Remembering Antonio West.

Little Antonio West Killed by Two
African- American youth's
were are the protesters here?

Remembering Antonio West. For this blog posting  I wanted to briefly write about a "case" that was swept under the "rug" . You might just call it "reverse racism" . Reverse racism is a taboo word , it's nasty , and  it goes on because our nation is too focused with with this "white on black killing"  (Zimmerman case ) .  America ignores all the "black on black" shootings in the poor neighborhoods of America . Remember  what I said before "racism is full of hypocrisy." Double standards exist in our society.   If Justice was blind in the case of George Zimmerman . Little Antonio West will hardly get any justice . ?I remember certain posters on other blogs  claiming that this story could not be true and we should wait for all the facts to come out. Could you imagine the outrage if the races were reversed! Apparently there is a little more to the story than that, something the national media obviously did not consider particularly newsworthy. According to several reports (not headline news, of course) which lasted about two days, the following emerges:Antonio (Santiago) West, a 13 month old, was sitting in his stroller when De’Marquis (17) and Dominique Lang (15) accosted his mother, Sherry, and demanded money. According to Sherry, “A boy approached me and told me he wanted my money, and I told him I didn’t have any money, and he said, ‘Give me your money or I’m going to kill you and I’m going to shoot your baby and kill your baby,’ and I said, I don’t have any money and don’t kill my baby!”The boy tried to grab her purse and then opened fire, grazing her head, when she said she tried to tell him she had no money. She said the boy then shot her in the leg. She continued, “And then, all of a sudden, he walked over and he shot my baby in the face.” The tragic truth is most of us are not aware of this story because since it involved blacks killing whites, the national media paid it little attention. Can you imagine the furor had Antonio been black and De’Marquise white? Oh, you’re right, we don’t have to imagine the outrage, furor and demands for the U.S. government to become involved. We have the Martin-Zimmerman case. Can you even imagine President George Bush saying “Antonio West could have been me X number of years ago”? ** Where's Mr. Sharpton or Mr. Jessie Jackson to scream outrage about this? They want nothing to do with it. It's about time this story made the news ! Whatever the real story is in either case the media has and will continue to fuel the stories not because they are dem. or rep. or racist but because of greed! Selling ad space and keeping the public agitated is their goal. And story after story, year after year we continue to make them wealthy. Sensationalism sells.

Left - Dominique Lang, Right - De’ Marquise Elkins
Accused Child killers.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

This  Story Was under a "facts watch" by Snopes .com , the site accuses any rumor as being false equivalency  , by comparing the public's ignorance with it and the media sensation of the Trayvon Martian case. The Trial is set to go August 13, 2013. This too might be a trigger story , we have to see  how the media is going to NOT cover it since it involves two  "black youths" . Question is this, is this a case of  "reverse media bias and racism ?" . ** Mr. Sharpton ,and Mr. Jackson could benefit the African American youth  by empowering  them by educating them against the  reckless culture conditioning . The Movie staring Al Pachino for example Scarface, became the gospel of the thugs of 21 century America . Here is a quote from a web site on cultural influences on Black youth .  To the people in the hood it was a way to get on. Nino was working Scarface in New Jack City. It made a false impression that lawlessness is the better  want to get money. It’s the classic hustler movie. They went crazy with Scarface,”  “None of us thought we could be Scarface, but we could have that mentality of taking over wherever we went. He gave us that mentality.” Scarface made selling drugs seem cool and lucrative. It romanticized the dope game while glamorizing it and led a whole generation of youth astray. In reality that movie corrupted the black community. It made dudes want to be hustlers and get money by any means necessary. Supreme was one of those who took the Scarface mentality to heart.

Several Bits and Pieces ...1, 2 and 3.

Obama spoke about race relations . Is
there a cure for the issue?

This week there are several little items that are worthy of a comment . Pres. Obama  after six days  in the aftermath of the Zimmerman verdict  at a unexpected appearance at Friday's White House press briefing to talk about the outcome of the Trayvon Martin case and, more broadly, how the United States continues to grapple with racial bias. "When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is, Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago," Obama said. The president urged the nation to accept the court's verdict, saying the judge conducted the trial "in a professional manner" and that the jury had made its decision. Next the President made a point that should be addressed  , it a typical image that white -America has of African -American males. "I think it's important to recognize that the African-American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn't go away," Obama said. "There are very few African-American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me." He went on to recount instances when he had heard "the locks click on the doors of cars" as he walked down the street. African-American men are used to getting into an elevator and seeing a fellow passenger "clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off," he said. What he said made some " sense". I should have to add to that , this problem is that  our American culture is permeated with a gangster image when it comes to how young black men are portrayed .  Sure enough Trayvon's "hooddie" , that now is at the forefront of new cultural icon comes out of the "gangster talk".  , perhaps that word "hoodie" should be the second  racial word scrapped from the English language along with the "N" word .  It seems, is part of the frightening number of people who realize their prejudices and not Trayvon’s hoodie are the true killers here, and the willful ignorance displayed only encourages more deaths, more profiling. With this President Obama continued, that young African-American men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system, both as perpetrators of violence and as its victims. And that violence, he noted, often takes place in poor black neighborhoods that are "born out of a very violent past in this country." The poverty and dysfunction in those communities "can be traced to a very difficult history," he said.  What He said  is right , what as a nation are we doing to end this?

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Detroit takes a detour .

In October of 2012, President Barack Obama triumphantly declared he “refused to throw in the towel” and “let Detroit go bankrupt.”  The city of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in federal court Thursday, laying the groundwork for a historic effort to bail out a city that is sinking under billions of dollars in debt and decades of mismanagement, population flight and loss of tax revenue The bankruptcy filing makes Detroit the largest city in U.S. history to do so.The filing begins a 30- to 90-day period that will determine whether the city is eligible for Chapter 9 protection and define how many claimants might compete for the limited settlement resources that Detroit has to offer. The bankruptcy petition would seek protection from creditors and unions who are renegotiating $18.5 billion in debt and other liabilities. On July 18, 2013, Detroit went bankrupt. “We refused to throw in the towel and do nothing. We refused to let Detroit go bankrupt. We bet on American workers and American ingenuity, and three years later, that bet is paying off in a big way,” Obama said in his weekly address. The auto industry's failure to initially meet the challenge from overseas...the export of manufacturing jobs to cheaper venues...a precipitous drop in population...it's a long and complicated story.  In 2008 Hopeful Presidential Mitt Romney said this : " Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check ".  The failure here is not just that of the Motor City, it's a failure of America as a nation to take care of its heartland manufacturing centers and the workers who made them great, of putting corporate wealth ahead of domestic social needs, of promoting suburban sprawl at the expense of urban growth. 

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Napolitano to head  UC  .

This next and last item blew my mind . Sure enough it's most bizarre story of a "demotion" . The case here is that of Janet Napolitano, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security and former governor of Arizona. Something tells me that Ms. Napolitano resigned  over the Benghazi scandal , she could not take any more of the stress of her job .My initial thoughts: she didn’t resign willingly, she was pressured. So to make it a smooth transition, the powers that be got her a nice position at the University of CA (note that she’s not an academic) Like Hillary Clinton , she sneaked out while she could so the 'heat' would not get her. Janet Napolitano had the most controversial position in regards to immigration and illegals . She was Mr. Obama's iron lady . Her record is one of the toughest in regards to deporting  illegals . Now out of the Homeland Security Position , her past seems to have followed her with more controversy . While many across the political spectrum are happy to see Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano leave her job in Washington, some who live on the West Coast say they’d just as soon not see her out there, after it was revealed Friday that she’s poised to take over as head of the University of California school system. Ms. Napolitano angered both immigrant-rights groups and those who want to see a crackdown on illegal immigration, and irked privacy advocates from the right and left during her four years as head of Homeland Security. The UC regents Thursday confirmed U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano as the next president of the 10-campus system during a meeting interrupted by protesters who contended that she should be disqualified because her agency expanded deportations of people who entered the country illegally. The regents set Napolitano's base salary at $570,000 a year, which at her request is $21,000 less than the pay for current UC President Mark G. Yudof. That avoids a political furor about executive pay inflation, but it still will be a big raise from Napolitano's annual Cabinet salary of about $200,000. She also will receive free housing in a UC-leased house, $8,916 a year for car expenses and $142,500 for one-time relocation costs. This  is a bad choice from several point of views. She does not have experience in education and will not immediately start addressing the challenges facing higher education in CA. She is also coming from an organization that is security related. These people learn to look at everything from that point of view. the concern is that she will lean towards limiting the rights of the students for security excuses and will be cooperating more with the government depts to monitor students, deport immigrant students, limit freedoms of the faculty, etc. This is a wrong choice for a premier education system in the country.  Nearly a 200% raise, Janet. Congratulations.  Now, add in the house, car, and other allowances - probably just as inexcusable as Yudof's,... and CA taxpayers foot the bill while our kids can't even get in or pay the bills for UC. How can this possibly be justified? This is one reason academics and students of the UC system should pay very close attention to the history lesson I'm about to teach: At heart, Napolitano is and always will be deeply conservative, authoritarian, and pro-cop. You can count on her to seek power and to use that power for self-advancement. While paying lip service to liberal niceties, she will crush you after throwing away the velvet glove...

The Aftermath of the Zimmerman trial

We have not seen the last of  Zimmerman ,
Possibly he's going get a  movie made
about his ordeal.

The Aftermath of the Zimmerman trial . I wrote in this blog with the notion that Zimmerman was going to be acquitted . I don't feel that any justice was served even though there is overwhelming evidence that Zimmerman should have been charged with  involuntary manslaughter. The Legal Dictionary defines 'involuntary manslaughter' as The act of unlawfully killing another human being unintentionally.  Going back step by step , I want to clarify some of the hype that first surrounded Trayvon Martin . First his supporters are erroneously saying that Trayvon was a "child" . Trayvon was a young "man" by legal definition  he was 17 years old . Therefore a teenager . Second Trayvon did not have a "clean record" as we are told , but on the night of his shooting he was ** still innocent and was in fact minding  his own business when he crossed paths with Zimmerman a self appointed neighborhood watchdog . Yes, Trayvon went to 7 -11 to get tea and skittles and was was walking home .  This is were the "record" goes blank and all we have is the testimony of  George Zimmerman who reported to the police  George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida, calls 911 to report "a suspicious person"in the neighborhood. He is instructed not to get out of his SUV or approach the person. Zimmerman disregards the instructions. Moments later, neighbors report hearing gunfire. Zimmerman acknowledges that he shot Martin, claiming it was in self-defense. In a police report, Officer Timothy Smith writes that Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose and back of the head..  We now gone far here . The fact that Trayvon is dead may have been the result of  a fight  with fists and an exchange of " name calling" . After all Trayvon called Zimmerman a "Cracker" , and  perhaps in Zimmerman's case the N word slipped out . Both were on the ground till Zimmerman's gun went off . Again we have gone far here. The Notion that Justice is blind works well in this case . It may have been Zimmerman's self defense , but Zimmerman provoked the situation with Trayvon . The Prosecution had a vary good case , and it was just as strong as the Defense . That was not the "problem" . Case here is the JURY. To avoid a mistrial, the jury of six women must come to an agreement on the fate of the crime watch volunteer who killed Trayvon Martin Feb. 26, 2012. If one of them disagrees and there is no consensus, the case will have a hung jury and there could be a mistrial. The jury has to consider three possibilities. They can find the crime watch volunteer not guilty. The other two options are to find him  guilty of either second-degree murder or manslaughter. The six women some  white , one African -American among them ,They ranged in age from their 30s to their 60s; one is Hispanic or black and the others are white. Five of the women are mothers.  Here is where I cry foul , if I would say we had a rigged jury . FORGET how weak the Prosecution was . The jury was so bias right there and then it was obvious that George Zimmerman was going to walk out of the court room .  For the female jurors, it is their understanding of when it's appropriate to use deadly force that was key. Two of the women reported they were familiar with guns. One even had the same kind of permit to carry a concealed weapon that Zimmerman was issued. Another of the jurors warned her two adolescent children not to go out at night because of Martin's shooting. The fact that five were white, and one was Hispanic was probably more of a boost for the defense than the fact they were women.  All-women and mostly white jury was a 'slam dunk' for George Zimmerman  Another point . The Zimmerman trial was a huge waste of " Tax Payer Money", over $600,000. Actually, $603,000 to be exact.

City Hall reports that the bulk of that total was paid to employees for regular and overtime work. Half of the $398,000 allocated for those workers went to police officers investigating the case.But there were some other surprising expenses.The city spent the rest of the money on legal advice and guidance on what to do with hundreds of public-records requests. Sanford also bought video and audio equipment and portable toilets for protesters.The rest of the funds were spent on consulting fees for two headhunter companies who were hired to scout a new police chief.The trial obviously has not been cheap. It's all politics and NO JUSTICE . A Gig for the media so the American people could watch , because of our society is addicted to TV reality shows , and sensational stuff like this makes the ratings . President Obama even jumped into the case, telling America: “If I Had a Son, He’d Look Like Trayvon”.When the President of the United States came out against Zimmerman, no doubt the State of Florida felt it had little choice but to move forward with some kind of show trial. Black leaders were also threatening riots if there wasn't justice for Trayvon. So now we have this show trial, at enormous cost to taxpayers. It's now over , the blitz it caused gave no justice to Trayvon Martin .

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

 ** Trayvon Martin has been called a "thug" by edification .In summary we now know that Trayvon Martin was not the innocent 17-year-old (junior year) High School kid portrayed by the media as: a football player, a volunteer mentor, a math loving student, and loving respectful child, who was serving a five day ten day suspension for tardiness. This was, and is, a complete fabrication. The truth is divergent in the extreme.According to the report, on Oct. 21 staffers monitoring a security camera at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School spotted Trayvon and two other students writing “W.T.F.,” an acronym for “What the f—,” on a hallway locker, according to schools police. The security employee, who knew Trayvon, confronted the teen and looked through his bag for the graffiti marker. Trayvon Martin was first suspended from school in October 2011 for an incident in which he was found in possession of stolen women’s jewelry and a screwdriver that a schools security staffer described as a “burglary tool,” The Miami Herald has learned.

DOW makes gains . Main-street still weak......

The DOW is at it's highest in 10 years. Something is
fishy.

There is always high  hopes that economy will make a rebound . Looking at the DOW recently shows reported by the WSJ : The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 15000 for the first time Tuesday as stocks continue a historic four-year run that investors are finding increasingly irresistible. Well it's hard for me to believe that Wall Street is dong so well these days.  Think about it , is MAIN STREET dong better? If Wall Street numbers climbed like this  before only sink back . This is all because that there is much trading and buying a lucrative market that all together  vary deceptive . I'll bet you that it will climb to 20,000 before 2016 , and go down crashing to it's 2002 level in some October surprise.  The last time the Dow peaked, AIG (AIG), GM (GM), Honeywell (HON), Altria (MO) and Citigroup(C) were in it. They've since been replaced by Cisco (CSCO), Chevron (CVX), UnitedHealth (UNH), Travelers (TRV) and Bank of America (BAC).Consider this. When the Dow hit its now old record high back in October 2007, the economy was still in good shape -- although it was just a few months away from the beginning of the Great Recession. The unemployment rate in October 2007 was 4.7%. In January of this year, the unemployment rate was 7.9%.(Thanks to the wonderful FRED database at the St. Louis Federal Reserve for making it easy to look up this and other historical data.) The best-known stock-market average in the world is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, that matters less than it ever has.A new high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average is an important milestone on the road to recovery, no doubt. The stock index has more than doubled from its low in March 2009, making this one of the strongest bull markets in history. At the same time, regular people have hardly benefited. The job market has recovered only 5.5 million of the 8.7 million jobs lost during the recession, making this the worst labor-market recovery since World War II. With the job market weak, worker wages have stagnated. Inflation-adjusted average income is 8 percent lower than in 2007, when the Dow was at its previous high, notes Quartz's Matt Phillips. Nothing illustrates the disconnect between regular people and the stock market better than the chart above, showing how profits and stocks have skyrocketed together, leaving hourly earnings in the dust. What a real fine mess .How does the middle class worker regain any leverage in the labor market?Is it already too late for this generation to have a shot at the American Dream.The stock market hit record highs today and jobs are still being cut to improve profits.It would be nice if somebody just threw a bone to the vast majority of the struggling middle and lower classes.Its been over five years since this economic crisis started and has been exploited.when will we see something to be optimistic about.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

With the DOW at 15,000 past today. It's hard sell that EVERYONE is doing  WELL in a Predatory Economics:

Work in America has become so exploitive, many are working for free.  The New York Times interviewed a few 20 somethings on what it's like to give your all for nothing in return.

“If I’m not at the office, I’m always on my BlackBerry,” said Casey McIntyre, 28, a book publicist in New York. “I never feel like I’m totally checked out of work.”

Ms. McIntyre is just one 20-something — a population historically exploitable as cheap labor — learning that long hours and low pay go hand in hand in the creative class. The recession has been no friend to entry-level positions, where hundreds of applicants vie for unpaid internships at which they are expected to be on call with iPhone in hand, tweeting for and representing their company at all hours.

“We need to hire a 22-22-22,” one new-media manager was overheard saying recently, meaning a 22-year-old willing to work 22-hour days for $22,000 a year.

 Testosterone Pit reminds us the Dow high has more to do with quantitative easing thananything else.  The real economy still sucks.The Fed’s relentless money-printing and asset-purchasing operations as primary impetus behind the new high. There is no longer any pretense that this has anything to do with fundamentals or the economy or with corporate health. Even the New York Times admits that the driver behind this new high is the confidence that the Fed will continue to pump $85 billion a month into the markets, ad infinitum, and if anything “very lumpy” shows up, it will print even more.

Conversely, “everybody” knows something else: if that confidence ever sags.... We’ve seen the results. Twice. QE1 had a limit. When that limit approached, stocks swooned. QE2 had a limit, and when it approached, stocks swooned. So, QE3 doesn’t have a limit.

Conversely, “everybody” knows something else: if that confidence ever sags.... We’ve seen the results. Twice. QE1 had a limit. When that limit approached, stocks swooned. QE2 had a limit, and when it approached, stocks swooned. So, QE3 doesn’t have a limit.

"trial" of our century. Zimmerman.

Zimmerman's wounds self
inflicted?

This is just another "trial" of our century . The Zimmerman trial is a racially charged trial that could explode thanks  on the basis of people who have already pre-judged it. A year ago it was reported that a "white male had shot a innocent black teen." It was a really garbled media message .  George Zimmerman is a Hispanic male . Who may have been defending himself , but over reacted . From my own understanding why  the media "focused" on the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman , and neglecting the other shootings around the nation where we have black on black shootings , and yes there were other stories of shootings where a white suspect shot a black man . Or a Black suspect shot a white person.  They never  made it to the news, but were flat ignored  . I hate racism, but honestly there is a lot of hypocrisy on race . Certain persons are "profiled" , while others are swept under the rug. The Trayvon Martin case is an example of an over hyped media sensation . You have to thank all the people who rallied against Zimmerman . Rev. Jesse Jackson Civil rights icon, Jesse Jackson took to the pulpit and the classroom in Miami to sermonize and implore African Americans to vote and to turn the death of Trayvon Martin into action. The Rev. Jackson had already "judged" the situation that Trayvon was innocent , and Zimmerman is guilty .There have been marches and rallies in various cities, and calls from Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill for Zimmerman's arrest. There have also been calls for changes to the "stand your ground" laws, in Florida and 16 other states. Those statutes make it easier for citizens, such as George Zimmerman, to claim self defense. As crazy as it seems we are not getting the full story .George Zimmerman, who had called police to report a "suspicious" person in the neighborhood and had been following Martin, told authorities he was walking away from Martin when the teenager approached him. Zimmerman says Martin knocked him to the ground and slammed his head on to the sidewalk. **On that night Trayvon may have looked suspicious . The Seminole County Sheriff’s Department’s Computer Aided Dispatch shows that Zimmerman called police to report a suspicious person, then told them the subject was running from him. The exchange between the dispatcher and Zimmerman shows that he was advised not to continue to follow Martin. One witness interviewed said she saw one of the subjects chasing the other, but could not see who was who. A recording of a female identified as Martin’s longtime friend who was on the phone with him just before the shooting said he began to run when he realized Zimmerman was following him.  As we know now , Zimmerman did call the police reported  that night , it just did not seem to me  as random shooting .  A struggle between Trayvon and Zimmerman must have exploded . That detail is the biggest mystery to the story . Who threw the first punch. Police officer Timothy Smith arrived at the scene at approximately 7:17 PM. He reported finding Zimmerman standing near Martin, who was lying face down in the grass and unresponsive.^[16][19] At that time, Zimmerman stated to Smith that he had shot Martin and was still armed. Smith handcuffed Zimmerman and removed his weapon from him. Smith observed that Zimmerman's back was wet and covered with grass and he was bleeding from the nose and the back of his head.^{[16][106]    Trayvon}  The Miami Gardens teen who has become a national symbol of racial injustice was suspended three times, and had a spotty school record that his family’s attorneys say is irrelevant to the facts that led up to his being gunned down on Feb. 26. In October, a school police investigator said he saw Trayvon on the school surveillance camera in an unauthorized area “hiding and being suspicious.” Then he said he saw Trayvon mark up a door with “W.T.F” — an acronym for “what the f---.” The officer said he found Trayvon the next day and went through his book bag in search of the graffiti marker. In this case we have a moral to this , So are half-truths and distortions –Trayvon was not on a path towards the house where he was staying. His strange behavior could have been caused by him looking for a opportunity to break into a house to rob. When the Police found jewelry in his bag at school and he was wandering around a area that had several break ins should of at least caused some investigating.  ## As suspicious as Trayvon Martin looked  that night I have to agree with this conclusion Mr. Zimmerman was under no legal obligation to obey the dispatcher’s instruction, he should have stopped following Martin, and after losing sight of him, Zimmerman should have fallen back and waited for the police to arrive.----- @ the end of the story.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** Trayvon Martin was walking home that night after he came from a 7-11 store with Ice Tea ,  and a bag of Skittles. Remember this is a vary documented case . ##  Transcript :  "This guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something," Zimmerman told the dispatcher. "It's raining, and he's just walking around looking about." The man tried to explain where he was. "Now he's coming towards me. He's got his hand in his waistband. And he's a black male...Something's wrong with him. Yup, he's coming to check me out. He's got something in his hands. I don't know what his deal is...These assholes, they always get away." After discussing his location with the dispatcher, Zimmerman exclaimed, "Shit, he's running," and the following sounds suggest he left his vehicle to run after Martin. "Are you following him?" the dispatcher asked. Zimmerman replied: "Yep."----------"Okay, we don't need you to do that," the dispatcher warned.

@ Next the whole NATION is worried about a possible acquittal . Miami-area sheriff’s office talking to federal agencies and asking residents not to riot.The Broward Sheriff’s Office, whose jurisdiction includes a large portion of the Miami metropolitan area, released a video yesterday urging residents not to riot in response to the Trayvon Martin shooting trial which now appears to lean heavily in George Zimmerman’s favor.

Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crash.

This was a serious close call .

This week we just had  the first major Airliner crash in years . It was a VARY LUCKY situation that almost **306 people nearly survived  the crash . There were two causalities , it was reported that two Chinese girls .  Who came on a vacation trip just to go to summer camp . In the United States may have lost their lives because of 'human error' when they were ejected from the Airliner ,somehow wound up on the run way. Being as reported , one of them was  run over by a fire truck during the initial rescue . Now not  much much for conspiracy theories . What was not reported just get better , but bits of info would soon be out . Still, the NTSB has released preliminary findings from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders to the media that indicate the plane was approaching SFO's runway well below the target landing speed of 137 knots (157 mph). Autopilot had been disengaged at 1,600 feet (488 meters).According to the NTSB, the pilots tried to gun the engines seven seconds before impact. Four seconds before impact, a stall warning sounded, meaning the airplane wasn't generating enough lift. At 1.5 seconds, the pilots tried to scrap the landing and go around for another attempt, but they didn't make it. The plane seems to have hit a seawall directly in front of the runway. It then skidded down the tarmac, depositing debris along the way. What was not reported  (repeating) is that there were several eyewitnesses who saw the airline  flying as it was approaching SFO Airport . One of the 'eyewitnesses' said that she saw the Airline hovering vary low . This eyewitness report was just 50 miles from the airport . As the news media reported that the Airline  was traveling "significantly below" its intended speed and its crew tried to abort the landing just seconds before it hit the seawall in front of the runway, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday. Information collected from the plane's cockpit voice recorder  and flight data recorder indicated that there were no signs of trouble until seven seconds before impact, when the crew tried to accelerate, NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said at a news conference at the airport. A stall warning sounded four seconds before impact, and the crew tried to abort the landing and initiate what's known as a "go around" maneuver just 1.5 seconds before crashing, Hersman said.-------- ##speculation . Parts of the Airliner had fallen ,  found in the Bay just before the initial crash.  The way it was flying . It was just by a near miss that the Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 had not crashed into anyone's backyard .

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** Local FOX affiliate, KTVU-TV reports there have been 2 fatalities and 61 injuries. San Francisco General Hospital is treating 10 people (8 adults and 2 children) described as critical. In a press conference they announced, a second wave of 20-30 victims are being sent to the hospital. All of their victims are described as “Korean speaking”. There are approximately 75 victims being sent to various hospitals.  SF Fire Dept. says Asiana provided manifest says “291 passengers with 16 crew for 307 total were onboard. 48 initial transports to area hospitals. Accounted for 190 people sent to safety zone at SFO, but numbers are fluid”. These are the first fatalities due to a 777 crash in the type’s 18 years of service. Mayor of San Francisco Edwin M. Lee says “not everyone has been accounted for”. Another airport official puts the number at “60 unaccounted for.” FBI Agent at press conference says “crash was NOT an act of terrorism”. ## The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has hinted that pilot error is the likely cause of the Flight 214 crash, has said that it is plans to interview the Asiana pilots . Approach was too low. Korean pilot, at last moment tried to clear seawall by putting the aircraft's nose up.. Tail section broke off when it hit seawall.low. Korean pilot, at last moment tried to clear seawall by putting the aircraft's nose up.. Tail section broke off when it hit seawall.

The Bart Strike : My View.

The BART Strike was vary costly to all.

The Mercury News reported the BART strike over. There was so much money wasted by the SIEU members. It was estimated that the strike itself was costing ***  1 million dollars a day for BART.The BART unions chose the wrong time to strike. With ridership in the high 300,000s, BART was enjoying unprecedented success. Hopefully, the AC Transit workers -- also in a legal strike position now -- realize that if they can stay at work and resolve their differences at the bargaining table rather than on the picket lines, they will share in the Transbay bus revenue gains stemming from the BART strike. The one-week strike in 1997 caused a lasting spike in Transbay bus ridership (from 9,000 to 12,000 people per day, if memory serves). The BART workers, on the other hand, are competing for a shrinking pool of revenue, as BART ridership will not continue to grow after the strike. Judging myself, The BART administration handled themselves vary well with the public . While the Union acted in an ass-nine way. SIEU used the bully method when it came to getting what they wanted . Simple enough there is money involved when you get a raise . BART workers, who seek a 23 percent pay increase, are already the top-paid transit system employees in the region and among the best-paid in the nation. They have free pensions, health care coverage for an entire family for just $92 a month no matter how much more taxpayers have to kick in, and the same sweet medical insurance deal when they retire after as little as five years on the job. They work 37½ hours a week, but they can call in sick during the workweek and then volunteer for overtime shifts on their days off. This exacerbates out-of-control overtime that in 2012 added an average 19 percent to base pay for station agents and 33 percent for train operators. For many of the riders who depend on BART to get to private-sector jobs that carry much less lavish compensation packages. The budget reflects $127 million for 1,051 "transportation and system service" employees independent of maintenance and engineering. That works out to $120,000 apiece, although train operators and station agents have a maximum annual salary of $62,000 with an average of $17,000 a year in overtime pay. At least some of the additional expense per employee is explained by the fact that employees of BART pay less than $100 a month for insurance regardless of the number of dependents they have and don't have to pay into their pensions.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

***  The strike by BART union workers is having a costly environmental impact on the Bay Area, according to data assembled by the Bay Area Council that shows increased traffic congestion is generating almost 16 million pounds of carbon, and wasting almost 800,000 gallons of gas every day at a cost of almost $3.3 million.The environmental cost comes on top of the $73 million a day that the Bay Area Council Economic Institute estimates the BART union strike is costing the region in lost worker productivity.

That economic impact is a very conservative estimate and doesn’t include direct economic activity that could add tens of millions of dollars to the cost.

Egypt's "second" Revolution.

Egypt's People Deserve a better Government.

I have to somewhat Praise the Egyptian military for ousting  Mohammed Morsi, the Islamic Brotherhood's henchman . The Egyptian people deserve better . The Egyptian people want NO  Islamic Republic like the one currently in Iran . I guess the 'Brotherhood" wanted their revolution to reflect on the Iranian model . Sure enough Egypt may be a nation with a rich Muslim heritage , but Egypt will always be a "secular" nation much in the model of  Turkey .  News reports state: 

The former leader was placed under house arrest at the Republican Guard Club, a senior adviser to the Freedom and Justice Party and spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood said. Most members of the presidential team have also been placed under house arrest. Egyptian security forces also arrested the head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and another of the movement's top leaders.The commanding general of the armed forces, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said on Egyptian television that the military was suspending the constitution, which Morsi pushed through and which many Egyptians saw as slanted toward Islamists.

The Egyptian military might be the sole guardians of Egypt . They must give the Egyptians Democracy  , and return Egypt to a stable government . A statement on Morsi's Facebook page described the army's move as a "military coup." It may be a "coup" well intended . The American government has been sluggish . The Case in point with the Obama Administration . The last few years the Obama Administration has been sending mixed and confusing messages to the Arab Springers . The United States will continue to monitor the "very fluid situation" in Egypt, President Barack Obama said in a statement Wednesday night. 

"We are deeply concerned by the decision of the Egyptian Armed Forces to remove President Morsy and suspend the Egyptian constitution," the statement read. "I now call on the Egyptian military to move quickly and responsibly to return full authority back to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible through an inclusive and transparent process, and to avoid any arbitrary arrests of President Morsy and his supporters."

** If you read the "double-talk" from Washington D.C. above , Obama statements may be drawn as a bit hypocritical since a couple times Pres. Obama once stressed his concern about the Islamic Brotherhood taking over Egypt  .In a  carefully worded statement, Obama said he was "deeply concerned" by the military's move to topple Morsi's government and suspend Egypt's constitution. He said he was ordering the U.S. government to assess what the military's actions meant for U.S. foreign aid to Egypt -- $1.5 billion a year in military and economic assistance. Under U.S. law, the government must suspend foreign aid to any nation whose elected leader is ousted in a coup.


NOTES AND COMMENTS:

## I am  a bit suspicious that The Islamic Brotherhood (Mohammed Morsi)   was " freely elected " if we are to make any assumption . Since the Brotherhood was trying to suspend once in power other elections.This is not a coup in any way possible because the constitution overthrown was simply not the true Egyptian constitution. The Muslim Brotherhood managed to cheat their way into power and then drain the resources of the country for their own personal needs, while they should have been motivated by the well-being of the Egyptian people instead. If you have been following the news and living in the Egyptian streets, you would realize how robbed the Egyptians feel by the MB. Not only did they blindly waste and divide Egyptian resources and its people - cost lives and created unprecedented conflict - but they also continued to oppose and force their views over everybody else, not very democratic.

The third of July was a great day for Egypt and an actual win for democracy against a mistakenly elected tyranny that would have turned on everyone who supported it, eventually, regardless of what is thought of them. Whether it is by mere incompetence or an active effort to weaken Egypt, the MB failed to act in the best interests of Egypt, betraying the people who others claim to have democratically elected them in spite of the massive forgeriesduring the process.

** Some time Pres. Obama just the opposite . Feb 2, 2011, In Washington, President Barack Obama, in a televised address to the United States, said he spoke with Mubarak after Mubarak's speech to the people of Egypt and that the Egyptian leader recognizes that the status quo is not sustainable and a change must take place."Notice in Obama's lead up to what he said next, Mubarak is already on board to an orderly transition to a new government. However, Obama continued, "What is clear and what I indicated tonight to President Mubarak is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now," Obama said.This was really a dumb thing to say. Unless you want to play games with words like Bill Clinton and debate the meaning of "is", or in this case "now", the meaning of "now" is simply immediately. When Obama uttered those words in public, Mubarak's government was effectively no more. Understanding this, and understanding that Mubarak was the government of Egypt, the transition, because of “now”, was to be much quicker and the outcome much less orderly. Obama had helped to set the stage for the Muslim Brotherhood to take control of Egypt with just one word.Why? Because under Mubarak, there were no political parties allowed. The only thing that existed that resembled a political party was the Muslim Brotherhood. So by speeding up the time table for change,by using the word “NOW” when that word did not need to be used, the upcoming elections were very much slanted to a Muslim Brotherhood victory, which is exactly what happened.This is the cost of using the word "NOW", when Obama stated "What is clear and what I indicated tonight to President Mubarak is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now," These words show the complete lack of understanding of what it is to be at the helm of the most powerful ship of state and running your mouth with your ego while on the world stage. These words also show what little ability our state department demonstrated under Hillary Clinton’s leadership.Egypt, because of the use of the word "NOW" just became far more dangerous. And unlike Obama’s other feeble attempts at changing after the fact what he said, like changing words from "creating jobs" to"saving or creating jobs", there is no word play that can fix or recall "NOW". It is done.

“Now” meant less time for transition. “Now” meant the people would be more divided and less patient. “Now” meant the future of the entire area would be less stable. “Now” meant America had done it once again. Once again we have created a power vacuum.We cast out Saddam Hussein and created a power vacuum in Iraq without first developing a plan on how to deal with the power vacuum we would create. We are still dealing with the consequences of doing so.Now, we have another power vacuum, this time in Egypt, and again no plan. Worse than no plan, instead of trying to slow things down so we could put together a plan of transition, assist Mubarak in that transition, and have some influence on the outcome by helping to create the needed political parties, prior to Egypt having their post Mubarak election, we did just the opposite. We accelerated the process of Mubarak's ouster, we accelerated change without a plan, without political parties, and the only organized entity in existence, the Muslim Brotherhood, ended up controlling Egypt.The president acted stupidly. I am not saying he is stupid. I am saying he acted stupidly.