Alabama man freed after decades on Death Row

by Kerry Sullivan

Boston, MA (3-29-15)  — Boston city police officer John Moynihan was shot in the face at point blank range by a black assailant. As the man, later identified as Angelo West, 41, ran away, Moynihan’s fellow officers shot and killed him.

Police Commissioner William Evans spoke in a press conference about the shooting.

“Our officers did what they had to do,” the police commissioner said.

He called for calm in the predominantly black community in Roxbury, the neighborhood in Boston where the shooting took place. There are concerns that this shooting could get associated with other officer-involved shootings that have garnered national attention.

“This is not about ‘Black Lives Matter,’” said Reverend Mark Scott of the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston. “It’s about all-the-lives-in-the-community matter and it’s about the police … responding to a concern from the community.” He went on to describe how the white officer Moynihan had first been shot ‘assassination style’.

On Friday evening, around 6:30 p.m., Moynihan and fellow officers responded to a report of gunshots fired in the Hyde Park area. A surveillance camera captures how the officers pulled over a car leaving the scene. Moynihan approached the driver’s side door in a calm demeanor and without drawing his weapon.

“Without provocation, as the driver is getting out … you can see his right arm come up point-blank and shot officer Moynihan right below the eye,” said Commissioner Evans.

The shooter, Angelo West, then tried to run away, firing a .357 Magnum at the other officers. They responded in kind and brought down the assailant.

“None of our officers like to use their firearms,” said Evans. “It’s probably the worst thing we have to do in our profession, but here, clearly unprovoked, one of our officers is shot point-blank in the face.”

Moynihan is a highly decorated police officer. He is credited with saving the life of transit officer Richard H. Donohue Jr. during the gunfight with the Boston Marathon bombers in April 2013.

Last May, President Obama officially honored Moynihan as one of America’s ‘Top Cops’.

“There are officers here who were in the thick of two attacks last year: the shooting at the Washington Naval Yard and the bombing at the Boston Marathon,” said Obama. “On those awful days — and we all remember them — amid the smoke and the chaos, the courage of these officers shone through. And their quick thinking and level-headedness undoubtedly saved lives.”

In addition, Moynihan has an impressive military record as an Army Ranger who served in Iraq from 2005 to 2008.

Moynihan is currently in a medically induced coma at the Boston Medical Center.

“They worried about bleeding in and around his brain,” said Evans. “They’re watching him closely …and want to see how he’s progressing before they make any determination of whether to have surgery. He’s a tough kid.”

Thousands REVOLT In China Against Police Brutality. Cops Beat Woman In Street, Four Officers KILLED By Crowd

With all of the police brutality throughout the United States – especially in the past year – many have wondered if (or when) there might be a breaking point. Police officers in Ferguson, Missouri were shot by a sniper on a hilltop near the Ferguson Police Department. While denounced by nearly everyone, some – like hip hop musician Method Man of the Wu Tang Clan, described this as a sort of “chickens coming home to roost” situation. However, he said the police had “reaped what they sowed.”

While he was certainly not condoning violence against the police, he was saying that when you plant or “sow” violence, you generally harvest or “reap” the same sort of violence that you planted.

But in China, this sort of reaction is far more widespread and normal when the masses witness police killings of innocent people.

After Chengguan officers beat a woman in the streets, literally thousands of angry protesters took to the streets to fight back. The crowd swarmed the officers in the Cangnan County of Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province.

But it wasn’t just the beating of the woman that sparked this outrage…

When people filmed the beating, officers targeted those recording their abuses, beating a man with a hammer for filming them.

Located in the industrial southeast, Chengguan is a region in China that is notorious for it’s police brutality.

In this case, the cops who attacked the man filming their abuses, beat him until he was literally vomiting blood.

It was only seconds before housands swarmed the cops in their van, throwing stones, and beating them with bats. Eventually, the crowd beat four of officers to death.

People in the crowd were shouting: “Kill them! Kill them!” Eventually SWAT officers were called out, but they were quickly overwhelmed too, Counter Current News reported shortly after the incident occurred.

In Chengguan the police are a combination of regular officers and state inspectors.

Back in July of last year, they were witnessed beating a man to death and almost killing his wife. All of this was over selling watermelons without a permit.

Before this most recent attack, there were similar responses to police brutality after street vendors were attacked by police back in 2011.

Strangely enough, neither Chinese, nor Western media was very interested in reporting on this major revolt against police brutality. Why?

Teacher Tries to Leave Party, Cop Jumps On Her Car’s Hood, Opens Fire, Kills Her.

Boone Co., Kentucky — A preschool teacher went to a field party. She ended up dead. In spite of the tragedy that has outraged the victim’s community, it was announced Thursday that her killer won’t face charges.

How could this be?

You see, the shooter was a police officer.

The gunman shot four times through 19-year-old Samantha Ramsey’s windshield after he ended up on top of her hood after trying to stop her from driving away from the party.

Just moments before he had been beside the car, but somehow just seconds later was both struck by the car AND had the ability to draw his weapon from a retention holster and fire four rounds through the windshield, killing Samantha.

Of course, if anyone not wearing a badge had done this, he’d be in jail a long, long time. But it was a cop, Deputy Tyler Brockman of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, in Kentucky, near the border with Cincinnati, Ohio.

Conveniently, Brockman’s microphone wasn’t working, and the shots were fired just out of view of his dashboard camera. He claims he hurt his footsie after falling off the hood of the dead girl’s car. But he did it all to protect the innocent, of course.

From his statement, we read: “The shots were fired not only to save his life, but also the pedestrians walking on the road and the officers currently just down the road initiating other arrests.”

“While Tyler and his family remain extremely thankful he is alive, his survival came with the heavy burden of doing what he had to do to protect himself and others. He sincerely regrets the loss the Ramsey family has suffered. “

Footage shows the series of events leading up to a teen girl being shot dead by police early Saturday morning while leaving a party.

Dashcam video shows Boone County Sheriff’s Deputy Tyler Brockman trying to stop Samantha Ramsey, 19, of Hebron, Kentucky – but it does not show him jumping on the hood or firing the shots that took her life.

The 48 minute video released shows Brockman approaching the car and Ramsey not stopping. The shooting occurred off camera but friends hysterical reactions are clearly shown.

The car is seen leaving the field where the party was held, and the officer fails to stop Ramsey from leaving.

Brockman chases after her on foot – he contends she tried to run him over – and the car ends up only 20 seconds later in a ditch.

The position of the deputy when he fired the shots is not shown, nor are the actual gun shots.

There is no audio in the video.

The crash is also off the screen, but a cloud of smoke soon billows up from the car and a passenger stumbles out and collapses onto the road.

She can be seen crying at the side of the road before another person is seen overcome with emotion.

Both throw their arms in the air multiple times, the person on the right side of the screen rocks back and forth, unable to calm down.

Ambulances and other police officers soon arrive and begin questioning the other teens that either saw the incident or were at the party.

Shelton, WA (3-24-15) — After many years serving the community’s homeless and hungry, Kenneth Wayne Benjamin, the charitable non-profit’s director, has decided to close the Community Kitchen, located on  S. 2nd between Cota and Railroad, by the end of this month. Staples, equipment (including cups, silverware, soon pots & pans, plates, etc.) were placed on tables for any takers who wished to cart them away today. Word on the street spread fast and it attracted a crowd to the downtrodden venue. Reportedly, Mr. Benjamin has lined up a buyer for the refrigerators and appliances there. How this squares with IRS requirements for a charitable non-profit is anyone’s guess. A meeting at St. David’s Episcopal Church (N. 3rd, Shelton) to discuss the crisis has been called for tomorrow @ 1:00 p.m.

Kenneth Wayne Benjamin, long time benefactor @ the Community Kitchen

Events contributing to this disconnecting a vital NGO community service are an example of unintended consequences. First, there was burnout. Ken Benjamin had complained of feeding some of the same people for years as they regularly visited the Kitchen. More recently, he began to refer to them as “vultures”. Clearly, it was time for new blood in the management of the soup kitchen, yet Ken bristled at the idea, preferring to scuttle it rather than repaying the community’s support by passing it along to someone able to continue its mission. Some had complained of Ken’s heavy handed efforts to proselytize its clients, but this is common among faith based charities. Others made more sinister allegations that contributed to the erosion of the charity’s underpinnings, Ken Benjamin being one of the most vital.

No Courtroom Assaults Allowed, but Don’t Slam the Door

When contacted by phone, Mr. Benjamin refused to comment on the situation, but did not deny, when asked, that the Community Kitchen was closing its doors. The operation had seen its share of problems including keeping enough volunteers on hand to serve its patrons. Another irritation that bothered Mr. Benjamin was the expense (still owed) to his attorney, Bruce Finlay, for defending him against a specious sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Krista Lynn Kirton and Marry Nolan in Mason County.

Krista Kirton

The Nolan suit was dismissed out of hand by Judge Pro Tem Dubuisson without the need for a hearing. (Mason County District Court case #:14CV00758) Kirton’s Anti-Harassment suit (Superior Court #14-2-00423-4; RCW 10.14) took a more circuitous and expensive route. Although the complaint was baseless and didn’t even allege a threat of imminent harm, Court Commissioner Sauerlender signed the temporary order restricting Benjamin’s liberties until a full court hearing where he would have an opportunity to defend himself could be had.

Rehearsing for Court

It was all so Terrible!

Waiting for Godot

Judge Pro Tem Pat Morgan (esq.) presided at Benjamin’s hearing where defense counsel Finlay attempted to introduce evidence of Kirton’s prior filings of several anti-harassment complaints over the years, all of which were denied/dismissed. Judge Morgan refused to allow introduction/consideration or to take judicial notice of that evidence despite it being part of the official court record. The testimony and evidence that were allowed reflected the reality of Kirton’s predilection to drama-queen theatrics. Krista Kirton, it turned out, was a member of the board of directors responsible for oversight of the Community Kitchen. Benjamin claimed, through his attorney, her underlying motive for the lawsuit was to steal a march on taking over the Kitchen under her own supervision. Moreover, the alleged ‘sexual harassment’ consisted of Ken Benjamin inadvertently rubbing against her arm on one occasion and rubbing her shoulders (consensual) to relieve her on-the-job stress on another. The rest of her testimony complained of Benjamin being “rude” to her grandchild (Ken advised her the Kitchen was not a baby sitting service at the time) and using his position there to hustle women patrons/staff. Her witnesses had little/nothing material additionally incriminating to say about Mr. Benjamin.

What’s Behind the Green Door?

Although Judge Morgan properly denied relief and dismissed the case after considering all the facts (she characterized the circumstances as part of the normal irritation/frustration associated with human discourse), she created an oxymoron by pronouncing the purpose of RCW 10.14 was not to alleviate such annoyances or make our lives stress free, yet encouraged and complimented Kirton for having filed it. Ironically, Kirton sought (and obtained) a waiver of filing fees based on her claim of indigency, while Ken Benjamin is still saddled with unpaid attorney fees.

Ken Benjamin w/witnesses & supporters

The Halls of ‘Justice’

A Search for the Truth

Adversarial Proceedings rather than Reconcilliation

A Long Expensive Day in Court

RCW 10.14 has become a cesspool of Washington State jurisprudence. It is now used to commit more “harassment” than it prevents as residents fully grasp the implications of being able to drag someone into court at no expense to themselves, suspend the object of their ire’s civil liberties, and…at least for a while…make that person’s daily life a Hell. While denying Kirton’s sought ‘relief’, this is what Judge Morgan encouraged by lauding Kirton’s effort to burden the court (and Ken Benjamin) with a specious complaint.

RCW 10.14’s Aftermath

While a sympathetic character in one light, Ken Benjamin is not without fault or shortcomings of his own. He has repaid the community’s support of the charity he directed by ignoring its constructive suggestions, acting alone without consulting any of the stake holders, and destroying the fruits of the community’s efforts to treat its poor/homeless compassionately. Ken’s solution to his frustrations was not to invite others to take over or direct the work, but to dismantle it entirely. In effect, Ken has spit in the eye of those who made his mission possible and the community which embraced it.

Judge Morgan’s arrogant reasoning is an example of unintended grave consequences. Going to court, filing specious lawsuits, litigating needlessly is not a game of tiddly winks. It has, in this instance (along with Commissioner Sauerlender’s mindless signing of a temporary restraining order without a proper foundation), contributed to the demise of a charitable asset sorely needed in a rural county for its poor and homeless.

p.s. Judge Morgan would not allow this reporter to cover the hearing w/his camera or even retain his coat/hat in her courtroom, stating it would be too “traumatic” for the litigants…contrary to 6th & 1st Amendment guarantees designed to protect their right to a fair, public,  and transparent trial!

Shelton, WA (3-22-15) — Swanson Group Manufacturing, LLC, a Pacific Northwest forest products company, has acquired the assets of Olympic Panel Products, LLC. Located in Shelton, Wash. Olympic Panel is the largest overlay plywood manufacturer in North America. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Swanson plans to relocate the Olympic Panel assets to its state-of-the-art facility to be built in Springfield, Ore. For the next 12 to 18 months, Olympic Panel Products will continue to operate in Shelton to ensure a smooth transition for customers and suppliers.

On 7-17-14, a large Plywood and veneer mill (Springfield Forest Product Plant) in Springfield, Oregon, was virtually destroyed overnight. The Springfield Forest Products plant, which employed 250 people, had about 100 workers on duty at 4:00 pm when a fire broke out in a drying machine used to dry wet veneer.  The fire expanded rapidly and quickly moved through the entire plant occupying 200,000 square feet in several buildings on 33 acres.

Springfield Forest Products Plant burns to the ground.

One Olympic Panel employee characterized its equipment as dated which invites the question of how profitable the purchaser’s business model is? 360 Olympic Panel employees will be pounding the bricks by 7-1-16. Simpson has been unloading many of its production facilities in the NW as well. The Dioxin saturated Shelton Harbor remains unmitigated.

The wicked witch, Adage, may be dead, but her sister, Simpson is all too alive and well!

Unfortunately, biomass continues to be greenwashed instead of unmasked as the threat to the environment it is on a number of different levels ranging from climate change, destruction of the forest ecology/environment, to disseminating the most deadly chemical know to man: DIOXIN! Simpson (aka Green Diamond) sees the nation’s forests as little more than cellulose factories waiting to provide profits to a closely held family corporation with a notorious track record with respect to destroying the community and exploiting its employees.

Dave McEntee, Simpson Investment Company (shown in the following video clip) is the corporation’s chief current apologist. At one public meeting held in Shelton’s Civic Center not so long ago, he answered charges of his company having deliberately used the City’s sewers to flush away its Dioxin saturated toxic waste by alleging, “We didn’t know it was laden with Dioxin!”  The crime took place in the 80’s, well after America knew enough about Dioxin from the horror stories associate with the use of ‘agent orange’ in the Vietnam war. Mason County’s very own ‘Love Canal’ (Shelton Harbor and Oakland Bay) still contributes to Dioxin in the local food chain as well as continues to reside in the City’s landfill where it recently granted a developer permission to build an elementary school adjacent to the unmitigated toxic waste dump (‘C’ Street landfill which has NEVER been certified to accept such toxins nor has it ever been properly decommissioned).  The local yahoos pretending to govern the City continue to embrace the polluter with open arms, do nothing to protect the community from its continued depredations, nor are they prescient enough to quit digging in the same hole from which they don’t appear able to extricate themselves.

Yep, Simpson and Shelton continue to want YOU to breathe sh*t!

Riga, Latvia — Latvia is a fiercely independent nation with a people and culture dating back thousands of years, their language is based on Sanskrit and they predate even the Muscovites. Their children are incredibly beautiful and their courage in the face of overwhelming adversity unmatched. They are a tiny county with only about 1 million Latvians dwarfed by their huge neighbor, Russia. They refuse to be amalgamated or subsumed as the following videos of their festivals celebrating their identity makes abundantly clear.

2013

25th Latvian Nationwide Song and 15th Dance Celebration, Final Concert – “Līgo!” 7-7-13

“Miracles”

If only you believe like I believe, baby (If only you believe like I believe)
We’d get by
If only you believe in miracles, baby (If only you believe in miracles)
So would I
If only you believe like I believe, baby (If only you believe like I believe)
We’d get by
If only you believe in miracles, baby (If only you believe in miracles)
So would I

I might have to move heaven and earth
To prove it to you, baby (Baby)
So we’re makin’ love
And you feel the power
And I feel the power
Then there’s really nothing we can’t do
(You know we could, you know we could)
If we wanted to, baby
(You know we could, you know we could)
We could exist on the stars
It’d be so easy

Now, baby
All we gotta do (Baby, baby, baby, oh, baby)
Is get a little faith in you (Baby, baby)
Oh, I’ve been so many places
I’ve seen some things (Yes, I have)
I know love is the answer (Yes, it is)
Keeps holding this world together, yeah
Ain’t nothing better
Ain’t nothing better (Nothing’s better)
And all the answers to our prayers
Hell, it’s the same everywheres, baby (Just the same now)
Nothing ever breaks up the heart (Love’s a game now)
Only tears give you away (Ain’t it a shame now?)

Then you’re right where I found ya (Oh, baby)
With my arms around ya (Oh, baby)
O-o-o-o-o-o-oh, baby
Baby, baby
Love is a magic word, ooh, yeah (Baby)
Few ever find in a lifetime
But from that very first look in your eyes
I knew you and I had but one heart (Baby)
Only our bodies were apart (It’s making me crazy)
That was so easy (Baby)
So easy (Oh, baby)
I had a taste of the real world (Didn’t waste a drop of it)
When I went down on you, girl

Oh, if only you believe like I believe, baby (If only you believe like I believe)
We’d get by
If only you believe in miracles, baby (If only you believe in miracles)
So would I
If only you believe like I believe, baby (If only you believe like I believe)
We’d get by
If only you believe in miracles, baby (If only you believe in miracles)
So would I

I can hear windmills and rainbows
Whenever you’re talkin’ to me (Never say never)
I feel like swirling and dancin’
Whenever you’re walking with me (Whenever you’re walking with me)
You ripple like a river when I touch you (Let me touch you)
When I pluck your body like a string (Show you what I mean)
When I start dancin’ inside ya (Oh, baby)
You make me wanna sing (I love you so)
Yeah (I love you so)
Baby (I love you so)
Baby (I love you so)
Baby (I love you so)
Baby (Oh)

Oh, yeah (Oh, yeah)
All right (All right)
Baby, we’re sure doin’ it tonight (Baby, we’re sure doin’ it)
Every time you come by, let me try (Come on by)
Pretty please with sugar on it
That’s how I like it, ooh
I can’t even believe it with you
It’s like having every dream I ever wanted come true (Dream of a lifetime)
I picked up your vibes
You know, it opened my eyes (Dream of a lifetime)
But I’m still dreamin’, yeah (Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, oh)
And you’re right where I found ya (Oh, baby)
With my arms around ya (Oh, baby)

Oh, if only you believe like I believe, baby (If only you believe like I believe)
We’d get by
If only you believe in miracles, baby (If only you believe in miracles)
So would I
If only you believe like I believe, baby (If only you believe like I believe)
We’d get by
If only you believe in miracles, baby (If only you believe in miracles)
So would I
So would I
So would I

Oh, if only you believe like I believe, baby (If only you believe like I believe)
We’d get by
If only you believe in miracles, baby (If only you believe in miracles)
So would I
If only you believe like I believe, baby (If only you believe like I believe)
We’d get by
If only you believe in miracles, baby (If only you believe in miracles)
So would I

Karaoke Version:

ISIS Bulldozes Ancient Cities While U.S. Authorities Destroy Civil Liberties

What ‘cultural cleansing’ looks like under the Islamic State

Woodbridge, VA — A 17-year-old student from Woodbridge, Virginia, is in federal custody after allegedly helping an 18-year-old travel to Syria to join ISIS.

The arrest of a suburban Washington, D.C., teenager allegedly willing to help ISIS is becoming a familiar scenario — a young person radicalized by Internet propaganda?

Yet Americans have traditionally cherished the right to travel, to leave a country (including this one) along with the right to hold their own opinions about who the ‘good guys’ vs. the ‘bad guys’ are. The U.S. doesn’t exactly have clean hands. Nor has Congress declared war on Syria or any faction within it. There may be federal laws against ‘aiding and abetting the “enemy”‘, yet defining the term according to administrative fiat rather than due process undermines Constitutional principles. Americans have always felt at liberty, under those circumstances, to determine who is an ‘enemy’ according to their own lights. Nor are all enemies foreign, the U.S. Constitution mentions our right to defend against domestic ones.

Just who gets to decide who/what is an ‘enemy’ of America seems critical when federal authorities are throwing children into prison for nothing more than assisting the travel plans of a friend/acquaintance. Indeed, the present circumstances appear to be cut from the warp and weave of ‘thought crime’! The U.S. Administration itself seems to be confused about just who it’s friend/allies vs. ‘enemies’ in the middle eastern conflict are. That confusion should not be allowed to translate to criminal liability for idealistic children. Here, internet activities alone (or thoughts expressed in public communications there) were deemed sufficient to stigmatize and criminalize young people in the throes of sorting out their own identities.

The Osbourn Park High School student from Woodbridge, Virginia, is in custody, accused of helping another young man travel to Syria to join ISIS. Little has been made public about this latest arrest because the suspect is 17 and being treated as a juvenile while the prosecution seeks to have him tried in adult court.

The arrest took place Friday, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the arrest.

Authorities say the person whom the teen helped travel to Syria will soon be charged with material support to a terrorist organization. [It’s oft been said one man’s ‘terrorist’ is another man’s ‘freedom fighter’. The British categorized American minute men as ‘terrorists’ during our war of independence.] That person’s identity wasn’t released, but he’s believed to be not much older than the high school student. Officials say the student, who is Muslim, used the Internet to help make travel arrangements for the other young man to get to Syria and to find contacts there.

In one of their regular advisories to local law enforcement, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said the case is another demonstration that young people are using social media for jihadist ends. [What happened to the Constitutional right of ‘freedom of association’?–or ‘expression’ for that matter. Short of a declaration of  war, Americans have the legal and inalienable right to choose their own ‘friends’, as well as ‘enemies’! They could hardly do worse, in that regard, than the U.S. Administration itself.]

The Prince William County Schools said Wednesday that they were not aware of any security threats surrounding the arrested teen. “There is no indication that our students are being specifically targeted to support extremist causes,” the statement said.

[“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Tolerance in the face of tyranny is no virtue.
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Moderation in the protection of liberty is no virtue; extremism in the defense of freedom is no vice.” -Barry Goldwater-]