Ex-Philly police captain protests in Ferguson, blasts American policing

'Police really are oppressing not only the black community, but also the whites.'

A retired Philadelphia police captain is blasting U.S. policing, calling it “an oppressive organization now controlled by the one-percent of corporate America.”

Former Capt. Ray Lewis was in Ferguson, Mo., this week, demonstrating in uniform against the decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown.

Lewis was interviewed by news service Al Jazeera on Nov. 24.

When asked why he had traveled to the mid-West to join the protest, Lewis gave this statement:

For one, I want to give the residents of Ferguson the knowledge there are some police that do support them. The second thing, I want to try to get a message to mainstream America that the system is corrupt, that police really are oppressing not only the black community, but also the whites.

They’re an oppressive organization now controlled by the one percent of corporate America. Corporate America is using police forces as their mercenaries.

In an interview this morning with Philly.com, Lewis said his quotes were reported correctly and that he stood by his words.

Lewis flew to Missouri on Saturday, "because all indications were that it was going to end poorly and I had no doubt because of the way they were notifying police departments all over the country."

"The St. Louis police said they had no idea about the way the grand jury was going to rule," Lewis said. "That was an outright lie."

Lewis, who retired from the Philadelphia Police in 2004, has been in the limelight several times supporting policing reform. He was cited for disorderly conduct in New York City during Occupy Wall Street in 2011 for disregarding orders to move off the street.  At the time he was dressed in his full police uniform.

He said that following his arrest, Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey threatened to " take any and all necessary action to protect the integrity of the uniform"  and John McNesby, president of FOP Lodge No. 5, vowed to have him arrested.

Lewis said he dismissed the commissioner's words as "thug language" and challenged Ramsey and McNesby to cite a law preventing him from wearing his uniform.

"I was highlighting the integrity of the uniform," Lewis said, "because I was sticking up for people who were being oppressed by the corporations and the government."

Once assigned to North Philadelphia districts, Lewis said he joined the police department to become a patrol officer "because that's where you have daily interaction with people."

He retired after 24 years on the street, pulled up stakes and moved to the Catskills in New York. For eight years he lived "a very Walden-esque life style." In 2011, he read about the Occupy movement, read their declaration of 23 bullet points and decided he agreed with everyone of them.

Lewis then watched the documentary "Inside Job" which he said solidified his new outlook.

"It showed how the system is corrupt to the bone," he said.

The major problem with policing in the United States begins before an officer is hired, he said. Every recruit is put through a battery of tests, including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory test which is supposed to assess psychological fitness.

"One of the aspects of a personality is a degree of sensitivity and compassion," he said. "Unfortunately, they do not hire those people that score high on sensitivity. They reject them believing those people will quit because they can't handle the blood and guts on the street. They view that as wasted training money.

"What they don't realize is that hiring the insensitive individual is going to result in brutality cases, and when those cases go to court, that's where they lose millions," Lewis said. "It's pennywise and pound foolish."

philly.com
November 26th, 2015
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Ex-Philly_police_captain_blasts_American_policing.html

I cannot say enough just how much I respect this guy. 24 years in the police and also a former police captain. This is the first police officer I've seen that tells 100% the truth about the problem regarding police in America. A lot of police in America have this attitude that they should always be feared and always obeyed. And the so-called "good" cops do nothing to stop the bad ones who break laws or beat people up, kill them, frame them, for no good reason.

Jennifer Lopez Moroccan concert sparks calls for minister's resignation

J-Lo's music concert in Rabat, Morocco - notice the male performers lustfully staring at her like a bunch of mindless monkeys

A concert by the pop star Jennifer Lopez in Morocco has led to calls for the country's communication minister to resign, according to local media.

Prominent members of the ruling Justice and Development Party said the singer's performance at the Mawazine Festival in Rabat was "a breach of public decency".

The Minister of Communication Mustapha Khalfi was criticised for allowing the gig to air on public television.

He has rejected calls for his resignation, newspapers say.

Lopez, who is often referred to as J-Lo, performed in front of 160,000 people at the festival on Friday.

The event was transmitted, with a short delay, on the 2M public TV network to the delight of fans.

But local media criticised the singer for her "suggestive poses" and for being "scantily" dressed.

A number of MPs have requested that the "education, culture and communications committee of parliament hold a meeting" to discuss why the show was broadcast.

Speaking on Twitter, Mr Khalfi said he planned to contact 2M TV's ethics committee to discuss the issue. "What was broadcast is unacceptable and goes against broadcasting law," he added.

Singer and producer Pharrell Williams also performed at the festival over the weekend, with Usher, Placebo and Maroon 5 also scheduled to take to the stage over the coming days.

BBC News
June 2nd, 2015
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32979805

What makes this interesting to me isn't J-lo or the conservative Moroccan media reacting to her scantily clad sexual poses. It's the fact that the conservative part of my mind agrees with the Moroccan media that women shouldn't be presented in such a demeaning, meaningless way.

There's a time and place for sex and sexuality. If it's music I think your number one priority shouldn't be about how pretty or handsome you look, your sex appeal, it should be your craft (lyrics, harmony of sound, and perhaps a real dance performance that interprets each song rather than simply using sexual dance moves the whole time).

I think the entertainment industry of America is still making a concerted effort to dumb the world down and present all critical thought as a negative, unnecessary part of being human when, at its core, critical thought encourages individual and social growth.



Headline of the story, photos, and photo captions sometimes changed to improve or update article content. Quoted text always as originally posted by source.

Front Page News? REALLY???

The Huffington Post apparently thinks one third of its front page "news" should be about celebrities.

I enjoy reading the Huffington Post, from time to time, because, by American political standards at least, I am mostly a leftist at heart. I think the leftists generally do a better job at critiquing society and pointing out problems, and believing in fairness, than the rightists do. Again, though, this is just a general statement as I intrinsically prefer considering an idea, in and of itself, without applying any kind of ideology (be it political, religious, or what have you) because it is in this early stage that the idea can still be seen in a more objective light. Oftentimes after we apply ideology to an idea the idea itself fades and distorts in our memories.

But I digress.

One online trend that I see, across different news sites both left and right wing oriented, is to put the Celebrity Section on the right side of the website's Home Page. I find this catering to the lowest common denominator type audience, the popcorn eating crowd who doesn't really discern between reality and fakery, on the front page of any supposedly reputable news source a tarnishing of that news source's reputation. Because my view about how the news should be transmitted is Old School: News should always focus on the facts, be as objective as possible, and enlighten the public or improve society in some way. Having one third of the Front Page be dedicated to this or that celebrity does not constitute "news" to me. Such a section belongs in the Entertainment tab somewhere else.

Is your colleague pure evil?

Obstruction, silent treatment and underhandedness. Is your colleague just evil or is there something more?

Picture these three work scenarios:

You ask a colleague for documents needed to take the project to the next level. No response.
You then ask your colleague a question at the copy machine. She pretends not to hear you.
During a meeting, your colleague jokes sarcastically about sensitive matters in front of others to embarrass you.

Chances are you may be dealing with passive-aggressive behaviour, where a person tries to act appropriately on the surface, but has a negative and obstructive attitude behind that façade, explained  Preston Ni, a communications professor and the author of How to Successfully Handle Passive-Aggressive People. He points to a Chinese proverb to sum it up nicely: “Behind the smile there's a hidden knife.”

The greedy rich vs. the minimum wage

Who will win this contest?