Author: Ezra Grant

I'm just tired of the lies and nonsense coming from the GOP, so this is my little contribution to combat the nonsense!

Categories
Politics

Bernie Sanders on Burger King – Their Move Would be “Completely Unpatriotic”

Bernie Sanders is calling it like it is, pointing out that any move by Burger King to Canada to avoid taxes, would be completely unpatriotic.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, has been an outspoken critic on tax loopholes, like tax inversion, a loophole that Burger King may benefit from if it merges with Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons and moves its base to Canada.

The deal would mean a lower rate for the American fast food chain.

“Not only is this tax inversion an outrage, we are losing now about $100 billion in federal revenue every year,” Sanders said in an interview with CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”

If Burger King moves north, it would be a completely unpatriotic move, says the Vermont senator.

“Many of these corporations have absolutely no loyalty to the people of the United States or to our government. If they can make an extra buck by moving to the United Kingdom, their headquarters for the United Kingdom paying less in taxes that is what they will do,” said Sanders.

Categories
Mike Brown Shooting Racism

New Mike Brown Audio – At Least 10 to 11 Shots Fired at The Teenager – Audio

CNN has released a new audio recording done by a man in Ferguson depicting the moment Mike Brown was gunned down on August 9th.

On the recording, the man – who requested anonymity – is heard on a video chat telling someone “you are pretty…” as the gunshots rang out in the background. In the video, there were at least 10 to 11 shots fired. The man’s lawyer later said that he had no idea what was happening right outside his home as he chat on the video.

The FBI has questioned a man who says he recorded audio of gunfire at the time Brown was shot by Ferguson police on August 9, the man’s attorney told CNN.

In the recording, a quick series of shots can be heard, followed by a pause and then another quick succession of shots.

Forensic audio expert Paul Ginsberg analyzed the recording and said he detected at least 10 gunshots — a cluster of six, followed by four.

“I was very concerned about that pause … because it’s not just the number of gunshots, it’s how they’re fired,” the man’s attorney, Lopa Blumenthal, told CNN’s Don Lemon. “And that has a huge relevance on how this case might finally end up.”

The man, who asked that his identity not be revealed, lives near the site of the shooting and was close enough to have heard the gunshots, his attorney said.

He was speaking to a friend on a video chat service and happened to be recording the conversation at the same time Brown was shot, Blumenthal said.

Audio

Categories
Politics

Senator Sherrod Brown Calls for a Boycott of Burger King

Burger King announced that it is actively pursuing the purchase of Canada’s Tim Hortons’ food chain, and with that purchase, the company announced that it will relocate its headquarters to Canada.
Such a move means that Burger King will join other “leach” companies that make huge profits here in America, but avoid paying domestic taxes because they’re headquartered overseas.

One US Senator thinks this is terribly wrong, and he is calling for a nationwide boycott of the Burger.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – a member of the Senate Finance Committee and a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee – is calling for congressional action to deal with these “leach” companies, and he wants the American people to boycott Burger King all together.

“Burger King’s decision to abandon the United States means consumers should turn to Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers or White Castle sliders. Burger King has always said ‘Have it Your Way’; well my way is to support two Ohio companies that haven’t abandoned their country or customers,” Brown said. “To help business grow in America, taxpayers have funded public infrastructure, workforce training, and incentives to encourage R&D and capital investment. Runaway corporations benefited from those policies but want U.S. companies to pay their share of the tab.”

“We need an immediate fix to forestall a flood of these dangerous inversions and a long term solution that lowers corporate tax rates while instituting a country-by-country global minimum tax,” Brown continued.  “This kind of common sense reform will close down tax havens that cost our country revenue and cost American jobs. Lowering the statutory corporate tax rate would put companies on a level playing field with foreign competitors and reduce the incentive for them to shift jobs and profits overseas. Creating a global minimum tax rate will increase investment in the United States, raise revenue, and prevent a global race-to-the-bottom.”

Categories
Mike Brown Mike Brown Shooting Politics

Almost $400,000 Raised For Officer Darren Wilson – Mike Brown’s Murderer

They have no idea what happened because the cop, Darren Wilson has not given his side of the story. But the basic fact is clear –  an unarmed Mike Brown was running away from the police, erasing all threats the officer may have felt. And while running away, Brown was shot multiple times by Wilson, then left in the street for almost 4 hours for all to see.

That is the fact. But that fact is enough for some to conclude that the officer was absolutely correct in being Brown’s prosecutor, jury and executioner. And these people are putting their money where their love for Wilson is.

Almost $400,000 has been raised on the fundraising site gofundme.com for the six-year police veteran. After the first fundraising drive reached its goal of $234,000, a second page was established and has brought in more than $153,000 in four days. More than 9,000 people combined have contributed to the two fundraising pages.

By contrast, more than 8,600 people have donated about $250,000 to the gofundme page set up for Brown. Thousands of mourners attended Brown’s funeral Monday in St. Louis.

Categories
Racism

Man Arrested in Beverly Hills for Walking While Black

You think this is a joke? Racism is real in America. Someone should run and inform the Supreme Court of this fact, instead of their recent ill-informed declaration that racism was dead!

Sitting on the ground in the photo above is Charles Belk. Belk is under arrest because the arresting officers decided that he robbed a bank. Belk however, is a businessman, a filmmaker and a member of the NAACP, and although he tried explaining all this to the officers, his color had the final word.

Belk posted about his unfortunate encounter on Facebook.

WHEN YOU “FIT THE DESCRIPTION”!

It’s one of those things that you hear about, but never think it would happen to you.

On Friday afternoon, August 22nd around 5:20pm, while innocently walking by myself from a restaurant on Wilshire Blvd, to my car up LaCienega Blvd my freedom was taken from me by the Beverly Hills Police Department.

Within seconds, I was detained and told to sit on the curb of the very busy street, during rush hour traffic.

Within minutes, I was surrounded by 6 police cars, handcuffed very tightly, fully searched for weapons, and placed back on the curb.

Within an hour, I was transported to the Beverly Hills Police Headquarters, photographed, finger printed and put under a $100,000 bail and accused of armed bank robbery and accessory to robbery of a Citibank.

Within an evening, I was wrongly arrested, locked up, denied a phone call, denied explanation of charges against me, denied ever being read my rights, denied being able to speak to my lawyer for a lengthy time, and denied being told that my car had been impounded…..All because I was mis-indentified as the wrong “tall, bald head, black male,” … “fitting the description.”

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know at the time that I was a law abiding citizen of the community and that in my 51 years of existence, had never been handcuffed or arrested for any reason. All they saw, was someone fitting the description. Doesn’t matter if he’s a “Taye Diggs BLACK”, a “LL Cool J BLACK”, or “a Drake BLACK”

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know that I was an award nominated and awarding winning business professional, most recently being recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal at their Nonprofit & Corporate Citizenship Awards. They didn’t need to because, they saw someone fitting the description.

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know that I was a well educated American citizen that had received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, an MBA from Indiana University (including a full Consortium Fellowship to business school) and an Executive Leadership Certificate from Harvard Business School. Hey, I was “tall”, “bald”, a “male” and “black”, so I fit the description.

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know that I was a Consultant for the NAACP, a film and tv producer, a previous VP of Marketing for a wireless application company, VP of Integrated Promotions for a marketing agency, ran Community Affairs for the Atlanta Hawks, was the Deputy Director of Olympic Village Operations for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, was a Test/Quality/Mfg Engineering Manager for IBM and was a Bond Trader on Wall street. Surely, folks that fit the description wouldn’t qualify as any of those.

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know that throughout my entire life I have been very active in serving the communities that I have lived in, including Chapter President and National PR Chair for NSBE, a USC Student Senator, a USC Trojan Knight, a USC Engineering Student Council Member, a USC Black Students Council Member, and a Resident Assistant; as well as a founding board member of the RTP NBMBAA, a member of Durham County Transportation Advisory Board, Durham City / County Planning Commission, Atlanta House of Love for the Homeless Board, Cobb County Transportation Advisory Board, Georgia CASA Board, United Way of Greater Atlanta VIP Selection Committee, Jomandi Theater Board, Silver Lake Film Festival Board, Downtown LA Film Festival Board, Chaka Khan Foundation Fundraising Dinner Committee, and the USC Black Alumni Association Board. Nawl, not a “black male”, especially a “tall, bald” one.

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know that just hours earlier, I was at one of the finest hotels in their city, handling celebrity talent at a Emmy Awards Gifting Suite, as part of business as usual, and, invited to attend a VIP Emmy pre-party that very night in their city. The guy doing that, just DON”T fit the description.

What I don’t get………WHAT I DON”T GET, is, why, during the 45 minutes that they had me on the curb, handcuffed in the sun, before they locked me up and took away my civil rights, that they could not simply review the ATM and bank’s HD video footage to clearly see that the “tall, bald headed, black male”… did not fit MY description.

Why, at 11:59pm (approximately 6 hours later), was the video footage reviewed only after my request to the Lead Detective for the Beverly Hills Police Department and an FBI Agent to do so, and, after being directly accused by another FBI Special Agent of “…going in and out of the bank several times complaining about the ATM Machine to cause a distraction…” thereby aiding in the armed robbery attempt of a bank that I never heard of, or ever been to; and within 10 minutes……10 MINUTES, my lawyer was told that I was being release because it was clear that it was not me.

The sad thing is, prior to my freedom being taken from me for an easily proven crime I did not commit, I was walking back to my car, by myself, because I needed to check my parking meter, so that I wouldn’t get a ticket and break the law. In fact, if it wasn’t for a text message that I was responding to, I would have actually been running up LaCienega Blvd when the first Beverly Hills Police Officer approached me. Running!

I want to thank GOD, Robin Lola Harrison of the NAACP Hollywood Bureau, Robert Dowdy and Attorney Jaaye Person-Lynn , without whom, I am certain that I would still be locked up in the custody of the Beverly Hills Police Department. Based on comments made by a Beverly Hills Police Officer during my booking, and an FBI Special Agent, it appeared that they had tried and convicted me.

To everyone, especial black males (regardless of height, hair style or particular shade of “black”) – Hari Williams, Michael Marcel, Reginald L Shaw, Shawn Carter Peterson, Devon Libran, Aaron D Spears, Cedric Sanders, Cornelius Smith Jr, Catfish Jean, Ashford Thomas, Drew McCaskill, Carlton Jordan, Jawn Murray, AS Lee, Bertrand L Roberson Sr, Deron Benjamin, Hawk Oau, James Alan Belk, Juhahn Jones, Darryl Dunning II, Darrin Dewitt Henson, Stephen Bishop, Logan Alexander, Michael Moore, Brandon Dmico Anderson, Jon Covington, Lamar Stewart, David Mitchell, Gerald Andre Radford, Gerald Edwin Rush II, Gerald Yates, etal, – I have always stayed as far away from being on the wrong side of the law as much as possible; so please, be careful. If something like this can happen to ME, it can certainly happen to ANYONE!

Time has come for a change in the way OUR law enforcement officers “serve and protect” us.

We all do not, FIT THE DESCRIPTION.

Categories
Immigrants Immigration Politics

Once Again, Paul Ryan Ignores The DREAMers – Video

Paul Ryan is a staunch Republican. Republicans – if you haven’t figured it out yet – don’t like immigrants,  although tracing through their lineage you will most likely find that they too are decedent’s of immigrants.

Ryan recently voted against DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – an Obama policy that makes it possible for “individuals who came to the United States as children and meet other key guidelines, to remain in the country “for a period of two years, subject to renewal.” A couple these ‘DREAMers’ went to a Paul Ryan book signing in Florida and asked Paul why he voted against DACA. Paul clearly had better things to do than be bothered by these folks.

Video

Categories
Celebrities shooting

Surge Knight Shot Multiple Times at Chris Brown’s Party

No, there are no reports that Chris Brown had anything to do with it.

Shortly after 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning, a shooting occurred at 1OAK nightclub in the 9000 block of Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood where two men and a woman were wounded, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said in a statement provided to the Daily News.

The suspect remains unknown, but the victims include a 49-year-old male, widely reported as music producer Marion (Suge) Knight, as well as two unnamed victims, a 32-year-old male and a 19-year-old female. All the victims were transported to local hospitals and are expected to recover.

Categories
Featured Michael Brown Mike Brown Shooting

Fox Host Abruptly Ends Interview After Lawyers Correctly Accused her of Pushing Misinformation – Video

This is exactly what we expect from the Fox!

In an interview that aired on Saturday, Fox Host Jeanine Pirro  interviewed the lawyers of one of the witnesses to the Michael Brown murder. The obvious attempt by Fox News was to paint the witness, Dorian Johnson, as a liar. But the Fox host began the interview with a lie, claiming that the autopsy disputes any possibility that Michael Brown was shot in the back.

The lawyer, Freeman Bosley Jr. began his answer by informing Pirro that the autopsy report conducted by Dr. Baden supports his client’s eyewitness report.

“The autopsy report for the most part confirms that. The autopsy report conducted by Dr. Baden basically states that there were six shots fired, one of them did hit Mike in the arm, they’re not quite sure whether it was from the back or from the front. So that’s consistent with what my client said. Now he did say that he thought Mike Brown was shot in the back but it shows that he was shot in the arm.”

Of course, the lawyer was correct, so the Fox host cuts him off. But for the record, Dr. Baden did say that the bullet wound in Mike Brown’s forearm could have been fired from the back, or behind Mike Brown, but this fact was totally ignored by the Fox people as Pirro continued insisting that Baden said “all six shots were fired from the front,” a blatant lie!

But the lawyers were strong in their beliefs and what the facts, and they were not going to the deterred by Fox’s misinformation. In fact, they called out the host for feeding into the misinformation and that was when all hell broke loose!

“You know, there was a lot of misinformation that was put out there that might have fired up people for no reason,” the Fox host said, probably realizing that she was guilty of feeding misinformation to her audience.

“Yeah, it’s misinformation, and you shouldn’t be running with that,” Bosley replied. “Because if you take another look at the autopsy report, it shows that one of those shots could have been from the back.”

Another lawyer for Dorian, James Williams, added his input that there were indeed “lots of misinformation, a lot of attempts to distract from the truth.”

“The truth here is that these two unarmed young men were running down the street away from a police officer, when he chased them and gunned them down. He didn’t try to apprehend them without using deadly force. They were doing nothing other than walking in the middle of the street.”

All this distraction about whether or not he was shot in the back or the back of the arm is of no moment. But it consistent with Dorian Johnson’s testimony.”

“We can’t both talk at the same time.” Pirro said, after a few failed attempts to continue her misinformation campaign. “I’m asking the questions. Mr. Wilson, if you don’t want to listen to the question then there’s no point in continuing with this conversation.”

The mic and the camera for the lawyers were cut and Pirro brought in her next guest.

Video

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics

Mitt Romney Takes the Ice Bucket Challenge – Video

Mitt Romney and his pal Paul Ryan participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge and Mitt Romney, who got the bucket of ice water dumped on his head, came fully dressed for the occasion.

Video

Categories
Celebrities Music

Celine Dion Invited a Young Girl Onstage to Sing, And This Happened – Video

Absolutely amazing!

Categories
Chris Matthews eric holder Mike Brown Shooting Politics

Chris Matthews Wrongfully Criticized President Obama’s Leadership in Ferguson – Video

In a recent MSNBC interview about the events in Ferguson Missouri, Hardball’s host Chris Matthews attacked the president by comparing him to Eric Holder.

Earlier this week, Eric Holder made a visit to Ferguson, the place where citizens protested the murder of Michael Brown by a Ferguson cop, Darren Wilson. The protests have gone on for 12 days now with violent clashes between protesters and police officers with police using rubber bullets, tear gas and snipers to intimidate the protesters. Holders visit came on Wednesday, and is seen as a turning point in the protests. The violence is now minimal or even nonexistent as people are now hopeful that the federal government’s investigation will bring some form of justice to Ferguson.

In his interview with Craig Melvin, Matthews praised Holders visit, and used it to criticize the president.

“It may be a lesson for the president, too,” Matthews said. “And I’m not usually a critic of him but I have to say that I thought that in a very positive way Eric Holder showed how you lead in this country. And a big part of leading is showing up.”

What Matthews conveniently chose to ignore is the fact that Holder is part of the Obama administration, and his visit to Ferguson was initiated by the President himself.

Back on Monday during a press conference, the president called for calm heads to prevail in Ferguson and announced that he will send Eric Holder for a first hand account of the situation.

“The attorney general himself will be traveling to Ferguson on Wednesday to meet with the FBI agents and DOJ personnel conducting the criminal investigation and he will receive an update from them on their progress. He will also be meeting with other leaders in the community,” Obama said during the press conference.

Matthews refused to mention that fact in his criticism. He apparently thinks Holder’s visit was independent to the President’s decision to send him to Ferguson.

Video

Categories
Mike Brown Mike Brown Shooting Politics

These Darren Wilson Donors are Celebrating The Murder of Mike Brown – Comments

A crowd funding endeavor has began to help Darren Wilson through “his trying times.” The page on GoFundMe has already reached it’s goal of $250,000 and according to its creator, “We stand behind Officer Darren Wilson and his family during this trying time in their lives. All proceeds will be sent directly to Darren Wilson and his family for any financial needs they may have including legal fees.”

The Officer you may remember, is the brave police officer who approached a black teenager in Ferguson committing the unthinkable act of walking on the street! The brave soldier with his badge and gun did what any other coward would do and he filled the youngster’s body with bullets as the teenager tried to ran away for his life! He obviously didn’t get too far.

Officer Wilson is their hero and is apparently going through a “trying time” right now! And the good patriots, who have absolutely no problem seeing another American gunned down in the street, have decided to help. But this is America and anyone can help any scum anyday. That’s not the shocking part. What’s shocking was some of the messages these donors left for Wilson when they chipped in their loot.

“I support officer Wilson and he did a great job removing an unnecessary thing from the public,” wrote David Durant, who chipped in $50.

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“He made a mistake, he should not be crucified because a black man instigated his own death,” added fellow backer Freda Stone.

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“Thank you Based Officer Wilson for doing the community this favor,” reads another.“We appreciate your service in the animal control division of the Ferguson Police Department.”

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“Thanks for taking out the trash” said another donor with the name Mike “Din Do Nuffin” Brown. His donation was $15.00

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The donor who called himself “Jonnie Cochran” said, “if the bullets in the front did hit, you must acquit.” He donated $100.00

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“As a Social Justice Warrior on the great battlefield of Twitter, I was hesitant to donate at first. But then a friend A. Wyatt reminded me that it’s people like Mike Brown who still propagate rape culture in 2014. Thank you, Darren, for helping to stop rape culture.” That was ‘Sophie Mollison’ with her $20 donation.

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Someone even used the name “Mike Brown” with their $100 donation, and said this: I want to apologize to Darren Wilson and the people of Ferguson for my bad behavior. I was a thug and would have taken a bullet sooner or later, most likely from one of my peers or someone defending themselves from violence I instigated again [sic] them. All Darren Wilson was save the community a lot of trouble. I hope to become a peaceful butterfly when I’m reincarnated. Though the guys up here in limbo with me say I’ll likely become a cockroach or parasite of some sort.”

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“Officer Wilson acted honorably and with courage” said someone using the name ‘Wendy Cohen.’ She goes on: “It’s a disgrace government officials have turned their backs on him. The American public knows the truth and are showing their support with love and donations. Stay strong Officer – his temperament killed him that day.” Wendy donated $20

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