Police made more than 150 arrests as a crowd rioted against a Los Angeles court decision to sentence a white former transit officer to the minimum term for fatally shooting an unarmed black man in the back while he was face down on the ground.
The unrest was the latest in the case against defendant Johannes Mehserle, which has provoked periodic racial strife in Oakland since he shot and killed Oscar Grant while trying to arrest him on an Oakland train platform nearly two years ago.
The protests erupted hours after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry sentenced Mehserle to a two-year prison sentence, from which he will likely only serve six or seven months, provoking immediate anger from the victim's family and friends who demanded a much harsher punishment. The video is pretty damning: officer stands up, pulls gun from holster, points it as suspect's back while the suspect is being restrained, fires it once, and returns it to his holster.
Apparently he claimed he thought he was grabbing his taser instead. If the judge believed him, that would explain the minimal sentence. How well trained are transit officers in comparison to regular police?
I wasn't aware that the proper response, faced with a man who is trying to grab your Taser, was to shoot said man in the back ...
My apologies, I phrased that badly. Transit officer Mehserle thought he was taking out his own taser, but reached for the wrong thing. Instead of electrocuting the victim on the ground, Officer Mehserle shot bullets into him. Look at Mehserle's body language in the last seconds of the video linked above. In the video linked in the comment thread below, the reporter says Mehserle was "a two year veteran", which I presume means he'd been a transit officer for only two years. There's a big difference between making a mistake that results in death and deliberate murder.
#1
Moose, from your highlights I have a related police procedure question. I confess complete ignorance, so bear with me.
Why would anyone using a firearm shoot in the position shown here? Basically straight down at very close range.
That's why the taser claim makes sense, but if you're that close to a target, don't you forego a firearm and use brute force - hand to hand/taser/billy club/tire iron/whatever is handy?
That's why I never understood the presumed intent here.
Sure, he's responsible for the results of his actions, and sure the "crowd" is entitled to its reactions, but the initial facts just don't quite add up.
#2
My impression is that this is an "addle-brained anger response", which means the critical information could be found if the officer was given a blood test right after, which he probably wasn't.
Narrow this down to either alcohol, drugs, or steroids.
I don't believe the "confused gun with Taser" excuse for one minute. Holster, weight, shape, feel, color, are all very different. He even has difficulty drawing his gun from its holster, giving him more time to tell the difference.
So the big questions, found in testimony should be, "Did he appear angry? Did he curse?" If he was in an addle brained anger mode, any weapon would do.
#4
Video I mentioned above. I moved it here because it screwed up the formatting above. I apologize -- I'm still not very good at technical things. The reporter's comment about the "two year veteran" is at 2:17.
#5
and the citizens of Oakland are entitled to riot like animals?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/06/2010 14:31 Comments ||
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#6
Certainly cured the "scuffling" and reluctance to be cuffed. Note to other recalcitrants, Keep your mouth SHUT and do what the police tell you to do!
#7
Pretty clear Grant should've done what he was told. Also pretty clear this so-called officer had no business carrying a deadly weapon. In my experience that is the case with too many (not 'most', but still 'too many') police and pseudo-police. Petty people with power is a bad combination.
I wonder how Mehserle will hold up during his remaining months of incarceration - may need solitary in order to survive.
As for the rioters - what kind of drunken fool burns down his own liquor store? Next liquor store will be Korean-owned, and belligerants will be picking out buckshot for a year, if they're lucky.
This is hard to believe, but from the website of the AG of Pennsylvania:
HARRISBURG - Attorney General Tom Corbett today announced that a consumer protection lawsuit has been filed against an Erie debt collection company accused of using deceptive tactics to mislead, confuse or coerce consumers - including the use of bogus "hearings" allegedly held in a company office that was decorated to look like a courtroom. "This is an unconscionable attempt to use fake court proceedings to deceive, mislead or frighten consumers into making payments or surrendering valuables to Unicredit without following lawful procedures for debt collection," Corbett said. "Consumers also allegedly received dubious 'hearing notices' and letters - often hand-delivered by individuals who appear to be Sheriff Deputies - which implied they would be taken into custody by the Sheriff if they failed to appear at the phony court for 'hearings' or 'depositions'."
First - having worked in the loan industry for a few years, you learn something VERY quickly: at a minimum, about half of the people who walk in the door have no intention of ever paying back a dime, because they know that most judges will never find them liable, even if it goes to court. Even with overwhelming evidence and written statements from the debtor that they were refusing to pay even though they had the ability to do so, the judges here refused to order a judgment against the debtors about 80% of the time. Doesn't excuse what these folks pulled, but bear with me.
Now, second: the rules under which loan companies can collect loans are VERY specific - they don't leave a lot of leeway. So whatever these folks did, I guarantee they met the absolute letter of the law - so much so, that the State AG, who has some very broad powers, was unable to actually arrest anyone. And that, I might point out, was after what must have been a pretty serious effort to do so. That means that no one ever, ever said that they were anything they weren't, or at least not that the AGs office could prove. However, the debtors - often not the sharpest knives in the drawer in the first place - drew their own conclusions and behaved accordingly, especially if they believed that the system that normally never rules against them was about to do so.
Third, and really keep this one in mind: this had to have cost a lot of money to keep going as long as it did...so clearly it was bringing in enough money to pay for all of it and still make a profit. The part about 'surrendering valuables' is interesting as well, insofar as that in every state of the Union, when you sign something over as collateral, only a court can make you hand it over - but the lender has every right in the world to ASK you to turn it over...or demand to see it upon request. You don't have to if you don't want to; that's very true. OTOH, if you don't have it - and haven't replaced it in the loan agreement with an item of similar value - it's fraud. Doesn't get prosecuted very often, but nevertheless, it's there.
Smarmy and sneaky? HELL yes. Questionable? At best, and that's putting it mildly.
Legal? Almost certainly. And there's loan offices across the country right now trying to figure out where these guys went wrong so they can do it right.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/06/2010 20:37 Comments ||
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[Chosun Ilbo] U.S. President Barack B.O. Obama moved down in the ranking of the Forbes World's Most Powerful People after his party suffered a crushing defeat in midterm elections. Obama comes second on the list released Wednesday, pipped to the post by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Oh please. Has Mr. Hu even won a Nobel Peace Prize yet?
"Paramount political leader of more people than anyone else on the planet; exercises near dictatorial control over 1.3 billion people, one-fifth of world's population," Forbes gushes. "Unlike Western counterparts, Hu can divert rivers, build cities, jail dissidents and censor Internet without meddling from pesky bureaucrats, courts." This would not have been enough to give the Chinese leader top billing in the past, but the country's burgeoning economic might tipped the scales in Hu's favor.
The weekly said while Obama was the world's most powerful person until last year, and while his defeat in the midterm elections may have had a small effect China's rising power was the decisive factor. "He can take comfort in the fact that he remains commander-in-chief of world's largest, deadliest military, leader of world's largest (in spending) and most dynamic economy and holds the unofficial title of 'Leader of the Free World,'" the magazine said.
The third place went to King Abdullah of Soddy Arabia, which has one fifth of the world's entire oil reserves. The value of crude oil owned by his country is estimated at US$22 trillion. The magazine claimed Abdullah consolidated his power by pursuing conservative Islamic values while maintaining close ties with the U.S. at the same time.
Indeed. We're not sure how comfortable we are with the result of the first of those two efforts.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was seen as more powerful than Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, coming fourth.
Pope Benedict XVI came fifth. The weekly said although he does not have the power of popes in the Middle Ages, he is still influential as the spiritual leader of 1.1 billion believers around the world. German Chancellor Angela Merkel came sixth and was the most powerful woman.
I s'pose that makes up for Forbes putting Mrs. Barack Obama first on the Most Powerful Women list. No doubt Mr. Forbes found the dinner party conversations interesting after the earlier list came out.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A mob beat five suspected robbers to death and injured another at Habibnagar of Kadamtoli in the capital early yesterday.
They also recovered 11 knives and eight pieces of equipment intended for breaking into houses.
Two of the dead were identified as Firoz, 28, and Ameer, 30. The rest could not be identified.
Suspect Nazrul Islam was undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and was stated to be at death's door. ♪♫ Knock knock knockin' on heaven's door ... ♪♫
Police also jugged another robber of the gang Md Mahfuz, 25.
Among the five dead, two keeled over dead while three others died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Obviously not a Level I Trauma Center ...
Locals and community leaders of the area said following recent escalation of robbery incidents they introduced neighbourhood watch at night in the area. A team of the neighbourhood watch saw 25-30 men together at dead of night and they were behaving suspiciously. Danger Sensing:OFF
Officer-in-Charge of Kadamtoli Police Station Kazi Ayubur Rahman said the team approached the gang around 3:30am and an altercation ensued over the gang's intentions.
Mamunur Rashid, joint secretary of Habibnagar Samaj Kalyan Sangsad, told The Daily Star, "We were patrolling the area to resist robbers at night in two groups. Our group was of six people. When we asked them they identified themselves as labourers but we did not believe them. Later one of them brandished a sharp weapon.
"We screamed seeing the weapon. Later hundreds of people of the area came out of their homes and chased them."
The mob of around 400 people captured seven of the gang and gave six of them a good beating. The others managed to flee. A few locals were maimed when the suspects used iron rods in their desperate attempt get away.
Mansur Ali Farazi, general secretary of Habibnagar Panchayet Committee, told The Daily Star that they caught robber Mahfuz who was hiding in a lake. He is now in police custody.
Mahfuz told them that four robbers jumped into the lake and two others were caught while one is still on the lam.
Locals had cordoned off the lake until yesterday noon to search for more robbers.
Ismail Begh Pintu, general secretary of Habibnagar Samaj Kalyan Sangsad, told The Daily Star that five robbery incidents took place in the area in just one month and that they had informed police about their neighbourhood watch.
Arrested Mahfuz told The Daily Star that he was going without food onboard a launch heading to Dhaka from Barisal. He claimed that the gang of around 29 men gave him food and asked him if he would work with them as a labourer. He said the gang held a meeting on the deck around midnight. He said he went to Habibnagar from Sadarghat launch terminal on a bus.
Gazi Mozammel Hoque, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said the area's major problem is robbery. Well at least it was until yesterday...
"We will increase patrolling there. The locals of the area are also very active and the community policing will be strengthened," he said.
Police filed three cases in this connection; one under Arms Act.
The other two were attempted robbery and murder. There were no accused mentioned in the murder case.
OC Ayubur said they took the 11 sharp weapons and the equipment into their custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2010 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Settling in Britain should be a cherished right and not an "automatic add-on" for migrants who enter the country temporarily for study or work, the UK Home Secretary said Friday. Theresa May said the Government did not want to bolt Britain's borders shut, but added that she wanted more for less from those coming to the UK. Outlining plans to tighten settlement rights for migrants entering temporarily to study or work, Mrs May said the consequences of "such unchecked permanent migration through the back door" were clear. "If people enter this country saying that they will only stay here temporarily then it is obvious that they should only stay here temporarily," She said. "Working in Britain for a short period should not give someone the right to settle in Britain. She added that "Studying a course in Britain should not give someone the right to settle in Britain. Settling in Britain should be a cherished right, not an automatic add-on to a temporary way in." The Home Secretary also pledged to crack down on immigration abuse in order to restore public confidence in the system.
In her first major speech on immigration policy here, she said the number of non-EU migrants had to be reduced to "sustainable levels".
Between 1997 and 2009, net migration was 2.2 million people - more than twice the population of Birmingham, central England.
Mrs May said she would shortly bring forward proposals to cut the number. Net migration - the difference between the number of people coming to live in the UK and the number emigrating - stood at 196,000 last year.
The coalition government has promised at least to halve this figure by by 2015. In June, the Home Office introduced a temporary limit of 24,100 work visas for non-EU citizens. Permanent measures will be brought in from April 2011 but the final decision on the figure is not expected until next month, officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2010 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Search crews combed through charred rubble in central Cuba early Friday after a fiery plane crash killed 68 people, according to the CNN, citing reports broadcast by the Cuban state media.
The Aerocaribbean plane was carrying 40 Cubans and 28 foreigners. None of them survived the crash. Photos posted on websites showed rescue crews using heavy machinery to comb through the rubble. Flames still engulfed part of the plane.
The flight was traveling from the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba and heading to the country's capital of Havana, Cubadebate reported.
The Civil Aviation Institute of Cuba said Flight 883 lost contact with air traffic controllers around 5:42 p.m. Thursday (Cuba local time).
The plane crashed in a rural part of the central province of Sancti Spiritus, Cubadebate said. Residents in the area said the plane made several sudden movements before plunging to the ground.
Passengers include 40 Cubans, nine people from Argentina, seven people from Mexico, three people from the Netherlands, two from Germany, two from Austria and one person each from Spain, France, Italy, Japan and Venezuela.
The last plane crash in Cuba occurred in March 2002.
Third world maintenance, Communist maintenance. It's always a risk.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2010 00:00 ||
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Sprint Nextel Corp. is excluding Chinese telecommunications-equipment makers Huawei Technologies Ltd. and ZTE Corp. from a contract worth billions of dollars largely because of national security concerns in Washington, according to people familiar with the matter. Huawei and ZTE lost out even though they submitted bids that were lower than those of their three competitors, Alcatel-Lucent SA, Telefon L.M. Ericsson of Sweden and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., said a person familiar with the matter.
Last month four US lawmakers wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission expressing their concerns that Chinese telecom-gear makers are potentially subject to "significant influence by the Chinese military which may create an opportunity for manipulation of switches, routers, or software embedded in American telecommunications network so that communications can be disrupted, intercepted, tampered with, or purposely misrouted." BUT, outsourcing US rare earth mining to the lowest bidder (China) has worked out so well!
#2
Jobs also matter Snow Thing, but in this case security matters even more. There's a reason that recent IEEE publications suddenly had a series of articles about trusted vs vulnerable hardware as well as software in telecomms.
Not everything with a CISCO label on the cabinet was made by them or remains in its original configuration.
In that case, IMHO, they have turned our leadership's collective unconcern for our economic well being against us, and used it to limit our well being in other areas as well.
[Bangla Daily Star] China has warned other countries against attending the award ceremony in Oslo for Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, diplomats said yesterday, in the latest sign of Beijing's irritation at the Norwegian Nobel Committee's pick this year.
Diplomats from several countries said China's embassy in Oslo had sent letters to Western missions implicitly cautioning them not to attend the prize ceremony on December 10 in the Norwegian capital.
The decision to award the prize to Liu, a veteran Chinese dissident currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for subversion against the state, has enraged the Communist government in Beijing.
In Beijing, Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said governments would have to "take responsibility for the consequences" if they showed support for Liu, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
China has said the honour awarded last month was tantamount to "encouraging crime."
Norway-based ambassadors are traditionally invited to attend the ceremony in Oslo city hall along with royalty and other stars, and the Chinese warnings do not appear to have dissuaded many of them from attending.
"We have received a letter which explains the Chinese position and which asks us not to do anything which could destabilise China," Olof Huldtgren, the deputy head of mission at the Swedish embassy in Oslo, told AFP.
"It does not explicitly say don't participate in the Nobel ceremony, but reading between the lines, the message is clear."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
The best response to this threat would be for every country that does business with China to attend the Nobel ceremony. Then the PRC can boycott the world!
#3
will be interesting to see how the US will respond here.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
11/06/2010 2:20 Comments ||
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#4
If weak and dependent Afghanistan gets to dictate the limits of free speech in Florida, why shouldn't a far stronger China get to dictate the limits of free speech in Norway.
Messages of appeasement and accommodation directed at the Afghans will inevitably be noticed by a global audience.
The Chicoms are just being provoked by western provocative weakness.
Edited for length...
AUSTRALIA has agreed to a major escalation of military co-operation with the US. This will include more visits by American ships, aircraft and troops and their forces exercising here regularly.
Be careful what you wish for, Japan ...
Access to Australian Defence Force facilities will allow the US to step up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region as it comes under pressure to wind down its key bases, such as Okinawa, as concern grows about China's military expansion.
Increased numbers of US personnel in Australian facilities are expected within months, and the tempo of military exercises will be stepped up as that happens.
Likely early sites are Townsville, as the primary base for army operations, the port of Darwin, the Bradshaw Field Training Area in the Northern Territory and HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia.
Three big announcements on military and security co-operation will be made after Monday's AUSMIN defence and foreign policy talks involving delegations headed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Stephen Smith.
Sources close to the talks said this AUSMIN, in Melbourne, would be one of the most significant in the summit's 25-year history.
"AUSMIN occurs at a time when the Asia-Pacific, for the first time, becomes the central strategic theatre for the world for the 21st century," Mr Rudd said. Powerpuff girls?
#1
well having moved from way down south to Townsville, let me be the first to welcome any Yanks
:-) oh and watch out for the spider, sharks , crocks, stingers etc
(KUNA) -- France and China agreed to reform the global monetary regime, a senior French official said Friday.
French Media quoted senior Presidential advisor as saying after summit talks between President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Nice, that points of view were close over objectives and methods to reform global monetary regime.
The advisor, asking not to be named, said both leaders also agreed to hold a summit of monetary experts in China, probabaly next Spring.
Sarkozy and Hu discussed situation of global monetary system as France will be chairing the G-20 in its next summit in Seoul, South Korea, on November 13, he said.
Hu, asked by the big industrial countries to appreciate the Chinese currency, said in an interview that the Chinese currency exchange policy was balanced and responsible.
China signed USD 20-billion contracts with France to buy aircraft and to cooperate in nuclear and energy domains.
The Elysee Palace said China requested 102 Airbus aircraft with USD 14 billion.
A Chinese energy company signed a USD 3.5 billion contract the France's state-owned nuclear company (Areva) to supply Chinese electricity company with uranium. Both sides also signed an agreement to treat uranium in China.
Other contracts were signed to establish a life insurance company in China, and French Total signed an agreement with China to drill and manufacture clear fuel.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2010 00:00 ||
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#3
Well they manage to rob us of the D-Mark, so who knows
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/06/2010 13:01 Comments ||
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#4
Well they manage to rob us of the D-Mark, so who knows
With your government's enthusiastic cooperation, European Conservative. I don't know that the present chancellor, just named the sixth most powerful person in the world, would be as agreeable.
(KUNA) -- Some five people accused of being a part of a network specialised in selling and distributing illegal performance-enhancing drugs were arrested in Spain on Friday, along with 500,000 dosages worth a total 150,000 euros.
After searching the homes of the alleged group, large amounts of cash, and illegal amphetamines and anabolic hormones were found, police in the southern region of Seville said in a statement.
Investigation into the issue had been going on since April this year, after police received information that the drugs were being given to people attending gyms and nightclubs in the area.
Most of the confiscated material is of foreign sources, mostly European countries, none of which has undergone obligatory government medical testing to assess safety, the statement added.
Health effects as a result of the use of these substances can range from heart to liver problems, cancer and infections in all forms which could all lead to death, the statement concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Some five people accused of being a part of a network specialised in selling and distributing illegal performance-enhancing drugs..
Congressium - allows the user to keep a legit straight face while knowingly lying his/her ass off? More effective than Journalismium but can be used together to attain an enhanced effect. However, it is less effective than Obamaium by itself because an Obamaium user sometimes actually believes their own lies in the face of reality.
#2
The list of potential performance enhancing drugs is enormous, and varies considerably between nations. No idea what Spain would object to, but it might be OTC in the US.
(KUNA) -- A small passenger plane Friday morning crashed in southern Karachi port city of Pakistan after developing some technical fault, killing all passengers and crew members on board, said officials.
A small passenger plane of a local private company was flying to Bhatt Shah oil field when it developed some technical problems, immediately after take-off, said Lieutenant Colonel Noor Alam, in charge of rescue operation at the Karachi airport.
Briefing newsmen, he said the pilot tried to fly back to the runway but the plane crashed in the nearby fields. He added that all persons on board, including the crew members, were killed in the accident.
All dead bodies have been charred beyond recognition, he added.
However, an official of the Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) told KUNA 17 passengers and four crew members were on board.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2010 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Chosun Ilbo] U.S. President 
