Free Republic

An unsigned letter circulated among the Los Angeles Police Department rank and file last week, encouraging officers to call in sick to protect their own interests. It had been been a month of upheaval for police, with unprecedented protests over police killings of Black people and the Los Angeles City Council agreeing to cut the LAPD’s budget by $150 million amid calls for sweeping reforms. LAPD commanders are investigating whether an unusual spike in officers calling in sick over the July 4 weekend was the result of an orchestrated protest or labor action, which would be illegal. Sources in the...

Atlanta police officers are still reportedly calling in sick to work in protest of charges against the cop who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks, as it's announced every officer will receive a $500 bonus for working amid civil unrest. On Thursday the Atlanta Police Department saw cops continue to call out of work, in protest of 11 charges, including felony murder, announced Wednesday against fired officer Garrett Rolfe. . . . For Thursday’s shift 'most' officers called out sick, according to Facebook page Things Police See: First Hand Accounts, a page run by Former Massachusetts police officer Steve Gould who interviews...

Atlanta (CNN)Hours after a fired police officer was charged with felony murder for fatally shooting a man in the back, Atlanta police officers are not responding to calls in three of the department's six zones, multiple sources within the Atlanta Police Department told CNN on Wednesday evening. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard earlier in the day announced 11 charges against Garrett Rolfe, who was fired after he shot Rayshard Brooks twice in the back on Friday night. A third shot hit a car with three people inside. The police department said an unusual number of officers working the late...

The head of Atlanta’s police union confirmed Wednesday that officers from the Atlanta Police Department in Zones 3 and 6 walked off the job Wednesday afternoon. Vince Champion, southeast regional director of the International Brotherhood of Police officers, said that police officers had stopped answering calls midshift, in response to charges against Officer Garrett Rolfe who is accused of murdering Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta. “The union, we would never advocate this. We wouldn’t advocate a blue flu,” Champion said. “We don’t know the numbers. Apparently we’re learning that command staff are asking outlying counties for support and aren’t getting it.”...

Alanta police are walking off the job.

Across New York City, policemen are being put on notice by higher ups, get back to business as usual, or no vacations, or sick days, according to reports. And borough commanders want to see the proof. “Throughout the city, precincts are being ordered to hand up to borough commanders ‘activity sheets’ indicating the number of arrests and summonses per shift…” Said one union source, according to the New York Post, “Police officers around the city are now threatened with transfers, no vacation time and sick time unless they write summonses.”

Sec. of State Hillary Clinton announced this morning that she's approximately two months pregnant, and would thus be resigning immediately. Against the background of two of her top aides testifying this morning to Congress about the multiple failures in the State Dept outlined in the just released report on the Benghazi, Clinton, in a prepared statement, revealed that because of the very high risk nature of the pregnancy, given her age, her doctors had advised that she "pretty much spend the next 7 months in bed."

Two Michigan school districts reportedly closed shop Tuesday after teachers called out, likely so they could participate in union protests tied to the expected passage of "right-to-work" legislation this week in the state capital. Demonstrators have already started to march down the streets, as lawmakers return to put the final touches on legislation that would bar unions from demanding dues from workers. The move would make Michigan the 24th "right-to-work" state and strike a blow to organized labor in the heart of the U.S. auto industry. Local unions spent the weekend preparing for massive protests on Tuesday, in a last-ditch...

School districts across Texas are pondering whether they'll have their students watch a national address by President Barack Obama next week. The speech on the importance of education is aimed directly at the nation's school children at 11 a.m. Tuesday. In the Wylie school district in suburban Dallas, spokeswoman Susan Dacus says officials are leaving the decision to individual teachers. She says parents who don't want their children to see it can opt out. In Houston, each school will decide. In a letter last week to the nation's school principal, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the speech would challenge students...