Politics Plus

It's been a good week for Bernie (not that we aren't all working to make it even better), but stuff can still happen which seems to me to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with it. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."

I have only one story this week.  I just didn't think it gets any more complete than this.  Here's the headline:

“A New Low” — Cop Suing the Family of a Teen HE Killed, Saying it Caused HIM Emotional Trauma

Yes, you read that right.

(In fact, you've probably seen it – it is so outrageous as to have gotten a lot of attention.)

Chicago, IL — A Chicago Police Officer who responded to a call for assistance by killing an unarmed 19-year-old college student and a neighbor, who was uninvolved in the situation, has now filed a lawsuit against the estate of the student HE killed — saying the shooting left him traumatized.

It beggars belief.

I can give names and dollar figures.

Officer Robert Rialmo is inexplicably seeking $10 million in damages from the estate of Quintonio LeGrier — apparently because killing someone is so traumatic, he must also sue for what he did.

I can give quotes from attorneys:

According to the Associated Press, Rialmo’s attorney, Joel Brodsky, “said it was important in the charged atmosphere [in Chicago] to send a message that police are not ‘targets for assaults’ and [they] ‘suffer damage like anyone else.’”

Attorney Basileios Foutris is representing Antonio LeGrier in the wrongful death suit he filed days after Quintonio’s death and said he was astonished at the “temerity” Rialmo has displayed in suing the still-grieving family of the man he shot.  “That’s a new low, even for the Chicago Police Department,” he said. “First you shoot them then you sue them.”

I can provide bare bones facts:

Quintonio LeGrier was killed on December 26, after his father summoned police for what he thought would be help handling the distraught teen. Instead of giving aid, Rialmo shot LeGrier — six times — as well as neighbor, Bettie Jones, who had simply been watching for police to direct them to the appropriate apartment. Though a statement from police wasn’t forthcoming at the time of the incident, they did say LeGrier was “combative” and carrying a baseball bat.

I can give a general idea of the conflict in the stories:

While Rialmo claims LeGrier was “3 or 4 feet away” from him and was advancing aggressively with the bat, descriptions from LeGrier’s and Jones’ families say the officer was 20 or 30 feet away when he fired his weapon — and therefore could not possibly have feared for his life.  Additionally, Quintonio placed the original call to 911. As Foutris stated, “If you’re calling multiple times for help are you going to charge a police officer and try to hit him with a bat? That’s ridiculous.”

I can tell you the FBI has been asked to investigate, and I can quote someone who knows a little about these situations:

Phil Turner, a former federal prosecutor and current defense attorney who is not involved with this case, told the AP such a lawsuit is highly unusual, and “said it appeared intended to intimidate LeGrier’s family. He said he had never heard of an officer blaming his shooting victim for causing trauma.”

But I can't say anything more telling than the author of this article said:

Maybe if Officer Rialmo hadn’t shot and killed an unarmed teenage college student and ‘accidentally’ shot a neighbor in the neck, but had instead used de-escalation techniques and any number of less-than-lethal options, like backing up, perhaps he wouldn’t be ‘suffering’ so horribly — and these families would not have lost their loved ones.

In fact, the way I feel, if I has said that, it would have been laced with profanity.  So I won't.

I will save my breath to ask Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone to hurry on down to the Chicago Police Department, and to Officer Rialmo's home, if he is on paid vacation, as so often happens.  There's counseling needed here.  Thank you, ladies.

This article appeared in AlterNet credited to the Free Thought Project, which I have also credited and linked as primary source.  Because their view on copyright is "Feel free to republish all original content from this site. We just ask that you link back to us. You will not be sued for aiding humanity in the struggle for peace!"

The Furies and I will be back. 

I have a few items this week which seem to me to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with it. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."

I have left out the water in Flint, MI, because that made such a stir that I expect you are already on to those people.  I have left out the seditious militants because I am confident you are on to them and indeed have already got some action from a grand jury (good going there).  I have also left out the "pharma bro" who seems to be digging his own grave.  Although any or all of these could possibly resurface in the future, they seem for now to be getting handled.

I do want to draw attention to what happened to Melissa Harris-Perry in Iowa.  A journalist with a news-opinion show on MSNBC, a professor of political science at Wake Forest, and an author, she was there, with students, to experience the caucuses.  She was sitting in the hotel lobby, eyes glued to the TV, when suddenly this guy was standing next to her.

When he started he speaking it was like he was picking up in the middle of sentence, finishing a conversation we had begun earlier, but I couldn’t remember ever meeting him.

“…So what is it that you teach?”

“I am a professor of political science.”

“My wife is a professor of communications.”

“Does she teach here in Iowa?”

“What I want to know is how you got credentialed to be on MSNBC.”

I am not sure if it is how he spat the word credentialed, or if it is how he took another half step toward me, or if it is how he didn’t respond to my question, but the hairs on my arm stood on end. I ignored it. Told myself everything was ok.

“Well. It is not exactly a credential…” I began.

“But why you? Why would they pick you?”

Now I know something is wrong. Now his voice is angry. Now a few other people have stopped talking and started staring. Now he is so close I can feel his breath. Before I can answer his unanswerable question of why they picked me, he begins to tell me why he has picked me.

“I just want you to know why I am doing this.”

Oh – there is a this. He is going to do a this. To me. And he is going to tell me why.

She jumped up and put a table between him and her.  Her friend jumped and put herself between them.  They raised their voices, starting to make a fuss.  The man ran out, jumped in a car, and drove off.  They spoke with hotel security, who listened politely, "but this is the Iowa caucus, and I am not a candidate, so they go back to their evening. And we go back to ours." 

This sounds like grudging to me.  Particularly “But why you? Why would they pick you?”  Perhaps, Megaera, you can find this – person – for counseling.  And, if you have time, stop off at Breitbart, who loudly dismissed and mocked her story (Republican not linked).  Thanks much.

Then, Tisiphone, I suspect you will be interested in the management of Tyson Foods in Arkansas.  Tyson comes in for a lot of flack over the way it treats chickens inhumanely, and the way it overfeeds them antibiotics, but this isn't about the chickens.  This is about the workers.

According to an email from the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee,

A stunning 91% of surveyed poultry workers reported having no earned sick leave, and almost two-thirds reported working while sick. More than half of these workers said they experienced discrimination, a very troubling statistic for a workforce made up mostly of first- and second-generation immigrants, as well as minority workers from the United States.

 Women, in particular, cited gender discrimination in the way bathroom breaks are withheld by male supervisors. Some have even urinated on themselves because they were not granted breaks when needed.

Well, OK, maybe it is about the chickens too.  That last sentence can't have improved anyone's appetite, even for non-Vegans.  But I primarily was thinking of the vengeful destruction of the human spirit when you make people pee themselves to keep their jobs.  I suspect a lot of these women are mothers, incidentally.  Giving birth can be rough on the sphincters.

The stockholders' meeting was yesterday, and a Twitter/Facebook Thunderclap was planned.  Not being on either, I don't know how it went, but, I hope well.

Finally, Alecto, I don't even know whether there is anything you can really do about the uncea$ing issues of privatization, prisons, and immigrants; although if anyone can, it's you.  ITPI ("In the Public Interest") exists to study and bring to light the specific ills of privatization, which always ends up costing taxpayers more money for less service, while lining the pockets of people rich enough to own an empire to provide the private "service."  Immigration is no exception.  And whenever pri$on is a part of a cycle, and exists to make money, the stakeholders develop a vested interest in keeping people in them to make more and more money.  But, as this graphic shows, there are a lot more people making money from prisons than just prisons.  This contributes more and more to make the cycle never-ending – unceasing.

I think it speaks for itself.  If you need to see it larger to read it you can easily click through.  It does try to distinguish between civil offenders, who are offenders by just being here, and criminal offenders, who have actually committed a crime.  In practice, I don't know.

Alecto, Megaera, Tisiphone, and I will be back next time.  Whenever that is.  Meantime, we wish everyone perfect blood pressure.

One issue this week, represented by multiple persons in one article with its comments, seems to me to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with. Just as a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."

You ladies weren't interested a couple of weeks ago when I brought up the spoiled brats in Oregon (not FROM Oregon, just invading it) who think they ought to be in charge of public lands.  But as the story takes more and more turns, let me call your attention to this:

Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum told Oregon Public Broadcasting that his four current foster children have been removed while he's in Oregon:

Robert “LaVoy” Finicum and his wife Jeanette were foster care parents for troubled boys. Finicum estimates that over the past decade, more than 50 boys came through their ranch near Chino Valley, Arizona. The boys often landed there from mental hospitals, drug rehabs and group homes for emotionally distressed youth.

“My ranch has been a great tool for these boys,” Finicum said. “It has done a lot of good.”

Finicum runs a cattle ranch in Arizona where he says he barely breaks even on the cattle and the loss of 50 extra foster ranch hands children is going to make it financially difficult on the Finicums…

How much money is involved here?  Well a 2010 tax filing shows that in 2009, Catholic Charities paid the family $115, 343 to foster children.

User "a2nite" comments – "Wow, another welfare queen gets exposed. He's stupid & I'm glad."

"CyberMindGrrl" – "Yes this guy just openly admitted to scamming the foster care system. But will he get investigated? I highly doubt it unless he continues to open his stupid mouth…. Remember, you can screw the government and it’s ok if you’re white and Republican."

But "Fordmandalay" elaborates:  "My expectation of the kids typical day; up at 4:00AM for a hearty breakfast of lightly buttered toast and grits with coffee, then out to the fields. Work until noon, then a 15 minute lunch break of a baloney sandwich and a (generic) coca-cola. Back to work until the sun goes down, 15 minute swim in the cattle pond as the nightly bath; dinner of canned spaghetti-os and bottom-shelf cookies, then locked into their bunkhouse for the night with a single 1972 5th-grade textbook to fulfill their ‘education’ requirement, along with a few David Koresh books and a 13” b/w tv that's able to pull in the single station receivable in the area. Electricity turned off at 9:00PM. Repeat daily until adult, then kicked out into the world."

So I assume you may now have an interest in at least one of these individuals, namely "La Voy" Finicum (the one under the blue tarp).  It sounds to me a very grudging way to handles one's personal finances, so Megaera, that would seem to be up your street, but Alecto, he hasn't stopped doing this in God knows how long, and appears to have no intention of stopping – once he gets all the candy he's committing treason for and goes back home.

But wait – there's more!  User "AntonBursch" commented multiple times with information from his own experience as a former foster child.  Warning – hanky alert – as you read just a few of the things he has to say about his childhood.

"i was adopted by foster parents who saw foster children as a source of income.  and they always got special needs kids to get the max money and then neglected the hell out of them and spend all the money on themselves.  and when anyone noticed the poor shape the kids were in, they would say it was due to the problems the kids had.  then they would get patted on the back for being so wonderful for taking care of such troubled kids.  makes me angry just thinking about it.  even when they adopted my brother and I, the adoption was held up until they had a signed agreement that they would get money to take care of us until we were 18.  it was just as that kind of payment was being ended in WA state, so, they wouldn’t pull the trigger adopting us unless they had an absolute legal guarantee of payment over the years.  i found the documentation of all of that in my foster records when i got them a few years ago.  i don’t know how you get more horrible than using children who are already suffering to get money.  and they knew just how to max out the money by claiming they had to provide special care…"

"i was 13 months old.  i never knew a different life until my mid 20s.  i watched Good Will Hunting and the scene where Robin tells Will that it wasn’t his fault hit me like a ton of bricks through my chest.  i told friends of mine what it had been like growing up and they were horrified.  i still remember the moment listening to them when i realized that not all parents treated their kids that way.  it was a revelation to me.  i didn’t believe it at first.  i asked them and told me it was true, but i didn’t believe them, because it was too good to be true.  i had always thought it wasn’t right to hurt your children and suddenly i found out that i wasn’t alone believing that.  i felt like i had crawled out of a dark cave into the light for the first time in my life.  thinking back now, i think that’s exactly what happened to me."

Even the fact that he has grown up and learned to cope, even to be a wounded healer, is tough to read about:

i have to try not to cry thinking about how you [user srluke] shared your lunch money with them [fostered kids who went to school with srluke].  what can i say to you, but thank you.  it’s things like that that make the difference between someone giving up hope for their lives.  especially at that age.

i have a pretty great life now.  but sometimes, you know, life is stressful, you’re being whiny about something, you’re just mad and you can’t shake it off.  then you see someone you can tell is hurting.  a child.  a teen.  an elderly person.  a single mom surrounded by kids in the supermarket looking through her cart before going to the line to make sure she can get everything.  you can see the pain in her face as she’s looking back and forth to her kids and having to put something back.  and all of your stupid bullshit doesn’t matter anymore.

i won’t lie and say i don’t still hurt from shit.  i do.  man, i can’t hold it together watching a tv show about someone without their parents.  and sometimes i wish i could just get passed it.  but not in those moments.  in those moments, as cheesy as it sounds, i am grateful that i know those looks.  cause sometimes, when it’s possible, i can help.  and even when i can’t help, it makes me appreciate what a wonderful life i have now.  that’s a gift right there.

I respectfully request that at least one of you ladies look up these – persons – who fostered "AntonBursch" – and – counsel them.  Please.  And there are many other shorter stories in these comments, some first hand, others from witnesses, which you might also want to look into.  Oh, and I have an unrelated request- I am passing it on from others but I am also 100% behind it   Your colleague, Charon?  Fella with the boat?  We realize it's his job, and somebody has to do it, but we kind of feel he's been overdoing it lately – taking too many people who are too good and doing it too fast.  Could you maybe talk with him nicely about giving it just a little rest?  Thank you.  From all of us.

We'll be back next time.

Yes, we have no Erinyes, we have no Erinyes today.

I tried.  I really did.  I thought they would be interested in treason and sedition.  Dante would have.  He put traitors in the lowest circle of hell.

But when I started reading them this story, they started laughing.  I mean they were rolling on the floor.  And they wouldn't stop.  And I realized they were just not going to be willing to follow up on this one.

Here's how it starts (you'll need to click through for the whole thing because I don't want to violate Leonard Pitts Jr.'s copyright, but trust me, it's worth it.)  You be the judge.  Was I being unreasonable?

He brought his rifle up at the sound of footsteps crunching the Oregon snow.  "Who goes there?  Stop and be recognized."

A weary voice answered out of the darkness.  "It's me, Sam.  It's Bud."

"Give me the password."

"Come on, Sam.  Stop foolin' around."

"The password," Sam insisted.

Bud sighed.  "'Patriots act.'  Are you happy now?

Sam lowered the weapon as Bud stepped out of the trees into the meager circle of moonlight.

"Can't be too careful," he said.  He cupped his hands and blew into them.  It was cols out here.  "So where you been?" he asked.

"Down to the front gate."

Sam grinned.  "Bet you it's a zoo.  Bunch of satellite trucks and media elites standing around.  Who all's down there?  CNN?  NBC?  CBS  Sure hope Fox sends that Megyn Kelly.  That babe can interview me any time…."  (Click through for the rest.)

Well, right or wrong, the Furies are not interested.  And it's probably just as well.  There's a new wrinkle now, and really, this was all the story needed:

(Don't feel guilty about laughing – the humour is not at the expense of anyone but the haters,  I promise.  Read the comments if you don't believe me. Heck, read the comments anyway.)

Oops, this just in – trouble in paradise!  See TomCat's Open Thread also!

So, The long and the short of it is that I have nothing today for the Furies to do. 

I guess even they are influenced by the media, ya think?

But there is material out there.

We will be back.