Let's end this mess right now. 

WAS THE VAN Freddy Gray was placed in by police PADDED to protect those arrested?

The officer that spoke on national television about the investigation did not allow any information of value to be known by the public and he clearly stated, "We are not going to discuss the inside of the van because it could cause conjecture." 

It is not conjecture, no protective lining of vans where 'the arrested' are placed means there are built in excuses for police that kill. 

At no point in time should a prisoner be in danger for his or her life when arrested. When the police have custody that means there is value placed on their lives no matter what it takes. 

Human rights are civil rights. If a person is dead that is a violation of human rights. If dead people are allowed to be overlooked then Due Process is gone and deadly force becomes the law and not the law itself.

People are tired of the studies and invesigations. This is getting ridiculous.

Police culture in the USA is perverted and when the people try to correct it's trajectory it is never implemented or followed up.

 

On July 24, 2012, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Oclick here) announced a plan to overhaul the New Orleans Police Department that was broader in

scope and more detailed than any other consent decree the DOJ had issued since it was given the authority 18 years earlier to investigate local police departments.

 

The 2012 New Orleans consent decree is expected to last at least five years and cost more than $11 million, though the agreement likely will

take longer and cost more to carry out, if recent patterns of DOJ involvement with local law enforcement agencies are any indication.

The shape and substance of recently issued consent decrees, in Seattle as well as New Orleans, share little resemblance to the first one the DOJ obtained involving a major metropolitan police force....

It would seem as though suicides in Baltimore happen under the veil of secrecy.

August 5, 2014
By Christie Lleto

BALTIMORE (WJZ)–How did a wanted man (click here) with a violent past get a gun into Baltimore’s southwest police district? The man committed suicide just one room away from officers.
Christie Ileto has the latest on the security questions being raised.
Undetected and unobserved. A suspect was taken into custody and able to cloak a high-caliber gun into a police station before allegedly fatally shooting himself inside.
“I heard, like, a big book and I just thought it was anything,” said resident Damontre McLeod.
But the pillar of safety became a crime scene Tuesday....

This is more or less the same stuff witnessed across the country where a suspect in custody with hands cuffed behind his back took a police gun away from the officer and shot himself. How long is this line of secrecy going to continue in this country?

Police killing unarmed citizens are not part of the public contract or public trust. Police culture is not only sick, it is blatantly dangerous and deadly.

The reason this police culture is tolerated is because there is no choice. The police strong arm the governing councils along with unions that protect these dangerous members. 

There always is the National Guard. I have less problem with the language of the Guard since that is the vocabulary of the military. They have been a valuable addition to a city that cannot discern who the enemy sincerely is. 

Freddie Gray committed suicide? Is that what the Baltimore authorities are saying?

I demand an investigation of every suicide that has occurred in Baltimore custody.

The children involved in any demonstrations and arrests need only one decision.

Self identified members of the Crips and Bloods pose in Baltimore, Maryland on April 28, 2015. Victoria Bekiempis/Newsweek 

...Mugga (click here) added that the Crips, Bloods and Black Guerrilla Family had not made any plan to injure police officers, despite reports from the Baltimore Police Department that there was a “credible threat” against officers due to the unification of the three gangs.  "The way everyone looks at the Blood and Crips; it's not the way it is," he said. "You really gotta live in this lifestyle, to live in our shoes, to understand how we live. Its not how everyone portrays us to be.”...

The police have already inflamed the situation by accusing gangs for the unrest. It was a lie.

The children arrested do not need records to destroy their future and end up as gang members for life. The children only have to be remanded to their parents and a fine of $10.00 has to be paid by the parents. Close the book on this and negate any record by making it a summons no greater than a parking fine.

Currently children under 18 years old are being abused by police with shackles. They don't need the lesson. The fact of the matter is the shackles are on the wrong people.

That is all that has to be done.  

Every government and police official has called a mother dearly concerned for her only son "Hero Mom." It is time all mothers and fathers or guardians (sometimes grandparents or siblings, etc.) have the same chance to be heroes to their children.

This mom is being called "mother of the year" after cameras captured her snatching her son from a Freddie Gray protest in Baltimore and scolding him for his behavior. Gray died in police custody from a severe spinal cord injury. VPC

April 29, 2015
By Marisol Bello
 
...Now, the single mother of six children (click here) is facing some backlash on social media for beating her son in such a public manner.
"Hypocrisy of the law, she should be arrested for assault, battery and child abuse," said one tweet by a user identified as @cotrial.
Others questioned why anyone would condone or celebrate her actions....

Those that comment about the actions of a very upset mother doesn't understand what a beating actually is. That isn't it.

This is a Baltimore Police Van and the sentiment of the community.

Go, figure.

Young men want to become old men. That is basically the entire theme nationwide to the police violence that kills unarmed and helpless citizens.


By M. Alex Johnson and Jon Schuppe

Dozens of people arrested (click here for video) in violent demonstrations this week in Baltimore were being released early Wednesday evening because police were unable to complete their paperwork in time, the state public defender's office said.

The 101 detainees began walking free without charges about the same time that Baltimore police announced that their report into the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man who died in police custody this month, wouldn't be made public Friday.

Police Commissioner Anthony Batts had set a deadline of Friday to file the report with state investigators. Capt. Eric Kowalczyk said late Wednesday afternoon that the report would remain closed to protect the integrity of the inquiry.... 

The baseball game is hideous. The game should have been held with children and their teachers in the stands. I mean what is that mess they did today?

The withholding of evidence from the public by the Baltimore police and Maryland State Attorney is absolutely astounding. Why is the State Attorney compounding the egregious silence regarding the death of Freddie Gray and others? Maybe it is 'the others' that is the problem. 

"We will be here until the threat of violence ends." Is that the violence against the people as well? 

I am left to be confused about where exactly the fiduciary relationship between police and citizens actually is defined. It is not defined as most citizens expect it to be.  

April 29, 2015
By Ed Payne and Sid Sidner

Ferguson, Missouri (CNN)At least three people were shot (click here) in separate incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, on late Tuesday and early Wednesday as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in support of protests in Baltimore, a city spokesman said.

Two people were shot in the neck and another was shot in the leg, spokesman Jeff Small said. There is a suspect in custody in the latter case: a 20-year-old male from St. Louis County.

The two victims shot in the neck were hospitalized, Small said.

"Police are having a difficult time investigating because of the rocks being thrown at them," he said. "At this point police are not sure if the (shootings are) linked to the protest or not."

St. Louis Alderman Antonio French posted video on his Twitter account. Multiple gunshots can be heard as people flee in panic.

Violence has returned to Ferguson. Citizens hospitalized. I suppose that is progress.

I tell you what, let's just blame it all on "Grand Theft Auto - Celebrity Edition."(click here)

Rep. Jackson Lee is offering an amendment that will extend funding for treatment to veterans that still remain ineligible.

Amazing.

Who knew there were still veterans outside of reach of the American people to care and cure them.

Republicans won't allow closure of Gitmo.

There is also an amendment submitted by Rep. Nadler to close Gitmo. He states the camp has been unable to proceed with trials at all. He wants to transfer the existing detainees to USA facilities to conduct trials and allow proper disposition of the prisoners.

I remind, Gitmo is a POW camp. The idea this is to remain open forever is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. There are terrorists held now in prisons on the US mainland before Gitmo has become a political icon to the Republicans.

Rep. Dent is opposing the amendment. Is everything the Republicans using for political dialogue designed to alienate the USA from long standing law and international treaties?

Bush created this problem at Gitmo. He removed the USA from the Geneva Conventions in order to invade Iraq. One of the reasons Gitmo remains open is to insure the corruption by Bush and Cheney stays in place to prevent accusations of human rights violations at Gitmo in torture.

By maintaining the corruption at Gitmo election after election it appears to dilute the responsibility of the corruption to subsequent administrations as a necessity to the sovereign duty of the DOD to protect the country.

In the face of that reality, the DOD camp needs to be closed and all detainees transferred to the US mainland for trial and disposition to end the corruption of our military and it's sovereign purpose.

Republicans are seeking to pass corruption of law while the country is focused on the egrigious treatment of a US minority. A minority that were historically slaves.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen is being treated with obscurity regarding a particular paragraph in the budget scam.

He is on the floor right now and if the Republicans continue to corrupt the parliamentary procedure the budget will have to be litigated to return law back to law. 

It is about the first paragraph of Title IV. He is stating there is many problems with the budget process. The problems are to perform end runs around a long standing clarification of the law to end schemes.

1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (click here)

We are back to "OCO Funds" and the spending of $550 million for overseas military bases. 

The Republicans are striking Title IV of the Budget Law paragraph by paragraph. The are destroying long standing budgetary law that controls corruption of the process. 

The act has been amended several times, including provisions in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The original 1974 legislation, however, remains the basic blueprint for budget procedures today. 

The DOD, according to Rep. Van Hollen, is stating the war accounts (OCO) is not suppose to be used as a slush fund which is exactly what the Republicans are attempting to do. The OCO funds were never suppose to be used for free lance funding by either Congress or the President. The OCO funds needs to return to proper balance of it's legislated use.

Page 62 of the Budgetary Act is the section being exploited. The OCO funds began to exploition under Bush. It is a slush fund with ever growing use outside the parameters of the "War Powers Act." 

Camp Lemonnier (click here) is the primary base of operations for U.S. Africa Command in the Horn of Africa. 

The proposed spending is to be carried in the 2016 Budget and made available until 2020. It is a slush fund. 

While the country is engaged in concern, as it should, regarding the deaths of African American members that are citizens of this country, the Republicans are seeking to pass legislation that is nothing but pure corruption.

That is typical of the Republicans. They are always exploiting the country's attention and where it is to either exploit in support of the country's attention or hide it. It is a method for manipulating the political environment of the electorate. This is at the very least ethics violations and needs to be conducted as such.

7000 millionaires paid no income tax in 2011.

An article in "Business Insider" breaks down the people in the USA most able to pay taxes and they pay none.


It contains a number of interesting factoids,(click here) including the following:

7,000 people made more than $1 million but paid no income tax. 

22,000 people made between $500,000 and $1 million but paid no income tax. 

81,000 people made between $200,000 and $500,000 but paid no income tax. 

381,000 people made between $100,000 and $200,000 but paid no income tax.

And 

45% of the country makes less than $30,000 per year.

Of those

30% of the country makes less than $20,000 per year.

Of those

15% of the country makes less than $10,000 per year.

There needs to be a law whereby when the USA military budget receives more money, the same funding is included in domestic spending.

April 28, 2015
By Bob Kinzel

VPR News (click here) has learned from several sources that Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will announce his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday.
Sanders will release a short statement on that day and then hold a major campaign kickoff in Vermont in several weeks.
Sanders' entry into the Democratic race ensures that Hillary Clinton will face a challenge to win the support of the liberal wing of the party.
Sanders' basic message will be that the middle class in America has been decimated in the past two decades while wealthy people and corporations have flourished.
His opposition to a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (T.P.P.) shows how he plans to frame this key issue of his campaign....

The Cocker belligernace lives on in the face of obvious need in the country.

On Wednesday morning, (click here) it’s all quiet there now, save the noise of passing traffic. And on the stop sign that had become a makeshift memorial, the balloons have all deflated.

Once again Republicans are divided due to Tea Party extremists. Senator Corker rather spend federal monies on war than on desperately needed domestic programs, including infrastructure.

After the traumatic events in Baltimore the streets are quiet, but, a solitary memorial remains.

April 28, 2015
A Republican U.S. senator (click here) said he is holding up his party’s budget proposal in Congress because a provision intended to cut spending isn’t strong enough.

Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee told reporters Tuesday he was withholding support for releasing the unified House-Senate budget plan. The proposal would have to be unveiled Tuesday to meet House leaders’ goal of adopting it Thursday.
Corker told reporters he wants the budget to “rid itself of a lot of the gimmicks that have been used in the past to actually spend a lot more money than people think we are spending.”...

A thirty year journalist to Baltimore knows the problems that lead to the horrific death of Freddie Gray.

Superstorm Sandy received a $602 billion after the state of emergency, there needs to be a post emergency relief for the Freddie Gray neighborhood. 

April 28, 2015
By Michael A Fletcher

It was only a matter of time before Baltimore exploded.
In the more than three decades I have called this city home, Baltimore has been a combustible mix of poverty, crime, and hopelessness, uncomfortably juxtaposed against rich history, friendly people, venerable institutions and pockets of old-money affluence.
The two Baltimores have mostly gone unreconciled. The violence that followed Freddie Gray’s funeral Monday, with roaming gangs looting stores and igniting fires, demands that something be done....



...The non-binding budget proposal is intended to reach balance in nine years. It sets out the Republican Party’s priorities by calling for more than $5 trillion in spending cuts and no net tax increases. It raises defense spending in 2016 by boosting a war funds account far above President Barack Obama’s request.

The proposal also would allow Republicans to bypass Democrats and send Obama legislation to revise, though not repeal, his landmark health-care law. The administration has said the 2010 Affordable Care Act has extended coverage to 16.4 million previously uninsured Americans.

Both chambers adopted their own versions of a budget plan last month and conferees have been working out the differences....

The Republicans hate the US Constitution. There is a mechanism in the constitution which provides for votes, including all the Congress men and women. This is a hideous Congress and the Speaker resigned his authority years ago.

...House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers has been fighting to remove that provision from the final budget. The Kentucky Republican said in an interview that it would make his job of passing annual spending bills too difficult....

Speaker Bohner has no backbone. He needs to dissolve the Hastert Rule and pass the budget. To allow Corker a divisive vote is nothing more than a chronic political campaign. Corker can't be this stupid, can he? Maybe he needs a lie detector test to find out for sure.


...Corker can hold up the budget agreement because all 12 Senate Republican conferees’ votes are needed to approve it in the case of opposition by all 10 Democrats and independents....

Corker is using his position in the US House for a chronic political campaign. He has ethics violations. It is time for the Speaker to lead.

Well done, Baltimore.

Thank you, National Guard.

Good night.

If mayors need advise for improvement of their cities they can look US Senator Booker.

I realize Senator Booker has a lot to do in DC, but, he is looking to change sentencing guidelines. He was very successful in Newark, New Jersey and it didn't take a lifetime to do it. Newark is a different city today. Baltimore needs to move to a place where young black men are not killed and face a judge for anything they have done wrong. 

CURRENTLY, BALTIMORE DOES PRACTICE DUE PROCESS. That is a problem. 

We are witnessing a great people of Baltimore. We know they exist and we knew they existed before. I am pleased the mood of the city is far more improved from yesterday. There is every reason to believe the citizens of Baltimore have reclaimed their streets. I hope any one who disregards the importance of a neighborhood are taking a lesson from these citizens and their children.

I have heard a great deal today from those same people. It is right for the mayor to make example of the community's response. Absolutely. There are sincere problems. Young men are being killed by Baltimore cops. The community, even children, are complaining about the blight they suffer. The mayor needs to have regular Town Halls with this community. But, the deaths are heinous and have to stop. They are young men hidden behind the walls of a police van and exposed to violence that kills them. ENOUGH! 

Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, both D-N.J., will be meeting New York’s U.S. Senators and others to discuss flood insurance complaints after superstorm Sandy during the first meeting of the Sandy Task Force Tuesday afternoon.(Photo: Staff photo/Nicole Guadiano)

April 28, 2015

By Russ Zimmer

Inadequate payouts (click here) from their flood insurance provider is a common complaint among those whose homes were inundated by the storm's surge. Sandy victims who felt wronged by their providers — whose plans are underwritten by the NFIP — got a major boost when evidence surfaced of a potentially widespread and highly questionable practice of changing a key insurance document without justification.
New Jersey's U.S. Senators Menendez and Cory Booker and their counterparts in New York, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, all Democrats, are pledging to examine those issues and others in their roles as members of the Sandy Task Force, which also includes Craig Fugate, the head of FEMA....

Civil Rights are unfamiliar to the students in Baltimore.

If there is a lack of understanding by students regarding the civil rights movement there needs to be curriculum to speak to those realities. Why isn't that being covered in a history course. I am sure the school system can purchase the film Selma to keep in the library so teachers have access to it. 

There is no hard and fast rule that peaceful protests have to be boring. I think appropriate music is a good idea.

FOX News is reporting in their online article the looting is continuing as the National Guard troops arrive. Will the media please police itself. Thank you.

MSNBC states while there are a few minor issues (Which probably occurs anyway.) Baltimore has been very peaceful. It can't be both. I find the statement looting is continuing a very inflammatory statement. I think everyone in the media can recognize an inflammatory statement. Kindly help out the commmunity and report the truth. They often rely on the news media to understand their own community, especially now.

Thank you.

April 28, 2015
By Jena McGregor

Just a few months (click here) into his tenure as governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan (R) is tasked with leading his state through the riots that erupted in Baltimore on Monday. Another leader working to help quell the violence in the city is also very new to her job: Linda Singh, who is in charge of the Maryland National Guard that was called in by Hogan. She just took over the role at the end of February.

As the state's adjutant general — and the first African American and first woman to hold that role in Maryland— Singh is responsible for operations of the Maryland Military Department. She serves as a member of Hogan's cabinet and as an adviser to the governor....

All Green on Blue attacks were not Afghanistan soldiers.

The military doesn't end their search for justice until it is resolved.

Sergeant First Class Randy Johnson died of his wounds after the IED detonated near his vehicle in Iraq.

April 28, 2015

A British cab driver (click here) behind a “deadly” terror campaign against US troops in Iraq was caught after seven years of painstaking work to identify his fingerprints on roadside bombs, a court heard. 

Anis Abid Sardar is accused of being part of an insurgency cell who targeted US forces in 2007 with a bombing campaign that left one US soldier dead. 

In an “unusual trial”, Sardar was only arrested in London last year after the US authorities “painstakingly” matched his fingerprints to those found on devices recovered in the years after the Iraq war, Woolwich Crown Court heard. It is believed to be the first trial of its kind to be heard in the UK....

These communities are among the USA's most impoverished, kindly work with city governments to move them forward.

The Senior Center in Baltimore went up in flames. 

How many from the community were employed for that project?

When a public project is started in any city in the USA, there should be workers from the community hired to learn and grow competencies that will provide an income into the future. When the community is solicited to hire for the project offer them sport t-shirts for every completed application for submission to the contractor. It would be really great if the contractor was from the community, but, I would expect that to happen in time after the first workers obtain their competencies and learn how to apply for bids on projects. 

Where the application asks for any criminal record, submit it and ask for character references to mitigate the damage in reputation accumulated by a society that didn't invest as they should. 

I am sorry to hear CVS, which has medi-clinics, was burned to the ground. I wish that didn't happen. Please do not let this deter any more interest in these communities. Medical clinics are important. I hope in such challenged neighborhoods CVS has the executive insight to not sell beer, wine and cigarettes. I think CVS went cigarette free, right? So, they are moving in the right direction. I would think Baltimore would be interested in compensating the businesses that were effected by the mayhem following the death of Freddie Gray. Baltimore has a lot of reflection and policy to write that limits the free lancing justice of their police officers. I doubt businesses appreciate this type of death at the hands of police either. 

...In Maryland, (click here) we have decided to implement the Medicaid expansion.
Research just published in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates that expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income adults translates into a 6.1 percent reduction in mortality.  This research adds to a large body of evidence showing that insurance is associated with reduced mortality.  Saving lives is a compelling reason to move forward. Our Governor Martin O’Malley and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown have placed a high priority on expanding coverage to hundreds of thousands of Maryland families and children since taking office....

Baltimore should be providing Medicaid expansion to these communities. Where an individual may not qualify for benefits, but, have medical needs about potential health concerns, the city needs to consider how to best address those fears.

City employment should reflect the demographics of the people. There needs to be supportive services to employees struggling with job performance. Some want to work, but, are demoralized (sometimes all their lives) to carry out that capacity. "Never give up" is a good 'quality assurance' for any city employee. There are rehab policies in most jobs in the country when alcohol or drugs are a part of their daily lives. However, having the money and insurance to allow for days away from work is a huge hurdle. Facilitating competency can be as complex as the individual. Hopefully, the employees have families as concerned for them as the city would be. 

The beautiful aspect of these communities is their loyalty to each other and their ability to communicate understandings about life. "Life Coaches" are the elites way of improving their job performance, that can be available to stressed communities through their leaders that have a proven track record of trust and movement toward the future well being of all that comprise that community. Frequently, that means employing church leaders to contract for mentoring services. 

"Know your value and grow it." Mika Brazinski in her ambitious agenda to promote women and their bountiful futures.

April 28, 2015
By Judith Ireland and Fergus Hunter

The United Nations organization (click here) dedicated to gender equality, UN Women, has released a damning report on the progress of women worldwide. 

Its headline findings include that women earn three-quarters of men's earnings and do almost two and a half times the domestic work.

But the report, more than 300 pages long, also contains sobering figures about what life is like for women in specific countries.... 

The woman to the right is Judith Ireland. She is holding the line on the silence regarding women and the prejudice that prevents economic prosperity in their lives and the lives of their family.

April 27, 2015
By Judith Ireland
 
Women worldwide earn only three quarters (click here) of what male workers are paid, while they do almost two and half times the amount of housework, a United Nations report has found. 
Calling for a major shakeup in global economic and social policy, "Progress of the World's Women" says that, on average, women earn 24 per cent less than men.
Women in South Asia experience the biggest pay gap, with an average of 33 per cent, while women in the Middle East and North Africa experience the smallest, with an average of 14 per cent. Along with Finland and Mongolia, Australia received particular mention in the report for being a country where the pay gap widened between 2000 and 2010. 
UN Women says that despite progress on women's rights over the past two decades, the current situation is not acceptable or understandable.

The Baltimore Mayor and Maryland Governor has not found the media helpful.

April 27, 2015

Don Lemon's interview (click here) with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Monday night did not end on a high note. 

Lemon spoke to the pair during a CNN segment, asking about their response to the Baltimore riots and whether they wish they would have handled the situation differently....

..."Obviously, you can see that they're touchy when it comes to the situation," he told viewers after the politicians left....

When the media has approached the criticism of the Baltimore Mayor, they offered no alternative to what should be done. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake made a poor choice of words when she stated those that want to destroy were allowed space to do that. What she was saying is there would be no retribution for the violence in order to contain the actions of the violators. She and the Governor are walking a fine line in containing the violence.

The decompression of the anger spawned by the death of Freddie Gray would not occur if police SWAT teams went into areas with guns blazing. Cutting down American citizens as if a war zone is not even legal in the USA. The entire criticism is hideous.

Most of the vandalism, looting and fires are in impoverished neighborhoods to begin with. The community has huge problems. I find it unfortunate High School Students found a better voice in joining in the chaos than writing to newspapers regarding their plight.

I suppose the only positive outcome in the city is that High School students decided to remain in class until the final bell for the day. Is that progress? Perhaps, but, what kind of progress is it? 

"The Clinton's made $150 million dollars over the past decade."

Whining.

$15 million a year is nothing compared to the donors of the elections since Citizen United.

Salaries for Chief Executive Officers (click here) in the United States are generous, with average pay above six figures ($155K) per year. In the world of Chief Executive Officers, total cash compensation ranges from $72K on the lower end to $410K on the higher end; this includes bonuses that reach $131K and profit sharing that approaches $104K in rare cases, with some high rollers snagging commissions as high as $174K....