Saturday, August 29, 2015


News Clips For The Day


KATRINA -- TWO ARTICLES


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-the-cajun-navy-10-years-after-hurricane-katrina/

How citizens turned into saviors after Katrina struck
CBS NEWS
August 29, 2015

Photograph -- Katrina 10 years later: New Orleans


Ten years ago Saturday, the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history struck New Orleans and the eastern Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina killed an estimated 1,800 people, but it could have been far worse if not for what became known as "The Cajun Navy." Hundreds of people in hundreds of boats gathered in Lafayette, Louisiana, to rescue thousands trapped by floodwaters, CBS News' David Begnaud reports.

They are some of the starkest scenes from the floodwaters that overwhelmed New Orleans: Thousands of people on rooftops without food or water, begging for help. As many as 60,000 people tried to ride out the storm. So many could only wave and wait for rescue.

Former state Sen. Nick Gautreaux watched it all on television and received a very personal plea for help.

"I got a text from Walter Boasso," Gautreaux said. "He was a senator at the time that I served with the Senate, and his text was simple, 'My people are dying. I need help.'"

Gautreaux put out his own plea across local TV and radio.

"They announced, 'Anybody wants to go help the people of New Orleans please come to the Acadiana Mall,'" south Louisiana journalist Trent Angers said. "They expected 24, 25 boats. Between 350 and 400 boats and people showed up."

It was 4 a.m., two days after Katrina hit, and the mall parking lot was full. David Spizale was there.

"They might not have even used their boat or trailer in a long time," Spizale said. "So you had some axle problems, you had some boats that were askew on the trailer, but the spirit was I'm going to go help, I'm going to hitch it up."

Gautreaux recalls warning of victims drowning and armed robbers roaming the flooded streets.

"If you're afraid of death, possibly you get shot or killed, then this is not a place for you to come," Gautreaux said. "And I will tell you there's not a person that turned around."

What rolled out of Lafayette was a makeshift flotilla that has come to be called the Cajun Navy, an eight-mile convoy of boats that made the two hour ride to New Orleans. Altogether, the Cajun Navy is credited with rescuing more than 10,000 people from flooded homes and rooftops.

"It's still very painful," rescuer Sara Roberts said.

Ten years later, Roberts still gets emotional thinking about the people she saved.

"It's hard to talk about, hard to certainly think about," Roberts said.

She can't forget how desperate people were.

"How eager they were to trust people they didn't even know," Roberts said. "But they were just so grateful that someone cared about them."

It was a rescue effort that was initially stopped at the water's edge. Authorities told Cajun Navy members they could not launch for safety reasons, but they didn't listen.

"You saw people in New Orleans walking in chest-deep water with all of their possessions floating in a plastic garbage can, and you're looking at it and thinking this is in our country, and in our case, it's two hours down the road," Spizale said. "So we were hard-pressed not to go into action. That's where we wanted to be."

Along the way, they had a front row seat to so many selfless acts. Sara saw two men neck-deep coming out of a Walgreens near a high-rise full of elderly people.

"And I was just so frustrated and so angry that these people had looted and had broken in with all this tragedy around, and I later found those guys," Roberts said. "They had broken into the Walgreens to buy, I mean to get medical supplies for those elderly people."

Before David Billeaud and his friend, Keith Bates, could get around law enforcement and into the city, they slept in a parking lot overnight, listening to cries for help on a local radio station.

"There was people calling in, wanting help, and you couldn't sleep, just hearing them, the people calling in telling their situation," Billeaud said. 'Where they're located, they can't get anywhere. There's water everywhere."

Last week, for the first time since he was rescued, Father Hampton Davis had a chance to thank his rescuer, Nick Gautreaux.

"Thanks for not listening to those people who said don't go in there," Davis said.

The former senator rescued a group of seminarians and priests from Notre Dame Seminary, which was surrounded by looting and arson.

"I want to publicly tell the world how grateful the seminary was that you all were there for us, and when we finally got back home in January you were lifted up in prayer at every Mass," Davis said. "Know that."

"If we would have had to wait for the federal government to be down here to help people, you know how many people would have died?" Gautreaux said.

Gen. Russel Honore was put in charge of the federal response during Katrina.

This Louisiana native and three-star general saw to it that the priority of his men and women was search and rescue.

"We had 20,000 federal troops," Honore said. "We had 20 ships and over 225 helicopters."

Honore credits the Cajun Navy for doing much of the initial lifesaving.

"In reality most people are saved by neighbors and volunteers after a disaster than are saved by organized rescue people," Honore said.

Kathleen Blanco was Louisiana's governor when Katrina hit. This past week, she thanked the rescuers.

"We never had enough help, and when you came in, you just made all the difference in the world," Blanco said. "The Cajun Navy rescuers are true heroes. Louisiana people saved Louisiana people."

Angers and filmmaker Allen Durand have researched the accomplishments of the Cajun Navy. Angers wrote a book, and Duran made a documentary.

"They saved 10,000 people, and not a one of them thinks of themself as brave or courageous or as a hero," Durand said.

They were civilian hurricane heroes, whose boat propellers were, as the New Orleans Times-Picayune put it, "The sound of salvation."

"No one will ever know all the people that helped," Gautreaux said. "I won't know everyone who helped, but people that were part of it were part of history."




CBS -- "Hundreds of people in hundreds of boats gathered in Lafayette, Louisiana, to rescue thousands trapped by floodwaters, CBS News' David Begnaud reports. They are some of the starkest scenes from the floodwaters that overwhelmed New Orleans: Thousands of people on rooftops without food or water, begging for help. As many as 60,000 people tried to ride out the storm. So many could only wave and wait for rescue. …. "I got a text from Walter Boasso," Gautreaux said. "He was a senator at the time that I served with the Senate, and his text was simple, 'My people are dying. I need help.'" Gautreaux put out his own plea across local TV and radio. "They announced, 'Anybody wants to go help the people of New Orleans please come to the Acadiana Mall,'" south Louisiana journalist Trent Angers said. "They expected 24, 25 boats. Between 350 and 400 boats and people showed up." …. Gautreaux recalls warning of victims drowning and armed robbers roaming the flooded streets. "If you're afraid of death, possibly you get shot or killed, then this is not a place for you to come," Gautreaux said. "And I will tell you there's not a person that turned around." What rolled out of Lafayette was a makeshift flotilla that has come to be called the Cajun Navy, an eight-mile convoy of boats that made the two hour ride to New Orleans. Altogether, the Cajun Navy is credited with rescuing more than 10,000 people from flooded homes and rooftops. …. It was a rescue effort that was initially stopped at the water's edge. Authorities told Cajun Navy members they could not launch for safety reasons, but they didn't listen. "You saw people in New Orleans walking in chest-deep water with all of their possessions floating in a plastic garbage can, and you're looking at it and thinking this is in our country, and in our case, it's two hours down the road," Spizale said. "So we were hard-pressed not to go into action. That's where we wanted to be." …. The former senator rescued a group of seminarians and priests from Notre Dame Seminary, which was surrounded by looting and arson. "I want to publicly tell the world how grateful the seminary was that you all were there for us, and when we finally got back home in January you were lifted up in prayer at every Mass," Davis said. "Know that." …. Gen. Russel Honore was put in charge of the federal response during Katrina. This Louisiana native and three-star general saw to it that the priority of his men and women was search and rescue. "We had 20,000 federal troops," Honore said. "We had 20 ships and over 225 helicopters." Honore credits the Cajun Navy for doing much of the initial lifesaving. "In reality most people are saved by neighbors and volunteers after a disaster than are saved by organized rescue people," Honore said. …. . Angers wrote a book, and Duran made a documentary. "They saved 10,000 people, and not a one of them thinks of themself as brave or courageous or as a hero," Durand said.”

I’ll never forget the news footage on the morning after this huge storm moved in. The only things that were visible were the tops of trees and buildings. My stomach muscles contracted when I saw the scene. The worst problem was that the levee was weak and when the storm surge went up into Lake Pontchartrain the levee broke, and the city was inundated.

To make things worse, the weather authorities hadn’t given a strong warning because it was considered relatively weak, but like Andrew, it strengthened during the last minutes when it made landfall. As a result, lots of the residents had decided to shelter in place rather than leaving the city and going to higher ground. I have decided that no matter how weak the weather authorities say a hurricane is I will use caution in dealing with it. Luckily I now live on the 9th floor of a highrise building. My car would need to be moved to a city parking garage before a storm hits, of course, because no elevation in Jacksonville is much higher than a few feet. It floods in a number of places here with nothing but a heavy rain storm. The following Wikipedia article gives a good description of the events the night it hit New Orleans. I hope to read the book mentioned in the next article on the storm by journalist Gary Rivlin, called, "Katrina: After the Flood." It’s a blow by blow description as only a good journalist can portray it. I do like exciting reading, and this certainly is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorological_history_of_Hurricane_Katrina

Meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The meteorological history of Hurricane Katrina, an extremely destructive Category 5 hurricane, began on August 23, 2005 when it originated as Tropical Depression Twelve near the Bahamas. The next day, the tropical depression strengthened to a tropical storm, and was named Katrina; it proceeded to make landfall on the southern tip of the U.S. state of Florida as a minimal hurricane.

In passing across Florida, Katrina did not attain any more strength but did manage to maintain hurricane status. After passing over Florida, the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico allowed it to rapidly intensify to the sixth strongest Atlantic hurricane in recorded history. Afterward, Katrina made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana, and once more near the Mississippi/Louisiana border. Katrina progressed northward through the central United States and finally dissipated near the Great Lakes on August 31, when it was absorbed by a cold front.



This excerpt from the book on Katrina shows the reason why hurricanes should always be respected if not feared. Exactly where they will go or how strong they will be when they hit the land is unpredictable. That's why TV forecasters use the "cone of uncertainty" to show their path. “The wind was still blowing at around fifty miles per hour when they pulled out of the barn at around 10:00 a.m. Eddington remembered a blue Chevy parked at the Chevron station a block away. The water, maybe curb high, reached the bottom of the Chevy's hubcaps. The water was halfway up the car's windows when they returned ninety minutes later.” People should never think they can outrun a storm like this one.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/book-excerpt-katrina-after-the-flood/

Book excerpt: "Katrina: After the Flood"
CBS NEWS
August 29, 2015

Photograph -- katrina-after-the-flood-cover-244.jpg
SIMON & SCHUSTER

In 2005 journalist Gary Rivlin covered Hurricane Katrina for The New York Times. His new book, "Katrina: After the Flood" (published by Simon & Schuster, which is owned by CBS), explores New Orleans in the years since the tragic storm hit.

Read the book's prologue below; then, watch Martha Teichner's interview with Rivlin on CBS' "Sunday Morning" August 30.


Water Rising

Overtime pay was never enough. The bosses running the city's transit agency needed to offer more than money to convince the bus drivers, streetcar operators, mechanics, and others they needed to stay in town through a big storm. So in August 2005, with a hurricane named Katrina bearing down on New Orleans, they did as they had in the past ahead of previous scares: they opened up the agency's headquarters, a three-story brick fortress on Canal Street on the edge of the city's central business district. "To get the volunteers we needed, we'd allow them to bring their spouses, their children, grandmothers, grandfathers, girlfriends, nieces, nephews, whoever," said Bill Deville, then the general manager of the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority.

The A. Philip Randolph Building -- what RTA employees called the "Canal Street barn" or simply "the barn" -- was hardly the Hilton. People slept on air mattresses and needed to bring their own food. But the barn was also a veritable fort, stocked with military food rations and water and with its own backup generator. Most important, it was in a part of town that everyone knew never flooded. "People really want to be together in a protected facility," Deville said.
Around the region, the traffic on the highways out of town ahead of Katrina was heaviest on Sunday. The storm wouldn't hit New Orleans until early on Monday morning. Yet the city's bus drivers and others needed to work on Sunday, picking up people at evacuation centers around the city and dropping them off at the Superdome. Thus, on Saturday the RTA employees, their families, and their friends started showing up at the barn, dragging with them their suitcases and carrying coolers, and the occasional large silver pot heavy with gumbo. By Sunday night, somewhere around three hundred people were taking refuge there. The group, around 90 percent black, included grandparents and a couple of babies. Only around one-third worked for the RTA. People plugged in hot plates to heat up their food and shared the flasks and bottles they had brought with them. By 10:00 p.m., the winds sounded like a jet engine roaring. By midnight, the pounding rain echoed through the building. Why not a party when there was nothing to do except wait?

Monday

Gerald Robichaux, the RTA's deputy general manager for operations, was up early Monday morning. He saw water in the streets and immediately regretted his decision to leave the agency's three big dump trucks parked at the Uptown facility a few miles away, along with the big rigs they used to tow disabled buses. These trucks with tires as tall as the average-size man, Robichaux realized, might prove to be their chariots of escape if the water in the streets kept rising. Robichaux ordered a small crew to take the single high-wheeled vehicle they had at the Canal Street barn and pick up the other rigs on Napoleon Avenue. Robichaux also asked Wilfred Eddington to join them. Eddington was a member of the New Orleans Police Department, and part of the RTA's transit police unit.

The wind was still blowing at around fifty miles per hour when they pulled out of the barn at around 10:00 a.m. Eddington remembered a blue Chevy parked at the Chevron station a block away. The water, maybe curb high, reached the bottom of the Chevy's hubcaps. The water was halfway up the car's windows when they returned ninety minutes later.

From "Katrina" After the Flood" by Gary Rivlin. Copyright © 2015 by Gary Rivlin. Excerpted with permission by Simon & Schuster, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

GALLERY: Katrina 10 years later: New Orleans
GALLERY: Katrina 10 years later: Plaquemines Parish, La.
GALLERY: Katrina 10 years later: Mississippi

For more info:

"Katrina: After the Flood" by Gary Rivlin (Simon & Schuster); Also available in eBook format
garyrivlin.com





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-manhunt-killing-houston-sheriffs-deputy-suspect/

Sheriff: "Absolute madness" working motive in deputy's killing
CBS/AP
August 29, 2015

Photograph -- Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth is seen in this undated handout photo. HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE


HOUSTON -- Authorities are still looking for the suspect in the fatal shooting of a sheriff's deputy at a suburban Houston gas station, Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said.

Hickman said at a Saturday afternoon news conference that the working motive for the Friday night shooting death of Deputy Darren Goforth was "absolute madness."

Surveillance video showed there were people at the gas station in suburban Houston about 8:30 p.m. when Goforth was ambushed by a man and shot several times. Hickman asked that they reach out to the sheriff's office with any information.

District Attorney Devon Anderson had strong words at the news conference, saying it is "time for the silent majority in the country to support law enforcement" and that there should not be "open warfare on law enforcement officers."

Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.

Earlier, spokesman Deputy Thomas Gilliland said officials were speaking with a person of interest in connection with the shooting and have obtained a search warrant for the two-story brick home where the person lives. No arrests have been made, Gilliland said.

Nine patrol cars, including one with the words "crime scene unit" on the side of the vehicle, were parked near the home, which is about a quarter-mile from the gas station in Copperfield, a middle-class to upper middle-class area of Harris County that is unincorporated.

Police described the suspect as a male with a dark complexion, about 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall, wearing a white T-shirt and red shorts and driving a red or maroon pickup-style truck with an extended cab. Authorities did not say what race they believe him to be.

Goforth was a 10-year veteran of the force, had a wife and two children, Hickman said.

"In my 45 years in law enforcement, I can't recall another incident so cold-blooded and cowardly," Hickman said.

An impromptu memorial had begun Saturday morning at the Chevron station pump that Goforth was using on Friday night, a pile of balloons, flowers, candles and notes, including one that said, "Gone but never forgotten R.I.P. Deputy Goforth." The gas station was open, but that pump was closed.

Brian McCullar knew Goforth because the deputy had patrolled his neighborhood, which is about two miles from the gas station, and spoke often.

"He was passionate about what he did," the 49-year-old said, adding, "We're still in shock. ... It's a huge loss for his family. It's a huge loss for this area.

"You're talking about a guy that made a difference."

Goforth had traveled to the Chevron station after responding to a routine car accident, Gilliland said.

"He was pumping gas into his vehicle and the male suspect came up behind him and shot the deputy multiple times," Gilliland told the Houston Chronicle. "The deputy fell to ground. The suspect came over and shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground."

Detectives were checking security camera video for possible clues.

"I can tell you with diligence and justice the suspect will be caught," Gilliland told the newspaper. "And he will be brought to justice ... This is a very callous individual."

Harris County Sheriff's deputies and homicide investigators joined officers from other agencies, including the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Houston Police Department, in the search.

"This is a very tough moment right now for the Harris County Sheriff's Office," Gilliland said. "Keep us in your prayers and in your thoughts."

Bob Goerlitz, president of the Harris County Deputies Organization, said the incident was "shocking."

"We've been warned of things like this, because of public sentiment nationally and events over the last few years ... It's just horrific. That's the only way to describe it."




As sad as I am when I see that a police officer has violated the trust that society puts in him by abusing a citizen who is poor, perhaps mentally ill, and unarmed, I am equally saddened by this story. This officer, as far as I can tell, was one of the good guys. He was only gassing up his vehicle when a black man, possibly with group revenge motivating him, shot him down pointlessly.

It follows on the heels of the event in Virginia where the two reporters were shot. They were believed to have spoken abusively of black people by the shooter. Nonetheless a blood feud never brings justice. That’s like the well-known Hatfields and McCoys in the 1800s. There is no end to the killing, and society as we know it will be destroyed.





http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/08/29/435512651/high-profile-russian-trials-bring-international-criticism

High-Profile Russian Trials Bring International Criticism
Corey Flintoff
August 29, 2015

Photograph -- Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov (right), was recently convicted of terrorism charges in Crimea dating to last year, when Russia seized the territory from Ukraine. A Russian military court sentenced him to 20 years in one of several cases that have drawn criticism from human rights groups. He's shown here at a hearing at Moscow's Lefortovo District Court on Dec. 26, 2014.
Mikhail Pochuyev/ITAR-TASS/Landov
Photograph -- Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves (left), with intelligence officer Eston Kohver in 2010. Kohver was arrested by Russian police on spying charges, but Estonian officials called it an illegal kidnapping.


In one of several high-profile cases that have drawn international criticism, a Russian military court has sentenced a Ukrainian film director to 20 years in prison for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in Crimea.

The cases have provoked protests from human rights groups and Western governments, including the United States.

As the sentence was being read Tuesday for the filmmaker, Oleg Sentsov, and his co-defendant, Oleksander Kolchenko, they laughed derisively and began singing the Ukrainian national anthem.

From the beginning of the trial, Sentsov, 39, rejected the authority of the military court in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

"I don't consider this court a court at all," he said.

In his final statement, Sentsov quoted the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who said that cowardice is "the greatest sin."

Sentsov was accused of leading a terrorist cell that allegedly plotted attacks in Crimea after the Ukrainian region was taken over by Russian troops in February of last year. Russia annexed the territory shortly afterward, a move not recognized internationally.

Prosecutors said Sentsov's group planned to blow up a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin and a monument to Soviet soldiers from World War II.

Related Stories

Ukrainian military officer Nadezhda Savchenko speaks to journalists shortly after her capture in Luhansk, Ukraine, on June 19, 2014. She was apparently captured by pro-Russian insurgents during fighting in eastern Ukraine. But she is being held in Russia, which claims she was arrested in that country. Ukrainian officials say the separatists handed her over to Russia.

Estonia 'Spy' Dispute Could Be Russia Making Anti-NATO Mischief

"We are talking about a man against whom the prosecutors had no criminal evidence, no evidence of his direct involvement in any criminal acts," says Tanya Lokshina, director of the Russia Program for Human Rights Watch in Moscow.

Lokshina says the charges against Sentsov were trumped up, but that even if they were true, the sentence of 20 years in prison was disproportionately long.

Sentsov's co-defendant, Kolchenko, 25, confessed to two arson attacks that caused minor damage at pro-Russian organizations in Crimea and was given 10 years in prison.

Sentsov's supporters say he was targeted because he is a high-profile figure, an up-and-coming film director who attracted a lot of attention with his 2011 debut Gamer, about a Ukrainian teenager who wins big at a video game championship.

Last year, more than a dozen noted film directors and producers, including Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, wrote an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling for Sentsov's release.

Sentsov's conviction was based on the testimony of two other defendants, who said he was their leader in the terrorist group.

"One of these individuals actually withdrew his testimony, saying that he provided the testimony under torture, and the testimony had been entirely false," Lokshina says.

Sentsov himself said that police had beaten him and threatened to rape and kill him if he didn't sign a confession.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby condemned the trial and sentencing, calling it "a miscarriage of justice."

"Mr. Sentsov and Mr. Kolchenko were targeted by authorities because of their opposition to Russia's attempted annexation of Crimea," Kirby said.

One Of Several Cases

The Sentsov case isn't the only one that has attracted international condemnation.

Last week, a secret court in Russia sentenced an Estonian intelligence officer, Eston Kohver, to 15 years in prison for spying.

Estonia says that not only was Kohver not a spy, but that he was kidnapped by Russian agents on Estonian soil.

Tanya Lokshina points to a number of harsh sentences in political cases over the past several years, and says they're designed to send a message to the public, "if you're discontented, you should keep quiet—or else. You might face very serious consequences."

The next high-profile trial that's expected in Russia is that of Nadezhda Savchenko, a Ukrainian army pilot who's accused of targeting two Russian journalists who were killed by artillery fire in eastern Ukraine last year.

Ukraine says that Savchenko, too, was kidnapped and subjected to trumped-up charges in Russia.




“In one of several high-profile cases that have drawn international criticism, a Russian military court has sentenced a Ukrainian film director to 20 years in prison for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in Crimea. The cases have provoked protests from human rights groups and Western governments, including the United States. As the sentence was being read Tuesday for the filmmaker, Oleg Sentsov, and his co-defendant, Oleksander Kolchenko, they laughed derisively and began singing the Ukrainian national anthem. …. In his final statement, Sentsov quoted the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who said that cowardice is "the greatest sin." Sentsov was accused of leading a terrorist cell that allegedly plotted attacks in Crimea after the Ukrainian region was taken over by Russian troops in February of last year. Russia annexed the territory shortly afterward, a move not recognized internationally. …. Ukrainian military officer Nadezhda Savchenko speaks to journalists shortly after her capture in Luhansk, Ukraine, on June 19, 2014. She was apparently captured by pro-Russian insurgents during fighting in eastern Ukraine. But she is being held in Russia, which claims she was arrested in that country. Ukrainian officials say the separatists handed her over to Russia. …. Lokshina says the charges against Sentsov were trumped up, but that even if they were true, the sentence of 20 years in prison was disproportionately long. Sentsov's co-defendant, Kolchenko, 25, confessed to two arson attacks that caused minor damage at pro-Russian organizations in Crimea and was given 10 years in prison. …. Sentsov's conviction was based on the testimony of two other defendants, who said he was their leader in the terrorist group. "One of these individuals actually withdrew his testimony, saying that he provided the testimony under torture, and the testimony had been entirely false," Lokshina says. Sentsov himself said that police had beaten him and threatened to rape and kill him if he didn't sign a confession. …. "Mr. Sentsov and Mr. Kolchenko were targeted by authorities because of their opposition to Russia's attempted annexation of Crimea," Kirby said.”

“In his final statement, Sentsov quoted the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who said that cowardice is "the greatest sin." I tend to agree with that statement, though I would put abusing a weaker person above it on the scale of sins. Dissenters have very frequently been treated very roughly around the world and down through time by people in power. The right to speak one’s own views was written into the Constitution of the US, but it is not unlimited even here. “Fighting words,” irresponsible words that produce a dangerous situation such as “standing up in a crowded theater and yelling FIRE,” are punishable under the law, and committing libel or slander are grounds for a lawsuit here. Delivering a threat against another’s life is also illegal, I believe, and not merely grounds for a suit. However saying that the policeman in Ferguson, MO committed a murder rather than a legitimate exercise of his lawful authority is not, so far, illegal. Neither is marching around chanting “black lives matter,” though the police and civil authorities would like for it to be.

I have my worries about the future of the right to voice that opinion here in this country, the way we have been going since 9/11. Members of our government went a little crazy when that happened, and have tightened up on what they think should be allowed here. Things happened under George W. Bush and Mr. Chaney that I was shocked to see. I didn’t believe I would see them in my lifetime. I was wrong. I intend to keep writing this blog as long as I can get away with it, though, and as long as my health holds out.