Chicago's Secret Homan Square Detention Facility Way Worse Than Anyone Thought

from the chitanimo-bay dept

Mon, Aug 10th 2015 3:39am — Timothy Geigner

Back in February, we brought you the delightful news that the Chicago police department was rather broadly known to be operating what was essentially a CIA-style black site within the neighborhood of Homan Square. This facility, located in a rough West Side neighborhood of the city, featured such practices as off-the-books detention, lawyer-less interrogations, and the occasional fatality. This place, where detainees would disappear for hours or days, seemed to be a vacuum of civil liberties and instead operated under the theory that Chicago police were rulers over all, and were owed whatever they demanded. The original Guardian link detailed a number of witness stories from those who had been detained at Homan Square, but very little information was available about exactly how widely the facility was being used.

Thanks to the Guardian's FOIA efforts, however, we have some clarity on how much Homan Square is used and how the police detain people there, and, well, it's extremely chilling to anyone with a modicum of interest in civil liberties.

At least 3,500 Americans have been detained inside a Chicago police warehouse described by some of its arrestees as a secretive interrogation facility, newly uncovered records reveal. Of the thousands held in the facility known as Homan Square over a decade, 82% were black. Only three received documented visits from an attorney, according to a cache of documents obtained when the Guardian sued the police.

Despite repeated denials from the Chicago police department that the warehouse is a secretive, off-the-books anomaly, the Homan Square files begin to show how the city’s most vulnerable people get lost in its criminal justice system.

I wasn't a math major, but three out of thirty-five hundred detainees receiving visits from counsel is something like not-enough-percent. And before anyone goes off on the dangers of the West Side of Chicago or goes off prospecting for dirt on those detained, a review of the charges against many of those detained at Homan Square are laughably mundane. And that's when charges were filed to begin with.

Documents indicate the detainees are a group of disproportionately minority citizens, many accused of low-level drug crimes, faced with incriminating themselves before their arrests appeared in a booking system by which their families and attorneys might find them.

The CPD response to this, even after the initial story broke months ago, has been that Homan Square isn't a black site, it's simply an undercover base for Chicago police, which, you know, you say tomato, I say black site. Either way, the city's long-running denial maintains that all those arrested are indeed processed through the booking system and can be found by attorneys and families, except the detainees at Homan Square aren't arrested until they're booked at another station, so that doesn't mean anything at all. The Guardian's review of the records show that most of these detentions have occurred under the watchful gaze of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, most of those eventually charged with a crime were charged with anything from traffic violations to drug possession, and under ten-percent of detainees were white, despite whites making up a third of the city's population. And these records only go back to 2004. Homan Square has been in operation since 1995.

After the facts are presented, the article includes the usual quotes from civil rights leaders who lament their own lack of surprise at all of this and who wonder blissfully if anyone will do anything about Homan Square this go around. To hell with that. If you have a brain cell to spare on civil rights for an entire city's population, this ought to both shock you and make you very, very angry.

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Filed Under: chicago, detention, due process, homan square, police, rights

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Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 3:48am

Anger me? Yeah, definitely, though recently it's all become a sort of melded chimeric outrage at this state of affairs. Shock me? No. I think I've reached a point where the stuff governments or cops get up to just doesn't surprise me anymore. It could come out tomorrow that the NYPD practices blood sacrifices using poor and homeless people that they've kidnapped off the street, and I think my only reaction would be "well of course they are." Though admittedly I would probably be at least a little surprised that I guessed right.
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- tqk (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:51am
  
  Re:
  As an aging hippie, I think this story is a perfect natural for a team up between the ACLU and FBI in a re-make of Gene Hackman's "Mississippi Burning."
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
That Anonymous Coward (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 3:50am

Shame there will be much lip service and nothing will change.
It didn't happen to them, and "THOSE" people are dangerous (the police told me so) so convincing people that what happened here was illegal, immoral, unethical, and a violation of someones rights will be an uphill battle.

We are trained to fear anything different, do not question authority, look away when someone elses rights are violated because they must be bad. So there will not be much outrage until either they detain those who turned a blind eye or those who were targeted finally say enough and do the only thing that can to raise awareness, and as we have seen protests and often twisted into riots and rights free zones making things much worse and then the powder keg gets sparked.... and this just convinces those who looked away that maybe what the police did was justified to protect us from them.

They do this with our tacit approval, and until you do something beyond like something on facebook you are still allowing it to happen. Demand change, demand charges, demand that even those you are terrified of deserve the same rights you enjoy... or don't be shocked when either side decides you aren't worthy of rights anymore.
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:22am
  
  Re:
  we could always hope vigilantes go raid the place free all the people being illegaly detained in it and burn it to the ground
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 11:07am
    
    Re: Re:
    Corner of W. Fillmore & S. Homen.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Wendy Cockcroft, 12 Aug 2015 @ 7:26am
    
    Re: Re:
    What, the Oathkeepers-types? Nope, not a chance.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Stray Dawg, 11 Aug 2015 @ 10:46pm
  
  Re: rights
  We the people have no more rights.you must be aware by now that you reside in a militarized police state. Swat raids. Folks dragged out of their homes in the night with no due process. America is nazi Germany all over again but eventually much worse..unarmed citizens being gunned down
  by cops without probable cause, then go unpunished for out right murder under a law or ruling called qualified immunity.Good luck everybody, we let it happen to ourselves.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ninja (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 3:55am

Guantanamo inside the US for US citizens. I'll leave this here, replace some words with muslims, black, terrorists and you have a good, updated quote for nowadays.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller
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- That Anonymous Coward (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 4:05am
  
  Re:
  and all throughout history we have examples of how people fall blindly for the claims about "the other", and never consider what happens when someone decides they are now an "other".
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 4:08am
    
    Re: Re:
    This is why the left should be outraged that Obama used the IRS to go after the right. Because one day, the right may use it to go after the left. But no, they kept their silence and nothing will ever be done about it.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - cypherspace (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 4:17am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Uhm, what? I saw plenty of concern from left-leaning groups. That's just a myth propagated by talk radio.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Rocco Maglio (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 6:10am
        
        Re: IRS Targeting
        If you look at the numbers you will see that it was conservative groups that received the harder scrutiny. NPR provided a table of the numbers http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2013/07/30/207080580/report-irs-scrutiny-worse-for-conser vatives. If you look conservative groups that were target there were 104 groups, they were asked 1552 questions in total, and 46% of the groups were approved. The progressive groups target were 7 in total, they were asked 33 questions in total and 100% were approved.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 6:34am
        
        Re: Re: IRS Targeting
        Does the fact that way more requests were being made at that time by conservative groups?
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 6:57am
        
        Re: Re: Re: IRS Targeting
        So no targeting was taking place and when asked about it, hard drives crashed all around and it was just a coincidence? I guess you think Hillary was running her own email server to save tax payer dollars?
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 7:26am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: IRS Targeting
        Alex Jones?
        Is that you again?
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Village Idiot (profile), 12 Aug 2015 @ 6:26am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: IRS Targeting
        Wait, really? Man, when did having common sense make you a conspiracy nut?
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        John Fenderson (profile), 12 Aug 2015 @ 2:16pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: IRS Targeting
        Common sense is what tells you the world is flat.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Uriel-238 (profile), 12 Aug 2015 @ 4:50pm
        
        Common sense
        And that colored people are bad. Throw rocks at them. Also people who worship strange gods or talk funny. They're diseased zombies. Chase them off.
        
        Also that people with authority are good and wise and you should be obedient.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        zboot (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 5:30pm
        
        Re: Re: IRS Targeting
        Yeah, thanks for the stats that the freaking article says can be misleading.
        
        There aren't stats on the total number of applications so if there were only 7 progressive groups that applied for such status, then that means 100% of progressive groups were vetted.
        
        Clearly, you did not actually look at the numbers.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 5:17am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      You might want to review the evidence.
      The IRS was doing its job, you know - looking for tax cheats. During that time period, the IRS reviewed tax exempt applications from all parties and rejected only a few, none of which were from conservative organizations.
      
      and to claim Obama was behind a manufactured scandal is more ridiculous
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 5:22am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Um, yes, it is his administration and his unwillingness to prosecute or investigate. But you are just proof of what was said above. As long as they come for people you don't like, it is ok. Until one day they come for you.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 5:58am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Oh, I see. "First they came for the tax cheats. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me."
        
        Sorry, I just don't have that much sympathy for tax cheats.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 6:33am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        What about when they come after anonymous cowards?
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 7:01am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Newsflash, genius: on the Internet, you're never anonymous.
        
        No, not you behind your TOR; no, not you using your VPN; no, not you behind fifteen proxies.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 8:53am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        FYI, that "whooshing" sound was a joke flying over.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 11 Aug 2015 @ 10:23am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Cite sources or otherwise prove it, or stop spreading FUD.
        
        Unless of course you're one of the bad guys whose job is to spread FUD to chill free speech ;)
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 6:55am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Uh, conservative organizations weren't tax cheats. The problem people like you have, is you don't mind your party going after the other party and you still cannot see that even though it has been pointed out to you.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 9:52am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        your party going after the other party
        There are 11 types of people in the US: Democrats, Republicans, and those who think we should have more viable options.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:32am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "Uh, conservative organizations weren't tax cheats."
        
        Trying to take a tax emption meant for organizations not presenting a political viewpoint while presenting a political viewpoint is cheating, girl.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 7:08am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        They weren't targeting tax cheats. They were preventing exclusively republican organizations from becoming official and able to actually collect money. This is why Louis Lerner is deathly afraid of her emails coming out. She stated it in very plain words and whoever instructed her would also be implicated. But because it is the left that benefits, the left owned media ignores and belittles the importance away.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:33am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "They were preventing exclusively republican organizations from becoming official and able to actually collect money."
        
        The tax exemption they were trying to claim was for non-political non-profits.
        Thanks for confirming the IRS was doing their job, girl!
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        zboot (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 5:32pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Do you have any proof for "They were preventing exclusively republican organizations from..." Because as far as I can see, there were very few "republican" organizations on that list. Unless you are co-opting conservative, tea party, and other groups as being "exclusively republican".
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Uriel-238 (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:38am
        
        Not much sympathy for tax cheats.
        Like those pesky new world colonists.
        
        We should send some troops over there to straight out their attitude.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 4:57pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "his administration and his unwillingness to prosecute or investigate"
        
        I think congress investigated this topic well enough, their own official report even stated there was nothing illegal done. wth was the WH supposed to do in order to placate your silly ambitions?
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 6:01am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I think you are confusing the tools that vote "democrat" - and the mafiosi they vote for - with the left.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 6:37am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I find it amusing when people get their panties in a twist because I tell them that Obama is a centrist.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 7:08am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        There is no left and right in US politics. There is wall street, oil, defense, pharma, agriculture etc. Your politics was replaced with a an auction system long ago.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        David, 10 Aug 2015 @ 7:19am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Ah, but for curiosity's sake the unmolested democratic results are published as "popular vote" along with the votes weighted by monetary and incumbent interests.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Uriel-238 (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 3:02pm
        
        "Unmolested democratic results"
        You say that as if their are acceptable candidates on the ballot.
        
        You say unmolested as if Americans didn't have to vote defensively, voting for the guy they think is most likely to win against their worst nightmare.
        
        You speak as if an elected official could actually serve the people and retain power when it's either play ball or get ostracized by the seniors.
        
        Our popular vote results are so molested, they're going to be in partial hospitalization for life.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Ninja (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 7:48am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Actually you have two 'right wing' parties at the moment. One is far right and the other is somewhere right after it. It's quite amusing to see people call Obama "comrade". Of course the concept of left/right is quite obsolete but you can use it with some reservation.
        
        There is wall street, oil, defense, pharma, agriculture etc. Your politics was replaced with a an auction system long ago.
        
        This is typical far right behavior. And we've seen that much like Communism didn't work this system, whatever it is (I like the term crony capitalism) doesn't work either. I think something in the middle and with balances for auditing and holding the powers accountable for misdeeds will be the real solution. And by middle I don't mean between Socialism or Capitalism but rather a mix of various ideas from both, and outside them.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 8:41am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        The left/right axis has long ceased to be useful description of where politicians stand, and where they are on an anarchy/totalitarian axis is more useful, and most of them are pretty close to the totalitarian end of the axis.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        tqk (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 11:09am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        ... and where they are on an anarchy/totalitarian axis is more useful ...
        
        For the person on the street, one totalitarian dictatorship is like any other. What they choose for a label is irrelevant. Nazi, Soviet, Khmer Rouge, Shining Path, Inquisition, Inca/Aztec/Mayan; all over the map idiologically, left and right, all horrible if you're just Jody Blow.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Uriel-238 (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:30am
        
        Crony Capitalism
        It's feudalism without the Social Contract.
        
        It's the very thing from whence we escaped in the 18th century.
        
        We even have Taxation without Representation.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 5:00pm
        
        Re: Crony Capitalism
        For corporate america, it is better than slavery.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 4:33pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        wow... wow... hold up a second. This sounds like you actually want real democracy. Like people having a say in whatever is going on in their country.
        
        People fought and died for hundreds of years to make democracy a thing think of the past how dare you to request it now? Well... granted it might solve most of the problems but that is not what politics is about!
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Uriel-238 (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 8:21pm
        
        Democracy is not what politics is about.
        Unless we make it what politics is about.
        
        The 18th century was big for making Democracy the only subject in town.
        
        Maybe the 21st century could be that way too.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Wendy Cockcroft, 12 Aug 2015 @ 7:30am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I think something in the middle and with balances for auditing and holding the powers accountable for misdeeds will be the real solution. And by middle I don't mean between Socialism or Capitalism but rather a mix of various ideas from both, and outside them.
        
        That seems reasonable to me, Ninja.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 2:38pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I find it amusing when people get their panties in a twist because I tell them that Obama is a centrist.
        
        I find it amusing you think people who disagree with you have their panties in a twist.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 11 Aug 2015 @ 6:49am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Ok, you got me there. I have to admit that frothing at the mouth with spittle flying is not the same thing as getting one's panties in a twist.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Uriel-238 (profile), 11 Aug 2015 @ 10:58am
        
        Substituting one ambiguous metaphor for another does not make content.
        Try this to add content:
        
        Whenever I suggest Obama is a centrist, a lot of people...
        
        ...[engage in this peculiar behavior]
        
        ...[make this spurious argument]
        
        I'm pretty sure that very little literal panties twisting or mouth frothing is involved. And since you can't specify what is going on twice in a row, I'm calling shenanigans.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - OGquaker (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 11:49am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Pres. Nixon's crash pad friend Bebe Rubozo comes to mind.
        Or Pepsi's factory in Thailand that warehoused opium, not cola.
        Or then-Democrat Frank Sinatra forced to sit in the audience at the inauguration of the Eisenhower Medical Center in the mafia's Palm Springs with those at the dedication including Spiro T. Agnew, Gov. Reagan, Mamie Eisenhower, Henry Kissinger, Gen. Bradley et al.
        answers yahoo com ;
        'American corporations and Industrialists hired the Mafia to bust Unions, break up union strikes, infiltrate the Unions, and generally disrupt the Union activity. That is how and why the Mafia became involved with some of the Unions. To try to manipulate and weaken them, NOT to support them'
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:30am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      "Because one day, the right may use it to go after the left"
      
      Actually, both Nixon and Reagan used the IRS...long before Obama.
      History not your best subject in school, girl?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - sigalrm (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 2:20pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Or, maybe she's just young enough not to have lived through Reagan and Nixon's respective presidencies at an age where their actions were meaningful.
        
        Because in history curriculum these days, recent US history is getting a pretty hardcore white-wash, with lots of focus on what the US did that was good, leaving little to no time left over to focus on shortcomings.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
PrivateFrazer, 10 Aug 2015 @ 4:04am

If Chicago has one
then presumably everywhere else will too?
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- Uriel-238 (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 3:07pm
  
  Are police-run extrajudicial detension sites elsewhere in the US as well?
  I really hope some ambitious investigatory journalists are asking this very question.
  
  It's a good question to be answering.
  
  And in my experience and embittered cynicism, the answer to questions like these is going to be worse than we imagined.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Richard (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 4:42am

Cop Shows
Of course this is all the fault of US TV cop shows - like the one currently airing in the UK which, in a trailer, describes the Chicago police as having "the right to remain violent".

Oh sorry - only new media like video games can be blamed for this kind of thing and then only if it is teenage boys that are being affected.
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Spaceman Spiff (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 5:40am

Gah!
When I drive by Homan Street I shudder. The CPD is one of the most egregious police agencies in the country when it comes to violating the civil rights of its citizens. Rahm should be ashamed that the worst of the violations have happened under his watch.
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 9:57am
  
  Re: Gah!
  Rahm Emanuel is so batshit, the increasing use of that "place" is probably is own orders.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pick Up That Can, 10 Aug 2015 @ 6:39am

Nova Prospekt
It used to be a high security prison - it's something much worse than that now
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- David, 10 Aug 2015 @ 7:22am
  
  Re: Nova Prospekt
  Room 101. Again, Orwell probably hoped to be wrong eventually.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 8:20am
  
  Re: Nova Prospekt
  The reference is good, but the username makes it. Well played.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 7:17am

Really sad to see the 'divide and conquer' tactics that allow Honan in the first place, and insure that it will not be closed nor ever prosecuted, on full display here in the comments section of this article.

_Americans_ should be outraged at this despicable practice by the Chicago Police Department.

Republicans and Democrats, on the other hand, keep fiddling while Rome burns. A pox on both your houses.
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:09am
  
  Re:
  A pox on both your houses.
  The problem is that the rest of us have to live in the plague-house right along with them. Anyone know where I can get one of them mask thingys with the creepy potpourri-stash bird beaks?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 7:33am

Who are the terrorists again?
I always get confused when I read stuff like this - and I need my government to remind me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Sheogorath (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 8:18am
  
  Re: Who are the terrorists again?
  Exactly. See what your 'government' is doing to know what terrorist tactics are.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- David, 10 Aug 2015 @ 8:20am
  
  Re: Who are the terrorists again?
  Glad to be of service.
  
  How many terrorists am I lining up against the wall, Anonymous Coward?
  
  And if the party says that it is not four but five -- then how many?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:20am

It went into use in 1995? I'm impressed: Chicago actually took a little break between Burge's Midnight Crew and Homan Square.
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Uriel-238 (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:26am

Juxtaposition
We've had 775 detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities. As of June 2015, we have 115.

We've had 3500 detainees at the Homan Square Detention Center.

Who here feels like a civilian in an enemy-occupied country?
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 11:25am
  
  Re: Juxtaposition
  Enemy-occupied country, yes. Civilian? I'm not sure those exist anymore. I think Bush's "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists" still applies as far as the government is concerned.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 10:52am

"under ten-percent of detainees were white, despite whites making up a third of the city's population."
Yeah right, lets turn this into a race thing instead of working together.
As some right-wing people would say, if 2/3 of a city is non-white then it must have some serious crime releated problems.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- tqk (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 11:18am
  
  Re:
  Yeah right, lets turn this into a race thing instead of working together.
  
  Well, what the heck are all those minorities doing living in high crime areas, eh? Answer me that! If the cops patrolled white areas as much as minority areas, they'd miss a lot of minority arrests in the high crime areas!
  
  Sheesh, that almost makes sense to me.
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Anonymous, 10 Aug 2015 @ 11:14am

But, but TV cops..
But all the cops on TV shows couldn't possibly be beating interrogations out of people in secret jails unless they were terrorists.
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- Uriel-238 (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 11:43am
  
  Maybe we should have more beating interrogations on TV.
  In the pilot of Gotham, Pepper flees from Officers Gordon and Bullock. After a chase in which Pepper fires a gun wildly, a physical struggle ensues and Pepper gets shot.
  
  Once they realize Pepper was framed for the Wayne murders, they fear for their jobs for shooting an innocent man.
  
  At that point, I couldn't help but mock the writers for their naivete. Granted, the Gotham pilot was produced before Ferguson and I was watching it well after.
  
  But we still portray US law enforcement as honest servants of the people who, when corrupted, are on the take of rum-running mobsters.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 11:18am

Apologies to David Mamet
You wanna get low-level drug offenders? Here's how you get him. He carries a joint, you send him to Homan Square! That's the Chicago way!
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 4:07pm

I'm so glad I don't live in that corrupt city. Anyone familiar with the unlawful destruction of Meigs Field airport by another one of their corrupt mayors back in 2003?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigs_Field
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 4:41pm

TV Show
First I heard about this was a TV show called "The Good Wife" and I couldn't believe this can be real (season 6 final episode). While, yeah it is a soap opera but the great thing about it is that they take news from the past few months and turn it into current show themes. You know, you have the overall story and then the weekly story. This weekly story in the show focuses on actual events and like in this case uses shocking events and shows them to the public. Like someone getting not arrested but put in police "observation" and is not allowed to see a lawyer. They even used the same street cornor in the show.

Imho that is a great way to make news that might get lost otherwise known to the general public. One step ahead of shows like "The Daily Show" (RIP) or "Last Week Tonight with Jamie Oliver").
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 8:05pm

I wonder how many "prisoners" die falling down the stairs at this illegal site
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- Uriel-238 (profile), 10 Aug 2015 @ 8:24pm
  
  Death by falling down the stairs.
  I'm sure plenty have to practice until they get it right.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2015 @ 9:34pm
    
    Re: Death by falling down the stairs.
    Oh come on, please. The way to go is prisoners who are cuffed behind their back shot themselves in the head of course after being searched by the police and being put in the back of a police car.
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Justme, 11 Aug 2015 @ 12:11am

Shining example. .
This is just one symptom of the widespread cancer within our law enforcement agencies that has resulted from the completely inept war on drugs.

Add with the war on terror being all the rage now, i don't see it changing anytime soon.
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- wdw2, 11 Aug 2015 @ 1:09am
  
  Re: Shining example. .
  Inter arma enim silent leges
  
  "In times of war, the law falls silent."
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limbodog (profile), 11 Aug 2015 @ 8:36am

Can we safely call this "vigilante" justice?
If the law isn't being followed, even tho' the perpetrators are law enforcement officers, is it not just plain ol' vigilante justice?
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- Uriel-238 (profile), 11 Aug 2015 @ 11:01am
  
  Re: Can we safely call this "vigilante" justice?
  Only if you take out the justice part. It's more like extrajudicial detention and violence.
  
  It seems that is what America is about these days.
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GEMont, 11 Aug 2015 @ 2:32pm

Ownership Rights Only
Civil Rights!

After the Hollywood 9/11 creation of the best ever bad guy - the Homemade, Unstoppable, Invisible Enemy - the once upon a time "Resistance", "Rebel", "Freedom Fighter", repurposed as the Evil to end all Evils, the Black Clad, Black Masked Terrorista!!!

In the nation of Corporate Government and the Sleeping Public - during the Unwinnable, Eternal War on Drugs, where Inanimate Stuff can be Arrested and Charged with Committing a Crime, and face Re-Distribution or Re-Sale!!!!!

In the Era of the Secret "Five Eyes" Multi-National Coalition of English Speaking White Guys!!!!!!

Good one.
I needed a laugh. :)

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- Uriel-238 (profile), 11 Aug 2015 @ 4:05pm
  
  No, the 9/11 attacks were merely a successful SPECTRE plot.
  James was getting over a weekend binge and figured Felix was on it. Felix had been transferred to a listening station in Greenland after the Bushes took power.
  
  Blofeld III (Rather his ageless, superintelligent cat, the power behind the throne) masterminded the 9/11 attacks to trigger a panic of identity within the United States and to funnel more power and money into the five-eyes program through which it could control nations through an extensive blackmail system. As proven by the extensive US subsidies going into SPECTRE controlled industries.
  
  Laugh now, but all of SPECTRE's other schemes were equally outlandish, only this one is actually working. And James is nowhere to be seen.
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  - GEMont, 12 Aug 2015 @ 12:14pm
    
    Re: No, the 9/11 attacks were merely a successful SPECTRE plot.
    SPECTRE?
    
    Methinks ye spelled the new USG/MAFIA organization "CIAF BINSA" incorrectly. :)
    
    Oh - and James died. That wasn't a binge. He was poisoned by the Israeli Super spy Mother Hari.
    
    His clone was fully activated and then "officially" retired to an island near Italy, to keep the myth alive though.
    
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