"Are you claiming in any way that you don't understand English?" Trayvon Martin's Friend Takes the Stand

 

Throughout the entire Trayvon Martin Trial, Trayvon Martin's girlfriend Friend,  Rachel Jeantel has been the most painful witness to watch. Jeantel is a 19 year old high school senior who was the last person to speak to Trayvon moments before he was gunned down. She had a very close relationship with Trayvon and in her testimony yesterday told a very detailed explanation of the phone call that took place in the last moments of his life.

She recalled her conversation with Trayvon in court Wednesday saying "A man was watching him," "He said the man kept watching him. He kept complaining that a man was just watching him." She went on to explain how she told Trayvon to run, when he thought a man Zimmerman was following her. The last thing she heard Trayvon say was, "Get off, Get off".

The defense attorney West was extrememly rude and came off as a complete bully (as most defense attorney's are), nevertheless Jeantel was agressive but consistent. Today in court Jeantel had a completely different attitude, answering most of the defense attorneys questions with "yes sir".

Even when her intelligence was constantly brought into question, she kept her composure. She was even asked by West (Defense attorney):

"Are you claiming in any way that you don't understand English?" (West)
"I don't understand you, I do understand English," said Jeantel.
 "When someone speaks to you in English, do you believe you have any difficulty understanding it because it wasn't your first language?" asked West.
 "I understand English really well," said Jeantel.

The saddest part of the testimony for me was when the defense lawyer:
The prosecutor asks Jeantel if a friend wrote her letter to Martin's mom. She said yes.
"You can’t write in cursive, correct?" asked de la Rionda.
"Yes, sir," said Jeantel.
"You also can’t read in cursive?" asked de la Rionda.
"Yes, sir," said Jeantel.

The fact that the defense attorney had to attack her character, speech, her education in order to discredit her was cruel, but this is a murder trial. However I believe his questioning blew up in his face because Jeantel may have lost her temper a few times, and may have got a little mixed up when he asked confusing questions, SHE WAS CONSISTENT. And a consistent witness is always a good witness. 

Opinion: Don't cry for Dorner if you're black

Photo/LAPD

By geekswagg

Yes racism played a huge part of Chris Dorner's death, but don't cry for him. What about his innocent victims. Who will cry for them? The couple about to be married? Quan's daughter and her fiance Keith Lawrence. The two cops just doing their jobs.

Christopher Dorner's Death Brings Forth More Questions

And one at the top of my list: HOW DID THE FIRE START?

This manhunt for one, Christopher Dorner spiraled out of control. I mean, the coverage of the burning cabin nearly overshadowed the President's State of the Union address!

There are so many questions about this entire incident.  Dorner got what he wanted in the end. Kind of. More questions were raised about the conduct of the LAPD and how they handled not only Dorner's firing, but the manhunt itself.

A six-day hunt for a former policeman suspected of a killing spree in California ended on Wednesday when a cabin in the mountains above LA went up in flames.

A body suspected to be that of Christopher Dorner was found in the ruins of the building. Dorner is suspected to have killed four people in a vendetta against LA police officers and their families; the fourth was an officer from San Bernardino County sheriff's department killed in a shootout at the cabin on Tuesday night.

Dorner had threatened to bring "warfare" to the LAPD, having claimed he had been the subject of racism when he was sacked from his job as a policeman there. Rory Carroll has the full story.

It is not yet clear how the fire at the cabin was started, but some evidence seems to suggest it may have been as a consequence of the tear gas fired by police.

A recording purporting to be of the conversation on police scanners as officers surrounded the cabin where Dorner was hiding seems to show police discussing "going forward with the plan, with, er, with the burn" or "burner".

Journalist Max Blumenthal claims to have been listening to the police scanners through an iPhone app at the time and has put together a timeline of events. The key tweets match the YouTube video purporting to be the police scanner:

Hard to decipher on San Bernadino Sheriff scanner now: "We're gonna go ahead w/the plan w/the burner... Like we talked about."
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 12, 2013

BREAKING: PD scanners right now: "The burner's deployed and we have a fire." Sheriffs have set #Dorner cabin on fire or so it seems.
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 13, 2013

SB County System 6,7,8 scanner: "We have fire in the front and it may come out the back" #Dorner
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 13, 2013

According to the Associated Press, writing from Big Bear Lake, California, where the incident took place, the police attacked the cabin like so:

A SWAT team surrounded the cabin and used an armoured vehicle to break out the cabin windows, said a law enforcement official who requested anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The officers then pumped a gas into the cabin and blasted a message over a loudspeaker: "Surrender or come out."
The armoured vehicle then tore down each of the cabin's four walls.
A single shot was heard inside before the cabin was engulfed in flames, the law enforcement official told the Associated Press.

The LA Times describes it like this:

Just before 5pm, authorities smashed the cabin's windows, pumped in tear gas and called for the suspect to surrender. They got no response. Then, using a demolition vehicle, they tore down the cabin's walls one by one. When they reached the last wall, they heard a gunshot. Then the cabin burst into flames.

A spokesman for the San Bernardino County sheriff's office refused to answer any media questions about the fire or Dorner's death until the press conference the police force is holding on Wednesday at 4pm LA time (midnight GMT).

In conclusion, were media outlets told to shut down their live feeds and stop flying overhead because the murder of a suspect was allegedly taking place?

SOURCE

EXCLUSIVE: WAS EX-COP CHRISTOPHER DORNER BURNED ALIVE BY LAPD?

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No rapist dare to attack you, be confident with this device

RapeX 

Here's is a psychological reason to explain why a man may never rape a woman again as well as why father's like T.I. may not have to worry on the weekend. 

A woman wearing device like the one pictured here will provide a woman with the small satisfaction of knowing that a rapist will soon be in major pain. When he tries to penetrate her, his penis will slide into a sheath lined with barbs. To remove them, he’ll need to a see a doctor, who will call the police.

The name of this product is RapeX. The six-year-old device — invented by a white South African woman — is inserted like a tampon and fits like one. It got a good deal of press when it was released, but is back in the news again thanks to a viral Facebook image shared by TonyaTKOShow.

But it also raises a lot of questions says, The Dominion of New York. 

Does it subvert rape culture or reinforce the message that it’s women’s fault and responsibility? How will women who are raped by acquaintances — the vast majority of rape cases — protect themselves ? Will they need to wear this all the time? Will a rapist who encounters this turn into a murderer?

As a tool of revenge, RapeX is brilliant. Who doesn’t fantasize about harming these guys? And it could be a pretty powerful deterrent to stranger rape or a young male suitor trying to "holler at" T.I.'s daughter.

As reported by MediaTakeout, "T.I. allegedly cussed out a teenager [this week] because he disrespected his family."

Carolina Panthers, Kion Wilson Reports $1700 Worth of Weapons Stolen

By Alicia Cruz

Staff Writer

The Black Urban Times

Charlotte, North Carolina police are investigating the theft of weapons from the vehicle of Carolina Panthers linebacker Kion Wilson.
ESPN News reports that Wilson was headed to a local firing range for practice shooting when he stopped at a Best Buy near the Northlake Mall to shop. When the 25-year-old Florida native returned to his F250 truck, he noticed the weapons were missing.

Floyd Mayweather Assault Conviction Sentence to Begin in January

By Alicia Cruz

The Black Urban Times

In an effort to avoid facing trial on felony battery and other charges, Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. pleaded guilty in Las Vegas last week to a misdemeanor domestic battery charge stemming from a September 2010 incident involving his former live-in girlfriend and the mother of his children, Josie Harris.

Five Arrested in North Carolina Christmas Eve Rumble

By Alicia Cruz

The black Urban Times

'Twas the day before Christmas, and all throughout the city not much was stirring except for a dust up brewing along the 1300 block of Davis Street in Jacksonville, North Carolina that sent three adults and two teens to the county jail for the holiday.

OPERATION MONEY FISH Florida Mafia Crew Dismantled

Members of the New York-based Bonanno crime family were making millions of dollars in South Florida cashing counterfeit checks, running telemarketing scams, defrauding Medicare, and stealing and selling people’s identities. But when they hooked up with a shady businessman to help them launder all that money, they got more than they bargained for.

The businessman with supposed connections in the banking industry was really one of our undercover agents, and he infiltrated the mafia crew for nearly a year. The evidence he gathered, along with intercepted phone calls and other electronic surveillance, was enough to put the entire 11-member operation out of business and behind bars.

“The mafia has always been in South Florida,” our agent explained. “Each of New York’s five families has crews that operate here. They make a lot of money and send part of it back to the main guys up north.”

The Bonanno family’s criminal enterprise in South Florida—led by Tommy Fiore, the nephew of reputed Bonanno capo Gerry Chili—was wide ranging. In addition to the scams mentioned above, the crew also participated in arson, extortion, drug trafficking, and buying and selling stolen cigarettes, TVs, and other ill-gotten goods.

Operation Money Fish began in the summer of 2008, when our agent—who was known as Dave Stone—met Fiore. The Bonanno crew was manufacturing counterfeit payroll checks from large companies and needed help cashing them. They would copy a legitimate check, change the account numbers and the amount, and get Dave Stone to use his banking connections to turn the bad paper into cash. Dave and the crew then split the profits. (In reality, since we controlled the operation, no businesses were actually defrauded.)

The crew’s most lucrative scam, though, came from “boiler rooms”—bogus telemarketing operations that are rampant in South Florida. A dozen people working the phones out of someone’s condo can generate big profits. A popular pitch now involves the resale of time share properties. The criminal telemarketers claim they will help people resell their time share, or the fee charged will be refunded in full. Unsuspecting victims on the other end of the line—mostly older people unable to sell the properties on their own—send in the $5,000 or $6,000 fee, and that’s the last they ever see of their money. No services are rendered, and none were ever intended to be.

With the overwhelming evidence against them, the Bonanno crew all pled guilty to racketeering and other charges. “It was a good feeling to bring these guys down,” our undercover agent said. “They were getting away with a lot of crimes. There’s no telling how many people they had hurt or swindled before we got involved.”

But “Dave Stone” and his colleagues on the FBI’s organized crime squads understand that while you can disrupt the mafia’s activities in South Florida and elsewhere, it’s only a matter of time before the bosses in New York establish other crews.

“Absolutely they will try to start up again,” the agent said. “The Bonanno family in New York—like the other families—has to have somebody down here making money because the guys at the top don’t do anything. They rely on the crews to support them. But if they do show up again,” he said, “we will be ready.”

source

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Poet's Corner: "Bang Bang"

*bang bang*

Hey, hey, let the shooters run
From the Motor City to Charm City
Your name on hot lead or cold steel.
The guns salute the different names,
But the epitaphs all read the same.

*bang bang*

Hey, hey, let the shooters run
From crime and justice.
The failure of due justice
Is the failure of justice for
Victim's survivors. No way to
Legislate from the bench the
Return of a slain father, and
Future grandfather. A generation's
Cycle is snipped prior to ever
Becoming aware.

*bang bang*

Hey, hey, let the shooters run!
A penny shackled and taken
Instead of the hundred dollar bill.
Wobbly king pins order you not
To snitch, because gangstas
Keep the streets safe, and drug
Lords keep the streets clean, right?

By A. Jarrell Hayes

Be the next poet featured on "Poet's Corner." Send 1 - 3 poems, name, short bio, and link to ajhayes@theblackurbantimes.com

Media Outlets must credit The Black Urban Times www.theblackurbantimes.com twitter.com/thebutmsdotcom facebook.com/theblackurbantimes

'Text-a-Tip' Program Aids Police in Fighting Crime

BOSTON - A mother in Boston tells police her 8-year-old boy was shot to death in their apartment by gunmen in hooded sweat shirts during a home invasion.

Officers later receive a text message from an anonymous tipster that leads them to a much different conclusion: the boy's 7-year-old cousin accidentally shot him while the two boys were playing with a loaded 9 mm handgun.

Meanwhile, authorities in Douglas County, Colo., thwarted a threatened Columbine-style attack after an anonymous text about a student's "kill list" led them to weapons in the child's home.

---

After struggling for years with an anti-snitching culture that made witnesses too afraid to come forward, police across the country are getting help from text-a-tip programs that allow people to send anonymous, text messages from their cell phones.

In Boston, the first city to heavily promote texting for crime tips, police have received more than 1,000 tips since the program began two years ago. Police credit text tips for providing them with key leads in at least four high-profile killings, including: the accidental shooting of Liquarry Jefferson by his cousin; an arson fire that killed two children; the shooting of a Boston teenager on her 18th birthday; and the fatal stabbing of a man during a bar fight.

Officer Michael Charbonnier, who oversees the program, said people who live in high-crime neighborhoods are often afraid that if they talk to police, they could be hurt or even killed by gang members, drug dealers or other criminals.

"It's either call 911 or live with the bad guy. And if you call, there could be repercussions," Charbonnier said.

"So when they have this option of texting us — knowing no one will know who they are — well, now, people give us license plate numbers, they give us names," he said.

Third-party server offers privacy
In the past, people feared retaliation for talking to police, but with the texting programs, police never see the tipster's name or telephone number. The text messages are sent to a separate, third-party server, where identifying information is stripped out and they are assigned an encrypted alias before being sent to police.

Texting programs have caught on across the country. The exact number is hard to pinpoint, but Anderson Software, one of the leading providers of technology for text-a-tip programs, has at least 400 law enforcement agencies as clients, including Tucson, Ariz., Savannah, Ga., Hartford, Conn., San Diego, Seattle and Miami.

Company founder Kevin Anderson said text-a-tip programs are rapidly gaining popularity and could soon become as popular as anonymous Web tip programs, which have been around for about five years.

"You want to provide the means of communication people are most comfortable with, and right now, texting is the more comfortable means of communicating for young people," Anderson.

The system allows a tipster to send a text message of up to 160 characters to police, who are then able to send text messages back to the sender to ask follow-up questions. Charbonnier said that because of the two-way communication, Boston police have been able to get the information they need. He said police, who promise tipsters confidentiality and anonymity, have never tried to get a tipster's identity from the third-party company, either by asking for it or through a subpoena.

"The reality is the protection of the tipster is more important than any one case," he said.

Police would not release transcripts of the actual text messages they receive or give specifics on how the tips have led them to suspects, citing the confidentiality they promise tipsters.

CONTINUED : Tipsters don't have to testify

Madoff begins his sentence in a cushy federal prison?! "its prisoners enjoy a mild climate, access to e-mail"

World-class fraudster Bernard Madoff is beginning what is likely to be a lifetime sentence at one of the nation's cushiest prisons. The record-setting scammer has arrived at the Federal Correctional Complex at Butner, N.C. It's no Club Fed--the U.S. Bureau of Prisons' minimum-security camps, which are the easiest places to do federal time, are only for offenders with 10 years or less on their sentences. Bernie's is for 150.

But Madoff shouldn't be too despondent. Neither should Marc Dreier, the swindling super lawyer who was handed a 20-year fraud sentence on July 13. Prison camps have always been white-collar convicts' destination of choice, but even fraudsters with long sentences can find ways to make doing time easier--and to avoid sharing a cell with an ax murderer.
source

Video: "Training Day" cops taking money from minorities in the South

Exclusive Video: Chris Brown in Court..Real Footage!!!

NJ WOMAN BEATEN AND LEFT IN THE COLD BY EX-GIRLFRIENDS??!

NJ police: Woman's ex-friends used cold as weapon
By VICTOR EPSTEIN, Associated Press Writer Victor Epstein, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 1 min ago
NORTH BERGEN, N.J. – A 19-year-old woman who thought she was going to a party was instead driven to a rural wooded area and abandoned in 8-degree weather in a long-planned attack by three friends angry with her over an insurance claim, police said Thursday.
The victim was wearing only a dress and one shoe, having lost the other in a struggle as she was dragged from the car, said Lt. Frank Cannella of the North Bergen police. A motorist soon stopped and let the victim use a cell phone but refused to give her a lift.
The victim used the phone to call one of the women who abandoned her, Cannella said. She spent more than an hour in the freezing cold before flagging down another motorist, who took her to a hospital, he said.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE OF THIS TERRIBLE STORY

Although the NYPD has many faces of color in its new class..concerns still persists.

The NYPD. Call them different names at all times. The fact is that they have alot of work to do. The crime rate is down, but has anything truly changed. Someone needs to truly show empathy for the people and lead the charge into a true community effort, of the police and the people.
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