016.

On any given day, in any police department in the nation, 15 percent of officers will do the right thing no matter what is happening. Fifteen percent of officers will abuse their authority at every opportunity. The remaining 70 percent could go either way depending on whom they are working with.

That’s a theory from my friend K.L. Williams, who has trained thousands of officers around the country in use of force. Based on what I experienced as a black man serving in the St. Louis Police Department for five years, I agree with him. I worked with men and women who became cops for all the right reasons — they really wanted to help make their communities better. And I worked with people like the president of my police academy class, who sent out an email after President Obama won the 2008 election that included the statement, “I can’t believe I live in a country full of ni**er lovers!!!!!!!!” He patrolled the streets in St. Louis in a number of black communities with the authority to act under the color of law.

That remaining 70 percent of officers are highly susceptible to the culture in a given department. In the absence of any real effort to challenge department cultures, they become part of the problem. If their command ranks are racist or allow institutional racism to persist, or if a number of officers in their department are racist, they may end up doing terrible things.

If you read one thing today, read this article by Redditt Hudson. The full article is here.

Cops Are Ministers of God.

Fox News contributor Robert Jeffress (screen grab)

Fox News contributor Robert Jeffress (screen grab)

Flaming asshole Robert Jeffress has decided to speak up, in defense of cops, naturally. Couldn’t possibly be concerned about all those corpses strewn in the wake of police everywhere.

Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas, lashed out at what he called “bogus ministers” who did not preach about having “respect for the police.”

During an Sunday interview on Fox & Friends, Jeffress called on churches “to instill in their a members a respect for the police.”

“The New Testament says in Romans 13:4 that law enforcement officers are ministers of God sent by God to punish evil doers,” he opined. “When you think about it, police officers are just as called by God to do what they do as pastors and priests are called by God. And I think we need to remind our members of that.”

Policing is a called by god vocation now? You could say that of any profession, that’s no reason for automatic respect and obeisance. I’m not about to give those things to someone who is allowed to get away with murdering a person in broad daylight, in front of witnesses.

“There are some police officers that maybe engage in overreaction,” Jeffress said, adding that presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump had “the leadership to stop the downward spiral of this nation.”

Ohhhh. So that’s what the rampant killing of People of Colour is, an over-reaction. So, no big deal, right? All those people who have had their lives irrevocably changed by the death of a loved one at the hands of police can rest easy now.

“And you know, I have to say if we would teach our children to respect law enforcement officers, they wouldn’t have anything to worry about,” Jeffress concluded. “The Bible says law enforcement officers are nothing to be feared if you do what is right.”

Philando Castile was doing right. He did not do anything wrong, he was cooperating fully. For doing that, he was murdered in front of his girlfriend and her daughter. Cut down as though he were a rabid animal. There’s no right in that, Pastor. There’s no reason in that. There is every reason to fear though. I will not bow down blindly to authority, and I sure as hell am not going to bow down to authority because it’s walking around armed. It’s nice for you, Pastor, that you don’t have to do Yessir Nossir Yessir Master two step in the hopes you’ll survive an encounter with police. It’s not so fucking great for everyone else.

Via Raw Story.

Void.

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Elegiac extensions and fluid partner lifts compose the foreground of an expansive interactive installation, an endless landscape of shifting points of light. The dimly-lit installation, VOID, is a straight-shot into an indeterminate abyss. Curated by Roya Sachs, it merges the worlds of dance, art, space, and the concept of love in the digital age.

Artists Sergio Mora-Diaz, Jordan Backhus, and Oryan Inbar designed the installation, while New York City Ballet dancers Claire Kretzschmar and Sean Suozzi perform choreography by Troy Schumacher. A video of the one-night performance captured during 2015’s Freize Art Week in New York describes the installation as a “fully immersive light installation which reminiscent of the night sky and also streams of information.”

Via The Creators Project.

Maybe it’s time to stop the bull.

Pamplona (Shutterstock)

Pamplona (Shutterstock)

A Spaniard died and two other men, including a Japanese man, were gored in bull-runs in Spain on Saturday, as the San Fermin festival in the northern town of Pamplona entered its third day.

The 28-year-old died after a bull’s horn pierced his lung and heart during a run in the southeastern village of Pedreguer near Valencia, a spokesman for the regional government said.

The bull caught him as he was trying to help another runner in the annual event.  Story.

Víctor Barrio is rushed to the hospital (Twitter)

Víctor Barrio is rushed to the hospital (Twitter)

Spaniards were faced with a horrifying sight on Saturday when a famous bullfighter, Víctor Barrio, was gored in the chest and killed live on television, NBC News reports.

The 29-year-old Barrio was in the ring with a bull named Lorenzo in the town of Teruel when the bull caught him with a horn that pierced his chest.

The fight was being broadcast live on television, where Lorenzo could be seen soaked in his own blood from lances that were thrust into him, which occurs during the process of a bullfight. The matador generally slaughters the bull with a sword at the end of the fight. Story.

It’s long past time that these relics of toxic masculinity die, rather than people. It’s time to stop the bull, literally.