#FREDDIE GRAY

[whenweallvote]

On This Day nine years ago, 25-year-old Freddie Gray died from injuries sustained following a brutal encounter with Baltimore police.

A grand jury indicted all six officers involved in the brutal arrest — but none of the charges stuck.

Freddie Gray should still be alive.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Darrell Lucus at Loud, Liberal, Christian:

Much of the armchair quarterbacking over Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House centers around claims that Trump would have never been a position to run again had the Justice Department moved more quickly to prosecute him for absconding with classified documents and his role in the 2021 insurrection. Well, excuse me, but I disagree. Those criticizing Merrick Garland for waiting almost two years to start a criminal investigation against Trump need to ask themselves what would have happened had he moved quickly to investigate and indict Trump, only to have the case come unstuck in court. If you think Trump and his minions were screaming “WITCH HUNT!” now, imagine what would have happened had he been acquitted because a rushed investigation resulted in missteps at trial.

We would have risked a repeat of the Freddie Gray case, which came apart because Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby rushed the cases to court without ensuring there was enough evidence to show that the negligence of the officers who shackled Gray into a police van without a seat belt amounted to criminal conduct. We may have known their actions amounted to a callous disregard for life, but Mosby didn’t take the time to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. I’m also reminded of the Bill Cosby case, where prosecutors in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania cared more about chasing headlines than doing the actual work of putting Cosby away for sexual assault. In so doing, they relied too much on testimony Cosby gave in a civil suit—a Fifth Amendment violation that couldn’t be ignored on appeal, even if there was no real-world doubt that Cosby was a pervert.

From where I’m sitting, the real hackles should be directed at the Democratic campaign apparatus. It got the equivalent of manna from heaven in the form of voluminous evidence that showed not just beyond reasonable doubt, but ALL doubt, that when Trump was ranting about having a second term stolen from him, he did so when he damned well knew that he had lost to Joe Biden. And yet, in the absence of something I haven’t heard or seen, neither the party nor the Kamala Harris campaign (née the Joe Biden campaign) made a dedicated effort to ensure that evidence stayed in voters’ minds.

The first time that a lot of people learned that Trump knew he had lost came in late January 2021, when The New York Times reported that Trump’s legal team concluded as early as Nov. 12—nine days after the election—that it could not win enough legal challenges to overturn Biden’s lead in Arizona. Earlier that day, Trump’s legal team filed legal challenges to 191 ballots—not even a fraction of Biden’s 10,000-vote lead there. Ethically, they were required to tell Trump, or at the very least make sure he received that information. At the same time, Rudy Giuliani started ranting about supposed malfeasance by Dominion Voting Systems. By then, the deplorable tubes were percolating with talk that Dominion-powered voting machines had switched thousands of votes from Trump to Biden. Even though deputy campaign manager Justin Clark told Trump this was bullshit, Trump sided with Giuliani. This started what the Old Grey Lady called “an extralegal campaign” to wangle a second term. In light of what we now know, “extralegal campaign” is a polite term for “insurrection” or “attempted self-coup.”

A few days later, William Saletan of Slate compiled a list of articles that suggested Trump knew or reasonably should have known even earlier than Nov. 12 that he had lost. The two things that jumped out at me were articles in Axios and The Washington Post that indicated Trump knew his odds of overturning Biden’s lead were extremely slim. According to Axios, Clark and his boss, Bill Stepien, told Trump on Nov. 7, soon after most networks declared Biden president-elect, that he had only one shot shot at reelection. He needed to run the table among outstanding ballots in Arizona and Georgia, and also win a legal challenge to Wisconsin’s count. Clark told Trump that at best—AT BEST—he only stood a 10% chance of pulling it off. According to The Post, Trump “signaled that he understood” what Clark was telling him—he needed a political Hail Mary to win another term.

The significance? As early as Nov. 12, Trump had to have known that on the latter date, he had no legitimate claim to Arizona’s 10 electoral votes. As anyone who was paying attention in 2020 knows, Trump had no politically realistic path to 270 that didn’t include Arizona’s 10 electoral votes. He damned well knew or damned well should have known that path had closed off as early as nine days after the election, and was still railing about fraud.

[...] And yet, a mere five days later, Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis held an absolutely bonkers press conference in which they aired out claims that they knew or should have known were false. So the president of the United States damned well knew or damned well should have known that the Big Lie was, well, a lie. He damned well knew or damned well should have known said lie that was causing innocent people—election officials, poll workers, voting tech company workers—to be harassed, trolled, and threatened. And yet, he didn’t do a damned thing about it. Worse, actually—he allowed his legal team to make those very same claims to the American people. The ads wrote themselves—or at least should have written themselves. And yet, in the absence of something I haven’t heard or seen, they never came. Any concerns the Biden campaign might have had about tainting a potential jury should have been put to rest with how that campaign memo came to light. It wasn’t obtained through a leak. It was obtained via a legal filing by Eric Coomer, the former Dominion employee who had taken the Trump campaign, Giuliani, Powell and several other elements of the right-wing fever swamp to court for defaming him. Coomer had been forced to go into hiding due to a litany of death threats stirred up by the Big Lie, and his lawyers got his hands on that memo via discovery. News reports are one thing. Legal filings are another. The timeline is laughably easy to follow. Trump knew as early as Nov. 7 that he was shooting his last legal bolt to win another term, and knew as early as Nov. 12 that said bolt had missed. On Nov. 14, his own communications team unearthed hard evidence that would have made it clear to anyone with a brain that the Big Lie was, well, a lie. And yet, five days after that memo came out, Trump’s own lawyers held a press conference centered around claims that they knew or should have known were false. Seen in this light, that press conference was the first overt act in the insurrection—and everything Trump and his team did after that date was in furtherance of that insurrection. That includes all of those hair-on-fire fundraising emails from the Trump campaign warning about fraud. Seen in this light, it’s clear that the insurrection actually started sometime in November. It was almost certainly underway by Nov. 19 at the latest; that day’s bonkers press conference was the first overt act in the insurrection.

[...] The Democrats had a chance to make Trump pay the ultimate political price for his lies—and in so doing, make it far easier to make him pay in court for it. And they blew it eight ways to Sunday. If there is any doubt that Democrats have a messaging problem, the Democrats’ failure to make the American people remember Trump lied and knew he was lying should put it beyond all doubt.

This post from Darrell Lucus is spot-on: Donald Trump knew he lost the 2020 election, but kept on pushing the lie that he “won” even after being told that he didn’t win.

See Also:

Adam Kinzinger: Trump's Shield of Power: Evading Justice

[creepyolddude1973]

My name is James.

I am a white man. I can do, say, and be all of these things without fear because of my #whiteprivilege and I will not be silent about the injustice that has existed forever but is now just reaching your TVs or newsfeeds. This is not a new concept and it’s despicable and it needs to stop! I stand with my black brothers and sisters.

I will not be killed.

I can go jogging (#AmaudArbery).

I can relax in the comfort of my own home (#BothamJean and #AtatianaJefferson).

I can ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride).

I can have a cellphone (#StephonClark).

I can leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards).

I can play loud music (#JordanDavis).

I can sell CD's (#AltonSterling).

I can sleep (#AiyanaJones)

I can walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown).

I can play cops and robbers (#TamirRice).

I can go to church (#Charleston9).

I can walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin).

I can hold a hair brush while leaving my own bachelor party (#SeanBell).

I can party on New Years (#OscarGrant).

I can get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland).

I can lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile).

I can break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones).

I can shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) .

I can have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher).

I can read a book in my own car (#KeithScott).

I can be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover).

I can decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese).

I can ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans).

I can cash a check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood).

I can take out my wallet (#AmadouDiallo).

I can run (#WalterScott).

I can breathe (#EricGarner).

I can live (#FreddieGray).

This is reality.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

[fatovamingus]

photo by Devin Allen taken in 2015 during the Baltimore Uprising after the police killing of Freddie Gray

[enemyporn]

photo from Ferguson (c) Devin Allen

[uvmagazine]

Marilyn Mosby not pardoned by Joe Biden despite efforts

Former Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby will not receive a presidential pardon despite her campaigning efforts.

Former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby will not receive a presidential pardon despite her campaigning efforts, according to reports. On Thursday, Dec. 12, President Biden commuted the sentences of 1,500 others and pardoned 39 people, in the largest act of clemency in a single day. In May, Mosby, 44, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and a year of house arrest after…

[eternal--returned]

Sheila Pree Bright ֍ 1960 Now (Protest, 'All Night, All Day, We're Gonna Fight for Freddie Gray) (2015)

[metamatronic]

hey shoutout to middle school me, who (during the FNaF 4 era) drafted an AU where a vengeful Crying Child was the real murderer behind the entire franchise—having possessed his own father in order to kill his bullies and stuff their bodies into the suits as ironic retribution (the MCI), leaving a tragically confused William to deal with the aftermath and consequences. it’s not nearly as funny as what I ended up with but damn was it interesting.

[foxgirl87]

brotherly relationships that get destroyed by one of them doing something stupid… save me brotherly relationships that get destroyed by one of them doing something stupid

[princess-lvcifer]

Me every time I remember all the talented rockstars that died too young:

[the-feeling-of-being-watched]

made this for a friend on discord and really liked how it came out !! hello daycare attendant enjoyer community.

Original image that inspired this ^

[bippot]

Bippot’s Masterlist

Hey there! I’m Bip, a writer with a love for crafting stories. Whether you’re here for sweet moments, slow burns, or a bit of angst, I’ve got something for everyone!

If you’d prefer to read my stories on AO3, you can find me here

Here

Here

Here

Here

[maccamania-fnaf-sideblog]

Delusion 😀👍

[fatovamingus]

2015 photo in Baltimore by Devin Allen

[monscrow]

hey tumblr i just got some beads so here's some kandi i made :3