In the News
- Nationwide protests for Eric Garner
- DoJ cites Cleveland police abuse pattern
- Officers “carelessly fire their weapons”
- Tamir Rice shooting
- House GOP rebukes Obama on immigration
- GOP leadership will buck conservatives
- Obama to announce Pentagon nominee today
- November jobs report today: 5 things
- In chaotic committee, Paul forces ISIS vote
- Fast food protests in 190 cities
Demonstrators for Garner Protest Nationwide
• Thousands of demonstrators poured out in cities across the country on Thursday night in a show of outrage over a grand jury’s decision Wednesday not to indict a white NYC police officer whose chokehold caused an unarmed black man’s death (NYT, WaPo, me)
• The protests drew crowds in New York, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Washington DC. Many chanted the last words of the man, Eric Garner, of Staten Island: “I can’t breathe.” In some places, they grew disruptive, snarled traffic on major arteries and lay down in the streets
• In nearly every city where there were protests, demonstrators shouted, “No justice, no peace, no racist police.” Many protesters also chanted, “Hands up. Don’t shoot,” a reference to some witnesses’ statements that Michael Brown of Ferguson MO, had his hands up in surrender when he was killed by a white police officer in August
• In Washington, demonstrators marched along major arteries near the WH as the Obamas celebrated the lighting of the WH Christmas tree. The demonstrators went over the 14th Street Bridge, which connects the city and Arlington VA, before turning back to Washington
• A group of national civil rights leaders on Thursday announced a “jobs and justice” march in Washington on 13 December, part of an effort to form a national movement “committed to forceful change, in peaceful and constructive methods.”
• Raw vid: Protesters for Garner cross Brooklyn Bridge (AP)
• NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday announced the start of a significant retraining of the nation’s largest police force. The de Blasio admin didn’t immediately explain in detail what the training would entail and how the city would cover the considerable costs of such an undertaking (NYT, AP, TRNS, AZRepublic, TPM, WKEF, me)
• During a Thursday speech in Washington, President Obama said, “When it comes, as we’ve seen, unfortunately, in recent days, to our criminal justice system, too many Americans feel deep unfairness when it comes to the gap between our professed ideals and how laws are applied on a day-to-day basis.”
• Hillary Clinton said Thursday that she supported President Obama’s decision to form a task force to review police tactics and praised the DoJ’s decision to investigate Eric Garner’s death. “Each of us has to grapple with some hard truths about race and justice in America,” Clinton said in wide-ranging remarks about the protests
• In Phoenix, an internal investigation is underway after a white police officer mistook a pill bottle for a gun and fatally shot a black, unarmed drug suspect. Protesters held a vigil and march Thursday night against the shooting of 34-year-old Rumain Brisbon
• The sheriff’s dept of Montgomery County OH said Tuesday it was investigating five deputies for allegedly sending racist texts both on and off duty, with some slurs reportedly directed at black deputies. “I hate N*ggers. That is all” and “What do apples and black people have in common? They both hang from trees.” – couple of (disgusting) samples
• Twitter hashtag #crimingwhilewhite continues to trend (No. 5 at time of writing). People posting explore how police ignore obvious crimes in front of their eyes, presumably because the offenders were white. Controversy because: is it a diversion from larger issues of racial bias or is it drawing attention to important disparity? (NYT, me)
DoJ Cites Cleveland Police Abuse Pattern
• A week after the release of surveillance video showing a Cleveland police officer fatally shooting a 12-year-old African-American boy who was holding a pellet gun, AG Eric Holder flew to Cleveland Thursday to announce that a lengthy DoJ civil rights investigation had found “unreasonable and unnecessary use of force” by the city’s PD (NYT, HuffPo, TRNS, me)
• The Cleveland abuses included excessive use of deadly force like shootings and using weapons to hit suspects on the head; the “unnecessary, excessive or retaliatory use of less lethal force” including Tasers, chemical spray and fists; excessive force against mentally ill people; (whoa)
• Also tactics that have escalated into confrontations where use of force became inevitable. “Cleveland officers are not provided with adequate training, policy guidance, support and supervision,” the DoJ concluded in its report
• As a result of the investigation, the city has agreed to work toward a settlement with Justice known as a consent decree that will tighten and govern policies on use of force and subject the police to oversight by an independent monitor
Officers “Carelessly Fire Their Weapons”
• The DoJ report said Cleveland police officers “carelessly fire their weapons, placing themselves, subjects, and bystanders at unwarranted risk of serious injury or death,” The report pointed to a 2011 incident where officers “fired 24 rounds in a residential neighborhood” with six rounds striking houses and 14 hitting parked cars
• DoJ said it had “several cases” where officers shot or shot at people who didn’t pose an immediate threat. In 2013, for example, the report said that police shot at a kidnapping victim after he fled from his assailants wearing only his boxers. The sergeant said he believed the victim had a weapon because he raised his hand (my God)
• A 300-pound officer punched a 13-year-old boy who was handcuffed inside a police car and kicking the door. The officer, 8 inches taller than the boy, punched him “three to four times” until he was “‘stunned/dazed’ and had a bloody nose.”
• The agency noted that “supervisors’ analyses of use of force incidents is superficial at best and, at its worst, appears to be designed to justify their subordinates’ unreasonable use of force.”
• The report said the culture of the Cleveland police force promotes an “us-against-them” mentality. It cited the example in one district station identifying it as a “forward operating base” – which DoJ noted is a military term for a small outpost in a war zone
Tamir Rice Shooting
• The DoJ’s review didn’t including the shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was killed by a rookie Cleveland police officer on 22 Nov. The officer, Tim Loehmann, 26, shot the child within two seconds after his patrol car pulled up next to the boy, who was playing with an air-soft gun
• Loehmann quit a suburban police force after his supervisors determined two years ago that he suffered a “dangerous loss of composure” during firearms training and was emotionally unprepared to cope with stresses of the job
• A starkly negative assessment by the city of Independence’s deputy police chief concluded that Loehmann, who was suffering from problems with a girlfriend, “would not be able to substantially cope, or make good decisions, during or resulting from any other stressful situation.” “I do not believe time nor training will be able to change or correct these deficiencies.”
• Cleveland police said Wednesday they’d never reviewed the previous police personnel file of Loehmann during background checks before his hiring. Loehmann resigned from Independence after his bosses recommended he be released two years ago
• Vid: “Stand With Hillary” – Hillary Clinton’s rather hokey (understatement) country-style theme song – not very well synced, either
House GOP Rebukes Obama on Immigration
• Emboldened House Republicans issued a stern rebuke to President Obama over immigration Thursday, passing a bill declaring his executive actions to curb deportations “null and void and without legal effect.” (AP, Hill, TRNS, Politico, Reuters, me)
• The vote was 219 to 197, with three Democratic “yes” votes and seven Republican “no” votes. Three Republicans voted “present.” Outraged Democrats, immigrant advocates and the WH said the GOP was voting to tear families apart and eject parents
• Even supporters acknowledged that the bill by Sen Ted Yoho (R-FL) which says Obama was acting “without any constitutional or statutory basis” was mostly meant to send a message (unprintable…). It’s dead in the Senate and faces a veto threat from Obama
• “The president thinks he can just sit in the Oval Office and make up his own laws. That’s not the way our system of govt works,” said Rep Steve Scalise (R-FL). “This legislation says you can’t do that, Mr President. There is a rule of law.”
• Democratic lawmakers rallied behind the president Thursday and immigrant advocates warned Republicans would be alienating Latinos heading into the 2016 presidential elections in which the Hispanic vote is expected to be significant
• House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is flexing her muscles. In a closed-door meeting Thursday am, sources in the room say she told Democrats, “If you think it’s a good idea to tell them, ‘Oh, I’ll be with you no matter what,’ then you destroy our leverage.” (Politico)
GOP Leadership Will Buck Conservatives
• GOP leadership hopes that after approving the bill, Republicans would move on next week to vote on legislation to keep most of the govt running for a year, with a shorter timeframe for the Dept of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration
• The idea is to revisit DHS early next year when Republicans will control both houses and have more leverage. The current govt-funding measure expires 11 Dec so a new one must pass by then
• But that doesn’t satisfy some immigration hardliners, goaded on by outside conservative groups and tea party senators including Ted Cruz (R-TX). They want to include language in the upcoming spending bill to block any money for his actions on immigration. “I didn’t come here just to play games,” said Rep Matt Salmon (R-AZ)
• Republican leaders fear such spending language could court an Obama veto and even a govt shutdown. That’s something they’re determined to avoid, a year after taking a political hit for provoking a 16-day partial shutdown
• Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) showed little patience for their complaints: “We think this is the most practical way to fight the president’s action and frankly we listened to our members, and we listened to some members who are frankly griping the most. This was their idea of how to proceed.” (frankly)
Obama to Announce Pentagon Nominee Today
• President Obama this morning will announce seasoned Pentagon operative Ashton Carter to be his nominee to replace SecDef Chuck Hagel, according to people close to the process – anonymous. Carter rose up the short list when others took themselves out of contention (AP, TRNS, TRNS, me)
• Although defense is typically a coveted Cabinet portfolio, it’s appeared less so heading into Obama’s final two years in office, especially once tensions surfaced between the WH and Pentagon, where top officials complained about West Wing micromanagement
• The next defense chief will inherit a Pentagon wrestling with the ISIS threat in Iraq and Syria, an unsettled course in Afghanistan, Russia’s provocations in Ukraine, tensions elsewhere and reports of sexual assault in the military, all at a time of deep budget cuts – plus the unknown (so a fun job, then)
• Hagel, who is staying on until a successor is in place, resigned under pressure from the president but cast his departure Thursday as a mutual decision and said “no major differences” with Obama led to his stepping down. Asked directly whether he felt pressure to resign, Hagel wasn’t specific
• Carter is known among national security experts for the “preventive defense” concept he and former SecDef William Perry promoted in the 1990s. The concept held that the U.S. could head off major new threats through security partnerships with Russia, China and others in the post-Cold War world
• NYT reports that Sen Mary Landrieu (D-LA) “has watched helplessly while her Democratic base has eroded like a cheap levee.” Ouch. Saturday is her runoff against Rep Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who’s likely to trounce her. She’s been “rebuffed by her liberal colleagues in Washington.” (Pow) She’s going down. Senate GOP majority will be 54 (NYT, me)
November Jobs Report Today: 5 Things
• Economists (and psychics) are expecting that payrolls rose by 230,000 and the jobless rate remained the same at 5.8%. The U.S. is on its way to recording its strongest year of job growth since 1999. The jobless rate fell to 5.8% in October from 7.2% a year earlier, matching the largest year-over-year decline in three decades (WSJ, me)
• Waiting for wage growth: Economists predict wage growth will pick up as the labor market tightens. Workers did get a boost in October from a longer workweek. But hourly earnings haven’t picked up yet. Watch for any acceleration in today’s report – and remember that one month doesn’t make a trend
• Factory floor or storefront? Growth in traditionally low-wage fields has outpaced growth in traditionally high-paying fields. In October, job gains were broadly distributed across sectors, but bars and restaurants (low) added nearly three times as many jobs as did manufacturing firms (high)
• Pace yourself: The pace of hiring has slowed since the spring. If November’s gain comes in at 230,000, it’ll represent a pickup from October’s 214,000 gain. But watch for revisions to the September and October numbers that could lift or depress the trend
• Part-time pain: Some 7 million people in October were working part-time jobs because they couldn’t find full-time work. Down from 8 million a year earlier. Watch the U-6, a broader version of the unemployment rate that includes people marginally attached to the workforce and part-timers. It was 11.5% in Oct, down from 11.8% in Sept
• An al Qaeda affiliate in the Arabian Peninsula threatened to execute American hostage Luke Somers, 33, in a video released Thursday. He was among a group of hostages that U.S. and Yemeni forces attempted to rescue last month in a remote part of Yemen. Eight hostages were freed, but Somers had already been moved by his captors (AP, TRNS, me)
In Chaotic Committee, Paul Forces ISIS Vote
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday considered a surprise effort by Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) to try to attach a Declaration of War against ISIS to an unrelated water bill the committee is considering. “Our duty is to debate war and to vote on it,” Paul said (war and water, has a nice ring) (Hill, Roll Call, AP, NYT, me)
• “It was the most bizarre meeting of the Foreign Relations Committee that I have ever attended in my life, or ever expected to attend,” said Sen John McCain afterwards. “It’s a living breathing argument against lame duck sessions.”
• Republicans who are generally supportive of the war rebelled, objecting to blessing a military campaign through “an obscure water bill” as McCain called it. The meeting ended with outgoing chair Sen Bob Menendez (D-NJ) pulling the amendment and promising a hearing next week to update the president’s current legal justification for fighting: authorizations in 2001 and 2002
• Menendez’s retreat came after his amendment prompted Sen Bob Corker (R-TN), incoming chair, to try to pull his own bill promoting clean drinking water worldwide. Corker said ramming the measure through was “almost a scene in Mayberry” and at times defended the admin and at other pounded the table with his fists and threatened to subpoena officials
• The plan is to have a hearing next Monday, featuring SecState John Kerry – or whoever they can get. Then a closed-door markup Tuesday. Then a full committee markup on an authorization on the use of military force (AUMF) would be held Wednesday. Sen Chris Murphy (D-CT) labeled Monday’s hearing a “red herring”…
• The House on Thursday passed a defense authorization bill to equip the Pentagon with funding and programs for fiscal 2015. Passage fell along a largely bipartisan vote of 300-119. Now heads to the Senate – likely to be approved before the end of the lame duck session (Hill)
Fast Food Protests in 190 Cities
• Low-wage worker protests expanded to 35 states and 190 cities Thursday, as workers demanded higher minimum wages. The pre-holiday action is backed by unions and marks the two-year anniversary of the “Fight for $15” that began when NY McDonald’s and Burger King workers walked off their jobs (WSJ, BBC, me)
• There’s also a tie-in with protests over recent grand jury decisions not to indict white police officers involved in the death of black men. Protesters in St Louis were to be joined by people who have been protesting in Ferguson, including some who are returning a favor after fast-food workers joined them in peaceful protests
• The campaign is expanding to include more workers. This time, some airport workers in a number of cities protested and some convenience store workers walked off their jobs. In DC, federal contract workers who serve food in well-known buildings planned to be part of the mix
• The organizers say they have a winning message. While Congress hasn’t increased the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour since mid-2009, many states and cities have, Voters in several states approved minimum-wage increases in November’s elections
• Owners of fast-food restaurants and other types of franchises have been organizing to counter the actions, in part by trying to show theer workers that they’re employed by small businesses, not multinational corporations such as McDonald’s Corp
• Vid: Rocking into the weekend with “Iron Sky” by Scotland’s fab Paulo Nutini, live at Abbey Road studios. Unbelievable, blow-your-mind soulful performance. This is must-see
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Victoria Jones
TRNS’ Justin Duckham, James Cullum, Leah Schwarting and Paayal Zaveri contributed to this report
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