Apparently police did what police in America do in 2015, which is brutalize people after a Movement for Black Lives (#M4BL) rally:
It’s the look of sheer contempt on his face that makes it so easy to imagine him wielding a fire hose on unleashing a German Shepherd on a civil rights marcher or gassing people attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus bridge.
Meanwhile, this is what the Department of Homeland Security is up to:
he Department of Homeland Security has been monitoring the Black Lives Matter movement since anti-police protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri last summer, according to hundreds of documents obtained by The Intercept through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The documents, released by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Operations Coordination, indicate that the department frequently collects information, including location data, on Black Lives Matter activities from public social media accounts, including on Facebook, Twitter, and Vine, even for events expected to be peaceful. The reports confirm social media surveillance of the protest movement and ostensibly related events in the cities of Ferguson, Baltimore, Washington, DC, and New York.
They also show the department watching over gatherings that seem benign and even mundane. For example, DHS circulated information on a nationwide series of silent vigils and a DHS-funded agency planned to monitor a funk music parade and a walk to end breast cancer in the nation’s capital.
Black Lives Matter marchers- “Please stop killing us.
Homeland Security- “We better keep an eye on these trouble makers.”
henqiguai
So, did the FOIA request ask what other groups were being monitored? Sort of like when the right wing lost their minds over the IRS questioning TEAbagger groups’ requests for tax exemption; no-one asked about the greater number of non-TEAbagger groups being questioned.
Omnes Omnibus
There also is the fact that BLM events could be draws for racist assholes with guns.
Yatsuno
@henqiguai: Oh, you mean the greater number of progressive groups that were also investigated and one was even denied? Funny how that NEVER comes up in this!
Don’t get me wrong: TE/GE shit the bed and shit it hard with all of this. But it was a big management screw-up, not a deliberate attack. Not that fact matter to the Teatards.
Howard Beale IV
OT/BREAKING: Bobbi Kristina Brown dies, age 22, traumatic brain injury
To BLM Organizers: Time to learn how to use TOR.
redshirt
ITS TIME FOR A CAPS REVOLUTION.
Belafon
Maybe they’re watching out for cops like this.
Not that I think they are, but it would be a good use of their time.
Make sure you go and watch the video at the link.
Trentrunner
@henqiguai: Do you work for the MSM? Cuz that’s some grade-A both-sides-do-it bullshit right there.
The IRS was gathering info to enforce existing tax laws about political fund-raising.
Homeland Security, on the other hand, has no fucking business (and no legal authority) using their awesome power to trail, tail, follow, and harass the BLM movement.
So, yeah, nice job.
Mike E
Mexico 1-0 Jamaica at half… Reggae Boys can square this but seem on the verge of losing their poise vs a team of world class floppers. Not looking good.
redshirt
This guy obviously did not care about the next guy…
Roger Moore
Or ones expecting a de-lousing shower.
As far as monitoring social media, I sincerely want to know how the police are supposed to know that a protest is likely to be peaceful without listening to what the people planning on attending are saying. Listening to the public pronouncements of the people involved in the protests- which is exactly what social media is- is exactly the kind of thing the police ought to be doing.
east is east
@redshirt: Please, proceed.
Germy Shoemangler
It’s like he’s spraying bug spray.
He’s just squirting it randomly all around him like a flea mist or something.
Mike E
Goool Mexico, 2nd minute of the half, dagger. Nothing to see here.
Myiq2xu
Here’s another angle:
https://youtu.be/Ff_alrYpJqM
Gian
this kind of thing would never happen at UC Davis
Mike E
@Gian: yeah, that pepper spray looked like it came from Costco.
ronin122
@Omnes Omnibus: That was my thought too. Not so much that DHS is concerned so much about this group as that groups of black people may draw groups of crazy white people. With the goings-on of violent bigots these days, I’d be keeping an eye on BLM too as an easy way of keeping tabs on the racist terrorists that keep close.
KJSBrooklyn
This is no different than the government keeping tabs on every protest movement since forever. they’ve infiltrated Quaker meetings, for christs sake!
Cervantes
@Omnes Omnibus:
@ronin122:
Interesting approach!
Does it have wider applicability? For example, should the authorities shadow and stalk bankers so as to prevent crimes against them? (I know. Be nice. Bankers are people, too.) How about secretly following members of the opposition party in Congress so as to stymie would-be assassins? And why not skulk after every woman alive as a means of preventing on-line harassment and even rape?
different-church-lady
@ronin122: While I’m skeptical the intentions of the DHS are that cleanly noble, at the same time I find it “curious” that The Intercept is not in the business of asking such questions.
JPL
@Cervantes: I understand your frustration, but I’m not sure that is what they meant. During a large protest, it’s not unusual to draw elements of our society, who want to do that organization harm.
different-church-lady
@Cervantes: I think they should just monitor every human being on the planet for maximum safety.
Oh, wait, according to The Intercept, they already do that!
JPL
@Howard Beale IV: Technically she died Jan 31, but aren’t machines grand.
It is sad though.
JPL
@efgoldman: Well that was sad but true.
Cervantes
@JPL:
Frustration? Hardly!
I was just interested in the notion of pro-active surveillance directed at potential targets of crime. Does this notion have wider applicability, or should it be carefully limited to African-American activists, I wondered.
lamh36
In another life, I was a security guard at a local Rite Aid (don’t ask, hated every minute of it). It was an unarmed position, so we were given pepper spray.
I made the mistake of tapping the spray clip when I was at a sink in a bathroom and my eyes felt like shit!
Never made that mistake again. Just seeing the video of this fool spraying that shit like it was bug spray just pissed me off.
And for what, cause protestors wanted to know why the police was arresting a 14 year old!
https://twitter.com/brownblaze/status/625475558219087872
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Cervantes:
It’s common in police and security work, ranging from casual inquiries as to a potential target’s activities all the way up to the Secret Service never letting the president out of their sight if he’s not actually in the White House. Now, that doesn’t mean that that’s what’s going on here, but your incredulity is misplaced.
redshirt
@efgoldman: Yes and every moment hence is monitored and registered.
Cacti
All of this would have been fixed by a $15/hour minimum wage and free college tuition.
Gimlet
Posted earlier but fits on this thread too
No mention of cracking down, prosecution of rogue officers. WTF? As ineffectual as Nancy Reagan’s “Just say no”.
In the interview, which will air on Monday, Lynch also said that Bland’s case highlights the frustration and fear that people of color face when dealing with police but hoped that reforming policing tactics would mitigate those concerns.
Earlier this year, the Department of Justice launched a pilot program that funds trainings for local police forces to build better relationships with the communities they serve. Lynch said that these strategies, if implemented more widely, could help minority communities feel more secure when dealing with police.
“We see situations where officers will reach out to young people and work with them. They’ll go into the classrooms with them. And so we’re hoping that these examples can be models for other police departments. But we’re also hoping that community leaders can work with police departments to build these connections so that we can all tell our children how to respect authority, but not to be afraid of police.”
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Gimlet: Do you have any quotes that say that that’s all the the DoJ is going to do, or do you just assume that if it isn’t mentioned in every press release, it clearly isn’t something they’d do?
That said, reforming police tactics is, in fact, the most effective way to stop this. That doesn’t mean that other avenues, including prosecution when appropriate (and keep in mind that DoJ’s jurisdiction is extremely limited in most of these cases) shouldn’t be used, but it does mean that what she said in your quote is critically important.
Gimlet
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
It is open to interpretation. I haven’t seen the JD take action yet, so until they do I will assume this is their approach.
different-church-lady
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Agreed. It seems quite clear to me this is a problem with police culture. Solve that and we won’t need so many prosecutions.
Roger Moore
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
You’re going to have a hell of a time reforming police tactics if you don’t reform police attitudes first. ETA: or what different-church-lady said.
JPL
The news media is also the blame though. As we know, people go missing every day and all are unfortunate. Today we are focused on two boys who apparently decided to go to the Bahamas from FL by boat. They were fourteen and now there boat was found with no sign of them. Why does the news decide to focus on them?
We all know the answer to that.
I’m more concerned with the news media.
Gimlet
@different-church-lady: I’m reminded of that reenactment of the Chicago 7 trial when the police chief was asked specifically about all the abuses that occurred.
His response was that there would need to further training or a change in training to prevent future problems with these violations.
redshirt
Can you imagine avoiding a camera in our future?
Omnes Omnibus
@Cervantes: If I know that BLM is having an event in Grant Park in Chicago on August 13, 2015 and I hear that the white supremacists on whom I am keeping tabs are talking about going to Grant Park on August 13, I might take and interest – if I were a fed.
Mike G
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, like DHS employees.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cacti: No, but those things sure wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Cervantes
@Mike G:
Perish the thought!
@Omnes Omnibus:
But what about the question of wider applicability?
Cervantes
@Omnes Omnibus:
Might not hurt, but there is considerable evidence that a college education is wasted on some!
Omnes Omnibus
@Cervantes: It would rather depend on the extent, wouldn’t it?
srv
Fuck Glenn Greenwald and his civil liberties bullshit.
Gin & Tonic
@Cervantes: What does “wasted” mean in that context?
BR
@different-church-lady:
Here’s a random idea that might incentivize reforming police procedure — make the money for out-of-court settlements cities pay out in response to police misbehavior come out of the police department’s budget. Specifically make the money come out of the budget for perks / salary / etc. for high-ranking police officials (say lieutenants and higher).
This could be implemented city by city, starting with progressive cities that have the political constituencies to support such a reform.
TaMara (BHF)
@efgoldman: This. I’ve been bitching about the FBI director since he polluted our airwaves with his bullshit, then went completely silent when another white supremacist shot up another public venue. Asshole.
Cacti
If it were possible, I would fire every law enforcement officer in the country, and allow the “good ones” to individually reapply for their old jobs, pending approval from an independent civilian review board.
Mike in NC
How is Cliven Bundy doing these days? How many GOP presidential candidates are planning a photo-op?
Cervantes
@BR:
What do you think about taking it out of pension funds instead of budgets?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Cervantes:
As I said, this is routinely applied more widely. It is, in fact, pretty basic security thinking.
Cervantes
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Yes, you did say that.
Twice, even.
Thanks.
mike with a mic
Speaking as someone who lives in DC, DHS should monitor this sort of thing.
1. It may turn violent, rare but it could.
2. Some assholes target these events for violence.
It’s logical, and if you don’t want them to monitor it, then you don’t get to complain if someone decides to pull a mass killing against it. End of fucking story. And that shit does happen. They usually stop people trying to attack the protest, you just don’t hear about it unless you work in the area and they were protecting your ass as well. I’ve worked out of Pentagon, K Street, USAID, World Bank, and these things turning crazy is a very fucking real concern.
Over the top security is just a fact of life here. A public “show of force and interest” is usually enough to deter most crazies, but for some it requires actual intelligence work.
But I mean sure, let it stop. Just don’t complain if someone bombs this sort of protest and then opens fire on it after it stops then. That’s what you are asking for. Shit people still use these events to drive by and shoot at foreign embassies, it happens each damn time.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Gimlet: What, specifically, would you like the Justice Department to do that you haven’t seen? Keep in mind that its jurisdiction is limited and they can’t just decide to prosecute any cop that kills someone. So, if you’re going to say that they should prosecute someone, please explain how that case fits into the narrow range of things that constitute a federal crime.
BR
@Cervantes:
Yeah, pension funds could be a good target as well, but I’d say only out of the funds for the senior officials, not the rank and file. Basically those in supervisory positions need to directly feel the impact of police culture in their wallets — cities shouldn’t be shelling out money to cover for police misbehavior.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Mike in NC: Of more interest to some of us, how are his sniper pals who shut down a freeway doing? The ones with guns on BLM guys (the Interior Dept dudes, not the protesters; the acronym for that long overdue movement continues to confuse).
Smiling Mortician
@Gin & Tonic: Excellent question.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Cervantes:
I think that would violate federal laws in about 14 different ways.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Gimlet:
Link? Or source?
mike with a mic
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
They are probably riddled with undercover FBI and ATF agents right now. Who will take a long time to do deep cover and investigate before framing and trapping them. Just as they do with white power groups, militias, and biker gangs.
You do not know how the feds work… which not shocked here.
Omnes Omnibus
@mike with a mic: She probably has a better idea than you do. But do pat her on the head and send her back to the kitchen.
Cervantes
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Sure, that could be a small problem.
Laws do not guarantee justice.
Cacti
I wonder how many moles the cops and the g-men have in BlackLivesMatter now.
nellcote
cops won’t change until something is done to rein in the fucking police unions. they are the reason bad cops stay on the job.
Cervantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Oh, I don’t know … How about “making no useful difference”?
What do you think?
BR
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
It does seem like a city could take the money for out-of-court settlements / penalties out of the police budget, right? (Let’s leave the pensions aside for the moment.) That’s city money (even if some departments get state and federal money to supplement). And city councils have a fair amount of control even within such budgets so they could focus on the supervisors and the perks they get.
Cervantes
@BR:
Yes, both points appeal to me, despite how difficult it might be to implement them.
Omnes Omnibus
@BR: The budget, yes. The pensions, no.
mike with a mic
@Omnes Omnibus:
Unless she is an actual special agent or has worked in a CT operations center, I doubt she does.
Omnes Omnibus
@mike with a mic: And you have, boyo?
Gian
@nellcote:
yeah, fuck unions. teacher unions too.
or not.
Cops do what they are hired to do, and their formal policies say they can do. Hence all the shit about “was this shooting in policy?” when they kill a homeless guy with mental issues.
their unions make sure they don’t get screwed for following those policies.
which other unions need to get whacked to further a progressive agenda?
mike with a mic
@Omnes Omnibus:
On the latter, yes, I’ve been part of various CT issues before and after 9/11. I’ve also worked with various 3 letter organizations and done CT on the international level. I still have to comply with all their regulations and rules for work. I’ve moved largely to the cyber side of things as of late, but security is still a huge part of what I do. And I’ve had to deal with physical security regarding protests in DC dozens of times, in addition to the international level in various hot spots.
jenn
@lamh36: Hey, you’re probably long-gone by now, but I’ve been thinking about the thread earlier where you objected to “being a librarian” and recommending writers. It’s not that I don’t understand your frustration, but it feels to me as though the reprimand/refusal may be a poor tactic. We are (as you know far far more than I) in a battle to save lives of black men, women, and children, and – for a wonder – that battle actually has national attention. I suspect that there are readers/lurkers who will take your kick in the pants and dig in to find more voices to read and absorb – but I also suspect that there are many more who won’t – or who could at least use your recommendations as a jumping-off place. I doubt I’m the only bookaholic who has taken a recommendation off these boards and immediately gone searching it out! Anyway, I totally get that “educating” others isn’t your job, that the expectation of it could be frustrating, and that there’s value in expressing that frustration – it’s just I feel that given what’s at stake, expanding folks’ thoughtscape may have more value. Anyway, my 2 cents for you to disregard at will! :-)
Omnes Omnibus
@mike with a mic: That is rather full of sound and fury. Worked with, dealt with… Sounds mealy mouthed. I could say I worked with Spec Ops people when I was in the army because I coordinated a chopper flight with a Spec Ops unit. OTOH, I was a line artillery officer.
nellcote
@Gian:
If teachers were killing students at the rate of one a day and keeping their jobs, yes I would have big issues with teacher’s unions.
Gian
@nellcote:
cops shoot and kill people at a higher rate than that.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fatal-police-shootings-in-2015-approaching-400-nationwide/2015/05/30/d322256a-058e-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html
But teachers can do things like put ejaculate on cookies and feed them to third graders (this happened in LA)
After Cop unions, which union would you aim for next? when all the unions are gone, what will be the next target?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@nellcote: The most basic function of a union is to ensure that its members receive the protections they are entitled to under the collective bargaining agreement. For the police unions to do anything but defend cops as they do would violate federal labor law. There seem to be a lot of people who are all for progressive ideas right up to the point that they are inconvenient.
different-church-lady
@Cervantes: That’s still focusing on the punitive rather than the preventative.
As much as I hate to say it, it might have to start with union reform.
Omnes Omnibus
@nellcote: @Gian: @Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@different-church-lady: Or maybe it should start with rewriting laws that govern when and how cops should be held accountable for shootings, rather than denying them basic rights to due process. And maybe it should continue with better training, teaching cops to de-escalate situations rather than enflame them.
Police unions are not the problem here, as offensive as some of the things their leaders may be.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: This.
sparrow
I saw the drone monitoring us at one of the early Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore… we were about 100 people, peaceful, but god forbid you challenge authority.
Omnes Omnibus
@sparrow: And you know it was a government drone? How?
sparrow
@Omnes Omnibus: Police admitted as much after a reporter took video of it. Wasn’t subtle.
Another Holocene Human
@lamh36: That’s nothing, when I lived in DC the transit cops arrested a nine year old girl for eating fries in their precious subway.
Cops have no shame.
ETA: does it go without saying? yes, it goes without saying: the child was Black
Another Holocene Human
@Gimlet: Lynch is a company
manwoman.(Remember, GOP Senate now.)
Another Holocene Human
@JPL:
Because it could be a wormhole. Or Caribbean pirates. Maybe the Bermuda triangle. CNN lives for stories like this, obvs.
Also it’s a big fat distraction from our real problems, natch.
Another Holocene Human
@Cacti: Now that’s change I can believe in.
My local chief of police (he only became chief of police through a complicated chain that involved horrible scandals under prior leadership) has been complaining to the City commission that he has too many “warriors” and not enough “guardians” and it’s leading to frequent conflicts with citizens. Huh.
Another Holocene Human
@nellcote:
Wrong, buckaroo, it’s geriatric arbitrators who are making these decisions. They fucking love cops, hate all other workers, but loooove them some cops.
Another Holocene Human
@jenn: lamh36 posts links here all the time, usually to twitter
If you follow #BLM activists, many of them are frequently posting links to think pieces and essays
Why not let Black twitter curate this stuff instead of having to wade hip deep in, for example, tumblr?
(tumblr. It’s full of violent anti-Semites and TERFs.)
Another Holocene Human
@sparrow: Cops are some paranoid shitheads.
Sherparick
You create a domestic security bureaucracy, which by definition will lean authoritarian and status quo, staffed mostly by white cops, white spooks, and white former military, and the fact that any movement among minority groups, particularly African-Americans, pinkish hippies, and green hippies is about subverting this status quo, then they will be considered enemies of the state and watched as stuff. Basically a ‘national police” is by definition about ignoring the Bill of Rights to maintain the establish order.
Sherparick
@Trentrunner: Actually, unless there is a law or regulation or Exec Order, a policeman, national, state, or local, can collect publicly available information on group that is where there is no “expectation of privacy” for stuff in newspapers, social media, or at public demonstrations. Is it chilling to one’s first amendment rights? I certainly think so.
jenn
@Another Holocene Human: It’s a great suggestion, and yes, I do follow quite a number of black and Native American activists (I need to work on my latino feeds, however), and have gotten some great reads from it – though I’m always looking for more! :*) It’s more that I think that in any battle, particularly a literally existential one such as this, any time someone asks for more information on your side, giving them that information is a strategic win. Even if it is frustrating at times!
samiam
Wr0ng way Cole continues to believe he was born a poor black child.