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BAD COPS AND USELESS GRAND JURIES

As seen on America The Not So Beautiful

By Mike Caccioppoli

I’m so tired of writing about this crap. I’m sure you are tired of reading about it. None of us are surprised another grand jury didn’t indict a cop. Grand juries indict 99.9 percent of time. The .1 percent of the time they don’t is because a cop is on trial. The entire grand jury system needs to be scrapped. There is simply no need for it. They do exactly what the prosecutors want. If they want an indictment, they hand it down, if they don’t, they vote “no true” bill, whatever the hell that means or meant back in 1787 when maybe the grand jury system was necessary. They are now worthless, chocked with people who don’t think on their own, and just march in lock step with the orders they are given. They are just slaves to their prosecutor masters. It is time for the entire system to go.

In the Eric Garner case we have a video. Much like in the Ray Rice case. Before we had the Rice video many people were saying his punching out his fiancee wasn’t a big deal. After the video many wanted to hang Rice. Same case, same offense, but there was video. In the Michael Brown case there is no video. Imagine the difference if there had been. Now I don’t mean a difference in the outcome of the grand jury. We have all seen Eric Garner choked to death. It’s clear to see and it didn’t make a difference. Therefore there is data now that tells us police wearing cameras will not make much of a difference. Yes like with Garner, there would be a difference with public opinion but not where it counts most, in the justice system.  Because a grand jury simply will not indict a police officer.

We all saw what happened. There really is no excuse to not get an indictment for probable cause. Which brings up another issue. An issue which is so glaringly unfair, such an obvious conflict of interest that the fact it had not been remedied decades ago proves that our justice system is not the best in the world.  People can scream and yell about how it’s the best as much as they want, just like they scream and yell that everything in this country is the best, it still doesn’t make it a fact. In this case I’m talking about having an ordinary prosecutor take cases involving police shootings or misconduct. The same prosecutors who are on the side of the police, who work with them daily and need them to make their cases. The same prosecutors who are buddy buddy with cops, who go out and drink with them and socialize with them. This is the greatest injustice of all injustices. Any case which involves law enforcement needs to be assigned immediately to a special prosecutor that has NO connection with the cops involved. If the federal government needs to be involved then so be it. Any country that is serious about its judicial system being the best and most fair would have had this in place already. It’s that simple.

I have to love those right wingers who are now feigning bewilderment at the Garner case. Because there is a video they cannot dispute. Well, most of them. I’m not talking about the disgusting Rudy Giuliani or abhorrent Peter King. They both have enough white ethnic cop apologists (some who are indeed racists) among their followers and constituents that they can be as grotesque as they want with no consequences. The others are, all of a sudden, shocked and amazed that a grand jury didn’t indict. As though this was the first injustice ever. Even though we just had one before this. Of course they still won’t admit any kind of racism was involved. You see it’s all just a coincidence that these are white cops killing blacks, time after time.

Timothy Loehmann, the cop in Cleveland who killed 12 year old Tamir Rice was rejected by the NYPD. The same department that allowed Daniel Pantaleo, the cop who killed Eric Garner, (and who already had one civil case against him settled for tens of thousands of dollars), onto the force, rejected this guy. That’s how bad he is. He was also thrown off a previous police force due to emotional and other issues. He has been reported to have said that he wanted to join the Cleveland police department because he wanted “action.” Action? I thought cops just wanted to go home at night? Oh, and by the way, citizens deserve to go home at night as well. Even more so actually because they aren’t willingly taking a job that can be dangerous and getting money and a pension for it. But this cop was obviously nuts, so why was he hired? Because they never checked into his background. Disgraceful. And the police unions, willing to defend everything and anything a bad cop might do, make this liberal want to hate unions.

Police departments not checking backgrounds before they hire. Cops with no ability to relate on a human, emotional level to another person. When a child puts a chokehold on another, when they are just doing horseplay, and the other child screams or says they can’t breathe, the other child releases. Why? Because human nature kicks in and makes them care about the other kid, to understand that causing distress is bad and wrong. But our cops seem to lack this most basic human ability. Time after time. Whether it’s someone with their hands up or someone who has already been shot two or three times, or a child with a toy gun, or a guy gasping for air, saying 11 times, “I can’t breathe.” Several cops just stood around while Garner was choked to death, both during and after the act.

Too often these cops have no emotional or ethical conscience. There is something sociopathic about it and that’s frightening. Not only do we need police departments to do the BASIC operations of checking backgrounds but we also need better psychological screenings or people wanting to be cops. We need police officers with true concern for the lives and well being of the citizens they are sworn to serve and protect. Not just the old deli owner who serves them lunch, that’s easy, but the people they encounter daily who might be breaking the law as well. That the lives of these people are as important as their own. That they have families they want to go home to as well.

The mentality of the warrior cop must be expunged from the police force. It must be replaced by the human cop.

I CAN’T BREATHE.

Never again.

Mike.Caccioppoli@yahoo.com

@CaccioppoliMike

Visit America The Not So Beautiful

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THE FIX WAS IN ALL ALONG IN FERGUSON

As seen on America The Not So Beautiful

November 25, 2014

By Mike Caccioppoli

This is my first reaction to what just happened in Ferguson. My stomach is in knots. Buildings are burning. There are people who have criticized the title of my blog “America The Not So Beautiful.” They wanted something more optimistic, softer. Can you argue with the title now? I mean can you really? We are retreating in this country. As other nations forge ahead, we are back in the 1950’s and 60’s. It’s Selma all over again and watts and even further back, into the dark ages. This is where we are now. No justice and certainly no peace.

We all sat together, watched, listened together. Listened as the corrupt St. Louis County Prosecutor named Bob McCulloch, told the nation, told all of us, from San Francisco to Chicago to New York to Miami and to the heart of the tragedy, Ferguson, Missouri, that Darren Wilson, the police officer who killed Michael Brown, will not face charges. Yes, most of us expected it, dreaded it. But now it was real, it had actually happened. Justice denied, again. Again.

McCulloch stood there, and described an execution, then in the next breath said there was nothing to see here. He didn’t sound like any prosecutor I have heard before. He sounded much more like a defense attorney, the defense attorney for Darren Wilson. A prosecutor wants an indictment when they go to a grand jury so therefore in the almost non-existent cases where they don’t get one, they are distraught, just as they are when they lose a case in court. McCulloch hardly seemed upset about the decision, in fact he seemed vindicated, just like a defense attorney would be after they got their client off.

I’m not surprised at all. I expected this decision. We all did. But like everyone else, I was dreading this moment. I knew the fix was in. There was something disquieting about watching McCulloch throwing that fact in our collective faces. He threw it in our faces and hid behind a grand jury. I don’t blame them at all. As all legal experts have said, the grand jury does what the prosecutor wants. This time he didn’t want an indictment so he stacked the deck to get the result he wanted. McCulloch is a coward, and just like a defense attorney who does not put everything on the line for their client, McCulloch should be forced out of office and not be allowed to practice law ever again. He put nothing on the line for Michael Brown, in fact, Brown, the VICTIM wasn’t represented at all.

Look, this is what it comes down to. A cop can kill who they want. If they kill a black person they will get off 100 percent of the time. If they kill a white person that probably drops to about 95 percent. This is why whites shouldn’t think they are safe. WE are not. They say a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich, but police officers aren’t ham sandwiches. In the minds of too many they are filet mignon. They are the top of the line and can do no wrong. If they shoot and kill it’s always because they have to. Whether it’s a kid walking in the street, or a man with a fake gun at his side in a toy store or a 12 year old with a gun that even the guy who called 911 knew was fake but the trained cop didn’t, it simply does not matter. They can kill you if they feel like it that day. There is no recourse.

McCulloch admitted that Wilson shot 12 times, that’s a dozen shots. Once again though, nothing to see here. No question from the idiot reporters in the media pool, about how far away Brown was when Wilson shot at him several times, including the fatal shot to his head. No question to McCulloch about the need for a cop to justify each and every shot, all 12 in this case. Nobody asked him why he allowed Wilson to testify for four hours and if he will afford ALL defendants that leeway from now on.  What McCulloch painted was the picture of a hulking black thug charging at Wilson, after he was already shot at least twice, charging AT BULLETS. That Wilson needed all 12 shots against an unarmed 18 year old kid in order to save his own life. Incredulity doesn’t describe it well enough.

McCulloch didn’t present a case. He dumped a case file in the hands of 12 people who were not legal experts and said have at it. He knew there were inconsistencies in testimony, because guess what…there ALWAYS is. If that were a reason to not indict, most of the people in prison wouldn’t be there. This was a game for McCulloch, a game he knew he could manipulate and win. He didn’t want to indict a cop and he knows that juries don’t want to either. So a little prod here and there is all he would need.

Scumbag Rudy Giuliani continues to spew at the mouth about “black on black” crime. But when a black person kills another black person they go to jail in about 23 seconds. As we have seen once again, when a cop kills someone, no matter what the evidence, no matter how many witnesses, no matter what, there is no justice.

Yes Ferguson is burning right now. But the entire country continues to smolder. None of us are protected from the flames.

Mike.Caccioppoli@yahoo.com

@CaccioppoliMike

Visit America The Not So Beautiful

 

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Republicans Already Promising to Filibuster New Unmentioned Attorney General

It was just a little over 24 hours ago when the United States Attorney General, Eric Holder, announced that he will resign from office by the end of this year. But already, with no other potential nominees mentioned by the President, Republicans are already gearing up to filibuster the new appointee.

With Nov. 4 midterm elections potentially tipping the balance in the Senate, some Republicans immediately called for a delay in the hearings and votes on the new attorney general until January, when the possibility of a GOP majority in the Senate might give Republicans almost total control of the outcome.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) issued a political call to arms for conservatives, saying that outgoing senators should not vote on the nominee during the post-election lame-duck session. “Allowing Democratic senators, many of whom will likely have just been defeated at the polls, to confirm Holder’s successor would be an abuse of power that should not be countenanced,” Cruz said in a statement.

Democrats argued that Republicans should step back and allow Obama to select his own cabinet without GOP obstruction.

“This is going to be the first real test, whether it’s in the lame-duck or early in the new year, whether our Republican colleagues are going to continue to obstruct,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday in an interview. “Every president deserves to have his attorney general.”

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Attorney General Eric Holder to Announce Resignation Today

(AP) — Eric Holder, who served as the public face of the Obama administration’s legal fight against terrorism and weighed in on issues of racial fairness, is resigning after six years on the job. He is the nation’s first black attorney general.

The White House said that President Barack Obama would announce Holder’s departure later Thursday and that Holder planned to remain at the Justice Department until his successor was in place. White House officials said Obama had not made a final decision on a replacement for Holder, who was one of the most progressive voices in his Cabinet.

Advisers to Obama and Holder said the attorney general had been planning his departure with the president for some time. Some possible candidates who have been discussed among administration officials include Solicitor General Don Verrilli, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a former Rhode Island attorney general.

Holder, a 63-year-old former judge and prosecutor, took office in early 2009 as the U.S. government grappled with the worst financial crisis in decades and with divisive questions on the handling of captured terrorism suspects, issues that helped shape his tenure as the country’s top law enforcement official. He is the fourth-longest serving attorney general in U.S. history.

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Members of Congress Call for Federal Investigation into Eric Garner’s Murder

The Daily News reports that Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Gregory Meeks and Yvette Clark called Thursday for the U.S. Department of Justice to open investigations into both the controversial tactic of aggressively enforcing low-level offenses to prevent more serious ones — a cornerstone of NYPD policing — and the July 17 death of the Staten Island man after being placed in a chokehold by a police officer.

“The family of Eric Garner deserves an independent and impartial investigation,” said Jeffries. “The only way for that to happen is for the Department of Justice to step in and get involved.”

The trio joined three New York congressional colleagues — Charles Rangel, Nydia Velazquez and Jose Serrano — in sending a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder about the case.

The nation’s top prosecutor has said his office is “closely monitoring” the city probe into Garner’s death.

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Eric Holder – “1000%” Happy to Be an Activist Attorney General

It’s easy being called an activist when it’s for the right reason, and when you’re a part of an administration whose main goal is working for the people, being called an activist is a good thing.

Eric Holder recognized this fact, and he is embracing being called an activist “1000 percent.”

“If you want to call me an activist attorney general, I will proudly accept that label,” Holder told journalist Juan Williams in an interview published at The Hill.

“Any attorney general who is not an activist is not doing his or her job,” he continued, adding that “the responsibility of the attorney general is to change things [and] bring us closer to the ideals expressed in our founding documents.”

Asked later about his response to critics who claim that the Justice Department houses an activist civil rights division and an activist chief, Holder said “I agree with you 1000 percent and [I am] proud of it.”

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Nut Boy Louis Gohmert Wants Attorney General Eric Holder Arrested

Louie Gohmert is a nut! A very nutty nut. And that’s the only reason he was elected to Congress, because his base – The Teaparty – loves nutty nuts!

Gohmert has said and done some nutty things too, and right up there with the rest of them is his nutty call to Congress to arrest the Attorney General,  Eric Holder.

In an interview on Friday with the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch, Gohmert, the brainchild of the Republican party called for Holder’s arrest.

“When you have someone like an attorney general who is in contempt of Congress, what can we do? Someone in contempt of Congress comes waltzing into the House chamber and he’s in contempt of Congress as found by the Congress, what can be done? I was told that actually you can pass a resolution directing the sergeant at arms to detain anyone who is in contempt of Congress until such time as they comply with the requirement that put him in contempt. In this case, they didn’t provide information from the Justice Department, they had it, they refused to provide it, we found him in contempt.”

It remains to be seen if Congressional Republicans will heed Gohmert call. After all, they are a leaderless group and anyone with something to say, no matter how nutty, gets airtime. Watch this space.

Listen

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Eric Holder Blasts Louis Gohmert – “Good Luck With the Asperges”

There are many stupid people in politics, we’ll call them congressional Republicans. But if there is an individual award for that dubious distinction, then Michele Bachmann will no longer be the undisputed champion.

Louis Gohmert – a Republican representative from Texas and a man John McCain correctly said has no intelligence, would most definitely get the award.

For whatever reason, Gohmert thinks he can match wits with the United States Attorney General, Eric Holder. In previous hearings, Gohmert stupidly picked a fight with the attorney general and got his assparagus handed to him.

Huh, you didn’t know about the asparagus?

Back in May 2013, during a House Judiciary hearing, Louie had the masterful idea that he would accuse the attorney general of not doing everything possible to stop the Boston Bombing. Eric Holder slammed Gohmert, informing him that he, as a representative, is not privy to what’s going on in the Justice Department, so making such a dumb accusation was in fact, dumb.

Said Holder;

“You don’t know what the FBI did. You don’t know what the FBI’s interaction was with the Russians. You don’t know what questions were put to the Russians, whether those questions were responded to. You simply do not know that. And you have characterized the FBI as being not thorough, or taken exception to my characterization of them as being thorough. I know what the FBI did. You cannot know what I know. That is all.”

After that smack down, Gohmert tried to respond, but his time was up. He managed however, to squeeze in the now infamous phrase, that the attorney general was apparently doing something to his asparagus.

I cannot have a witness challenge my character! The attorney general will not cast aspersions on my asparagus!”

And now Tuesday. Another hearing, same ole Louie Gohmert. This time, Gohmert accused Holder of not providing documents he requested. Holder was having none of Gohmert’s nonsense today, and quickly shot down the representative.

ERIC HOLDER: You don’t want to go there, buddy. You don’t want to go there, okay?

GOHMERT: I don’t want to go there?

HOLDER: No.

GOHMERT: About the contempt?

HOLDER: You should not assume that that is not a big deal to me. I think that it was inappropriate. I think it was unjust, but never think that that was not a big deal to me. Don’t ever think that.

GOHMERT: Well I’m just looking for evidence, and normally we’re known by our fruits, and there have been no indications that it was a big deal, because your department has still not been forthcoming in producing the documents that were the subject of the contempt.

HOLDER: The documents that we were prepared to make available then, we’re prepared to make available now that would have obviated the whole need. This was all about the gun lobby and a desire to have a —

GOHMERT: Sir, we’ve been trying to get to the bottom of Fast and Furious where people died, where at least a couple hundred Mexicans died, and we can’t get the information to get to the bottom of that, so I don’t need lectures from you about contempt, because it is very difficult to deal with asking questions.

HOLDER: And I don’t need lectures from you either.

GOHMERT: As a former judge, I’d never have asked questions of someone who’s been held in contempt. We waited ‘til the contempt was purged, and then we asked questions.

In ending the back and forth, Holder cane back with, “good luck with the asparagus.”

It was classic!

See the Videos below. Parts 1 and 2.

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John Cornyn Pulls a Political Stunt – Demands Eric Holder Resign

On Tuesday, Republican Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder, a member of the Obama Administration, resign. “So, Mr. Attorney General, it’s more with sorrow than anger that I would say you leave me with no alternative but to join those who call upon you to resign your office,” Cornyn said.

The Republican Senator is calling on Mr. Holder to resign because of a program that started in 2007 under the Bush Administration called The Fast an Furious. The object of the program was to allow traceable guns to be smuggled into Mexico with the intention of pinpointing their locations and capturing some very bad people associated with the drug cartels . Unfortunately, an American Border Patrol Agant Brian Terry, was killed in December 2010 by a criminal using one of these guns and now Mr. Holder is in the hot seat.

Cornyn continued;

“You still resist coming clean about what you knew and when you knew it with regard to Operation Fast and Furious,” Cornyn charged. “You won’t cooperate with a legitimate congressional investigation, and you won’t hold anyone, including yourself, accountable. Your department blocks states from implementing attempts to combat voter fraud. In short, you’ve violated the public trust, in my view, by failing and refusing to perform the duties of your office.”

“So, Mr. Attorney General, it’s more with sorrow than anger that I would say you leave me with no alternative but to join those who call upon you to resign your office,” Cornyn said.

Calling Cornyn’s performance a political stunt, Holder replied that he is not resigning;

“With all due respect, senator, there is so much that’s factually wrong with the premises that you started your statement with, it’s almost breathtaking in its inaccuracy, but I will simply leave it at that.”

“… I don’t have any intention of resigning. I heard the White House press officer say yesterday that the President has absolute confidence in me. I don’t have any reason to believe that that, in fact, is not the case.”

And in reference to the documents Republicans are demanding, reports claim that Tuesday’s appearance marked the ninth time [Holder] has testified before Congress on Operation Fast and Furious. Holder said he was the one who ended “the misguided tactics” in that operation and who tapped an inspector general to investigate any wrongdoing. His staff has also provided Congress with more than 7,600 documents, in 46 separate installments, relating to the issue.

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Attorney General Eric Holder Promises Justice For Trayvon Based on Evidence Collection

Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that the Justice Department will take appropriate action in the killing of Trayvon Martin if it finds evidence that a federal criminal civil rights crime has been committed.

The attorney general made the comments in an appearance before a civil rights organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Holder said the department will conduct a thorough and independent review of the evidence in the Martin matter. One of the department’s top priorities, said Holder, is preventing and combating youth violence and victimization.

The Justice Department launched an investigation of the Martin killing three weeks ago.

Source: Yahoo News

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Zimmerman Family Member Says Eric Holder Not Arresting Black Panthers Because He is Black

The Conservative Website The Daily Caller revealed this Exclusive letter from a member of the Zimmerman Family. The letter is addressed to the Attorney General Eric Holder, and asked Holder why he has not arrested members of the  new Black Panthers, suggesting that recent actions by the Panthers qualifies them as a “hate group.”

Leaders of the new Black Panthers have called for George Zimmerman to be captured, “dead or alive.”

The writer of the letter then asked if the arrests weren’t being made because Eric Holder is “black.”

The letter continued;

“George has done more for the black community than a lot of the black individual/organizations that are calling for his arrest (or death),” the family member assures, and refuses to “go into the intricacies of the case.” Instead, they ask, “why, when the law of the land is crystal clear, is your office not arresting the New Black Panthers for hate crimes?” The letter goes on to quote the legal definition of a hate crime and ask, “Since when can a group of people put a bounty on someone’s head, circulate Wanted posters publicly, and still be walking the streets?”

Strange enough, the question asked by the Zimmerman family member makes me remember what happened in Florida the night Trayvon Martin was killed and his killer is still “walking the streets.”

The letter is posted below.

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