Monday, December 1, 2014

Ferguson goes nationwide; Occupied Hawaii


(NPR) RESIGNATION UPDATE Nov. 29, 2014: Killer cop Darren Wilson, not yet convicted for murder or civil rights violations, to resign, step down, and do so without a severance package. He is likely to have been paid all this time while on "administrative leave" and likely to get a pension.

Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, shown during his medical examination after he fatally shot Michael Brown, has resigned from the Ferguson Police Department, the AP reports. Wilson has been on administrative leave since the Aug. 9 shooting.
Wilson's badly bruised face during med exam
[He] is resigning, according to his attorney. Wilson's resignation was announced Saturday by Neil Bruntrager, who says his client's resignation is effective immediately. Wilson had been on administrative leave since Aug. 9. In his resignation letter, Wilson writes that he hopes his resignation "will allow the community to heal."

LA arrests as Ferguson protests continue
Deepa Fernandes (KPCC FM/SCPR.org)
Updated 6:04 pm: Los Angeles police began making arrests Friday as protests over the grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the [killing] of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, entered a fifth day.

NBC Channel 4 video showed protesters lined up and surrounded by police.

Officers were detaining protesters in the Westlake District who were running into traffic despite warnings to stay on the sidewalk or be taken into custody, NBC4 reports:

A group of 50 to 100 protesters marched in the Westlake District where police blocked the intersection of Alvarado and Temple streets near the 101 Freeway as crowds chanted, "Let us go."

"We are peaceful protesters who demand justice for our rights in the streets," one person shouted. "Over 300 people have been arrested...What is going on?"

LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said demonstrators were running into the street and blocking motorists, despite being told repeatedly to stay on the sidewalk.

Ferguson protests continue, rights groups contest LAPD arrests
5:38 pm: About 100 protesters marched in downtown Los Angeles Friday afternoon in another day of demonstrations responding to a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the death of a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri. More

Itchy? Police State eager to scratch. Mike Brown means fight back (handsupdontshoot)
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Uprising’s guest expert Asst. Prof. of African American and Women’s Studies at Penn State Univ Courtney Morris analyzes today’s news headlines:
 
The U.S. and Iran, frustrated by a lack of progress on nuclear talks, have agreed to a 7-month extension, dashing hopes of an official warming of relations between the two nations. Sec'y of State and failed U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry met with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javed Zarif, in Oman to discuss details of a deal, which initially seemed…
  
Ferguson protesters in downtown Los Angeles (Miguel Contreras/KPCC/SCPR.org).
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In a rambling speech that indicted media coverage and protesters but not the police officer who fatally shot [i.e., murdered] Michael Brown, St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch announced late Monday that no charges would be filed. The grand jury was made up of seven men and five women. Of them, nine were white and three black. At least nine of the twelve needed to agree on an indictment for it to happen. Darren Wilson, who has…
 
Hawaii: Wrongful Occupation of a Country

Today, the focus is on an indigenous community that is rarely considered to be part of the "settler colonialist" founding of the United States, Hawaii’s indigenous population. Hawaii was made the 50th of the United States of America in August of  1959. The story of statehood is one of overthrow, occupation, cultural erasure, and militarism. Amid that a vibrant struggle for Hawaiian sovereignty has emerged. GUEST: Anne Keala Kelly, Native Hawaiian activist, documentary film maker of Noho… More

Protestors in Los Angeles (D. Fernandes)
As the holiday shopping season kicks off, protesters are demonstrating nationwide over a wide range of issues, including the Ferguson grand jury verdict under a racist/biased prosecutor Robert McCulloch who failed to recuse himself in spite of conflicts of interest, low wages, and animal fur sales.

Party in Peace with Fat Happy Bodhisattva Budai/Hotei (Q Sawalha/flickr.com).

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