Bernard Goetz, White Man in ’84 Subway Shooting of Unarmed Black Teens, Faces Marijuana Charges

NYTimes

Nearly three decades after becoming notorious as the subway rider who shot four Black teenagers on a Manhattan train, Bernard H. Goetz found himself back in the news on Saturday, after being charged with trying to sell marijuana to an undercover police officer.

Mr. Goetz, 65, was arrested Friday evening after attempting to sell $30 worth of marijuana to the female officer, the police said. The officer approached him in Union Square and asked if he was selling, according to the police. Mr. Goetz said that he was, and went back to his apartment. When he returned, about 7:30 p.m., he was arrested. 

Still think the government only has access to your online search histories and email?

BlackListed News

Many people are saying to themselves “Sure, but how does this affect me?”. Most people only think about Google being used for online searches and email. But did you know Google also has privately branded services that are being used by corporations, non-profit organizations and educational institutions?

For example, my own daughter uses Gmail and Google Drive for her school projects. Her school has assigned every student with a Google email address and a login for the school’s Google Drive account. Google Drive is a service where classroom documents are often stored.

In addition, a company that I worked for in the past used “Google Apps for Business” in order to provide email accounts, chat/voice/video conferencing, document storage and calendaring for its employees. By tapping primary Google data center links, the government potentially has access to all types of information.

Google has many service offerings that provide everything from internet searches and email to video conferencing and private data storage. Did you know Google recently bought Motorola Mobility and is now manufacturing mobile phones?

Google is also the creator of the Android software that runs on many mobile phones and internet tablets. Millions of individuals and organizations around the world trust Google to store their data securely away from the prying eyes of hackers and others that would use that information for their own advantage.

To get an idea of how much private information might be traveling across those Google data center links, take a look at the following info-graphic. It only shows a portion of the products offered by Google, but you quickly gain a better understanding of how much data potentially flows across the Google wires.

Google Products…more than just simple email and online searches.

Still think the government only has access to your online search histories and email? One of the coolest/scariest things I’ve noticed recently is the facial recognition software being deployed by Google and other social networking sites like Facebook. Have you ever noticed when you upload photos of people to a site like Picaso or Facebook you are immediately prompted to tag the names of other people in the image?

Typically the software has already completed the hard work of identifying individuals for you, all you have to do is confirm the selections made by the underlying program.

Click to read more ...

Staged Event? LAX police chief: Exact scenario played out in drill at LAX Friday

CitizensforLegit and BlackListed News

LAX police chief: Exact scenario played out in drill at LAX Friday --TSA agent killed in LAX shooting, suspect ID'd 02 Nov 2013 A Transportation Security Administration agent was killed and several more people wounded when a gunman opened fire on Friday morning at Los Angeles International Airport... LAX airport police Chief Patrick Gannon said at a press conference that police tracked the suspect "through the airport and engaged him in gunfire in Terminal 3" and were able to take him into custody. During the press conference, Gannon said authorities had run through the "exact" scenario that played out at LAX on Friday, which helped them to respond effectively to the situation when it unfolded for real.

Latest Hire to National Review says "Hispanics are Inferior to Whites" and Immigration should be IQ based"

Fair

The National Review can’t seem to shake its racist reputation. Its latest hire, Jason Richwine, shows why.

Richwine was fired by the Heritage Foundation earlier this year when the Washington Post revealed (5/8) that his graduate research at Harvard argued that Hispanics are immutably, genetically inferior to whites–"the low average IQ of Hispanics is effectively permanent"–and that immigration policy should be IQ-based. 

Last year, the National Review fired columnist John Derbyshire for writing a column in another magazine advising white kids to avoid "concentrations of blacks," and to fend off charges of prejudice by befriending the rare civilized black person (FAIR Blog, 4/11/12). Editor Rich Lowry announced the firing in a blog post calling the column “nasty and indefensible,” though he failed to call it racist. Perhaps National Review's shaky grasp of racism explains why Lowry had to go public again, just three days later, to fire contributor Robert Weissberg for participating in a conference sponsored by the white supremacist group American Renaissance.

But racism is an National Review tradition. From its 1950s founding, when it campaigned for the racist order in the American South and South Africa, to recent years with the like of Derbyshire, Weissberg and "scientific racists" like Philippe Rushton, Steve Sailor and Mark Snyderman, who say black people are less intelligent than other groups, the National Review has been significantly defined by racism.

Which brings us back to National Review's latest hire. When the liberal website Think Progress noted Monday (10/28) that Richwine’s byline was appearing on the magazine's website, they wrote to editor Lowry, who responded briefly, acknowledging that Richwine was doing occasional blogging for the site.

Perhaps Lowry was too busy pondering why the National Review can’t seem to shake its racist reputation to write more? 

Can Racism be Integrated? Tucson School Ignores Harassment of Non-White Students

AZCentral 

An investigation was launched at Ironwood Ridge High School after parents complained about racially motivated harassment against their children, according to video from KVOA.

Parents say their children not only are being harassed by fellow students on campus during school hours,  but also during after-school sports and on social media.

In one example, a Black family says its two children have had food thrown at them in the cafeteria, been called the 'N' word and have even had the racial slur written on their desks and on their Facebook pages, KVOA says. Other parents say their children have missed school over the harassment and note that four Black football players are among those who have transferred schools.

One father says the administration "thinks this is just not a problem" because previous complaints from parents have not resulted in any improvements.

In a statement, school officials say they are "extremely troubled" about the complaints and are interviewing students during their investigation.

Meanwhile, families of Black and Hispanic students are contemplating their future.

"This is not something that they can just brush under the rug, and all of us will just leave the school," a mom tells KVOA.

(what was the slogan? working for change? hope it . . .?) NSA pushed 9/11 as key 'sound bite' to justify surveillance

Aljazeera

The National Security Agency advised its officials to cite the 9/11 attacks as justification for its mass surveillance activities, according to a master list of NSA talking points.

The document, obtained by Al Jazeera through a Freedom of Information Act request, contains talking points and suggested statements for NSA officials (PDF) responding to the fallout from media revelations that originated with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Invoking the events of 9/11 to justify the controversial NSA programs, which have caused major diplomatic fallout around the world, was the top item on the talking points that agency officials were encouraged to use.

Under the subheading “Sound Bites That Resonate,” the document suggests the statement “I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent.”

NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander used a slightly different version of that statement when he testified before Congress on June 18 in defense of the agency’s surveillance programs.

EPA Whistleblower (Black Woman) Speaks Up About US Corporation Poisoning South African Miners

Black Man Free after Murder Conviction Vacated - 20 years in prison

Innocence Project

Gerard Richardson was released from a New Jersey prison this evening after serving 19 years for a murder new DNA evidence shows he didn’t commit. He’s pictured above (2nd from left) with his sister Yvette, Innocence Project Senior Staff Attorney Vanessa Potkin and his brother Kevin.

White Party (Republicans) Keeping Millions of Americans Unemployed

Thinkprogress

The GOP’s austerity spending cuts and strategy of government-by-crisis are hurting the economy in a real and tangible way. As the infographic below explains, Republicans and the policies they support have killed or put at risk 3.1 MILLION jobs since 2010.

Check it out.

Rush Limbaugh - non-whites are low information voters

Rush

Scholar Created an Interactive Map of Slave Rebellions

ColorLines

Vincent Brown, a professor of African and African-American History at Harvard, has made study of the Transatlantic Slave Trade accessible in a new way. Brown has created an interactive map of Jamaican slave uprisings in the 18th century called, "Slave Revolt in Jamaica, 1760-1761, A Cartographic Narrative." 

Brown teamed up with Axis Maps to do the project. "An emerging alliance between historians and mapmakers promises to enlighten public perceptions of black insurrection...As with more recent disturbances, people at the time debated whether the slave insurrection in Jamaica in 1760-61 was a spontaneous eruption or a carefully planned affair," Brown said to a British newspaper. "Historians still debate the question, their task made more difficult by the lack of written records produced by the insurgents. Cartographic evidence developed in collaboration with Axis Maps shows that the rebellion was in fact a well-planned affair that posed a genuine strategic threat, not an indiscriminate outburst."

Holder Releases Millions for Criminal Defense of the Poor

ColorLines

Today, Attorney General Eric Holder announced $6.7 million in grant money for the often underfunded and understaffed work of representing defendents of low income in court. This is one of Holder's latest reform moves as he continues to attempt to upend the criminal justice system that has led to mass incarceration, particularly of black and Latino men and women. 

"Everyone accused of a serious crime has the right to legal representation - even if she or he cannot afford it," said Attorney General Holder by press statement today.  

"These awards, in conjunction with other efforts we're making to strengthen indigent defense, will fortify our public defender system and help us to meet our constitutional and moral obligation to administer a justice system that matches its demands for accountability with a commitment to fair, due process for poor defendants," said Associate Attorney General Tony West.

Holder has often publicly lamented that the justice system is undermined by all of the budget cuts the federal government has suffered lately. The sequestration ax earlier this year took a huge chunk of the Justice Department's budget. In a Washington Post op-ed in August he wrote that "draconian cuts have forced layoffs, furloughs ... and personnel reductions through attrition. Across the country, these cuts threaten the integrity of our criminal justice system and impede the ability of our dedicated professionals to ensure due process, provide fair outcomes and guarantee the constitutionally protected rights of every criminal defendant."

[white supremacy is carried out through violence and or deception]

Automatic Cuts to Food Stamps Coming This Week

ColorLines

A temporary stimulus boost to SNAP or food stamp benefits from 2009 expires on November 1, which means $5 billion in funding cuts to a program that provides much-needed support for low-income families and individuals across the nation.  An estimated 47 million people currently rely on SNAP benefits, nearly 49 percent of which are children,  a number that has increased during the current economic recession. The total cuts will amount to about a five percent reduction for families who already struggle to make ends meet, and some states already began making cuts. Talks around the contentious farm bill resume this week, which could add an additional $40 billion in cuts if the Senate approves a House bill proposed earlier this year. 

Puerto Rico Crashing

BlackListedNews

Puerto Rico, an American territory, risks a Greek-style bust. With $70 billion of debt outstanding, the equivalent of 70% of its GDP, it is more indebted than any of America’s 50 states

Noam Chomsky: The History and Hypocrisy of the War on Terror