HAPPY 2015!!!!

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Faith & The Intelligence

YOU MUST BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN.

Some of the most brilliant people that I have ever known have done nothing with their lives. 

This may sound strange to you. But it is absolutely, unequivically true. Often times when we talk about someone being brilliant it is often taken for granted that brilliance is synonymous with achievement. But nothing could be further from the truth. Intelligence has little if anything to do with drive or ambition. Faith is what fuels drive and ambition. Not how smart you are. A brilliant human being with no ambition is like a Ferrari with no gas. A beautifully designed machine made to perform that goes now where.

We cannot rationalize the way God works. He does not fit any logical, rudimentary, or any elementary idea that the human mind can imagine. You must have faith in him. We must believe beyond our thought process and we must be humble enough to see what is not before us.

The problem with many brilliant or intelligent people is the fact that they see too well. The believe that because of their circumstances dictate their future, and they stay to rooted in the now to move forward in any meaningful way. They go forward but they go no where. They move on but they don't advance because they are limited by their reasoning and stymied by what they can see. Their gifts are never utilized, and their lights never shine because they don't actively participate in their futures.

The future is always before us. We have to ask ourselves what are we going to help shape it. 

It takes vision, effort, and faith.

PR

The WHITE Man With A BLACK Face

You might look at this picture and ask yourself the same thing that I asked myself the first time I saw it. Why doesn't the Black guy have eyes? But as you read on you will discover that the answer is not what you'd expect. No, he's not handicapped, and he's not some kind of weird freak. As for the white guy in the picture, the one who looks perfectly normal, well, he is about as far from normal as any human being can get. In fact he is probably the lowest form of human life ever to walk the earth. Am I being dramatic? Absolutely! Do I have a right to be? Read on.

A white man who pleaded guilty to six robberies in Ohio used a mask resembling an African-American man that was so lifelike that police initially arrested a black man for one of the crimes!

The mother of the wrongly accused man even thought a photo of the robbery suspect she saw on television was a photo of her son.

Conrad Zdzierak, 30, pleaded guilty last week in Hamilton County Ohio to one count of aggravated robbery and five counts of robbery in a plea deal with prosecutors.

'Conrad apologises to everyone, is sorry for any harm he has caused and accepts responsibility for his actions,' his lawyer Christopher McDowell said.

Zdzierak stole about $15,000 in the robberies of four banks, a credit union and a pharmacy that occurred in March and April - crimes in which witnesses reported that the robber was black and surveillance video appeared to show a black man.

Zdzierak's masked resemblance to the black man who was initially arrested was so similar that some witnesses even identified a photo of the black man as the one who robbed them, McDowell said.

The prosecutor's office would not release the name of the wrongly accused man.

Zdzierak was arrested at a hotel after his girlfriend called police after seeing reports of the robberies and finding two masks and money stained by dye that is used to track robbers, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

McDowell said his client purchased the masks from SPFXmasks, based in Van Nuys, California. The silicone masks 'look and behave like real flesh and muscle,' the company's website says.

Owner Rusty Slusser said his company's masks are normally bought for movies, Halloween, haunted houses and stage shows, but the Ohio case was not the first time they have been used for criminal purposes.

This sounds like it could be an isolated incident. But is it?! The owner of the company that makes the masks admitted that this is not the first time that his product has been used for criminal purposes. So as far as we know the practice of donning a "black mask" to committ crimes could actually be more widespread than we think. For all we know this could be a common practice amongst white criminals seeking to take advantage of a system which has been known to incarcerate African-American's at a much faster rate than their white counter parts. The prison industrial complex has provided instant suspects to make this conspiracy possible.

PR

........Another Police Shooting

...........and someone takes a shot at another police officer.

They way I see it, there are only two things that can happen as a result of random police shootings.

1. Widespread reform will be implemented to change the way police deal with the minority community.

2. Police departments across the country will decide to institute an unofficial nation wide crack down on minority communities. Making civil liberties a thing of the past, and possibly causing an all out war.

Police in Durham, North Carolina say a man fired shots at one of their officers on Christmas night.

It happened in the area of Lakeland Street and Truman Street around 10 p.m.

A department spokesperson said Officer J.T. West was sitting in his marked patrol car working on a report when he saw two suspicious men coming up from behind his car near an abandoned apartment building.

West got out of his car to speak to the men, but before he could say a word, one of them pulled a handgun from his waistband and fired six shots at the officer. One of the bullets struck the police vehicle.

West returned fire, getting off two shots as he ran for cover across the street. West dove behind a staircase in the abandoned apartment complex, injuring his wrist as he fell.

West called for backup, and a police dog was called in to track the two suspects. The track ended on South Alston Street with no sign of the men.

Police say they don't know if West's bullets hit the gunman or the man with him. Area hospitals have been put on alert.

The man who fired the gun was described as a black male, 18 to 25 years old, approximately 6 feet tall with a skinny build. He was wearing an oversized black hoodie. The second suspect was described as a black male, 18 to 25 years old, 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall and weighing 180 to 200 pounds. He was wearing a light-colored jacket. 

Officer West was treated at the hospital for his injured wrist and released.

Joshua Lassiter works as a crossing guard at an elementary school nearby. He said he's frustrated with recent attacks on police.

"Whether you think you're in the right or not you still respect them because they got to do their job," he said. "It's getting critical. It needs to stop."

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (12-26-14)

If you ever needed a reason to start educating your children at home before they go to school this is it!!

When a New Jersey public school principal was reassigned last week, the writing was on the wall.

Actually, it was on the school sign which was misspelled at least twice.

Antoinette Young, the principal of Public School Number 20 in Paterson, New Jersey, was demoted to a vice principal position at another school after parents discovered a sign in front of the school's side entrance had two serious spelling errors that went unnoticed for more than a week.

December was misspelled as "Dicember" and reports was spelled incorrectly as "reepor." The number '1' was also placed backwards on the sign.

I've heard of people giving their children some crazy names before. Names like King, Treasure, Queen, Jahazhane', and Mister. But there is something that is a little extra crazy about naming your kid after dark liquor.

A man in Gray, La, named after whiskey has named his son after bourbon.

Thirty-one-year-old Jack Daniels Leathers of Gray says he and his 23-year-old wife, Lydia Leathers, chose the name well before their marriage.

He says that they talked about baby names on their first date, and thought Jim Beam would be a good idea.

Jim Beam Leathers was born Nov. 14, turning grandparental pique into tradition. Jack Daniels Leathers says his parents named him to upset their parents.

He says that if they have another baby, a boy will be Evan Williams after the bourbon and a girl would be named Sherry.

The alcoholic names extended to the Terrebonne Parish judge who officiated at their wedding: Judge Johnny Walker......

Red or Blue?

Some people have way too much time on their hands, and not enough sense in their heads!

No birthday shenanigans for this cat this party is tame and the guests are well behaved and in order.

This feline, appropriately decked out in a "Hello Kitty" birthday hat, is playing host to guests who are clearly just there for the cake.

The kitty's owner sings a rousing birthday song, but it seems this kitty might rather be taking a cat nap.

THE REASON FOR THE SEASON

Maybe I'm a little late where this is concerned, and maybe I'm way to concerned with "big picture" stuff to notice the small things. But can somebody please tell me when some people started taking offense to the phrase, Merry Christmas?! A co-worker of mine brought this to my attention a few days ago. According to him, and some independent research that I have done, there is a move underway to try to take Jesus out of Christmas. Never mind the fact that the reason that we celebrate Christmas is to celebrate Jesus birthday!

These misguided athirst, agnostic, psychopaths choose to observe a holiday dedicated to something that they don't believe in. They say happy holidays which includes New Years, but it also includes Christamas. Christ-mas. These people take vacations at Christmas time, and participate in holiday parties, and celebrations But they don't believe in Jesus. Why not just go to work, not celebrate, and be comforted by their "principals"?  Probably because they have very little or none at all. 

If you are a Christian like me, and you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and savior, then no one or nothing can force you to celebrate anything that is contrary to your beliefs. No days off, no holiday celebration, and no amount of revelry can change that. Celebrating the birthday of a child that  you don't believe existed is nothing but hypocrisy.

PR

A Christmas Prayer

Lord, as we celebrate another Christmas Day, and yet another year draws to a close, I'd like to say THANK YOU!

Thank you for giving us your son Jesus, and thank you for those gifts that are not under the tree.

Things like, life, health, and strength that cannot be put into a box, wrapped and ribboned. Lord I thank you!

Lord I thank you for peace, comfort, joy, and brand new mercies each and every day.

Lord I thank you for the food on our table, the nourishment of our bodies, the clothes on our backs and the roof over our heads. Because Father God we know that some don't have many of the things that we sometimes take for granted. Lord I thank you.

I thank you for blessing us, and keeping us from all hurt, harm, and danger, and

I thank you for being a fence around us each and every day.

But most of all, I thank you for giving your only begotten son so that we would not Parrish but have everlasting life!

2 Cops Executed In N.Y. & 1 Killed In Florida

And it has started!!!! Is it wrong?! Of course it's wrong! It's as wrong to kill cops as it is to kill anyone else. But karma as they say is a..........................

You may not have to pay for the sins of your father. Sometimes you may have to end up paying for the sins of your brother. Even if he is just your brother in law enforcement. Like I said before, murdering anybody is WRONG. But people are tired!

Two New York City police officers were shot and killed ambush-style Saturday afternoon as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn, according to two law enforcement sources.

Both were shot in the head, one of the sources said. Few other details were available.

They were rushed to a hospital in critical condition, said police spokesman Sgt. Lee Jones.

The families of the fallen officers were at Woodhull Medical Center on Saturday, as dozens of police officers gathered in a show of support.

The officers, one with two years' experience, the other with seven years on the job, were normally assigned to downtown Brooklyn but were working a "critical response" detail in an area with higher crime, police said.

The alleged shooter was found dead in a nearby subway station from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a law enforcement official. The suspect arrived in New York from Baltimore. According to reports the gunman made a chilling statement right before the shooting, "Look what I'm about to do!"

Police were investigating posts he allegedly made on Instagram.

The shooting occurred near Myrtle and Tompkins avenues in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.

Neighborhood residents were jolted.

"This can't happen. If you mad at somebody, be mad at the person that you are mad at. Now, we have two families that (are) missing somebody for the holidays," Shaniqua Pervis said.

"Where is your humanity? I know it's a war going on and shoutout to Eric Garner's family and everybody else who lost somebody, but you're not at his house, on his lawn. This is two (officers). You don't even know if they were good or bad. I don't condone this, and I'm not with it."

The woman was referring to the controversial July death of an unarmed black man after New York police officers on Staten Island wrestled him to the ground, with one of the officers wrapping his arm around Garner's neck in a chokehold.

A grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer in the Garner case, as well as a separate grand jury's refusal to indict an officer in a controversial police shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, led to nationwide protests against the police.

In a statement, activist the Rev. Al Sharpton said the Garner family was outraged by news of the shootings.

"Any use of the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, in connection with any violence or killing of police, is reprehensible and against the pursuit of justice in both cases," the statement said. "We have stressed at every rally and march that anyone engaged in any violence is an enemy to the pursuit of justice for Eric Garner and Michael Brown... The Garner family and I have always stressed that we do not believe that all police are bad, in fact we have stressed that most police are not bad."

But what the uniform represents a is painful reminder of injustice. 

Last Saturday, two New York officers were assaulted on the Brooklyn Bridge during demonstrations that have been mostly peaceful. Police arrested four people.

Tensions between the community and police have heightened around the country since the Brown and Garner deaths.

"This could not have come at a worse time," City Councilman Robert Cornegy said.

So far, police have not commented on the motive for the Brooklyn shootings, except to say the officers were not engaging the shooter in any way when they were shot.

The city's police union and Mayor Bill de Blasio have sparred over the treatment of officers.

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association recently sent a form for members to sign requesting the mayor not attend funerals of anyone killed in the line of duty, accusing de Blasio of "consistent refusal to show police officers the support and respect they deserve."

The mayor's office expressed disappointment with the PBA.

"Incendiary rhetoric like this serves only to divide the city, and New Yorkers reject these tactics," the city said in a letter. "The mayor and the speaker both know better than to think this inappropriate stunt represents the views of the majority of police officers and their families."

And in Florida......

A police officer was shot and killed early Sunday morning officials said. The Pinellas County Sheriff's office said the shooting occurred at around 3 a.m. EST in Tarpon Springs, about 30 miles from Tampa, Florida. The sheriff's office said the suspect is in custody but did not provide further details on a possible motive.

The shooting came hours after the Brooklyn shooring, which investigators now suspect was done possibly out of revenge for the deaths of two unarmed black men who died in confrontations with police.

PR

Man Or Monster

This "man"/animal is the latest passenger on the express train straight to hell!

Police have arrested a man in Hempstead, accused of ripping a diamond necklace from a woman's neck in a New York laundry while she was holding a baby.

Ralphael Brown, 19, of Hempstead, NY is charged with second-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree assault, second-degree strangulation and endangering the welfare of a child. He was scheduled for arraignment Friday.

According to the Nassau County Police Department, a 39-year-old woman was at a 24-hour laundry, holding a customer's 1-year-old idaughter.

Police said Brown approached the victim, choked her, then stole the necklace. During the struggle, the suspect also pushed the infant, and began kicking and stepping on the baby right before he fled.

The infant suffered contusions to the head, chest, and back, and was taken to a local area hospital. The woman suffered a hurt hand and chest, but refused treatment at the scene. 

We must ask ourselves if this is the act of an insane man or a child curupted by callous indifference. Because, let's face it. Although he is "legal" in the eyes of the law, this young man is still a child. Rather than questioning the parenting skills of whoever raised him, it is important to understand that who we are is not just about how we were raised, but it is also about what we've experienced. What has this guy experienced that made him think that it was okay to beat up a baby?!

The world may never know. But there has to be a reason why some young men turn into monsters.

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (12-20-14)

A Pennsylvania moron is in the joint for allegedly smoking one inside a police station.

Carlen Higgs, 33, was arrested on Sunday morning after he allegedly walked into the Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, police station, sat on a bench and started smoking a joint.

"He starts puffing away," Upper Darby Superintendent Michael Chitwood told Philly.com.

Higgs was put in a jail cell where he allegedly took off his pants, defecated on the floor and smeared the feces around the cell walls.............

 Higgs was taken to a mental health facility for an evaluation where it was determined he was high on unspecified drugs.

Higgs is charged with disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Stop trying to teach your old dog new tricks,  fetching, and running over is a thing of the past. Now you have to teach them how to keep the safety on!

A Wyoming man is recovering in the hospital after his dog accidentally shot him. In a phone interview on Thursday, Johnson County Sheriff Steve Kozisek confirmed that Richard L. Fipps, 46, was hospitalized Monday after his dog stepped on a loaded rifle in the bed of his pickup truck and accidentally fired it. The rifle's safety was off, Kozisek said. OR SO HE THINKS!! According to Big Horn Mountain Radio, Fipps was removing snow chains from his truck when he was shot in the left arm. I bet he won't forget the puppy chow next time!

"The rifle was loaded and in the bed of the truck [with some other gear], and the dog hopped up there and either stepped on it or caused something to move and set it off," Kozisek told the Huffington Post. Umm, hmm. Sure.

Fipps transported to Sheridan Memorial Hospital via ambulance. His condition was not released, but his injuries were not life threatening, according to Big Horn Mountain Radio.

Kozisek said that the accident could have easily been prevented, had the gun not been loaded.

"Carrying a loaded rifle in a truck is never a good idea, safety on or safety off," Kozisek said.

The sheriff, who has worked in law enforcement for 42 years, said he'd never seen a case where a dog shot a man. I guess he forgot about George "The New OJ" Zimmerman!

Quick! Somebody run out back and get me a switch!!!

An 11-year-old girl stole thousands of dollars from her grandma and then told a cab driver to take her halfway across the country so she could meet a 16-year-old boy she'd been chatting with online.

NEVER MIND! I'm about to take my belt off!!!!

Alexis Waller is safe and sound and will not face any charges after her pre-teen hijinks.

Authorities said Waller stole $10,000 from her grandmother's sock drawer in Bryant, Arkansas. Then she hitched a ride with a stranger to Little Rock where she called a cab.

Waller told the cab driver to take her to Jacksonville, Florida.

"I said I need to go to Jacksonville, Florida," Waller told KARK. "He's like, 'do you have money' and I'm like, 'yes.'"

The total cost of her trip would have been $1,300.

 Waller got about 500 miles toward her destination, until cops got in touch with the cabbie, who told them the pair were in the Atlanta suburbs.

Her parents said they are upset with their daughter, but also very glad to have her home.

Waller might be a troublemaker, but her parents could have it much worse.

Worse than an grown behind 11 year old who steals from Grand Ma and then goes on a 500 mile road trip?!?!

PR

Stealing From A Blind Boy?!

Apparently the Grinch drives a bus now!

A Missouri school bus driver robbed a little blind boy.

Rachel Nafzinger said the driver took away her blind 8-year-old son's cane and replaced it with a floppy pool noodle, a sick and twisted punishment for acting out on the bus.

Dakota Nafzinger was born without eyes, and the cane is the only way he can get around, she said.

"That's his eyes," the Kansas City mom said.

The driver took the cane, which is school property, after the Gracemor Elementary School student hit another bus rider with it, North Kansas City School District Spokeswoman Michelle Cronk said.

Dakota's parents said he was written up for acting up on the bus, but the punishment was just plain cruel.

"Why would you do that? Why would you take the one thing that he's supposed to use all the time?" his mother asked. "He's gone through so much in his life already, 8 years, 8 years."

The penalty left Dakota virtually immobilized.

"It's a lot harder with this," Dakota said, pointing to the noodle. "Can't feel things."

Dakota's parents said he was written up for acting up on the bus, but the punishment was just plain cruel.

"Why would you do that? Why would you take the one thing that he's supposed to use all the time?" his mother asked. "He's gone through so much in his life already, 8 years, 8 years."

The penalty left Dakota virtually immobilized.

"It's a lot harder with this," Dakota said, pointing to the noodle. "Can't feel things."

The 8-year-old was originally sentenced to noodle duty for two weeks, but the school district apologized Wednesday and returned the cane.

His parents said strangers have offered to buy Dakota cane of his very own so he doesn't have to rely on the school's property.

The sad thing is the fact that this boy has better sight than that bus driver, yet he has no eyes.

PR

Man Who Filmed Eric Garner Video Indicted!

Unlike in NYPD officer Daniel Panteleo’s case, a Staten Island grand jury panel was less sympathetic to Ramsey Orta, the man who filmed Eric Garner’s fatal police encounter.

A Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo, who put Garner, an unarmed Black man, in a chokehold shortly before his death. As a result Pantaleo literally got away with murder.

But nearly a month after filming the July 17 incident between the officer and Garner, who was accused of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, a grand jury indicted Orta on weapons charges that stemmed from an arrest by undercover officers in August. Okay, I know what your think, if he was carrying a weapon he should be charged. But, read on.

Police charged that Orta tried to conceal a .25 caliber handgun in the waistband of a teenage accomplice while standing outside a New York hotel. 

 Orta argued that the charges were trumped up by police as payback for his role in filming Garner’s death. The grand jury, however, rejected Orta’s allegation, charging him with single felony counts of third-degree criminal weapon possession and criminal firearm possession.

In Panetaleo’s case, however, jurors decided there was not probable cause that the officer had committed a crime in Garner’s death. A medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, resulting in part from the chokehold, a restraining move banned by the NYPD in 1993.

This charge sounds erroneous, fake, and phoney and unlike the crime that officer Panteleo committed, there is no footage that we know of, indicating that the charges are based on facts. Just the word of the police officers who "observed" the crime. What a coincidence!

PR

Cops Taze Woman In Baltimore And A 76 Year Old Man In Texas

        http://youtu.be/70EwoTYb3A4

Stopping to film Baltimore police officers kicking a handcuffed man, a local woman says she found herself being tasered and arrested while police hurled expletives. She is now suing the department.

Kianga Mwamba, 36, claims she was tasered and arrested by Baltimore Police Department officers in March while filming the arrest of another man on her mobile phone. After she was released, she noticed someone had tampered with her mobile phone – erasing the arrest video. Charges against her were eventually dropped in September, but Mwamba recently served the police department with a lawsuit seeking $7 million.

"I'm in shock for real, like are they really doing this to me," Mwamba, the daughter of a veteran of the Maryland Capitol Police, said as she recalled the arrest in an interview this fall with the Baltimore Sun.

The lawsuit filed with the Circuit Court for Baltimore City last Thursday said the police "attacked" her, "dragged" her from her vehicle, and "threw her onto the street, handcuffed her, tasered her, called her a 'dumb bitch,' and kept her restrained."

The suit alleges the officers arrested Mwamba to "prevent the disclosure of the video taken of them beating a handcuffed man."

Video of the March 30 melee surfaced online this week. Police erased the 135-second recording from Mwamba’s phone, but it was recovered from her cloud account, according to the lawsuit.

Mwamba was driving home from a family gathering in March. Stopped in traffic, she began filming the nearby arrest of a man who she says was kicked by police. On the video we hear the following:

"You telling me I can't record," the woman says on the video as police tell her to move on.

"I'll park. I'll park. I'll park," the woman is heard saying in her own recording.

All of a sudden an officer says,"Out of the car. Out of the car."

After she is reportedly yanked out of her car, the woman is heard screaming, “He burning me. He burning me.”

Mwamba was arrested on charges of assault for allegedly trying to run over two officers. Charges were dropped, and she suffered cuts and bruises.

At the end of the tape, an officer says, "You a dumb bitch, you know that?"

"What did I do?" she asks.

"You just tried to run over an officer," the officer responds.

While in custody, she gave her phone to an officer to show that in the video she didn't try to run over anyone. The video was allegedly erased from the phone in what her attorney, Joshua Insley, described in a telephone interview as a "cover-up."

The police department said in a statement that the language the officer used was "both offensive and unacceptable."

"The video does not capture enough information to draw definitive conclusions about what transpired before, during, and after the arrest," the department said. "What is clear is that the language used is unacceptable and will not be tolerated." 
Meanwhile, the handcuffed man was Cordell Bruce, who faces assault charges on allegations of striking an officer outside a nightclub – charges Bruce denies. The video does not capture him being beaten by police. 

The lawsuit comes as the Baltimore Police Department has been undertaking broad reforms due to a pattern of forceful of arrests and complaints. This year, there have been 66 complaints over forceful arrests, compared to 122 in all of 2012. The department has also received 55 notices from lawyers planning to sue police. Those have dropped a third from the number in 2012, the Sun reported.

But the Sun found that some Baltimore officers were involved in multiple lawsuits and there were gaps in monitoring misconduct at the department.

“The police department has asked the U.S. Justice Department to review how the city paid $5.7 million in court judgment and settlements in 102 civil suits alleging police brutality since 2011,” the newspaper reported.

And in other police brutality news........

A police officer from Victoria, Tex., was placed on administrative leave on Friday after he used a stun gun on a 76-year-old driver he had pulled over for driving a car with an expired inspection sticker.

Dashboard camera video shows the officer, Nathanial Robinson, tackling Pete Vasquez to the ground in an attempt to handcuff him. Police said that Robinson, 23, used the a Taser on the man twice. 

The incident occurred on Thursday, when Vasquez, who works as a mechanic, was pulled over while driving a dealer car back to the lot at Adam’s Auto Mart. Robinson left his patrol vehicle and pointed out the expired sticker, the dashboard camera shows. He appears to reach for Vasquez’s arm, but the man pulls away.

“I’m putting the handcuffs on. Put your hands on the back of your back,” Vasquez said Robinson told him “And then I turn around, and he pulls that Taser, and he shot me with it. And, you know, it looked like he’s enjoying that.”

According to the audio of a conversation with another officer on the scene, which was included in the dashboard camera footage, Vasquez said: “He came over here and got nasty with me. I’m not going to put up with it, I don’t care who it is. Then he grabbed me an throw me on the pavement there, almost knocked my head on that d— poll, then he started Tasing.”

“I hit my knees and my back… my shoulder and everything else,” Vasquez said.

According to Vasquez, the officer discharged the Taser once to his chest when they fell to the ground, then again in the leg when Robinson demanded that Vasquez stand up.

Several witnesses saw the incident, including Larry Urich, a 62-year-old sales manager at the dealership

“I told the officer, ‘What in the hell are you doing?’ This gentleman is 76 years old,” Urich said, according to the Advocate. “The cop told me to stand back, but I didn’t shut up. I told him he was a [expletive] Nazi Stormtrooper.”

The department has launched an internal investigation into the arrest as well as a criminal investigation. According to the Advocate, Robinson was hired by the police force two years ago after he graduated from the police academy.

Urich said Vasquez tried to explain to Robinson that the car belonged to the dealer and had special dealer’s plates that did not require a current inspection sticker, KPRC reported. The dashcam video clearly shows Vasquez pointing out the car’s license plate to the officer.

Victoria Police Chief J.J. Craig confirmed that while an expired inspection sticker is usually addressed with a citation, cars with dealer tags are exempt.

Craig said he personally apologized to Vasquez, who was not charged with any wrongdoing, according to the Advocate.

“Public trust is extremely important to us,” said Craig, according to the Advocate. “Sometimes that means you have to take a real hard look at some of the actions that occur within the department.”

Vasquez was taken to the hospital, still handcuffed, in a police car.

“There should have been an ambulance called for this elderly gentleman,” Urlich, who followed the police car to the hospital, told the Advocate. “He should not have been handcuffed to go to the emergency room when he had not done anything wrong.”

“It sickens me,” Urich said.

It sickens me too!

PR

Stranger Fruit (A Black Teen Found Hanging)

In 1939 Billie Holiday recorded a song entitled "Strange Fruit". The fruit that she refered to in the song were the Black men who were lynched in the south, Most often they were brutalized, amputated, and or castrated and hung in trees while the townspeople looked on and celebrated.

The songs lyrics are disturbing yet poinient, and amazingly still applicable some 70 years later. I wonder if Billie ever imagined that her song would still have meaning decades later.

"Southern trees bare strange fruit. Blood on the leaves. Blood on the root." 

The hanging death of a 17-year old black child in Bladenboro, North Carolina has stirred up old fears and fresh concern as residents raise doubts about whether authorities, who called the teen’s death a suicide, adequately investigated the possibility this might have been, in fact, a lynching.

On Saturday, protesters marched through the heart of town to call for a thorough examination of what happened to Lennon Lacy, who was found hanging by two belts from a playground swing set near his home Aug. 29. The case had appeared to stall for months, but in recent days the demand for answers and suspicions that local authorities allowed the case to founder have grown. It was announced Friday that the FBI would look into the case.

“We know it was a hanging,” NAACP state chapter president the Rev. William Barber II said before Saturday’s march. “But the question is, ‘Was it self-inflicted? Was it a staged hanging? Or was it a hanging or lynching homicide?’ ”

The state NAACP chapter organized Saturday’s protest after pushing for weeks to have federal authorities look into Lacy’s death, which has caused quite a stir in this town of fewer than 2,000 residents, where 80 percent are white and 18 percent are black. Barber said there is evidence “that suggests possible race-based foul play,” including details about Lacy’s romantic relationship with a white woman. But Barber said he and the family have not reached any conclusions about what happened. They just want a full-fledged investigation.

Lacy’s mother, Claudia Lacy, who led the march, said she wants the truth about how her youngest son died.

“When the facts add up,” she said, “I’ll be satisfied.”

The state medical examiner, who performed an autopsy, ruled Lacy’s death a suicide. Some residents criticized authorities for not investigating further, even if to support the suicide finding. But on Friday, amid calls for federal authorities to step in, Bladen County prosecutor Jon David said in a televised news conference that the case remains open and that he welcomed help from the FBI.

“I’m asking the community to withhold their judgment on what this case is until all the facts are in,” David said.

The NAACP and the Lacy family said they do not believe state and local authorities have an interest in probing all facets of the case.

Barber said the community’s “suspicions are deeper than feelings.”

The state NAACP launched its own investigation, including hiring an independent pathologist to review the state’s examination. The NAACP said several details raised questions about how the police investigation was conducted and how the finding of suicide was reached. Lacy, who was to start a new high school football season the day he died, was found hanging from a black belt and blue belt tied together  items that his mother said she did not recognize as his. She also said the Nike shoes her son had been wearing were missing. The NAACP said he was found wearing unfamiliar sneakers two sizes too small.

Before his death, Lacy had been dating a 31-year-old white woman who was a neighbor. Claudia Lacy said that her son told her about the relationship and that she did not approve of it. At some point, the couple broke up. The day before Lacy died, he had attended the funeral of his 78-year-old great-uncle. Claudia Lacy said her son was upset but not depressed.

She said he left their house about midnight for one of his usual training runs. He preferred running at night when the heat and humidity had eased. She next saw him about 7:30 a.m., when police called her to a wooden swing set about a quarter-mile from her home to identify her son’s body.

The protest Saturday echoed the protests in other parts of the country over the police-related deaths of black men such as Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y. Those names were on the lips of many people here, and that larger protest movement appeared to energize the local marchers.

But the details of Lacy’s case and how the march unfolded with none of the rancor that has reverberated in the streets of Ferguson also appeared to recall the earlier civil rights era of the 1960s. Barber noted it, too, mentioning that Lacy died Aug. 29, one day after the 59th anniversary of the death of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy murdered in Mississippi after reportedly flirting with a white woman. The irony is chilling to say the least.

Walking through the streets, Deborah Belle could not believe she was here. She participated in the 1960s civil rights marches. That seemed to belong to a distant era.

But, now 58, here she was, holding a sign calling for justice and singing civil rights-era songs along with about 250 other marchers.

“It’s crazy we have to do this now,” said Belle, a school principal. “Something’s wrong. And it’s sad.”

Rena McNeil had traveled two hours from Scotland County to attend the protest.

“Anytime there’s strange fruit hanging from the tree,” she said, citing the Abel Meeropol poem that was inspired by lynchings and made famous in song by Billie Holiday, “you have to hit the streets.”

AND MANY OF US WILL.

Bad decisions, and insane choices. There is no justification for hanging a child, or anyone else for that matter, period, end of story. But one has to wonder if the "affair" that he had with this older white woman has anything to do with his murder. According to reports the Ku Klux Klan held a rally in the town in the weeks before Lennon was killed. While I don't particularly agree with this young mans choice to date an older women, especially an older white woman in a small southern town. I do not thing that he deserved to die for it. But unfortunately he became the moral in an ominous story, the roots of which go just as deep as the tree baring the trees baring strange fruit. 

PR

Let Me "Vent"..........

I believe that racism, although very real, is being used as nothing more than a smoke screen to distract people from classism. 

One day there will be no middle class, just rich and poor. The disenfranchised and impoverished in America will continue to fight for crumbs regardless of color, and the rich and privaledged will continue to make sure that everyone else continues to fight for crumbs regardless of color. You have to decide which one you want to be.

President Obama will go down in history as one of the most accomplished presidents of all time, but not while any of his critic's, detractor's, or adversaries are still alive.

Hillary Clinton will become the first woman to ever become President of The United States. But she won't be nearly, as liberal, or progressive as anybody thinks she is.

Unarmed Black men will stop being murdered by the police when they start arming themselves and fighting back.

Bill Cosby is guilty of adultery, not rape.

All of this talk about the illuminati is nonsense. It's nothing more than a ridiculous distraction.

When Jesus comes back, a lot of people that you expect to go back with him won't go, and a lot of people that you think won't go will go.

It doesn't matter if The Reverand Al Sharpton was an FBI informant or even a cocaine dealer. He is the ONLY one who stands up for Black people in America. People still support R. Kelly, and everybody knows for a fact what he did.

They will find a cure for AIDS as soon as it becomes an epidemic in heterosexual white America.

Women, never marry a man who grew up without a father in the house. Most times, not all of the time, but most times they haven't learned how to be a man by example.

Men, never marry a woman who grew up without a father in the house. Most times, but not all of the time, they haven't learned how to relate to a man by example.

Read as many books as you can about everything that you can. You'll be surprised what you remember.

Too much TV is not bad for you. Too much bad TV is bad for you.

Your children watch EVERYTHING that you do. So you should watch EVERYTHING that you do.

There is a lesson in everything. But it is up to us to learn.

No one is required to believe in your dream but you. Don't look for validation in affirmation.

Life gets better.

Most people are just a little crazy.

Yes, even you!

PR