tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15503929543260281022024-03-08T05:23:13.529-08:00We Can Do Better!Anything & Everything that I think is important!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.comBlogger205125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-21937317862461408892015-03-04T21:15:00.001-08:002015-03-06T13:27:40.969-08:00Shocking Ferguson Justice Report<p dir="ltr">Most Shocking Parts of the Ferguson Report <br>
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/04/politics/ferguson-justice-report-shocking/index.html </p>
<p dir="ltr">{50 years ago today in Selma,  Alabama hundreds marched for equality. Now in Ferguson, Missouri & in many cities like Ferguson the endeavor continues. Though we've made progress we still strive to realize the dream that five decades ago so many marching in Selma fought, bled & gave their lives for! #AllourLivesMatter}<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">Most shocking parts - CNN.com</p>
<p dir="ltr">(CNN)Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said the city "must do better" to address racism after a stunning Department of Justice report revealed a range of abuses committed against African American residents by the city's police force.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"We must do better not only as a city but as a state and a country. We must all work to address issues of racial disparity in all aspects of our society," he said at a press conference Wednesday night.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Knowles outlined a number of steps the city is taking to comply with DOJ recommendations and reform its force, which was found in the DOJ report to have engaged in systemic racism against the city's African American residents.</p>
<p dir="ltr">He also said one of the three city workers who the DOJ report identified as having sent racist emails had been fired, and the other two were under investigation. However, a source close to the investigation tells CNN that the other two individuals' jobs "will not survive the investigation."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Two of the individuals are officers and one is an employee at the department.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Justice Department report found that African-American Ferguson residents may have felt like they were being used as the city's personal ATM, by the way the police department hit them with traffic fines.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One woman has paid $550 on what was original a $151 fine for two parking tickets -- and, more than seven years later, she still owes $541.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The police also let dogs loose on residents, sometimes without warning.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One 14-year-old African-American boy said he was waiting for his friends at a house, unarmed, when police released a dog that bit his ankle, thigh and arm.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Harassment was also a common occurrence.</p>
<p dir="ltr">An African-American man was cooling off in his car after playing basketball in a public park in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2012 when a police officer approached him and accused him of being a pedophile.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This was the atmosphere of the city where white Officer Darren Wilson and 18-year-old African-American Michael Brown confronted each other last August -- with Wilson's shooting of Brown triggering months of protests that only intensified after local officials decided not to charge Wilson with a crime.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Justice Department completed a months-long review of the case and released those results Wednesday. The report cites "unlawful bias against and stereotypes about African-Americans," and points to a number of violations of constitutional rights.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Attorney General Eric Holder said a "highly toxic environment" existed between Ferguson police officers and the city's African-American residents before Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown last year.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"It's not difficult to imagine how a single tragic incident set off the city of Ferguson like a powder keg," Holder said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">He pointed to the use of excessive force overwhelmingly against African-American residents, noting that only African-Americans were bit by police dogs, and said "no alternative explanation" except racial bias exists to explain it.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Holder also said Ferguson's police department violated residents' First Amendment rights to record the activities of officers, regularly conducted illegal searches and unlawfully detained citizens and competed with each other to "see who can issue the largest number of citations in a single stop."</p>
<p dir="ltr">He said the city's municipal courts and local government "relies on the police force to serve essentially as a collection agency."</p>
<p dir="ltr">In a press conference later on Wednesday, St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said the Justice Department decision to not press federal charges against Wilson was not surprising, given the evidence.</p>
<p dir="ltr">He also took the opportunity to slam the federal agency for leaking information to the media.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"The only pattern and practice I can talk about is the pattern and practice of the Department of Justice of leaking information to the media," he said. "[No one is saying] there haven't been instances of racial profiling and other profiling, but to suggest that somehow it's all that goes on out there in fact does a great disservice to everybody."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Here are 6 of the most striking examples cited in the 102-page Justice Department report:</p>
<p dir="ltr">1. Unlawful arrest has long-term consequences</p>
<p dir="ltr">Summer of 2012. A 32-year-old African-American was cooling off in his car after a basketball game in a public park.</p>
<p dir="ltr">What comes next is a series of civil rights violations described in the Justice Department report that resulted in the man losing his job as a federal contractor.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A Ferguson police officer demands the man's Social Security number and identification before accusing him of being a pedophile and ordering the man out of his car.</p>
<p dir="ltr">When the officer asked to search the man's car, the 32-year-old refused, invoking his constitutional right.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The response? The officer arrested the man at gunpoint, slapped him with eight charges, including for not wearing a seat belt, despite the fact that he was sitting in a parked car. The officer also cited him for "making a false declaration" because he gave his name as 'Mike' instead of 'Michael.'</p>
<p dir="ltr">"The man told us that, because of these charges, he lost his job as a contractor with the federal government that he had held for years," the report says.</p>
<p dir="ltr">2. People? More like, "sources of revenue"</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Justice Department also revealed that driving the uneven hand of the law in Ferguson was "the city's emphasis on revenue generation."</p>
<p dir="ltr">City officials repeatedly pushed the Ferguson police department to increase city revenue through ticketing, resulting in disproportionate targeting of African-Americans.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Many officers appear to see some residents, especially those who live in Ferguson's predominantly African-American neighborhoods, less as constituents to be protected than as potential offenders and sources of revenue," the probe concluded.</p>
<p dir="ltr">African-Americans were disproportionately targeted by those practices, ticketed and cited for minor violations at a higher rate than white residents.</p>
<p dir="ltr">And African-Americans were almost exclusively on the receiving end of some violations: They accounted for 95% of "manner of walking in roadway" charges and 94% of "failure to comply" charges, for example.</p>
<p dir="ltr">READ: Justice report finds systematic discrimination against African-Americans in Ferguson</p>
<p dir="ltr">3. Racist emails</p>
<p dir="ltr">Ferguson's police officers and city court officials' practices didn't just happen to disproportionately target African-Americans.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Rather, our investigation has revealed that these disparities occur, at least in part, because of unlawful bias against and stereotypes about African-Americans," the investigators concluded.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Part of that bias came across in emails shared around by police and court officials:</p>
<p dir="ltr">A November 2008 email read in part that President Barack Obama wouldn't likely be president for long because "what black man holds a steady job for four years." And then in April 2011, another email depicted Obama as a chimpanzee.Another email joked that African-American women should use abortion to control crime.May 2011 email: "An African-American woman in New Orleans was admitted into the hospital for a pregnancy termination. Two weeks later she received a check for $3,000. She phoned the hospital to ask who it was from. The hospital said: 'Crimestoppers.'"A March 2010 email mockingly read: "I be so glad that dis be my last child support payment!" Month after month, year after year, all dose payments!"October 2011: An email included a photo of a group of topless, dancing black women, seemingly in Africa, with the caption: "Michelle Obama's High School Reunion."A December 2011 email included jokes playing on offensive Muslim stereotypes</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Our investigation has not revealed any indication that any officer or court clerk engaged in these communications was ever disciplined," the report reads.</p>
<p dir="ltr">All those who sent the emails are current Ferguson city officials.</p>
<p dir="ltr">READ: Justice Department announces Darren Wilson will not be charged</p>
<p dir="ltr">4. Didn't pay that parking ticket? Here's your arrest warrant</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Justice Department probe revealed racial discrimination by the police department, but also by the municipal court.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The city court issued more than 9,000 arrest warrants stemming from minor violations like parking and traffic tickets.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The city wasn't just focused on revenue through tickets, but the fines associated with late payment of fines and additional arrest fees, according to the report.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The investigators spoke with one woman who is still dealing with the repercussions of a 2007 parking violation.</p>
<p dir="ltr">More than seven years later, she's now been arrested twice because of the parking violation and has already paid $550 in fees stemming from the parking violation.</p>
<p dir="ltr">She still owes $541 ... on a ticket that originally amounted to a $151 fine.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"The woman, who experienced financial difficulties and periods of homelessness over several years, was charged with seven Failure to Appear offenses for missing court dates or fine payments on her parking tickets between 2007 and 2010," the report says.</p>
<p dir="ltr">5. Use of force</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Ferguson Police Department recorded 151 instances in which officers used force, documents that provide a litany of evidence of excessive use of force.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Our finding that FPD force is routinely unreasonable and sometimes clearly punitive is drawn largely from FPD's documentation; that is, from officers' own words," the Justice Department explained.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The federal investigation based on those reports revealed that officers are "quick to escalate encounters with subjects they perceive to be disobeying their orders or arrest."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"They have come to rely on ECWs, specifically Tasers, where less force -- or not force at all -- would do," the report explains.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The officers' use of force in some cases had "no basis in law" while others were simply "punitive and retaliatory."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"In addition, FPD records suggest a tendency to use unnecessary force against vulnerable groups such as people with mental health conditions or cognitive disabilities, and juvenile students," the investigators found.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Tasers, or "ECWs--an electroshock weapon that disrupts a person's muscle control"</p>
<p dir="ltr">"FPD officers seem to regard ECWs as an all-purpose tool bearing no risk." - DOJ report</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Justice Department described officers' use of ECWs as "swift, at times automatic" and shows several examples, such as:</p>
<p dir="ltr">A Ferguson correctional officer fired an ECW at an African-American woman because she yelled an insult at the officer and wouldn't go to her cell. She had been arrested for driving while intoxicated. The officer said he used the Taser because she was "not doing as she was told."And in September 2012, an officer stunned a handcuffed woman in the back of his squad car because she was using her legs to block him from closing the door.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Dogs</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Canine officers use dogs out of proportion to the threat posed by the people they encounter, leaving serious puncture wounds to nonviolent offenders, some of them children." - DOJ report</p>
<p dir="ltr">Every single time Ferguson police officers released a dog to bite an individual involved an African-American, according to the department's records.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In one incident, a police officer released a dog on a 14-year-old African-American boy who was found hiding in the closet of an abandoned house, "curled up in a ball," according to the police report. After the boy wouldn't show his hands and after being warned, the police officer released the dog, which bit the boy's arm. The boy told federal investigators he never hid in a closet, was never warned the dog would be released and was just waiting for his friends at the house. He said he was bitten in the ankle, thigh and arm.In other incidents, the officers failed to warn suspects that they would release a dog.In another instance, an officer deployed a dog on a fleeing suspect even though he had just patted down the suspect and knew he was not armed. Officers are only supposed to release a canine officer if they fear for their life or believe the suspect may be armed.6. Shocking stats</p>
<p dir="ltr">- Less than 8% of Ferguson police officers are African-American.</p>
<p dir="ltr">- African-Americans accounted for 90% of officers' use of force.</p>
<p dir="ltr">- African-Americans weren't just more likely to be stopped, but more likely to be cited and arrested regardless of the reason for the stop. And they were more likely to receive multiple citations during a single incident.</p>
<p dir="ltr">- African-American drivers were twice as likely as white drivers to be searched during traffic stops, but 26% less likely to be found in possession of contraband.</p>
<p dir="ltr">CNN's Eric Bradner, Sara Sidner and Catherine Shoichet contributed to this report.<br><br><br></p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-31809118769976013612015-01-22T22:43:00.001-08:002015-01-22T22:43:40.180-08:00Cop Shoots Man During Traffic Stop<br />
Dashboard footage from a fatal police shooting in Bridgeton, New Jersey confirm <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/prosecutors-say-man-killed-by-nj-cops-had-gun-but-multiple-witnesses-disagree/" target="_blank">eyewitness accounts</a> that the victim was stepping out of the car with his arms raised when officers shot and killed him, the <em>Press of Atlantic City</em> <a href="http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/police-video-shows-details-of-fatal-bridgeton-shooting/article_ea83a22a-a106-11e4-bb55-1be3f9fb51cf.html" target="_blank">reports</a>.
<br />
Police in Bridgeton pulled over the car in which Jerame Reid was a passenger on December 30th. Prosecutors <a href="http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2014/12/millville_man_shot_by_bridgeton_police_identified_as_jerame_c_reid.html" target="_blank">said</a>
that “during the course of the stop a handgun was revealed and later
recovered,” but witnesses said that Officers Braheme Days and Roger
Worley opened fire and killed Reid as he was peacefully exiting the
vehicle.<br />
Tahli Dawkins <a href="http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/update-police-id-man-fatally-shot-by-bridgeton-police/article_e0581fd4-90a2-11e4-94d3-53446e031a2e.html" target="_blank">told</a> the <em>Press of Atlantic City</em> that he watched the officers approaching the car yelling, “Don’t effing move!” and that they opened fire without provocation.<br />
Denzel Mosley <a href="http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/12/31/2-officers-on-administrative-leave-after-suspect-is-killed-during-traffic-stop-in-bridgeton-nj/" target="_blank">told</a>
KYW-TV that Reid’s hands were “in plain sight,” and that the officers
“were telling him, ‘Get out [of] the car,’” then yelling “‘Stop!’ and
they started shooting.”<br />
Ben Mosley — a retired sheriff’s deputy — said that Reid may have
attempted to get back into the car when the officers yelled the
contradictory order to “Stop!” but that he did not believe that
justified firing upon him.<br />
“I saw a disarmed man go down to the ground and get shot,” Mosley said. “That’s exactly what I saw.”<br />
The video — obtained by the <em>Press of Atlantic City</em> but not released to the public — confirmed these eye-witness accounts. <br />
“Show me your hands. Show me your f—— hands,” Days said, before
quickly adding, “Get him out of the car, Rog[er Worley], we got a gun in
his glove compartment.”<br />
After the gun is retrieved, Days continued to yell at Reid. “I tell
you, I’m going to shoot you,” he shouted. “You’re gonna be f—— dead. You
reach for something, you’re going to be f—— dead.”<br />
Reid then attempted to exit the vehicle with his hands raised, at
which point Officer Days yelled, “Don’t you f—— move!” before he and
Worley opened fire, discharging their weapons at least six times.<br />
Conrad Benedetto, the attorney for the Reid family, said after
viewing the video on Tuesday that “you see that there was no threat to
the officer, and no weapons in the victim’s hands.” <br />
Walter Hudson, chair and founder of the civil rights group the
National Awareness Alliance, said that “the video speaks for itself that
at no point was Jerame Reid a threat and he possessed no weapon on his
person. He complied with the officer and the officer shot him.”<br />
Watch the dashboard camera footage of the shooting below NJ.com below.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LlNWowXpWOs" width="480"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-19041109576906679652014-11-03T22:03:00.001-08:002014-11-03T22:03:50.720-08:00Death With DignityDeath With Dignity Advocate Brittany Maynard Dies…: http://youtu.be/iwPTH83-TdkAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-41200453008345737382014-10-31T01:34:00.001-07:002014-10-31T01:34:38.466-07:00Millennials Poised To Vote Against Their Own Self-Interest | The System ...<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5uMbgRGzmb0" width="480"></iframe><br />
Unfortunately, this is what happens when money becomes so prevelant in our political discourse. You have a few people having such a large voice, that cogent discourse becomes obselete.<br />
<br />
<br />
Get Money Out of Politics!!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-86630432658982447452014-09-30T23:06:00.001-07:002014-09-30T23:06:31.754-07:00Khorasan Doesn’t Exist, They Never Did, You’ve Been Lied To<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cCBd0hDR6s0" width="480"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/" style="background-image: url("data:image/png; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-90087175195971163012014-09-30T20:26:00.001-07:002014-09-30T20:26:25.148-07:00One Month In Ferguson - The Death of Michael Brown [Documentary]<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/snQhBGSXJ4E" width="480"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/" style="background-image: url("data:image/png; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-46023734888897452742014-08-23T19:29:00.003-07:002014-08-23T19:29:34.151-07:00Will The NRA Support This Gun Club?<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Sqk1bPmpD68" width="480"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/" style="background-image: url("data:image/png; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-73631039075543544162014-08-18T23:01:00.000-07:002014-08-18T23:01:02.523-07:00Darren Wilson Supporters: Michael Brown Had It Coming<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/viH0xjQKqLM" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<h1 class="title">
Group Rallies In Support Of Darren Wilson, Police Officer Who Shot Michael Brown</h1>
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ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Frustrated with the national coverage of
protests surrounding the death of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teen
who was fatally shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, a few
dozen people showed up in downtown St. Louis on Sunday afternoon to show
solidarity with the officer who killed the 18-year-old.<br />
Since officer Darren Wilson <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/15/darren-wilson-michael-brown_n_5681340.html" target="_hplink">shot Brown on Aug. 9</a>,
there have been nightly protests in Ferguson. But the counterprotesters
said they wanted the country to know that not everyone supported the
Ferguson demonstrations, and wanted Wilson and his family to know that
there were people who backed them.<br />
The protesters gathered outside KSDK-TV, a local station that they said has been biased in its coverage of the controversy. <br />
Word
of the Wilson rally spread via Facebook, according to the attendees,
who were overwhelmingly white. For a $7 donation, there were pro-Wilson
T-shirts, and all 55 of them sold out quickly. <br />
<img alt="shirt" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1970091/original.jpg" /><br />
Still,
the rally was significantly smaller than the protests around Brown's
death. The Wilson supporters said they were worried about the officer's
family and for the most part had little sympathy for individuals
claiming that there are problems with police behavior in Ferguson.<br />
"If
you do what the police tell you do -- if you're not doing anything
wrong, and the cops ask you to do something, then you're not going to
have nothing to worry about," said Michael Bates, 33. <br />
When asked
why the pro-Wilson rally didn't have many African-American attendees,
John Newshaw, a retired St. Louis County police officer, said, "This
sounds wrong, but I don't think the black community understands the
system. Again, there's a process. They're screaming about, why isn't he
[Wilson] arrested, why isn't he in jail? Well, without the investigation
being done, you can't go and apply for a warrant." <br />
Newshaw
criticized the Missouri Highway Patrol for "doing exactly what the
violent protesters want" and trying to use more communication and less
force. <br />
"They're going to keep pushing the envelope," he said of
demonstrators who've gotten violent during protests in Ferguson.
"There's no reason to stop. ... It's as simple as training your dog. If
you don't tell them stop biting, guess what, he's going to continue to
bite."<br />
The
Brown killing has touched a chord with many in the African-American
community and beyond that goes further than the shooting. Although a
majority of Ferguson residents are black, the power structure there is
still white. Ferguson's mayor and police chief are both white, as are
six of the city's seven council members. (The seventh is Latino.) And
just three members of Ferguson's 53-person police force are black. A <a href="http://ago.mo.gov/VehicleStops/2013/reports/161.pdf" target="_hplink">2013 report</a> found a major racial disparity in stops and searches in Ferguson, with black individuals twice as likely to get arrested.<br />
But Bates said he was frustrated that the issue was becoming a "race thing," saying that was besides the point. <br />
"If
everyone just stopped with the racism thing, it'd all just go away and
everything would go to court and come out with the way the law is
supposed to do it. Rioting and everything in the streets doesn't get
anything done," he said. <br />
The Missouri Highway Patrol, which is
now in charge of security in Ferguson, declared a second curfew for
Sunday night, in effect from midnight until 5:00 am CDT Monday morning.
One person was shot and seven people were arrested in the early hours of
Sunday morning, while the first curfew was in effect.<br />
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<section class="content article-main-content"><header class="content-header"> <a class="section-url" href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/us-news.html"> <h3 class="section">
U.S. News</h3>
</a> <div class="publish-date-time">
<span class="date">08.15.14</span></div>
<h1 class="title multiline">
The Day Ferguson Cops Were Caught in a Bloody Lie</h1>
</header><div class="dek char-limit multiline">
The officers got the wrong man, but charged him anyway—with getting his blood on their uniforms. How the Ferguson PD ran the town where Michael Brown was gunned down. </div>
<section class="content-body article-body-content">Police in Ferguson, Missouri, once charged a man with destruction of property for bleeding on their uniforms while four of them allegedly beat him.<br />
“On and/or about the 20th day of Sept. 20, 2009 at or near 222 S. Florissant within the corporate limits of Ferguson, Missouri, the above named defendant did then and there unlawfully commit the offense of ‘property damage’ to wit did transfer blood to the uniform,” reads the charge sheet.<br />
The address is the headquarters of the Ferguson Police Department, where a 52-year-old welder named Henry Davis was taken in the predawn hours on that date. He had been arrested for an outstanding warrant that proved to actually be for another man of the same surname, but a different middle name and Social Security number.<br />
“I said, ‘I told you guys it wasn’t me,’” Davis later testified.<br />
He recalled the booking officer saying, “We have a problem.”<br />
The booking officer had no other reason to hold Davis, who ended up in Ferguson only because he missed the exit for St. Charles and then pulled off the highway because the rain was so heavy he could not see to drive. The cop who had pulled up behind him must have run his license plate and assumed he was that other Henry Davis. Davis said the cop approached his vehicle, grabbed his cellphone from his hand, cuffed him and placed him in the back seat of the patrol car, without a word of explanation.<br />
But the booking officer was not ready just to let Davis go, and proceeded to escort him to a one-man cell that already had a man in it asleep on the lone bunk. Davis says that he asked the officer if he could at least have one of the sleeping mats that were stacked nearby.<br />
”He said I wasn’t getting one,” Davis said.<br />
Davis balked at being a second man in a one-man cell.<br />
“Because it’s 3 in the morning,” he later testified. “Who going to sleep on a cement floor?”<br />
The booking officer summoned a number of fellow cops. One opened the cell door while another suddenly charged, propelling Davis inside and slamming him against the back wall.<br />
“I told the police officers there that I didn’t do nothing, ‘Why is you guys doing this to me?’” Davis testified. “They said, ‘OK, just lay on the ground and put your hands behind your back.’”<br />
Davis said he complied and that a female officer straddled and then handcuffed him. Two other officers crowded into the cell.<br />
“They started hitting me,” he testified. “I was getting hit and I just covered up.”<br />
The other two stepped out and the female officer allegedly lifted Davis’ head as the cop who had initially pushed him into the cell reappeared.<br />
“He ran in and kicked me in the head,” Davis recalled. “I almost passed out at that point… Paramedics came… They said it was too much blood, I had to go to the hospital.”<br />
A patrol car took the bleeding Davis to a nearby emergency room. He refused treatment, demanding somebody first take his picture.<br />
“I wanted a witness and proof of what they done to me,” Davis said.<br />
He was driven back to the jail, where he was held for several days before he posted $1,500 bond on four counts of “property damage.” Police Officer John Beaird had signed complaints swearing on pain of perjury that Davis had bled on his uniform and those of three fellow officers.<br />
The remarkable turned inexplicable when Beaird was deposed in a civil case that Davis subsequently brought seeking redress and recompense.<br />
<blockquote class="blockquote">
<div class="centerer">
<div class="safe-area">
<div class="content" style="font-size: 22px;">
Schottel figures the courts might take the problems of the Ferguson Police Department as more than <i>de minimis</i> as a result of the protests sparked when an officer shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old named Michael Brown.</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
“After Mr. Davis was detained, did you have any blood on you?” asked Davis’ lawyer, James Schottel.<br />
“No, sir,” Beaird replied.<br />
Schottel showed Beaird a copy of the “property damage” complaint.<br />
“Is that your signature as complainant?” the lawyer asked.<br />
“It is, sir,” the cop said.<br />
“And what do you allege that Mr. Davis did unlawfully in this one?” the lawyer asked.<br />
“Transferred blood to my uniform while Davis was resisting,” the cop said.<br />
“And didn’t I ask you earlier in this deposition if Mr. Davis got blood on your uniform?”<br />
“You did, sir.”<br />
“And didn’t you respond no?”<br />
“Correct. I did.”<br />
Beaird seemed to be either admitting perjury or committing it. The depositions of other officers suggested that the “property damage” charges were not just bizarre, but trumped up.<br />
“There was no blood on my uniform,” said Police Officer Christopher Pillarick.<br />
And then there was Officer Michael White, the one accused of kicking Davis in the head, an allegation he denies, as his fellow officers deny striking Davis. White had reported suffering a bloody nose in the mayhem.<br />
“Did you see Mr. Davis bleeding at all?” the lawyer, Schottel, asked.<br />
“I did not,” White replied.<br />
“Did Mr. Davis get any blood on you while you were in the cell?” Schottel asked.<br />
“No,” White said.<br />
The contradictions between the complaint and the depositions apparently are what prompted the prosecutor to drop the “property damage” allegation. The prosecutor also dropped a felony charge of assault on an officer that had been lodged more than a year after the incident and shortly after Davis filed his civil suit.<br />
Davis suggested in his testimony that if the police really thought he had assaulted an officer he would have been charged back when he was jailed.<br />
“They would have filed those charges right then and there, because that’s a major felony,” he noted.<br />
Indisputable evidence of what transpired in the cell might have been provided by a surveillance camera, but it turned out that the VHS video was recorded at 32 times normal speed.<br />
“It was like a blur,” Schottel told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. “You couldn’t see anything.”<br />
The blur proved to be from 12 hours after the incident anyway. The cops had saved the wrong footage after Schottel asked them to preserve it.<br />
Schottel got another unpleasant surprise when he sought the use-of-force history of the officers involved. He learned that before a new chief took over in 2010 the department had a surprising protocol for non-fatal use-of-force reports.<br />
“The officer himself could complete it and give it to the supervisor for his approval,” the prior chief, Thomas Moonier, testified in a deposition. “I would read it. It would be placed in my out basket, and my secretary would probably take it and put it with the case file.”<br />
No copy was made for the officer’s personnel file.<br />
“Everything involved in an incident would generally be with the police report,” Moonier said. “I don’t know what they maintain in personnel files.”<br />
“Who was in charge of personnel files, of maintaining them?” Schottel asked.<br />
“I have no idea,” Moonier said. “I believe City Hall, but I don’t know.”<br />
Schottel focused on the date of the incident.<br />
“On September 20th, 2009, was there any way to identify any officers that were subject of one or more citizens’ complaints?” he asked.<br />
“Not to my knowledge,” Moonier said.<br />
“Was there any way to identify any officers who had completed several use-of-force reports?”<br />
“I don’t recall.”<br />
But however lax the department’s system and however contradictory the officers’ testimony, a federal magistrate ruled that the apparent perjury about the “property damage” charges was too minor to constitute a violation of due process and that Davis’ injuries were <i>de minimis</i>—too minor to warrant a finding of excessive force. Never mind that a CAT scan taken after the incident confirmed that he had suffered a concussion.<br />
Schottel has appealed and expects to argue the case in December. He will contend that perjury is perjury however minor the charge and note that both the NFL and Major League Baseball have learned to consider a concussion a serious injury.<br />
Schottel figures the courts might take the problems of the Ferguson Police Department as more than <i>de minimis</i> as a result of the protests sparked when an officer shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old named Michael Brown on the afternoon of Aug. 9.<br />
“Your chances on appeal are going up,” a fellow lawyer told him.<br />
At least one witness has said that Brown was shot in the back and then in the chest and head as he turned toward the officer with his hands raised.<br />
“I said, ‘Well, that doesn’t surprise me,’” Schottel told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. “I said I already know about Ferguson, nothing new can faze me about Ferguson.”<br />
Schottel has also deposed the new chief, Thomas Jackson, who took over in 2010. Jackson testified that he has instituted a centralized system whereby all complaints lodged against cops by citizens or supervisors go through him and are assigned a number in an internal affairs log. Schottel views Jackson as “not a bad guy,” someone who has been trying to make positive change.<br />
“He wants to do right, but it was such a mess,” Schottel said Wednesday.<br />
Jackson has seemed less than progressive as he delayed identifying the officer involved in the shooting for fear it would place him and his family in danger. Jackson would only say the officer is white and has been on the job for six years. This means that for his first two and most formative years the officer might have been writing his own force reports and that none of them went into his file.<br />
“It’s hard to get people to clean things up, especially if they’re used to doing things a certain way,” Schottel said.<br />
<br />
On Friday, police finally identified the officer as Darren Wilson, who is said to have no disciplinary record, as such records are kept in Ferguson. We already know that he started out at a time when it was accepted for a Ferguson cop to charge somebody with property damage for bleeding on his uniform and later saying there was no blood on him at all.<br />
<br />
Read original article at - <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/15/the-day-ferguson-cops-were-caught-in-a-bloody-lie.html.">http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/15/the-day-ferguson-cops-were-caught-in-a-bloody-lie.html.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
</section></section><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/" style="background-image: url("data:image/png; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-64597407540121090642014-08-15T09:55:00.001-07:002014-08-15T09:55:07.276-07:00Bad Economy = More Racism [STUDY]<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/KKgoydxQnHY" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<div class="ad_share_box padding_bottom_5 margin_right_20">
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<u><b>The Supreme Court</b></u> ruled in the case of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/08/mccutcheon-v-fec_n_4059180.html" target="_hplink">McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission</a> Wednesday, striking down overall limits on campaign contributions.<br />
According to <a href="https://twitter.com/breakingpol/status/451361726362304512" target="_hplink">Reuters and the AP</a>, the court left in place a cap on donations to a single candidate.<br />
<em>Below, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20140402/us--supreme-court-campaign-finance/" target="_hplink">more from the AP</a>:</em><br />
<br />
The
Supreme Court struck down limits Wednesday in federal law on the
overall campaign contributions the biggest individual donors may make to
candidates, political parties and political action committees.<br />
<br />
The
justices said in a 5-4 vote that Americans have a right to give the
legal maximum to candidates for Congress and president, as well as to
parties and PACs, without worrying that they will violate the law when
they bump up against a limit on all contributions, set at $123,200 for
2013 and 2014. That includes a separate $48,600 cap on contributions to
candidates.<br />
But their decision does not undermine limits on
individual contributions to candidates for president or Congress, now
$2,600 an election.<br />
<br />
Chief Justice John Roberts announced the
decision, which split the court's liberal and conservative justices.
Roberts said the aggregate limits do not act to prevent corruption, the
rationale the court has upheld as justifying contribution limits.<br />
The
overall limits "intrude without justification on a citizen's ability to
exercise `the most fundamental First Amendment activities,'" Roberts
said, quoting from the court's seminal 1976 campaign finance ruling in
Buckley v. Valeo.<br />
Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with the outcome
of the case, but wrote separately to say that he would have gone further
and wiped away all contribution limits.<br />
Justice Stephen Breyer,
writing for the liberal dissenters, took the unusual step of reading a
summary of his opinion from the bench.<br />
<br />
Congress enacted the limits
in the wake of Watergate-era abuses to discourage big contributors from
trying to buy votes with their donations and to restore public
confidence in the campaign finance system.<br />
<br />
But in a series of
rulings in recent years, the Roberts court has struck down provisions of
federal law aimed at limiting the influence of big donors as
unconstitutional curbs on free speech rights.<br />
Most notably, in
2010, the court divided 5 to4 in the Citizens United case to free
corporations and labor unions to spend as much as they wish on campaign
advocacy, as long as it is independent of candidates and their
campaigns. That decision did not affect contribution limits to
individual candidates, political parties and political action
committees.<br />
<br />
Republican activist Shaun McCutcheon of Hoover, Ala.,
the national Republican party and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky challenged the overall limits on what contributors may give in a
two-year federal election cycle. The total is $123,200, including a
separate $48,600 cap on contributions to candidates, for 2013 and 2014.<br />
Limits on individual contributions, currently $2,600 per election to candidates for Congress, are not at issue.<br />
<br />
Relaxed campaign finance rules have reduced the influence of political parties, McConnell and the GOP argued.<br />
McCutcheon
gave the symbolically significant $1,776 to 15 candidates for Congress
and wanted to give the same amount to 12 others. But doing so would have
put him in violation of the cap.<br />
Nearly 650 donors contributed
the maximum amount to candidates, PACs and parties in the last election
cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.<br />
<br />
The court
did not heed warnings from Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. and
advocates of campaign finance limits that donors would be able to funnel
large amounts of money to a favored candidate in the absence of the
overall limit.<br />
The Republicans also called on the court to abandon
its practice over nearly 40 years of evaluating limits on contributions
less skeptically than restrictions on spending.<br />
The differing
levels of scrutiny have allowed the court to uphold most contribution
limits, because of the potential for corruption in large direct
donations to candidates. At the same time, the court has found that
independent spending does not pose the same risk of corruption and has
applied a higher level of scrutiny to laws that seek to limit spending.<br />
<br />
If
the court were to drop the distinction between contributions and
expenditures, even limits on contributions to individual candidates for
Congress, currently $2,600 per election, would be threatened, said Fred
Wertheimer, a longtime supporter of stringent campaign finance laws.<br />
The case is McCutcheon v. FEC, 12-536. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/168356732/12-536_e1pf" target="_blank">Read the decision here. </a><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/TWZZ9r3Txy4" width="480"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-87558878207645152782013-12-20T22:01:00.001-08:002013-12-20T22:01:49.314-08:00Stephanie George Among 8 Drug War Victims Freed By Obama<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NiJtNsJjICg" width="480"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-37866355340560435112013-12-09T16:33:00.001-08:002013-12-09T16:33:39.716-08:00A Marijuana Arrest<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MEzZSDKOVM4" width="480"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-84602288176562294422013-12-08T22:42:00.001-08:002013-12-08T22:42:39.148-08:00Big Banks Fined* For Rate-Rigging Scandal | *Slapped On Wrist<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rCI-xc8pwMo" width="480"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-50225266200320207422013-08-04T20:03:00.002-07:002013-08-04T20:03:40.653-07:00America's Scariest Police Chief Given Timeout, Throws Tantrum<br />
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<div class="media image">
<a class="image_modal" href="http://r3.cygnuspub.com/files/cygnus/image/OFCR/2013/AUG/600x400/chiefkesslervideo_11075973.jpg" rel="#page_overlay">
<img src="http://r3.cygnuspub.com/files/cygnus/image/OFCR/2013/AUG/300x200/chiefkesslervideo_11075973.jpg" />
</a>
</div>
<div class="media_credit">
YouTube Image</div>
<div class="media_caption">
Gilberton Police Chief Mark Kessler was
suspended for 30 days without pay for his use of borough weapons without
permission in videos he filmed and posted on YouTube.
</div>
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GILBERTON, Pa. --
Gilberton police Chief Mark Kessler was suspended for 30 days without
pay Wednesday night for his use of borough weapons without permission in
videos he filmed and posted on YouTube.<br />
The 5-1 vote came during Wednesday's borough council meeting at
Borough Hall, which was filled to capacity with members of the media and
borough residents.<br />
The 7 p.m. meeting was preceded by a 55-minute executive session to
discuss what action would be taken, if any, against Kessler. When the
executive session began at 6 p.m., Kessler, who was dressed in a suit
and not in his police uniform, was also inside with the council and his
attorney, Joseph Nahas, for about 20 minutes, came outside for a time,
and then was called in again.<br />
There were more than 100 people outside borough hall, many arriving
before 5 p.m. Many were supporters of Kessler and wearing
"Constitutional Security Force" and other patriotic shirts, some with
the Greek phrase "Molon Labe," which means "come and take," an
expression of defiance. Some of Kessler's supporters also carried
semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and pistols.<br />
During the meeting, after a short explanation about the executive
session by borough solicitor Karen Domalakes, council President Daniel
Malloy requested a motion.<br />
"After review of the circumstances, it is my recommendation that a
motion be made to discipline Chief Kessler for the use of borough
property for non-borough purposes without prior borough permission,
incurring no expense to the borough," Malloy said. "This action would be
30 days (suspension) with no pay."<br />
The motion was made by Councilwoman Susan Schmerfield and seconded by
Vice President Eric Boxer. Voting in favor were Malloy, Schmerfield,
Boxer, Robert Wagner and Michael VanAllen. Lloyd George voted against
the motion and William Hannon was absent.<br />
<strong>The Controversy</strong><br />
The uproar over the police chief began when Kessler posted a homemade
video July 15 on YouTube that criticized U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry for pledging to sign a United Nations treaty that requires
ratifying countries to begin controlling the international arms trade.
Kessler's position is that the treaty will eventually lead to
restrictions on gun ownership in violation of the Second Amendment.<br />
<strong><a class="outbound_link_tracking" href="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPAxfDvDuCwAQ-MoivCiStQ/videos" target="_blank">Watch Videos</a></strong><br />
In the video, Kessler used profanity and also fired a fully automatic
rifle. Due to criticism from some viewers about his use of profane
language, Kessler posted another video the same day responding to the
critical comments made against him. The second video also included
profanity and the firing of two fully automatic rifles and an automatic
pistol.<br />
As of Wednesday, 284,562 people had viewed the second video, up from 3,280 on July 22.<br />
As public opinion grew against Kessler's videos, Gilberton Mayor Mary
Lou Hannon stood by the police chief in a statement to the press,
explaining that what Kessler says and does during his personal time is
his right under the First Amendment and he would not be censured for his
political views.<br />
The following day, a statement was released by the North Schuylkill
school board -- of which Kessler is a member -- that its members "do not
condone or agree with his actions or communications as produced in his
online videos."<br />
</div>
With an increasing number of irate telephone calls to Borough Hall
last week, the borough council canceled its July 25 meeting and
rescheduled it for Wednesday.<br />
<strong>Lawyer Makes Case</strong><br />
After the vote, Nahas was allowed to make a statement, with Kessler standing by his side.<br />
"Mr. Kessler is a very big activist when it comes to our
Constitution, the First Amendment, the Second Amendment -- the entire
Constitution," Nahas said. "Mr. Kessler shot a video. He used some
profane language and shot a weapon during that video. There is a very
big difference in what Mr. Kessler did on YouTube as to what a person
would do in society at this board meeting."<br />
Nahas said that those people who searched out the videos on the Internet had a very good idea what they would see and hear.<br />
<div class="text_wrapper">
"Was profanity used? Absolutely. Was a gun
used, which you (Malloy) described as borough property? Absolutely,"
Nahas said. "But they were used for shock value to call people's
attention to our country and to constraints that our government may --
may -- be putting on the citizens of the United States. The bottom line
is that Mr. Kessler did not do that in his capacity as a police officer.
He did not do that in his capacity as a school board member. He did it
in his capacity as an individual who is fighting for your constitutional
rights. If you don't like the video, don't watch it. Don't click on it.
There is nothing more to it than that."<br />
As for the council's decision, Nahas said he and Kessler would
discuss it in private today but that the decision will be followed.<br />
"We'll follow the council's recommendation. He has to, since you are
his supervisor," Nahas said. "We'll decide if we're going to take any
further action."<br />
The public speaks<br />
Domalakes then asked for public comments, limiting the time to one
minute. The first speaker was Peter Kostingo, a Gilberton native who
lives in Frackville.<br />
"I do support the Constitution, the First and Second Amendments, but
the only problem with what Chief Kessler did and what his attorney
fluffed it up and said it was only about profanity, but if you look at
those videos, he (Kessler) threatens Nancy Pelosi, he's wearing a
Gilberton chief of police badge and he should be fired, not a 30-day
suspension," Kostingo said. "The attorney put a good spin on it but he
used and abused his position, saying he's the chief."<br />
Gilberton resident Mark Keirsey told the council that there could be liability issues involving Kessler.<br />
"I ask the mayor and this council to consider calling on an outside
agency, such as Schuylkill County's district attorney's office or the
state police, to investigate Mr. Kessler's actions," Keirsey said.
"There is his conduct as a police officer and his ability to perform his
duties as a law enforcement official with regards to his contractual
obligations, not to mention the fact that he poses a major liability to
this borough and its residents. God forbid that an unfortunate incident
should occur, the borough could be sued and it would be a major
liability issue."<br />
Other comments were made, both in favor and against Kessler's actions, during the public portion, which concluded the meeting.<br />
</div>
Gene Stilp, Marysville, presented the council with eight pages of the
standard Right-To-Know request form asking for copies of the borough
code of conduct requirements, written policies for dismissal and other
information. Before the meeting, Michael Morrill, executive director of
Keystone Progress, submitted a petition of more than 20,000 names
demanding that Kessler be fired. The names were received through the
Internet from Pennsylvania and other areas of the country.<br />
Kessler went outside after the meeting and was surrounded by his supporters.<br />
"The support has been overwhelming, not only from here in Gilberton
borough but from all over the country and internationally," Kessler
said. "I respect council's decision and will follow it. It's shameful
that they chose to bend because of political pressure but it is what it
is and I'll deal with it."<br />
Copyright 2013 - Republican & Herald, Pottsville, Pa.<br />
McClatchy-Tribune News Service<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/n4-jOuMqX54" width="480"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-25092714953936286302013-06-16T19:36:00.000-07:002013-06-16T19:36:48.042-07:00Investigate Booz Allen Hamilton, not Edward Snowden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Investigate Booz Allen Hamilton, not Edward Snowden</h1>
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The firm that formerly employed both the director of national intelligence and the NSA whistleblower merits closer scrutiny</div>
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Booz Allen Hamilton headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA</div>
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Military contractor Booz Allen Hamilton of McLean, Virginia, has shot into the news recently over two of its former employees: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/edward-snowden" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Edward Snowden">Edward Snowden</a>, the whistleblower who has just revealed the extent of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/the-nsa-files">US global spying on electronic data of ordinary citizens</a> around the world, and James Clapper, US director of national intelligence.<br />
Clapper has <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/12/james-clapper-intelligence-chief-criticism">come out vocally to condemn Snowden</a> as
a traitor to the public interest and the country, yet a review of Booz
Allen's own history suggests that the government should be investigating
his former employer, rather than the whistleblower.<br />
Clapper <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/james-r-clapper/gIQAOeVKAP_topic.html">worked as vice-president at Booz Allen</a> from 1997 to 1998, while Snowden <a href="http://www.boozallen.com/media-center/press-releases/48399320/statement-reports-leaked-information-060913">did a three-month stint at their offices</a>
in Hawaii in spring 2013 as a low-level contract employee. Both worked
on intelligence contracts, which are estimated to make up almost a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/us/booz-allen-grew-rich-on-government-contracts.html">quarter of the company's $5.86bn in annual income</a>. This past weekend, Clapper condemned Snowden's leak about US government <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/surveillance" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Surveillance">surveillance</a>, telling <a href="http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/speeches-and-interviews/195-speeches-interviews-2013/874-director-james-r-clapper-interview-with-andrea-mitchell">NBC News's Andrea Mitchell</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
"For
me, it is literally – not figuratively – literally gut-wrenching to see
this happen because of the huge, grave damage it does to our
intelligence capabilities. This is someone who, for whatever reason, has
chosen to violate a sacred trust for this country. I think we all feel
profoundly offended by that."</blockquote>
The following day Snowden replied from a hotel in Hong Kong, in an <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance">interview with Glenn Greenwald of the Guardian</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
"The
government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no
public oversight. I realised that I was part of something that was doing
far more harm than good."</blockquote>
Booz Allen reacted with anger in a press statement released hours later:<br />
<blockquote>
"News
reports that this individual has claimed to have leaked classified
information are shocking, and if accurate, this action represents a
grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm."</blockquote>
Core values? Let's examine Booz Allen Hamilton's track record.<br />
In February 2012, the US air force <a href="http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/02/booz-allen-suspension-a-successful-failure.html">suspended Booz Allen from seeking government contracts</a> after it discovered that Joselito Meneses, a former deputy chief of information technology for the air force, <a href="http://www.federalnewsradio.com/395/2829030/Air-Force-lifts-suspension-on-Booz-Allens-San-Antonio-office">had given Booz Allen a hard drive with confidential information about a competitor's contracting</a> on the first day that he went to work for the company in San Antonio, Texas. <a href="http://www.safgc.hq.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-120416-004.pdf">US air force legal counsel concluded (pdf)</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
"Booz
Allen did not uncover indications and signals of broader systemic
ethical issues within the firm. These events caused the air force to
have serious concerns regarding the responsibility of Booz Allen,
specifically, its San Antonio office, including its business integrity
and honesty, compliance with government contracting requirements, and
the adequacy of its ethics program."</blockquote>
It should be
noted that Booz Allen reacted swiftly to the government investigation of
the conflict of interest. In April that year, the <a href="http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/04/air-force-lifts-booz-allen-suspension-contractor-admits-to-broader-systemic-ethical-deficiencies-add.html">air force lifted the suspension</a> – but only after Booz Allen had accepted responsibility for the incident and <a href="http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120209/IT04/202090305/Air-Force-suspends-Booz-Allen-office-from-further-contracts">fired Meneses</a>, as well as agreeing to pay the air force $65,000 and reinforce the firm's ethics policy.<br />
Not
everybody was convinced about the new regime. "Unethical behavior
brought on by the revolving door created problems for Booz Allen, but
now the revolving door may have come to the rescue," <a href="http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/04/air-force-lifts-booz-allen-suspension-contractor-admits-to-broader-systemic-ethical-deficiencies-add.html#comment-6a00d8341c68bf53ef0163044e9f2f970d">wrote Scott Amey of the Project on Government Oversight</a>,
noting that Meneses was not the only former air force officer who had
subsequently become an executive in Booz Allen's San Antonio office.<br />
<blockquote>
"It
couldn't hurt having [former AF people]. Booz is likely exhaling a sigh
of relief as it has received billions of dollars in air force contracts
over the years."</blockquote>
Booz Allen has also <a href="http://www.contractormisconduct.org/index.cfm/1,73,222,html?CaseID=1161">admitted to overbilling</a> the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) "employees at
higher job categories than would have been justified by their
experience, inflating their monthly hours and submitting excessive
billing at their off-site rate." The <a href="http://www.contractormisconduct.org/ass/contractors/15/cases/1161/1625/booz-allen-hamilton-nasa-overbilling_pr.pdf">company repaid the government $325,000 in May 2009 to settle the charges (pdf)</a>.
Incidentally, both the Nasa and the air force incidents were brought to
light by a company whistleblower who informed the government.<br />
Nor
was this the first time Booz Allen had been caught overbilling. In
2006, the company was one of four consulting firms that settled with the
Justice Department for fiddling expenses on an industrial scale. Booz
Allen's share of the $15m settlement of a <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/Pressroom/pr2006/001.html">lawsuit under the False Claims Act was more than $3.3m</a>.<br />
The
incidents described above could be dismissed as aberrations. What is
worthy of note, however, is that Ralph Shrader, the chairman, CEO and
president of Booz Allen, came to the company in 1974 after working at
two telecommunications companies – Western Union, where he was national
director of advanced systems planning, and RCA, where he served in the
company's government communications system division.<br />
Today, those names may not ring a bell, but these two companies took part in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MINARET">secret surveillance program known as Minaret</a> in the 1970s when they agreed to hand over to the National Security Agency (<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/nsa" title="More from guardian.co.uk on NSA">NSA</a>)
all incoming and outgoing US telephone calls and telegrams. In an
interview with the Financial Times in 1998, Shrader noted that the most
relevant background for his new position of chief executive at Booz
Allen was his experience working for telecommunications clients and
doing classified military work for the US government.<br />
Minaret and
other such snooping programs led to an explosive series of congressional
hearings in 1970s named the Senate select committee to study
governmental operations with respect to intelligence activities, chaired
by Frank Church of Idaho in 1975.<br />
Should the latest revelations
of massive government surveillance come before Congress again, it might
be worth probing Shrader and his company – rather than shooting the
messenger, Edward Snowden.<br />
Finally, Congress would also do well to investigate Clapper, Booz Allen's other famous former employee, for possible perjury <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/james-clappers-least-untruthful-statement-to-the-senate/2013/06/11/e50677a8-d2d8-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_blog.html">when he replied: "No, sir"</a> to Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon in March, when asked:<br />
<blockquote>
"Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?"</blockquote>
</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-58363261268615167472013-06-16T12:57:00.001-07:002013-06-16T12:57:59.584-07:00 In Trayvon Martin Case, History's Ghosts Linger <div class="margin_bottom_10 clearfix relative">
<img alt="Trayvon Martin Emmett Till" class="pinit" id="img_caption_3446646" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1193386/thumbs/r-TRAYVON-MARTIN-EMMETT-TILL-large570.jpg?15" width="570" />
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Focus on the details, and the cases seem very different. One
was killed by virulent white racists, the other by a part-Hispanic
neighborhood watchman who insists he faced a vicious attack. One was
weighted down and dumped in a river; in the other case, police were
called by the shooter himself.<br />
Six decades and myriad details separate the deaths of Emmett Till and
Trayvon Martin, two black teenagers felled by violence. Yet in the way
America reacted to Martin's death – and the issues that echoed afterward
– his case has created a national racial conversation in the much same
manner as the saga of Till, infamously murdered in 1955 for flirting
with a white woman.<br />
Plenty of people do not see the Martin case as about race at
all. But for others who study America's racial past and present, each
killing is a defining moment for its era - a fraught microcosm of what
we are, and what we are trying to become.<br />
"Trayvon Martin is today's race case," says Christopher Darden, a
prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, another defining American
moment. "I don't know that anybody can really sit there and objectively
look at the evidence. It arrives with so many different kinds of
emotions."<br />
Just as the Till saga remains a searing archetype of the brutal
segregation that gave rise to the civil rights movement, the Martin case
captures the ambiguous meanings of race in America at a time when both
the president and the lowest segments of society are black.<br />
Emmett Till showed what needed to be done in 1955. Now, Trayvon Martin reveals to us the racial landscape of 2013.<br />
"Trayvon Martin certainly is the Emmett Till of the hoodie
generation," says Michael Skolnik, a board member of The Trayvon Martin
Foundation and president of GlobalGrind.com.<br />
"This case represents so much for our country," Skolnik says. "It
represents issues of race, issues of police priorities for different
communities. It represents the status of young black men in America."<br />
On a February night in 2012, Martin was returning to his father's
house from the store, unarmed, his hoodie up in a light rain. George
Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman, saw the 17-year-old and
called police to report a "suspicious" person "up to no good." Minutes
later, a bullet from Zimmerman's gun was in Martin's chest.<br />
Did Zimmerman think Martin was suspicious because he was black, or
was he justly guarding his neighborhood? Did Martin attack Zimmerman? If
Zimmerman acted based on race, is that manifestly unjust or just common
sense?<br />
Such questions, and the lineage of American historical events behind
them, have turned Martin's story into one that far transcends the facts
of the case.<br />
"I've been doing work around police brutality and racial hate crimes
for over 20 years, but I've never seen one resonate with so many people
like the Trayvon Martin situation," says Kevin Powell, president of the
advocacy group BK Nation and editor of "The Black Male Handbook: A
Blueprint for Life."<br />
"He became this symbolic figure for how much has not changed in
America in spite of a black man being in the White House," Powell says.<br />
To some, the Martin-Zimmerman case is about media distortion when it
comes to race. Some view it through the prism of whether Florida's
"stand-your-ground" law is legitimate.<br />
And for others, the case symbolizes that black people see racism when there is no evidence of it.<br />
"I reject the idea that this happened specifically because of color,"
says Mychal Massie, a columnist and former chairman of the black
conservatives leadership group Project 21.<br />
"I'm not saying that Martin deserved to be shot," Massie says. "I'm
also not saying he was a paragon of virtue. Indications are he was not
singled out because he was black. He was singled out because he was
there, Zimmerman was doing his job as a neighborhood watchperson, and he
saw a stranger."<br />
Massie strenuously objects to any comparison between Till and Martin. Till, Massie says, died in "a different time."<br />
There certainly is no comparison between the killers, or the
circumstances surrounding their actions: Two white men abducted the
14-year-old Till, pistol-whipped and shot him, then dumped him in a
river with a weight barb-wired around his neck. Zimmerman, whose father
is white and mother is from Peru, identifies himself as Hispanic. He
says he fired in self-defense because he was being viciously beaten by
Martin.<br />
Yet Martin, like Till, died at a pivotal moment in U.S. racial history.<br />
The Brown v. Board of Education case desegregating American schools
had just begun the march toward equal rights, but Till's death signaled
that the hardest battles had yet to be fought. Likewise, Martin died
when a black man was leading the country for the first time.<br />
But Raynard Jackson, a black conservative commentator, says the fact
of a black president didn't stop a black kid minding his own business
from being considered a criminal.<br />
"It was based on a mindset of prejudice and superiority: `Who are you to walk in my neighborhood?'" Jackson asserts.<br />
Reams of scientific evidence and real-life experiences suggest such
profiling is widespread, and millions of people can feel its truth in
their bones. But in the case of George Zimmerman, who exhibited no
previous racist behavior of record, it's still nothing but an assumption
and almost impossible to prove.<br />
That's another defining feature of today's racial challenges: They're
much more subtle than in 1955, and thus often harder to discuss or
quantify.<br />
Darden's own judgment tells him that race was a factor in Zimmerman
placing Martin under suspicion: "It had to be. Race is a factor, a point
of fact that people consider when they evaluate someone."<br />
For Massie, the significance of the Martin case is simple: Black
males commit a disproportionate percentage of crimes. "What it shows,"
he says, "is the continued predilection for misbehavior by so many young
urban people, regardless of color."<br />
"The tragedy of Trayvon Martin is that, if as many of us believe he
initiated this assault, he paid the ultimate price for a bad decision,"
Massie says.<br />
Trayvon Martin: victim or aggressor? George Zimmerman: racist or
neighborhood protector? As with America in the Emmett Till era, much of
today's race problem rests on the fact that America can't reach even a
semblance of consensus on the problem.<br />
"I think white America has one way of viewing race, because of their
experiences, and American people of color have a very different
perspective, because of their experiences," says Powell, the activist.<br />
"If we are to truly have one America, then we've got to talk and
listen to each other," he says, "and to understand that Trayvon Martin
murder is an American tragedy, not a black tragedy."<br />
__<br />
Jesse Washington covers race and ethnicity for The Associated Press. He is reachable at or jwashington(at)ap.org. <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jessewashington">http://www.twitter.com/jessewashington</a><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-73025509128914425642013-05-06T23:04:00.000-07:002013-05-06T23:04:49.229-07:00Who would you pick as the 'Best President since FDR' !?You've heard what their opinions are about the best presidents in U.S. History, who are your favorites and why? <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/o1XKxyFhI8w?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-73934495674360348012013-05-06T22:11:00.001-07:002013-05-06T22:11:37.405-07:00Birther Hypocrisy? Canadian-Born Republican For President If Ted Cruz wants to make a run from president, then why not Cenk for President!?.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/1RqNi2LeGL4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-47195054972220286922013-05-01T12:17:00.000-07:002013-05-01T12:17:41.330-07:00Kelvin Doe at TEDxTeen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/BmvOh8jx6ro?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
This kid is amazing. Ladies and Gentleman, I present Mr. Kelvin Doe aka DJ Focus!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-82444234183766211992013-03-10T23:45:00.001-07:002013-03-10T23:45:42.127-07:00 Cops Go Free After Violently Beating Teen (Graphic Image) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xHWejhZZohc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Organizations hoping to bury unpleasant or potentially controversial
news traditionally release information late Friday, in the hope that
many folks already in weekend mode miss the development. A classic
example: Justice Department reps chose Friday at 6:30 p.m. to inform <a href="http://www.westword.com/related/to/Alex+Landau/">Alex Landau</a> that they would not be charging the three Denver police officers who <a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/01/alexander_landau_got_pulled_ov.php">brutally beat him</a>
with federal civil rights violations. No surprise that Landau is
incensed by this turn of events, as are numerous supporters. Look below
for details, the lawsuit and more photos from after the incident.<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1550392954326028102" name="more"></a>
As Joel Warner reported in detail for his 2011 feature article "<a href="http://www.westword.com/2011-01-20/news/alex-landau-beaten-denver-police-lawsuit/">Black and Blue</a>,"
Landau was a nineteen-year-old Community College of Denver student when
he was pulled over by police on January 15, 2009, allegedly for making
an illegal left turn.<br />
<span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"></span><br />
<table border="0" class="image left" style="width: 300px;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/alex%20landau%20beaeting%20photos%203.jpg"><img alt="alex landau beaeting photos 3.jpg" height="212" src="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/assets_c/2013/02/alex%20landau%20beaeting%20photos%203-thumb-300x212.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="caption">Alex Landau's jacket after his beating by police. More photos below. Warning: They're graphic.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Marijuana
was subsequently found on Landau's passenger, a fellow student named
Addison Hunold, prompting the officers -- identified in the lawsuit as
Ricky Nixon, Randy Murr and Tiffany Middleton -- to ask if they could
search his trunk. Landau is said to have responded by stepping toward
the officers and quizzing them about whether or not they had a warrant
-- at which point they began punching him in the face. The attack caused
Landau to fall, but the beating continued for several minutes, with one
officer yelling, "He's going for the gun." (Landau was unarmed.) Once
they finally stopped the assault, one officer reportedly put the
following question to him: "Where's that warrant now, you fucking
nigger?"
A lawsuit over the incident was filed in January 2011, and Landau eventually received a <a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/05/alexander_landau_795000_police_brutality_settlement.php">$795,000 settlement</a>
from the City of Denver for the damage done to him. But officers Nixon,
Murr and Middleton still have not been punished for their actions in
the incident. Murr was eventually fired for taking part in another <a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/03/michael_deherrera_beating_offi.php">high-profile excessive-force</a> case involving <a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/03/michael_deherrera_beating_offi.php">Michael DeHerrera</a>, and Nixon, too, was canned in connection with his role in an alleged <a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/01/police_brutality_ricky_nixon_reinstated_alex_landau.php">assault on four women at the Denver Diner</a>, also in 2009. However, he was <a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/01/police_brutality_ricky_nixon_reinstated_alex_landau.php">later reinstated</a> and remains on the Denver police force, as does Middleton.<br />
Last week, a Denver judge ruled that the city could be <a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2013/02/denver_diner_order_city_trial_police_brutality.php">put on trial for police brutality</a> over the Denver Diner case -- and the officers who pummeled Landau could still face punishment resulting from a <a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/06/alex_landau_beating_denver_police_fbi_investigation.php">Manager of Safety inquiry</a> whose results were <a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/06/alex_landau_beating_denver_police_fbi_investigation.php">delayed due to the federal investigation</a>. But this prospect offers little solace to Landau.<br />
Look below to see a Landau's statement, included in a release by the
Colorado Progressive Coalition, with which he now works; that release
also features comments by CPC racial justice and civil rights program
director Mu Son Chi. In addition, we've got remarks from Holland,
Holland, Edwards & Grossman, the law firm that represents Landau.
extremely graphic.<br />
The decision by the Federal Bureau of Investigation not to charge
officers with civil rights violations in investigation of the Alex
Landau beating by no means lessens Colorado Progressive Coalitions
resolve to see officers Tiffany Middleton, Randy Murr and Ricky Nixon
removed from the force. While the investigation did not find sufficient
evidence to prove the civil rights of Landau had been infringed upon,
the decision does not vindicate officers who are still under
investigation by the Denver Police Department for the beating that left
Landau with neurological damage and in shock was proper.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/alex%20landau%20beating%20photos%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="alex landau beating photos 1.jpg" border="0" height="593" src="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/alex%20landau%20beating%20photos%201.jpg" style="height: 593px; width: 514px;" title="" width="514" /></a></div>
"What is justice? If the Department of Justice, guided by the FBI
probe cannot prove enough evidence in such a blatant case of police
brutality, police misconduct, and racial discrimination to produce
charges against these officers, then I don't believe our justice system
has come far enough. <br />
"In 2009, when I was a 19-year-old college student, I was pulled
over by Denver Police. When I calmly asked to see a warrant after
officers had already patted me down, I was grabbed, punched repeatedly,
brought to the ground, hit in the face with a radio, hit in the face
with a flashlight, had a service revolver pressed to my head, my life
threatened, and thrown into the gutter. I lost consciousness and I
awoke to officers laughing at me. I was asked, 'Where's that warrant now
you fucking nigger.' I was dragged across the grass and left on a
police jacket to bleed. I wouldn't allow any medical treatment until I
got photos and, because of that, went into shock on the way to the
hospital. My witness was coerced into writing a false statement. I was
falsely charged with felony criminal intent to disarm a police officer.
Officers falsified testimony, evidence, and documents to try to cover up
their actions. When I went to file a complaint with Internal Affairs, I
was told to own up to my actions as a man and that it's not always a
good idea to play the race card. My case has been mishandled from the
beginning."<br />
"I attended the first day of college with 45 stiches, a broken nose, a
concussion, and a brain injury. But none of this is considered
sufficient evidence by the Department of Justice or the FBI to bring
civil rights violations against these officers who beat me almost to
death and then laughed about it. Our community is not laughing. After
over 4 years of delay I am concerned that this may be used as a way to
overlook officer discipline yet again. In my mind and the eyes of the
community, these officers will never be vindicated of their actions.
Officers who have assaulted our community need to be taken off the
streets."<br />
Mu Son Chi, Colorado Progressive Coalition's Racial Justice and Civil
Rights Program Director, explained that the community continues to wait
on the Denver Police Department to hand out discipline to the officers
involved in Landau's case.<br />
"We have called on the federal government for years to join us in
seeking justice for our community. Perhaps they will join us some day.
In the meantime, we are not waiting on anyone to continue the fight for
justice with Alex Landau and others who have had their lives negatively
impacted by racial profiling and police violence.<br />
"We acknowledge the work done by the city to expedite the process for
discipline and to streamline the appeals process. However, we are
still waiting on discipline in this case. Alex Landau is still waiting
after over four years for officers to be disciplined. Unfortunately for
everyone involved, the recent rules changes by the city do not change
that fact."<br />
CPC is calling on community members to join them on Feb. 16 at 3:30
to attend a meeting in which survivors of police misconduct and
brutality, including Landau, will be speaking. During the event, CPC
will release its Truth and Justice Report, which details police
misconduct data collected through its Racial Profiling Hotline. The
event will occur at the CPC offices at 1029 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO
80204. <br />
"Today, we will call on our community to join our members in the fight for justice," said Chi. <br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11317582820632380128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1550392954326028102.post-60372731142960279332013-02-09T15:54:00.004-08:002013-02-09T15:54:53.102-08:00<a href="http://listverse.com/2013/02/09/10-tips-for-success-in-everything/" rel="bookmark" title="Permalink: 10 Tips for Success in Everything"><strong></strong></a><br />
<h1>
<a href="http://listverse.com/2013/02/09/10-tips-for-success-in-everything/" rel="bookmark" title="Permalink: 10 Tips for Success in Everything"><strong>10 Tips for Success in Everything </strong></a></h1>
<br />
<div class="author-byline">
by <strong><a href="http://listverse.com/authors/?id=3" rel="author">Jamie Frater</a></strong>, February 9, 2013</div>
<div id="rightbar">
In 2007 I started Listverse with no idea what it might become. I
have been through a lot with the site—professionally and personally.
Over the years I have read copious amounts of books to help me make the
right decisions for the site. This list is a summary of the best advice
I have found for starting with nothing and trying to build something. I
hope that this will be useful for some of our followers who are hoping
to get away from the mainstream and create something new of their own. <br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1550392954326028102" name="item-"></a>
<div class="itemheading">
<u><b><span class="itemnumber">10</span>
</b></u><div class="itemtitle">
<u><b>Be New</b></u></div>
</div>
<br />
Madonna in the eighties and nineties. David Bowie. Lady Gaga. What
do these artists have in common? They did what no one else was doing.
They stood up and said: “this is me. Like it or lump it.” The success
of these people didn’t come from trying to please everyone; it didn’t
come from following trends. It came from doing something that was new,
astonishing—even genre-changing. While Metallica was busy fighting in
the courts against Napster to maintain a stranglehold on consumer
dollars, other bands—such as Radiohead (as early as 2007)—were dumping
the traditional model and selling direct through their own website. <br />
It is one thing to be a great artist. It is another to be a great
artist who isn’t sucked into consumerism and greed—merely wants to
maintain the status quo. Would you rather be Metallica earning the few
pennies their label tosses at them (at the expense of being reviled by
everyone <cite>but</cite> the label) or Radiohead—earning less but keeping true to their art and having a passionately dedicated fan-base?<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1550392954326028102" name="item-"></a>
<div class="itemheading">
<u><b><span class="itemnumber">9</span>
</b></u><div class="itemtitle">
<u><b>Ignore Advice</b></u></div>
</div>
<br />
If your friend said jump off a cliff, would you? I know . . . it’s a
cliché but that’s the point—most of us would. We see our fellow
lemmings diving head first off the cliff and we follow suit. And we
don’t even need <a href="http://listverse.com/2007/07/24/top-10-urban-legends-debunked/">Disney staff</a>
to help push us! One of the most significant pieces of advice you can
heed is this: ignore everyone else. You are amazing. You are amazing
because you are different from everyone else. If the majority around
you say X, you need to think Y. Did Steve Jobs bow down to the
majority? You may remember a site named Digg. It was huge. It was
Facebook before Facebook (in terms of popularity). Then they took
venture capital and, at the advice of their financiers, changed how they
worked. The result: Before the changes Digg was worth <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2012/07/12/digg-once-worth-164-million-sold-to-betaworks-for-500k/">164 million dollars</a>. Digg sold for $500,000 in 2010 . . . and no, I didn’t accidentally leave off three zeroes.<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1550392954326028102" name="item-"></a>
<div class="itemheading">
<u><b><span class="itemnumber">8</span>
</b></u><div class="itemtitle">
<u><b>Love What You Do</b></u></div>
</div>
<br />
A lot of people currently advocate the idea of working four hours.
Forget it. For the last six years I have worked from the moment I woke
until bed time. That is no exaggeration. It is currently 7pm and I
have been working on Listverse since 5am this morning. Time and time
again you see people complaining that their blog isn’t popular: but they
only post an article every other day. When I started to feel like I
didn’t need to work such long hours, I tripled our daily lists so I had
more to do. This isn’t a burden—it is a pleasure. Not many people can
say they spend fourteen hours a day doing something they absolutely
love. The minute I wake in the morning I jump out of bed and go straight
to the computer to start working—because I love it (actually I have a
smoke and coffee first but I get those over as quickly as I can). If you
are passionate and love what you are doing, you will succeed. I could
work four hours and pat myself on the back while I head out to play golf
or whatever it is the four hour work day is meant to allow you time for
but I would much rather be sitting here in front of Listverse.<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1550392954326028102" name="item-"></a>
<div class="itemheading">
<u><b><span class="itemnumber">7</span>
</b></u><div class="itemtitle">
<u><b>Don’t Copy Success</b></u></div>
</div>
<span class="embed-youtube" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></span><br />
Steve Balmer of Microsoft scoffed at the iPhone and—rather
awkwardly—pointed out: “It doesn’t have a keyboard. [ . . . ] We’re
selling millions [ . . . ] of phones a year: Apple is selling zero
phones a year.” Watch the clip above. Ouch. How’s that Zune going
Steve? McDonald’s created McDonaldland and Burger King thought it was a
great idea so they <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203335504578086363514686362.html">copied it</a>
with their Burger King Kingdom. McDonald’s made twenty-seven billion
dollars in 2011. How much did Burger King make? Just under three
billion. That’s what happens when you copy. Burger King was recently
taken over and the first thing the acquirer did was dump the ridiculous
rip-off Burger King mascot. If you want to succeed, don’t copy success.
Create your own. Don’t mimic those who have done well—do well in your
own niche. This applies on all levels. If you want to set up a stall
selling lemonade, don’t just copy the neighbor’s kids. Find a way to
make your lemonade better or find a way to make your customers happier.<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1550392954326028102" name="item-"></a>
<div class="itemheading">
<u><b><span class="itemnumber">6</span>
</b></u><div class="itemtitle">
<u><b>Fail</b></u></div>
</div>
<br />
A fear of failure is probably the number one thing stopping someone
from succeeding. If you think you will fail you are not likely to even
start. This even applies to activities you are currently engaged in.
When I first started Listverse I created five blogs all on completely
different subjects. After a week none were succeeding. At that point
most people would give up thinking it was a failure. And it was: for
four of the blogs. In week two Listverse took off. I closed the other
blogs and focused all of my attention on Listverse alone. If I had let
the fear of failure stop me, you wouldn’t be reading this right now and I
would probably still be programming software for other people instead
of spending my days doing what I love most: sharing fascinating facts
with friends.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1550392954326028102" name="item-"></a>
<div class="itemheading">
<b><u><span class="itemnumber">5</span>
</u></b><div class="itemtitle">
<b><u>Focus on Followers</u></b></div>
</div>
<br />
Facebook. Love it or hate it, it is a huge part of the Internet. We
have always had Facebook like buttons on Listverse to help promote us
but recently I noticed something. Every day around eight hundred
thousand pages are viewed here. And the Facebook likes each day number
in the low hundreds. This isn’t because we aren’t popular: it’s because
most of our readers aren’t the type of people who click “like”. It
takes roughly two seconds for the social sharing buttons to load on a
page. For the sake of three hundred people who clicked like, we were
making 799,700 people waste two seconds of their precious time. This is
not focusing on our followers: it is focusing on marketing. Two days
ago I removed all social sharing buttons from our articles. By removing
these sharing buttons we improved the experience of our followers at
the risk of reducing our marketing to a bigger audience. It was well
worth it. Focus on the people who follow you—don’t try to create a new
market. If you do you will lose your biggest asset: your fans.<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1550392954326028102" name="item-"></a>
<div class="itemheading">
<u><b><span class="itemnumber">4</span>
</b></u><div class="itemtitle">
<u><b>Be Tiny</b></u></div>
</div>
<br />
We all have a tendency to think big. But that tendency can actually
inhibit our success. If you want to write a book or create a product or
the next big thing on the net, focus on attracting a small audience of
very dedicated fans. Don’t be put off if your idea only appeals to a
few. If you work hard for that few they will reward you by sharing your
passion with others. It is far better to have 1,000 devoted followers
than 100,000 take-it-or-leave-it customers. Famous jewelry store
Tiffany & Co. were an exclusive brand. They were exclusive and they
were small. But they decided to grow. They launched a new product line
aimed at the mid-price jewelry market and the end result was near
bankruptcy. They have now returned to their original niche. Calvin
Klein isn’t so hot now that you can buy their underwear at most
department stores; but when they started out they were exclusive. Who
wants to rave to their friends about having CK underwear now?<br />
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<u><b>Be First</b></u></div>
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This is getting harder I will admit, but a difficult job of getting
traction for your ideas is made significantly easier if no one has seen
it before. Be the first to do something and you are already half-way to
success. Seth Godin is a great author whose books I strongly recommend.
In one of his books he talks about the leader of a village in India
with no electricity. The leader—a very old man—bought the first
solar-powered lantern (everyone else was using kerosene lamps). For
months after his front yard was filled with all the villagers watching
the lamp and discussing how long it would last. He was a hero in his
town—he had everyone’s eyes on him. Eventually everyone else got the
same lanterns but do you think the second guy who bought one had a yard
full of people? Nope. He was second.<br />
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<u><b>Be Remarkable</b></u></div>
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In every aspect of your life: be remarkable. Be the person that
turns heads by going the extra mile. If someone asks for $1 give them
$10. If you want to start a website don’t publish one article a day:
publish four. Put everything you have into whatever you are doing. It
may seem like hard work, but in the end you will be the one everyone
remembers. And quite often doing something remarkable doesn’t have to be
hard. It can be as easy as responding to every comment on your blog—or
remembering someone’s name when you meet them for the second time.
People don’t pay extra at Harrods because the goods are better (though
sometimes they are,) they pay for service that makes them say “Wow!” <br />
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<u><b>Start Right Now</b></u></div>
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Right now you can start putting all of these ideas into practice. You
have no excuse to wait. It is Saturday so you will be more likely to
go to the Mall than work, but try—even if only once—to make a stranger
remember you today. Do at least one act that turns heads. Make someone
say “Wow!” Alternatively, start that book you want to write. Start
that blog you have always wanted to create. Make your dinner
remarkable: set the table and have a high-class restaurant experience at
home. All it takes is a bit of change and a new way of thinking to
completely transform your life.<br />
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