FirstCircle

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/11456897

Congressman Adam Smith says ‘totalitarian’ protesters are ‘trying to silence anyone who dares to disagree with them’

Protesters calling for Israel to cease fire in its war with Hamas who have disrupted US public events and infrastructure are practicing “leftwing fascism” or “leftwing totalitarianism”, a senior US House Democrat said, adding that such protesters are “challenging representative democracy” and should be arrested.

“Intimidation is the tactic,” said Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking Democrat on the House armed services committee. “Intimidation and an effort to silence opposition … I don’t know if there’s such a thing as leftwing fascism. If you want to just call it leftwing totalitarianism, then that’s what it is. It is a direct challenge to representative democracy now.”

A resolution called for ending the ability to vote for U.S. senators. Instead, senators would get appointed by state legislatures, as it generally worked 110 years ago prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913.

“We are devolving into a democracy, because congressmen and senators are elected by the same pool,” was how one GOP delegate put it to the convention. “We do not want to be a democracy.”

Jeff Noble, who owns Noble Consulting and Expert Witness Services, was hired by Spokane police to evaluate Hilton’s actions. When investigating fellow law enforcement officers, it’s not uncommon to outside use of force experts.

Deputies are trained on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Graham v. Connor, that requires officers to balance the intrusion into an individual’s right with the government interests at stake, Noble wrote. They must consider the severity of the crime, whether the suspect poses a threat to officers or others and whether the suspect is actively resisting or trying to flee.

Hilton mistakenly believed that being in a Spokane Valley park after dark was a misdemeanor when in reality it was a civil infraction that does not warrant an arrest. Regardless, Noble found that Hilton’s “uses of force were objectively unreasonable and inconsistent with generally accepted police practices.”

The sergeant did not engage in de-escalation tactics, including slowing down the interaction, the report said.

“Here, the violation was very minor, did not involve weapons or violence, and there was no need for haste,” Noble wrote. “Sergeant Hilton radioed for back-up deputies and while Mr. Hinton did not cooperate with Sergeant Hilton’s demand for identification, he did not present any imminent threat. Any reasonable officer would have attempted to engage in de-escalation techniques to slow the situation.”

Instead, Noble wrote, Hilton made comments to escalate the situation, such as telling Hinton he would probably end up in jail and that he was going to get hurt.

The sergeant said he used force on Hinton because he was scared the man was reaching for a weapon. Noble noted that Hinton never appears to reach for any kind of weapon in the video and did not make any verbal threats to the sergeant.

Hilton continued to punch Hinton after forcibly removing him from his vehicle.

“There is no evidence that at the moment Sergeant Hilton delivered those strikes that Mr. Hinton presented anything more than a low level of active resistance by not giving Sergeant Hilton his hands,” Noble wrote.

Hilton had no standing to make any arrest, Noble found, and therefore any force used would be excessive.

“Even if Sergeant Hilton was making a lawful custodial arrest, I am of the opinion that his uses of force against Mr. Hilton were excessive, objectively unreasonable and inconsistent with generally accepted police practices,” Noble wrote.

In February this year, Spokane police investigators concluded there was probable cause to charge Sgt. Hilton with second-degree assault. The charges were referred to the Yakima County Prosecutor's office, which is still investigating.

The chat logs — which were obtained through a public records request and viewed by the Inlander this week — shed additional light on Sgt. Hilton's demeanor immediately after the violent arrest.

Joshua Maurer, an attorney representing Hinton, says the tone of the chat messages is "pretty sickening."

It's concerning that any officer — especially a sergeant — would make fun of and laugh about a citizen they had just assaulted and arrested, Maurer says.

"Sgt. Hilton was proud of his actions," Maurer says. "He told the dispatcher to look at the booking photo because that was evidence of the 'lesson' Sgt. Hilton taught Mr. Hinton."

Maurer says it's also troubling that Sgt. Hilton saw Hinton's perceived status as a "No Person" as justification for assaulting him to the point of breaking his ribs and puncturing a lung.

Despite knowing the communications would be recorded, Sgt. Hilton "shows no remorse, or even concern over being disciplined," Maurer says. "Instead, he is laughing and bragging about what he had done."

Florida Governor Ron DeStantis has signed a law that prevents cities or counties from creating protections for workers who labor in the state's often extreme and dangerous heat.

Two million people in Florida, from construction to agriculture, work outside in often humid, blazing heat.

For years, many of them have asked for rules to protect them from heat: paid rest breaks, water, and access to shade when temperatures soar. After years of negotiations, such rules were on the agenda in Miami-Dade County, home to an estimated 300,000 outdoor workers.

But the new law, signed Thursday evening, blocks such protections from being implemented in cities and counties across the state.

Miami-Dade pulled its local heat protection rule from consideration after the statewide bill passed the legislature in March.

"It's outrageous that the state legislature will override the elected officials of Miami Dade or other counties that really recognize the importance of protecting that community of workers," says David Michaels, an epidemiologist at George Washington University and a former administrator at the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).

The loss of the local rule was a major blow to Miami-Dade activists and workers who had hoped the county heat protection rules would be in place before summer.

In Texas, Austin and Dallas created ordinances that required employers to provide paid water breaks to outdoor workers. But last year Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a "preemption" law that blocked local jurisdictions from making such rules. The goal, Abbott's office said, was to prevent a "patchwork" of differing local rules, which they contended would cause confusion for businesses in the state.

Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates held 12 focus groups with students, teachers, community members and school board members and put together a “Leadership Profile Report.”

The original report, released on March 13, 2024, included a section of “Desired Characteristics of the next Cedar Grove-Belgium Superintendent as identified by the school board.” One of the points listed was: “must match the make-up of our community (conservative, Christian values).”

Making religious beliefs a desired job characteristic is illegal, said Ryan Cox, legal director with ACLU of Wisconsin.

“The Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of religion, including in the recruitment phase,” Cox said. “The ACLU of Wisconsin is extremely concerned that a public body might be attempting to apply a religious test as a condition of employment, or even as a preferred ‘qualification.’

Cox added that the ACLU plans to investigate further, including past actions taken by the board and will “take appropriate action to enforce the law as the facts require.”

An arsonist set fire to the door of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Burlington office Friday morning, briefly trapping staff inside, according to police.

Nobody was injured, authorities said, and the senator was not present at the time.

According to the Burlington Police Department, an unidentified man entered the vestibule outside Sanders’ third-floor office on Church Street at around 10:45 a.m. and sprayed “an apparent accelerant” on the door. The man lit the accelerant, prompting “a significant fire” to engulf Sanders’ office door and a portion of the vestibule, police said in a press release. The man then fled.

The blaze impeded staff members’ egress from the office, police said, “endangering their lives.” The building’s sprinkler system extinguished the fire. Firefighters and police officers evacuated Sanders’ office and those nearby.

The Burlington Police Department released an image of a man it identified as a suspect in an alleged arson attack on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Burlington office on Friday, April 5, 2024. Photo courtesy of the Burlington Police Department

Police said they had not apprehended a suspect and had not identified a motive. They released photos of a man they described as a suspect and asked for the public’s help in identifying him.

Members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have warned America for three years to take former President Donald Trump at his word.

Now, as Trump is poised to win the Republican presidential nomination, his criminal trials face delays that could stall them past Election Day, and his rhetoric grows increasingly authoritarian, some of those lawmakers find themselves following their own advice.

In mid-March, Trump said on social media that the committee members should be jailed. In December he vowed to be a dictator on “day one.” In August, he said he would “have no choice” but to lock up his political opponents.

“If he intends to eliminate our constitutional system and start arresting his political enemies, I guess I would be on that list,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose). “One thing I did learn on the committee is to pay attention and listen to what Trump says, because he means it.”

Lofgren added that she doesn’t yet have a plan in place to thwart potential retribution by Trump. But Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who has long been a burr in Trump’s side, said he’s having “real-time conversations” with his staff about how to make sure he stays safe if Trump follows through on his threats.

“We’re taking this seriously, because we have to,” Schiff said. “We’ve seen this movie before … and how perilous it is to ignore what someone is saying when they say they want to be a dictator.”

"Stand where he tells you to stand, wear what he tells you to wear, and do what he tells you to do."

This is the wedding night advice offered to brides by Josh Howerton, a senior pastor at Lakepointe Church in Dallas, Texas. Lakepointe, according to the Dallas Morning News, is one of the biggest megachurches in Texas, with over 13,000 people a week attending its main location. The church itself cites a number over 40,000 a week, between its six campuses and online services. Howerton opened Sunday morning services on February 25 with this paean to sexual coercion.

Claiming that the bride has "been planning this day her whole life," and so the groom should indulge her: "Stand where she tells you to stand, wear what she tells you to wear, and do what she tells you to do. You'll make her the happiest woman in the world."

Then he hits folks with this counterpoint: In exchange, the bride should take a submissive role in what he pointedly calls "his wedding night," to "make him the happiest man in the world." (Howerton did not respond to a Salon request for comment.)

"We are offering our pilots voluntary programs for the month of May to reduce excess staffing," a United spokesperson said in a statement to NPR, attributing the decision to "recent delays in Boeing deliveries."

United says it won't have to cut flights.

The effort to trim pilot staffing is the latest sign that production problems at Boeing and its suppliers are rippling through the aviation industry. The plane maker has been forced to reduce deliveries of its 737 Max jets after a door plug panel blew out in midair during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

Boeing says it's slowed production at its factory near Seattle to focus on quality and safety, as regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration push the company and its supplier for a plan to fix widespread manufacturing problems.

The launch of the larger 737 Max 10 model has also been delayed indefinitely. United had been expecting to begin receiving those jets this year, but is now considering other options to replace them.

"Deliveries are going to be way behind what they expected," United CEO Scott Kirby said at an investor conference last month, confirming that the company has looked into buying additional planes from Boeing's rival, Airbus

The truth is that Donald Trump undermined faith in our elections in his false bid to retain the presidency. He sparked an insurrection intended to overthrow our government and keep himself in power. No president in our history has done worse.

This is not subjective. We all saw it. Plenty of leaders today try to convince the masses we did not see what we saw, but our eyes don’t deceive. (If leaders began a yearslong campaign today to convince us that the Baltimore bridge did not collapse Tuesday morning, would you ever believe them?) Trust your eyes. Trump on Jan. 6 launched the most serious threat to our system of government since the Civil War. You know that. You saw it.

The facts involving Trump are crystal clear, and as news people, we cannot pretend otherwise, as unpopular as that might be with a segment of our readers. There aren’t two sides to facts. People who say the earth is flat don’t get space on our platforms. If that offends them, so be it.

Former president Donald Trump disseminated on social media on Friday an image of President Biden with his hands and feet tied and his mouth gagged, the latest example of the Republican candidate’s use of increasingly violent rhetoric and imagery this campaign season.

The image can be seen about halfway through a 20-second video that Trump posted on his Truth Social site. The post says it was recorded Thursday on Long Island, where Trump traveled this week to attend a wake for a recently killed police officer.

In the video, two trucks decorated with giant Trump flags and altered American flags are driving on a highway. On the tailgate door of one of the trucks is the image of Biden lying horizontally, bound and gagged.

Trump has a history of sharing and promoting violent images featuring his perceived enemies.