Ferguson, Mo. Police Chief Resigns Following Scathing DOJ Report Of Widespread Racial Bias

“The report from the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division on the Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department is a damning indictment of an out-of-control, lawless, and racist police department gone rogue.”  Out of the dozens of newspaper and TV reports following the release of the Department of Justice’s scathing review of the Ferguson Police Dept., an article written by Tom Nolan of the Daily Beast seemed to analyze exactly why embattled Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson was finally forced to resign.

It’s amazing to me this Police Chief was able to last this long in office

Here are just a few excerpts from Nolan’s article:

• The DOJ report found that the FPD has engaged in a “pattern and practice of constitutional violations (that primarily target African Americans) in stopping people without reasonable suspicion, arresting them without probable cause, and using unreasonable force.”
• The Ferguson Police Department (FPD) arrested 460 individuals for outstanding warrants between October 2012 and October 2014: 96% of those arrested were African American. African Americans accounted for 95% of Manner of Walking in Roadway charges, 94% of Failure to Comply charges, 92% of Resisting Arrest charges, 92% of Peace Disturbance charges, and 89% of Failure to Obey charges “despite making up 67% of the population, African Americans accounted for 85% of FPD’s traffic stops, 90% of FPD’s citations, and 93% of FPD’s arrests from 2012 to 2014.”
• The race-based enforcement tactics and strategies employed by the FPD have a disparate impact on African Americans that is violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
• The DOJ report found that the FPD regulates the activities and behavior of Ferguson’s African-American residents, workers, students, and visitors through enforcement strategies designed to raise revenue rather than to protect the public, and that it does so in collusion with the municipal court and the city government.

Jackson's resignation is the latest fallout from the Justice Department report, which exposed problems in the city's policing tactics and faulted Ferguson's officers for seeing residents as "sources of revenue".  The investigators also found evidence of racist jokes (too disgusting to be reprinted here) being sent around by Ferguson police and court officials.

Ferguson City Manager John Shaw stepped down Tuesday. The report mentions both men by name.Two police officers resigned last week and the city's top court clerk was fired in connection with racist emails, city spokesman Jeff Small said on Friday. 

UPDATE:

Not long after publishing this post, I saw Sam and Donna’s blog pop-up on my reading list.  In his post, Sam rightfully lamented the fact that 2 Ferguson police officers had been shot and wounded Wednesday night outside the Ferguson police department.  I share in Sam’s sorrow about the senseless shootings of police officers who are simply doing their job – it’s tragic and those responsible need to be brought to justice.

Unfortunately, Sam went on to write that “these criminals will seize any chance to riot and commit civil disobedience”.  That statement is incorrect on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin.  But, I’ll try anyway:

• The people gathered at the Ferguson Police were not criminals.  They were simply citizens exercising their rights of free speech guaranteed under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
• They were not breaking any laws by simply protesting
• They were not only not "criminals" they were not even practicing "civil disobedience" as they were not breaking any laws
• Tea Party Patriots (along with US Congressmen) and all kinds of other groups regularly gather crowds to demonstrate at the US Capital and no one calls them “criminals”.

As of 3:30pm PST, police investigators still had not determined where the shots that hit the 2 police officers had been fired from.  All witnesses that have spoken up so far have indicated the shots seem to have come from well behind the protesters. 

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How To Replace A Damaged Laptop Keyboard For Under $20

Have you ever spilled coffee, water, soda pop or any other liquid on your laptop keyboard and figured it was toast when it no longer typed out the correct numbers and letters?  Worse, have you, or anyone you know then gone out and bought a brand new laptop to replace it fearing it would cost more to fix the damaged one?  I know people have done just that and it’s too bad because replacing a keyboard on most laptops is very simple and can cost less than $20.

The old damaged laptop keyboard – 4 screws and a cable

Just this past Sunday evening morning a bottle of water was accidently spilled on the keyboard of Paulette’s 6 yr. old Dell Inspiron laptop.  After doing our best to get the water off and the keyboard dried up everything seemed o.k. and both the computer and keyboard seemed to function normally.  It wasn’t to be though.

The sealed underside of the keyboard with the cable

Early Monday morning, when Paulette tried to write her blog the keyboard went berserk and starting putting in double and triple letters while some letters wouldn’t work at all.  After a bit of playing around I found that about 15 of the keys were a bit wonky so I decided to remove the keyboard and give it a good cleaning.  Most laptop keyboards are extremely easy to remove and for Paulette’s it only involved 4 tiny screws and 1 cable. You can get service manuals online for any computer that show you how to do this.

What the laptop looks like with the keyboard out

When the keyboard is removed, as shown in the image above, you can see that an aluminum case protects most of the key computer components.  The only holes cut into the case are places where various cable components have to be plugged into the motherboard located under the aluminum cover.  With the sealed keyboard unit and the aluminum case protecting the motherboard, you can see it would take quite a catastrophe to actually kill your entire computer – like dropping it into a sink full of water!

An almost unbelievable price for a brand new OEM Dell Inspiron keyboard

After a thorough cleaning I temporarily connected the keyboard again to try it out and got it working with the exception of 6 lousy keys on the bottom row. I realized then that the problem was a bit more serious as water had most likely worked its way under the keys to the matrix board beneath the keys and that would be impossible for me to fix.  New laptop?  Not so fast!  I signed on to Amazon and found a brand new Dell Inspiron 1545 OEM Laptop keyboard for only $15.50!  I ordered it right away with next day shipping and it arrived here at the Sands on Tuesday afternoon.

The new OEM Dell Keyboard back in place – just the bezel to snap in

It only took a few minutes to connect the one cable, snap the keyboard in and then the 4 screws.  After starting the computer, Paulette tested it and it’s working perfectly – just like new, because it is.  So, the moral of the story is this:  if you have a damaged, sticky or underperforming laptop keyboard check Amazon to see what a new OEM keyboard would cost for your laptop before going out and spending $500 on a new one!  It’s an easy replacement task that takes just a few minutes.

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Why Does The Apple Watch Exist? Because Apple Can….Everything You Really Need To Know!

“Hey, buddy, wanna’ buy a watch?  I have a beautiful 18kt gold Apple Watch I can let you have for maybe $10,000.  Or, how about your basic Apple Watch Sport at only $349?  If you buy it now you can be wearing it by April 24th!

The Apple Watch – starts at $349 to upwards of $10,000 for 18kt Gold

So, like me, you may have been wondering exactly what does the Apple Watch do other than tell time?. What can it do for me that my iPhone 5S can’t do other than being able to wear it on my wrist?  Wait!  I’d be going backwards as I haven’t worn a watch since I retired back in 1999!!  I’m not so sure I’d want to ever wear a watch again as I’m happy with the belt clip I use for my iPhone.  Anyhow……

Do I really want to browse Instagram on a postage stamp display?  No!

Yesterday, when Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced us to the new Dick Tracy device called the Apple Watch he laid out three basic reasons for why we might be tempted to purchase Apple’s “newest thingie”.  The three pillars, according to Cook, are  Timekeeping. Fitness. Communication. Well, yeah, it keeps time of course, but to an incredibly accurate degree - within 50 milliseconds of the definitive global time standard.  I need that, of course. Every millisecond counts in my busy day.

Apple Watch does have attractive Fitness Tracking apps

Fitness is important to everyone and especially so to us retired folks. I really enjoy the Health App features on my iPhone and I don’t see much on the Apple Watch (‘cause the screen is kind of tiny) that I can’t do on my iPhone 5S. The built-in Activity app shows you how many calories you've burned in a day, how much exercise you've gotten, and how much you've stood up. It offers goal-tracking for each.  Other than some fancy new icons there doesn’t appear to be much here that’s all that new. And, oh yeah….you have to have an iPhone to pair with an Apple Watch!  Gotcha!

So, that just leaves communication.  I watched the Apple Event unfold from San Francisco and it was this part that left me the least convinced I need to own an Apple Watch.  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather hold an iPhone to my ear to listen to a phone call rather than walk around trying to twist my arm, elbow and wrist to position the watch close enough to my ear!  Same goes for messaging – sure you can send quick “canned messages” but there’s no way, at least from what I saw, that’s it’s easier or faster than my iPhone.

Like all Apple products the watch is beautifully designed and quality built

The other problem I have with the whole Apple Watch idea is the fact that I already carry my iPhone with me wherever I go. Apple wants me to carry around a second device, their watch, as it piggy-backs off the iPhone’s radio. So, let’s see, if I want to send a message which device would I use?  I’m guessing my iPhone.  If my iPhone and Apple Watch both ring, which device would I use to answer the call?  Again, I’m betting it would be my iPhone. So, what’s the hierarchy relationship between the Apple Watch and iPhone?  Which one do I use and for what? 

Lots of styles and prices to choose from

To me, for now anyway, the Apple Watch is a neat, snazzy-looking timepiece.  If I was in the market for a new watch and was willing to pay up to $500 for one (which I’m not) then I might go for one just for the novelty.  For now though, I’m going to wait for the Apple Watch 2, 3 or 4 and until this device actually offers something new and unique that I can’t do using my iPhone.  Having said all this do I think the Apple Watch will be a success?  Hmmm…..yes I do!

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I Got This, Grandpa!!

I'm ready for a game when you get home, Grandpa!!

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Canadian Government Fines Company $1.1M For Violating New Anti-Spam Law

Canada enacted new anti-spam legislation effective July 1, 2014 and it seems they really mean business.  Yesterday, the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), Canada’s equivalent of the FCC, fined the company Compu-Finder for breaking Canada’s anti-spam law. CRTC says Compu-Finder sent emails without the recipient’s consent, as well as messages “in which the unsubscribe mechanisms did not function properly.”

The CRTC is the Canadian equivalent of the USA’s FCC

Compu-Finder is a Quebec-based corporate training company and the CRTC statement says analysis of complaints to its Spam Reporting Centre shows Compu-Finder accounts for 26% of all complaints in its industry sector.  Compu-Finder’s emails are said to have pitched training courses to businesses on topics such as management and social media.

“This case stood out because of the flagrant nature of the violation,” said chief compliance and enforcement officer Manon Bombardier.  The CRTC alleges the company sent commercial emails to consumers without their consent and did not allow recipients to unsubscribe from the mailings. “They have not made any effort to change their business practices.... People were unsubscribing and they were still getting emails”.

The CRTC has received more than 245,000 complaints since the first phase of the anti-spam law kicked in. Consumers continue to submit about 1,000 complaints a day, she said.  So, it seems that if we Canadians continue to complain about companies violating the new anti-spam legislation, we can at least have some confidence that the CRTC will follow through with an investigation and impose fines, as a first level of enforcement, on the companies responsible.

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Disgraceful But Typical: GOP Leadership Skipping 50th Anniversary Of Selma’s ‘Bloody Sunday’ Civil Rights March

On Saturday, March 7, President Obama and the First Lady will travel to Selma to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery “Bloody Sunday” march. President Obama will deliver remarks at the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge. Former President George W. Bush and his wife will be there along with dozens of U.S. lawmakers from both parties.  But their ranks won’t include a single member of the House Republican leadership – not Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy or Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

Black leaders in Congress pressured Scalise to attend after news reports revealed that the Louisiana Republican gave a speech to a group connected with Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke when Scalise was still serving in the state Legislature. Scalise said late last month that a scheduling conflict would keep him from Selma this year.  A scheduling conflict?  Really?

Troopers attack John Lewis during the first Selma march on March 7, 1965

Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis, then 25, participated in the 1965 march alongside Martin Luther King Jr.. He said of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge "we got to the top of the bridge. We saw a sea of blue — Alabama state troopers — and we continued to walk."   They were met by the troopers who ordered them to disperse. When the marchers stopped to pray, the police discharged tear gas and mounted troopers charged the demonstrators, beating them with night sticks. Lewis's skull was fractured, but he managed to escape to safety. 

Kudos to George W. Bush and Laura Bush who will attend

The way the Republican party continues to alienate African Americans and their outright hostility and, in some quarters hatred of, the rapidly growing Hispanic population, George W. Bush just might be the last GOP’er to win a national election for many years to come.

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Blogger Reverses Plan To Ban Sexually Explicit Content

This is interesting:  Google (Blogger) has changed their mind about implementing a new policy to ban sexually explicit content on Blogger.  I wrote about this in my blog New Adult Content Policy On Blogger Starts March 23, 2015 just a little over a week ago. Due to concerns raised by bloggers, Google has now changed their minds and has released the following statement:

 

An Update on the Blogger Porn Content Policy

This week, we announced a change to Blogger’s porn policy stating that blogs that distributed sexually explicit images or graphic nudity would be made private.

We’ve received lots of feedback about making a policy change that impacts longstanding blogs, and about the negative impact this could have on individuals who post sexually explicit content to express their identities.

We appreciate the feedback. Instead of making this change, we will be maintaining our existing policies.

What this means for blog owners

• Commercial porn will continue to be prohibited.
• If you have pornographic or sexually explicit content on your blog, you must turn on the adult content setting so a warning will show. If a blog with adult content is brought to Google’s attention and the content warning is not active, we will turn on the warning interstitial for you. If this happens repeatedly, the blog may be removed.
• If you don't have sexually explicit content on your blog and you're following the rest of the Blogger Content Policy, you don't need to make any changes to your blog.

This doesn’t affect me at all and I don’t know of any RV bloggers who might me impacted by this decision either.

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