Tag Archives: BIPOC

BIPOC, National

Federal civil rights charges leveled against four Louisville cops in Breonna Taylor case

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – MTN After almost two years of radio silence on the Breonna Taylor case, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced four Louisville Metro police officers involved in the fatal 2020 no-knock warrant raid on Taylor’s apartment had been charged with violating her civil rights. The four officers charged were Detective Joshua Jaynes, Detective Kelly Goodlett, Sargent Kyle Meany, and Brett Hankinson.

Attorney General Garland said the Department of Justice alleges that the civil rights violations “resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death.” Late on Friday, detective Goodlett announced through their attorney they would be entering a guilty plea on one count of falsifying an affidavit.

The federal charges allege that members of the Place-Based Investigations unit falsified an affidavit used to obtain the search warrant of Ms. Taylor’s home,” Garland also mentioned that the search warrant was sought after, despite officers knowing they lacked probable cause for the search. The investigation into the conduct of the officers found Jaynes and Goodlett falsely claimed officers verified the target of the warrant had received packages with drugs at Taylor’s address.

Detective Goodlett, who was is a member of the Louisville police unit that investigated drug trafficking, and Meany, who supervised the unit, were charged with falsifying an affidavit. Detective Jaynes procured the warrant used in the search of 26-year-old Taylor’s apartment on March 13, 2020. Jaynes and Goodlett are accused of misleading FBI investigators who were looking into the deadly shooting. Former officer Hankison was charged with using excessive force while executing the search warrant in question in a separate indictment.

According to a statement given by Louisville police, Hankison was terminated from the department in June of 2020, and Jaynes was terminated in January 2021. The department also commented that they were looking to terminate Goodlett and Meany. A Louisville Police spokesperson announced on Thursday, “Today Chief Erika Shields began termination of Sgt. Kyle Meany and Officer Kelly Goodlett. While we must refer all questions about this federal investigation to the FBI, it is critical that any illegal or inappropriate actions by law enforcement be addressed comprehensively in order to continue our efforts to build police-community trust.”

Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump gave a statement after the press conference, saying it has been a difficult two years since Taylor’s death. “Today was a huge step toward justice. We are grateful for the diligence and dedication of the FBI and the DOJ as they investigated what led to Breonna’s murder and what transpired afterward,” said Crump.

During the fatal early morning raid, officers opened fire, killing Taylor after her boyfriend, who believed an intruder was trying to break in, fired a gun at the door. Attorney General Garland reaffirmed that Taylor’s boyfriend had legally obtained the gun. After he fired and struck an officer, two officers proceeded to fire 22 shots into the apartment, one of which was the fatal blow that struck Taylor in the chest.”

The raid was meant to target Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, a convicted drug dealer who was not at the apartment. According to Glover, Taylor had no involvement in the drug trade. Garland clarified that the officers directly involved in the raid were unaware of the falsified statements in the search warrant affidavit.

Garland further clarified that Hankison was the sole officer charged with excessive use of force because after Taylor was shot, he moved from a doorway and fired 10 additional shots into a window and a sliding glass door that was covered with curtains. Hankinson was previously charged with endangering a couple and their 5-year-old son in a neighboring apartment on the night of the raid when. He was found not guilty on all accounts in March.

While Breonna Taylor’s death was a horrible tragedy and a prime example of the gaps in the U.S. law enforcement and justice systems, the officers involved will have to answer for their actions in federal court. “There are still so many families who are fighting and praying for justice and accountability in situations where their loved ones were wrongfully killed by the police.” Crump stated, “We need to stand with them, pray with them, and do whatever is possible for them.”

BIPOC, Breaking News, Local, National

Lynnwood man indicted for hate crime and interstate threats

[SEATTLE, Wash.] – A 37-year-old Lynnwood, Washington man was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury for a hate crime and four counts of interstate threats, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Joey David George will be arraigned on the indictment on August 11, 2022, in Seattle Federal Court. George remains detained at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, Washington.

“By law, the decision to charge a hate crime is appropriately deliberate – with consultation and approval from DOJ’s Civil Rights Division in Washington DC,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. “In this case, the hate-filled threats to kill, based on race, are fittingly being prosecuted as a hate crime.”

The probable cause court filing on July 21 outlined the alleged incidents. According to records filed in the case, on July 19 and 20, George allegedly telephoned a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and threatened to shoot Black people in the store.

“On July 19, 2022, an individual called a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York. The caller, who identified himself as “Peter,” spoke with an employee at the store. The caller asked how many Black people were in the store. He said he would make the news if he shot and killed all of the Black people, including all of the women, children, and babies. He asked if the employee had cleared out the building. He said there was a chance he was already in the store or somewhere nearby. He said that if he did not see anyone at the store, he would travel to the Jefferson Tops store,” the court filing said.

The Tops Friendly Market store in Buffalo had reopened on July 14, two months after a racially motivated mass shooting left ten dead and three injured. In the second call, George allegedly ranted about a “race war.”  Law enforcement traced the phone number and identified George as the person who made the call. The second Tops location in Buffalo on Jefferson Avenue, had a grand reopening on July 16 after an extensive renovation.

In addition to the calls to Buffalo, George is charged in connection with a May 2022 call to a Shari’s Restaurant and Pies in San Bruno, California. In that call, George, using the pseudonym “Tony Sumorrah,” talked to a San Bruno, California police officer. George told the officer that he called Shari’s restaurant because “he wanted to attack Black people and strike fear into the Bay Area’s Black community. He stated Black people are not human but rather “sub-humans.” He said he was proud of his actions because he instilled fear in the employees and customers of the restaurant.”

The San Bruno police department obtained location data for the origination point of the call. The call was made from Lynnwood, Washington, using a T-Mobile-provided cellphone number with Joey George as the subscriber. T-Mobile confirmed the May 12 call to Shari’s came for George’s number and phone. In the eyes of the law, a restaurant is a place of public accommodation, which added the hate crime charge: Interference with a Federally Protected Activity.

Additionally, George is charged with making interstate threats to a business in Maryland, saying he intended to shoot Black people at the store.  The fourth count of the indictment charges him with making interstate threats to bomb a restaurant in Connecticut. 

On January 16, 2022, George threatened marijuana dispensaries in Seattle and Skyway. An employee answered the call, and the male caller asked if there were any Black employees at the business. The male caller stated that he carried a gun and would go to the business to shoot any Black people who were there at the time of his arrival. According to the dispensary, a similar threat was made to their Skyway location. T-Mobile records show the call to the Seattle business came from George’s cellphone. George is not facing charges for the January 2022 incident, and it is unclear if the Seattle Police Department was contacted about the threat and if they were if they initiated a case and performed an investigation.

George is facing up to 30 years in prison based on the five charges.

BIPOC, LGBTQIA, National

Congress moves to protect gay and interracial marriage post-Roe v. Wade decision

[Washington, D.C.] – MTN Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation that would codify both same-sex and interracial marriage in a surprising bipartisan effort. If passed in the Senate, the bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. The 1996 Clinton-age law defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. In light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson and overturning Roe v Wade, critics have admonished the Biden Administration and the Democratic Party for their failure to codify Roe in the past 50 years. And many are wondering if the overturning of Roe will be the wake-up call the party needs.

How Did We Get Here?

After Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas released an independent concurring opinion where he suggested the court “reconsider” and “correct the errors” in Obergefell, Griswold, and Lawrence, House Democrats reintroduced the Respect for Marriage Act. Despite most viewing interracial and same-sex marriage as settled laws, some Republicans expressed an interest in not codifying the recognition of same-sex and interracial marriage.

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) went on the record to say that while he feels the bill is unnecessary, but “…should it come to the Senate, I see no reason to oppose it.” The Supreme Court’s majority draft opinion on Dobbs leaked shortly before it overturned Roe v. Wade. In that month’s time, many were expecting the Biden Administration to step in with a solution. The White House elected to take no action. President Biden issued an executive order for abortion access and expansion under the protection of the 1987 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) two weeks after the Supreme Court’s ruling. Vice President Kamala Harris’s comments after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade didn’t help the situation.

In a recent interview, Vice President Harris was asked if Democrats failed by not codifying Roe in the past 50 years.

“We should have rightly believed, but we certainly believed that certain issues are just settled,” she responded. While some legal issues are “settled,” as Ms. Harris puts it, strengthening those institutions by making them laws could have prevented the Supreme Court from even considering Roe v. Wade.

Overturning Roe and limiting abortion access has been a leading cause for the Republican Party for the past 50 years. The threat of a post-Roe world was a reality that lawmakers should have considered.

Will They Wake Up in Time?

The Democratic Party is a house divided against itself that struggles in deciding how to tackle its core issues: abortion, police reform, gun reform, minimum wage, and other core planks of the current platform. For example, the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that would codify the protections granted in Roe v Wade and Cassey, passed in the House in 2021, The bill failed to pass in the Senate when it was put to a vote after the Politico leak. The final vote, 49 -51, drew lines in the sand, especially with Senator Joe Manchin (D.W.V.), who joined Republicans in voted against passing the bill, despite previous claims that he would support a woman’s right to choose.

Senators Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (R-AZ) have made a name for themselves in opposing much of Biden’s legislative agenda. Both senators are opposed to ending the filibuster, the one thing many people on both sides of the debate see as preventing the codification of Roe. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) endorsement of pro-abortion Democratic candidate Henry Cullelar, added to the mixed messages from Washington.

There is a considerable rift between the younger and older members of the Democratic Party. Studies show the younger generation tends to be more progressive while the older generation is more moderate. Progressives such as Congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have proposed expanding the Supreme Court and for Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment. Biden is against expanding the Court but formed a bipartisan commission to study potential changes to the Court when he was elected. Even if Democrats could do away with the filibuster, the Biden Administration is concerned that the Supreme Court would overturn any legislation passed in Congress.

BIPOC, Local

Monroe School District superintendent agrees to resign post after investigation

Five Fast Facts

  • Dr. Justin Blasko, hired as the executive director of human resources in 2010, was appointed superintendent of the Monroe School District northeast of Seattle in February 2020
  • The resignation comes after an independent investigation concluded that employee claims that Blasko’s behavior created a toxic work environment were mostly credible
  • The superintendent was placed on paid administrative leave last December following calls from teachers, parents, and students
  • Blasko will receive $400,000 in severance, representing one year’s compensation, including accumulated leave and benefits
  • The agreement centers on Blasko’s failure to stop racism and hate within the district

[MONROE, Wash.] – Monroe School District (MSD) Superintendent Dr. Justin Blasko will resign and receive nearly $400,000 after an investigation showed employee claims of his behavior creating a toxic work environment were mostly credible.

Under a settlement agreement, Blasko agreed to resign at the close of business on July 31 and that he won’t sue or seek a job with the district ever again. The settlement agreement was announced last week and was unanimously approved by the school board during a meeting Monday night…

You can read more at King 5.

BIPOC, Local

Off-duty Seattle Police SWAT Officers’ Conduct During Charleena Lyles Inquest Raises Questions

[SEATTLE, Wash] – MTN Off-duty Seattle Police Department SWAT officers went to the Children’s and Family Justice Center in Seattle, where an inquest into the 2017 shooting death of Charleena Lyles is being held, for a “security check” after one of the officers told his sergeant he was “afraid” after a confrontation with Lyles’s family on June 22.

On Wednesday, after an emotional day of testimony that included graphic pictures and videos of Lyles after Seattle Police shot her, the officers walked through a hallway where Lyles’s family was seated. There was a verbal confrontation, and one of the officers was called a “coward.” The officer called his sergeant, saying he was afraid for his safety after the incident. On Friday, off-duty SWAT officers went to the courthouse where the inquest was being held unannounced. Seattle police do not have jurisdiction over the Children’s and Family Justice Center, which the King County Sheriff’s Department handles.

King County Sheriff Sgt. Jim Donner, responsible for the courthouse’s security, told the Seattle Times the security check was “surprising.” Surveillance cameras recorded the Wednesday incident. It did not show that any threats were issued to the officer or other actions that would have reasonably put him in fear.

After reviewing the surveillance video on Monday, Inquest Administrator Michael Spearman called the response “excessive” and chastised the Seattle Police Department. Spearmen told the department to “avoid” the Lyles family.

During an interview on KIRO 97.3, The Lyles family accused the Seattle police of using intimidation tactics by sending members of the SWAT team to the courthouse.

On June 18, 2017, Lyles, who was expecting her fifth child, called 911 to report a burglary at her apartment. Lyles was known by the Seatle Police Department and known to have mental health issues. She was in a mental health crisis when police arrived, and the two officers accused Lyles of lunging at them with a knife. They fired seven shots, with several striking Lyles.

In the line of fire were at least two of Lyles’s children, two toddlers. An infant was in a crib in a bedroom down the hallway. One of the children ran out to the body of their mother seconds after she was shot and laid her head on her body. In audio recordings, the two officers expressed shock there were others in the apartment, and that the children could have been in the line of fire.

The conduct of the Seattle Police and their description of events was called into question, but Washington state law at the time required proof that a law enforcement officer acted with “malice” or “evil intent” to bring charges for alleged excessive use of force incidents. Legal experts have called it an impossible standard for decades. Before a change in Washington law in 2019, the state was considered one of the most difficult places to charge law enforcement officers for criminal misconduct in the line of duty.

In 2019 the law in Washington state changed, removing the malice and evil intent standard, making it possible to prosecute officers for use of force misconduct. Four officers, one in Auburn and three in Tacoma, are awaiting trials on various charges. In the Auburn case, police officer Jeff Nelson is awaiting trial for second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the shooting death of Jesse Sarey, who was also having a mental health crisis. Tacoma Police officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins face second-degree murder charges, and officer Timothy Rankine faces first-degree manslaughter charges for the 2020 in-custody death of Manny “Manuel” Ellis.

The Lyles sued the city of Seatle for wrongful death in 2020, and a civil trial was scheduled for February 2022. In November 2021, the city of Seattle reached a $3.5 million settlement with the family.

Legal experts say that the two Seattle Police officers that shot Lyles could face criminal charges, depending on the finding of facts from the ongoing inquest. However, because Lyles was shot and killed in 2017, charges would have to be weighed against the old standard of malice or evil intent.

BIPOC, National

400 years after the “first Thanksgiving” the Wampanoags are finally being heard

[SEATTLE, Wash.] – (MTN) Despite COVID cases increasing in 31 states, millions of Americans will come together on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving. Established as a national holiday by the Roosevelt administration in 1941 to aid in economic recovery and boost morale as the nation came out of the grips of the Great Depression, the contemporary version of Thanksgiving Americans celebrate, bears little resemblance to its namesake feast attended by pilgrims and Wampanoags in New England in the early 17th century.

In a recent Washington Post article detailing Wampanoag feelings about Thanksgiving four centuries later, Mashpee Wampanoag Cultural Outreach Coordinator, Darius Coombs, stated: “For us, Thanksgiving kicked off colonization.” English settler-colonization produced devastating consequences for Indigenous peoples throughout the nation. It introduced deadly diseases, stripped Native peoples of their ancestral lands, aimed to eliminate Indigenous culture, and worked to erase any evidence of violence and genocide from its history.

The whitewashed version of the Thanksgiving myth told at dinner tables and at schools across the nation that portrays the relationship between pilgrims and Wampanoags as peaceful and reciprocal erases the dispossession and genocide of the Indigenous nations of the Northeast and other Native peoples that soon followed.

Indigenous peoples along the New England coast had already negotiated a series of encounters with Europeans by the time pilgrims reached Plymouth in 1620. Aside from encounters with the French, Spanish, and Dutch, Native peoples witnessed a failed English settlement attempt at Roanoke in the late 16th century and the establishment of the Jamestown colony in Virginia in 1607. Apart from Jamestown, most Europeans were temporary nuisances for Native peoples, as colonists often extracted resources and labor in service of the metropole—or home colony—before returning to their homeland. The English, however, never intended to leave, but rather to become permanent residents. This introduced a new and detrimental form of colonization Native peoples had yet to encounter.

While traditional colonialism generally resulted in temporary invasions, English settler colonialism had entirely different aims. As historian Patrick Wolfe explained, settler colonialism is a “structure, not an event,” whereby settler colonizers develop lasting institutions predicated on the elimination of Native peoples. Little did the Wampanoag know that the beleaguered visitors that reached their shores in early November of 1620 planned to stay.

Pilgrims reached the northeast at a time when Wampanoags experienced significant turmoil that included crippling waves of diseases introduced through contact with Europeans. Diseases dramatically decreased Wampanoag numbers and left the remaining population vulnerable to more powerful Native polities in the region, such as the Narragansett to the West. Wampanoag leader Massasoit, much to the chagrin of his people took a “wait and see” approach with the newcomers and hoped to create an alliance that offered a degree of mutual protection. With Tisquantum—a Wampanoag man who learned to speak English during his time as a captive—acting as a liaison, Massasoit hesitantly brokered an arrangement with pilgrims that later came back to not only haunt him but Native peoples for generations to come.

In the initial stages of this alliance, power swayed in the Wampanoag’s favor. As historian Colin Calloway notes, Europeans often depended on Native peoples “for food, information, and assistance in finding their way,” as well as “adjusting to a new environment.”

This proved no different for English colonists—especially relative to the environment. New England winters were unlike anything colonists experienced in their homeland. In fact, during their first winter at Plymouth, more than half of the pilgrim population died as a result of harsh conditions and resource scarcity. Thus, colonists were reliant on Indigenous people’s knowledge and hospitality to ensure their survival.

The fact colonists became dependent on Wampanoags is evidenced in a letter written in December of 1621 by Edward Winslow. Writing to a friend in England, Winslow noted how during the last spring colonists set “some twenty acres of Indian corn… and according to the manner of the Indians…manured our grounds with herrings.” Winslow also elaborated on colonists’ relations with Wampanoags, noting how they found them to be faithful allies and “often went to them” in times of need. Winslow’s letter goes on to demonstrate that during the early period of their relationship, the Wampanoags took on a paternal role: teaching pilgrims how to farm, gather food, and even hunt game in the wilderness—a place colonists often refused to go without the company of their Indigenous allies.

More interesting, though, are Winslow’s references to the first Thanksgiving. In this same letter, Winslow described the event that became a national myth as a “three-day feast attended by King Massasoit and some ninety men.” Winslow noted that Wampanoags “went out and killed five deer” for the feast “which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, captain, and others.”

What Winslow detailed as a feast of celebration that included the Wampanoags and colonists leaves out one very important piece of information—pilgrims never intended to invite their Native allies to join in their festivities.

As many historians have documented, the Wampanoags only found out about the feast after colonists shot off rounds of celebratory gunfire. Concerned his allies might be in danger, Massasoit gathered many of his warriors and went to the colony to investigate. Upon arrival, colonists informed Massasoit they were celebrating a successful and bountiful harvest. In a demonstration of good faith and reciprocity, the Wampanoags gifted their English allies with five deer, which served as the focal point of the feast. Only after imparted these gifts upon their English friends, did colonists welcome their Native allies to join.

It is important to note that the celebration that became the root of the contemporary Thanksgiving myth would not have been possible without the Indigenous knowledge provided to colonists. And while the feast represents a cordial, yet unequal relationship between the two parties, English friendliness soon turned to hostility. The relationship once defined by coexistence ended, and a new relationship based on conflict and violence emerged.

Roughly five decades after the “first Thanksgiving” took place, an ever-growing population of colonists blatantly rejected the cordiality of their predecessors. By the late 1660s, Massasoit saw his people and territory shrink considerably—a consequence of the prolonged encounters between Native peoples and the English. Too old to continue in his position of leadership, Massasoit passed the torch to his son Metacomet, who is often referred to in the historical record by his English name “Philip.” Having grown weary of ongoing land encroachment and cultural destruction through religious conversion, Metacomet replaced friendliness with resistance, and in June of 1675, violent conflict broke out between Native peoples in the region and colonists that became known as “King Philips War.”

King Philips War lasted nearly three years and is recognized as “one of the bloodiest conflicts in American history.” This period of violence resulted in the destruction of numerous Native villages and the death of 2,500 English colonists equaling roughly thirty percent of the settler population. Native peoples in the region, however, failed to emerge victoriously.

Rather as violence and dispossession escalated, Metacomet watched as the English sold his wife and son into slavery in the Caribbean. Then, in an effort to deter further Indigenous resistance efforts, colonial leaders executed Metacomet. Viewing him as a “treacherous fiend who deserved a traitor’s death” the English quartered his body and cut off his head, placing it on a wooden pole at the entrance to Fort Plymouth where it remained for more than two decades. In the decades that followed, Native genocide exponentially increased as settler-colonists worked to dispossess Native peoples and gain control of valuable land and resources.

Despite this, Native peoples continue to find various ways to resist, rebuild, and heal from the generations of trauma settler colonization has produced. So, while many of us are actively and willingly participating in a reenactment of a tradition that has little basis in fact, Native peoples across the nation will reject the myth of Thanksgiving in favor of observing a day of mourning to reflect on all that they have lost—which all began with a friendly meal.

Editorial, LGBTQIA, Local, National

Arsonist who attacked the East Precinct in February 2020 facing federal charges

[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Federal officials charged Kalvinn Jay Garcia, 24, of Sedro-Woolley with arson for a fire he lit on February 24, 2020, in an alley behind the Seattle Police Department East Precinct building. Surveillance video from the East Precinct saw Garcia light the fire, and a dumpster exploding in flames. The fire climbed up the back wall of the alley and spread to Queer Bar, a gay bar and events venue that had 50 people inside at the time.

Seattle Police quickly apprehended Garcia as he tried to flee from the scene. He was originally charged in King County Superior Court and held at King County Jail. Due to Covid-19 protocols, he was released.

Despite the attempt to burn down the entire block that contains 100 apartments and the East Precinct, the right-wing “thin blue line” media has been silent about the arrest.

Just months after the arson as Seattle erupted into civil rights protests over the killing of George Floyd, Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins warned of the dire risk if a fire were set at the East Precinct.

“The East Precinct sits in an old auto garage built-in 1926. Wood frame foundation shared walls with more than a hundred apartment units. If the precinct catches fire, the whole block goes up, Scoggins says. “No way I can stop it, and people will die.”

Why would the right-wing media be so quiet about such a terrible attack on the Seattle Police just months before the formation of CHOP? If the reality of a fire in that area would be a disaster, why didn’t that disaster become a reality three months earlier? Is this just another case of weak King County prosecutors letting another anti-police Antifa terrorist loose on the streets? Will Garcia simply get a slap on the wrist for his actions like all the other leftist Communist-Marxist pseudo-leftist terrorists in Seattle?

If you’ve read this far you’ve been manipulated using the same misinformation techniques of the right-wing media. Every keystroke above is factual. Garcia had his first court appearance on November 12. Garcia lit a fire in the alley shared with the East Precinct. The Seattle Police caught the arson on their surveillance cameras and captured a fleeing Garcia. Chief Scoggins on June 7 did tell officials that fire in that block would be unstoppable. Not one word typed above is “false,” in a Rupert Murdoch sort of way.

Garcia’s target wasn’t the East Precinct, it was Queer Bar on the other side of the alley, which had 50 people inside and Garcia is also facing a hate crime enhancement for his actions. Garcia comes from a troubled family with convictions for heinous crimes across two states. However, the pedophilia connection card is only interesting when presented to QAnon followers.

Jason Rantz, Dori Monson, Dave Preston, Katie Daviscourt, Ari Hoffman, and Brandi Kruse would rather not talk about this incident. A hate crime against the gay community on Capitol Hill, a little more than three months before the Western Barricade and the Pink Umbrella Riot, in the same alley shared by the East Precinct, doesn’t exactly play to their base.

Rantz is part of the LBGTQIA community while Monson was suspended for anti-trans social media activity. Kruse has quit the “mainstream media” so she can continue to dog out Governor Jay Inslee for “politicizing the COVID epidemic.” Daviscourt’s view on traditional marriage is well documented and you’d think Ari Hoffman would defend his LGBTQIA and BIPOC boss at the Post Millenial, but calling out one of their own for a hate crime doesn’t play with the base.

Instead what we have is the glorious sound of silence. No questions on why Garcia was walking around a free man during this time? Local news coverage has been little more than regurgitating the Department of Justice press release. Not a whimper about a dangerous anti-police arsonist taken off the streets. That wasn’t his intended target, it just “could have been,” and now you’re just manipulating the story. See how it works? Not the right-wing media ever plays the “could have been” card in their narrative.

The reality is fear sells and fear gets eyeballs and clicks. If the news plays to the primal emotions of a fear narrative, that your very way of life is threatened by an invisible yet perceived threat, then you can control an audience.

What does any of this have to do with Garcia wanting to burn down the East Precinct Queer Bar?

An example of the fear narrative is playing out right now. Jason Rantz got himself on Tucker Carlson after a 13-year old called 911 due to his father having a medical emergency. The apartment’s address was wrongly flagged as being dangerous for Seattle Fire to enter, so they waited for the Seattle Police to arrive. SPD, always ready to let no crisis go unchecked, blames the vaccine mandate. The same mandate that had six officers go unvaccinated. Are we not going to mention the Seattle Police Department started hemorrhaging officers in 2019 under the careful guidance of union president Mike Solan?

Had the data on the address been correct there would have been no news story. Rantz’s own story indicates 911 dispatched an aid car and not a medic unit, setting up emergency services for failure the second the call went out. Not that 911 made an error on the call, or that the 13-year-old in an impossible situation told dispatch his father was conscious and responsive. In the end, Seattle Fire entered the apartment without SPD, which is more aid than Lorenzo Anderson got on June 19, 2020 in CHOP.

An aid car was dispatched at 1:26 PM and medical personnel entered the apartment at 1:39 PM. In 2017, the national average response time for medics after a 911 call was eight minutes and the number was worsening across the United States.

According to the story by Rantz on MyNorthwest, “One medic explained that “had it been addressed early, his chance of survival would have been 60%.”

No data has been released on the medical condition of the father due to HIPAA laws, however, if the father required CPR, the survival rate was nowhere near 60%. In an ideal hospital setting the survival rate is 32%, and outside of the hospital drops to 19%. Even when a patient reaches discharge post-CPR, many experience a lifetime of issues including cardiac damage and hypoxic injuries.

What about timely defibrillation? According to the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, the survival rate to discharge is 34%. The same report would put the man who died in “Group 3” in the study, right on the line of Group 2. The best survival outcomes are from zero to five minutes, which by the 911 records was an impossibility. While Rantz by proxy is trashing Seattle Fire and their response, the timeline data shows there wasn’t much of a chance of a better outcome.

If the man needed defibrillation, his survival odds were statistically unchanged than CPR – if that is what the medical emergency was.

However, none of these facts, which could be confirmed talking to experts in emergency medicine to get an unbiased view, doesn’t feed into the fear narrative of a city in crisis, a city that is run by anarchists and Marxists, and a city in flames. Rantz’s “prediction” on September 6 of 200 or more unvaccinated officers getting walking papers didn’t play out. Another key requirement of being in the right-wing media, never to admit you were wrong, shared bad information, or got played in your coverage. Just move the goalposts.

Yet when Capitol Hill was in flames in February of last year and the East Precinct was endangered by the actions of a hate crime, the right-wing went silent. When the Lumber Yard, a gay bar in White Center was targeted by arsonists, crickets once again.

Is the violent crime plaguing Seattle a unique liberal socialist-communist-Marxist-Antifa-homeless-drug-using-welfare-state problem? Data out of red Oklahoma, and red Tusla County, and red Tulsa says no. Tulsa was where Donald Trump launched his 2020 campaign in earnest on June 20, 2020, and it ended up costing Herman Cain his life. G.T. Bynum, the mayor of Tulsa? A Republican who served on the city council and has been running the city since 2016. Tulsa is on pace to set an all-time homicide record in 2021, after almost breaking the record in 2020.

I’m sorry, does that not fit the narrative that there are other issues causing a national spike in crime that began when Donald Trump was President? We are sorry to report, trying to burn 50 members of the LGBTQIA community and their supporters alive while toasting the Seattle Police and 100 apartment dwellers is not in alignment with the fear narrative of the week.

The Seattle Fire Department got bad information from 911 in the first place, dispatch sent the wrong fire crew, and they came through the door within national average (slow side, but average) time is the fear story of the day. Would this be a bad time to bring up Warren vs. District of Columbia, Supreme Court of the United States, 1991?

Instead, we have Jason Rantz politicizing Covid-19 on the same day that Brandi Kruse criticizes the politicization of Covid-19, and somehow this is all Jay Inslee’s fault. Worst of all, they are using a 13-year-old child as a prop. Hey kid, dad might be alive if it wasn’t for the socialist-communist-Marxist-Antifa-homeless-drug-using-welfare-state run by Jenny Durkan, Jay Inslee, Barack Obama, and George Soros.

Remember, the BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and religious minorities in the United States are not victims – white people are, and the scary dangerous evil awful blood drinkers are coming. Let me manipulate you with this story.

BIPOC, Breaking News, Local

BREAKING: Two brothers arrested for the September 30 firebombing of Black Coffee Northwest

Video 1 Comment

[SEATTLE] – Two brothers were arraigned on an indictment today in connection with the September 30, 2020, firebombing of a coffee shop on Aurora Avenue in Shoreline, Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.  Taylor Lemay Rice, 23 and Daniel Lemay Rice 21, pleaded “Not Guilty” and were released on personal appearance bonds.  Trial is set before U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones on January 3, 2021.

The two men are charged with unlawful possession of a destructive device – in this case four Molotov cocktails.  The destructive devices darkened the sides of the building, but did not extensively damage the structure.  The men were identified as suspects in the early morning firebombing, after extensive work by law enforcement involving review of surveillance video and cell phone records.  Both men have been interviewed by law enforcement and agreed to turn themselves in.

January 14, 2021 coverage of black coffee northwest – security video of September 30 firebombing released

Information in the public record indicates the coffee shop shares the building with Bethany Community Church.  The coffee shop was closed and was scheduled to reopen under new operators.  The signs for the old ownership remained on the building.  Speaking in court at the detention hearing, prosecutors indicated the firebombing may have been motivated by a dispute over one of the brother’s cars being towed from the area around the coffee stand a few months earlier. 

Unlawful possession of a destructive device is punishable by up to ten years in prison.

BIPOC, Local, National

Eviction moratorium allowed to end putting 8-million households at risk

[KIRKLAND, Wash] – (MTN) Congress had no appetite to extended the eviction moratorium as the August recess began, allowing it to end at 12:01 AM on August 1. Now, up to 8-million households behind on rent or mortgages are facing an uncertain future.

When COVID-related shutdowns swept the country in March of 2020, U6 unemployment skyrocketed to 18.1%. Even before the public health and financial disaster, 40% of American families didn’t have $2,000 in emergency savings, let alone the 60 to 90 days of living expenses financial planners recommend. COVID wiped out entire industries such as hospitality, travel, and theater, and entertainment. For those in the service industry and gig economy, the slowdown has hit the hardest.

In response to the looming economic collapse, Congress passed the CARES Act, which included a one-time stimulus check of $1200 for some Americans, the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), and a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures. Despite trillions in aid, gaping holes remained that Main Street and American families have fallen through. Banks did not get guardrails on how to manage forbearances. Congress didn’t waive rent, only deferred it, and didn’t provide any financial support for small landlords. At one point, 12 million American households were $5000 or more behind on rent and 6 million households were facing foreclosure. The numbers have improved dramatically, dropping 50% for renters behind and 67% for mortgage holders.

Congressional leaders and the White House agreed on a second stimulus package in December 2020. President Trump initially did not sign the package, waiting until some benefits expired on December 26, before signing it the next day. The delay in signature created chaos for state unemployment systems. In March 2021, President Biden signed a third and almost certainly a final stimulus package, that extended the eviction moratorium another 30 days. 

Up to $4 trillion in cash awaits for the foreclosures and evictions to begin

At the start of 2020, private equity firms were sitting on $2.5 trillion in cash. They call it dry powder, money ready for investment where the quants feel the best ROI awaits. By some estimates, there is now as much as $4 trillion on the sidelines.

The United States needs at least 7 million more affordable housing units than what is available today. Although rents in cities like Seattle have declined by 20% in 2020, property values have skyrocketed. Additionally, just as the moratoriums are ending, rents are increasing across the United States, sometimes dramatically.

Private Equity, institutional investors, and banks are already moving in. In 2019, 6% of single-family homes sold went into the rental market. Today it is 20%, and 25% in cities such as Houston. Blackrock and JP Morgan have been buying up entire neighborhoods, up to 140 homes at a time. Large investors are extending all-cash offers 20% to 50% over the asking price in some areas. The plan is to convert these into rentals.

The ripple effect impacts first-time buyers as it constrains an already tight market that can’t compete with the offers. The price raises existing prices for sale, driving up property taxes, gentrifying neighborhoods. For some, living “van life,” in trailers in special communities, or couch surfing has become the fallback plan.

For millions of Americans who are still paying rent, there is a hidden crisis in 2021. As small landlords lose their properties, these renters will get eviction notices from hedge funds and banks, with no interest in working with them to make sure they don’t end up homeless.

According to the Aspen Institute, 80% of those facing foreclosure and eviction are Black, Indigenous, or Persons of Color (BIPOC). For white households in America, the average net worth is $170,000, while for Black families, it is $17,000. This inequity can’t be explained away by education, income, or indebtedness. For white Americans, once they become homeowners, five percent will fall back into renting. For Black Americans, the rate is double, at 10%. Black-owned small businesses had limited access to government aid programs, and by August, 40% of all Black-owned small companies had failed.

BIPOC communities are more likely to be “needless delinquent.” Analysts estimate 400,000 American homeowners are eligible for forbearances on their mortgage but are not aware or have been given misinformation from their lender. For some of these struggling homeowners, the damage isn’t foreclosure but the destruction of their credit score. A lower credit score impacts interest rates, insurance premiums and can even be a barrier to getting a job. 

What a $600 billion transfer in wealth looks like

Court systems from Boston to Seattle are bracing for a flood of forclosure and eviction filings. Here too, banks and large corporate property holders will benefit. With more legal resources and free cash to act, their cases will move to the front of the line. Mom and pop landlords will have to track their court cases independently, without a management company to oversee activity. Already facing a cash crunch, they’ll still have to pay court costs and lawyers’ fees, but that will only be the start of their problems.

The average American house has a value of $296,000. If 2 million households get foreclosed in 2021, that represents $600 billion in property dumped into the market. For the 4 million households facing eviction, the looming crisis is even worse. An eviction on a credit report is a barrier to permanent housing, requiring large deposits. They’re facing thousands in debt and potential judgments with interest they can’t pay. An eviction can be a scarlet letter for years, becoming a barrier to buying a car, getting a job, or buying a home.

Although it may appear to be a boom for landlords with 4 million families hitting a rental reset button, this isn’t the case. For many, the door to another rental will be closed. Landlords may evict a family who can’t pay the rent, only to find applications from families who were just evicted.

Millennials in high-paying office jobs fled the rental market in 2020 for the suburbs to escape COVID restrictions and get more space for a home office. Large investors can amortize their investment and use tax vehicles to lower their expenses. Mom and pop landlords will face a further reduction in their passive income, driving even more homes into sale and foreclosure.

Congress has no financial incentive to stop this nightmare. For both parties, lobbies, PACs, and dark money keep congresspersons and senators in their positions of power. For the 40% of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, there is no lobby to bend representative ears and grease the palms.

The reality is if this financial disaster is not averted, the 6 million households on the brink could be the tip of the iceberg.

BIPOC, LGBTQIA, Local

Racist incident at Edmonds Bar spills over into social media storm

2 Comments

[EDMONDS, Wash] – (MTN) A racist incident caught on camera at an Edmonds, Washington bar on Saturday has created a social media firestorm, catching an innocent business owner in its net. Karlos Dillard, is an author, activist, and foster care advocate who moved to Seattle in 2015 according to his online bio. On Saturday he was eating at Engel’s Pub in Edmonds at their outdoor dining area when another customer accosted him asking, “are you going to pay for your drinks because you can’t get them for free,” according to Dillard. Dillard’s husband was inside at the time picking up their food, and a credit card had been left with the bartender.

In a second video, viewed over 1.2 million times, Dillard is apparently talking to an employee of Engels, which is surprised and empathetic over what happened. According to the person who is not in the video, they discuss how leaving a credit card at the bar wasn’t a requirement.

Internet sleuths thought they had identified the man who started the incident as Dean Worthy, of Seattle, Washington. They were wrong, and now Worthy, along with his business Dean’s Home Repair is caught in the crossfire. “I’ve received over 250 phone calls this morning,” Worthy said. “I’ve been getting death threats, and they are leaving terrible reviews about my business that I worked so hard to build.”

Worthy has a passing resemblance to the man in the video, but that’s where the similarities end. Worthy and his girlfriend were nowhere near Edmonds on Saturday, as he spoke from a car show in Everett this morning. “I have over 200 one-star Yelp reviews, and I want everyone to know I’m not the man in the video.”

Dillard reported in a third video along with comments on the Internet that the staff of Engel’s Pub was supportive and not involved in the incident. As for Dillard’s calm demeanor, many commenters stated they would have taken stronger action in the situation. “I have a lot to lose,” said Dillard. “My career is just taking off. I’m young, I’m cute, I’m sexy, and I have a lot to live for. Hit a white man in a predominately white city and see what happens to you. You have to respond like me, or you don’t have a life.”