Millions Of Taxpayer Dollars Are Going To Schools That Push Conversion Therapy
A HuffPost investigation has found schools in voucher programs that list “counseling” as discipline for LGBTQ students. The counseling, a form of conversion therapy, can be seriously harmful.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/voucher-programs-conversion-therapy_n_5ed07722c5b6c9605a95e4a2

Posted by: Mao | Jun 10 2020 18:09 utc | 4

A very interesting overview of what is happening in Libya.
https://madamasr.com/en/2020/06/08/feature/politics/what-comes-after-the-collapse-of-haftars-western-campaign/
b might want to comment on the situation.

Posted by: dh-mtl | Jun 10 2020 18:13 utc | 6

This aspect and legacy of George Floyd is being repressed and suppressed by #BlackLivesMatter. Blacks are killing each other in epidemic numbers and it’s via gun violence. Floyd preached against this and lamented it. It’s part of his legacy. Where are the protests against this? #BlackLivesMatter, right? Of course they do, and they matter just as much when a black person takes another black person’s life.
George Floyd: An anti-gun activist who preached peace, love and God

In an undated post on social media, George Floyd, who worked as a mentor to young people, condemned gun violence: “I got my shortcomings and my flaws, and I ain’t better than nobody else. But, man, the shootings that’s going on, I don’t care what religion you’re from or where you’re at. I love you, and God loves you. Put them guns down.”
Floyd’s anti-gun activism attracted the attention of two Houstonians, hip-hop artist and entrepreneur Corey Paul and Pastor Patrick “P.T.” Ngwolo, who were looking for contacts in the Third Ward for their social justice religious outreach. “We were extremely fortunate to meet George,” Corey Paul said on the Democracy Now! news hour. “George was already preaching peace, love, God, unity, advocating against gun violence … before we showed up. So, when we got there, George basically said, ‘If it’s God business, then it’s my business.'”

It’s an insult to George Floyd, to his name and his legacy, that we’re not using his death to talk about blacks murdering blacks at an epidemic rate and what needs to be done to reverse the epidemic.
Homicide Is A ‘Devastating Plague’ On Black Communities, And It Is Time We Stop Ignoring It

Posted by: 450.org | Jun 10 2020 18:17 utc | 8

Maybe the police can learn something from the experience.
We have tried for 50+ years.
Not going to happen– psychopathic sociopaths are who they are.
The proletariat is finally embracing reality.

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Jun 10 2020 18:28 utc | 10

In Libya, as in Idlib, Turkish drones have caused very significant damage to tanks and artillery positions … what is the defence?

Posted by: chet380 | Jun 10 2020 18:30 utc | 12

450.org @2–
Yes, that’s a most important point, the WHY behind the formation of police forces. This multipart essay details “The History of Policing in the United States” and gives us two key clues: Policing in the South emerged to enforce slavery, while in the North it evolved much later primarily as a means of social control:
“In the Southern states the development of American policing followed a different path. The genesis of the modern police organization in the South is the ‘Slave Patrol’ (Platt 1982). The first formal slave patrol was created in the Carolina colonies in 1704 (Reichel 1992). Slave patrols had three primary functions: (1) to chase down, apprehend, and return to their owners, runaway slaves; (2) to provide a form of organized terror to deter slave revolts; and, (3) to maintain a form of discipline for slave-workers who were subject to summary justice, outside of the law, if they violated any plantation rules. Following the Civil War, these vigilante-style organizations evolved in modern Southern police departments primarily as a means of controlling freed slaves who were now laborers working in an agricultural caste system, and enforcing ‘Jim Crow’ segregation laws, designed to deny freed slaves equal rights and access to the political system….
“More than crime, modern police forces in the United States emerged as a response to ‘disorder.’ What constitutes social and public order depends largely on who is defining those terms, and in the cities of 19th century America they were defined by the mercantile interests, who through taxes and political influence supported the development of bureaucratic policing institutions. These economic interests had a greater interest in social control than crime control. Private and for profit policing was too disorganized and too crime-specific in form to fulfill these needs. The emerging commercial elites needed a mechanism to insure a stable and orderly work force, a stable and orderly environment for the conduct of business, and the maintenance of what they referred to as the ‘collective good’ (Spitzer and Scull 1977). These mercantile interests also wanted to divest themselves of the cost of protecting their own enterprises, transferring those costs from the private sector to the state.”
It seems clear the two systems and their rationales merged with the main goal being social control, not the protections of freedoms and otherwise serving the community as the logo Protect & Serve implies, unless we look at that logo from the Establishment’s POV, for it then becomes clear who the police protect and serve. When looking at Labor History, it becomes very clear who police served and protected while totally ignoring the rights of those they attacked–the Police Riot has a very long and sordid history and certainly attacked whites more than blacks since the former constituted the greater mass of industrial workers then and now. However, whites weren’t subjected to being hunted down and lynched for sport and entertainment in ways that evidenced cultural approval for such terroristic acts. Rightly or wrongly, it’s that putrid history that strikes a chord with all people, particularly when the vastly greater amount of violence used against workers is suppressed and barely studied in survey US History courses, the curriculum of which is controlled by that same Establishment wanting to maintain social control.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 10 2020 18:41 utc | 14

It is also a demand that, in insisting that for all intents and purposes police violence must be seen as mainly, if not exclusively, a black thing, we cut ourselves off from the only basis for forging a political alliance that could effectively challenge it. All that could be possible as political intervention, therefore, is tinkering around with administration of neoliberal stress policing in the interest of pursuing racial parity in victimization and providing consultancies for experts in how much black lives matter.5
Posted by: 450.org | Jun 10 2020 18:00 utc | 2
There is some truth to it. However, this argument is based on a premise, largely correct, that the racist white majority will be oblivious as long as it is “black problem”. It reminds me when many years ago Republicans wanted to semi-privatize Social Security, cutting the guaranteed benefits etc. In their propaganda, they invented the argument that this would benefit Blacks because they contribute the same share of income as everyone else, or more on the average (this tax is somewhat regressive), but benefit less because of lower life expectancy. The support for the reform in Southern states
(most conservative) collapsed.
Many comments on the root causes mentioned the misbegotten “qualified immunity” doctrine that lets the official kill, endanger lives etc. with impunity. For example, a recent killing in Louisville was outrageous, because of some faint suspicion that a home can be a place where a drug trafficker keeps his drugs, police invaded that home in the middle of the night without knocking, the boyfriend of the young women shot at them — people are invading the house, and the police responded with a hail of bullets killing the sleeping woman. This is a very extreme and dangerous version of a “search”. Apparently, lower level police has a latitude how to conduct a search, and the proposed reform was to require that “no knock” search has to be approved by the chief of police. However, no hair could fall from his head if he/she would rubber stamp such request (making stupid decisions that put lethal risks on citizens is legal). Almost, as a political appointee, police chief can be fired more easily.
Qualified immunity puts many people at risk, live, limb and property, and it has extensive libertarian criticism. The rot in American justice system is wider and identified in many studies, and it has to be reviewed on political arena. However, “law on order statist bias” is bipartisan, e.g. some outrageous Supreme Court decisions on “qualified immunity” had only two dissents, Sotomayor (leftmost) and Thomas (rightwing and libertarian).

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jun 10 2020 18:54 utc | 16

I’m waiting for the good people to bring down Cecil Rhodes statue and force Christ Patten resign from Oxford University.

Posted by: JC | Jun 10 2020 19:01 utc | 18

@6 dh-mtl
Thanks for that link, a very interesting and detailed article. It seems Haftar is an erratic and unreliable character and the LNA’s major foreign allies/sponsors, including Russia, make no secret of the fact that they basically consider him a temporary “necessary evil” until a more solid and reliable leader can be found.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 10 2020 19:22 utc | 20

14 & 17 Cont’d–
Sorry, but I must copy/paste another excerpt for this aspect of the Outlaw US Empire’s political history gets very little mention–Tammany Hall usually being the sole example provided without any details of how it functioned and for whom. New York City wasn’t the only large city where this sort of police-political syndicate arose:
“Early American police departments shared two primary characteristics: they were notoriously corrupt and flagrantly brutal. This should come as no surprise in that police were under the control of local politicians. The local political party ward leader in most cities appointed the police executive in charge of the ward leader’s neighborhood. The ward leader, also, most often was the neighborhood tavern owner, sometimes the neighborhood purveyor of gambling and prostitution, and usually the controlling influence over neighborhood youth gangs who were used to get out the vote and intimidate opposition party voters. In this system of vice, organized violence and political corruption it is inconceivable that the police could be anything but corrupt (Walker 1996). Police systematically took payoffs to allow illegal drinking, gambling and prostitution. Police organized professional criminals, like thieves and pickpockets, trading immunity for bribes or information. They actively participated in vote-buying and ballot-box-stuffing. Loyal political operatives became police officers. They had no discernable qualifications for policing and little if any training in policing. Promotions within the police departments were sold, not earned. Police drank while on patrol, they protected their patron’s vice operations, and they were quick to use peremptory force. Walker goes so far as to call municipal police ‘delegated vigilantes,’ entrusted with the power to use overwhelming force against the ‘dangerous classes’ as a means of deterring criminality.”
Yes, “organized crime” was developed by the police and their politico allies as further means of social control and to augment their salaries. Still happens today with the nation’s supposedly most important intelligence agency–CIA–being the most formidable criminal organization on the planet.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 10 2020 19:27 utc | 22

Good Chris Martenson YT yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjyNw8qgkaw (starts ~min 26:30)
Topics Include:
-Deliberate maiming (shooting eyes) of protesters by police rubber bullet guns
– Proactive Incentive ideas for stopping police misconduct/brutality:
1. Police to be held liable for excessive use of force outside of standardized guidelines. Any monetary judgments against violators to be paid out of police pension funds, not by taxpayers.
2. Individual police to be required to carry ‘malpractice’ insurance (like drivers, doctors, lawyers or other professions) policies, in case monetary judgments/damages are ruled against them.
3. Any law enforcement officer/official caught planting incriminating evidence/withholding exculpatory evidence shall face the same penalties (fines/prison time) as the crimes they attempted to frame the accused of.
Other good stuff too about latest CV related news…

Posted by: gm | Jun 10 2020 19:42 utc | 24

When has any politician or the police ever protected our rights? They seem hell bent on erasing as many as possible. Also, why did it take a constitutional amendment to ban alcohol but not drugs? Hmm…

Posted by: Shadow | Jun 10 2020 19:55 utc | 26

The ruling class only needs one tactic: divide and rule. But how do I try to explain that to a black 16 year old math student who has recently started looking at me with murder in his eyes? Everything i can think of just sounds like a cliche.
Also… the media deserve no pity, they made their allegiances clear (for the millionth time) with Assange.

Posted by: Rae | Jun 10 2020 20:48 utc | 28

Rae @28–
You can begin by telling the truth about the history of policing. The short essay I’ve linked to and excerpted provide you with the means to do that.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 10 2020 21:03 utc | 30

Let’s not forget the likes of The Baldwin Felts Detective Agency. They are also precursors to contemporary police. Another excellent movie that speaks to this theme and validates karloft1’s latest post is John Sayles’ Matewan. It deals with the Matewan Massacre which is the precursor to the Battle of Blair Mountain where bombs were dropped from airplanes on the striking miners. The bombs were left over from World War I. The United States government supplied aerial surveillance.
Here’s an interview with John Sayles.
John Sayles Talks About Battle of Blair Mountain, Film Matewan & GOP’s Union Busting Efforts
You Work, They Don’t
Trump has the audacity to pretend he’s a friend of the coal miners, or what’s left of them. He’s a friend of the owners and The Baldwin Felts Detective Agency or its contemporary equivalent. You work, Trump doesn’t. He’s never worked a day in his life. He has no notion of what work is, but he knows enough to know work is not for him, that it’s for you instead as he and his ilk spit and piss and crap on you.

Posted by: 450.org | Jun 10 2020 21:21 utc | 32

Economic news:
World Bank is predicting that between 70-100m people will driven back below poverty line
WB’s “poverty line” is just USD 1.90 per day. It was only USD 1.00 until some four years ago, and is outdated.
In reality, if you really take inflation into account, there are much more people living below the real poverty line in the capitalist world.
And no V-shaped recovery for the capitalist world either:
Returning to normal? Hardly, according to OECD projections
World Bank’s global forecasts are out:
WB: 5.2 percent contraction in global GDP in 2020
I noticed there are a lot of people here that still have faith in capitalism. The problem is only with the demented variation found in the USA, they say; the European model is the way to go, they say…
Well, this is Germany:
German exports fell 24% in April compared to March; -31% annualized (April 2019) – worst since 1950
Germany’s industrial production slumped by 17.9 percent month-over-month in April 2020
As a bonus: Japan’s machinery orders fell 52.8% in May (another record).
–//–
It’s official: USA is – finally (after 12 years cooking the books and printing trillions of Dollars) – in a recession:
NBER: US economy is in recession and has been since February
Bonus news:
Here’s the true graphic of the “V-shaped recovery” of the CNBC post some days ago – pay attention to the yellow circle!:
Stock markets rocketed back to all-time highs as the US reported that its unemployment rate had dropped to 13.3 percent in May 2020

Posted by: vk | Jun 10 2020 21:30 utc | 34

More concern trolling. I find this tragic and horrifying, truly. It’s taboo to talk about it or mention it though, because if you do, regardless of who you are, you will be branded a racist and the killing will continue because the issue is too sensitive to discuss intelligently and constructively with those who have an agenda. It’s clear militarized police forces and more brutal police enforcement isn’t the answer to this. The roots of it go much deeper and are much more complex.
92 shot, 27 Fatally, In Chicago’s Most Violent Weekend of 2020

At least 50 other people were hurt by gun violence across Chicago between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday.
Last weekend, Chicago saw its deadliest Memorial Day weekend in five years with 10 shot dead and 39 others wounded.

The answer is, obviously, to pretend it’s not happening. Of course, to all those who are dying, it’s all too real.

Posted by: 450.org | Jun 10 2020 21:46 utc | 36

@31, concern trolling my ass, you sick f*ck. All of this is interrelated. No one said a damn thing about blacks being more violent than anyone else. It’s disingenuous of you to claim I am what you have claimed I am. I am not that. Not by any stretch.
This is real. This is happening and it’s all-too-often overlooked because it’s a difficult problem that persists because it doesn’t lend itself to an easy fix. Yes, it is an issue of class and this is a class war of which racism is a tool used by the elite to divide and conquer.
‘Suffocating’ Violence: Despite National Trend, Killings Increase In Baltimore Through First Half of 2019

While the gunfire is particularly pervasive in certain distressed and disinvested parts of the city, it can arise anywhere, though some neighborhoods remain comparatively safe. Some residents ponder leaving, while others live in constant fear that their family will fall victim next — and for good reason.
Peter Moskos, a Baltimore cop turned criminology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said he estimates, based on census data and the city’s elevated rates of gun violence, that upwards of 10% of black men in the most violent neighborhoods of East and West Baltimore will be shot dead, most before they turn 35.
“It’s hard to fathom,” he said.
Those in its path say the violence comes like a tornado: Sending shrapnel in all directions, it is impossible to ignore and crushing in its impact.
For some, it’s a repeated horror.
“This violence will tear your family apart,” said Arnetta Brown, 55, whose 28-year-old son, Brian Simms Jr. was fatally shot in the city’s Edgecomb neighborhood in 2013, and whose 16-year-old grandson, Markell Hendricks, was fatally shot in Franklin Square in March.
“This violence will suck all the breath out of your body and will wake you up in the middle of the night and make you think you’re suffocating,” Brown said.

For you foreigners, I highly suggest you watch The Wire in its entirety. It’s one of my favorite series of all time. It’s an education. You can’t help feel for the characters. They are victims of their circumstances for sure, because they have no options.
Got To, That’s America Man

Posted by: 450.org | Jun 10 2020 22:17 utc | 38

somebody @35–
I’ve never needed police to feel safe; nor have I ever looked upon police as friendly. The police and “system of law” were responsible for the death of my mother. I’ve never been in a situation where I required police protection. What generates criminal activity? Socio-economic conditions. If the US government did what the Constitution’s Preamble says it ought to, aside from White Collar fraud, there would be very little crime as the primary driver of stress and strife would be removed. Thus, the vast majority of “street crime” within the Outlaw US Empire is systemic and structural. As for the historical use of guns, in my research today I came across this publication, No Duty to Retreat: Violence and Values in American History and Society, with a preview offered at the link I suggest reading for it’s highly educational as it tells you the No Duty to Retreat judicial doctrine was only adopted and upheld in 1921. The current problem stems from that decision and the cultural forces that produced it. I’ve maintained our culture’s very dysfunctional, and this is but one manifestation.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 10 2020 22:21 utc | 40

450.org @36 & 38–
Yes, the widespread censoring of the real amount of gun related violence committed within the Outlaw US Empire is totally counterproductive and was replaced by all the “cop reality shows” populating cable TV, which I liken to the lurid penny press True Crime and Police Gazette types of publications for the masses. I do think all the violence has produced one positive outcome: The realization by the vast majority that the Outlaw US Empire has a very sick, dysfunctional society & culture that’s anything but Civilized. For me, that’s been apparent since the mid-1960s not long after 11/22/1963 and confirmed beyond doubt on 4/4/1968 when I was just 12. The national heritage of the Outlaw US Empire is one of slaughter, oppression and exploitation that’s ongoing, although it seems to have slowed some. One big problem is many people don’t want to know about their reality and how they contribute to its perpetuation, although that too seems to be changing somewhat. Perhaps its the lack of sports distractions at all levels that’s forced more people to look in the mirror and their community to see what’s been there all along for the first time. But whatever the reason, I welcome the admittedly unfocused social ferment–For an Empire that promotes Chaos, that Chaos is now growing within I see as a welcome turn of the screw.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 10 2020 22:47 utc | 42

This thread’s unofficial topic of police, policing, law, justice, and culture led me to do some further research, some of which I’ve already provided. But at the root of the topic is the issue of how people using their culture arrive at formulating their society and the aspects that govern it be they formal rules or informal taboos and mores. Hobbes was the first post-Enlightenment author to explore the issue in Leviathan. Roy Nichols, who I cited on the previous thread, wrote Blueprints for Leviathan: American style, in which he writes in the Forward:
“Probably no society has ever achieved greater faith in self-government and the efficacy of the written word to implement it [as opposed to coercion] than has the Anglo-American.”
Amazing words to read which led to asking when they were published–1963, prior to the orgy of violence that’s since occurred at home and overseas. But what of the idealized goal of self-government that Dr. Cornell West just deemed a “failed experiment”? It appears that goal still exists when we look at those establishing the “Seattle Commune,” and I believe it exists elsewhere including my small town and state. I wonder what Hobbes, Nichols, Beard, Neivens, and a host of others would write today as they gaze upon the scene that’s unfolded since September 1945.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 10 2020 23:41 utc | 44

yeah, the who is condemned, just like the un was condemned by the same usual suspects – usa, or trump inc… the usa and trump throw enough condemnation around for the whole nation.. i notice how they spread it with their foreign policy and i sure as hell ain’t buying any of their pontifications on these international structures… that is a reason right their to believe something 180 opposite…
wonder where peter au is?

Posted by: james | Jun 11 2020 0:06 utc | 46

Coronavirus confusion reigns as World Health Organisation scrambles advice about masks and asymptomatic spread

Although numerous studies have suggested people can spread the virus before they show symptoms, the WHO has largely dismissed those as anecdotal or pointed out that they were based on modelling.
Babak Javid, an infectious diseases doctor at Cambridge University Hospital, says many scientists are persuaded by the studies published so far and think WHO should publish the data it is citing to explain why it believes transmission of the disease in people without symptoms is “rare”.
“If you’re going to make a really important statement like that, it would be good to back it up,” Javid said. “I think WHO is an important organisation, but they’ve made a lot of statements that have been misleading.”

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 11 2020 0:18 utc | 48

Remember, kids, racism against Slavic people is still okay:
Is This the Trump Tipping Point? (The New York Times, Jennifer Senior, June 7, 2020)

You never want to say that you’ve reached a tipping point with this administration. Donald J. Trump has proved to be the Nosferatu of American politics: heartless, partial to Slavs, beneath grace and thus far impervious to destruction.
…

Yes, that’s the opening paragraph. In the corresponding Twitter thread only two Serbs notice there’s something wrong with it. Most think it’s fine, and some even think it’s “fantastic” and are congratulating the author.

Posted by: S | Jun 11 2020 0:22 utc | 50

This cop behavior is simply bizarre and arguably psychotic…
Video Shows Cops Slashing Tires Across Minneapolis During Protests

Bruce Gordon, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, conceded that police were responsible, according to The Star Tribune.
“State Patrol troopers strategically deflated tires in order to stop behaviors such as vehicles driving dangerously and at high speeds in and around protesters and law enforcement,” he told the paper. He added that officers also honed in on vehicles “that contained items used to cause harm during violent protests,” such as rocks or concrete, though it’s difficult to believe every car at Kmart contained such items.

See my line above on how people spin everything they do to be on the “right” side of the line…

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 11 2020 0:25 utc | 52

@ 53 rsh… defines the american system… profit to be made in the prison system, even if someone isn’t charged.. hold them indefinitely…

Posted by: james | Jun 11 2020 0:32 utc | 54

Your defense budget at work…
US Navy’s new supercarrier unable to launch jets for days after electromagnetic catapult fails

No cause for the breakdown has been found, according to an internal US Navy document. After several days, the US Navy said, it found a workaround to the catapult problem and jets were able to resume flight operations on Sunday.

I assume they found a really big guy to kick the jets off the carrier… You can’t make this stuff up, folks. I mean, what happens if the Chinese or Russians use electronic warfare means to shut down the launch capability because of a bug in the software? Scratch one “supercarrier”…
The military spends millions to not upgrade computers
Here’s why the Pentagon still spends big bucks on Windows XP.

If say, the major software controlling the USS Gerald R. Ford’s magnetic launch system is optimized for Windows 7, then it would be extremely risky to upgrade to Windows 10 without extensive testing, which the Ford can’t do while conducting its mission.
(Note: We couldn’t find what software the USS Ford is running for EMALS. This is just a for-instance.)

Right…

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 11 2020 0:34 utc | 56

bevin @45–
Thanks for the correction; it didn’t seem correct at the time, and it wasn’t! Nichols work I mention @44 is rather mind provoking, and I do wish I could copy/paste from the text some more of his observations regarding the ordeals associated with arranging a self-governing society. The book’s about the several rounds of experimentation made in the construction of the “American Leviathans”–plural since there were several: The one prior to 1860; the Confederate Leviathan; and the Reconstructed American Leviathan. Yes, Nichols examines the time period he’s most familiar with, but his overall thrust can be carried forward to examine later time periods. Certainly, the American Leviathan was again remade before and after WW1, during the 1930s, post-WW2, the mid 1960s, and has undergone several negative modifications beginning in 1971 and continuing till now. The treatise I’m working on essentially demands the need for it to be overhauled once again lest the entire edifice dissolve, which I don’t see as healthy for a great number of citizens.
RSH @47–
Thanks for your reply! Our POVs differ but IMO our goals are the same. The USA has never had a completely functional democracy. As Nichols admits, it’s an ongoing, evolving project, incapable of becoming perfect since designed by imperfect humans. The class-based originations of policing as I wrote aren’t at all understood, even by the police, and that’s a big part of the problem. The focus on Civil War statuary is occurring not because of the personages but because of the change in society’s nature and primary concern after the War–Civility based upon Law and Order imposed by force rather than cultural persuasion which was a result of the prevailing anarchy in both the North and South prior to the rise of American Industrialism and the battles to forge unions.
But there’s even more to the saga–the Civil War had greatly slowed immigration, which rapidly increased due to the war’s end and escalating European unrest that unseated the “dark” Europeans. Much is blamed on the failure of Reconstruction, but did Reconstruction ever have a chance to succeed–IMO, it was doomed to failure from the outset. The social upheaval was taken advantage of by those whose business plan was based on fraud; so in a way, we’re still feeling the affects of the Civil War as we’re exploited by a not altogether new sort of Carpetbagger that arrived on the scene in the late 1970s and continues to feast on the body politic.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 11 2020 1:09 utc | 58

Maybe the Difference between a “Cop” and a “Crook” is Just a Badge
https://dissidentvoice.org/2020/06/political-abcs-maybe-the-difference-between-a-cop-and-a-crook-is-just-a-badge/
(In the expanding continental empire that became the USA, the rural police were either the auxiliaries of the slave patrols or the “deputised” vigilantes in the service of big landowners, railroads, mining companies or ranchers.)

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Jun 11 2020 1:49 utc | 60

coroners and medical examiners have probably limited investigations out of fear of getting infected and overwork. I’d suggest the decline is more to underreporting, especially as authorities are on the defensive over lockdowns destroying economy and lives and seek to grasp news that minimize the adverse effects.
According to CDC for suspected suicide or homicide, state laws usually require a medical examiner or coroner to complete the death certificate. Because suicide is particularly subject to inaccurate determination, the incidence of suicide may be underestimated by 10%-50%
The determination of suicide requires that the death be established as both self-inflicted and intentional. For most certifiers, establishing intentionality is the most difficult criterion. Thus, a certifier might conclude that a death was not a suicide because information proving intent was not collected. However, absence of evidence of intent is not evidence of absence of intent.
Besides pathology and toxicology —investigatory, and psychologic evidence and statements of the decedent or witnesses must be collected.
I am sure in normal times these guys take the time to investigate properly. However, during covid Lockdown I am sure shortcuts were taken out of necessity and only the most obvious cases were recorded as suicides. As such comparisons with past years are apples and oranges.
People really need to start questioning things more
Also I do think the suicides will be more prevalent after lock down once the economic shock sets in from job losses, evictions and foreclosures. The effects will be long lasting and be with us long after the virus has disappeared

Posted by: Kay Fabe | Jun 11 2020 2:00 utc | 62

https://heavy.com/news/2020/06/capitol-hill-autonomous-zone-chaz/
The People’s Republic of Capitol Hill, Seattle. A short distance from the gorgeous Seattle Museum of Asian Art in Volunteer Park. Since the Seattle cops are all cringing in the dark, and dusting off their resumes, how long will the museum’s priceless and irreplaceable collection remain unlooted?
Oh well, you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.

Posted by: mr punch | Jun 11 2020 2:09 utc | 64

Under president Xi Jinping Chinese imperialism to the south and west increases: Doklam in 2017, Pangong Lake in 2020: https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1190889.shtml
This Belt and road Initiative keeps on looking more sinister and less economical by the day. Is the belt for belting?

Posted by: Antonym | Jun 11 2020 2:38 utc | 66

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 11 2020 1:09 utc | 58 so in a way, we’re still feeling the affects of the Civil War as we’re exploited by a not altogether new sort of Carpetbagger that arrived on the scene in the late 1970s and continues to feast on the body politic.
Interesting point. I’d say we are indeed suffering from mistakes made in the past. This seems to be a human trait: 1) Make a mistake; 2) Attempt to correct the mistake, leading to 3) making more mistakes as a result of a poorly thought-through correction – or more likely, a failure to comprehend the root cause of the original mistake.
Posted by: Activist Potato | Jun 11 2020 2:03 utc | 63 the people are the police and the police are the people. Everyone is in this together.
And that is the real problem – “society” as a mythology which is believed in with religious fervor, just like the state, morality and religion itself. “Ghosts in the head”, as Max Stirner would put it.
“What is happening now…is a world-wide orchestrated attempt to destabilize and tear down the societal order – for what ultimate goal I do not know.”
The ultimate goal is the same for every human being: to be released from the fear of not being “good enough” to survive in human society. Which in turn is based on the fear of death, because ostracism from human society is perceived as death, either psychological or actual. The elites are just human beings who through luck, or accident of birth, or simply more psychopathic drive than other people, have acquired the power to try to achieve that goal. And the sad fact is that goal is *not* achievable – which means this conflict will go on forever – unless of course we change the terms of engagement by changing human nature.
“But in order to achieve it the police are being systematically dehumanized in order to make them permissible targets for ‘social justice warriors.'”
No – they dehumanized themselves. That’s what “The History of Policing” article karlof1 posted was about.
“But there is also an undeniable long and strong history of true public service from the police.”
As Jimmy Dore pointed out in his recent videos, it is the *system* that prevents police from being professional. Cops who *do* want to “protect and serve” are weeded out. And the history article shows that this is based on the history of the country. It is endemic and can’t be corrected by half-measures.
“Good people would not be attracted to the profession if it were otherwise.”
But they don’t stay. They either become corrupted or they leave. Perhaps a handful of “good cops” remain. Remember the history article mentioned the Knapp Commission in New York in the 1970’s. I remember reading once that the Commission found that *every single cop in New York* was on the take. Not a few “bad apples” – *every single cop*. That can’t be explained by the “few bad apples” trope.
“When the societal order breaks down the predators amongst us have free reign to have their way with the sheep.”
No one is denying that there are predators. The predators were *created* by the system that runs this country. But in the end, it comes down to the people to deal with those predators. It’s like the movie, “The Magnificent Seven” (the original, not the remake). This was an explicitly anarchist movie – and a right-wing anarchist movie at that. Bandits (representing the state) coerce a small village to hand over most of their crops to feed the bandits (i.e., taxes.) The people raise a little money and hire seven American gunslingers to take on the bandits. This might be considered the equivalent of the anarchist “private protection agency” concept. The gunslingers initially set the bandits back on their heels, but are eventually put in a bad situation by the bandits, and are on the verge of losing. But the people, emboldened by the example of the gunslingers, take up whatever weapons they have and attack the bandits themselves, defeating them.
This is what *has* to happen. Except, to quote Percival Rose yet *again*: “That ain’t gonna happen.” And the reason once *again*: human nature. As someone once said, if you made an average American President, he would govern like Idi Amin.
“pilloried based on the presentation of selective facts.”
Now you’ve drifted off into complete bullshit. The history of the US – and the history of the state and society everywhere – is overwhelmingly against your thesis.
“There was a reason the French people turned to Napoleon after many years of chaos and REAL blood flowing in the streets from the Revolution.”
And there was a reason the Paris Commune arose. And a reason it was suppressed by corrupt police. History doesn’t start where you want it to.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 11 2020 2:50 utc | 68

Richard Steven Hack @ Jun11 0:13 # 47

I’m a radical Transhumanist – only the complete supersedence of human nature offers a way forward.

I think you do yourself a disservice with the radical Transhumanist moniker. In the 60’s they called for much the same thing: “raising consciousness”, enlightened POV, and “transcending/transcendent” understanding. Such a call is essentially returning to humanism, while a capital-focused mindset is what is “trans-human”.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 11 2020 3:07 utc | 70

Antonym #66

This Belt and road Initiative keeps on looking more sinister and less economical by the day. Is the belt for belting?

The belt is for flogging idiot Indian Generals who deliberately provoke China by constructing fortifications on the Chinese land beyond the border as stated in the story you linked to.
The belt is also to flog idiot USA admirals that think they have rights to threaten China in the South China Sea thousands of kilometers from the USA shoreline.
The belt is for flogging idiot USA warmongers and their idiot President who think they have the right to threaten and intimidate any nation on earth that declines to be their slave.
The Road is to replace expensive and limited shipping for the trade in goods between nations in Eurasia. It also provides a transport system free from idiot USA Admirals that would threaten China, idiot USA captains that are prone to ramming into merchant vessels on a regular basis.
Just think Antonym, if ever there were a bridge across the Suez the entire African / Eurasian continents would be efficiently linked for trade and cooperative economic development. And Africa might prosper along with that. Plus the bonus would be the decline in maritime traffic and the immense damage to the Private Equity vultures that prey on that maritime traffic.
Odd that there are numerous wars underway right in the path of that better world order. All USA wars too.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 11 2020 3:30 utc | 72

@59 Thank you S. Great piece of writing by Ajit Singh. I particularly enjoyed Joshua Wong’s mental acrobatics. He obviously doesn’t want to lose the support of young Western progressives but he can’t be too critical of Trump.
I’m sure most of the Hong Kong protesters think the protests in the US are ridiculous. After all Americans live on the Golden Mountain…..what do they have to complain about?

Posted by: dh | Jun 11 2020 3:43 utc | 74

JC | Jun 11 2020 3:44 utc | 75:
Giant Meteor.

Posted by: Ian2 | Jun 11 2020 4:02 utc | 76

Following the surrender of the East Precinct of the Seattle Police Department to an Antifa mob and the occupation of Seattle City Hall, a source on the ground in Seattle says that other police precincts around the city are preparing to be the next targets.
Regarding the autonomous zone established by the Antifa-led mob, the source—whose anonymity we are protecting—says, “They bar media from entering and screen people coming in. They are walking around fully armed. Talking about making their own currency and making their own flag. SPD is talking about abandoning the west precinct now.
“West precinct has the 911 call centre. This is just like the Occupy movement. Soon we will have feces and drugs everywhere and people getting assaulted and raped in the encampments.
“They’ve been relocating everything quietly while the focus has been elsewhere. They know that it’s only a matter of time before these fools have to direct their issues back on the police. Since yesterday, I haven’t seen a single police office or vehicle downtown. Even when they took over city hall, there were no signs of PD at headquarters across the street.”
https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-antifa-mob-planning-to-take-over-more-seattle-neighbourhoods

Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2020 4:28 utc | 78

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 11 2020 3:07 utc | 70 In the 60’s they called for much the same thing: “raising consciousness”, enlightened POV, and “transcending/transcendent” understanding.
Not even remotely the same thing. Those movements were mostly related to Eastern philosophy (or some persons’ attempts to comprehend Eastern philosophy) as well as a broad “mysticism”. Timothy Leary was a proponent of all that, but he subsequently became a Transhumanist, although he never used that term, to my knowledge.
“Such a call is essentially returning to humanism, while a capital-focused mindset is what is ‘trans-human’.”
Nope. There *are* “Transhumanists” who declare that Transhumanism is based on earlier humanism concepts. Frankly, they’re wrong. The original meaning of the term transhumar comes from Dante Alighieri who used it to describe “going beyond the human” in religious terms. In some respects, it can be considered similar to the Gnostics, some of whom believed that it was better to *be* God than to worship God. Apparently Dante had some philosophical musings on such matters.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, however:

The term transhumanism was coined by English biologist and philosopher Julian Huxley in his 1957 essay of the same name. Huxley referred principally to improving the human condition through social and cultural change, but the essay and the name have been adopted as seminal by the transhumanist movement, which emphasizes material technology. Huxley held that, although humanity had naturally evolved, it was now possible for social institutions to supplant evolution in refining and improving the species. The ethos of Huxley’s essay—if not its letter—can be located in transhumanism’s commitment to assuming the work of evolution, but through technology rather than society.

Wikipedia makes a more explicit definition:

The biologist Julian Huxley is generally regarded as the founder of transhumanism after using the term for the title of an influential 1957 article. The term itself, however, derives from an earlier 1940 paper by the Canadian philosopher W. D. Lighthall.[16] Huxley describes transhumanism in these terms:
Up till now human life has generally been, as Hobbes described it, ‘nasty, brutish and short’; the great majority of human beings (if they have not already died young) have been afflicted with misery… we can justifiably hold the belief that these lands of possibility exist, and that the present limitations and miserable frustrations of our existence could be in large measure surmounted… The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself—not just sporadically, an individual here in one way, an individual there in another way, but in its entirety, as humanity.[17]

I found another article that describes Lighthall’s conception of the term:

Thanks to some detective work by the distinguished historian Peter Harrison and one of his students, Joseph Wolniak, we see that Huxley used the word as early as 1951, but not 1927 as some have suggested. What’s more, Huxley may have borrowed the word and the general idea from another writer.
The Harrison/Wolniak essay appeared earlier this month in an open access journal, Notes and Queries. In it, they trace the modern use of transhumanism back to a Canadian intellectual, W. D. Lighthall. In 1940, Lighthall published a paper entitled “The Law of Cosmic Evolutionary Adaptation: An Interpretation of Recent Thought” in a journal called Proceedings and Transactions. In it, Lighthall advances a view of cosmic, biological, and cultural evolution, a view he calls “transhumanism.”
What makes Lighthall intriguing is that he attributes the core idea of transhumanism to the biblical writer, St. Paul, mediated by the poet Dante. Dante invents the Italian word, trasumanar, in a context that echoes Paul. Harrison and Wolniak point out that the standard Victorian translation of Dante, Henry Francis Carey, renders the key line in Dante as “Words may not tell of that transhuman change…”
Lighthall, Harrison and Wolniak suggest, simply added “-ism” to Carey’s “transhuman.” They comment on Lighthall: “…it is clear that he is seeking to baptize his new scientific version of transhumanism by invoking Dante’s trasumanar and St Paul’s rapture.”
The big question is whether Huxley read Lighthall. Probably…but no proof. For now, the Harrison/Wolniak contribution is the definitive reading of the history of transhumanism. If they’re right–and I believe they are–then it is abundantly clear that the origins of transhumanism lie in religious hopes for transformation.

So while humanism may have been the original intent of the term as used by Huxley, it has been appropriated by Transhumanists as essentially meaning the only way to achieve real change is by transcending the human condition – which means transcending human nature, which in turn means transcending the human body and brain. Specifically, the intent is to eliminate normal aging and biological death. The most important work in this vein is Alan Harrington’s “The Immortalist”, which describes how “death is the root of all evil.”
Capitalism has nothing to do with it. It’s a science and technology focused philosophy. As the Britannica puts it:

The movement’s adherents tend to be libertarian and employed in high technology or in academia. Its principal proponents have been prominent technologists like American computer scientist and futurist Ray Kurzweil and scientists like Austrian-born Canadian computer scientist and roboticist Hans Moravec and American nanotechnology researcher Eric Drexler, with the addition of a small but influential contingent of thinkers such as American philosopher James Hughes and Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom. The movement has evolved since its beginnings as a loose association of groups dedicated to “extropianism” (a philosophy devoted to the transcendence of human limits). Transhumanism is principally divided between adherents of two visions of post-humanity—one in which technological and genetic improvements have created a distinct species of radically enhanced humans and the other in which greater-than-human machine intelligence emerges.
The membership of the transhumanist movement tends to split in an additional way. One prominent strain of transhumanism argues that social and cultural institutions—including national and international governmental organizations—will be largely irrelevant to the trajectory of technological development. Market forces and the nature of technological progress will drive humanity to approximately the same end point regardless of social and cultural influences. That end point is often referred to as the “singularity,” a metaphor drawn from astrophysics and referring to the point of hyperdense material at the centre of a black hole which generates its intense gravitational pull. Among transhumanists, the singularity is understood as the point at which artificial intelligence surpasses that of humanity, which will allow the convergence of human and machine consciousness. That convergence will herald the increase in human consciousness, physical strength, emotional well-being, and overall health and greatly extend the length of human lifetimes.
The second strain of transhumanism holds a contrasting view, that social institutions (such as religion, traditional notions of marriage and child rearing, and Western perspectives of freedom) not only can influence the trajectory of technological development but could ultimately retard or halt it. Bostrom and British philosopher David Pearce founded the World Transhumanist Association in 1998 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with those social institutions to promote and guide the development of human-enhancement technologies and to combat those social forces seemingly dedicated to halting such technological progress.

Where the “radical” comes in is mostly my addition. I fuse individualist anarchism with Transhumanism. I reject AI and so-called “uploading” as a solution to the problem. In my view, the purpose of AI research is to figure out how to change human brains to have the capability of AI – *without* having to create separate AI entities. That topic is beyond discussion here. I do agree that social and religious issues could derail the achievement of immortality and ascension to a “post-human” existence, although there is no guarantee that will happen. What is guaranteed is that governments and societies will *try*.
And we are back to the issue of human nature derailing anything and everything that might actually provide a way forward out of the morass that is human existence.
My solution is simply to take advantage of whatever technological progress is made in extending life span and human capability until such time as I can achieve something approximating the “post-human” condition. That’s going to entail going way outside the reservation of normal social behavior. And of course at my age there is no guarantee I will even survive the next ten years (although I think I can – assuming the coronavirus doesn’t get me.)

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 11 2020 4:43 utc | 80

US military tried to block Russian military police
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNb324GGAlE

Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2020 4:55 utc | 82

Thank you, Activist Potato @ 63, well said, all of it.

Posted by: juliania | Jun 11 2020 4:57 utc | 84

Coronavirus was brought into the UK on at least 1,300 separate occasions, a major analysis of the genetics of the virus shows.
The study, by the Covid-19 Genomics UK consortium (Cog-UK), completely quashes the idea that a single “patient zero” started the whole UK outbreak.
The analysis also finds China, where the pandemic started, had a negligible impact on cases in the UK. Instead those initial cases came mostly from European countries.
The study showed that less than 0.1% of those imported cases came directly from China. Instead the UK’s coronavirus epidemic was largely initiated by travel from Italy in late February, Spain in early-to-mid-March and then France in mid-to-late-March.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52993734

Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2020 5:11 utc | 86

Posted by: Ian2 | Jun 11 2020 5:09 utc | 85
BTW, the US military wasn’t attempting to block Russian patrols. They were attempting to go around them.
It seems you are right. It was a Google translation of the original title of the video.

Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2020 5:16 utc | 88

Posted by: occupatio | Jun 11 2020 5:19 utc | 89 This is basically the Brzezinski doctrine about who controls the world continent of “Eurasia.”
Or if you go back to the 1920’s – and Karl Haushofer who expanded on Mackinder’s theory of the “Heartland.” Basically, Bannon is a “New Nazi.”
“I don’t think Asia can be free, until we’ve had regime change in Beijing. And I am an absolute advocate of that.”
Good luck with that, Bannon. To quote Percival Rose *one more time!*: “That ain’t gonna happen.”
Bannon is 66 years old. He’ll be dead for at least a decade before China’s current form of government changes. And the US won’t be behind it when it does.
In fact, once Trump is out of office, either in 9 months or another 4 years and 9 months, Bannon will fade back into the “Deplorables” wilderness from whence he came. He’s just another guy who thinks of himself as “world historical” – in the same sense that Hitler did. But he’s not. Like Trump, he’s just another narcissist with delusions of grandeur.
So who cares? The problem is all the *other* morons among the elites who will be pushing the same agenda – which can only occur via nuclear war. Which will leave the 50 Major Metropolitan Areas of the US glowing in the dark. So, other than my personal preference not to glow in the dark, who cares?
There’s only one – count ’em, one – solution to this problem of these elites: Dispose of the motherfuckers. If you’re not willing to pursue that agenda, it’s a waste of time discussing it. To paraphrase my cop line: “The only good elite is a dead elite.” Figure out a way to make the elites dead or GTFO. 🙂
‘Cause no matter what else you do, leaving these clowns alive is simply giving them the chance to mess up the works again. That’s human history.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 11 2020 5:52 utc | 90

Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2020 6:13 utc | 91 President Donald Trump’s campaign is demanding CNN retract and apologize for a recent poll that showed him well behind presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
And the fun begins.
As I’ve said before, it’s *way* too soon to start predicting who’s going to win. Anything can happen in six months. Either Trump or Biden (or both!) could get the virus and drop dead (what’s that Shakespeare line? “‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished”?). We could have martial law by then if the riots start up again. We could be at war with Iran, Venezuela, China or Russia – or someone I can’t even guess. Maybe Biden will be replaced by Clinton if he loses it completely before then.
But what we can count on is that it will be a shit-show to make 2016 look like a congregation of nuns. A lunatic narcissist vs a mentally deficient oldster (whether Biden or Clinton, works either way.) What could go wrong?

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 11 2020 6:32 utc | 92

@Richard Steven Hack | Jun 11 2020 5:52 utc | 90
Just saw your post as I posted my own—glad to see another here who knows the history of this ideology that has spawned a thousand war crimes.
Also agree, this must end with the demise with extreme prejudice of the capitalists and their henchmen. In the words of Louis de Saint-Just, “Those who make revolution half-way only dig their own graves.”

Posted by: Vintage Red | Jun 11 2020 6:56 utc | 94

occupatio @ 87
Bannon truly is a unique mix of stupidity, racism and malevolent fantasy. Like a reborn script writer of the old Fu Manchu movies of the 1930s. Tragic that he has so many devotees.

Posted by: sad canuck | Jun 11 2020 7:09 utc | 96

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Jun 11 2020 7:09 utc | 95 As if “transhumanism” isn’t a pipedream (sometimes referred to as philosophy) that is also likely to founder on the nature of humanity.
I did say that. There is a difference, though. Technology will keep progressing – absent either a deliberate effort to stop certain enabling technologies, or nuclear war. Whereas social change requires getting the majority of people on board with changes which, in the end, will likely fail precisely because of human nature.
“Human nature won’t be “changed” by technology. It is being reinforced by it through greater means of smart surveillance and systematic oppression than have hitherto existed.”
Can you read that back to yourself? You’re explicitly saying that human nature is using technology to derail any efforts to solve the human problem. That’s the dystopia you’re seeing – and it’s the result of human nature.
Can Transhumanist enabling technologies be used to create a dystopia? Certainly. Will they be? No one knows. I suspect we’re also viewing the term “dystopia” through different lenses. What may be a dystopia to you may be my best outcome. in fact, I’m pretty sure that’s the case.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jun 11 2020 8:28 utc | 98

The nearly complete corruption of the U.S. republican form of government has largely come about due to the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court in January 2010 that basically permitted unlimited donor-spending on political campaigns based on the principle that providing money, normally through a political action committee (PAC), is a form of free speech. The decision paved the way for agenda-driven plutocrats and corporations to largely seize control of the formulation process for certain policies being promoted by the two national parties.
No one has benefited from the new rules more than the state of Israel, whose hundreds of support organizations and principal billionaire funders euphemized as the “Israel Lobby” have entrenched pro-Israel donors as the principal financial resources of both major political parties.
https://ahtribune.com/us/israelgate/4206-ilhan-omar-surrenders.html

Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2020 10:10 utc | 100