GUERNICA, BY PABLO PICASSO depicts the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country village in northern Spain, and stronghold of the anti-fascist Republican forces. The bombing, by German and Italian warplanes, was requested by Spanish Nationalists, led by Francisco Franco, during the Spanish Civil War. The painting is considered one of the world’s most profound depictions of the suffering created by wars. The ultimate aim of the fascists was to prevent revolutions like that which had occurred in the Soviet Union.

Institute for Political Economy

May 21, 2015

By Paul Craig Roberts

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/

Memorial Day commemorates soldiers killed in war. We are told that the war dead died for us and our freedom. US Marine General Smedley Butler challenged this view. He said that our soldiers died for the profits of the bankers, Wall Street, Standard Oil, and the United Fruit Company. Here is an excerpt from a speech that he gave in 1933:

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

General Smedley Butler

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we’ll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn’t go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn’t a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its “finger men” to point out enemies, its “muscle men” to destroy enemies, its “brain men” to plan war preparations, and a “Big Boss” Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a revolutionary who used mass civil disobedience as one step to overturning an unjust system.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

US invasion of Dominican Republic, 1916.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

Jade Helm diagram. For more information, see links below story.

Most American soldiers died fighting foes who posed no threat to the United States. Our soldiers died for secret agendas of which they knew nothing. Capitalists hid their self-interests behind the flag, and our boys died for the One Percent’s bottom line.

Jade Helm, an exercise that pits the US military against the US public, is scheduled to run July 15 through September 15. What is the secret agenda behind Jade Helm?

“Jade Helm 15 is an eight-week, [Special Operations Command-SOCOM] sponsored, joint-military and inter-agency, unconventional warfare training exercise, which will be conducted throughout parts of Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada and Florida running this summer from July 15 to September 15. As part of the training, Special Forces from at least four branches of the military will role-play, conducting imaginary covert missions on territories labeled “hostile” in Texas, Utah and southern California, and travel from state to state in military aircraft.” —Truth-Out.org

The collapse of the Soviet Union hurt third world countries across the globe, which had benefited from the economic backing of the USSR. Here, Fidel Castro and the late Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev declare their solidarity shortly after the Cuban revolution.

The Soviet Union was a partial check on capitalist looting in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. However, with the Soviet collapse capitalist looting intensified during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama regimes.

Neoliberal Globalization is now looting its own constituent parts and the planet itself. Americans, Greeks, Irish, British, Italians, Ukrainians, Iraqis, Libyans, Argentinians, the Spanish and Portuguese are being looted of their savings, pensions, social services, and job opportunities, and the planet is being turned into a wasteland by capitalists sucking the last penny out of the environment. As Claudia von Werlhof writes, predatory capitalism is consuming the globe. http://www.globalresearch.ca/neoliberal-globalization-is-there-an-alternative-to-plundering-the-earth/24403 We need a memorial day to commemorate the victims of neoliberal globalization. All of us are its victims, and in the end the capitalists also.

Retirees in Spain stand to lose most of their pensions as a result of banks’ assault on their country.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts’ latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.

Related:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-great-spain-robbery-pensioners-protest-as-they-watch-their-life-savings-vanish-into-the-banks-black-hole-8921419.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/10/31/us-argentina-pensions-us-idUSTRE49T9N520081031

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/30939-jade-helm-15-is-not-a-federal-takeover-it-s-domestic-military-expansion

http://allnewspipeline.com/More_States_Added_To_Jade_Helm_15.php

Protesters occupied streets in front of Cuyahoga County courthouse, for over a week before today’s verdict. Photo: Urban Media Network

BELOW: PROTESTERS AT COURTHOUSE AFTER VERDICT, AND FLOODING 4TH STREET IN DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND

Protesters gather after Michael Brelo acquitted and discharged

Unarmed Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell were killed in 2012, Williams shot 24 times, Russell 23 times

No Black officers involved in pursuit by 100 police cars; Cleveland 53.3 % Black, cops 75 % white/other

By Daniel McGraw in Cleveland

May 23, 2015

Cleveland cop Michael Brelo during trial.

A Cleveland police officer who stood on the hood of a car and fired his gun 49 times through the windshield at two unarmed passengers has been found not guilty on two counts of voluntary manslaughter.

Michael Brelo was also found not guilty of felonious assault, and discharged.

On Saturday morning, Cuyahoga County judge John P O’Donnell said prosecutors failed to prove without a reasonable doubt that bullets fired by officer Brelo were the cause of death of Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, or that Brelo had no fear for his own life during the volley of gunfire that ended a high-speed car chase on 29 November 2012.

Cuyahoga County Judge John P. O’Donnell examines mannikins representing Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams during trial.

“The verdict should be no cause for a civilized society to celebrate or riot,” O’Donnell said in remarks preceding a lengthy reading of 10 pages of his 35-page verdict, in which he discussed the wounds suffered by Williams and Russell, which were indicated on two mannequins in court, and the views and actions of other police officers involved in the shooting.

After O’Donnell delivered his verdict, some African American spectators in the court house shouted: “No justice, no peace!”

After the verdict, about 40 protesters gathered outside the courthouse in downtown. The peaceful protest turned a little ugly as Brelo’s attorney, Patrick D’Angelo, made his way outside for TV interviews.

NEWS MEDIA ALONG FOR THE RIDE: Watch the unedited video as NewsChannel5 multi-media journalist Mike Vielhaber rides along with police on the night Cleveland officers shot and killed two people who were suspects in a chase.

The small crowd surrounded D’Angelo and some screamed “protector of killers” as he was escorted back into the court house by sheriff deputies.

Police quickly barricaded the roads around the court house, closing them to vehicle traffic but permitting people to protest in the street.

“This verdict was no surprise to the black community,” said one African American community activist outside the court house. “The law is written so the police can get away with abusing people of color, and this is proof of how that works.”

Protesters confront police outside courthouse after verdict. Photo: Daniel McGraw, The Guardian

Brelo’s trial ended about three weeks ago, and was decided by a judge instead of a jury at the request of the defendant. The move allowed the decision to be made by a judge looking only at the strict legal interpretation of the case, rather than by a jury that might render a decision based more on emotion.

Sources have told the Guardian that O’Donnell waited so long to issue his verdict in order to give the city time to prepare for any resultant civic unrest of the kind seen recently in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore after cases involving deaths at the hands of police.

The judge picked a Saturday morning on a holiday weekend to announce the verdict, the sources said, to provide an extra day for law enforcement to calm the city, and also as a way to lessen problems that might be caused by high school students.

The front windshield of the car driven by Timothy Russell is shown Friday, April 10, 2015, in Cleveland. Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo, 31, is being tried on two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the November 2012 deaths of Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30, after a high-speed chase. The defense attorney’s, prosecuting attorney and the judge visited the warehouse where the car and two police cruisers involved in the chase are stored. (AP Photo/Aaron Josefczyk, Pool)

In recent years, downtown Cleveland has experienced some acts of mob violence carried out by high school students – in particular on St Patrick’s Day this year.

Brelo, 31, joined the Cleveland police department in 2007, having served in the marine corps in Iraq. He was charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter. Each count can carry a sentence of three to eight years in prison.

O’Donnell would also have decided the sentencing. The 50-year-old judge, in office since 2002 and elected as a Democrat throughout his career, ran for the Ohio supreme court but was defeated by a Republican.

Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell

Brelo’s trial resulted from a police chase on November 29, 2012, when Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell led police on a 20-minute pursuit that involved 60 police cars and about 100 police officers. The chase began when their car, a 1979 Chevy Malibu, apparently backfired as it passed police headquarters in downtown Cleveland. The noise was mistaken for a gunshot.

Williams, 30, and Russell, 43, were boxed into a middle-school parking lot when 13 Cleveland police officers fired 137 shots into the car in an 18-second volley. Brelo fired the most – 49 shots total – including 15 at the end of the barrage while standing on the hood of the car, aiming at the pair through the windshield. Even though a dozen other officers fired 88 bullets into the car, only Brelo was charged.

If Brelo was fearful that he or another officer or a bystander might get hurt, he was entitled to use deadly force [the defense argued].

Cleveland protesters block traffic earlier in the week. Photo: Urban Media Network

The prosecution also had to prove that Brelo’s actions led to the deaths of Williams and Russell, meaning the bullets fired from his gun were the ones that killed them. No forensic science experts could say with any certainty that any of Brelo’s 49 bullets resulted in death.

The prosecution’s expert witnesses testified that all the shots fired by police were justifiable – except for the 15 Brelo fired from on top of the car.

Brelo’s attorney Patrick D’Angelo makes argument during trial as prosecutor listens. Prosecution appears to have thrown this case, as in Trayvon Martin killing, where medical examiner sued the prosecution for not presenting his evidence in toto.

Prosecutors conceded that those 15 shots would have been justified had Brelo not been standing on the hood. In other words, if Brelo had fired the same shots into the windshield standing in front of the car with his feet on the ground, he probably would not have been charged.

The Brelo case caused widespread outrage and led to an investigation of the use of excessive force by the Cleveland police department. In February 2013, the Ohio attorney general, Mike DeWine, found that the chase and killing of Russell and Williams represented “a systematic failure in the Cleveland police department”.

Last December, after a 21-month investigation sparked by the case, the then US attorney general Eric Holder released a report that found Cleveland police had engaged in a pattern and practice of excessive force, including unnecessary deadly force. The Department of Justice report alleged that the excessive force violated Cleveland citizens’ constitutional rights, and was based on more than 600 incidents between 2012 and 2013.

‘Chaotic and dangerous’ Cleveland police shamed in withering government report

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has been in office for 10 years, during which time, according to a report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “in more than 60 lawsuits, citizens accused officers of needlessly shooting at them, beating them during routine traffic stops, shocking them with Tasers while face-down on the ground in handcuffs or arresting them when they had committed no crime”.

Those lawsuits cost the city more than $8m to resolve, according to the report.

Adding to the Cleveland police department’s problems is the ongoing investigation into the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. . The boy was holding a toy pellet gun when he was shot by police in a city park last November.

Protest against Cleveland police murder of 12-year-old Tamir Rice last year. A grand jury is still deliberating.

With expectations that a not guilty verdict might spark riots similar to those seen in Baltimore last month, Cleveland police and city leaders met various community groups in private,warning them to be wary of “outside agitators” who might try to turn peaceful protests violent. Neighborhood outreach teams included religious leaders, youth league coaches, business leaders, motorcycle club members and former gang members, in an effort to keep the peace regardless of the verdict.

Cleveland police earlier released the names of the 13 officers in the deaths of Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell. They are: Patrol Officer WIlfredo Diaz #350 Appointment Date: 11-03-08; Patrol Officer Michael Brelo #416 Appointment Date: 10-15-07; Patrol Officer Cynthia Moore #1277 Appointment Date: 10-15-07; Patrol Officer Michael Farley #409 Appointment Date: 04-08-96; Patrol Officer Brian Sabolik #1021 Appointment Date: 01-10-1; Patrol Officer Paul Box #2526 Appointment Date: 08-19-96; Patrol Officer Randy Patrick #1580 Appointment Date: 08-04-97; Patrol Officer Scott Sistek #1395 Appointment Date: 02-25-08; Detective Michael Demchak #1621 Appointment Date: 10-23-82; Detective Erin O’Donnell #1027 Appointment Date: 09-28-98; Detective Christopher Ereg #767 Appointment Date: 08-30-99; Detective Michael Rinkus #2182 Appointment Date: 01-06-92; Detective William Salupo #1969 Appointment Date: 02-17-98.

Above: David Russell, Timothy’s brother, testifies during trial, showing photos of his large family.

Related stories:

http://news.yahoo.com/latest-cleveland-verdict-feds-review-case-165719528.html

http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2014/07/patrolman_brelos_attorney_pros.html

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/02/26/cleveland-police-kill-two-with-137-gunshots-rally-fri-march-1-5-p-m/

http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/investigations/2015/02/09/police-cleveland-black-white-racial-disparity/23000499/

Protesters confront Chase shareholders at annual meeting in Westin Book Cadillac May 19, 2015/Photo: Stephanie Gordon

Chase, 5 other global banks just pled guilty to felony rate-rigging, agreed to pay $9 billion in fines, but serve no jail time 

Chase earlier paid a record $13 billion linked to sale of junk mortgages during housing bubble, another $4.5 billion settlement with institutional investors in those mortgages

Protesters say Chase crimes include slavery profits, foreclosures, water shut-offs, huge prison population, student loan debt

Retirees: Detroit bankruptcy appeal aided by May 8 Illinois Supreme Court ruling calling pension, annuity reductions violation of state constitution

 By Diane Bukowski

 May 20, 2013 

Chase shareholders held their meeting at the Westin Book Cadillac in downtown Detroit, formerly home to Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr. Photo: Stephanie Gordon

DETROIT – As global banks including JPMorgan Chase pled guilty to felony market manipulation charges, agreeing to pay $9 billion in fines, protesters at Chase’s annual meeting in Detroit demanded prison for the banks’ executives, and billions in reparations to re-build the City of Detroit. Chase is the world’s largest investment bank.

Chase’s portion of the fines followed a record $13 billion settlement linked to its sale of junk mortgages during the housing bubble, and another $4.5 billion settlement with institutional investors in those mortgages. Protesters questioned why Detroit and other poor cities across the U.S. have seen none of those settlements, since Chase made its money off illegal practices foisted on homeowners, workers and taxpayers.

“Chase had the gall to hold its shareholders meeting in the city of Detroit, which has been devastated by home foreclosures, many by Chase,” Abayomi Azikiwe of Moratorium NOW! said. “They have bragged about investing in Capitol Park and the rest of downtown Detroit, but we want to know what Chase Bank is going to do for the people of Detroit.”

Abiyomi Azikiwe of Moratorium NOW! and Bill Davis, Pres. of the Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association, marched on Chase meeting. /Photo: Stephanie Gordon

The protesters confronted shareholders going into the meeting at the Westin Book Cadillac, former home to Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr. He and his banking and corporate cronies virtually dismantled the City of Detroit through an involuntary and likely criminal Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Detroit is the poorest and largest majority-Black city in the U.S. An astounding 59 percent of its children are mired in poverty, with an overall rate of 39 percent. In January, Chase admitted that it profited from slavery in the U.S. after it bought out Bank One and Citizens Bank, said Azikiwe.

“From 1831 to 1865, 13,000 slaves were accepted as collateral for loans from these banks,” Azikiwe said, “but all Chase offered was an apology and a $5 million scholarship funds. Millions of our people are in prison, but how many bankers are in prison or on death row?”

Errol Jennings of the Russell Woods-Sullivan Area Association said banks made $6.4 trillion in profits, using today’s dollar value, during the slavery era, 40 percent from cotton.

Elder Helen Moore of the Keep the Vote No Takeover Coalition protested the devastation of Detroit Public Schools through bank debt that has drained district of per-pupil funding. In background is Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellerman. Photo: Stephanie Gordon

“They’ve been oppressing us ever since we set foot on U.S. soil,” he said. “The prison population right now is traded on Wall Street; how you do in middle school is being decided on Wall Street. They take our pensions and shut off our water because we got into a bad deal with derivatives. They caused the global economic crash of 2006-08, got $700 billion in our tax dollars to get bailed out, and now they’re growing at a faster rate than ever before.  They tell us, ‘We don’t need you, we’ll take your houses, your water, kill your schools, and see to it that your children kill each other on the streets.’”

Protesters chanted, “The blight is Chase.”

Multi-billionaire Dan Gilbert, who has close ties to Chase, ironically heads the city’s “Blight Removal Task Force,” as he buys huge parcels of city land and drives out Black and poor residents. The recent re-development of Brush Park and the conversion of the Section 8 Griswold Apartments in Capitol Park to high-end condos called “The Albert” are only two examples.

Detroit “Mayor” Mike Duggan meets with Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Feb. 11, 2015. Photo: Daniel Mears, Detroit News

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan met with Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Feb. 11, taking him on a tour of Eastern Market and lauding Chase’s support for Detroit. In early 2014, the global bank committed $100 million to support “economic development, blight removal and job training” in Detroit. Compared to the $2.6 trillion in assets the bank reported in 2014, that represents a demeaning drop in the bucket.

Many protesters carried signs denouncing water shut-offs in Detroit, which are scheduled to begin May 29.

“Save Detroit’s children! Don’t shut off their water!” they chanted.

JPMorgan Chase cost the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department $537 million in illegal interest rate swaps. Under the city’s bankruptcy provisions, DWSD will now control only a small part of the city’s water mains, while the Great Lakes Water Authority will control and profit from all water and wastewater treatment plants in the six counties originally under DWSD jurisdiction, as well as water mains and the remaining infrastructure.

Protesters said Chase is largely responsible for pending water shut-offs in Detroit, due to $537 million in illegal interest rate swaps it foisted on DWSD. Photo: Stephanie Gordon

The DWSD workforce has been drastically cut and union representation essentially busted. The remaining workers have been forced to reapply for their jobs regardless of seniority and other union contract provisions.

“Over 200,000 people have fled Detroit after our communities were devastated by predatory mortgages and foreclosures that resulted in the global economic crash of 2008,” Pat Driscoll of Detroit Eviction Defense said.

Cheryl West, evicted last week from her home of 60 years, during protest at Wayne Co. Treasurer’s office March 31, 2015.

“People that took these predatory loans were in fact eligible for other loans. As of 2012, half of the foreclosed homes were owned by banks like Chase, who have not paid their property taxes. But this year the residents left in Detroit face the largest tax foreclosure crisis in history. Over 11,000 homes, about 33,000 people, face eviction, people like Cheryl West, who lived in her Detroit home for 60 years and was evicted last week. Detroit’s homeowners haven’t been bailed out like the banks were after the 2008 crash.”

Driscoll announced that a coalition of groups led by the Michigan American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) just sent a scathing letter to Wayne County Treasurer Raymond Wojtowicz demanding an immediate moratorium on tax foreclosures, in part because homeowners have been paying illegal tax rates for at least the last 20 years.

The groups, including Moratorium NOW!, the Russell Woods-Sullivan Association, the Detroit People’s Platform, the Sugar Law Center, and others, said the following in part:

“A moratorium on tax foreclosures is necessary where the local government has violated its statutory duty to assess property values, leading to unwarranted taxes based on grossly inflated home values before the Great Recession.

Instituting a moratorium on tax foreclosures of occupied homes is not only the right policy decision; it is required as a matter of law. Michigan law obligates local assessing units to determine property values on a yearly basis in order to ensure that residents pay taxes based on the actual value of their home.”

Yvonne Williams-Jones, DAREA officer, attended protest. She retired after 34 years with the City of Detroit.

Bill Davis and Yvonne Jones of the Detroit Actives and Retired Employees Association(DAREA) registered their outrage at what has been done to Detroit. (This reporter apologizes for her confused note-taking: their comments are combined here.)

“We must defend our home! Our home is Detroit! These devils have taken our health care and cut our pensions. Detroit is now a great city if you’re a white billionaire like Dan Gilbert, Mike Illitch, and Roger Penske. We can’t even go to Belle Isle anymore because Penske wanted it for his Grand Prix. We have to fight back, we have to take the water department and Belle Isle and the city back! The people can make a difference, whenever we show up and stand up and act up. No justice, no peace!”

They said DAREA has an ongoing appeal of the bankruptcy confirmation plan currently being heard in the U.S. District Court, despite threats by former Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr that retirees could not appeal a thing.

Justice Lloyd Karmeier of Illinois Supreme Court wrote passionate defense of his state’s pension systems, declaring reductions unconstitutional May 8, 2015.

DAREA’s appeal is likely to be given a huge boost by an Illinois Supreme Court ruling on May 8. The Court held unanimously that Public Act 98-599, which drastically reduced the pensions and annuities of public workers across the state, was unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable.

The Illinois constitution’s  pension protections clause is very similar to Michigan’s. It provides: “Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.” Ill. Const. 1970, art. XIII, § 5.

City of Detroit retirees at rally outside bankruptcy court April 1, 2014.

The Illinois decision is striking in its passion for upholding the will of the people as expressed in the constitution they enacted, in this case, the 1970 Illinois State Constitution.

“The people of Illinois give voice to their sovereign authority through the Illinois Constitution,” the ruling, authored by Justice Lloyd Karmeier, declared. “It is through the Illinois Constitution that the people have decreed how their sovereign power may be exercised, by whom and under what conditions or restrictions. Where rights have been conferred and limits on governmental action have been defined by the people through the constitution, the legislature cannot enact legislation in contravention of those rights and restrictions.”

The lawsuits filed by five pension systems in the state predominantly addressed the reduction of annuity payments to workers, also the most damaging provision of the Detroit bankruptcy plan. However, the Illinois court held that the annuity reductions could not be severed from the entire act, and therefore struck down all portions of the act.

Related documents:

ACLU of Michigan AND Other Groups Make Joint Call for Moratorium on Mass Tax Foreclosures in Wayne County

ACLU Letter to WCT

Illinois Supreme Court pension ruling

Recent related stories:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/04/24/u-s-sues-dan-gilberts-quicken-loans-over-mortgage-fraud-one-cause-of-detroit-blight/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/03/29/unprecedented-katrina-of-tax-foreclosures-to-hit-detroit-wayne-county-march-31/

 Six Banks to Pay $9 Billion, Five Guilty of Market Rigging

JPMorgan Chase, Citicorp, Barclay’s, RBS plead guilty to felonies, no jail time slated

Banks operated private chat rooms for members of the “Cartel”

USDOJ, Fed Reserve file charges

By David McLaughlin, Tom Schoenberg, and Gavin Finch

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-20/six-banks-pay-5-8-billion-five-plead-guilty-to-market-rigging

Bloomberg

May 20, 2015

Six of the world’s biggest banks will pay $5.8 billion [through U.S. Department of Justice settlement] and five of them agreed to plead guilty to charges tied to a currency-rigging probe as they seek to wind down almost half a decade of enforcement actions.

Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Plc agreed to plead guilty to felony charges of conspiring to manipulate the price of U.S. dollars and euros, according to settlements announced by the Justice Department in Washington Wednesday. The main banking unit of UBS Group AG agreed to plead guilty to a wire-fraud charge related to interest-rate manipulation. The Swiss bank, the first to cooperate with antitrust investigators, was granted immunity in the currency probe.

Protesters demand cancellation of Detroit’s debt to banks in 2012.

The four banks that agreed to plead guilty to currency charges are among the world’s biggest foreign-exchange traders. They were accused of colluding to influence benchmark rates by aligning positions and pushing transactions through at the same time. Traders who described themselves as members of “The Cartel” used online chat rooms to discuss their positions before the rates were set and suppress competition in the market, the Justice Department said.

All of the banks that pleaded guilty said they received needed waivers from the Securities and Exchange Commission to continue managing mutual funds and raise capital quickly, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

“Brazen Collusion”

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch with Pres. Barack Obama

The scheme was a “brazen display of collusion,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement. “This Department of Justice intends to vigorously prosecute all those who tilt the economic system in their favor, who subvert our marketplaces, and who enrich themselves at the expense of American consumers,” she said.

The accords bring the total fines and penalties paid by the five banks to resolve the currency investigations to about $9 billion, the Justice Department said.

In the settlement with the Justice Department, Citicorp parent Citigroup Inc. will pay $925 million, the highest of the banks penalized. Barclays agreed to a fine of $650 million. JPMorgan will pay $550 million, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc agreed to a $395 million fine. UBS will pay $203 million.

Separately, the Federal Reserve imposed fines of more than $1.6 billion on the five banks for “unsafe and unsound practices.” London-based Barclays will pay an additional $1.3 billion as part of settlements with the New York Department of Financial Services, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority.

Terminate Employees

As part of its settlement with New York banking superintendent Benjamin Lawsky, Barclays agreed to terminate eight employees engaged in currency trading between London and New York.

The Fed also fined Bank of America Corp. $205 million for failing to detect and address conduct by traders who discussed the possibility of entering into agreements to manipulate currency prices, according to a statement.

“The resolution will come out of our existing reserves,” said Lawrence Grayson, a spokesman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America.

The penalties represent the first criminal resolutions in a two-year currency probe, which is ongoing, said Andrew McCabe, assistant director in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office.

Other firms, including Deutsche Bank AG and HSBC Holdings Plc are still under investigation. Cases against individual traders also may be forthcoming, people with knowledge of the probe have said.

“Calculated Move”

The settlements show the eagerness of bank executives to end one of the last big legal cases dogging the industry. Scandals involving the aggressive sale of mortgage bonds and interest-rate rigging helped reinforce the view that some firms are too big to manage properly and should be broken up.

“This is a very calculated move to get the Justice Department off their backs, because otherwise this could go on for years,” said Phillip Phan, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. “In a way, there’s anonymity in the crowd — you don’t know who’s more guilty than others.”

Although UBS wasn’t charged for currency manipulation, the government said the Swiss bank engaged in deceptive currency trading and sales practices after it settled a previous investigation in the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate in 2012. The conduct violated the non-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department.

UBS Markups

UBS traders and sales staff misrepresented to customers on certain transactions that markups were not being added, when in fact they were, using hand signals to conceal the markups, the Justice Department said in its statement. A UBS trader also conspired with other banks acting as dealers in the spot market by agreeing to restrain competition in the purchase and sale of dollars and euros, the government said. UBS’s collusive conduct occurred from October 2011 to at least January 2013.

Bank executives expressed embarrassment and frustration over the conduct, pointed a finger at a few bad apples and vowed to do better.

“The conduct of a small number of employees was unacceptable and we have taken appropriate disciplinary actions,” UBS Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti and Chairman Axel Weber said in a statement.

JPMorgan said in a statement that the conduct underlying the antitrust charge against the bank is “principally attributable” to a single trader, who has since been dismissed.

“The conduct described in the government’s pleadings is a great disappointment to us,” said Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon. “We demand and expect better of our people. The lesson here is that the conduct of a small group of employees, or of even a single employee, can reflect badly on all of us.”

Operations Continue

Shares of both JPMorgan and Citigroup slid 0.8 percent at 12:05 in New York. UBS climbed 3 percent, RBS rose 1.8 percent, Barclays advanced 3.4 percent.

JPMorgan and Citigroup said they don’t anticipate a material impact on operations or their ability to serve clients.

The Justice Department had been aiming to extract pleas from the banks’ parent companies, people familiar with the talks had said. In its announcement, the department characterized the companies entering pleas as “parent-level.”

Drexel Case

Citicorp, the unit agreeing to plead guilty, is wholly owned by parent Citigroup Inc. Citicorp, in turn, contains the company’s main banking subsidiary, Citibank NA, which held 74 percent of Citigroup’s assets at year-end. Royal Bank of Scotland Plc is a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.

JPMorgan Chase Chairman, President and CEO Jamie Dimon presents his driver’s license to Justice Department security officer G. Rocher, as he arrives at the Justice Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The guilty pleas by Citicorp and JPMorgan are the first in criminal cases by major U.S. banks since Drexel Burnham Lambert admitted to six counts of mail and securities fraud in 1989. They follow pleas last year by the bank subsidiary of Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group AG for aiding tax evasion and BNP Paribas SA for violating U.S. sanctions. This year, a Deutsche Bank unit pleaded guilty for its role in manipulating interest rates.

The foreign-exchange investigation began after Bloomberg reported beginning in June 2013 that traders were colluding to manipulate benchmark currency rates and profit at clients’ expense. Their efforts were focused on the WM/Reuters 4 p.m. fix, used to value trillions of dollars of investments worldwide and to determine the price some companies and fund managers pay to swap currencies.

In October of that year, regulators around the world announced they were opening formal probes. Within weeks, more than 25 foreign-exchange traders at banks including Citigroup, JPMorgan and Barclays were fired, suspended or put on leave.

What began as a narrow inquiry into rate-rigging was broadened into a wider examination of the industry. In recent months, authorities have looked into practices including banks charging excessive commissions, sales staff passing on tips to favored clients and traders.

Related documents:

Six Global Banks to pay USDOJ release

To purchase Brandon Garrett’s book, “Too Big to Jail,” click on http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674368316

To read about JPMorgan Chase as ringleader of banks just sued, and its ties with British Petroleum, click on http://prepperchimp.com/2014/12/31/the-rigging-triangle-exposed-the-jpmorgan-british-petroleum-bank-of-england-cartel-full-frontal/

http://billmoyers.com/2013/10/22/the-13-billion-jpmorgan-settlement-is-a-good-start-%E2%80%94-now-someone-should-go-to-jail/

CLICK ON https://www.facebook.com/events/809008012528813/ TO GO TO FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE.

Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanley-Jones (July 20, 2002 – May 16, 2010)

EmpressJones

May 16, 2015

From Diane Bukowski, the staff of VOD, and many others:

Aiyana Jones, from her mother Dominika Jones’ FB page.

First, please sign the petition at the bottom of this post, to President Barack Obama and three others, asking for justice for Aiyana.

Also see information on the May 21 Black Spring Campaign for Women of Color killed by the police below that.

Today is the fifth anniversary of beautiful little Aiyana Jones’ death at the age of 7. VOD hopes to comfort her family with this post, her mother, Dominika Jones, her father Charles Jones, her grandmother Mertilla (Maria) Jones, and the dozens of  extended family members we have met since May 16, 2010.

Many stories on Aiyana’s killing by Detroit cop Joseph Weekley, now back on the streets, and a vicious police raid team, as well as her father’s frame-up have been posted on VOD–just put “Aiyana” in the search engine and they will all come up. But this is not a news story–this is a tribute. Our hearts still ache for this precious little girl, but we want her family to know she will live on in them forever. Everywhere across this city, this state and this country that we have seen the young people of the U.S. rising up against police murders, we have seen Aiyana’s name and photo on signs and banners.

AIYANA WILL BE LOVED AND REMEMBERED FOREVER!

March in Detroit on April 26, 2015 for Terrance Kellom, 19, killed by police April 19.

PAUL SHUKER
Published on Mar 12, 2015
“Youth Of The Nation (Acoustic Version)” by P.O.D

Demonstration in Philadelphia in Nov. 2009 to save Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Video and song by nationally-known recording artist J. Cole, dedicated to Aiyana Jones. He dedicated his 2013 show to Aiyana in Detroit, and met with her mother Dominika Jones and other relatives.

Dominika Jones backstage with J. Cole after 2013 concert.

Marchers for justice for Floyd Dent in Inkster carry sign for Aiyana April 3, 2015.

Three Little Girls – Jasiri X

Written by Jasiri X of San Francisco, and featuring 10 year old Hadiyah Yates, “Three Little Girls” was produced by GM3 and directed by Paradise Gray.

“Three Little Girls” tells the stories of the senseless murders of Christina Taylor Green (9 yrs old), killed during the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Brisenia Flores (9 yrs old), gunned down by anti-immigrant militia intent on starting a race war, and Aiyana Jones (7 yrs old), shot to death while asleep in her home, by the Detroit Police Department, while they were filming a reality TV show.

City of Detroit retirees carry Aiyana’s sign outside Crain’s luncheon honoring Detroit EM Kevyn Orr and bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, Jan. 2015.

Poster for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Detroit, 2015.

Sky banner flown across Detroit on the third anniversary of Aiyana’s death, by the Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee.

Jewell Allison and her daughter Honesti of New York City organized this march for Aiyana, held in downtown Detroit on June 26, 2010. Photo: Herb Boyd

 Justice for 7 year old Aiyana Stanley-Jones

Petitioning President Barack Obama and 3 others

Please click on link above, as requested by Aiyana’s family, to sign petition to get justice for their little girl. Five years have gone by, and Aiyana’s killer walks the streets while her father is in prison, framed-up.

They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds. Now Black Spring is in full bloom… May 21st, join the campaign to stop police violence against women and girls of color! For more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/825982420817036/ ‪#‎blackspring ‪#‎invisiblevictims ‪#‎aptp ‪#‎blackbrownsolidarity Raquel Manzo-Portillo Cadine Williams La Mesha Irizarry Mollie McKinnon Costello Ralowe Trinitrotoluene Ampu Irina Contreras Cat Brooks Trishia Andrea Daniela Kantorová Melissa Or Shakes Yvonne Metiche Xan West Asantewaa RN Florencia Rojo Adriana Camarena Alma Jurado Marissa M Carolyn Shmarolyn Luz Calvo Catriona Rueda Esquibel Zakiyyah Iman Jackson Sharena Diamond Thomas Eric Stanley Carroll Fife Robbie Clark INCITE Community News Incite L.A. Wild Tigers Antoinette Chen See M.i. Jazz Freeman Inés Ixierda

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan at Brush Park press conference; Dan Gilbert is major player in project.

The ongoing white-out of Detroit: over 800 largely Black Brush Park residents were driven out from late 90’s through recent years

 Only 20 percent of housing in new $70 million plan for “low-income” residents

Dan Gilbert’s 8.4 acre project part of 30 acre Brush Park plan including Brewster Wheeler Rec Center, Brewster Douglass site

 Rec Center awarded to suburbanite whites Curt Catallo, Keith Crain

By Diane Bukowski 

March 14, 2015 

Architects’ rendering of plan for portion of Brush Park, controlled by billionaire Dan Gilbert.

DETROIT – Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, with his  crony Steve Rosenthal of billionaire Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock Real Estate Services, announced a $70 million plan May 6 to re-develop 8.4 acres of Detroit’s 100-acre Brush Park neighborhood.  So far, the price the developers are paying for the land, which is adjacent to downtown, mostly city-owned and “primarily vacant,” has not been disclosed.

The plan still must be approved by the Detroit City Council, a mere formality since the state-appointed Detroit Financial Review Team (DFRT) still dictates what the city’s elected leaders do under terms of the city’s bankruptcy. Ironically, one member of the “Brush Park Redevelopment Partners” (BPDP) handling the project is Darrell Burks, who sits on the DFRT.

Buddies in Detroit white-out, “Mayor” Mike Duggan, billionaire Dan Gilbert

During a press conference, the developers said they will rehab four historic mansions and build 337 units of housing for sale and rent, as well as retail and green space.  They announced that home mortgages will be available through Gilbert’s Quicken Loans, currently being sued by the federal government for fraudulent lending practices.

“I love these old houses, and I love seeing them restored,” Duggan said. “The city let too many of these treasures go. This is a red-letter day. People will want to live here.”

Only 20 percent of the housing would be set aside for “low-income” residents, with a household income of $21,060, 80 percent of the city’s average median income. Detroit families have a 39 percent poverty rate, with children at 59 percent. Only families with 4 or more members could meet even that income rate.

Duggan and cronies at Brewster Wheeler press conference. They said culinary arts classes will be provided for Detroit youth, who have virtually no public recreation centers left. See photos of Catallo and Crain below for real beneficiaries.

The 8.4 acre BPDP redevelopment is only part of the complete “white-out” of Brush Park and its history.

Keith and Mary Kay Crain

Curt Catallo, wife of Clarkston

Duggan earlier announced a $50 million redevelopment of the former Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center in Brush Park, with a restaurant, 150 residential units, and retail stores. That project has been awarded to restaurateur Curt Catallo of Clarkston, Michigan, and Keith Crain of Crain Communications, who has dozens of prestigious addresses ranging from Bloomfield Hills, MI to Vero Beach, FL.

The city also plans to redevelop the 18 acres of land where the former Brewster Douglass housing projects stood, for a total of 30 acres of land. The last of the Douglass high rises were demolished in 2014, completing the goals of President Bill Clinton’s “HOPE VI” plan which has razed low-income housing across the U.S.

Gwen Mingo at home on Watson Street in Brush Park.

“They’ve come out with a lot of plans and allocated a lot of money over the years, but all I’ve seen is people chased out, and the neighborhood burnt up,” said Gwen Mingo, a Brush Park resident renowned for the long battle she waged in the late’s 90’s and 2000’s to save the homes and apartments of predominantly Black residents in her district.

“It was my obligation as head of the Brush Park Citizens District Council to fight to protect the rights of everyone living in that district,” she said.

Mingo was also chair of the city-wide CDC panel.

It is estimated that over 800 mostly Black residents living in both homes and apartment buildings there were driven out during that period. City officials and developers used tactics ranging from de-funding of the CDC’s, mass evictions, arson, asbestos contamination, arrests (Mingo herself faced ongoing harassment by the police), and likely even murder.

Map shows the small area of Brush Park involved in the Duggan-Gilbert development. Note its proximity to Mike Illitch’s new Red Wings arena/residential/ retail site, as well as Comerica Park and Ford Field. Brush Park’s original area ranged W. of Woodward to E. of 1-75.

Former Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr abolished the CDC’s in October, 2014 with a stroke of his bankruptcy pen, replacing them with neighborhood “managers” appointed by the mayor. His action was part of a long assault on the CDC’s which began during the Archer administration, which included de-funding and other strategies.

But, Mingo said, “They still can’t re-design the area without our input. They’ve never approached me or sent me a letter about the new plan. They know I’m still here. This is illegal. Anytime they develop an area, they are supposed to consult with anybody in a certain radius. They’re just tearing up and banking the land and it’s going to be a disaster once again.”

Gilbert already owns over 70 parcels of prime downtown Detroit property, most of them as yet incompletely developed. Of those that are complete, most, marked by “Opportunity Detroit” signs, are still unoccupied.

Brush Park burns as city drives out Black residents in previous years.

Mingo lives in a historic home on Watson, adjacent to the parcel targeted by the Gilbert consortium.  She said the devastation of the original Brush Park neighborhood began in in the 1970’s and even before.

She noted Brush Park boundaries originally extended west of Woodward and east of I-75 to include the fabled Paradise Valley of Black-owned businesses and entertainment venues, parts of the “Black Bottom” neighborhood, occupied by Black participants in “The Great Migration” from the south beginning in the 1920’s, and the Brewster-Douglass apartments and townhomes, the first housing project built to provide decent housing for Blacks in the U.S., under the auspices of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Flame Show Bar in Paradise Valley. Black business district was wiped out by construction of 1-75 freeway though its heart.

Reporter Ron Seigel chronicled the city’s deliberate devastation of  the remainder of Brush Park in an extraordinary series in the now-defunct Michigan Citizen. He describes what happened in a companion article for the Voice of Detroit (shortly to come). Meanwhile a chronological compilation of his articles is available in a link below this story.

In contrast, the City’s Request for Proposal (RFP) on the project claims, “The 1960’s saw the Brush Park neighborhood substantially deteriorate, with a high incidence of vacancy, crime, and abandonment with subsequent demolition. Since the mid 1990’s the City of Detroit has initiated an aggressive campaign in order to save the remaining historic properties, and to promote historically influenced residential infill of the vacant land left by demolition.”

That “historically influenced” infill has so far included the blandly modern Crosswinds Communities condominiums lining Woodward, built by notorious real estate mogul Bernie Glieberman, who defaulted on $100 million in corporate loans in 2009.

Crosswinds “Garden Lofts” on Woodward replaced much of historic Brush Park.

According to the project RFP, the city has invested $39 million over the last 13 years in Brush Park, “inclusive of infrastructure, demolition, acquisition and historic rehabilitation,” Mingo, however, states that figure is more likely in the hundreds of millions.

BPDP, however, is spending a mere $7.8 million on the project. Duggan denied the project is getting tax credits, so the remaining financing is still a mystery.

In addition to principal Steve Rosenthal, the BPDP also includes:

• Marvin Beatty, a board member of the Greektown Casino owned by Gilbert;
• Sam Thomas of Star Development, involved with the Whirlpool Corporation in the ongoing takeover of public land in Benton Harbor;
• Darrell Burks, a member of the state-appointed Detroit Financial Review Commission, whose authority supersedes that of Detroit’s elected officials;
• Freman Hendrix, CEO of Advanced Security & Investigative Solutions, which includes former local, regional and federal law enforcement agents;
• Pamela Rodgers, president of Rodgers Chevrolet and a member of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy board, which controls much of the city’s east riverfront land.

Charlie Beckham

“This neighborhood goes back to early 1800’s and used to be called Little Paris,” Charlie Beckham, Duggan’s group executive for Detroit neighborhoods, said during the press conference. “You see some of the architectural renderings and motifs on the buildings here. We’re going to try to maintain that. Hopefully the families of Brush and Adelaide and Edmund and a lot of the names that you see on the streets right here will be happy with what we’re doing.”

Joe Foster, a major Black landholder in Brush Park through the late 20^th century, must have been ready to rise up from his grave at Beckham’s remarks. He and his fiancée were murdered in 1997 in cases that have never been solved. Many felt their deaths were linked to a land grab by whites abetted by the city government.

Joe Foster, Jr. owned FIne Arts Theater in Brush Park until his murder in 1997. The city drove it out of business the following year, raiding it with helicopters and SWAT as  middle-class patrons attended a jazz concert.

Beckham’s comments were historically inaccurate. According to various records, Edmund Brush, the wealthy son of Elijah Brush, the second mayor of Detroit in 1806, developed the area for the city’s “elite” citizens, naming the streets Edmund, Alfred, Adelaine and Brush after his family members.

Elijah Brush held African Peter Denison in indentured servitude for a year. When he tried to free him, Denison’s “owner” Catherine Tucker appealed, winning a decision by Judge Augustus Woodward which upheld slavery status for all who had been kidnapped before 1796, when the British turned the Michigan Territory over to the U.S.

Denison became a prominent leader, heading a Black militia that fought alongside U.S. forces and Native Americans against British forces in the War of 1812, then migrating to Canada, where he was no longer considered a “slave.”

Mona Ross at earlier press conference with Duggan et al.

During the press conference, Duggan thrust Mona Ross, of the Brush Park Community Development Corporation (also known as a CDC), into the spotlight, falsely claiming it was the first time neighborhood representatives have been involved in planning new developments.

Ross, who runs a bed and breakfast out of one of Brush Park’s historic mansions, gave thanks to God, then to Duggan, Gilbert, and other BPDP partners, for the opportunity.

“This is nothing but identity theft,” Mingo reacted. “They are making people think the Citizens District Council is involved because of the same initials, but a Development Corporation is not an elected or governmental agency. It’s a private corporation.”

Gwen Mingo speaks against takeover of Detroit during bankruptcy proceedings, at protest May 1, 2014.

 RELATED DOCUMENT:

Brush Park articles 1995 to 2004 Michigan Citizen Ron Seigel

RELATED ARTICLES:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2010/09/29/detroit-works-project-violate-state-law/

http://www.bhbanco.org/2006/02/city-commissioners-clear-way-for-take.html

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/11/report_michigan_housing_chief.html

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2015/04/50_million_development_coming.html

Protesters march in Madison, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, after a prosecutor announced that a police officer will not be charged for killing 19-year-old Tony Robinson. Reuters/Ben Brewer

WISCONSIN DA: NO CHARGES V. COP IN TONY ROBINSON, JR. KILLING

Young, Gifted & Black calls for school walk-outs, recalls Aiyana Jones, 7, killed by Detroit police May 16, 2010 

Protesters flood Madison streets

May 13, 2015

Tony Robinson, Jr. at high school graduation.

MADISON, Wis. (AP)

The mother of an unarmed biracial man who was killed by a white Madison police officer March 6 is questioning the official investigation of the incident.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he won’t charge Officer Matt Kenny for shooting and killing Tony Robinson. The announcement triggered new protests Tuesday and Wednesday from those who want Kenny to stand trial.

Andrea Irwin says she doesn’t think the authorities have released all of the facts regarding her 19-year-old son’s death. She disputes Kenny’s account of the moments leading up to the shooting.

Kenny told investigators that Robinson hit him in the head and he feared Robinson would take his gun. Irwin says there’s no way Kenny’s story could have played out in such a short amount of time.

1:15 p.m.

People angry about a prosecutor’s decision not to charge a white Madison police officer for killing an unarmed biracial man have conducted a mock trial of the officer in protest.

Madison cop Matt Kenny shot Tony Robinson, Jr. 7 times, killing him.

About 150 to 200 protesters marched through the streets of Wisconsin’s capital city on Wednesday before gathering outside of the Dane County Courthouse to stage the fake trial.

The crowd cheered when actors said they would charge Officer Matt Kenny in the March killing of 19-year-old Tony Robinson. Members of the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition, which has led protests since the killing, said the demonstration was intended to represent the processes they wished Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne had used.

Ozanne said Tuesday that he believes Kenny’s actions were justified and didn’t warrant charges.

11:50 a.m.

(M.P. King/Wisconsin State Journal via AP). Andrea Irwin, center, mother of Tony Robinson, and her boyfriend, Jeff Jackson, center right, participate in a protest march on Williamson Street, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Madison, Wis. Dane County District.

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin says any protesters who break the law should expect to be arrested.

Scores of people are marching through the city to protest a prosecutor’s decision not to charge Madison police Officer Matt Kenny for shooting and killing an unarmed biracial man in March. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he believes the shooting was justified.

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin

Soglin says the city will provide “the greatest latitude” for anyone expressing their beliefs. But he says police won’t tolerate illegal acts such as the blocking of ambulances. He also urged protesters not to interfere with the arrests of others.

The mayor acknowledged that many community members are unhappy about Ozanne’s decision, but he said there are many who support it.

11:30 a.m.

Hundreds of protesters are blocking a downtown Madison intersection as they rally against a prosecutor’s decision not to charge a white police officer in the death of an unarmed biracial man.

The crowd blocked the intersection for about five minutes Wednesday morning during a march to the Dane County Courthouse, where they plan to stage a street trial of the city’s police department. The demonstration’s leaders say they need to put their bodies on the line to show the public that black lives matter.

Officer Matt Kenny shot 19-year-old Tony Robinson in an apartment house on March 6. According to investigative reports, Robinson was high on mushrooms and punched Kenny in the head.

9:39 a.m.

Olga Ennis touches a memorial on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, on the porch of the Williamson Street home in Madison where Tony Robinson Jr. was killed by police. Ennis said she is a neighborhood resident who knew Robinson. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday, May 12, that he wouldn’t file charges against Madison Officer Matt Kenny in the March 6 death of Robinson, saying the officer used lawful deadly force after he was staggered by a punch to the head and feared for his life. (Photo: John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal/AP)

Scores of protesters have gathered outside of an apartment house where a white Wisconsin police officer shot and killed an unarmed biracial man in March.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he wouldn’t charge Madison Officer Matt Kenny in 19-year-old Tony Robinson’s death because he believes the shooting was justified.

Outside apartment building where Tony Robinson, Jr. was killed, protesters march May 13.

About 100 demonstrators had gathered by 9:30 a.m. and were shouting protest slogans, including “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”

They plan to march downtown and conduct a street trial of the Madison Police Department. Volunteers from community groups such as 100 Black Men and the Urban League are watching the protesters and plan to advise anyone who appears to be on the verge of committing a crime to think twice.

9 a.m.

Protesters are gathering outside an apartment house where a white Wisconsin police officer shot and killed an unarmed biracial man in March.

The Young, Gifted and Black Coalition (http://www.ygbcoalition.org/) is asking people to leave work and school Wednesday and join them on a march from the apartment house to downtown Madison, where they plan to set up a street court to try the Madison Police Department themselves.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that he wouldn’t charge Officer Matt Kenny in Tony Robinson’s death because he believes the shooting was justified.

About a dozen people had gathered at the apartment house as of 9 a.m. with wagons loaded with coffee and water bottles.

1 a.m.

An activist group that has led several demonstrations over the police shooting of an unarmed man in Madison is calling for a widespread walkout.

Aiyana Jones, 7, killed by Detroit police May 16, 2010 was recalled by Young, Gifted and Black in Madison, WI.

Young, Gifted and Black is calling the effort Black Out Wednesday. They say it recognizes the death in March of Tony Robinson Jr., as well as struggles such as poverty and mass incarceration that blacks face in America.

The group is staging its effort one day after a Wisconsin prosecutor declined to charge a white police officer in the death of Robinson, who was biracial. The prosecutor said the officer used lawful deadly force after he was punched in the head by Robinson and feared for his life.

Some 300 people staged a peaceful march Tuesday from the apartment building where Robinson was shot to the Capitol.

YGB PETITION TO THE UNITED NATIONS

YGB needs your voice in order to get an investigation by the United Nations as we elevate the conversation of oracial disparities in Madison and fight for justice for Tony Robinson, the unarmed black teen murdered at the hands of officer Matt Kenny of the Madison Police Department. SIGN THE PETITION HERE.

Dane County, District Attorney Ismael Ozanne announced Tuesday afternoon that he would not bring criminal charges against the Madison, Wisconsin, police officer who shot and killed unarmed 19-year-old Tony Robinson, Jr. on March 6 of this year.

Dane County DA Ismael Ozanne wipes sweat from his face as he announces decision not to charge white cop in Tony Robinson, Jr. death March 6.

Nervously dabbing sweat from his face during his 30-minute statement, the DA told reporters that he had concluded that Matt Kenny used a “lawful amount of force” when he ended Robinson’s life.

The killing of Robinson sparked walkouts and protests by thousands of students and workers in the state capital. Kenny, who had previously shot and killed a mentally disturbed white man in 2007, was placed on paid administrative leave.

To prove his bona fides, Ozanne began the speech by referring to the fact that, like Tony Robinson, he is biracial, and that his African-American mother participated in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He also drew attention to the fact that he is the first non-white DA in the history of the state.

“My decision will not bring Tony back. My decision will not end racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system. My decision is not based on emotion. Rather, this decision is based on the facts as they’ve been investigated and reported to me—guided by rule of law and the oath I took to uphold the constitution of the United States and the state of Wisconsin,” he said.

Video above: part of massive protests across the state after Robinson killing

He then launched into an official account of the moments before Robinson’s killing. According to Ozanne, Kenny and other officers were responding to 911 calls reporting that Robinson had assaulted one of his friends and was assaulting pedestrians and disrupting traffic. The young man was apparently having a negative reaction to hallucinogenic mushrooms that he had ingested a short time before.

As Kenny arrived on the scene Robinson had already returned to his friend’s apartment. Ozanne reported that Kenny then entered the second floor flat through a door that had already been broken open by Robinson after he heard a disturbance.

According to Ozanne, the officer announced himself, after which Robinson allegedly rushed the officer, hitting him in the face with his fist, knocking him back against the stairwell wall. As he retreated backward down the stairwell the officer opened fire seven times, emptying his gun into the unarmed Robinson, hitting him seven times. Robinson was pronounced dead at the hospital with bullet wounds in his head, torso, and right arm.

Dashcam video released by police shows cop shooting rapidfire into the building Tony was in; there is no footage of Tony himself.

The family’s attorney, John Loevy, questioned the DA’s accounting of the event, highlighting video evidence that reportedly shows the police officer firing the seventh and final shot which killed Robinson from outside the house. Loevy also stated that Kenny was warned by dispatchers not to pursue Robinson and unnecessarily escalated the situation.

The district attorney concluded his news conference Tuesday by quoting Martin Luther King, Jr. as a warning to those who might protest his decision, encouraging them to instead turn their anger and frustration back into the electoral system. “I am reminded that true and lasting change does not come from violence but from exercising our voices and our votes,” he stated. “The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said ‘violence brings only temporary change, violence by creating many more social problems than it solves never brings permanent peace.’”

(See commentary below on Ozanne’s slander of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s real beliefs on violence.)

Jeff Jackson, left, comforts his girlfriend, Andrea Irwin, the mother of Tony Robinson, while escorting her during a protest march on Williamson Street, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Madison, Wis. (M.P. King/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

Ozanne’s remarks gave expression to the deep concern amongst the ruling elite about growing social opposition, especially in the wake of mass protests against the killing of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, where the National Guard was deployed for a week in order to suppress popular anger.

Police officers were mobilized in advance of the DA’s news conference to respond to any spontaneous protests in response to his decision. Several hundred protestors holding banners which read “#JusticeforTony” and “Black Lives Matter” marched on the State Capitol building Tuesday evening. The protest organization Young Gifted and Black has called for students to walk out of school Wednesday to protest the decision not to bring charges.

Robinson was just one of more than 100 people killed by the police across the United States in March. According to killedbypolice.net Robinson was the 192nd person killed by police since the beginning of 2015, and since his death another 227 people have been killed as the result of an encounter with the police.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/no-charges-in-madison-wisconsin-police-killing-of-unarmed-youth-tony-robinson-jr/5449220

The DA arrogantly and cynically misconstrued Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s approach to revolutionary violence. Dr. King said:

“As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problem. I have tried to offer my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through non-violent action. But they asked, and rightfully so, “What about Vietnam?” Their questions hit home and I knew I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.”

Dr. King’s historic meeting with Malcolm X, both revolutionaries.

A Jan. 15, 2015 Counterpunch article by Eric Mann titled “Martin Luther King and the Black Revolutionary Tradition” explains how Dr. King used non-violent civil disobedience as a strategy, while aiming at the overturn of the entire racist, imperialist, capitalist system in the U.S.

Click on Martin Luther King and the Black Revolutionary Tradition or go to internet link at http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/19/martin-luther-king-and-the-black-revolutionary-tradition/.

Related articles:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/03/07/black-teen-tony-robinson-shot-dead-by-madison-serial-killer-kop-matt-kenny-police-out-now/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/01/29/cops-kill-girls-charges-dismissed-in-death-of-aiyana-jones-7-two-teens-dead-in-colorado-texas/

Mother’s Day march in Washington, D.C. by mothers who lost their chidren to police violence, May 9, 2015. It was organized by Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton, 31, killed by police office last year./Linda Davidson, the Washington Post

(VOD is re-publishing this article by an independent writer,  from the Washington Post, to remember all our mothers throughout Detroit and surrounding areas who have lost their children to the police, or fought relentlessly to free their children from prison or from the hands of State Child Protective Services. Some of their photos have been inserted, but they represent only a few of the many who have lost children to police killings or who have had children snatched by the criminal justice system or by Child Protective Services.)

By Brigid Schulte May 9 at 9:15 PM

Dominika Jones, mother of Aiyana Jones, with Aiyana’s father Charles Jones at upper left. Aiyana was killed by Detroit police May 16, 2010.

They wore photos of their dead sons’ faces on buttons pinned to their chests, like joyless Mother’s Day corsages. They wore T-shirts emblazoned with their dead sons’ names. They carried signs that read, “Stop Racist Police Terror” and “We Are Not Criminals” and “They are ALL our sons.”

Like incantations, they chanted the names of their unarmed sons who they said were shot in the back, shot point blank in the chest, shot 14 times, shot on their bikes, shot in parks, shot after leaving a dance, or left to bleed to death in the street. They chanted the names of those whose deaths inflamed a nation: Freddie Gray. Michael Brown. Amadou Diallo. Tony Robinson.

Mertilla Jones, grandmother of Aiyana and mother of Charles, who was framed by police and is now serving a 40-60 year sentence.

And the names of those perhaps remembered only by the grieving mothers themselves, such as Tremaine Flythe, who was shot by two D.C. police officers while walking to his mother’s house for breakfast the day after Christmas in 2009.

For several hours Saturday afternoon, more than a dozen mothers from around the country whose sons or daughters had been killed by police, or who died while in police custody, were joined by several hundred protesters in a “Million Mom March” to the steps of the Justice Department to demand sweeping police reforms.

“Not another life. Not another son. Not another daughter. We will not stop. We cannot stop until the killing ends,” pastor Traci Blackmon, of Ferguson, Mo., shouted to the mournful and angry crowd.

Nelda Kellom, mother of Terrance Kellom, 19, executed by a Detroit police task force April 19, 2015, shot nine times.

“We have come here because a blue uniform does not make you God.”

The march, which is not associated with another Million Mom March to protest gun violence in 2000, was organized on a shoestring by Maria Hamilton, who founded Mothers for Justice United in Milwaukee after her son, Dontre, 31, was shot and killed by a police officer in 2014.

Dontre Hamilton, who had a history of mental illness, had been sleeping in a park when employees from a nearby Starbucks called the police to complain three times. A scuffle with a police officer who responded ended when he shot Hamilton 14 times.

Arnetta Grable (center), mother of Lamar Grable, executed by three time killer cop Eugene Brown in 1996, with her family, lawyers and supporters, celebrating victory in civil lawsuit that took 10 long hard years of struggle.

Maria Hamilton buried her son one year ago to the day. Organizing the protest, she said, was a way to help with the shock and numbness that set in after he died. The recent death of Freddie Gray, who suffered a severe spine injury while in police custody in Baltimore, steeled her reserve.

Jacquelyn Porter, (2nd from l) with husband Tommie Staples Sr. at her left, and their children. Detroit police killed Staples Sr. for advocating for children stopped by police in their neighborhood.

“This is something that had to be done,” she said, noting that, in many of the cases, including Dontre’s, the officers have gone unpunished.

“The officer shot Dontre 14 times, emptied his clip, reloaded, and shot him in the back. And the district attorney found that that wasn’t excessive force. I won’t be satisfied until I see true change.”

After a spirited but peaceful march down Constitution Avenue, in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, the mainly African American mothers and a diverse crowd of marchers waited on a hot day for nearly an hour to deliver their 13 demands for police reform.

Maryanne Godboldo, who stood off a Detroit police SWAT team for 11 hours as they tried to seize her daughter Ariana and medicate her with a dangerous drug,

They want the Justice Department to compile a public directory of all officer-related deaths in the past five years, as data like that is hard to come by; to require independent investigations when someone’s been shot or killed by a police officer; body cameras and better training; and to put an end to racial profiling and arming local police with military-style weapons.

Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for the Justice Department, took the demands, promised that the department would review them and spoke briefly to the crowd.

“No officer should be above the law,” he said.

Many of the mothers met with White House officials Friday in what Lewis described as a “productive and very emotional” meeting.

Taminko Sanford-Tilmon, fighting for her son Davontae Sanford, falsely jailed for 8 years since the age of 14 for murders to which hitman Vincent Smothers confessed,

Many of the group’s demands are already under consideration — including gathering better data on police shootings, better training to reduce bias and examining the distribution and use of military-style weapons — as part of the soon-to-be-released recommendations of the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

Obama appointed the task force to assuage what he called “deep-rooted frustration” over law enforcement practices in communities of color.

Marchers thrust photos of dead sons, dead nephews, dead brothers at Lewis as police sought to lead him out of the crowd.

Leda Reed with son Anthony Clark Reed, 24 when he died during a Detroit police traffic stop March 30, 2015.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he told one. Just before he addressed the crowd, Lewis, 32, who is African American, embraced a weeping Maria Hamilton. “I told her I very well could have been her son,” he said.

Marion Gray-Hopkins, a retired bank executive in Maryland, marched so the world would not forget her son, Gary Hopkins Jr., who was shot and killed by police in November 1999 after a dance at a local fire station. He was 19.

Andrea Irwin flew in from Madison, Wis., so the world would not forget her son, Tony Terrell Robinson, who was shot in the chest, face and back by police officers March 6. He was 19. She wore a T-shirt with a photo of the 6-foot-4 Robinson, smiling and dressed in a suit.

Lidjinet Barber with poster remembering her son Ian May, 18, killed unnecessarily by a retired Detroit cop with a brutal past,

“I called him my gentle giant,” she said, wiping her eyes.

Janet Baker, a recently laid-off human resources worker, paid her own way to come from Houston to remember her only child, her son, Jordan, who was killed by an off-duty police officer while riding his bike because the officer thought the 26-year-old looked like a suspect.

“I feel like I’m walking around with a terminal illness, like I have no heart,” she said. “He was my everything. Now, fighting for justice for Jordan is my everything.”

Betty Flythe found out about the march Saturday morning. And though nearly crippled with arthritis, she leaned on her cane and marched to remember her son, Tremaine.

The late Jamiliah Sombai (2nd from l) with daughter Akua Tuere (l). Their son and brother Rahaab White was killed by Detroit cop.

“It felt good to yell out his name. To finally tell people his story,” she said. “And to let them know, he would have had a good life.”

Brigid Schulte

Brigid Schulte writes about Good-Life: work-life issues, time, productivity, gender and income inequality. She is the author of the bestselling Overwhelmed: Work, Love and Play when No One has Time.

Imam Dawud Walid of Mi-CAIR (2nd from l) speaks during rally  for Terrance Kellom, other I.C.E. victims

“Can’t stop, won’t stop until killer cops are in cell blocks” 

Speakers say Kellom killing recalls assassination of Iman Luqman Abdullah, other I.C.E. raids 

I.C.E. also involved in bringing drugs across U.S. borders

Water shut-offs, foreclosures cited as part of broad attack on Blacks

VOD, Freep file FOIA requests for Kellom autopsy

By Diane Bukowski

 May 9, 2015 

Terrance Kellom, killed at 19 by police, with baby son.

DETROIT – A coalition of groups gathered outside Detroit’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office on East Jefferson May 8, to demand justice for 19-year-old father Terrance Kellom, shot to death April 19 by ICE officer Mitchell Quinn with Detroit police. Speakers said they wanted ICE to stop taking part in multi-jurisdictional task forces, and called for transparency in the investigation of Kellom’s death.

They chanted “Can’t stop, won’t stop until killer cops are in cell blocks,” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”

The groups included Michigan United, Black Lives Matter-Detroit, the Coalition for Black Struggle, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan, the National Action Network, the Northern Borders Coalition, the Michigan Council on American Islamic Relations (Mi-CAIR), and the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, Inc. according to a release from Michigan United.

Detroits Imam Luqman Abdullah, slaughtered by 66 federal agents and local police Oct. 28, 2009.

“We want law enforcement to respect our people and not be involved in extra-judicial killings,” Imam Dawud Walid of Mi-CAIR, said. “I.C.E. was also involved in the assassination of Imam Luqman Abdullah in 2009. The autopsy report in Iman Abdullah’s case was withheld just as in the Kellom case. We had to go to court to get it. This just fuels more distrust of the entire criminal justice system.”

Sixty-six federal agents, with local officials, slaughtered Imam Abdullah, leader of the majority-Black Masjid El-Haqq mosque on Detroit’s west side, on Oct. 28, 2009. He sustained 21 gunshot wounds, a broken arm, and lacerations to his face and upper body, resulting from police dog bites, during a raid on an abandoned Dearborn warehouse. The Imam and his members had been set up on conspiracy and theft charges by the FBI, using confidential informants.

Walid said Imam Abdullah’s family has a lawsuit pending in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, naming then Detroit FBI director Andrew Arena and others as defendants. Arena now heads the non-profit Detroit Crime Commission.

Mourners at Terrance Kellom’s funeral salute with “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” gestures and closed fists as his coffin is carried out for burial.

Kellom was shot to death nine times. His distraught father Kevin Kellom witnessed only the first two shots by Quinn before he was pulled away from the scene by police. He has repeatedly denied police claims that his son threatened police with a hammer. According to Ron Scott, who said at a vigil for Kellom that he had seen the autopsy report, the young man sustained seven gunshot wounds in the front of his body, and two in his back.

Kellom was laid to rest Wed. May 6, with over 200 attending his funeral. Young relatives and friends gave the “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” and power fist signals l as his coffin was carried out for burial.

Many in the community are now questioning whether Detroit police as well as Quinn shot Kellom. Family members have not been given a copy of the autopsy report, which Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced this week would be sealed. Some members of Kellom’s extended family issued a press release demanding a copy May 5.

Jerry Bell, Jr. and his cousin Kevin Kellom, father of Terrance, at vigil May 2, 2015.

“I believe there may be a cover-up. . . . There was no need for such a slaughter,” Jerry Bell, a cousin of Kevin Kellom’s, said in the release. “My cousin was turning his life around, because of his children, and he would not have caused his own death by confronting the police.” (See full release at Terrance Kellom press release.)

Both the Voice of Detroit and the Detroit Free Press have filed Freedom of Information Act requests demanding copies of the report. The Freep earlier won a case, Swickard v. Wayne County Medical Examiner (1991), which held autopsy reports to be public record. It is questionable whether Worthy has the right, independent of judicial proceedings, to seal the report.

During the rally, Grover Easterling III, a youth working with the Coalition for Black Struggle, said, “American law enforcement is killing our people. We want an end to the militarization of the police and task forces like the one that killed Terrance Kellom. We also stand in solidarity with other organizations fighting water shut-offs and evictions, another form of violence against our people.”

Grover Easterling III of the Coalition for Black Struggle, wearing green button for Terrance Kellom, addresses rally as Monica Lewis Patrick of People’s Water Board (background), Elder Louise listen.

Monica Lewis Patrick of the People’s Water Board and Dianne Feeley of Detroit Eviction Defense also spoke. Detroit is expected to begin more water shut-offs this month, while Feeley said activist Cheryl West was evicted from her home May 7 after a long battle. She noted that victims of shut-offs and foreclosures in Detroit are predominantly Black.

“For many decades now, I.C.E. has been abusing its power on the southern borders, including many killings,” said a spokesman for the Northern Borders Coalition. “Now they are escalating actions in the north, where 80 percent of the immigrantss it has detained in raids are held on nothing more than traffic violations.”

Luis Valencia (r)describes I.C.E. raid during which he was brutalized.

Luis Valencia, a former reporter in Mexico, said his brother was killed by the drug cartels there, and his life and that of his mother were threatened. They fled to the U.S., only to experience more brutality from I.C.E., he said.

“In 2007, I.C.E. raided my workplace and ordered everybody to drop on the floor. I could not because of my hip injury, so they shoved me down and kicked and yelled at me. They told a judge that I tried to run away, but I showed the judge how I can barely walk. That was the only reason I was released from detention.”

In a federal trial in Chicago during April 2011,  Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, a top leader of the Mexican Sinaloa drug-trafficking cartel, claimed to have been working with the U.S. government for years according to pleadings filed in federal court in Chicago.

Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla trafficked drugs for I.C.E., other U.S. agencies.

Zambada Niebla said he was working “on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (‘DEA’); and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (‘FBI’); and the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’).” He said they gave the Sinaloa cartel permission to traffic drugs in the U.S. as part of a scheme to capture members of a rival cartel.

According to a story by Deborah Dupre in the Examiner, Niebla is also connected to the Gulfstream II jet that crashed in 2007 with four tons of cocaine aboard. European investigators linked the wrecked plane’s tail number, N987SA, to CIA “rendition” operations.  (See link below.)

Protesters including Grover Easterling III, Ron Scott, and Imam Dawud Walid were denied entrance to I.C.E. offices. They had intended to meet with I.C.E. Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Adducci. Guards informed them both she and an I.C.E. press representative were out of the city.

For further information, contact Erik Shelley of Michigan United at 248-982-6326.

Related stories:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/05/05/family-members-want-terrance-kelloms-autopsy-report-unsealed-funeral-announced-to-public/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/05/03/hundreds-comfort-terrance-kelloms-family-at-vigil-will-autopsy-show-both-feds-dpd-shot-him/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/04/30/police-assassination-of-terrance-kellom-19-detroit-chief-craig-feds-have-blood-on-hands/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/08/05/targeted-dead-journalist-gary-webbs-allegations-of-fed-involvement-in-drug-trafficking-further-vindicated/