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Kentucky: “Senate president says Bevin should concede election if recanvass doesn’t alter vote totals”

Courier-Journal: Republican Senate President Robert Stivers believes Gov. Matt Bevin should concede his loss to Democrat Andy Beshear if next week’s recanvass doesn’t significantly change the vote totals.“It’s time to call it quits and go home, say he had a good … Continue reading → Kentucky: “Senate president says Bevin should concede election if recanvass doesn’t alter vote totals” syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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“Mitch McConnell has to condemn this power grab”

Josh Douglas on Bevin and the Kentucky governor’s race. … Continue reading → “Mitch McConnell has to condemn this power grab” syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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Bevin Supporter Fishing for Voter Fraud Evidence They Don’t Have Through Robocalls That May Mislead Voters Into Thinking They Are Coming from Kentucky Board of Elections

Courier Journal: Conservative political activist Frank Simon, a longtime supporter of Gov. Matt Bevin, is sending robocalls asking Kentuckians to report suspicious activity or voter fraud to the State Board of Elections before Nov. 14 — the day of Bevin’s requested recanvass.Bevin finished … Continue reading → Bevin Supporter Fishing for Voter Fraud Evidence They Don’t Have Through Robocalls That May Mislead Voters Into Thinking They Are Coming from Kentucky Board of Elections syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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Trump, Bevin, and the Voter Fraud Dog That Didn’t Bark

Yesterday at Slate I wrote about how Kentucky governor Matt Bevin has so far made unsubstantiated claims that voter fraud and other irregularities cost him the election against his Democratic opponent Andy Beshear, and that the Kentucky Senate President made … Continue reading → Trump, Bevin, and the Voter Fraud Dog That Didn’t Bark syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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“Congressional Democrats to Revive Equal Rights Amendment Push”

NYT: Democrats, buoyed by their party’s electoral sweep in Virginia this week, plan on Friday to revive the Equal Rights Amendment in Congress, embarking on what they hope is a final push to add the nearly century-old measure to enshrine … Continue reading → “Congressional Democrats to Revive Equal Rights Amendment Push” syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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“The Cybersecurity 202: Swing state election websites aren’t secure against Russian hacking, McAfee says”

WaPo: County election websites in two battleground states are highly vulnerable to hacking by Russia or another adversary that might seek to disrupt the 2020 vote by misleading voters about polling locations or spreading other false information. About 55 percent of county … Continue reading → “The Cybersecurity 202: Swing state election websites aren’t secure against Russian hacking, McAfee says” syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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xkcd Voting Referendum

… Continue reading → xkcd Voting Referendum syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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911 Operators Fed Victim Names to Fraud Ring: Prosecutors

Six current and former New York Police Department employees have been accused of taking part in a medical insurance fraud ring that sent thousands of car accident victims to specific health clinics, doctors and lawyers in exchange for kickbacks, The New York Times reports. Five 911 operators were among those charged in federal court with conspiracy and bribery, based on allegations that they fielded emergency calls and then passed the victims’ information to a fraudulent “call center” in Queens, which would then contact those victims and coax them to visit prearranged medical clinics and lawyers, court documents say. The sixth defendant is a police officer.

The scheme’s alleged ringleader ran the operation from at least 2014 until this month, prosecutors said. Prosecutors estimate that as many as 60,000 car accident victims may have had their confidential information improperly disclosed. The alleged fraud targeted car accident victims from low-income neighborhoods because they were more vulnerable, according to court documents. The ringleader told his fraudulent call center not to target victims in Manhattan, court documents said, because “those people got attorneys.”

911 Operators Fed Victim Names to Fraud Ring: Prosecutors syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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Michael Rosin and David Post File Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Urging It to Take Washington State Faithless Elector Case

Read it here. … Continue reading → Michael Rosin and David Post File Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Urging It to Take Washington State Faithless Elector Case syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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Mississippi: “Black Democrat Wins in Redrawn District After Racial Gerrymander Case”

Jackson Free Press: Even as Republicans swept statewide offices in Mississippi on Tuesday night, Joseph Thomas, an African American Democrat in a district that stretches across six counties, narrowly flipped a GOP-held Senate seat. Earlier this year, a federal court … Continue reading → Mississippi: “Black Democrat Wins in Redrawn District After Racial Gerrymander Case” syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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Can Charlie Beck Help Chicago Join the ‘Modern Policing Revolution’?

Charlie Beck. Photo by Ruperto Miller via Flickr

Former Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck will head the Chicago Police Department as interim superintendent, a temporary role normally reserved for a department insider, the Chicago Tribute reports.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s choice to run the department during an expected months-long search for a permanent replacement for retiring Superintendent Eddie Johnson was praised by Beck’s former boss in their makeover of the LAPD, William Bratton, as a “good move.”

Beck, 66, served 42 years with LAPD, 8 1/2 as chief, until his retirement in 2018. Back then he told TCR’s West Coast bureau chief, Joe Domanick, that success as a reform-minded chief means “you change culture by everything you do… One of my core beliefs is that the way a chief treats his cops is the way that they will treat the community.”

Whoever takes over will face a dramatically altered political landscape with the landslide April election of Mayor Lightfoot, who campaigned on a platform of police reform.

“The Chicago police have never gone through the modern policing revolution. This is the best moment the city has had as far as I am concerned to ever deal critically with these public safety and legitimacy issues,” said David Kennedy, a professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice who has worked in the past with Chicago police on anti-violence efforts.

“And if this period doesn’t produce progress, that is an enormous lost opportunity and (is) tragic for the city. This makes that choice extraordinarily important.”

Beck’s agreement to take the job means Chicago will, at least temporarily, have guidance from a former head of a large-city police force who has helped lead a department through court-mandated reform but also launched programs that shifted enforcement away from strict reliance on aggressive, arrest-driven policing to more engagement with residents on creating safer communities.

With about 4 million people, L.A. is more populous than Chicago but has a similar history of crime problems. Entrenched gangs have divided blocks and neighborhoods in both cities.

But today, the differences are stark: Through October, Chicago had 424 homicides and 2,242 shooting victims, according to official Chicago police statistics. In LA, statistics through Nov. 2 show 220 homicides and 822 people shot.

“We need to have a police superintendent (who) is not afraid to go against the grain. We have to have someone who has backbone enough to stand up for justice and equity,” said Chicago community organizer Mecole Jordan.

“Standing up for justice means being inclusive and understanding of various perspectives and not just one side. In the past, we have had several superintendents who were only about law and order and what was better for the Police Department.”

Can Charlie Beck Help Chicago Join the ‘Modern Policing Revolution’? syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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LAPD, Union Agree on Random Checks of Body Cam Footage

The Los Angeles Police Department will soon start reviewing random recordings from body-worn cameras to make sure officers are following guidelines when dealing with the public, the Los Angeles Times reports. Chief Michel Moore told the Board of Police Commissioners on Tuesday that he reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file cops, to inspect recordings that don’t involve arrests or the use of force.

The inspections will allow supervisors to determine whether some officers need additional training or counseling to prevent instances of biased policing, Moore said. Supervisors will make sure officers aren’t rude and that they explain their actions when stopping people, he said. Tom Saggau, a spokesman for the police union, called the inspections “a really good thing” and a way to provide additional training to improve the department. The union’s board of directors is expected to formally approve the agreement at its next meeting. The LAPD collects about 14,000 recordings each day and has accumulated recordings totaling 2.1 million hours. Last month, the Times reported the body-worn camera recordings helped determine officers committed infractions in 56 cases in 2018. But police leaders found 264 other complaints against officers “demonstrably false” or resulted in complete exoneration, according to an annual report presented to police commissioners.

LAPD, Union Agree on Random Checks of Body Cam Footage syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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Cops on Defensive for Mugshot-Shaming Posts in Social Media

Police departments and jailers are capitalizing on social media users’ appetite for negativity and extreme comments by using themes and memes such as #ThugThursdays, #FelonFridays, and “Ladies’ Night” to publicly shame offenders in ways that critics claim will undermine trust in law enforcement, BuzzFeed News reports.

Law enforcement agencies argue that they are successfully using humor and memes on social media in an effort to humanize officers, engage the community to get shares and tips, and find and arrest wanted offenders. But critics say the shaming is based often on racism, sexism, and class differences that stir public outrage in harmful ways. “These departments are engaging in campaigns of public humiliation,” said Lynda Garcia, the policing campaign director at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Individual officers have repeatedly been disciplined for problematic social media behavior. But Garcia said it’s “unprecedented” to see police departments as an entity using platforms this way.

Cops on Defensive for Mugshot-Shaming Posts in Social Media syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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Brooklyn DA Releases List of Blacklisted Cop-Witnesses

Going well beyond what other district attorneys in New York City have done to deal with police officers with credibility problems, Brooklyn’s DA publicly released a blacklist of officers who will not longer be called as witnesses, The New York Times reports. The list’s release came in response to an open-records demand by Gothamist and WNYC, following their report that all five boroughs’ DAs are building secret lists of officers accused of dishonesty.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez released two lists. One includes more than 40 officers whose testimony judges had deemed unreliable and false. Gonzalez said he believed that in some of those cases the judges were mistaken and the officers had been truthful. The officers on this list will still sometimes be used as witnesses, he said. The second list named seven officers the district attorney’s office had deemed no longer credible. Gonzalez declined to elaborate on the specific reason each officer was on the list. He said he expected the list to grow. Maryanne Kaishian, a lawyer with Brooklyn Defender Services, expressed surprise that the list contained only seven names. “That is way too few in our experience with the number of officers we’ve encountered committing misconduct on our cases,” Kaishian said. Nonetheless, Gonzalez’s decision to release the list in Brooklyn drew a sharp rebuke from Patrick J. Lynch, the president of New York City’s largest police union. “He knows that publicizing this information will destroy the careers of honest police officers and torpedo the cases against violent, gun-toting criminals — assuming his office bothers to prosecute them at all,” Lynch said.

Brooklyn DA Releases List of Blacklisted Cop-Witnesses syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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Report: Police Undermine Crime Victims’ Visa Protections

Nearly 20 years after its creation, the U visa — designed to encourage immigrant crime victims to help police solve crimes — is being undermined routinely by law enforcement agencies across the country, an investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting has found. Reveal’s analysis of policies from more than 100 agencies serving large immigrant communities found that nearly 1 of every 4 create barriers never envisioned under the U visa program. A review based on hundreds of police records and nearly 60 interviews found that victims are at the mercy of whatever internal rules police choose.

The law, added to the Violence Against Women Act in 2000, grants temporary status to undocumented victims of an array of violent crimes such as rape, domestic violence, kidnapping, and felonious assault. Without certification by a law enforcement agency that an immigrant crime victim cooperated, a person cannot apply for a visa. With the number of visas capped at 10,000 a year, the government has a backlog of more than 243,000 applications, some pending more than a decade. Reveal found that some agencies simply refuse to consider requests. At least 20 departments have created their own rules beyond federal guidelines on what qualifies for a visa. The Gwinnett County Police Department in Georgia, for example, considers the “solvability” of the case. So do four other departments. Others consider the mental and physical harm caused to the victim, which federal guidelines deem the purview of immigration officials reviewing an application. Even some agencies that say they certify petitions rarely do. Leslye Orloff, a longtime immigrant women’s advocate who helped lawmakers draft the U visa regulations in 2000, called Miami police’s numbers “shockingly low” for such a large, diverse city, with 27 approvals out of 235 certification requests over the past three years. “What it means is that people don’t trust them,” said Orloff, director of the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project.

Report: Police Undermine Crime Victims’ Visa Protections syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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School Attackers’ Threats Went Ignored, Study Finds

A Secret Service study of more than three dozen school shootings found that attackers almost always signaled their intent by engaging in threatening or other suspicious behavior, USA Today reports. In 80 percent of the cases, according to the report, the attackers’ behavior was so alarming that it “elicited concern from bystanders regarding the safety of the attacker or those around them,” but in many cases those bystanders did not act on their suspicions.

Authorities analyzed incidents involving current and former student assailants in which a knife or firearm was used between 2008 and 2017. Those attacks left 19 dead and 79 wounded. The Secret Service concluded security measures alone were not enough to stop the violence. The most common defenses were school lockdown plans and electronic alert systems that use text messages or phone calls to notify students, teachers and other staffers about potential emergencies. At least 80 percent of the schools targeted had some type of security measure, from surveillance cameras to metal detectors. Half of the schools reported having one or more security officers on duty at the time of the attacks. At least nine of the schools had threat assessment programs, in which staffers were assigned to identify potentially harmful conduct. But the Secret Service found that training and participation in those programs varied dramatically.

School Attackers’ Threats Went Ignored, Study Finds syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

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Wisconsin Lawmakers Spurn Gov’s Call for Gun Laws

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ call for a special session on gun legislation required lawmakers to convene, but they didn’t have to do anything else. And they didn’t, with GOP leaders in the Assembly and Senate gaveling the session to a close in less than a minute without considering two bills to expand background checks and impose a red-flag law, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Evers, a Democrat, put forward his proposals after gunmen in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, slew 31 people over one weekend in August. Republican lawmakers ignored his pleas to take up his two bills and he tried to force the issue last month by calling the special session for this week. “There’s just not any momentum in the caucus to take up either one of the bills that the governor has offered,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald told reporters after standing on the Senate dais, declaring the special session over and banging his gavel. Evers said the Republicans had essentially told Wisconsin residents to “go jump in a lake” by refusing to take up the proposals.

Wisconsin Lawmakers Spurn Gov’s Call for Gun Laws syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/