Hatred of Jews — It's Here, Real and as Dangerous as Ever

'Antisemitism is not just the Jewish community’s issue. It’s everybody’s'

Madison, Wisconsin — I was perusing an excellent new Substack website of a progressive, writing about the anniversary of the Iraq War invasion and lies.

Left a 'hello' comment for author from my wife and me, who had picked the gentleman up from the Dane County airport 20 years ago.

Then I was immediately trolled by this lunatic, one Clarence Wilhelm Spangle, writing in part: "Fuck you and your Jewish god. . . . The United States government is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli political Action Committee."

I had not been trolled like that in a while and not with this vile anti-Semitism.

I called a friend who has devoted the majority of his life fighting for civil liberties and against anti-Semitism, Mikey Weinstein, and received the following profile intel on Clarence Wilhelm Spangle:

First, the name ‘Nordic Pagan Solider” was not significant other than being connected to this Clarence Wilhelm Spangle. I found two other websites where this Clarence Spangle posts virulently anti-Semitic Hitler-loving garbage.  The first is Bitchute (a site similar to YouTube) and along with anti-Semitic videos such as "FUCK YOU AND YOUR JEWISH GOD RACE MIXING LOSERS," his about section contains the Nazi SS motto, “ϟϟ Meine Ehre heißt Treue ϟϟ”

 Ref: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/cwspangle/

From there, I found a website called Ancient Faces where Spangle posts pictures of Hitler and used the same Nazi SS motto. However, he also posted his interest in the surname Wilman and made a few posts regarding a real person named August E Wilman who died in Carmel, California in the early 2000s.  

Ref: https://www.ancientfaces.com/user/clarence-spangle/394802 and ref: https://www.spokeo.com/August-Wilman/California/Carmel/p40458225405

I’d speculate that he’s related to this August Wilman or a friend but with that nugget of real information he provided, I found a Clarence W Spangle living in Jacksonville, Florida.  Of most interest, this Charles Spangle also lived in Carmel, California from 2001-2012 just six miles away from where August Wilman lived. So almost certainly this Charence W Spangle living in Jacksonville, Florida is the one making these hate posts.

I’ve attached Spangle’s current address and phone information.   

The point is anti-Semitism is getting worse, and I urge folks to consider lending their voice against it.

It takes little imagination to contemplate nonsensical, incoherent myths, contrived races, demonized enemies of the people and lunatics in politics can explosively combine to catastrophic result.

If we could time-travel to 1930, and speculate on the rise of an anti-Semitic lunatic, we would likely postulate France or Russia.

In any event, post-World War II, we carry on an obligation to never forget and never let idiocy go unchallenged.

Lend your support to Stand Up to Jewish Hate.

Retweet:

Antisemitism is not just the Jewish community’s issue. It’s everybody’s. Retweet this video with #🟦 to show your support. #StandUpToJewishHate pic.twitter.com/fJrSRFtguW

— Stand Up to Jewish Hate (@StandUp2JewHate) March 27, 2023

My wife and I have always admired World War II veterans, though we know well U.S. work against anti-Semitism was less than perfect.

Still, we beat the Nazis, and their project to destroy the European Jews. 

Today and always, I salute fighters against Nazis and standing up to Jewish hate.

From Mikey Wienstein to Al Liethen, and millions more, thank you.

Wisconsin's Al Liethen - Stood up to anti-Semitism in WW II

Wisconsin Open Season — Always a Good Time to Shoot at the Lac du Flambeau

Madison, Wisconsin — "We know Flambo [Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe] men who are shot at every year gathering food for their families," writes Nick Vander Puy, citizen of Earth in far-northern Wisconsin.

That's up north from the standpoint of Madison — Ashland, Iron and Vilas counties, for example, (see map at right).

Vander Puy is writing about conduct in the region inhabited by descendants of the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe [LDF] tribe and residents on the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe reservation in Vilas and Iron counties.

The Ojibwe's right to fish and gather food is protected by federal treaty, and the sight of brown-skinned people fishing, for example, has long provoked rage from local racists. The sight of an Ojibwe breathing isn't such a gratifying scene either.

Can you, the reader, imagine a dark-skinned Native boating or walking around like he's a human being? No wonder whites want to kill them.

James Alan Kelsey didn't like the sight of a Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe tribal member fishing last May, so naturally Kelsey fired his shot-gun at Greg Johnson (Biskakone).

After initially filing hate crime and other charges, the corrupt Vilas County District Attorney Martha Milanowski and Kelsey agreed to a plea deal that includes a minor fine and other community service action performed by Kelsey, (Wisconsin Circuit Court Access).

Reports Frank Vaisvilas in the Green Bay Press-Gazette (USA Today Network) in an important piece of reporting:

Vilas County District Attorney Martha Milanowski said hate crime and use of a dangerous weapon charge modifiers were dropped because Kelsey pleaded no contest to possessing a firearm while intoxicated and interfering with Ojibwe fishing rights, which is a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources ordinance violation.

Kelsey's sentence also bans him from entering Lac du Flambeau tribal lands.

Kelsey can have the charge of possessing a firearm while intoxicated removed from his record if he accomplishes certain criteria over the next year, which include 80 hours of community service, no drinking or possession of alcohol and no possession of firearms.

He also must write a letter of apology to the victims, which must include an acknowledgement of the right of Indigenous people to exercise their treaty rights. The letter must be published in local newspapers.

Vilas County Sheriff Joseph Fath previously said Kelsey had not meant to frighten tribal harvesters and Kelsey claimed he was shooting at a squirrel.

A squirrel. 

The Ojibwe face a corrupt and racist Sheriff Joseph Fath, a corrupt District Attorney Martha Milanowski, and a good chuck of white racists. 

Kelsey's plea to Interfering with Hunting/Fishing/Trapping (29.083(2)(a)) should rightfully be attempted murder.

A reader can imagine what would happen if a black man fired a shotgun at a white person whom he didn't like, in Kenosha, for example.

But in Wisconsin, and not just Wisconsin, there is one set of laws for whites, and one set of laws for black and brown.

We don't hear about these outrages from up north in Madison except for a few good reporters like Frank Vaisvilas and amazing human beings on Facebook, which is a good argument for the social utility and the multiplicity of voices on social media.

Protesters outside the Vilas County Courthouse called for stiffer criminal charges
against a racist for firing his weapon at tribal spearfishers exercised their treaty
rights to fish near his home. Photo by Zachary Allen.

Out in the Cold—Fitchburg Kicks Black Children out of Shelter, Wisconsin Winter Looms

Beautiful children in Fitchburg Wisconsin
are relegated to picnic tables by City officials.
Those who dare care for minority children
are targeted by the Fitchburg Common Council
and white City Hall bureaucrats.

Fuck you, Fitchburg—An editorial

Update: Group is now meeting at an area church, Facebook reports. Good hope; one feels confident cops will not invade, harass, fine or kill there.
--
Fitchburg, Wisconsin—Fitchburg is a suburb just south of Madison run by white people, for white people, wrestling with the Black Problem.

It's August 2014 and a Fitchburg cop pulls outside of the polling place in district one with red and white lights flashing, creating a barrier between the polling place and King James Way, the black sector of the Jamestown neighborhood named after a 17th century Virginia slave colony.

I'm working as a poll worker and I point out the cop car outside the polling place: "Good," says the new chief election inspector, a white racist named Dale Zahorik.

Zahorik hates black people. Do you think communities of interest who don't trust cops should have to encounter a cop car with lights flashing as a condition of voting? I ask.

Zahorik evades the question, and I call up the City Clerk's office, and its reaction, from one Patti Anderson, vacillates between feigned indifference and hostility toward me challenging why I am questioning the presence of the cop.

The cop is but one example of white hostility towards black folks here. There's Zahorik's refusing to put out a polling place sign out on Election Day, April 2016, short-staffing the ballots table, open antagonism towards black voters, intimidation, stuffing the roster of polling workers with white racists, Ron Johnson and Pat McCutcheon for example, several instances of voter obstruction I have witnessed, challenged and documented between 2007 and 2016, most recently in a related civil case in Fitchburg Municipal Court where I testified under oath a detailed chronicling of the placing of the White Power Caucus in Fitchburg aldermanic district one polling place.

Zahorik and the City Clerk's attitude exemplify the white consensus towards black residents from City Hall. Blacks are not wanted here and they should leave.

Sometimes though, pictures tell a clearer story.

Wanda Smith runs an informal, after-school club to help out children with homework, structure, comfort, encouragement, a little something to eat, and a general peace-and-love gathering to help children not-quite-yet-traumatized by living in Fitchburg.

Fitchburg knows how to handle Wanda Smith.

For working with minority children, Smith has been unremittingly harassed by City Hall and the Common Council. In a piece that is shaking the conscience of Dane County Wisconsin, Nicholas Garton reports, "Fitchburg alder Dorothy Krause wanted to use police records and licensing requirements to shut down the after-school homework club run by longtime community volunteer Wanda Smith, who she considers 'not someone who should be in charge of groups of children,' according to emails obtained by Madison365."

This is pure character assassination and harassment of a peace-loving citizen.

There's a small, unoccupied park shelter off King James Way in Fitchburg in the black sector. Smith meets with the children near there.

Writes Amelia Royko Maurer in Facebook last night:

Wanda Smith has to conduct her after school program outside if they want to be near their homes, which they do because it builds a sense of place and community and saves on transportation costs. The city of Fitchburg won’t let them use the unoccupied park shelter without paying an unaffordable amount. [Alders] Dorothy Krause, Jason Gonzalez, Tony Hartmann, [and former Mayor] Shawn Pfaff, if you’re looking for criminal behavior, look no further than yourself and colleagues. This is unconscionable and your collective regrets and care are proven hollow by your willingness to let this continue.

Soon, the kids are going to get cold. But besides the weather, they have to cope with Fitchburg City Hall and the Fitchburg cops who relegate the kids to a picnic table.

Below are recent shots of these human children.

Fuck you, Fitchburg.

To Wanda Smith and those children blessed by her love, this is for you:

"Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
Robert F. Kennedy
University of Cape Town, South Africa
"Day of Affirmation" Speech June 6th, 1966 

Trump Flees to White Homeland in Wisconsin

Donald Trump is a long-time, devout racist.

Following his shockingly poor performance in Monday's presidential debate, Trump is taking refuge tonight in the white homeland known as Waukesha, Wisconsin.

As the racist Alt-Right becomes even more immersed in the Trump campaign, finding solace among white Wisconisn racists may be just what Trump needs.

The greater-Milwaukee region comprises the most segregated urban unit in the Untied States and is known for toxic, racial politics that has propelled Wisconsin Republicans to statewide elected office.

As noted in these pages, the segregated urban area in the country is infested with racist Republicans armed with, and forever deploying their racial taunts.

Wisconsin Republicans are white and proud of it.

Republicans want violence in the black areas of Milwaukee and the current titular governor of Wisconsin has made his political career on specific appeals to racism and fear.

No Republican is going to give up what works, and demonizing and preventing the lives of black folks is good politics.

Trump, the Alt-Right's Pepe and Scott Walker are three of a kind.

The Intercept: Stop Exploiting LGBT Issues to Demonize Islam and Justify Anti-Muslim Policies

Critical coverage of the Orlando mass killing is being published in The Intercept and Informed Comment.

The aftermath filtered through the corporate media is ahistorical and aligns perfectly with the American foreign policy establishment and its purposes ranging from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump.

Notes Zaid Jilani as the corporate media, Clinton and Trump all flee from facts and reason:

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump reacted to the Orlando shooting with evidence that they can agree on at least one thing: bombing people. Both candidates called for an escalation of the U.S.-led bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

... Clinton suggested during her post-Orlando speech Monday afternoon that 'We should keep the pressure on ramping up the air campaign'

That ISIS/ISIL has nothing to do with the killer in Orlando is of no relevancy to Clinton and Trump who want to bomb someone, somewhere.

Elsewhere, Juan Cole has another dose of sanity at his site, entitled, Top 7 ways to tell if Someone is lying about being a ‘Salafi Jihadi’.

Flaming Islamophobia is chronicled by Glenn Greenwald:

... When it comes to Jews and Christians, people instinctively understand how bigoted and deceitful it is to cherry-pick particularly offensive excerpts from their holy books and use them to demonize all contemporary Christians and Jews.

Indeed, a standard tactic of neo-Nazis and other various anti-Semites is to cite ugly excerpts from the Talmud — including ones purportedly endorsing Jews holding non-Jews as slaves or lying to and stealing from non-Jews — as evidence of the dishonesty and untrustworthiness of Jews generally. We all understand that this tactic is so vile, unscholarly, and anti-intellectual precisely because modern adherents to those religions interpret and apply (or ignore) those provisions in all sorts of ways.

Exactly the same is true of Muslims, yet an entire cottage industry of pseudo-intellectual charlatans — including ones who admit to never having even read the Quran — uses exactly this tawdry tactic to demonize Islam (watch this social experiment where people are read heinous Bible passages and falsely told they are from the Quran). There are literally millions upon millions of Muslims who hold positive views about, and engage in positive interactions with, gay people with regularity (which is why it’s almost always true that those most devoted to demonizing Islam are the ones who know the fewest number of Muslims (just as is true of LGBTs, ironically)).

Madness over madness as the lunatic Trump and the Queen of Chaos fight over details.

Hillary Clinton on Marriage Equality Is Indecent

If Hillary Clinton speaks, take out your BS meter.

"I believe marriage is not just a bond but a sacred bond between a man and a woman. I have had occasion in my life to defend marriage, to stand up for marriage, to believe in the hard work and challenge of marriage. So I take umbrage at anyone who might suggest that those of us who worry about amending the Constitution are less committed to the sanctity of marriage, or to the fundamental bedrock principle that it exists between a man and a woman, going back into the midst of history as one of the founding, foundational institutions of history and humanity and civilization, and that its primary, principal role during those millennia has been the raising and socializing of children for the society into which they are to become adults."
—Hillary Clinton in 2004 on marriage equity

Oh, but Hillary must have changed her mind.

Milwaukee Hate Crime—Mass Murderer Found Unfit for Trial

From Milwaukee County, with hate

Life is cheap in Milwaukee if you are an ethnic minority.

That's the message Milwaukee County Circuit Judge J.D. Watts delivered to Milwaukee County.

Watts ruled Dan J. Popp is unfit to stand trial after murdering a Puerto Rican man and Hmong couple on March 6, 2016, and attempting to kill all members of two minority families who had the temerity to breathe and live in their homes, (Sameer Rao, Colorlines), (Mal Contends), and (Luthern, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

From ColorLines:

As we reported last month, Popp faces three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. According to a criminal complaint and witness testimony, Popp allegedy went to Jesus Manso-Perez and his teenage son's apartment and asked where they were from.

When he learned they were from Puerto Rico, Popp reportedly said, 'Oh, that's why you don't speak English, before shooting at them and killing the elder Manso-Perez. The complaint said that Popp then went to the nearby apartment of Hmong couple Phia Vue and Mai K. Vue, where he fatally shot them in front of their children.

Some of the victims' family members joined with a coalition of 22 community advocacy groups that cuts across many of Milwaukee's racial and ethnic communities to demand additional hate crime charges. 'Lives were taken because of Dan J. Popp's hatred for those who are different from him,' Tou Xiong, Mai K. Vue's brother, told reporters.

"From the beginning of this case people were rushing to say, 'Oh this was a mental illness issue,'" Darryl Morin of the League of United Latin American Citizens said while speaking on behalf of the Manso-Perez family yesterday. "Every expert we've spoken to on the issue of hate crimes has said there's always been some degree of mental illness involved."

It's open season on minorities in America, and racism remains as American as Mom and Applepie.

Hate and Murder

They Thought They Were Free,
The Germans, 1933-45;
(University of Chicago Press.
©1955)
by Milton Mayer

"Someone perceived as a Latino will soon be murdered; you can count on it," (Mal Contends, June 2014).

Not surprising to read the latest mass murder and hate crime occurred in Milwaukee where segregation and hate fuel the Republican Party of Wisconsin and Scott Walker.

Ashley Luthern reports in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (March 10) a white man, Dan J. Popp, "methodically shot and killed three of his neighbors at point-blank range" on March 6 on a Sunday afternoon.

It was a hate crime. The victims are Jesus R. Manso-Perez, 40; Phia Vue, 36; and Mai K. Vue, 32. The three victims are Puerto Rican and Hmong.

A candlelight vigil in support of the victims was held yesterday in Milwaukee, noted Tammie Xiong, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Hmong American Women's Association. "Hate speech leads to hate crimes," read a sign held at the vigil.

The Journal-Sentinel's Luthern notes in her chilling report, citing the criminal complaint against Popp filed late last week:

Popp then asked where they, [Jesus R. Manso-Perez and his son], were from and the father and son replied Puerto Rico.

The son later told police that Popp replied: 'Oh, that's why you don't speak English. You're Puerto Rican.'

Manso-Perez and his son continued to the basement where they got the washing machine started. As they climbed the stairs back to their apartment, Popp stood over them on a landing. He was armed with a rifle.

The son told police Popp pointed the gun at his father — saying, 'You guys got to go' — and pulled the trigger.

Manso-Perez was shot in the head.

As his son turned to run toward the front door, he glanced up and saw Popp point the gun at him. He heard a second shot, which he told police he believed was meant for him. ...

Thia Vue, his wife, Mai Vue, and their four children lived in another unit in the apartment complex. The couple had been out of town most of the weekend, leaving a 25-year-old relative to baby-sit the children.

Soon after they returned home on Sunday, there was a knock on the door.

It was Popp. The 25-year-old relative answered the door and Popp asked her if someone was knocking. She told him no and he left.

A short time later, the family heard several gunshots coming from the apartment hallway. It was not clear in court records if the sound they heard was Popp shooting Manso-Perez or firing randomly in the hallway.

Hearing the gunshots, Phia and Mai Vue, their four children and the adult relative hid in a bedroom together. They heard pounding on their apartment door and Mai gave the relative a cellphone to call police.

Popp kicked down the front door, made his way into the bedroom and pointed the rifle at Phia, ordering him to leave.

Phia followed Popp, and his family inside the bedroom heard two or three gunshots. Officers found Phia dead in the bathroom. He had a gunshot wound to the head.

Popp returned to the bedroom and began to drag Mai and her two young daughters out of the apartment while the older relative and other children followed. Some were able to run outside.

"Hate crimes are nothing new. You have a family that has four kids without a mom and dad. As a community we are rallying around the family, and working with relatives to provide support," said Ms. Xiong. "This is nothing new. Sad to say we are not surprised."

Adds Xiong, "It's really important to acknowledge the hurt the the Hmong community faces here in Milwaukee. We really hope justice will be served for the families of this crime. We need as human beings to respect each other. To even have this conversation in 2016 is shameful."

Xiong describes the Hmong community as "close-knit."

The four Hmong Vue children reportedly range in age from approximately six-years-old to 13. Manso-Perez' surviving son is 18.

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo wrote a piece on Saturday entitled "Someone Will Die".

As hate is preached at the highest levels of American political culture, you should really consider reading Marshall's piece. Fascism is in the air.

Person of Interest Hits Wrongfully Convicted for Serving in U.S. Military

Update: Shortly after this post appeared Glenda Johnson took down her comments in a Facebook response (Dec. 15; 7:01 p.m.) to a WKOW-TV (Madison) report. Ms. Johnson's over-heated response indicates a person who really wants this case closed for good, and she remains a suspect whose home the victim was heading before her body was found some two weeks later.
 ---
The day after a press conference this week announcing a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible for the 1994 killing of Sarah Gonstead in Madison, a person of interest in a private investigator's probe has come forward and stated she is "100% positive the right person is behind bars."

Glenda Johnson said she bases her certainty in part on the fact that Penny Brummer, the wrongfully convicted, served her country in the United States Armed Forces.

Writes Johnson in a Facebook response (Dec. 15; 7:01 p.m.) to a WKOW-TV (Madison) report by WKOW journalist, Matt Cash: "She [Penny] had her share of issues when she lived in California. She was in the military... A MP. Plus.... I am 100% positive the right person is behind bars ... ."

Penny Brummer did enlist in the Air Force right out of high school in 1987, and after basic training was transferred to Castle Air Force Base in California assigned to base security. She was honorably discharged in 1993, (Berry, p.14).

The full Facebook post by Ms. Johnson reads: "Well lets just say this... The facts on the [WKOW] page/link are wrong. They never made it back to the east side of Madison... Timeline doesn't add up. Last place they were seen together was 1.5 miles from where her body was found... Penny was a very controlling person.. She had her share of issues when she lived in California. She was in the military... A MP. Plus.... I am 100% positive the right person is behind bars. How many times do kids... Even adults lie to their parents. It's a ploy for money because the police have closed this case.... And Penny's mom says ... Penny wouldn't do it."

A reply to Johnson by a co-author of a detailed book on the homicide, by Sheila Berry, reads in full: "Glenda Johnson We have the police reports and the transcripts of everything -- initial appearance, preliminary, motions, trial and sentencing. It is clear from police reports that YOU raised the hue and cry that Sarah never made it to your house, before anyone knew she was missing. Did the police get that wrong? How about that 3 hour gap after you left work -- so upset -- but didn't go home? That's the same time frame when an independent witness saw someone dumping a bright pink "bundle" that turned out to be Sarah's body. As Shakspeare said, methinks the lady doth protest too much."

Why Glenda Johnson—who lived in the home to which Ms. Gonstead was last reported to have been intent on visiting—is so vested to see Penny Brummer behind bars and affirm the integrity of a clearly faulty police investigation is interesting, certainly pertinent to the 1994 criminal investigation.

The police quickly developed their theory and declined investigating leads disconfirming or not supporting their theory, (tunnel vision in the vernacular of criminal justice), and barely questioned Ms. Johnson. The Dane County District Attorney's office went along for the ride.

Sarah Gonstead was last seen on March 24, 1994. Her body was recovered on April 9, 1994 in Pine Bluff, an unincorporated community west of Madison. "In less than a week authorities had zeroed in on 24-year-old Penny Brummer. The last person to admit to seeing Gonstead alive after their night of binge drinking [together]," (Pabich, WMTV (Madison).

Notes author and attorney Sheila Berry on her website:

Witness David Zoromski, who reported seeing a suspicious man standing by the open passenger door of a parked pickup truck exactly where Sarah's body was later found, was told by a Dane County Sheriff's Deputy, 'What you saw is all very interesting, but we have a suspect and it doesn't fit.' The man seen by Mr. Zoromski matched the description of the person Penny said she saw Sarah talking to near the Taco Bell at East Washington Avenue and North Oak Street in Madison, after she dropped her off that night. Police identified him and knew he was a convicted felon with a long history of violence toward women -- but they never followed up on this lead.

The blood alcohol level in Sarah's liver suggests a time of death several hours after Penny was back at her Spring Green home, watching TV. 

The dearth of evidence and many facts do not fit, and do not support a conviction, and Penny Brummer remains in prison serving a life sentence.

Wisconsin Wrongful Conviction and a $10,000 Reward for At-large Killer

Advocates for Penny Brummer - Wrongfully Convicted in 1994

"Investigators can prematurely arrive at conclusions that are incorrect and then focus on information that supports those plots and conclusions and disregard other information that comes in that does not support those conclusions. That's a process called 'tunnel vision.' And it can and it does lead to conviction of the innocent. Penny [Brummer's] case features many of these same features."
—John Pray, Co-founder of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Innocence Project

Advocates of Penny Brummer are working to correct a 21-year-old injustice in the wrongful conviction of Penny Brummer.

Penny Brummer was convicted of killing Sarah Gonstead in 1994 despite no weapon, no forensic evidence, no motive, and literally no evidence of any kind tying Brummer to the undetermined crime scene.

The police investigation was replete with anti-lesbian bigotry playing a big part in Penny's conviction, and is a case study of confirmation bias. Several jurors expressed disapproval of lesbian and gay relationships in jury questionnaires.

Police investigators questioned Penny's co-workers about her body language, 'how she carried herself at work;' her persona apparently appearing unladylike behavior in an atavistic conception of gender types.

A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of Sarah Gonstead murdered in 1994 for which Brummer was convicted and given a life sentence for first-degree intentional homicide.

Madison, Wisconsin media—WISC-TV (Madison), WKOW-TV (Madison)—and advocates for Brummer heavily covered the news of the $10,000 reward as a private investigator, Rikki Glen, continues an ongoing investigation

Rikki Glen, Penny's mother, Nancy Brummer, and John Pray of the Wisconsin Innocence Project held a press conference yesterday in front of the Dane County Courthouse.

"The evidence [in the Brummer case] was beyond, beyond thin," said Ms. Glen at the press conference.

The reward for the 21-year old conviction in Brummer v. Wisconsin comes as Dane County has made strides in combating LGBTQ bigotry, and after the win-convictions-for-reason-of-advancing-careers dynamic in the legal community in Wisconsin and Dane County resulted in incarcerations that shamed the criminal justice system.

"Today, we are a more enlightened community than 20 years ago, and Nancy Brummer, and advocates are optimistic that champions for truth will come forward and our community, police and prosecutors will stand up for truth and free Penny Brummer," said Glen.

Said John Pray of the Wisconsin Innocence Project at the press conference: 

It's been over 20 years since Penny Brummer has been convicted of the murder of Sarah Gonstead. It's a very long time and it's been a very difficult 20 years for Penny, for the family, and for her friends and many supporters. In 1994 when Penny was convicted this country was at the beginning of a revolution in the criminal justice system. This revolution was brought about by the first uses of DNA which led to the formation of the Innocence movement. At that time, for the first time, we all became very aware of the indisputable fact that it is possible to convict people of serious crimes—murder, sex assaults—and be completely innocent. We've also learned that this happens a lot more than we are comfortable with and a lot more than we ever thought was possible. In the years since then, we've seen 100s of examples where DNA evidence has proved beyond any doubt the system has grievously erred and that the wrong person was in prison. A number of those people are from Wisconsin. Wisconsin is not immune from that. Some of those people served decades in prison before they were proved innocent. In many of those cases DNA led not only to the release of the innocent person but to the arrest and conviction of the actual murderer or the actual perpetrator who have, by the way, gone on to commit other serious crimes because they have been let free.

We learn from these exonerations what went wrong with the system. And for the most part it isn't because there are evil police and prosecutors who are trying to get it wrong. They're generally good people, they're trying to solve crimes and serve justice. But even when people are acting in good faith there are still many ways that things can go tragically wrong: Eyewitness identification is often unreliable. Witnesses' memories are prone to mistakes. Investigators can prematurely arrive at conclusions that are incorrect and then focus on information that supports those plots and conclusions and disregard other information that comes in that does not support those conclusions. That's a process called 'tunnel vision.' And it can and it does lead to conviction of the innocent. Penny's case features many of these same features.

[Note: Since covering the Brummer case, several jurists, advocates and other well-informed sources have told me on background coverage of this case here has on some occasions borders on ad hominem regarding the presiding judge of Brummer v. Wisconsin, Patrick Fiedler. They point to Fiedler's well-regarded status in the Wisconsin legal community, his CV (ballotpedia), attest to Fiedler as an honorable jurist and brilliant intellect, his swift exoneration of Forest Shomberg in the 2011 wrongful conviction case, and currently his work as an effective defense attorney working to defend the rights of the citizenry of Wisconsin. These assessments are often informed by those who have worked directly and closely with Fielder. This site is indexed in Lexis-Nexis and Bloomberg's Westlaw as a legal research document, and thorough commentary and analysis ought note the above facts.]

Below is the statement on Penny Brummer read by private investigator, Rikki Glen at the press conference held yesterday:

I'm Rikki Glen, a Wisconsin licensed private investigator retained by advocates challenging the wrongful conviction of Penny Brummer.

I am going to read a short statement about why we are here today, followed by statements from Penny's mother, Nancy and John Pray from the UW Innocence Project.

If you have questions we will be glad to try and answer them after we have finished.

Twenty years ago, Penny Brummer was convicted of killing Sarah Gonstead despite no weapon, no forensic evidence, no motive, and no evidence of any kind tying Brummer to the undetermined crime scene. It has long been asserted that anti-lesbian bias played a large part in Penny's conviction.

When I was asked to help with this case, earlier this year, I had a vague recollection of what transpired. As I was reading through the police reports I was shocked and bothered by some of the things that I read.

For instance, there was an alternate suspect. After Penny dropped off Sarah she saw her talking with some people. Penny remembered seeing an old gray van with distinctive bug eye windows. A few days later, Penny was looking for the van when she spotted it not far from the 3054 Club and Taco Bell. Penny gave the license number to her friend's mother, who turned it over to police. The license traced back to a person who had a long record of felonies against women. He admitted he frequented the area where Penny saw him talking to Sarah, and he said that he was the only one who ever drove his vehicle. His driver's license was revoked at the time, so it was a crime for him to drive, but police didn't seem to notice that. He was interviewed briefly, told them he wasn't at that location on March 14th, and that ended the interview.

Police clearly had 'tunnel vision' in building a case against Penny, another common feature in wrongful convictions.

Another example a witness came forward and reported seeing a suspicious man standing by the open passenger door of a parked pickup truck exactly where Sarah's body was later found. This suspicious man matched the description of the person Penny said she saw Sarah talking to near the Taco Bell at East Washington Avenue and North Oak Street in Madison. He also noticed what looked to him to be a pink duffle bag on the ground next to the truck. Sarah was wearing a pink jacket when she disappeared. The police told the witness 'This is all very interesting, but we already have a suspect, and this doesn't fit.'

Today, I announce that a $10,000 reward has been established for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of Sarah Gonstead. Advocates have set up a new toll-free number, (800) 407-1178, for tipsters seeking the $10,000 reward.

A decent and honest district attorney's office, we believe, will not defend this prosecution, because today we are a more enlightened community than 20 years ago, and Nancy Brummer, and advocates are optimistic that champions for truth will come forward and our community, police and prosecutors will stand up for truth and free Penny Brummer.

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast," said Alexander Pope in his An Essay on Man (1734).

For Penny Brummer, her family, her extended family of supporters and in the name of justice for Sarah Gonstead, one hopes truth is soon realized.

Wrongful Conviction—$10,000 Reward Offered in Sarah Gonstead Killing; Innocent Penny Brummer Still in Prison

Wrongful Conviction for Reasons of Careerism and Bigotry Against Lesbians 
"They didn't look at (Penny), they just looked at it as let's get another gay person off the street," said Nancy Brummer, Penny's mother (Pabich, WMTV-TV) -

Updated - As Penny Brummer remains in prison, convicted for the 1994 killing of Sarah Gonstead, a $10,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for 1994 death of Gonstead and Kelly Nolan.

Tipsters may remain anonymous. Email sheila0326@gmail.com, or call toll-free at 800 407-1178.

Penny Brummer's 1994 conviction remains an outrage perpetrated by the Madison Police Dept, the Dane County Sheriff's Dept., and the Dane County District Attorney's office still protecting the wrongful conviction to this day.

Penny Brummer

Here in Dane County, an innocent woman, Penny Brummer, remains behind bars (in Fond du Lac county), a 1994 prosecution presided over by District Attorney Brian Blanchard's office (2001-2010), and an injustice District Attorney Ismael Ozanne (2010-present) has refused to revisit, though the case lacks evidence of any kind—forensic evidence, crime scene eyewitness accounts, murder weapons, nothing but bigotry and what attorneys call "confirmation bias."

So what happened in 1994? The D.A.'s office says: There's no case?

Brummer was a lesbian and veteran so she likely murdered someone, and police had a theory, who needs evidence?

The judge was former Dane County (Wisconsin) Judge Patrick Fiedler, now a partner with Hurley, Burish & Stanton, S.C., after several decades of prosecutorial work in service to the Republican Party and his career. Fiedler, a rightwinger and typical bigot, agreed with the D.A's office.

A decent judge would have dismissed the case.

It is incomprehensible to me why current DA Ismael Ozanne lets this injustice stand.

"Police clearly had 'tunnel vision' in building a case against Penny, another common feature in wrongful convictions. Witness David Zoromski, who reported seeing a suspicious man standing by the open passenger door of a parked pickup truck exactly where Sarah's body was later found, was told by a Dane County Sheriff's Deputy, 'What you saw is all very interesting, but we have a suspect and it doesn't fit.' The man seen by Mr. Zoromski matched the description of the person Penny said she saw Sarah talking to near the Taco Bell at East Washington Avenue and North Oak Street in Madison, after she dropped her off that night. Police identified him and knew he was a convicted felon with a long history of violence toward women -- but they never followed up on this lead."
- From Who Killed Sarah

To support this innocent woman, see Penny Brummer.

Police-Prosecutor State Must End

Updated - "The sentencing reform bill introduced in the Senate on Thursday falls far short of what is needed, but it is a crucial first step on the long path toward unwinding the federal government’s decades-long reliance on prisons as the answer to every ill," notes today's New York Times.

It's not just prison sentences for the guilty, it's the insane police-prosecutor state composed of individuals who have no remorse and blind ambition in arresting, prosecuting and imprisoning innocent Americans.

Every day in Dane County former District Attorney Brian Blanchard (2001-2010) (now a state appellate judge) and former Dane County (Wisconsin) Judge Patrick Fiedler, (now a partner with Hurley, Burish & Stanton, S.C.), draw a level breath one wonders how much the innocent Penny Brummer they convicted weighs on their minds.

Brummer is a lesbian, served in the armed forces, and hence must be guilty of murder. That's the size of their case in 1994. Imbecilic police work, bigotry and careerism.

Can this happen in America? This is America, "a leviathan unmatched in human history," (Loury, Boston Review).

And Blanchard and Fiedler are sleeping fine.

To understand the character of Blanchard and Fiedler, consider this is the same prosecutor-judge combo—so desperate for career advancement—they prosecuted the late, eminent UW-Madison historian Stanley Kutler, (1934-2015). Kutler's charged crime? Yelling at his health insurance company, and opining the bureaucrats' company should be blown up.

This brought a Class B misdemeanor charge filed by Blanchard in 2005, ridiculed across academic circles and among jurists, and ultimately settled with a $149.00 fine.

Fiedler didn't toss the case, Blanchard didn't drop the case.

Blanchard and Fiedler got their headlines.

Kutler emailed and called me a couple of years later after reading some pieces about then U.S. Atty Steven Biskupic's prosecutions of a veteran on a trumped-up "wire fraud" charges, numerous 'voter fraud' charges and the infamous Georgia Thompson prosecution.

Kutler suggested in good humor that Blanchard should consider taking 30 days and reading up on Robert Jackson and his disquisitions on prosecutorial discretion.

The current Dane County District Attorney should do the same, and consider the proposition that apropos to Penny Brummer, and every citizen, the law can afford to be just. And there is no imperative to protect a wrongful prosecution, emphatically when the innocent Ms. Brummer has been sitting in prison for 19 years.

If you have any information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of the person/persons responsible for the death of Sarah Gonstead or the death of Kelly Nolan, please contact: sheila0326@gmail.com. 

Center for Prosecutor Integrity—Needed Here

An innocent woman, Penny Brummer, remains behind bars (in Fond du Lac county), a 1994 prosecution presided over by District Attorney Brian Blanchard's office (2001-2010) for reasons of careerism and bigotry against Lesbians

As the police continue to target black men and women in Dane County, the need for civil liberties checks on the police and the prosecutor is apparent.

One such check is the Center for Prosecutor Integrity (CPI).

When an innocent loses decades of his life, then is exonerated in Wisconsin, what happens? Does the press pound for an explanation? Do police self-evaluate? District Attorney's office?

Nothing happens, careerism and passive compliance remain the order of the day.

At CPR, the mission remains in part:

The Center for Prosecutor Integrity is the nation’s only organization with a sole focus on enhancing prosecutorial ethics.

Three major areas:Addressing Over-Criminalization, Ending Wrongful Convictions and Restoring Equal Treatment Under Law. ...

Our Prosecutor Integrity Registry help tell the story and address the very real problems in our Justice System today.

These are just some of the systemic problems.

Self-conscious malicious prosecutions and prosecutorial misconduct are common, common is Wisconsin.

Penny Brummer

Here in Dane County, for example, an innocent woman, Penny Brummer, remains behind bars (in Fond du Lac county), a 1994 prosecution presided over by District Attorney Brian Blanchard's office (2001-2010), and an injustice District Attorney Ismael R. Ozanne (2010-present) has refused to revisit, though the case lacks evidence of any kind—forensic evidence, eyewitness,  murder weapon, nothing but bigotry and what attorneys call "confirmation bias"—the rest of all call it bullshit.

So what happened in 1994? The D.A.'s office says: There's no case?

Of course not, Brummer was a lesbian so she likely murdered someone, so who needs evidence?

The judge was former Dane County (Wisconsin) Judge Patrick Fiedler, now a partner with Hurley, Burish & Stanton, S.C, after several decades of prosecutorial work in service to the Republican Party and his career. Fiedler, a rightwinger and typical bigot, agreed with the D.A's office.

A decent judge would have dismissed the case.

For the life of me it is incomprehensible to me why Ismael Ozanne lets this injustice stand.

"Police clearly had 'tunnel vision' in building a case against Penny, another common feature in wrongful convictions. Witness David Zoromski, who reported seeing a suspicious man standing by the open passenger door of a parked pickup truck exactly where Sarah's body was later found, was told by a Dane County Sheriff's Deputy, 'What you saw is all very interesting, but we have a suspect and it doesn't fit.' The man seen by Mr. Zoromski matched the description of the person Penny said she saw Sarah talking to near the Taco Bell at East Washington Avenue and North Oak Street in Madison, after she dropped her off that night. Police identified him and knew he was a convicted felon with a long history of violence toward women -- but they never followed up on this lead."
- From Who Killed Sarah-

To support this innocent woman, Penny Brummer.

"They didn't look at (Penny), they just looked at it as let's get another gay person off the street," said Nancy Brummer, Penny's mother (Pabich, WMTV-TV).

What is Ozanne's excuse?

Ozanne has made public statements that his office will cooperate with the Innocence Project.

This is an unusual commitment by district attorneys in wrongful conviction cases.

In light of the growing prison-industrial complex of American society and case after case of innocents behind bars, I asked Ozanne point blank when he was running for Attorney General, "how much does the imprisonment of an innocent weigh on you?"

Ozanne's response is a source of hope for Penny Brummer: "No prosecutor should want to have innocent people who have been wrongfully convicted stay in prison. If evidence is brought to the attention of the authorities demonstrating that a mistake has been made, the interests of justice demand that the evidence is carefully reviewed and the individual should be released if exonerated. As Dane County District Attorney, I have worked with lawyers from the Innocence Project, and will do so in the future. While these decisions are largely at the discretion of the DAs around the state, I would work with them as attorney general, providing resources and advice in these situations. The ultimate goal of the system is not simply to secure convictions, it is to do justice."

These words do not square with Ozanne's inaciton.

As with all the other innocents whose lives were effectively murdered, Ms. Brummer's case calls for enactment of a Conviction Integrity Unit in Dane, Iron and Milwaukee counties, independent of the District Attorney's offices, for starters. (Conviction Integrity Unit, Wrongful Convictions)
-
[A version of this piece was published in 2014.]

Bad Night for Racists at the Oscars, and in Madison, Wisconsin

Musicians John Legend and Common won an Oscar last night for their beautiful Glory from Selma.

Locally, racists at the Madison, Wisconsin Meadowood Neighborhood Association used the weekend to applaud the arrest of a black man for pot-related charges, as the prison-industrial state and the concentration of black men into prisons and jails continues unabated.

One thing that can bring Scott Walker and law-and-order democrats together are hate-inspired neighborhood associations like Meadowood, cheering on the arrests of Wisconsin black folks.

"Wisconsin’s prisons now house about eight times as many inmates as they did in 1970, and the state has the dubious distinction of incarcerating a higher percentage of black men than any other state. Walker’s strategy on prison-related issues exposed his fundamental political approach," notes Roger Bybee in AlterNet.

Typical Madison, Wisconsin entries to the neighborhood associations like Meadowood on Madison's southwest side read: "Our Neighborhood Community Police On (sic) the Job.‏" Arresting black people. Vile.

Black Lives do matter, on the southwest side not so much, and the work for equality and civil rights continues from Ferguson to Madison.

From last night at the Oscars:

Military Civil Rights Group Slandered by Vatican-Affiliated Journal

Bonnie Weinstein's new book on
Rightwing Christian Hatred

One thing about rightwing religionists, they are devoted in their hatred of Mikey Weinstein, that "little Jewish radical who is scaring the pants off of you," as Pat Robertson put it.

Not sure how Mikey Weinstein manages to inflame rightwingers as Mikey's mission is simply to fight for the rights of U.S. service members to worship or not worship as they see fit, a mission that is a cornerstone of the United States Constitution guaranteeing ". . . no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

The U.S. Constitution, by the way, is featured in the oath that U.S. service members swear to support and defend.

Yet, religious rightwingers are devoted to their own ideology first, and Mikey Weinstein, the founder and voice of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is now being slandered by the Vatican-affiliated Aleteia journal for fundamentalists.

Aleteia typically features pieces about the dangers of the "Devil's Lies," and so forth and of course Mikey Weinstein and MRFF's alleged lies about who Mikey is (TEK Journalism UK).

"To The Far Right Christian Hater… You Can be a Good
Speller or a Hater, But You Can’t Be Both" - Bonnie Weinstein

Slander is SOP from the fundies. And so are death threats.

Mikey and Bonnie Weinstein, co-founders of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, began the MRFF when their son heard one too many kike 'jokes' from the religious Dominionists at the U.S. Air Force Academy he was attending as rampant evangelical proselytization accelerated in the U.S. military (Sharlet, Harper's Magazine).

Since then, their email inbox is laden daily with the most repulsive, anti-Semitic, hate mail one could write. Sick stuff.

After years of receiving virtual hate and crazed rants, Bonnie Weinstein chronicles these vile texts in her new book To the Far Right Christian Hater . . . You Can Be a Good Speller or a Hater, but You Can't Be Both, most of which is argument-free from the proposition that only one official Christian God must be worshiped in the U.S. military, and of course the assertion Mikey and his family are demons destined to hell fire, and a 200-mile river of blood (see also Hardy, Columbus Dispatch).

The Weinsteins and the MRFF work for the rights of individuals serving in the armed forces.

But as documented, the U.S. military is fraught with rightwing lunatics just below general and flag-officer class, such as the now-retired William 'Jerry' Boykin, a goon who called Mikey Weinstein a "demon" while still actively serving.

As Republican candidates for president line up with several declaring a warrant from God [Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee, for example], Bonnie Weinstein's book should be read with a view to what the next U.S. commander-in-chief has in mind and whether, like President Obama, he [the GOP nominates men)] believes in defending the Constitution for all, including American civilians.

Hope for the Innocent

Who killed Sarah?

Update: "Police clearly had 'tunnel vision' in building a case against Penny, another common feature in wrongful convictions. Witness David Zoromski, who reported seeing a suspicious man standing by the open passenger door of a parked pickup truck exactly where Sarah's body was later found, was told by a Dane County Sheriff's Deputy, 'What you saw is all very interesting, but we have a suspect and it doesn't fit.' The man seen by Mr. Zoromski matched the description of the person Penny said she saw Sarah talking to near the Taco Bell at East Washington Avenue and North Oak Street in Madison, after she dropped her off that night. Police identified him and knew he was a convicted felon with a long history of violence toward women -- but they never followed up on this lead."
- From Who Killed Sarah - To support this innocent woman.
---
An innocent women, Penny Brummer, sits in the Taycheedah Correctional Institution located just outside Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, convicted of first degree murder in 1994.

One problem among many with the case is that there is no physical evidence connecting Brummer to the murder of Sarah Gonstead, no murder weapon, and no witnesses. And no motive.

The case is an array of contrived theories, conjecture, and unadulterated bigotry predicated upon the fact that Brummer is a lesbian, hence the murderer of Gonstead (Berry and Berry, Who Killed Sarah?).

Penny Brummer is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder after being convicted on circumstantial evidence, a sentence handed down with apparent joy by former Dane County (Wisconsin) Judge Patrick Fiedler, now a partner with Hurley, Burish & Stanton S.C., after several decades of prosecutorial work in service to the Republican Party and his career.

Fiedler should never have allowed the trial to continue with the paucity of evidence presented.

But Fiedler is not known as a human rights activist, just a GOP hack who is making a lot of money over the lives of victims of the sick judiciary.

"They didn't look at (Penny), they just looked at it as let's get another gay person off the street," said Nancy Brummer, Penny's mother (Pabich, WMTV).

A few years back, Madison writer Bill Lueders visited Brummer at Taycheedah.

"Something's got to happen. God's not going to let me sit here for something I didn't do. I feel he's guiding somebody out there to help me," Lueders wrote, quoting Penny Brummer.

Not God, certainly not former Dane County Sheriff Rick Raemisch (1990-1997), now passing himself off as a prison reformer in Colorado (Goode, NYT).

Raemisch used the occasion of WMTV's piece (Pabich) on the Wisconsin Innocence Project's effort (following work by Wisconsin's Innocence Consultants) to exonerate Brummer to offer this lame, conscience-free statement: "We can place the suspect and the victim in the west end of Dane County at the time the suspect says the victim was being dropped off." (WMTV)

That's compelling. Wonder how this logical wizard, Raemisch, sleeps at night.

DNA Testing Ongoing

Fortunately, the Innocence Project is expecting more results of ongoing DNA analysis soon.

Reports WMTV's Pabich: "The DNA results are expected in the next few months. We (spoke) with the foreman of the jury that convicted Penny. He says he didn't want to talk about the situation 20 years ago and doesn't want to now. I did ask him if he still stands by the decision they made 20 years ago. He said that's a really difficult question."

Dane County DA's Office and Cause for Hope

The current Dane County District Attorney is Ismael Ozanne, and the office is now (to my mind) guided by facts and justice.

Ozanne has made public statements that his office will cooperate with the Innocence Project.

This is an unusual commitment by district attorneys in wrongful conviction cases.

In light of the growing prison-industrial complex of American society and case after case of innocents behind bars, I asked Ozanne point blank when he was running for Attorney General, "how much does the imprisonment of an innocent weigh on you?"

Ozanne's response is a source of hope for Penny Brummer: "No prosecutor should want to have innocent people who have been wrongfully convicted stay in prison. If evidence is brought to the attention of the authorities demonstrating that a mistake has been made, the interests of justice demand that the evidence is carefully reviewed and the individual should be released if exonerated. As Dane County District Attorney, I have worked with lawyers from the Innocence Project, and will do so in the future. While these decisions are largely at the discretion of the DAs around the state, I would work with them as attorney general, providing resources and advice in these situations. The ultimate goal of the system is not simply to secure convictions, it is to do justice."

The most recent piece by WMTV did not interview DA Ozanne but if he lives up to the above statement, he would be working with the Innocence Project to review the case against Brummer, and with new DNA evidence free her.

Any decent human being ought to hope for justice; Penny Brummer can only pray and wait.

TNR Piece on White St. Louis Co Racists—A Model of Hate and Ignorance

St. Louis, Missouri is the seventh most segregated urban area in America, as segregation remains a common feature of American cities, made more destructive in Ferguson, Missouri by the persistence of the racist police force and in a phrase: Stupid, white people living in St. Louis County.

Traveling to the mostly white Olivette, Missouri (15 minutes from Ferguson) Julia Ioffe of The New Republic caught up with some stupid, white people eager to speak, revealing attitudes that animate the police homicide of a Michael Brown in Ferguson (located some 42 miles northwest of St. Louis).

Writes Ioffe of her visit to a strip mall in Olivette populated by all-white patrons:

It was a stark contrast to Ferguson, which is two-thirds black. Olivette is almost the exact opposite, at over 60 percent white. St. Louis, and the little hamlets that ring it, is one of the most segregated cities in America, and it shows.

Here in Olivette, the people I spoke to showed little sympathy for Michael Brown, or the protesters.

"It's bullshit," said one woman, who declined to give her name. When I asked her to clarify what, specifically, was bullshit, she said, "All of it. I don't even know what they're fighting for."

"It's just a lot of misplaced anger," said one teenage boy, echoing his parents. He wasn't sure where the anger should be, just that there should be no anger at all, and definitely no stealing.

"Our opinion," said the talkative one in a group of six women in their sixties sitting outside the Starbucks, "is the media should just stay out of it because they're riling themselves up even more."
"The protesters like seeing themselves on TV," her friend added.

"It's just a small group of people making trouble," said another. ...
---
And on and on.

In Olivette, segregation is not a problem, it's a solution. The taking of a life by the police: So what, plenty more black people where Michael Brown used to live.

Marine who lost leg in Iraq booed by right-wing Christians

Eric Alva, who lost his leg serving in Iraq,
was booed by right-wing Christians
for speaking out in support of a proposed
San Antonio ordinance to ban anti-gay discrimination.

A Marine serves downrange in Iraq; comes home after losing his leg; and after rehab speaks out and stands up for anti-discrimination protections to include sexual orientation, gender identity and veteran status at a hearing at the City Council chambers in San Antonio, Texas this week.

Said Eric Alva, " I already spoke and even some of the religious groups even booed me as I spoke. Such disrespect as they preach the word of God."

Caught wind of this from the Wisconsin Gazette.

Righwinger "Councilwoman Elisa Chan went on an anti-gay tirade while discussing the ordinance privately in her office on May 21. James Stevens, a 28-year-old aide to Chan, secretly recorded her hateful remarks and released the audio to the San Antonio Express-News."

From Eva Ruth Moravec of the San Antonio Express-News. Said Eric Alva, age 42:

"I said that if this ordinance doesn't pass, I could be fired from a job and even thrown out of a restaurant, and people started to boo me. I was real hurt by that. It was unbelievable."

Alva was the first American injured in the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He received a medical discharge and was awarded the Purple Heart. His prosthetic leg was visible Wednesday, under his khaki shorts. News of Alva's 3-minute speech spread via social media that night.

Yes, America just melts under the love and compassion of rightwing Christian love.

On a positive note, the anti-bias, pro-equality measure is expected to pass.