By David Rutter

If modern medical science prevails and I do my part by looking both ways before crossing the street, there is some chance I will get to be 75.
The age. Not the speed.
In fact, the science of predictable death forecasting assesses that I have a 62 percent chance at this moment of reaching 80, and a worth-the-bet chance of making it to 90.
If you statistically excluded childhood deaths and those who step in front of a truck, I can hit 100 without a sweat.
Because I have never had a 62 percent chance of anything good happening to me, I consider these odds are, to turn a phrase, literally a mortal lock.
But reaching for some statistical finish line is not the point.
What do you want out of life when you are 75?
I want to be “ANTIFA provocateur” Martin Gugino, the witness-for-justice Buffalo peace activist, who somehow tricked riot police into pushing him down, bashing his head on the pavement and letting his brain fluids gush out.

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Posted on June 9, 2020

By Sophia Cope and Adam Schwartz/The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Like the rest of the world, we are horrified by the videos of George Floyd’s murder. Once again, police brutality was documented by brave bystanders exercising their First Amendment rights. Their videos forcefully tell a painful truth that has further fueled a movement to demand an end to racism and abuse of power by police officers.
Recordings of police officers, whether by witnesses to an incident with officers, individuals who are themselves interacting with officers, or by members of the press, are an invaluable tool in the fight for police accountability. Often, it’s the video alone that leads to disciplinary action, firing, or prosecution of an officer.
This post provides some practical tips to record the police legally and safely, and explains some of the legal nuances of recording the police.

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Posted on June 9, 2020

By David Rutter

As an angry, old, white man, I will give this country one more chance with the clear understanding that I might just walk out the door and never return.
America is pissing me off. Seriously.

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Posted on June 4, 2020

By Liz Szabo/Kaiser Health News

In cities across the country, police departments have attempted to quell unrest spurred by the death of George Floyd by firing rubber bullets into crowds, even though five decades of evidence shows such weapons can disable, disfigure and even kill.
In addition to rubber bullets – which often have a metal core – police have used tear gas, flash-bang grenades, pepper spray gas and projectiles to control crowds of demonstrators demanding justice for 46-year-old George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck, while other officers restrained his body. Some peaceful demonstrations have turned violent, with people smashing windows, setting buildings afire and looting stores.
The use by police of rubber bullets has provoked outrage, as graphic images have flashed on social media showing people who have lost an eye or suffered other injuries after being hit.

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Posted on June 3, 2020

By The Chicago Council of Lawyers & Chicago Appleseed

The Chicago Council of Lawyers was founded in 1969 by local lawyers, still reeling from the prior year’s Democratic National Convention, who were concerned about the fundamentally unfair policies and practices prevailing in Chicago and across the country.
This weekend, nearly 700 people were arrested during protests against police brutality in Chicago.
In the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in Minneapolis and Louisville, respectively, several sources have shared horrifying accounts of CPD officers pepper-spraying apparently peaceful protestors and known journalists, pushing people to the ground and beating them with batons, ramming crowds with police vehicles, assaulting reporters, and much more.

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Posted on June 2, 2020