Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Welcome to the Hunger Games, Humboldt County


It's just a movie. Unfortunately, someone had a premonition about Humboldt County. Good luck in the New Year.
--Joe

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Local War on Children Takes Its Toll

High school basketballers out of tournament for 'I Can't Breathe' T-shirts

California students' silent protest over police brutality follows those by professional athletes including LeBron James

A high school basketball tournament on the Northern California coast has become the latest flashpoint in the ongoing protests over police killings of unarmed black men, after a school was disinvited because of concerns its players would wear T-shirts printed with the words "I Can't Breathe" during warm-ups.
The athletic director for Mendocino High School was informed by his counterpart at Fort Bragg High School this week that neither the boys’ nor girls’ teams would be allowed to participate in the three-day tournament hosted by Fort Bragg High starting Monday, Mendocino Unified School District Superintendent Jason Morse said.
The boys were reinstated after all but one player agreed not to wear the shirts inspired by the last words of Eric Garner — the New York man who died after an officer put him in a chokehold — while on the Fort Bragg campus during the Vern Piver Holiday Classic tournament, Morse said. Too few girl players accepted the condition for the team to field a tournament squad, he said.


Click here for more coverage of Flashpoint: Ferguson


Click here for more coverage of Flashpoint: Ferguson

Brian Triplett, the athletic director at Fort Bragg High, did not return a call and email seeking comment. Principal Rebecca Walker issued a written statement Friday saying that school administrators respected the Mendocino teams "for paying attention to what is going on in the world around them," and that the T-shirts were being prohibited as a security precaution.
"To protect the safety and well-being of all tournament participants it is necessary to ensure that all political statements and or protests are kept away from this tournament," wrote Walker, who said she was speaking on behalf of the athletic director and the Fort Bragg school superintendent. "We are a small school district that simply does not have the resources to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff, students and guests at the tournament should someone get upset and choose to act out."
Mendocino varsity teams first wore the "I Can't Breathe" T-shirts before a game with Fort Bragg on Dec. 16, according to the girls’ coach, Caedyn Feehan. The girls also wore them before games at two other tournaments and didn't receive any blowback, Feehan said.
"I didn't even know what it meant. I thought it was a joke about how I had conditioned them so hard," Feehan said. "None of the administrators knew what it was or that any of them were doing it in advance. This was entirely for their cause that they had strong feelings about."
Professional basketball players such as LeBron James, Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving wore "I Can't Breathe" shirtsduring warm-ups this month without repercussions from the NBA. After Kobe Bryant and other Laker player wore them before a game and on the bench on Dec. 9, coach Byron Scott said he viewed it as a matter of "freedom of choice and freedom of speech."
That's how Marc Woods, whose 16-year-old son Connor plans to sit out the tournament, sees it. Connor wore the T-shirt at the Dec. 16 game in the name of team solidarity, but "now that's become a First Amendment violation, that's what he is fired up about," the father said.
Woods, whose father was a California Highway Patrol officer, said he is outraged by what he sees as using intimidation to silence players and fans. Fort Bragg administrators have warned spectators who plan to protest the T-shirt ban that they will be asked to leave, he said.
"It doesn't take a lot to suppress the exchange of ideas when you put fear into it," Woods said.
Both schools are located in Mendocino County — known for redwood forests, rugged coastline and marijuana growing — 120 miles north of San Francisco. The student bodies at the two schools are 1 percent black, 50 percent white and 41 percent Hispanic at Fort Bragg; and 75 percent white and 9 percent Hispanic at Mendocino.
A county sheriff's deputy, Ricky Del Fiorentino, was killed in March by a man suspected of murder and carjacking in Eugene, Oregon. The suspect was killed by a Fort Bragg police officer.
Walker referred to Del Fiorentino's death, saying "We simply feel this issue is too emotionally charged to allow such a demonstration to happen in our tournament and be able to ensure the safety and well-being of all involved."
The Associated Press

--Joe

Friday, December 26, 2014

The Right of Self-Defence, The American Way



This copy is reposted here specifically for the police and people of Humboldt County. Make your own comparisons, draw your own conclusions. Impunity is its own sin and brings its own sanctions. The empirical value of life or lack thereof speaks to the decadent moral character and to the truth of our dying society.
An Unaccountable Army
Police Violence and Violence Against the Police
by RON URIE

On March 31, 2004, one year after the launch of the U.S. war against Iraq, four U.S. military contractors, mercenaries, were ambushed and killed in the Iraqi city of Fallujah and their charred corpses were hung from a bridge. The indignation expressed by the American political leadership and senior military officials was that their imperial privilege had been challenged— how dare the people whose country they had illegally invaded and substantially destroyed and whose relatives, neighbors and friends they had murdered fight back? The city of Fallujah was surrounded; women and small children were told to leave and then the slaughter began. White phosphorus and depleted uranium shells were dropped until thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of Iraqi boys and men in Fallujah had been murdered.

Left unsaid at the time was that most Americans subjected to an illegal war, invasion and occupation would respond largely as the citizens of Fallujah had done. Self-defense against invading hordes is as close to a natural right as the term could convey. The real crimes committed in / on Iraq were the war and occupation launched by the Americans and Brits. And the collective punishment visited upon the male citizens of Fallujah very closely resembled the acts that led to collective punishment being designated a war crime in the first place— the group slaughters regularly meted out by the Nazis in WWII for acts committed by unrelated individuals or groups. Today the Americans and Israelis (against Palestinians) are the main global keepers of the war crime tradition of collective punishment.
uriepix1
Picture (1) above: An NYPD motorcycle cop gratuitously rides his motorcycle over the leg of an NLG (National Lawyers Guild) legal observer at an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. The role of the police as armed thugs protecting the privilege of connected kleptocrats on Wall Street is framed in the language of the radical right as protecting ‘the public’ from over-privileged, elitist kids disrupting the public order. When former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who made his early career prosecuting Wall Street criminals, says that the police are concentrated in ‘high crime’ areas he fails to mention that any concentration of police in the financial districts of major U.S. cities is to protect financial criminals from being held accountable for their crimes. Source: Washington’s blog.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made explicit the military role of the police when he bragged that he had ‘the seventh biggest army in the world,’ the NYPD. Mr. Bloomberg claimed the NYPD to be ‘his’ army in 2011 as he was violently repressing the Occupy Wall Street movement. A short time after the comments were made the NYPD participated in a coordinated national assault against lawfully assembled protestors that included the total destruction of the Occupy library, kitchen and associated infrastructure. Through an ongoing campaign of violence, infiltration, disinformation, ‘pre-emptive’ kidnappings and legally dubious arrests the Occupy movement was effectively destroyed. Mr. Bloomberg made his fortune from Wall Street and he used ‘his’ army to prevent it from being held legally and socially accountable for its crimes.

When Ismaaiyl Brinsley murdered NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in self-proclaimed revenge killings for the murders of Mike Brown and Eric Garner spokespersons for the NYPD and the PBA (Police Benevolent Association) were quick to personalize the victims while using the language of belligerent militarism to politicize the broader context of growing public resistance to police violence. What wasn’t expressed by NYPD spokespersons was any regret for the unjustifiable murder of Eric Garner or any number of other black and brown youth, for participation in systematic racial repression like stop-question-and-frisk or for the acting as an occupying army in poor neighborhoods of color. What was affirmed through the words of spokespersons for the police was that black lives don’t matter but that cop lives do.
uriepix2
Picture (2) above: The NYPD applies an illegal choke hold in the murder of Eric Garner. The allegation against Mr. Garner was that he was selling ‘loosey’ cigarettes, individual cigarettes on which applicable taxes were not paid. In the run-up to the Great Recession Wall Street made dubious, in many cases fraudulent, mortgage loans of over one-trillion dollars. The economic calamity that resulted cost millions of families their homes and millions more their jobs and life savings. The everyday business of U.S. corporations is avoiding hundreds of billions per year in tax liabilities through sham transactions. Eric Garner could in theory have sold loosey cigarettes for the next 500,000 years and not neared the annual tax avoidance of Apple Computer or General Electric had the police not murdered him. Source: ABC News.

The loss of any life through violence is tragic, which makes the police practice of casual, consequence-free, assault, murder and harassment so worthy of public condemnation. The contention put forward by PBA spokesperson Patrick Lynch that those protesting police violence have ‘blood on their hands’ leaves unaddressed the reasons why protestors are protesting— around the country heavily armed, militarized police routinely assault and murder people, largely black and brown youth, with impunity and largely without conscience. Seventy-six unarmed black and brown youth have been murdered by the police since 1999 and it is only the murder of two cops that raises the moral outrage of the police. And here lies irony— the protestors by-and-large have great sympathy for the families of the slain cops whereas, as best can be determined by the words and actions of the police, courts and political leadership, the imperial privilege of police to murder with impunity remains intact.
uriepix3
Picture (3) above: it has been nearly fifteen years since unarmed Amadou Diallo was murdered by the NYPD in a hail of bullets. In the intervening years the police across the country have murdered seventy-six unarmed people of color (link above), have been increasingly militarized, given the right to rob people of their possessions at will, made immune from prosecution for crimes committed and dedicated to systematic race-based repression like stop-and-frisk. The failure of the political leadership and the judiciary to hold the police accountable at any level demonstrates the political role that the police fill— that of an army of the rich existing to protect the ruling class from social accountability. Source: Life Magazine.

The existence of a heavily armed, highly militarized, wholly unaccountable army to protect a class and race based social order is totalitarian by degree— those on the side being repressed bear the brunt leaving the illusion of justice for those not paying attention. The one-sided response of the political leadership and police spokespersons to the tragic murder of Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos is evidence of the social order being protected. Left entirely unaddressed is the historical role of the police in maintaining an unjust race and class based social order from slave patrols to convict leasing to mass incarceration and for-profit prisons to class and race-based enforcement of selectively repressive laws. And to be clear, it is the political leadership that has designated and so-armed the police to be the quasi-military force they now are.

The mainstream press is claiming that the murders of Messrs. Liu and Ramos have reframed the protests against police violence to be against violence. Without disarming the police and changing their role from militarized guardians of ruling class interests to servants of all of the public it is difficult to see how opposing violence without opposing the existing role of the police is politically coherent? And reduction of the idea of justice to the will of the police is to accept the role they have been given in protecting class and race interests by a political leadership that straightforwardly answers to economic interests. Put differently, if fealty to the law had anything to do with the current role of the police then areas with high levels of criminal activity could be found in the financial towers of lower Manhattan and on Park and Madison Avenues just north of Forty-Second Street. As of a few days ago the NYPD was nowhere to be found enforcing the law in these locations.

Rob Urie is an artist and political economist. His book Zen Economics is forthcoming.

--Joe

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

No Mistake, Just Plain Murder

The police committed a crime when they killed Tommy McClain on September 17, 2014, in Eureka, CA. They made NO mistake, NO miscalculation, NO slip-up, NO misjudgment, or NO error in judgment when they deliberately confronted him that night. They admittedly had been watching him and other family members for some time. They knew he was not doing anything illegal or presenting himself as a threat to them or anyone else that justified several of them confronting him as if he was a known armed and deadly felon with their guns drawn. They, the Eureka Police Officers deliberately brought violence to this boy at his home on the premise or assumption he might be packing something in his belt that could be a gun. In their desire to bully and cow him into submission, show him who the Man is, in their paranoia they fabricated or conjured in their scared feeble minds a hallucination about some supposed threat to them, and he died. In fact, he was dead the moment they decided to assault him – no matter what he did.

That boy died for absolutely nothing, accept being a boy, trying to be a man. With, I might add, having the misfortune to cross paths with a gang of effeminate Eureka Police Officers. He was doing exactly what they told him to do and used his compliance as an excuse to shoot him. No sniveling punk was going to talk to them like he did nor was he going to tell them what to do. So, they taught him and everyone like him in Eureka a lesson. Tragically, this exactly what the people of Eureka want from their police and so-called justice system.

What does it say about an old community when their police can murder a boy in cold blood and absolutely no one gets angry or outraged? Where a new police chief and an old and a new District Attorney sweep the crime under the rug to protect these criminals from answering for their crimes? No one demands justice for the murder. No one is outraged over the crime and its cover-up. Nothing about going to the Grand Jury. Nothing about going to the State's Attorney General or any demands for a police review board with teeth. JUST NOTHING.

This police murder of Tommy McClain tells you everything you need to know about the City of Eureka and the people that live here. This incident clearly shows just how debased and depraved the city of Eureka and it's people are. They are not just morally corrupt, but are totally lawless as well.

What the wannabe so-called Upper Class people don't seem to understand, as they hunker down in what they believe are their secure Ivory Towers, is that they are just as threatened and endangered as everyone else. The people of Eureka have a choice, either enforce the law or see it enforced upon them. The debasement caused by these officer's actions and the universal impunity granted by everyone responsible for enforcing the law is merely a symptom of the disease destroying the whole community. The Eureka Police Department needs a complete attitude change. In fact, the whole town needs an attitude change. That starts when you stop cooperating with these lawless criminals and they are held to account and answer for their crimes. Until then, no one is free or safe from these sociopaths.

Make no mistake, the real thugs all wear flag pins.
--Joe

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Hallelujah! Finally Someone With GUTS

In this Sunday morning, December 7, 2014, edition of the Times-Standard newspaper, right on the second page I was greeted with this picture and caption:
"Recent police killings are described and protested at a rally in Old Town Eureka's Gazebo Square during Arts Alive! on Saturday night. About 50 members of a new, unnamed collectie gathered to lay on the  ground with targets on them as if dead, talk about  how people of color still face discrimination  and  read  the names and stories of those  recently killed -- including Eureka's Thomas McClain."
At least I am not the only one in this town incensed at the murder of an innocent boy by Eureka police willing to take stand and do something. (I don't consider what goes on over at the Tuluwaa Crier anything more than a pretence; watered down double-speak.) Ever since the murder and particularly since the District Attorney Paul Gallegos decided to cover over the obvious crime with his decision of impunity, I've waited for a newspaper editorial, a letter to the editor, something from the newspaper's moral standard bearers, the Reverend Eric Duff, Sherae O'Shaughnessy or Tim Martin - Just Nothing!

The biggest tragedy for the social order in Eureka in my book are the religious people's abject silence. No moral outrage from the preacher, priests or pastors. Do they not know that their silence is an act that affirms and condones the morally corrupt lawless acts of these criminals? And destroys the social order?

I guess these 50 people can assuage their consciences by believing they are really accomplishing something beneficial that will lead to meaningful, substantive change. I got to hand it to them, laying down in the Gazebo with targets on their chest is really meaningful. The people in this town that are responsible for a rogue police department and a lawless District Attorney are really going to pay attention, see and hear them. When these 50 can figure out how to turn their die-in stunt into meaningful, substantive and effective non-cooperation, that actually holds the people's feet that are responsible to the fire, maybe then someone will actually see, hear and acknowledge them.

Law is only as valuable as the people that honor, comply and enforce it. Without Law there is and cannot be justice - only anarchy and chaos. The police become a  law unto themselves, the justice system, District Attorney, lawyers, juries and judges are without equanimity, totally corrupt. People and children of all color are murdered at will for nothing more than an accusation, or a psychotic hallucination someone believes to be real. Life's whole experience in Eureka becomes a living nightmare.

The near total lack of interest, moral indignation, and lawfully motivate outrage is a clear indication of how deep the sickness runs in Eureka and Humboldt County.
--Joe

Friday, November 28, 2014

Welcome to the Hunger Games, Eureka

[UPDATE Below - Posted specially for the people of Eureka]
[UPDATE II - No accountability and blanket impunity - police granted de facto legal right to kill at will - A law unto themselves. The Grand Jury is NOT a Court of Law.]
N.Y. cop not indicted in chokehold death
New York grand jury declines to indict in the death of man who died after police officer put him in a chokehold.

For want of something better, Eureka could easily be a city in District Seven.

The land Panem, or it's Capitol District where the Elite .01% live in unimaginable opulent luxury, dominating over their pandering, servile subjects, is where the people are all mostly gutless cowards - not unlike the United States of today. They give their children away for the State to play their deadly games, practice summary executions, torture and murder them at will without so much as a whimper from anyone of repute. Look no further than the number of children shot down and imprisoned - look no further than your neighbor.

The children - more importantly the young people (10 to 30 years), have no idea how their parents and grandparents have looted their rightful inheritance; betrayed them to a life of abject worthless beings, lawless corruption and wanton anarchy. They, the older generation, have taken from them all the resources they need to grow to become strong, prosperous individuals; someone of legitimate value; morally, ethically, physically and spiritually. For young people the Capitol system dominated by the Point Zero Nine Percent is permanently broken. The Law is whatever some insane lying lunatic chooses to personally impose at the time. Impunity for the elite criminal is codified by establishing "the need to only look forward, never back." This same principle was established locally when District Attorney Paul Gallegos decided not to enforce the law regarding the police murder of Tommy McClain. Now the people of Eureka, no thanks to E.P.D. Chief Andrew Mills determination, can suffer the in-your-face insult and deprivation every time they have to deal with or interact with Stephen Linfoot and Brian Stephens. In particular, know that Linfoot is motivated by his psychosis and fear that ravages his every thought. Know that you to can be shot dead for whatever he thinks or believes you are. To him and his otherwise trained compatriots their fear induced nightmares are as real as night and day - the imaginary movie scenario playing out within their crazed minds.

Rather than hold these murderers to the most menial of an accounting, the local police authorities rewarded them for their crimes.  And all with complicit acquiescence from the Eureka community.
acquiescence  noun
1. the act or condition of acquiescing or giving tacit assent; agreement or consent by silence or without objection
2. Law. such neglect to take legal proceedings for such a long time as to imply the abandonment of a right. [Emphasis mine.]
While the police murder of Tommy McClain never achieved the national recognition of the negro boy in Ferguson, MO the issues are the same. The problem or issue is not about justice for black people versus white people. Nor is it really about the poor underclass or I should say, other class versus the Elite wealthy upper class. As far as I know, Tommy McClain was white, but judged and executed the same as a black person. The real issue is he had the temerity to stand up for himself and to enforce the most meaningless, menial self-defense of one's personal self as a human being in his own home - something thugs and bullies cannot tolerate and still justify their existence. That is why he was killed. He exposed them for who and what they are. They judged themselves by extrajudicially murdering him. That lawless murder directly indicts every person living and working in Eureka. Either they enforce the law and accountability, eliminate the impunity or they all become complicit in the crime.

The wanton deaths of Tommy McClain and Michael Brown and so many more children are a living indictment, not only of their killers, but of everyone that votes and supports the lawlessness they call a "nation of laws," the same system that sanctifies and justifies the sanctioned anarchy and murder.

Welcome to the Hunger Games, Eureka Version 2.0 - they are not about the future, they are about NOW.
--Joe
PS. Don't make the mistake of answering or going to the door with a Black and Decker 3.6 Volt Lithium Ion Screwdriver in your hand, if it's a Eureka Police Officer, he or she will shoot you down like a rabid dog in a heartbeat. If you should be outside working, be doubly cautious because an antagonistic neighbor could call and report you flashing a gun around in public and that's a death sentence. 

[UPDATE - Sunday, November 30, 2014]
If you have any doubts about my meaning Eureka, read this article. Considering I've only found one or two other local blogs and one letter to the North Coast Journal about the murder of Tommy McClain, essentially nothing, says more than any street demonstration could ever hope to say. This excerpt really speaks to Eureka's delegitimization as a law abiding community of any substantive worth. No universal outrage, no moral indignation and absolutely nothing about enforcing the law.

Welcome to the Sixteenth Century

"As bad as this is, the worst part is that there are millions of people who aren’t elites, who aren’t rich enough to financially survive a lost job or a divorce or a sick kid, but who think this is just fine. Those people vote for the system not just in elections, but by their hatred for their neighbors. Who could have predicted so many citizens would enjoy watching their neighbors thrown out of their houses rather than figure out some way to help? Who would have thought so many citizens would be thrilled to see families broken up and deported? Who would have thought so many citizens would be happy to drink oil instead of water for any reason? Who would have thought that so many citizens would prefer not just to let corporations pay so little to their neighbors, but also to support cutting off all government benefits to those workers? Who would have thought so many citizens would be happy to have some government agent collecting their phones and email and internet search histories?"

****
It seems to me that this nation is infected by a nameless, faceless dread, a fear of something awful just beyond our ability to grasp. The media, right-wing politicians and demagogues, acting on behalf of their filthy rich patrons, actively exploit that fear to get what they want: a divided nation at war with itself.

****
But really, a few immigrants are the problem?

It’s a mirror image of the US. The “Other” is the problem. It isn’t the unjust distribution of wealth, it isn’t the exploitation of the worker by the filthy rich, it isn’t unequal schools, it isn’t poverty or any other structural condition. It’s witches. It’s demons. It’s unholiness. It’s impurity. It’s smoke.

It isn’t fixable. The most you can hope for is bottling up that rage and fear in fewer and fewer people. Instead the media stokes those fires. Self-ordained ministers tell people that it’s sin that cause fires and floods and earthquakes and eclipses. Rage freaks like O’Reilly and Limbaugh and the incomparably stupid Hannity tell their listeners that the end times are coming. Politicians like Lindsey Graham shriek that terrorists are coming to kill them while they sleep. These pre-moderns are now in control of both the House and Senate, and the Supreme Court.

I’m thinking about being a bit fearful myself. [Emphasis mine.]
 When he gets done being fearful and he will, he will start acting in harmony with what he knows to be true, what he just wrote. He will stop cooperating with the fear, the fear mongers and deal with the threat, whether it be a hateful neighbor or thug cops.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

There are many things to be thankful for. Most of all, the precious life we share with all living creatures on this Earth. So, be safe out there, everyone.


Enjoy the day.
--Joe

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

... and I'm Couth


How Did We Get Here?

Democrats are paying heavily for their political failures — and for ditching the working stiff.

Donald Kaul
Dick Tuck, the legendary political prankster and wit, once ran for local office in San Francisco and lost. His concession speech, in its entirety: “The people have spoken — the bastards.”
Now, you know me — I wouldn’t say anything like that about the recent elections. It’s vulgar and I’m couth.
However, if the shoe fits…
Perhaps it’s safer to quote the Sage of Baltimore, H.L. Mencken, who said: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
The 2014 midterms were a Mencken moment.
It was a disaster for the Democratic Party, of course. They lost every election that was possible to lose and a few that weren’t. But it was an even greater disaster for the American people.
Statue of Free Enterprise, an OtherWords cartoon by Khalil Bendib
Statue of Free Enterprise, an OtherWords cartoon by Khalil Bendib
Faced with an onrushing manmade climate crisis, U.S. voters have now elected a congressional majority that denies global warming. (Did I mention that it’s also a majority financed by oil, gas, and coal money?)
Burdened with a reverse Robin Hood tax structure that robs the poor to give to the rich, voters elected the people who are most adamant that the rich, the richer, and (most of all) the richest be taxed lightly (if at all) lest they cease creating jobs.
Whether they create jobs or not.
Angered by the political gridlock in Washington, Americans not only reelected the leaders of the Republican obstructionist caucus, they substantially increased its numbers.
Frustrated by President Barack Obama’s inability to clear up the mess in the Middle East (Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and all that), they backed the party that made the mess in the first place and has yet to so much as apologize for it.
The result is that We the People find ourselves at the mercy of cynical manipulators joined at the hip with true-believing ignoramuses.
How did we get here?
I blame the Democrats for having lost their identity as a progressive party of the working stiff. The Democratic Party is instead…nothing at all. It’s a collection of political strands that pull in one direction and push in the other.
Moreover, it’s leaderless. Obama has his virtues — he’s bright and reasonable — but he’s an awful politician. He makes Jimmy Carter look like Lyndon Johnson.
Nothing makes this clearer than his treatment of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Essentially, he made a speech and let his crack federal bureaucracy handle the details.
To make a long story short, it didn’t work. The rollout was horrendously inept, and Obama did next to nothing to sell the plan to a confused public until it was too late.
Into the resulting vacuum the Republicans injected a never-ending barrage of vitriol. Without being very specific, they characterized the plan as an unparalleled disaster. And they did it on a daily basis. For two years or more, Republicans could hardly broach any subject — the war, the economy, the weather — without including a rant on the evils of making health care more widely available.
Regrettably, this demonization of health care carried the day, even though the plan overcame its early problems to become a success. Its flaws were exaggerated. Its virtues became secrets.
That’s a failure of political leadership, which Democrats paid for heavily.
There’s talk now in Washington of a new spirit of cooperation between the two major parties. This talk is generally between people who start drinking before noon.
For the past six years Republicans in Congress have done everything in their power to delegitimize President Obama. They’ve questioned his citizenship, his patriotism, his intelligence, and his religion. They did that while narrowly controlling one house of Congress.
To think that giving them full control of both chambers will make them kinder, gentler, and more amenable to compromise requires a leap of faith available only to saints and fools.
May God help the United States the next time we have to raise the debt limit.
OtherWords columnist Donald Kaul lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. OtherWords.org 

[Mirrored from Otherwords.org]
--Joe

Saturday, November 15, 2014

The Diseased Face of Impunity

While these people celebrate, the city of Eureka dies. For Police Chief Andrew Mills to promote Brian Stephens to Captain in full justification of his blatant statement to this community that "early findings of the investigation revealed McClain had reached for a replica handgun in his waistband and Linfoot was justified in firing his weapon" is as foul an obscenity as there ever was. All I can say, is every citizen of Eureka will be sorry for the day they ever heard of Andrew Mills.

Welcome to Mexico. Your life isn't worth a pinch of rat shit.

If this murder stands, justified, then there is absolutely nothing stopping the Eureka Police from doing anything they want any time they want. What's next for the EPD? Death squads?

Tommy McClain did NOTHING to threaten anyone. The ONLY threat that existed was in the scared crapless, paranoid men's sick minds that brought pointless violence to Tommy McClain's home. The really corrupt sick bastards in this community are the people like Andrew Mills that justify and support such sickness, lawlessness and paranoia.

You wanted them Eureka, just like this country, the old voters anyway, wanted conservative Republicans running congress, well now you can just live with the consequences. When the District Attorney agrees with Chief Mills your deal with the Devil, everyone that voted, is sealed.

Here's the link to: Eureka police shooting investigation awaits DA's decision - Read it and weep. The war has only just begun.
--Joe

Saturday, November 8, 2014

MANDATE - In A Pig's Eye

The Republicans in this country believe the November 4th election gave them a mandate to rule this country and take out the gutless criminal Barack Obama, or at least finish delegitimizing his presidency. What the blowhard Republicans should do is sit down, collect their pay, shutup and go home. The majority non-vote delegitimizes the election - there is no mandate. One third of legal voters do not possess the legal right to rule over two thirds of the majority and more than 0.01 percent of the richest do.

The Non-Cooperating, Non-Voter has spoken.

This System, the American System of Governance from Federal to local, for all intents and purposes, is defunct. Where a government derives its power and authority from the people, this government is impotent, bankrupt. As are the laws enacted. Clearly, where legitimacy for any election in a democracy requires a quorum, the election failed miserably. So, now what.

The Times Standard newspaper had an editorial and and article on this:
1. Voter turnout mediocre in Humboldt County, poor statewide

2. Editorial: Voter turnout leaves much to be desired
"If turnout were a test, Humboldt County's electorate earned a solid "F" on Tuesday."
Then there is Senator Bernie Sanders on Democracy Now:
Senator Bernie Sanders says. "I fear that we may be on the verge of becoming an oligarchic form of society where a handful of billionaires control not just the economy, but the political life of this country. And that’s just something we’re going to have wrestle with."
Actual election turnout far lower than reported

And if you are really, really interested in a meaningless expression of an exercise in futility, go over to the local prognosticator's blog of all thing politic for a bellyful useless bullshit.

man·date
noun
1. an official order or commission to do something.
2. the authority to carry out a policy or course of action, regarded as given by the electorate to a candidate or party that is victorious in an election.

[Picture source]
--Joe

Monday, November 3, 2014

Vote-A-Joke

Vote Your Heart Out – Fool

Tomorrow, if not already, all patriotic, community-minded, citizens will be voting in the misguided belief that they are having their say in running this country, thus proving to everyone how valuable they are as Americans and as individuals. They honestly believe that their vote makes a difference; that they make a difference. Yet, year after year, millions of American voters deliberately vote directly against their own self interests. They consistently vote in and retain the most corrupt, amoral, gangster thugs, liars, mass murderers, psychotic, insane, deluded, morons in this country. And I am not just talking about Republicans.

The question, is that a difference or a choice between the offered and predetermined Democrat, Republican, Independent or some other? Did the voter have any say in the selection of these “offered” people or are they just selecting between one corrupt politician and another that's been given them by the real people in power?

Then there is the large battery of laws or propositions offered, everything from A-Z, and One to ... Q, Z or P! Pick your number or letter, for what it's worth. Like LAW means something in this town or this country anymore? Just look at the Eureka Police Department and its new police chief, what's changed for the better? Then there is a new District Attorney - "Fleming spent 25 years as a Deputy District Attorney and has served as the Deputy County Counsel the last two years." What's that tell you? Hear anything from her lately on the police killing of Tommy McClain? No. I didn't think so.

For over six weeks I've looked to see if anyone had the courage to post something, anything, on the local blogs about the killing of Tommy McClain and the total lack of any accountability. I've looked for comment from those running for local office or reelection – Nothing. I've looked for comments or questions from anyone – Nothing. I've looked in the local papers for any outrage that no one has enforced an independent, neutral legal accounting – Nothing. Fact is, there is never anything about LAW – What's the big deal? All those cops did was make a justifiable “mistake.” Just a little boo boo is all. What's the big deal? So, some kid got shot down like a dog for nothing - so what? Can't have the LAW get in the way of or interfere with all the bullshit election propaganda.

I almost forgot, there is the Facebook page “Justice for Tommy McClain.” There are comments by the page author that make my ass ache, e.g., “On October 30: “Mystakes are made but not lies! Tommy is not the person officer mills claimed him to sound like. He did ...” And that is just one example. Plus in this day of built-in spell checkers and online dictionaries, typing this is inexcusable: “Mystakes” and tends to reduce the overall value and importance of the person killed, the page's message and intent as reflected in the nearly 2,500 “Likes.”

Just when time was about to run out before the elections the North Coast Journal posts this letter in their paper, where I also found it online: “Public Safety Funding?” This benign piece of milk toast is better than nothing, but shows the writers first priority - the election. Nothing about lack of or intent to enforce the law or to hold any elected official accountable. At least someone, one person, had the courage to write something about Tommy McClain - points well taken.

Then there is this:
"In 2011, he (Kansas Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach) began promoting a digital name-matching program used to scan electoral records and flag anyone whose name appears on the voter rolls in more than one state. It’s called Crosscheck. And across the country, 27 states are using it to investigate possible voter fraud. Among them, 22 have an election board controlled by Republicans." Jim Crow Returns: Interstate "Crosscheck" Program Could Strip Millions of the Right to Vote - on Democracy Now.
So, there you are Voter. Your vote is about as worthless as you are.
--Joe

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Eureka - Did The City Find Its Soul?

When I saw this News Headline on Democracy Now this Thursday morning October 23, 2014, I thought about why the people of Eureka are not up in arms over the killing of Tommy McClain and are not supporting and participating en masse. It's been five weeks since Tommy McClain was gunned down and aside from a couple of news reports there has been absolutely nothing. When checking local blogs, a normal morning ritual, lo and behold I came across News Chanel Three's report: "Locals join national effort in protesting police brutality," including Tommy McClain.

It seems after five weeks since Tommy McClain was killed, not because he threatened or brought violence to anyone, but because he was violently assaulted by Eureka City Police officers for doing what everyone in Eureka has the legal right to do, someone in this community decided to speak up for him. I guess that is something in light of the fact that all everyone wants to talk about are the elections and the imposition on property owners to pay more taxes and eat GMOs. Yet, I don't see anything about the McClain killing from those running for office. Checked the local blogs, other than what's posted below, and the newspapers. Not even one letter - nothing. Not about the police, the killing of Tommy McClain or the demonstration about police brutality.

There was this disgusting diatribe from John Chiv: "Protest at the Courthouse, maybe this election distraction will work?" where he denigrates the the protesters and their protest of police brutality. Which clearly identifies him, his priorities and his position in the matter of police criminality. We wouldn't want anything like a police killing to interfere with the election of more gutless corrupt politicians and the smooth running of the money flow that props up his friends and their strongarm enforcers. So much for his lawful, moral and ethical pseudo standards he holds before this community like a trophy.

But for a small group of courageous people, the conduct of the majority of people in this community is a living indictment of irresponsibility and corruption. Impunity grants a sure judgment: "You reap what you sow" Eureka. Live and learn. Everyone that votes is responsible and ultimately accountable for the crimes committed in their names. Most people seem to believe, at least that is how they act, that "Good" will triumph over "Evil." Most everyone carries on like they have no say in that outcome. Personally, I don't think the good people, what few there are, will prevail. They've clearly abdicated that right. Not until they start enforcing law, which I don't see happening. Tragically it looks like Tommy McClain will end up just another casualty of a losing war.

This is the News Headline from Democracy Now:

"O22" Protests Against Police Brutality Held in Over 80 Cities

Protests against police brutality were held Wednesday in Ferguson, Missouri, and more than 80 other cities across the country. New York City residents joined the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.
Danette Chavis: "My name is Danette Chavis. I’m the mother of Gregory Chavis, who lost his life at the hands of NYPD in October 2004. I am convinced that nothing will change concerning this action until it is bought to the highest levels in government. We need nationwide action. We need the U.S. attorney general of the Department of Justice to deal with the issue of police brutality once and for all. Thousands of people are being murdered whose cases we know nothing about because they don’t have the ability to have their tragedy highlighted in the media." [Emphasis mine.]
This is the News Chanel Three's report:
EUREKA - Every October, protests are held nationwide to end police brutality. For 19 years, the annual event has taken place on October 22. But for protestors on the North Coast, one day is not enough. They continued their march through the night on October 22 and into the 23. 
“If a civilian accidentally kills someone, they're first arrested. And we're seeing this across America now, that when it's an officer that kills someone, even when it's an accident, there's no arrest,” one protestor said. 
The rain didn’t stop this local group from joining the national effort against police brutality and bringing justice on a local level. 
“Yesterday was the national days of protest and today we also protest in Eureka on October 23 because on October 23, 2006, Christopher Burgess, a 16 year old person in our community was shot and killed,” another protestor said. 
They protest for Burgess and also for Tommy McClain, another victim in an officer involved shooting in September. 
“We have to change this. We have to start holding the police accountable so that in the future, they will show restraint when dealing with members of the community rather than treating people like they're in a combat zone,” the protestor added. 
The protestors are carrying their message on posters starting in Arcata Wednesday morning, with an all night vigil at Cesar Chavez Park over the night, and finishing in Highland Park Thursday evening. 
“Living here long enough, I’ve seen this happen again and again and it keeps happening and keeps being perpetuated because there's no recourse. There's no accountability for the officers,” the protestor said. 
And they march with a mission. One stop along their way was at the coroner’s office to petition an inquest into the death of Tommy McClain. 
“We just want the judicial system to treat the police like they treat anyone else who was accused of a murder, especially if there is evidence proving that that person did murder someone,” the protestor said. 

eureka
exclamation
a cry of joy or satisfaction when one finds or discovers something.

Eureka effect
From Wikipedia
The eureka effect, also known as the aha! moment, refers to the common human experience of suddenly understanding a previously incomprehensible problem or concept.

[Picture Source]
--Joe

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Police Chief Andrew Mills Pulls A Fast One On Eureka

Chief Mills commits Eureka to his planned method of operation for policing the city or, the whole thing was a ruse to make Eureka believe they had some say. Either way, the people of Eureka got a fast one pulled on them. At least, on the face of it, I'd say that's how it looks as recently reported by one of the participants. The North Coast Journal's Thadeus Greenson reports his austere opportunity to contribute to Eureka's betterment by accepting Chief Mills invitation to sit on and participate in the selection of and recommendations for promotion of captains from within the E.P.D. in his Saturday, October 18, 2014 "Police Promotions." A distinctive opportunity, in and of itself, that should not compromise anyone's integrity.

No mention in that article if that process involved the individual police officers or their involvement in the latest shooting death of Tommy McClain or even if that was an issue. Of note, neither was there a mention by the Tuluwaa Crybabies, Eureka's leading wannabe authority on all matters ethical, moral and just in their response: In A Deft Move, Mills Manages To Compromise The Only Reporter Questioning The Allard St Murder. They, as usual, miss the forest for the tree and managed to skew Thadeus Greenson for participating - totally missing the real issue of importance as they join Chief Mill's compromising of all Eureka residents as exposed by these people's fast one of their own. 

I've had Thadeus Greenson number for a long time. I've written about his contradictory, conflicted and compromised reporting for years. So, what's the problem with the Tuluwaa Crybabies that they are, admittedly, just now getting somewhat of a picture of his true nature? His hypocrisy rivals only theirs. Eureka's police problems have hardly anything to do with wouldbe ingratiated police captains or their buddy Thadeus Greenson. Either way Eureka, you're committed now. Whatever happens, it won't be Chief Andy Mills fault. Just as it is no one's fault but Tommy McClain's for what happened to him. Get the picture?
--Joe

Saturday, October 11, 2014

A Lesson In Hypocrisy - No Justice For Tommy McClain

[UPDATE :: Take a look at Eureka's morally & ethically corrupt - read the comments too.] NOTE: Be aware, the people that write this referenced blog are NOT champions of truth, transparency or law. Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills is only a symptom of the disease. He merely represents the Eureka Elite's Imperialist Ways to control and dictate. The death of that boy was initiated by the thuggish bullying of those officers to enforce their legitimacy. While Chief Mill's EPD is waging war consistent with what his predecessors did for decades on: "So….be careful Eureka. Chief Mills has made it clear. The poor, the homeless, and the downtrodden will face the new wrath of Mills EPD" it is every person that lives, works and comes into or passes through Eureka that is in mortal danger. It is NOT about "Mills EPD is about getting rid of those who don’t fit in." "Those who don't fit in" are obviously no threat to the EPD or the Eureka Elite. It IS about forcing everyone to submit to their right to enforce the law as THEY want - the way that legitimizes and protects them.


Murder is a crime. It is as simple as that. Normally criminals are arrested, charged, judged, convicted and then sentenced, or not, if found innocent. That is, unless you are a police officer.

Once again the Tuluwaa Crier spouts the euphemistic needs to deal with the contradictions, and disparities of Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mill's responses to and resolution of the police killing of Tommy McClain as expounded in their latest post based upon the article written October 9, titled, "Unanswered" in the North Coast Journal: EXPERT: “IT’S A BAD SHOOTING, PERIOD”. (THE DEATH OF TOMMY MCCLAIN).

While their observation about local interest and media coverage is spot on and works for a police chief working to absolve his officers of any crimes, they leave the serious, concerned reader rather empty. They would have the reader believe they are the only ones in Eureka that really care. Yet, while they tout the need for justice and truth this is the best they can come up with:
The only way for at least some of the truth of this murder to be brought to light is for the McClain family to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the City. Even though this Chief and the officers involved in this tragedy may never face consequences within EPD, maybe some justice can be brought forth in the civil court system. [Emphasis mine]
What happened to truth and justice through criminal prosecution of the law? Did they forget about the law? What nonsense is this, "never face consequences within EPD"? Like never get fired? Taking the matter to civil court, providing they are successful, forces the tax-paying people of Eureka to pay for this crime. Once again reinforcing police impunity in Eureka, guaranteeing more killings of innocent people. This dodge is nothing more than tacit support for Andrew Mills, the Eureka Police Department and the Eureka Status Quo. They are slick. The Tuluwaa Crier are as two-faced hypocrites as you can get.
--Joe

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Sad Day - Sad People In Eureka

[UPDATE :: Really Sad & Sick] Classic bully tactic: Blame the Victim, compliments of EPD Chief Mills. (I just love it when I'm right - and I usually always am.)

Where is the outrage? Where are the demonstrations? Where is the demand for justice? Where are the hard questions? When it comes to the death of 22 year old Tommy McClain over a toy gun the whole population has gone off hiding in the hills. The newspapers say nothing, no one writes letters to the newspapers, or expresses any outrage on the local blogs. Aside from the straight-line “press release” reporting of a couple of local blogs duplicating the Times-Standard newspaper rendition, I've only found a couple of rather blasé, if not status quo postings, their names are listed in previous postings. A goodly portion of the comments on those blogs explains why there is no outrage. One calloused and differential commentor summed it up like this: “Sometimes bad things happen.” And that's that... 

Yesterday, after reading the headline report in the Times-Standard newspaper, “Chief: Facts Support Officers' Actions,” I easily formulated what I wanted to write. To say the least, I was angry – angry at the sickness that permeates this town – and I'm not talking about the Eureka Police Department or the new Police Chief, Andrew Mills. I'm talking about the people of Eureka embracing the previous Police Chief Murl Harpham's philosophy of “tough cop” thuggery that motivates and permeates almost all police action as a matter of standard policy. And that is just REALLY sad.

Sad, because these are the visible symptoms of a form of cancer or ebola that is devouring the life of this community and threatens us all. Yeah! “Sometimes bad things (do) happen.” And when you do not enforce justice and eradicate the lawless corruption and the “incompetence” bad things happen to you and your family, not to mention, everyone else. Apparently, that's okay with most everyone.

I received a query from Tommy McClain's family the other day, before Andrew Mill's Wednesday, October 1, 2014 farce. For me, my comment in response just about says it all. Here are the two postings:
Nikki: thank you for following this we are angry and want answers for tommy. please feel free to message me with your ideas about what we should do. no one seems to really know what to do. Nikki Mottern

Me: Nikki, appreciate your post. An email address would have helped. 
I know what I would do, what I've done, but that's me. The first thing you must do to get control is accept reality for what it is. I know you believe in and trust our system of government, respect its authority and hope, in the end, justice will prevail. The “answers” you seek are NOT for Tommy, they are for everyone. That's what I mean by accepting reality. Until then, the criminals have the upper hand. 
The problem is, there may be nothing that you can do about “answers.” You can fight for justice and see that the law is enforced. In so doing, hopefully, you will have a lot of community support. I know you have mine. Where is the District Attorney, the State and Federal Attorneys General? Where are the people of Eureka? Everyone needs transparency; we need to know what is happening. Make available to the newspapers what is and is not forthcoming from the EPD and Mills.  
We, the people of America and this planet are at war. Not some bogus war on terror in a far away land, but with the One Percent that owns and controls the Governments and their militarized police that have abrogated all law with their impunity. In war people, good people, die. Accept that fact and you will adjust your thinking and actions accordingly; in other words, you will know what to do. I wish you much success.

[UPDATE :: NO Outrage Here]

Why Eureka is sick, socially, morally, ethically, religiously and politically. This empty thesis from a commenter, while somewhat valid, is a poor excuse for a socially and ethically driven blog. These people, the so-called Examiner "staff" and their cadre of commenters exhibit the same characteristics that caused that boys death. They summarily execute anyone they want that has the misfortune to comment on their blog and does not do or say what they want no matter the reason, just like those cops did that night to Tommy McClain. They enforce the same egotistical, arrogant Imperialistic mentality as the EPD - Immediately do what you are told or die. That's why this posting by “Not a native” is mostly a sham: THE KILLING OF TOMMY MCCLAIN; NO, WE WON’T BE QUIET and in its own way justifies what I said. Couldn't be any more explicit than in the comments. Where is the OUTRAGE? What some of these people say is OUTRAGEOUS!
Joe says: The only actual, real "threat" the boy posed is the one that existed solely in the minds of those paranoid police officers. He had no deadly weapon in his hand. He did not demonstrate any intent to threaten; he wasn't pointing a toy gun at anyone. He was shot, NOT for what he DID, but for what those sick cops thought or believed; their worthless opinions conjured up in their minds. And that is the danger we are all threatened with. Not what you are actually doing, but what these cops "think" you are doing.
So, now you know the sick reason why the boy was really killed and what's really going on in Eureka. If you are not scared to death of these people, you should be. Your life hangs in the balance.
--Joe

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Sad Day In Eureka

CHIEF: FACTS SUPPORT OFFICERS ACTION - So they say...

EPD Chief: Shooting Appears Justified - So says the Journal...


What justifies the use of deadly force, the killing of Tommy McClain is his legitimate and viable threat to the officer's lives. Where was that threat in a toy BB gun?

They did not even know it was a "gun" or anything else until they confronted him at gunpoint. Why, then, did they confront him at gunpoint? He demonstrated or posed no actual physical threat to anyone. The toy gun was still in his belt when they shot him - all he did was supposedly "lower" his arms, not grab for some mythical gun. If he had his arms in the air as reported, then told to "drop the gun" he would have to drop his arms to remove it from his belt. Did he get killed for doing what he was told to do? Even so, in everything reported, where is the actual demonstrated "threat to life" or person in what the boy did? The only demonstrated "threat" to anyone came from the police. I see no reasonable justification for confronting the boy in the first place.

The only actual, real "threat" the boy posed is the one that existed solely in the minds of those paranoid police officers. He had no deadly weapon in his hand. He did not demonstrate any intent to threaten; he wasn't pointing a toy gun at anyone. He was shot, NOT for what he DID, but for what those sick cops thought or believed; their worthless opinions conjured up in their minds. And that is the danger we are all threatened with. Not what you are actually doing, but what these cops "think" you are doing.

The people of Eureka should by real proud of their new police chief, Andy Mills. He has solidified Murl Harpham's legacy police department by making it an ISIL style terrorist organization. If this boy's death is actually "justified," then everyone in Eureka lives here at their own peril. Know this, every time you have need for police protection, or call on them for help for any reason, you run the risk of dying. If you are stopped or confronted for any reason, a bitchy neighbor complains about you or you run a stop sign, you run the risk of dying. You don't have to take my word for it either. Forget the outrage. Just bury your dead.

So, good luck neighbors. You wanted tyranny. Well, now you got it.


[UPDATE]
AN UNLOADED BB PISTOL….REALLY! THAT’S ALL THEY GOT? - Some thought from the Tuluwat worth considering. Read the comments, specially the moronic response that is so typical of Eureka from Mitch. Since when did Tommy McClain BECOME an "armed suspect"? When did he become a "suspect" of anything? If fellow officers have the "suspect" at gunpoint, why did he feel he needed to intercede with deadly force? Why did those officers have Tommy McClain at gunpoint in the first place?
--Joe

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Outrageous Nonsense


[UPDATE :: Boy killed over a BB gun

Then there is this inconsistent, contradictory and convoluted nonsense coming from the Eureka Police Department and the Times-Standard today: Autopsy finds man was killed by gunfire; police chief to release more info on Wednesday. This is the same kind of reporting used at all past similar killings.

Here's just one example, "McClain was fatally shot by a Eureka police officer at around 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 17 as officers were searching the area for two suspects wanted on felony arrest warrants." This statement is factually incorrect based upon subsequent reports, detailing where Mills says at least two were directly involved and possibly four officers - ALL of them firing their weapons. The above quote is also misleading in that the boy had nothing to do with why (felony arrest warrants) the officer called for backup as detailed in the press release.

The press release states he was shot because he made a grab for the gun. ("As officers gave commands to the man with the gun which was now visible, the subject grabbed for the gun. ") Now they say he was ordered to "drop the gun." You can't grab and drop a gun at the same time. These are just two examples.

When I first read the article I thought Thadeus Greenson had written the article. It seems the newspaper replaced him with another incompetent nincompoop named Will Houston. Lets see what kind of a convoluted story they can come up with today to bias the public and defend the police officers.
--Joe

Sunday, September 28, 2014

You Call THIS Outrage?

This new Blog covers some of the pertinent issues regarding the E.P.D. police killing of 22 year old Thomas McClain in their posting today that is worth sharing here: "GUN OR NO GUN, THAT’S NOT "REALLY" THE ISSUE." [Emphasis mine.]

REALLY? What IS the "issue" then?

Occasionally, these people produce something worthwhile and pertinent, unfortunately they use these occasions to demonstrate the true gutless nature of their deceptive hypocrisy. Sadly these credulous wannabe standard bearers for law and justice, and moral civic good puke out with this closing statement of their position - their issue:
In summary this family was minding their own business, committing no crimes, and on their private property. Tommy McClain then is gunned down by the EPD. 
The bottom line here is there is no justification for the use of deadly force in this incident. This is a textbook wrongful death case. We hope the Federal Government takes a hard look at this civil rights violation. [Emphasis mine.]
 "Wrongful death?" No justification? Then this is murder plain and simple. The E.P.D. knows who shot and killed that boy and the officers should be fired and indicted, if not in jail. These cops broke or violated the law and are criminals. If the police chief refuses to act, then he should be summarily fired too. You want these trigger-happy cops back on the streets of Eureka? If the Tuluwaa Crybabies cannot state these simple truths, then they participate in the pending coverup and whitewash the outrage. "We hope the Federal Government takes a hard look at this civil rights violation" is pure sick bullshit from people that are just as paranoid as the E.P.D. and their bosses.

Here is the rest of their post:
Eureka Police Chief Andy Mills did confirm that “there was a gun recovered. I don’t want to get into where exactly the gun was until I can prove that forensically to my satisfaction…..” 
For the purposes of discussion and debate for this blog post we are going to assume that the Police recovered a gun. 
The point of fact number 1 is that Tommy McClain was on his property and he was 100% within his rights to be in possession of a gun. 
Number 2 the police were not responding to reports of a crime. They were in the area for completely unrelated reasons. So no crime was committed by Tommy or anyone else at that residence. 
Number 3 so far as reported, NO request or command to “drop the weapon” was made. 
Number 4 the family reports that had been celebrating a birthday and consumed alcohol. Again you can be as drunk as you want at your own home, that’s perfectly legal.
What's described here is plain and simple murder. No one needs to be "patient" and "wait for the facts" to know that. The people of Eureka should understand, refuse uphold and enforce accountability to the law and ultimately it is the people of Eureka that will pay the price. These cops will just keep on killing innocent people. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? See what I mean, read the comments with care, they'll make you sick.

[UPDATE on Comments]
The reason why cops have carte blanche immunity in this country and in Humboldt County - Simpleminded people that think and act like Fred. Here is his comment on this TE posting. The simple fact that someone legally has a gun in his or her hand does NOT, nor should it constitute a reasonable threat to a police officer or anyone else. Cops do not legally have the right to kill people because they "feel" threatened or that "their lives are in danger." If so, then they are killing people based upon what they are feeling and thinking and not on what the person is actually doing - their lawless criminal behavior, in this case, literally threatening their lives. The simple possession of a weapon, gun in this case, in your hand, in your belt or holster or standing against the door jam or lying on a table does NOT constitute a de facto threat to anyone, only in the unstable minds of paranoid scared crapless, trigger-happy police officers. Which is exactly what society gets when you do not enforce the law. It's been my experience that they feel threatened and can get really hostile when you simply ask them a question they do not want to answer. Such a reality neutralizes or negates the legal rights of law abiding citizens to posses weapons for any reason, let alone for their legal right to self-defense without putting their lives and family's lives in mortal danger. It was the police officers acting upon their worthless, misguided "beliefs" that has judged them - as it has Fred.


OPJ wrote, “Obviously the dropped gun isn’t registered to the victim so the victim becomes a felon for carrying an unregistered gun and the shooting becomes justified.”
I believe that’s irrelevant in this instance. The only thing that matters is whether the officers had justification to fire at the guy. They had no idea who owned the gun. A handgun laying on the ground or on a table some feet away wouldn’t qualify as justification, imo, no matter who owned the gun.
Even if the gun turned out to be stolen, it wouldn’t justify a shooting in and of itself.
The point of contention should be, and is, whether he had a gun in his had(sp), or whether the officers had reason to believe he had a gun in his hand, thus feeling their lives were in danger. [Emphasis mine]
--Joe