Once again American Authorities are warning of the likelihood that terror groups like ISIL will see the Caribbean region as fertile soil from which to launch attacks. According to Media reports General John Kelly, commander of the Miami-based US Southern Command, or SouthCOM, told reporters Friday at the Pentagon that about 150 Islamic extremists left the Caribbean region to join Islamic State fighters in the Middle East last year, about 50 more than in the previous year. He estimated that about 150 radicals have attempted to join the Islamic State group as of this year, up from his estimate last year of roughly 100. Last year, Kelly told the United States Congress that those who succeed in reaching Islamic State group territory “get good at killing and pick up some job skills,” such as working with explosives and beheading enemy fighters for propaganda purposes.
General John Kelly
While we consider this it is important to note that this Medium have been calling on the Caribbean Islands to do more to deal effectively with crime and hopelessness by eliminating Government graft and corruption which are some of the factors fueling disenchantment within the youth populations. English speaking Caribbean Nations like Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados have made it known they will not tolerate criminality on their shores without fighting back. In fact several member-states within the Caribbean community have proactively taken steps to limit the access of people they deem National Security risks. Some have gone further by preventing even some musical artiste from entering their countries or performing because of the content of their music. Jamaica is probably most impacted by the actions taken by the progressive strategies instituted by other Islands. Still it appears Jamaican authorities are incapable of understanding the need to treat crime and lawlessness as a matter of top priority. Jamaica political leaders continue to feed the population the Nationalistic gobbledygook which sound good to the local population but has no use in the broader Caribbean much less the rest of the world.
When other countries are barring your nationals because they fear the crime they bring you can talk all the trash you want but you know you got a problem. As many including this writer has warned , the time is now for Jamaican authorities to extricate themselves from criminal connections and prepare law enforcement to deal effectively with this looming and imminent threat. This includes stiffer and more stringent penalties for violent criminals. Instituting mandatory minimum sentences for certain categories of violent crimes. Keeping accused murderers in jail until they are tried. Training and equipping the police to deal effectively with terrorism and violent crimes. Paying the police commensurate with the work they do which will reduce corruption in law-enforcement. Improve the mechanisms by which investigations are done and upgrading prosecutorial capabilities.
Eliminating support for local criminals by politicians and political parties. Drafting and passing legislation which seriously penalizes politicians found with criminal associations. Increase opportunities for the Island’s young people, including mandatory two years (2) military service for those not going to college. Personally I am tired of imploring our own Jamaican politicians to pull back from the corrosive practices of thievery and malfeasance which causes young people to have scant regard for the rule of law. If the events of 2010 did not inform their consciences and consciousness then it is probably safe to say pretty soon we will see ISIL and other terror groups operating cells from this beautiful Island.
Television reporter Mel McLaughlin and cricketer Chris Gayle…
I’m literally annoyed at writing about this but I am doing so anyway because I would have missed a crucial opportunity to speak the truth in the face of monumental hypocrisy . Chris Gayle’s corny comments to Mel McLaughlin: “I wanted to come and have an interview with you as well, that’s the reason why I’m here, Just to see your eyes for the first time. It’s nice, So hopefully we can win this game and we can have a drink after. Don’t blush, baby.” Corny, ill-timed, inappropriate in those circumstances ? Yes. Disrespectful ♦ Crass ♦ To the absurd, Sexually predatory? No. Australian Television Reporter Mel McLaughlin said “I’ve not spoken to (Gayle) personally, I know he issued an apology, I accept that and I just want to move on.” But the Media is obsessed with this non-story and refuses to let it die. Even in Jamaica it has become dried kindling for the fires of feminism while on the broader international scale it can only be seen for what it is. Race driven.
The continued piling-on Chris Gayle continues and will probably continue for the foreseeable future with various and sundry having all kinds of opinions and making all kinds of accusations against the former West Indies cricket captain. Characterizations includes ♦Disrespectful ♦ Crass ♦ To the absurd, Sexually predatory. Now and for all intents and purposes new alleged victims will be crawling out of the wood-work to make their own allegations against Mister Gayle, already one such allegation has been made to which Chris Gayle seem to be proactive in fighting back by going to court against those who published the allegations. Can anyone say Bill Cosby?
Was it disrespect though?
Having seen the encounter several times over , I cringe at the fact that Chris made that terrible ‘faux paux’ , however his admiration for someone of the opposite sex was quite natural , there was nothing disrespectful about that . What is a problem is that the time and place of his choosing to make a pass at her was incredibly poor. Simply put, Chris allowed Testosterone to cloud his judgement , something many great and powerful men has succumbed to throughout history. But does it make these men monsters deserving of the continued excoriation and demonizing which has become the norm against heterosexual male these days? Not to diminish the fact that Chris’ attempt at flirtation was horrible and poorly timed but does anyone believe we would be talking about this had a female said the same thing to Mel McLaughlin? In fact if Mel was a man and Chris said the same thing to him the Media would be abuzz with praise that a homosexual can now openly display his affection for another of the same sex. Let’s not kid ourselves.
Yes it was hard to watch and I’m sure Chris wishes he could take it back but the constant and incessant criticisms of this man stinks of racism and sexism.
The notion that a single ill-advised comment to someone of the opposite sex is tantamount to sexism , sexual harassment or is sexually predatory is bullshit. Chris Gayle may be stuck in the past as it relates to acceptable societal norms. He will have to bring himself up to par rather quickly if he wants to continue on the International scene. Already it is proving really costly for him financially. The televised apology he gave was proof-positive that Chris certainly has a far way to go in understanding the nuances of the new world in which we live. That apology certainly did more harm than good in a situation in which a worded apology sent to the lame-stream media would have been more effective.
Georgie Parker’
Set the flaming Feminists aside there has always been and will be for a long time to come, a stark aversion by some to a big Black man making a pass at or having a relationship with a supposedly delicate white woman. Maybe most profound are the statements of Hockey player GeorgieParker’
“Let’s just take it as it was: a bit of a laugh from a known joker , I like to be told I’m pretty sometimes too. That’s all he was saying.” Parker also suggested if she acted in the same way towards a male interviewer, “I’m fairly sure no one would blink an eye lid”.
My point exactly Georgie Parker , my point exactly!!!
The quick dispatch with which two murder accused were charged with killing (JUTC) bus driver Albert Barnes aided by CCTV technology should give the police, business and home owners and most importantly the Government reason to believe crime in Jamaica can be brought under control. Police are not miracle workers, as such Investigators have to have a series of things working in their favor in order for them to effectively solve serious crimes like homicides. And yes one cannot discount the importance of a little luck even with the best scientific evidence and eyewitnesses to crimes.
In small crime ridden nation-states like Jamaica where resources allocated to policing are scarce and in many cases non-existent, it is doubly important that stakeholders help in their own personal security and that of their property. Gone are the days when stakeholders can stand by believing it is up to law enforcement alone to guarantee their security in an ever changing and more violent world.
The fact that these two murderers were brought into custody so swiftly is a teachable moment for all involved including the criminal-coddling courts which is likely salivating at summarily turning these violent murderous vermin back onto the streets to kill again even as they too will pay lip-service to the astronomical murder rate on the Island. Jamaica is one of the few countries where alleged murderers are allowed out on bail. I am not exactly sure just where else in the world murderers are allowed out on bail but I will do due diligence to come up with answers for that question. I’m not particularly impressed with talk about “innocent until proven guilty” from neither the village lawyers nor the trained ones who collect paychecks to free these scum. The rights of an accused murderer cannot be guaranteed at the expense of the wider society which is not accused of any wrong doing. It follows therefore that those accused of murder be kept locked up even while we ensure they are not abused or violated. Societies simply have to err on the side of caution.
The Jamaican Judicial branch of Government is the antithesis of common sense. The majority of those sitting on the criminals and and the appeals bench are flaming ideological liberals who have zero respect for the feelings of people victimized by brutal criminals. Not to be outdone the Legislative branch which is largely a bunch of criminal defense lawyers double-dipping as legislators ‚are even worse than their contemporaries on the bench. The contempt I have for both group, if felt by more Jamaicans would ensure a more accountable and safer Jamaica for all. The legislative branch failed to attach the necessary punitive teeth to the penal code. The Judicial branch turn criminals loose based on it’s warped Utopian world-view. The ability of judges to supplant the rule of law with their individual views must now come to an end. Even though some in leadership position both blind and intellectually challenged sing the praises of the Island’s judges those very judges must take responsibility for their individual and collective role in furthering the murder of innocent Jamaicans by their unconscionable liberal stance on the Bail Act. It’s time for mandatory minimum sentencing for certain category of crimes.
According to the Jamaican Police two men are in custody for the December 21st shooting of Dr. Raymoth Notice the former Mayor of Spanish Town. Notice was allegedly shot while washing his car at his home near the town of Bog Walk in St. Catherine. This page applaud the police in the arrest of the two men whose names have not been released, even as I question how they are able to bring cases like these involving well connected people to closure this swiftly and efficiently while the same is non-existent for poorer less influential Jamaicans. I am not privy to the circumstances within the Investigations which precipitated the speedy arrest of the two individuals in custody, nevertheless as a matter of conscience I implore the police to attach the same level of importance ‚alacrity and urgency to other case involving Jamaicans who do not have the benefit of high name recognition. For it’s in the fair and equitable dispensation of justice that all our people will feel that they too matter, that they have a stake in our country which invariably will make them partners in the fight against crime.
POLICECHARGETWOWITHKILLINGOF (JUTC) DRIVER
The Half-Way-Tree Police have reported charging Garfield Walters, 22, and George Ballentine, 28, both of Bedward Gardens, with the killing of Albert Barnes. According to Jamaican media Barnes was driving a JUTC bus along Bedward Crescent, Kingston 7 on December 29 when explosions were heard. He was later found with a gunshot wound to the chest and was taken to hospital where he died while being treated. According to Police Walters surrendered to the Yallahs Police in St Thomas on Friday, January 01, while Ballentine was picked up by the police during an operation in August Town, St Andrew on January 04. The police say a .380 semi-automatic pistol and 24 rounds of ammunition were taken from Ballentine.
The police are yet to say whether they are able to determine if the weapon taken from Ballentine was the one used to kill mister Barnes. So the police do have the ability to solve crime in Jamaica when there is public pressure to solve a particular case. On that basis Jamaicans must demand that going forward the police attach the very same levels of importance to each and every murder they are tasked with solving. I fully understand that not every murder will be solved, yet I am confident that though woefully under-staffed , under-equipped, and under-paid the police can bring more criminals to justice. This of course will require greater motivation and appreciation from the political bosses and greater understanding of policing and leadership from the brass of the force.
Policing has changed in Jamaica some say for the better, thus far the crime numbers tell a different story. A known murderer caught with a gun in custody? The fear of being hauled before the courts on murder charges has crippled the police’s ability to effectively remove murderers from the streets with the knowledge they will never return . Lets not kid ourselves these viscous killers will not be put away by the present crop of criminal coddling judges who sits on the Island’s benches. For the liberal élite on the Island that is progress. In the end the liberal socialist courts will find a way to discredit the evidence against these two scumbags and they will be returned to the streets to kill again and again. By the way even before they are returned to the streets permanently they will be let loose on bail. It is safe to assume these two have killed before, maybe several times prior to killing mister Barnes. The case will drag on and on and on until it is tossed from the docket that is the way killers are rewarded in Jamaica.
DUPPYFILMSTILLATLARGEHOWEVER
In the meantime the cop-killer (duppy film) is no closer to being caught today than when he snuffed out the lives of two police officers at Poor Man’s Corner in St. Thomas last December. What this blogger has heard is largely talk from one member of the police hierarchy whom I personally know could not catch a fly stuck to a glue pad. Why are the families of slain officers not subject to the same courtesy of attention given to the Notice and Barnes family? In other countries when a cop is killed police drop everything and attend to bringing that cop-killer to justice. Why is the same level of attention not being brought to bear on finding and eliminating (duppy film)? Why is this cop killer’s body not on a slab at Maddens? As police officers when you bring these unapologetic killers in you are servicing the needs of the soul-less socialist élite. Officers must decide whether they are going to continue risking their lives for them while paying no attention to the killers of their fallen comrades.
The Jamaican Court of Appeal has a new President in the person of Justice Dennis Morrison QC. Morrison was sworn in at Kings House yesterday January 4th. Morrison comes from the Defense side of the Isle which seem to be the case every time a judge is chosen to hold high office in Jamaica. Probably more significant is that Morrison lectured and tutored at the Normal Manley Law School and was President of the Jamaica Bar Association. In this humble blog I have consistently pointed out that though no single issue is responsible for the overall crime situation on the Island there is much to be said about the lax and liberal stance of the Jamaican court system regarding violent criminals. There is hardly any place more liberal than the Norman Manley Law School or the University Campus of the west Indies. Juxtapose that with the fact that Morrison comes from the criminal defense side of the Isle, it offers key insights into where criminal appeals will be going in the near future. The Island’s criminal defense lawyers and their clients has much to celebrate in this appointment. It cannot be over-emphasized that if the rule of law is to be maintained the Courts at every level must uphold it’s end of the bargain, a task at which it has failed dismally. Which has led this writer to conclude that in all seriousness it cannot be that the courts wants criminals off the streets as many well meaning Jamaicans do and all should in light of the court’s actions over the decades.
Morrison sworn in as Appeal Court president
Addressing the swearing in event the Island’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said quote: “A cohesive society is the fundamental platform on which investments are attracted and sustainable economic growth is built. A cohesive society requires that our people believe in their hearts that the system provides them with access to justice when they require it,” The speech-writer gets it but did Miller understand what she read? Here’s the part which really got me pissed, Simpson miller acknowledged the challenges faced by those who work toward the delivery of justice, while making mention of the volume of cases which gets to the courts on a daily basis. “With the awesome volume of their work, which forces the appellate judge to work late into the night and invariably on weekends, we cannot over-emphasize the gratitude and appreciation we have for our nation’s judges,” . I wonder how those cases end up in the courts? No mention of the hazardous and critical job the police does not a single mention of their sacrifice. No police no damn case before the kangaroo courts so the liberal socialists on the benches can turn them loose.
So I want to speak directly to you serving members of the police department who are running behind this clown risking your lives for her and her régime, here’s what it comes down to. She does not care one shit about you even to mention the sacrifice you make. She does not care about your murdered colleagues. On every occasion that officers are murdered this clown is silent. To be dissed even as you sacrifice is hurtful, to be dissed by her simply takes the cake. You can be dissed by better.…..
VENGEANCE: punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offense :Merriam-Webster.
Whether its the conniving calculative release of information on the weekend by Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Dononan Jr, that there would be no criminal charges against the cop who used an outlawed choke-hold to murder Eric Garner . Or whether it’s Cleveland Prosecutor Tim McGinty following the same tact announcing in the calm of the Yuletide season that there would be no charges against the cop who summarily gunned down 12 year-old Tamir Rice the duplicity is the same.
When is it ever legal or lawful to gun down a 12 year-old child and no one is held accountable, and in particular one who is trained to protect life ? Or are they? There are a couple of things which went wrong that cannot be denied or brushed aside by McGinty. (1) Why did the dispatcher not tell patrol (officers going to the scene) that the caller to the 911 center had intimated that the gun may have been a fake? (2) Why did the two cops not pull up at a safe distance and order Rice to drop the weapon? (3) Why did the officers lie that they ordered Rice to drop the weapon when clearly they did not? (4) Wasn’t it clear after they shot the child they knew it was bad so they lied to cover up what they did? (5) Why did they not render first aid to the dying 12-year-old even as a passing FBI Agent stopped by and attempted to resuscitate the mortally wounded child? (6) Should the family of Tamir Rice just go away and shut up even though Timothy Loehmann who killed their son was deemed unfit by another police department and the Cleveland brass knew about it?
Timothy Loehmann was specifically faulted for breaking down emotionally while handling a live gun. During a training episode at a firing range, Loehmann was reported to be “distracted and weepy” and incommunicative. “His handgun performance was dismal,” deputy chief Jim Polak of the Independence, Ohio, police department wrote in an internal memo. The memo concludes with a recommendation that Loehmann be “released from the employment of the City of Independence”. Less than a week later, on 3 December 2012, Loehmann resigned. According to the Gaurdian.com Cleveland officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice judged unfit for duty in 2012.
JUSTANOTHERSMALLOBSERVATION ! Not speaking to Bill Cosby’s innocence or guilt in the litany of sexual allegations against him, I still wonder just how authorities can dredge up information to substantiate criminal charges against the embattled comedian even though in all of the cases save one the statute of limitations have expired. Might I add also that even in the single case in which Cosby is charged criminally the statute is slated to expire in a month. What is the rush at all cost to charge Cosby with a crime? Speaking at a press conference after the charges Prosecutors said it was their duty to file charges. Umph I wonder why it;s never their duty to bring charges when Black people are murdered but it’s always their duty to move mountains when the suspect is black?
A MILLIONDOLLARBAILFOR 78 OLDBILLCOSBYANDTHESURRENDEROFHISPASSPORTON A SINGLECOUNTOFAGGRAVATEDINDECENTASSAULT. How ironic that a 2004 case of aggravated sexual assault can be made out against a black man but even when we see murder with our own eyes we are told we should not believe what we see? Two separate justice systems and they are unashamed , it is disgusting , it is insulting, it is nauseating.
Whether or not Bill Cosby is guilty of the allegations against him is irrelevant in this context, it is the absolute double standards and the dastardly inequity in a criminal justice system which prides itself on the notion of fairness . It is and has always been a farce and a fraud.
After 9 parishioners were summarily slaughtered as they sat in Bible study in their Church basement in Charleston South Carolina by deranged beast Dylan Roof, the head of the FBI James Comey saidhe had already discounted terrorism. According to Comey, the lack of political motivation for the killer’s actions mean’t the alleged shooter was not a domestic terrorist.
James Comey FBI Director
Comey went on to say ‘Terrorism is act an of violence done or threatens to in order to try to influence a public body or citizenry so it’s more of a political act and again based on what I know so more I don’t see it as a political act. Doesn’t make it any less horrific the label but terrorism has a definition under federal law,’.
The FBI director’s own characterization is an astounding indictment of him, it goes to the heart of how race factors into every aspect of the justice system from the lowest municipality to the highest corridors of the supreme court. ♦Dylan Roof went to the Church that evening to kill Black people. ♦ Roof’s stated intention was to do the killings which he hoped would spark a race war. Comey said terrorism is an act of violence done or threatens to in order to try to influence a public body or citizenry. Dylan Storm Roof exactly intended and expected that the killing of 9 innocent people as they sat in Bible study that evening would influence(a public body or citizenry), Black people to retaliate against whites sparking a race war. The only logical reason one could deduce from Comey’s own words that Dylan Roof does not qualify as a domestic terrorist is that Comey does not believe Black Americans are (1) A public body or (2) qualify as citizens of the United States.
THISISBARACK OBAMA’S (FBI)DIRECTOR… Addressing cops in Chicago Comey would blame Black Lives Matter activists for cops not doing their jobs.
Comey described a “chill wind” that had gone through law enforcement in the wake of viral videos of the police over the past year. Comey’s remarks seemed to be an endorsement of the so-called “Ferguson effect,” which suggests that excessive scrutiny of law enforcement is to blame for the uptick in crime. Comey said officers in one major city felt “under siege” because they were being recorded when they exited their vehicles. “They were honest and said they don’t feel much like getting out of their cars,” Comey said according to the Huffingtonpost.com Ryan J Reilly.
First off Cops who do not feel like getting out of the taxpayers cars should find alternative employment. The idea that holding police officers accountable for their actions is tantamount to placing them under siege is incredibly insulting to the intellect of Black people who have for hundreds of years have been the victims of police abuse and terror in this country. What are black and brown citizens to do then simply shut up and look away as their sons and daughters, mothers and fathers are being killed without offering up any resistance? It is insanity on the part of the Black population to have faith in the FBI to conduct fair and impartial investigations on their behalf in light of this entrenched racial intransigence and lack of empathy coming from the very mouth of the director himself.
McGinty announced Monday that a grand jury declined to indict officer Timothy Loehmann in the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
TAMIRRICE After taking a whole year to make a ruling on the murder of (12) year old Cleveland Ohio child Tamir Rice, Prosecutor Tim McGinty in the peace quite and serenity of the Yuletide season announced that his Grand Jury has decided that there will be no charges against Timithy Loehmann the officer who shot and killed twelve year old Tamir Rice. Now as a father or four sons and multiple nephews all of whom are strapping black men my heart bleeds for this family . As a former Police officer , the brother of a former police officer, the Uncle to a young California Police Officer and cousins and friends who are still serving police officers, I am painfully aware of the police officers side of the story as well. There is an old saying in America which goes like this , “If a prosecutor wants to indict a ham sandwich he can”. The grand jury process was created to protect the integrity of the process preventing investigating officers from being biased when they investigate incidents involving their colleagues. It has become just a tool for prosecutors, (Mark Garagos defense Attorney).
Tim McGinty did not want those cops prosecuted so he used his office as defense counsel for Timothy Loehmann, that is the general consensus by a large percentage of rational thinkers who watched this process play out. When the Prosecutor goes out of his way to use the office to hire witnesses to argue against an indictment which he is supposed to be seeking it is a gross insult to the process and a slap in the face of the families which are left behind to grieve for their loved ones. If Prosecutors are going to subvert the very process they are sworn to protect where does it leave citizens whom are abused by the Government? Prosecutors have a responsibility to do their jobs fairly and objectively. There is never any hesitancy or conflict when they have the opportunity to prosecute members of the public, and there is a certain glee when they get to prosecute Black citizens. It follows therefore that if they cannot prosecute cops for committing crimes they should step aside. If prosecutors cannot extricate themselves from the cozy relationships they share with police to effectively uphold the laws as is required by their oath then the very oath they take is a lie. Standing in the way of the appointment of special prosecution just so they can protect criminal behavior by cops is criminal conduct. A prosecutor who is overly chummy with the police should never have the power to circumvent the process with his/her own biases to protect a guilty police officer from prosecution. It is incredibly harmful to the process, the families who are left behind to grieve and it is harmful to police officers who have to go out daily and patrol dangerous neighborhoods.
WHEREHAVEWESEENTHISBEFORE?
The late Eric Garner and his wife before his death at the hands of NYPD cop Daniel Pantaleo
Richmond County District Attorney Daniel Donovan, Jr did not want NYPD cop Daniel Pantaleo indicted for murdering Eric Garner in the process Donavan used his office as defense council for Pantaleo ‚all the time giving the family of mister Garner the impression that the Grand Jury he impaneled would be fair and impartial. In the end we all know Donovan did the exact opposite, he made sure that the cop-apologist grand jury he put together would not indict. Cops are not held accountable on Staten Island a bastion for cops , and firefighters and their families. Is that Justice ? In fact Donovan’s office did not even request an indictment , which is the sole purpose for prosecutor impaneling a grand jury in the first place. Tim McGinty did not ask for an indictment either yet both charlatans came out and offered platitudes and nuanced cockamamie to the families of the murdered victims. “There is no question that a grand jury will do precisely what the prosecutor wants, virtually 100% of the time,” says James Cohen, a law professor at Fordham University who specializes in criminal procedure. “This was, as was the case in Missouri, orchestrated by the prosecutor.”
According to the website Gothamist.com While most legal experts believed that the grand jury did not have enough evidence to prove a murder charge, the grand jury could have charged Pantaleo with manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.
“In this case, you had videotape, and the videotape is pretty darn clear,” Cohen says. “The video showed that the officer engaged in a long-prohibited conduct, a chokehold, and it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the jury. And that’s because the prosecutor decided that there should be no indictment for any criminal behavior.”
Randolph McLaughlin, a law professor at Pace Law School and civil rights attorney, agreed.
“The grand jury is a tool of the prosecutor. At a minimum, it was negligent, it was reckless, it was some level of homicide. Surely they could have indicted this officer on any number of charges and let the public hear, let a trial happen, expose to the light of day what went on here. This man is a public servant, and he committed these acts as a public servant, wearing the uniform of a public servant, and he should be called to account for it.”
Daniel Donovan Jr.…
When a member of the public commits an offence whether it’s intentional or not that person generally has to go before a court of law to answer for what he or she has done. It is through that process that information is aired out , boils are lanced and anger subsides through the fair and equitable dispensation of justice. It cannot be that some people , (station inconsequential) are immune from that process when they break the laws. No one should be above the laws, when that happens anger brews and animosity develops. This has been the way white men in America does business for hundreds of years when it comes to dealing with others and particularly their hated Black Countrymen. Is that injudicious use of power going to be sustainable into perpetuity? What do they expect will happen when the people aggrieved rise up and say no more?
Whether a police officer’s conduct is criminal or not in situations where public outcry is intense it ought not be the prerogative of prosecutors to circumvent the process by which justice is arrived at. It makes a mockery of the process and a dastardly lie that this is the best there is anywhere. Best for whom? Police officers have an extremely difficult job . They are generally asked to make split second decisions as a matter of life and death. They are asked to deal with the worst of the worst , and they are asked to run to danger when the rest of us run from it. I know this all to well and it is with that knowledge that I speak fairly on the subject , understanding both sides of the equation.
Laws in the United States are incredibly liberal in favor of police officers . Additionally there is much public support for the role and work of police officers across the board even in cases where it clearly ought not be so. It is with that in mind that police officers should be mindful that they do not betray the trust and confidence placed in them . It is also important that policing be done with open minds and a lack of prejudice. It is never okay to kill someone and simply say I’m sorry. Sorry does not bring a dead person back. Prosecutors who misuse their office to short circuit the process by protecting criminal behavior does more harm to the process than the errant cops themselves. This must stop.
The hypocrisy of the Jamaican media is astounding. For years the little radio-heads and their more self absorbed contemporaries in the Editorial rooms of the newspapers, and television stations openly supported chaos in the streets. The Police could do nothing right when they enforced the traffic laws the very bastards who sit in these little rooms in these little media outlets would openly support insurrection against law enforcement for doing their job. The loud mouth ghetto queen Barbara Gloudon many years ago told a caller to stone police stations because the caller had a grouse against the police. We would later see police stations burned to the ground and police officers murdered.
In the eighties another of the little shitheads openly referred to police officers as” jonkro” because one of their crack-addicted colleague was accosted while trying to purchase crack cocaine in Barbican square.
These little self appointed champions of the poor never bothered to think through events before they pontificated and took sides. Police officers enforcing traffic laws were by default oppressors for doing exactly what they were paid to do. Nevertheless Monday December 28th the Gleaner Editorial page laments that the police have surrendered the streets to lawlessness. Quote…
“Most of Jamaica’s roads, particularly in urban areas, are a free-for-all, where legal buses and taxis bore and race and pick up and drop off passengers at will. The illegals, or ‘robots’, make a mockery of the law and undermine those who invest their time and money by following procedure, only to be outjostled and outprofited in plain sight of the police — jeopardising the very state-owned bus service. Molynes Road, Red Hills Road, Half-Way Tree and downtown Kingston are centres of anarchy. If Dr Williams’ men have abandoned the streets to rogues and badmen, they could at least tell us”. Editorial: Have Police Given Up The Streets?
Word of advice to the Gleaner… The shit is just beginning to hit the fan , just wait a little more, you want to see anarchy just wait. The (indecom) Act which all of you clamored for is just beginning to settle in. While it settles in police officers are checking out at the first opportunity. This year alone over 600 cops will simply lay down arms and walk away , leaving the country to it’s own devices. Maybe (indecom) or some of the limitless supply of know-it-all blabber mouths will step up and defend the country against the burgeoning criminal underworld which has cemented itself in the country. Just wait until the new generation of vipers arise, these are they which will have come up in the age of (indecom), They know police won’t touch them, restrain , or constrain them , many of you will be running to the hills as Marcus Garvey predicted,looking for a place to hide. You wanted (indecom) you got (indecom) and you have the little self-aggrandizing Napoleonic Fuehrer at the helm you all wanted so zip it!
literally every traffic encounter between police and traffic offenders result in an escalation because the people are grossly lawless and undisciplined thanks to the aiding and abetting of the media which encouraged then to fight with police and disregard laws. The common refrain is that the “police a stap dem food.” Of course in Jamaica” every man affi eat food“no matter how they go about it. “Anything a anything” right?
For decades right wing talk radio in America encouraged bigots and xenophobic malcontents to spew all kinds of racist invective at people they deem different, people they love to hate. Today the generation of whites coming of age are just as racist and maybe more violently so than those which existed in the 50’s and 60’s .
As a child growing up in Jamaica talk radio was laced with anti-police invective. Ronald Thwaites, Wilmott Perkins, Barbara Gloudon, Garnett Roper and a host of other nit-wits made careers from the promulgation of anti-police propaganda> Now that the chicken have come home to roost the very Media which watered the plants of anarchy are in lamentation. What bull?
Responding to the killing of two police officers as they played a game of dominoes at Poor-Man’s-Corner St Thomas United States Ambassador to Jamaica said this.
“In this season of peace and togetherness, it is heartbreaking to see these and other senseless murders. To the members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and other law enforcement officers across this island who risk your own safety to protect our lives I salute you. “I urge you to continue to conduct your duties honorably and professionally without fear or favor,” Moreno said in a release. “Too many times this year we have mourned the loss of officers of the law and citizens murdered by violent criminals. I want to echo the words of Commissioner of Police Dr Carl Williams: ‘As a nation, we must band together to preserve the rule of law and the safety, security, and human rights of every Jamaican.’ The United States will stand firmly with the police and people of Jamaica to stem this bloodshed,”.
This is not the first time Moreno has spoken out stridently at the killing of the Island’s police officers . At the brutal slaying of constable Crystal Thomas Moreno spoke out harshly against the level of criminality and the need to support the efforts of law enforcement on the Island. USGOVTSTANDSWITHJAMAICANPOLICEBUTDOESTHEJAMAICANGOVT?
Marlon ‘Duppy Film’ Perry
One hearing of the slaughter of the officers I was gripped with rage, it was the very first time in the 24 years since I left law enforcement that I wished I was able to pull on a pair of comfortable jeans , lace up my combat-boots, double check my Browning and ensure my two extended clips are in good working order , grab my M16 assault rifle with the retractable stock, my radio and see who was willing to come with me. There is so much to be said about the state of affairs in Jamaica that it makes one feel almost resigned to the fact that our beautiful country is pretty much already a failed state.
I realized if you wear a certain fragrance after a while you don’t smell it anymore . The same is true for many in Jamaica who smile and tell you just how wonderful things are, they simply cannot smell the shit anymore. As is customary the killing of police offices never gets a mention from the nations highest political office, nor from the representative of the British Monarch. To some extent mentioning the fact that the Prime Minister have not a single word of condemnation for the brutal slaying of officers gives the impression that I believe the occupant of that office have the mental capacity to understand the implications of these acts so I won’s say more about that.
As we speak Police Officers are engaged in protecting the life of that imbecile and they are doing so over and above that which is required. Many are gophers and in most cases yard boys. Irrespective of the slight and disrespect they will dutifully continue to place their lives on the line to protect and defend. I’ll not speak to that either save and except to say in the struggle for justice and equality we will never be able to untangle some from the degrading confines of the slave plantation.
I would be remiss if I did not address the lax mentality of the officers which resulted in their deaths. Of course everyone should be able to sit in their community with friends and enjoy a friendly game of dominoes without fear of dying in a hail of bullets. On the other hand we cannot wish away the present state of affairs which exist in many parts of the world today , Jamaica being no exception. A sense of awareness and realism should be paramount to all , particularly in Jamaica and more so those whose task it is to deal with those realities.
In my community I don’t hear of many incidents of crime, even so I teach and caution my family never to be caught saying “I never thought it could happen here”>. Most crimes are incidents of opportunity, people take advantage of opportunities when they believe they will get away with exploiting others. It’s just common sense not to leave ones’ self open to exploitation. There are unconfirmed reports at least one of the murdered officers may have been threatened. If this is true it means someone had a premeditated desire to eliminate him. Why give someone an easy opportunity to eliminate you? People have to get on with living their lives even with threats hanging over them I know , but sitting at a shop playing dominoes is certainly not the best way to protect one’self from harm. Many years ago while I was a young officer stationed at the Constant Spring Police Station I received credible intelligence that a certain Punk who comes from a family of law breakers father included wanted to eliminate me because of the work I was doing in the Grant’s Pen area. At that time there was no police station in Grants Pen . Dadrick Henry , Parra Campbell myself and others were the Police station there. That very night I strapped up and decided I was going to head out I was never a cop who knowingly allowed criminals to threaten me and sit on the intelligence.
It was just me and one , he know who he is I won’t mention his name he still lives in Jamaica. I always believed police must cultivate informants, that was how I sourced the intelligence. Secondly I believed firmly in having local knowledge. I will know where to find you at your mother;s house and yes at “yu gyal house”. Police need to know that these scumbags are fiends so they won’t stay far from the women that enable them, both their mothers and those who sleep with them. I knew where this scumbag would be and at about midnight me and One walked along the Shortwood Road gully down to a footbridge which bridges both sides of the gully. I expected him to be in his girl’s little shack , he wasn’t , he was sitting on a log under a single lamp post , the lone light glowed ominously in the warm summer night. By the time he saw us we were three feet away there was nowhere to run. He began to blabber how he didn’t want to die and people hated him and wanted the police to kill him. He was dressed in a cut-off pair of pants and wife beater undershirt. While he blabbed his bladder failed and the pissed snaked along as it mixed with the dirt like a meandering river heading nowhere in particular. My Partner was not particularly as charitable as I was but I prevailed , I told the little punk as he looked down the barrel of my M16 Rifle “even if you thing of stepping to me I will find you and I will kill you , there is no place for you to hide from me”> We left him standing there piss still streaming down his legs.
I never quite got the idea of issuing warnings to police officers about elevated levels of threats against their lives. This is the new fan-dangled bull-shit UWI policing I guess , every cop in Jamaica is always in mortal danger just by virtue of being a police officer. There is no elevated threat level Jamaica is a criminal coddling, criminal supporting society. In a society as ours law enforcement is always going to be the enemy. Every cop good or bad is always in mortal danger. Police Officer Lattibudier was shot and injured , while convalescing at home they went to his home and killed him in his bed . This was almost thirty(30) years ago. The pot-bellied high command does the department a dis-service by talking about elevated threat levels against cops. Police officers must be in the lead in understanding and displaying a sense of awareness. Even if two cops are at a local joint having a friendly game of dominoes both officer cannot be playing at the same time one person must be facing out ready to act. These are simple things which every officer understood to the best of my recollection. Twenty four years after leaving law enforcement whenever I am seated in a restaurant, church or wherever I try as best as I can to be in a position in which I can best react to threats so I may protect my life and that of my family. Yes 24 years later, I’m old enough to know how to do it and young enough to get it done.
One gets the sense the Commissioner of Police Dr Carl Williams is a good man and one of integrity. It seem he means well but he is not the kind of leader who can get members of the JCF to where they should be in terms of being a competent force which will be able to protect their own lives much less protect the public. Let’s be reasonable a lot of people deserve the shit the killers deal out, cops can do nothing right for them. Notwithstanding there are still good people living in Jamaica who deserve a Government which is not a crime syndicate and a competent police force they can trust and support.
The rain falls on the just and on the unjust. When the day comes in which our Country has good principled leadership and good competent law enforcement the police-hating ass-wipes will also benefit but such is life. The Commissioner of Police says and does all of the right things in terms of stepping up and visiting with the families of slain police officers but the Commissioner lacks that which in my mind is the first order of business, the strategic storm trooper mentality of blanketing every community until the killers are exterminated. Hell yes I said exterminated , they should never be allowed to be set free by the criminal coddling leftist courts system and yes FUCK (indecom) they better not get in the way. Since the courts cannot be trusted to apply justice police officers must bring justice to these killers. Carl Williams does not have the know-how to do it. The criminals who run the country systematically destroyed the police department beginning with Percival Patterson the colossal cancer which destroyed our country passed it down to POOR-SHA , and more POOR-SHA. This is the way the PNP party wanted it so when they steal there would not be a competent 21st century police agency to investigate and prosecute them. Today most of the Administration’s top supporters and functionaries are organized crime figures who are involved in all kinds of trans national crimes.
WHATISTHESTRATEGYFORCATCHINGCOPKILLERS? Some time ago I wrote an Article in which I suggested that the Police be more proactive in the way it carries out it’s function taking into account the constraints placed against it’s effectiveness by the Government. I argued then that Jamaica as a society gravitated to and literally required hard nosed name brand cops. Like in everything else Jamaicans recognize and revere the best and they have scant regard for the rest. They want name brand clothes, shoes and yes they demand name brand cops. If officers do not command their respect they are toast, those of us who served in a meaningful way know that the people test you themselves, if you pass their test you are in for life with them and no one can harm you. If you are soft and ineffectual you are a laughing stock to be ridiculed and reviled.
Even the most hardened criminals fear name-brand cops. Their ways of policing reaped immense benefits, that which can be seen and that which many are unable to see, namely in crimes not committed. There has always been an undervalued element to what those officers brought to certain police areas simply by being present in those localities. Some of the methods employed were not text-book methods but they bore results. I will not argue for breaching of civil rights under any circumstances but I will also say if you are dead there’s hardly any argument to be made for rights is there?
Being fallible the police made mistakes and the population made mistakes too. None as egregious than allowing Carolyn Gomes a pediatric Doctor with grand designs as champion of social change in a Utopian system of rights security be damned to dictate how policing is done. Out went cops who got the job done , in came the chair-warmers and the quotas. Crime skyrockets and everyone cowers in fear including the police.
At this stage it would better in my estimation if the department is disbanded and a fresh start attempted focusing heavily on training. The entire department needs reorienting to a state of preparedness. Policing is not the boy’s scouts. There is no point in having police who are unable to arrest criminals, I hate to break it to them but that is what police do, they arrest criminals and sometimes it’s not pretty. A woman in a skirt and heels on her shoes with cell phone in hand is no damn use to her male counterpart wrestling with a violent offender who wants to do him harm and refuses to submit to arrest . Lets cut to the chase and deal with the facts we have all seen these cases. Police officers do not step back from and cower in fear criminals do . Police in Jamaica now endure being punched and the assailant simply walk away. On what planet I ask is that tolerable,?
With the Government starving the department of resources the pot-bellied crew at the top of the force should use the few vehicles they have as mobile police stations. This means placing them strategically in grids withing their police areas each with two or more officers capable of dealing with urgent situations. This will severely impact the ability of criminals to commit crimes and use high powered motorcycles and cars to quickly traverse the country and avoid detection what with new highways and all.
Each minute a cop killer is on the loose is another minute for him to do more harm or leave the country. Jamaica is no stranger to cop killers being aided and abetted by the sitting Government to leave the country. This is something People’s National Party Administrations are know for , they have done it before they will do it again . For all we know this scumbag may already have been shuttled out of the country. The Police brass must develop grids which can easily be collapsed in instances such as the killing of the two officers. Search parties cannot be had-hock run in knock on a few doors and leave . Officers must be brought into the collapsing grid and the search done in sweeps leaving no stone un-turned. Anyone found harboring or found to have aided the suspect must be subject to the same fate as the principal offender. Once officers are tired they should be rotated out of the search grid only after they are replaced with fresh officers there should be no let up until justice is brought to bear on these killers and whomever gives them aid and comfort.
By all accounts this guy Marlon Perry is a contract killer who has murdered several people before allegedly killing the two cops. He is alleged to have strong ties to … You guessed it the sitting Government in Kingston. In all of this the bloated incompetent Police hierarchy must take blame . In the same way they allowed the likes of Duddus Coke and others to metastasize while they sat on their asses and did nothing it’s exactly what it is here. There is no system of reporting. No system of accountability. No system of making sure when you say “we will leave no stone un-turned “people know it’s not empty rhetoric.
This is the environment in which crime grows and flourish. Despite political interference and strong arming of law enforcement by the corrupt Government in Kingston the police still can do a better job than they are doing presently. All of the real cops are gone now, what’s left is a bunch of demoralized street cops who no longer see the need to risk anything> After all why should they at the top is a cadre of nincompoop who left the University of the West Indies and are rewarded with senior positions. Those are there for the paycheck. Officers who once went the extra mile are sidelined and disrespected. Throw the cop-killing (indecom) law into the mix and there is no reason for cops to do anything but collect the couple of bucks they dole out each month and keep their heads real low.
If anyone expect anything insofar as a strategic approach is concerned they are deluded, the ban-gut officer corp are in it for the paycheck, they are paper cops. Policing in Jamaica is simply a modeling job , everyone is aware of it, none more-so than the hardened criminals who the very laws support. When an area is known as a point for drugs and gun-running yet it is allowed to continue what’s the point of having a police department? The price is many more dead civilians and .… Aaah yes many more dead cops as well.
How Ironic ? I received the News my good friend SSP Cornwall (Badda) Ford was retiring the same way most everyone else did, through the Jamaican media. Those who know him from the many and varied stories told and retold about his forays and exploits in the Police Department his Nickname (Bigga Ford) speaks to his physical stature. To the rest of us who really know him the term (Badda Ford) is more appropriate, even as it doesn’t come close to telling the magnitude of his service to country.
Those who never donned a uniform in service to something bigger than themselves benefit from the sacrifices of those who do and that’s okay. No one forces a police officer or a member of the military to serve but they do anyway. No not everyone will fully appreciate the immense character which goes into someone running toward flying flying bullets and barking guns so that others can be safe.
I wish I had a dollar for every instance I heard the argument that “no one forced them and they get paid”. Nowadays I simply smile either you get it or you don’t
SSP Cornwall (supa-badda bigga Ford)
SSP Ford’s imminent departure from the JCF will book-end a chapter of real fearless crime fighters, some Famous and others unsung. Ironically the JCF is now an Institution top heavy with gazetted officers mostly with degrees who could’t find their way out of a brown paper bag. Ford came from a long line of crime fighters some of whom I was privileged to know and a few I had the distinct pleasure of working with. That list includes but is in no way confined to the well known. Joe Williams. Keith (Trinity) Gardener. O C Hare. Anthony Hewitt. Altamoth (Parra) Campbell. Cornwall (Badda) Ford. Dadrick Henry. Isiah Laing. Mikey Scott and others. As one former street soldier speaking to the real street soldiers like Spungy, O’connor, and the countless heroes who kept Jamaica from boiling over into a failed state I lift my cap to you. Many of you have gone on , many still remain with us , you know yourselves and you know your contribution to our country. Yo did what you did without fanfare , you did it for precious little reward, but you did it for love of country. I salute you.
Those who sit atop the constabulary hierarchy climbed on your shoulders , many occupying positions unearned Ford spoke to this in his comments to the media. Quote : “The police force has made me and I have made my contribution. I have made my mark. The police force as an institution is not a bad thing. It’s just that you have some police in it who are wicked and bad-minded. You have people of all different values and standards,” It is reported that Ford will be leaving the department in early January 2016 utilizing the early retirement option available to him. No one knows more about the corruption of some who serve and some who still serve of which Ford speak. As a young Constable working at the CIB Office at Constant Spring police prescient I was on Vacation leave and driving a rented car my kid brother loaned me to pick up a female friend from the Norman Manley International airport.
I was driving East along Spanish Town Road when a car heading in the opposite direction cut across my path and slammed into me. The car had no headlights, I never knew what hit me. I suffered cuts to my head and forehead and other injuries , the car I was driving a Toyota starlet was literally totaled. Driving the unmarked car was a certain police Corporal with whom I had served at the Mobile Reserve on the Ranger Squad . He was on assignment to a plainclothes squad based at police Area 4 which was on South Camp Road. With him were his team members.
Seeing it was him I asked him to radio the Denham Town Police which was the nearest station to the crash , I was bleeding , members of his team were also shaken up but nothing serious. An Inspector of police arrived and dealt with the accident as it should be at the time when police service vehicles are involved. The certain corporal with whom I previously had cordial relationship did not want to lose his plum assignment at Area 4 so he concocted a scheme to cover his ass.
Fortunately Badda Ford was there when he told the Assistant Commissioner that I was escorting gunmen from Tivoli Gardens and crashed into him destroying the car. ♦He never quite explained how it was possible for me to be escorting gunmen from Tivoli Gardens while heading in the direction of Tivoli Gardens. ♦ H e never bothered explaining the absence of the people I was supposedly escorting> ♦ He never bothered thinking that the accident was properly investigated by an Inspector who could be called on for a detailed report of the crash. ♦ He didn’t care that I knew absolutely no one from Tivoli Gardens. ♦ He didn’t care that I was a honest hard working police officer who stood for fidelity and what’s right. ♦ The idiotic big belly Assistant Commissioner for all intents and purposes would have gobbled up the concocted story as gospel had Ford not jumped in and blasted him as a liar and a fraud. Bigga Ford told him pointedly he would tell me what he was telling the Assistant Commissioner so he should know when I confront him he told me. I left the force a few years later , the then corporal went on to become a Superintendent. Is there much wonder the Department is in the shape it’s in? The same is true for countless officers of honesty and integrity who walked away leaving far too many with questionable characters .
I did not confront that corporal immediately, I waited until I was in control then I told him that despite the fact I had not said anything I knew what he did all along and yes I told him Supa Ford told me of his wicked concocted story. He knew what time it was , I’m sure he pissed his pants, but for the God in me I would have.….… Oh well. The era of the super cops is now officially over. One of my chief observation about my countrymen is their pretentious nature. We pretend we are what we are not. Jamaica is far and away not close to having a justice system which works. Adopting a model which even developed countries eschew is suicidal. Of course in Jamaica everyone knows exactly how to do everyone’s job except their own.
So a pediatric Doctor became the template for setting policing protocols, dozens of cops killed since , thousands of innocent civilians also. Rather than fix the problem they doubled down creating another layer of antagonism against law enforcement, placing at it’s head an ego-maniacal narcissist , more cops and more innocent civilians can prepare to die. Ride off into the sunset Badda Ford you served your country well, you weren’t perfect , none of us are but here’s hoping whatever else you do look after el número uno , my friend , and do smell the flowers while you still can . Peace my brother enjoy the next phase of your life.
Over the last three decades well over thirty thousand ( 30.000) people have been killed by criminals in Jamaica. It’s important to note that the country is not engaged in a civil war. That guesstimate was arrived at using statistics from the Police reporting on murders. Additionally untold more have been shot and critically wounded later resulting in death. These are never added into the murder totals, so by all accounts the number of reported homicides are generally conservative estimates.
As the killings continue unabated and arguably with increased ferocity there seem to be a sense of resignation within the population that nothing can be done to stop it. The Police Department is plagued with myriad problems which renders it unable to cope effectively as a force in protecting the shrinking segment of the population not involved in criminal conduct. Corruption, incompetence, lack of structural support , low wages , and an overall sense of demoralization are just a few of the issues which are hampering the police. The political administration in Kingston is not about to help , from top down the administration is a template of corruption and malfeasance .
Scandal after scandal which would have brought down administrations in other western countries have been swept aside resulting in no consequence for the thieves who are entrusted with running the nation’s affairs. This gives the average person on the streets the sense that he too can commit breaches of the law without consequence. The crime statistics in the Island Nation bears testament to that sense. By the conclusion of the year 2015 the number of Jamaicans killed at the hands of criminals is expected to be in excess of 1200 . As I have argued repeatedly, these are huge amounts of killings for any country but even more frightening for a small island with 2.7 million people and a land mass of 4,411 square miles. During my brief decade in law enforcement I saw first-hand the devastating consequences crime has on families and on the psyche of the nation overall.
Police Commissioner Dr Carl Williams with some of his top officers.
In the 24 years since I left,crime has gone up exponentially. Murders alone has increased between two hundred and fifty and three hundred percentage points. Those percentage points are not mere statistics they represent once living breathing human beings whom were our brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles , mothers and fathers, our neighbors and friends. Laws have not kept pace with the situation on the ground, in fact Jamaica has disproved the old saying “crime does not pay”. Crime does pay in Jamaica , it’s simply a matter of calculation. A person wanting to murder someone for whatever reason has precious little to fear from the authorities. Less than 50% of murderers are ever arrested,those arrested are largely domestic homicides where everyone knows John killed his girlfriend Shauna-kaye . More frightening is that even with those meager homicide arrest numbers only about 7% are convicted by the criminal friendly court system. If you thought that the 7% conviction rate is bad it’s important that you know that even then the liberal appeal courts overturn convictions on the flimsiest of technicalities making it all but certain the courts system has no agenda to incarcerate dangerous criminals but is more interested in pushing it’s radical leftist progressive agenda. By the time the appeal courts whittle the conviction rate down we are down to a shocking 1% actually paying for their crimes.
A typical scene on the Island of only 2.7 million people..
Poverty. Deportations . Government incompetence and complicity. A Weak ineffectual criminal justice system . Laws which hamper effective law enforcement are just a few of the factors fueling crime on the Island. The roughly 4 Jamaicans murdered daily is a mere par for the course except when someone of prominence becomes the victim, in which case there is an outpouring of outrage and disgust and as my dearly departed grand dad used to say , “like crème soda it fizzles and then it dies”. Outrage done ! The Island’s archaic laws encourages criminal behavior , even when authorities attempt to do something in response to the burgeoning rate of lawlessness instead of taking a stand against criminals they design laws to further impede and hamper law enforcement. In the end Jamaica is not a good place to raise a family or do business any more . Sad to say this will not change with the present leadership or should I say lack thereof.
A picture speaks a thousand words. The bullet-holes and the fearful gazes sums it up succinctly. This is a nation traumatized.
I hope that with the coming new year Jamaicans will take a collective introspective look at the direction our country has been heading and ask themselves are they better off than the year before, or the year before that? If the answer is no as it should be then they must ask themselves whether it’s okay to continue supporting a Party and a Government which is grossly incompetent at best and worse case blatantly corrupt and criminal in nature? Jamaicans have a collective new year resolution to make and that should be to return the country to a path of prosperity and growth for their children. That path is not to be found in the manifesto of the present administration.
Am I the only one offended by Portia Simpson Miller’s propensity to jump at every opportunity to offer words of congratulations and platitudes to sports stars, beauty pageants contestants, but never have time to speak on burning issues of the day.
The Jamaican Prime Minister in classic dumb mute character has no word of support for the families of police officers when their loved ones are murdered in service to their country. She is silent about the daily bloodshed in our country. As she is about the fact that the Jamaican dollar is for all intents and purposes a worthless currency. She is silent on the rampant corruption which has plagued not just former PNP Administrations but which seem to be the defining theme of both her Administrations.
Most importantly she had nothing to say about Dwayne Vaz’s nincompoop comments on a platform in St James urging PNP supporters to pick up their guns against Jamaica Labor Party supporters. I find it extra offensive that Miller who has done everything to secure and hold onto state power has nothing for the people except Spanish Town Road ghetto rhetoric and a kind of old style politics the country had already turned it’s back on.
Portia Simpson Miller can cheer-lead for sports stars, beauty contestants and whatever else tickles her fancy but it’s time she step aside if she loves Jamaica and in the name of God leave something of the Island we know and love for the next generation.
Among the destructive things the People’s National Party has done to Jamaica outside the destruction of the economy, impoverishment of the population, making our currency worthless, and destroying the productive sector, is the destruction of the Island’s moral compass.
Several days ago Dwayne Vaz the PNP member of parliament for central Westmoreland caused great concern to Jamaicans both at home and abroad when he invoked the murder lyrics of imprisoned convicted murderer Vybz Kartel on stage , inducing his supporters to load up their guns to take the fight to members of the opposition Jamaica Labor Party. Since then Vaz has walked back the comments after Jamaicans reacted strongly to the notion that an elected official could reckless attempt to do anything , much less suggest that the Island return to the dark days of political executions. Vaz is relatively young but he is no pup , if he is old enough to sit in Parliament as a member of that body he is not too young to know wrong from right and if he is that stupid then he needs to step aside. Jamaica certainly does not need that kind of leadership.
Absent any pepudation of Vaz on the matter is the Prime Minister whom for all intents and purposes cannot be taken seriously. However Portia does not need to speak out she does not know wrong from right and neither does the Jamaica Gleaner a once proud paper now shamelessly the mouth-piece of the ruling PNP . December 17th 2015 The Paper published it’s daily letter of the day, titled :
Vaz
“Low Di Yout Dem”…
For my readers who are not familiar with the Jamaican vernacular, ” Low Di Yout Dem” is a colloquial interpretation of “leave the young people alone”. The letter reads as follows.
THEEDITOR, Sir:
It is a welcoming sight to see the increased number of young people in politics. Like in our youthful days, they will err. It is not our duty as elders to shut them up or try to destroy them in the name of tribal politics. First, we must acknowledge that this is not the generation of the 1950s and 1960s. Second, they are more expressive and advanced culturally and/or intellectually. They will make mistakes; why hang them?
There is an interview with Bob Marley that was done on his return from a Caribbean destination in the 1970s. He spoke about adults wrongfully judging young people. He said (and I paraphrase) that all ‘dem big people gwaan like sey dem was never young; dem a gwaan like dem did born big’. This line of reasoning helps us to reflect on ourselves as we judge the young. Let us take the case of young Dwayne Vaz and that Kartel song. I will also look at young Dayton Campbell, too, because when he speaks, there is a kind of avalanche of condemnation. It was this blitz of condemnation and hangman’s noose shaking at young Dwayne Vaz; and look who is talking! Lef di yute! We were once young and we made errors. There were elders that were in place to help us to grow and to respect reason. What is missing from all of this is reason.
There is the argument that Vaz used lyrics of a “convicted murderer”. Is the problem the music or is it Vybz Kartel? I agree with the protest, but make it civil and intelligent. Dwayne Vaz is a young man, and like any one of our sons, treat him like your child. On Tuesday, I saw the slew of orchestrated condemnations of young Vaz. It was like he committed ISIS types of crime. Was there this level of condemnation of the so-called flag killing in Portmore? We have some young people in Jamaica who have a lot of potential and they must not be destroyed, but be assisted as they evolve. Do you really believe that Vaz would do something deliberately on the big stage to call for retribution and violence? Give the youth a break!
I see the same trend of comments and condemnation of young Dayton Campbell. Let him speak. Intelligent people cannot remain silent in the face of ignorance. When and where he commits an error, do not fail him, help him to overcome that problem. Where is that village that is expected to raise the youth? It is a pity that in this season of political campaigns there is this emptiness of knowledge and reason in the poor narratives of 21-century politics in Jamaica. In times like these we really miss the incomparable Michael Manley. The truth buried will rise again.
As someone who has more than once had the good fortune of having an essay being designated Letter of the day I am dissapointed that the Gleaner thinks a letter which ask that the Jamaican people give a pass to a member of parliament because of his age is worthy of publication , much less letter of the day. This letter is in and of itself the heart of what is wrong with Jamaica. No amount of quoting famous people changes that… Vaz is not a youth he is a member of parliament and one who is in position to influence real young people. Making excuses for him does nothing to help him, it shows the demented state of mental retardation of those who excuse his behavior. By the end of this year the very same youths will have murdered in excess of 1200 of their countrymen and women. This writer and the Gleaner should be ashamed at wanting to give a pass to someone who have craved and pursued leadership. Dwayne Vay is 34 years old , at his age I had completed 10 years as a police officer and had moved on and was 3 years into the second stage of my life. Had any young police officer wrongly killed or wounded a member of the public would the letter writer and the Gleaner be so benevolent? Most police officers are given the enormous task of making life and death decisions at the tender age of 18 years-old. Surgeons operate daily, some are younger than Dwayne Vaz, were one of them reckless and ended up jeopardizing patient’s lives would he receive the same charitable pass? I believe we all know the answer to these questions, which brings us then to why should a sitting member of parliament be held to a lesser standard of responsibility?
The letter writer is free to write whatever he wants. As an opinion writer myself I write what I feel like . The problem however is when a newspaper which ought to know better elevates a letter with that kind of content being fully conversant of Jamaica’s bloody past as it relates to political violence, it shows a certain level of recklessness unworthy of the public’s trust. Vaz made the sophomoric comments on a stage in Montego Bay . Days later six people were shot one killed in a drive by shooting in the very same city. I am not suggesting there was a connection between Vaz’s statements and the shootings but it brings to the fore the volatile nature of the situation with the proliferation and abundance of guns in the hands of people who are not smart enough to not use them in political killings.
Jamaica did “lowdi yute dem” , by the end of this year well over 1200 Jamaicans will have been killed by criminals. Let that sink in for a bit. The country is a veritable killing field , imagine 1200 bodies laid out side by side and imagine that carnage in a nation 4411 square miles and a population of 2.7 million. Then imagine just how tenuous the situation is. No the youths cannot be allowed to do as they please the nation tried it and look where it got us. Dwayne Vaz is no youth he is a grown man and he must be held accountable for his actions like everyone else. I’m still awaiting a response from Jamaica house maybe ‚just maybe the Prime Minister will finally realize she is the Prime Minister of all Jamaicans and not just for the PNP.
On assuming office as Prime Minister of Jamaica after the early exit of beleaguered Prime Minister Bruce Golding Andrew Holness said he would ask the Leader of the Opposition Portia Simpson Miller to walk the Garrisons as a sign of peace and togetherness. Holness felt this was important given our country’s violent political past. True to his word on October 27th Andrew Holness sent a letter to Portia Simpson Miller as a sign of goodwill and coöperation. To the best of our knowledge Andrew Holness received no formal response from the then leader of the political opposition. HOLNESS’ INVITATIONTOWALKTHEGARRISONS.
This publication was enthused at the change in tone and attitude of the newly installed prime Minister . As a former cop and a Jamaican who have witnessed firsthand the ravages of political violence on our people and culture, I felt though not a panacea Holness’ attitude to Governance was an important first step in the reconciliation process for the Jamaican people as one people, despite our differing political affiliations.
I was not surprised however that Portia Simpson Miller did not formally respond to the entreaties of the then Prime Minister to present a united front in the interest of our country. At the time I said the People’s National Party and Portia Simpson Miller could not take up the Prime Minister’s offer to show togetherness as Garrisons were Portia and Portia the Garrisons. I opined then that the woman the masses refer to as Sista P was merely an opportunistic virago and a political hustler. I had seen her in action over the years and thus I believe my characterization of her was and still remain an exercise in charity. OFGARRISONSCONCESSIONSANDDEBATES.
The People’s National Party constructed an elaborate scheme to control state power beginning in the early 70’s , the idea was to use popular programs and laws which would have mass grass root appeal, supposedly in the best interest of the poorer class. This created a cult-like following of the party which remain to this day despite the fact that Jamaica’s departure from the policies of the 60’s created a country and people who are exponentially worse off than before the social experiment of the 70’s and 90’s. It was the foundation on which Michael Manley’s Democratic Socialism was built. ♦ Project Land Lease. ♦ No bastard children. ♦ Micro Dams. ♦ The Cuban Schools. ♦ Free education. ♦ JAMAL. Were just a few of the programs which garnered mass support for Michael Manley and the People’s National Party. Though not necessarily bad ideas these ideas were poorly executed and exploited further which inevitably created a contemporary culture of dependency on Government as benefactor and crime as a substituting entity to fill the space where politics fell short. Free housing , Free electricity Free money, was icing on the cake and out the door went the concept of hard work education and the entrepreneurial spirit .
On the basis of the aforementioned, had Portia agreed to the dismantling of garrisons she would be agreeing to dismantlig her power base. That was not about to happen and young Andrew Holness would not be allowed to change the entrenched order of eat a food through political patronage It was not surprising then the response she gave to Holness’ invitation was informally and colloquially yet easily predictable. The “PNP nu have nu garrison mi nu see no walls inna mi constituency” GARRISONSDON’T ALLHAVEWALLS Anyone familiar with Miller cannot be surprised or even disappointed with the mindless parochialism of her response yet it evoked a certain degree of sadness at least to this writer ‚that one so highly placed could be so inherently stupid in not recognizing the important symbolism such a gesture would have created for the younger genration. All was not lost however, for the most part many Jamaicans of both major political parties had decided that killing each other in the name of politics was not something they wanted to continue doing. It was encouraging to see that Jamaicans of both political stripes had decided that though they still liked killing each other they would not continue to do so in the name of politics.
It should come as no surprise then that because the leader of the People’s National Party did not demonstrate the maturity , intelligence or common sense to eschew violence and it’s nurturing grounds, that the next Generation of PNP leaders would see violence as a viable path toward achieving political ends. The irony in all of this is that the people are smarter than their leaders. The people have already made the decision to eschew Political violence. Unfortunately Portia Simpson Miller still have not received that memo, and certainly not the idiotic little moron Dwayne Vaz the member of Parliament from Central Westmoreland the seat once occupied by the later Roger Clarke,. At the time Vaz was elevated to Clarke’s seat the Jamaica Observer did an elaborate story on the life of the then 33 year-old from his birth in 1981 to winning the by- election, it Article was a cloying love-fest . As the conclusion to the lengthy tribute to Vaz’s life story the writer Desmond Allen Observer Executive editor crowed .
Speaking on a platform at a PNP rally in St James recently in front of a large PNP crowd the supposed young, good-looking, hard-working, people-loving person — a virtual template on how to make a Jamaican politician ‑peeled off the Sheep costume and revealed for all and sundry the Wolf hiding inside. Responding to a fire at the PNP constituency office Dwayne Vaz showed the dirty filthy underbelly of PNP politics and the fuel which drives it, violence and intimidation. Quote “a baby strength dem have” He then went on to start singing the controversial lyrics of the Kartel’s violence song, “Wha’ Dem Feel Like”, as the sound system played the song written and performed by dancehall deejay, Vybz Kartel, who was convicted of murder in April, 2014 and includes lines like: “Puzzle up mi gun inna jeffery hype/Mek we step like a centipede and tek the lead inna war/A weh dem feel like, dem skin too tough fi bleed”. Weh Dem Feel Like
Hey, Ryno, a baby strength dem have, gal strength alone dem have Grants Pen, line up di car dem and di bike and mek we run in pon dem tonight [Chorus:] A weh dem feel like? Dem skin too tough fi bleed? Puzzle up mi gun inna … Mek we step like a centipede and tek the lead inna war A weh dem feel like? Dem skin too tough fi bleed? Puzzle up mi gun inna … Mek we step like a centipede and tek the lead inna war
[Verse 1:]
Mi nuh inna nuh long talking (talking). Mi dawg a do di … barking (barking). Magi-barrel a spin like a car rim, down a Madden. Dem haffi carry (…) badness a nuh show weh you star in. Fi get no bandoolu shot and fake scarrin. A real cop, a real killa, real bawlin’. When you mother (mother) see you spread out like tarpaulin.
[Chorus:]
Nowadays badness nuh fit dem. Dem only beat up bere woman and children. Nobody nah go vex if we kill dem. Di coppa shot dem from mi gun mi put it in dem. From you bother … , you condemn. string dem as we bomb dem. The way mi love killin mi put it inna mi song dem. And when di Gaza circle you, you caan get weh from dem.
[Chorus:]
Clearly a call to arms , and to return to the dark days of 8oo + dead in the name of politics as we have seen in the past. Communities as impregnable balkanized bastions of political exclusivity. Since then the naïve exuberant little pup have walked back the dangerous statements but the damage may have already been done . Not surprisingly, not a single word from the leader of the party to the little upstart “no this is not what we are about, this is not where we want to go”. Of course her performance as Parish Councillor, Minister and now as Prime Minister can only reasonably be validated through the garrison culture and the dumbing-down of the already illiterate uninformed masses. Is it any wonder then that as always when it really counts the stooge in Jamaica House is duplicitously silent?
Over the years we have seen both political parties in Jamaica do things which begs the age old question “are Jamaican authorities serious about reducing and ultimately eradicating crime’?
Lets get something straight here the governing administration has been horrible stewards of the nation’s affairs . This is not just about the economy and the moral decadence which characterizes Jamaican. The Party has actively contributed to crime directly both by omission and commission.
The Opposition Labor Party has had less time at the tiller but there is ample evidence of the contribution the Labor party has made to the crime culture on the Island as well. Which brings us to the Police. The Police department relegated itself to lapdog status for the political class, Commissioners and rank and file has come and gone but the mindset remain the same. The department has a PhD at the helm but the mindset throughout the constabulary seem to be that of a defeated second class citizenry, browbeaten, and battered into accepting it’s lot. Attrition is high, by some accounts over 600 officers left the department in a single year. There has to be a reason for this , particularly in a country where jobs are as hard to come by as finding a politician with good character. Which begs the question, why are officers going through the training only to dump the department at the slightest opportunity for an out?
Jamaicans have always been a people highly fascinated by positions and power . The bigger heads mentality is an integral part of the Island’s popular culture. The Police Commissioner is a PhD and he may be the beneficiary of more respect from the self appointed Elites than his predecessors but there is still a nagging sense that the police are mere yaad bways , unworthy of respect. Don’t get me wrong, over the years the Police have done more than enough to earn the disrespect of the most forgiving and pious Angels. The list of charges against the police leaves well thinking observers including former officers stunned that officers could be engaged in some of the crimes they are accused of committing. ♦Contract killings ♦ Extra-Judicial killings ♦ Robbery ♦ Rape. ♦ Conspiracy ♦ The list of criminal engagements by officers defies logic.
As a former cop I could argue that the JCF is not the only police agency struggling with those issues . As a Christian I could argue the character of people everywhere are more suspect because overall good values and best practices are simply not been taught and where taught are not been adhered to. I could make those arguments but they would not be fair arguments to make, people deserve better police services.
However as we look at the crimes and miss-steps of the police we have to look at the population and it’s role in all of this . Have the Jamaican public been respectful and embracing of law enforcement? Have the people embraced or shown an understanding of the role law-enforcement plays in a democratic society? On both counts the answer is no. The Island built a culture of animosity , resentment and opposition to law enforcement. From as far back as the creation of the Police services after the Morant Bay Rebellion Jamaicans arguably decided they would have an acrimonious relationship with those who enforce the laws. The JCF which was born out of the ashes of the rebellion was seen as a tool of the powerful created to oppress the underclass. Despite the fact that the British left and the police became the sons and daughters of the working class the pervasive culture of opposition to police remained.
Early dress uniform (Adapted)
The paradoxical juxtaposition of the emergent Rastafarian counter culture and the animosity toward policing did nothing to help the young nation with the large illiterate underclass to understand the need for supporting and nurturing the rule of law. A cold war developed between the cannabis smoking Rastafarians and the police. The result was that the opportunistic politicians of the day saw an opportunity to drive a wedge between police and people for political gain and they exploited it to the max.
Fast forward to today and the (indecom) Act, ballooning murder rates , cops leaving in droves , Terrence Williams and politicians of both political parties are either too stupid to understand the damage they are doing or they intend to destroy the Force, grow crime and turn the country over to terrorists. As it was in the beginning, politicians of both parties are joining together to give even more power to (indecom) rather than empower and outfit the police to go after crime.
In the end Jamaica is well on it’s way to end up where it sets out to be, a paradise for criminals. You simply cannot expect to have good outcomes from bad strategies.Talk to Jamaicans and 9 out of 10 hates police even though they have relatives who were, or are cops. Many have no idea why they hate cops , they simply do , they were raised that way. Ironically when they live abroad they are respectful of officers and those who aren’t end up on(ice) planes with a one way ticket back home. They know in their host countries their disrespectful shenanigans are best left at home. In the age of terror bombings and beheadings, purveyors of anarchy and mayhem from across the globe are always looking for places to plant their flags. Soon and very soon Jamaicans of all stripes and stations will come to realize the folly of their ways , by then it will be too late. For all intents and purposes it may already be.
You do not build a nation without securing the population. You do not build a nation without establishing a foundation of laws for the protection of the population. From earliest recorded history this was understood. Jamaican leaders have shit for brain so this eludes them but the people have been complicit and they deserve every inch of what they get.
In what seem to be unprecedented killing of people by American police more and more people are getting a look at what cops actually do while they are not looking, of course they claim to be doing it in the name and supposedly for the public’s protection. As a former cop myself I know too well the dangers inherent in the job. At the same time I find it offensive that anyone would use the risks associated with law enforcement as a reason to commit murder. I say this despite doing policing in Jamaica one of the most violent and dangerous places to do policing , and oh by the way being shot in the line of duty.
So I really am not deterred by killer cops wherever they ply their trade, neither am I mindful of their rabid inconsequential supporters who support the murder they visit on defenseless citizens. The attack the victim strategy will never deter me from speaking out against police killing innocent people and lying about it . I believe that on every occasion a cop kills a member of the public and lies to justify that illegal killing the victim and his/her family is slaughtered twice. As I said in a conversation just this morning the argument that police officers do not leave home and go out to kill people is utter and total bullshit. To those making that argument I say listen to the language of the white cops who are caught on tape telling unarmed members of the black community “I will fucking kill you, open your mouth and I put a fucking bullet in you head” !!! Does that equate to intent in law ? Intent can be expressed, inferred or implied , guess what ? Expressed intent is the most credible . So when a cop tells someone I will kill you and does that it exactly proves intent. What better way to know a person’s intention that the words which the person utter? Only that they are not charged with murder as they should be , like every other member of the public would be.
White Colorado movie theater shooter arrested after killing 12 and wounding 70
Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being by another human being with malice aforethought . Guess how we prove malice? Malice is proven by the words or deeds which preceded the act. So when a cops says’I will fucking kill” you and does he commits murder why he is not prosecuted for the crime rests with the people who chose to remain ignorant of what is being done in their names. In America there will never be outcry about the mass of police murder by the broader society as long as the victims are Blacks and Latinos. It serves their purpose well , they defend it because these uniformed killers carry out the sadomasochistic slaughter that they themselves would like to engage in.
Robert Dear Arrested Alive He killed three people and injured 11 others.
One of the greatest bit of hypocrisy surrounding this whole police abuse of citizens is what Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy did in what is known as the Leahy Amendment.
In the final days of the first session of the 105th Congress, the House and Senate approved H.R. 2159, the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs for Fiscal Year 1998. In a major victory for human rights and arms control public interest groups, the Leahy Amendment survived the conference committee and remained in the final version. The amendment, located in Section 570 of the bill, states the following: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be provided to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible evidence that such unit has committed gross violations of human rights, unless the Secretary determines and reports to the Committees on Appropriations that the government of such country is taking effective measures to bring the responsible members of the security forces unit to justice: Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed to withhold funds made available by this Act from any unit of the security forces of a foreign country not credibly alleged to be involved in gross violations of human rights: Provided further, That in the event that funds are withheld from any unit pursuant to this section, the Secretary of State shall promptly inform the foreign government of the basis for such action and shall, to the maximum extent practicable, assist the foreign government in taking effective measures to bring the responsible members of the security forces to justice so funds to the unit may be resumed.”
South Carolina cop Michael Slager a coast guard veteran himself ..
Obviously abuse of human rights and dignity only happen in other countries because I have not heard a single word , neither have I head of any legislation from either Patrick Leahy or anyone else on the mass slaughter of black and brown
Slager murdering Walter Scott a Coast guard veteran as he attempted to run away…
people in America not to mention the cumulative assault on their dignity and self respect daily. How about a bill which bans funding to police departments which abuse the rights of citizens? How about a bill which goes after killer cops who have lengthy records of abuse and no action is taken to rid the department of them .? It is not enough for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to say “I own it , it happened on my watch” , it was Emanuel and other officials who sought to keep the viscous cold-blooded slaughter of Laquan McDonald under wraps.
Laquan McDonald
Laquan McDonald could be alive today if the aggressive racist piece of human garbage parading as a police officer was removed from the department long ago . Jason Van Dyke reportedly had over (20) complaints of abusive and harmful behavior to the public and in one case a member of the public was even awarded thousands of dollars yet no action was taken against Van Dyke, he was allowed to keep wearing the uniform of a police officer. Emanuel is not sorry for the killing of this troubled teen , he is sorry the facts were forced out into the open by journalists who stayed true to their commitment and calling. Can Emanuel, the Prosecutor or police officials say the same ?
Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke fired (16)bullets into the body of 17 year old troubled teen Laquan McDonald he kept firing even as the teen’s body lay on the ground twitching . It was the most egregious example yet of police terrorism I have ever seen.
In the age of round the clock talk about terrorism and the demonizing of Muslims when misguided zealots commit mass murder while hiding behind religion, it is easy to disregard the home grown terrorism right here by a different kind of terrorist operating under the banner and with the protection of the law. Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke fired (16)bullets into the body of 17 year old troubled teen Laquan McDonald. He kept firing even as the teen’s body lay on the ground twitching . It was the most egregious example yet of police terrorism I have ever seen. Van Dyke fired (16) bullets at Laquan McDonald even as McDonald was felled by the very first shot. The first bullet was illegal because he had no reason to fire his weapon. The (15) bullets Van Dyke fired after McDonald was down was reckless, depraved, indifferent , viciously murderous, callous yet they revealed the level of murderous intent Jason Van Dyke harbored for the people he collected a salary to protect and serve.
Charleston, S.C., shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof, second from left, is escorted from the Shelby Police Department in Shelby, N.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015.
It is the same sick demented yet blatant risqué willfulness with which Staten Island cop Daniel Pantaleo murdered Eric Garner. The same casual unmindful deliberation with which Ferguson Missouri cop Darren Wilson viciously fired and fired and fired until Michael Brown was a bullet riddled mass of human remains. The sick callous disregard for black and brown lives are well documented from the unconscionable slaughter of (12)year Tamir Rice to the man who evaded police on the Saw Mill River Parkway who had no weapon but ended up killed by police anyway. White shooter Dylan Roof slaughtered (9) people who welcomed the demented savage into their prayer meeting he was captured alive. On and on we see white privilege at work in the most egregious and shameless way , they don’t even try to defend it, certainly not since Barack Obama ascended to the presidency> It is a white-lash[sic] at the temerity of a black man to attain the highest fortress of white Supremacy, they can’t get to him but they will get to those they can. Some argue the slaughter has been going on forever we were just not aware at the breadth, width and depth of it , neither were we aware of the heights to which Racism is still entrenched in the society. Until you begin to listen to Senior Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia you probably thought you could trust the courts to be just. Now you get an idea of what people of color are up against in this land of the free home of the brave. The advent of social media and camera phones have seismically changed the paradigm, they do not deny it much anymore they simply enforce it.
Alternet.org said this. White shooters live and maybe get a Whopper on the way to jail. Black suspects don’t get the same royal treatment. A bit of an understatement however the website said .Privilege consists of unearned advantages. Privilege is a system of power relationships. And privilege consists of all of the inconveniences, challenges and opportunities denied that a person does not have to ever think or worry about.Warped White Privilege and the Planned Parenthood Killer. Amid the (24) hour mass hysteria surrounding the issue of Islamist terrorism , far more whites are killing everyone else in America and far more police killings are occurring than people killed by Muslims. Those are the irrefutable facts. They have no shame , they never did. They killed the Indians. They killed millions during the slave trade .They killed millions more after and they will kill as many more as they are allowed to kill. It’s in their DNA.
In a short yet to the point letter to the Editor of the Daily Gleaner prominent Lawyer Howard Hamilton QC wrote Wednesday.
No more blood must be shed in the game of politics. For every drop of blood spilled, I will personally hold every politician — from the prime minister and opposition leader to all their affiliates and underlings — responsible for their action or inaction to prevent the loss of life. We cannot, as a nation, grow in this backward manner and hope to achieve anything. Is Vision 2030 to be forgotten and thrown aside once an election is to be announced? Will Vision 2030 mission be changed to ‘live, work and die in Jamaica’? To the leaders of this country, we need answers and will be holding you all accountable for further loss of life, whether it be in Newlands or Beverly Hills.
Beautiful Jamaica
Over the years Howard Hamilton and I have had our disagreements around some issues largely about the way our country should be policed. This is understandable, Hamilton’s vocation as a criminal defense lawyer is diametrically opposite to my early years as a police officer. THEROADTOHELL Despite our disagreements on some policy I have never heard anyone question the integrity of Howard Hamilton . This is why I’m prompted to respond pointedly to mister Hamilton’s rather important yet short letter.
When smart people of good character sits by and refuse to step forward in the vacuum of leadership that vacuum will be filled by idiots and people of poor character. Is there a place on earth where this is more true than Jamaica? Maybe not!!! We have the leadership we have because the best people grew comfortable and disinterested . This emboldened the most corrupt least talented to step forward and force themselves on us eventually convincing us to place them in positions of trust. In the process we stood by and watched as our moral compass is redefined by the worst among us. Our economy is decimated. Our Infrastructure abandoned and crumbling . Education for our children unsupported. Healthcare in shambles. Agriculture non-existence. Tourism mismanaged and is now literally all all-inclusive which benefits only a few. Our productive sector gasping for the air of survival and security ? Well we can only reminisce about the days when Jamaica was a nice place to live. To those who say it is nice now,I say unless you know you don’t know.
Despite my finger pointing I too must also look in the mirror and reevaluate the decision I made when I was asked to step forward and enter representational politics. On that occasion I said no. I have never regretted that decision.
It is par for the course now since Obama took office, far right bigots, xenophobes and misogynist creeps crawl out of their holes and launch vile attacks against everyone who isn’t white Anglo-Saxon. Some people are now looking at the mildly literate Donald Trump and saying this guy is a Misogynistic , Racist, Xenophobe as if trump represent something never before seen in America.
I asked in a previous Article , why are everyone acting surprised about this rhetoric? Why are people acting like they are surprised at Trumps’ rise? Trumps rise was preceded by the rise of another Racist Xenophobe, the idiot from Alaska. Their modus operandi is the same, two vile ignoramuses who should never be given a platform and microphone but for ignorant racist who are looking for a mouthpiece they were Godsends . Donald Trump was born with a platinum spoon in his mouth the son of a wealthy New York Developer. Trump lied that he owes his wealth to hard work and a million dollar loan from his father however Trump has been the recipient of his
Trump
father’s enormous wealth. The website badgop.com pointed out succinctly ..
Donald Trump Would Be Richer If He Never Touched Inheritance. Donald Trump is fond of bragging about what a great businessman he is. As such, he claims he would be able to revive the American economy, negotiate better trade deals with our competitors, and hammer out airtight foreign policy agreements that would prove America means business. “Had the celebrity businessman and Republican presidential candidate invested his eventual share of his father’s real-estate company into a mutual fund of S&P 500 stocks in 1974, it would be worth nearly $3 billion today, thanks to the market’s performance over the past four decades. If he’d invested the $200 million that Forbes magazine determined he was worth in 1982 into that index fund, it would have grown to more than $8 billion today.”
So much for making deals and being a power-broker, the loudmouth baboon never misses an opportunity to make excuses that his several Bankruptcy filings were business filings and that he never filed for personal bankruptcy protection.
Palin
The fact is that the orange haired baboon is not running for person of the year , he is running for the presidency, his three business bankruptcy filings cannot be the model for America. Countries do not get to file Bankruptcy time and again .
Lets cut to the chase does any sane person believe Sara Palin was qualified to be next in line for the Presidency? Does any sane person believe Donald Trump is qualified to be the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the world? On both accounts the answer is no , so we must look at the reason these cretins surged into the front pages in their respective cycles and have been foisted on the consciousness of voters.
Having a wealthy father gets one draft deferments, huuuuuge[sic] inheritance and a sense of entitlement but it certainly does not make one smart. I have heard from some quarters that Donald Trump is a smart man . I’ve also heard that Ben Carson is a smart man , I haven’t quite reconciled in my mind the concept of smartness being reduced to a single subject matter. Neither men have a clue about the way the world works, neither do they know the issues… So this time its Sarah Palin in drag posturing as presidential timber for the xenophobic right. It almost seem that one has to be absolutely stupid to be considered as a viable candidate on the moronic right.
What makes Donald Trump relevant to the idiot right is what made Palin consequential . Extreme racist bigotry and mind-numbing stupidity. Right wing candidates must posses the gall to say the most despicable offensive racist things about everyone not a white right wing nut job. And most of all they must have a willingness and an eagerness to disparage, demonize and disrespect President Barack Obama. Palin made it an art-form, Trump has simply picked up the baton and is running with it. It was likening the affordable care Act to slavery and being disparaging of the President which made Ben Carson a candidate, like other also-ran, like Herman Cain it won’t be long before people struggle to recall Carson’s name or that he actually ran. Of course Carson will go down in history as a traitor who joined the enemies of our race to demagogue the first black president, instead of being remembered for being a brilliant surgeon.
Lets not pretend that we don’t know what this demagoguery is about. It was always about hating and blaming other people for their failures. You know the Blacks the Immigrant Hispanics and now the Muslims …It’s about hate. Almost every day there is a mass shooting in America and they are largely committed by white men who claim Christianity as their religion. When these miscreants kill no one judges Christianity and shouldn’t. No one demonizes their race and shouldn’t . They are simply talked about as mentally ill individuals. But you can’t use facts to counter the rhetoric of the willful ignorant.
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