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It never cease to amaze me how ignorant and downright simple-minded some folks get when an opportunity to be in the [media] spotlight come along to shine upon them, such as in the case of Geraldo Rivera, who've obviously forgotten his roots.
Although I believe Rivera was trying to be sincere in explaining why Trayvon was killed by Zimmerman, his wordings were detrimental and very careless.
In fact, I cannot help to think that perhaps he is trying to defend the shooter since he has Hispanic roots, but somehow, Geraldo realized quickly that an attempt to make 'distinctions' between Blacks and Hispanics will be a career suicide because he knows deep down that both Blacks and Hispanics are actually each others brothers and sisters, and as a native Bronxite myself, I'm not falling for the hokey doke, and neither of my black and hispanic brothers and sisters will not fall for it!
So, as an end result, he tried to skirt it, use the 'hoodie' as an excuse, and ultimately his reasoning became thwarted and hateful. So, I sincerely hope that Rivera was not going in that direction
I just watched "Drive" the movie starring Ryan Gossling (a fantastic movie I might add) yesterday, and he wore a hoodie in the film.
During the Winter months, millions of people wear a hoodie to help keep their head warm, and from becoming blistered from the sharp blows of wind.
Hell, the Ku Klux Klan have been wearing hoodies for decades killing Black folks, and somehow no one had the guts to gun any one of them down because of them wearing hoodies.
In fact, there are numerous online stores that sell 'hoodies' for racists, non-racists, and so forth, such as "Redneck" Sweatshirts & Hoodies, for example, yet no brow raising is being done in this case.
It's not the nutty neighborhood who killed Trayvon. It was George Zimmerman. It was not the hoodie who killed Trayvon. It was George Zimmerman. It wasn't because Trayvon had some Skittles on his person. Young Trayvon was followed and murdered because George wanted to follow and murder Trayvon. Plain and simple! Trayvon was murdered by a "Wanna Be" because he 'Couldn't Be,' and now he's 'Totally Free' to repeat the same with a gun that hasn't been taken away him! What's up with that?
Young Mr. Martin was tested for drug use, but not George Zimmerman. Young Trayvon did not have a gun, yet George is somewhere in the world with a gun by his side. I say to everyone "Stand Your Ground" and hunt to find George Zimmerman, and bring him back to the public forefront, so that he can get locked-up to face murder charges against young Trayvon Martin.
And for the record, there are many more instances such as this tragic event that happens daily. To date, there is still no justice for a man who was 'murdered' in the town of Eutawville, S.C. last year by an local police officer, whose whereabouts is also questioned.
Every day there are injustices being made based on, and against, the hue of a person's skin, their religious affiliation, age, gender, life style, education, class, and/or origin of birth.
“When you see a Black or Latino, particularly on the street, you walk to the other side of the street to avoid that confrontation. Trayvon Martin, God bless him, an innocent kid, a wonderful kid, a box of Skittles in his hand, he didn’t deserve to die, but I’ll bet you money that if he didn’t have that hoodie on that nutty neighborhood watch guy wouldn’t have responded in that violent and aggressive way.”
If you brushed your teeth this morning or flushed the toilet or had a cup of coffee, consider yourself lucky. Actually, if you turned on your tap and potable water freely came out, consider yourself truly blessed.
Because so many of us in the United States are in this situation it can be easy to forget that nearly 900 million other people aren't so lucky. It can be easy to forget that globally we face a frightening water crisis. And it can be hard to notice that even here in the US there are dire threats to our water supply right now.
The people hardest hit by the water crisis are in developing countries -- places it is easy for many world leaders (and the rest of us) to overlook. And even the number of those without clean water -- last tallied at 884 million -- can be hard to grasp. Here's another way of looking at it: if you take that number and translate it into the population of developed countries, the people living in the world today without access to clean drinking water would equal all the people living in the US, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, England, Italy, Spain, Japan, Australia and Norway.
Like our economic, food, health and climate crises, if you're a person of color and/or poor, you'll be hardest hit. According to the United Nations, if you are a poor person living in a slum you're likely to pay five to 10 times more for water than wealthy people living in the same city. And so too, are women disproportionately affected because they are the ones responsible for getting water each day in most developing countries -- work that often means hours of difficult labor under dangerous conditions.
Activists held an alternative to the corporate World Water Forum in France.
While boasting several UN agencies as partners, the World Water Forum is criticized for posing as a multi-stakeholder body. The overarching message of activists protesting the World Water Forum is that there is a need for international policy and multilateral cooperation when it comes to water resources, but a trade show run by water multinationals cannot be the space for these discussions.
You don't have to know anything about the World Water Forum to know something is wonky when a forum that claims to provide solutions for the world's water crisis shuts out vast segments of the public. With a heavy police presence surrounding the Forum, activists attempting to register on the first day were detained before even entering the Forum. There was no apparent reason other than the fact that many were young and not garbed in business attire. Some had slogans like "water is a human right" on their clothes.
Across America many cities and police forces are eyeing new ways to crack down on protesters.
The First Amendment right to assemble and protest is going to get a black eye in 2012—as it has every time there has been an upsurge in America’s social justice movements.
Already in city after city, protesters and civil rights lawyers are troubled by proposed and newly enacted anti-protest rules, many of which are likely to be found unconstitutional if they have their day in court. In the meantime mayors, police and in some cases federal agencies are making detailed plans to thwart protests at local and national events.
Thousands rally for US teen Trayvon Martin
Activists are calling for justice in the 17-year-old’s death.
Thousands participated in the "Million Hoodie March" in New York for Trayvon Martin, the US teenager whose death sparked a national uproar.
On Feb. 26, Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain who alleges that Martin was acting suspiciously.
Florida police say there’s no evidence that disproves Zimmerman’s self-defense claim. However, the Justice Department has now opened an investigation into the killing.
Martin was unarmed and wearing a hoodie while walking in his father's gated community, where Zimmerman was on duty.
"Stand Your Ground," "Shoot First," "Make My Day" state laws—asserting an expansive right to self-defense—have come into focus after last month's killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
While local prosecutors have not arrested the shooter, George Zimmerman, the case is now being investigated by the Department of Justice and a Florida state attorney. It's not clear whether Florida's self-defense law will be applied in the case. (The police report on the shooting refers to it as an "unnecessary killing to prevent unlawful act.")
Still, in not arresting Zimmerman, local officials have pointed to Florida's wide definition of self-defense. In 2005, Florida became the first state to explicitly expand a person's right to use deadly force for self-defense.
Here's a rundown of the states with laws mirroring the one in Florida, where there's no duty to retreat in public places and where, in most cases, self-defense claims have some degree of immunity in court. (The specifics of what kind of immunity, and when the burden of proof lies on the prosecution, vary from state to state.)
President Obama spoke out for the first time on Friday about the fatal shooting of an unarmed 17-year-old African-American boy in Florida named Trayvon Martin, calling it a "tragedy."
"I can only imagine what these parents are going through," Mr. Obama said from the White House Rose Garden, "and when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids, and I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together, federal, state and local, to figure out how this tragedy happened."
Mr. Obama said he is glad the Justice Department is investigating the shooting and that Florida Gov. Rick Scott formed a task force in response to the incident as well. The president suggested he was sympathetic to suspicion that the shooting may have been racially motivated.
"You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," Mr. Obama said.
"All of us have to do some soul-searching to figure out how does something like this happen," he continued.
"And that means that we examine the laws and the context for what happened as well as the specifics of the incident."
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/21/2705497/south-carolina-house-plan-would.html#storylink=cpy
South Carolina’s poorest residents would pay more in state income taxes while all others would pay less or no more than they do now, according to a Republican tax plan approved by a House panel Tuesday.
Right now, anyone with taxable income of $2,800 or less pays no state income tax. That covers at least 267,000 of the 2.1 million S.C. taxpayers who file state income tax returns, according to the state Board of Economic Advisors.
But a proposal that lawmakers unanimously approved Tuesday calls on those low-income residents to pay 3 percent of their taxable income to the state. That is an increase of up to $84 for those residents, depending on their taxable income.
Meanwhile, South Carolina taxpayers who now pay 4 percent, 5 percent or 6 percent of their taxable incomes would see their taxes cut to 3 percent, a savings of up to $84. That move would affect at least 185,000 people, according to the board.
State Rep. Tommy Stringer, R-Greenville and the principal author of the tax proposal, said a person with taxable income of $2,800 could make as much as $35,000 a year.
The state’s highest-taxed earners – those with taxable incomes of $14,000 or more – would continue to pay 7 percent. (Taxable income is how much money you make in a year, minus all federal and state tax credits and deductions.)
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/21/2705497/south-carolina-house-plan-would.html#storylink=cpy
Gastrointestinal infections are killing more and more people in the United States and have become a particular threat to the elderly, according to new data released last week.
Deaths from the infections more than doubled from 1999 to 2007, to more than 17,000 a year from 7,000 a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Of those who died, 83 percent were over age 65.
Two thirds of the deaths were caused by a bacterium, Clostridium difficile, which people often contract in hospitals and nursing homes, particularly when they have been taking antibiotics. The bacteria have grown increasingly virulent and resistant to treatment in recent years.
Republican presidential candidate and staunch libertarian Ron Paul says he has rejected protection from the Secret Service because he believes charging taxpayers for his personal security is a “form of welfare.”
“You know, you’re having the taxpayers pay to take care of somebody,” Paul told late night talk show host Jay Leno on Tuesday. “And I’m an ordinary citizen and I would think I should pay for my own protection, and it costs, I think, more than $50,000 a day to protect those individuals.”
“It’s a lot of money,” he added.
The twelve-term congressman, who has decided to not seek re-election, did appear to put some thought into what his codename would have been had he accepted federal protection.
“Bulldog,” he told Leno. “I’d go after the Fed, and all that big spending.”
Updated 4:55 a.m. Eastern
(CBS/AP) TOULOUSE, France - French police officers raided a house in the southern city of Toulouse early Wednesday morning, cornering a suspect in the killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three paratroopers in three separate attacks.
Interior Minister Claude Gueant, speaking at the scene, said the suspect was "talking a lot about his involvement in the jihadist cause," claiming to be a member of the al Qaeda terror network who wanted to "avenge Palestinian children" and attack French troops for their actions abroad.
The suspect, named by French police as Mohammed Merah, a French national of Algerian origin, told police he would surrender later on Wednesday afternoon, according to Gueant. The Interior Minister said he was "certain" that Merah was the man responsible for the recent spate of shootings.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/03/20/2200919/sc-ponders-turning-buses-over.html#storylink=cpy
The primary sponsor of a bill that would turn over South Carolina's state-run school bus system to local districts is asking opponents to look over his changes to the proposal that he says alleviates concerns the districts will be left with huge costs.
A House panel listened to two hours of testimony Tuesday before Rep. Jim Merrill asked to delay a vote on his bill, which would allow school districts to either run the buses themselves or turn operation and maintenance over to a private firm.
Representatives of several school districts across the state, both in rural and urban areas, came to the subcommittee meeting to oppose the bill or at least ask for more time to discuss their concerns.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/03/20/2200919/sc-ponders-turning-buses-over.html#storylink=cpy
A girl who overheard part of an incident involving Florida teenager Trayvon Martin can help prove he was killed "in cold blood" by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, an attorney for Martin's family said Tuesday.
The girl, who was dating the 17-year-old, "completely blows Zimmerman's absurd self-defense claim out of the water," lawyer Benjamin Crump told reporters.
The girl -- who he said does not wish to be identified -- "connects the dots" about what happened that day when she lays out what she overheard while on the phone with him, he said.
A powerful earthquake that shook Mexico from its massive capital to its resort-studded southern coast damaged hundreds of homes and sent thousands of panicked people fleeing from swaying office buildings, yet apparently didn't cause a single death.
As of early Wednesday, there were still no reports of deaths from Tuesday's magnitude-7.4 quake centered near the border between the southern states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, even after 10 aftershocks. Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire said Tuesday night that nine people were injured in Oaxaca and two in Mexico City.
"The higher the percentage of cocoa, the higher the flavanol content, the higher the antioxidant content and thus we believe the greater positive health benefit," says Washington, D.C., nutritionist Joy Dubost, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a trade group.
A daily aspirin tablet costing little more than a penny could prove to be a potent treatment for cancer.
Research has shown for the first time that the drug cuts the risk of cancer spreading around the body by 36%. And deaths due to cancer were reduced by around a half.
Professor Peter Rothwell, of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, said the new finding is highly significant.
He told Sky News: "If you have cancer, your main risk of dying is from that spread rather than from the growth of the cancer itself.
"So if you find a treatment that reduces the spread it has a real potential as an additional treatment for people with cancer."
New cancer drugs typically cost several thousand pounds a month. But a bottle of 100 75mg aspirin tablets can be bought for as little as £1.35.
Professor Rothwell said further trials of aspirin as a treatment for cancer are urgently needed.
A large difference between the blood pressure in each arm suggests a bigger risk of dying early, researchers claim.
A study of 230 high blood pressure patients found those with big differences in systolic pressure were more likely to die from heart attack, stroke or other causes.
More heart health checks may be needed in those with different readings, says the British Heart Foundation.
Not all medics follow national guidance to measure blood pressure in both arms.
SPEAKING two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.
Tuberculosis is often seen in the wealthy West as a disease of bygone eras - evoking impoverished 18th or 19th century women and children dying slowly of a disease then commonly known as "consumption" or the "white plague".
But rapidly rising rates of drug-resistant TB in some of the wealthiest cities in the world, as well as across Africa and Asia, are again making history.
London has been dubbed the "tuberculosis capital of Europe", and a startling recent study documenting new cases of so-called "totally drug resistant" TB in India suggests the modern-day tale of this disease could get a lot worse.
"We can't afford this genie to get out of the bag. Because once it has, I don't know how we'll control TB," said Ruth McNerney, an expert on tuberculosis at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - Despite a well-deserved
reputation for scandals, New Jersey is a mong the state leaders
in the fight ag ainst official corruption, with most states doing
a poor job, according to a wide-ranging study released on
Monday.
Five states received a "B" grade for accountability and
transparency and eight got an "F" in the investigation by the
nonprofit groups Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity
and Public Radio International. No state got an "A."
The 18-month project is the most comprehensive study of
state laws and practices that bolster openness and deter
corruption, the investigators said.
The five states receiving "B" grades were New Jersey,
Connecticut, Washington, California and Nebraska. The eight
failing states were North Dakota, Michigan, South Carolina,
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/19/3500190/report-south-carolina-government.html#storylink=cpy
WASHINGTON — Government is ripe for corruption, according to 50-state assessment.
South Carolina is among the states most ripe for corruption because of government secrecy, weak ethics enforcement, little disclosure of legislators' finances and low accountability for legislative and executive branch members, according to a nationwide analysis to be released today.
The report gives South Carolina failing grades in nine of 14 key categories, with the state faring especially poorly in public access to information and executive accountability.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/19/3500190/report-south-carolina-government.html#storylink=cpy
Some of the biggest names on Wall Street are lining up to become landlords to cash-strapped Americans by bidding on pools of foreclosed properties being sold by Fannie Mae.
The idea is that the new owners would rent out the homes at first rather than reselling—potentially aiding a housing-market recovery by reducing the number of properties clogging the market. The fact that big-name investors are interested also suggests they anticipate sizable future profits in housing.
Three children among four people shot dead in Toulouse attack described by Nicolas Sarkozy as "national tragedy".
At least four people, including three children, have been killed in a shooting outside a Jewish school in the southwestern French city of Toulouse, officials say.
Monday's incident occurred as children and their parents were arriving at the Ozar Hatorah school, in the northeast of the city, for the start of the school day.
The gunman drove away on a scooter, a national police officer said.
In today’s news about more men who want to control women’s bodies, Georgia’s state representative, Terry England, wants to force us to carry stillborn fetuses to term–just like cows and pigs do, he says. Because, you know, women are just like barnyard animals.
Tragically, a black male teenager killed by a gunshot is hardly news in America.
So, it was perhaps no surprise that the killing of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old, shot at a close-range by George Zimmerman, a crime-watch volunteer in a gated community in north Orlando, attracted little initial attention.
United Online Inc. announced Monday that it will offer free wireless Internet service under its NetZero brand, the one that started the free dial-up phenomenon in 1998. The company is backing up the plan with TV, print and online advertisements.
NEW YORK -- The stern warning issued from the pulpit was directed at the tourists – most of whom had arrived late – a sea of white faces with guidebooks in hand. They outnumbered the congregation itself: a handful of elderly black men and women wearing suits and dresses and old-fashioned pillbox hats.
"We're hoping that you will remain in place during the preaching of the Gospel," a church member said over the microphone at this Harlem church on a recent Sunday morning. "But if you have to go, go now. Go before the preacher stands to preach."
No one left then. But halfway through the sermon, a group of French girls made their way toward the velvet ropes that blocked the exit. An usher shook his head firmly, but they ignored him and walked out.
The clash between tourists and congregants plays out every Sunday at Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the oldest black church in New York state. It's one of many Harlem churches that have become tourist attractions for visitors from all over the world who want to listen to soulful gospel music at a black church service. With a record number of tourists descending upon New York City last year, the crowds of foreigners are becoming a source of irritation among faithful churchgoers.
Christians do not have a right to wear a cross or crucifix openly at work, the Government is to argue in a landmark court case.
In a highly significant move, ministers will fight a case at the European Court of Human Rights in which two British women will seek to establish their right to display the cross.
It is the first time that the Government has been forced to state whether it backs the right of Christians to wear the symbol at work.
Campaigning on this island U.S. territory Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum spoke out in favor of statehood for Puerto Rico but said he also favored requiring it to adopt English as its official language. Puerto Ricans generally speak both Spanish and English.
Throughout the day, the former Pennsylvania senator was asked repeatedly about his position on the territory becoming the 51st state.
"I would support the people of Puerto Rico if they make the decisive decision to move forward with that, I would support it," he told a group of about 50 people at a town hall meeting. "But that's a decision the people of Puerto Rico have to make and so far they've chosen not to make it. And so talk to your friends, and see if you can work that out."
Stronger hurricanes have been given a statistical nudge starting this year. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, the Category 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 designation of the tropical cyclones, has been adjusted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Category 3 hurricanes (formerly 111 mph to 130 mph) 111 mph to 129 mph.
Category 4 (131-155 mph) 130 mph to 156 mph.
If you use LinkedIn, you've probably told the site where you work, what you do and who you work with. That's a gold mine for hackers, who are increasingly savvy in using that kind of public -- but personal -- information for pinpoint attacks.
It's called "spear phishing," and it paid off last year in two especially high-profile security breaches: a Gmail attack that ensnared several top U.S. government officials and a separate attack on RSA, whose SecurID authentication tokens are used by millions.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/03/14/2192360/noaa-changes-hurricane-categories.html#storylink=cpy
There are natural ways to unclog your arteries to prevent a heart attack or stroke...
Your arteries are the rivers within your body that continually transport essential nutrients and oxygen from your heart to the rest of your body.
A big part of staying healthy and also keeping your arteries clean and clear is related to your diet and what you eat. There’s no joke in the popular saying that says: “You are what you eat.” It just makes good sense that what you put in your body is what will reflect out in all aspects of your health.
