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Dispatches from the Culture Wars - Never-ending Battle Edition

Portside
Thailand Police Raptured Away in Solidarity; Big Food Portrays Itself As Anti-Big Food; A Plan to Save the Detroit Institute of Art Might Also Save Detroit's Pensions; JP Chase Morgan Reads Reverend Billy the Riot Act; The Phony Philanthropy of eBay's Billionaire Pierre Omidyar; Subtext of Super Heroes is Fascism.

The Over-Policing of America

Chase Madar TomDispatch
American over-policing involves far more than the widely reported up-armoring of your local precinct. It’s also the way police power has entered the DNA of social policy, turning just about every sphere of American life into a police matter.

Landmark Decision: Judge Rules NYPD Stop and Frisk Practices Unconstitutional, Racially Discriminatory

Center for Constitutional Rights
In a landmark decision today, a federal court found the New York City Police Department's highly controversial stop-and-frisk practices unconstitutional. Today is a victory for all New Yorkers. After more than 5 million stops conducted under the current administration, hundreds of thousands of them illegal and discriminatory, the NYPD has finally been held accountable. It is time for the City to stop denying the problem and work with the community to fix it.

We Want Our City Back: What's at Stake in the Floyd v. City of New York Trial

Annette Dickerson Amsterdam News
On March 18, a historic case against the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program will commenced in a Manhattan federal courtroom. Floyd v. City of New York is part of a citywide movement to end this shameful, massive violation of rights and to help bring about the day when all New Yorkers will be treated by their government as equally entitled to walk the streets of their city without harassment.

New York's Police Union Worked With the NYPD to Set Arrest and Summons Quotas

Ross Tuttle The Nation
Audio obtained by The Nation confirms an instance of New York City's police union cooperating with the NYPD in setting arrest quotas for the department's officers. Critics of quotas say the practice has played a direct role in increasing the number of stop-and-frisk encounters since Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to office. Patrolmen explained the pressure to meet quota goals has caused some officers to seek out or even manufacture arrests to avoid department retaliation.
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