Thursday, September 24, 2015
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Native Groups Protest Pope Francis’ Canonization of Junípero Serra over Role in California Genocide
Pope Francis’ decision to canonize the 18th century Spanish missionary Junípero Serra has drawn a strong protest from many indigenous groups. Serra founded nine of the 21 missions in California that later were the basis of what is now the modern state. Hundreds of thousands of people died after the missionaries arrived. According to historian Alvin Josephy, what happened in California "was as close to genocide as any tribal people had faced, or would face, on the North American continent." We speak to Valentin Lopez, chair of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. He’s been leading efforts to oppose Pope Francis’ decision to canonize Father Junípero Serra.
"Justice Or Else" produced by SickOne, Da Internz & Xcel "Chiraq Collabo"
Chicago has become a breeding ground for violence in the Black and Latino communities while police brutality fans the flame of tension among the youth. In the midst of it all, Chicago artist Antwone Muhammad (formerly Twone Gabz) and producer SickOne organized Chicago's hip-hop community in a collaborative effort to address the violence and injustice as well as help The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan organize the 20th Anniversary of The Million Man March taking place 10-10-15 in Washington D.C. Inspired by the theme of the movement, this song is entitled "Justice Or Else".
The song actually features Minister Farrakhan along with a host of Chicago artists such as King Louie, Saba, GLC, Teefa, Katie Got Bandz, Chella H, Que Billah, Mic Terror and more. The song's production is also a collab with SickOne, Da Internz & Xcel.
Friday, September 18, 2015
Texas police caught in an enormous lie about their murder of unarmed mother Yvette Smith
On February 16, 2014, Yvette Smith, a 47-year-old mother beloved by her family and community, was shot twice by an AR-15 assault rifle and killed on the spot by local police as she opened the front door of her home. A full 18 months later, as her case finally came before a jury, it's disturbingly clear that the police lied, repeatedly, in an attempt to cover up their murder of Smith.
First off, Smith called 911 for help because two men in her home were arguing over a financial dispute and she felt it was getting out of hand. She had nothing to do with the dispute and was an innocent bystander—a victim, even. When the police showed up, both men were already in the front yard and it appeared that the dispute was settled. This should've been case closed, but it wasn't.
When Smith opened the front door of her home, she was shot twice with a high-powered .223 caliber rifle in less than two seconds by Officer Daniel Willis of Bastrop County, Texas, outside of Austin.
The lies and the coverup began immediately. The entire department was involved.
Below, see the initial statement from Sheriff Terry Pickering, issued just hours after Smith died.
As you may have seen, police not only claimed that Smith emerged from the home with a firearm, they stated that she ignored police commands. In essence, Smith came out of that house, according to police, ready to bring hellfire and damnation on police and they acted out in self-defense from an incredibly dangerous woman.
This is a lie. A complete fabrication. When Sheriff Terry Pickering issued the statement, he was fully and completely aware that Yvette Smith wasn't armed. No weapon was found on or near her. He knew this. The officers on the scene knew this, but Sheriff Pickering issued that statement anyway. It sounded better.
Knowing that the evidence and scores of eyewitnesses saw that she was unarmed, police later retracted the statement, but have given absolutely no answers or held anyone responsible for the earlier lie—which was the primary reason given for shooting Smith in the first place.
It may be hard to believe, but the lies get worse—much worse.
As you saw in the initial statement released by police, they claimed that Smith ignored their commands. On September 17, in open court, we learned that this was also an elaborate lie told to justify police misconduct.
Deputy Scott Gaskamp, who arrived at the scene just moments before the shooting, had told investigators and written reports stating that they had ordered Smith to show them her hands, to open the door and come out of the house, Gaskamp testified Thursday.Recordings of the incident showed no commands were ever issued.When pressed to explain this in court, Officer Gaskamp literally admitted that he made the whole damn thing up. He also stated that he couldn't remember telling this lie to the lead investigator, until they played him the recorded interview where he stated the lie over and over again.
Gaskamp told the court he never amended any of his reports or came forward to investigators to correct his errors. After reviewing the dashboard camera footage caught from his patrol vehicle and Willis’ vehicle, he realized his written reports were wrong and that he had never told Smith to put her hands up or issued any other command.“I did not say those words. It must have been a figment of my imagination,” Gaskamp said.Are you tracking this? Let me summarize it for you . . .
Yvette Smith called 911 for help.
As you may have seen, police not only claimed that Smith emerged from the home with a firearm, they stated that she ignored police commands. In essence, Smith came out of that house, according to police, ready to bring hellfire and damnation on police and they acted out in self-defense from an incredibly dangerous woman.
This is a lie. A complete fabrication. When Sheriff Terry Pickering issued the statement, he was fully and completely aware that Yvette Smith wasn't armed. No weapon was found on or near her. He knew this. The officers on the scene knew this, but Sheriff Pickering issued that statement anyway. It sounded better.
Knowing that the evidence and scores of eyewitnesses saw that she was unarmed, police later retracted the statement, but have given absolutely no answers or held anyone responsible for the earlier lie—which was the primary reason given for shooting Smith in the first place.
It may be hard to believe, but the lies get worse—much worse.
As you saw in the initial statement released by police, they claimed that Smith ignored their commands. On September 17, in open court, we learned that this was also an elaborate lie told to justify police misconduct.
Deputy Scott Gaskamp, who arrived at the scene just moments before the shooting, had told investigators and written reports stating that they had ordered Smith to show them her hands, to open the door and come out of the house, Gaskamp testified Thursday.Recordings of the incident showed no commands were ever issued. When pressed to explain this in court, Officer Gaskamp literally admitted that he made the whole damn thing up. He also stated that he couldn't remember telling this lie to the lead investigator, until they played him the recorded interview where he stated the lie over and over again. Gaskamp told the court he never amended any of his reports or came forward to investigators to correct his errors. After reviewing the dashboard camera footage caught from his patrol vehicle and Willis’ vehicle, he realized his written reports were wrong and that he had never told Smith to put her hands up or issued any other command. “I did not say those words. It must have been a figment of my imagination,” Gaskamp said.
Are you tracking this? Let me summarize it for you . . . Yvette Smith called 911 for help. She opened the front door of her home and was almost instantly shot twice by police with an AR-15 assault rifle. The officers on the scene lied and said she was armed. The supervising officer doubled down on the lie and spread it in a press release. The officers then lied and said they made multiple commands that Smith ignored, but the dashcam footage shows that none of those commands were made. Not one of them. The coverup continued . . . A few weeks after the shooting, an investigation by BCSO revealed that several supervisors had modified Willis’ field training records after the shooting in an effort to make sure the records were completed accurately.
A lieutenant and a sergeant were demoted to patrol deputy and five additional supervisors also faced disciplinary action because of the record changes. Lastly, and this may be the most disturbing fact of all, it was discovered that the officer who shot and killed Smith was found incompetent by another police department. Before working for Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, Willis, 29, was employed by Travis County. A Travis County 2012 evaluation of Willis stated that Willis needed more development in handling explosive situations and in the utilization of common sense. Yes, you read that correctly: The damn evaluation said the police officer who killed Yvette Smith struggled with "common sense," but was hired by a neighboring department anyway.
While Officer Willis has been charged in Smith's death, it is increasingly clear that the entire Bastrop County Sheriff's Office conspired to protect one another and cover up this crime. All of them should be immediately fired and a statewide investigation needs to be launched into the corrupt actions that we can clearly see in the murder of Yvette Smith.
She opened the front door of her home and was almost instantly shot twice by police with an AR-15 assault rifle.
The officers on the scene lied and said she was armed.
The supervising officer doubled down on the lie and spread it in a press release.
The officers then lied and said they made multiple commands that Smith ignored, but the dashcam footage shows that none of those commands were made. Not one of them.
The coverup continued . . .
A few weeks after the shooting, an investigation by BCSO revealed that several supervisors had modified Willis’ field training records after the shooting in an effort to make sure the records were completed accurately. A lieutenant and a sergeant were demoted to patrol deputy and five additional supervisors also faced disciplinary action because of the record changes.Lastly, and this may be the most disturbing fact of all, it was discovered that the officer who shot and killed Smith was found incompetent by another police department.
Before working for Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, Willis, 29, was employed by Travis County. A Travis County 2012 evaluation of Willis stated that Willis needed more development in handling explosive situations and in the utilization of common sense.Yes, you read that correctly: The damn evaluation said the police officer who killed Yvette Smith struggled with "common sense," but was hired by a neighboring department anyway.
While Officer Willis has been charged in Smith's death, it is increasingly clear that the entire Bastrop County Sheriff's Office conspired to protect one another and cover up this crime. All of them should be immediately fired and a statewide investigation needs to be launched into the corrupt actions that we can clearly see in the murder of Yvette Smith.
Pluto 's Sunset taken by "New Horizon"
Pluto continues to astound both scientists and laypeople.
On July 14 -- 15 minutes after NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto, after traveling nearly a decade and covering 3 billion miles to be there -- the probe captured this stunning backlit panorama:
In addition to sharp relief provided by rugged mountains, this "sunset" view reveals the depth of Pluto's sparse, nitrogen-heavy atmosphere, which extends 60 miles above the icy surface.
"In addition to being visually stunning, these low-lying hazes hint at the weather changing from day to day on Pluto, just like it does here on Earth," Will Grundy, lead of the New Horizons composition team, said in a statement.
The photo was captured from 11,000 miles above Pluto's surface, and takes in a view of 780 miles from edge to edge.
Zooming in on the photo gives a true fly-by perspective on the planet, including a closer look at 11,000-foot mountains likely made of frozen nitrogen:
"This image really makes you feel you are there, at Pluto, surveying the landscape for yourself,” said New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute. “But this image is also a scientific bonanza, revealing new details about Pluto’s atmosphere, mountains, glaciers and plains.”
Though the above photo was taken in mid-July, NASA didn't fully download it from the probe until Sept. 13. As ABC News points out, New Horizons will take a full year to transmit all of the data it collected back to Earth.
Remember The Tales of Our Ancestors :
My father fought in the Vietnam war, he passed away in '05 from complications traced back to agent orange, poison dropped on the natives by the U.S. Government... He told me the women expected Black Men to have tales, that they were force fed lies about how savage our men where to keep them away. If only we knew, the original Vietnamese people came from the same original lineage as we - God. Such a travesty what they did to the people and that land.

"...the Vietnamese constantly appealed to us black soldiers to get out of the war. They would leave leaflets laying all over the jungle. In perfectly good English, the leaflet would say, 'Blacks get out, it's not your fight,' or, 'They call us gooks here and they call you niggers over there. You're the same as us. Get out, it's not your fight.'
Those leaflets really affected our morale. It would make us wonder why we were there. Most of the people looked like me; they were native. We didn't know what the hell we were doing over there."
African American Vietnam Vet
Photo: Vietnam little boy
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