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On Thursday, Aug. 25, President Joe Biden likened Republicans to fascists. Not all Republicans, he said, but primarily those unredeemably evil MAGA types that make up most of the party. Being primarily MAGA myself, I determined to examine the proposition: Am I a Fascist? Are my fellow MAGAs?

First, what is fascism? There seem to be several mostly confusing definitions, but common characteristic include:

Fascism is centered on the state with everything people, business, teachers, doctors, parents, children, etc. being expected to subordinate all other interests to the needs and interests of the state. There is no such thing as individual inalienable rights. One of the tenets of the MAGA movement is protection of individual rights by adherence to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. So MAGA cannot be considered fascist by this basic definition. Indeed, it is entirely anti-fascist.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration spends much time attacking rights as in gun control in violation of the Second Amendment; setting up truth panels, colluding with mainstream media and social media to control news, and attacking churches in violation of the First Amendment; authorizing illegal searches and seizures in violation of the Fourth Amendment; and issuing numerous presidential fiats as if he were king in violation of basic constitutional authority. It seems the Biden administration has a decidedly fascist tint. Fascism Score: Democrats 1, MAGA 0.

Economically, fascism allows for private ownership of property and business, but only insofar as business and property owners obey the dictates of the state. Thus, for example, in a fascist state business owners and individuals can be punished, restrained or shut down if they dont get a government-approved shot, or dont wear a government-approved mask, or have more than a government-approved number of guests in their home or church or protest a non-government-approved grievance. For years MAGA adherents have been standing against such government intrusions while Biden and his Democrat cronies have been imposing them. Fascism Score: Democrats 2, MAGA 0.

Fascism inevitably leads to economic malaise and failures. To cover such problems, the state must find a scapegoat to direct attention in another direction. For Nazi Germany in the 1930s the scapegoat was Jews. We are all familiar with the resulting tragedy of 6-plus-million lives lost. On Sept. 1, Biden, in a predictably fascist manner, came out to announce the scapegoat for his administration. In a speech reminiscent of those given by Adolph Hitler on a blood-hued stage of which Satan worshipers might be proud, Biden told us who we must blame and who we must hate. We should, he implied, turn our attention away from things like skyrocketing food and fuel prices, from a disaster in Afghanistan, from war in Ukraine for which he is arguably responsible, from shortages, from recession, from homosexual sex practices being taught in grade school along with Critical Race Theory and other subjects strongly disapproved by most parents, from Department of Justice and FBI attacks on parents as well as political enemies, from hordes of illegal aliens surging across our southern border, from 100,000 drug overdose deaths last year in our country, from 87,000 new armed IRS agents ready to harass us, and from crime running rampant in our cities. No, says Joe Biden, instead we should turn our attention to the real cause of the worlds difficulties, MAGA suppporters. They are an existential threat to democracy. They must occupy our attention. Fascism Score: Democrats 3, MAGA 0.

It should be obvious that Bidens pathetic, disingenuous, reprehensible attempt to smear MAGA with a fascist brush is an attempt to mask his own failures as elections approach. Voters should not be fooled. If things like runaway inflation and the many other ills caused directly by his administration are to their liking, they should vote for Democrats to continue the disaster. If not, they should vote Republican.

John Weaver

Valencia

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John Weaver | The Pot Calling the Kettle a Fascist - Santa Clarita Valley Signal

A small West Virginia police department, already under scrutiny for ratcheting up the number of traffic tickets issued, is now facing a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing it of not properly training officers to follow the law. The lawsuit also alleges Milton police officer Keith Higginbotham falsely arrested Caleb Dial and violated his rights by imprisoning him without probable cause in August of 2021.

The lawsuit was filed after Police Accountability Report published a story depicting Dials arrest. The story featured Ring doorbell camera footage that contradicted Higginbothams sworn statement that Dial had been yelling and pushing and was uncooperative during the arrest, which occurred outside Dials familys home. Higginbotham had responded to the residence after Dial called police following a dispute with his father.

The doorbell camera depicts Dial calmly complying with Higginbotham as the officer places him in handcuffs. However, Higginbotham wrote in his statement of probable cause that Dial became very agitated and kept on raising his voice at me. I asked him several times to calm down and then decided to detain him for officer safety.

To see the video, click here.

Furthermore, Higginbotham wrote, Dial became very irate and pushed me with his shoulder and tried to pull away from me. I asked him to calm down, quit yelling, and get into the cruiser. He got very aggressive once again and was trying to pull away. I asked one more time and then assisted him into my cruiser.

Again, doorbell camera footage appears to contradict the officers sworn statement. At the beginning of the interaction, the camera audio reveals that Dial calls Higginbotham sir, and when asked to turn around to be cuffed, Dial does so without conflict. The footage then shows Dial calmly walking towards the cruiser and Higginbotham putting him in the back seat without incident.

Prosecutors dropped charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after Dials lawyer submitted the Ring camera footage as evidence. The disparity between the officers statements and the video evidence is at the heart of the lawsuit.

But the lawsuit also goes beyond the individual actions of Higginbotham, and alleges the towns lack of proper training, and poor supervision, of officers precipitated Dials arrest.

Lawyers for Dial say Higginbotham violated Dials right to due process and protection from false imprisonment. The lawsuit cites roughly 10 actionable counts and seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.

But the lawsuit also goes beyond the individual actions of Higginbotham, and alleges the towns lack of proper training, and poor supervision, of officers precipitated Dials arrest.

The lawsuit accuses the city of training officers on searches and seizures that, on their face, violate the Fourth Amendment. The suit also claims the city should have known its lack of adequate training would result in false arrests.

The aforementioned defendants [the city of MIlton] implemented otherwise facially valid customs and policies in a manner such that constitutional violations were likely to be and were visited upon those inhabiting, visiting, or otherwise within the jurisdictional limits of Milton, West Virginia, including Mr. Dial.

The latter claim is consistent with the complaints shared with PAR by residents of Milton and the surrounding area. Motorists say they have been pulled over multiple times by police who stand watch on a nearby highway and at stop signs throughout the city. They also claim that Milton officers aggressively enforce traffic laws with the intent to increase the citys ability to assess finesan allegation backed up in part by the citys own financial records, which show roughly a tripling of fines and court fees since 2012.

In 2012, Milton collected roughly $234,000 in court fees and fines; its police department budget at the time was $484,000. Over the next decade, the fees and fines nearly tripled, reaching $600,000 in 2020, according to the official city budget report. Meanwhile, police spending nearly doubled to $1.1 million in 2019.

Lawyers representing Milton did not respond to the lawsuit by addressing the discrepancy between the video and Higginbothams charges directly, but by instead arguing that the veteran officer was not working in his official capacity for the city when the arrest occurred. They also stipulated that Higginbotham was entitled to qualified immunity from the suit, a legal precedent that holds public officials harmless for violating constitutional rights that are not established at the time of the incident. The legal precedent allows officers to avoid liability if they were unaware of the right in question at the time of the alleged violation.

An email requesting comment from the law firm representing the city was not returned.

Milton residents say they are all too familiar with the towns emphasis on aggressive policing.

Lynda Jenkins says she has been pulled over three times within the past year for a variety of reasons, including an incident in the nearby town of Barboursville where Higginbotham detained her over an outstanding warrant for passing a bad check. Jenkins told the officer she had already paid the debts and the warrant had been rescinded by the court. She suspects that aggressive tactics are the result of the city trying to bolster revenue through fines.

Jenkins told PAR: I couldnt understand why a Milton police officer would follow me all the way to Barboursville. I pulled over and it was officer Higginbotham. This is the third time he has pulled me over this year, and it has cost me hundreds in court costs and fines. I lost my car to the impound lot because I cant afford to get it out of the impound.

But her encounter also led to an arrest and to police posting her picture on the departments Facebook page, which has embarrassed her family, she told PAR.

The department has been criticized for posting pictures of arrestees on Facebook, subjecting them to ridicule and scorn prior to adjudication of their case. Jenkins said a post of her arrest has been shared dozens of times and received multiple negative comments.

The use of Facebook to publicize arrests was the subject of extensive reporting by Kyle Vass. Vass article focused on the suicide of Milton resident Jacob Napier shortly after he was arrested and his picture was posted on Facebook by the department.

Dials lawyers told PAR they hoped the suit would prompt the department to improve both training and supervision of police officers.

We look forward to helping Mr. Dial have his day in court, Bradley Dunkle, one of two attorneys representing Dial, said. Obviously, Mr. Dials life has been greatly impacted by these events. Thankfully Mr. Dials doorbell camera, unlike Officer Higginbothams report, accurately shows the August 27, 2021, events.

If the public has any additional evidence and information relating to this case, well gladly speak with them, he added.

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Lawsuit accuses West Virginia police department of training officers to use unconstitutional tactics - The Real News Network

During day four of the federal wrongful death trial for Andrew Joseph III, a law enforcement expert testified that Hillsborough County Sheriff deputies violated the U.S. Constitution and Florida State Law.

Melvin Tucker was called to the stand by the Joseph family legal team this afternoon. Hes a Navy veteran, former FBI agent and former police chief of several departments, including Tallahassee PD, where he spent 14 years as chief. He also has a Masters Degree in Public Administration and has taught criminal law at multiple universities, along with training hundreds of officers on policies and procedure.

The expert was there today to discuss the legality of HCSO conduct on the night Joseph died.

Tucker said that HCSO violated the constitution when deputies took Joseph into custody for running at the Florida State Fair on Feb. 7, 2014, then ejected him without evidence of the teenager committing a crime.

The expert was asked about the legality of Corporal Mark Clark detaining Joseph and passing him to other officers, who put him in an HCSO van and ejected him from the fair.

Tucker, who has testified in over 100 trials for both plaintiff and defense teams in the past, said HCSO deputies involved infringed on the constitution.

Its a Fourth Amendment violation, he said.

In the U.S. Constitution, the Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.

You cant detain someone for running, Tucker added.

The night Joseph died, Corporal Clark took Joseph into custody and claimed the 14-year-old committed disorderly conduct by running through the midway of the fair.

The child was not arrested that night, but ejected under the order of Clark and left by the side of Orient Road, about 100 yards south of I-4. He died after being hit by an SUV on the interstate while trying to find his way home. The Joseph family is demanding $30 million in damages.

During the trial, officer Clark has said he cant recall taking Joseph into custody that night. The defense for HCSO has also argued that it hasnt been proven that Joseph was taken into custody under Florida State Law.

But Florida State Statute 985 contradicts HCSOs argument. The law says that a child is considered taken into custody by law enforcement as soon as they are detained and not free to leavewhich applies to Josephs situation.

Tucker cited this state law and said that HCSO violated it.

And if Joseph was taken into custody, HCSO deputies were required to try to contact Josephs parents. There is currently no evidence that the sheriff deputies attempted to contact the Joseph family.

[Joseph] was in fact in custody, Tucker said. [HCSO] clearly failed to notify the parents.

Tucker added that the law also says a child should be turned over to a legal guardian or responsible adult after they are released from custody. But Joseph was instead left on the side of a busy road to fend for himself.

When asked if the officers involved in Josephs detainment had violated Florida State Statutes, Tucker said, Yes.

Earlier in the day, HCSO defense also butted heads with Judge Mary Scriven about the interpretation of multiple sections of Florida Statute 985.

In response to the defenses claim that Joseph had only been detained, but was not necessarily in custody, Scriven said that the state law is plain on its face.

The court believes that the child was in custody, Scriven said.

During questioning, Tucker made sure to explain that he was hired by the legal team for Josephs family. Hes reviewed all of the evidence in the case that was presented by the legal teams since 2016. Since that date, hes been paid a total of $9,000 for his expert input.

During cross examination, HCSO lawyers said Tucker had cited depositions from multiple witnesses that might not have been reliable, including HCSO officers.

Tucker responded that his role as expert witness is to examine the evidence and make his conclusions based on what is presented. HCSO defense also pointed out that in recent years, Tucker has been an expert for plaintiffs over 90% of the time.

Since the trial started earlier this week, Hillsborough Deputies have been caught telling conflicting stories, and Judge Scriven scolded the HCSO defense, telling the lawyers, You cant manufacture facts. One of the commanding officers has also said that individual deputies should be able to interpret laws at their own discretion.

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In Andrew Joseph III trial, expert testifies Hillsborough deputies violated constitution and state law - Creative Loafing Tampa

Several human rights organizations submitted a 31-page complaint to United Nations experts today, alleging that the United States is committing torture and violating the prohibition against racial discrimination by condemning people to death by incarceration through extreme sentences including life and life without possibility of parole (LWOP). The groups, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Drop LWOP Coalition and the Abolitionist Law Center, are urging the UN to call for the abolition of all death by incarceration sentences.

Death by incarceration is the devastating consequence of a cruel and racially discriminatory criminal legal system that is designed not to address harm, violence, and its root causes, but to satisfy the political pressure to be tough on crime, the complaint states.

The United States, a global outlier in its imposition of death by incarceration, condemns one out of every seven prisoners or more than 200,000 people to die in prison. Over two-thirds are people of color. Under international law, this amounts to torture and racial discrimination.

Extensive testimonials from people who are incarcerated or recently released from prison under extreme sentences are attached to the complaint. At the time of my arrest in 1995, I had no idea this country was at the height of a highly politicized and racist tough-on-crime movement that was swallowing up poor people of color by the thousands and decimating entire communities, wrote Felix Rosado, who served 27 years of his LWOP sentence before Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf commuted his sentence to lifetime parole in July.

Death by incarceration is a statement of condemnation against even the possibility that one can transcend their worst moment and be worthy of life outside a cage. Its a complete negation of ones inherent right to redemption, Rosado told Truthout in an email. As a hospice volunteer on the inside, I witnessed too many men take the last breaths of their death by incarceration sentences. I can think of few acts more barbaric than forcing a human being to die a slow, agonizing death in a cage.

Sheena King is serving a sentence of LWOP for a crime she committed when she was 18 years old. She has been incarcerated at SCI Muncy in Pennsylvania since 1992. These sentences of death by incarceration are disproportionately handed down to people of color, of limited education, with fewer resources and they have failed to make communities safer. Death by incarceration sentences have not reduced crime so they serve no real purpose and they create prison environments of hopelessness which is a danger in and of itself, King wrote in an email to Truthout. Without death by incarceration sentences, parole consideration would be a possibility for the corrigible. The recidivism rate of those who were paroled from death by incarceration sentences is lower than any other group of offenders.

Death by incarceration sentences, including life without parole, are inhumane and highlight the ineffectiveness of the United States criminal punishment system, Samah Sisay, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told Truthout. The U.S. should abolish death by incarceration sentences and ensure that the disproportionately Black and aging individuals serving these sentences are afforded the right to dignity, hope and redemption.

Black and Latinx people are disproportionately sentenced to death by incarceration nationwide, the complaint notes, finding significant racial disparities in rates of release and parole. It also cites considerable racial disparities at the charging and trial stages, which in turn impact sentencing.

The complaint references the Committee Against Tortures repeated recommendations that states abolish irreducible life sentences, including LWOP. The Committee Against Torture is the official body that administers the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the United States has ratified. When the U.S. ratifies a treaty, its mandates become part of domestic law under the Constitutions Supremacy Clause.

Both the Committee Against Torture and the UN special rapporteur on torture have recommended the abolition of LWOP for juveniles. The United States is the only country that allows the sentencing of youth to life without parole. In April 2021, the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court made it easier to sentence children to LWOP. Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted in her dissent to Jones v. Mississippi that 70 percent of all youth who are sentenced to LWOP were children of color.

After the public torture and execution of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, the International Commission of Inquiry on Systemic Racist Police Violence Against People of African Descent in the United States (for which I served as a rapporteur) issued a 188-page report. It documented racial profiling at every stage of the criminal legal system, which leads to violence and torture against Black people in the U.S.

The commission found that pretextual traffic stops are a common precursor to police killings and uses of excessive force against people of African descent. Race-based street stops, also called stop-and-frisk, often trigger the use of deadly force by police against Black people. The commission concluded that Fourth Amendment violations lead to the use of excessive force and police killings of Black people. In addition, police routinely use excessive and lethal restraints against people of African descent. They include Tasers, chokeholds, compression asphyxia, rough rides and the use of vehicles as deadly weapons.

On August 30, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination documented several violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by the United States, which is a party to that treaty. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination cited racial profiling by law enforcement and the paucity of legislation explicitly prohibiting the practice.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was concerned at the brutality and use of excessive or deadly force by law enforcement officials against members of racial and ethnic minorities, including against unarmed individuals, which has a disparate impact on people of African descent, Indigenous Peoples, persons of Hispanic/Latino origin and Asian descent, and undocumented migrants.

Moreover, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concluded that racial and ethnic minorities are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. The Committee cited their disproportionate arrest, incarceration, solitary confinement and harsher sentences including life without parole and the death penalty.

In the United States, people of color are charged with the death penalty, sentenced to death and executed in disproportionate numbers compared to white people. The methods of putting people to death amount to torture. A judge in South Carolina recently found that death by electric chair is like being burned alive and death by firing squad is tantamount to torture.

Brutal physical torture was used almost exclusively against Black suspects in Chicago during the 20-year reign of terror beginning in 1972, under police commander Jon Burge, attorney Flint Taylor of the Peoples Law Office in Chicago wrote in an email to Truthout. This state terror was sanctioned at the highest levels of the Chicago Police Department, the Cook County States Attorneys Office, and the Office of Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Taylor, who has been involved in the fight against police torture for 35 years, said, Some of the torture techniques applied in Chicago jails included electric shock, dry submarino (hanged upside down with the head inside a container full of water, feces, urine, etc.) with typewriter covers and plastic bags, mock executions, and all manner of beatings with nightsticks and rubber hoses focused on the genitals.

In response, lawyers, torture survivors and their family members, investigative journalists and an intergenerational and interracial movement of activists and community members have fought a 40-year battle to expose and combat this reign of terror, Taylor explained. They took the issue to the Committee Against Torture, which responded by linking Chicago police torture to torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantnamo in its 2015 report.

The activists won a remarkable package of reparations for 60 torture survivors the first of its kind from the City of Chicago, Taylor noted. However, the fight for those torture survivors who remain behind bars due to coerced confessions, as well as many other predominately persons of color who have been, and continue to be, subjected to all forms of physical and psychological torture continues to this day in Chicago and throughout the U.S.

In 2011, the UN special rapporteur on torture called for a prohibition on solitary confinement beyond 15 days. Solitary confinement, which could amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, violates the Convention Against Torture, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which the U.S. has also ratified.

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons, Fyodor Dostoyevsky famously wrote in House of the Dead. The systemic racism and torture that permeates the U.S. criminal legal system exemplifies how cruel the United States really is.

Fortunately, activists and human rights organizations around the country, including the anti-death by incarceration coalition, anti-torture activists in Chicago, the Black Lives Matter movement and abolitionists, are organizing to stop these racist and harmful practices.

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Human Rights Groups Urge UN to Call for Abolition of Death by Incarceration - Truthout

Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement

On September 14, 2022, Oportun Financial Corporation (the "Company") enteredinto a Credit Agreement (the "Credit Agreement") with the Company, as borrower,certain affiliates of Neuberger Berman Specialty Finance as lenders, andWilmington Trust, National Association, as administrative agent and collateralagent, pursuant to which the Company borrowed $150 million of senior securedterm loans (the "Loans").

The Loans bear interest, payable in cash, at an amount equal to 1-month termSOFR plus 9.00%. The Loans are scheduled to mature on September 14, 2026, andare not subject to amortization. Certain prepayments of the Loans are subject toa prepayment premium.

The obligations under the Credit Agreement are secured by the assets of theCompany and certain of its subsidiaries guaranteeing the Loans, includingpledges of the equity interests of certain subsidiaries that are directly orindirectly owned by the Company, subject to customary exceptions.

The Credit Agreement contains financial covenants requiring the maintenance ofminimum liquidity of $50 million (with a minimum of $40 million held in accountssubject to a perfected security interest) and a minimum asset coverage ratio of1.50 to 1.00, each measured as of the last day of each month, together withother customary affirmative and negative covenants (including reportingrequirements), representations and warranties and events of default. The CreditAgreement also contains certain terms whereby the lenders under the CreditAgreement may require the Company to borrow additional Loans, at such time thatthe asset coverage ratio would be at least 2.00 to 1.00 on a pro forma basis,for the purpose of redeeming in full the asset-backed notes and asset-backedresidual certificates issued by Oportun RF, LLC, pursuant to the Indenture datedas of December 20, 2021, as amended.

In connection with the entry into the Credit Agreement, the Company amendedcertain provisions of its personal loan and credit card warehouse facilities(the "Warehouse Facilities"). On September 14, 2022, Oportun PLW Trust, asborrower, Oportun PLW Depositor, LLC, as depositor, Oportun, Inc., as seller,Wilmington Trust, National Association, as collateral agent, paying agent,securities intermediary and depositary bank and the financial institutions fromtime to time party thereto as lenders, entered into the Fourth Amendment to theLoan and Security Agreement (the "PLW Amendment"). On September 14, 2022,Oportun CCW Trust, as issuer, Wilmington Trust, National Association, asindenture trustee, securities intermediary and depositary bank, entered into theThird Amendment to Indenture (the "CCW Amendment") (the CCW Amendment, togetherwith the PLW Amendment, the "Warehouse Amendments"). The Warehouse Amendmentsinclude amendments to the change in control provisions to allow for liens on theequity of certain subsidiaries of the Company to be permitted under theWarehouse Facilities. The Warehouse Amendments also add provisions that giverise to an event of default and a rapid amortization event under the WarehouseFacilities upon the occurrence of an event of default under the CreditAgreement.

The foregoing descriptions of the Credit Agreement and the Warehouse Amendmentsdo not purport to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by referenceto the text of the Credit Agreement and Warehouse Amendments, copies of whichwill be filed as exhibits to the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Item 2.03. Creation of a Direct Financial Obligation or an Obligation under anOff-Balance Sheet Arrangement of a Registrant

The disclosure provided in Item 1.01 of this Current Report on Form 8-K ishereby incorporated by reference into this Item 2.03.

Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure

On September 15, 2022, the Company issued a press release announcing the closingof the Credit Agreement described in Item 1.01 above. A copy of the pressrelease is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1.

The information provided pursuant to this Item 7.01, including the press releaseattached hereto as Exhibit 99.1, is being furnished and shall not be deemed"filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, asamended (the "Exchange Act"), or otherwise subject to the liabilities under thatSection and shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into any filing of theCompany under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act,except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in any such filing.The furnishing of the information provided pursuant to this Item 7.01 is notintended to, and does not, constitute a determination or admission by theCompany that the information provided pursuant to this Item 7.01 is material orcomplete, or that investors should consider such information before making aninvestment decision with respect to any security of the Company.

Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits

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OPORTUN FINANCIAL CORP : Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement, Creation of a Direct Financial Obligation or an Obligation under an Off-Balance...