Earlier this month, the NY state Attourney General's office released the transcripts of the grand jury trial investigating the death of Daniel Prude. While reading through them, I was reminded again and again of a Noam Chomsky quote: "In political discourse every term has two meanings: an official meaning and it's opposite and it's the opposite meaning that's normally used".
Submitted by Christopher Snyder on Mon, 2020-12-21 21:46
In the discourse of the libertarian left, there is a general aversion to what is called the "great man" theory of history, the interpretation of history in terms of the decisive actions of great leaders. You might say that there is an exception made for Kropotkin, the great white bearded Saint (as described by Oscar Wilde).
Born into privelege as the son of a minor landlord in Russia, Kropotkin would eventually assume the role of class traitor, moving over the course of a lifetime from the Tzar's court to the Tzar's prison.
Almost entirely based on Facebook posts, a protester who attended Justice for Daniel Prude events was charged with Federal rioting charges. The charges, which carry the potential of 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines, are part of an effort to expand the use of the federal rioting act and limit freedom of speech protections.
Submitted by Robert Meek (photo: Democrat & Chronicle) on Thu, 2020-09-24 11:05
During a summer of citizens uprising against the racist Rochester Police Department, as well as against police departments across the world, Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle is demonstrating whose side they are on. On Aug. 22, Rochester's only daily circulated newspaper published a story by James Johnson on two youth sports organizations who reached out to, rather than turned their backs on, RPD officers.
An interesting point about this file is that it starts AFTER he was acquitted of brutality and civil rights abuses and retrained. It is NOT his whole personnel file.
There is an astonishing amount of activity surrounding Justice for Daniel Prude going on in Rochester right now. I thought it could be nice to produce a summary of everything happening, since it can be overwhelming trying to track it all. Please comment if this is useful, and we can do more regular summaries and updates. Also if anyone is interested in joining in, or already doing similar work and wants to collaborate, please send me a message and let's talk.
Wednesday night marked the 8th straight evening of protests in response to the murder of Daniel Prude, which are part of over 15 weeks of sustained black lives matters demonstrations organized by Free the People Rochester. The initial nights were marked with extreme aggression and violence from the police, including shooting pepper balls and tear gas into the crowd. Starting Sunday night, the police backed off their attacks, which has allowed for peaceful demonstrations.
A crowd of about 45 people met on Saturday morning, August 22 2020 in front of the Metro Post Office on West Main Street to show their support for the US Postal Service. The event coincided with three others in Monroe County and over 800 nationwide.
Speaking was Jeremy Cooney, candidate for New York State Senate in district 56.
President Donald Trump's hand-picked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is accused of intentionally sabotaging the Postal Service to make it more difficult to cast ballots by mail in the upcoming election.
Both the 'outsiders' who 'agitate,' and the Family Dollar remarks are problematic. The former is doublespeak, or an attempt to shuffle the meaning of words to shift the systemic failures of the state onto the community. By spouting the lie of blaming 'outsiders' for the violence, Mayor Warren attempts to invalidate the uprising by claiming that the riot was somehow an outside plot, rather than the oppressed demanding that their voices be heard against the racist and violent police. The latter reeks of ignorance of Family Dollar's role in the destruction of urban communities, given the daily hoarding and looting that Dollar Tree Stores Incorporated exhibits in its business endeavors throughout communities across the nation.
[Please note that the author wrote this piece five years ago. Much has changed. And absolutely nothing has changed. #BLM This report is in no way definitive. Also, observe how the D&C wrote about a 2% sustain rate in October 1995.]
On November 17, 2017, Keyoni Adams was arrested during a domestic dispute. This is her story detailing her experience of being abused and beaten by members of the Rochester Police Department and deputies in the Monroe County Jail. Please be advised that her story is graphic and disturbing.
She was released on November 20, 2017. Ms. Adams pleaded to a conditional discharge. Since then, she has been harassed by the Rochester Police Department.
Submitted by T. Forsyth (feature photo: Democrat & Chronicle) on Sun, 2020-01-19 22:55
A frustrated and angry Supreme Court Justice dismissed a gun-involved assault case when both officers on the scene could not produce body-worn camera footage of the moments preceding the arrest.
On July 24, 2019, around 6:30pm, Rochester Police Department (RPD) officers Michael Mortillaro and Jeremy Lindauer, II were driving down the 200 block of Weyle Street in Rochester, NY, which is a part of their beat, and observed “a group of five to six males sitting in law chairs on the front yard and on the sidewalk area,” according to a suppression hearing transcript from November 21, 2019. Based on their knowledge of the “area,” they believed “some sort of drug sales [were] going on at that time.”
The current budget crisis in the Rochester City School District (RCSD) is somewhat a mystery.
We often hear that the school district overspent its budget by tens of millions of dollars, but
rarely hear how this happened. Just how does the school district go from having a budget that was
balanced on paper at the end of the 2018-2019 school year to being $30 million short at the start
of of the next? One answer is the completely absurd process used to balance last year's 2018-2019
budget.
A decision was rendered regarding motions filed at the conclusion of the Benny Warr civil trial against Rochester Police Department officers who assaulted Mr. Warr. United States Magistrate Judge Marian W. Payson issued her decision on July 22 regarding the plaintiff’s motions to set aside the verdict, grant a new trial, and impose sanctions against the defense counsel, City of Rochester attorney Spencer Ash, for misconduct. The judge has not dismissed the motions meaning that they are still on the table. This is the first public communication from the judge since the end of Mr. Warr's civil trial.
In her decision and order, Judge Payson specifies that the “application is premised on two grounds: first, that defendants’ counsel [Spencer Ash, the City of Rochester attorney representing the Rochester Police Department (RPD) and its officers] engaged in deliberate misconduct prejudicial to plaintiffs’ right to a fair trial; and, second that the jury’s verdict awarding no compensatory or punitive damages was inconsistent and against the weight of the evidence.” The seven-page document elucidates the issues raised in court papers pertaining to both points. The judge does acknowledge in her order and decision that such issues did arise during the trial, but without supporting documentation examining the entirety of the trial, she could not properly rule on the motions.
Therefore, she ordered the plaintiff’s attorney, Charles Burkwit, to “supplement their post-trial motion with an amended affidavit and memorandum of law supported by specific citations to the trial record and accompanied by the trial transcript.” Mr. Burkwit has until September 20 to file the appropriate supporting documentation.
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