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Over the past several days, I have been watching the trial of George Zimmerman in horror, anger, and disgust. My heart has been heavy. I watched at the attempts to discredit Trayvon’s parents - Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin. I watched as they cried throughout the trial, my heart aching as Trayvon’s mother looked away when her son’s dead body was shown on the screen. I could see the immense pain in her eyes. .. And then there was Trayvon’s friend, Rachel Jeantel. I watched how Zimmerman’s defense attorney grilled Jeantel with unnecessary details. I noticed the mocking tone, and...

There’s no predicting what a jury will do. But whatever the George Zimmerman jury decides, Trayvon Martin’s parents have gotten justice for their son. Sabrina Fulton and Tracy Martin have forced the entire nation to look at the harm racial profiling can cause. Young black males die daily in urban areas across the country, and many of the people who are responsible for the deaths never set foot in a courtroom, let alone stand trial. These young black males are killed while standing on corners and riding buses. They are gunned down while sitting on porches and walking home from...

Posted from phone so no excerpt.

New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu ShabazzThe conservative blogosphere is brewing with ominous warnings about the inevitable riots they think will come if George Zimmerman is acquitted of charges related to his killing of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin. (My colleague Lauren Williams has rightly questioned this mania here.) An email this week from Everett Wilkinson, a former tea party leader in Florida who now runs something called the Nation Liberty Federation, outlines many of the leading (and recurring) conspiracy theories about the verdict's aftermath, which he naturally thinks will include riots: martial law. FEMA camps. But he offers up...

After all of the evidence, six women in a Florida courtroom will decide if a Community Watch volunteer went too far in taking the life of a teenager walking through a neighborhood on a rainy evening. It happened there. It could happen here. "I really encourage neighborhoods to get involved and report suspicious activities," says Harold Medlock, the Fayetteville police chief. "But that is where it needs to stop." Be vigilant, he says, but do not become a vigilante, else you may become another George Zimmerman, 29, whose confrontation with Trayvon Martin left the 17-year-old with a bullet through the...

White conservatives often criticize Black people for being too quick to play what they call "the race card." On the other hand, many Black people criticize America for not being sensitive enough to the reality that race plays in American life. George Zimmerman’s trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin clearly validates the Black community’s point of view. Trayvon Martin is dead for no other reason than he was born Black in America. That’s a non-debatable fact. Had he been a White kid, Trayvon would have still been alive today. Yet, even as the jury is out deliberating Zimmerman’s fate,...

Kingwood, Texas-My first stop in America was a little town called Brenham, TX in 1979. It is home of the Texas famous Blue Bell Ice Cream and Blinn Junior College. My ticket to study engineering in America was based on a music scholarship, but that’s another subject. I was a wet behind-the-ears black kid that spoke with an accent in a country town. The black American kids were suspicious of me, the white American kids were curious, and the Hispanic American kids giggled when I spoke to them in Spanish. I hung out with Peruvian, Argentinian, Guatemalan, and Venezuelan friends...

Long the scourge of the Catholic Church, Madonna has often triggered Christian ire, once going through a mock crucifixion during one her stage shows. Now her music and shows will come under the scrutiny of priests trained in the art of defeating demons, treating satanic possession and looking for the devil in a section of the conference dedicated to finding evil in popular culture. "Part of the conference is dedicated to the hidden subliminal message in communication, and the choice of this subject was inspired by the woman who dares to call herself Madonna," said Father Andrzej Grefkowic, an exorcist...

Striegel said there is "no evidence" it affects pork products... the disease can spread quickly and has killed entire populations of pigs under 7 days old.. by the time they're weaned at around 3 weeks, death loss can be around 80 percent or in severe cases upwards of 100 percent. The virus has been confirmed Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota, according to the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. It had been thought only to have "migrated to Europe from China"... (US) outbreaks are not required to be...

The murder trial of George Zimmerman for the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is nearing its end, with the defense expected to rest its case today. It’s time to prepare for what happens if Zimmerman is acquitted. I believe strongly in his guilt, but I’ve also watched the trial closely, and between the second-degree murder charge, where the prosecution must prove ill will or malice, and Zimmerman’s crafty defense, it is entirely plausible that he’ll walk. The special prosecutor assigned to this case, Angela Corey, originally charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder denying that it was because of “public pressure,” but...

Professor Bo Höistad Answers Critics July 8, 2013 Following the negative critique given to the Levi HotCat paper, the Italian magazine, IB Times, conducted an interview with Bo Höistad, one of the seven members of the test team and signatory to the paper. This is an appropriate choice because Ericsson and Pomp are Nuclear physicists at Uppsala. As a peer at the same establishment, Höistad is understandably miffed at the criticism and takes a pot-shot at them in return for their unprofessional attack. I have some sympathy for this. While they made some valid points it was obvious that their...

George Zimmerman's trial defense attorney Don West recently reported he received e-mails from people threatening his daughters with rape over a controversial post on Instagram. Rachel West, who was not in the family picture, was in the courtroom Monday. In a response to a July 2nd prosecution's request to investigate the social media post, West said the family photo prompted "threats of violence" that were "vicious." West also said he was distressed that in a request to investigate the post, the prosecution had made "reckless, dangerous and inaccurate allegations." Prosecutors linked the motive for the post to witness Rachel Jeantel,...

Hope Mills, N.C. — Town officials are considering adopting tougher rules for participation in parades in Hope Mills after an entry in the Independence Day parade prompted complaints. Farmer Donnie Spell, who has driven his tractor in the Hope Mills parade for years, tacked a sign saying "White History Month – Hug Wht Ppl" to a trailer filled with watermelons that he pulled down Main Street during Thursday's event. Spell's tractor also featured a Confederate flag, which officials said he's flown before during the Independence Day parade. His entry form for the parade lists only his antique tractors and a...

MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton weighed in with his thoughts on the trajectory of the George Zimmerman trial on Wednesday after a medical examiner testified about the nature of the fatal wounds he inflicted on Florida teen, Trayvon Martin, in 2012. Sharpton said that it made little sense to him that Zimmerman did not use his recent training in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) to incapacitate Martin during their struggle and instead used his firearm. Now host Alex Wagner highlighted a portion of the medical examiner’s testimony who testified that Martin’s right hand was not injured extensively, suggesting he was not...

The Navy on Wednesday said that the Sept. 11 removal of an admiral commanding a Mideast aircraft carrier group was not related to the Sept. 11 U.S. consulate attack in Libya Speculative reports have said that the head of the John C. Stennis carrier group wanted to send help during the deadly attack and disobeyed orders to stand down...

Some people insist that racism no longer exists in America. Clearly, that isn’t true. After all, Barack Obama once said that Trayvon Martin looked like the son he might have had. Inasmuch as Obama is half-white, can any of us imagine his making that statement if the 17-year-old who was known to be a dope-dealing thug had been a Caucasian? On the other hand, I suspect that when he gazes fondly at Eric Holder, the Attorney General who refuses to indict blacks for intimidating white voters, he sees himself with a little mustache. This is the same Obama who, in...

by Charles Stewart, Jr. | Stewart is a retired electronics engineer with a specialty in inertial guidance. He lives in Radford. Thursday, June 27, 2013 Negative words comprise a large percentage of the adjectives used in The Roanoke Times articles re: energy: expensive, depleting, exhausting, polluting, filthy, radioactive, etc. These negative words apply to petroleum, natural gas, coal, uranium, thorium (yep — thorium, too). How about a few positive words: cheap, endless, non-polluting, world-altering, safe, local (as in your basement or a closet). These words apply to LENR (low-energy nuclear reaction). It’s coming. Soon, though soon is really squishy but...

Swedish District Heat Is A Perfect Fit For Cold Fusion [Translate] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original article on Atom-Ecology here. Cold fusion is a technology that has arrived in practical form, and that practical form is simple district heat. Chilly Stockholm Uses District Heating ItÂ’s strange that so many people think of energy only as electricity to power devices or petrol to fuel a vehicle. Anything short of those most convenient energy sources is treated as if itÂ’s all but useless, certainly not interesting. This attitude reveals a common human failing that equates manly power with all forms of power. If you canÂ’t...

Sergio Focardi Dies June 22, 2013 The following was posted on Andrea Rossi’s blog today. Please respect the memory and feelings of his family and friends. From all I have seen, he was a thoughtful, intelligent man who worked hard in the hope of bettering us all. Andrea Rossi June 22nd, 2013 at 2:46 AM SERGIO FOCARDI, PROF. EMERITUS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA, IS DEAD . I RECEIVED THE NEW FROM ITALY TODAY AT 3 A.M., USA EASTERN TIME, FEW MINUTES AGO. We all have lost one of the greatest scientists in the field of the LENR. For me...

Hydrobetatron.org Launches — Open Source LENR Project June 18, 2013 By admin I received the following press release today from Ugo Abundo and Luciano Saporito regarding the launch of a new web site for open source LENR project. Ugo Abundo was the driving force behind the Pirelli High School (Rome, Italy) Athanor cold fusion device, and this work seems to have grown into this Hydrobetatron project. The following is Google translated (with some editing) from the original Italian. Online now is the website: hydrobetatron.org Open Source Energy Project Hydrobetatron.org is a website created by the will of Hugh Abundo and...