Powered By Blogger
Showing posts with label Poverty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poverty. Show all posts

6.18.2020

Police Misconduct Allowed Anywhere Is Police Misconduct Allowed Everywhere


The USA has more imprisoned people per capita than any other nation on earth. This mass incarceration problem can only be solved by policing the police with federal legislation....

China has a population of ~1 billion people with ~1 million incarcerated; while the USA has a population of ~300 million, with over ~2 million behind bars, & ~4 million on probation or parole. -Van Jones



-photo via Twitter
Chicago City Council aldermen vote to terminate the $33 million contract between police & Chicago Public Schools. 
Lack of accountability for SRO's, traumatized & abused children, & tarnished futures have heeded the call for this to happen for years. The education system is to prepare youth for a future which shouldn't include a felony record for minor disobedience...
as too often happens. 


Police don't belong in schools. Most school resource officers have little to NO training in social & behavioral sciences.


With 75 convictions overturned so far, is this the police department & states attorney office you want in charge of holding police in Chicago schools accountable? We need independent oversight of ALL misconduct, a national registry, 
no immunity from charges for police officers, & no police in schools! 


Tear gas is a chemical weapon that is banned in warfare by the Geneva Convention. Before a photo op in front of a church, President Trump 'cleared the road' with military police using tear gas on peaceful protesters while giving a speech on National TV. Peaceful protesters were being shoved, trampled, tear gassed, & cornered by military police with flash bangs thrown at their feet while he spoke of being the 'President of Law & Order' & discussed looting. 

-photo of military police in Washington D.C.
Trump's speech fanned the flames of anger, rather than addressing the underlying issues
 of police brutality & cops getting special treatment in our criminal justice system. 
He gave no words of wisdom.



Other police brutality instances have been receiving attention 
at the numerous protests for justice reform:




-photo via Twitter

Reform measures have recently been introduced in cities, states, & at the federal level, 
including the Ending Qualified Immunity Act. Police have been given a get out of jail for free card 
& it has made it difficult to hold them accountable for their misconduct. 

-photo via Twitter
Policy solutions have been in the works for years, but only recently have the measures been not only considered, but began implementation. A couple of them below have their critics, but are considered blueprints for
 legislative solutions to police violence and misconduct. 




Militarized police along with lack of justice for victims of police misconduct is the perfect storm for disaster. Some feel that there is no hope to reform police, and that defunding the police is the only solution-
 by reallocation of their funding for useful social programs for the community.



-photo via Twitter
Police misconduct allowed anywhere means
 that police misconduct is allowed everywhere. 💔


#PoliceMisconduct
#GeorgeFloyd
#BlackLivesMatter
#PoliceThePolice
#JusticeReformNow
#SchoolToPrisonPipeline
#PoliceFreeSchools
#NoJusticeNoPeace
#EndPoliceTerror
#ProsecuteThePolice
#8CantWait
#JusticeReform
#PolicySolutions
#PoliceAccountability
#JusticeForAll
#KillerCops

11.07.2019

Criminal Justice Reform, Angie Style


Who else has dealt with so much #PoliceMisconduct & #ProsecutorMisconduct that when you need to report an emergency you don't call 911 anymore & write an email instead to your local PD?
 Or just me?!

My Reason: when I file a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) for the police report it won't come back a 'garbage report.' That's a term I have coined throughout the years meaning a police report that's so full of inaccuracies, that it's not worth the paper they wrote it up on. Nothing to dispute about what was reported if it's in writing. 
Their response, or lack of response to 'the call' may still be an area of where they can get away with misconduct though, since citizens reporting a crime can't control an unlawful response by police officers. 

That's why I will still write a partial police report narrative IN with my FOIA request like normally for several years to discourage receiving a garbage report by the police department, or at the direction of the prosecutor who failed to do their job. 
That's because of SO MANY bad experiences getting PD reports back that were garbage- and a plethora of corrupt police officers who are not worth the toilet paper in their toilets they wiped their butts with before their shift. 

They tend to follow a #ThinBlueLine when it comes to reporting each other for misconduct too. 

Writing a partial narrative with my FOIA means that my FOIA says what the report SHOULD say at least. I'll just skip the phone call now altogether & just keep everything I report in writing! New rules! That's called #JusticeReform, Angie style. It's gotta be involuntary I guess. They aren't going to act ethical or sane on their own or because I ask nicely!! I've tried that with every police department & court system that I have ever been unfortunate enough to have to call & ask assistance from...since childhood!! 

We can't pick who births us, or raises us, or who we fall in love with,
 but cops are public paid employees and our criminal justice system is publicly funded so I expect better. 
It's meant to protect and serve, not victimize and traumatize.

10.04.2019

PFAS Awareness



- photo from Food & Water Watch

"PFAS (including PFOA and PFOS) are man-made chemicals used in non-stick pans, food packaging, fire suppressants and stain-resistant fabrics. They are known as “forever chemicals” because they stay in the soil and water for long periods of time — and do not break down naturally. Long-term exposure to these chemicals has been associated with health problems, including thyroid disease, weakened immunity and certain cancers." -Food & Water Watch


43 states (at least) have been affected by these dangerous chemicals that don't break down over time. PFAS are detrimental to human health, wildlife, & agriculture. Improved EPA standards are being blocked by the GOP in our House of Representatives and Congress. It has taken the Attorney General's of some states to bring forth a real effort to combat the corruption of the EPA exasperated by the Trump Administration.

 Remediation efforts are slow to address this problem due to lack of legislation and funding. Public education has been virtually non-existent until recent months via TV & in newspapers on the health effects of PFAS, but lots of scientific research has been popping up online. Activists have taken to Twitter and other social media platforms to raise awareness. 

Below is an interactive map to see if your watershed or town in affected:


More detailed information on PFAS, including their origination, what products they are found in, & their health effects are in this document from Food and Water Watch, published in February 2019:




8.07.2019

Earth Poems




I have never been much of a poet... 

but the time to act on our climate crisis is now, not later.


"Untitled"

Wildfires & Earthquakes.
We cannot easily put out the flames.
The fracking makes the earth shake.
It sets our water on fire.
We drink oil & fracking chemicals.
We are not allowed to know what those chemicals are.

This is the new normal. 
People just look away.
Disbelief, indifference, helplessness.

A Melting North Pole.
Our crops are drowning in floods & roasting in drought.
Plastic flows through our water from garbage. 
In the smallest streams from our oceans.
Bits & pieces too small to see, but small enough to drink.
Our seas are a graveyard for creatures.

This is the new normal. 
People just look away.
Disbelief, indifference, helplessness.

When the sunsets are all gone,
 & replaced with a nuclear winter haze-
will it be another new normal?
Will you look away?

The Global Polluter Money will no longer matter. 
Their profits will not be as self serving as they had hoped.
Harvesting the earth & humans was their business.

Property Damage, Starvation, & Death.
Profits. Immorality. Mortality.
This is the new normal. 
People just look away.
Disbelief, indifference, helplessness.










7.01.2019

Capitalism and Crime: Governmental Control Over Resources; the Oppression Over People: Part 2

-Photo from depositphotos.com

The People's Fight for Water and Other Resources:
 The Human Response to Government Race for Fossil Fuels

The people's fight for water and other resources, due to the harvesting of fossil fuels and the global crisis it has caused for our environment, gives rise to all levels of human survivalist instinct. The necessary means to survive has become a diminished prospect or all together unobtainable. Globally, the conditions which humans live in are complicated by lack of housing, lack of economic opportunity, extreme temperatures, increased natural disasters, and lack of food and/or water. 

When the Oppressed Class Seeks Social Justice: 

Those in countries where freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are legal and socially acceptable, often bring their grievances to their government officials in this way. But, the oppressed sometimes have their civil rights violated by the very government that instituted those universal rights as a part of the democracy. This is because when the ruling class feel their interests are threatened, abuse of governmental power has usually followed. This premise is demonstrated by both history and by Richard Quinney's 'Social Reality Theory of Crime': the idea that "criminal law is used by the state and ruling class to secure survival of the capitalist system, and, as capitalist society is further threatened by it's own contradictions, criminal law will be increasingly used in the attempt to maintain domestic order." Capitalism tends to favor the ruling class, which is controlled by money and their special self-serving interests. Oil drilling in the Arctic is a good example. Despite the will of the people to break free from fossil fuels and our votes in a "democracy" against it, our voices and votes are ignored. In America, our basic environmental legislation was repealed by executive order by President Trump. 

Link: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Agreement

Greed also controls his most powerful supporters, leaving punishment for these governmental crimes against humanity and the planet less likely to occur. While the government itself makes the laws, law enforcement is much more likely to be aimed at those on the lower end of the socio-economic scale. This leaves basic democratic values and social movements in accountability, justice reform, and humanitarianism out of reach for social justice advocates and the oppressed class.

Link: "Moscow's Lone Climate Protester: We Need To Talk About It Now"

"People generally do not have the same justice system as those in places of political and monetary power."- J.K. Lieberman, 1973

The bi-lateral control of the natural resources in the Arctic Circle by Russia & the United States, combined with the human response to the climate crisis and ecocide it's causing is a disaster. Totalitarianism throughout history has never worked. Governments that are mismanaged, become corrupted, do not follow their own laws, lack democracy, and partake in mass incarceration or genocide are repeatedly overthrown by the people or taken down by foreign military. Government, while an entity in itself, is made up of 2 basic things: humans and money. The humanity and morality of people is lost when their thoughts and actions are solely controlled by money and the need to exert power and dominance over the people. Militarized police, in combination with a militarized police force allowed to constantly violate the oppressed class and their civil and constitutional rights, creates a fascist government. Until there can be a moral compass installed in governmental policy, focused on human empathy rather than instant gratification, our earth and people will continue to suffer. 








8.09.2018

Ebola: A Forgotten Pandemic

The link below is a case study of a rare relapse of Ebola in a patient from Scotland, initially diagnosed in late 2014, who was released from isolation and treatment in early 2015. A sudden onset of symptoms in late 2015 pointed to relapse of the virus, previously thought to have been fully treated.This study was published about a year and a half ago. It claims it's an independent study with contributors worldwide; that it wasn't sponsored by the CDC, World Health Organization, or any other governmental entity. However, English doctors were funded through their nationalized healthcare program (Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust) for their part in the study.

My initial summary & thoughts after sifting through this thing:

Vaccination is unavailable because the entire viral sequence is still unknown. The specific CNS sites the virus replicated in causing relapse are also still unknown. The full range of symptoms & secondary diseases caused are also unknown.  Various pharmaceutical companies & governments are claiming there is an effective vaccine now available, & it has already been administered to many. According to this study, an effective & safe vaccine on the market is still an impossibility. More viral sequencing research should be required before subjecting populations to a vaccine which is experimental, not evaulated for safety, & appears to immunize against a disease where the RNA sequence is unknown. Worldwide pandemic infection is still a concern, as Ebola is not fully contained. An Ebola outbreak is currently occuring in The Congo in large enough numbers to reach international media attention.

"...the pathogenesis of post-Ebola complications, in particular the presence and role of viral persistence, is unknown...."

"... to our knowledge, no previous reports exist of late severe relapses of Ebola virus with viral RNA redetected in blood."

"We do not know in which specific site or cells the virus persisted, or whether the virus continuously replicated there or reactivated to produce clinical relapse. Sequence comparison at the time of initial illness and subsequent relapse showed no changes in coding regions, excluding an immune escape variant of the virus causing clinical relapse. A potential precipitant for relapse, such as intercurrent illness or use of immunosuppressive drugs, was not identified, and therefore its cause and timing remain unexplained."

"Our patient is the first to be rechallenged with Ebola virus-specific monoclonal antibody therapy following previous treatment, and developed a life-threatening allergic reaction."

"We are unable to assess our patient's risk of further Ebola virus relapse or know whether this has been reduced or eliminated by antiviral treatment."

"Relapse of viral replication in the CNS alone would not pose a risk of onward community transmission, but our patient also had detectable Ebola virus RNA in blood."

"In view of the large number of Ebola survivors in west Africa, the potential for relapse, even if rare, to initiate new transmission chains is a serious public health concern. A small cluster of Ebola cases occurred in Liberia in November, 2015, after human to human transmission was thought to have ended, which WHO has reported was the result of re-emergence of Ebola virus that had persisted in a previously infected individual."


11.27.2017

Small Business on Cyber Monday

Please consider showing your support for small business & starving artists on this #CyberMonday! Links to my shops & my gallery can be found on my website. 🎄🎁









10.24.2016

Thoughts on Mass Incarceration For Profit

-Photo from "Justice for Justin"

A society has failed when Capitalism harvests it's own people through mass incarcerations and imposing large debts on them. Disproportionately the practice is done for petty offenses punished with inhumane and/or draconian laws, for no other logical reason than for profit. The over punishing criminalization laws are enacted by lawmakers with a financial gain or interest in the business model. Other parts of the web necessary for it's survival have included the documented slow degradation of civil rights and lack of basic equal protections under the law by our criminal justice system as a whole. Mass failures to uphold federal Constitutional Rights such as the promise of "innocent until proven guilty" to citizens, abuse of judicial and police authority, and lack of accountability are large contributors. The mentioned systems profit off of violations of due process and false arrests through fines and also stocks they may hold in the prisons or detention centers. While imprisonment for actual offenses remains the majority of subjects, the longer the sentence, and more incarcerations yield the most profits. There is no accountability, very little at best. Quotas are in place to arrest, detain, charge, and convict, and have become a priority for law enforcement and courts, rather than actual criminal justice. It is no longer a democracy and is a fascist police state when mass incarceration and false imprisonment have become Big Business. It is a joint venture of government and the business of imprisonment coming together for profit off of the abuse of people in society. Taxdollars are also being funneled into the pockets of the keyholders and engineers of this- the politicians that support it, the prosecuting courts, as well as judges privately profiting from it. It is estimated that over 100,000 people are falsely imprisoned. There needs to be steps taken to restore freedom. 

Please visit me on Twitter and Google+ for articles I have shared from sources such as the ACLU on the #SchoolToPrisonPipeline injustice being done to our nation's children and their families, via public schools and police. The end of the war on our people starts with knowledge.


10.18.2016

Photography Realism Project



My photography realism project, "Urban Decay":


The concept of finding beauty in our crumbling infrastructures. These photos were taken at a public park, due to a sudden fascination. Peeling paint, rusted metal, and plants growing out of old cracked concrete have an elegance about them. 

Prints, coffee mugs, mousepads, magnets, and coasters available at my Deviant Art Shop {link}

Clocks available at my Zazzle Shop {link}








9.14.2016

First Thoughts on Republican (R) Proposed Child Care Plans and Paid Maternity Leave


Link: "Child Care Reforms That Will Make America Great Again" Fact Sheet from donaldjtrump.com

Wednesday thoughts on the current political debate and climate. Please excuse my Marxist/Feminist theorizing in advance. And conspiracy theories. But, with Trump's proposed platform to "guarantee" mothers receive what he calls "paid maternity leave", while using the unemployment system to fund it, several alarms have gone off.

In order for one to collect unemployment, they must be unemployed. Unless he were to legislate a law that makes it illegal for employers not to hire back the employee, then this seems to be a backhanded way to undermine the women's civil rights movement even further. It would likely keep them out of the workforce, by creating more obstacles and giving employers more rights, not the working mothers, the opposite of his proposal. If there is no protection for women to be hired back, then the law already promised to new moms to legally take time off after giving birth would become worthless. This is 

Also, as the wife of a former 99er, the bottom line is unemployment insurance checks usually take at least a month to arrive. It is also about 1/2 of what you were making. So, by the time new mom and her 6 weeks is up, she would have to re-certify for unemployment for the 2 weeks prior and may have not received anything at all- if so 1 meager payment. In Illinois for instance, every 2 weeks you call into an automated system and are re-approved if circumstances haven't changed. Then, if you are lucky another 2 week check will arrive- eventually. This doesn't count as "Paid Maternity Leave" when it's a small fraction of your income and you may lose your job permanently. Donald Trump is trying to sell a false promise, using the words "paid maternity leave" as propaganda to attract votes from women and the left.

So Trump's real plan I theorize is to get rid of federally mandated maternity leave, and make new moms unemployed with no income and no safety nets. Sort of a punishment for having a child? Or I'm just judging him as I would any other Republican that touts a proposal to help people using tax dollars? It is usually a political  show to eventually take from the group they claim to have a plan to assist! And especially I am weary of any proposal specifically regarding women: as theirs is a history of archaic regressive laws and discrimination against women. Economically, cash strapped states would carry the burden of paying for the program unless there was a federally mandated increase in spending for UI. And Republicans hate funding the current social service programs and safety nets already in place. 

I welcome any compliments or dissonance to my above piece. I appreciate differences of opinions and opposing points of view, as long as they are not personally insulting. I am enlightened by them and the search for "why" there are polar ends of a political spectrum give me more to learn. My opinions are based on facts. They are well thought out after researching- they are not based on word of mouth or political propaganda from either candidate.  Soon, I will be covering the monstrosity of #DonateGateThe theories of white collar crime and deviance further illustrate and predict what's to come.





Other critics of Trump's Child Care Plan:








8.25.2016

Solving the Mysteries of Nationalist Communist Agendas and Melania Trump

Melania Trump and her upbringing was financially sponsored by a regime and an ideology that slaughtered 200K+ Muslims, Croatians and Bosnians? Am I misreading this? I certainly hope that I am completely incorrect in all of my research into this lately. If I am unfortunately correct, then her immigration to the U.S. can be compared to the immigration of Nazi's into the U.S. following World War 2. There were very few and it was done very quietly. 

-Former Yugoslavia
 www.historyplace.com

History of the war between Serbs and Muslims:


Someone should at least clue her in that in America we don't sue each other over the ability to obtain important information by attacking the free press or try to undermine the amendments pertaining to them with high priced lawyers. Reporting relevant news, and exercising free thought are also protected by our Constitution. If she is a victim of slander, that is certainly upsetting especially when a political figure involved in a Presidential election. Let's get out the violin for her self induced bloated sense of elitist privilege... 

Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion Are American Values:


Politics unfortunately brings out the worst in both sides and smearing the other candidate is a desperate attempt to get votes. More importantly, it is a calculated attempt on the campaign 'smearers' part to divert attention from their own disqualifications or shortcomings, whether professionally, or within the content of their character. She would know all about it if she paid a little more attention to Donald Trump's campaign. That is what he does everyday. Smearing and slandering various political candidates and reporters...NATO, The United Nations. This when he isn't busy making bigoted comments and fascist "final solution" suggestions about entire races and religions. Honestly, since Melania Trump thanks the Communist Party from her homeland for her and her family's "success"- it really didn't surprise me hearing that she was a highly paid political sex bartering tool, or "escort", whatever it was. This has apparently been proven false in any case- so she was just a nude model and got paid for the pictures...while being an illegal immigrant? This, while the daughter of an enemy of the state, that plagiarizes speeches, and lies about graduating college? Or is this what the lawsuits are really about??
................................



League of Communists of Slovenia
Ideology: Marxism-Leninism, Titoism
 -Photo and info courtesy of Wikipedia
Melania Trump and her proud Communist upbringing may have brought her a deep seeded hatred towards Muslims or minorities and she may be provoking an agenda through her husband that went partially unfulfilled back home. She did jump ship after the genocide ended because of efforts by the United States military and it's allies. She got a communist state sponsored trip to the catwalk after that! We should all be concerned that the League of Communists may be attempting to get one of their own in our White House. Only 5% of the population during her childhood were eager participants of the regime in her homeland. The story that we are being given is that her father joined only to secure employment and housing. The rest of the population (95%) rejected being part of a genocidal regime for meager opportunities. So the ideology is what must have attracted him more than anything. A power trip? So little is known other than the smokescreen that was given to the media and public. But we do know that Donald Trump and Viktor Knav, Melania Trump's father and League of Communists member , are very chummy. 


Luckily, we are free to do our own research and have educated opinions. I encourage everyone to do so and to make informed decisions about who will be given keys to the White House. I feel the Trumps, Knavs, and their totalitarian associates are a huge security concern. Our national security and values are at huge risk if they are allowed to get into a role where they could invoke a dictatorship- as nationalist genocidal leader Slobodan Milošević did. The Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort has recently been tied to the Pro-Russia ousted president of Ukraine, who escaped to Russia. He worked in his circles before working for Donald Trump, and is involved in apparent money laundering for the Pro-Kremlin agenda. This is just another issue to consider. Please use your right to vote wisely.



....................................................