Donald Trump, Scott Walker, Madison, Wisc Police Chief Hit NFL Players' Human Rights Stand

The face of hate in Madison, Wisconsin wears military blue
and black and has a home in the Madison Police Department.
Above are two killer cops.

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin—The lust for reenactment of mythic ritual is strong in the fascist mind.

Stronger still is the rage against open demonstration mocking such insipid ritual. Stronger still is the urge to kill.

Witness the National Football League and the NFL Players Association's support of players who protest police killing people, racism and brutality in the land of the free and home of the brave.

Many NFL players protest by taking a knee during the National Anthem at football games.

No surprise that Donald Trump "has stepped up the pressure on the National Football League over protests by its players during the national anthem by launching a petition and asking his supporters to show their patriotism by backing it," (Reuters).

No surprise that Gov. Scott Walker opines, "It is time for players in the NFL to stop their protests during the anthem ...," (The Capital Times).

Both craven politicians are hostile to military veterans, human rights and civil liberties. Both pols never served in the military, Peace Corp, even as a poll worker, or have volunteered for any civic duty.

In Madison, Wisconsin, it gets worse.

Madison's leading fascist municipal office holder, the Chief of Police Mike Koval, has now joined the cynical chorus of voices condemning protests for human rights at football games, (WISC-TV).

In Koval's mind, protesting cops killing people, racism and brutality is a "self-absorbed ... diatribe."

Koval need not look far for examples of cops killing people, racism and brutality now under NFL players' protest. Killer cops are allowed and defended in the Madison Police Department.

Koval never protests against cops killing people, racism and brutality. In Madison, Koval always, 100 percent of the time, cheers on his killer cops.

Last year faced Koval faced widespread condemnation for verbally assaulting a black grandmother whose young grandson, Tony Robinson, was gunned down in cold blood by Madison Police killer cop, Matt Kenny.

For Koval, killing is a ritualistic act, worthy of defense. Consider:

• Ashley DiPiazza, gunned down by Madison Police in 2014, resulting a record $7 Million verdict against Madison. A new record.
• Tony Robinson, gunned down by Madison Police in 2015, resulting in a $3.5 Million settlement against Madison. A short-lived record.
• Paul Heenan, gunned down by Madison Police in 2012, resulting in a $2.3 Million settlement against Madison. Another short-lived record.
  

For victims of killer cops, inflicted trauma never is healed. Not ever.

It may help Koval to understand our community's objection to his killer cops by considering when players take a knee for victims, local victims of Madison Police such as Ashley DiPiazza, Tony Robinson, and Paul Heenan are honored.

Nationally, this year promises to be a good year for killer cops. 2017 is ahead of the 2016 in successful killings by police: As of Oct. 19, 2017, 958 people were killed by cops. On Oct. 19, 2016, that figure was 939 people killed by cops.

This killer-cop phenomenon should be studied, challenged and reversed.

But for craven politicians like Trump, Walker and Koval, failure to partake in ridiculous ritual is a worse offense.

One Cop, and Only One, Objects to Murder of Philando Castile

Remember Philando Castile, human being

"I watched the dash cam video. And it broke me. ... So today, I stand up and speak out, even if it means standing alone. To the family of Philando Castile, to those that loved him, and to everyone who watched that video and felt broken inside, I am sorry. This shouldn’t have happened. His life mattered."
-  Detective Angela Kamoske of the Madison, Wisconsin Police Department

Among the 1,000s of people cops have killed the last few years, the utter disregard for human life remains a constant over time.

On June 22, Mal Contends notes 569 people were killed by cop to that day. That's eight days ago.

As of June 29, 595 people were killed, (Killed by Police). By the end of the July 4 holiday weekend, well over 600 people will have been killed by cops.

What type of person is capable of aiming a weapon at someone and then pulling the trigger of a pistol with the intent of killing a human being in cold blood?

The truth is, from a first-person perspective, I will never understand the savage cowardice and anti-human psychology of a cop. So, I don't know the answer to this question.

One cannot reason and emphasize with killers. I mean I watch Dirty Harry and Tarantino movies and enjoy them, but not to the extent of running out and buying a 44 and killing somebody. The phantasm of achievement in film is fantasy. Most cops don't understand this.

More disturbing are the by-standers. Cops can do anything, anything, and the vast majority of people will watch silently or turn away, or meow that images of Mr. Castile shot dead, for example, are distasteful.

After the acquittal of the killer cop who gunned down Philando Castile, one cop objected publicly. One decent woman hurt by the reality that a family has been devastated.

Below is the text of the letter from Angela Kamoske, detective with the Madison, Wisconsin Police Department. The words of Ms. Kamoske offer hope decency will prevail.

The letter appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on June 25, 2017:

Philando Castile's Life Mattered

By Angela Kamoske

I have been a police officer for 19 years. I love my job and serving my community. I have learned over the course of my career to never assume anything. As I watched the events unfold on July 6, 2016, on a Facebook Live feed, I thought that there must be more that happened. There must have been such a threat that wasn’t captured on this video, that forced Officer Yanez to feel his only option was to shoot into a vehicle with a child in the back seat.

Over the past two days, I have listened to the audio interviews. I have read the documents. And then I watched the dash cam video. And it broke me. Officer Yanez was in a position that if he perceived a threat, he could have disengaged. He could have taken other steps to ensure everyone’s safety, and not have forced this outcome.

Shooting a seat-belted man, with a child in the back seat, was not the only option. Until those of us who wear the badge are willing to stand up and speak out when we see things that are wrong, and lead hard conversations, how can we ever expect change? How can we ever expect to rebuild trust within our communities? Barbecues and pick-up basketball games are nice, but that’s not going to do it. So today, I stand up and speak out, even if it means standing alone. To the family of Philando Castile, to those that loved him, and to everyone who watched that video and felt broken inside, I am sorry. This shouldn’t have happened. His life mattered.

Have a fun and safe holiday.

NYT Video Shows Police Execution of Philando Castile—Watch, Bear Witness, then Summer Fun

Four-year-old girl tried to calm her distraught mother,
Diamond Reynolds, after killer cop, Jeronimo Yanez,
gunned down Philando Castile in 2016 in Minnesota, (CNN).
Yanez was acquitted in June 2017.

Why victims of American police state don't take to local paper or social media and complain: Fear of the police

Update: Madison, Wisconsin police officer, Angela Kamoske, reacts in Minnesota paper.
---
There is embedded in our political culture a fascistic character of the American citizenry.

This unthinking tendency manifests post-911 as the cult of the police—an evangelical, ideological deference to law enforcement that is so powerful, police can execute a citizen in cold blood on video and the majority of the white populace will applaud or look away.

But this cult is of the most insidious strain, mutated into unacknowledged fear of the police and a pathological aversion to thinking.

I joined a small, local Facebook group in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, curious to see how this liberal segregated community of 25,000 would respond to an image of the police killing of Philando Castile from Minnesota in the days following the acquittal of the killer cop, Jeronimo Yanez.

The Castile image is of the man's blood staining a white t-shirt, presumably exit wounds sustained after bullets pierced Castile's heart.

Facebook comments ranged from an admonishing complaint that the Castile image is "distasteful" to a demand, (subsequently granted), that the image of Philando Castile be taken down.

Distasteful. No comments were posted criticizing this murder, the killer cop, acclaiming the humanity of Castile or expressing sympathy for the Castile family.

This is roughly what I expected.

This Summer Americans will witness 100s of new police killings of the citizenry, most of which will meet with the overwhelming approval of white America, cheered on by the Trump administration, (Cop Block, Killed by Police).

Ever wonder why victims of the American police state do not take to the local paper or social media and complain? The answer is fear of the police in the land of the free and home of the brave, a well-founded fear.

Consider. Would anyone after being terrorized or witnessing terror inflicted by the police complain to the local Fusion Center that police are terrorizing innocents? How about a young, black woman profiled, harassed, demeaned, arrested and traumatized by police? Now, consider a complaint to the Fusion Center: Hey, the police are terrorizing me, what can you do about it?

Is this really the only possible society attainable? Orwell would puke were he alive.

Today is June 25, Sunday. Over the weekend four more people were killed by cops, (Killed by Police).

One hopes the American people live life happy and have a great Summer. It's truly beautiful outside.

But please first bare witness and view Yousur Al-hlou's narrative video in the New York Times of the police execution of Philando Castile, then rock out the Summer.

Consider as well, reading two of the great anti-fascist works of the 20th century: They Thought They Were FreeThe Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer, (University of Chicago Press. ©1955), Warrant for Genocide: the Myth of the Jewish World-conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, (Harper and Row, 1967), by Norman Cohn.

From Milton Mayer:

'What no one seemed to notice,' said a colleague of mine, a philologist, 'was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote. All this has little, really nothing, to do with knowing one is governing.

'What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

'This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.'

Consider as well Glenn Greenwald's  No Place to Hide, Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State.

Eliminationist Rhetoric of the Most Deadly

Four-year-old girl tried to calm her distraught mother,
Diamond Reynolds, after cop, Jeronimo Yanez, gunned
down Philando Castile in July 2016 in Minnesota, (CNN).
Yanez was acquitted in June 2017.

Stop police death squads. How many must die?

No doubt the Minnesota cop unions got a nice laugh out of the acquittal of killer cop, Jeronimo Yanez.

Sick, heartless killer cops like Yanez walk away from the shattered lives of their brutality and a well-vetted collection of jurors watch a black man, Philando Castile, murdered on video and inform black Americans: Tough, your lives don't matter.

This is the verdict from Minnesota. Few minority Americans were surprised.

If you were a cop in Minnesota, what would you do? Would you speak up, write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper and say: 'Philando Castile was not killed in my name, I do not support the killer, Jeronimo Yanez. My heart and my support go to the family of Philando Castile?'

Such decency is unthinkable from a cop, but how about us? Who will condemn killing of our fellows?

If you are a cop anywhere, what would you do? Speak out? Any cop reading this piece today. Put your name to text, identify yourself as a cop, and compose a comment. I'll run it.

Today is June 22, 2017, roughly half-way through the calendar year. As of this date, 569 people have been killed by cops. By Dec. 31, 2017 people killed by cops will exceed 1,000. You can count on it.

Philando Castile was shot through the chest and killed by cop
to the approval of fellow cops and Minnesota jury. Cops
got another one.
Remember Philando Castile, human being.

From the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild suggesting protection from killer cops in 2016. No such protection has been adopted to this date:

By National Lawyers Guild - Minnesota Chapter:

The National Lawyers Guild - Minnesota Chapter unconditionally condemns in the strongest possible terms the murder of Philando Castile by St. Anthony Village police officer Jeronimo Yanez. The NLG expresses its deepest sympathy and condolences to Mr. Castile’s family and loved ones.

It is a tremendous outrage that the repeated unjustifiable police killings, especially of African American males, have become such common knowledge yet continue unabated. While no one deserves to die at the hands of law enforcement, there is no pretext for police to attempt to rationalize the murder of Mr. Castile because he had so clearly done nothing wrong, was an exemplary citizen, and the horrendous death and police indifference to the effects of their actions was so painfully captured on cell phone video.

The NLG demands that government leaders end their pattern of enforcing the continued deadly status quo by failing to take any concrete action to hold police accountable or enact any meaningful reforms. The salience of this latest atrocity must spur immediate action to hold the responsible police officer accountable and initiate systemic change to end the serial police killings as well as the larger dynamic of police abuse and oppression in communities of color. The NLG recognizes that the most affected communities must have a voice in the specific changes to made, but calls for the following actions to be taken immediately:

1. A special independent prosecutor must be appointed to investigate and bring criminal charges against the murderer in this case. The special prosecutor must be independent of police influence, and have access to funding needed to hire investigators, experts, associates and cover other expenses needed to conduct a full investigation and prosecution. Responses to previous police shootings have repeatedly and invariably demonstrated that elected and career prosecutors are too beholden to police interests to be capable to delivering justice. The Ramsey County Attorney, the governor, and other appropriate officials must collaborate to make the special independent prosecutor a reality.

2. The office of an independent prosecutor must be permanently established to investigate and prosecute cases of deadly force and other abusive police conduct.

3. Minnesota law must be amended so that police officers have no more authority to use deadly force than other citizens. Specifically, Minnesota Statute § 609.066 which authorizes use of deadly force by peace officers must be repealed.

4. A special civilian commission must be established to propose specific, comprehensive and systemic reforms to police powers, policies, and governance. A majority of the commission must include representatives of communities disproportionately harmed by police abuse.

Banner Year for Police Killing Folks, 2017 on Track for Above-Average Citizen Removal

The NYC Shut It Down #PeoplesMonday action on Feb. 13, 2017
in New York City. Why are black folks not thanking police in
greater numbers? Inquiring American minds are asking.
(Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Updated data show police are poised to surpass 2016 in police-killing-people action as local police forces show America not just the military can kill well.

Killed by Police indicates the first two months of 2017 would yield America 1,302 killings if present trends continue.

In 2016, 1,153 people were killed by police.

But it's the warmer months that really bring out shooting lust in our courageous killers. One need not be a statistical genius to recognize 2017 is looking good.

Continuing another trend, assorted mal contents persist in their criticism of police killing folks.

"Police killings are actually increasing in the United States according to new data, but because our current president is leading every news cycle, brutality is being pushed to the back burner, contend activists. The rate of police killing American citizens is higher than any month in 2016, and January and February each saw more killings of Americans by police officers than in any month in 2016," notes Angela Helm in The Root.

Ms. Helm, Ms. Helm; (you just know she's black as midnight, and a writer, and an academic. (That's three strikes, bitch)).

Writes Helm:

Mappingpoliceviolence.org, which synthesizes data of police killings from various sources, is working on analyzing the raw data to see if any patterns have emerged. 'I don’t want to jump to conclusions," said Samuel Sinyangwe, who crunches the numbers for the organization. 'It will take a few more months to really be able to say there’s something going on, and that’s the work that we’ll be doing in the weeks and months ahead.' 

There's nothing really happening here, though Donald Trump's "empowering police" talk may raise a few flags. Google 'Trump on police officers' and check out the results.

Police don't need encouragement though. Just say, thank you.

But consider this: During the Death Squads in El Salvador, out friends down south massacred some 30,000 people. Not bad. We're approaching death squad numbers from the 1970s-80s.

And note for pure lethality, El Salvador is mounting a comeback today as police, gangs and the Army compete for killing competency, (The Guardian).

Culture in Local Police States Begs Direction for Ungrateful Populations

Family of slain Madison, Wisconsin, resident,
Tony Robinson, remains unappreciative of glory of
his sacrifice and the valor of Robinson's killer,
Matt Kenny of the Madison police department
- Image is a self-portrait by Kathe Kollwitz,
(1867-1945), an anti-fascist artist who endured
 personal tragedy captured in her work (NYT)

Police killing in man-just-asking-for-it case shows worst of American municipal populations rejecting unity and greater good of community

Madison, Wisconsin—Citizen reaction to the $3.35 Million federal civil action settlement with the family of a police victim killed in 2015 is revealing of a growing citizens' culture steeped in civil liberties and human rights.

This culture should be cleansed.

An unarmed, black nineteen-year-old Tony Robinson of Madison, Wisconsin, was shot seven times by veteran killer cop, Matt Kenny of the Madison Police Department. Kenny successfully shot and killed two people in his 14-year police career (CNN).

Wisconsin's corporate press typically offers compelling news accounts of the spectacular displays of systemic police violence and killings of domestic populations by municipal police departments, as in the Robinson case (Democracy Now).

In police killing-us-for-us incidents, local press often reports news-worthy developments, for example, profiles of the idealism and nobility of law enforcement—traits typically not acknowledged by ungrateful populations remaining unappreciative of the dedication, skill, sacrifice and commitment police employ when they kill people.

The Tony Robinson family of Madison are ingrates of a particularly virulent strain as word among young Madison human rights activists is the Robinson family has not contacted and thanked Officer Kenny in the some two years since he skillfully gunned down the young Tony.

City officials are all on message supporting the work of the City insurance carrier negotiating and paying the record $3.35 Million settlement, following a different local record settlement for a different police killing in August 2015 (Treleven, Wisconsin State Journal).

But let's not mix up righteous killings of our fellow citizens when the Robinson family so shamelessly perches on the wilderness of clean Madison society and takes pot shots at the helpless police working to make America great again.

"Attorneys representing the family of a man killed by a Madison police officer say the city’s mayor should not lie about how a federal lawsuit was settled," reports WMTV (Madison, Wisconsin).

Robinson's attorneys made their provocative reply comments following the statement by Mayor Soglin asserting neither the City Attorney nor the Mayor's office influenced in any manner the multi-million dollar settlement:

Mayor Paul Soglin stresses that the decision to settle the lawsuit was made by attorneys hired by the city’s insurance carrier.

'Neither our office nor the City Attorney were involved in the settlement,' writes Soglin in a statement. 'Let me be clear in asserting that the City of Madison, who was not a party to the case, had no standing and no ability to influence the court or the parties in approving a settlement. Any statement to the contrary is false.' (Potter, Isthmus)

[This writer does not believe Soglin's statement of no influence to be true. Soglin and City Atty Michael May appear to be brilliant politicians working behind the scenes for their conception of what civil libertarian types call 'police reform,' but this asserted long-game strategy is a different story with no direct evidentiary support, just a wild hunch.]

The traumatized Robinson family should be forgiven its collective transgressions against our community.

What is beyond dispute is the American police will kill some 1,000 people in 2017, (Killed by police), (Washington Post), following a better-than-average killing year in 2016 that saw some 1,155 people killed (Killed by police, 2016).

Methodologies used in compiling a killing statistic differ, so those tracking killings by police arrive at slightly different figures.

Is is as well incontrovertible that Madison police are courageous killers.

Madison Police Chief Mike Koval offers his latest analysis continuing Koval's expert, never-met-a-Madison-Police-killing-I-didn't-like commentary. This work should be adopted into a Hollywood movie, and everyone from Chuck Norris to Steven Seagal can rejoice in the Chief's prose.

Cleansing the culture and educating the citizenry are projects that should never conclude. We must be vigilant, as President Trump has said, powered by our love.

Cop Shoots Caretaker of Autistic Man Playing in the Street with Toy Truck

Dumb cop in North Miami shoots innocent man with hands
in air. Man is dressed in yellow shirt and black skin. Image
is from video seconds before dumb cop shoots black man.
(Miami Herald)

Another dumb cop shoots man
——————— Cop caught on cell phone video before he could
cook police report, lie his way out of shooting innocent man

In officer-involved shooting news this morning, an idiot with a badge shot a caretaker of an autistic man for being black.

The dumb cop used an assault rifle to shoot Charles Kinsey, (Miami Herald), after Kinsey tried to help an autistic man who wandered from a group home into an apparently deserted street in North Miami.

After being shot with the dumb cop's assault rifle, Kinsey asked the ass in blue, why. The cop replied, "I don't know."

The unidentified cop is on paid vacation, aka administrative leave, and will be cleared of any wrongdoing after an investigation is conducted by the Florida Office of State Attorneys.

A Florida website in the image below shows the State Attorney and staff attended a violence reduction meeting on November 18, 2105. The sub-headine reads: Miami-Dade Police Department.

Other municipalities are engaged in how-to-convince-the-police-not-to-shoot people clusterfucks, as many citizens now claim they should not be harassed, beaten, arrested, and killed.

No news on whether North Miami cops attended a violence-reduction meeting last year.

National Lawyers Guild - Minnesota Chapter: End Killer Cops

'Peace' Officers Surely Do Kill Often

By National Lawyers Guild - Minnesota Chapter:

The National Lawyers Guild - Minnesota Chapter unconditionally condemns in the strongest possible terms the murder of Philando Castile by St. Anthony Village police officer Jeronimo Yanez. The NLG expresses its deepest sympathy and condolences to Mr. Castile’s family and loved ones.

It is a tremendous outrage that the repeated unjustifiable police killings, especially of African American males, have become such common knowledge yet continue unabated. While no one deserves to die at the hands of law enforcement, there is no pretext for police to attempt to rationalize the murder of Mr. Castile because he had so clearly done nothing wrong, was an exemplary citizen, and the horrendous death and police indifference to the effects of their actions was so painfully captured on cell phone video.

The NLG demands that government leaders end their pattern of enforcing the continued deadly status quo by failing to take any concrete action to hold police accountable or enact any meaningful reforms. The salience of this latest atrocity must spur immediate action to hold the responsible police officer accountable and initiate systemic change to end the serial police killings as well as the larger dynamic of police abuse and oppression in communities of color. The NLG recognizes that the most affected communities must have a voice in the specific changes to made, but calls for the following actions to be taken immediately:

1. A special independent prosecutor must be appointed to investigate and bring criminal charges against the murderer in this case. The special prosecutor must be independent of police influence, and have access to funding needed to hire investigators, experts, associates and cover other expenses needed to conduct a full investigation and prosecution. Responses to previous police shootings have repeatedly and invariably demonstrated that elected and career prosecutors are too beholden to police interests to be capable to delivering justice. The Ramsey County Attorney, the governor, and other appropriate officials must collaborate to make the special independent prosecutor a reality.

2. The office of an independent prosecutor must be permanently established to investigate and prosecute cases of deadly force and other abusive police conduct.

3. Minnesota law must be amended so that police officers have no more authority to use deadly force than other citizens. Specifically, Minnesota Statute § 609.066 which authorizes use of deadly force by peace officers must be repealed.

4. A special civilian commission must be established to propose specific, comprehensive and systemic reforms to police powers, policies, and governance. A majority of the commission must include representatives of communities disproportionately harmed by police abuse.

Killer Cop in Minnesota Says Through Atty, He's "Sad"

Commenting through his police union and lawyer while on paid tax payer-financed vacation, (in cop-speak paid administrative leave), the Minnesota killer cop, one Jeronimo Yanez, said he is "sad" for the family of Philando Castile, whom Yanez shot and killed Wednesday night, (WCCO-TV (Minneapolis)).

Yanez will be cleared of any wrongdoing after the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) submits its investigative findings of the killing to the Ramsey County Attorney.

Yanez' police union, the Minnesota Law Enforcement Labor Services, released a statement by its executive director Sean Gormley, noting the killing is a tragedy and is emotional. The statement also expressed support of due process for the killer cop.

The statement reads in full:

The death of Philando Castile is a terrible tragedy for all involved, especially for the family and loved ones of the deceased.

The video being shown in the media is graphic. It’s emotional. And for some it may be hard to watch.

We support an open, thorough, and objective investigation that we believe will, in time, provide the answers to the questions we all have.

We also support the officers’ right to due process. The right of due process is afforded to all Americans.

How about a revised statement from the cop union such as: Murder by cop is unjust and indecent?

Just kidding, we all know that will never happen.