Category: Uncategorized

A quote popularized by Mark Twain best sums up a recent motion graphic that’s been circulating on social media.
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
The video attempts to make a comparison of how likely the chances were for you to get murdered or raped, and then endeavors to compare this to police brutality per contact.

It makes the claim that excessive force by the police is exceedingly rare and attempts to use statistics to provide a claim of legitimacy. The problem is that this is not a legitimate comparison, as they did not compare the murder and …read more

On February 20, a Washington state superior court in Pierce County ruled that pro bono legal assistance to a committee that is trying to recall a public official is not a campaign contribution to the recall. In 2012, Robin Farris decided to launch a recall of the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer, Dale Washam. Washington state recall(More)… …read more

On February 21, the Democratic National Committee unanimously passed a resolution in favor of voting rights, and in favor of amending the U.S. Constitution to guarantee the right to vote. Here is the language of the resolution, from the Brad Blog. The Brad Blog post was written before the resolution passed. The resolution has many(More)… …read more

Laredo, TX– The officers involved in the fatal shooting of Jose Garza, 30, who suffered from schizophrenia, last August have been cleared of any wrongdoing, both criminally and professionally. They have now returned to the force.

Back in August, police arrived at a truck stop after receiving a call about a man with a gun. Witnesses, however, say that police knew it was a pellet gun upon arriving, but executed him anyway.
Before the police arrived, Garza was approached by security about the gun. Garza explained that it was a pellet gun he had just purchased from Walmart, and the guard …read more

Savannah, Georgia – Thanks to a legal loophole, former Savannah-Chatham County Police Chief Willie Lovett will collect nearly a million dollars in pension payments while he is in jail. Lovett was recently convicted of extortion and illegal gambling and was sentenced to 7 ½ years in federal prison.
In 1985 the state passed a law that would allow them to revoke the pensions of government employees who are convicted of a crime. Unfortunately, this law only applied to employees hired after the law went into effect, and Lovett had already been with the department for a number of years, so the …read more

On February 20, the last possible day, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo chose May 5 for the special election for the U.S. House seat, 11th district. See this story. He had been told by a U.S. District Court to either set a date by February 20, or explain why he wouldn’t do that. The Governor’s(More)… …read more

Two bills have been introduced in the Maryland legislature to move the primary (for president only) from the first Tuesday in April to the second Tuesday in April. They are HB 396 and SB 204. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news. …read more

by: Thomas L. Knapp California’s elections system is making news again (“Top-two primary system survives challenge,” by Thomas Elias, Salinas Californian, February 17). “Top two,” in California and elsewhere, is the latest effort to strengthen …

Pasco, WA– Police in Pasco, Washington, on Wednesday, made a ridiculous claim. They stated that a citizen’s video that showed them killing unarmed Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, as he ran away, could not be used as evidence.
The video, which was published to YouTube on February 11, captured the shooting very clearly and had been viewed over 1,600,000 times as of Thursday February 19.
Zambrano-Montes’ shooting marks the fourth killing by Pasco police in less than a year.
The department alleged that they did not know who filmed the video, nor did they have the original file, so it could not be used. …read more

Rob Astorino, the Republican nominee for Governor of New York last year, and that creator of the “Stop Common Core Party”, discusses in this interview why he re-named the party the “Reform Party” and what it will stand for. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link. …read more