The South and black folks, and some "blackish" white people.

I have to agree with Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu's statement about how blacks are treated in her part of the country.

"Louisiana Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu said Thursday that the issue of race is a major reason that President Barack Obama has struggled politically in Southern states.

       

“I'll be very, very honest with you. The South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans,” Landrieu told NBC News in an interview. “It's been a difficult time for the president to present himself in a very positive light as a leader."

       

Noting that the South is “more of a conservative place,” she added that women have also faced challenges in “presenting ourselves.”

       

The comment prompted a fiery response from Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, who called it "remarkably divisive."

       

"She appears to be living in a different century," he said in a statement. "Implied in her comments is the clear suggestion that President Obama and his policies are unpopular in Louisiana because of his ethnicity. That is a major insult by Senator Landrieu to the people of Louisiana and I flatly reject it." '

He can reject it all he wants but we all know that it's true. Of course the president's race hurts him in the South.

Still, senator Landrieu didn't have to single out the South, there are plenty of not so friendly places for blacks in America. Lots of those places are right here on the East Coast.

Anyway, so now the GOP is angry at Landrieu because, as we all know, nothing that they do is motivated by race. *sarcasm off*

Speaking of race, there has been a lot of talk about race leading up to these midterms. Republican's are mad because they believe that the Democrats are going out of their way to paint republicans as racist. (Gee, I wonder there they got that idea?) Which  some of them are. And some of them, such as Charles Rangel, are taking this the republicans are evil thing a little too far.


This is, of course, if he meant that they (republicans) want to enslave us in a literal and not metaphorical way.

Finally,  Laurence Fishburne's statement about  that idiot Justin Beiber being "blackish" got me  thinking: Which other high profile white people are "blackish"? 

Just off the top of my head I thought of a few.

1. Robert De Niro.

2. Christina Aguilera.

3. Joe Biden.

4. Kim Kardashian.

5. Justin Timberlake.

6. Bill Clinton.

7. Jimmy Carter.

8. Hope Solo.

9. Arne Duncan.

10. Ellen DeGeneres

Honorable Mention:

Bill Gates, Al Pacino, Tony Bennett, Madonna.....


You get the picture.

 

  

Why you shouldn't do blackface this Halloween.

Halloween is just one day away, so this is a good time to give my PSA about blackface costumes.


"It's no surprise at all that some of our fellow Americans dressed up (and dressed their children up!) like Ray and Janay Rice this month, or that they proudly shared their pictures on Instagram.
Of course they did.

In the weird world of adult Halloween, tackiness pegged to current events is the name of the game. So, this was as predictable as the availability of a "sexy Ebola nurse" getup.


Equally unsurprising: People from all corners of the internet agreed that the Rice costumes were, as Deadspin's Tom Ley put it, "the worst idea." Commenters didn't just criticize the insensitivity of the domestic abuse theme (Rice, of course, was kicked out of the NFL after he knocked his wife unconscious). They chastised the white revelers for painting their faces and bodies black to mimic the Rice's darker skin.


To some of us, it's obvious that wearing blackface is an offensive, bad idea.
People have even made very simple visual aids to communicate this.


But the public service announcements haven't worked. If this season's costumes are any indication, a giant gulf remains between people who understand that blackface is in bad taste, or are willing to defer to black people who tell them so, and people who are still asking "But why?" (You know, the ones who are thinking as they read this, "You say it's racist but I can tell you right now I'm not racist, so it's fine if I wear it! Come on, get over it! Stop with the political correctness! I don't understand how this is offensive! It's a joke!")


For the "why" crowd (and for anyone who feels moved to have a dialogue with one of its members), here's an explanation of what, exactly, is wrong with wearing blackface, on Halloween or ever:


Blackface is much more than just dark makeup used to enhance a costume.
Its American origins can be traced to minstrel shows. In the mid to late nineteenth century, white actors would routinely use black grease paint on their faces when depicting plantation slaves and free blacks on stage.


To be clear, these weren't flattering representations. At all. Taking place against the backdrop of a society that systematically mistreated and dehumanized black people, they were mocking portrayals that reinforced the idea that African-Americans were inferior in every way.
The blackface caricatures that were staples of Minstrelsy (think: Mammy, Uncle Tom, Buck, and Jezebel) took a firm hold in the American imagination, and carried over into other mediums of entertainment.

Blackface has also been seen in Vaudeville Shows and on Broadway. Yes, black actors sometimes wore blackface, too, because white audiences didn't want to see them on the stage without it.

We have blackface performances to thank for some of the cartoonish, dehumanizing tropes that still manage to make their way into American culture.

Beyond that, blackface and systematic social and political repression are so inextricably linked that, according to C. Vann Woodward's history The Strange Career of Jim Crow, the very term "Jim Crow" — usually used as shorthand for rigid anti-black segregation laws in force between the end of Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement -— derives from an 1832 blackface minstrel number by Thomas D. Rice.


There's no way around it: this particular costume choice has a terrible track record.


If respect for people who had to live through a time when blackface went hand-in-hand with day-to-day hateful and discriminatory treatment isn't enough to keep you from wearing it, consider this: there's a case to be made that it's tied up with some of America's worst racial dynamics.
David Leonard, chair of Washington State University's department of critical culture, gender, and race studies, explained it this way in his 2012 Huffington Post essay, "Just Say No To blackface: Neo Minstrelsy and the Power to Dehumanize":

Blackface is part of a history of dehumanization, of denied citizenship, and of efforts to excuse and justify state violence. From lynchings to mass incarceration, whites have utilized blackface (and the resulting dehumanization) as part of its moral and legal justification for violence. It is time to stop with the dismissive arguments those that describe these offensive acts as pranks, ignorance and youthful indiscretions. Blackface is never a neutral form of entertainment, but an incredibly loaded site for the production of damaging stereotypes...the same stereotypes that undergird individual and state violence, American racism, and a centuries worth of injustice.

See the connection?


He told Vox that, today, blackface reinforces the idea that black people are appropriate targets of ridicule and mockery and reminds us of stereotypes about black criminality, and danger. This, says Leonard, can serve to support implicit bias and discriminatory treatment and in areas from law enforcement to employment.



Plus, in a society that allegedly values racial integration, isn't there something unsettling about the idea that the closest thing to an actual black person at your party could be someone smeared with face paint and wearing an Afro wig? Leonard says this creates a false sense of diversity in at atmospheres that include "everything but the actual person, the community, and the culture." Does that sound like somewhere you'd be proud to be?


common refrain in defense of blackface is that it is all in good fun, a joke, harmless, or not done with the intent to bother anyone. Some have even gone farther. Reason's Thaddeus Russell wrote that the practice could be understood as a positive thing:

"We will likely never know what motivates contemporary blackface performers. But those who reject the beliefs planted in our culture by Puritans and Victorians might consider the possibility that, like the originators of the practice, they are joining a 200-year, unconscious struggle for freedom."

But here's the thing: not feeling racist when you're wearing blackface does nothing to change how it affects those who see it (and today, thanks to social media, that doesn't just mean your trick-or-treaters, or the guests at the party you attend — it means the world).


Your innermost thoughts don't change the impact blackface has on the people of all races around you, or the way it reinforces stereotypes and the idea that blackness is, at best, a joke.


"In many ways, one's intent is irrelevant," said Leonard. "The harm, whether it's harm in terms of eliciting anger, or sadness, or triggering various emotions or causing [black people to feel] both hyper-visible and invisible at the same time, is there. When someone says, 'I didn't mean it that way,' well, their real question should be not ‘Did I mean it?' but, ‘Am I causing harm?'
In "Just Say No to Blackface," Leonard wrote that some people feel they should have the option to live in ignorance about what's wrong with blackface. That itself, he argued, says a lot about how racism works:


"The ability to be ignorant, to be unaware of the history and consequences of racial bigotry, to simply do as one pleases, is a quintessential element of privilege. The ability to disparage, to demonize, to ridicule, and to engage in racially hurtful practices from the comfort of one's segregated neighborhoods and racially homogeneous schools reflects both privilege and power. The ability to blame others for being oversensitive, for playing the race card, or for making much ado about nothing are privileges codified structurally and culturally."


So, maybe you don't know anything about the history of minstrelsy, and maybe you don't know anything about the pain and trauma of living in a society that imagines blackness as comical or criminal.

That, according to Leonard, is the problem.

The question, to ask yourself if you claim ignorance is,  he said, "Why do you not know, and what have you done to make sure that you continue to not know?"


After all, embracing the chance to mock, dehumanize, and to dismiss the feelings and demands of others, all while re-imagining history so that only things you deem wrong are wrong, is a pretty great way to perpetuate a racist society that treats black people like crap.


Finally, if you really cannot understand what's wrong with with blackface, challenge yourself to figure out what seems so right about it.  Leonard suggests that blackface fans ask themselves, "Why do I derive pleasure from this? What's the investment in doing it, and what's the investment in defending it?"'



If you can't answer that, but you're still set on doing something predictably offensive, why don't you just go ahead and choose the sexy Ebola nurse outfit instead? [Source]


So there you have it. That is why you should not where a blackface costume this
Halloween.


Finally, I am glad that Eric Frein has been finally caught. It took hundreds of man hours, and millions of taxpayer dollars to bring in this alleged cop killer.


Of course he was brought in alive and without a scratch. (This is what white privilege can get you in America. Or at least that's what they are saying on black twitter.)


He is just lucky that he didn't end up like this guy.


But then.....

Certain people are fighting back.

It's close to Halloween, so I guess this explains why the legislature --and the courts--- in the state of Georgia are doing such scary things.


"Voting rights advocates are considering legal options after a Georgia judge denied their lawsuit that would have compelled the state to add 40,000 newly registered voters to the rolls.


Judge Christopher Brasher said voters whose registration applications were lost may cast provisional ballots in next week's election. But he declined to force Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp and counties to ensure voting for the thousands of new voters. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the New Georgia Project, and the Georgia branch of the NAACP are weighing whether to appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.


"You've got a situation that was designed to wreak havoc on the elections office if a large number of provisional ballots are cast," Julie Houk, a senior special counsel with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights' voting rights project, told The Huffington Post Wednesday. She said provisional ballots are "not an adequate remedy" because "registered voters are entitled to cast a regular ballot."


Voting rights advocates said the judge's decision could potentially disenfranchise thousands of people, a disproportionate number of whom are minorities, and disrupt Georgia's high-profile races for U.S. Senate and governor.


The voters in question were registered during a six-month drive by the nonpartisan New Georgia Project, led by state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams (D). The group submitted more than 86,000 applications, a majority from young voters of color registering to vote for the first time, along with another 20,000 or so from other groups. Abrams' group alleges that 40,000 of those applications are mysteriously missing from the state's official voter rolls, and that the state has not provided an explanation. " [Source]


You Negroes better start paying attention to what is going on in America.


These new Jim Crow style tactics being carried out is serious business.


This was a long thought-out plan to reclaim the upper hand when certain people started feeling that they were losing political power in this country.  You Negroes (and brown people) coming out in full force (twice) to elect the first Negro president scared the s**t out of them, and so they decided to go to work.  


Speaking of certain people, one of them who wants to be president kind of let his real motivations for wanting that office slip out, recently.


" South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is toying with the idea of a presidential bid, joked in a private gathering this month that "white men who are in male-only clubs are going to do great in my presidency," according to an audio recording of his comments provided to CNN.


"I'm trying to help you with your tax status," Graham says in the recording. "I'm sorry the government's so f---ed up. If I get to be president, white men in male-only clubs are going to do great in my presidency." The crowd is then heard laughing. [Source]


Finally, an honest politician.














 

Fear and quarantine in New Jersey.

I believe that Ebola is a serious disease, I really do. But to date, exactly zero Americans ---and one West African has died from the disease here on American soil.


Sadly, this hasn't stopped people like Chris Christie and the right wing fear machine from making a mountain out of a molehill. I guess it's a good election tactic. If Willie Horton type ads doesn't fire up your base, the fear of the president bringing plane loads of Ebola infected Africans to America certainly will. 


Poor Kaci Hickox should have been greeted as a hero after going to West Africa to help to fight the terrible disease head on. Instead she was held against her own will in New Jersey after Mr. Christie enacted a mandatory quarantine.


And I am ripping Christie and the right, but New York's democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, is also as culpable for this travesty that beset this woman.


When politicians start defying scientist and they take such drastic measures as holding unsuspecting citizens against their will, we have to step back and realize that we might just have some issues as a country.

“'Her civil rights were violated,' Siegel told ABC News. “At a minimum, she could bring an action for damages. But I think her goal is to try to revise the current policies with regard to, for example, mandatory quarantines.”

'when you look at what happened and how it happened, you come away with the sense that this policy was based on fear and politics rather on medical fact, and we can’t have the politicians directing these kinds of important issues,' Siegel said. "


I hope that she does bring an action for damages. It should be fun to see where this goes.


Still, it's always interesting to read the comments after a story, and this one was no exception.


A sampling:


---I think Kaci Hickox is being completely selfish and irresponsible. We have already seen 2 nurses get infected on US soil and doctors evacuated back to the states because they were infected. Then there is the doctor who spent 6 days in NYC before he was diagnosed. The US response to Ebola has been sloppy and extremely lucky. We are lucky that there were not hundreds of new cases because of all the mistakes that were made. Twenty-one days of quarantine is a small price to pay to be 100% sure that you will not infect and kill another person. The elderly, small children, people with weak immune systems and pregnant women would all be at much greater risk to die from ebola than a healthy adult. We do need healthcare workers to help with the ebola crisis and we do believe they are true heros but until ebola is understood a lot better than it is today, let's err on the side of common sense and caution and use quarantine for the purpose it was intended instead of lawyering up and demanding to skip quarantine because it violates your civil liberties. Epic fail in both common sense and good science.---

--What a selfish act coming from someone who took a vow to help others. Probably has student loans to pay off. Stay out of Indiana Kaci. We don't want you!--

                    

--Total effing #$%$, this woman's attitude! If you go over to West Africa, you should, IN FACT, be quarantined for, at least, twenty-one days, if not longer. Any other course of action is absolutely absurd, no matter what the "experts" may be cowed into saying. --                

                    

--Grow up Nurse Hickox...I bet your state of Maine is grateful you were stopped in New Jersey rather than show up in your own State and the neighborhood where you live and they all wear masks around you. At least you now know you are not a carrier of this Disease.
I think it's great if you want the USA to pay for you to go to this Country and help out, but that doesn't mean we want you to bring that Disease back home to our Country. --

 --What a bunch of money grubbing Liberal GARBAGE! Civil rights violation! I think not! It is all I can do to contain myself. If this case ends up in this #$%$ getting paid I will have lost my faith in this country! What a load of #$%$! She should just be glad she does not have Ebola. Maybe we should box her up naked and send her back so she can get it and then whine about it! OMG! I am sick. -- [Source]

The fear mongering business is good these days.

 

                     

                     

 


     

There are no white people marching in Easton for Richie.

"Field, why aren't you blogging about Richard Scheuermann? Is it because he is white?

What happened to him was not right"


I don't think that it was, and that's why I am blogging about Richie tonight.


It looks like he might have also lost his life because of poor police conduct and training. Something that is happening too often across this country.


Mr. Scheuermann's  life ended in Easton, Pennsylvania after a police chase. The officer who shot him to death has been placed on administrative leave and Richie's family is now planning his funeral.


I know a little bit about Northampton County, I have tried cases up in that area, and let's just say that I am not surprised by what took place.


When the story first broke it read like this:


"A man is dead after a police pursuit that touched at least four eastern Northampton County municipalities ended about 1:20 Friday morning with an officer-involved shooting at North 13th and Spring Garden streets in Easton, city police Chief Carl Scalzo Jr. and emergency radio reports say.
Scalzo would not say for what department the officer works. No one else was involved and the public is not at risk, Scalzo said.

Police did not say if the dead man had a weapon, but emergency dispatches said he cut his throat after crashing into a pole at the intersection.

No police officers were injured, Scalzo said.

"We are not going to release anything else at this time," Scalzo said just before 3 a.m. Wilson Borough's officer in charge at the crash said he had no information to add. Palmer Township police vehicles were also at the wreck.

As of 3 a.m., Easton police are heading the investigation, the chief said. Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek was not at the crash by that hour, police said.

The dead man, covered by 1:40 with a white sheet on the sidewalk of the northeast corner of the intersection, had possible gunshot wounds to the right side of his jaw and the side of his torso.
Gun shots and then yelling

Robert Peters, of 11th Street in Easton, said he was driving on Northampton Street past 13th Street when he heard the man's red Ford F350 pickup truck crash into a pole two blocks away and saw smoke. Peters said he parked his car around the corner and heard eight to 10 gunshots in rapid order."


We are learning now, of course, that the man was not armed, and that he might have been high from synthetic marijuana. (For the record, let me say as a Jamaican that I find the idea of fake collie weed offensive.) Richie was no angel, but should he have lost his life because the po po was pumped up after a high speed chase?


There will be no Al Sharptons or Jesse Jacksons for Richie, because he was not shot because of the color of his skin. But if his killing was not justifiable, it will be just as appalling as if he was killed because of his skin color.


"Field, why aren't white people marching in Easton for Richie?"


Because they still trust the system. There haven't been enough Richard Scheuermanns  just yet.    














  

Jive talking.

Like Jesse Jackson when it comes to politics, Charles Barkley has been the go to guy on matters of race when it attaches itself to sports for white folks here in America.


This is sad, because it speaks to the frivolous and shallow nature of the understanding of racial issues in America by the Majority population.


Charles Barkley is nothing more than a clown and a buffoon. He is a guy who subjects himself to ridicule by participating in the most vulgar display of abject coonery on a regular basis for the entertainment of his white audience.


Watching him shuck and jive with his fellow studio hosts (who are not much better) during those NBA telecasts is always painful to watch. But at least we know that he is there to shuck and jive. When he attempts to get serious and speak on matters of race it is cringe worthy and embarrassing.


Not to white folks, of course, but to any black person in America who views the issue of race as more than just a sound bite on the radio about "unintelligent" blacks bringing the rest of us down.


Sir Charles made this grand pronouncement recently after stories surfaced that the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks was acting too white for some of his black teammates. (A story we still can't verify since the alleged sources of the story remains anonymous.)


And let me get this out of the way right now: If this is in fact true, the black players in that locker room who made such an ignorant statement are just as ignorant as Charles Barkley.


You can knock Russell Wilson for how he is playing on Sundays, but not how he acts off the field, or the way he speaks or chooses to carry himself.


For the record, I am quite sure that most black people in America would agree with that position.


But back to Charles.


He could have simply stated his opposition to what some of those Seahawks players allegedly said the way I just did, but he did not. Instead he chose to declare that ignorant and "unintelligent" blacks are holding the rest of us back.


This of course is ironic coming from a man who needs English sub-titles when he speaks on television. There are times when I wonder if this worldly college educated man who has made millions of dollars in his life actually left Leeds, Alabama.


Just trying to listen to him talk is a struggle, and yet he has the nerve to call other blacks "unintelligent." Now if that ain't the pot calling the kettle black. (Pun intended)


Sadly he is allowed. Because like the Larry Riley character in A Soldier's Story, C.J. Memphis, Sir Charles is the kind of Negro that gives certain whites comfort. He fits the stereotype of the cooning barely literate jokester, who is not afraid to call out his own and say things that the white man wishes he could without repercussions. He will always have the microphone in front of him to speak on racial issues, because what he says will never be viewed as uncomfortable to certain people.


Sir Charles won't talk about the reason that blacks in places like Ferguson, Missouri are "unintelligent". He won't talk about the dysfunctional families and a lack of a proper education that creates generational poverty. And he certainly will not talk about a political system in place that's meant to keep things just the way they are.


So what does he do? He bemoans the fact that they are holding the rest of us back.


I will close by telling Charles Barkley what Adolph Caesar's character told C.J. Memphis in A Soldier's Story:


 "Whole lot of people just can’t seem to fit in to where things seem to be going. Like you, CJ. See, the Black race can’t afford you no more. There used to be a time, we’d see someone like you singin’, clownin’, yassuh-bossin’… and we wouldn’t do anything. Folks liked that. You were good. Homey kind of nigger. When they needed somebody to mistreat, call a name or two, they paraded you. Reminded them of the good old days. Not no more. The day of the Geechee is gone, boy. And you’re going with it. "     


Poor Charles. If he would only do a little introspection he would realize that he is closer to all those Negroes that he likes to complain about than the rest of us.   






  


  
     


        






   
 

CAPTION SATURDAY.

*

I need a caption for this pic.

For example: Praise Jesus! We took the senate!

Play nice.

*Pic from democraticundergound.com

America the violent.

It has been another violent day in America. Not the violence in urban areas that we have become so used to, where gang bangers and drug dealers go at each other on a daily basis. But the occasional shootings that bring with it headlines and raised eyebrows.




"A student recently crowned freshman class Homecoming prince walked into his Seattle-area high school cafeteria Friday and opened fire, killing one person and shooting several others in the head before turning the gun on himself, officials and witnesses said.

Students said the gunman was staring at students as he shot them inside the cafeteria at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. The shootings set off a chaotic scene as students ran from the cafeteria and building in a frantic dash to safety, while others were told to stay put inside classrooms at the school 30 miles north of Seattle." [Source]

 Sad story.




But it's how children act out now whenever they have problems that they can't deal with: Grab a gun and shoot up your school, home, or whatever.


And it's not only violence by gun. In New York City some dude thought that it would be cool to go around chopping up cops with a hatchet in broad daylight.

"A brazen daylight hatchet attack against a group of police officers on a busy New York street was a terrorist act by a reclusive Muslim convert who ranted online against America but had no clear ties to international extremists, the police commissioner said Friday.

Police were examining Zale Thompson's computer for clues about a motive for the Thursday assault that left one of the officers seriously injured and ended with Thompson being killed by police. Police Commissioner William Bratton said Thompson's browsing history included organized terror groups, beheadings and the shooting in Canada earlier this week that officials there have called a terrorist attack. [Source]

So this is what a "lone wolf attacker" looks like.

There will be more for sure.

America has lots more where this guy came from. Some of them are still in high school.  

Paula and her black mammy, and an autopsy from St.Louis.

I guess you just can't teach an old racist new tricks.


It didn't take long for Paula Deen and her peeps to revert to being....well, Paula Deen.


Yes, the black mammy image is racist and ignorant, but the explanation for it was even worse.

"Oh Paula Deen, will you ever learn? An image on the website for Lady & Sons, the restaurant Deen owns in Savannah, Geor., features a "mammy figure," according to a post on Facebook. The controversial mother-type figure that rose in popularity during and after slavery, is shown ringing a dinner bell, as child caretakers — often called mammys — did in plantation days to let the family know dinner was ready. The advertisement is mean to notify patrons of the restaurant's new hours of operation.

A group on Facebook has taken notice of the ad, and is enraged by its racist undertones. "Paula Deen longs for the antebellum south when Blacks, especially black women were non-threatening servants." The Facebook message encourages black women to "kill the mammy within" and avoid associations with people like Paula Deen.

UPDATE: According to a Deen spokesperson, the image depicted in the ad is not new, but has been used on the restaurant's website for "five years." The restaurant further explains, "the lady featured in the picture has worked at the restaurant for over 17 years and is like family to the Deens."


"Like family"? You mean like a mammy that raised all dem little white pickaninnies back in the  day?

I am sorry, I know that some of you Negroes love Paula and her cooking, and that you have no problem with her whole down home Southern (pardon my Yiddish) schtick. But at some point you have to say enough already. The mammy figure and slavery love is just so eighteen hundreds.

Finally, I see that there is a new autopsy coming out of St. Louis. (No, not the one that the authorities have been leaking from the Michal Brown  grand jury.) This one was privately done by the family of another alleged unarmed teenager who was shot to death by a police officer.

"ST. LOUIS (AP) — An 18-year-old killed earlier this month by an off-duty St. Louis police officer was shot eight times, including six times from behind, said a forensic pathologist who performed a private autopsy Thursday.

Dr. Cyril Wecht, who has investigated the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley and JonBenet Ramsey, conducted the autopsy at the request of Vonderrit Myers Jr.'s family and outlined the findings during a news conference at the funeral home that will handle Myers' burial. The family's attorneys said the autopsy suggests Myers was running away from the officer. Myers' parents attended the autopsy announcement but did not comment.

"The evidence shows that the story we've been given by the Police Department does not match up," one of the attorneys, Jerryl Christmas, said. "There's no evidence that there was a gun battle going on."

Wecht said it's likely that Myers was initially shot six times in the back of both legs. He said another shot hit the side of the left leg, shattering his femur.

The fatal wound was to the side of Myers' face, Wecht said.

Police have said Myers shot first at the officer. They released details of lab tests by the Missouri State Highway Patrol that showed gunshot residue on Myers' hand, waistband and shirt. Police union leaders said the finding dispelled claims by Myers' family that he didn't fire at the officer, whose name hasn't been released." [Source]

Interesting.


But unlike some folks who have jumped to conclusions based on their own prejudices and biases, I will reserve judgment until I get more facts about this particular shooting. 





   


  

Terror in Canada, and a strange young fruit found hanging in North Carolina.

Terrorism in Canada is like punctuality in Jamaica; it just doesn't happen.


Sadly, though, here we are.


"A soldier gunned down while guarding a hallowed war memorial and a shootout in the halls of Parliament shocked Canada's capital and left parts of the city on lockdown for hours Wednesday.

Parliament member Kyle Seeback called it a "horrific day."

And it may not be over yet.

Authorities haven't ruled out the possibility that an additional shooter could be on the loose. And Ottawa Police Constable Chuck Benoit told CNN that there was more than one person involved in the shootings.

"We have to apprehend and arrest the people that are involved in this morning's incident," he said, "and at this time we don't have these people."

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau has been identified by Canadian officials to their American counterparts as the suspected gunman, multiple U.S. officials told CNN.

The gunman was killed after two shooting incidents -- one at the Canada War Memorial, and another just minutes later nearby inside Parliament.

Bibeau, who was born in 1982, was a convert to Islam and had a history of drug use before he converted, two sources said." [Source]

This dude was Canadian born and had a history of drug use before allegedly converting to Islam.

Not good.

I guess this is what they call a "lone wolf" attack, and I am sure that it's a scary thing for the people in the Great White North. I mean Canadians just don't do things like this. At least I didn't think that they did. It's not like Canada is "the great satan" or anything.

Here in America we expect our own people to turn on us. We are a lot more worried about "lone wolf" attacks than the Canadians are.  

In Colorado (the state that gave us Columbine) "three girls played hooky from school" to join Isis for crying out loud. Talk about f****d up priorities.

"The girls' parents say they had no idea their children planned to travel. None of them had ever run away before.

Their disappearance hit them out of the blue, the way other ISIS related incidents are popping up in the Western world. Two more turned up in tandem with the girls' runaway attempt.

ISIS has, for an anti-Western organization, been surprisingly attractive to young recruits from the West, as well as to some young women.

More than 100 of the foreign fighters have come from the United States, according to intelligence estimates; hundreds more from Europe, which is geographically closer to the fight.

Every week, five more people from the UK alone join ISIS, a British police commissioner said Tuesday. And that's a conservative estimate."We know that over 500 British nationals traveled to join the conflict," said Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe from the Metropolitan Police." [Source]

Remember when all parents had to worry about was their kids staying out past curfew or hanging out at the mall with the skateboard crowd?    

Finally, a troubling story out of the state of North Carolina.

 "On Monday night, lawyers Al McSurely and Allen Rogers met with Claudia Lacy and Larry Walton to discuss the next step in the investigation into what McSurely called “the probable murder” of Lacy and Walton’s 17-year-old son, Lennon Lacy.

In August, Lennon was found hanging by his neck from a swing set in the middle of a trailer park near his home in Bladenboro, N.C. Authorities quickly ruled out foul play in his death and have since labeled it a suicide. But Lennon’s parents have met the reports with disbelief, as have many of Bladenboro’s black residents.

McSurely, an attorney working with the NAACP’s North Carolina chapter and Lennon’s family, told The Root that he and the family are looking to find out who killed Lennon and that they “have a rough idea of who some of those people might be.”

“What we’re trying to decide now, after talking to several witnesses who have come forward to us, is how we’re going to play that with the DA,” said McSurely, adding that the family may take the case to the FBI or U.S. Department of Justice. “It’s not like Ferguson or Trayvon’s case in the sense that here, we don’t know who shot him. In this case, somebody strangled him and took his body over there and ... hung him up there in the middle of the night.” [Read more]


A young black man found hanging in a "trailer park"?  Hmmm. 


I don't blame you Ms. Lacy and Mr. Walton; I would be suspicious as well.