Politics Plus

More stuff has happened 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."

One incident goes back to 2014.  It is surfacing now because CNN featured it on Monday, and Thandisizwe Chimurenga reported on it for Daily Kos.

At first, Sandra Pinchback thought her son Curtis Garland’s death in a Texas prison after an asthma attack made sense. She had been worried that the prison in rural East Texas was in the really muggy part of the state and had no air conditioning when he was first incarcerated. And then in July 2014, when the prison chaplain called and told her her son had died after an asthma attack she thought, "Well, maybe the good Lord went on and took him because he had suffered for so long with asthma." Problem is, that was a lie: medical neglect/indifference killed her son. Within three days Pinchback would start receiving letters from other prison inmates who had witnessed her son’s agony over several hours. Inmates who had witnessed him asking for help; inmates who tried to get him the assistance he needed; inmates who said they would testify if she needed them to. Sandra Pinchback received close to 50 letters saying all of these things.

When he was first incarcerated, he had difficulty getting the medications he needed, life-and-death medications.  He notified his mother, who contacted the prison and was told the offender needed to fill out forms.  She turned for help to Cory Sessions, a prison rights advocate with the Innocence Project of Texas, who had been key to getting her husband's conviction overturned with DNA evidence.

Unlike her husband, her son had made mistakes, admitted them, and was willing to pay for them by serving his time.  But he wasn't expecting a death sentence.

On that 90-degree-F June day when Garland had the attack, his fellow prisoners in M Wing knew he was dying, would die, and did everything they could to try to get help for him.  It's a harrowing story, difficult to read, even in the abbreviated form Thandi has quoted.  Her CNN source gives even more detail, including photographed excerpts from inmates' letters.  Alecto, Megaera, Tisiphone, whille you are giving the Erinyes treatment to the prison staff, please take a little time to give some Eumenides support to the offenders of M Wing.  I imagine a friend in a prison is a rare and wonderful thing, and the loss of one is heavy indeed.  From the CNN story:

The Innocence Project's Session said he believes corrections officials need to be prosecuted. He called their actions in the case "official oppression."

Garland was one of 620 people to die while in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in 2014, according to a report from the state attorney general.

Only the highest-profile cases — such as that of Sandra Bland, whose hanging death in a Waller County jail cell last year sparked outcries and investigations — make headlines, but Session alleges that deaths such as Garland's are common.

The second story involves a veteran, a former Marine who fought in World War II, including at the Battle of Iwo Jima – this battle, you all know the picture.  Not sayin' he was on Mount Suribachi; he wasn't; but it was a hard battle and all the Marines there were men of great valor.

I think we all know how obsessed Republicans have become with Voter Identification Laws, which to any sane person with minimal command of facts appear to be a non-solution to a non-problem.  Scott Walker's Wisconsin is no exception, and in fact may be near the head of the band wagon. 

When Wisconsin wrote its Voter ID law, it carefully listed all forms of ID which would be acceptable at the polling places.  (Parenthetically, Student ID with or without a photo was not one of them – gee, wonder why not.)  Inexplicably to me, however, also omitted from the list of acceptable identification was the Veterans Administration issued photo-identification card.  Active duty military ID was included, but not this.

So Leo Olsen, this 90-year-old Marine Corps veteran of Workd War II, was not allowed to vote in the state's Supreme Court primary last month.  What is perhaps even worse, we have literally idea how many veterans this may have affected.  Olsen's experience only became public because he has a niece on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, who wrote a (very polite) nastygram to Scott Walker about it.

When he presented his veterans administration card with his picture on it, he was told that the card was not listed as ‘acceptable’ proof of his identity. He responded: ‘You mean veterans can’t vote?'” (emphasis the justice's)

The 2016 state primaries were the first time that the Wisconsin Voter Identification law was in practice since being twice struck down by the judiciary. The law was originally blocked in 2014 by the Federal District Court in Milwaukee.

No one, so far as I know, is arguing that this is not law.  Indeed, denying him his vote was absolutely in accodance with what the law says (and doesn't say).  But – as Mr. Bumble would say, and indeed did say, "If the law supposes that, the law is a ass — a idiot."

To me it's clear that Scott Walker is the villain-in-chief of this story, but I have no doubt that there are others, Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature, who also deserve your considered attention.  Have at it, ladies.

The Furies and I will be back. 

More stuff has happened 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." 

Incidentally, I have linked to the full page of each story, including the comments; therefore, the link may land you right at the top of the comments section.  If so, Ctrl + Home should take you to the beginning of the article, and the comments will still be there,, so you won't have to load them separately.

To our list of, not thank goodness capital crimes (at least not yet), but societal offenses which will lead to serious humiliation, we apparently must now add "banking while Muslim."

A Muslim woman wearing the hijab went to the Security National Bank branch in Ohama, NE, hoping to open an account.  She found the doors locked before she could make it to the teller line.  Now, normally, at this point, I would think the branch was closing for the day; but that doesn't seem to have been it, because no one mentions it.  Also, apparently, a bank employee told her to remove the hijab, and she did – but the bank would still not let her in.

The bank had been robbed at gunpoint during December by perpetrators who wore face coverings, so apparently it just then occurrred to them that maybe they ought to be able to identify people entering, so they initiated a requirement that everyone entering must remove all face, eye, and head coverings – not in itself unreasonable (although don't start me on prescription eyewear!)

It must have gone over their head that Omaha has an ordinance forbidding discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, and some other factors.

Ferial Pearson, a friend of the woman in question (whose identity has not been made available to the press), says she has started receiving offensive and threatening messages on line, such as: “You are truly a disgusting person for putting such LIES on the internet!!!” one man wrote. “[T]hey had EVERY right to do what they did!! Waste your time some where else you heartless b*tch”

Megaera, I have confidence that you will be able to find the – um – grudging person who posted that, as well as posters of other threatening and offensive comments, and see if they can be taught some manners.

A second story just in passing, because I see possible but far from proven malice.  I wouldn't even mention it except that it touches on allergies, and I feel that personally, having multiple allergies myself.  (This additional article only touches on food allergies, which are only a small part of the picture, yet…)
 

This third story, though – this one definitely calls for the Furies, I would guess Tisiphone, but since I'm not directing anything particularly to Alecto this week, maybe she would help.

Joyce Curnell, 50, of South Carolina, died 27 hours after she was hauled out of a hospital and taken to jail over unpaid court fines.  She had been taken to the hospital by ambulance and diagnosed in the emergency room – we are not talking about someone who was well enough to drive up and walk in.

At some point, a bench warrant was discovered, and someone alerted law enforcement.  So she was taken to jail.

She was given neither water to drink nor intravenous fluids.  She died of dehydration.  Something highly preventable.

Yes, this happened in July – it's in the news now because the family is filing suit.

Her family filed a notice to sue the jail’s medical contractor, Carolina Center for Occupational Health, for malpractice — claiming medical staffers ignored requests by jail officials to help Curnell.

Court documents show Curnell was placed in a housing unit, instead of being taken to the jail’s medical facility, and she was given a trash bag to vomit into because she was too weak to visit the restroom.

State law requires medical care for inmates who need it, and the Bill of Rights demands humane treatment of incarcerated prisoners.

“It is very unfortunate to hear of another death of an African-American while in police custody,” said Shaundra Scott, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina. “If Ms. Curnell was denied medical treatment, then it is our position that her constitutional rights were violated.”

The Furies and I will be back. 

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.