Idiot Police Commissioner Bratton does it again: decries ‘epidemic’ of citizens recording arrests

The whole point of recording the police is to prevent the LEE (law enforcement establishment) from spinning police misconduct as the fault of the victim.

Some police encounters involve civilians breaking the law, attacking police, or resisting arrest. Biteme has no sympathy for them.

But some encounters involve law enforcement officers shooting unarmed civilians, stopping them because of their race, or beating people who are already in handcuffs.

I say: record them all. Then we’ll bust the bad guys, reward the good guys and stop the coverups.

As for the police having the elbow room to safely do their job, the Bitemaster proposed last year that we make it illegal for citizens to come within 25 feet of the cops they’re recording.

It’s a law that Bratton has so far declined to support.

Source: NYPD’s Bratton decries ‘epidemic’ of citizens recording arrests

Here’s why Trump will win

Scott Dikkers, the founding editor of The Onion, says “I think [Trump is] going to win. I don’t think there’s any doubt. I know the electoral map looks challenging to him, but you’ve seen the polls. Trump keeps going up, Hillary keeps going down and we saw how Trump laid waste to all these other professional politicians. Trump transcends the typical politician strategies and rhetoric because he’s appealing to people’s lizard brains and the lizard brain doesn’t care about facts. It doesn’t care what’s true. It doesn’t care what’s reasonable. It’s just going to vote, ‘Trump — he’s strong,’ and that’s what we’ve got and that’s what’s going to happen. I hope I’m wrong.”

Source: Donald Trump faked being a lawyer to us, too: Onion founder

Uber Knows When Your iPhone Battery Is Dying And You’re Getting Desperate

But they promise not to use the power for evil.

… [Keith Chen, Uber’s head of economic research] revealed that Uber knows when the battery on your phone is low — it keeps tabs on your battery so the app knows when to switch into low-power mode — and that it knows you’re willing to pay more for a ride when your battery is running out. . . . “[W]e absolutely don’t use that to kind of, like, push you a higher surge price, but it’s an interesting kind of psychological fact of human behavior,” said Chen.

Source: Uber Knows When Your iPhone Battery Is Dying And You’re Getting Desperate

NYC contractor cheated workers out of $327,000; nobody goes to jail

A contractor will have to pay $364,000 for cheating workers out of wages under a settlement reached with City Controller Scott Stringer.

“The company will have to pay back $327,000 in unpaid wages and benefits to the workers, plus $20,000 in interest and $17,000 in civil penalties.”

So the actual penalty is only $17,000.

What was the rate that the offender paid for that $364,000 loan?

Assume that the average amount of withheld wages over the 5-year period was 1/2 of $327,000:

1/2 x $327,000 = $163,500

Total cost to company:

$20,000 interest + $17,000 civil penalties = $37,000

Convert to a percentage of the “loan”

$37,000 / $163,500 = 22.6%

Per year, the interest is approximately:

22.6% / 5 years = 4.5%

Yup. Thanks to Scott Stringer, Beacon Restoration, Inc., got a construction loan for only 4.5%. Amazing.

Source: EXCLUSIVE: NYC contractor cheated workers, owes $364G in back pay – NY Daily News

Wait! What? Trump Only Makes $500k a Year?

News comes today that Donald Trump is digging in his heels on not releasing his tax returns ever, telling George Stephanopoulos “it’s none of your business” how much tax he pays or at what rate. But last night TPM Reader JJ sent in a link to a … well, it’s just a harrowing revelation that makes me think that actually releasing his tax returns could be like heading to the ego guillotine for Trump. Some clever sleuthing by Crain’s New York Business reveals that Mr Trump, as members of the entourage call him, qualified for a tax break that requires your income be less than $500,000 a year. Yes, if you make more than half a million dollars a year, you can’t qualify. But Trump did qualify.

I figure that The Donald writes off most of his expenditures as business expenses. (NB: Three of his children are on the company payroll.)

Source: Wait! What? Trump Only Makes $500k a Year?

Court: Musical Preference Doesn’t Prove Gang Membership

Evidently “Los Tigres del Norte” is a band, not a terrorist organization.

In 2010, a court in the state of Washington convicted Anthony DeLeon of three counts of first degree assault. Because the crimes were committed while the defendant was armed with a firearm and with an intent to benefit a criminal street gang, DeLeon was sentenced to 1,002 months in jail.

The evidence of DeLeon’s gang involvement included a song by Los Tigres del Norte that he had on his cell phone.

The Supreme Court of the State of Washington has now weighed in on the case:

Los  Tigres  Del  Norte  have  sold  32  million  albums.  They  have  won  five  Latin  Grammy  awards,  and  they  have  performed  in  front  of  U.S.  troops  serving  abroad.  There  is  no  support  in  the  record  for  the  contention  that  enjoying  their  music  is  evidence  of  gang  involvement.  While  this  may  not  be  the  primary  issue  in  this  case,  we  felt  that  it was  nonetheless  important  to  take  this  opportunity  to  remind  courts  to  exercise  far  more  caution  when  drawing  conclusions  from  a defendant’s  musical  preferences.

Source: Court: Musical Preference Doesn’t Prove Gang Membership

NB: The Bitemaster actually owns a Los Tigres CD and he’s most certainly not a gang member, with the possible exception of the Internet Gang of Blowhards.

God mocks Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, announced last year that Ted had decided to run for president after God spoke to Ted’s wife, Heidi.

Ha ha! God was only fooling!

It turns out that the Almighty wants Donald Trump to be the Republican candidate and maybe — God help us — President.

As for Hillary and Bernie, it looks like God is still undecided.

Source: Ted Cruz’s Dad: My Son Ran for President After God Sent His Wife a Sign | Mother Jones