It’s become such a frequent occurrence, it only rates a brief mention in the local press, but it is a national outrage. What does it say about us as a society that there is no outcry when people die or are made to suffer incredible pain from tasers, our new weapon of social control?

The citizens of Oakland await the Oscar Grant verdict

Want to film the police, might be illegal in your state

(Also at OC Progressive)

What happens when you combine a Democratic fundraiser in North San Diego County, a homophobic right-wing neighbor disturbing the peace, and the San Diego County Sheriffs? Apparently, one BIG, nasty mess! Here’s the original TPM story:

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a fundraiser for Francine Busby, who previously ran for the deeply-Republican Fiftieth District and came close to winning in the 2006 special election and subsequent regular election, was raided by sheriffs after an unnamed neighbor made a noise complaint. Busby now calls it a “phony” noise complaint, and the article says that multiple neighbors said there was no great noise at all.

Here’s the twist: The fundraiser was hosted by a lesbian couple, and shortly before the sheriffs came a particular neighbor had shouted anti-gay slurs at the assembled crowd. “It was a quiet home reception, disrupted by a vulgar person shouting obscenities from behind the bushes,” Busby says.

As one neighbor told the paper: “We didn’t hear anything until the sheriff came, with eight patrol cars and a helicopter.”

And yes, the new developments are becoming more sordid by the minute. Details after the flip…

Dallas Voice’s Instant Tea blog has collected eyewitness accounts from the police raid at Fort Worth’s newest gay bar, the Rainbow Lounge.

The Human Rights Campaign today called for a complete investigation of police actions during a raid this weekend at the Rainbow Lounge, a newly opened gay bar in Fort Worth, Texas.

ColorOfChange.org members gathered at the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland Tuesday to confront District Attorney Tom Orloff over his handling of
the Oscar Grant case, and to demand that he explain his decision not to charge a second BART police officer for his actions in the moments leading up to Oscar Grant’s murder.

The event was a huge success and garnered lots of good local news coverage, including reports from most of the local TV news media. Our members delivered more than 20,000 petitions — collected in less than two weeks — to Orloff’s office.
We sent Orloff a strong message that the public is continuing to watch his handling of this case.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s handling of the Oscar Grant murder continues to disappoint anyone hoping that justice will prevail.

It took two weeks and thousands of people speaking out before the DA charged Johannes Mehserle, Grant’s killer, with murder. Clearly, it will take continued public pressure to see that justice is served throughout this case. On Tuesday, those of us in the Bay Area will publicly confront District Attorney Tom Orloff with over 20,000 petitions demanding that Orloff explain his refusal to charge Pirone.

On January 1st, 22 year old Oscar Grant was told to lay on the BART platform with his hands behind his back as Officer Johannes Meherles pulled out his gun and shot him at point blank range.

On New Year’s Eve, Oscar Grant was murdered, shot in the back by a transit police officer while lying face-down on a subway platform. He was unarmed and posed no threat. Nearly two weeks later, after several pieces of damning video evidence have surfaced, the officer who shot him remains free while the local DA drags his feet. Will California Attorney General Jerry Brown step up and enforce the law?