Different Day, Same Shit.

Our country's national crime is lynching. It is not the creature of an hour, the sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury, or the unspeakable brutality of an insane mob.

- Ida. B Wells

Throughout our nation's history, bigotry against black Americans, the dreaded Other, has always been enforced through a number of means. Whenever institutional, state-sanctioned methods of bigotry and discrimination failed to achieve the desired results, it was left to the white mobs to enforce bigotry through violence. Time and time again, seemingly decent, God-fearing American men and women would transform themselves into a hateful, virulent force bent on protecting the ideals of white supremacy by violently and publicly destroying a few black bodies, regardless of innocence or guilt and with the quiet sanction of law enforcement seemingly rendered impotent in the face of a spontaneous and unruly force.

Mob-led lynchings were the preferred means of educating the black populace on where they lay on the societal totem pole through terror and violence. After all, there's nothing scarier than seeing dozens of angry white faces drag off a single black soul in the middle of the night in preparation for a public, hands-on exhibit on the dangers of being an affront to whitekind, for whatever reason.

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These days, the hands-on lynching of old has fallen along the wayside in favor of more high-tech means. Nevertheless, there are those out there who still believe that the old ways are still best.



Nathan Ener's rant against the New Black Panther Party, the Black Lives Matter movement and those he sees as "black thugs" comes in the aftermath of the unfortunate death of Texas sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth and his killer, Shannon Miles, being found incompetent to stand trial for his murder. At this point, a white mob would have gladly stepped in to deliver the sort of "justice" they thought was denied to them and the rest of whitekind, but you'd have to get them fired up about it first. And that's where the above rant comes into play.

Stirring up deep-set indignation and fear over the dreaded Other running roughshod over God-fearing white men, women and children has always been part of the recipe for inciting white mob violence. The death of a white person (or at least rumors of white deaths) serves as its explosive catalyst. Had this event happened in 1915 instead of 2015, it's very likely that Shannon Miles' corpse, shredded from head-to-toe, would be hanging from some forlorn oak somewhere as a shining symbol of mob-delivered justice - and as a warning to any black American who'd even harbor thoughts about harming the hair on a white person's head.

It's not beyond the pale to wonder if, given the right circumstances, someone like Nathan Ener would gladly lead the way.

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Yours truly would have written off Ener as your typical bigot, something of which East Texas has in spades, if it weren't for a rather disturbing link to another case where a young black man by the name of Alfred Wright was found murdered. According to authorities, Wright died of a drug overdose shortly after a deal involving 28-year-old Shane Hadnot. But it was the manner in which he was found dead that brought a great deal of suspicion:

Wright's body was disfigured when he was found Nov. 25, 2013, which led his family to suspect foul play.

His sister Annilia Wright-Mosley said her brother's tongue was cut out, eyes gouged out, throat slit and ear cut off. He was also missing teeth and fingernails, which are signs of violence and torture, she said.

Wright's family believes Alfred was tortured and brutally murdered and has called Hadnot a "scapegoat" in the case.

The authorities wrote off those allegations by citing how the damages were likely caused by scavenging animals.

So what's Nathan Ener's link to all of this? Here's Ener squaring off with black rights activist and New Black Panther Party leader Quanell X.

“I know why you’re upset. You’re upset because of Ashley,” Quanell X taunted Ener as they met in the street. “’Cause your daughter likes black coffee, no sugar no cream. That’s why you’re upset. It’s eating you up, ain’t it? That she likes a black man?”

Ener called to a white man on the sidewalk.
“Ben, does any of my people—any of my family like black folks?”

“Not that I know of.”

Quanell X goaded Ener: “Ashley does! Ashley does! Now let me tell you something, peckerwood. I will whup your ass. I’m that one.” He peeled off his suit jacket, stepped up inches from Ener’s face, and the two jawed to the crowd’s amusement. A line of uniformed troopers filed out of the county building and led Ener away.

It's likely that not only was Nathan Ener's own daughter might have been romantically involved with Wright, but also that her father told her he knew what really happened to him:




The plot thickens.

Wright may have also been romantically involved with Cindy Maddox, daughter of Sheriff Tom Maddox. The same guy who complained bitterly that he was missing out on a good day's hunt by searching for Wright.

Now you'd have to wonder if this was what Alfred Wright was really murdered for. In many unspoken parts of the nation, consorting with white women is the highest unspeakable offense for a black man to commit. In some cases, it could lead directly to his death.

You also have to wonder if Nathan Ener had anything to do with Wright's death. Town gossip being what it is, it's likely that some tightly-held secrets are bound to come spilling out at some point.

A mob is a great way for an evil to be committed without any of that pesky responsibility or guilt assigned to you. But it doesn't take a mob to commit evil. Sometimes, it only takes one or two individuals to get the job done.

Another day, another dead black American, another outrage.

These days, black Americans are being murdered like clockwork by men and women charged with protecting the public. Except protecting and serving the public takes a back seat to a whole host of corrupt behaviors, none least the brutalization and wanton murder of black individuals.

Judging by history, these things are to be expected. Bigotry against the dreaded Other has always been iron-clad policy, even in today's so-called "post-racial" environment. Institutional enforcement of said bigotry has also been de rigueur, especially when fears of being overrun by said Other has always lurked in the back of mainstream America's collective mind since colonial times.

So Freddie Gray's death at the hands of the Baltimore Police Department is, in history's grand scope, nothing out of the ordinary. The only remarkable thing about it is the reaction it elicited from the city's black residents.

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And even that response doesn't seem out of the ordinary. Protests and demonstrations have been the default method of expressing outrage by a people who feel otherwise powerless to prevent these atrocities from happening, The attendant rioting and looting is another side of that response, mostly done by those whose sheer anger and fury explode into a whirlwind of fire and shattered glass, interspersed with opportunists in search of a quick profit from chaos.

Mainstream America has always looked at these displays with a bit of bemusement, especially when burned-out businesses and overturned cars come into focus. If anything, these displays are treated as proof positive of law enforcement's raison d'etre - to prevent so-called lawless elements from initiating these displays in the first place.

So it's not out of the ordinary for a white American to see a phalanx of police officers in full riot gear facing down a lone demonstrator and dismissing the entire thing as the taxpaying public getting it's money's worth. In a way, they would be absolutely correct.

It's also not out of the ordinary for the mainstream American media to write off the entire exercise as just another mass exhibition of black America's latent criminality. Acknowledging the unreconstructed public's confirmation bias happens to be a great way of raising viewership, even if it's at the expense of a people who suffer day in and day out.

It's no wonder that mainstream American media outlets are more interested in slow-panning property damage and opportunists with stolen goods in hand. It's those sort of things that make for good ratings and even better outrage porn among unreconstructed minds.

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There's no arguing that Freddie Gray in no way deserved what happened to him. No human being deserves to be brutalized to the point of paralysis, coma and eventual death. There's never an excuse for it and there never will be.

Regardless, what happened to Freddie Gray is just one of a long, depressing and seemingly unending line of atrocities committed mainly by law enforcement officials throughout the U.S., with the occasional "concerned citizen" or vigilante delivering a helping hand*. The slave patrols, "heroic" klansmen and angry mobs of "respectable Christian" whites might not be taking part in these modern-day tragedies, but their spirit remains in full effect.

* As seen in the murder of Trayvon Martin

It's been a while since yours truly mentioned the case of Jordan Davis on DDSS. After reading Tom Degan's thoughts on Davis and his killer, Michael Dunn, I figured it was time to share my own thoughts on the case.

1) People say Michael Dunn was "threatened" by Davis and his friends and "feared for his life." I find it hard for any adult to be threatened by the empty bluster of teens being told to turn down that "rap crap" by some white guy. The excuse of him thinking there was a weapon in the car was just that - an excuse.

2) Had Jordan Davis and his companions been the stereotypical gangbangers that most God-fearing Americans quake in fear of, chances are Dunn would had kept walking and minded his own business. Even the most rabid bigots know that approaching people who can do genuine harm to you and yours is an unnecessary risk. In comparison, approaching a bunch of teenagers minding their own business is nowhere near as risky, in most cases.

3) Had Jordan Davis and his companions been ordinary white suburban kids playing Slayer at max volume, chances are Dunn wouldn't had been inclined to be "threatened" by them or shoot them "in fear of his life." He'd probably yell at them to turn their crap down, shook his head in anguish and went about his way.

4) The lack of a murder conviction was a tragedy in its own right. If anything, it sent yet another clear message to the black community when it comes to themselves and their young: "it's open season."

5) The common denominator between this and other similar cases throughout the U.S. and throughout history? An entitled white American male felt it was well within his right to exercise his personal authority over a person of color, usually one younger, weaker and/or less-advantaged than himself. Upon not receiving the immediate, proper deference as felt deserved of his kind, said white American male then felt entitled to reaffirm said person of color's proper place at the feet of white American mankind - even if that meant putting that person of color several feet in the ground.

In that regard, Jordan Davis lucked out in being cut down with bullets. Decades ago, he and his friends would have been forcibly transformed into "strange fruit."

6) I have no faith in Angela Corey's abilities to bring a first-degree murder retrial to fruition, let alone one that results in a conviction against Dunn. The only comfort is the possibility of Dunn serving all three attempted second-degree murder sentences (20 years minimum) consecutively, resulting in a total 60 years to serve. If anything, I expect all three sentences to be issued concurrently, putting Dunn in his late sixties when he's eventually released, provided time isn't shaved off his sentence for "good behavior."

7) Admittedly, I've only heard bits and pieces of the interview of Dunn's neighbor. What little I've heard has been enlightening as far as Dunn's personal character is concerned. If you didn't think much of Dunn as a human being, this interview practically confirms it.

8) What happens to Michael Dunn is no longer important to me. I'm more concerned about the environment that allows the likes of Dunn to, for all intents and purposes, to get away with murdering young, nonthreatening black boys and men. If the environment does not change or if black Americans don't make greater strides to protect their young from this historical type of predation, more cases like these will happen.

9) Many people blame "black criminality" while wielding the latest FBI crime statistics like a medieval mace. Not only are said stats often interpreted to highlight crime among black Americans as some sort of devastating epidemic that warrants the black community's undivided attention, they're also trotted out to distract from the historic problem of disaffected whites exercising their rights to upbraid and put blacks back in line as they see fit. Predictably, someone somewhere will see all of this and think yours truly is "excusing the black crime epidemic" or "making excuses for blacks."

Yours truly wishes he had the time and funding to construct a massive third digit upon which these folks could collectively mount themselves on and rotate, preferably at as high a speed as possible.

10) Creshuna Miles is wrong. She apparently fell for the "justice" bit hook, line and sinker, allowing another injustice to take place.

Last time on DDSS, yours truly brought to you a comparison between the criminal trial of Amanda Knox and that of Richard Hinds and James Blackston. Since then, there have been a few developments.

Predictably, Hinds and Blackston were convicted and sentenced to 5 to 10 years and 3 years, respectively. However, Hinds testified that Japanese police officials altered his statement to secure a more ironclad case:

At the Tokyo District Court, Hinds stated that Furlong had repeatedly asked him to put his hand on her neck. He says that he did so, but only used light pressure for periods of 30 seconds, and that’s what he told the Japanese police. Hinds’ lawyer is arguing that his statement was changed, and police wrote that he used pressure for periods of “two or three minutes.”

Do take care to flag and report the unsavory comments left by individuals who are absolutely tumescent over the prospect of a black male being treated at the hands of the Japanese prison system. Right about now, someone somewhere is looking up the katakana for "prison bitch."

Meanwhile, you'd think that Amanda Knox would be somewhere working out a book deal on her harrowing ordeal at the hands of Italian law enforcement while savoring her new-found freedom.

Turns out that freedom might be fleeting, after all:

Amanda Knox said in an emotional interview on Friday that news of the Italian court reinstating her murder conviction in the 2007 killing of her British roommate Meredith Kercher hit her "like a train."

"I did not expect this to happen," Knox told Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America. "I really expected so much better from the Italian justice system. They found me innocent before."

The 26-year-old shared a house in the Italian town of Perugia with Kercher, then 21, who was found partially naked in a pool of blood, her throat slashed.

Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 29, were convicted of the crime in 2009 and had spent four years in prison before their acquittal in 2011.

However, Italy’s highest court overturned the acquittal and ordered a new appeal, saying the first was riddled with “shortcomings, contradictions and inconsistencies.”

Though she was not in the Florence courtroom Thursday when Judge Alessandro Nencini sentenced her to 28 years and six months in prison, more than the 26 years she received at her first trial in 2011, she told Roberts she watched an Italian television station online to hear the verdict.

"I needed to hear it for myself," she said. "My whole family was there and I was listening and I'm the only one who knows Italian and I'm trying to listen and then tell them."

If the conviction's upheld, Knox will likely find herself on a one-way flight back to Italy:

"I will never go willingly back to the place where I ...," she said, pausing. "I'm going to fight this to the very end. It's not right and it's not fair. ... I'm going to do everything I can."

Apparently, Knox's (ex) boyfriend and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito knew what was up and attempted to book it out of Italy, but wound up being stopped short of the Slovenian and Austrian borders.

It's amazing how circumstances can change in a short amount of time.

If Ethan Couch had been anything other than a clean-cut American teen of affluent upbringing, he would have spent his New Year's behind prison walls, contemplating the 20-year sentence he received for killing four people while driving while intoxicated. That is, if he wasn't subdued to the point of death or gunned down for being belligerent towards law enforcement.

Instead, Ethan Couch walked, citing his privileged, affluent upbringing as a fatal flaw that prevented him from seeing wrong from right. It would have been an amazing thing to see a judge buy a Chewbacca defense like Couch's "affluenza" claim, except that seeing justice make a mockery of itself over and over again tends to kill the novelty of it all.

Lady Justice is blind, but seeing her sword fall a certain way for some and not at all for others makes you wonder.

In the end, it's Ethan Couch who'll suffer dearly. The message he's gotten out of this is typical for any affluent teen who squeaks their way out of trouble: as long as you have money (or mommy and daddy's, in most cases), you can get out of any jam*. And he'll keep abusing that "Get Out of Jail Free" card again and again until his luck runs out. An overdose on alcohol in a frat house bathroom after one too many shooters. A head-on collision with a sturdy oak after a stint behind the wheel on a bender. A live co-ed with an accusation or three (or a dead co-ed and a piss-poor attempt at evidence removal). It's only a matter of time before his "affluenza" suddenly bolts out of remission with a vengeance. And the prognosis for that is all-too-grim.

In the meantime, the families of the four victims are doing the only thing that seems to resonate with affluent individuals. The District Attorney for Tarrant County, Texas is also looking into a definite cure for Couch's "affluenza."

* It also helps if you're also a clean-cut white kid. A wealthy Trayvon Martin would likely still be a dead Trayvon Martin.

- Ariel Castro might not think of himself as a monster, but he is, at least as far as the law and the rest of America's concerned. He was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 1,000 years:

Castro pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping, in connection with the kidnapping and abuse of Michelle Knight, Georgina DeJesus and Amanda Berry, whom he held captive for a decade in his Cleveland home. As part of the plea deal, the death penalty was taken off the table.

- Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private who passed over 700,000 documents to Julian Assange's WikiLeaks Foundation, was found not guilty of "aiding the enemy," a charge that could have earned him the death penalty had prosecutors not chosen to seek a life sentence instead. However, he was found guilty on 19 of the 22 charges laid against him, charges that would likely keep Manning behind bars for the rest of his life.

- The Russian government just gave Edward Snowden asylum:

On Thursday, Snowden was granted temporary asylum in Russia and was allowed to enter the country’s territory.

According to the issued documents, the former CIA employee who broke PRISM spying scandal to the world is free to stay in Russia until at least July 31, 2014. Then the asylum status may be extended.

With that in hand, Snowden cannot be handed over to the US authorities, even if Washington files an official request. He can now be transported to the United States only if he agrees to go voluntarily.

- I bet NYPD Community Affairs Bureau chief Douglas Zeigler didn't think he would be a target for "driving occupying a vehicle merely existing while black":

Chief Douglas Zeigler, 60, head of the Community Affairs Bureau, was in his NYPD-issued vehicle near a fire hydrant when two plainclothes cops approached on May 2, sources said.

One officer walked up on each side of the SUV at 57th Ave. and Xenia St. in Corona about 7 p.m. and told the driver to roll down the heavily tinted windows, sources said. What happened next is in dispute.

In his briefing to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Zeigler said the two cops, who are white, had no legitimate reason to approach his SUV, ranking sources said. After they ordered him to get out, one officer did not believe the NYPD identification Zeigler gave him.

The cops gave a different account:

When one officer spotted Zeigler's service weapon through the rolled-down window, he yelled "Gun!" according to sources who have spoken with the officers. Both cops raised their weapons and ordered the driver out of the car, sources said. Instead of saying he was an armed member of the NYPD, Zeigler shouted, "Don't you know who I am?" the sources said.

When one cop reached over to check the identification badge around Zeigler's neck, the chief pushed him away, sources said. Only then did Zeigler tell the two officers his name and rank, those sources said.

Zeigler, in his discussions with Kelly, said the officers never yelled "Gun!" sources said. One cop got into a heated argument with the chief even after seeing the ID, sources said.

Even being a part of the thin blue line doesn't make you immune to the Stop and Frisk phenomenon if you happen to be the wrong skin color. In fact, your mayor might think he's being a bit too soft on you and your kind.

- Gilberton Police Chief Mark Kessler has the next 30 days off to buff up his Second Amendment bonafides:

In a closed meeting, the council voted 5-1 to suspended Kessler for 30 days, “for use of borough property for non-borough purposes without prior borough permission.” In one of the videos, the tiny town’s sole police officer used automatic weapons, which he was only legally authorized to do in his official capacity.

He's already being hailed as a "Second Amendment leader" by numerous gun rights advocates. But seriously, can the town of Gilberton afford to have an individual this mentally unstable in charge of its police department?


As a law-abiding citizen and a supporter of the Second Amendment, I wouldn't want someone like this pulling me over.

The Huffington Post recently reposted a compare-and-contrast piece between the above youngsters. Both committed the same acts, but the way in which both were reported and the responses people had (and likely still have) to both are remarkably different. One is treated as "adorably naughty," the other as a sure-fire sign of budding criminality.

It's all about perception - how you see people and what you believe people to be like.

The woman pictured at the left is 38-year-old Angela Deskins, missing since this June. Her body was found behind an abandoned house in an East Cleveland neighborhood, wrapped in plastic garbage bags. To the right is 28-year-old Shetisha Sheeley. Her body was found in a nearby field, also wrapped in plastic garbage bags. These two are joined by a third victim who has yet to be identified, also found in the same way.

The alleged suspect in this triple homicide is Michael Madison, a 35-year-old registered sex offender who's done a four-year stint in 2002 for attempted rape and attempted possession of drugs.

First Anthony Sowell, then Ariel Castro and now Michael Madison. The above title isn't meant to be an indictment on East Cleveland, its law enforcement or its residents. It was just the first thing that came to mind after seeing a tragedy like this unfold yet again. It's a sort of damn-near-helpless sense of shock and disbelief.

The neighborhood all three were found in shares a common denominator with Ariel Castro's house of horrors and Anthony Sowell's hunting grounds - all are dilapidated, neglected and relatively impoverished areas where it's easy for a poor or working-class woman of color to go missing and stay that way, sometimes for years at a time. It's a place where a sexual predator won't have any problems maintaining his predation just as long as he doesn't make waves or pick the wrong targets.

Two of the three victims have been revealed to have their run-ins with violence and the law, but that doesn't matter now. What matters is making sure that there aren't any more additional victims. If there are, making sure they're found should be the priority. Next priority is making sure the likes of Michael Madison never sees the outside of a prison cell.

Last time on DDSS, yours truly brought you the case of 13-year-old Darius Simmons and his death at the hands of a certain John Henry Spooner. In a remarkable contrast to the Zimmerman trial, Spooner was actually found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, and it only took the jury two hours to decide.

Luckily for Simmons, his death at the hands of Spooner was recorded on surveillance video. It also helped that Spooner immediately owned up to shooting Simmons - "Yeah, I shot him." These and other elements made the case more clear-cut than the Zimmerman trial.

Also, it helps that this didn't happen in Florida. I have a feeling that Wisconsin isn't exactly as amenable to the attitudes and beliefs that made the Zimmerman verdict possible. Of course, someone's bound to interject that the Zimmerman trial possibly influenced this one.

This is what we've wanted. For people like Spooner to be called to account and face legal and civil consequences for their actions. The fact that people were shocked and surprised about the verdict says volumes.

If you haven't already figured it out, the fine chap in the above picture is Walton Henry Butler of Port St. Joe, Florida. He didn't do much, just shot himself a nigger, is all:

"The below signed affiant states that through his investigation and interview with the suspect, Walton Henry Butler, Butler did admit shooting Everett Gant in the head with a .22 cal. Rifle which caused series [sic] bodily injury. During an interview with Walter Butler he said he shot a “nigger.”

"There had been an incident earlier in the day when Pamela Rogers came to Butler’s apartment with a child and the defendant called the child a nigger and Ms. Rogers became upset and left the residence. Through the investigation it was learned that the defendant had made several racial remarks to the black children in the apartment complex. The victim Everett Gant went to the defendant’s residence to talk with him about the comments when he was shot. The victim Everett Gant was shot in the face causing great bodily harm he was transported to Bay Medical Center where he was listed in stable condition.

"After Walt Butler shot Everett Gant he stated he shut the sliding glass door with Everett Gant lying outside the door, called 911 then finished cooking supper, sat at the kitchen table and began eating.

"When Sheriff Nugent arrived on scene he made contact with Butler by phone, Butler told him to come in he was eating dinner and had put up the gun. Butler was sitting at the table and acted as if it was an inconvenience when he was asked to stand up and handcuffs were put on. He said he did not understand the problem. He had only shot a nigger.

"On September 17, 2012 the victim Everett Gant died from complication from injuries obtained in the above incident."

Guys like Butler don't really need Stand Your Ground laws to feel privileged enough to shoot some pesky people of color. SYG just makes it easier for these guys to justify what they've done and escape justice later on. At least Butler was immediately charged, but I bet he's wishing he could get Zimmerman's jury right about now.

The above is what happens when you dedicate a song to Trayvon Martin and someone who doesn't like it decides to do something about it. Given his age and place of birth, I'm sure Lester Chambers has seen his fair share of stupidity in his life. I wonder if he ever suspected it would meet up with him up close and personal on this day:

Chambers, 73, was performing at the Hayward Russell City Blues Festival in Hayward, California, when a 43-year-old woman, identified by police as Dinalynn Andrews Potter, jumped onstage and knocked Chambers down. Chambers' wife, Lola, told the Mercury News that the singer had just dedicated Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions' "People Get Ready" to Martin, saying that if Mayfield were alive today, he'd change the lyrics from "there's a train a comin'" to "there's a change a comin'."

Andrews Potter was wrestled to the ground and subdued by stage hands, and Chambers was wheeled away to an ambulance. As the video shows, he was still in good spirits, even flashing a peace sign. Chambers was treated at the hospital and released. A photo posted to Facebook by his son, Dylan, shows Chambers' injuries: a "bruised rib muscle and nerve damage and he is sore all over," wrote Dylan.

Andrews Potter, meanwhile, was arrested on suspicion of battery, cited and released. According to Billboard, Chambers' family is pushing authorities to file hate crime charges.

Fuse spoke with Chambers following the incident. "I was asking for peace," he explains. "She got in my face and called me all kinds of MFs, saying that I started all this."

After the attack Chambers was "totally out of it," he says. "I've never been so shocked and traumatized."

Dinalynn Andrews Potter had absolutely no right to assault Mr. Chambers, but nevertheless felt it was within her privilege to. Of course, if Mr. Chambers had been 40 years younger and built like a stack of bricks, she would have been too cowed to even contemplate an attack. If she had a husband or boyfriend with her, she would have sent him up there in her stead. If Mr. Chambers was white just like herself, would she had bothered to approach the stage at all?

When people claim that there was no racial component worth mentioning in the George Zimmerman case, when people want to pretend to be colorblind and skip over the racially-motivated rationale that caused Zimmerman to exit his vehicle and roust a young man minding his own business, when those same people claim that Trayvon was responsible for his own death, give Zimmerman a pass and plenty of sympathy for killing somone and then become furious when you call them out on their pretend colorblindness, tone-deafness and self-serving attitudes...I point to the above video and other incidents like it.

When people are scared shitless over the black community "starting a riot" over the injustice that unfolded in that Sanford, Florida courtroom, yet happily gloss over and dismiss racially-motivated actions like the above, it reveals the staggering amount of hypocrisy involved. Of course, when the black community is rightfully outraged, mainstream America responds with cries over "black on black" crime and how the community can't seem to get a handle on it, as though it is supposed to make the community fall silent and contemplate its own so-called hypocrisy.

This is why we're pissed. This is why we get upset whenever there are attempts to have our voices silenced.

There are calls to see Potter charged with a hate crime. I hope the authorities do just that. These things simply cannot stand without some serious repercussions being formed in response.

Again, this woman felt it was within her privilege to clamber on stage and assault a 73-year-old man because he, in her own words, "started this." She saw someone who she figured couldn't fight back. Oddly enough, George Zimmerman saw the same in Trayvon Martin.

Courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel

Right about now, George is probably hoping that out of those 40 potential jurors, his defense team can narrow those down to 12 fine folks who'll follow in the grand tradition of the all-white jury.

Last time on DDSS, yours truly left you with the image of George Zimmerman sweating bullets over jury selection, hoping he wouldn't end up with, ahem, a jury of Trayvon Martin's peers, so to speak. With the selection of six women, five of whom are white and one who's Hispanic, George can rest a little easier. Looks like what I said about the grand tradition of the all-white jury is slowly coming into fruition.

To my understanding, Florida courts only require a jury of 12 in capital cases where the death penalty is on the table. That leaves the fate of Zimmerman and the opportunity for justice to be truly served hinged on the decision-making processes of six female jurors and if needed, one or more of their four alternates (consisting of two men and two women).

I don't like where this is going. Not one bit.

Let's take a look at the jury, courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel. Parts that stand out to me are highlighted as follows:

B-29: A nurse on an Alzheimer's ward who is black or Hispanic, has several children, is married and lived in Chicago at the time of shooting. She said she doesn't watch the news, preferring reality television: "Right when we got here, I got cable... I love my reality shows." During jury selection, she said she was arrested once in Chicago.

B-76: A white, middle-aged woman who said Zimmerman had an "altercation with the young man. There was a struggle and the gun went off." Has been married 30 years, and is unemployed. She formerly worked with her husband in his construction company. Her 28-year-old son is an attorney in Seminole County. She also has a daughter, 26, has been a victim of non-violent crime and rescues "a lot of pets."

B-37: A middle-aged white woman who has worked for a chiropractor for 16 years and has many pets. She described protests in Sanford as "rioting." Her husband is an attorney. She has two daughters: A 24-year-old dog groomer and a 27-year-old who attends the University of Central Florida. She used to have concealed weapons permit, but let it lapse. Her husband also has one.

B-51: A retired white woman from Oviedo who has a dog and 20-year-old cat. She knew a good deal about the case, but said "I'm not rigid in my thinking." She has been in Seminole County for nine years, is unmarried and has no kids. She previously lived in Atlanta, and used to work in real estate. She also ran a call center in Brevard County which she said had 1,200 employees.

E-6: A young white woman and mother who used to work in financial services. She used this case as an example to her two adolescent children, warning them to not go out at night. She has lived in Seminole County for eight years, and is married to an engineer. She was arrested in Brevard County, but said she "was treated completely fairly." Her husband has guns.

E-40: A white woman in her 60s who lived in Iowa at the time of the shooting. She heard national news reports and recalls the shooting was in a gated community and a teenager was killed. She described herself as safety officer, is married to a chemical engineer and loves football. She has a 28-year-old son who's out of work. She said she's very well versed in cell phone technology, and has been a victim of crime.

And the alternate jurors:

E-54: A middle-aged white man with a teenage stepson who wears hoodies. He recalled seeing photos of Zimmerman's head and face that show injuries. E-54 loves golf and genealogy, and said he's been married for five years to a technical engineer. He grew up in Seminole County and has a teenage stepson.

B-72: A young man who is possibly Hispanic, does maintenance at a school and competes in arm wrestling tournaments. He said he avoids the news because he does not want to be "brainwashed." He grew up in Chicago, is single and an alumni of Phi Beta Kappa. He is very physically active, and was a high school athlete. He said that he doesn't believe you can determine a person's strength based solely on their size or how they look.

E-13: A young white woman who goes to college and works two jobs, one of them as a surgical assistant. She heard the shooting was a "racial thing." She said she could be a fair juror "just because I don't really know that much." She is single, has lived in Seminole County for 17 years and attends church. She also owns and rides horses.

E-28: A middle-aged white woman who has worked as a nurse for 26 years. She knew little about the case and has no opinion about Zimmerman's guilt. She has lived in Seminole County since 1985, and has been married for 28 years. Her husband is a teacher and they have two adult children, 27 and 23 years old.

These are the people tasked with determining whether George Zimmerman will be convicted for the murder of Trayvon Martin or be cleared of his current charges. In addition, the judge in the case, circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson, is disallowing the prosecution from presenting two audio experts who maintain that the source of the screaming heard on 911 tapes was most likely Trayvon Martin.

Little wonder the Martin family had to turn to the power of prayer in hopes of getting something vaguely resembling justice. This trial has all the elements of a monumental clusterfuck, one with deep-setting effects that could last for years, if not decades. Let's pray that it turns out otherwise.

A pickpocket grabs opportunity by the horns and gets gored for his troubles. At least it wasn't all about the shoes:

According to witnesses, an armed man tried to rob a group of customers in line about 5:30 a.m. But one of the customers who was armed with his on own handgun shot and killed the suspect. The suspect ran just a few yards away before he collapsed and died, police said.

Witnesses told Channel 2 Action News the suspect had been pick-pocketing people all week long. "(The suspect) wanted to pick-pocket everybody. But people out here, they weren't going for none of that," said customer Taylor White.

White told Channel 2’s Amanda Cook the suspect should have thought twice before approaching the customers. "I didn't even expect him to come up here, thinking it was that sweet; Thinking it’s that candy land like that," White said.

Far from "candy land," Mr. White. I can safely say this goes into "senseless" territory.

George Zimmerman's trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin is well under way, with the court entering its second phase of jury selection. Right about now, George is probably hoping that out of those 40 potential jurors, his defense team can narrow those down to 12 fine folks who'll follow in the grand tradition of the all-white jury. Attempts to besmirch Martin's character as just another punk/thug/criminal-in-training whose forced departure from this plane was a net benefit came in the form of the following cell phone video shot by Martin of two unknown men fighting one another over a bicycle:

Many men, wish death upon me
Blood in my eye dog and I can't see
I'm tryin' to be what I'm destined to be
And niggas tryin' to take my life away

It's not every day that yours truly would lead a blog post with lyrics from a rap song, but after listening to 50 Cent's urban lament, it felt somewhat appropriate. After all, many men and women have wished death on the president, from ordinary citizens to militia members and even U.S. servicemen. And now we can add a law enforcement official to that ever-growing list:

A sheriff in Massachusetts is refusing to apologize for joking that President Barack Obama could best serve the country by being assassinated.

Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph D. McDonald, Jr. made the joke during a local St. Patrick’s Day breakfast for Republicans on Sunday. He said that the ghost of Lincoln appeared to Obama in a dream and advised him to go to the theater, where the former president was shot in the head.

Of course, invoking the imagery of Abraham Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theatre in April 1865 is considered a "joke," one made "in jest," to boot. Perhaps the president should just lighten up and shrug off this latest threat to his and his family's well-being.

Both of Barack Obama's terms as President of the United States have been marked by a thorough and unrelenting disrespect of his being and the office he holds, on both racial and ideological grounds. Through thoughts, words and actions, that unending disrespect constantly oozes out of the pores of people who see the president as an aberration, as someone who neither deserves the office he currently occupies nor deserves to lead a nation populated by men and women of a certain ideological bent. This seething, unrelenting disrespect manifests itself most noticeably in calls for the president's life, his wife's life or (and I shudder at the thought) his childrens' lives.

Sheriff MacDonald should not only be heaved away from his department with great force, he should also be prevented from taking on any more jobs within the law enforcement sector. By all indications, this is what's least likely to happen. If the trials and tribulations of countless men and women are anything to go by, it's a given that those within law enforcement not only tolerate, but also welcome and perpetuate the ideologies and rhetoric that drives people to threaten the president's life. As long as the good sheriff is tolerated by his constituency and the Powers That Be™ above his own pay grade, he and others like him will continue to exist as a part of law enforcement.

It's interesting to note that news of Sheriff MacDonald's "joke" was included in an initial report by the Boston Globe, only for any and all mentions of said "joke" to be scrubbed without so much as an editorial note. Perhaps someone didn't want to become a target of the Plymouth County authorities or perhaps the good sheriff had some good friends in all the right places. Nevertheless, sources like the Boston Globe end up making themselves irrelevant and unimportant to ordinary people as they stray from reporting actual news and gravitate towards issuing stories that read more like the latest public relations news wire.

With a press that's all too willing to cover for the disrespect of others who "don't belong" and the willingness of people to look the other way and remain silent during these fragrant acts of disrespect, it's little wonder the president has to tolerate having death threats hurled his way on a constant basis by people who feel entitled to do just that. At least until the Secret Service shows up.

Speaking of the Secret Service, I hope the sequester isn't hitting them too hard. The last thing we need is for the people who actively seek to neutralize assassination plots to be underpaid.

SPECIAL EDIT:

Video of the incident can be found via this direct link. This is to circumvent NDN Media Player's autoplay feature and keep people from getting written up at work. :D

This happened on her birthday.

I'll just say that if the above had happened to anyone in my family...strike that. The last thing I'd want to do is to leave behind a paper trail for investigators. Let's just say that I know people and I know how to do...things. Yeah, let's just leave it at that.

The LAPD stated it would start its investigation on Jan 21, when schools were back in session. I thought schools were closed on MLK, Jr. Day. At any rate, we can't afford to wait for scum to be brought to justice, no matter the circumstance.

EDIT:

Cops arrest 33yo mom accused of helping 12yo daughter beat up schoolmate. #LAPD lt. says video of incident is "pretty disturbing." @knx1070
— Claudia Peschiutta (@ReporterClaudia) January 23, 2013

UPDATE:

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KTLA) — A San Pedro woman has been charged with beating up a 12-year-old girl who was a rival of her daughter in an alley fight that first aired exclusively on KTLA.

Amber Lee Gutierrez, 33, was arrested Tuesday for her alleged involvement in a prearranged fight in a West Gaffey Street alley after school on January 14.

Gutierrez was charged on Tuesday with assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury. She is being held on $100,000 bond.

If convicted as charged, Gutierrez faces a possible maximum state prison term of seven years.

According to police, the 12-year-old and Gutierrez’s daughter had agreed to fight in the alley, but mothers and adults showed up as well and got involved.

The girl suffered a broken arm. Her mother, who spoke anonymously to KTLA, said she’s disappointed Gutierrez hasn’t been charged with a hate crime.

Racial slurs are heard repeatedly on the video, which was recorded on a cellphone by an onlooker.

Prosecutors have not decided whether to charge Gutierrez’s sister, who is also seen in the video throwing punches.

Both the aunt and the child are said to be in hiding. Not that I have any sympathy for either one or the mother, for that matter. If and when she's convicted, she might have to spend most of those seven years in protective custody.

It was a hot Sunday morning last July when, right on schedule at 6:30 a.m., 61-year-old Johnny Lee Butts left his rural Mississippi home on his morning ritual, a 4-mile walk.

His neighbor, Otis Brooks, says Butts, a Sunday school teacher, waved as he passed his front door wearing a blue T-shirt.

Brooks remembers that his neighbor's skin tone was easily visible that morning. "You could tell he was black; you could see his arms." The point would become important later.

At nearly 7 a.m., about an hour after sunrise, three white teenagers were barreling down Panola County Mississippi Highway 310 in a white Monte Carlo. Two of the three teens later admitted they had been heavily drinking vodka and smoking marijuana all night. They were headed right toward Butts.

The two teen passengers said they and the driver, 18-year-old Matthew Whitten "Whit" Darby, spotted a man walking on the shoulder on the opposite side of the road.

In statements to police and also in statements given to a grand jury, all obtained exclusively by CNN, the two teenagers, a then-15-year-old and 18-year-old Tony Hopper Jr., described what happened next.

"We see a walker on the side of the road. The complete left side of the road while we are on the complete right side of the road," the unidentified teen told a police lieutenant. "And I pointed out to say, 'watch out there is a walker there...'"

The unnamed teen continued his story: "Whit slightly turns the steering wheel and I saw him. 'Watch out, don't do nothing stupid' and then he just keep turning the steering wheel and eventually before we knew it he ran him straight over."
"He didn't slow down," Hopper said in a statement to a deputy sheriff.
The deputy asked: "He never hit his brakes?" Hopper replied: "No sir."
"Do you think he hit him on purpose?" asked the deputy.
"Yes, sir, I do," said Hopper.

Butts was hit from behind by the Monte Carlo, which was traveling somewhere between 55 and 70 mph, according to the documents. The car violently tossed him into the air, slamming him into the windshield, and his head struck the rear windshield. Butts' body hit the car with such force that the windshield collapsed into the car, bending the steering wheel back sharply. His leg was nearly severed.

Butts' body was found lying in the road, 172 feet from where the car hit him, the documents show.

Darby stopped his badly damaged car. His two passengers told police they got out and looked at Butts' pummeled body. Then they got back in the car and Darby sped away. Darby drove them to a house where they'd been partying, according to the documents, and the two teen passengers tried to sleep. Darby left the house alone and drove on to his grandmother's home.

Much later that day, the two teen passengers turned themselves in to police. Darby was arrested, telling police exactly what the two other teens said he would say, that he hit a deer. Darby denied he was drinking or smoking marijuana.

Right about now, the average "race realist" would be in a fury over the "they hit him because he was black" angle. Then again, this is Mississippi, a land where deep pools of racial antagonism lurk underneath a thin veneer of civility and Southern hospitality. It's a place where some people still think it's well within their rights to fuck with black Americans minding their own business just because they can.

Local law enforcement aren't willing to call this a hate crime, nevermind how there's plenty of evidence that points in that direction:

Champion told CNN that there is "no evidence at all" that Darby killed Butts out of hate, or as a hate crime. One reason a hate crime has been ruled out, Champion said, is that the teens in the car that morning could not see whether Johnny Butts was black or white.

But that is not true, according to the statements given by one of the teens in the car. In grand jury testimony obtained exclusively by CNN, Tony Hopper Jr., who was riding in the back seat, testified that he could see Johnny Butts was black before the teens hit him.

"Could you tell whether he was a black man or a white man before ya'll hit him?" Hopper was asked by the grand jury.

"Yes," Hopper said. "I could tell that he was black."

Hopper said the same thing on the day after the killing, when a sheriff's deputy asked him: "Did y'all know if he was black or white?"

Hopper answered: "I could tell he was a black man."

The 15-year-old passenger in the car, riding in the front seat, says in his statement he couldn't tell whether Butts was black or white. CNN's policy is not to identify juveniles in criminal cases.

The FBI is currently looking into the case. In the meantime, I'll leave you all with this wonderful gem from Panola County Sheriff Dennis L. Darby (no relation):

Sheriff Darby told CNN on the phone they had looked into the incident with the boys on the road and found nothing. "There's nothing to this report," he said, "it's all hearsay," and "he-said she-said." Sheriff Darby told CNN he would not give a copy of the report to the network. Then the sheriff warned CNN not to "stir up trouble in my county." He warned if the network pursued the story, "I'll be coming after you."

So much for Southern hospitality. You know, this place could do with a little "outside agitation." And Sheriff Darby could do with a nice, shiny federal boot wedged up his hindmost parts.

I haven't heard anything in the way of new developments regarding the Trayvon Martin case. It's just as well, now that Michael David Dunn is in the news:

A Brevard County man was in jail Monday, accused of shooting a teenager dead in an argument over loud music.

Michael David Dunn, 45, and his girlfriend were in Jacksonville Friday for Dunn's son's wedding when they stopped at a convenience store, Jacksonville sheriff's Lt. Rob Schoonover said.

Jordan Russell Davis, 17, and several other teenagers were sitting in a sport utility vehicle in the parking lot when Dunn pulled up next to them in a car and asked them to turn down their music, Schoonover said.

Jordan and Dunn exchanged words, and Dunn pulled a gun and shot eight or nine times, striking Jordan twice, Schoonover said. Jordan was sitting in the back seat. No one else was hurt. [source]

In short, it's a case of a middle-aged white male who took it upon himself to order a few rowdy Negros into silence. No one's saying what sort of words were exchanged, but I'd bet money there was an N-word or something approximate to that involved. During that exchange, he felt "threatened" enough to unload eight rounds into a parked SUV.

Dunn's attorney Monday said her client acted responsibly and in self-defense. She did not elaborate.

I recognize his attorney's duty to duly defend her client to the best of her abilities. However, I still would like to point out that the above is pure, unadulterated bullshit. I seriously doubt this man acted under any semblance of self-defense. Instead, he let his anger, whether racially motivated or not, take over in the worst manner possible. This should be something worth throwing him under the jail for.

Dunn, a gun collector, was arrested Saturday at his home in Satellite Beach on charges of murder and attempted murder. He was being held without bail.

This man knew better. To sum it up, courtesy of Gawker commentator "otownjester":

You use a gun to kill. You do not pull a gun unless that is your intention. You do not use a gun to intimidate, coerce, or to feel powerful. It is a tool, that we as citizens deserve to have to protect our personal liberties so that any random individual cannot use his might to make right. Growing up, it was very strict how to handle, clean, and use a gun. We never thought oh you can just pull it out any time you are agitated. No. This man like the dude in the Trayvon Martin case were hot heads, irresponsible gun owners, and worse make gun owners appear irrational and violent. This man was a bully and he had no right asking those kids to do shit. If the music was that bad, you call the police... that is their job.

Michael David Dunn used his hand-held might to make his own form of right. He should be made to pay for it and pay for it dearly.

Just as James Holmes did in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, just as Charles Carl Roberts IV did in a one-room schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania and just as those four bastards did decades ago at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, Wade Michael Page took his hatred, frustrations and bloodlust out on a group of unsuspecting innocents -- people without the ability and foresight to protect themselves or perhaps strike back. After all, who but the most paranoid of individuals expects a gunman to burst into their normally quiet place of worship?

In my book (and hopefully anyone else's), that's cowardice. It's a trait all of the above players share among each other. When pitted against equal or greater force, these individuals often fold under pressure. Holmes quietly gave up and turned himself in. Roberts took his own life. Cherry, Blanton, Cash and Chambliss scattered like roaches before being found, charged and eventually imprisoned.

Page apparently chose "suicide by cop."

Page visited his hate on a community of Sikhs, a people often mistaken (and sometimes used as stand-ins) for the Muslims whom "God-fearing Americans" have been trained to reflexively hate since 9/11, if not longer. Because there are never any Muslim extremists around when you need one, Page figured a Sikh temple would do in a pinch.

And that's how six people ended up losing their lives.

Holmes and Roberts' actions were treated as outliers, as something atypical of how men of their societal makeup should behave. It's much harder to do the same for Page, given his connections to and affiliations with Neo-Nazi hate groups, but that doesn't mean they won't try.* Nevertheless, his actions represent the proverbial canary in a  blood-filled coal mine.

It's funny how right-wing-oriented "patriot" groups grow like weeds during "liberal" administrations, only to fall dormant during conservative ones, like a bad herpes infection:

The Patriot movement first emerged in 1994, a response to what was seen as violent government repression of dissident groups at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992 and near Waco, Texas, in 1993, along with anger at gun control and the Democratic Clinton Administration in general. It peaked in 1996, a year after the Oklahoma City bombing, with 858 groups, then began to fade. By the turn of the millennium, the Patriot movement was reduced to fewer than 150 relatively inactive groups.

But the movement came roaring back beginning in late 2008, just as the economy went south with the subprime collapse and, more importantly, as Barack Obama appeared on the political scene as the Democratic nominee and, ultimately, the president-elect. Even as most of the nation cheered the election of the first black president that November, an angry backlash developed that included several plots to murder Obama. Many Americans, infused with populist fury over bank and auto bailouts and a feeling that they had lost their country, joined Patriot groups.

The swelling of the Patriot movement since that time has been astounding. From 149 groups in 2008, the number of Patriot organizations skyrocketed to 512 in 2009, shot up again in 2010 to 824, and then, last year, jumped to 1,274. That works out to a staggering 755% growth in the three years ending last Dec. 31. Last year's total was more than 400 groups higher than the prior all-time high, in 1996.

All of this talk about "taking back our country" didn't really kick into overdrive until the dreaded "Marxist socialist Kenyan" planted his hind parts in the Oval Office chair. From there, memberships to these various "patriot" groups became less about disaffected losers slouching towards hatedom in search of an identity and a scapegoat, and more about people finding new outlets to vent their frustrations through before they suffered a humiliating "Ni*clang!*" moment in front of polite society.

As long as these people see the current president, along with black Americans, Latinos, Muslims, liberal-minded folk and others who are ideologically, socially or politically different from them as dire threats to be eliminated with extreme prejudice, you'll keep seeing scenes like these. You'll keep seeing cowards pick soft targets to unload maximum death and misery just to make a statement and you'll keep hearing people attempt to explain why these events are somehow in no way connected to any future trends.

Meanwhile, people are more scared of the raggedy-assed New Black Panther Party frightening elderly white Americans with their mere presence than they are of disaffected Neo-Nazis and other militia types deciding to strike out on their own rampage of terror and mayhem. After all, those ni*clang!*s are pretty scary...

*For morbid hilarity, check out the FReep comments prescribing the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis as "radical leftist" entities. "National Socialist," indeed.

A few days ago, former Alabama governor Don Siegelman was re-sentenced on bribery charges and sent back to prison. Siegelman has to serve 78 months in addition to the time he's already served, plus spend the preceding 36 months on probation and pay restitution of approximately $50,000.

Siegelman's re-sentencing caps off the systemic destruction of the Alabama Democrat party, namely by removing many of the most powerful progressive politicians from the picture. The epic Electronic Bingo Boogaloo saga brushed away many of these figures, with the side benefit of securing the interests of Mississippi gambling concerns and those of the casinos located on Native American lands throughout the state. Today, the state of Alabama is, for all intents and purposes, a one-party state led solely by the Republicans.

This is also a hard-hitting lesson on why it's important for new administrations to clean house. Without Bush-era holdovers like Leura Canary and hubby Bill Canary, this entire investigation would have fallen apart before it grew legs. Mentioning Karl Rove's name in this mess will surely draw cries of conspiratorial thinking from conservatives, but his involvement in positioning former GOP governor Bob Riley's ascension is recorded, noted and undeniable:

According to the Alabama RNC source, Rove met regularly with operatives for the Riley campaign. The source’s allegations are confirmed in part by campaign disclosure forms, which show that Windom paid Canary as a consultant between 1999 and early 2001 and later received large contributions from Canary’s business partner, a pattern that is duplicated with Riley and Canary.

According to public records, Windom paid Canary’s firm $38,022 for consulting and polling between 1999 and 2001. At the same time, PACs associated with Canary’s business partner, Patrick McWhorter, donated heavily to Windom’s campaign, contributing $149,000 in 2001 and another $75,000 in 2002.

After Windom lost the primary, PACs associated with McWhorter and Canary switched their donations to Bob Riley, giving him $85,000 in the days immediately preceding the November election. After the election victory, Windom emerged immediately as a close confidant of Riley’s, advising him on the appointment of a new Insurance Commissioner, Walter A. Bell, and other matters. Canary also emerged as a key Riley advisor.

Public records also show that at the same time Canary was consulting for Bob Riley’s campaign, his lobbying group, the Business Council for Alabama, donated $678,000 to the campaign of his client. This was the third largest donation the campaign received, exceeded only by those from the Republican National State Elections Committee, for $2,475,000, and from Bob Riley himself, who contributed $1,070,000 to his own campaign.

Fellow blogger Legal Schnauzer has been on this case for quite a while, with a volume of detailed and in-depth blog posts to boot. You can follow the "Don Siegelman" tag and read to your heart's content, but here are a few posts that stand out IMHO:

Judge In Siegelman Case Displays Monumental Arrogance and a Seriously Faulty Memory

Siegelman Resentencing Serves as a Grim Reminder That His Prosecution Was Bogus from the Outset

Justice Department Lawyer Has Conflict of Interest In SCOTUS Review of Siegelman Convictions