The spin is unbelievable…

San Jose police officers’ racist Facebook posts exposed by blogger

A series of bigoted and anti-Muslim Facebook posts linked to a group of retired and active San Jose Police Department officers has been met with swift rebukes from officials and civil-rights advocates, including calls for their firings and a top-down review of cases where they testified in court.

The private group – called 10-7ODSJ, a reference to the police code for “off duty” – was the subject of an article posted Friday to Medium, an online platform. The author, identified only as the partner of a Bay Area police officer, said the piece was motivated in part by allegations that a similar Facebook group plotted violence against Shaun King, an activist and journalist involved in the Black Lives Matter movement. A retired San Jose police sergeant, the author said, is a member of both groups.

“I recognized some of the names,” the author said in a phone interview Friday. “Is this the entire police department? No, it’s not. But within the entire police department, people know about it.”

San Jose police say four active officers identified as making offensive posts in the group, which has since been taken down, have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. Chief Eddie Garcia has also called for the assistance of the FBI, which was already probing the group that targeted King.

“Although I’m disappointed in the way this has come out, if there is one positive thing through this, it is that it has come to light,” Garcia said, and that officers engaging in racist acts “cannot hide anymore.”

Members of the 10-7ODSJ group shared posts about the Black Lives Matter movement, including one current officer commenting that “black lives don’t really matter” on a public Facebook post from a retired officer about shootings in Chicago, according to the article.

That current officer was one of several to make anti-Muslim comments on a post inside the group about a Muslim woman whose hijab was pulled off by a Ventura County Sheriff’s Office deputy. “Hell, I would have pulled it over her face,” he wrote.

One retired officer wrote, “If your (sic) incarcerated you don’t get to wear your religious outfits.” Another suggested using hijabs as nooses, adding a smiling emoji.

Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area, said that sort of Islamophobic sentiment is concerning no matter who writes it, and is “even more terrifying” coming from police officers.

“How are we supposed to be able to call on these officers to protect our community when this is what they say when they feel as though they are around their peers?” Billoo said Saturday. “I worry that this is not just a few bad officers and this is not just a few bad posts — I’m concerned that other officers knew about these posts and looked the other way.”

The Medium article noted several other instances of 10-7ODSJ members making racist comments, including the degradation of an area of San Jose largely populated by Latino and Vietnamese people.

“No one who expresses these types of disgusting, racist comments should ever wear a badge,” said District Attorney Jeff Rosen in a statement Friday. “This Office’s Conviction Integrity Unit will immediately begin a comprehensive review of every case in which these officers — active or retired — played a role. Anyone who writes this kind of trash has no role in our criminal justice system.”

Garcia also vowed to terminate officers involved in the group if they’re confirmed as the authors of the posts.

“I will move to fire people,” Garcia said in an interview. “You cannot say this publicly. You cannot say this quietly.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/26/san-jose-police-officers-racist-facebook-posts-exposed-by-blogger/

https://medium.com/@charliepaulsen5/racism-and-hate-behind-the-blue-wall-exposing-secret-law-enforcement-facebook-groups-6cf23a596a98

Workers removed thousands of social distancing stickers before Trump’s Tulsa rally, according to video and a person familiar with the set-up

In the hours before President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, his campaign directed the removal of thousands of “Do Not Sit Here, Please!” stickers from seats in the arena that were intended to establish social distance between rallygoers, according to video and photos obtained by The Washington Post and a person familiar with the event.

The removal contradicted instructions from the management of the BOK Center, the 19,000-seat arena in downtown Tulsa where Trump held his rally on June 20. At the time, coronavirus cases were rising sharply in Tulsa County, and Trump faced intense criticism for convening a large crowd for an indoor political rally, his first such event since the start of the pandemic.

As part of its safety plan, arena management had purchased 12,000 do-not-sit stickers for Trump’s rally, intended to keep people apart by leaving open seats between attendees. On the day of the rally, event staff had already affixed them on nearly every other seat in the arena when Trump’s campaign told event management to stop and then began removing the stickers, hours before the president’s arrival, according to a person familiar with the event who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

In a video clip obtained by The Washington Post, two men — one in a suit and one wearing a badge and a face mask — can be seen pulling stickers off seats in a section of the arena. It is unclear who those two men are. When Trump took the stage on Saturday evening, the crowd was clustered together and attendees were not leaving empty seats between themselves.

The actions by Trump’s campaign were first reported Friday by Billboard Magazine.

As rally preparations were underway, Trump’s campaign staff intervened with the venue manager, ASM Global, and told them to stop labeling seats in this way, Doug Thornton, executive vice president of ASM Global, told the magazine.

“They also told us that they didn’t want any signs posted saying we should social distance in the venue,” Thornton said. “The campaign went through and removed the stickers.”

A spokesman for ASM Global declined to comment.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh did not directly respond to questions about the sticker removal.

“The rally was in full compliance with local requirements. In addition, every rally attendee received a temperature check prior to admission, was given a face mask, and provided ample access to hand sanitizer,” Murtaugh said in an emailed statement.

In a separate statement, the campaign said: “There were signs posted and we are not aware of any campaign staff asking that they be removed.”

more https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/workers-removed-thousands-of-social-distancing-stickers-before-trumps-tulsa-rally-according-to-video-and-a-person-familiar-with-the-set-up/2020/06/27/f429c3be-b801-11ea-9b0f-c797548c1154_story.html

‘It’s a game changer’: California budget includes tax breaks for undocumented families

Undocumented immigrants with young children will now have a chance to get two tax breaks in the California budget now headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his expected signature.

The tax credits will be available to eligible California workers with Individual Tax Identification Numbers and at least one child under the age of 6. Currently, the California Earned Income Tax and Young Child Tax credits are available only to eligible California workers with Social Security Numbers.

Alissa Anderson, a policy analyst at the California Budget & Policy Center, said the budget provision is the first time the Senate, Assembly and governor have agreed to include the tax break for ITIN filers.

She credits the “growing momentum” from some California mayors, legislators, legislative caucuses and years of work from advocacy groups that made the tax breaks possible during a year in which the state budget faced a $54 billion deficit.

It’s possible the pandemic also played a role, she said.

“We have existing inequities in California, and the COVID crisis has just amplified those,” Anderson said. “We know that immigrants have been hit especially hard by the economic crisis. This crisis is really highlighting that there’s no time for inequitable policies.”

Republican Assemblyman Jay Obernolte of Big Bear Lake spoke against the proposal on Friday.

“I wish more of us were talking about the costs involved in this program,” he said. “This would be better done in a future year, especially when we are facing a $54 billion deficit.”

Expanding the earned income tax credit would cost $65 million, according to the state Legislative Analyst.

Noncitizen immigrants without Social Security Numbers were left out of federal stimulus packages and don’t qualify for unemployment insurance benefits. In April, Newsom announced an effort to provide disaster relief assistance to 150,000 undocumented Californians.

The tax breaks would benefit an estimated 32,000 to 46,000 families. Families with children over the age of six are excluded from the tax breaks, Anderson said.

A California Budget and Policy Center report notes that undocumented immigrants pay an estimated $3.2 billion in state and local taxes yearly in California. About $157.9 million of that is personal income tax.

“It’s a really big step, especially during a time of budget deficit,” said Sasha Feldstein, economic justice policy manager at the California Immigrant Policy Center. “Unfortunately, this is nowhere near enough.”

Feldstein said the tax expansion leaves out the majority of ITIN filers and continues to create economic disparities among them.

Feldstein said the tax expansion leaves out the majority of ITIN filers and continues to create economic disparities among them.

Many immigrant workers are on the front lines of the pandemic, she said, yet aren’t eligible for unemployment insurance and federal stimulus payments.

“They’ve been left with nothing while they’re continuing to be deemed essential,” Feldstein said.

She said the organization will continue fighting until every ITIN filer is eligible for the California Earned Income Tax Credit.

Unai Montes-Irueste, communications director for United Ways of California, called the the tax expansion “a major step forward.”

“It is going to mean a lot to those families, especially during this time, in which we’re suffering an economic downturn,” Montes-Irueste said. “It’s a game changer.”

In the last four years, California has expanded Medi-Cal to undocumented children and young adults. The coverage for young adults up to age 26 began in January this year.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243742367.html