Real News Post: Gerrymandering, Shenanigans in St Louis and Corrupt Baltimore Cops

Pennsylvania Gerrymandering, Progressive Pushback in St Louis &
Baltimore Cop Corruption Trial

(https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/pennsylvania-supreme-court-issues-congressional-map-in-gerrymandering-case.html)

Gerrymandering is the drawing of district lines usually by a Legislature to advantage Democrats or Republicans depending on the party that hold the majority. The Supreme Court has taken a case from Wisconsin about Gerrymandering for Party advantage and we are still waiting to hear from that case



However, Pennsylvania has been in the news recently and their Congressional map looked like this: A lawsuit to make the districts fairer resulted in a map that was drawn by their State Supreme Court. Instead of a 13-5 Republican advantage, based on the 2016 election data, the districts are down to 10-8 with more competitive districts. Not only that but the districts actually make sense and you can “follow the numbers” The previous map had Districts 1 and 2 on the other side of the state from 3. Of course, Republicans will want to sue over these districts but I doubt they’ll be successful as it is a state matter that was hinging on claims regarding the State Constitution.

The new map is a lot fairer and contiguous, the shapes of the districts actually make sense

Annie Rice vs Paul Fehlen Two Committee Members facing off

(https://m.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2018/02/14/after-annie-rices-victory-democrats-weigh-punishing-her-supporters)

In ST Louis Alderman Race for Ward 8, Annie Rice and Paul Fehlen were both on the Democratic Central Committee and running for Ward 8 Alderman. The Committee endorsed Fehlen and after Rice got the signatures necessary to get the Committee to withhold endorsement and cut off debate for Rice’s supporters. This seems to have prompted Rice to run as an Independent, and qualified to appear on the ballot. On February 13^th, with nearly 60% of the vote she beat Fehlen for the Ward 8 seat

Despite her victory, the Committee is not pleased that she ran as an Independent while on the Committee herself with no Committee support. In response to this the local party is pushing a bylaw pictured here. It is basically saying that any Committee member will support the nominee the Committee endorses and that if they don’t support the nominee they will be subject to censure. That is 

Article IX

Here it is in full

Article X goes a bit further and having someone who supported a candidate like Rice who challenges the Democratic nominee in a race to go before the Committee and “determine the validity of the complaint” If 2/3 vote for censure it could also lead to not being able to defend oneself in front of the committee, or being stripped off the Committee. Censure lasts for 6 months, but the more insidious thing is this: If someone supports someone like Rice who is not the Democratic nominee and they are on the Committee they will be removed

This is a way for the Committee to force Unity and Unity forced by staying in line is not Unity, but coercion and is Undemocratic

Now we go to the East Coast to Baltimore Maryland where cops are actually on trial for corruption in the discharge of their duties

From Vox But from the stand Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, four former detectives have testified that the unit was actually made up of uniformed criminals who broke into homes, stole cash, resold looted narcotics and lied under oath to cover their tracks.

According to The Baltimore Sun’s article titled Notable testimony from the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force

(http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-gun-trace-task-force-gttf-testimony-highlights-20180126-story.html)corruption trial a few of the incidents from testimony include: 

Ward said the unit’s supervisor, Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, instructed the officers to carry replica guns to plant if they found themselves in a jam. Police recovered a replica gun from the glove box of Taylor’s vehicle after he was arrested last year. The gun, shown to jurors, is nearly indistinguishable from Taylor’s service pistol.

» Ward said Taylor had a “source” in internal affairs who informed them that their overtime was being investigated and their phones and vehicles were being tracked by federal officials. About the overtime, one of the officers had claimed paid time while on vacation in SC

» Ward testified that he and Taylor once conducted a “trash run” on a home in preparation for obtaining a search warrant. They found marijuana residue in the target’s trash, but realized the trash can belonged to another resident. They proceeded anyway, submitting an affidavit for a search warrant falsely claiming the drugs had been found in the target’s trash can.

» Stepp said that in April 2015, during the riots that followed the death of Freddie Gray, Jenkins walked into Stepp’s garage carrying two garbage bags full of looted pharmaceutical drugs. (Police said in 2015 that they believe the influx of drugs looted during the riots was helping fuel the city’s spike in violence.)

 From Vox article on the same subject titled: 8 cops allegedly used an elite Baltimore police team to plunder the city and its residents 

(https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/2/16961146/baltimore-gun-trace-task-force-trial)

·       In July 2016, the officers allegedly picked up a married couple even though there was no evidence of any crime, found out that the couple had $40,000 in a house outside the city, and proceeded to scour the property for cash. They took $20,000 before they called other law enforcement to the home, arguing that they had uncovered criminal activity — with no actual evidence.

·       The cops once reportedly found a gun and a pound and a half of marijuana in an illegal warrantless search. Their solution: They sold the drugs and firearm back onto the street.

·       One officer said the unit carried BB guns “in case we accidentally hit somebody or got into a shootout, so we could plant them.”

  

Wearing lockup jumpsuits, the ex-detectives have admitted to everything from armed home invasions to staging fictitious crime scenes and routinely defrauding their department.

Here we have cops acting like criminals, and I want you to notice that Internal Affairs tipped them off so that they knew they were being watched

At this point, I’ll recommend The Jimmy Dore Show, The Rational National, The Humanist Report The Real News Network and Dave Pakman Show. They have had people forcibly unsubscribed so click on the bell to get notifications whenever they upload a video!

I’ll make a playlist for Real Newsblast with Vidhead85,  and keep real news coming your way