Military Resistance 15G3
Trump’s Six-Month Approval Rating Is Lowest Recorded For A President In Past 70 Years:
“The Democratic Party Also Received Negative Marks — With 37% Saying The Party Stands For Something, And 52% Believing The Party Stands “Just Against Trump”
July 16 DAN GOOD, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
President Trump has reached a new low — for approval rating.
Trump’s six-month approval rating is 36%, the lowest for any president over the past 70 years, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Sunday.
The previous low was Gerald Ford’s 39% approval in February 1975 amid severe economic woes.
Nearly 60% of participants, meanwhile, disapprove of Trump, topping Bill Clinton’s disapproval rating of 51% in July 1993.
Participants were especially critical of the President’s handling of foreign diplomacy. Nearly half of respondents (48%) believe U.S. leadership has gotten weaker under Trump, compared to 27% who say it’s gotten stronger.
In terms of negotiating on the United States’ behalf, 66% are less trusting of Trump working with world leaders, and the same percentage was less trusting of Trump dealing with Russia President Vladimir Putin.
Nearly half of respondents (48%) believe U.S. leadership has gotten weaker under Trump, compared to 27% who say it’s gotten stronger.
For health care, participants prefer Obamacare over any Republican replacement, 50% to 24%.
The Democratic Party also received negative marks — with 37% saying the party stands for something, and 52% believing the party stands "just against Trump."
Participants were split — 43%-41% — on Trump’s handling of the economy.
The poll was conducted among 1,001 adults from July 10-13, as controversy intensified around a June 2016 meeting between Trump campaign members and a Russian lawyer.
AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS
U.S. Soldier Killed, Two Others Wounded In Nawa District:
“There Has Been A Recent Increase In U.S. Military Deaths And Injuries In Afghanistan”
July 5, 2017 NPR
A 19-year-old U.S. soldier has been killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan as he was taking part in counter-terror operations.
Pfc. Hansen B. Kirkpatrick of Wasilla, Alaska, had been stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas.
Two other service members were wounded in Monday’s attack in Helmand province, according to a statement from the United States Armed Forces-Afghanistan.
The group came under "indirect fire," according to the military, meaning an attack using rockets or mortars. A U.S. military spokesman in Kabul tells NPR’s Tom Bowman that munitions hit a building while the group was inside it.
The injured service members’ wounds are "not considered life-threatening," the military’s statement said, and they are currently being hospitalized.
Kirkpatrick is the eighth U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan this year, according to icasualties.org, a private website that tracks combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He is the first fatality since an "insider attack" by an Afghan soldier killed three U.S. service members in June. The Taliban claimed responsibility for that assault, The Two-Way reported. An Afghan source tells NPR that the Afghan soldier involved in the killings was investigated several times for suspected ties to the Taliban.
Kirkpatrick was killed in the Nawa district, Tom reports. He is the first U.S. fatality there since 2012, according to icasualties.org.
According to The Associated Press, "there has been a recent increase in U.S. military deaths and injuries in Afghanistan as the fighting season with the Taliban becomes more intense and American forces work more closely with their Afghan partners in the battle."
POLITICIANS REFUSE TO HALT THE BLOODSHED
THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WAR
Taliban Kill 13 Militiamen In Ambush
July 02, 2017 RFL
An Afghan official says the Taliban have attacked a local militia, killing 13 pro-government fighters.
The local forces were on their way to take part in a security operation when they were ambushed in the Chemtal district of northern Balkh Province, Munir Ahmad Farhad, spokesman for the Balkh governor, said on July 2.
The men were part of a local militia established under the authority of the Interior Ministry to defend the area from insurgents.
The Taliban, which has increased its attacks since the start of its annual spring offensive in April, claimed responsibility for the ambush.
Taliban Kill 8 Afghan Guards Working At US Bagram Base
June 20, 2017 By: Rahim Faiez, The Associated Press,
KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban militants opened fire on Afghan security guards in the country’s northern Parwan province, killing at least eight guards, a provincial official and the insurgents said Tuesday.
The attack on the Afghan guards took place late on Monday night and also left two other guards wounded, according to Wahida Shahkar, spokeswoman for the Parwan governor.
The guards were attacked while they were on their way to work at Bagram airfield, the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan, she added.
Shahkar said the shooting is being investigated further.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the shooting in a statement sent to the media Tuesday.
POLICE WAR REPORTS
Mentally Ill Man Killed By Police Tasering Him 12 Times:
“What Happened To My Son? Why Did They Tase Him Like That?”
“Omaha Police Told Her They Couldn’t Place Him Under Emergency Care Because He Wasn’t A Threat To Himself Or Others”
Zachary N. Bearheels
Jun 6, 2017 By Andrew J. Nelson, Nancy Gaarder and Alia Conley; World-Herald staff writers
The Oklahoma man who died after Omaha police shocked him with a stun gun suffered from mental illness and had been wandering, lost, in Omaha for a day after being kicked off an interstate bus, his family says.
Zachary N. Bearheels, 29, died early Monday after Omaha police used a Taser on him during a confrontation at the Bucky’s gas station at 6003 Center St.
Bearheels’ mother, Renita Chalepah, from Oklahoma, said she is heartbroken because she’d called Omaha police on Sunday, seeking their help with her son.
Omaha police have said Bearheels was acting erratically as police attempted to take him into custody. Full details from police are not yet available because the department has not completed all of its interviews.
Chalepah said she called Omaha police early Sunday afternoon after her son didn’t get off the bus in Oklahoma City. She had been waiting for him at the bus station and learned from another passenger that he’d been ordered off in Omaha.
Chalepah said she remained in contact with Omaha police throughout the afternoon and into the evening. She spoke with her son — while he was with police — a few hours before he died. She said she could tell by his voice that he’d gone off his medications.
“I heard him say ‘Mama, mama,’ And then another voice.”
Her son was bipolar and schizophrenic, she said.
She said she asked officers to take him to the bus station or a crisis center. Her son was frightened of police but was accustomed to going to a crisis center, she said, because that’s what police in Oklahoma do. Omaha police, she said, told her they couldn’t place him under emergency care because he wasn’t a threat to himself or others.
“When I found out this (Monday) morning what happened to him, it broke my heart, because I kept in touch with these people,” she said. “What happened to my son? Why did they tase him like that?”
Omaha police spokesman Officer Phil Anson said the full details of the encounter between Bearheels and police will be released once police interviews are completed. Four officers were involved in Bearheels’ arrest. One has been interviewed. The rest will be interviewed this afternoon. All four are on paid administrative leave. Their names have not yet been released by police.
In a preliminary press release, police describe the incident his way:
Officers were called to the Bucky’s at 12:36 a.m. Monday to handle a disturbance in which a man was refusing to leave.
When they arrived, officers took the man into custody. He had been reported missing by family and was displaying erratic behavior, the release said.
About an hour later, at 1:32 a.m., officers requested additional help at the scene.
Ten minutes later, they requested an ambulance after a Taser use. The man was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center with CPR in progress. He was pronounced dead on arrival.
As required by state law, a grand jury will be convened to investigate the officers’ actions.
Bearheels’ mother said her son was fine when he left Oklahoma to go to South Dakota.
“He has traveled to South Dakota before,” she said. “He’s stable when he’s on his medications. He can think on his own, he can function. Otherwise, I would never let my son get on the bus with him being mental like that.”
Bearheels’ family wants a full accounting from police, his aunt, Tracy Poafpybitty, said, including any camera images, witness statements and police policy on the use of Tasers.
“We are all in shock because he was supposed to come home and he never made it,” she said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska released a statement Monday calling for a thorough investigation, a review of the department’s policy and police training on de-escalation.
“Unfortunately, the (Omaha Police Department’s) policy does not have clear written guidelines for use of a Taser on people experiencing a mental health crisis, people using medication to address mental health issues, or people under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” said Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska. “This is a reminder that Tasers are lethal weapons and that they should only be used as a last resort.”
The group released a report in 2014 on the use of Tasers by Nebraska law enforcement agencies. It said 47 of 63 Taser incidents from six agencies within a year and a half were inappropriate. The Omaha Police Department was not one of the agencies evaluated.
The Omaha department’s guidelines for officers using Tasers are outlined in seven pages of the department’s policies and procedures manual.
Officers must have at least two and a half years of law enforcement experience to carry a Taser and must score at least 80 percent on an annual proficiency exam, among other requirements. Anson, the police spokesman, said not all uniform patrol officers are equipped with Tasers. Officers can use a Taser when dealing with people who pose a risk to themselves or are actively resisting officers’ attempts to bring them under control, according to the manual.
There’s a higher standard for use — “elevated justification" — in certain circumstances, including if the subject is known to be pregnant, is frail or infirm or very young or very old. Officers are generally prohibited from using a Taser on a handcuffed suspect or to threaten or intimidate people.
Black Off-Duty Cop Tried To Help Stop A Crime:
Another Officer Shoots Him, “Fearing For His Safety”
24 June 2017 Associated Press in St Louis
An off-duty black St Louis police officer’s race factored into him being mistakenly shot by a white officer who didn’t recognize him during a shootout with black suspects this week, the wounded officer’s lawyer said on Saturday.
The 38-year-old black officer was off duty when he heard a commotion near his home and ran toward it with his service weapon to try to help his fellow officers, police said.
St Louis’ interim police chief, Lawrence O’Toole, said the incident began when officers with an anti-crime task force followed a stolen car and were twice fired upon by its occupants. One suspect was shot in an ankle and was arrested, along with another teenager who tried to run from police, O’Toole said. A third suspect is still being sought.
When the off-duty officer arrived at the scene to help, two on-duty officers ordered him to the ground but then recognized him and told him to stand up and walk toward them.
As he was doing so, another officer arrived and shot the off-duty officer, “apparently not recognizing” him, police said.
The police department as of Saturday had not disclosed the names of the officers, who have been placed on routine administrative leave as the matter is investigated. Police described the black officer as an 11-year department veteran and said he was treated at a hospital and released. The officer who shot him is 36 and has been with the department more than eight years.
The black officer’s lawyer, Rufus J Tate Jr, discussed the shooting to St Louis Fox affiliate KTVI, but the officer was not named in the report. Tate did not reply to several phone messages seeking comment.
Tate told the station his client identified himself to the on-duty officers and complied with their commands. He questioned the white officer’s account, according to police, that he shot the off-duty officer because he feared for his safety.
“In the police report you have so far, there is no description of a threat he received,” Tate said. “So we have a real problem with that. But this has been a national discussion for the past two years. There is this perception that a black man is automatically feared.”
It was in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson where a white officer shot an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, three years ago, setting off months of protests, some of which were violent. The officer, who later left the force, was not charged, further straining relations between the area’s black community and the police.
There have been several notable instances in which an officer mistakenly shot a colleague. In 2009, 25-year-old New York City police officer Omar J Edwards, who was black, was shot and killed by a white officer on a Harlem street while in street clothes. He had his service weapon out and was chasing a man who had broken into his car, police said.
Three plainclothes officers on routine patrol arrived at the scene and yelled for the two to stop, police said. One officer, Andrew Dunton, opened fire and hit Edwards three times as he turned toward them with his service weapon. It wasn’t until medical workers were on scene that it was determined he was a police officer. A grand jury voted not to indict Dunton.