TRNS News Notes is brought to you by Victoria Jones. Victoria Jones is the Chief White House correspondent and global analyst of the Washington DC based Talk Radio News Service, where her insight and analysis are made available to over 400 news talk radio stations around the country and internationally.

In the News

  • Milwaukee police shooting: Federal probe
  • NY police killings: DeBlasio speaks
  • North Korea hack: Who dunnit?
  • “Interview:” Movie theaters wanted limited release
  • Cuba stands by its asylum rights
  • After botch, Oklahoma to execute again
  • Execution drug can cause restlessness
  • Ho! Ho! Ho! Pope rips Curia
  • Issa’s last IRS dump today
  • Grim day for Rep Michael Grimm
  • Court throws out strict NC abortion law

 

Milwaukee Police Shooting: Federal Probe
• Former Milwaukee police officer Christopher Manney won’t be charged in connection with the on-duty fatal shooting of Dontre Hamilton in a Milwaukee Park, Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm said Monday in a news release. Chisholm said Manney’s “use of force in this incident was justified self-defense.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, NYT, BBC, TRNS, me)

• The U.S attorney’s office of the Eastern District of Wisconsin said Monday that the Justice Dept would review the case. Law enforcement officials, bracing for more demonstrations, got an exec order from Gov Scott Walker to stand by

• Manney, who is white, shot Hamilton, who was black, 14 times on 30 April during an incident that began when a pair of officers checked on Hamilton after workers at a nearby Starbucks complained about him sleeping in the downtown park. The officers found he was doing nothing wrong

• Manney wasn’t aware the other officers already had been to the park when he responded to a voice mail regarding Hamilton’s presence in the park. As Manney began to pat down Hamilton, Hamilton fought him and a confrontation ensued

&&&

• Manney tried to use his baton to subdue Hamilton, but Hamilton got control of it and swung it at Manney, hitting him on the side of the neck, or attempting to, according to Milwaukee police internal affairs

• Manney then shot Hamilton repeatedly. Milwaukee police are trained to shoot to stop a threat, and the weapons they use fire multiple rounds quickly. An expert quoted in the DA’s report estimated the shots would have taken 3-4 seconds. Seventeen witnesses reported they observed Manney “in shock,” “upset” or “distraught” immediately after the shooting

• In the days after the shooting, police officials highlighted Hamilton’s history of mental illness and said the mental health system failed him. Hamilton’s family said he received treatment for schizophrenia but was not violent

• Police Chief Edward Flynn fired Manney in October – not for using excessive force but for an “out of policy” pat down of Hamilton that Flynn said “was not based on individualized reasonable suspicion but on an assumption of his mental state and housing status.”

&&&

• Manney told investigators he “feared Hamilton would attack him with the baton and that he ‘would be dead’ as a result,” according to Chisholm’s report

• Emanuel Kapelsohn of the Peregrine Corp, whom Chisholm cited as a leading expert in use of force reviews, said there can be “little serious doubt that PO Manney was justified at firing at Dontre Hamilton, who was attacking him with a deadly weapon (baton.)” Chisholm said he adopted Kapelsohn’s conclusion

• Manney has applied for duty disability, – severe post-traumatic stress disorder. He joins a growing number of officers suspected of misconduct who have applied for duty disability claiming disability stress, sometimes even citing the dept’s investigation or media coverage as the cause of that stress (oh come on)

NY Police Killings: DeBlasio Speaks
• Mayor Bill DeBlasio, publicly silent and largely out of view the day after two police officers were killed in Brooklyn, re-emerged on Monday. He visited the families of the slain officers, spoke to a nonprofit police group, and, for the first time since the shooting, took questions at a presser (NYT, NYDN, me)

• He was accompanied by Police Commissioner William Bratton. DeBlasio called for a suspension of the demonstrations, asked the public to report any possible threats against police officers and urged New Yorkers to thank and console officers in mourning. The mayor forcefully defended the rights of peaceful protesters

• Some police critics lamented his calls Monday to suspend protests and vowed to demonstrate anyway. DeBlasio criticized the news media for giving what he seemed as disproportionate attention to vitriolic or violent protesters

• Bratton said police union leaders had agreed to a “standing down” of heated public comments until after the funerals. In an interview on NBC, Bratton rejected the suggestion that the mayor had contributed to any increased threats against officers, as unions have argued

• Many officers were bothered by DeBlasio’s comments after the grand jury declined to bring charges against a white officer in the chokehold death case of Eric Garner. DeBlasio said he had trained his biracial son, Dante, to “take special care” in any police encounter

• At least 60 journalists around the world were killed in 2014 while on the job or because of their work, and 44% of them were targeted for murder, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. About one-fourth were international journalists (AP)
North Korea Hack: Who Dunnit?
• Dunno. Mystery. North Korea’s fledgling internet access went dark for nine hours and 31 minutes Monday, days after President Obama promised a “proportional response” to the nation’s alleged hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment. State Dept spox on Monday: “As we implement our responses, some will be seen, some will not be seen.” (WaPo, me)

• Was it a shadowy crew of guerrilla hackers, under the flag of Anonymous? A retaliatory strike from the U.S.? A betrayal from China, North Korea’s top ally and the web gatekeeper? Or just a technical glitch or defensive maneuver from the Hermit Kingdom itself?

• Thursday, researchers began to notice an uptick in attacks against North Korea’s internet infrastructure. Friday, an internet account affiliated with Anonymous announced that a counterattack against North Korea hackers had begun. Monday, a separate group, also claiming links to Anonymous, sought credit for the outages

• Some security analysts noted that North Korea’s rudimentary web pipeline flows directly through the routers of a company called China Unicom, leading some experts to believe Chinese hackers were responsible. Maybe China was reminding North Korea who was boss or they thought the Sony hacks were embarrassing

• Doug Madory at Dyn Research doubted that North Korea took down its own internet. “You’ve got hours and hours of instability, and that comes from somewhere. It looks like their network is for hours just struggling to stay online, trying to come back, and eventually it’s just over, just down.”

• South Korea boosted cyber security at the country’s nuclear power plants today following what President Park described as a series of “grave” data leaks, and prosecutors said they were investigating a new online threat. Monday, the power plants said they had been hacked. North Korea? (Reuters)

“Interview:” Movie Theaters Wanted Limited Release
• In private calls with Sony Pictures Entertainment execs last week, theater owners suggested the movie studio release the film in smaller batches in order to assess the credibility of threats made by hackers, said a source familiar with the talks – anonymous (fascinating) (WaPo, Verge, Hill, me)

• “They rejected it,” said the source. “Sony said it wanted a full release or nothing.” Sony, which has blamed movie theaters for the cancelled release of “The Interview,” declined to comment on talks with theater owners. The studio’s argued that when the biggest theater chains pulled the plug, the studio had no choice but to pull the movie (Sony changes stories a lot)

• Monday, Art House Convergence, a coalition of 250 independent movie theaters, started a petition at Change.org, allowing theater owners to publicly pledge to Sony that they will screen the embattled film. Earlier, the director of Art House Convergence wrote an open letter to Sony that the members of the independent art house community would screen the film

• And Rep Brad Sherman (D-CA), who represents a district where moviemaking is an important industry, wrote to Sony Pictures on Monday inviting the studio to screen the film at Capitol facilities to highlight Congress’ support for Sony Pictures (nowhere to run, no place to hide, Sony)
• U.S. military operations against ISIS have surpassed the $1 billion mark, the Pentagon said Monday. The average daily cost is $8.1 million. The U.S.-led fight is now getting its own IG to oversee govt spending (Hill)

Cuba Stands By Its Asylum Rights

• Asked if returning U.S. fugitives to the States was open to negotiation, Cuba’s head of North American affairs, Josefina Vidal, told the AP Monday, that “every nation has sovereign and legitimate rights to grant political asylum to people it considers to have been persecuted … That’s a legitimate right.” (AP, me)

• New Jersey Gov Chris Christie (R) has urged President Obama to demand the return of fugitive Joanne Chesimard before restoring full relations with Cuba. She was granted asylum by Fidel Castro after she escaped from the prison where she was serving a sentence for killing a NJ state trooper. Christie is a potential 2016er

• “We’ve explained to the U.S. govt in the past that there are some people living in Cuba to whom Cuba has legitimately granted political asylum,” Vidal said. She added, “There’s no extradition treaty in effect between Cuba and the U.S.” Chesimard, the first woman ever placed on the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list, was even listed in the Havana phone book

• “I think the fact that we’re going to be having better relationships with Cuba will increase our likelihood of being successful in getting those people
[fugitives] back,” U.S. Deputy AG James Cole told reporters at a DoJ press briefing Monday

• Vidal also addressed other issues. “Our president has said we welcome President Obama’s decision to introduce the most significant changes in relations with Cuba in 45 years. That includes the entire package.”

• A van has been driven into shoppers in the French town of Nantes, leaving 10 people injured. Other incidents in Tours on Saturday and Dijon on Sunday have raised fears of copycat attacks. In two of the attacks, the drivers shouted “God is great” in Arabic (BBC)
After Botch, Oklahoma to Resume Executions
• A federal judge in Oklahoma City on Monday said that the state can resume executing prisoners this winter, rejecting the argument by some medical experts that using the same sedative involved in the bungled execution of Clayton Lockett in April amounted to an illegal experiment on human subjects (NYT, AP, me)

• U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot, ruling against condemned prisoners who sought to delay new executions, said that lethal injection was more humane than historical methods like hanging, and that since the sedative, midazolam, had been successfully used in a dozen executions elsewhere, it shouldn’t be considered new or experimental

• Separately Monday, a report commissioned by corrections officials in Arizona said the killing of Joseph Wood in July had been conducted properly. Wood appeared to gasp for nearly two hours before dying, but the report concluded he  was unconscious during that time and didn’t feel pain (really?)

• The lawyer for the OK prisoners said they would appeal. Lockett visibly gasped and writhed during a procedure that took 43 minutes, rather than the expected 15 minutes. Lawyers for the prisoners said that midazolam cannot reliably protect against excruciating pain when the two drugs are inserted

Execution Drug Can Cause Restlessness
• The AZ report cited the Pima County ME’s statement that Wood’s “gasps, snorting and body reflexes are the normal bodily responses to dying, even in someone highly sedated.” Medical experts cited in the report said they couldn’t determine why it took so long for Woods to die

• Oklahoma has had a moratorium on executions since 29 April, when the lethal execution of Lockett went awry. Now, saying that improved procedures are in place and that they will boost the dosage of midazolam, they plan to execute four men in three months

• But medical experts testifying on behalf of the condemned prisoners last week said that midazolam is inherently unsuited to executions, even if the catheter is properly inserted – which it wasn’t for Lockett

• Multiplying the dosage beyond a certain point doesn’t cause more sedation because of a “ceiling effect” in which relevant receptor cells are saturated, they said. And the drug can cause restlessness instead of sedation, in certain groups, including “the elderly, people with a history of aggression, impulsivity, alcohol abuse or other psychiatric disorders.” (errrr – clue)
Ho, Ho, Ho: Pope Rips Curia
• Pope Francis excoriated the Vatican bureaucracy in his traditional Christmas address on Monday, saying that some of the cardinals, bishops and priests who run the Roman Catholic Church suffer from a “spiritual Alzheimer’s” that’s made them forget they’re supposed to be joyful men of God (NYT, La Stampa, AP, TPM, me)

• Francis warned against what he called a lust for power, hypocritical double lives and the lack of spiritual empathy among some men of God. He listed the 15 “ailments and temptations” that weaken their service to the Lord, inviting them to a “true self-examination” ahead of Christmas

• In strong and colorful language, Francis criticized the Curia, the admin that runs the Holy See, for a narcissistic “pathology of power” and “existential schizophrenia.” He also cited being a braggart, “the ailment of rivalry and vainglory: when appearances, the color of one’s robes, insignia and honors become the most important aim in life”

• “Brothers, let’s guard ourselves from the terrorism of gossip,” Francis told the rows of bishops and cardinals seated in a 16th century reception hall in the Apostolic Palace. He warned of being an exhibitionist. “This is the disease of those who seek insatiably to multiply their power.”

• Including himself among the sinners, Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, stressed once more his idea of a church at the service of the poor and the peripheries, a religious institution able to move away from scandals, infighting and lavish behaviors. Francis’s address drew tepid applause (triple the Swiss guards is my advice)

• Viral vid: Ultra-serious BBC correspondent Quentin Sommerville in Afghanistan tries and utterly fails to report: “Burning behind me is eight and a half tons of heroin, opium, hashish and other narcotics…” The drugs get to him, man – dissolves into smoldering drug-induced giggles
Issa’s Last IRS Dump Today
• House Oversight Committee chair Darrell Issa (R) hasn’t concluded his (endless) investigation into the IRS’s tea party targeting scandal, but his chairmanship of the panel is ending, so he’s releasing an interim GOP-led report today, anyway – just because (Politico, Hill, me)
• Oh, and as usual, Issa hasn’t shared it with the Democrats on the committee. He released it – or portions of it – to the news media, apparently on condition that they not share it with the Democrats. “Republicans are intentionally bypassing the normal congressional vetting process designed to distinguish fact from fiction,” said member Rep Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

• Missing from the report is any evidence that President Obama or WH officials orchestrated a plot. (and if Issa had any, it would be in there) The report points to a “culture of bias against conservative organizations among certain IRS employees.” The report slams now infamous former IRS employee Lois Lerner

• Weakly, the report says, “Evidence shows an IRS responsive to the partisan policy objective of the WH and an IRS leadership that coordinates with political appointees of the Obama administration.” (Where are the documents and minutes of meetings specifically supporting that?)

• The report says the IRS took cues from Obama’s criticism of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which gave corporations – and unions – freer rein to spend on elections. “The rhetoric led the IRS to hold a deeply skeptical view of the merits of applications filed by new conservative groups.” The investigation will continue under chair Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)…
Grim Day for Rep Michael Grimm
• Rep Michael Grimm (R-NY) is expected to plead guilty today to resolve federal tax fraud and other charges, a source familiar with the case said. A guilty plea would throw into question the political future of the former FBI agent. He’s scheduled to appear at a plea hearing in a federal court in Brooklyn (Reuters, Politico, me)

• Grimm easily won a third term in November despite his indictment in April on charges of fraud, perjury and conspiracy stemming for a Manhattan health food restaurant he formerly co-owned, Healthalicious. He’s adamantly denied any wrongdoing

• The 20-count indictment accused Grimm of hiring illegal immigrants at the restaurant, paying staffers under the table and under-reporting how much he had spent in wages by keeping two sets of payroll ledgers

• He was also charged with lying under oath about his practices during a deposition in a federal lawsuit brought by former Healthalicious employees who claimed they weren’t paid minimum wage. The indictment followed a probe of Grimm’s fundraising. In September, former Grimm fundraiser Diana Durand pleaded guilty to funneling illegal contributions to his 2010 campaign

• A guilty plea by Grimm would make it hard for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and other top Republicans to support his continued tenure in the House. The Ethics Committee has held off from moving against Grimm while the federal criminal case unfolds. And Democrats see a seat they could possibly snap up if Grimm goes
• Vid: Priceless – Grimm threatens NY1 reporter on the Capitol balcony: “Let me be clear to you. If you ever do that to me again I’ll throw you off this fu*king balcony.” (NYT)

Court Throws Out Strict NC Abortion Law
• A unanimous three judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a North Carolina law requiring abortion providers to show and describe an ultrasound to the pregnant woman is “ideological in intent” and violates doctors’ free-speech rights (AP, TRNS, me)

• “While the state itself may promote through various means childbirth over abortion, it may not coerce doctors into voicing that message on behalf of the state in the particular manner and setting attempted here,” Judge Harvie Wilkinson III wrote

• “The most serious deviation from standard practice is requiring the physician to display an image and provide an explanation and medical description to a woman who has through ear and eye covering rendered herself temporarily deaf and blind,” Wilkinson wrote

• “Exam rooms are no place for propaganda, and doctors should never be forced to serve as mouthpieces for politicians who wish to shame and demean women,” said Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights

• North Carolina Rep Ruth Samuelson (R), a primary sponsor of the 2011 law, said she strongly disagreed with the court. “I still believe that women deserve to have all the information necessary to make an informed choice. This is a life-changing decision for many women.” On to SCOTUS, perhaps?

• RIP terribly sad news that great English soul rocker Joe Cocker has died of lung cancer at 70. Here’s his Fire It Up Live concert (Cologne 2013) and here’s With a Little Help From My Friends live from Woodstock 1969

Sign up here for TRNS News Notes

______________

Victoria Jones

TRNS’ Nicholas Salazar and Washington Desk contributed to this report

 

The Talk Radio News Service is the only information, news booking and host service dedicated to serving the talk radio community. TRNS maintains a Washington office that includes White House, Capitol Hill and Pentagon staffed bureaus, and a New York office with a United Nations staffed bureau. Talk Radio News Service has permanent access to every breaking newsevent in the Washington, D.C. area and beyond.

Copyright © 2014 The Talk Radio News Service, All rights reserved.