Florida rules that stalking and killing a black child is legal

If people don't believe racism is alive and well, I tell them to go to Twitter. They have these handy things called hashtags: #. And you can follow it yourself. It's on full display there every single day and night.

Today, racists are crowing and happy with themselves. So don't tell me this hasn't strengthened and emboldened them. I can read for myself. Last night, after the announcement of the verdict in George Zimmerman's trial, they were gloating and joking that nationwide, "blacks and white liberals are furious"--and they were enjoying the HELL out of it. So before you say my headline is over the top, go over there and read, and then get back to me.

Trayvon Martin's murder has been ruled justified. And he was an innocent boy doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG.

Let's review.

A grown man (with an ongoing wannabe-cop fixation) followed an unarmed kid talking to a girl on the phone; jumped out of his car and stalked him (directly against 911 advice, even though he blatantly lied and told the 911 operator he was abiding by their advice) and then pointedly picked a fight with him, at night. The boy thinks he's a freak or pervert and says something like that to his friend on the phone. The white man's first words to him are "What are you doing?" instead of "Hey, I'm 'Neighborhood Watch,' what's up?" and there is a fight, in which the kid feels he is being attacked by a pervert, and fights back. Zimmerman, who deliberately broke 'Neighborhood Watch' rules by being armed and stalking a suspect, shot him in cold blood.

If the races were reversed? It is impossible to imagine, isn't it? Would a black man stalk and shoot a white kid without being arrested immediately and pleading out right away?

There wouldn't even have been any trial.

As Tavis Smiley commented this morning on TV: Under existing "Stand Your Ground" laws, it is understood that George Zimmerman could legally "stand his ground"--but Trayvon was not permitted to stand HIS ground and fight back. His act of fighting back against a strange attacker, was seen as proof that he was dangerous and deserved to die.

And so, there has now been a trial. A bad one. A trial with no African-Americans on the jury. Let me ask you, if the above reverse-race scenario occurred, would the jury trying the black man (if he didn't plead out, which he would have) be all black?

Again, it's a laughable reversal, isn't it?

It would never be permitted to happen.

Travesty does not cover it. This is a seriously racist country, and some places (like here and Florida) are obviously far worse than others. And plenty of racists defend Zimmerman's stalking-behavior and murder. (Right-wing commentator-queen Ann Coulter promptly tweeted "Halleluyah!" after the verdict was announced. )

It is open season on black males in the South. Well, let me amend that... the recent award-winning film FRUITVALE STATION, about the murder of Oscar Grant in Oakland, reminds us that it isn't just the South. Certainly, I saw comments on Twitter from as far away as the UK, saying rah-rah George Zimmerman.

I remember asking one frenetic Twitterer why they thought Trayvon seemed so "suspicious"; he looks like any one of the random regular kids in my neighborhood. I walk at night around here and I pass them all the time. They have their late-night candy in their hands, just as Trayvon did. They are polite and say hi to me, nodding amiably; I have never been afraid. One of the Twitterers said WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!? HE LOOKED SUSPICIOUS, HE LOOKED DANGEROUS!

No, he didn't. Only if you believe all black kids are intrinsically scary, could you claim such an outrageous thing.

It was due to the torrent of racist tweets that I knew what the trial's outcome would be, and said so, repeatedly, on our radio show. Local activist Traci Fant went to Sanford, Florida during the trial and called our show, making the same prediction. We knew that Zimmerman would be set free. He speaks for too many people; he is their hero.

The sacrifice of Trayvon Martin appears necessary to sustain the heart of racist America, since we now have a black president. The racists couldn't get rid of Obama, so this is their consolation prize. That's the only thing I can figure out.

I am deeply ashamed of our country and court system today.

~*~

Comments welcome, as always, but PRO-ZIMMERMAN COMMENTS WILL BE DEALT WITH VERY HARSHLY. As far as I am concerned, if you are pro-Zimmerman, you are a racist and I will be addressing you that way.

If you are pro-Zimmerman and somehow believe (i.e. lying to yourself) you are "not racist", you will hereby convince me that the race-reversal I offered above, could actually happen and the outcome would be exactly the same. There will be no other pro-Zimmerman discussion allowed here. NONE.

Take it to Twitter. They wallow in it over there.

Haley Watch: The torture continues

So many links, so much corruption, and so little time.

First up, as always, we have the inept, incompetent Governor Haley.

As one who had my Social Security and bank account numbers hacked at the SC Department of Revenue last autumn, I found the following story fascinating, and mentioned it on the air yesterday:

COLUMBIA — A Democratic senator has asked Gov. Nikki Haley if the state paid a ransom in the hacking of state Department of Revenue files last year.

Sen. Brad Hutto, an Orangeburg Democrat, sent the letter to Haley today and informed senators.

He asked for an immediate answer, arguing that the Legislature is working on final approval of the state's budget which includes tens of millions of dollars related to the massive data breach, which exposed 3.8 million Social Security numbers, 3.3 million bank account numbers and data for nearly 700,000 businesses.

Haley and other officials were asked about a ransom when the hacking was first disclosed last October.

The questions were referred to State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel, who said he could not comment on the investigation because it was ongoing.

And as I also said on the air, there's your answer.

When a politician is truly innocent of some outlandish accusation, they waste no time in immediately saying so. Why shouldn't they? It is in their interests to dismiss the nonsense as quickly as possible and get on with business.

However, when they are guilty, they do not respond right away... and sometimes (often) try to put off responding AT ALL. They invariably locate some hack to write a press release full of excuses and equivocations, then try to time their excuse-ridden press release for a busy news-day when they think no one is paying attention. I assume that is why Haley has not responded; the excuses (and outright lies) are still being collected, collated and assembled.

In short, right-wing Haleyspeak is imminent.

In this case, however, we are talking about the livelihoods and bank accounts of millions of people... she isn't going to worm her way out of this one so easily.

And more from Her Evilness, denying insurance coverage to people who paid for it, all while charging us MORE:

[A study] by the Rand corporation, looks at the 14 states that have said they will opt out of the new Medicaid funds. It finds that the result will be they get $8.4 billion less in federal funding, have to spend an extra $1 billion in uncompensated care, and end up with about 3.6 million fewer insured residents.

So then, the math works out like this: States rejecting the expansion will spend much more, get much, much less, and leave millions of their residents uninsured. That’s a lot of self-inflicted pain to make a political point.

It’s a truism of health-care politics that the uninsured are impossible to organize. But Obamacare creates an extraordinarily unusual situation. The Affordable Care Act will implemented in states that reject Medicaid. There will be huge mobilization efforts in those states, too, as well as lots of press coverage of the new law. The campaign to tell people making between 133 and 400 percent of poverty that they can get some help buying insurance will catch quite a few people making less than that in its net. And then those people will be told that they would get health insurance entirely for free but for an act of their governor and/or state legislature.

Oh dear God.

Will somebody, please, deliver us from this awful woman? (I told yall not to vote for her. )

I got into a Twitter argument yesterday (what? me?) and surprised myself by stating that I really do believe South Carolina voters thought a nonwhite woman would be an IMPROVEMENT....of course she wouldn't be any feminist radical-of-color (since she IS a Republican), but I certainly don't think they expected someone even more ultra-right than her predecessor Mark Sanford. Are SC voters simply uninformed? Do they vote on looks and PR, rather than what a politician actually stands for? I think they often do; there is the disturbing fact that up to 15% of South Carolinians lack basic literacy skills, which translates as the lowest-level of literacy necessary to apply for jobs or fill out basic paperwork such as insurance forms and tax returns.

This doesn't even count how many are politically illiterate, which is possibly the majority.

Speaking of political illiteracy, I've noticed that since Jim DeMint took over the Heritage Foundation, it's been one disaster after another, with lots more to come, I'm sure. Do they now realize they hired a legendary, world-class dimwit?

Hopefully, this means the place is headed down the drain. Adios, Heritage Foundation.

I wish we could say the same for Governor Haley.

Impeach Nikki Haley

My personal follow up about the South Carolina Department of Revenue cyber-security breach, initially reported in October 2012. I just received this:

Dear South Carolina Taxpayer:

As you know, tax data at the South Carolina Department of Revenue (SCDOR) was compromised due to a recent security breach. Immediately upon discovering the data breach, new technology and policy protections were implemented at SCDOR to prevent further information exposure. We are writing you today to confirm that your tax information was compromised. The tax information that was compromised includes social security numbers of you and your dependents, if you claimed dependents on a tax return, and your bank account number only if you provided a bank account number on your electronic return(s). If your bank account number was compromised, you should regularly review your monthly bank account statement and your account online, and contact your bank immediately if you see any unexplained charges.

In addition to the Experian® ProtectMyID® services in which you have enrolled, we want to remind you that SCDOR is providing protection services for your minor dependents under Experian's Family Secure® program. You should receive a notification from Experian about how to enroll in Family Secure within a few days of enrolling in ProtectMyID. The enrollment period for Family Secure ends May 31, 2013. More valuable information on protecting yourself and your family is available from the Department of Consumer Affairs by visiting www.consumer.sc.gov and clicking the "Identity Theft Resources" button or calling 1-800-922-1594.

Two additional protections that will alert you to the opening of new credit files or prevent them from being opened are fraud alerts and security freezes:

You can place a fraud alert at one of the three major credit bureaus by phone and also via Experian's website. A fraud alert tells creditors to follow certain procedures, including contacting you, before they open any new accounts or change your existing accounts. For that reason, placing a fraud alert can protect you, but also may delay you when you seek to obtain credit. The contact information for all three bureaus is as follows:

...and it continues: blah blah blah. Vogue model and sometime SC Governor Nikki Haley, screw-up in charge, even repeated all this nonsense in her State of the State address... as if Experian is going to save us all, just like Spiderman to the rescue. (One question: was HER personal information compromised?)

We need to get rid of her for this. Many State-House watchers believe that her cheapskate, cost-cutting ineptitude is the reason for the breach.

Just thought I'd let you all know: me too. (sigh)

Weekend update

My intrepid radio co-hosts, at left, Gorgeous Gregg Jocoy and Double A diehard.







Radio podcast is up--have a listen, yall!





~*~

There are about a half-dozen irrepressible Greenville Occupiers left (although hundreds still access the Facebook page), and we are wondering what we should call our group. Time to segue into Another Phase. Any suggestions?

Old Occupiers? Greenville Badasses? Lefty Upstate? Upstate Lefties? The Greenville Remainders? I dunno.

We are taking suggestions.



~*~

Meanwhile, I am still in Old Timer Blogger mode... and I have not made the important ailurophile transition from Friday Cat Blogging (old timer mode) to current-hipster CATURDAY... and for this reason, keep forgetting to do either one.

Therefore you should please consider this my first official Caturday post, as still another new DEAD AIR tag is born.

Yes, I know it's Sunday, but nobody's perfect.

The black and white kitty is Peace Cat, the Official Cat of DEAD AIR, and in the photo below him, Cyril, my other beloved feline. (HERE is Cyril as a sweet kitten, when I first introduced him to readers.)

And happy Caturday, even if I AM late arriving.

~*~




There is an upside to the unfortunate, dreadful FUBAR situation described yesterday, wherein three out of four SC residents had their Social Security numbers hijacked... I am still waiting to find out if that includes me and Mr Daisy, but we are assuming the worst and taking action nonetheless.

The upside is: this fiasco might be the proverbial nail in the coffin for our Vogue-magazine-modelling, globe-trotting governor Haley, who has habitually been asleep at the switch (or partying abroad) when she should be dealing with crucial issues here at home.

If anything does her in, this might be it. Democrats are certainly wasting no time pointing fingers:

In the days ahead, the unprecedented and costly breach likely will emerge as a political and governing test of the Haley administration.

It’s yet unclear how high the tide of public anger will rise. For the moment, residents are struggling to follow Haley’s urging to call a toll-free number to enroll in credit protection paid for by taxpayers — a system that initially was swamped and rendered ineffective by the sheer wave of callers.

The chairman of the state’s Democratic Party, Dick Harpootlian, has delivered a blunt assessment of the governor.

“If she were the CEO of a company that had a third of its data hacked, especially after all the public warnings of the danger of hackers, she would be fired,” said Harpootlian. “Too bad she has two more years on her contract.”

Off with her head!

Let's hope this beautiful noise continues, and all our suffering will not have been in vain.

~*~

More Haleyatin (as one of my radio-callers has named my attacks on Nikki Haley) for your edification: GOVERNOR BLASTING POLITICIANS FOR TAKING THE SAME PAYMENTS SHE TOOK.

Once again, good work, Will.

SC Social Security numbers stolen

Listen up, local folks.

ALERT! From WLXT:

Columbia, SC-- Officials have uncovered an overseas plot to steal the identities of millions of people in South Carolina, according to WLTX.

The CBS station confirmed the South Carolina Department of Revenue's website was hacked by someone in a foreign country. The agency is responsible for 32 separate state taxes, licenses, and your state income tax returns, and that contains your information.

The first breach occured on August 27, 2012 although we are told no information was taken at that time.

The extent of the breach was massive: an estimated 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers were exposed. However, just 16,000 of these credit card numbers were not encrypted.

For perspective, there are almost 4.7 million South Carolinians, according to the 2012 U.S. Census, meaning three out of four people's Social Security numbers were compromised.

State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel told WLTX exclusively that this is one of the biggest things he has ever been a part of.

They have been working to secure your information. The state is offering credit counseling to those affected. Anyone who has paid taxes since 1998 should go to protectmyid.com/scdor or call -1-866-578-5422.

That number is to Experian, and not sure why I should to talk to a credit company about the SC Dept of Revenue fuck-up.... who I REALLY want to talk to, is who made the decision not to notify us back in August. (Apparently, that contact number is fried right now anyway, with "higher than normal call volume"... ya think?)

I doubt I am the only pissed-off person in South Carolina right now.

Blogging note--this event marks the first use of a new tag here on DEAD AIR: FUBAR.

~*~

EDIT: More information HERE. Not much, though... but the Experian connection is explained further.