Coved-19 Happy And Sad Again: Animal Edition

Desperate monkeys look for food in Lopburi, Thailand. Tourists would
always feed them, but now they're gone, chased home by the
coronavirus. Locals have been trying to help by leaving food out
for at least some of them. 

From what I've read, most animals don't get the coronavirus that is alarming everybody around the world right now.

That doesn't mean the disease has no effect on them. After all, anything that happens to humans can affect animals.

I have two of no doubt zillions of examples in this post.

First, the sad.

One of the charms of Lopburi, Thailand is the thousands of monkeys that roam the streets and buildings and temples in the region.

It turns out the monkeys' main supply of food is tourists, who kindly give them treats as they visit. The coronavirus has dried up tourism everywhere, including Thailand.

Now, the monkeys are incredibly hungry. They're viciously fighting each other over food, and running around in gangs through town, frightening people.

Locals have begun leaving food out for the monkeys to help get them through this crisis.

Now the (relatively) happy:

Wellington the penguin checks out the fish tanks at the Shedd Aquarium
in Chicago. The aquarium is closed to the human public due to the
coronavirus, so animals living there were given tours. 

The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, like so many other attractions is closed to the public while we try to whether the coronavirus pandemic.

Well, somebody's got to tour the place, so why not let the penguins there have a look-see, since humans aren't currently in the way.  I'm very partial to penguins, by the way, so this is my kind of story.

"Without guests in the building, caretakers are getting creative in how they provide enrichment to animals.....introducing new experiences, activities, foods and more to keep them active, encourage them to explore, problem-solve and express natural behaviors," aquarium officials told the Chicago Tribune. 

One penguin, named Wellington, seemed particularly fascinated by the fish.

We all need distractions like this to get us through what I'm calling the plague weeks.

Here's a clip from CBS News about the penguims:

Randy Rainbow's Newest Video Has Him Channeling How "Chicago" Relates To Trump

Randy Rainbow dropped his latest video today. Enjoy
this version of "Cell Block Tango."

As always, when Randy Rainbow comes up with a new parody video, I have to note the occasion, which is what I'm doing today.

This might be his best one yet, which is saying something. It's a version of "Cell Block Tango" from "Chicago."

Rainbow's version is "The Donald Trump Cell Block Tango."   You should probably see and hear the Chicago "Cell Block Tango" for reference first, then go on to Randy Rainbow's take.

Unlike a list of men the women in Chicago's "Cell Block Tango" knocked off, Rainbow gives us a who's who of Trump sycophants who are now in trouble, or soon to be in trouble. It's a long list and it's a wonder Rainbow managed to edit things down for his video.

Rainbow knows the Trump list is long, so he has a subtitle to his video "Part One, Probably."

Rainbow does get his digs in, like when he notes Roger Stone was "indicted on multiple counts, including lying, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and lacking basic fashion sense."

You'll have to see and hear the rest. Some of the visuals in the video are priceless.

Here ya go!

Tamir Rice Ambulance Billing FIasco: City Won't Seek Money From Family After All

The city of Cleveland is suing the family of
Tamir Rice, trying to claw back  $500
ambulance bill for the kid after the city's police
 fatally shot him. 

UPDATE: 

The Mayor of Cleveland finally responded to this mess and says this whole thing was a mixup.

And more importantly, Tamir Rice's family won't be billed for the ambulance after all.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said the bill had been previously canceled, but the executor of the Tamir Rice estate had they needed a copy of the billing statement to deal with Medicaid paperwork.

This made it look like the Rice family was being billed, but that wasn't the intention,  Jackson said.

He added that the city would look at its procedures so this doesn't happen again.

To me, this looks like it could be classic backpedaling by the city, but of course I can't prove that. The most important thing is the Rice family won't be hounded to pay this bill

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

Pretty much everybody hates what happened with Tamir Rice, the 12 year old kids in Cleveland who was gunned down by police in 2014.

Cleveland Police shot Tamir after he was seen playing with what looked liked a gun, but was a replica in a Cleveland Park.

A grand jury did not indict the officers who shot the kid, but Tamir's family is suing the city, in part because officers did not give him any emergency aid after he was shot.

An FBI agent, then an ambulance crew eventually showed up and tried to save him, but were not able to.

Now, his family was just slapped with a $500 past-due notice for the ambulance ride Tamir got after he was shot.

Says Cleveland Scene:

"'That the city would submit a bill and call itself a creditor after having had its own police officers slay 12-year-old Tamir displays a new pinnacle of callousness and insensitivity,' of of Rice's family attorneys, Subodh Chandra, told Scene this afternooon. 'This kind of poor judgement that it takes to do such a thing is nothing short of breathtaking. Who on earth would think this is a good idea and file this on behalf of the city? This adds insult to homicide.'"

I'll tell you who would do this:  Somebody in the city wanted to send a message to anybody who would object to police shooting any young black teen or man. Anywhere.

So they try to make it as horrible for Rice's family as possible. To tell the rest of the black community nationwide: If we white officers shoot your black teenager, shut up about it. Don't make a stink. And for God's sake don't do the Black Lives Matter thing.

Cleveland.com reported that no city officials would comment so far on the ambulance bill. The city told other media outlets it doesn't comment on pending litigation, which is of course a weasly way out.

That's typical too. The Mafia doesn't exactly fall all over itself responding to media requests.

I'm obviously not saying most cities or police agencies act like the Mob. The overwhelming majority do not. I shouldn't even have to say it, it's so obvious, but to a few, the attitude is if you criticize one aspect of police work in one community, you hate all police.

In this case, it's not the Cleveland Police union that's instigating this latest outrage. The union president, Steve Loomis, sharply criticized the city for billing Rice's family for the ambulance, and found rare agreement with Chandra.

Note that Loomis called Rice an adult in a kids body who caused his own death. That he would blast the city for sending the ambulance bill definitely says something

Television station Fox 8 in Cleveland, quoted Loomis saying this:

"'Subodh Chandra and I have never agreed on anything until now. It is unconscionable that the City of Cleveland would send that bill to the Rice familu. Truly disappointing but unfortunately not surprising."

Still, it's extremely disturbing that when somebody rightfully objects to moments when white police officers kill black people when it's apparent said black person is not an immediate threat, somebody retaliates against those who complain. Like the Mafia.

It's happened before, just recently.

Chicago Police officer Robert Rialmo sued the family of Quintonio LaGrier for $10 million last week.  LaGrier was a mentally ill teen who police shot after LaGrier's father called police during the disturbance. During that incident, police also shot and killed a downstairs neighbor.

Rialmo says the shooting, and a wrongful death lawsuit the LaGrier family filed, has caused him "emotional trauma."

Poor thing.

Rialmo's suit says LaGrier swung a baseball bat at him several times, just missing him. So, according to the suit, it was LaGrier's fault that he died.

Rialmo's attorney, Joel Brodsky said the fact that LaGrier's family filed a lawsuit so quickly makes Rialto want to point out that "having a relative killed in an officer-involved shoting is not the same thing as winning the lottery."

Yeah, I'm sure that's whaty LaGrier's father called the cops. He saw an opportunity to win the lottery.

Maybe LaGrier's family should sue again, for the emotional distress of having Rialto act like the thug he apparently is.

Guy In Jeep Decides He's NOT Going To Get Towed

A White Jeep was illegally parked outside a Chicago Walgreens. A tow truck dutifully showed up to remove the offender.

The driver was still in the Jeep, though. And he managed to score a victory. Watch:

Chicago Police Apparently Has Their Own Guantanamo

Homan Square in Chicago. Kind of
a Chicago Police Guantanamo Bay. Probably
very unconstitutional. Will it be stopped?  

I've long been suspicious of heavy military equipment owned and operated by local police.

You know, tanks, missile launchers, all that kind of stuff that risks blurring the line between protecting and serving the public and turning areas to tense military zones.

But if a bombshell article in The Guardian is true, I had no idea it was this bad.

It turns out the city of Chicago has what amounts to its own Guantamano, a secret interrogation compound called Homan Square, which the Guardian called the "domestic equivalent of a CIA black box."

That means family or attorneys could not find people who might have been in there, people spent days inside shackled, sometimes beaten, and almost always denied basic Constitutional rights.

The horrifying Guardian article details the following:

"Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases.
Beating by police resulting in head wounds
Shackling for prolonged periods
Denying attorneys access to the "secure" facility
Holding people without legal cousel for between 12 and 24 hours including people as young as 15"

The Guardian said at least one person was found unresponsive in Homan Square and later died.

Not surprisingly, the Guardian said Chicago Police Department officials would not respond to any of the newspaper's questions.

It appears Homan Square has been operating since the late 1990s, but it's been so secretive that there's been little public attention. People who were brought or imprisoned there tend not to talk about. Apparently, it's been made known that discussing it could make Chicago Police act rather unpleasantly toward people who open their mouths.

Many of those brought there are people arrested at protests. I guess out of concern for terrorism.

But many people who are unconstitutionally shelved into Homan Square are just rank and file drug dealers and similar accused criminals. Why not just book them like you normally do when they are arrested?

More sane police officials seem to be quite appalled by Homan Square. It's true police often have an office or building somewhere in which most people don't know what's going on. It's usually a quiet little getaway where police can talk with informants without blowing anybody's cover

Hey, you gotta do things like that in police work, so that's cool.

But Homan Square is different: Says the Guardian:

"But a retired Washington DC homicide detective, James Trainum, could not think of another circumstance nationwide where police held people incommunicado for extended periods.

'I've never known any kind of organized, secret place where they go and just hold somebody before booking for hours and hours and hours. That scares the hell out of me that even exists or might exist,' said Trainum, who now studies national policing issues, to include interrogations, for the Innocence Project and the Constitution Project."

Trainum should be scared on two levels. One, as he pointed out, that this civil liberties hellhouse in Chicago exists, as he points out. He should also be scared that other police departments have their own versions of Homan Square, and we don't even know about it.

Of course, the next important question is who in Chicago knew about this. How high up the chain of command does this go?

But the Guardian article does suggest quite a little coverup. This place seems to violate the official rules of the Chicago Police Department, though I'm sure people follow a lot of looser unofficial rules, too.

The Guardian quotes a former Chicago detective and current private investigator names Bill Dorsch:

"Transferring detainees through police custody to deny them access to legal counsel, would be a 'career ender,' Dorsch said. 'To move just for the purpose of hiding them, I can't see that happening.'"

Then why haven't any cops, detectives or brass had their careers ended by the shenanagans at Homan Square?

I know, I know, focusing on this Guardian piece makes me look like I think all police agencies are a corrupt criminal racket. Obviously, that's not the case. I still have faith in most police departments.

I also know that Chicago has a rich and sordid history of corruption, and Homan Square seems to be just part of that, um, tradition.

But given the fact that this exists, and for all I know exists elsewhere, is disconcerting to say the least.

We keep getting a steady drumbeat of cases concerning police brutality, overreactions and such in the news, and that seems to be unrelenting. Like the case I read about today of a sheriff dragging a mentally incompetent woman by the feet through a Florida courthouse. 

Some of the police unions think police officers and departments can do no wrong. However, every organization has bad apples, and I worry police have more than their share. So why not weed out the bad ones.

Meanwhile, there are some people out there who think all police are awful. That risks encouraging a few wingnut wackos to go off and shoot some innocent cop. That's already happened, of course.

I'll repeat what I've said in the recent past: Maybe it's time for police departments to recognize that when people criticize some of their tactics, that doesn't mean we are anti-police. It can't hurt to at least listen to the critics. If the argument is bullshit, then fine.

But some critics might be exactly right about their police criticism. Really. It's time for reform.

If the Guardian's reporting is correct, time to disband the place One Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba is quite enough. We don't need more in the mainland United States.