Four people have been charged in Chicago over a beating live streamed to Facebook. In addition to hate crime charges, there are counts of aggravated kidnapping, battery, and unlawful restraint:
Authorities in Chicago charged four people with hate crimes Thursday following the emergence of a disturbing video appearing to show them shouting obscenities about President-elect Donald Trump and white people while abusing a man authorities say has mental health problems. The footage, which Chicago's top police officer labeled "sickening," quickly went viral online. In the shaky video, a terrified young man in a gray hooded sweatshirt and dark pants is seen crouching in a corner, his wrists and neck bound with orange bands, his mouth taped shut.
A young woman films as two young men slash the sleeves of his shirt with knives, then take turns punching him, slapping him and stomping on his head. At one point, one of the men can be seen cutting the victim's hair and scalp with a knife, and the victim is later shown bleeding from his injuries. As the victim cowers with his back to the wall, someone can be heard repeatedly shouting, "F‑‑‑ Donald Trump" and "F‑‑‑ white people."
Throughout the 28-minute video — which focuses mostly on the young woman behind the camera — the group laughs, jokes and listens to music as the victim sits motionless on the floor. About halfway through, someone says the man "represents Trump," and threatens to put him in the trunk of a car and "put a brick on the gas."
Also at NPR, USA Today, CNN, and Reuters.
The video is available at LiveLeak. Feel free to search for it if you wish.
So, did Black Mirror predict this type of event?
This story was also submitted by Runaway1956.
Related Stories
A Thai man live streamed the murder of his own daughter as well as his suicide:
A Thai man filmed himself killing his baby daughter on Facebook Live, before taking his own life, Thai police say. The 21-year-old hanged his daughter, and then himself, at a deserted hotel in Phuket on Monday, reportedly after an argument with his wife. Facebook sent condolences to the family for the "appalling" incident and said that the content had now been removed. The company pledged a review of its processes after footage of a US killing stayed online for hours this month. The footage of the Thai killing had also been available on video sharing website YouTube, but the company took it down after the BBC alerted it to its presence.
Another story discusses the aftermath of the killing. This follows an incident where a man streamed his murder of a randomly picked stranger in Cleveland. That murder had already led to a "backlash" against Facebook:
It is an issue that Facebook, the world's largest social network, has had to contend with more frequently as it has bet big on new forms of media like live video, which give it a venue for more lucrative advertising. The criticism of Facebook over Mr. Stephens's video built swiftly Monday, with critics calling it a dark time for the company and outrage spreading on social media over how long it had taken — more than two hours — for the video to be pulled down. Ryan A. Godwin, the victim's grandson, pleaded with other users on social media to stop sharing the video online.
[...] Justin Osofsky, a vice president of Facebook, said in a public post late Monday that the company knows "we need to do better" to stop videos like that of the shooting from appearing. He said the company was working to ensure that such content and reports of it can be flagged faster, including through the use of artificial intelligence and a better review process.
NSFW: You can watch the Cleveland murder on LiveLeak. This video purportedly shows the murder in Phuket, Thailand, but you won't see much.
Some other incidents and related news:
Facebook Launches Live Video and Photo+Video Collages
Muslim Terrorist Kills French Cop, Wife While Livestreaming on Facebook
Falcon Heights, Minnesota Police Shooting Facebook Live Video [WARNING: GRAPHIC] [UPDATED]
Police Request Shut Off of Armed Woman's Social Media Accounts During Fatal Standoff
Hate Crime Charges Filed Over Beating Live Streamed to Facebook
Facebook Turns to AI to Prevent Suicides (eventually, your intention to murder and commit suicide will be countered by a compassionate chatbot)
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @09:08PM
That's why the democratic process is unacceptable; the only reasonable way to shape society is capitalism (voluntary interaction as specified by contracts, which are themselves enforced by means of the same market mechanisms).
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @09:34PM
The free market! Libertarian ideals! Anarchy that actually works somehow!
You weirdos are so insane, those ideals are what gave us the various labor horrors of the 19th and 20th century. There is no "voluntary" when the only jobs available are shitty contract options that will have you living in a company town where it is next to impossible to get out from debt.
Thankfully the majority of the 20th century improved things drastically! Sadly, those societal protections ate trying to be clawed back by greedy bastards that want to stand on the backs of the poor; and here we see some traitors buying into weird Randian(?) bullshit trying to sway public opinion in favor. If I were a sucker like you I would fall for the idea of "reeducation camps" like China did, but I see where that road goes.
A more direct democracy than what the US has now is the best way forward, you can hop on the train or live the rest of your life as a bitter anarcho-idealist.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Unixnut on Sunday January 08 2017, @02:25AM
You weirdos are so insane, those ideals are what gave us the various labor horrors of the 19th and 20th century. There is no "voluntary" when the only jobs available are shitty contract options that will have you living in a company town where it is next to impossible to get out from debt.
Actually no, it was automation during the industrial revolution that caused the labour horrors. All of a sudden skilled craftsmen who had their own businesses found themselves unable to compete with machines running in factories. They could either starve to death, take up arms against the factory owners (like the Luddites did), or accept any poor wage (and the fact you now have to work when you are told to, and for how long. Rather than working when you want) in return for putting some bread on the table. Hence the "wage slave" was born, which now most of the world sees as a "normal life".
I do wonder, what will happen with this next level of automation kicks in, will there be similar social upheaval, and would is be as violent? I suspect it won't matter what ideals you hold when it happens, everyone will be affected in some way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09 2017, @11:08PM
Or there will be a loss of freedom for those who care about it.
There are lots of people perfectly happy to live their sheltered lives working their 9-5s with no prospects beyond making it to retirement doing a mediocre job. Those people should be left behind to rot in the cages they wrought for themselves.
The rest of us need to start building unified communities (just like people previously had based on race, nationality, or religion in order to reduce the dangers of daily outside persecution by keeping to themselves. It won't stop outsiders coming in to crush you because you are their currently blamed bogeyman, but it will allow some of us to build internally sustaining economic communities which in turn can provide time to either produce our own automated facilities to become competitive with the outside world/bigger corporations, or take other steps to avoid being crushed under the bootheel of enforced authoritarianism, which is marching steadily ahead under the auspices of protecting us from terrorism, economic progress (for all but the 'working class' and below), and whatever other aspects of freedom and liberty are considered unnecessary by those influencing society and politics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @07:25PM
no, we'll just stop funding you scum.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @09:15PM
This is why we need to lynch the bastards in trees / send them back to Africa / deny them entry into the country / round them up into detention camps / put them on watch lists.
It's because they hate us for our Freedoms.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @09:48PM
A bunch of white guys sitting in their mother's basements trying to discuss racial politics in America.
The African American community goes through stuff like this on a daily basis at the hands of whites. It never makes the news because it is so common.
The fact that Drudge still has this as its top story instead of a WHITE GUY who shot up the airport in Ft. Lauderdale shows how racism is alive today in America.
But yeah, a bunch of urban kids doing what is the equivalent to college fraternity hazing should be a hate crime. This is getting disproportionate media coverage in Trump's America.
Fuck off.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @09:54PM
It's a tech article.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:04PM
The Ft. Lauderdale guy must have been a Moslem. I know that because it wasn't mentioned in the article I skimmed. Even the Drudge Report is covering up the crimes of Moslems!
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Bot on Sunday January 08 2017, @02:53PM
However, Iowa Congressman Steve King raised a story circulating on conservative media sites that alleged Santiago had gone by a Muslim name on MySpace 10 years ago and “and recorded Islamic religious music on the site” with one song’s name meaning “there is no God but Allah.”
http://heavy.com/news/2017/01/esteban-santiago-fort-lauderdale-airport-shooter-shooting-active-gunman-suspect-photo-citizen-isis-florida-facebook-new-jersey-victims-military/ [heavy.com]
So, parent wins, grandparent loses, but grandparent was a troll so they both win. Unless the proof is fabricated of course (digital evidence is far from evidence nowadays).
Other theories, mental control victim (why should he be apprehended alive if he were? it would be more useful to shoot him dead or for him to suicide and cover traces), or patsy to expose mental control conspiracies (here we get to russian style counter propaganda territory).
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:21PM
The Ft Lauderdale shooter was Mexican, not white, you colorblind moron.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:24PM
Mexican isn't a race, its a nationality. And he wasn't Mexican, he was American.
Apparently some people don't realize that Hispanic and Latinos come in different shades. [latintimes.com]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:35PM
Basically, we all "American" if we live in the western hemisphere. But, the shooter is Puerto Rican.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:49PM
> Basically, we all "American" if we live in the western hemisphere.
No. There is only one nationality that is American.
There aren't any other countries with America in the name.
> But, the shooter is Puerto Rican.
Hey shit for brains -- Puerto Ricans are Americans.
Puerto Rico is part of the USA.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 08 2017, @12:03AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._colonial_possessions [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico [wikipedia.org]
Most Puerto Ricans would argue with you - certainly those who have repeatedly voted NOT to become a member state of the United States. Puerto Ricans have their own sense of identity, their own ethnic and national pride, their own culture.
"Puerto Ricans are natural-born citizens of the United States.[22] Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the United States Congress, which governs the territory with full jurisdiction under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. As a U.S. territory, American citizens residing on the island are disenfranchised at the national level and may not vote for president and vice president of the United States.[23] However, Congress approved a local constitution, allowing U.S. citizens on the territory to elect a governor."
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @12:23AM
> Most Puerto Ricans would argue with you
Hey shit for brains. My wife is a boricua, she says you don't know jack shit about the island so you should just shut the fuck up already.
I agree with her.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 08 2017, @12:32AM
You lying shit - you don't have a wife. If AC had a wife, she'd be a Neanderthal anyway, certainly not Puerto Rican.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @02:42AM
If there is one thing runaway is good at, its making dumbass declarations about shit he knows nothing about.
First americans, then puerto ricans and now some ACs wife.
I'm sure he believes every word of it too.
(Score: 2) by BK on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:28PM
I for one resent your racist assumptions.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:50PM
As if burger king isn't one of the whitest people here.
(Score: 2) by BK on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:13PM
You still have to learn when to stop telling whoppers.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @06:32AM
its good to resent, it builds character.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:32PM
Hah! Okay, Tyrone. Sure.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:48PM
Everybody goes through this stuff on a daily basis; only whites treat it as a human problem, rather than a race problem.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:33PM
"instead of a WHITE GUY who shot up the airport in Ft. Lauderdale"
Reading comprehension fail. The dude shot up the airport is a Puerto Rican. Probably a little less brown than the average Mexican, but still not white. If you're kinda color blind, and don't know much about the various ethinc groups in the western hemisphere, he could almost pass for white. Except, he will remind you that he isn't white, at some point in time. He will establish his ethnic origins when he realizes that you don't understand them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:37PM
Runaway can pass for white, too! But unlike the Ft. Lauderdale shooter, Runaway was never in actual combat. Support our troops!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:49PM
Well troll - you win the award for reading comprehension. I've stated that I pass for white, but I'm not really lily white like the white supremacists demand. I've also stated that I've never seen "actual combat" like the troops in Vietnam, who stayed out in the jungle for weeks and months at a time. But, I've seen more combat than many support troops like Bradley Manning.
I'll give you a star that you can give your mommy, and she can put it on the refrigerator.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @12:34AM
Runaway is done fucking his bitch. He heads to the kitchen to grab a drink from a fridge. As his hand reaches for the fridge door handle, the camera suddenly zooms in to a small gold sticker on the fridge. Then the camera cuts to a close up of Runaway's face. Then back to the star. Then back to his face. Then back to the star. Then back to his face. Then back to the star. Then back to his pants. Then back to the Milky Way Galaxy. Fade in Runaway's intensely focussed eyes with the look of a thousand yard stare and sweat trickling down his brow.
Then everything exploded as a USAF drone dropped a bomb on the house, eliminating a known threat to American security and prosperity for good.
(Score: 2) by Entropy on Sunday January 08 2017, @07:40PM
The islamic convert is probably the most useful classification. It's not all about general racial group, but he was Hispanic. Apparently we try to reclassify Hispanic people as white these days to skew crime statistics because some politician thought the numbers would look better that way where we should really just rename "Race" into "useful general classification", and include Hispanic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09 2017, @12:02AM
Reading comprehension fail. The dude shot up the airport is a Puerto Rican.
Pretty racist there. Maybe you should bring up Mein Kapft as well to define what "pure white" is? I'll just refer to you to wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_people#Puerto_Rico [wikipedia.org]
nut maybe you prefer the racist laws of the "good old past"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @03:03AM
But yeah, a bunch of urban kids doing what is the equivalent to college fraternity hazing should be a hate crime.
Physically abusing a helpless victim is not just "hazing" you troglodyte. The torture of a disabled person for their skin color is NOT something to be made light of or turned into cheap Internet score pointing.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @04:46AM
Everybody goes through this stuff on a daily basis; only whites treat it as a human problem, rather than a race problem.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Magic Oddball on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:19PM
From the FBI, for those unaware:
A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties.
It's effectively a variant of the legal definition of assault, which boils down to threatening somebody so that they're reasonably concerned that they're in imminent danger of being attacked in some way (physical, verbal, financial, online, etc.), whether the act is carried out or not.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by BK on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:25PM
Assaulting someone is bad.
Assaulting someone while thinking bad things is worse.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aristarchus on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:47PM
Motivation is a relevant factor in crime.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @07:43PM
only to a socialist trying to enforce behavior modification agendas.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Sunday January 08 2017, @07:57PM
Socialist behavior modification agendas, like, don't murder people? Murder, as contrasted with homocide, requires malice aforethought, in other words, specific mens rea. But obviously you are, um, someone lacking any such thing? So off to the camps for you! Don't worry, for those incapable of thought, thought crimes are impossible, although that is all the more pity. But we do have some of the best operant conditioning programs in the world! Developed by Capitalists, so not only good, but good for you, and profitable.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:57PM
Assaulting someone while thinking bad things is worse.
And in Georgia, being really super mad that your wife fucked someone else is a mitigating factor in murder. [ajc.com] If you are white.
You win some, you lose some.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:50PM
That's why the democratic process is unacceptable; the only reasonable way to shape society is capitalism (voluntary interaction as specified by contracts, which are themselves enforced by means of the same market mechanisms).
----------------
The above comment was marked as "Flamebait" [soylentnews.org], and then censored. Thus, it has been reposted here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:55PM
Well, I guess we'll just have to mod it down again, since you did not understand the first time, you capitalist pig anonymous coward! Do you think that developmentally delayed persons should sign contracts to be tortured? Black lives should contract with the police to be shot? Or should we put out a contract on your comment, so that it can be freely and justly modded as flamebait? Ok, done, and done.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:19PM
Black lives are paying the police to kill black lives. That's the nature of democracy and government. You agree with me: Black people should be able to refuse to fund their killers?
Get it yet, Karl?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @04:36AM
Black people are paying the police to protect them. Often from other black people who make up the number one demographic of people who commit crimes against black people.
Your prosecution complex conspiracy theory has no bearing to reality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @06:29AM
"persecution complex"
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:38PM
"Do you think that developmentally delayed persons"
WTF does that even mean? Let me study that for a minute . . . . .
OH! You mean retards! WTF didn't you just say retards? Ya fucking retard!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:44PM
Takes one to . . . Even when the vocabulary is beyond your grasp! I sense some business opportunities in your future, Runaway1956!
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:53PM
The shit's not beyond my grasp, I simply refuse to play the sophistry game. I call a spade a spade - and before you cry racism, take a look at this - http://jandj247.en.made-in-china.com/product/xXUnCKbrJaRV/China-Garden-Steel-Shovel-Types-of-Spade-Shovel-with-Steel-Handle.html [made-in-china.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @11:16PM
That's why the democratic process is unacceptable; the only reasonable way to shape society is capitalism (voluntary interaction as specified by contracts, which are themselves enforced by means of the same market mechanisms).
---------
The comment above was marked as "Flamebait" [soylentnews.org], and then censored. Thus, it has been reposted here.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @04:44AM
That's why the democratic process is unacceptable; the only reasonable way to shape society is capitalism (voluntary interaction as specified by contracts, which are themselves enforced by means of the same market mechanisms).
========
The comment above was marked as "Troll" [soylentnews.org], and then censored. Thus, it has been reposted here.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by VLM on Sunday January 08 2017, @01:06PM
Can't blame the kids too much; chanting "F‑‑‑ white people." was pretty much Hillaries campaign slogan. Weird how that drove whites to vote for Trump. Maybe they need to chant it some more?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @06:02PM
I don't understand why people like you continue to beat the dead horse with false information.
Not only did your guy win against all of the liberal media bias heaped upon him, but you perpetuate the problem by engaging in the same bias, and do so liberally. It's like you and runaway and jmorris can't be restrained by 140 characters or less, so you post here instead to emulate the leader.
Newflash: Hillary lost. doesnt really matter in this thread as to why. thanks for your opinion; go on that liberal.bias or whatever that gabi site is called and post there?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @06:17PM
Please stop dragging this site's discussion into the hyperbolic gutter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @07:34PM
Got any evidence for that? Maybe an actual quote with a credible citation included? (Note that the word credible is important there) I'm going to lay my cards on the table right now and say you have absolutely zilch to back up that claim. Hint: advocating for a more inclusive society is not the same as shouting "Fuck white people". Also, learn how to spell fuck. It ain't got no '-' in it. Jesus still isn't going to forgive you, even if you think it but don't spell it or say it out loud. Just sayin'.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @03:29PM
Can you really blame them for it?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @09:20PM
That's why the democratic process is unacceptable; the only reasonable way to shape society is capitalism (voluntary interaction as specified by contracts, which are themselves enforced by means of the same market mechanisms).
========
The comment above was marked as "Troll" [soylentnews.org], and then censored. Thus, it has been reposted here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 09 2017, @02:15PM
T h a t ' s w h y t h e d e m o c r a t i c p r o c e s s i s u n a c c e p t a b l e; t h e o n l y r e a s o n a b l e w a y t o s h a p e s o c i e t y i s c a p i t a l i s m (v o l u n t a r y i n t e r a c t i o n a s s p e c i f i e d b y c o n t r a c t s, w h i c h a r e t h e m s e l v e s e n f o r c e d b y m e a n s o f t h e s a m e m a r k e t m e c h a n i s m s).