There are times when you read something in the media so completely flawed in its construction that a response is demanded.
It takes a remarkably highly toxic injection of obtuse to drag me back into the Zimmerman V. Martin conversation, but this recent article by Leonard Pitts Jr hits just the right formulation to require such a response.
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Trayvon Martin or George Zimmerman – who’s the real thug?
Pitts writes “[…] a conservative movement which argues with airy assurance that American racism died long ago, disproves its thesis with its actions“; as he outlines how, in his perspective, any attempt to deconstruct the false media narrative around the Trayvon Martin shooting is evidence, by itself, of racist intent on behalf of the deconstructor.
In order to totally miss the point, completely avoid the actual motive of the critical engagement, and allow himself to assign racist intentions, Mr. Pitts continues this level of critical race analysis by saying:

“[…]  Why did some of us need Trayvon to be an angel in the first place? Why did they feel such a pressing urgency to magnify — and manufacture — his failings? Why was it so important to them to make him unworthy of sympathy?” (link)

Your question can be answered in one word Mr. Pitts, honesty.
(more…)

It was our initial FOIA requests to the Miami Dade School Police Department which revealed the secret discipline and diversionary program Trayvon Martin was granted to avoid a criminal record.    
Specifically Trayvon Martin’s criminal conduct was hidden behind school discipline.  Stolen jewelry was recorded as random ‘found items’ (the jewelry just intentionally placed in storage with no investigation), his possession of marijuana was similarly obfuscated, and all of the incident reports were intentionally falsified by officials and School Resource Officer, Daryl Dunn,  to avoid the Criminal Justice system.    

It is all well documented with sworn affidavits from the police department HERE.  No-one has ever been held to account – It is just too politically dangerous an issue.
Well, apparently neighboring Broward County is also willing to jump on the diversionary bandwagon.   This recent article outlines how Broward County wants to blur the lines of illegality in their efforts to avoid young black males being held criminally accountable for their behavior.
MIAMI – One of the nation’s largest school districts has reached an agreement with law enforcement agencies and the NAACP to reduce the number of students being charged with crimes for minor offenses.
The agreement with Broward County Public Schools in Florida, which officials planned to announce Tuesday, is one of the first comprehensive plans bringing together district officials, police and the state attorney’s office to create an alternative to the zero-tolerance policies prevalent in many schools. It charges principals rather than school resource officers with being the primary decision makers in responding to student misbehavior.
The move is designed to cut down on what has become known as the “school-to-prison pipeline,” where students accused of offenses like disrupting class or loitering are suspended, arrested and charged with crimes.
Broward, the nation’s seventh largest district, had the highest number of school-related arrests in Florida in the 2011-2012 school year, according to state data. Seventy-one percent of the 1,062 arrests made were for misdemeanor offenses.
In this South Florida district and others across the country, minority students have been disproportionately arrested, sometimes for the same offenses their white peers received only a warning for. Nationwide, over 70 percent of students involved in school-related arrests or law enforcement referrals are black or Hispanic, according to U.S. Department of Education data. (more…)

But interestingly the Public Records Clerk, Jessica Clifton, is not the one responding. Instead, Lisa A. DiFranza, an Assistant State Attorney responds to the follow-up on behalf of Angela Corey.
Y’all know we are patient, very patient, but we are also relentless.

It took almost a year, and a painstaking methodical strategy, to get the Public Records from M-DSPD which revealed the truth behind Trayvon Martin’s history, and the illegal law enforcement diversionary practices which kept him from the Criminal Justice System.
One of the things we have learned (over time) is that when you are requesting these “risk records”, the public officials ‘at risk’ will easily lie.   So, unfortunately, the strategy to actually get the records means you have to anticipate being lied to.   You must  know the truth of the existence of what you are seeking, before you actually request it. (more…)

(American Thinker – Catharine Evans)  On  September 12, Miami-Dade police arrested a 17-year-old black teenager, Jamal  Jackson, for the August 21 execution-style murder (see shocking video)  of Hispanic-American Miguel Pilotos.

The  black-on-Hispanic killing in Opa-Locka, Florida didn’t get much press when it  happened.  Only after the suspect was arrested three weeks later did  various news outlets release more details of the crime.
Within  those reports a familiar name appeared: Rod Vereen. (more…)

In a part of Jack Cashill’s latest book, “If I Had A Son – Race, Guns, and The Railroading of George Zimmerman“, Jack outlined a brief snippet of my encounters with M-DSPD Law Enforcement while seeking to obtain public records.      I can tell you from first-hand experience it is dangerous, literally physically dangerous, and nerve wracking.
Because few, if any, citizens attempt to keep public officials focused on the lawful execution of their role/job; and because few, if any, journalists actually do the boot work to gain first-hand information contained within those records,  government officials feel little to no compulsion to comply with the law.
Most of the officials, clerks, administrators, and compliance persons, associated with facilitation of Public Records have no idea what the laws are which should guide their compliance with lawfully requested record fulfillment.   Those that do have some understanding know how to pressure, leverage, manipulate and delay such requests.

It is the policy of this state [Florida] that all state, county, and municipal records are open for personal inspection and copying by any person. Providing access to public records is a duty of each agency.   (Pam Bondi FL Statute 119.01 Public Records)

It is not a mission for the faint at heart.
Persistence is the key.   But organization, preparation and training yourself to stay in control of your “fight or flight” emotion is an absolute necessity.
Here are some recent video-graphic examples of what can and will be encountered. (more…)

Thanks to Stella I was able to download and read Jack Cashill’s  book about the Zimmerman case this past weekend.   I very much enjoyed his presentation and found the book to be a solid, fact based, presentation.   Perhaps later in the week I’ll get around to writing a review about it – but suffice to say it’s a soup-to-nuts delivery of the entire case.    A very good read – pulling together a very complex dynamic into digestible form.
We talked to Mr. Cashill several times in the lead up to the trial as he was deep in research and filled with inquiry about how we, as a group, discovered so much information.  Mr. Cashill’s initial contact was based on all the prior research assembled here by all of you.  As a consequence he found the research approach fascinating.  Y’all should feel really proud of that.  It seems from the reading he also followed along thereafter.
As noted by some comments, and inquiry over the weekend, there are many aspects of the Zimmerman case -mostly side issues- we are still researching and putting together.   We have roughly 33 questions we are seeking to answer through FOIA submissions both relating to Jacksonville SAO and the prosecution, as well as Miami-Dade. (more…)

I am the former chief of the Miami Police Dept. (MPD), and I just sent a request to Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to initiate a Senate investigation of Thomas Perez and DOJ in their biased and slipshod investigation of MPD for alleged excessive use of deadly force.

In my request, I cite and give examples where DOJ omitted or misrepresented facts. I am attaching a copy of the request.

[scribd id=161793414 key=key-1efla0cqhuauwmxe1fkl mode=scroll]

I wonder if the other people who are sharing the cover of Ebony Magazine know that Jahvaris Fulton is the son of Sybrina Fulton, and not her ex husband Tracy “Fruit” Martin, who has fathered 4 or 5 other kids by other women; some while married to the prior child’s mothers.

Then again, now that I think about it, the “We are Trayvon” catch phrase probably does attach aptly to most of the group claiming such a descriptive as their commonality.
In order to be “like Trayvon” a person would have to be:

• Violent (worship thug and street gang culture)
• Kicked out of school (after missing 53 days with 2 prior suspensions)
• Kicked out of their home (after threatening to kill mom)
• Have no stable family (live with aunts, uncles, step moms etc)
• A known drug user (Marijuana, DXM, and Sizzurp/Lean)
• A known burglar (Prior diverted criminal arrests)
• A Criminally diverted failed student (Miami-Dade School Police)
• An illegal gun owner  (With Dad showing best way to get)

So when you see magazine covers saying “We Are Trayvon” the best approach is probably to say: Yep,…. and, quite frankly, that might just be the problem.

EBONY – It’s hard to believe that it was only 18 months ago that we lost Trayvon Martin. In the explosive time since that fateful night, February 26, 2012, generations of Black America have come to terms with the fact that we live in a country that often eats its young—our young. (more…)

(Miami Herald – Written by Jay Weaver)  The parents of Trayvon Martin and their lawyer met with Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents at the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami Wednesday to discuss the status of a criminal civil-rights investigation into the fatal shooting of their teen-age son last year.
The federal investigation, which was opened while George Zimmerman faced prosecution for the death of the 17-year-old, gained renewed interest last month after Zimmerman was acquitted in state court of Martin’s killing in a Sanford gated community.
Prosecutors with the Justice Department’s criminal civil-rights section and FBI agents from Central Florida met with the late teen’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, and their attorney, Benjamin Crump, to bring the family up to speed, according to sources familiar with the meeting. (more…)

First the basics:
My first question is to either of you Tracy or Sybrina: Where exactly was Trayvon living prior to his trip to Sanford florida?
Follow up – Trayvon’s aunt and uncle, Tracy’s brother and sister-in-law, have stated Trayvon was living with them, and their son Stephen “Boobie” Martin, at the time. Why was that?
Mr. Martin – Why was Trayvon in Sanford Florida at the time of his death? (more…)