May 19, 2017


News and Views


DONALD TRUMP REALLY IS MUCH TOO IMPULSIVE. I THINK THAT’S WHAT ALL THE TWEETING IS ABOUT. HE CAN’T SLEEP, GETS UP AND STARTS VENTING HIS ANGER ON WHOEVER HAS DISPLEASED HIM, AND HE FEELS BETTER. THEN HE GETS UP IN THE MORNING, SEES WHAT SCATHING THINGS THE MEDIA HAS SAID ABOUT HIS TWEETS, AND GETS ANGRY ALL OVER AGAIN AT THEIR “UNFAIRNESS.” I THINK THIS REPUBLICAN HOUSE MEMBER IS 100% RIGHT. IF HE WOULD JUST STEP BACK AND LET SOMEBODY ELSE RUN THE DAILY WORKINGS OF THE WHITE HOUSE, HE MIGHT MAKE IT TO THE END OF HIS TERM. HE ALSO WOULD MAKE ME LESS AFRAID OF WHAT THE WHOLE RANGE OF HIS BEHAVIOR COULD POSSIBLY BE.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/marsha-blackburns-advice-for-trump-team-be-very-judicious-with-your-words/
By STEVE CHAGGARIS CBS NEWS May 19, 2017, 6:00 AM
Marsha Blackburn's advice for Trump team: "Be very judicious" with your words

Photograph -- Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., with Major Garrett and Steve Chaggaris, May 18, 2017. CBS NEWS / NICOLE SGANGA

On "The Takeout" podcast this week, Rep. Marsha Blackburn said the president and his team need to change their ways, in order to avoid continuing to create self-inflicted controversies.

Listen to this episode on Stitcher

Blackburn said she's concerned "that there seems to be a lack of structure and discipline," regarding the serial controversies currently swirling around the Trump White House. Blackburn, who was a vice chair of the Trump transition team after the election, was responding to Tennessee GOP Sen. Bob Corker's comment earlier in the week that the White House is "in a downward spiral right now."

Blackburn suggested the president's political opponents are relentlessly working against him, and the White House isn't doing itself any favors with its lack of decisive strategy and communication.

"With as much as is coming at this team, and there I do think that they have to realize that many in the media and many on the other side of the aisle are not going to work with them, and they do have to realize that there are those that served in previous administrations who maybe do not wish them success. And because of that, they have to approach each day as saying 'let's not give them something to talk about. Let's not make news by our process. Let's be very judicious about what we choose to say,'" she said.

Blackburn feels that in this case, change needs to come from the top, and Vice President Pence and President Trump need to exert some control.

"I do think that it is time for the president and the vice president to put the team in the huddle and say, 'Okay, you know, anybody who's talking out of school, cut it out,' she continued.

As for Mr. Trump's preferred mode of communication, Blackburn added, "Would I be tweeting? No."

For more from Blackburn's conversation with CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett and CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris, listen to "The Takeout" podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify and CBSNews.com. And follow "The Takeout" on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @TakeoutPodcast.



IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING SOUNDS SIMPLE, BUT IT IS A VERY GOOD RULE. IT REALLY DOES CATCH LOTS OF CRIMINALS AND STOPS ASSAULTS. IF PEOPLE WOULD CALL 911 ON THEIR SMART PHONE FROM THE INSIDE OF THE CLOSET WHERE THEY ARE HIDING JUST AS SOON AS THEY HEAR THAT SCREAM, RATHER THAN DOING NOTHING, IT COULD BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH. IT DOES TAKE QUICK THINKING, OF COURSE, AND IN CASES LIKE THE HERO OF THIS STORY, IT TAKES COURAGE. THE NIGHT STALKER LOOKED RIGHT AT HIM BEFORE HE GOT INTO HIS HOUSE. A DIRECT CONFRONTATION LIKE THAT DEFINITELY IS DANGEROUS! IN READING THIS ARTICLE I DID LOOK AT RAMIREZ’S FACE. IT LOOKS TRULY EVIL.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-romero-helped-capture-night-stalker-richard-ramirez/
CBS NEWS May 19, 2017, 5:38 PM
How a 13-year-old boy helped capture the "Night Stalker" serial killer

MISSION VIEJO, Calif. -- The teen who helped catch the notorious Los Angeles "Night Stalker" in the summer of 1985 is speaking out, CBS Los Angeles reports. The 13-year-old helped end Richard Ramirez's rampage in Southern California.

James Romero is now a 45-year-old man now, living hundreds of miles away from L.A. Thirty-two years later, Romero is still credited for helping the Los Angeles Police Department take down Ramirez.

What it was like to testify in "Night Stalker" murder trial
DNA links "Night Stalker" to 1984 murder of 9-year-old girl

In 1989, the "Night Stalker" was convicted of 13 counts of murder, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries.

Romero experienced a face-to-face encounter with Ramirez on a summer night back in 1985, the night Ramirez stalked his home in Mission Viejo, California. The teen was up late in the garage after a family road trip when he heard footsteps in the gravel.

"He looked right at me," Romero says.

Photograph -- ap-851024026.jpg, "Night Stalker" defendant Richard Ramirez displays a pentagram symbol on his hand inside a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday, Oct. 24, 1985. LENNOX MCLENDON/AP

"All of a sudden, I hear footsteps in the gravel. Crunch, crunch, crunch crunch. I could hear the footsteps literally stop -- right where I'm sitting," he said.

Romero bolted into the house, woke up his parents and they called 911. Ramirez took off, but not before the fearless teenager ran outside.

"I look and I see the car and I get part of the plate," he says.

Detectives quickly figured out Romero encountered the "Night Stalker." They didn't tell him, but he would soon connect the dots as investigators kept visiting his house, asking him to look at random automobiles.

"They kind of just coached me," he said. "'Hey, we can't stop and get out of the car. We can't look at it, we're going to drive through this parking lot and if you see a car that looks like the one you saw, let us know.'"

Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker," dead at 53
Play VIDEO
Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker," dead at 53

Police eventually found Ramirez's car. And the teen confirmed it. With that confirmation, they lifted a fingerprint and identified Ramirez. It wouldn't be long until his capture.

Seeing the "Night Stalker" in person was a moment Romero says he will never forget.

"When I was in court, I was in the room sitting with him -- you know, I was on the witness stand eight hours. The defense attorney had me swear in, and they put the Bible, and they had me swear in right next to him," he said.

Romero says the moment was a terrifying experience but he is glad he was able to help solve the case.



IS THIS REALLY A TRUMP APPOINTEE, OR MERELY A MAN WHO TRIES TO ESCAPE POLITICAL TROUBLES WITH BRAGGADOCIO? HE SOUNDS JUST LIKE HIS HERO, UNFORTUNATELY.

http://www.snopes.com/2017/05/18/milwaukee-sheriff-david-clarke/
Despite Multiple Lawsuits, Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke Says He’ll Take DHS Position
Complaints about inmate deaths and harassment are among lawsuits in which Clarke is named as a defendant.
By Bethania Palma May 18th, 2017

On 17 May 2017, Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke said he will be accepting a position offered to him as an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, where he expects to start in June 2017.

Clarke, an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, started his career in law enforcement with the Milwaukee Police Department in 1978, where he worked his way up to the rank of captain. He left in 2002 to become sheriff of Milwaukee County. He is a controversial figure known for making outrageous remarks in the news media. During the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election, Clarke traveled the country stumping for now-President Trump.

DHS has not confirmed that Clarke has been offered a position with the department. On 17 May 2017, the department’s official Twitter account posted:

[Senior] positions are announced when made official by the [Secretary]. No such announcement w/ regard to the Office of Public Engagement has been made.

Clarke is currently the target of multiple lawsuits in Milwaukee County that accuse him of harassing a private citizen, and his staff of abusing inmates in his jails. Seven of his employees face potential criminal charges for turning off the water in a man’s cell for a week in 2016, causing him to die of dehydration. Clarke has also been scrutinized for a trip to Russia in 2015, now that multiple investigations into the president’s dealings with the Russian government are underway.

One of the lawsuits came from the death of a newborn baby, who apparently died after her mother gave birth alone in a cell. In another, a Milwaukee man accused Clarke of illegally detaining him and harassing him online, all because he made a slighting gesture toward the sheriff about the sports team jersey he was wearing.

In a third, a 38-year-old mentally ill man died of “profound” dehydration after being denied water for a week inside Clarke’s jail. On 24 April 2016, Milwaukee firefighters responded to the county jail and found Terrill Thomas naked and in a state of rigor mortis on the floor of his cell, according to the lawsuit complaint.

Walter Stern, the attorney representing three of Thomas’s children, told us Thomas was mentally ill and so incoherent that his public defense attorney demanded to have him evaluated to see whether he was fit to stand trial.

Instead, as a form of punishment for perceived bad behavior, the jail’s staff turned off the water system in his cell. Stern told us that other inmates had started banging on the walls trying to get staff to help Thomas, to no avail. After he died, the staff tried to cover up what happened:

They didn’t document anything — they didn’t document that the water was shut off, how long it was shut off, whether anyone was inspecting how this man was doing for seven days, they didn’t document that the prisoners started pounding on their cells saying, “this man is going to die.” We expect something like that would happen in medieval England.

Thomas’s death resulted in an inquest by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office which has so far resulted in a jury recommending criminal charges be leveled against seven of Clarke’s employees.

When asked by the Chicago Tribune about the fact Thomas’s family was suing and alleging that Thomas was purposely “tortured” by his employees, Clarke’s response was flippant:

I have nearly 1,000 inmates. I don’t know all their names but is this the guy who was in custody for shooting up the Potawatomi Casino causing one man to be hit by gunfire while in possession of a firearm by a career convicted felon? The media never reports that in stories about him. If that is him, then at least I know who you are talking about.

Thomas had been arrested on allegations that he shot a person, then drove to the casino and fired two more rounds inside the building. His family has said his actions were a result of a psychological breakdown. Thomas had bipolar disorder.

Stern took issue with the statement, noting that Clarke had compared the activist movement Black Lives Matter to terrorists. He told us:

I don’t have anything personally against [Clarke]; I’m just a lawyer from Kenosha. But what I’m saying is, when you compare Black Lives Matter to a bunch of terrorists and then make a comment that says Thomas’s life really doesn’t matter very much, to me it shows something — to say something like that and then to put him in Homeland Security, I don’t know what that says.

In another serious — and fatal — case, Shadé Swayzer was booked into Milwaukee County Jail while she was 8-and-a-half months pregnant on 6 July 2016. She went into labor at midnight on 14 July 2016, according to court documents. When she told a jail employee her water had broken, they reportedly laughed at her instead of providing assistance.

Swayzer, who is also mentally ill, gave birth to a baby girl, Laliah, at 4 A.M. alone in her cell. Jail staff only took notice two hours later. Although the baby was alive when born, crying and breastfeeding, she later died at the facility. Additionally, according to the complaint, the Sheriff’s Office refused to turn over medical records and other documents related to the case.

All in all, according to the local newspaper, the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel, four people died in the county jail during a 6-month span in 2016.

A third lawsuit deals not with actions by Clarke’s employees, but with actions of the sheriff himself. On 15 January 2017, Milwaukee resident Daniel Black encountered Clarke while boarding a flight home from Dallas, where he had attended a wedding. He saw Clarke in first class and asked him if he was indeed the sheriff. After confirming he was, Black shook his head because Clarke was wearing Dallas Cowboys gear instead of Green Bay Packers gear (a Wisconsin football team). Clarke responded by asking Black if he had a problem.

When the plane arrived in Milwaukee, Black exited to find a half dozen officers and two K-9 officers waiting for him.

According to his complaint:

I was very publicly escorted in front of everyone down the hall to a waiting area, and then questioned by two of the Sheriff’s Department deputies. They told me Sheriff Clarke said I had made some remarks to him upon entering the plane. When I asked for clarification, the deputies said they couldn’t tell me, and when I asked if they even knew the context of my ‘remarks,’ they responded ‘no.’

After questioning me for about fifteen minutes, asking me who I was, why I was in Dallas, what my views of Sheriff Clarke were and essentially treating me as a threat, they escorted me all the way out of the airport in front of everyone there. I was walked through the terminal, down through baggage claim, and all the way to my friend’s car by the officers.

Black’s attorney, William Sulton, told us that after Black filed the complaint, the sheriff declared he would not cooperate with the followup investigation, and took to the Internet to harass him.

Clarke has not tried to hide this fact. On the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office official Facebook page, Clarke commented with a link to Black’s complaint:

Next time he or anyone else pulls this stunt on a plane they may get knocked out. The Sheriff said he does not have to wait for some goof to assault him. He reserves the reasonable right to pre-empt a possible assault.

Also still present on the official Facebook page is a meme containing Black’s image with a caption that states that if Clarke really wanted to harass him he “wouldn’t be around to whine about it”:

Sulton provided us with a copy of a text message exchange that he told us was between Clarke and his captain Mark Witek, in which Clarke instructs Witek to detain and interview Black, but not arrest him “unless he becomes an asshole with your guys. Question for him is why he said anything to me? Why didn’t he just keep his mouth shut?”

About Clarke’s role in the federal government, Sulton told us:

It’s scary to think he will have some incredible federal resources at his disposal that he will use to mete out punishment against anyone who stares at him the wrong way. Directing subordinates to arrest people he believes are assholes is an infringement on the First Amendment right to criticize the government.

On 25 April 2017, the official Sheriff’s Office Facebook page attacked another civilian, Journal-Sentinel columnist Daniel Bice, and calling the paper the “Urinal Sentinel”:

We reached out to Bice, who sent us a scathing comment by e-mail, telling us that being attacked publicly by Clarke is par for the course. He added that Clarke has taken it a step further by attacking Bice’s wife, who is a law clerk, and falsely accusing her of leaking court records:

It’s not unusual for the sheriff to criticize me personally on his agency’s Facebook page. He also doesn’t mind dragging my family into it as well. He favors a policy of political victory without media scrutiny.

It’s not surprising that the sheriff is getting this job. He’s like President Trump in many ways: thin-skinned, addicted to Twitter, outrageously outspoken and obsessed with his image. I expect Sheriff Clarke to be about as successful in his new job as President Trump has been in his.

We sent an e-mail to Clarke’s spokeswoman asking her about Clarke embarking on a high-level position with the federal government while a series of lawsuits are pending against him, and have received no response.



http://static.snopes.com/app/uploads/2017/05/a-5.jpg -- GO TO THIS SNOPES WEBSITE FOR THE ALT-RIGHT TAINTED POSTING FROM SHERIFF CLARKE’S DEPARTMENT FACEBOOK PAGE, JUST IN CASE READING THESE ARTICLES DIDN’T CONVINCE YOU THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THIS MAN. I HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO GET IMAGES OF ANY KIND TO WORK IN THE BLOGGER PROGRAM WHICH I USE, BUT YOU REALLY NEED TO SEE THIS, SO PLUG THIS SNOPES.COM JPG IN THE SEARCH ENGINE FOR A HIGHLY MALICIOUS COMMENT, THE MAN’S PICTURE, AND A COUPLE THE ALT-RIGHT’S FAVORITE WORDS, “SNOWFLAKE” AND “WHINING.”.





http://strategycampsite.org/dr-gs-potter.html
About Dr. GS Potter

Dr. GS Potter is a community educator, advocate and the founder of the Strategic Institute of Intersectional Policy. She holds a PhD. from the University of Washington and has worked against issues such as police brutality, homelessness and strategic organizing at the grassroots for close to two decades. Dr. Potter works in alliance with peer-run grassroots organizations, such as Krip-Hop International, the Idriss Stelley Foundation and POOR Magazine, as well as allies to the grass roots. Contact her if you’d like to schedule a presentation, course or workshop.


THIS AUDIO PRESENTATION IS THE SHERIFF HIMSELF –

https://soundcloud.com/peoplessheriff
People's Sheriff Short Clip: This Is Intolerable
AUDIO ONLY
Posted 8 months ago


BIO ARTICLE ON CLARKE FROM NEWSER. IT STATES THAT DHS HAS SO FAR “DECLINED” TO CONFIRM HIS APPOINTMENT.

http://www.newser.com/story/242925/controversial-sheriff-gets-dhs-gig.html?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=im
POLITICS / DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Controversial Sheriff Says He Got Homeland Security Gig
David Clarke says he's leaving position as Milwaukee County Sheriff
By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff
Posted May 17, 2017 3:22 PM CDT

Photograph -- In this Feb. 23, 2017, file photo, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke gestures as he speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

(NEWSER) – Controversial Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. says he's accepted a position in the Department of Homeland Security, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. Clarke said on a radio talk show Wednesdsay [sic] that he'd be leaving his position as sheriff next month to work as an assistant secretary in DHS' Office of Partnership and Engagement, Fox 6 reports. He'll act as a liaison between DHS and state and local law enforcement and governments. The AP notes that DHS has so far declined to confirm his appointment. Clarke, who has been sheriff since 2002, was recently the subject of mass protests over a number of issues, including the death of a Milwaukee County Jail inmate who was allegedly denied water for a week. Per the Raw Story, there have been calls for Clarke to resign since four people, including a baby, died in the jail since he took office.


THIS IS ABOUT EVIL DOINGS, EVEN IF THEY WEREN’T DIRECTLY INTENDED, AT THE MILWAUKEE COUNTY JAIL, WHICH HAVE BEEN LINKED TO SHERIFF CLARKE AS THE OVERSEER OF THE SITUATION – IT WAS “ON HIS WATCH.” SEE THE JSONLINE.COM ARTICLE BELOW. HIRING, FIRING AND TRAINING ARE ULTIMATELY HIS RESPONSIBILITY. THE INMATE’S WATER WAS CUT OFF IN THE COMMODE “UNTIL HE SETTLED DOWN,” ONLY THE WORD TO TURN IT BACK ON AGAIN DIDN’T GET PASSED DOWN THE LINE. ASIDE FROM THE SHEER HORROR OF THIS EVENT, I MUST JUST ADD ONE THING. THE LEVEL OF DISORGANIZATION THERE MUST BE GREAT INDEED. APPARENTLY NOBODY'S REALLY IN CHARGE TO SEE TO IT THAT THE WATER WAS CUT BACK ON, AND IN ADDITION, IT NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED AT ALL. THAT ISN'T "PUNISHMENT." IT'S TORTURE. I WONDER IF THERE IS ANYONE THERE WHO IS CAPABLE OF RECOGNIZING PSYCHOSIS THERE, AND AWARE OF WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT. THERE SHOULD CERTAINLY BE PSYCHIATRISTS INSIDE PRISONS, OR AT ANY RATE, ON CALL. TOO MANY OF THOSE WHO ARE KILLED ON THE STREET BY POLICEMEN ARE MENTALLY ILL.


http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/2017/04/27/investigator-accuses-milwaukee-county-sheriffs-officials-deception-jail-death-terrill-thomas/100985072/
3 Milwaukee County Jail staffers point fingers at others in dehydration death
Jacob Carpenter and Dave Umhoefer , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 1:50 p.m. CT April 27, 2017 | Updated 9:03 p.m. CT April 27, 2017

Three Milwaukee County Jail staffers blamed each other Thursday for failing to document the shutoff of an inmate’s water seven days before he died of dehydration.

A corrections lieutenant and two officers all said they believed a co-worker had noted in jail logs that staff cut off the water in inmate Terrill Thomas’ solitary confinement cell. Without the notation, other corrections officers and supervisors had no way of knowing Thomas was deprived of water.

The testimony came on the fourth day of the inquest into the death of Thomas, 38, whose untreated bipolar disorder rendered him incapable of asking for help. An inquest is a rarely used legal procedure that allows prosecutors to question witnesses under oath in public before they decide whether to criminally charge anybody over a death. A jury hears the testimony and issues an advisory verdict on whether there’s probable cause to file charges.

The three jail staffers each offered differing accounts of the water shutoff.

Jail Lt. Kashka Meadors testified she ordered a corrections officer, James Ramsey-Guy, to cut off the water going to Thomas’ toilet in his new cell after he flooded a previous cell. Meadors, questioned by District Attorney John Chisholm, said she meant the shutoff order to stay in effect only until Thomas settled down.

She said officers told her the water situation was resolved before she left for the day.

“I was under the impression that it was taken care of, and as well, I briefed my supervisor,” Meadors said.

RELATED:Inmate's dehydration death came after litany of errors, policy violations, ex-2nd-in-command says
RELATED: Jail commander grilled over dehydration death

CLARKE ON THE CONCEPT OF POLICE BRUTALITY

https://www.academia.org/sheriff-david-clarke-rejects-the-term-police-brutality/
Sheriff David Clarke Rejects the Term “Police Brutality”
July 5, 2016, Alex Nitzberg

Police officers fear being prosecuted for performing their duties Sheriff David Clarke explained saying, “…they’re not afraid to do their job, but they’re afraid of … the United States Department of Justice and their jack-booted goon lawyers at the civil rights division who have the American police officer in their crosshairs.”

While the Black Lives Matter movement advances a “police brutality” narrative, Sheriff Clarke states that “ … the US DOJ civil rights division sees the American police officer as the enemy and they just see the criminals as victims.”

Officers now risk their reputation, livelihood, and liberty for doing their job, and this hostile environment discourages law enforcement professionals from practicing the “assertive policing” that Sheriff Clarke describes as “ … the best tactic you can use to keep the criminals on their heels. Stuff like stop, question, and frisk is assertive policing.”

Noting the fact that the police have historically faced similar hostilities, he said “ … the difference between now and in the 60s is the political class supported the police during that time that this anarchist movement declared war on the police. This time you fast forward to now and the political class has sided with this disgusting movement … ”

Sheriff Clarke links this anti-cop narrative to the growth of crime. “Look at how the crime rates have skyrocketed in Baltimore, in Milwaukee, in Chicago, in LA, in other large major urban areas where you have high concentrations of black population the violence has spiked, it is not a little uptick, it is a spike…”

Repudiating the phrase “police brutality” as a mischaracterization “ … used … to enrage and to excite people … ” Sheriff Clarke discussed his objection to using this term.

“I looked up the definition of brutality so I could get a working definition … and the definition that I found in dictionary.com, it says ‘savage physical violence.’ Let me give you some examples of savage physical violence: ISIS engages in savage physical violence by cutting off the heads of live human beings and video taping it and putting it out on the internet — that is savage physical violence. Putting somebody in a cage, like ISIS has done, pouring gasoline around it and setting it on fire is savage physical violence. What Planned Parenthood was accused of doing late last year or earlier this year, cutting up fetuses into parts and selling them on the open market to the highest bidder is savage physical violence. What we’re talking about with the police is not savage physical violence, it’s police use of force.”

Sheriff Clarke explained that this force represents “a very awesome power” that “ … should be scrutinized. But it is an option that police officers can use in the rarest of situations to defend their life or the life of somebody else.”

Alex Nitzberg is an intern at the American Journalism Center at Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Photo by Gage Skidmore



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/police-are-not-people-even-if-sheriff-david-clarke_us_57ea8d01e4b0972364dea471
Dr. GS Potter, Contributor
Educator, Advocate and founder of the Strategic Institute of Intersectional Policy
Police Are Not People, Even If Sheriff David Clarke Says They Are
Sheriff Clarke, police are not the victims of their own brutality.
09/27/2016 11:16 am ET | Updated Sep 28, 2016

Image by Charlie Potter

This article is the second in a two-part response to Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke’s public attempts to defame my character personally and professionally in the Huffington Post and on Fox News’s The Kelly File.

Mr. Clarke’s launched these attacks in response to an article I published last month entitled Stop Blue Lives Matter. In this article, I describe efforts by the Fraternal Order of Police to pass legislation that allows cops that kill to do so without consequence, and place additional barriers in the path to victims of brutality seeking justice. In the first part of my response to the officer seeking to label Black Lives Matter as a hate group, I refuted his arguably slanderous and libelous attacks on myself as a person. In this article, I will respond to his attacks on my work as a professional.

Sheriff Clarke, Police Still Don’t Have Dangerous Jobs

In Stop Blue Lives Matter I write,

“As a profession, the police are in a far less dangerous position than one might think. In fact, it would be fair to argue that police don’t have a very dangerous job at all. According to the FBI, in 2015, ‘41 officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty…’ This is a 20% decrease since 2014. Not only are their jobs relatively risk-free, but the risk has consistently gone down for decades. In 2013, for example the United States saw the fewest police deaths by firearms since 1887…. ‘Police officer’ doesn’t even make the list of the top 10 deadliest jobs in the United States. Farmers, fishers, construction workers and truck drivers all put their lives at greater risks for their professions than police officer do.”

In reality, lightning is waging more of a war on the police than people of color are.

Still Clarke responds, “To begin with, while it is our job to serve and protect in the most dangerous conditions, to have Dr. Potter undermine the cost of that sacrifice is reprehensible and entirely full of lies.”

This is a misrepresentation of the goal of my article. I in no way attempt to undermine the sacrifice of law enforcement. What I do, though, is describe the actual threat of death experienced by law enforcement officers and contrast it with the overplayed and statistically incorrect narrative that the police have jobs that are so dangerous they should be ready to kill at any moment. The idea that police have a dangerous job is based on the notion that black people are dangerous. It is based on the idea that all communities of color, poor communities, and other target communities are filled with dangerous and “bad” people. It is based on the idea that the police have the right to serve and protect some communities, but not others. It is a prejudiced and unfounded argument that serves to incite and defend violence against people in these communities. This is the reprehensible lie I am trying to undermine.

Mr. Clarke goes on to argue that the police must “serve and protect in the most dangerous conditions.” These dangerous conditions include working in what Clarke describes as the “American ghetto.”

In part one of my response to Mr. Clarke, I describe how these “ghettos” are communities that we call home. I describe how these “dangerous conditions” are the environments we live in every day. But the danger is not the people – the men, women, children, elders, mentors, youth, friends, and families – that live in these “ghettos.”

We are advocates, teachers, service providers, shelter workers, volunteers and paid employees in all sectors. We live and work day in and day out in these communities that officers say they fear. We don’t see criminals when we look at our children. We don’t see thugs when we look at our men. We don’t see threats when we look at our women. We do not have bulletproof vests. We do not have special protections. We don’t go home to other communities, take our colors off and pat ourselves on the back for walking in an area where people are victimized more often than others. We do our jobs in these “dangerous communities” without promoting and defending the murder of innocent people. We do our jobs as professionals and as community members and family with concern for all involved. And we do our jobs without asking for permission to kill the people we work for.

We are the ones that have been exterminated, enslaved, euthanized, exploited by those that benefit from a political system that was built when only wealthy white males were considered to be people. We are the ones that are fighting to keep our children out from under the barrel of a police gun. We are the ones that have been physically, culturally and politically brutalized by systems of injustice and the law enforcement officers that uphold it. The danger is discrimination. The danger is segregation and poverty. The danger is racism and classism and ablism and homophobia. The danger is people dressed in blue uniforms with guns that think people of color are big “bad dudes” that are ready to kill at any moment. It is not the people that live in these “dangerous communities” that are the threat – it is the people like Sheriff Clarke that are the true dangers to us.

Sheriff Clarke, Police Are Not The Victims Of Their Own Brutality

As evidence to back his claim that community members are criminals and the police are under attack, Clarke quotes an academic from a conservative think tank (whose tower is arguably much more Ivory than mine) that writes, “40 percent of cop-killers are black, yet they make up only 13 percent of the U.S. population. A police officer is nearly 19 percent more likely to be killed by a black assailant than a cop killing an unarmed black person.”

Despite the creative application of statistical analysis, only 13 police officers were killed by black people in 2014. Of the close to 1.1 million officers hiding behind badges, only 51 were killed in the line of duty in 2014 and only 41 in 2015. That’s .005% and .0037% of the police population respectively. And while Sheriff Clarke believes the “slimy people” of the Black Lives Matter movement pose the most significant danger to law and order in the nation, 82% of these alleged cop killers were white.

Police officers are not being murdered en mass, and they are definitely not being attacked specifically by black people. Their statistical attempts to make the deaths of 13 officers grounds for declaring a war of blue against black in the United States is as ridiculous as it is dangerous to communities already fighting against police brutality.

Sheriff Clarke, Police Still Are Not People

Sheriff Clarke writes, “Potter adds to this falsified information purporting to show that police are above the law. To the contrary, police are held to a higher standard and under immense pressure to act with an almost super-human level of restraint when faced with immediate danger and the most testing and stressful of situations. The U.S. Supreme Court recognizes this in numerous decisions on police use of force that take into account that police act under circumstances that are tense, rapidly evolving and uncertain – and that their actions should not be reviewed through the lens of 20/20 hindsight.”

Clarke’s legal analysis skills are as strong as his profiling abilities.

Law enforcement officers are public positions. Blue is the color of a government uniform, not an identity. Blue represents a protected occupation, not a community that currently or historically has had to struggle for the most basic rights and protections in the United States. There is no such thing as a Blue life. Blue is not an identity under the law, and although this line has been a statement that police officers and sympathizers alike have responded negatively to, I will repeat it:

Police are not people.

As described in Harlow vs Fitzgerald, “government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Further, “As recognized at common law, public officers require this protection to shield them from undue interference with their duties and from potentially disabling threats of liability.”

This layered immunity from the consequences of killing under the color of law is made possible because in the eyes of the law, police are not people. Blue is not an identity. Police are a protected class of government employee. Despite Clarkes opinion of federal policy, police are by all accounts considered to be above the law. This is only legally possible because, according to federal policy, police are not people.

The Unions

Finally, I would like to address Clarke’s complete misrepresentation of my work to disband the police unions. As I describe in Stop Blue Lives Matter,

“The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) describes itself as embodying ‘more than 330,000 members in more than 2,200 lodges. We are the voice of those who dedicate their lives to protecting and serving our communities.’ They have used this voice to organize police unions in municipalities across the country, negotiate police union contracts in these locations, and pass Law Enforcement Officers Bills of Rights (LEOBORs) in 14 states. These contracts and policies are designed to ensure that police that kill and brutalize community members can escape trial, conviction and literally any form of accountability whatsoever for their actions. They function as obstructions to justice that allow killer cops to walk free and force community members to take to the streets to demand reform.”

In response, Clarke writes:

“…it’s also worthwhile to note that the Dr. Potters of the left are adding another target to their list: the union.…Watch out, Teamsters and Nurses, Potter and the Democrat party will be coming after you next. After all the union support the Democrats have lost with Hillary Clinton’s haphazard lurch toward total and complete abandonment of the middle class, one would think they would be a little more forgiving of the freedom of unions to represent the concerns of its members.”

Let me be as clear as possible, I am not a democrat - although the democrats have traditionally supported the unions, while Republicans have taken staunch anti-union positions. I am unaware of a Democratic agenda that promotes union busting in general; and I am absolutely not part of this imaginary agenda to “come after” the unions. Further, I am not personally or professionally anti-union. I have actually been unionized, come from a union family and am an outspoken advocate of exploited workers.

I am also personally and professionally against union-busting, in general. So much so, that I would not publish a strategy to disband the police unions until I found one that did not threaten unions in other fields. Fortunately, I was able to find and articulate just such a strategy. In Stop Blue Lives Matter I write,

“The nation’s leading law enforcement agencies are prevented from unionizing by the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act. After the Watergate scandal, there was a brief political window in which the public and government officials were afraid enough of abuses of authority by law enforcement, that there were willing to enact legislation that placed greater constraints on their ability to engage in misconduct and brought “efficiency and accountability” to law enforcement organizations operating at the federal level. Legislation that adds the national network of state and local law enforcement to list of those prevented from unionizing under the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act would ensure that police are held accountable by the federal government, facilitate the elimination of police unions, dissolve existing police union contracts, and prevent future obstructions created by additional police union contracts and legislation. The petition to support this reform can be found here.”

Conclusion

Clarke closes with, “In the meantime, Dr. Potter will continue to attack the men and women who put on uniforms and serve their communities with their hearts, minds, and muscle, while she writes behind her computer screen about how they remind her of modern-day slavers.”

Again this is a misrepresentation. I will continue to support communities targeted by police in their struggle — in our struggle — to protect our children and families and friends and neighbors from being criminalized for the color of their skin, the abilities of their body, the amount of poverty they must endure every day, the god they pray to, the country they came from, what gender(s) they are and what gender(s) they love…to protect them from being murdered for these same reasons. And yes, I will continue to write. From the grassroots. I will continue to educate. And I will continue to organize.

Some of this work will even be done at a computer. Using the internet. Here’s a link to my other articles on Huffington Post. The also serve to provide information about the struggle against police brutality, and they were also written at a computer.

Click here to read Part 1 of my response to David Clarke


ON SHERIFF DAVID CLARKE’S REFERENCE TO THE FAR RIGHT SPIN ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD’S ACTIVITIES AS “THE TRUE SAVAGE BRUTALITY,” SEE THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES:

http://www.factcheck.org/2015/07/unspinning-the-planned-parenthood-video/

http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2016/feb/08/john-obannon/del-john-obannon-says-planned-parenthood-sold-feta/



THERE ARE ALWAYS INSANE INDIVIDUALS ON THE STREETS, EVEN IN THOSE LITTLE SLEEPY SMALL TOWNS, WHO DON’T “LOOK INSANE,” NO ROLLING EYES OR FROTHING AT THE MOUTH. I DON’T BLAME THAT ON THE STRONGLY UNNERVING TIMES THAT WE ARE LIVING THROUGH RIGHT NOW, THOUGH I BELIEVE SUCH THINGS DO INCREASE UNDER SOCIETAL PRESSURE. THIS MAN IS CAUGHT AND I HOPE AND PRAY WILL BE PUT IN A HOSPITAL FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES TO BRING HIM AROUND WITH THERAPY AND DRUGS, AND ONLY THEN SHOULD HE BE LET LOOSE TO WALK AMONG US. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOTED AS AN EXTREME ALARM BELL WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED FOR “MENACING.” WE NEED MORE MENTAL HOSPITALS, NOT LESS, SO THAT PEOPLE CAN BE COMMITTED BEFORE THEY DO SOMETHING WORSE.

By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS NEWS May 19, 2017, 1:29 PM
Police: Times Square driver accelerated as he hit pedestrians

NEW YORK — Richard Rojas approached the busy intersection of West 42nd Street and 7th Ave. in New York City's Times Square a few minutes before noon Thursday and paused his maroon Honda Accord to allow cars to drive past before making a near complete U-turn onto the sidewalk, where he began to accelerate, according to police.

Deputy Chief William Aubry, the commander of Manhattan detectives, held a press conference Friday with new details on the fatal incident that left a teenage girl dead and spread fear through one of the most nation's most crowded and popular tourist destinations.

After his U-turn, police said Rojas continued to accelerate as he sped down the sidewalk for three full blocks, striking 21 pedestrians, one of whom died from her injuries.

Photograph -- gettyimages-684500988.jpg, A wrecked car sits in the intersection of 45th and Broadway in Times Square, on Thu., May 18, 2017 in New York City. GETTY

"He waited for those cars to pass, and then he accelerated, striking those pedestrians, that goes to his state of mind," Aubry said.

Photograph -- 170518-alyssa-elsman-times-square-fatality-02.jpg, Alyssa Elsman, 18, died after a man plowed through pedestrians with his car in New York's Times Square on May 18, 2017.

Alyssa Elsman, an 18-year-old visiting from Michigan, was killed. Her 13-year-old sister suffered a collapsed lung and broken pelvis, Aubry said.

In total, 19 of those injured were treated at hospitals. Three remain in critical condition and "one is very critical," Aubry said.

Rojas, a U.S. citizen, has had prior run-ins with police, including drunken driving incidents. On May 14, he was arrested for menacing.

Police sources told CBS New York that Rojas made rambling statements after being arrested. They also described him as emotionally disturbed. Rojas passed a breathalyzer test, but an initial test came up positive for PCP and marijuana. A source tells CBS News the suspect claimed to have heard voices, wanted to die, and did it for god.

Aubry said police are awaiting a full toxicology report.

Rojas, a 26-year-old from the Bronx, is facing multiple charges, including murder, attempted murder and aggravated vehicular homicide.

Photograph -- rtx36ifs.jpg, Richard Rojas is escorted from the 7th precinct by New York City Police officers after being processed in connection with the speeding vehicle that struck pedestrians on a sidewalk in Times Square in New York City, on Thu., May 18, 2017. REUTERS