Monday, August 15, 2016

Cops Get in the Gutter to Bust Drug Lab

Police state will sober you up:

"Suspected meth lab beneath Walmart lot has officials ‘completely astounded’" Washington Post  August 11, 2016

A giant, graffiti-filled storm sewer beneath a Walmart parking lot in upstate New York apparently housed a shocking setup: a laboratory used for making methamphetamine, police said.

Authorities in Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo, have opened an investigation into the suspected meth lab some 12 feet under the superstore parking lot, along a busy thoroughfare that leads to the town’s shops, according to news reports.

‘‘I was completely astounded,’’ Amherst Highway Superintendent Patrick Lucey told the Buffalo News. ‘‘It’s like, are you kidding me?

Amherst police, assisted by state law enforcement, made the discovery beneath the parking lot Monday afternoon during a ‘‘preventative patrol,’’ according to CBS affiliate WIVB.

‘‘Routine patrol, that’s what we do every day,’’ Amherst Police Captain Scott Chamberlin told the station. ‘‘We check in various areas that people who might be up to no good, might be using for no good.’’

Crews in hazmat suits were seen climbing from a manhole, pulling out wooden pallets that, police said, were used to stand above the water flowing through a culvert that leads to a main drainage line in town.

Shoppers gathered nearby to watch investigators sort through evidence pulled from the lab, which was deep inside the storm sewage tunnel.

Chamberlin said crews fished out aerosol spray paint cans, plastic bottles and chemicals - including ‘‘a liquid we believe is methamphetamine.’’

No arrests have been made.

Why announce in news then? 

The operators will not be coming back now, will they?

Or is this all BS???? 

It has that fantastical aroma, if you know what I mean....

--more--"

So who i$ doing the clean up

Look at where the sewer emptied out:

"Federal report criticizes Baltimore city police force" by Juliet Linderman and Eric Tucker Associated Press  August 10, 2016

BALTIMORE — Baltimore police officers routinely discriminate against blacks, use excessive force too often, and are not adequately disciplined for misconduct, according to a harshly critical Justice Department report being issued Wednesday.

The report, the culmination of a yearlong investigation into one of the country’s largest police forces, also found that officers make large numbers of traffic stops — mostly in poor, black neighborhoods — with dubious justification and unlawfully arrest citizens for speech deemed rude or disrespectful.

The Justice Department released a copy of the report in advance of its public announcement Wednesday at an event in Baltimore.

The report is a damning indictment of how officers carry out the most fundamental of policing practices, such as traffic stops and searches and responding to First Amendment expression. Beyond that, though, it could serve as a blueprint for sweeping changes at the police force.

As if the federal law enforcement record is any better.

The federal investigation was launched after the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man whose neck was broken while he was handcuffed and shackled but left unrestrained in the back of a police van. The death set off protests and the worst riots in decades. The report examined a slew of potentially unconstitutional practices, including excessive force and discriminatory traffic stops, within the department.

Yeah, he's pretty much been forgotten and no one held responsible for his death. 


At least the feds get to nationalize the Baltimore police.

Federal investigators spent more than a year interviewing Baltimore residents, police officers, prosecutors, public defenders, and elected officials, as well as riding along with officers on duty and reviewing documents and complaints.

Among the findings: Black residents account for roughly 84 percent of stops, though they represent just 63 percent of the city’s population. In addition to pat-downs, Baltimore officers perform unconstitutional public strip searches, including searches of people who aren’t under arrest.

The report partially blames the department’s unconstitutional practices on a ‘‘zero tolerance’’ policy dating back to the early 2000s, during which residents were arrested en masse for minor misdemeanor charges such as loitering.

Although the department has publicly denounced these practices after a 2010 settlement with the NAACP, which sued the department over the policing strategy, ‘‘the legacy of the zero tolerance era continues,’’ the report said.

What is left unsaid is all those policies were designed and implemented by Democrats. That's not to say Republicans are better. They are often worse; however, that doesn't remove culpability and blame unless you are blindly partisan. I'm not. I don't like either faction of the corporate war party.

Officers also routinely stop and question individuals without cause or a legitimate suspicion that they’re involved in criminal activity, the report says: No charges were filed in 26 of every 27 pedestrian stops.

The directives often come from supervisors. In one instance, a supervisor told a subordinate officer to ‘‘make something up’’ after the officer protested an order to stop and question a group of young black men for no reason. 

I could be reading such things (made up, who knows), and Mark Fuhrman just resurfaced in Baltimore?

Unconstitutional frisks are also rampant, the report says. In one incident in 2010, a man fled from an officer patrolling a ‘‘high-crime area.’’ The officer proceeded to fire his stun gun at the running man’s back, striking him several times. When the officer was able to detain the man, he frisked him but found no weapon. The officer’s report ‘‘provides no reason to believe the man was armed.’’ 

Look on the bright side; he didn't kill him.

State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, the city’s top prosecutor, said she expected the report to ‘‘confirm what many in our city already know or have experienced firsthand.’’

That's where my print ended before the web added a little more:

‘‘While the vast majority of Baltimore City Police officers are good officers, we also know that there are bad officers and that the department has routinely failed to oversee, train, or hold bad actors accountable,’’ she said in a statement. 

It seems to be systemic, but I do believe locals are the best. I mean, they live around here and such. There are the ones interacting with people most. It's sad to see them taken over by militarization to promote war profiteering and tyranny.

She said she was confident that the federal probe would ‘‘lead to even more reforms which is an important step in ensuring best practices for a fully functioning police-prosecutor relationship.’’ 

Is that a good thing?

Six officers, three white and three black, were charged in the death of Gray. Three were acquitted, another officer’s trial ended in a mistrial and the charges against the others were dropped.

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"Baltimore vows changes after blistering police report" by Lynh Bui and Peter Hermann Washington Post  August 11, 2016

WASHINGTON — Officials warned, however, that changing a department entrenched in a culture of unconstitutional policing would be a slow process and could cost millions. 

Only bank bailouts and war funding are quick.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, at a news conference unveiling the findings of the report Wednesday, said, ‘‘It’s going to take time and it’s going to require a focused and sustained effort.’’

Gupta said there were ‘‘longstanding systemic deficiencies’’ within the Baltimore Police Department and that ‘‘sustainable reform’’ was necessary to keep both officers and the community safe. 

Just yesterday I was told bad actors!

The inquiry found that a police force rooted in ‘‘zero tolerance’’ enforcement that started in 1999 but ended a decade ago has created a deep divide between police and many members of the community it serves.

Do they serve us anymore?

Now that the investigation is complete, city officials will work with the Justice Department to implement a series of court-mandated reforms outlined in what is known as a ‘‘consent decree.’’ The mayor said it could cost the city anywhere from $5 million to $10 million annually to make the suggested changes, which include improved training programs and new technology and equipment to modernize the police force.

I what social services will be cut.

The court-enforced order will be independently monitored and designed to sustain reform regardless of who is the police commissioner or mayor, justice officials said....

It's sort of a receivership for the police department.

--more--"

Baltimore is a big city.

So is Bo$ton:

Civic leaders slam police unions over push for long guns

They are only wanting to protect the children, so make it happen!!

"Man who stole State Police cruiser found walking down Pike, tearing pages from Bible" by Dylan McGuinness Globe Correspondent  August 09, 2016

The man who allegedly stole a State Police cruiser Monday in South Boston was taken into custody Tuesday after state troopers found him walking down the Massachusetts Turnpike in Newton, ripping pages from a Bible and throwing them into traffic, State Police said. 

Good God!

Troopers chased the man at around 7 a.m. as he fled from the highway and crossed train tracks, State Police said in a statement. Troopers and Newton police found him on Craft Street.

Police determined he had been hospitalized recently. The man’s name was not released because of his condition, State Police said.

Troopers recognized the man from the security footage taken at the Department of Transportation maintenance facility on D Street in South Boston, where a cruiser was stolen Monday morning.

Really?

The car was found abandoned in Somerville just before 1 p.m. Monday, State Police said.

The man was taken to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for evaluation, State Police said. Troopers have not decided whether the man will be charged.

The stolen cruiser was a spare and was at the facility for engine repairs, State Police said. It did not contain any weapons and nothing seemed to be missing from the cruiser when it was found at the Twin City Plaza in Somerville."

All's well that ends well....

"Man killed by LA County deputy not involved with carjacker" Associated Press  August 10, 2016

LOS ANGELES — A man who was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy last month wasn’t involved with a carjacker who had fired at pursuers, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday, an acknowledgement that came just ahead of a news conference where the man’s family said police had killed an innocent man.

The department said in a statement that deputies encountered 27-year-old Donnell Thompson, who was black, shortly after a carjacker crashed the stolen vehicle, fled into a Compton neighborhood, and was arrested on July 28.

After a resident called 911, deputies spotted Thompson lying in a yard with one hand concealed from view and were concerned that he may be connected to the carjacking suspect, the statement said.

The deputy fired from the turret of an armored vehicle being used to provide security for deputies behind it, sheriff’s Captain Steve Katz said.

Katz said Thompson ran toward the armored vehicle after initially ignoring commands to get up and after being struck by so-called less-than-lethal rubber bullets fired by a special weapons team.

??????

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Time to hop over to Florida:

"Woman killed by Florida officer in academy exercise" by Tamara Lush Associated Press  August 11, 2016

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — A police ‘‘shoot/don’t shoot’’ demonstration in Florida went shockingly awry when an officer shot and killed a 73-year-old former librarian with what police said was real ammunition used by mistake at an event designed to bring police and the public together.

Did this really happen or is a script out of a book?

Authorities didn’t immediately say how a gun with a live round came to be used at Tuesday evening’s demonstration, noting blank rounds are typically used in such classes.

A Punta Gorda police spokesman identified the officer as Lee Coel and said Coel has worked for the department since 2014.

She said Coel frequently gave department presentations and tours, ‘‘specifically role-playing in these shoot/don’t shoot scenarios.’’

That's about as close to "crisis drills" that the pre$$ will get. 

Beyond that, think of how deeply embedded the police $tate has become.

Coel has been placed on administrative leave, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.

‘‘The officer involved is grief-stricken,’’ Police Chief Tom Lewis said at a news conference Wednesday. “We’ve got officers assigned to him to make sure he’s psychologically stable.’’

Mary Knowlton, a community volunteer, was shot after being randomly selected to take part in the role-playing scenario illustrating the split-second decisions an officer must make about firing. It was part of a popular citizens academy attended by 35 people, including her 75-year-old husband.

Her son, Steve, said his father was devastated.

The younger Knowlton said in an interview Wednesday at his parent’s home that, on his mother’s behalf, he was forgiving Coel.

‘‘There’s too much hate in this world, in America, we always feel like we need revenge and it doesn’t solve anything,’’ he said. ‘‘I obviously can’t say it’s easy to forgive, but it needs to be done. She’s watching me now.’’

Speak for yourself. I have to digest supremacist hate in the form of a newspaper every morning, and I have no desire for revenge. I just wish the ma$$ media and the war-criminal elite for which they front would be put someplace where they can't harm anyone. 

Other than that it is live and let live. 

Police Lieutenant Katie Heck said officers in such demonstrations normally use ‘‘simunition guns,’’ which are real-looking weapons that fire a nonlethal projectile with reduced force.

And were TV to present it to you and tell you it's real how would you know?

The class, put on by the Chamber of Commerce and the Punta Gorda police station, was one lesson during a weeks-long curriculum.

--more--" 

Yeah, talk about getting into the gutter.

"An Arkansas deputy died Wednesday after being shot while responding to a call at a house, the sheriff said. After the shootings, dozens of police vehicles, including a SWAT truck, quickly descended on the area. The shootings occurred in a rural, wooded area near Hackett, a town of about 800 residents. US Representative Bruce Westerman, whose district includes part of Sebastian County, didn’t have details about the incident but voiced support for police statewide. ‘‘This has to stop,’’ Westerman said. ‘‘It’s a shame the price that law enforcement officers are paying right now.’’

Yeah, look how quickly the whole debate again shifted. Every time the focus is on police brutality a cop is allegedly killed.

7,000 rescued as flooding wreaks havoc on Louisiana

Where in the world is Obama?

What is clear is the pre$$ and political cla$$ is given him a free ride victory lap these last few months as the whole thing is falling down. All the scandals have been swept under the rug and we are being told what a great presidency was his (so you better vote Clinton!).

I know they are not likely to win any Deep South states, but I guess those people down there don't matter. Not that I would want him visiting and taking valuable time and resources away from the locals. It's just I haven't read anything in my Globe about him commenting or anything.

"Milwaukee shooting victim held gun, police say" by Gretchen Ehlke Associated Press  August 15, 2016

MILWAUKEE — The black man whose killing by police touched off rioting in Milwaukee was shot by a black officer after turning toward him with a gun in his hand, the police chief said Sunday, as Wisconsin’s governor put the National Guard on standby against any further violence on the city’s mostly black north side. 

It's the '60s all over again as we inch towards Obama's declaration of a national emergency. Not over the floods or the country falling apart around him, but over racial division.

Police Chief Edward Flynn cautioned that the shooting was still under investigation and authorities were awaiting autopsy results, but that based on the silent video from the unidentified officer’s body camera, he ‘‘certainly appeared to be within lawful bounds.’’

At the same news conference, Mayor Tom Barrett said a still image pulled from the footage clearly showed the gun in 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith’s hand as he fled a traffic stop Saturday.

‘‘I want our community to know that,’’ Barrett said. But he also called for understanding for Smith’s family.

‘‘A young man lost his life yesterday afternoon,’’ the mayor said. ‘‘And no matter what the circumstances are, his family has to be hurting.’’

Flynn refused to identify the officer who shot Smith but said he is black. The police chief said he wasn’t sure what prompted the stop but described Smith’s car as ‘‘behaving suspiciously.’’

After watching the officer’s body camera footage, Flynn said the entire episode took about 25 seconds, from the start of the traffic stop until shots were fired. He said Smith ran ‘‘a few dozen feet’’ and turned toward the officer while holding a gun.

‘‘It was in his hand. He was raising up with it,’’ the chief said.

Before becoming chief in Milwaukee in 2008, Flynn ran police departments in Springfield, Chelsea, and Braintree, Mass., and served as secretary of the office of public safety under Governor Mitt Romney.

Earlier Sunday, Governor Scott Walker activated Wisconsin’s National Guard, and 125 Guard members were reporting to local armories to prepare for further instructions. Flynn said they would not be deployed unless the chief decided to do so.

‘‘I’m hopeful that will not be necessary,’’ the mayor said. ‘‘But if it is necessary, we will do so.’’ Flynn said 150 department officers specially trained in managing big protests had also been mobilized.

Yeah, remember the unions that shut down the statehouse years ago?

Six businesses were burned in the unrest that spilled past midnight Sunday. Seventeen people were arrested, Flynn said, and four officers were hurt, none seriously.

Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey, who represents the neighborhood that erupted, said the city’s black residents are ‘‘tired of living under this oppression.’’

‘‘Now this is a warning cry. Where do we go from here? Where do we go as a community from here?’’ he asked.

I understand, but is that incitement?

Flynn said Smith had a lengthy criminal record with Milwaukee police. Online court records showed a range of charges against Smith, many of them misdemeanors.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Smith was also charged in a shooting and was later charged with pressuring the victim to withdraw testimony that identified Smith as the gunman. The charges were dropped, but it was not immediately clear why.

His family was stunned by his death.

‘‘My son is gone due to the police killing my son,’’ Marilyn Haynes told the Journal Sentinel. ‘‘I am lost.’’

At one point Saturday evening, as many as 100 protesters massed at 44th Street and Auer Avenue, surging against a line of 20 to 30 officers. The Journal Sentinel reported that some in the crowd smashed a squad car’s windows. Another police car was set on fire.

That doesn't help, and I only see government agent provocateurs when violence is raised by protesters.  People are peaceful. That is why they have to be lied into wars.

In addition to the gas station and an auto parts store, a bank and a beauty supply shop were burned. Firefighters were held back from the gas station blaze because of gunfire.

Torched the whole town, huh?

On Sunday morning, about three dozen volunteers swept up glass and filled trash bags with rocks, bricks, and bottles at the intersection where the gas station burned to the ground. One volunteer picked up a bullet casing and handed it to police.

Darlene Rose, 31, said she understands the anger that fueled the violence but said it doesn’t help.

‘‘I feel like if you’re going to make a difference, it’s got to be an organized difference,’’ Rose said. ‘‘The people that came and looted, you’re not going to see them here today.’’

The only organizational difference I can see is Occupy, and we all saw what happened to them.

Otherwise it is "get into politics" and we have seen where that diversionary $tream leads. That's why the pre$$ directed you there. 

Who do you think controls Congre$$ and the $tatehouses?

Early Sunday evening, about 100 people gathered next to the blackened ruins of an auto parts store, saying they hoped there would be no repeat of the violence. Most were from Greater New Birth Church and wore red T-shirts that read ‘‘Grace Stop the Violence’’ as they sang songs and prayed.

The anger at Milwaukee police is not new and comes as tension between black communities and law enforcement has ramped up across the nation, resulting in protests and the recent ambush killings of eight officers in Baton Rouge, La., and Dallas.

Nearly 40 percent of Milwaukee’s 600,000 residents are black, and they are heavily concentrated on the north side.

Milwaukee was beset by protests and calls for police reform after an officer shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in 2014.

Another psyop?

In December, the US Justice Department announced it would work with Milwaukee police on changes.

Critics said the police department should have been subjected to a full Justice Department investigation like the one done in Ferguson, Mo., after the killing of black 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014 touched off violence there.

--more--"

You see who is siding with the cops, and it is no surprise. Explains a lot actually. 

How does it feel to be Palestinian, American?

"Judge denies Blagojevich’s bid to lighten 14-year sentence" Associated Press  August 10, 2016

CHICAGO — A federal judge declined Tuesday to lighten Rod Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence on corruption counts, setting aside pleas for leniency by the former Illinois governor’s wife and daughters during his resentencing hearing.

US District Judge James Zagel said it’s an ‘‘unfortunate reality’’ that Blagojevich’s innocent family members are made to suffer the consequences.

As the judge announced his decision, Blagojevich could be seen on screen bowing his head. In the courtroom, his two daughters sobbed, the younger one placing her head on her mother’s shoulder.

Blagojevich, known as Inmate No. 40892-424 since he went to prison in 2012, appeared on a courtroom video in prison-issued clothing, his once dark hair now white. He was eligible for resentencing after an appeals court threw out some convictions related to his alleged attempt to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.

The Democrat appeared from a Colorado prison, his first public appearance since entering prison.

‘‘I think I’m a very different person and I think I’ve become someone who has learned a lot from the mistakes I have made,’’ he told the judge, adding that he takes responsibility for his actions and is working to make amends.

Federal prosecutors said the dismissal of the five counts doesn’t reduce the seriousness of Blagojevich’s offenses and argued the sentence shouldn’t be reduced.

Blago got caught in the NSA dragnet and his high-profile prosecution (after he told BoA he was stopping debt interest payments over a factory closing) was a message to all early in Obama's term. Then he used the IRS to investigate his political enemies.

--more--"

Remember the talk of Rahm resigning because of the police and schools?

Also see: Big City Lights 

Been turned off ever since.

NDUs: 

4th body found after apartment explosion; search continues

A meth lab in Maryland?

"Milwaukee to enforce curfew on teenagers after weekend unrest" by Kay Nolan New York Times   August 16, 2016

MILWAUKEE — Authorities scrambled Monday to restore calm after this city endured a weekend of unrest in the wake of a police officer’s killing of an armed man.

“We’re going to make sure that there is peace and order restored to this neighborhood,” said Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, who blamed “angry people who want to cause problems” for the violence that shattered the city’s northwest Sherman Park neighborhood.

This is having the feel, piece by piece in all these big cities, of a sort of subtle and slow-moving martial law. 

The disorder heightened concern that Milwaukee, with a glittering lakefront that belies its stark racial and economic divides, might be in the opening days of sustained protests about the practices of the police.

Well, if they are covered then we know what kind and whose backing it.

As Barrett acknowledged the frustrations that course through Milwaukee, he and the police, who made 14 arrests Sunday night and into Monday morning, planned more aggressive enforcement of the city’s curfew for teenagers.

Welcome to the New World Order, kids. After they filled you full of fanciful notions of freedom.

I'm not saying burn down a building, far from it. I'm just noting how authority tars you all for the actions of a few. I'm sure there is a word for that.

The National Guard remained on standby, and Barrett suggested that Milwaukee might impose a broader curfew if Monday night brought additional violence.

Well, if you have a couple COINTELPRO infiltrators.... (blog editor shrugs shoulders and raises arms in questioning and pleading gesture at you)

“This is not the place where you go to gawk,” Barrett said as he announced that people under 17 would be barred from the streets between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. “It is not the place you go to take pictures. It’s not the place you go to drive your car around right now.”

Yeah, you needn't be down there keeping an eye on authority, questioning them, or the pent-up protesting of neglect. 

Go home!

The decision to intensify enforcement of the curfew came after a night of trouble that left four police officers injured. The city said its ShotSpotter system, which tries to detect gunfire, had been activated 30 times.

Although the initial shooting that touched off the violence is the focus of a state inquiry, as required by law, officials in Milwaukee have signaled that they believe the 24-year-old police officer was justified when he opened fire and killed Sylville K. Smith, 23. Both are black. 

Those three words are critical. It's become a state vs. citizen issue, not a racial one, and the agenda-pu$hing pre$$ of corporate altrui$m cares nothing for the Johnny Cracker killed last night. 

Barrett said that Smith had been armed with a handgun when he was shot after he and another person fled a traffic stop Saturday afternoon.

--more--"

Related:

"President Obama on Sunday declared at least four parishes major disaster areas to open access to federal funding. There’s still a danger of more rain and floods, as swollen rivers drain toward the Gulf of Mexico. It started raining in Baton Rouge again Monday and the city expected to see up to a half-inch of precipitation...."

Okay, I stand corrected; however, what is he up to with Milwaukee (and California) on fire?

"The race is on to win President Obama’s attention as he puts some final touches on his environmental legacy. Obama has created or expanded 24 national monuments during his seven-and-a-half-year tenure, the most of any president. Almost nobody thinks he’s done. Environmental groups are urging him to go big as he leaves office...." 

If that's all he "goes big" on I suppose that will be acceptable before he leaves. If he leaves.  It would be better than getting a war with Russia and China going, as he is trying his best. 

You know what he is like right now? 

A guy who is in the last week of a two-week notice and he's all enthusiastic about how much he's going to get done before he leaves. How do you think the rest of the holdovers and staff see that? I can some it up in one word: jerk.

Oh, here is something else his attention is focused on, and rightly so.... 

"President Obama interrupted his Martha’s Vineyard vacation on Monday to help raise money for his former secretary of state. He headlined a Democratic Party fund-raising dinner in Chilmark."  

Yeah, you want all those administration secrets kept tight and that may not happen with Trump, especially if his administration comes under attack right away.

Then he went back to golfing

Too bad the clubhouse burned down(??).

Any more complaints?

"Boston officers say no to mediation program" by Jan Ransom Globe Staff  August 16, 2016

Nearly a year after the Boston Police Department launched a mediation program to reduce a backlog of minor grievances against officers, not a single complaint has been mediated because the officers involved have refused to participate.

The program, which began in September, was billed as a way to quickly resolve routine complaints such as allegations of disrespectful treatment, which would allow the department to spend more time investigating more serious allegations of misconduct or use of excessive force.

But for a complaint to be mediated, both parties must agree to participate. Under the program, managed by the Harvard Mediation Program at Harvard Law School, officers are asked first if they want to participate. If they refuse, the party who filed the complaint is not offered the option of mediation.

Of the 240 complaints filed in 2014, more than half would have been eligible for mediation. But so far this year, only 15 complaints have been identified by the Internal Affairs Division as “suitable.” Officers named in 10 of those complaints did not accept an offer to participate, said a Police Department spokesman, Lieutenant Detective Michael McCarthy. The department is waiting to hear back from officers in the other five eligible cases, he said....

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We shall overcome, right?

When are they going to open that case up?

TUESDAY'S UPDATES:

100 Boston police officers to wear body cameras

What, no volunteers, not one?!

Milwaukee is latest city to use curfew to tamp down unrest

New California wildfire spreads rapidly

My print told me they were making progress and that they found a scapegoat:

"The progress came as authorities arrested Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake, Calif., on 17 counts of arson Monday. Pashilk is suspected of sparking the blaze that exploded over the weekend. Officials say he is also suspected in several other fires over the past year in Lake County."

Hey, you know how fast the hot wind can turn, 'eh?

"“This is an unprecedented event here,” said Barry D. Keim, the state climatologist. “There is nothing in the recent past that even comes close.” Tens of thousands of people were without electricity Tuesday, and Governor John Bel Edwards said restoring service was a priority. He also urged residents to register for federal disaster assistance. The scale of the storm left many people here reeling...."

Katrina not close(?), and Obama is nowhere to be seen in my Globe today, thank God.

Globe is also getting a lot of letters of complaint regarding a political cartoon they ran implying all police are racist.