Remember this alarming police story that sucked up all the media oxygen for a while?
Via a FOIA request of the Department of Homeland security, Vice News has this story just out
At minute 04:50 of this video Rachel Maddow & team cover the Baltimore police hoax that took hold April 27, 2015, the day of Freddie Gray's funeral.
This was the notification:
This is a credible threat. Law enforcement agencies should take appropriate precautions to ensure the safety of their officers.
bolding Not added by me
It was picked up by the msm and spread far and wide:
Turns out it was a double pronged hoax. The Baltimore police "media department" fabricated a story to cover for police brutality while selling the same decades old fear mongering used to portray the protestors, many but not all who were AA's, as criminal gang members and dangerous 'thugs' (the modern variant of another racial slur | see;
Lee Atwater's southern strategy video)
Vice News uncovered the truth after filing a FOIA request with the DHS's Office of Operations Coordination (OPS).
Here is their story:
Fearing a 'Catastrophic Incident,' 400 Federal Officers Descended on the Baltimore Protests
By Jason Leopold | June 24, 2015
An excerpt of the story:
The April 30 intelligence document says the threat information DHS obtained came from "Internet Chatter." It also said "various threats exist towards law enforcement as such a high level of situational awareness is warranted."
One alleged threat derived from the media office of the Baltimore Police Department, which claimed that "members of various gangs including the Black Guerilla Family, Bloods, and Crips have entered into a partnership to 'take out' law enforcement officers." Baltimore police issued a press release on April 27, the day of Freddie Gray's funeral, and the story was widely reported in the media. The alert was also distributed to police officers nationwide.
But an email sent that day by a DHS employee who works in intelligence & analysis at the Maryland Fusion Center to DHS intelligence officer Earl Rose IV called into question the integrity of the Baltimore Police Department's [BPD] threat information.
"The gist of this alert asserts that the BGF [Black Guerilla Family], the Bloods, and the Crips, have partnered to 'take out' law enforcement. The alert says this is a credible threat, but, I do not know if that 'credible threat' means that they actually have specific information or that the 3 groups involved have credibility in taking that kind of action against law enforcement, I would assert that it's the latter," wrote the fusion center employee named Brian. DHS redacted his surname.
The fusion center employee, whose name is Brian, said
it was "curious that the alert came out from BPD media relations section instead of BPD Intelligence Unit, which is where we typically receive this kind of info….
The tensions have heightened here in Baltimore over the last 72 hours so this alert cannot be considered without that context."
An excerpt from the DHS report findings:
FBI Baltimore has interviewed the source of this information and has determined this threat to be non-credible.
note: the full Department of Homeland security document can be found @ the link to the Vice story.
This story below may seem unrelated, but please bear with me over the doodle-bug to see about the connections
Yesterday, former Federal prosecutor Paul Butler spoke to Rachel Maddow about white supremacy (video @ minute 15:01).
He made an excellent point that helps to explain the historical significance of Lee Atwater's method of coaching "conservative's" on how to employ the "southern strategy" properly (video is as instructive as it is disgusting).
Properly meaning; disguising the obvious slur and purpose without losing the dog-whistle effectiveness of the racism intended to be communicated to white voters.
Paul Butler explains how charges are determined and other procedures involving hate crimes, terrorist crimes. These few words hit home with me:
"The law is expressive. We can't bring back the nine lives that were snuffed out in Charleston. We can't reverse the injury that a criminal does, but how that injury is described sends a powerful message.
Here the shooter extinguished the lives of nine AA people but he crushed the souls of every AA. He enhanced the sense of vulnerability that comes from 400 years of racialized violence.
The Justice Dept is saying that the white supremacist motive needs to be acknowledged in the criminal process.
Now as a practical matter it doesn't make a difference in terms of the sentence he'd get. There's no death penalty for a federal hate crime. There is for a Federal terrorist charge as we know from the Boston massacre shooting. But this is really more symbolic. It's a way to acknowledge that racism is a major part of the reason that Mr. Roof acted, so it ought to be part of the criminal resolution."
Rachel Maddow asks:
"..In your opinion as a federal prosecutor [..] is it possible that terrorism charges could be considered in this case at the Federal level?"
Prosecutor Paul Butler:
"Absolutely, The Federal domestic terrorism law says that if you commit a crime with the intent to coerce or intimidate a group, you're guilty.
You know, too often when it's an Arab or Muslim person who commits mass murder we understand that as a political act. We describe it as terrorism.
When it's a white person, we talk about mental illness, or some kind of emotional breakdown. It's almost as though white privilege extends even to white people who are accused of mass murder. But if you look at the facts domestic terrorists who look like like Mr Roof have killed more people than ISIS and Al-Qaida combined.
The first domestic terrorism law; the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 was actually designed and targeted at race based violence. That was 1871; in 2015 AA's still need equal protection of the law."
... We're way past almost. White privilege
does extend to white people who are accused and in fact have committed murders. We hear it like clockwork from the rwnj cabal aka the GOP with Fox & "friends" hosting. Mental Illness. Lone wolf. Emotional distress. Anything but what it is - white supremacy
I used to think I knew about and could see right through most of the tricks used by the racist, but after listening to Lee Atwater explain to his brethren racist how to hide the blatant slurs without watering down the hateful meaning, then taking in the explanation and analysis of criminal descriptions and what is expressed in our laws by prosecutor Paul Butler it became clear I had only a small piece of the knowledge. This corruption of hate runs deep
This southern strategy described by Atwater as how he instructed his cohorts, has a long history in its making going back much earlier and with far deeper roots than the Nixon election years. We're seeing the strong remnants resurfacing today. Nearly unchanged are the motivations, nor the tactics employed.
All of these deaths are different. Different acts of terror. Different states. Different victims. Different killers; some cops, some not. But the links between them all can't be ignored. These stories represent America's malignant history of racism and white supremacy.
Occupying forces. A mind set that the "conservative" are chained to in foreign policy, the MIC, the PNAC and how that same closed up mind set "trickles down" unchanged to the local republican occupying police forces in towns around the country when dealing with non-white communities. Not there to serve the people, but to dominate
Sean Hannity of Fox'News" recently accused Dems who called for sensible gun safety regulations; "almost like a sickness". Another age old tactic of blaming the victims and their supporters seeking answers and solutions. A diversion by an NRA bought and paid for sycophantic "conservative" party. Yes it is a sickness; this racism that is still being added to as history being made today, year 2015 by a criminal gang of dangerous thugs aka the GOP - imo
It's also no real surprise that even though a judge found probable cause to charge the cops with murder, manslaughter, and negligent homicide, instead the prosecutor refused to file charges against the cops who killed Tamir Rice. Once again it will take months and another Grand Jury to determine whether shooting and killing innocent AA child warrants a trial at all.
Time to end this too long half rant & turn in soon - Thank you for stopping by for a not so easy to read diary