The Good Place or The Bad Place?

Kentucky Police Training Quoted Hitler and Urged ‘Ruthless’ Violence A training slide show that urged officers to “always fight to the death” is no longer used but has raised an outcry in a state that has struggled with police violence. A slide in a training manual used by the Kentucky State Police includes a quote from Adolf Hitler encouraging the “regular employment of violence.” A slide in a training manual used by the Kentucky State Police includes a quote from Adolf Hitler encouraging the “regular employment of violence.”Credit...Kentucky State Police By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs Oct. 31, 2020 A slide show once shown to cadets training to join the Kentucky State Police includes quotations attributed to Adolf Hitler and Robert E. Lee, says troopers should be warriors who “always fight to the death” and encourages each trooper in training to be a “ruthless killer.” The slide show, which came to light on Friday in a report from a high school newspaper, brought harsh condemnation f...

The concerted campaign that got public health experts to declare racist policing a crisis Attendees at a public health meeting protest police violence A 2018 rally helped convince the American Public Health Assn. to support a resolution to recognize police violence as a public health issue.(Photo courtesy of Emma Rubin) By DEBORAH NETBURNSTAFF WRITER OCT. 20, 20203 AM In the weeks after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, dozens of city councils, mayors and governors approved resolutions condemning police violence and calling racism a public health crisis. One of the most strongly worded statements, passed unanimously by the Goleta, Calif., City Council, proclaimed that “Black people in America continue to live in fear of losing their lives at the hands of law enforcement.” But long before these resolutions denounced racist policing practices, the largest organization of public health workers in the world was locked in a multiyear debate over a policy statement...

The Precedent, and Perils, of Court Packing As the Senate begins hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, some liberals say expanding the size of the Supreme Court would be a fitting response to recent Republican moves in the confirmation wars. Popular support for expanding the size of the Supreme Court remains low. Popular support for expanding the size of the Supreme Court remains low.Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times Adam Liptak By Adam Liptak Oct. 12, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET WASHINGTON — There have been nine seats on the Supreme Court for a long time. Could that change? The Constitution allows Congress to add or subtract seats, and it has done so several times, though not since 1869. Over the years, Congress has reduced the number of seats to as few as five and increased it to as many as 10. The changes were often made for partisan advantage. There are contemporary analogies, too. In the past decade, according to a recent study, legislation was introduced in at least 10...

These mental health crises ended in fatal police encounters. Now, some communities are trying a new approach By Christina Maxouris, CNN Updated 5:05 AM ET, Sat October 10, 2020 (CNN)When Miles Hall's hallucinations and erratic behavior returned, his mother did what she had always done: She gave police a heads up. The next day, June 2, 2019, Walnut Creek, California, police responded to multiple 911 calls about Hall, 23, who was having a mental health episode and roaming around his neighborhood. Five officers responded to the scene. Police say Hall was holding a pry bar -- a tool, his mother says, that a neighbor had given him for gardening -- and ran in their direction. After attempting to stop him with beanbag rounds, police fired at Hall. He died shortly after. More than three months later, in a small Virginia community, Henrico County police responded to a welfare check requested by Gay Ellen Plack's psychiatrist. Plack, 57, was bipolar and "doing bizarre stuff,...

Champion of poor or demagogue? Mexico’s president remains popular despite stalled economy, pandemic and crime A member of the National Front Anti-AMLO (Frena) holds up a Mexican flag in front of a line of riot police A member of the National Anti-AMLO Front holds up a Mexican flag during a protest against Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City’s zócalo square on Sept. 23. (Pedro Pardro / AFP/Getty Images) By PATRICK J. MCDONNELL, KATE LINTHICUM OCT. 9, 20202 AM MEXICO CITY — The Mexican economy is cratering, homicides are rising at a record rate, and the COVID-19 death toll has surged past 80,000. For any other leader, the torrent of bad news might herald a political reckoning. Not for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Yes, protesters have been camped out in downtown Mexico City calling for his resignation and drawing outsized media attention. But the left-wing populist saw his approval rating rise from 56% in June to 62% in September — according to poll...

Battalion chief no longer employed by Dallas Fire-Rescue after racist Facebook post Allan Springer was placed on administrative leave in June following his Facebook comment that people should “find a good tree to use” to punish Black Lives Matter protesters. By Charles Scudder 4:24 PM on Oct 7, 2020 A battalion chief who suggested on Facebook that people should “find a good tree to use” to punish Black Lives Matter protesters is no longer employed by Dallas Fire-Rescue, according to department spokesman Jason Evans. Allan Springer was placed on administrative leave in June following his Facebook comment. Evans said that as of Sept. 28, he was not part of the department. It was unclear Wednesday whether Spring was fired, retired or resigned. The post Springer commented on showed a pile of bricks that, according to a false conspiracy theory, were placed in downtown Dallas for protesters to use to destroy property. Police in multiple North Texas cities have said that theories about ...

US: New York Police Planned Assault on Bronx Protesters Trapping, Beatings in June Crackdown Reveal Abusive, Unaccountable System Protester confronted by police line New York City police planned the assault and mass arrests of peaceful protesters in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx on June 4, 2020, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The crackdown, led by the department’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, was among the most aggressive police responses to protests across the United States following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and could cost New York City taxpayers several million dollars in misconduct complaints and lawsuits. Human Rights Watch and the visual investigations firm SITU Research also released a video using three-dimensional modeling, witness interviews, and footage recorded at the protest. 202009us_mott haven_cover September 30, 2020 “Kettling” Protesters in the Bronx Systemic Police Brutality and Its Cos...

Grand Juror in Breonna Taylor Case Says Deliberations Were Misrepresented The Kentucky attorney general’s office said it would release the panel’s recordings after a grand juror contended in a court filing that its discussions were inaccurately characterized. Breonna Taylor's family and the lawyer Ben Crump, right, said the charges a Kentucky grand jury agreed upon in the police killing of Ms. Taylor were not enough. Breonna Taylor's family and the lawyer Ben Crump, right, said the charges a Kentucky grand jury agreed upon in the police killing of Ms. Taylor were not enough.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Rukmini Callimachi By Rukmini Callimachi Published Sept. 28, 2020 Updated Sept. 29, 2020, 1:30 a.m. ET 40 LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A juror in the Breonna Taylor case contends that the Kentucky attorney general misrepresented the grand jury’s deliberations and failed to offer the panel the option of indicting the two officers who fatally shot the young woman, according to ...

  Breonna Taylor’s death shocked the nation. In Louisville, many Black people are far from surprised A mother and son attend a demonstration in downtown Louisville, Ky., in honor of Breonna Taylor.  (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options By  KURTIS LEE SEP. 27, 2020 1:53 PM   UPDATED 8:29 PM LOUISVILLE, Ky.  —    It felt like a small army had camped for a brief pause in an unending battle. Protesters leaned against a wall inside the restaurant, charging cellphones. Others sat at the bar, sipping water and resting their feet. One man curled up and took a nap. During 123 days and counting of protests here — sobs, chants, tear gas and disappointment — for Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman shot to death by police inside her Louisville apartment six months ago, America’s reckoning with generations of racial injustice has been a relentless vigil. For Tawana Bain, transforming her restaurant, where before pandemi...