Thursday Thoughts – Open Discussion

Jan 8

Posted by

butterfly6-500x500Will we ever see a day when no one is killed, when the wars will end, when hurting people stop hurting others?

Will we see a day when people stop lumping others into their prejudicial opinions of religion, race, gender, or sexual preference?

 

When will people stop using evil against evil?

 

blue butterflies

A commercial has come to my area.  I discovered that the same business is located elsewhere.  It is the most stereotypical commercial I’ve ever seen — insulting.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, there is much happening in the news.  It’s too much for me to write about separately.  This thread is open to discuss whatever is on your mind, in the news, on your heart.

And remember;

 

 

Posted on 01/08/2015, in open discussion and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 26 Comments.

  1. mindyme62 | 01/08/2015 at 6:05 am

    The commercial is disgusting, who in their right mind would think that was a good way to attract customers.

    Love the video Song!

    Like

    Reply
  2. writersdream9 | 01/08/2015 at 6:42 am

    “Love IS the answer”! Thank you for such an inspiring post!!

    Like

    Reply
  3. yahtzeebutterfly | 01/08/2015 at 7:40 am

    The questions you ask in your article, Xena, immediately brought to the fore the emotional exhaustion I have been feeling as my heart has been reacting to all the social and legal injustices that have been occurring in our nation.

    Exhaustion, because there is so much that needs to be addressed. Exhaustion, because I see little change after my signing petitions, being in two demonstrations (“Black Lives Matter” and the 100 cities rally after the gz verdict), addressing benefits and advantages that Whites have that others do not, and seeking change to our gun laws and SYG. Exhaustion from disappointment in realizing that even videotaped wrongs have not been enough to achieve convictions or grand jury indictments.

    Yet, I also see the positive. The public is much more aware of legal cases that fail to resolve the injustices; of some prosecutors who fail to advocate FAIRLY and effectively for victims; of the “atmosphere” within some police departments that prevents whistleblowers from coming forward; etc. With such awareness, the public now has a better idea of which problems need to be addressed and now knows the importance of keeping the spotlight on those problems through protests, demonstrations, lawsuits, and formation of such organizations as “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense” and the “Trayvon Martin Foundation.”

    Xena, I so much appreciate your steadfast determination to bring to us cases of injustice and informing us of victims of mistreatment and unjustified LE shootings. Your very professional manner of presentation and discussion is to be admired. Your blog is a shining light, and, to me, is one of the best blogs pushing for legal and social justice!

    Like

    Reply
    • Xena | 01/08/2015 at 8:11 pm

      Yahtzeebutterfly,
      Your comment expresses my thoughts also. The public now sees the injustices taking place right before their eyes. Many are asking how it can happen.

      Thanks for your kind words about the blog. As I’ve stated all along, it is those who participate here who make it a shining light.

      Like

      Reply
  4. yahtzeebutterfly | 01/08/2015 at 9:34 am

    I became aware of the issue of police body cams and cruiser cameras with the Michael Brown case. As we all know, even though the Ferguson PD had cruiser cams, they had never been installed. The public would have a much better understanding of what unfolded between Michael Brown and Darren Wilson had his cruiser been equipped with a cam.

    Since August I have looked for articles relating to cruiser and LE body cams.

    It turns out that last Spring 2014 in Los Angeles it was discovered that drivers of police cruisers had removed antennas in their vehicles. These antennas made possible audio (hundreds of yards from the cruisers) of police encounters with the public.

    Here are the two L.A. Times articles on this problematic discovery:

    LAPD officers tampered with in-car recording equipment, records show
    An inspection by LAPD investigators found about half of the estimated 80 cars in one South L.A. patrol division were missing antennas.
    http://articles.latimes.com/2014/apr/07/local/la-me-lapd-tamper-20140408

    and

    Panel to question LAPD on tampering of officers’ recording gear
    Police Commission wants to know why the LAPD did not try to find out which officers tampered with voice recording equipment and why it did not immediately tell the panel about the vandalism.
    http://articles.latimes.com/2014/apr/08/local/la-me-lapd-tamper-20140409

    Was the policer cruiser audio working when those two police officers had their investigative stop of Ezell Ford in which they ended up shooting him to death? Was the antenna that would have captured their words with Ezell present in their cruiser or had it been removed? (I have unsuccessfully searched for an audio recording of the encounter. Have any of you found one?)

    Here is an excerpt from one of the articles I linked above that explains how the audio for the cams works on LAPD cruisers:

    The cameras, which turn on automatically whenever an officer activates the car’s emergency lights and sirens or can be activated manually, are used to record traffic stops and other encounters that occur in front of the vehicle. Officers also wear small transmitters on their belts that relay their voices back to the antennas in the patrol car. Regardless of whether they are in front of the camera, officers’ voices can be recorded hundreds of yards away from the car, said Sgt. Dan Gomez, a department expert on the recording devices.

    The distance an officer can roam and still be recorded depends on what buildings and other objects are interfering with the signal. Removing an antenna does not render the voice recorder useless but cuts its range by as much as a third, Gomez said, citing information from the manufacturer.

    Most of the antennas were removed from cars in the Southeast Division, which covers Watts, Jordan Downs and Nickerson Gardens, where relations between police and minority communities have historically been marred by mistrust and claims of officer abuse. The in-car video cameras have been touted as a powerful deterrent to police misconduct and a tool for defending officers against false accusations.

    A federal judge last year formally ended more than a decade of close monitoring of the LAPD by the U.S. Department of Justice. The judge agreed to lift the oversight, in part, after city and police leaders made assurances that the LAPD had adequate safeguards, such as the cameras, in place to monitor itself.

    Like

    Reply
  5. scrodriguez | 01/08/2015 at 1:32 pm

    Xena,

    The issue here and I agree that commercial is offensive as all F***** However I also blame the actors who are willing to take what ever script they are given just so they can get paid and perhaps more work in the future.

    There is another commercial that I see out here all the time for a low income cell phone and it depicts people of color all excited and happy they qualify for the phone thus continuing to stereo type people of color painting a public image that they are all poor low income and on Govt assistance.

    When in reality well let me put it to you like this, Mr. Stalker uses a Cricket Cell phone here is some info on that
    http://www.cellularphones4free.com/califonia-lifeline/

    Like

    Reply
    • Xena | 01/08/2015 at 8:05 pm

      scrodriguez,
      Yeah — Mr. Stalker sent several comments here through his Cricket phone using public wi-fi.

      I thought about writing the television network that airs that commercial. Then I also thought about writing the company, but they are running the same commercial in Denver so having it pulled here doesn’t put an end to the bad stereotyping.

      I’ve noticed that the payday loan commercials are also geared towards minorities. Those commercials in my area are almost exclusively with Latino actors and in fact, they run one commercial in Spanish.

      Like

      Reply
  6. peni4yothot | 01/08/2015 at 8:48 pm

    Heather retweeted

    someone slipped one past the editor

    Like

    Reply
    • Xena | 01/09/2015 at 1:10 am

      That’s the history. It’s a history of oppression first against European immigrants then people of color. It’s always been more about harassment and fear than catching criminals.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  7. yahtzeebutterfly | 01/09/2015 at 1:06 pm

    “Federal and law enforcement officials will brief media Friday about the attempted bombing earlier this week at the Colorado Springs NAACP office.

    “A news conference is scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday and will include representatives from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Colorado Springs Police Department, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, and Fountain Police Department.”

    http://gazette.com/law-enforcement-schedule-update-on-attempted-naacp-bombing-in-colorado-springs/article/1544313

    Like

    Reply
  8. butterflydreamer2 | 01/09/2015 at 6:19 pm

    EXCLUSIVE: Now Ferguson prosecutor is accused of lying about evidence in ANOTHER grand jury which cleared police of killing two unarmed black men

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2902587/Now-Ferguson-prosecutor-accused-lying-evidence-grand-jury-cleared-police-killing-two-unarmed-black-men.html

    Like

    Reply
    • Xena | 01/10/2015 at 7:10 pm

      butterflydreamer, thanks for the link. Prosecutors, IMHO, are in conflict of interest when they take cases involving cops shootings before a grand jury. Their goal is to indict and convict “criminals” and cops are suppose to apprehend and arrest “criminals.” How then does a prosecutor see a cop as a “suspect”? This conflict of interest is noted in Juror Doe’s petition before the court when he/said alleges that the jury heard more about Michael Brown than Darren Wilson.

      Like

      Reply
  9. yahtzeebutterfly | 01/09/2015 at 7:29 pm

    deray mckesson @deray · 1h 1 hour ago
    Judges recuse themselves in case of Kendrick Johnson’s mysterious death”
    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/08/kendrick-johnson-judges-recuse-dead-georgia-teen-case …

    Like

    Reply
    • Xena | 01/09/2015 at 9:52 pm

      The judge seemed to say that the Johnson family would never get justice in that county. Every decision-maker in power is connected to someone who is connected to what happened to Kendrick. Like Ferguson, MO, it’s the classic small town where power and authority are in the hands of a few, and passed on through patronage and nepotism.

      Like

      Reply
  10. yahtzeebutterfly | 01/11/2015 at 1:32 pm

    “High court case could foil government suits over job bias”

    https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20150111/news/301119958/

    Excerpt:

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court could put the brakes on the Obama administration’s growing crackdown against companies facing claims of discrimination against women, minorities and other protected groups.

    Justices will hear arguments Tuesday in a case that considers whether employers can defend discrimination lawsuits by asserting that government lawyers did not try hard enough to settle claims before going to court.

    Like

    Reply
    • Xena | 01/11/2015 at 5:41 pm

      Yahtzeebutterfly,

      Justices will hear arguments Tuesday in a case that considers whether employers can defend discrimination lawsuits by asserting that government lawyers did not try hard enough to settle claims before going to court.

      The government, (understand that to mean the EEOC), prosecutes very few cases. They issue right to sue letters to complainants. What the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear is a case concerning the EEOC’s program on class-action suits. It does not involve individual complainants.

      To say it another way, when a company has experienced numerous discrimination charges filed against it, the EEOC is saying, “Wait. There’s a pattern here and it must be stopped.”

      The case coming before the Supreme Court started in the 7th Circuit. That’s the circuit where I live. It’s a case against Mach Mining that alleges they do not hire qualified women applicants.

      The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago found that a court has no business peering into the EEOC’s private settlement talks. Mach Mining disagrees because the courts in some other circuits do peer into settlement negotiations, counter-challenges, and the history for why the case ended up in the court. Those courts with settlement mediation programs (such as the 7th Circuit) have jurisdiction to know what takes place in their ordered mediation, but not what takes place in settlement negotiations before a case is filed.

      I suspect that the Supreme Court is going to affirm the decision of the 7th Circuit.

      Like

      Reply
      • yahtzeebutterfly | 01/11/2015 at 6:26 pm

        Fascinating!

        I appreciate all of this info you have provided, Xena.

        Like

        Reply
        • Xena | 01/11/2015 at 6:39 pm

          Yahtzeebutterfly, no problem. Filing a charge with the EEOC and procedures thereafter is not a process commonly known. It has been my plan for months to post on it, along with case decisions. The cases include gender, age, religious, and disability discrimination. They also include sexual harassment in the workplace, and that involves both genders. I think that the general public will be surprised to know what the courts require to prove claims of discrimination. It is a very time consuming project and maybe I can write on it this year.

          Like

          Reply
          • yahtzeebutterfly | 01/11/2015 at 6:52 pm

            I would certainly appreciate such a post sometime in the months ahead. I can only imagine how complicated it is.

            Like

          • Xena | 01/11/2015 at 10:28 pm

            Yahtzeebutterfly,
            Before I can get into the meat of it, it requires some history. With each protected class of citizens came “requirements” established by the court to support the allegations. The courts also established who can and cannot be sued. Till this day, there are attorneys who sue supervisors in their personal capacity. With so many court decisions establishing that is not allowed under Title VII, I don’t understand why practicing attorneys have not learned that. I have picked up that in some cases, because employees really don’t know who to complain to, don’t document complaints, or doorkeepers stand in their way, that some attorneys might believe that the only party subject to suit is the perpetrator. So, my presentation on that topic will be multifaceted.

            Like

          • yahtzeebutterfly | 01/14/2015 at 6:19 pm

            Sounds like such a task with its research on the separate requirements for each protected group of citizens, actual cases, etc. would require months on your part, Xena….much like a Phd dissertation. Whew!

            Like

          • Xena | 01/14/2015 at 10:09 pm

            It is a massive project — something I’ve been working on for a long time.

            Like

  11. yahtzeebutterfly | 01/14/2015 at 6:14 pm

    “Police killings prompt states to pursue new limits – and new protections – for law officers”

    http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/288574201.html

    Like

    Reply
  12. yahtzeebutterfly | 01/29/2015 at 1:13 pm

    Trial date could be set today in Pasco theater shooting
    Tribune Staff
    Published: January 29, 2015
    – See more at: http://tbo.com/pasco-county/trial-date-could-be-set-today-in-pasco-theater-shooting-20150129/#sthash.yBeQPGY4.dpuf

    Like

    Reply

Join the discussion