Friday Open Thread | See What Marilyn Mosby Was Up Against in Baltimore?

Posted on February 9, 2018 by rikyrah

I don’t know if you’ve been following the corruption trial in Baltimore, but it’s been an eye opener.

This is the system that Mosby has been up against.

This isn’t one or two ‘ rotten apples’.
This is SYSTEMATIC.

In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
FEB. 6, 2018

BALTIMORE — Stacks of bills, $100,000 in all, taken from a safe.

Garbage bags full of stolen prescription drugs dumped on the black market.

A motorist robbed of $25,000.

The crimes were not carried out by civilian criminals, but by Baltimore police officers. They are among the dozens of bombshells in one of the most startling police corruption scandals in a generation. In a trial in Baltimore federal court, witnesses and even the officers themselves have described an elite squad gone rogue, taking every opportunity to rob those they were supposed to be policing or protecting, and barely bothering to cover up their deeds.

The daily disclosures of dangerous, embarrassing and shameless acts come at a particularly bad time for the Baltimore Police Department, which is battling a runaway crime problem in an environment already poisoned by deep mistrust in the police.

The department was in fact under investigation by the federal government for systemic civil rights violations while the officers carried out many of their crimes — which included selling seized guns and drugs back onto the streets, sending innocent people to jail, recruiting civilians to rob drug dealers and using GPS devices to track and rob the innocent.

Six officers have pleaded guilty; four are testifying against the two who are now on trial.

The case fits a pattern of corruption scandals involving anti-crime units that rack up arrests and praise, but do not have enough supervision, said Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and a former Baltimore police officer who went to the police academy with one of the accused officers. But this one is far worse, he said: “It’s shocking what they’ve done and how long they’ve been doing it.”

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32 Responses to Friday Open Thread | See What Marilyn Mosby Was Up Against in Baltimore?

  1. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 11:46 am

    With Mark Warner conspiracy theory, Trump goes 0-for-3
    02/09/18 09:22 AM—UPDATED 02/09/18 09:48 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Donald Trump was very excited about the Republicans’ “Nunes memo,” though the stunt clearly didn’t work out well. The president was nearly as excited about a GOP report this week that suggested Barack Obama may have intervened in the FBI’s Hillary Clinton probe, before the story was completely discredited.

    But the guy who championed Birtherism for several years isn’t the type to give up on the search for exciting new conspiracy theories. And so, Trump published this missive last night about Sen. Mark Warner (R-Va.), the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating the Russia scandal:

    “Wow! -Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch. Warner did not want a ‘paper trail’ on a ‘private’ meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Crooked Hillary.”

    The president – who ostensibly has access to a vast, multi-billion-dollar intelligence apparatus, providing him with almost limitless amounts of vetted information – was apparently relying on something he saw on Fox News.

    And that’s a shame, because Trump’s latest bombshell is also a dud. As the HuffPost explained overnight:

    Fox’s “exclusive” Thursday report said Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, had “extensive contact last year” with lobbyist Adam Waldman to set up a meeting with Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote a dossier on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Waldman runs the Endeavor Group, a Washington lobbying firm that worked with a Russian oligarch named Oleg Deripaska in 2009 and 2010.

    Waldman offered last March to connect Warner with Steele to discuss the infamous dossier. The article states that “secrecy seemed very important to Warner” and that the senator “seemed particularly intent on connecting directly with Steele without anyone else on the Senate Intelligence Committee being in the loop – at least initially.”

    But as the Fox News story eventually acknowledges, Waldman informed the intelligence committee about the messages months ago, and the communication appears to fall in line with Warner’s duties on the intelligence committee.

    Reply
  2. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 11:31 am

    John Kelly adheres to the Code of Silence unless you’re a POC or a woman and then he can pop off like a crazed racist and misogynist.

    — meta (@metaquest) February 9, 2018

    Reply
  3. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 11:27 am

    UH HUH

    White House is responding to the opioid crisis by cutting budgets, sidelining D+R experts in favor of an ad hoc group of political operatives w/no organizational capacity, no expertise in opioids, no experience in public management. I don’t understand any of this. https://t.co/L298I2zOgc

    — Harold Pollack (@haroldpollack) February 6, 2018

    Because they want people to exclusively blame immigrants and people of color for a crisis driven by criminalized addiction, American demand for hard drugs, and big pharma’s gleeful enabling of prescription abuse. https://t.co/FxojD3E1Ac

    — Zeddy (@Zeddary) February 6, 2018

    Reply
  4. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 10:08 am

    Exclusive: Trump administration may target immigrants who use food aid, other benefits
    Yeganeh Torbati

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is considering making it harder for foreigners living in the United States to get permanent residency if they or their American-born children use public benefits such as food assistance, in a move that could sharply restrict legal immigration.

    The Department of Homeland Security has drafted rules seen by Reuters that would allow immigration officers to scrutinize a potential immigrant’s use of certain taxpayer-funded public benefits to determine if they could become a public burden.

    For example, U.S. officials could look at whether the applicant has enrolled a child in government pre-school programs or received subsidies for utility bills or health insurance premiums.

    The draft rules are a sharp departure from current guidelines, which have been in place since 1999 and specifically bar authorities from considering such non-cash benefits in deciding a person’s eligibility to immigrate to the United States or stay in the country.

    “Non-citizens who receive public benefits are not self-sufficient and are relying on the U.S. government and state and local entities for resources instead of their families, sponsors or private organizations,” the document states. “An alien’s receipt of public benefits comes at taxpayer expense and availability of public benefits may provide an incentive for aliens to immigrate to the United States.”

    Receiving such benefits could weigh against an applicant, even if they were for an immigrant’s U.S. citizen children, according to the document.

    Reply
  5. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 9:45 am

    THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O’DONNELL 2/8/18
    Rewrite: Abuse survivors speak
    In response to Rob Porter’s ex-wife Jennifer Willoughby’s moving blog post about why she stayed in her marriage, viewers shared their own stories of abuse with Lawrence O’Donnell on Twitter, some using #AndSoIStayed. Lawrence shares their stories in the Rewrite.

    Reply
  6. Ametia says:
    February 9, 2018 at 9:19 am

    THIS BITCH NEEDS TO BE GONE

    Trump skips president’s written intelligence report and relies on oral briefing, breaking tradition with his past seven predecessors

    For much of the past year, President Trump rarely if ever read the President’s Daily Brief, a document that lays out the most pressing information collected by U.S. intelligence agencies from hot spots around the world, according to three people familiar with his briefings.

    The arrangement underscores Trump’s impatience with exhaustive classified documents that go to the commander in chief — material that he has said he prefers condensed as much as possible.
    But by not reading the daily briefing material — which uses information provided by U.S. spies, satellites and surveillance technology, as well as news sources and foreign intelligence agencies — the president could hamper his ability to respond to crises in the most effective manner, intelligence experts warned.

    Read more » https://s2.washingtonpost.com/3edc67/5a7db97bfe1ff634eb14866f/YXdhcmVvZjQxMUBnbWFpbC5jb20%3D/2/10/3a569220054ddfca9b49a25bb24a75b5

    Reply
  8. Ametia says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:38 am

    Queens school rejects student’s bid to add his name Malcolm X on senior sweater, then mocks him

    What’s in a name?

    Christ the King High School student Malcolm Xavier Combs says he found out when a tone-deaf assistant principal spiked his request to get the name “Malcolm X” on the back of his senior sweater.
    School official Veronica Arbitello “told me … that’s someone I don’t want to be associated with,” the National Honor Society member said in reference to the slain ’60s black activist.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/queens-student-malcolm-x-senior-sweater-article-1.3806658?utm_content=buffereffb4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw

    Reply
  9. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:37 am

    He pretends to be out of the loop, because he knows if trump’s impeached, he’d inherit the oval. But we know the truth about pence, and that won’t happen. He’ll go down in history as nothing more than an unimportant accomplice, and nobody will remember much about him.

    — @joboomr44 (@joboomr44) February 8, 2018

    Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:37 am

    John Kelly is unfit to serve as @whitehouse chief of staff. There can be no quarter for spousal abusers or their enablers and defenders. Mr Kelly should focus on trying to salvage what shreds of dignity he still has and resign, immediately.

    — VoteVets (@votevets) February 8, 2018

    Reply
  11. Ametia says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:35 am

    Author Octavia Butler leaves a lasting legacy of strong black women in sci-fi novels

    The daughter of black servants, Octavia Butler made history in 1995 as the first science fiction writer to ever be awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, often called the “genius grant.”

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/author-octavia-butler-legacy-strong-black-women-sci-fi-article-1.3803622?utm_content=buffera4a8a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:30 am

    Defense Secretary reportedly ignored Trump request for Iran options
    02/09/18 08:41 AM
    By Steve Benen

    When Donald Trump’s presidency was just getting started, the new president seemed eager to receive advice from James Mattis, the retired general who now serves as the Defense secretary. That did not, however, last very long.

    Mattis urged the president not to move the U.S. embassy in Israel, and Trump ignored him. Mattis explained to the president that the international nuclear agreement with Iran was the basis for regional stability, and Trump ignored him again. Mattis spent weeks lobbying behind the scenes to help shape the president’s June address to NATO leaders, and Trump “deleted” the language the Pentagon chief helped write.

    But as it turns out, the Defense secretary occasionally ignores the White House, too. The Washington Post published an interesting profile on Mattis this week, which included an amazing anecdote.

    For weeks, Mattis had been resisting requests from the White House to provide military options for Iran. Now Trump made clear that he wanted the Pentagon to deliver a range of plans that included striking Iranian ballistic missile factories or hitting Iranian speedboats that routinely harassed U.S. Navy vessels.

    “Why can’t we sink them?” Trump would sometimes ask about the boats.

    National security adviser H.R. McMaster and his staff laid out the president’s request for Mattis in a conference call, but the defense secretary refused, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

    “In the weeks that followed,” the article added, “the options never arrived.”


    In other words, if this anecdote is accurate, the sitting president of the United States – the commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces – sought a plan from the Pentagon; the Defense secretary thought the president’s request was misguided; and so the cabinet secretary balked.

    And the president’s request went unmet.

    Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:27 am

    Remember that as Speaker Pelosi only marshaled the members this way when she knew she had the votes. A good leader like this knows her troops and how far and fast she can march them. https://t.co/Js3xdQIQIu

    — Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) February 8, 2018

    Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:25 am

    What’s the definition of a person who voted for a $1.5 trillion tax cut and is now complaining about deficits? https://t.co/v5su3pGk22

    — Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) February 8, 2018

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:24 am

    EEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!

    Monday at 10 a.m. ET, we’ll share a live broadcast of the portrait unveiling for President @BarackObama & Mrs. @MichelleObama at our @NPG.

    A history of the museum’s presidential portraits: https://t.co/lDjFnTuvY7 #ObamaPortraits #myNPG pic.twitter.com/IyCl8Djlvr

    — Smithsonian (@smithsonian) February 9, 2018

    Reply
  16. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:23 am

    Democratic counter to Nunes memo expected for Friday release

    Rachel Maddow notes that the timing of the vote on the Democratic rebuttal to the Nunes memo, and expectations that Donald Trump will allow its release mean that it could be public as early as Friday – a very busy Friday.
    Feb.08.2018

    Reply
  17. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:22 am

    House GOP covering for Trump admin scandals

    Rep. Gerry Connolly talks with Rachel Maddow about Congressional Republican unwillingness to properly investigate Trump administration scandals, including Rob Porter’s continued employment as staff secretary despite failing the background check.
    Feb.08.2018

    Reply
  18. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:20 am

    Porter access to secrets raises legal issue

    Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, former staff secretary to President Clinton, talks with Rachel Maddow about the access of the staff secretary to highly confidential information, and the Trump administration’s surprising lack of action despite knowing Porter’s issues.
    Feb.08.2018

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:18 am

    Trump vetting failures seen in scandals, firings, security lapses

    Rachel Maddow points out that the high turnover of top officials in the Donald Trump administration is a symptom of the poor job Donald Trump is doing vetting the people he hires to work for the American people.
    Feb.08.2018

    Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:16 am

    found on another blog:

    ICYMI: Jennifer Rubin reported Thursday on Hardball that advisers for domestic violence in both the DOJ and the White House are among the many that have remained unfilled. “This administration couldn’t care less about this issue,” she said.

    Reply
  21. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 8:15 am

    @chrislhayes
    9h9 hours ago
    More
    One thought about Porter: this was known to a number of people in the White House for **13 months***. We’re just finding out now. What other secrets are there in that White House we don’t yet know…

    Reply
  22. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 7:10 am

    LarryO is not letting this go

    Lawrence: Why John Kelly is hiding from the American people

    http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-why-john-kelly-is-hiding-from-the-american-people-1157432387705

    Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 3:16 am

    Countdown Clock:
    Seven Days Until WAKANDA😎😎🙆🙌👏

    Reply
  24. rikyrah says:
    February 9, 2018 at 3:14 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply

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