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Nine months after racial justice protests swept across New York City and videos showed police punching, kicking and trapping demonstrators, the city agency responsible for investigating abuses has revealed the number of officers who have so far faced serious disciplinary charges.

Two.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board released the figures on Tuesday after ProPublica reported that the CCRB was declining to disclose how much progress it had made on protest cases. The new numbers show about 60% of the agencys 297 protest-related cases are still open.

CCRB investigations can take a long time, about eight months on average. Its investigations into the summer protests have been slowed in particular by a lack of NYPD cooperation, as ProPublica detailed last week, and agency staffers have been discouraged from confronting the NYPD. After our reporting prompted pointed criticism from a City Council member and others, CCRB officials promised at a public board meeting last week to release figures as soon as possible.

So far, the agency has only been able to fully investigate 37 cases. About 75 cases were closed before a full investigation could be completed. Sometimes civilians did not follow up or decided to withdraw their complaints to pursue lawsuits.

The relatively few completed investigations have resulted in 14 complaints being substantiated so far. In 12 cases, the CCRB has recommended relatively minor punishment, which is to be decided by the officers commanders. In the other two, the CCRB has moved for departmental disciplinary trials.

The CCRB said in an emailed statement on Wednesday that one of the two cases involved an officer who appeared to flash a white power sign, and the other concerned an officer who allegedly hit a protester with a baton.

The chair of the CCRB, Rev. Frederick Davie, also acknowledged at a City Council hearing on Tuesday that investigators have faced a challenge around access to information from the Police Department.

As ProPublicas story last week noted, CCRB staffers emailed superiors that the NYPD repeatedly said it had no body-worn camera footage of an incident, only to have investigators later discover that there was, in fact, footage. In response to questions, the NYPD said in a statement last week, We have spoken with senior executives at the CCRB who state they do not have any complaints about footage.

The CCRBs statement Wednesday also said investigators have had difficulty identifying officers due to the Police Department not keeping track of where officers were deployed and due to officers wearing protective gear with incorrect shield numbers.

As New York City Moves to Address Racialized Policing of Sex Work, Advocates and Lawyers Say Its Not Enough

The release of information about the protest cases comes as the city and the NYPD face increasing pressure to change the discipline process for officers. On Tuesday, state legislators introduced a bill to strip the NYPD commissioner of final authority over discipline. The move follows a New York City Council resolution in January calling for the legislature to act.

As ProPublica has detailed, commissioners have often used their discretion to overturn not only the CCRBs recommendations for punishments but also rulings by NYPD hearing officers and even guilty pleas agreed to by police officers.

Allegations of misconduct by officers can also be investigated by the NYPDs Internal Affairs Bureau, and the department has said that investigations of some protest encounters have been referred for disciplinary action. The department did not respond to a request this week for comment about the status of any discipline stemming from protest cases.

Mollie Simon contributed reporting.

Excerpt from:
Only Two NYPD Officers Face Serious Discipline From a Watchdogs Investigations Into Abuse of Black Lives Matter Protesters - ProPublica

Yasmin Rashid acted largely as a peacekeeper between the two sides.

ITHACA, NY -- Tensions were high on March 14 as Back the Blue supporters were met with a large group of counter-protesters at Bernie Milton Pavilion. Back the Blue supporters had announced earlier in the week that they had planned to protest the Reimagining Public Safety proposal that recommends replacing Ithaca Police Department with the Community Solutions and Public Safety Department. However, the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association put out a statement on March 11 thanking people for their support, but urging against the rally.

Black Lives Matters protesters raise their fists in solidarity.

We also feel like this rally may detract from our message of collaboration with the police reform and the steps weve made with Common Council and the Mayor, the statement said. We are not trying to suppress your first amendment rights but we ask that you take the time to voice your opinion to Common Council and the County Legislature by email or public meetings.

A Back the Blue protester burns a Black Lives Matter flag.

Regardless, a group of about 20 supporters, led by Rocco Lucente and Zack Winn, showed up anyway. After speeches about how dangerous they think the city of Ithaca has become, the group moved to the center of the Commons, where they faced off against counter-protesters. For the most part, the groups exchanged chants and all remained peaceful.

After being largely drowned out by the counter-protesters, the Back the Blue supporters headed back to the pavilion, where Winn took the stage and gave long-winded and increasingly angry rants aimed at the counter-protesters, including transphobic insults aimed at one counter-protester in particular. He also said that the counter-protesters were fat, smelled bad and accused them of being communists.

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Back the Blue supporters doused an antifa flag and Chinese flag in lighter fluid and then set them ablaze.

There were two incidents where things turned physical. The first was when Winn and other Back the Blue organizers grabbed a Black Lives Matter flag, doused it in lighter fluid and set it on fire. Counter-protesters tried to grab the flag away from Winn before it was set on fire, but Winn caught up and a brief physical altercation ensued.

Later on, counter-protester Massia White-Saunders rushed the stage in anger, but Ithaca police officers were able to calm the situation quickly. After that incident, Winn took the microphone again to share that out of respect for the police officers wishes, they would be wrapping their event up shortly. However, he continued to rant angrily and attempt to antagonize counter-protesters, who often drowned him out with their chants. Winn also played a recording of IPD Sgt. Loretta Tomberellis comments to Common Council from a recent meeting in which she talked about how devalued she felt by the police reform proposal.

The Back the Blue supporters numbers slowly dwindled throughout the afternoon, before finally vacating the Commons after about three hours.

A Back the Blue protester with bear spray is confronted by an Ithaca police officer.

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Back the Blue, Black Lives Matter protesters go toe-to-toe on the Commons - ithaca.com

Billionaire reality TV star Mark Cuban was asked last Sunday if he would run for president as a Libertarian. And like a majority of Americans, he admitted he didn't really know where the party stands on issues.

Thanks to how unpopular the likely Democratic and Republican nominees are, top Libertarians hope that the increased focus on their party as an alternative will help shed light on the Libertarian message.

But many Americans remain in the darka 2014 Pew Research survey also showed that 44 percent of Americans didn't know the correct definition of the party. So the challenge the party faces as it holds its national convention this weekend is familiarizing Americans with its platform.

Here are five major pieces of the Libertarian Party platform, as well as some issues its platform committee on Saturday is looking to change for this year:

Individual freedom

The idea of individual freedom defines the libertarian movementits the party of limited government, in all forms.

We are the only political party that stands for your right to pursue happiness in any way you choose as long as you dont hurt anyone else and as long as you dont take their stuff, party chairman Nicholas Sarwark told The Hill.

This year, the partys platform committee is looking to highlight how that differs with the two main parties with a new addition to the platform preamble: Our aim is to keep the Republicans out of your bedroom and the Democrats out of your pockets, so that you can make your own choices and live your life as you choose.

That push for individual freedom colors the views of the party on just about every issueincluding drug legalization, free trade, and free-market health care, as well as the elimination of campaign finance and gun control laws.

Social liberals

The push for individual freedom puts libertarians toward the left side of the political spectrum on many of the major social issues.

The 2014 platform argues that government does not have the authority to define, license or restrict personal relationships, adding that consenting adults should have freedom to chose what makes them happy.

The same goes for drug legalizationthe party considers drug use and possession as victimless crimes that should be fair game unless the user hurts someone else in the process.

The platform does not currently address the death penalty, but the platform committee has proposed an indefinite suspension of the practice, noting the number of exonerations since 1973 and the disproportional use of the death penalty based on race.

Economic conservatives

Libertarians have faith in the free market and believe that theres little the government can do to pressure businesses or individuals that would be better than the power of the Invisible Hand.

That means unrestricted competition among financial institutions as well as the elimination of the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security and income taxes.

The main argument is that social pressure and the free market will convince individuals and companies to donate to charity to help the less fortunate -- replacing the need for the government-run social safety-net -- or make business decisions to protect the environment in the hopes of being rewarded by the market for those efforts.

And in the free market, companies live and die without the help of the government, so no bailouts.

But that doesnt mean taking the government entirely out of the equationthe platform committee has proposed clarifying that victims of a companys disregard for the environment should be given restitution when "damages can be proven and quantified in a court of law.

Abortion

Despite the socially liberal bent, this is an issue where libertarians disagree.

The 2014 platform echoed an effectively pro-abortion rights position, arguing government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.

But this year, a potentially contentious change recommended by the partys platform committee includes a complete retool of that platform, shifting the rhetoric back toward the center.

If adopted, the plank will declare that Libertarians believe that taxpayers should not "forced to pay for other peoples' abortions." That's a dramatic shift from the previous assertion that the issue should be left solely to the individual.

A proposal would add to that new wording that Libertarians respectfully disagree on abortion and where life begins, while another proposal would simply note that "Libertarians along the spectrum present logical arguments in support of their principled positions on abortion."

A fourth proposal by the platform committee calls to eliminate regulations on over-the-counter contraceptives to help prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Non-interventionist foreign policy

Libertarians want America to abandon its attempts to act as a policeman for a world, and its platform on defense reads like a criticism of Americas foreign policy direction. The partys goal is to maintain a military devoted only to national defense, while shutting down foreign military and economic aid.

Along with that de-emphasis on the offensive, the platform repudiates the tradeoff between liberty and security by declaring that national defense must not take priority over maintaining the civil liberties of our citizens.

That means vigilant oversight on national security programs to ensure no rights are infringed upon as well as getting rid of any security classification that could keep information out of the hands of the public.

Excerpt from:
5 things the Libertarian Party stands for | TheHill

Former President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to return to social media with his own platform.

Former President Donald Trump plans to return to social media in the coming months with his own platform, a Trump adviser told Fox News on Sunday.

Jason Miller, a former Trump administration senior adviser, told Fox News's Mediabuzz that Trump would be "returning to social media in probably about two or three months" with "his own platform." Miller added that Trump's platform would attract "tens of millions" of new users and "completely redefine the game."

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"This is something that I think will be the hottest ticket in social media," Miller said. "It's going to completely redefine the game and everybody is going to be waiting and watching to see what President Trump does, but it will be his own platform."

Trump was essentially banished from the most popular social media platforms in January. Twitter and Facebook blocked President Donald Trump from posting on their sites after his supporters stormed the US Capitol, sparking violence and halting the process to certify the election of President Joe Biden. Snapchat also took action and locked Trump's account.

The actions came amid an increasingly urgent clamor for the social networks to deal with the president's use of their platforms to spread misinformation, stir grievance and incite violence. Before the bans were announced, Trump posted several messages to Twitter and Facebook that included baseless claims about election fraud. A video of Trump repeating those claims was removed from both platforms out of concern it would contribute to more violence.

Read more: President Trump's legacy: A love-hate relationship with tech blew up in his face

During his four years as president, Trump was anotoriously provocative tweeter who redefined politics by using Twitter to sidestep official channels and traditional media. Twitter frequently left up Trump posts with content that breaks its rules against things like abusive behavior or glorifying violence, reasoning that they were in the public interest.

Twitter eventually began obscuring Trump tweets containing misinformation about the election and coronavirus with a warning label that included a link to more information or context. Users would have to click a View link in the alert label to read the post.

Twitter Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal said last month that Trump's ban would stay in place, even if he ran for office again.

"Our policies are designed to make sure that people are not inciting violence, and if anybody does that we have to remove them from the service and our policies don't allow people to come back," Segal said.

Throughout his president, Trump had a contentious relationship with social media giants, complaining that social media sites demonstrate a bias against conservative voices. In 2018, he accused Twitter of shadow banning conservatives. Twitter said it was a bug. Shadow banning refers to the practice of making a comment or post visible only to the user who created it.

Representatives for the former president couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Read the original:
Trump reportedly plans to launch new social media network - CNET

Social medias high penetration rate among Gen Z reflects the fact that the group grew up when social networking was already entrenched. Younger age demographics are also responsible for the shift away from Facebook and the growth in Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.

A broader array of social networks that cultivate specific audiences will lead to more fragmented social network usage in the years ahead.

Daily usage of Facebook among adults dropped significantly in the four years leading up to 2021, according to Abacus Data polling from this January. In 2017, 61% said they were daily Facebook users, but that dropped to 37% in 2021. In contrast, the shares of respondents who reported using Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn daily increased over the same period.

The dividing line of adulthood is where the largest usage differences appear within platforms. While 90% of adults said they had used Facebook in the past month, only 48% of teens reported doing so, according to March 2020 polling by Ad Hoc Research for MTM Junior. Teens usage of Snapchat (57%) was more than double that of adults.

Read more:
Gen Z is expanding the social media menu in Canada - eMarketer