#Death of Breonna Taylor

[justinspoliticalcorner]

AP, via The Guardian:

A federal jury on Friday convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor during a botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead. The 12-member jury returned the late-night verdict after clearing Brett Hankison earlier in the evening on a charge that he used excessive force on Taylor’s neighbors. It’s the first conviction of a Louisville police officer who was involved at the scene of the deadly raid. Some members of the jury were in tears as the verdict was read around 9.30pm on Friday. They had earlier indicated to the judge in two separate messages that they were deadlocked on the charge of using excessive force on Taylor but chose to continue deliberating. The jury of six men and six women deliberated for more than 20 hours over three days. Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor’s glass door and windows during the raid, but didn’t hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor’s adjoining apartment. A separate jury deadlocked on federal charges against Hankison last year, while in 2022, a jury acquitted Hankison on state charges of wanton endangerment.

[...] Neither of the officers who shot Taylor – former Sgt John Mattingly and former Det Myles Cosgrove – were charged in Taylor’s death. Federal and state prosecutors have said those officers were justified in returning fire, since Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot at them first.

[...] Hankison was one of four officers charged by the US Department of Justice in 2022 with violating Taylor’s civil rights. Thus far, those charges have yielded just one conviction: a plea deal from a former officer who was not at the raid and became a cooperating witness in another case.

Brett Hankison, one of the Louisville Metro PD officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor, was convicted of using excessive force.

[dcggone]

America you and all your twisted politicians and judges and enforcer dogs will get what you deserve one day. I believe it. I really do.

[reasoningdaily]

'Don't use my daughter': Fallen soldier's dad slams Marjorie Taylor Greene politicizing her death

President Biden has made it clear that he holds Iran responsible for the drone attack that killed three U.S. soldiers at a base in Jordan. Francine and Percell Moffett, the parents of Sergeant Breonna Moffett, who was killed in the strike at age 23, respond to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s statements politicizing the Jordan attack that killed their daughter.

[thundergrace]

We have to remember that we can never take our eyes off these cases, even when we think they're over.... they're never over. And the second we look away, this shit happens!

August 23, 2024

But Simpson wrote in the Tuesday ruling that "there is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor's death." Simpson's ruling effectively reduced the civil rights violation charges against Jaynes and Meany, which had carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, to misdemeanors.

So the warrant that was acquired through a whole bunch of lying an falsified information that brought them to Breonna's door in the first place is not directly (enough) linked to her murder that occurred after officers entered her apartment on a false warr....

[karnival2]

Justice - A Poem

Wrote a silly little poem. Content warning for themes of grief, death, systemic oppression, & discrimination driven murder.

Poem under the split.

people are dead unknowable more are dying

im going to work each day im angry im sleeping in each saturday im scared im mopping my floor each monday im grieving strangers im daydreaming each evening

there’s been so many names people I will never meet talking about my feelings is a short term remedy when the situation is still getting worse i believe humans are good i believe humans love i believe humans learn cruelty i believe humans can unlearn cruelty i ponder this each wednesday evening right on schedule

i get gas each thursday afternoon i get bread each fortnight i brush my cat each tuesday how is this real, i think how is there so much blood, so much death and im sitting here wondering where i can buy more magnets people are dead unknowable more are dying

[reportwire]

Breonna Taylor's boyfriend reaches $2 million settlement with City of Louisville | CNN

Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend reaches $2 million settlement with City of Louisville | CNN

CNN  —  Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker III, has reached a $2 million dollar settlement with the City of Louisville, resolving lawsuits Walker filed in response to “the unlawful police raid that led to Ms. Taylor’s death,” a news release from Walker’s legal team says. Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police Department officers on March 13, 2020, as they…

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #9

March 9-15 2024

The IRS launched its direct file pilot program. Tax payers in 12 states, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, Massachusetts, California and New York, can now file their federal income taxes for free on-line directly with the IRS. The IRS plans on taking direct file nation wide for next year's tax season. Tax Day is April 15th so if you're in one of those states you have a month to check it out.

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation into the death of Nex Benedict. the OCR is investigating if Benedict's school district violated his civil rights by failing to protect him from bullying. President Biden expressed support for trans and non-binary youth in the aftermath of the ruling that Benedict's death was a suicide and encouraged people to seek help in crisis

Vice President Kamala Harris became the first sitting Vice-President (or President) to visit an abortion provider. Harris' historic visit was to a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul Minnesota. This is the last stop on the Vice-President's Reproductive Rights Tour that has taken her across the country highlighting the need for reproductive health care.

President Biden announced 3.3 billion dollars worth of infrastructure projects across 40 states designed to reconnect communities divided by transportation infrastructure. Communities often split decades ago by highways build in the 1960s and 70s. These splits very often affect communities of color splitting them off from the wider cities and making daily life far more difficult. These reconnection projects will help remedy decades of economic racism.

The Biden-Harris administration is taking steps to eliminate junk fees for college students. These are hidden fees students pay to get loans or special fees banks charged to students with bank accounts. Also the administration plans to eliminate automatic billing for textbooks and ban schools from pocketing leftover money on student's meal plans.

The Department of Interior announced $120 million in investments to help boost Climate Resilience in Tribal Communities. The money will support 146 projects effecting over 100 tribes. This comes on top of $440 million already spent on tribal climate resilience by the administration so far

The Department of Energy announced $750 million dollars in investment in clean hydrogen power. This will go to 52 projects across 24 states. As part of the administration's climate goals the DoE plans to bring low to zero carbon hydrogen production to 10 million metric tons by 2030, and the cost of hydrogen to $1 per kilogram of hydrogen produced by 2031.

The Department of Energy has offered a 2.3 billion dollar loan to build a lithium processing plant in Nevada. Lithium is the key component in rechargeable batteries used it electric vehicles. Currently 95% of the world's lithium comes from just 4 countries, Australia, Chile, China and Argentina. Only about 1% of the US' lithium needs are met by domestic production. When completed the processing plant in Thacker Pass Nevada will produce enough lithium for 800,000 electric vehicle batteries a year.

The Department of Transportation is making available $1.2 billion in funds to reduce decrease pollution in transportation. Available in all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico the funds will support projects by transportation authorities to lower their carbon emissions.

The Geothermal Energy Optimization Act was introduced in the US Senate. If passed the act will streamline the permitting process and help expand geothermal projects on public lands. This totally green energy currently accounts for just 0.4% of the US' engird usage but the Department of Energy estimates the potential geothermal energy supply is large enough to power the entire U.S. five times over.

The Justice for Breonna Taylor Act was introduced in the Senate banning No Knock Warrants nationwide

A bill was introduced in the House requiring the US Postal Service to cover the costs of any laid fees on bills the USPS failed to deliver on time

The Senate Confirmed 3 more Biden nominees to be life time federal Judges, Jasmine Yoon the first Asian-America federal judge in Virginia, Sunil Harjani in Illinois, and Melissa DuBose the first LGBTQ and first person of color to serve as a federal judge in Rhode Island. This brings the total number of Biden judges to 185

[frightnightindustries]

What the fuck.

[snstse]

Posted August 29, 2024 by Capital B News.

“It has been four years since Breonna Taylor was killed inside her home by a hail of bullets fired by three Louisville, Kentucky, police officers. It has also been nearly four years since Vice President Kamala Harris uttered Taylor’s name in agreement that the 26-year-old first responder had not received justice when a grand jury declined to charge any of the shooting officers for causing her death.

Last week, Taylor’s family was hit with another devastating development in their journey for justice.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III dismissed a portion of the charges against former Louisville Metro Police Department Sgt. Kyle Meany and Detective Joshua Jaynes, who were accused of starting a chain of events that led to Taylor’s death. The remaining civil rights charges reduce the maximum punishment from life in prison to up to a year in jail.

The judge concluded that Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was responsible for her March 13, 2020, death because he fired a warning shot that hit an officer in the thigh. As a result, the injured officer and two other plainclothes officers returned fire for “self-protection,” the judge ruled — negating Walker’s constitutional rights as a legal gun owner, and his rights under the state’s Castle Doctrine, better known as the stand your ground law.

The decision to blame Taylor’s boyfriend for her death, and not the officers, is another stark reminder of the need for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which includes ending qualified immunity, advocates said.”

—

*data as of August 28, 2024.

Source: Mapping Police Violence

“Since 2020, the number of people, especially Black people, killed by the police has continued to rise, according to the Mapping Police Violence database. So far this year, 212 Black lives have been lost during encounters with police, nearing the 264 killed in 2020.

Researchers behind Mapping Police Violence released a new database Wednesday that focuses on nonfatal police encounters in the United States between 2017 and 2022, the Guardian first reported. The database found that in each year, over 300,000 people experienced use of force by police that includes chemical sprays, K-9 dog attacks, neck restraints, stun guns as well as beanbags and baton strikes.

Black people are more susceptible to nonfatal police violence than being killed by police, the report found.

Hawk Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York and Black Opportunities, wrote in an email to Capital B that the organization’s Black Agenda 2024 consists of dozens of proposed policies created by a multigenerational group of leaders from across the country, and for people who “don’t attend your churches or community meetings, engage in local politics, or take your polls.”

The agenda addresses ending qualified immunity to allow families of police violence to personally sue an officer in question. It also calls to ““declare a war on poverty” to reallocate funds from “ineffective public initiatives — including law enforcement — to address the social determinants of health.””

If the latter goes in effect, ““it would prevent the necessity for cases like Breonna Taylor’s because we would be attacking the root cause of crime, which brings down crime rates,” Newsome said, adding, ““Less crime means politicians are less likely to allow illegal and overzealous policing.””

[whenweallvote]

Four years ago today, Breonna Taylor was shot and killed inside her home during a botched police raid in Louisville, Kentucky. 

No officer has ever been charged with her shooting. Her wrongful death sparked nationwide protests over questionable police practices and policies. 

Breonna would’ve turned 30 this year. She should still be here.

[porterdavis]

Fucking pretzel logic to exonerate white cops when a Black woman was killed.

Mental exercise: A white man fires through the door at suspected robbers breaking in. Any charges? You know the answer already.

[incompetentmedic]

I haven’t seen anyone post about this, but the cop that shot Breonna Taylor has been found guilty of violating her civil rights

[magpiepills]

I saw your post about Breonna Taylor. If you don't mind I like to ask some questions about her. Most of what I know about her is from watching documentaries and YouTube videos talking about her. Do you know any websites or news articles that talks about her? How accurate are the documentaries about her? Especially ones like ABC 20/20?

Hi there! I have not personally watched any documentaries about Breonna Taylor’s murder. I can’t say how accurate they are. What I know about what transpired I learned from reputable local news reports-mainly the Louisville NPR affiliate, the Courier Journal, posts in private groups, as well as person to person reporting at protests and from live streams of the protests. I’m not an expert on this, I can’t posit myself as someone who is an authority on the matter. But I have followed it very closely because it incenses me that this crime has gone unpunished, that a victim has been dragged through the mud, her loved ones traumatized by killer cops. It’s unconscionable.

Here are a couple links that I feel are trustworthy. If after reading all this you are angry and feel powerless, please check to make sure you are registered to vote and then VOTE. Pick candidates who are committed to police reform. Take your friends. Tell them about Breonna.

[1800naveen]

The white people of the ACOTAR fandom are odd. Like no offense to the ones that are chill but others need to chill. Those who think Feyre is in the right to fuck up the Spring Court are just ew. Imagine if someone destroyed your country with the idea of revenge in mind, multiple homes get destroyed in the process because war is on the horizon. You have to flee into other Courts so you can be safe and leave your original home behind, not knowing if you will ever come back because of what that person did. Sounds familiar?

What makes this even worse is that SJM is a zionist and what Israel is doing to Palestine is what Feyre did to the Spring Court. She can write her ideologies into her books and people can act like it's fine when it's not!

I'm a person of color, a black woman. Imagine how some black readers found out how A Court of Silver Flames was promoted. If you aren't aware, Sarah took the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26 year old African American woman who was fatally shot by a cop. It's STILL on her Instagram page, just keep scrolling until you find it.

BITCH YOU COULD'VE MAKE ANOTHER POST, ADDRESSING IT BUT NO. I LOVE NESTA BUT BROTHER UGH. The vibe of it is nice but...

The black community is always targeted when it comes to police brutality. This is one of the traumas in our community that we have to deal with, even in modern times where everyone is supposed to be "free". Have we not struggled enough?

It disgusts me that some authors (mainly white authors) will take the pain of a community and use it for their book(s). Or authors that can write a book with a character that will rise up to fight back against the oppressors and still support Israel.

Illyrians in ACOTAR are portrayed as violent, savages, and warmongers. They're apparently supposed to be POC codded, are you fucking kidding me? Is this supposed to be a diss towards brown and black people? Maybe even the indigenous? Feyre wears Illyrian wings like bitch, wear another type of wings. Her or Rhysand haven't done shit for Illyria and while the woman gets their wings clipped, Feyre can fly all she wants.

Imagine how Emerie will feel when she finds out.

Don't get me started on Feyre's hand tattoos. It might just be me but why is this white girl wearing that? Take that off bro. In this world, it's called Mehndi, the traditional art of painting your hands, feet, or the body with paste. In Arabic, what we call it is Henna. It's used in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Like the designs are pretty but I don't want to see the human born, turned fae wearing it. TAKE IT OFF, WHITE GIRL. And another thing, why was Feyre acting like that towards the humans in ACOFAS? You forget where you came from, girlie pop but anyways.

Kendrick Lamar's song Euphoria is me towards the ACOTAR series and SJM. Sarah looks like a nice lady but she's fake as hell.

If you want to read SJM's books, try buying it from a used bookstore or somewhere online that doesn't connect to her. You can download PDFs or read them online.

It's crazy when I see a black person reading her books. On Tik Tok, I saw Jordan Fisher talking about how he's a fan like babes. I love him but...

Me when SJM fans (especially the black fans:

[follow-up-news]

A federal judge has thrown out major felony charges against two former Louisville officers accused of falsifying a warrant that led police to Breonna Taylor’s door before they fatally shot her. U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson’s ruling declared that the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend, who fired a shot at police the night of the raid, were the legal cause of her death, not a bad warrant. Federal charges against former Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany were announced by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 during a high-profile visit to Louisville. Garland accused Jaynes and Meany, who were not present at the raid, of knowing they had falsified part of the warrant and put Taylor in a dangerous situation by sending armed officers to her apartment. But Simpson wrote in the Tuesday ruling that “there is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor’s death.” Simpson’s ruling effectively reduced the civil rights violation charges against Jaynes and Meany, which had carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, to misdemeanors. The judge declined to dismiss a conspiracy charge against Jaynes and another charge against Meany, who is accused of making false statements to investigators.

[292pantone]

Okay! Time for some Glass Onion analysis bc I'm already obsessed with this movie.

GLASS ONION SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

I've seen people saying that it was unnecessary for the movie Glass Onion to be set in May 2020 during the height of the pandemic, and that it took away from the movie, but I disagree. The specific setting is relevant because of all the movie's subtext about the Black Lives Matter movement and its resurgence in May 2020. Hear me out- there are several parallels between Andi's death/Helen's avenging her death by wrecking the mansion, and the riots in 2020 following the unjust deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others.

To begin with, there's the power dynamic between Andi and Miles. A mediocre, unexceptional white man stole the contributions of a brilliant black woman and got away with it because his influential friends closed ranks around him in a system designed to benefit him. He got the benefit of the doubt and weaponized the legal system to financially ruin her. Even though she was telling the truth, no one believed her, and Miles fully expected this pattern to continue once her sister Helen took up the cause.

Miles burns the incriminating evidence of his lies and flat-out tells Helen that no one will ever believe her with only circumstantial evidence. Even Benoit Blanc acknowledges that his skill as a detective can only go so far without the police and courts on his side.

In the case of police brutality, cops similarly weaponize the legal system and avoid accountability for their murders by closing ranks through police unions that invoke "qualified immunity" (aka shielding the cops from legal liability). The privilege of white men, compounded by their wealth and connections, makes it difficult for them to face actual consequences for the harm they do.

We see the concept of avoiding consequences again with Miles' crew of "disruptors", all of whom rely on his money to bail them out of trouble. Birdie was implied to have done blackface, made tone-deaf comments comparing herself to Harriet Tubman, completely ignored all COVID restrictions, and tweeted ethnic slurs to the point where her assistant had to take away her phone, but her line of loungewear still takes off thanks to Miles' financial backing. In response to the latest scandal, personal assistant Peg says "We will do what we always do! Deny, half-apologize, then go silent awhile." Despite her litany of offenses and half-assed attempts at accountability, no consequences stick to the privileged Birdie either.

However, Helen refuses to accept this unfair state of things. In a situation where she appears powerless, with her sister gone and the valuable napkin burned, Helen essentially goes "fuck that" and makes Miles pay for what he did anyway. If the law won't take her side, she has to take it into her own hands. This is where the parallels to the 2020 riots come in.

We see her smashing the symbols of Miles' wealth, starting with his glass sculptures, and at first the other characters don't mind. They cheer her on from the couches, even though they all just refused to testify for her in court. This parallels the performative activism seen in many celebrities, who would rather watch from the sidelines and say vaguely supportive things rather than do any meaningful action to change the system. The other guests are happy to break the glass sculptures alongside her, saying how cathartic it feels, but they get antsy when she moves on to breaking more valuable things instead of giving up after a short while like they did. The camera shots of Helen smashing things and lighting a fire linger uncomfortably long as it starts to sink in that this isn't just a momentary temper tantrum. The so-called "disruptors" wince and gasp and exclaim how a piano belonged to Liberace and so on, completely ignoring how THE DESTRUCTION IS THE POINT, because if Helen only broke safe, acceptable targets, then it wouldn't actually mean anything. Similarly, when people rioted in 2020, there was a huge amount of pearl-clutching by people saying rioting is going too far, and can't we all just be nonviolent and have unity and forgive each other? In both cases, there's a veneer of support from people who just want the victims of injustice to "get their anger out of their systems" and move on without any serious changes being made.

I find it very fitting that Helen burns the Mona Lisa with Miles' own unregulated hydrogen fuel cell, using the override switch that he carelessly installed. She exploits the natural consequences of his self-centeredness so they all catch up to him at once. In the end, Helen's acts of protest do disrupt things and lead to change, even as people tell her she is going too far. Once Helen does the actual work of tanking Miles' reputation for good, only then do the "disruptors" jump ship and promise to back her up in court. They're willing to take the side of justice only when things have shifted to the point where it's the better act of self-preservation. If there was any chance of still hanging onto Miles' golden titty and making his reputation their hill to die on, they would've done it.

Blanc, the protagonist of the movie, gives Helen tacit permission to burn everything down by handing her the chunk of hydrogen fuel. He stands by her the whole movie and takes her seriously, demonstrating a path to better (non-performative) allyship.

Glass Onion shows that lasting change has to be demanded, not wheedled, and that sometimes things have to reach an undeniable crisis point to do so. In other words: protest is necessary.