Author: Angel - NYC

AOL

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) – A mass of demonstrators chanting, “Black lives matter,” converged in the Mall of America rotunda Saturday as part of a protest against police brutality that caused part of the mall to shut down on a busy day for holiday shopping.

The group Black Lives Matter Minneapolis had more than 3,000 people confirm on Facebook that they would attend. Official crowd estimates weren’t immediately available, but pictures posted to social media by local news organizations showed the rotunda was full. Organizer Mica Grimm estimated about 3,000 people participated.   Continue reading “Police brutality protesters rally at Mall of America”

New York Post – by Larry Celona, Kevin Fasick and Jamie Schram

Two uniformed NYPD officers were shot dead Saturday afternoon as they sat in their marked police car on a Brooklyn street corner — in what investigators believe was a crazed gunman’s execution-style mission to avenge Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

“It’s an execution,” one law enforcement source said of the 3 p.m. shooting of the two officers, whose names were being withheld pending family notification of their deaths.   Continue reading “Gunman kills self after 2 NYPD cops fatally shot ‘execution style’ as ‘revenge’ for Garner”

CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Demonstrators gathered at City Hall in support of the NYPD Friday evening, but they were met right away with a rival demonstration by critics of police policies.

A pro-police rally organized by a Facebook group called “Thank You NYPD” was held as a counterpoint to the recent protests against police brutality. As CBS2’s Matt Kozar reported, supporters gathered under the hashtag #BlueLivesMatter, and about 75 pro-police demonstrators were at the scene as of 5 p.m. Friday.   Continue reading “Dueling Protests For, Against NYPD Face Off Outside City Hall”

Wired – by Jordon Golson

The American military does a lot of work in the field of biomimicry, stealing designs from nature for use in new technology. After all, if you’re going to design a robot, where better to draw inspiration than from billions of years of evolution? The latest result of these efforts is the GhostSwimmer: The Navy’s underwater drone designed to look and swim like a real fish, and a liability to spook the bejeezus out of any beach goer who’s familiar with Jaws.

The new gizmo, at five feet long and nearly 100 pounds, is about the size of an albacore tuna but looks more like a shark, at least from a distance. It’s part of an experiment to explore the possibilities of using biomimetic, unmanned, underwater vehicles, and the Navy announced it wrapped up testing of the design last week.   Continue reading “The Navy’s New Robot Looks and Swims Just Like a Shark”

AOL – by Ryan Gorman

The New York Police Department social media strategy got the force in hot water again on Monday.

NYPD Twitter accounts have endured a series of well-documented fails in recent months, and a precinct did not do itself any favors Monday when it tweeted Jack Nicholson’s famous courtroom rant from the blockbuster movie “A Few Good Men.”

The midtown precinct, which covers Times Square, among other areas, fired off a since-deleted “motivational” tweet citing the famous movie monologue. The post was first flagged by Slate.   Continue reading “NYPD tweets ‘you can’t handle the truth’ in apparent nod to civilian deaths”

AOL – by David Espo

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unhappy Republicans say Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has given President Barack Obama a present this holiday season – a gift certificate good for confirmation of 12 judicial appointments, not long after the voters had delivered the Democrats a lump of coal in midterm elections.

Cruz, a tea party favorite and potential 2016 presidential contender, disputed the claim through his spokesman on Monday.   Continue reading “Republicans blame Cruz for year-end confirmations”

Huffington Post

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A northern white rhinoceros that was only one of six left in the world died Sunday at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, zoo officials said.

Angalifu, who was about 44 years old, apparently died of old age.

“Angalifu’s death is a tremendous loss to all of us,” safari park curator Randy Rieches said in a statement. “Not only because he was well beloved here at the park but also because his death brings this wonderful species one step closer to extinction.”   Continue reading “Northern White Rhino Dies At California Zoo, Leaving Only Five Alive In The World”

BBC News

At least one gunman has taken several people hostage at a cafe in the centre of the Australian city of Sydney.

Pictures on Australian television have shown at least three people with their hands up against a window, and a black flag with Arabic writing.

Hundreds of armed police have sealed off the normally busy Martin Place in Sydney’s central business district.   Continue reading “Sydney siege: Hostages held in central cafe”

Huffington Post 

Tens of thousands of protesters streamed out of New York City’s Washington Square Park on Saturday to protest the killings of unarmed black people by police officers, as part of the “Millions March NYC.”

The crowd began to wind its way through Manhattan. A large labor union contingent was present, including members of the Communications Workers of America wearing red shirts and AFL-CIO supporters waving blue signs.

In contrast to other marches over the past week, this large, orderly demonstration took place during the day. A number of families with children took part, and demonstrators followed a pre-planned route. The march made its way uptown to Herald Square, then looped back downtown, with thunderous chants of “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” and “Justice! Now!” echoing down Broadway.   Continue reading “Tens Of Thousands March On NYPD Headquarters To Protest Police Killings”

Time – by Eliza Gray

New York City cops may soon be armed with more Tasers. But experts are skeptical that will make the city safer.

Police Commissioner William Bratton announced plans Wednesday to purchase an additional 450 Tasers to give to training officers who work with rookies, the New York Daily News reports. “We are very interested in expanding [the use of Tasers] very significantly,” Bratton said, describing them as “a nonlethal method officers could use.”   Continue reading “More Tasers for New York Cops Might ‘Do More Harm Than Good’”

Factually – by Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

Around ten lawsuits were filed against the NYPD every day, according to a new analysis by I Quant NY of a city report that also says most suits were “primarily of allegations of police misconduct, civil rights violations, and injury and/or damage from accidents involving police vehicles.”

In July, city Comptroller Scott Stringer introduced a program called ClaimStat aimed at using data analysis to keep track, and eventually reduce, the amount of claims by identifying “patterns and practices that lead to lawsuits against the City.” The wonderful I Quant NY blog has now found a way to access the specific data sets produced by the ClaimStat project, and that means we now have numbers—and maps—of the amount of claims made last year.   Continue reading “The NYPD Was Sued an Average of 10 Times a Day Last Year”

New York Times – by Stephanie Clifford

The tip comes from a confidential informer: Someone has a gun. Ten or more minutes later, police officers find a man matching the informer’s detailed description at the reported location. A gun is discovered; an arrest is made.

That narrative describes how Jeffrey Herring was arrested last year by police officers in the 67th Precinct in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. It also describes the arrests of at least two other men, Eugene Moore and John Hooper, by some of the same officers.   Continue reading “In Brooklyn Gun Cases, Suspicion Turns to the Police”

Huffington Post – by Mark Sherman

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is joining the debate over the Senate’s torture report by saying it’s hard to rule out the use of extreme measures to extract information if millions of lives were threatened.

Scalia told a Swiss broadcast network that American and European liberals who say such tactics may never be used are being self-righteous.   Continue reading “Justice Antonin Scalia Says The Constitution Is Silent On Torture”

AOL – by Ryan Gorman

A Rio de Janeiro man has confessed to killing more than 40 people for fun – making him one of history’s most prolific serial killers.

Sailson Jose das Gracas, 26, was arrested shortly after stabbing a woman to death on the outskirts of the sprawling city, and soon confessed to another 41 murders, police said. Thirty-eight of his victims were women, three men and one a two-year-old girl.   Continue reading “Killing calmed me down’: Brazilian man admits murdering more than 40 people for ‘fun”

RT

A federal judge ordered St. Louis-area police to grant warnings before firing tear gas in order to give crowds “reasonable” time to disperse, following a lawsuit over wanton use of tear gas by militarized police during race-related protests in Ferguson.

US District Judge Carol Jackson ruled after hearing arguments in a lawsuit against local and state law enforcement officials that stemmed from police action in Ferguson, a suburb in St. Louis County, and in areas of St. Louis city on November 24, following a grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson, a former Ferguson police officer who killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August.   Continue reading “Judge restricts use of tear gas against Ferguson protesters”

A friend took this photo and emailed it to me. Not exactly what you would expect to see parked outside a NYC restaurant. LOL

(Pete’s Tavern is where O. Henry wrote “The Gift of the Magi.”)

Beverly-Mt Greenwood Patch – by Dennis Robaugh

The Chicago Police officer who blasted “Sweet Home Alabama” from his squad car as he and other officers trailed a “Black Lives Matter” march last week — a stunt many saw as racially antagonistic — has come forward.

The officer will be disciplined, the police department announced in a statement Thursday.Sources tell the Chicago Tribune the officer faces a 10-day suspension upon the approval of Supt. Garry McCarthy.   Continue reading “Chicago Cop Faces 10-Day Suspension for Playing ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ at Black Protest March”

BBC News – by Fergus Walsh

Drug resistant infections will kill an extra 10 million people a year worldwide – more than currently die from cancer – by 2050 unless action is taken, a study says.

They are currently implicated in 700,000 deaths each year.

The analysis, presented by the economist Jim O’Neill, said the costs would spiral to $100tn (£63tn).   Continue reading “Superbugs to kill ‘more than cancer’ by 2050”