Yep. Last night the New England Police Benevolent Association endorsed Donald Trump for President. The NEPBA is the umbrella association for police unions primarily located in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Given their track record of supporting Republicans Charlie Baker and Scott Brown, it is no surprise they swung their support towards a Republican.
But of course we know that Trump is not your everyday Republican. It is quite disturbing the NEPBA has besmirched the reputations of good public safety personnel by aligning them with the values represented by Donald Trump. On the other hand, there are scores of police officers that support Trump’s agenda, as evidenced by the overwhelming positive response he received from a roomful of UNION MEMBERS last night in Portsmouth, NH.
Shameful, just shameful.
…and my reaction was, Am I really seeing this?
These are the same people we’ve been flooding with high-powered weapons, ammunition, assault vehicles and everything else.
I want to ask again — given this behavior — who are the real terrorists among us, here in Massachusetts?
A common practice, today, of local PDs, including Somerville, is to videotape the crowd of spectators that gather around every major fire. Those videotapes are captured and submitted to automated image recognition software that compares it with, for example, databases of drivers license photos and passport photos. The result is that the PD maintains a list of people who gather around fires.
I get that arsonists often watch the fires they set, and these practices help the PD identify and apprehend arsonists. I want to know what happens to these lists afterwards. That image recognition software is not perfect — false matches do happen.
I’m simply not sure how many of us realize how extensive our surveillance state already is, and how little access, transparency, or control we have over it. I don’t think I’m being “paranoid” to be disturbed by large numbers of those who DO have ready and immediate access to these surveillance databases being so openly supportive of the utterances of Donald Trump.
Who is more likely to terrorize one of us, a loved one, or a friend — somebody on the “suspected terrorist list” or a uniformed gun-toting Donald Trump supporter?
…sometimes those attending peace/anti-war rallies are nominated for Terror lists by police using exactly this technology.
…that I’ve never been able to get worked up about in public. If I’m doing something outside, like watching a fire, I don’t feel like I have any expectation of privacy. There could be private cell phone videos or security cameras present too that could capture my likeness. If the police discover I was there and they go about questioning witnesses then I might be one of them, but I’m not sure why I should care if they know. I’m pretty sure police don’t charge everyone who shows up with arson.
In my view, there is a difference between being seen in a crowd, even recognized by police, and being photographed, that photograph matched against a database, and ALL of my personal information ending up at the fingertips of anyone who ends up browsing a “suspect arsonists” database.
False matches also occur when the faces at an event like this are matched with databases such as the registry of motor vehicles or the federal passport databases. The fact that you weren’t at the event does NOT mean that you won’t end up in the “suspected arsonists” database (perhaps even matched against the actual arsonist) — the matching software might hit YOU instead of the arsonist when the initial match from crowd video is performed.
You mention private security cameras. Those images are already frequently obtained by police, and the same matching software is already frequently applied to the resulting images.
Don’t forget the license-matching software than can read even grainy images of your registration plate and match it to your vehicle. This is also routinely used by local PDs in Massachusetts TODAY.
It is completely possible for government authorities to mine already-existing databases (such as cell records of what tower your cellphone is connected to and what GPS coordinates your phone emits) and obtain detailed information about everywhere you go for days or weeks. This is not hard, it doesn’t require effort or time. It mostly requires credentials to access the information and knowledge of the commands needed to access it.
Are you REALLY comfortable with such information about you in the hands of anybody (even contractors like Edward Snowden) with the required credentials and knowledge?
It isn’t the investigative work of one or two detectives that concerns me. It is adding my PII to a statewide or nationwide database because I happened to walk by a fire scene on my way home from work.
It is not constructive to speak of “charging everyone who shows up with arson”, that isn’t what we’re discussing. We are instead discussing the consequences of ending up in these databases, specifically as a result of mass surveillance, with ZERO ability to even know you are there, zero oversight, zero ability to challenge false identification, and so on.
If I am not in the database, I cannot be falsely matched against a photo of an arsonist from some other source. The mere presence of my information, or yours, in that database GREATLY multiplies (as in infinitely greatly) the risk of false arrest.
We already know that various agencies “share” information culled from these databases, so that databases collected by mass surveillance are being used to, for example, pursue drug investigations.
This is not about charging everybody with arson. This is about exposing innocent people to police harassment.
This is about whether or not the Fourth Amendment means ANYTHING today.
…about showing up in some database somewhere along with everybody else. The moment they actually want to charge me with something I’ll be sure to say show me the evidence and get me a lawyer. The fourth amendment forbids search and seizure of private property and communications without a warrant. I see nothing about surveilling an appearance in public that contradicts that. Some of what you describe I WANT law enforcement to have access to for doing their jobs and also can imagine scenarios where it could HELP me.
or in this case LOONEY right-wing birds of a feather stick together.
It was disappointing but not unexpected. The truth is that Trump and his supporters are exposing the dark, dangerous,nightmares of our culture that,up until now, we have been able to keep in check.
But like Jefferson said about the evil of slavery, when I reflect that there is a just God, I too, tremble for my country.
I can only hope that we destroy neo-Fascist evil here and around the world and give voice to the better angels of our nature.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
Why do so many working class constituencies abandon the Democrats? Is dismissing them as racists enough to win elections and build the kind of coalitions we need to actually govern the country?
Here is a prescient piece I discovered by happenstance, written by Jack Newfield over 40 years ago in New York magazine. Sub Hillary for Humphrey and Wallace for Trump and it basically fits the mood of our times as well. We need a broad based, class based, populism that transcends racial divisions and focuses on what unites us and what separates us from the corporate beltway class governing Washington and Wall Street.
Teachers have made great strides in embracing fair outside assessments and accountability in their unions, it is high time the police do the same. Every cop I know personally is a good guy, but all of these murderers with a badge are besmirching their entire profession-especially when they close ranks behind them rather than close ranks outside them.
As the post itself notes, only the New England police union is endorsing Trump. There are a lot of other unions in the state, and I haven’t heard that any of them are supporting Trump yet. As the post also correctly notes, the police union does not share the political views of most other unions. But a lot of people don’t read past headlines, and may, in this case, draw a conclusion from it that all unions in Massachusetts are endorsing Trump.
…that some unions in Mass ARE behind Trump…which is the case. Note the headline does NOT read ALL unions. As for people who do not read past a headline, they will always live in ignorance and there is little I can do about it.
“Police unions endorse Donald Trump.” That would be more accurate, but perhaps less seemingly shocking.
1) Yes, I wrote it to create attention. But it is as accurate.
2) And some of the attention I meant to get was and is from other unions. This crap from the NEPBA is a stain not just to the public safety community, the unions, but also the people of Massachusetts. We should all be embarrassed about this, not making apologies that “it’s the cops, not all unions” or “it’s not all cops”.
Who was it now that said, “we have met the enemy and it is us?”. Making excuses about word usage to soften the blow is weak. There are a-holes in our mist (the NEPBA). They are from Massachusetts and they call themselves union members. They are a stain on our state and all union members. Let’s stop making excuses for their behavior and shame them. The other unions in the state should condemn them and use any legal means to call them out and disassociate themselves from them.
So I write again:
Massachusetts Unions Endorse Trump. You may not like it, but you know the “other side” is pushing that out as propaganda. Stop making lawyerly excuses about what it is or not.
The progressives on the seacoast know how to make a protest fun!
Here is the link…editors can you please explain how to either embed video or explain why in 2015 we can’t embed video?
https://youtu.be/7LAFeA6eKpA
…is it me or wordpress? Sometime’s I’m able to embed in wordpress (DailyKos) and others not. Any insights?
There’s no mystery here.
This is a protection issue, I’ve reported it multiple times starting years ago. Editors have the permissions, the rest of us do not.
This is a settings issue involving iframes. There are good reasons to not allow it (such as opening the door to the spam that is also more frequent on other wordpress sites).
Perhaps the editors could help by first getting on the same page with each other about this, and then by clarifying the BMG posture in some public place.
Participants cannot embed iframe videos because the BMG protection settings prohibit that feature for participants. Editors can embed iframe videos because the same BMG protection settings allow that feature for editors.
Unless and until that policy is changed, that’s how BMG will work.
ST
Added to the “Rules” section: “Note: At present, users cannot embed iframe videos. Editors can embed iframe videos and will do this on request as practicable.”
I would like to give a little context. Some of us are VERY familiar with Jerry Flynn and his organization. I’m stealing from my Facebook post a little, with modifications. (Why write stuff twice??) 🙂
First, Jerry Flynn and his umbrella police “union” (it’s not really much more than a group that helps its members with legal issues, and we can all guess what that means) are a very small group of aholes who do not speak for New England police even though they pretend to.
Flynn, a known bigot and former Lowell cop and HUGE loudmouth, spearheaded the despicable intimidation protests against Governor Patrick (“Dump Deval”) and against Obama. He hates immigrants and, apparently, black politicians. He lives to be in the news with his hate filled activism. I witnessed first hand his group’s intimidation tactics at local events. His big beef as I recall with his stupid anti-Patrick campaign was in-state tuition for undocumented kids who went to Massachusetts schools (and as you all know would still not qualify for public aid of any kind). And of course the flagman issue, etc etc ad nauseam. He is VERY MUCH right in Donald Trump’s camp on immigration and banning Muslims sounds EXACTLY what he’d want his president to do. Google Jerry Flynn Obama. Etc etc.
When I say not all police, this time, it really means that. The membership of this org did NOT vote for this endorsement, it only required the executive board, behind closed doors. I confirmed this fact in several articles in local news orgs that I read.
When I said intimidation, I really mean it. Some of you might have been at the Deval Patrick reelection event in Chelmsford where Flynn and his hateful allies screamed in the Governor’s face like big, burly, nasty little children. I came a little late to the event and witnessed it – and I felt really unsafe in that parking lot. (To Deval’s credit he stood there, not backing down but listening to them like they actually were legitimate constituents and not bullies.)
From their website, looks like their stated purpose (when Flynn is not using his connections to scream in Deval Patrick’s face) is to intervene in legal matters on behalf of members.
So, this org does NOT represent its reported 5,000 members. It represents a very VERY small group of Executive Board members who voted to do this. Flynn loves the spotlight and to pretend that he’s a much bigger deal than he is, and seems to love getting in the papers. Well, he got his national spotlight, didn’t he?
http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/12/10/new-england-police-union-endorses-donald-trump
This was a North Korean style “endorsement” where all candidates were invited to to be considered for endorsement (including the Dems). BUT only candidates that appeared before the Executive Committee were eligible to get the endorsement.
Any guesses how many candidates…err, candidate…showed up for an “interview”? Yup.
Also the Portsmouth Herald reported that Flynn and 4 members of the EC traveled to NYC last month to meet with Trump…probably for 10 minutes and then they used union dues to have a ball in the city.
Also, I think Trump’s rally in Tynsborough a couple of months ago played into this. Trump had all the police departments up on stage, blowing kissing to them…no doubt Flynn and his buddies were part of that.
More on Flynn, here he is on Fox (surprise) calling out Obama for speaking at a Labor Day breakfast and not speaking out about all the cops killed in the line of duty…https://youtu.be/ng5EtrIEw1s (please, no need to embed this one.)
Even more meaningless than even I thought.
And this guy’s in every newspaper and blog across the country.
He’s going to be more insufferable than ever, if that’s even possible. Police groups across the country ought to distance themselves from Flynn’s group, he’s done a huge amount of damage to the reputation of police in New England and across the country with this. It only makes their job that much harder.
What a reprehensible human being that man is.
Candidates too often play it safe and only accept invitations where they can preach to the choir. I believe the Christian Coalition and NRA both routinely invite all candidates to address them, as does the NAACP on the other side of the spectrum. Personally, I WOULD go to the two former if invited and depending on which side of bed I woke up on that morning my speech might really take it to them on their own turf or propose areas on which we may find common ground.
Their headline: “Donald Trump Wins Major Police Endorsement After Promising The Death Penalty For Killing An Officer”
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/12/11/3731055/donald-trump-police-union-endorsement/
NO IT IS NOT A MAJOR POLICE ENDORSEMENT. They boast 5,000 members but this org is literally, so far as I can tell, like the fecking AAA. You join, pay your dues, and get a benefit if you need legal help. That appears to be IT. But Flynn uses his position there to push his way around like he’s someone who matters. UGH.
God if the dude didn’t have an ego before…well this’ll push it over the edge…he must be having fits of ecstasy today.
That’s not the case. They are a real union — I believe AFL-CIO affiliated — that represents cops and corrections officers. As you may know, the Lowell cops dropped the NEPBA after Flynn made some questionable comments on Facebook about a city Councillor.
For those that don’t know who this reprehensible guys is, check out his Twitter feed. Between post about Boston sports teams and sucking up to Dennis and Callahan, he posts some truly disgusting things. It’s unbelievable that he represents officers of many races and still gets away with spewing his ignorance.
real union. They are eligible to act as a union, but it’s unclear what, if any, locals they represent. That’s not how you build a union.
We have a woman in Western Massachusetts who runs the Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce. They have two members–one is her husband’s company. She ran for state rep. It turned out her income from the organization was $12,000. She lost the race and now works for the Baker Administration.
And continue the excellent commentary.
of union. They don’t tend to feel any solidarity with other unions. With that said, there is something fishy about this union, and some locals are not shy about bullying tactics when it suits their purposes.
Lynne is on the right track. Who belongs to it? MassCOPS represents cops in 152 municipalities. Mass Police represent a bunch more. The Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition would seem to represent more. These clowns represented some officers in Lowell and got booted due to executive asshat Jerry Flynn’s politics. Flynn was a Lowell Police officer and a President of their Patrolmen’s Union.
Too many liberal websites unfamiliar with labor have been touting this story from what seems like some sort of organization. Most, if not all, local unions are affiliated with a larger union, which lists its members. These guys list zero membership. They may be trying to build a police union, but it is extremely suspicious that this union lists no members. Flynn and this “union” do have a record of protests against Obama and for Republicans. Google them. Suggest title and post get changed to put the truth out on the internet. There is no record of what their sock puppetitude.
The website is filled with assorted sock puppet content including news stories about police departments that make no mention of them being member unions, and links that aren’t particularly useful. They also call themselves “the fastest growing police union.”
He was a central actor in the Vanessa Dixon affair. Flynn was one of the yahoos whose boorish actions towards a female officer, Dixon, led to a $2.2M finding in her favor.
As an aside, former NAGE/IBPO chief, and one-time walking monument to graft and bigotry, Ken Lyons was involved in that sordid little bit of history as well. Flynn very well may speak for what remains of the Lyons wing of our police unions, aka the Mondays wing. It’s a shrinking percentage of our overall police membership, but it’s assuredly larger than we’d like.