blm
blm's JournalRotten police bodycam law pushed through by NCGOP in 2016.
From Jeff Jackson:
Here's what's going on with police body camera footage in North Carolina, and why it's become such an issue in the case of Andrew Brown in Elizabeth City:
In 2016, then Gov. McCrory signed HB 972 into law. It had passed the state Senate 48-2.
I was one of the 2 who voted against it.
The bill essentially said that bodycam footage would no longer be considered a "public record."
As a result, it created two pathways for people to see the footage.
The first pathway just lets people view the footage in private and does not release it to the public.
The rule on this is the police get to determine who views the footage privately.
So if you think you were mistreated during a traffic stop and you want to see the footage - privately, with no public release - the police essentially get to determine whether or not that happens.
If they say no, you can appeal to court, but the court can only overrule the police if they feel the police “abused their discretion,” which is the highest standard of proof in civil law. So it’s very, very hard to overrule their decision.
The second pathway to seeing the footage is getting it released to the public.
Here, the police don’t have any authority. It’s a 100% judicial decision. So even if the police call for the public release of the footage - as they now are in the case of Andrew Brown - it doesn’t matter. The court makes the decision.
Notably, there’s no timeframe in the law for the court to decide. We’ve seen these decisions take days, weeks, or months.
In the case of Andrew Brown, the judge bizarrely ruled that the media did not have standing (i.e., legal eligibility) to request the release of the footage. There’s nothing in the law about that and there’s clear precedent to the contrary. There are dozens of cases to the contrary. The ruling, to be blunt, was incorrect.
The judge also ruled that the footage will be released in 30-45 days.
That’s very strange given that even the local sheriff is calling for the immediate release of the footage and said he was “disappointed” by the ruling.
What we’re seeing are the actual consequences of a law that stacks the deck against release of footage, and that’s having immediate impacts on the ground in Elizabeth City.
Everyone recognizes that there are interests that need to be balanced here, but when the footage isn’t legally recognized as a public record it means transparency can be treated as an afterthought.
And when transparency gets pushed aside, the public reacts. Suspicion deepens - often with good reason.
Currently, there are several legislative proposals for reforming this law in a way that would allow for a fair and sensible balancing of interests that elevates the concern for transparency. I support those efforts, but I’m also open to new ideas that haven’t been offered yet.
What I’m not open to is doing nothing in the face of a law that obviously isn’t serving the public. We need a sense of urgency about this and I’m ready to work with anyone who cares about getting this right.
- Sen. Jeff Jackson
Angelina Jordan's voice brings another reactor to tears
This performance was in practice stage so she’s obviously glimpsing at the lyrics, yet, it’s still pure and masterful.
NC Senate: 14,000 small donors give $1.3m to Jeff Jackson campaign
https://apnews.com/article/senate-elections-campaign-finance-richard-burr-north-carolina-campaigns-fc064478ed7de34f9804149756115c4eNorth Carolina state Sen. Jeff Jackson had a sizeable fundraising advantage entering this month over other Democratic opponents in the 2022 U.S. Senate race, while a former Republican congressman running also has flush coffers so far, according to new campaign finance reports.
Jackson’s committee raised nearly $1.3 million between the time he announced his candidacy in late January and the end of March, and had more than $838,000 in cash on hand. He also outraised former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, a Republican who announced his bid in December to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Richard Burr.
.....
NC Republican bullies going after trans kids, again.
https://twitter.com/JeffJacksonNC/status/1382702934899761155Must see: Jamel just posted reaction to Society's Child.
My reaction video pals, Jamel just posted Society's Child.
Returning Snowbirds, no doubt. Fl, Mi, NY, Pa, NJ lead current Covid surge.
We know Florida’s been hiding their real numbers for a year now.
"Case rates have risen especially in Michigan lately, averaging more than 6,600 cases a day over a week now against 1,350 daily cases five weeks ago. And elected officials and health experts have said highly contagious variants such as B.1.1.7 have helped spur increases there..."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/07/health/us-coronavirus-wednesday/index.html
Reminder:It was RightWing extremists lighting fires, shooting up buildings
under the cover of the Floyd protests. They knew BLM would be blamed. Most media and most of the public have been conditioned to believe the violence was BLM and Antifa. ALWAYS correct the record.
.......
A far-right extremist has been accused of opening fire on Minneapolis' third police precinct and sparking violence during May's George Floyd protests.
Ivan Harrison Hunter, a 26-year-old from Texas, was charged Friday with one count of interstate travel to participate in a riot. An admitted member of the "Boogaloo Bois," Hunter opened fire on the precinct and later looted it and helped set it on fire, the FBI said in a sworn affidavit released Friday.
....police precinct....became the center of protests against police violence that devolved into the destruction of the precinct and buildings around it. Hunter is one of several far-right extremists accused of intentionally ramping up that violence. Armed with a mask and tactical gear, Hunter fired 13 rounds at the precinct while officers were inside and ran away shouting "Justice for Floyd," the FBI alleges. He later bragged about "help[ing] the community burn down that police station" on Facebook.
Hunter admitted he was member of the Boogaloo movement, a collection of far-right, anti-government extremists intent on sparking a second civil war. He was in contact with other self-described Boogaloo Bois who arranged a trip to Minneapolis. He also texted with Steven Carrillo, another Boogaloo member who later shot and killed a sheriff's deputy in California.
https://news.yahoo.com/far-extremist-shot-minneapolis-police-184300735.html
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-17/far-right-boogaloo-boys-linked-to-killing-of-california-lawmen-other-violence
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/23/man-linked-far-right-boogaloo-bois-charged-after-allegedly-firing-ak-47-minneapolis-precinct/
Putin would certainly prefer that to be believed
by the American wing he manipulates through the GOP.
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