Officer Pedro Serrano, an 8-year veteran of the New York PoliceDepartment, held back tears as he explained to the judge why hecame forward: “It’s very simple. I have children. I try to be adecent person.”Serrano joins another whistleblower from the Bronx, OfficerAdhyl Polanco, who testified earlier this week regarding his ownrecordings as part of a federal class action suit against the Cityof New York seeking to address racial disparities in thedepartment’s street stops.Meanwhile, a 2003 settlement from a similar lawsuit set in placea requirement for the NYPD to track the stops. The resultingrecords showed that some 87 per cent of the 5 million individualsdetained by police were black or Latino.Officer Serrano presented a recording from June 2010 in which afemale lieutenant told officers she was “looking for five” -that is, requesting a specific quota for criminal summonses fromofficers in the precinct. Serrano recorded another instance only amonth later, in which another lieutenant made a similar referenceto a “five-five-five,” indicating a quota in place forarrests, patrols and summonses at public housing projects.Serrano testified that his performance evaluation subsequentlydropped in every category, evidently for failing to meet thequotas. During a meeting with his supervisor, Serrano was told thathis performance score was based more on his “numbers” andhis “low activity.” At the time, his precinct’s captain issaid to have informed him that the NYPD’s Operations Order No. 52allowed her to implement “performance goals,” likely aveiled reference to quotas.Much of Serrano’s testimony supports accusations that officers who refused or failed tomeet quotas were subjected to discriminatory treatment. Serranopoints to the fact that he was transferred to an undesirable post,denied a day off following a car accident near his home, and thevandalization of his personal locker – which included the placementof “rat stickers.”In its denial of the quota system and a racial profiling policy,the NYPD claims that the appearances of both stem from departmentalreliance on the CompStat program, that being the heavy policing ofhigh-crime neighborhoods – which are often predominantly minoritycommunities.Still, Serrano’s testimony did reveal direct evidence of racialtargeting at least in his precinct. In one specific recording, alieutenant urged officers to concentrate on a region in the southBronx: “St. Mary’s Park: go crazy in there. Go crazy in there. Idon’t care if everybody writes everything in there. That’s not aproblem.”Officer Serrano also provided recordings of an appeals meetingwith Deputy Inspector Christopher McCormick, regarding his lownumbers for writeups – which he was told would only have been“appropriate for Central Park.”The same meeting became heated after McCormick indicatedSerrano’s numbers demonstrated a lack of initiative, an issue hedemanded be rectified by detaining “the right people at theright time.” “And who are the right people?” asksSerrano, to which McCormick replies “I don’t have any troubletelling you this: male blacks 14 to 20, 21.”Serrano’s testimony was presented as part of Floyd v. City ofNew York, in which four plaintiffs claim they were raciallyprofiled by the NYPD. Four police officers presented evidence forthe prosecution. … Read More
Secretary of State Kerry: You Just Can’t Expect the U.S. to Not Start Another War Forever
Get out those Obama bumper stickers where the “O” is a peace
sign, boys and girls, sounds like you might really need ‘em during
Obama Administration II: The Reckoning.
Not content to further dig us into a Syrian quagmire, Secretary
of State Kerry yesterday made it clear that the world can’t
reasonably expect us to avoid war with Iran forever if it doesn’t
do everything we want, according to
this Reuters report.
Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday there was “finite”
time for talks between Iran and world powers on its disputed
nuclear program to bear fruit, but gave no hint how long Washington
may be willing to negotiate. ;
Israel, Iran’s arch-enemy and convinced Tehran is secretly
trying to develop nuclear weapons, has grown impatient with the
protracted talks and has threatened preemptive war against Tehran
if it deems diplomacy ultimately futile……
“There is a finite amount of time,” Kerry, in the Saudi capital
Riyadh on his first overseas trip as the top U.S. diplomat, said of
the talks between a group of six world powers and Tehran, Saudi
Arabia’s main regional adversary. ;
Kerry was speaking at a news conference with Prince Saud
al-Faisal, who suggested Iran was not showing enough seriousness
about the discussions, which he said “cannot go on
forever.”….
“We both prefer — and this is important for Iranians to hear and
understand ; ;— we both prefer diplomacy as the first
choice, the preferred choice,” Kerry said. “But the window for a
diplomatic solution simply cannot by definition remain open
indefinitely.” ;
When you are the hyperpower, “diplomacy” means “you do what we
want without making us kill a bunch of people.” The mad, backward
Iranians, Kerry seems to worry, might not fully understand
this. ;
See also Vice President Biden yesterday assuring the world that
Obama is not bluffing with Iran, and Obama’s ominious “We will
do what is necessary” during his State of the Union speech last
month, and, well, get ready for the mighty stimulating powers of
war in the Middle East that made the ’00s a happy dream for those
of us stumbling though the ’10s.
The Oscar-winning best picture Argo had some
interesting lessons about how our own interventionist foreign
policy decisions vis a vis Iran created problems that are
worth contemplating today, as I wrote back in November. And
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate,
is trying to convince his Party that a nuclear Iran can be
contained and need not necessarily be attacked, as I
wrote in the New York Times ;last month.
Steve Chapman here at Reason ;from last year on
“False
Fears About a Nuclear Iran.” … Read More
Info-Wars To Put 150000 Bumper Stickers On The Street
http://www.youtube.com/v/2u1z8hBgICI?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Original article: Info-Wars To Put 150000 Bumper Stickers On The Street
No Longer Lose the Remote! Bluetooth Stickers Let You Locate Objects with Your Smartphone
Credit: No Longer Lose the Remote! Bluetooth Stickers Let You Locate Objects with Your Smartphone
Urine The Money
Advertising has come home to its spiritual birthplace – the public restroom. But it’s not posters on the back of stall doors or stickers on the mirror, Captive Media has built a digital advertising display meets game console that controls a game with your pee stream … Read More
Wifi Names Are The New Rude Post-its and Political Bumper Stickers
Continued - Wifi Names Are The New Rude Post-its and Political Bumper Stickers
Convicted TSA Agent: Stealing From Passenger Bags Is “Very” Common
A former Transportation Security Administration agent who spent three years in jail for stealing from passenger luggage told ABC News that the practice “was very commonplace.” Pythias Brown, who worked at Newark International Airport, said he stole more than $800,000 worth of goods from luggage and security checkpoints. He was finally caught when he tried to sell a stolen CNN camera on eBay but forgot to take off all the stickers that tied the camera to the news network.
"It became so easy, I got complacent," Brown said. Almost 400 TSA officers have been fired for stealing from passengers over the past decade.
Brown says he was never asked about suspicious behavior, including a time when he walked out of a security checkpoint with a Nintendo Wii in his hands. Now he says he wants passengers to be aware of the risk when they fly. And don’t think those fancy TSA locks will be of much help. Brown insists TSA employees have long figured out how to pick them without being detected. … Read More
