The Case of the Scott Sisters

It's really time for afrospear bloogers, the national office of the NAACP, and the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights to take a look at, research, investigate and advocate for a new trial and immediate release of the Scott Sisters.

As reported in Newsweek, the blog  Counterpunch.com highlighted a story called “How an $11 Robbery in Mississippi May End in a Death Sentence: The Terrible Case of Jamie Scott.” The writers of the piece, James Ridgeway and Jean Casella, both write for Mother Jones and published the piece for Solitary Watch, a new project in collaboration with Washington and Lee University Law School’s V3 clinic, which will focus on the issues surrounding the rise of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons. More HERE

















Solitary Watch’s Web material describes how “Solitary confinement has grown dramatically in the past two decades. Today, at least 25,000 prisoners are being held in long-term lockdown in the nation’s 'supermax' facilities; some 50,000 to 80,000 more are held in isolation in 'administrative segregation' or 'special housing' units at other facilities. In other words, on any given day, as many as 100,000 people are living in solitary confinement in America’s prisons.” They link to the New Yorker piece in which writer Atul Gawande explores whether solitary confinement should be classified as torture.


The case of Jamie Scott and her sister Gladys, which Ridgeway and Casella explore, revolves around a 1993 armed robbery, in which—according to their story—approximately $11 was stolen and no one was injured. Both sisters, who were 22 and 19 at the time, young mothers with no criminal records, are now currently serving life sentences in Mississippi where Gov. Haley Barbour's tough record on pardons doesn’t bode well for Jamie. She spent 23 days in solitary confinement last fall and is currently suffering from kidney failure (thus the reference to the "death sentence"). The piece explores her health care under the private prison contractor Wexford, which has faced negligence lawsuits in Pennsylvania and New Mexico.  Read more of the article HERE

No Such thing As A Black President

A new generation of African-American leaders, like President Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick seem to be moving away from the identity politics of their predecessors. But that has many in the black community feeling that a historic opportunity to address urban issues is slipping away... Let's talk about how there is no such thing as a black President, Read more of the Liz Halloran article at NPR  as she talks about how Black Leaders Ask: Where's Our President?

Let's talk about this issue of the Black President, black disempowerment, Black President and White Mask, tonight...on the Political Slugfest at 11:00 PM, "if you can handle the truth."

Black Man in Chicago - Tasered While Black

Even with more training, another black man Tasered While Black. Federal Government and US tax payers fund taser torture in America

AAPP says: File this under Federally Funded Taser Torture in America. 

For the first time, an officer in each beat car will carry a Taser. Tactical officers and specialized units like the Mobile Strike Force will get them, too, thanks to $514,000 in federal funding from the Obama administration. More HERE

As reported by Dr. Boyce Watkins founder of the Your Black World Coalition a Chicago man died early Wednesday morning after being subdued by police with a taser during a traffic stop. Jaesun Ingles, a 31-year old, was pronounced dead at MetroSouth Hospital in Blue Island at 12:31 am, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. The autopsy has been inconclusive.

Midlothian Police Lt. Harold Kaufman stated that the police used the taser to subdue Ingles.

He then had trouble breathing and was taken to the hospital. He was pulled over at 11 pm Tuesday night for several traffic violations, according to police.

The officer who pulled Ingles over smelled marijuana and found a small amount of it during a search. Officers claim that when they tried to arrest Ingles, he ran behind some local businesses and tried to swallow a plastic bag believed to have contained the drugs.

The police further state that after they caught up to Ingles on foot, he continued to resist arrest and was hit with a taser. That is when he had trouble breathing and emergency personnel were called. Kaufman did not know how many times Ingles was tasered and would not reveal department protocol for tasering situations. The public integrity unit is looking into the incident.

Police claim that several officers were injured in trying to subdue Ingles. One received treatment for a sprained wrist and injured shoulder, one for a knee injury and another for an injury to his right hand. Ingles was on parole for two Ohio convictions and was being supervised by Illinois corrections officials.  More HERE

Read more on this death at Tasered While Black, Electronic Village and The Huffington Post.

SCLC faces uncertain future, Who stole the money?

Well look at this... As reported by many news sources, including 11 Alive news, When she was elected President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference last October 30th, Bernice King promised to restore the civil rights group her father helped found and that he lead until his death. "The time has come to do as my father urged and organize our strength into compelling power," she said. But four months later, she has yet to take office and a leadership battle that has simmered below the surface for months finally boiled to the surface Saturday. More HERE




It appears that Bernice King has stepped into something crazy at the SCLC. Errin Haines over at Associated Press is reporting on four months after Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter was elected president of the civil rights group he co-founded, the organization is in a tailspin and she is silent on why she hasn't taken the helm.


Get this, Errin Haines reports the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has been fractured by infighting and a federal investigation. Agents recently raided the Ohio chapter's headquarters and the home of the SCLC's national chairman, who faces accusations of financial mismanagement. In Georgia, Fulton County prosecutors have also launched a formal investigation into the Atlanta-based organization's financial affairs.


Through it all, errin reports, the Rev. Bernice King — who was elected SCLC president Oct. 29 — has said nothing. She has yet to take over, and the interim president she is replacing has already left.


Well, "J. Edgar Hoover is in his grave, shouting and celebrating," said Tyrone Brooks, a Georgia state representative and longtime SCLC member, invoking the name of the FBI director who kept tabs on the SCLC for years. "The organization he tried to destroy is now being destroyed by the very people who claim to love it and love the legacy of Dr. King."

AAPP: I agree - I wonder like a number of black bloggers, Who's really keeping it real?

To some observers, the youngest King would do well to keep her distance from the SCLC's current woes. "No new president should come in with this kind of mess," said the Rev. Timothy McDonald, a friend of the King family who worked for the SCLC under its longest-serving president, the Rev. Joseph Lowery. Read More HERE


African American Political Pundit says: "Why does this go on with black organizations? Why is there no accountability in the black community? Why are so many of our black politicians, social service agencies, and the black church becoming so corrupt? Why are so many black church groups and black church organizations stealing money in the name of GOD?  You know what I'm talking about folkls. As an example, the time in which the president of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc., the nation's largest black religious organization, was convicted of racketeering and grand theft, including charges that he had stolen money that was donated to a fund to rebuild black churches destroyed by arson. More HERE


It also reminds Monica Conyers
 



 

 
and let's not forget about former Baltimore Mayor Shelia "debit card" Dixon.
 
I guess we know why so few American black women are holding elected office, particularly in Congress. According to The Root.com, there were 11 black women in Congress in 1992; today there are 13. Pretty slow progress in 18 years. More HERE

Cross posted on Opinion Editorial.com

Howard Stern has crush on Gabourey Sidibe

Howard Stern is a rich yet, stupid, bigoted, sorry, idiotic, cowardly, bastard! He does not know how to say his freaky ass has a sexual crush on Gabourey Sidibe. What is it about white men and their sexual to attack what they like? Like Anti-gay Republican Senator Roy Ashburn -- the man who was arrested last week on a DUI charge after visiting Sacramento gay bar Faces -- confirming he is, in fact, a homosexual.

As reported by the Hufffington Post, this ass wipe unleashed a vicious attack on Gabourey Sidibe on his Sirius satellite show on Monday. Check out what Howard "drag queen" Stern had to say:
"There's the most enormous, fat black chick I've ever seen. She is enormous. Everyone's pretending she's a part of show business and she's never going to be in another movie," he said. "She should have gotten the Best Actress award because she's never going to have another shot. What movie is she gonna be in?"

He and co-host Robin Quivers went on to discuss the impossibility of Gabby finding any work in Hollywood after 'Precious.'

"And Oprah's lying and saying you're going to have a brilliant career," said Robin.

"Oprah's another liar, a filthy liar," said Stern. "She's telling an enormous woman the size of a planet that she's going to have a career."


AAPP says: OK, so the girl needs to be on the biggest loser, but guess what I hope she meets that horses ass Stern in an elevator and body crushes the sick stupid bastard.

Many black politicians are cretin and need to be called out!

It's time for afrospear political bloggers to step in the gap, and start calling these "cretin" low-life black politicians out. Start reporting on these politicians who could care less about the politicial and economic empowerment of black folks.

Yes, I said it, many of these black cretin politicians are half wit, imbeciles and idiots ... this past week is a case study in why so many black politicians are idiots, and why so many people, particularly black folks are so angry with black politicians and the practice of politics in black communities. 

Let's talk about how black politicians are idiots, and how their counterparts are just as stupid. The Washington Post has a great report on some of this black political idiots.  How about once highly respected Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), one of the longest-serving and most powerful members of Congress, who was forced to give up the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee (a leave of absence, he caMany black politicians are cretin and need to be called outlled it).  As WaPo reports, he was caught in a swirl of allegations involving unpaid taxes and accepting company-underwritten trips, Rangel finally stepped aside to avoid a potentially embarrassing vote against him by his colleagues. His case is far from over.

Oh, and let's not forget New York Gov. David Paterson (D) fought to hang on to his office amid rising indignation and calls for his resignation over reports that he intervened in a domestic abuse allegation lodged against one of his highest-ranking aides. 

How about that Republican leader who has another embarrassment of his own, as reported by WaPo, there was a controversial Republican National Committee fundraising presentation that was first surfaced by Politico's Ben Smith. The PowerPoint presentation included a slide with the title "The Evil Empire." 

The slide depicted President Obama as the Joker (with a caption that read, "socialism"), 

Speaking of cretin black politicans in the U.S. how about Monica Conyers, wife of Congressman John Conyers.

According to The Detriot Free Press, Federal prosecutors have recommended that former Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers receive at least 46-57 months in prison for her role in the Synagro sludge-hauling scandal. get this, Conyers, who also sat on a city pension board, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn. She faces up to five years in prison as part of her guilty plea. Voters may be ready for real change in Washington....

But she is not the only black politician disgarcing black folks recently. How about Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford (D-AL) who as arrested on December 1, 2008 by the FBI on a 101 count indictment alleging conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns in connection with a long-running bribery scheme.


 



Her former chief of staff, Sam Riddle, went to trial last month in connection with the Synagro allegations and other alleged bribery and extortion schemes. During the trial, which ended in a hung jury, prosecutors played many intercepted phone calls of conversations between Conyers and Riddle and Conyers and Detroit businessman Rayford Jackson, who is serving five years in prison. Conyers cast the tiebreaking vote on city council for a $1.2-billion contract with Synagro in November 2007. Read more HERE

Former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for his role in a bribery scheme during his tenure as president of the Jefferson County Commission.

U.S. District Judge Scott Coogler issued the sentence Friday morning in a federal courtroom in Tuscaloosa, telling Langford, "This isn't pleasant for me or you."

Langford declined to make a statement before the sentencing, but did tell the judge, "I'm sorry this has occurred." The judge sentenced Langford to 180 months in prison, plus three years supervised release afterwards.  Langford must also pay restitution and back taxes.

Prosecutors then asked the judge to send Langford to prison immediately instead of giving him 30 days to report to prison because, "Langford showed no remorse." Judge Coogler decided against that recommendation and gave Langford 30 days to report to prison (April 5th.)  However, in the interim, Langford will be required to wear an electronic monitoring anklet, must report to his probation officer twice a week, and cannot go outside of Jefferson County. Federal prosecutors had asked Judge Coogler to sentence Langford to between 24 and 30 years in prison. Langford's attorney, Michael Rasmussen, objected Friday morning, restating the opinions he filed Thursday and asking the judge for mercy.  "Let Langford come out before he's 70 and overcome by health problems," Rasmussen said. "Don't let him rot in prison."   More HERE

Let's not forget about Baltimore Mayor Shelia Dixon (D-MD) was indicted on 12 counts of perjury, theft and misconduct in office (January 2009)

Not to be out-done, remember Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D-MI) with his Chief-of-Staff  Christine Beatty, fired two police officers for investigating claims that Kilpatrick had used his security unit to cover up their extramarital affair and lied about it under oath. Both pled guilty and were sentenced to 4 months in prison with 5 years probation. (2008)

Or how about in my home state of Massachusetts, former State Senator Diane Wilkerson (D-MA) who was video taped by the FBI stuffing bribe money into her bra. Also charged with tax evasion (1997), ethics violations (2001) and perjury (2005). She resigned the Senate in November 2008, but still faces charges.

Or how about Georgia Congressman David Scott (D-GA) who has expended $52,000 to $344,000 to himself, friends, family and business from campaigns every election cycle since 2002. Shortly after the 2006 election, he was served with an IRS tax lien for over $153,000.

Yes, It's time for black political bloggers and blogtalkradio host to start calling these "cretin" low-life black politicians out.  

Now that we learn that everyone is getting paid with taxpayer money except black folks, maybe it's time to call a number of black politicans out. 

But that's just my opinion what do you think?