Did you hear about the case in Texas where the po po shot a man to death who was handcuffed and it was caught on camera?"Earlier this year a grand jury declined to charge an El Paso police officer in the shooting death of a prisoner. A video of the incidenct was published on Monday, after the Texas Attorney General instructed the city to fulfill a request processed by the El Paso Times. The events of the video are deeply unsettling, showing a police officer essentially executing a handcuffed man." [Story]
The most shocking part of this story, besides the obvious of course, is that a "grand jury declined to charge" the police officer. You Texans I swear.
But it's not only those folks in Texas. Right here in Pistolvania the justice system can be just as harsh.
"A Pennsylvania woman died in a jail cell over the weekend while serving a 48-hour sentence for her children’s unpaid school fines. Eileen DiNino was found dead on Saturday in a Berks County jail cell where she was midway through the sentence that would have eliminated around $2,000 in fines and related court fees related to her children’s attendance at school. Police have said her death is not considered suspicious, but the cause has yet to be determined. She was 55 years old and a mother to seven children.
“This lady didn’t need to be there,” District Judge Dean Patton — who said he was “reluctant” to sentence DiNino — told the Associated Press. ”We don’t do debtors prisons anymore. That went out 100 years ago.” More than 1,600 people have been jailed in Berks County alone — the majority of them women — because of similar fines. [Source]
Lord have mercy! This really is no country for poor folks.
If you are rich and kill someone with your car you don't spend a day in jail. If you are poor and owe the school district money you die in jail.
Finally, thank goodness for the video camera. It exposed the cold blooded killing of that poor man in El Paso, and it has also vindicated Dana Milbank.
"On Monday evening, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank live-blogged the Heritage Foundation’s Benghazi panel and described a lengthy exchange between panelists and a Muslim student as “ugly” and having descended into taunts and mockery."
Of course wingnuts were quick to call the report a lie and declare hat Milbank was exaggerating.
Well, as it turns out, he was not. Those tolerant right-wing Christians were giving the lone female Muslim in their midst the business. All that was missing was the post and the fire to burn the heretic.
Real tolerant folks over there at the Heritage Foundation.
“Are you an American?” Gabriel demanded of Ahmed, after accusing her of taking “the limelight” and before informing her that her “political correctness” belongs “in the garbage.”“Where are the others speaking out?” Ahmed was asked. This drew an extended standing ovation from the nearly 150 people in the room, complete with cheers.
The panel’s moderator, conservative radio host Chris Plante, grinned and joined in the assault. “Can you tell me who the head of the Muslim peace movement is?” he demanded of Ahmed.
“Yeah,” audience members taunted, “yeah.”
Ahmed answered quietly, as before. “I guess it’s me right now,” she said." [Source]
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