Time to Remove the Monuments to the War to Perpetuate Slavery

A “a peaceful, nonviolent protester” from Pensacola attended the neo-Nazis and white supremacists rally in Charlottesville carrying his pistol and assault rifle to protect ‘the true history and heritage of the Confederacy and the American South.’

Our local congressman, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, says that removing a Confederate monument in Pensacola would be “whitewashing history."  President Trump would agree.

But Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward wants the monument to come down.

What might he understand that the others refuse to acknowledge?

More than 240 years ago, our country was founded on the principle of life, liberty and property protected by the rule of law, enshrined in the Constitution adopted in 1787. What many people forget is, at the time, property included people held in slavery, an abhorrent practice. The founding fathers knew the contradiction, but made a bargain with the understanding that the Constitution provided a peaceful method of change in the future by amendment.

As the U.S. moved toward that change to end and outlaw slavery, Southern states, which benefitted economically from free labor at the end of a lash, refused to accept this change and decided to create a new country that would protect their right to enslave people.

It wasn’t a War Between the States, to protect states’ rights, except to the extent it was meant to allow the continuation of chattel slavery. The Southern states said so, read their declarations of succession defending the practice and angry with the states that were refusing to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. The Southern states were also being denied “equal rights” in the new territories, which meant the days of slavery were near an end. And many Confederate politician and soldiers freely acknowledged, before and after the war, that they would and did fight to stop the abolitionists who were rallying support to end slavery, which was so important to the way of life in the South.

These states renounced the bargain, rebelled and used violence and war to prevent that change. This was treason plain and simple. Thankfully they were defeated.

But in the years after, Southerners created an heroic myth, the Lost Cause, to convince themselves that the war was “just” and noble and the Confederate flag represented freedom, not slavery. Reconstruction was abandoned in the 1870s, and the terrorism of the freed men and women began in earnest. Jim Crow laws, violence, lynching, the KKK, and White Citizen Councils were just a few of the methods used. (Ask Rep. Gaetz and that young man celebrating his history about Rosewood, Florida.)

Confederate flags were adopted and monuments were built, many between the 1890s and 1930s. The whole point of these methods, and the Confederate flags and monuments, was to institutionalize and celebrate white supremacy.

Substantial movement toward equal protection under the law began in the 1950s, and continues today, despite the ignorance of some, and the efforts of others. (If “national unite” is so important, why the effort to undermine the right to vote.)

So Rep. Gaetz, tell me a little more about “whitewashing history,” I find your use of the term a little ironic.

Maybe that is the reason that young man who attended the rally has so little knowledge of ‘the true history and heritage of the Confederacy and the American South.’ If he is a peaceful, nonviolent protester, he should leave the pistol and assault rifle at home. Our understanding, empathy, laws and Constitution – not violence – are all that are needed for change.

And thank you Mayor Hayward for agreeing that it is time for Pensacola's Confederate monument to come down.

Republi-CON Family Values, Alabama Edition

UPDATE IV: After an affair and an attempted coverup, and more than a year, we may finally learn more about Republi-CON Family Values, Alabama Edition.

And how did this man get elected?  It's all about the hate.

"'The idea that moral hypocrisy hurts you among evangelical voters is not true, if you’re sound on all of the fundamentals,' said Wayne Flynt, an ordained Baptist minister and one of Alabama’s pre-eminent historians. 'Being sound on the fundamentals depends on what the evangelical community has decided the fundamentals have become. At this time, what is fundamental is hating liberals, hating Obama, hating abortion and hating same-sex marriage.'"

Read The New York Times, For Alabama Christians, Governor Bentley’s Downfall Is a Bitter Blow.

UPDATE III:  "On Monday, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) made what appeared like a typical apology for a politician admitting to a sex scandal. At an unrelated public appearance, he asked for forgiveness from God, from those he hurt and from Alabama residents for his transgressions. . .

But wait a minute. Forgive him for what? Bentley hasn't ever admitted to the affair he has been accused of. He has denied having inappropriate physical contact with his now-former chief political adviser, even as state officials formally file an ethics complaint to see whether he used public money and personnel to carry out the alleged affair.

Most reasonable Alabama residents following this scandal (and many in the state are) would probably sum up their governor's weird apology this way: He's asking them for forgiveness for something everyone is pretty darn sure happened but he won't say happened. It's almost like he's speaking in code to his own state."

Read the Washington Post, As Alabama lawmakers move to impeach, Gov. Robert Bentley struggles to explain himself.

UPDATE II:  "Anyone who has doubts about the importance of journalists in 2016 need be acquainted only with the reporting team at AL.com, the largest statewide news organization in Alabama. The group's reporters cracked open a scandal involving their governor's alleged infidelity last week and have been covering the unpredictable fallout aggressively ever since."

Read the Washington Post, The inside story of how Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley’s sex scandal broke wide open.

Sadly, Northwest Florida's Mullet Wrapper doesn't do investigative journalism anymore.  

UPDATE:  Is The Lying Canadian (© NoBullU.com) a serial adulterer?

And why is that important?

Because "[e]xposing the hypocrisy of Republican legislators not only makes our political system more honest—it can actually change behavior."

Read Salon, Why Ted Cruz’s sex life matters: The GOP’s toxic “family values” charade deserves continued scrutiny.

He is the Republi-con Governor of Alabama, 73 and was married for 50+ years.

She is 30+ years younger, a married mother of 3 and his a political 'advisor', who he has paid $100,000s to 'assist' him, including $426,978 in 2014 during the Governor's reelection campaign.

Read:

Alabama Media Group, Shocking affair allegations, criminal charges and more: It's all Alabama politics,

Heavy, Rebekah Caldwell Mason: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, and

Alabama Media Group, Gov. Robert Bentley had affair, says fired Alabama top cop.

This is Hilarious, The Republi-CONs CONplaining That Thier Leading CONidate is a CON Artist

UPDATE VII:  "[Y]ou have to wonder why, exactly, the Republican establishment is really so horrified by Mr. Trump. Yes, he’s a con man, but they all are. So why is this con job different from any other?

The answer, I’d suggest, is that the establishment’s problem with Mr. Trump isn’t the con he brings; it’s the cons he disrupts. . .

[T]he Trump phenomenon threatens the con the G.O.P. establishment has been playing on its own base. I’m talking about the bait and switch in which white voters are induced to hate big government by dog whistles about Those People, but actual policies are all about rewarding the donor class.

As I see it, then, we should actually welcome Mr. Trump’s ascent. Yes, he’s a con man, but he is also effectively acting as a whistle-blower on other people’s cons.

Read The New York Times, Clash of Republican Con Artists.

UPDATE VI:  Speaking of CON artists,

Read the Washington Post, The Donald Trump-endorsing pastor who encourages Sandy Hook hoax questions, which notes that "liberal watchdog Media Matters for America published a lengthy review of what Gallups has said — on his radio show and elsewhere — in support of what it called several fringe theories."

The vile Pastor Truthiness (aka Huckster and Con Man Gullible-Gallups) proudly seemed to think that the article was flattering, which should give you cause to doubt his intelligence.

As noted below, betcha the congregation is really proud of this publicity (NOT).

UPDATE V:  "Let’s dispel with this fiction that the Trump phenomenon represents some kind of unpredictable intrusion into the normal course of Republican politics. On the contrary, the G.O.P. has spent decades encouraging and exploiting the very rage that is now carrying Mr. Trump to the nomination. That rage was bound to spin out of the establishment’s control sooner or later.

Donald Trump is not an accident. His party had it coming."

Read The New York Times, Trump Is No Accident.

UPDATE IV:  Here is a sample of the not so flattering stories now appearing in the press about Pastor You-Know-Who:

"An unhinged pro-Donald Trump preacher is spreading the twisted gospel of the Sandy Hook 'truthers.' . .

Just one month after the third anniversary of the carnage, the reverend delivered a rousing invocation at a Florida rally for The Donald.

The next month, he and a guest on Gallups’ radio program were spewing their vile claims about the mass murder. . .

Gallups was described in a Trump news release as an author, radio and television talk show host and the senior pastor of the Hickory Hammock Baptist Church.

The Baptist reverend did not return a call for comment left Tuesday at his Florida church."

Read the New York Daily News, Rev. Carl Gallups, who gave rousing invocation at Donald Trump rally, is a Sandy Hook truther, says grieving parents are nothing more than Hollywood actors.

Wonder why the vile Pastor has no comment

P.S.  The term was used in several stories, it means: evil or immoral, morally despicable or abhorrent, physically repulsive, foul, of little worth or account, disgustingly or utterly bad.

I think that pretty much describes our so-called Pastor.

UPDATE III:  No surprise here, Pastor Truthiness (aka Huckster and Con Man Gullible-Gallups) endorses and supports the Republi-CON CON Artist CONidate.

Read:

MSN, Trump’s new wacko backer: This Sandy Hook truther and obscure Evangelical pastor might be the Donald’s most batsh*t endorser yet (Reprinted from Salon, Trump’s new wacko backer: This Sandy Hook truther and obscure Evangelical pastor might be the Donald’s most batsh*t endorser yet);

Raw Story, Trump’s new Florida ally is a vile Sandy Hook truther who mocks parents with dead children;

Daily Mail, Florida pastor who endorses Donald Trump is a Sandy Hook 'truther': Rev. Carl Gallups claims no-one died in Newtown shootings and grieving parents are Hollywood actors; and

Talking Points Memo, Florida Pastor Who Endorsed Trump Is Vocal Sandy Hook Truther.

Betcha the congregation is really proud of this publicity (NOT).

 

UPDATE II:  Maybe Franken-Trump/Trumpenstein (© NoBullU.com) is  the misogynist racists, Birther (forgive me for the tautology), hateful demagogue he has appeared so far to be during the campaign.

"[A]t a campaign rally Saturday in Orlando, leading supporters in what looked very much like a fascist salute.

'Can I have a pledge? A swearing?' Trump asked, raising his right hand and directing his followers to do the same. He then led them in pledging allegiance — not to the flag but to Trump, for which they stand and for whom they vowed to vote.

Trump supporters raised their arms en masse — unfortunately evoking the sort of scene associated with grainy newsreels from Italy and Germany."

The Donald is starting to worry me.

UPDATE:  According to Mitt Romney, Donald Trump is a 'phony, a fraud'.

Of course he is, he's running as a Republi-CON.

This shouldn't surprise anyone who has read this blog since 2009.  Read the 350+ posts (many with numerous updates) labeled Republi-Cons.

As they say, what goes around comes around.

Read USA Today, New ads target Donald Trump as 'con artist'.

I won't be surprised if, before the election, Franken-Trump/Trumpenstein (© NoBullU.com) claims or admits that his whole campaign is/was a con job. 

How else could he salvage his historical reputation? I doubt he wants to be remembered as the misogynist racists, Birther (forgive me for the tautology), hateful demagogue he has appeared so far to be during the campaign.

Who's Your White Daddy?

UPDATE:  Michael Reese Coffman, 57, was no sweet, young, innocent choir boy.

From Escambia County, LA (OK, legally it's FL, but practically it's Lower Alabama, believe me, I know).

2001 CF 004158 A

2001 CF 004159 A

2004 MM 020380 A

2004 CF 001442 A

If the links don't work, check the clerk's website here, and if you find no records, somebody important, with something to hide, read this post before you.

I'll check Santa Rosa County, LA (you know what I mean) later. 

"Michael Reese Coffman, 57, of Milton was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005 after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine."

Obama recently granted him 'early release.'

Read the Pensacola News Journal, Obama grants 2 local men early release.

Guess who Coffman's daddy is/was?

Hint: see Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office, SRSO History.

Some in the local community think the early release was granted for a reason other than merit.

What do you think?

Which One Was White?

One young man in South Florida 'violated a municipal code for drinking beer in a park after hours, was never taken into custody, never hired a lawyer and never appeared in court.'

One young man in NW Florida, rode a bicycle through an empty construction site.  Pensacola Police Officer Jerald Ard saw the young man and pursued the bike rider in his police cruiser, attempted to fire a Taser weapon from the window of the moving cruiser, and drove the cruiser on the side walk, and against traffic, trying to knock rider off the bicycle.  Eventually, the bike rider was crushed to death under the police cruiser.

Read the Washington Post, Rubio’s summer of ’90: An arrest, then newfound purpose.

Then read No Justice For Victor Steen.

Guess which one was white.

The Republi-CON "Western Moral Superiority" Myth

"Guests at a Jewish wedding in Jerusalem in December 2015 celebrated and mocked "the death of 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh. 

One guest danced while a holding a knife through picture of the young boy.

The toddler and his parents died after an arson attack on their home in July."

Read the Daily Mail Shocking footage from Israeli Jewish wedding shows guests celebrating the death of a Palestinian baby burned alive in an arson attack.

Read also the story of a Northwest Florida Muslim family "confronted in a grocery store [that same week]. A man threw bacon in [their] cart and said 'Merry Christmas.' It was an unmistakable slur, as Muslims don't eat pork, it's considered unclean in their religion."
Read WEAR ABC 3, Local Muslim stands up for dad after offensive incident at a grocery store.

And don't forget America's own sordid history, including "The Scalp Industry".

"For example, Confederate guerrillas led by Bloody Bill Anderson were well known for decorating their saddles with the scalps of Union soldiers they had killed."

Doing the Devil's Work and Supporting Middle East Dictators

UPDATE V:  "A new book detailing the brutal torture and murder meted out by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad serves as a harrowing reminder of the true nature of the man Russia is now fighting for and wants the West to prop up."

Read the Daily Mail, 'People had deep cuts, some had their eyes gouged out, their teeth broken': New book reveals the grotesque torture and murder meted out by Syrian dictator Assad – the man Russia's Putin is helping to keep in power.  

WARNING; The article includes graphic photos.

UPDATE IV: I heard our resident Pastor-to-the-Dictators supporting Middle East dictators again. I wonder how he can call himself a Christian but defend "hundreds of killings, arrests and torture cases by the government of President Bashar al-Assad."

Read The New York Times, Syrian Official in Hama Resigns to Protest Bloodshed.

I guess it is all part of his religious mythology.

UPDATE III: When you hear our resident Pastor-to-the-Dictators and other so-called Christians bemoan the threat to Israel from the unrest in Syria, ask them if they know the story of 15-year-old Tamer Mohammed al-Sharei, who refused "interrogators demand . . . [to] proclaim strongman Bashar Assad as his 'beloved' president." Instead al-Sharei "chanted an often-heard slogan from anti-regime street protests calling for 'freedom and the love of God and our country.'" His reward:

"Inside a filthy detention center in Damascus, eight or nine interrogators repeatedly bludgeoned a skinny teenager whose hands were bound and who bore a bullet wound on the left side of his chest. They struck his head, back, feet and genitals until he was left on the floor of a cell, bleeding from his ears and crying out for his mother and father to help him."

Read the Washington Post, Witness saw teen severely beaten in Syrian jail for failing to praise president.

Support of evil, brutal dictators is no long-term solution for peace in the Middle East.


UPDATE II: When you hear our resident Pastor-to-the-Dictators and other so-called Christians bemoan the threat to Israel from the unrest in Syria, ask them if they know the story of Hamza Ali al-Khateeb.

"He was the 13-year-old Syrian boy who tagged along at an antigovernment protest in the town of Saida on April 29. He was arrested that day, and the police returned his mutilated body to his family a month later. While in custody, he had apparently been burned, beaten, lacerated and given electroshocks. His jaw and kneecaps were shattered. He was shot in both arms. When his father saw the state of Hamza’s body, he passed out."

To learn more, read The New York Times, The Depravity Factor, which notes that Middle East peace "cannot be found without acknowledging and wrestling with a government’s moral character."

Support of evil, brutal dictators is no long-term solution.


UPDATE: More fact-free fantasies! Is there any need to respond to his statement today, which a guest of his made on a past show, that the Earth's rotation creates oil deposits?

Pastor Truthiness (formerly known as Pastor Poppins) is at it again, preaching fear anger and hatred with fact-free fantasies, but don't be duped.

Yesterday he was bragging that he is always right and challenged callers to cite otherwise. A few of his usual sycophants to flatter him and agree with him. I called to prove he is a fraud and he refused to take the call.

Of course, he denied the missile nonsense, and never discussed his prior claims that God talks through an oil well.

It is impossible to discuss his birther delusions. (It is clear that he hasn't even read the Congressional Research Service that would agree that Obama is a "natural born citizen," (the Congressional Research Service is a part of the Library of Congress, providing professional, objective and non-partisan public policy research to members of Congress and their staffers. The writer of the memorandum is a qualified constitutional attorney who has summarized the historical and legal material with references, showing, by contrast, how shoddy the birther arguments are) (this memorandum explains why even Republi-CON Congressmen/women refuse to join the Birthers), and he hasn't talked to Barbara Nelson, who "specifically remembers his birth" because she spoke with the obstetrician who delivered [Obama] shortly after his birth.)

And he continues his slander by innuendo, one example -- Michelle Obama did not surrender her license to practice law, another example -- denying the theory of evolution.

But lately he has been weaving a myth to link Obama and the Muslim Brotherhood. (During his first effort he couldn't even pronounce Mubarak's name correctly.)

His support of Middle East dictators and summary police executions for the benefit of his religious myths is the clearest indication that the devil resides in his heart and works his magical tongue to mislead you regarding the real reason for the Egyptian uprising: Khaled Said, 28, who was beaten to death by Egyptian police in June 2010:

"Police officers at an Internet cafe below his apartment were exchanging a video that showed officers divvying up seized narcotics and cash. Relatives think the clip was delivered via Bluetooth to Said's computer by accident. The young man shared it with friends, who forwarded it to others.

Two of the detectives implicated in the video approached Said outside his building, in the Sidi Gaber district of Alexandria, about noon June 6. One grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him inside the Internet cafe.

The officers smashed Said's head against a marble table repeatedly, until the owner of the shop asked them to take it outside. They then dragged Said inside a nearby building where the two kicked him and smashed his head against stone steps, witnesses later told relatives.

The next day, Said's mother was notified that her son was at the morgue. The cause of death, she was told, was severe cardiovascular asphyxiation caused by a high level of drugs in his system. The initial police report received by the family said Said had apparently died after he swallowed a bag that contained marijuana.

Finding that account suspicious, relatives bribed a guard at the morgue to take a photo of the corpse. It showed Said's skull had been cracked and his face disfigured.

After local prosecutors expressed little interest in pursuing the case, Kassem, who was a father figure to Said, began holding news conferences. Said's cousins created a page on Facebook to expose what they called police brutality. "

"Since last June, the Khaled Said Facebook page has attracted more than 473,000 members and has become a tool not only for organizing the protests but also for providing regular updates about other cases of police abuse. "

Their efforts to expose police brutality took hold after the Tunisian uprising, which "started when a young merchant, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire after the police confiscated his produce cart Dec. 14, 2010. Following that, demonstrations, riots and strikes constituted the most dramatic wave of social and political unrest in Tunisia for the past three decades."

Those who support Middle East dictators and summary police executions do the devil's work.

Less Booze, More Meth

"'Dry counties' that prohibit alcohol sales seem to have . . . higher rates of DUI-related car crashes . . . [more] binge drinking"and more meth labs and incidents.

Read the Washington Post, These places banned booze. Now they’re dealing with something far worse, which included this graph:

So does that make our local Imam Truthiness (formerly known as Pastor Truthiness and Pastor Poppins), who opposes alcohol sales, a drug pusher?

More Pandering to Birther Buffoonery

UPDATE III:  He's back for 2016.

Read Slate, Donald Trump Will Save America From Boring Grownup GOP Primary, which notes that Republi-cons hoped "to avoid having such "eccentric" candidates this time around might be cringing at Trump's continued harping on President Obama's birth certificate, but there's not too much they can do to keep him under wraps."

UPDATE II:  Is your local congressman a birther?

It seems our congressman can't decide.  Read the Pensacola News Journal, Rep. Jeff Miller suspends Twitter account over 'birther poll'. 

UPDATE:  Donald Trump has helped Obamney win over the birthers, now all he needs is America's '9/11 truthers, alien abductees, doomsday preppers, Sasquatch hunters, and Sasquatches or Sasqui.'

Watch the Colbert Report, Donald Trump's Creative Truth & Mitt Romney's Poll Numbers:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Of course, some doubters think the Trump is bloviating ignoramus.  

Based upon the Pastor's self professed 10-year law enforcement background and experience, I'm waiting for the arrests that he claims are imminent.

In the meantime, the birthers are proving themselves buffoons again, with their racist lies.

Did you know that in 1990, "an obscure publication known as the New York Times had written about his election as head of the Harvard Law Review, and noted, 'His late father, Barack Obama, was a finance minister in Kenya and his mother, Ann Dunham, is an American anthropologist now doing fieldwork in Indonesia. Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii.'"  (From the Washington Post, The birthers are back! The birthers are back!)

Yet in Arizona, the Arizona secretary of state, Ken Bennett and former Republican president of the Arizona Senate, who is planning to run for governor in two years, is 'pandering to crackpots — and humiliating himself in the bargain.' 

"Never mind that Hawaii has confirmed publicly and repeatedly, since before the 2008 presidential election, that Mr. Obama was born there; that the Hawaii Department of Health has released both the short and long forms of the president’s birth certificate; and that all this information, along with clear-as-a-bell explanations, is available to the public online. [To birther buffoons] none of that is sufficient proof for the Show Me Your Papers State. . .

Everyone knows that birthers — the few that remain against the overwhelming facts of documentary evidence — are half-baked clowns who live for their pet conspiracy theory. . .

Fine. Let the buffoonery play through its final act. We’re confident that, in the end, Mr. Bennett will ensure that Arizona’s ballot includes the name of the president of the United States, all the while insisting, disingenuously, that his actions were merely an instance of due diligence.

But by threatening to exclude Mr. Obama from the ballot, Mr. Bennett transformed what should have been a farcical sideshow of the 2012 election into an actual menace to democracy. He legitimized the lunatic leanings of the United States’, and his party’s, most extreme elements. He put it in the minds of radicals everywhere that elected officials, for the shabbiest reasons (or none at all), can float the idea of bending ballot rules and suffer no adverse consequence.

In the process, he shamed Arizona on the 100th anniversary of its statehood, giving it the appearance of a banana republic that’s come unhinged under the influence of partisan fever."  (From the Washington Post, In Arizona, more birther buffoonery.)

And while one would think that "[w]henever the “birther” movement rears its head, sensible people argue that the press should just ignore it, since it’s so far out on the lunacy spectrum. . .

Mr. Bennett is not just your ordinary, garden-variety birther. He is co-chairman of the Mitt Romney campaign in Arizona. "  (From The New York Times, The Romney Campaign Joins the Birther Brigade.)

Alas, after embarrassing Arizona once again (you may remember that a "bill requiring presidential candidates to provide proof of citizenship in Arizona was vetoed last year by" the Republican governor), Bennett "received the 'verification in-lieu of certified copy' from officials within the Hawaii Department of Health that we requested in March . They have officially confirmed that the information in the copy of the Certificate of Live Birth for the President matches the original record in their files.'"  (From the Washington Post, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett satisfied Obama was born in United States.)

I can't wait to hear how our Resident Pastor-to-the-Dictators (AKA Pastor Truthiness (formerly known as Pastor Poppins)), who plagiarize lies to salvage his malicious fantasy campaign to brand Obama as an outsider, as un-American, as non-American, will explain it all to his sycophants on Friday.

For more on the birthers racists fantasies, see these prior posts:

This Post is For All You Birthers Out There

Republi-Cons Have No Shame, Judge Edition

The Spin of Pastor 2+2 Does Not = 4, AKA Pastor Dred Scott or Pastor Truthiness (Formerly Known as Pastor Poppins)

Don't Be Duped by the Birthers

No Justice For Victor Steen

UPDATE III:  Republi-con "illustrates just how much the Garner case really is about race. Had Eric Garner been a rural white man with a cowboy hat killed by federal agents, instead of a large black man choked to death by the NYPD, his face would be on a Ted Cruz for President poster by now."

Read The Atlantic, If Eric Garner Were White.

UPDATE II:  Note also, Wilson's testimony is tainted by racism.

Read Slate, Michael Brown Wasn’t a Superhuman Demon.  

UPDATE:  Note, the link below is the sequence of events laid out by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch, who has "a long record of protecting police in such cases." 

Read also VOX, Officer Darren Wilson's story is unbelievable. Literally. and Michael Brown spent his last day with his friend Dorian Johnson. Here's what Johnson saw.

I am not surprised that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson was not indicted, considering what happened in that case. 

Heck, in NW Florida, police can shoot an unarmed black man in his own driveway, or kill a young black man for riding a bicycle.

Does anyone remember Victor Steen, a 17 year old young black male, chased, then crushed under a Pensacola Police cruiser on October 3, 2009.

Why you might ask?  Because Pensacola Police Officer Jerald Ard saw Steen ride a bicycle through an empty construction site.

Ard pursued Steen in his police cruiser, attempted to fire a Taser weapon from the window of the moving cruiser, and drove the cruiser on the side walk, and against traffic, trying to knock Steen off the bicycle.

Don't take my word for it, watch the video:



For more on this case, read Do Anyone Really Care?

Morning Joe for President?

UPDATE IV:  Another trial balloon:  "The MSNBC host has Beltway buzz for his flirtation with the 2016 presidential race. Republican primary voters may be a different story."

Read The Atlantic, Joe Scarborough for President? Sure, Why Not?

UPDATE III:  “The hot buzz from No Labels circles is the TV host is ‘mulling’ a bid. He can't win, but it'd be funny to watch.”

Read Salon, Run, Joe, run! Why a Scarborough presidential run would be doomed and amazing.   

UPDATE II:  Another divorce for Morning Joe.  

Read the Washington Post, TMZ, Quiet Divorce ... After 12-Year Marriage. 

One divorce might have been explainable, but now after two there will never be a President Joe.  But don't shed too many tears, his current gig pays $99,038/week.

UPDATE: The Draft Morning Joe movement appears to have started back in June with The Daily Beast, Joe Scarborough Can Save the GOP.

And the talk continues on Politico, David Petraeus, Joe Scarborough eyed for '12.

Sometimes a political hack, Scarborough can be independent, calling them like he see them, regardless of party politics.

Will it be Scarborough v. Obama in 2012? One "fresh, aggressive voice for Democrats and a watchdog of the Republican Party" New Yorker thinks it would be an interesting race.

Read The Ostroy Report, President Scarborough? "Morning Joe" Would Be a Viable Threat To Obama in 2012.

How about Scarborough/Palin or Palin/Scarborough?

BTW, what do Joe and Sarah have in common? (Hint, think Mel Marinez.)


P.S.

I predict that Morning Joe doesn't run because he's got a good gig and he doesn't want to explain why he resigned from Congress. Too bad because lord knows that the Republi-con party needs some help and he might be just the person to reform a party awash in grievance, self-pity, resentment, and anger.

All Joe has to say to resurrect his political career is that he didn't like the person that he became in Washington D.C., but that he has matured and is ready to try again.

Pensacola's Poor Little Mullet-Wrapper

Remember the Sheriff bragging about the local ATF operation "Anything for a Buck", which was ended with the Sheriff saying things like 'it had reached a saturation point', 'before it caused crime', and 'they didn't want to aid and abet'? 

Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, ATF uses rogue tactics in storefront stings across nation. The read the rest of the newspaper's investigative series, Backfire.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a 'Watchdog' section' to hold "politicians and the powerful accountable".  It puts our little mullet-wrapper to shame. 

I May Be Paranoid, But They Are Watching You

Want to know the extent of the massive surveillance of American citizens by 'our' government, read the Pensacola News Journal, Washington High student's bomb joke no laughing matter, which reported:

"What started out as an apparent joke over Twitter ended in a criminal investigation and the possibility of expulsion for a student at Washington High School.

Investigators were at Booker T. Washington High School last month after a student reportedly tweeted a friend that she 'would pay someone to blow up this school,' according to a Pensacola Police incident report.

'Sure. Where? When?' the friend tweeted in reply.

The Twitter exchange between the Washington student and a Pensacola State College student took place just before 11 a.m. Oct. 29, according to the report. The communication was intercepted by an outside agency. The actual agency that spotted the perceived threat and reported it to the school was unclear, local officials said. (Emphasis added in case you missed it.)

'It was because of the words that were utilized that they informed the school,' Pensacola Police Captain David Alexander said.

Once the school was notified, school officials contacted the police, who were able to track the tweets to an honors student at the high school and a student attending PSC, Alexander said.

'The next thing you know, they were the subject of an investigation,' Alexander said."

If this report doesn't worry you . . .

(The article did note that "detectives determined that the tweets posed no real threat, and no arrests were made.")

Also, read You Better Watch Out, He's Making a List, He Knows When You've Been Bad or Good, and It Ain't Just Santa and Uncle Sam's Naughty List.

The Alabamay Al Qaeda

UPDATE:  "A rapping jihadi from Alabama who ascended the ranks of Somalia's al-Qaida-linked extremist rebels and was on the FBI's Most Wanted list with a $5 million reward for his capture was killed Thursday in an ambush ordered by the rebels' leader, the militants said.

Omar Hammami, a native of Daphne, Alabama, who was known as Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki, or "the American," died in southern Somalia following several months on the run after a falling-out with al-Shabab's top leader, the rebels said."

Read the Huffington Post, Omar Hammami Dead: American Jihadi Killed In Somalia, Reports Say.  

How did a small-town Alabama high school kid, "among the coolest, most gifted students in his class," grow up to become a leader in an African terror group linked to Al Qaeda?

Read The New York Times, The Jihadist Next Door.

Go Argonauts?

UPDATE V:  More than four year later, read the Pensacola New Journal, UWF to field football in 2016. 

UPDATE IV: Did UWF announce a new football program, or just announce that the university is thinking about it? Justin thinks that later:

"UWF holds a massive media event, gets everyone all crazy about college football coming to Pensacola and then their big chief announces 'I am authorizing the AD to look into the feasibility of pursuing our overall athletic program including football.'"

Looks like they will 'Maritime Park' this and the university will get football in about 20 years.


UPDATE III: I tried to get Terry to discuss this yesterday. Read the Pensacola News Journal, UWF ready for football, which states:

"Today there will be no more exploring the possibility. UWF is setting a course to pursue football and become the first NCAA Division II school to sponsor the sport in the state of Florida.

According to multiple sources, Bense will announce that UWF plans to begin the process of instituting football at the school during the Argo Arrival Kickoff Pep Rally. The pep rally is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at UWF Field House.

On Wednesday, UWF distributed a news release noting Bense would attend the event, which begins the annual welcoming process to campus for students, and "make an announcement about the future of UWF athletics and student life."

When contacted Wednesday, a UWF spokesperson said Bense had no comment on the subject. Gulf South Conference Commissioner Nathan Salant did not return a phone message left at his office in Birmingham, Ala.

If the Argonauts field a football team, they would become the seventh conference school in the sport, joining Delta State, North Alabama, Valdosta State, West Alabama, West Georgia and Shorter College."

UPDATE II: The secret is out, as Stephen has found, Gulf South Conference Commissioner Nate Salant states that he expects UWF to announce the addition of football "any day now." See GSC DigiNet, beginning at about the 3:50 minute mark.

Good job to Stephen the newshound!


UPDATE: After more than two years of speculation and discussion, UWF is planning a "special pep rally," and rumor has it the university will announce a football program. Read Rick's Blog, Buzz: UWF to announce football program.


Now all they need is a new school nickname!

For years there has been talk of starting a football program at the University of West Florida. Someone should just start a club football team like a student did at the University of Vermont. See The New York Times, A Year of Toil and Sweat, Then They Played a Game.

As I said before, it would be relatively easy, quick, and cheap. And if it proves popular, it would justify a varsity program.

Go Argonauts!

P.S.

They could practice the Lateralpalooza.

Even More Good Ol’ Boy Shenanigans In Podunk-cola

UPDATE:  Says one commenter:  The mayor is just the "Tip OF The Bubba Berg" here in Podunk-cola.

Says another commenter:  The mayor is just   "looking for a job in Tallahassee soon. His inflated self image and egotistical personality will not allow him to stay in a small pond like Pensacola. His staff complains about him constantly behind his back to others that he is self centered, spoiled local brat who's best friend is a mirror. The people and his own staff who supported his election now see the real Hayward as someone who has no interest beyond his own, has no appreciation for those who work for him or around him, and has an ego about himself that is just embarrassing in public. He wants just be seen, waited on, has his ego stroked, and travel around Pensacola with his Entourage to look so important. We call these people Politicians."

"Lies, deception, fake identities and covert meetings in downtown bars. You can't make this stuff up. This is the tale of Pensacola politics—where the facts don’t matter, perception and gossip rule and maim, and careers and reputations can be destroyed without hesitation."


Read IN Weekly, The Upside of Corruption.

Public Defenders or Criminals?

UPDATE VII:  Now the "Florida Bar [is] examining possible ethics violations."  Read the Pensacola New Journal, Owens' former top man being investigated.   

UPDATE VI:  "Former Public Defender James Owens 'blazed a path of cronyism,' 'wasted state assets' and oversaw a 'four-year blight on the Public Defender’s Office,' according to a Florida state attorney.

But Owens will not face criminal charges for the laundry list of accusations investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, according to a Wednesday letter from 14th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Glenn Hess of Panama City.

Hess’ strongly worded letter says the cloud Owens cast over the Public Defender’s Office has 'been cured by his removal from office.'"

Read the Pensacola News Journal, No charges for former Public Defender James Owens.

UPDATE V:  "The former local chief assistant public defender “engaged in a pattern of criminal conduct that renders him unfit for public employment” but will not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has expired, according to a Florida state attorney.

In a Dec. 18 letter to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 14th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Glenn Hess revealed that 'one of the more shocking allegations' against former defender Tony Henderson was that he impregnated a juvenile client he represented in 1993.

Henderson began having sex with the 14-year-old girl, calling her at home after hours, the letter says. In 1996, she gave birth, and Henderson has been making $800 monthly payments since then, 'presumably in child support.'"

Read the Pensacola News Journal, Former defender Tony Henderson allegedly had relations with teen client.

UPDATE IV: Unfortunately for the PD's Office, a picture is worth a thousand words. Read this 443 word editorial at the Pensacola New Journal, Editorial: Animal House, and enjoy this editorial cartoon:




UPDATE III: More lawyer problems at the local Public Defender's Office.

First, a "lawyer who was transferred out of the main Public Defender's Office in September because of a sexual misconduct incident is 'no longer with the office' after a weekend arrest on a noise complaint." Read the Pensacola News Journal, Assistant public defender loses job after weekend arrest.

Also, a judge granted a notorious defendant's "request for a new attorney instead of former friend, assistant public defender [name removed]. Tice alleged [the lawyer] is an 'alcoholic' who 'advised him to break the law.'" Read the Pensacola News Journal, The current case against "Cab" Tice.


UPDATE II: A local I told ya so:

You may remember we discussed this in November 2011 as well as other questionable conduct at the local PD's Office. A regular caller, Clint, who works at the PD's Office called to defend them. During the discussion I asked about Bud Day, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam. During the hotly contested election, Day endorsed James Owens. After winning the election, Owens hired Day, who was at least 80 years old. I specifically challenged Clint to describe what Day did at the Shalimar office, since it was widely rumored he did little.

Maybe someone was listening. Read the Pensacola New Journal, FDLE questions Bud Day's role at Public Defender's Office.


UPDATE: "IN Exclusive: Victim in Henderson scandal speaks out" and seems to deny key parts of the story in the Sunday paper. Read Rick's Blog, She’s not a stripper, pill-head or deadbeat.

When asked "who was behind this story going public" the alleged vicitm's boyfriend replied "Whoever is wanting to run against Owens is pushing this very hard."

It will be interesting to see if the Pensacola New Journal prints a retraction.

"The No. 2 attorney at the Public Defender's Office is being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after a former client's accusation that he requested sexual favors in exchange for effective legal services.

Tony Henderson, whom Public Defender James Owens named chief assistant public defender following Owens' 2008 election, is accused of making harassing telephone calls and lewd comments to the woman he was representing in a prescription drug fraud case.

The FDLE has investigated allegations of sexual misconduct involving both Henderson and Owens on two previous occasions in the past 13 years, and the Public Defender's Office conducted another inquiry of Henderson with Owens as a supporting witness 19 years ago."

Read the Pensacola New Journal, No. 2 public defender faces possible misconduct probe.

Republi-CON Civil Rights Hypocrisy

Republi-cons may love one civil right, but disdain most others.

Locally, our Santa Rosa County Sheriff Wendell Hall supports the 2nd Amendment and endorses the right to bear arms to protect our freedoms. Read the Pensacola New Journal, Milton rally supports right to bear arms, Local leaders gather to show support for gun ownership in Saturday’s paper.

Coincidentally, several weeks ago a local law firm sent out an email highlighting a settlement on a high profile lawsuit against the Sheriff regarding another civil rights. The email noted:

“The case arose out of a nighttime confrontation between the Sheriffs' deputies and homeowners, shortly after Hurricane Ivan made landfall, in 2004. A private home, damaged by the storm and temporally abandoned by its owners, was apparently being broken into. Neighbors saw flashlights inside the upstairs of the house. The side door of the house was kicked in, and muddy boot prints were discovered on the door and leading up the stairway.

Neighbors confronted the two intruders with flashlights by asking them to get out of the house. The light-wielding individuals responded by yelling back inappropriate and threatening expletives. Convinced that the home was being looted, one of the neighbors fired a warning shot into the ground, a few feet in front of him, to alert others around, and to defend his neighborhood.

The prowlers brandishing flashlights turned out to be two sheriff's deputies-one from Santa Rosa County, and the other from Pinellas County. The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's office gave conflicting accounts as to why they were inside the house, or even if they were in the house at all. The two deputies abandoned the house and flanked some of the neighbors outside their homes.

The deputies ran at the neighbors in the street, and began to swear, yell and threaten them with their weapons drawn. The deputies did not identify themselves until just a few feet before they reached the homeowners. Once the deputies identified themselves, the homeowners quickly surrendered.

After the two homeowners surrendered by lying flat on the ground with their hands out, the officer from Pinellas County then brutally attacked one of them-a retired New York City Police Captain. The captain's wife reacted to the brutal attacks, and was herself fiercely tackled and permanently injured.

The responding police officers called to the scene attempted to cover up the misconduct and went as far as threatening the witnesses. When the homeowners refused to cooperate with the coverup, the Police Captain and the neighbor who fired the warning shot, a retired Air Force Colonel, were arrested and charged with attempted murder.

Despite formal protests from the Sheriff, all charges were quickly dropped by the State's Attorney's office. The Santa Rosa County Sheriff doggedly refused to even look into whether his deputies had engaged in misconduct that evening. When the two involved homeowners insisted, the Santa Rosa Sheriff retaliated by trying to bring new criminal charges against them.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations opened a case after the homeowners complained that the Sheriff was retaliating against them for filing a legitimate grievance. One Santa Rosa deputy resigned and the Pinellas County deputy went to federal prison for a year for violating the civil rights of the retired NYPD Police Captain.”

The citizens of Santa Rosa County might need those guns to protect themselves from assault, battery, threats, false arrest, fabricated charges, and retaliation by the Sheriff, who apparently has less regard for the 4th Amendment and little respect for the right to be free from unreasonable searches and unlawful arrests.

Local Republi-CON Voted Twice for FL Septic Tank Inspections Before He Voted Against Them

"A campaign ad for Sen. Don Gaetz touches on jobs, education and septic tanks.

Florida’s next Senate president is telling voters in a new campaign ad that he fought to overturn a "fast one" pulled by Tallahassee lawmakers.

"When Tallahassee pulled a fast one on septic tanks, Gaetz fought back," a TV advertisement says.

That’s partially true.

But Sen. Don Gaetz, a loquacious Republican from the Panhandle, is leaving something out when he discusses a never-enforced and now largely repealed measure requiring septic tank inspections every five years.

He voted for the inspections. Twice."

Read In TV ad, PolitiFact Florida, Don Gaetz distorts debate over septic tank inspections.

Red States Better Hope Austerity Just Continues To Be a Republi-CON Con Game

Red states are to the U.S. what the PIIGS are to the European Union, and "austerity might be no more welcome here than it is in Europe."  Read The New York Times, How Richer States Finance Poorer Ones, which references "an interactive map that shows the incidence of government benefits by county, in total and broken down by type of program. One can click on a county to discover the amount of transfer income per capita in the county and the fraction of the county’s income represented by transfer payments. It appears that there are quite a few Greeces within the American borders."

Can you say oink oink NW Florida.