Year: 2014

Categories
Eric Holder Michael Brown Mike Brown Shooting Racism

THE FIX WAS IN ALL ALONG IN FERGUSON

As seen on America The Not So Beautiful

November 25, 2014

By Mike Caccioppoli

This is my first reaction to what just happened in Ferguson. My stomach is in knots. Buildings are burning. There are people who have criticized the title of my blog “America The Not So Beautiful.” They wanted something more optimistic, softer. Can you argue with the title now? I mean can you really? We are retreating in this country. As other nations forge ahead, we are back in the 1950’s and 60’s. It’s Selma all over again and watts and even further back, into the dark ages. This is where we are now. No justice and certainly no peace.

We all sat together, watched, listened together. Listened as the corrupt St. Louis County Prosecutor named Bob McCulloch, told the nation, told all of us, from San Francisco to Chicago to New York to Miami and to the heart of the tragedy, Ferguson, Missouri, that Darren Wilson, the police officer who killed Michael Brown, will not face charges. Yes, most of us expected it, dreaded it. But now it was real, it had actually happened. Justice denied, again. Again.

McCulloch stood there, and described an execution, then in the next breath said there was nothing to see here. He didn’t sound like any prosecutor I have heard before. He sounded much more like a defense attorney, the defense attorney for Darren Wilson. A prosecutor wants an indictment when they go to a grand jury so therefore in the almost non-existent cases where they don’t get one, they are distraught, just as they are when they lose a case in court. McCulloch hardly seemed upset about the decision, in fact he seemed vindicated, just like a defense attorney would be after they got their client off.

I’m not surprised at all. I expected this decision. We all did. But like everyone else, I was dreading this moment. I knew the fix was in. There was something disquieting about watching McCulloch throwing that fact in our collective faces. He threw it in our faces and hid behind a grand jury. I don’t blame them at all. As all legal experts have said, the grand jury does what the prosecutor wants. This time he didn’t want an indictment so he stacked the deck to get the result he wanted. McCulloch is a coward, and just like a defense attorney who does not put everything on the line for their client, McCulloch should be forced out of office and not be allowed to practice law ever again. He put nothing on the line for Michael Brown, in fact, Brown, the VICTIM wasn’t represented at all.

Look, this is what it comes down to. A cop can kill who they want. If they kill a black person they will get off 100 percent of the time. If they kill a white person that probably drops to about 95 percent. This is why whites shouldn’t think they are safe. WE are not. They say a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich, but police officers aren’t ham sandwiches. In the minds of too many they are filet mignon. They are the top of the line and can do no wrong. If they shoot and kill it’s always because they have to. Whether it’s a kid walking in the street, or a man with a fake gun at his side in a toy store or a 12 year old with a gun that even the guy who called 911 knew was fake but the trained cop didn’t, it simply does not matter. They can kill you if they feel like it that day. There is no recourse.

McCulloch admitted that Wilson shot 12 times, that’s a dozen shots. Once again though, nothing to see here. No question from the idiot reporters in the media pool, about how far away Brown was when Wilson shot at him several times, including the fatal shot to his head. No question to McCulloch about the need for a cop to justify each and every shot, all 12 in this case. Nobody asked him why he allowed Wilson to testify for four hours and if he will afford ALL defendants that leeway from now on.  What McCulloch painted was the picture of a hulking black thug charging at Wilson, after he was already shot at least twice, charging AT BULLETS. That Wilson needed all 12 shots against an unarmed 18 year old kid in order to save his own life. Incredulity doesn’t describe it well enough.

McCulloch didn’t present a case. He dumped a case file in the hands of 12 people who were not legal experts and said have at it. He knew there were inconsistencies in testimony, because guess what…there ALWAYS is. If that were a reason to not indict, most of the people in prison wouldn’t be there. This was a game for McCulloch, a game he knew he could manipulate and win. He didn’t want to indict a cop and he knows that juries don’t want to either. So a little prod here and there is all he would need.

Scumbag Rudy Giuliani continues to spew at the mouth about “black on black” crime. But when a black person kills another black person they go to jail in about 23 seconds. As we have seen once again, when a cop kills someone, no matter what the evidence, no matter how many witnesses, no matter what, there is no justice.

Yes Ferguson is burning right now. But the entire country continues to smolder. None of us are protected from the flames.

Mike.Caccioppoli@yahoo.com

@CaccioppoliMike

Visit America The Not So Beautiful

 

Categories
Mike Brown Mike Brown Shooting

My Crime? I Was Born a Black Child

That’s it. That’s all you need to know. It doesn’t matter that I walk like you, or talk like you. It doesn’t matter what my education is or what my goals in life are. It doesn’t matter if I wear with my pants sagging or have all tailored made suit. My crime was already committed when I was born as a black child.

When I was born as a black child I was marked, I was different. I was looked upon as being unable or unwilling or uninterested. I was perceived as someone… no wait… something incapable of contributing,  unfit to add my own special stitch in this great fabric of society. I was a criminal and you already knew it. My crime was committed when I was born as a black child.

I was born distinguished from the rest, different, I was not like you. One look at me and you saw my entire story, you already knew. My crime is as obvious as the color of my skin worn daily so you won’t be confused. Black skin worn daily so you will know, that here is someone who cannot be honest, a “thug” that should not be trusted. A criminal whose crime was already committed when I was born as a black child.

Being a criminal because I was born a black child must then mean that I am expendable. That my hopes and dreams are voided and that anything or everything possible must be done to end my criminal ways.

So when you see me running down the street in my own neighborhood, running for my life as I try to get away from someone who knows nothing about me but my skin, someone who has already prosecuted me, judged me and sentenced me to die because in their eyes,  I must be a criminal.  When you see me trying to get away from someone like you, who would  gun me down in the streets as if I were an animal left there to bleed to death while my neighbors and friends and parents watched, you should rest assured knowing that it is no big deal. For in your eyes I was already damned. I was just a criminal, my crime already committed when I was born as a black child.

And I’m sure you have black friends…

Categories
BLM Mike Brown Mike Brown Shooting

Mike Brown – Just Another Statistic, Just Another Murdered Black Man in America

There is a tradition, a history in this country and tonight, with the grand jury’s decision that officer Darren Wilson did absolutely nothing wrong when he chased after and gunned down a fleeing Mike Brown, another chapter was added to that history.

We’ve seen this play out many times before and tonight was no different. Black lives in America don’t matter.

Of course there was the expectation that finally, someone will be held accountable for taking the life of yet another black person in this country, but deep down, the writing was already on the wall that Darren Wilson would be a free man, that gunning down Mike Brown or any other black man for that matter, would result in nothing, nothing but another chapter added to the history book of black justice or injustice in America!

And there are those who are rejoicing in this decision.

 

 

Categories
Elizabeth Warren Politics

Elizabeth Warren Is in Isreal – Hmmmm…

Calm down folks. I know you’re looking at this trip as an indication that Warren will run for president, but according to people with knowledge of Warren’s trip, her travels overseas has absolutely nothing to do with 2016

Warren is the lone lawmaker on the trip organized by the State Department and the Senate Banking Committee, of which she is a member. She will be meeting with officials from the Israeli and Jordanian governments, the Palestinian Authority, United Nations groups and USAID. Warren will also meet with troops from Massachusetts serving in the Middle East.
Story Continued Below

The Jerusalem Post reported that Warren met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

Categories
Featured

Naked Man Falls Out Of Womens Bathroom Ceiling

A Boston man received a litany of
charges over the weekend, including attempted murder, mayhem, assault and battery on a person over 60, assault and battery on a police officer, lewd and lascivious act and malicious destruction to property over $250.

Witnesses say the 26 year old was seen entering the women’s rest room at Logan Airport. Once inside, the msn, identified as Cameron Shenk, stripped of all his clothes and somehow climb up into the bathroom’s drop-ceiling.

The ceiling lived up to its name and Shenk was dropped to the bathroom floor, sustaining multiple injuries. He was however, able to run out of the bathroom and attacked an 84 year old man, beating and choking the man with his cane.

Shenk is scheduled to be arraigned in East Boston District Court.

Categories
Mike Brown Shooting shooting

Gun Bought for Ferguson Unrest Accidentally Shoots Owner in Head

Another gun doing what guns do – killing people.

A woman appears to have accidentally fatally shot herself in the head with a gun bought to prepare for possible Ferguson-related unrest, according to sources briefed on the police investigation.

The shooting occurred Friday night in downtown St. Louis, the city’s Metropolitan Police Department said, in an area dominated by vacant lots beside a football stadium.

The female victim, identified in a police report as Becca Campbell, 26, was a passenger in a car involved in an auto accident. Her 33-year-old boyfriend was driving, the sources told CNN.

The boyfriend, who wasn’t identified, told police that the couple had bought a gun because of fears of unrest related to the pending grand jury decision on the shooting of Michael Brown, the sources said.

He told investigators that as they drove late Friday night, the victim waved a gun, jokingly saying the couple were ready for Ferguson, the sources said.

He ducked to get out of the way of the gun and accidentally rear-ended another car. He said the accident caused the gun to go off and she was struck by a bullet in the head, the sources said.

The victim was rushed to a hospital but died

Categories
Education New Jersey teachers teaching

Thirty Years an Educator

Thirty years ago today, I walked into York Preparatory School on New York’s Upper East Side for my first day as a high school history teacher. I had no formal training as a teacher except for my degree in History from Syracuse University. I had been working in advertising for a Madison Avenue firm that no longer exists using the other major I completed at Syracuse, in Telecommunications Management from the Newhouse School of Public Communications. I liked the work, liked the atmosphere, liked the potential for advancement and economic gain.

And yet.

From the time I was about 15 or 16, I had thought about teaching and knew that I could be successful at it, but I didn’t pursue it for all of the logical reasons: low pay, lack of societal respect, and low pay. I loved history, and obviously still do, and had fun taking courses. I went into acting and stand-up comedy, worked in television in New Jersey and advertising in New York. The turn to teaching came, as many great things in life, by happenstance.

I had a friend from college who was a teacher and she told me there was an opening at the private school where she taught, and she also said that you didn’t need a teaching certificate to teach in private schools. I called and was able to schedule an interview. Turns out the headmaster went to graduate school with my father. He was a nice guy. The head of the history department wanted someone with more experience. I figured I had come to the end of the string.

Four months later, a different headmaster called me and said he’d gotten my name from this other headmaster, who happened to be his brother-in-law. It turned out that one of the teachers wasn’t working out and was I interested in teaching? I interviewed. The headmaster was a very nice guy, and so was the department chair. We talked history for an hour. They hired me.

I wore a three piece suit with Allen Edmonds wing tips on the first day. Reported at 8:00, while my first class wasn’t until 11:30. During that crucial three hour stretch, I received my teaching degree from the Ronald P. Klein School of Teacher Preparedness. Ron was a fellow history teacher and over the four years I was at York Prep we became very good friends. They were probably the most productive hours in teacher training I’ve ever spent. He told me to focus on classroom management and to engage the students at every turn. He said to be respectful, but not to smile before January. He said to make students think and write, write, write. It was terrific advice. I still follow it, except maybe for the smiling part.

But the best part was that I loved it, as I thought I would. Loved being with the students studying history. Loved the energy and inquisitiveness that most of the students exhibited. Loved the atmosphere. Loved the schedule. Loved it.

And I still do. Yes, I have written over the years about how teachers aren’t as respected in American society as they need to be, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. And yes, pay increases are not keeping up with the cost of living in New Jersey, and many teachers are actually taking home less pay despite some salary increases because they are paying more for their health and pension benefits.

Oh, and then there is the constant, cyclical adoption of trendy educational ideas that are supposed to guarantee student success in the classroom and in life. Back-to-basic education, Whole Language instruction, Reading in Context, Cooperative Education, Differentiation, Phonics, New Math, Self-Esteem, Learning Clusters, and now Common Core Standards. I’ve missed many, but they’re all fads including the new teacher evaluation system in many of the states. These too will be replaced soon because they don’t do what they promise to do, and that’s to improve both teacher and student performance.

What will guarantee education excellence is to have excellent teachers in the classrooms. So far we’ve done a good job of that, but we need to do more to ensure that the next generation of teachers is more widely respected, paid according to their societal worth and make sure phony politicians have as little to do with what happens in schools as possible.

I consider myself lucky to be able to say that I still enjoy getting up at 5:30am to teach history. Still enjoy being in the classroom interacting with students. Still enjoy the give-and-take of academic discourse. Still enjoy the positive comments I receive about the work I’ve done.

Have a great day, and Happy Thanksgiving.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
Barack Obama executive orders Immigration Politics

John Boehner Says Obama Has Authority to Use Executive Orders

Now pay close attention.

The day after President Obama decided to act on immigration, Republicans went ahead and announced that they have filed a lawsuit against the president. The lawsuit does not deal with the president’s immigration order, but  deals exclusively with healthcare and and the so-called “abuse of power” claim made against the president by Republicans.

In announcing the filing of the lawsuit, Republican House Speaker John Boehner inadvertently explained that President Obama has the authority to make the decisions he has made theough Executive orders. Speaking to Reporters, Boehner said;

“Time after time, the president has chosen to ignore the will of the American people and rewrite federal law on his own without a vote of Congress. That’s not the way our system of government was designed to work. If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to as well. The House has an obligation to stand up for the Constitution, and that is exactly why we are pursuing this course of action.”

John Boehner has been in politics for a long time and he is well aware that past presidents have taken the same executive measures to attempt to fix the immigration problem.

When both Reagan and George Bush used their executive authority for immigration reform, Republicans stayed quiet. No Republican, including the Speaker of the House, saw anything wrong and accepted the precedent set by these previous presidents, and understood that this precedent would be followed by future presidents. To quote Boehner, “future presidents will have the ability to as well.”

Well if it was accepted back then that future presidents would “have the ability” to follow set precedent, then clearly Obama, being a president, has that ability and is working within his constitutionally allowed boundaries. And John Boehner and his Republican block party have expected and accepted it as the norm.

Categories
Featured New York

New York Police Cracks Man In The Head for Skipping Train Fare – Video

More police brutality video, and this one comes with a bit of night stick to the head, skull crushing sounds, compliments of a New York police officer, apparently doing his best to protect and to serve.

The young man being protected in this video is 20 year old Donovan Lawson, who allegedly jumped a turnstile in Brooklyn, trying to avoid paying the $2.50 fare to ride the train.

The footage, obtained by New York telelvision station PIX11, showed a struggle between the cop and the young man, Donovan Lawson, 20, already in progress.

Seconds into the video, the unidentified police officer smashed his nightstick over Lawson’s head.

A loud crack could be heard as the stick hit Lawson’s skull, prompting screams from onlookers in the station.

Covering his head, Lawson then stumbled away from the officer, who proceeded to grab him by the collar and push him out of the station. In the final moments of the video, blood was visible streaming down the young man’s face.

The man who shot the footage told PIX11 that the officer also sprayed the young man with pepper spray before the video was recorded.

An NYPD official told the television station that officer in the tape was being reviewed by the Internal Affairs unit.

Categories
Featured

Explained – How to Meet The ‘Perfect’ Woman – Video

You’re welcome. I’m always trying to help out.

Categories
Bill O'Reilly immigration reform Immigration Reform

Bill O’Reilly To Undocumented Journalist – You “don’t deserve to be here” – Video

Who died and left Bill O’Reilly of Fox News in charge? Who told him it was his job to determine who “deserves” to be here in the United States?

After President Obama made his Executive action known to the American people Thursday night, Bill O’Reilly invited an undocumented journalist, Jose Antonio Vargas, on his Fox show to talk about the the president’s immigration decision.

O’Reilly ran through Vargas’s background as an immigrant who came to the United States from the Philippines at age 12 and then worked on a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post team before publicly revealing his undocumented status.

“Surely you understand how millions of Americans say ‘You know what, bad behavior is being rewarded’ … but there are a lot of people who aren’t of your circumstance, who came here in devious ways, who did things they shouldn’t have done, who didn’t contribute to our society,” O’Reilly said. “Yet they’re in the same blanket. So how do you justify that?”

“I don’t know if people know this, but more than half of undocumented people in this country have been here for 10 years or longer,” Vargas responded. “This has been our home, this is where we go to school, this is where we work, this is where we go to church, this is what we call to be our own communities.”

Vargas lamented that the President’s immigration actions were so politicized before O’Reilly cut in to tell him the real “deal.”

“It is a compassionate move, but it may not be a just move because you and the other people here illegally don’t deserve to be here,” O’Reilly said. “That’s harsh. It’s harsh, okay, but you don’t have an entitlement to be here.”

“Sir, I don’t feel entitled to be here,” Vargas responded. “I don’t ask for any sort of entitlement. All I know is this is where I grew up, this is my home, my family is here.”

Video

Categories
arrested Politics secret service White House

Woman With Gun Arrested Outside The White House

A woman with a gun was arrested Thursday night outside of the White House, officials said, just minutes after the President delivered his speech on sweeping immigration changes he’ll make by executive order.

The Secret Service arrested April Lenhart, a 23-year-old Michigan resident, at about 8:30 p.m. on Thursday on Pennsylvania Avenue near the North Lawn of the White House after she was spotted with a gun holstered under her shirt, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said.

The incident occurred as dozens of people were demonstrating outside the White House after the President delivered his immigration speech at 8 p.m.

The people rallying outside the White House were moved off of Pennsylvania Avenue as the arrest was made, Donovan said.

Lenhart was not responding to Secret Service agents’ questions as of 10 p.m. Thursday.

h/t CNN

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