Dystopian Utopia

latimes: An end to zero tolerance for willful defiance in L.A....

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:40:33 -0500

Manual Arts High School student Damien Valentine, 16, is photographed at Community Coalition in South Los Angeles.

Manual Arts High School student Damien Valentine, 16, is photographed at Community Coalition in South Los Angeles.

David Chinchilla, 15, of Augustus Hawkins High School in South L.A., was suspended for interrupting and cursing at a teacher.

latimes:

An end to zero tolerance for willful defiance in L.A. schools?

California schools have long brought about swift punishments for instances of so-called willful defiance, which have disproportionally led to suspensions of many minority students not just in our home state, but nationwide.

Take the case of Damien Valentine, a Manual Arts Senior High School sophomore fighting against the practice, who says that several such punishments earlier in his school accomplished nothing but setting him back.

So just what is “willful defiance?”

That offense is now widely criticized as an arbitrary catchall for any behavior a teacher finds objectionable, such as repeatedly tapping feet on the floor, refusing to remove a hat or failing to wear the school uniform. It accounted for 48% of 710,000 suspensions issued in California in 2011-12, prompting both state and local efforts to restrict its use in disciplinary actions.

A resolution moving through Los Angeles County would make L.A. Unified the first school district in California to ban suspensions for the aforementioned offenses.

Said Tonna Onyendu of the Liberty Hill Foundation, a Los Angeles nonprofit:

“This will be a transformational shift. Instead of punishing students, we’re going to engage them.”

Read more on the matter in Teresa Watanabe’s report.

Photos: Christina House / For The Times

thepeoplesrecord: Diabetic high school girl beaten by police...

Thu, 09 May 2013 16:39:04 -0500

thepeoplesrecord:

Diabetic high school girl beaten by police officer & arrested…for falling asleep in class
May 9, 2013

A student who was arrested and beaten for falling asleep at school is now suing an Alabama city, its police department and some school employees for civil rights violation, battery and negligent supervision and hiring. After the diabetic student fell asleep while in a room reserved for “in school suspensions,” a school police officer slammed her face into a cabinet and then arrested her. The incident occurred at a high school in Hoover, Alabama.

Ashlynn Avery, who has diabetes, asthma and sleep apnea, was suspended for cutting class, and had to sit in the in-school suspension room. While she was reading “Huckleberry Finn,” she dozed off. First, the in-school suspension supervisor walked over to her cubicle and struck it, which caused the cubicle to hit Avery’s head, according to the lawsuit. She woke up, but soon fell back asleep. The supervisor, Joshua Whited, then took the book from her and slammed it into the student’s chest.

Avery was then told to leave the room, according to the complaint, and police officer Christopher Bryant followed her. Bryant slapped her backpack, and then “proceeded to shove Ashlynn face first into a file cabinet and handcuff her,” the complaint states. While in the car, Avery vomited. She was taken to a hospital and had to wear a cast as a result of her injuries.

“Ashlynn required follow-up care to her shoulder, arm, and wrist, Ashlynn also required extended mental counseling for trauma caused by the defendants,” the lawsuit states. The Averys are seeking “compensatory and punitive damages for civil rights violations, battery and negligent supervision and hiring,”.

The case is another example of abuses committed by school police officers. Activists have long decried the “school to prison pipeline” which disproportionately affects communities of color. A PBS factsheet, as the Courthouse News Service notes, states that “70 percent of students involved in ‘in-school’ arrests or referred to law enforcement are black or Latino.”

“When police (or ‘school resource officers’ as these sheriff’s deputies are often known) spend time in a school, they often deal with disorder like proper cops — by slapping cuffs on the little perps and dragging them to the precinct,” wrote Chase Madar in the wake of the Newtown massacre. The school shooting in Connecticut has sparked more calls—from both Democrats and the National Rifle Association—for more police officers in schools.

Source

Random Acts of Chaos: Couple's Second Child Dies After "Faith-Healing"

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:00:40 -0500

Random Acts of Chaos: Couple's Second Child Dies After "Faith-Healing": helvetebrann: A couple...

Photo

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:01:09 -0500

politicalprof: How to interpret the world according to...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:12:20 -0500

politicalprof:

How to interpret the world according to ExxonMobil and Monsanto!

From Brian McFadden, New York Times

mohandasgandhi: theneighbourhoodsuperhero: Just saw these...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:05:51 -0500

mohandasgandhi:

theneighbourhoodsuperhero:

Just saw these photos of Ramadhaan 2012 in Guantanamo, made me tear up crazy ways man, most of these men are about to spend their 20th -24th Eid in captivity.

Keep them and their families in your du’aas iA.

This is extremely touching whether you’re a Muslim or not. GITMO is one of the United States’ greatest failures in recent history and it’s something we should become more ashamed of as each day that it remains open passes. Here are a few reasons why to refresh everyone’s memory:

About 780 people have been held at Guantanamo. At least 158 have been determined to be completely innocent thus far. Only 220 were ever considered dangerous threats and 380 were deemed to be “low-ranking guerrillas.”

At least 15 children have been detained.

Of the 166 people still being detained, at least 55 have been cleared for release.

Of the nearly 800 people detained at Guantanamo Bay, only 3 have been formally charged by a military court with a crime: David Hicks, Salim Hamdan, and Ali al-Bahlul.

We even detained an Al Jazeera cameraman for 6 years, partially so we could interrogate him about the network.

Other detainees have included an Afghan taxi driver, captured “because of his general knowledge of activities in the areas of Khowst and Kabul based as a result of his frequent travels through the region as a taxi driver,” an Afghan gentleman because he was a Mullah in a city where some members of the Taliban were suspected of living, and a British man who was detained because U.S. officials assumed he had knowledge of the Taliban because he was once imprisoned by them.

The Bush administration knew early on that innocent people were being detained and were of little to no intelligence value but higher up officials, such as Cheney and Rumsfeld, refused to release prisoners because doing so would have left a “black mark” on their leadership and been “politically difficult.”

6 detainees are reported to have committed suicide. However, strong allegations exist that the designation of at least 3 of the deaths as suicides were attempts to cover up homicides. In addition, hundreds of suicide attempts and rampant self-harm among prisoners has been documented. In fact, during the first year and a half after the prison was opened alone, 18 detainees carried out 28 suicide attempts.

Detainees have been widely subjected to physical and psychological torture during interrogations and as a form of discipline. Some of these alleged techniques include waterboarding, sexual assault/rape/harassment and humiliation by both male and female interrogators, severe sleep deprivation, prolonged solitary confinement, mock executions, medical experimentation, forced medical treatments and procedures (some detainees reported doctors forced, or attempted to force, unnecessary amputations), withholding medical treatment, threats of dog attacks, subjecting detainees to temperature extremes, sometimes to temperatures bellow freezing or over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, prolonged sensory bombardment, such as exposure to loud, irritating sounds and bright lights, often permanently damaging eyes and ears, threats of transfer for torture in other countries, exposure to irritating chemicals and substances, physical beatings, some of which have resulted in permanent injuries such as confinement to a wheelchair, shackling prisoners and putting them in painful stress positions for hours at a time, refusal to allow detainees to use the bathroom, the repeated use of tear gas and pepper spray, oxygen deprivation, the removal of everything but underwear and the Qur’an from cells, desecration of the Qur’an, religious humiliation, interference with religious practices (famous examples include female interrogators sexually assaulting detainees during prayers, guards forcing detainees to strip before prayers, withholding food when fasting breaks during Ramadan), force-feeding detainees during hunger strikes, causing detainees to bleed from the nose and throat, vomit, and go to the bathroom on themselves, etc.

The Obama administration has decided not to investigate or prosecute any U.S. officials for torture or abuse.

Guantanamo Bay isn’t going to be closed any time soon.

Ex-CNN Reporter: I Received Orders to Manipulate News to Demonize Syria and Iran

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:02:00 -0500

Ex-CNN Reporter: I Received Orders to Manipulate News to Demonize Syria and Iran :...

reagan-was-a-horrible-president: queerkhmer: Conservative...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:33:07 -0500

reagan-was-a-horrible-president:

queerkhmer:

Conservative folks from high school was passing ~~Saint~~ Reagan’s quotes around and thinking they’re all reality based. So I thought I’d put in some facts about Reagan and reply.

Ronald Reagan, Enabler of Atrocities

krz: See who’s the greedy predator?!

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:23:10 -0500

krz:

See who’s the greedy predator?!

think-progress: Men with loaded rifles intimidate moms gathered...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 05:20:16 -0500

think-progress:

Men with loaded rifles intimidate moms gathered at a gun safety rally. Watch what happened.

9gag: Random idiot

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 06:24:49 -0500

9gag:

Random idiot

Photo

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:46:25 -0500

"But the most affecting aspect of the book is the demonstration of the ghetto not as a product of a..."

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 02:51:35 -0500

“But the most affecting aspect of the book is the demonstration of the ghetto not as a product...

9gag: Another advice

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:30:30 -0500

9gag:

Another advice

liberalsarecool: What people forget is you have to have had a...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:42:19 -0500

liberalsarecool:

What people forget is you have to have had a job to get unemployment. They don’t just give out checks.

(trigger warning:rape) A woman dials 9-1-1, the cop who comes rapes her

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:48:48 -0500

(trigger warning:rape) A woman dials 9-1-1, the cop who comes rapes her:...

(trigger warming: ableism) Disabled Man Ends Up in Court for Laughing Too Loudly

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:40:11 -0500

(trigger warming: ableism) Disabled Man Ends Up in Court for Laughing Too Loudly:...

Random Acts of Chaos: Are You Mad Yet?

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:22:53 -0500

Random Acts of Chaos: Are You Mad Yet?: quixxotica: Patricia Spottedcrow, a Native American woman,...

tylerferrari: No New Truck for Women Shot During Dorner...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 02:44:37 -0500

tylerferrari:

No New Truck for Women Shot During Dorner Manhunt

The two newspaper delivery women who were shot at during the manhunt for Christopher Dorner will not be getting a new replacement truck as promised by the LAPD, according to their attorney Glen Jonas.

It has been more than a month since LAPD Chief Charlie Beck promised the truck to Emma Hernandez, 71, and her daughter, Margie Carranza, who had been working in Torrance, Calif. before dawn on Feb. 7.

Police said it was a “case of mistaken identity” that prompted officers to open fire on the women. Beck later apologized and promised to replace their truck, now riddled with bullet holes.

According to Jonas, LAPD and Galpin Ford wanted his clients to pose for a photo opportunity and pay income tax on the truck. The women no longer want the truck after they were told they needed to fill out a 1099 form for the donation, Jonas said Monday.

“You tried to murder the woman, now you’re telling her she can’t have a four-wheel drive, you’re telling her she can’t sell it and you’ve got to be taxed on it?” Jonas said. “How would anyone react to that?”

Jonas plans on filing a government claim, which is a precursor to any lawsuit filed against a government agency. He said he felt the truck was being touted as a “reward or prize” instead of a sincere gesture by the LAPD.

Galpin Ford estimates the value of the truck – a 2013 Ford 150 SuperCrew – at $32,560. The dealership had planned on paying the sales tax, vehicle registration and title on the truck, according to a dealership spokesperson.

“It’s really sad for us because we want to help these women move on with their lives, and help them move forward with that, we just can’t get passed the 1099 issue,” LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said. “The government has to take their bite out of it, I guess.”

The women’s Toyota Tacoma was pierced with 102 bullet holes from the Feb. 7 shooting, according to Jonas. Emma Hernandez is still recovering from two bullet wounds to her neck, which are giving her life-threatening complications, according to Jonas, who described what his clients went through that morning.

“The grandmother, Emma, starts saying, ‘God have mercy on us,’ because she thinks for sure they’re going to die,” Jonas said. “She then clutches around the back seat of her daughter to protect her from the gun shots because her daughter has children.”

The pair was driving a dark-colored pickup truck with its lights off when they slowly approached the home of an officer named in ex-officer Christopher Dorner’s angry manifesto. Apparently thinking Dorner was inside, police opened fire on the truck.

After the shooting, Jonas said he was shocked by the officers’ actions. He said neither the size of the women nor the blue Toyota Tundra truck they were in matched the description of Dorner’s Nissan Titan.

Eight officers were involved in the shooting. They were assigned to non-field assignments “until the (police) chief decides otherwise.”

odinsblog: Consider these ten chilling stories. If the...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 18:02:48 -0500

odinsblog:

Consider these ten chilling stories. If the anecdotal evidence is any indication, use of military machinery such as tanks and grenades, as well as counter-terrorism tactics, encourage overly aggressive policing – too often with devastating consequences:

all 10 links and articles ➤ here