Monthly Archives: February 2021

BIPOC, Breaking News, Local

Superior Court Judge Ramsmeyer upholds protesters’ claims of discrimination

[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Superior Court Judge Judith H. Ramseyer rejected the City of Seattle’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit for wrongful death, personal injuries, and civil rights violations. Attorneys from Stritmatter, Kessler, Koehler, and Moore, and co-counsel Cedar Law PLLC filed the suit last fall on behalf of more than 60 plaintiffs who participated in Black Lives Matter protests. The plaintiffs, including the survivors of Summer Taylor, claim that policing decisions were based on discriminatory practices and negligence causing injuries and death.

In court today, lawyers representing the city argued that the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) is only applicable for employer-employee law. Lawyers representing the city stated that applying WLAD to this case would be a “radical departure of the law” and represented a new legal theory. “We’ve seen the difference between how the police have handled other protests such as the women’s march and blue lives matters protests versus those for Black lives,” said attorney Sarah Lippek of Cedar Law, PLLC. “We think the differences in treatment are discriminatory.”

The city’s argument was, in part, that since protesters are not city employees, the protesters were not protected by WLAD even if the city behaved in a discriminatory way. Karen Koehler argued that protesters of all races advocating on behalf of Black lives and then brutalized by police due to their advocacy should be covered under the non-discrimination law.

Judge Ramseyer sided with the plaintiffs and upheld the claim that authorities’ actions over the summer could be considered discriminatory under WLAD. “The judge upheld our cause of action that protesters of all races advocating for Black lives could bring discrimination claims against the police for their brutal and disproportionate response,” said attorney Lara Hruska.

Another finding in today’s case is that the streets are “places of public accommodation” protected under WLAD. In 2019 the Washington State Supreme Court found that places of public accommodation are broadly defined as facilities or businesses used by or open to the public. Judge Ramseyer’s decision expands that protection. “The court decided that the streets are an area of public accommodation, and the police can’t discriminate against protesters on those streets,” said Lippek. “I mean, what is more public than the streets?”

DISCLOSURE: Renee Raketty, field editor for Malcontent News is a plaintiff in this case.

Five Facts, Local

Avowed Neo-Nazi arrested for hate crime in Spokane

Five Fast Facts

  • Raymond Bryant, 44 years old, of the Spokane suburb Airway Heights was arrested on February 18 for painting swastikas on a Holocaust memorial and vandalism at the Spokane Synagogue Temple Beth Shalom
  • Bryant was well known by Temple security due to multiple interactions with him, threats against congregants, and continued harassment by him, and the hate group he is a member of
  • Bryant is a member of the anti-Semitic Group 14First Foundation which has taken responsibility for hate crimes, vandalism, and assaults on the Jewish population across the United States
  • Surveillance video caught Bryant painting the swastikas and other Nazi symbolism, along with his 2008 Nissan Altima with “88” and “White Pride” bumper stickers
  • Bryant is facing two felony charges with hate crime tags and bond was set at $2,000

SPOKANE, Wash. — The man arrested in connection to the anti-Semitic vandalism at a synagogue on Spokane’s South Hill is reportedly a member of a white supremacy group and previously harassed members at the temple, according to newly filed court documents.

Spokane police arrested 44-year-old Raymond Bryant on Thursday morning in connection to the vandalism at Temple Beth Shalom on the morning of Feb. 8. Bryant is facing charges of second-degree malicious mischief and malicious harassment, which are hate crimes, according to Washington law. Bryant appeared in court on Friday, during which he was given a $2,000 bond.

Keep reading at KREM 2

Local

New details in Mount Vernon political sign murder emerge

[MOUNT VERNON] – (MTN) A Skagit County judge reduced bail for Angela Conjin, 55, to $250,000 in a hearing on Wednesday, as new details emerge about the events that left 32-years old Kamran Cohee dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

Cohee’s boyfriend, Joshua Tyron said that he and Cohee were out for a day of sledding, and stopped to lower the air pressure in the tires of his truck before driving further on the snow-covered road, according to KING 5 of Seattle. He admits to seeing the Loren Culp sign in the yard and removing it.

John Conjin, the spouse of Angela emerged from the home and he and Tyron got into a physical fight. Both parties provided different stories of how the physical fight started and what happened during it, but both parties are consistent in the actions committed by Ms. Conjin. After the fight had ended and both Cohee and Tyron were at their truck, Conjin emerged from her home with a gun firing several shots, striking Cohee in the head, killing her. Both sides stated that Cohee wasn’t involved in the theft of the sign or the earlier fight between the two men.

John Conjin has been charged with fourth-degree assault for his actions on Saturday. Tyron has not been charged, but prosecutors have not ruled out potential charges for him. Prosecutors have charged Anglea Conjin with second-degree murder using a magistrate warrant, which provides prosecutors 30 days to process formal charges. During her bail hearing, Brett Purtzer, Conjin’s attorney, argued this was a self-defense case. Prosecutors countered that by reports from all parties the fight was over and Cohee wasn’t involved in the altercation when Angela shot the 32-year-old woman.

Ms. Conjin was able to post bail and is out of jail. As part of her bail conditions, she had to surrender all firearms and ammunition in her home.

BIPOC, Local

Memorial at NAAM honors Anais Valencia

Video

From Malcontentment Happy Hour, February 18, 2021

Anais Valencia was murdered in the NAAM parking lot on February 5, 2021

[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Black, religious, and community leaders from across the spectrum came together in a call for an end to violence, being bright in the world, and honoring Anais Valencia. Valencia, just 23-years old, was murdered by Gregory Taylor while he was in a mental health crisis on February 5 in the parking lot of the Northwest African American Museum. During a cool, dry evening with the moon above, religious and community leaders, along with family, remembered Valencia and discussed the tragedy of BIPOC families burying their children due to gun violence.

LaNesha Barber of NAAM, started the words of comfort, “This is a turning point for our community, turning toward the light and a turning toward love. Your presence here tonight begins this turning point.” Seven members of the clergy from Christian and Jewish faith addressed the small crowd as they held candles in the cool evening breeze.

“I think about the power of the cry,” said Reverend Mary Bogan, of the Damascus International Fellowship Baptist Church. “I think about my savior Jesus and his last seven words, and how important it was for him to message the freedom of acknowledging the pain. The freedom of being able to sit with something that is more about the presence of an absence, or the absence of a presence. I thought about what it means to get a call. Deep bonds of love have been torn apart and a community once again feels the stain of violence.”

Reverend Rick Rouse of the Lutheran Church quoted Jimi Hendrix saying, “Jimi Hendrix once said when the power of love overcomes the love of power, we will have peace again.” Controversial figure Virginia Beach of the African American Community Advisory Council spoke of being “exhausted,” from the continued violence, and fighting the sense to quit against the continued strain the Black and Person of Color community faces.

As darkness fell, family and friends gathered around a small memorial in the parking lot of NAAM, just steps from where Valencia lost her life. Later that same night, LaNesha Barber’s words of turning toward the light and love fell hollow on the ground as police shot and killed a man having a mental health crisis on the Seattle waterfront.

BIPOC, Editorial, LGBTQIA, Local, National, Stupid Human Tricks, Weather

Malcontentment Happy Hour: February 18, 2021

Video

Our live webcast from the Seattle Anarchist Jurisdiction

The show from February 18, 2021, featured David Obelcz and our co-host Jennifer Smith.

  • Remembering Anias Valencia – NAAM Memorial
  • Seattle police shoot and kill a suicidal man
  • Malcontented Minutes
    • Disney issues cultural advisories on certain movies but excludes Pocahontas
    • Two Florida men claim to be US Marshals to avoid wearing masks
    • Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoon greets a newborn baby gorilla
    • Puerto Rico declares an emergency due to ongoing gender-identification violence
    • Bachelor/Bachelorette host Chris Harrison stepping down amid southern plantation ball flap
    • Ohio man skips a job interview to rob a bank instead
    • Mattress Mack of Houston opens up his stores to freezing Houston residents
    • Los Angeles Schools defund the police to invest in Black student achievement
    • Ted Cruz says “let ’em eat snow” as he takes off for Cancun amid one of worst weather disasters in Texas history
    • US House is expected to pass sweeping LGBTQ reform bill next week
  • Joe Biden gets facts wrong on minimum wage, immigration, and what is going on with COVID stimulus
  • Insurrection upate

Health and Lifestyle, National

Total visits to the ER dropped during COVID but increased for drug overdoses and mental health

[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study investigating the potential changes in the number of ER visits for mental health, suicide attempts, overdose, and violence outcomes change during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Authored by Kristin M. Holland, PhD, MPH, Division of Overdose Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the study compared date from December 2018 to October 2020.

During lockdowns and social distancing mandates, ER visits changed in a telling way.

  • After the “15 days to slow the spread” COVID-19 mitigation program rolled out on March 16, 2020, ER visits for all reasons decreased, but a surveillance program for certain conditions noticed that that not all conditions saw the same changes.
  • Mental health conditions, drug overdoses in general, opioid overdoses specifically, suicide attempts, suspected child abuse and neglect, and intimate partner violence were all tracked in the surveillance beginning at the end of December, 2018.
  • Visits for mental health conditions and overdoses had significantly increasing trends prior to the pandemic and, despite mild decreases with the initial mitigation efforts, continued these trends into the pandemic.
  • Despite a falloff of all ER visits, the conditions studied only had much smaller decreases and rebounded to trends faster than other causes of ER visits.
  • The results are not conclusive, but they do suggest that there is a greater burden of overdose occurring. The researchers point out that not all patients experiencing the conditions studied present to the ER for care even without a pandemic and the study underestimates the real number of Americans who experience these conditions.

The study looking at ER visits for specific conditions as compared to total ER visits on a week by week basis began on December 30, 2018 and concluded on October 10, 2020. It drives home the point that the coronavirus pandemic combined with the mitigation strategies and resultant social isolation and economic stress has a cumulative impact on mental health conditions, suicide attempts, drug overdoses and violence events. Even though there is a correlation between the pandemic and increased presentation of the studied group compared to other diagnoses, mental health conditions, suicide attempts, and overdoses were all trending upward throughout 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conditions that likely contributed to the fall in overall ER visits during the pandemic are certain to include stay-at-home orders and apprehension about exposure to COVID-19 in health care settings. The studied conditions may not have seen the more dramatic decrease in ER presentation initially because patients’ regular care providers would have been closed while they implemented strategies to decrease transmission risks and focused mainly on COVID-19 specifically. Further into the pandemic, many may have lost their employer-provided health insurance limiting their options for treatment to emergency rooms.

Regardless of the cause for relative increases in mental health, suicide attempts, overdoses, and violence, the fact is that many patients suffering with these conditions do not present for professional health care even outside of the pandemic conditions. This study does not pretend to illuminate the number of patients who did not seek such care, but it does highlight the need for heightened attention to prevention and treatment of these conditions; for individuals presenting to the ER, introducing appropriate measures (e.g., counseling on safe storage of lethal means of suicide, making sure that naloxone is available, starting buprenorphine therapy, and screening for intimate partner violence), directly involving patients with in-person or virtual behavioral health and social support services, and providing effective treatment for opioid use disorders can provide immediate assistance for those in crisis. The authors also identify the need for broader societal- and community-level prevention efforts in addressing the growing instances of mental health conditions, suicide attempts, drug overdose, opioid overdose, and domestic violence.

Local

SPD releases video of the officer-involved shooting of a suicidal man

This video is extremely graphic in nature, viewer discretion is advised

[SEATTLE] – (MTN) The Seattle Police Department released a video of the fatal officer-involved shooting on February 16. Seattle police responded to a 911 call about a suicidal man along the Seattle waterfront who had a kitchen knife and had used it to cut himself. Two officers fired on the man, killing him on the scene.

The video includes the 9:20 PM 911 call asking for Seattle Police, with arriving officers knowing the individual was suicidal, armed, and had used the knife to cut himself. The video shows two officers arriving in a cruiser, and noting he was armed. From the time the passenger door of the police cruiser was opened to the shooting is 14 seconds.

The distraught man alternates from putting his hands up and making motions with the knife while yelling at officers, “do it, do it,” and asking to die. On Tuesday night, Seattle Police stated they used de-escalation techniques and less-lethal weapons were deployed with no effect. The released video doesn’t show less-lethal options being used nor does it show any attempt to negotiate with the distraught man.

https://malcontentment.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/SPD-Suicidal-Person-Shooting.mp4
SEATTLE POLICE RELEASED A VIDEO SHOWING THE OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING ON FEBRUARY 16. tHE VIDEO IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC – VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

Two officers remain on administrative leave per department procedure.

A vigil and protest were marred tonight by violence when right-wing protesters bear maced a group, with reports of fights breaking out. A window was smashed at Westlake Center, but Seattle Police didn’t respond. Independent journalists at the protest tonight reported that the right-wing protesters were armed, and during the conflict where bear mace was deployed, a weapon was displayed. Several well-known protesters and independent journalists from Portland were in Seattle tonight both filming and acting as counterprotesters.

Tuesday’s shooting was the second fatal police shooting in a week.

Local

Bail set at $500K for Mount Vernon political sign murder

1 Comment

[MOUNT VERNON] – (MTN) Bail was set for $500,000 for Angela Marie Conjin in Skagit County Superior Court this morning. Conjin is accused of shooting a 32-year-old Arlington woman over an altercation involving a political sign for Loren Culp.

According to the Skagit County Sheriff’s department, John Conjin, the husband of Angela Conjin, told authorities he saw a suspicious vehicle that he thought could be involved in mail theft. He went outside to confront the occupants and an argument ensued. Mr. Conjin claims he got into a physical altercation with the driver of the truck, that continued to his front porch, and there was an attempt to steal the campaign sign. The female passenger of the pickup truck got out of the vehicle, and at about the same Ms. Conjin emerged from the home with a firearm, firing several shots. The 32-year-old woman who was killed had not been involved in the earlier physical interaction.

The man in the pickup claims he was punched by Mr. Conjin through an open window before engaging in a further altercation.

Police arrested John Conjin for assault in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor, and arrested Angela Conjin for investigation of second-degree murder. Mr. Conjin has been released, while Ms. Conjin was formally charged on Tuesday afternoon and is still in Skagit County Jail.

Police have not identified the other man who fought with Mr. Conjin, nor if he will face any criminal charges. Authorities have not identified the name of the 32-year old victim. Malcontent News has the name but is withholding it pending confirmed notification to the next of kin.

Public records show Anglea Conjin was a teacher’s aide for the Sedro-Wooley School District. In 2019 she trained to be a hairstylist and started working for La Conner Hair Design. Calls and messages to La Conner Hair Design went unanswered. Investigators have not released the nature of the political sign, but a report from Seattle TV station KING 5, indicates it was a Loren Culp Sign. Loren Culp lost the gubernatorial election in Washington state by 545,000 votes but refused to concede and made baseless allegations of fraud without evidence. Public records show Conjin is a registered Republican in the state of Washington.

Five Facts, National

Conservative radio icon, Rush Limbaugh, has died

Five Fast Facts

  • Rush Limbaugh had his first national broadcast in 1988 on WABC in New York
  • His emergence on the airwaves heralded an age of hyperpartisan, insulting rhetoric divorced from balance becoming accepted in the mainstream
  • He revealed his lung cancer diagnosis in February 2020
  • Limbaugh struggled with opioid addiction and was arrested on drug charges before reaching a deal with prosecutors involving his continued rehab and $30,000 in payments to reimburse the costs of investigation
  • Racially charged commentary brought him much criticism over the course of his career, costing him jobs and prevented him from becoming a partial owner of the NFL franchise the St. Louis Rams

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk radio host known for his pomposity and hubris-filled rants, has died at the age of 70, reportedly from lung cancer. The radio host dropped out of college to pursue his radio career, eventually leading him to his national show on WABC in 1988.

His emergence in radio popularized hyperpartisanship, disrespect, personal insults, and general attacks as political discourse. During the course of his career, Limbaugh became well-known for using slurs against the LGBTQIA+ community, women, and BIPOC, often using incendiary phrases such as “feminazis.” Limbaugh was one of the original pundits who referred to democrats and others on the left as communists, wackos, liberal extremists, and radicals. His voiced opinions on race did cost him a short-lived role as an NFL commentator and derailed his bid to become an owner of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams.

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Rush Limbaugh, the talk radio host who ripped into liberals and laid waste to political correctness with a captivating brand of malice that made him one of the most powerful voices in politics, influencing the rightward push of American conservatism and the rise of Donald Trump, died Wednesday. He was 70.

Limbaugh said a year ago that he had lung cancer. His death was announced on his show by his wife, Kathryn.

Read more at ABC News

Five Facts, Local

Three arrested for murder of teen at Houghton Beach Park

Five Fast Facts

  • 18-year old Cyrus Mason was shot and killed in Kirkland’s Houghton Beach Park on September 16, 2020, during an attempt to buy a firearm
  • Three suspects were arrested this morning after a months-long investigation – two are juveniles and one is an adult
  • The adult is Jowayne C. Kaufman, who was booked into King County Jail at 8:25 AM this morning
  • Cyrus Mason had moved to the area from Idaho and was working on the Microsoft campus as a painter
  • Houghton Beach Park was a trouble spot over the summer of 2020, making the national news when a brawl broke out among teens and young adults flaunting COVID rules – the city responded by closing the park

KIRKLAND, Wash. – Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the deadly shooting of a teenager at a Kirkland park last year, police say.

The three – two juvenile males and an adult male – were taken into custody early Wednesday after an investigation linked them to the killing of 18-year-old Cyrus Mason at Houghton Beach Park on Sept. 16, 2020.

Keep reading at KOMO 4