Goodbye "net neutrality, and more craziness from Florida.

Scary news out of New York, today from the MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit.




David Cohen, (this guy) the Comcast "point man" on "Net-neutrality", has declared that Comcast has every right to charge a different amount of money for different levels of Internet connectivity.






Translated: If you want faster Internet service you will have to pay more money to get it. According to Mr. Cohen this has been perfectly legal for years, and Comcast, through the kindness of their hearts, have just been letting us slide without going deeper into our pocket books.






We can thank a clueless FCC Commissioner for Mr. Cohen's arrogance. Tom Wheeler's new rules would allow Internet providers to create things called "fast lanes". These "fast lanes" allow companies with deep pockets to pay more money to create faster Internet service for their suckers clients who are willing to pay for the privilege. Think of it as a toll road on the information super- highway.






Now, thanks to the courts, these ISPs that used to be just conduits that carried data back and forth, are now able to charge extra money to companies like Netflix if they want to ride on the really fast information super- highway.






“We are not sure we know what paid prioritization, or what a fast lane, is,” Cohen said. “Fast lane sounds bad… (but) I believe that whatever it is, it has been completely legal for 15 or 20 years.”




He is lying! Comcast knows exactly what "fast lane" is and how much you would have to pay to get it.




Finally, I am down in Florida again for some craziness.






The latest po po cam catches a police officer kicking a handcuffed child's feet from beneath him causing him to fall on his back.






You could argue that the kid was a punk, but  police officer's shouldn't be assaulting grown ass men who are handcuffed let alone a 13 year old.






If the police officers in Boynton Beach, Florida can't handle a couple of
rowdy kids on a school bus, what are they going to do when faced with real
danger? (Video)

Sorry Claudius, you ain't no George Zimmerman.

Unfortunately the people of Florida are starting to realize that when you have bad laws you get bad results.


The latest high profile "stand your ground" case from that wacky state should be quite interesting.


In this particular case, unlike the case of Trayvon Martin,  both the shooter and the victim were people of color.


Most of the Zimmerman supporters will not give the shooter in this case the benefit of the doubt, because this shooter is not a white [Hispanic] neighborhood watch guy, who shot some "young black punk" in self -defense.


And then there is the flip side: The same people, who called for an arrest and thorough investigation of George Zimmerman, should be asking that the same level of scrutiny be placed on Claudius Smith.

"The gunman accused of chasing and killing a 21-year-old man at a west Orlando apartment complex on Thursday told police he was pursuing a suspected burglar and acted in self-defense after he was attacked.


A police account of the shooter's self-defense claim obtained by the Orlando Sentinel suggests this could be the latest local homicide in which the state's controversial "stand your ground" law becomes a factor.     
  
Police were called to the shooting just before noon Thursday at the Fountains at MetroWest apartments. They arrived to find 21-year-old Ricardo Sanes dead in the grass, surrounded by six .45-caliber shell casings.


The alleged shooter, 32-year-old Claudius Smith, was caught later Thursday. Smith told detectives that he had shot someone "in self defense," according to a police report.


Smith said he was inside his house on Carter Street when his girlfriend, looking at a outdoor surveillance monitor, spotted someone in dark clothing "walking around his yard," who "was last seen climbing over the fence into" the apartment complex.


Smith told police he had been having "a recent problem with burglaries at his house ... and he was certain the unknown male was responsible," a police account states, so he "began chasing the unknown male."


According to police, Smith admitted jumping the fence into the apartment complex, armed with a .45-caliber handgun, where he said he saw Sanes "looking into windows of apartments as he walked past them."


Smith admitted pulling his gun and confronting Sanes, and when Sanes tried to walk away, Smith said he grabbed Sanes' hooded sweatshirt and tried to force Sanes back to his house "so the police could be called."


Smith told police Sanes "punched him in the mouth and grabbed for his gun."
"[Smith's] immediate response was to pull the trigger and fire shots at [Sanes],"   [Source]  


I bet that if he is arrested Claudius Smith will not be getting thousands of dollars from supporters all over the country to pay for his legal defense.


Stay tuned.

Crazy stories.

There are a few stories on my radar tonight.


First, this story out of Montgomery, Alabama  has me scratching my head.


Now correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Alabama State University a public institution? If it is, how the heck are they going to tell a grown ass woman that she can't have male [or female] lovers stay over at her house for an extended period of time?


"The new Alabama State University president’s contract comes with strings attached -- to her love life.


Gwendolyn Boyd is coming back to her alma mater from Johns Hopkins University to shepherd Alabama State through a rough patch involving a damning audit aimed at the university. Boyd’s new contract is pretty standard -- $300,000 a year, a car and the presidential residence -- except she can’t have lovers staying overnight for an extended period of time." [Source]


Ms. Boyd, it looks like the university needs you more than you need them. Don't go for this crap. If you want to get your love on you shouldn't have to creep around to do it.


Sorry people, this smells of sexism to me. I have a hard time believing that if Gwendolyn Boyd was Glenn Boyd this would be happening to her.


But hey, that's just me.


And then there is another other story from the crazy state of Florida.


It seems that some old guy got fed up in the theater with a fellow theatergoer and decided to stand his ground against a dangerous text.


"A moviegoer lost his life inside a Pasco County, Florida theater on Monday afternoon after a dispute over texting with a retired police officer. The victim’s wife was also hit by the same bullet.


According to the sheriff’s office, the dispute happened before the 1:20 showing of ‘Lone Survivor’ had even started.


According to investigators, two couples had gotten into an argument over noise.


Sheriff Chris Nocco said, “The victim was on his cell phone; he was texting. We believe he was making some kind of noise. This noise led to an altercation between the suspect and the victim.”


The shooter was identified by deputies as 71-year-old Curtis Reeves.
Charles Cummings said he overheard the victim say he was texting his 3-year-old daughter before Reeves pulled out a pistol.


He  said, “Their voices start going up, there seems to be a confrontation, somebody throws popcorn, then bang, he was shot. I heard the victim say, ‘I can’t believe…,’ then he fell on us.” [Source] 


Now I hate disruptive moviegoers as much as the next guy (it's why, unfortunately, I try to stay away from certain movie theaters when too many of  my cousins are present), but I am not going to go all Clint Eastwood on some guy for texting on his cell phone and making too much noise when I am trying to get my popcorn on. I mean this is crazy. Besides, I am not sure I trust some 71 year old dude with a gun in the first place. (Sorry AARP)


But hey, this is a part of the culture we have created in these divided states of America. It's all about the gun.


Finally, speaking of guns, it looks like we have another one of these Houdini type perps acting up again.


"Police in North Carolina say all evidence collected during their investigation into the shooting death of a handcuffed teenager indicates he killed himself with a concealed large-caliber pistol that a rookie officer failed to detect when he frisked him.


Durham police on Friday presented preliminary findings of an internal investigation into the shooting death of 17-year-old Jesus Huerta, who died Nov. 19 in the back of a squad car as it was pulling into the parking lot at police headquarters.


Huerta had been arrested by Officer Samuel Duncan a short time earlier on an outstanding warrant for misdemeanor trespassing after a family member called 911 and asked for help after the teen walked out of his home following a late-night argument.


"The evidence and information collected thus far indicate that Mr. Huerta had a handgun concealed on his person," said Capt. L.J. Clayton, who oversaw the department's internal affairs investigation. "Officer Duncan did not discover this handgun during his search of Mr. Huerta. Mr. Huerta shot himself with that handgun." [Source]




I wonder where exactly "on his person" he concealed it.























































   

"My name is Earl". But you already knew that.

I know that when y'all first heard the story of the poor brotha down in Florida (Where else? )being arrested 62 times for trespassing WHERE HE WORKS, you all thought that it was a joke. ("Oh, here we go again. Those blacks making up stories about racism where racism doesn't exist.")

But, sadly, "in color aroused" America, where "stop- and- frisk" has become the norm, and where the rights of poor people and people of color pale in comparison to those who occupy the halls of power, (I see you Trey Radel)  occurrences like this have become the new normal.

I can't imagine what I would do if the po po stopped and harassed me over 258 times. (Once a week over a four year period). They harassed this poor brotha like it was a part of their job description. Service revolver?  Check. Roll Call? Check. Daily briefing? Check. Start routine patrol? Check. Go and harass Earl Sampson at the convenience store? Check. I mean I know that we all look alike, but dyaam!

I worry about people like Earl Sampson as well. I hope this is not typical of the Negro in places like Florida. Have the system beaten them down so much that they don't even realize when their rights are being trampled upon? Because honestly, if folks start viewing this kind of injustice as normal, then we have an even bigger problem on our hands.

I am just thankful that the man's boss (my FNOTD) recognizes injustice.

"They ask him, 'What are you doing here?'" recalled Saleh. "He said, 'I work here.' The clerk said he works here. I said, 'I'm the owner, let him go. I work here.' The officer said, 'Yeah right.'
"So he has more power than me!"

According to Saleh, it doesn't stop there.

In addition to video appearing to show Sampson being grabbed by an officer while taking out the trash and at another time searched against a wall, Saleh accuses them of searching throughout his store without a warrant.

They're just stopping anybody who walks in the city or who comes into my store," argued Saleh. "You can't violate people's rights just by standing in front of a business. You have no right to pull me against the wall and search me and question me for no reason."
Welcome to America Mr. Saleh.  Now if you want equal rights you better work harder, get a bigger store, and move it out of that neighborhood.

Here in the land of [only some] are free, rights are not exactly equal.

I am sorry you had to learn this way, but I am even more sorry for your employee.

Voter fraud from the right. And is Virginia for racists??

"Beware of the hand
When it's comin' from the left
I ain't trippin' just watch ya step
Can't truss it" ~Public Enemy~

Down in Florida the GOP has a problem:

"Republicans on Thursday fired a vendor suspected of submitting 108 questionable new voter registrations in Florida's Palm Beach County, ground zero for disputed ballots in 2000's presidential race.

The Republican Party of Florida used Virginia-based Strategic Allied Consulting to help register and turnout voters in Florida, one of a shrinking handful of states President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are contesting. The Florida state party had paid the firm more than $1.3 million so far, and the Republican National Committee used the group for almost $3 million of work in Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia.

"We have zero tolerance for any threat to the integrity of elections. When we were informed of an alleged incident we immediately cut all ties to the company," RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer said." [Source]

OK, it would be bad but not the end of the world if this was an isolated incident but.....

"What first appeared to be an isolated problem in one Florida county has now spread statewide, with election officials in at least seven counties informing prosecutors or state election officials about questionable voter registration forms filled out on behalf of the Republican Party of Florida.

Lux said there have been forms that listed dead people and were either incomplete or illegible. He met with local prosecutors on Friday, but added that his staff was still going through hundreds of forms dropped off by Strategic employees.
Lux, who is a Republican, said he warned local party officials earlier this month when he first learned the company was paying people to register voters." [Source]

How is this for irony? The GOP is enacting tougher voter ID laws all over the country so that they can suppress minority votes and win the elections stamp out voting fraud, and it seems that they are guilty of fraudulent voting practices themselves. Nice.

Finally, Virginia is not only for lovers, it seems that it also the place of racist republican party leaders as well.

 "The Mecklenburg County Republican Committee has come under fire for posting racist photos of the president on its Facebook page. One image depicts Obama as a caveman; another portrays him as a thug.

The Virginia Republican Party has ordered Mecklenburg County to take the photos off its page. Pat Mullins, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, said:

“These kinds of images have no place in political discourse — period. They are offensive, tasteless and should never have been posted anywhere, let alone a local unit’s Facebook page. The Republican Party of Virginia condemns this sort of imagery in the strongest possible terms.”

The photos had been on the page for several months, but it wasn’t until a luncheon event with Republican Senate candidate George Allen on Monday that they started receiving criticism. Allen was campaigning in the state at a luncheon the Mecklenburg County Republican Committee promoted and ProgressVA, which supports Allen’s opponent Timothy M. Kaine, found the photos on the committee’s page. Allen said he had prior knowledge of the photos and has condemned them." [Source] 

So Mr. Macaca Man had "had prior knowledge of the photos"? Oh lawd, I think we have been down this road before.

Anyway, as is to be expected with folks of this ilk, they do not see a problem.

R. Wallace “Wally” Hudson, chairman of the committee, was surprised to hear from a reporter that anyone had taken offense.

“If that group is that sensitive, I’m sorry, they’re just not human,” he said, chuckling. “It’s not American. If they’ve got a problem with it, we’re not going to change what we do.”

I hear you Wally, because being the right kind of "human" is so American.