HURRICANE IRMA TARGETED ORLANDO, FL (MOSTLY BLACK POPULATION), JUST AS KATRINA TARGETED NEW ORLEANS (MOSTLY BLACK POPULATION)

HURRICANE IRMA TARGETED ORLANDO, FL (MOSTLY BLACK POPULATION:

JUST AS KATRINA TARGETED NEW ORLEANS (MOSTLY BLACK POPULATION).

THOUSANDS OF BLACK PEOPLE HAD TO EVACUATE FLORIDA.

JUST AS THOUSANDS OF BLACK PEOPLE HAD TO EVACUATE NEW ORLEANS IN 2005 DURING HURRICANE KATRINA.

MANY OF NEW ORLEANS BLACK POPULATION WERE NOT ALLOWED TO MOVE BACK AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA.


Sources: AP, Orlando Sentinel, NY Times, Washington Post


****** Hurricane Irma leaves trail of downed trees, high water, power outages in Florida


Hurricane Irma battered the Florida Keys and South Florida, swiped the Tampa area and unexpectedly targeted Orlando at the last moment late Sunday, bringing hours of rain and strong winds that left about 6.5 million homes and businesses without power and 200,000 people in shelters.

At least two people were killed during the storm in Orange County. About 900,000 homes and businesses were still without power Monday night in five Central Florida counties, and residents came outside after hours indoors to find downed trees blocking streets and damaging homes and cars.

And about 4 a.m. Monday, a lake in west Orange County’s Orlo Vista neighborhood overflowed leading to flooding. Orange County firefighters and members of the National Guard pulled more than 200 people from 500 homes and took them to local shelters.

“How are we going to survive from here?” asked Gwen Bush, a resident who walked through thigh-deep floodwaters. “What's going to happen now? I just don't know.”

No injuries were reported in the neighborhood.

In South Florida, Gov. Rick Scott said he saw boats washed ashore and flood damage when he flew over the Florida Keys Monday. He did not know whether there were casualties, but said he hoped everyone who did not evacuate survived the storm.

“The Keys right now,” Scott said, “not having water, not having sewer, not having electricity, I mean, how can you live there?”
“Marathon was completely underwater,” said state Rep. Holly Raschein, R-Key Largo. “Cudjoe Key took a direct hit; we’re still having problems communicating there. Flooding on Big Pine.

It’s pretty widespread. The good thing is a lot of people did evacuate, so we’re seeing a bad situation that could have been worse.”

Tampa and St. Petersburg were spared the damage some meteorologists feared when the storm did not hug the state’s gulf coast, and instead headed closer inland.

The National Weather Service recorded maximum wind gusts of 79 mph at Orlando International Airport, and gusts of 83 mph in Cocoa Beach.

The higher winds brought damage to Central Florida.
Edgardo Plaza, 53, looked out from the seawall where his sailboat was docked at SunDance Marine in Palm Shores, Brevard County. He could see only the mast and ropes dangling. The ocean had buried the rest of the vessel.

"I checked on it last night, and it seemed fine," he said perched atop wood and metal debris along the harbor. "I can't believe it."
The damage was only an ounce of what Brevard County saw during Hurricane Irma, which left many without electricity and nearly half of the county’s 579,000 residents without running water.

About 80 percent of Polk County was without power, including shelters. Polk County officials warned drivers of potentially dangerous downed power lines.

In nearby Lake County, firefighters in Clermont rescued a 23-year-old man who was crushed in bed when a tree fell through his roof, police Sgt. Malcolm Draper said. During a lull in the storm at 1:45 a.m., when sustained winds were higher than 50 mph and gusting to 90 mph, firefighters hurried to the home and lifted the tree from the man.

Fire Chief Carle Bishop drove the man to South Lake Hospital, where authorities quickly realized he needed surgery but no doctor was available. Police officers went to a doctor’s home and drove him to the hospital, where the man successfully underwent surgery for internal injuries. He is in stable condition, Draper said.

More than 30 people were rescued in Volusia County during Hurricane Irma on Sunday night and Monday morning.

Volusia County Manager Jim Dinneen said the west side of the county and Beach Street in Daytona Beach sustained the most damage, particularly downed trees.

“In the end, if we all work together we can all guarantee a safe return to normalcy,” he said.

The biggest hurdle will be restoring power, he said. More than 220,000 customers in Volusia County were without power as of Monday afternoon, according to Florida Emergency Management.

As the day went on and winds quieted, people across Central Florida tried to return to normal. Against advice, some left their homes — 24 people were arrested on charges of curfew violations in Orange County , including three on burglary charges. Others just got out of the house — a person in an inflatable T-Rex costume and black flip-flops found a tree blocking an Orlando road and climbed onto it as people nearby filmed with their cell phones.

Schools are still closed Tuesday. Most curfews were lifted by Monday afternoon, though Mount Dora instituted another one from Monday night to 6 a.m. Tuesday because of a power line down.

Robert and Maria Gonzalez said they looked outside their Kissimmee home overnight in the night and saw flood waters almost up to the front door. The water looked like a lake — and they joked they didn't know they'd gotten a lake house.

"We were thinking, 'Please don't come in,'" Maria Gonzalez said.

The couple and their 10-year-old son had seen images of residents stranded because of flooding in Houston after Hurricane Harvey weeks before. They feared they could end up in the same situation.

Water seeped into their garage on Town & Country Drive, but they found no damage. Water had begun to recede midday Monday, but still not enough they would risk driving their van through it, they said.

Despite curfews and hazardous debris blocking off streets, local highways across counties in Central Florida were used all day Monday. Florida Highway Patrol troopers were pulling over drivers who refused to follow road laws at intersections where traffic lights were still out.

FHP spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes said drivers should exercise additional caution until road conditions return to normal, which could take some time.

One fatality in the storm was a car crash: Heidi Zehner, 50, died after losing control of an SUV on State Road 417 Sunday evening as the storm approached. The other, Brian Buwalda, 51, was apparently electrocuted at Leith and Westchester avenues in Winter Park by a downed power line Monday morning.

The University of Central Florida offered to house up to 1,000 National Guard members and 250 of their vehicles on campus as recovery continues, a university spokeswoman said.

Saturday’s UCF football game against Georgia Tech was canceled Monday.

In Seminole County, the driver of a van accidentally drove head first into a sinkhole that opened in the parking lot of the Astor Park apartments off Tuskawilla Road near Red Bug Road.

The driver, who was not injured, was pulled out of the vehicle from the back window of the van by a resident Good Samaritan.
Jeff Lane was out walking his dog on Monday morning in his neighborhood near Aloma Avenue and SR 417.

Overnight, a wind gust tore his kitchen skylight open.

"I threw some blankets down and grabbed a storage crate to catch the water," he said. "It's not too bad."
He said the sound of the storm reminded him of Charley in 2004.

"We were without power for three weeks after Charley," he said. "Hopefully it won't be that long."

HURRICANE HARVEY TARGETED HOUSTON, TX (MOSTLY BLACK POPULATION) JUST AS KATRINA TARGETED NEW ORLEANS (MOSTLY BLACK POPULATION)

HURRICANE HARVEY TARGETED HOUSTON, TX (MOSTLY BLACK POPULATION:

JUST AS KATRINA TARGETED NEW ORLEANS (MOSTLY BLACK POPULATION)

THOUSANDS OF BLACK PEOPLE HAD TO EVACUATE TEXAS.

JUST AS THOUSANDS OF BLACK PEOPLE HAD TO EVACUATE NEW ORLEANS IN 2005 DURING HURRICANE KATRINA.

MANY OF NEW ORLEANS BLACK POPULATION WERE NOT ALLOWED TO MOVE BACK AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA.


Sources: AP, Black America Web, NY Times, Washington Post


******* Tropical Storm Harvey Leaves Houston Underwater


Tropical Storm Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into the nation’s fourth-largest city Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground and overwhelmed rescuers who could not keep up with the constant calls for help.

The incessant rain covered much of Houston in turbid, gray-green water and turned streets into rivers navigable only by boat. In a rescue effort that recalled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, helicopters landed near flooded freeways, airboats buzzed across submerged neighborhoods and high-wheeled vehicles plowed through water-logged intersections. Some people managed with kayaks or canoes or swam.

Volunteers joined emergency teams to pull people from their homes or from the water, which was high enough in places to gush into second floors.

The flooding was so widespread that authorities had trouble pinpointing the worst areas. They urged people to get on top of their homes to avoid becoming trapped in attics and to wave sheets or towels to draw attention to their location.

Judging from federal disaster declarations, the storm has so far affected about a quarter of the Texas population, or 6.8 million people in 18 counties. It was blamed for at least two deaths.

As the water rose, the National Weather Service offered another ominous forecast: Before the storm that arrived Friday as a Category 4 hurricane is gone, some parts of Houston and its suburbs could get as much as 50 inches (1.3 meters) of rain.

That would be the highest amount ever recorded in Texas.
Some areas have already received about half that amount. Since Thursday, South Houston recorded nearly 25 inches (63 centimeters), and the suburbs of Santa Fe and Dayton got 27 inches (69 centimeters).

“The breadth and intensity of this rainfall is beyond anything experienced before,” the National Weather Service said in a statement.

Average rainfall totals will end up around 40 inches (1 meter) for Houston, weather service meteorologist Patrick Burke said.

The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brock Long, predicted that the aftermath of the storm would require FEMA’s involvement for years.

“This disaster’s going to be a landmark event,” Long said.
Rescuers had to give top priority to life-and-death situations, leaving many affected families to fend for themselves.

Tom Bartlett and Steven Craig pulled a rowboat on a rope through chest-deep water for a mile to rescue Bartlett’s mother from her home in west Houston. It took them 45 minutes to reach the house. Inside, the water was halfway up the walls.

Marie Bartlett, 88, waited in her bedroom upstairs.

“When I was younger, I used to wish I had a daughter, but I have the best son in the world,” she said. “In my 40 years here, I’ve never seen the water this high.”

The city’s main convention center was quickly opened as a shelter.

Gillis Leho arrived there soaking wet. She said she awoke Sunday to find her downstairs flooded. She tried to move some belongings upstairs, then grabbed her grandchildren.

“When they told us the current was getting high, we had to bust a window to get out,” Leho said.

William Cain sought shelter after water started coming inside his family’s apartment and they lost power. “I live in a lake where there was once dry land,” he said.

Some people used inflatable beach toys, rubber rafts and even air mattresses to get through the water to safety. Others waded while carrying trash bags stuffed with their belongings and small animals in picnic coolers.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said authorities had received more than 2,000 calls for help, with more coming in. He urged drivers to stay off roads to avoid adding to the number of those stranded.

“I don’t need to tell anyone this is a very, very serious and unprecedented storm,” Turner told a news conference. “We have several hundred structural flooding reports. We expect that number to rise pretty dramatically.”

The deteriorating situation was bound to provoke questions about the conflicting advice given by the governor and Houston leaders before the hurricane. Gov. Greg Abbott urged people to flee from Harvey’s path, but the Houston mayor issued no evacuation orders and told everyone to stay home.

The governor refused to point fingers on Sunday.

“Now is not the time to second-guess the decisions that were made,” Abbott, a Republican, said at a news conference in Austin. “What’s important is that everybody work together to ensure that we are going to, first, save lives and, second, help people across the state rebuild.”

The mayor, a Democrat, defended his decision, saying there was no way to know which parts of the city were most vulnerable.

“If you think the situation right now is bad, and you give an order to evacuate, you are creating a nightmare,” Turner said, citing the risks of sending the city’s 2.3 million inhabitants onto the highways at the same time.

Jesse Gonzalez, and his son, also named Jesse, used their boat to rescue people from a southeast Houston neighborhood.

Asked what he had seen, the younger Gonzalez replied: “A lot of people walking and a lot of dogs swimming.”

“It’s chest- to shoulder-deep out there in certain areas,” he told television station KTRK as the pair grabbed a gasoline can to refill their boat.

The Coast Guard deployed five helicopters and asked for additional aircraft from New Orleans.

The White House announced that President Donald Trump would visit Texas on Tuesday.

He met Sunday by teleconference with top administration officials to discuss federal support for response and recovery efforts.

The rescues unfolded a day after Harvey settled over the Texas coastline. The system weakened Saturday to a tropical storm.

On Sunday, it was virtually stationary about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Victoria, Texas, with maximum sustained winds of about 40 mph (72.42 kph), the hurricane center said.
Harvey was the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in 13 years and the strongest to strike Texas since 1961’s Hurricane Carla, the most powerful Texas hurricane on record.

KATRINA'S REAL DEATH TOLL NEVER REVEALED BY FED GOV'T (DEPOPULATION)

KATRINA'S REAL DEATH TOLL NEVER REVEALED BY FED GOV'T (DEPOPULATION):

MOST OF KATRINA'S DEAD WERE POOR & BLACK.


Sources: US News, YouTube


***** No One Knows How Many People Died in Katrina


Ten years after the third-deadliest hurricane in U.S. history, we still don't know how many people died because of it. We'll never know for certain how many people died in Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

The problems are inherent in the confusion of disasters, especially those involving multiple states and various local, state and federal agencies.

Inquires to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, and The Department of Health in Louisiana led U.S. News to a 2008 report as the most accurate and updated source of information. The report was years in the making as deaths were investigated and missing persons were located. In an effort to cut down on the confusion among agencies, the report reviewed all available death databases to attempt the impossible: an accurate count of Katrina's victims in Louisiana.

Although 1,833 is an often-cited mortality figure, it is older than figures in the report and none of the agencies we spoke to claimed it as an accurate estimate of the final death toll, as FiveThirtyEight also reported.

The most likely cause of death was drowning. The victims of the storm were often black and skewed older. In Orleans Parish, where 70 percent of the victims counted in the study died, the mortality rate for black adults was 1.7 times to 4 times higher than the mortality rate for white adults.

Forty percent of victims were aged 75 or older, which further complicated the process of counting victims. Many of the deceased had serious preexisting medical conditions. It's impossible to know if the person would have died from those conditions if the storm hadn't occurred or if the storm exacerbated medical conditions enough to cause death.

"If an evacuee died after a heart attack two months following the storm, was that death attributable to Katrina?" says John Ford of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

The researchers confirmed 986 victims (including 15 deaths from Louisiana evacuees in other states), but called the estimate "conservative." The higher estimate for deaths in Louisiana was 1,440.

This graphic shows the conservative estimate, including the staggering impact on the elderly population. While the number of people who died in Hurricane Katrina is likely much higher, even the lower bound shows the devastating impact of a huge storm that New Orleans was ill-equipped to handle.

While the death toll in the study is 986, the total in the graphic is slightly lower because it doesn't include the 15 deaths from other states or the 22 deaths for which age information was not available.

HOUSTON 2017 & HURRICANE HARVEY IN PICTURES (ANOTHER KATRINA & 9TH WARD??) PLEASE PRAY

HURRICANE HARVEY & HOUSTON 2017 IN PICTURES:

PRAY FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF HOUSTON, INCLUDING BLACK RESIDENTS NOT JUST WHITE AND LATINO RESIDENTS.

I'VE BEEN SILENT BUT I CAN STILL SEE.

NOW I WILL OBSERVE WHICH HOUSTON CITIZENS WILL BE DIRECTED TO FEMA CAMPS.

WILL HOUSTON BECOME ANOTHER NINTH WARD AFTER KATRINA FOR THE BLACK CITIZENS??

PLEASE PRAY.

STAY TUNED.


Sources: Newsone, CNN, Youtube


***** Houston’s Poor Black Community Among Hurricane Harvey’s Most Vulnerable Victims



People in poor communities lack the resources to escape the worst of the flooding.

As the remnants of Hurricane Harvey continues its march, the lives that are most devastated are those confined to poor communities of color—as we’ve seen with previous mega storms like Hurricane Katrina.

The New York Times reports that the hurricane, now a tropic storm, drenched parts of Texas throughout Sunday. At least five people died and more than a dozen have been reported injured, since Harvey struck Texas’s Gulf Coast, dropping up to 25 inches of rain since Friday. Several areas have seen a downpour of as much as 50 inches.

In Houston, as with many other cities, poor communities of color are the most vulnerable during these destructive storms. They tend to live in segregated, flood risk neighborhoods that are near petrochemical plants, according to The Atlantic.

People in these communities lack the resources to evacuate, and the authorities—despite South Texas’ vulnerability to major storms—have failed to create an evacuation plan.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner defended his decision not to order an evacuation for some neighborhoods, KPRC-TV reported.

He told residents that their homes are “the best place” to stay during the storm, the NBC News affiliate reported.

Those who were unable to escape Harvey are “overwhelming” emergency centers with phone calls and tweets for help, The Atlantic stated. Homeless people sought shelter under highways and other low-lying areas to prepare for Harvey. Many of those makeshift shelters are now under water.

KPRC-TV reported that Houston’s 911 center has received more than 56,000 calls since Saturday evening. Police and firefighters have fielded more than 6,000 rescue calls, and more than 1,000 people have been pulled out of flooded homes and streets.

According to the current affairs publication, Texas has failed to fund a plan to control flooding, even though most climate scientists predict an increase in superstorms because of climate change. The most vulnerable are feeling the consequences.

Meanwhile, Harvey is not finished. The storm is expected to create tornadoes and floods in its path, which remains inhabited by poor people of color.

Sean Payton Suspended By NFL For Bounty System Which Encouraged Serious Injuries

Saints coach Sean Payton suspended for 2012 season by NFL


New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton was suspended without pay for the 2012 season by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was banned indefinitely on Wednesday because of the team's bounty program that targeted opposing players.

Handing down sweeping and serious punishment for a system that paid out thousands of dollars when hits knocked specific opponents out of games, Goodell also suspended Saints general manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular-season games next season, and assistant coach Joe Vitt for the first six games.

In addition, Goodell fined the Saints $500,000 and took away their second-round draft picks this year and next.

After the NFL first made its investigation public on March 2, Williams admitted to -- and apologized for -- running the program as the Saints' defensive coordinator from 2009-11. He was hired by the St. Louis Rams this offseason.

Goodell will review Williams' status after the upcoming season and decide whether he can return to the league.

The Saints now must decide who will coach the team while Payton is barred, his suspension is effective April 1, and who will make roster moves while Loomis is out.

After the NFL made clear that punishments were looming, Payton and Loomis took the blame for violations that they acknowledged "happened under our watch" and said Saints owner Tom Benson "had nothing to do" with the bounty pool, which reached as much as $50,000 in 2009, the season the Saints won the Super Bowl.

The NFL said payoffs went to 22 to 27 defensive players for inflicting game-ending injuries on targeted opponents, including quarterbacks Brett Favre and Kurt Warner.

"Knockouts" were worth $1,500 and "cart-offs" $1,000, with payments doubled or tripled for the playoffs.
All payouts for specific performances in a game, including interceptions or causing fumbles, are against NFL rules. The NFL warns teams against such practices before each season, although in the aftermath of the revelations about the Saints, current and former players from various teams talked about that sort of thing happening frequently -- although not on the same scale as the NFL found in New Orleans.

Punishment for any Saints players involved will be determined later, because the league is still reviewing the case with the NFL Players Association.

So far, though, the discipline for the Saints' involvement in the bounty scheme is more far-reaching than what Goodell did in 2007, when the NFL came down on the New England Patriots for illegally videotaping an opponent. Goodell fined the Patriots $250,000, stripped a first-round draft pick, and docked their coach, Bill Belichick, $500,000 for what was known as "Spygate."



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Sources: CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Google Maps

4 New Orleans Police Officers Convicted In Federal Court For Hurricane Katrina Shootings

Now That These 4 Or 5 NOLA Cops Were Found Guilty Of Civil Rights Violations After Shooting BLACK People Who Were Simply Fleeing For Their Lives In Wake Of Hurricane Katrina, I Pray They Receive LIFE Sentences! Let This Be A Lesson To Other Trigger Happy Law Enforcement Officials Like Some Of Those Cops In Charlotte, NC.




New Orleans cops convicted in post-Katrina shootings case

Five current or former police officers were found guilty Friday on a combined 25 counts of civil rights violations tied to fatal shootings on New Orleans' Danziger Bridge in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Justice Department officials said.

Jurors reached a verdict in the closely watched trial after three days of deliberations.

The shootings occurred on Danziger Bridge on September 4, 2005, six days after much of New Orleans went underwater after the powerful hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast.

Prosecutors contend the officers opened fire on an unarmed family, killing 17-year-old James Brissette and wounding four others. Minutes later, one of the officers shot and killed Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old man described by Justice officials as having severe mental disabilities.

Madison was trying to flee the scene when he was shot, according to a Justice Department statement. One of the officers allegedly "stomped and kicked" Madison before he died, the statement noted.

Officers Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon and Anthony Villavaso were convicted in the shootings along with a fifth defendant, former detective Arthur Kaufman.

The five men are scheduled to be sentenced on December 14. Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso are facing potential multiple life sentences, as well as additional penalties for charges tied to a conspiracy to cover up what happened on the bridge. Kaufman faces a maximum penalty of 120 years in prison.

"Today's verdict by these jurors sends a powerful, a powerful, unmistakable message to public servants, to law enforcement officers and to the citizens we serve and indeed to the world," U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said. "That message is that public officials and especially law enforcement officers will be held accountable for their acts, and that any abuse of power, especially that power that violates the rights and the civil liberties of our citizens, will have serious consequences."

"The citizens of this country will not, should not, and we intend that they will never have to fear the individuals who are called upon to protect them," Letten declared.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he hopes the verdict will eventually help generate greater trust between residents of New Orleans and the city's scandal-plagued police department.

"The officers convicted today abused their power and violated the public's trust during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- exacerbating one of the most devastating times for the people of New Orleans," Holder said in a written statement.

"I am hopeful today's verdict brings justice for the victims and their family members, helps to heal the community and contributes to the restoration of public trust in the New Orleans Police Department."

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the verdicts "provide significant closure to a dark chapter in (the) city's history."

During closing arguments Tuesday, the defense had asked the jury to consider the stressful circumstances the officers were operating under following Katrina.

The shootings took place during a week of dire flooding, rampant looting and death by drowning. Police were strained, beset by suicides and desertion.

Local prosecutors filed similar charges, but no one was convicted. Federal prosecutors then moved in and launched an investigation.

Other officers have already been convicted in connection with the shootings. They include Michael Hunter, who pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to obstruct justice. Hunter was sentenced to eight years in prison.

According to court documents, Hunter drove in a rental truck to Danziger Bridge with other officers to respond to a radio call about gunshots and reports that officers on the nearby Interstate 10 bridge had come under fire.

At the time, New Orleans police said they got into a running gun battle with several people.

That's when officers encountered the Madison brothers, Ronald and Lance.

Lance Madison told CNN he and his brother had left their flooded home and were crossing the bridge to find shelter. They were unwittingly headed to an area where armed looters were marauding, he said.

He said police officers were the only ones shooting as he and his brother ran for safety. A witness told CNN in 2006 that police shot Ronald Madison in the back as he ran toward a motel at the bottom of the bridge.

"Hunter ... admitted that he was present on the west side of the Danziger Bridge when an officer, identified as Officer A, shot and killed Ronald Madison, a civilian who was running away from officers with his hands in view, and did not have a weapon or pose a threat," the Justice Department said.

Hunter admitted that officers on the east side of the Danziger Bridge fired at civilians, even though the same civilians did not appear to have any weapons, the Justice Department said.


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Sources: AP, CNN, Youtube, Google Maps

New Orleans Saved By Army Corps In 2011; Ignored In 2005

This Time The Army Corps Of Engineers Actually Prevented The Levees In Louisiana From Flooding New Orleans. The Same Way They Could Have Averted Hurricane Katrina's Flood Waters From Wiping Out The Ninth Ward Back In 2005.

Unfortunately ALL Of The WHITE Gulf Coast Residents Who Were Spared In 2005 At The Expense & Sacrifice Of New Orleans's Ninth Ward BLACK Citizens, Are Now Experiencing What Those Ninth Ward Citizens Experienced. Only Fewer Deaths.

For The Record Just Because Newly Elected NOLA Mayor Mitch Landrieu(U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's Brother) Is A Democrat Doesn't Mean He Loves Black People.

After All He DID Grow Up In Louisiana, One Of The MOST Racist States In The South!

So Do I Believe That Back In 2005, Louisiana's Lawmakers With The Exception Of Mayor Nagin INTENTIONALLY Allowed The City Of New Orleans To Flood Just To "Clean Out" Its Poor BLACK Citizens & Make Room For A New White, Upscale Population?

YES!

But....

Did Anyone Think That The Lord God Almighty Would Ever Forget The Intentional Deaths Of More Than 1,500 Ninth Ward Citizens, Mainly People Of Color In 2005?

Well Guess What?

He Didn't!

Thus The Reason Why All Of This Year's Destruction Along The Gulf Coast.

Call Me Crazy If You Like However....

MURDER IS MURDER!

God's Word Says: VENGEANCE IS MINE! I WILL REPAY! Romans 12:19

Remember Katrina!

Thank You Kanye West For Speaking Up!


FYI:

If You Want Me To STOP Talking About Racism, Then Please Just Stop Practicing Racism & Discrimination.

Its Not Rocket Science You Know.

"What The World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love. Its The ONLY Thing That There's Too Little Of".

VOTE OBAMA IN 2012!











Louisiana Spillway Opened to Relieve Flooding

After declaring that “public safety is our No. 1 priority,” officials from the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza spillway, sending water from the engorged Mississippi River rushing into the pastures and cropland here to forestall potentially catastrophic damage farther downstream.

As Col. Ed Fleming, commander of the corps’ New Orleans district, had said beforehand, one bay of the giant structure was opened Saturday at 3 p.m. local time, sending water out at a predicted 10,000 cubic feet per second. If current forecasts hold, officials would eventually open enough bays to allow water out at 125,000 cubic feet per second, a quarter of the spillway’s capacity.

That diversion would relieve the already enormous pressure on the levee system as the river courses past Baton Rouge, New Orleans and a corridor of chemical plants and oil refineries. But it would also flood hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and thousands of homes, as it pours out into the Atchafalaya River basin. Evacuations have been taking place for days in the towns and communities throughout the basin, along with large scale operations to protect these towns with sand bags and other barriers.

The Morganza, one of four floodways in the Mississippi River and tributaries flood control system, has only been opened once, in 1973. “We’re using every flood control tool that we have in the system,” said Gen. Michael J. Walsh, commander of the Mississippi Valley Division of the Corps of Engineers.

General Walsh added that the system was still under “tremendous pressure” and would remain so for weeks as the crest slowly moves down the river to the Gulf. The Morganza, which is triggered to open when the river is flowing at 1.5 million cubic feet per second past the Red River Landing north of Baton Rouge, was likely to remain open for weeks, ensuring that the river remains below that flow rate downstream. Any more pressure would put the levees past their design capacity.

With the opening closed to the general public, the occasion did not have the festive, tailgate atmosphere as when another spillway outside of New Orleans, the Bonnet Carre, was opened earlier this week. But there were some who wanted to mark — and capitalize on — this historic moment: a stand by the road into town was selling T-shirts for $20 that read: “Morganza Spillway 2011 Gates Finally Opened.” A live video stream has been set up by the Corps to show the flooding.

Just about everyone in southern Louisiana had come to expect the decision to open the spillway and had resigned themselves to the bitter but necessary trade-off behind it.

The water will take days to pour out into the Atchafalaya River basin, filling up marshes, engorging bayous, submerging hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and seeping into thousands of homes. It will also test the network of federally and locally built levees that wall off towns and small Cajun communities throughout the basin. The water levels in the area will remain high for weeks.

According to maps released by the corps, these areas would be flooded to some degree whether the spillway was opened or not, given the extraordinary amount of water in the system.

There are about 2,500 people in the direct path of the spillway, and around 22,500 others who would be threatened by swollen backwaters. Gov. Bobby Jindal urged people remaining in these areas to begin evacuating.


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Sources: ABC News, CNN, Newsbusters.org, NOLA.com, NY Times, Washington Post, Youtube, Google Maps

Alicia Keys Falls Flat @ 2010 Essence Music Fest. (Video)

Alicia Keys Falls At Festival


Alicia Keys fell over whilst on stage at a festival this weekend, according to reports.

But the pregnant singer was luckily unhurt in the incident at the Essence Festival in New Orleans.

A source told the Media Take Out website: “She had on high heels and never seemed to have her balance all night. And as she was walking across the stage she slipped and fell.

“She just kept singing on the ground, like a real pro.”

Keys announced that she was pregnant in May and also confirmed that she is engaged to producer Swizz Beats.


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Sources: Essence, MTV, Straight From The A, World Star Hip Hop, Youtube, Google Maps

Janet Jackson Rocks 2010 Essence Music Fest., Performs "Discipline"

Janet Jackson Rocks Essence Fest In New Orleans


Janet Jackson, Trey Songz, Jill Scott, Mary J. Blige, Earth, Wind and Fire.

There was something for all ages at the Essence Music Festival Sunday night as it closed its 16th annual celebration of empowerment, enlightenment and entertainment in the Louisiana Superdome.

"Mary Jane Blige tore it up," said Kevia Stroder, of Richmond, Texas. "That's what's up! No More Drama in my life."

Stroder said Blige sang from the heart. "She gave her soul during the performance and kept the crowd on their feet."

The Grammy Award-winning singer had two surprise guests for the audience: Trey Songz, who performed as the night's opening act, came back on stage and electrified the crowded Superdome even more with their duet, "We Got Hood Love."

T.I., known as the King of the South, later joined Blige on stage for a few songs, elevating an already high-energy act when he rapped on her song, "Good Love."

"That brought me to my feet even more," Stroder said. "When they came out, I was like 'Wow!' It was a great experience."

Jill Scott took the audience on a soulful trip, through a song list that included "Crown Royal," "Long Walk," "Hate on Me," and "The Way You Love Me."

"I really liked the different feel she did with it," said Brittany Reid of LaPlace, La. "She did this kind of opera version and she had to laugh at herself because she knew she was doing it. We were really feeling her."

Earth, Wind and Fire was the three-day event's last act and for some, well worth the wait.

"This has been a long time coming," said Seressa Allen of Atlanta. "They needed to be here and they need to come back next year."

Earlier Sunday, spirit-filled worship rang through New Orleans' convention center as part of a star-studded program honoring Pastor Shirley Caesar, Kirk Franklin and Bishop Paul S. Morton and Pastor Debra Morton of Greater St. Stephen's Full Gospel Baptist Church.

Thousands packed a seminar hall to hear Pastor Marvin Winans' sermon and performances by Marvin Sapp, Ledisi, Mary Mary, Tye Tribbett, Juanita Bynum and The Clark Sisters.

Michelle Walker, of Columbia, S.C., said everything about the festival was awesome, from the uplifting and inspirational moments at the gospel tribute to the useful information received at the education summit and seminars on relationships.

"The spirit and atmosphere is so easy," she said. "There's nothing negative about it. Total strangers are coming up to you and embracing you. It's a good way to spend the Fourth of July."

"This has been an absolutely great and wonderful experience," said Angela Eubanks, of Durham, N.C., while standing in line at one of the festival sponsors' booths, steps away from the tribute area. "There's so much packed into just a few days."

First-time festival-goer James Palmer, of Atlanta, watched hip-hop legend Doug E. Fresh perform on one stage in the convention center while actor Boris Kodjoe signed autographs in an area nearby. Both areas were surrounded by fans standing 10-to-12 deep. "I think this is just an awesome event," he said.

Of the acts he'd seen so far, Palmer said Janet Jackson's performance Friday night in the Louisiana Superdome was most memorable for him. "I don't think anyone is going to top that. I'm definitely returning," he said, smiling.

Jerome Lykes of New York, another first-timer, said he loved Charlie Wilson's act on Friday the most. "He's gone through so much in his life and to see him come through that adversity is really a testament to those struggling with drugs or whatever and example of look where I was and look where I am now," he said.

Annette Cardoza, of Toronto, said this is the third time she and her husband had experienced the festival.

"This is a way for us to embrace our people," she said. "All of this," she said gesturing around the environment, "we don't have in Canada. Everyone's happy to be around each other, happy to come together. The unity is just amazing."

Regina Tilley, 16, of Watson, La., said she, too, was having a fabulous time.

"It's a good way for people from all over to get together and have a good time," she said.

Tilley was at the festival's marketplace with her mom, Theresa Tilley, and 17-year-old sister, Stephanie.

Stephanie Tilley said the event is not just entertaining but also cultural. "It really makes you proud of who you are as a black person," she said. "It's an inspiration and one of the reasons why we came to check it out."

Throughout the event, fest-goers were treated to cooking demonstrations by chef G. Garvin, book-signings by several renowned authors and opportunities to experience Ford's new line of vehicles

Alicia Burbank, of Snellville, Ga., said the convention atmosphere was a nice prelude to the closing night's performances.

"There's such a family feel here where you can come and enjoy yourself, stress-free, while supporting the businesses, whether that's food or retail," she said. "There's just enough activity to keep you wanting more and making you want to come back so that next time you can do something you didn't have a chance to do this time."


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Sources: AP, CBS News, Essence, Rap-Up.com, Straight From The A, Youtube, Google Maps

Sandra Bullock Adopts A Black Baby Boy, Files For Divorce

Sandra Bullock Files For Divorce, Reveals Secret Son


Sandra Bullock is finally saying bye-bye to her marriage with Jesse James and embracing a surprise role: Single Mother.

"Yes, I have filed for divorce," the actress, 45, told People magazine, in an interview that will appear on newsstands Friday. "I am sad and I am scared."

The Oscar-winning "Blind Side" actress has been married to motorcycle mogul James, 41, for five years. They separated last month after reports that he cheated on her with multiple women.

Bullock also revealed that she has adopted a son, 3½-month-old Louis, born in New Orleans. She and James began the adoption process four years ago but decided to keep the details under wraps until after the Oscars. Now, she plans to raise him as a single mom.

"It's like he's always been a part of our lives," Bullock told People.

"She has been hiding with the baby since the scandal broke," People magazine senior editor David Caplan said. "She said that when she found out about Jesse's affairs, she grabbed Louis, she grabbed their stuff, and she left."




Is Sandra Bullock Also Racist Or A White Supremist?








Jesse James' mistress did a sexy Nazi photo shoot and reportedly has White Power mementos on her skin and in her home. His ex-wife is married to a reported skinhead. How many neo-Nazis can you date without being one?

Michelle 'Bombshell' McGee denies being a white supremacist: Her sexy Nazi photo shoot was for fetishists, she says, and the W P tattooed on the backs of her thighs stands not for "white power" but the revolting-in-a-different-way.

She says, "Jesse and I had a conversation about it and he says a lot of his friends have the tattoo." (Is that an inside joke? That statement could use context, including an updated assessment on McGee's believability.

She has said she's Amish, as well as a third-generation French Canadian.

Is that even possible?) Suing for custody of their children, her ex-husband said she had "child block magnets on the refrigerator that spell out 'White Power'," and that her older son from a different relationship "is Jewish and she think it's funny that she makes the Nazi salute."

Then we have Jesse's ex-wife Janine Lindemulder, porn star and mother of his children. Her new husband is Jeremy Aikman, a multiple-time felon and reportedly "an admitted skinhead." Jesse and Sandra fought to revoke Lindemulder's custody, citing her marriage to Aikman as evidence of a negative environment for children. (Or, um, anyone.) So Jesse James has a degree of separation from these people—but why are there so many of them in the first place? How naive could he have been to his friends' racist and antisemitic ties and leanings?

Finally, Crushable notes concern over Jesse's West Coast Choppers logo resembling Germany's Iron Cross, which appears in Nazi memorabilia. (Albeit elsewhere, too.) Are we whipping ourselves into a paranoid frenzy, or is this guy uncomfortably close to the white supremacy movement? Way to harsh our racially harmonious Blind Side mellow, Jesse.


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Sources: People.com, ABC News, Gawker, NY Post, SMH.com, US Magazine, Youtube, Google Maps

GOP Leaders Are Laser-Focused On 2010 Elections, For Now

For GOP, No 2012 Frontrunner But No Worries For Now


Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney, the two Republicans taking the most obvious steps toward presidential bids, both skipped the Southern Republican Leadership Conference here this weekend.

And the thousands of Republicans in attendance didn’t seem to miss them.

With GOP leaders and activists viewing the 2010 midterms as a unique, defining chance to stop the hated Obama agenda, the invisible primary appears to be largely on hold, and the presidential field remains wide open.

Only two men are really running so far: Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, thanks to his previous White House run and fundraising capacity, starts off the 2012 race as the nearest thing his party has to a frontrunner, while Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota, is working feverishly to boost his profile.

But Republicans - who, this time four years ago, were riveted by the contest between candidates including Romney, former Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist, and Arizona Sen. John McCain - seem in no hurry to focus on the two all-but-declared candidates, or on any of the other figures beginning to position themselves for 2012.

Among the activists, operatives and elected officials gathered for this quadrennial exercise, part political beauty contest and part strategy session, there is little consensus not only who they’d like to nominate but even on which candidates they’d like to see run.

“Don’t get distracted by 2012,” Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told an approving crowd in his speech Saturday.

“People are very excited about our opportunity in ‘10, but more important they think the stakes in ‘10 are incredibly high,” Barbour, who also chairs the Republican Governors Association and could himself seek the presidential nomination in two years, said in an interview. “They think the issues that we’re going to start dealing with in ‘10 really matter to them but also the country’s future. So there is no question, the focus here is almost totally on ’10. If I had my way it would be exclusively on ’10.”

Presidential cycles have in recent years started earlier and earlier, but the race to become the GOP nominee in 2012 seems to be reversing that trend. Less than two years before the first votes are cast in Iowa and New Hampshire, the field generals and their lieutenants in the Republican Party are simply not in a hurry to find a standard-bearer. It’s not for a lack of potential candidates or energy in the party ranks — the GOP has clearly emerged from its Bush-era funk and is confident their string of statewide wins since last November portends good things for this fall.

But it seems highly unlikely that there will be any move to coalesce behind a single figure in the fashion of, for example, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 1999.

That’s in part because the various contenders have some elements that seem attractive but no one offers such a complete package that they’re standing out from an unsettled field. Take the two leaders in many early polls: Grassroots activists adore Sarah Palin and nobody else comes close to the former Alaska governor's own-the-room star wattage.

But party leaders, and even some of her rank-and-file fans, have grave doubts about her command of the issues and viability. Romney is just the opposite – he’s unquestionably competent, but a sober Mr. Fix-It isn’t exactly the order of the day at a time when many in the party feel the same sort of mad-as-hell outrage that Palin seems to embody.

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At the core of the 2012 apathy is a larger and more important point about the current mood among conservatives: Republican Party activists have such fear of President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority’s policies that they are intensely focused on the present.

It is, of course, a familiar line, trotted out predictably by politicians at such party confabs as this, that the only election that matters is the next one.

But the GOP leaders stressing the mid-terms here aren’t just doing it to downplay their own ambitions and keep activists focused on the near-term. They’re also doing it because they don’t want to get cross-wise with a base that truly believes, with a palpable urgency, that America as they know it hangs in the balance of whatever the next election is.

In January, that was the special Senate election in Massachusetts, into which poured vast amounts of conservative money and manpower. And now it means this November’s contests.

Using one sports metaphor after another, GOP politicians made that point in New Orleans. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), a member of the House leadership who is mulling a 2012 run, explained Saturday in his speech how Indiana’s Butler University made its Cinderella run through this year’s NCAA basketball tournament.

“We have just got to focus on the next possession,” Pence said, drawing rousing applause from the floor.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry invoked Big 12 college football, and counseled “keeping the team focused on the game at hand.”

In interviews, top GOP leaders explained why the party was so fixated on the here and now.

“I do think there’s a sense among voters and activists out there that these are important times for our country’s future,” said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal in an interview. “That this is greater than just the recession, it’s greater than one health care bill. There are some fundamental decisions we have to make as a country.”

The question, said Jindal, is this: “Do we want to become more like Europe, with higher levels of spending which means higher levels of taxes which means larger, more intrusive government programs or are we going to take back a more limited government? That’s why I think [the moment] is greater than any political party, or movement or particular leader or set of speakers.”

In speaking to a small breakfast of top GOP donors Saturday morning, Barbour urged the moneymen against looking beyond this fall with a folksy aphorism he credited to FedEx CEO and Mississippi native Fred Smith: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

Barbour did his part, as aides made sure to point out, by requesting his name not be placed on the conference’s straw poll ballot.

He wasn’t the only one who got the message: Jindal and Perry also stayed off the ballot.

And, perhaps most telling, the most implicit mention of the 2012 contest during the slew of speeches over the three days may have been when Jindal used his chance on stage Friday to flatly declare he would not be seeking the nomination.

Among party operatives - the types who, like their candidate clients, do think about the next presidential contest but who, unlike their clients, will actually talk about the race - the GOP’s revival at the polls and Obama’s descent into the ranks of political mortals has created a what-me-worry feeling about the White House campaign.

Unlike at the last SRLC in 2006 when the party was consumed with determining who would succeed Bush and what the future direction of a majority party grappling with an unpopular war would be, now party strategists are happy to wait until after what they expect will be a smashing November to let the field take shape.

“Somebody will emerge - somebody we’re not talking about now or who does not want to be talked about now,” said GOP veteran Mary Matalin, following her kick-off address at the conference.

Matalin recalled her own initial favorite - and one of the most-talked-about potential candidates this time four years ago—to make the case for why it makes sense for White House prospects to avoid the spotlight.

“Look at what happened to poor George Allen,” she said, alluding to the former Virginia senator who made little secret of his presidential ambitions only to lose his own re-election in 2006. “He got a big target put on his back. If I were thinking about 2012 seriously, I would lay low.”

But Matalin, who worked for both Presidents Bush, said that the only certainty about the next presidential race is there will be no obvious frontrunner who captures the nomination thanks only to the party’s tradition of political primogeniture.

“Who’s in line? There is nobody in line,” she said.

Jindal said the current levels of grassroots energy will also preempt any crowning of a favored candidate.

“They don’t want to be told who to vote for,” the governor said, referring to the party foot soldiers. “This isn’t going to be a pre-ordained election. There is this reputation in the Republican Party that you wait your turn and then when it’s your turn, you run. I think the voters are saying we want to make the decision, this is democracy, we’ll decide who we want to represent us and lead us.”

“The activists would resist any attempt from party leaders or anybody else to try to pre-ordain a process or a pick,” he added.

The expectation among Republicans is that field will grow - and will include names who haven’t previously been considered.

“Every cycle that happens, there is a surprise,” said Liz Cheney following her own address to the conference.

Or, as Jindal put it: “Who would have thought a year into President Bush’s second term, that Sen. Obama would be the next president of the United States?”


Sources: Politico, MSNBC