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chiseler · 5 years

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The next to last MOVE

[The release of Delbert Africa after 42 years in prison has lit me up like fireworks. Most of what's below was written several years ago, so this is a minor update. But goddamn am I glad he's out. It doesn't put the end to anything – one other MOVE member is still languishing – but it lends the closing bracket on a time and place that's long, long been central to my life. I never talked to Delbert, but I was never less than monumentally impressed by him, even though I thought MOVE was basically off its nut. See what you think.]

In the summer of 1978, my wife Linda and I had fun towing her little red wagon full of rocks through the police line during the first confrontation between the city of Philadelphia and MOVE.

Never heard of MOVE, or only recently with an odd revival of interest? I'm not surprised. Only in Philadelphia could the record of summer-long martial law effectively... vanish for decades.

Back then, MOVE was often called a "back to nature" and/or "anti-technology" outfit: A back-to-nature-anti-technology outfit that used bullhorns, lived in the middle of a city of 1.5 million inhabitants and organized protests of Jane Fonda and Buckminster Fuller. Demonstrating against the then-82-year-old champion of the geodesic dome – who would do such a thing, why?

Only MOVE, only in our itty-bitty liberal enclave of Powelton Village, and I think no one will ever know exactly why. They followed the teachings of Vincent Leaphart, whose rambling treatise made little sense to anyone beyond his small band of raucous believers. "MOVE" wasn't an acronym, just a word, but always capitalized. Leaphart changed his name to John Africa and insisted his followers all take the last name of Africa.

Powelton, a ten-square-block Victorian snippet of West Philadelphia north of Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania, began as the city nabobs' summer-retreat in the late 19th century, just across the Schuylkill River from Center City. By the late 1960s it had attracted a loose rattle of quiet leftists and inoffensive layabouts who were tolerant of most anybody but Drexel, which was determined to devour as much of the community as it could ladle down (and has now debased the area with overpriced apartments for its students.)

During the late '70s, Powelton's squishy acceptance allowed MOVE to occupy a pair of brick twins at 33rd and Pearl Sts., no more than a block from our commune, where they nailed together huge, ramshackle ramparts, kept a pack of half-feral dogs, ate raw meat and tossed their garbage in the yard. An all-black group (except for one scrawny white woman), they were dreadlocked and more physically fit than any health poster.

For income, they washed cars on 33rd St. (and did a damned fine job of it). On no particular provocation, they would mount the ramparts, pick up a bullhorn and harangue the world. It made a hell of a racket. They could also explode into sudden violence, especially against the police, though I regularly walked past their house and was never harassed.

The city, citing housing and sanitation regulations, declared them pests and obtained a court order telling them they had to go. The order set off one of the strangest confrontations in modern American history.

On a quiet summer evening, the MOVErs mounted the ramparts carrying rifles and dressed in camo fatigues. You'd think the police would act. Well, they did: They blocked traffic on 33rd St. That was it. They never approached the MOVE house. During the protest, Delbert Africa, their chief spokesman (one of the most beautiful human beings who ever existed) issued this statement, part haiku, part tautology, that has always defined MOVE for me:

"Any motherfucker

tries to take away my motherfuckin' rights,

that man is a motherfucker."

I doubt their guns were loaded (they have since claimed they were not). For one thing, they were pointed straight up, for show. For another, the fatigues still had folds in them – the protestors had bought them that afternoon, probably at I. Goldberg's, a decades-old army-navy surplus store.

The city's mayor was Frank Rizzo, former police commissioner from South Philly, idolized by the Italian community, hated by the gays and blacks he had hounded throughout a career of sneering, swaggering machismo (my favorite quote: "I'll make Attila the Hun look like a faggot").

Rizzo's response to MOVE was incomprehensible and ultimately ruinous for the city. Rather than clear the house of this rabble on outstanding charges of health and safety violations, he directed the police department to place a cordon around our neighborhood and wait for MOVE to capitulate. (If China had suggested starving out a bunch of dissidents, the U.S. would have been mightily upset.) Worse, he announced his plans a couple weeks in advance, giving MOVE's supporters ample time to haul in truckloads of supplies, including a skid of dog food.

For the next roughly six weeks, Powelton was occupied by up to 2,000 police and support personnel. I still find it hard to grasp that a judge blithely approved a state of martial law to enforce health regulations. And that his ruling was never seriously challenged or overturned.

To those familiar with MOVE, the result was foreordained—they simply hunkered down and refused to... move. Us Poweltonians, meanwhile, had to show identification to enter our own streets. The local activists, in their vocal but placid way, formed so many committees to discuss the situation – roughly equal pro- and anti-MOVE – that a higher committee coalesced to coordinate them all.

About then, Linda was moving back to the commune where I'd met her and where I still lived. We had no "transportation" beyond a battered wire shopping cart and her little red wagon. Back and forth we clumped from her apartment, the wagon loaded with books, kitchen equipment and the big garden rocks she'd brought from her home in Kansas. After awhile, even the cops found it ridiculous to keep asking for our IDs. They'd grin lightly, look bemused, then stand aside.

The immense police presence was absurdly ineffective. They exempted the street behind us from the cordon, and since our block had no internal fences, I would walk Pearl, our exuberant St. Bernard, down our front steps and half way around the block, then in the back way, without a single police challenge. The neighborhood also experienced a marked increase in breaking and entering – I guess it heightened the crooks' street cred to thumb their noses at the Man.

Across the city, the police force was in a shambles from diverting 20% of its resources to a pointless, static operation. (Once the blockade was lifted, they found that MOVE had moled a tunnel through to Powelton Ave., sneaking in supplies during the entire occupation.)

As I hazily recall it, the city and MOVE reached an agreement that if the police lifted their blockade, MOVE would hand over their guns. The police lifted the blockade, and –surprise! – MOVE handed them a bellylaugh.

Then one morning Linda and I were awakened by a short, intense rattle of gunfire. It hit like a mallet: "My god, they're killing them all." As it turned out, one police officer, James Ramp, was killed but no MOVE members. Despite conflicting forensic evidence on where the shot had come from, nine MOVErs were convicted of third-degree murder and for decades were regularly denied parole.

When I returned from work that afternoon, the street in front of our house was scored with caterpillar treads. I followed them around the corner to 33rd St. The MOVE houses were gone – three-story brick Victorian twins evaporated, the ground a smooth expanse of Philadelphia's yellow-brown clay. As Linda's young son Ben said, "At least they didn't salt the earth."

The occupation and confrontation were big news in city media back then, but they never caught national attention. Why? Can you name another example of weeks-long, uncontested martial law in a major American city?

That wrapped up MOVE for Powelton, but not for the city. Seven years later, on May 12-13, 1985, under Mayor W. Wilson Goode, the local government again lost its ability to think like adults in response to MOVE. The remaining group had moved to Osage Ave. on the city's western edge and again erected ramparts, but the local population was less willing than the loosey-goosey Poweltonians to accept such disruption.

This time, the city cut corners and turned to direct confrontation. The result was an armed standoff that ended when a collective of official imbeciles OKd dropping a parcel of C4 explosive onto MOVE's roof bunker. As the resulting fire spread, rather than endanger the firemen standing ready (or so read the official rationale), it was left to go its merry way.

The entire square block of over 60 rowhouses burned flat. When the smoke had cleared and the flames died out, 11 members of MOVE were found incinerated, including John Africa and five children. There were only two known survivors, Ramona Africa and nine-year-old Birdie Africa, who was permanently disfigured.

A footnote: Ramona, along with Birdie's relatives, were paid millions in damages. Ramona bought a house in the city's Kingsessing neighborhood, where she and MOVE remnants live a relatively quiet life. After hemming and hawing, the city agreed to rebuild the houses destroyed through its asinine incompetence. As a monument to shoddy, graft-infested contracting, the replacement homes proved uninhabitable, the contractors faced criminal charges, and the bedraggled homeowners were once again evicted while their "new" homes were razed and replaced.

by Derek Davis

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creepingsharia · 8 years

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Missouri: Muslim Charged in Presidents’ Day Plot on KC Train Station

Mohammed Junaid Al Amreeki

Source: Missouri Man Charged With Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS | OPA | Department of Justice

Robert Lorenzo Hester, Jr., 25, of Columbia, Missouri, was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization. Hester was charged in federal court based on his role in making preparations to launch a terrorist attack with persons he believed were associated with ISIS, who were actually undercover law enforcement personnel.

“As alleged in the complaint, Robert Lorenzo Hester, Jr. attempted to provide material support to ISIS by participating in what he believed would be a deadly attack committed in the name of the foreign terrorist organization,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord.

“First on social media, then during face-to-face meetings with an undercover FBI employee, this defendant repeatedly expressed his intent to engage in acts of violent jihad against the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Dickson. “He believed he was part of an ISIS-sponsored terrorist attack that would result in the deaths and injuries of many innocent victims. He readily participated in the preparations for an attack, provided materials and resources for an attack and voiced his intent to carry out an attack.”

Hester, who remains in federal custody, was arrested on February 17, when he arrived at an arranged meeting with an undercover law enforcement employee. The criminal complaint was signed on Sunday and made public today, when Hester made his initial court appearance.

Hester is a U.S. citizen who was born in Missouri. He was enlisted in the U.S. Army for less than a year, receiving a general discharge from service in mid-2013.

FBI agents undertook a review of Hester’s publicly available posts on multiple social media accounts in September 2016. On Oct. 3, 2016, Hester was arrested by the Columbia Police Department in an unrelated case and remained in state custody until he was released on bond on Oct. 13, 2016. His bond conditions included electronic monitoring. While Hester was being monitored, FBI undercover employees maintained regular contact with him via an encrypted messaging app and text messages, and met with him on several occasions.

According to the affidavit, the investigation began when the FBI became aware (through multiple confidential sources) of Hester’s social media posts, in which he expressed animus towards the U.S. and suggested an adherence to radical Islamic ideology and a propensity for violence. Hester used several online aliases, including “Mohammed Junaid Al Amreeki,” “Junaid Muhammad,” “Rabbani Junaid Muhammad,” “Rami Talib” and “Ali Talib Muhammad.”

On Oct. 3, 2016, Hester was arrested by Columbia police officers after an incident in the parking lot of a grocery store. Hester, who appeared to be in an argument with his wife, threw a folded pocket knife through a plate-glass window near the entrance of the store. When store employees confronted Hester, he assumed an aggressive stance and forcefully placed his hand into the diaper bag he was carrying in a manner that appeared to be reaching for a weapon. Police officers later recovered a 9mm handgun from the diaper bag. Hester was in custody until Oct. 13, 2016, when he was released on bond and placed on electronic monitoring.

On Oct. 15, 2016, two days after Hester’s release on bond, an FBI employee using an undercover identity contacted Hester by private message. The FBI employee had accepted a friend request from Hester the day before Hester was arrested for the grocery store incident. They continued to communicate via social media, text and an encrypted messaging app, the affidavit says, during which Hester presented himself as a security threat, stating, for example, that the U.S. government should be “overthrown,” and suggesting “hitting” the government “hard,” while noting that it would not be “a one man job.” Hester identified categories of potential targets for attack and said he wanted a “global jihad.” Hester stated that he was trying to find like-minded people to help. When the undercover employee mentioned “brothers,” Hester said he wanted to meet them.

Hester then established that he would act on the statements he made online. In early November 2016, the affidavit says, Hester made arrangements with the undercover employee – whom he never met in person – to meet with “one of the brothers.” The undercover employee arranged this meeting with another undercover FBI employee.

During a January 31 meeting, the undercover employee provided Hester with a list of items to purchase, including 9-volt batteries, duct tape, copper wire and roofing nails. The undercover employee implied that these items would be used to make bombs, the affidavit says, stating that those materials are needed “to make … things … to bring some kind of destruction.” Hester allegedly responded by stating: “I’m just ready to help. I’m ready to help any way I can.” When the undercover employee stated that what they were planning was “going to bring them to their knees … and then they gonna know to fear Allah,” Hester expressed his anticipation by stating: “I can’t wait. I can’t wait.”

Hester and the undercover employee agreed to meet again at Hester’s residence the next day. When the undercover employee arrived, the affidavit says, Hester gave him the items he had purchased. The undercover employee told Hester they were planning something “10 times more” than the Boston Marathon bombing, and Hester expressed his approval. The undercover employee told Hester that they were planning on “killing a lot of people.” The undercover employee told Hester that he could “walk away,” the affidavit says, but Hester said, “I’m down.” The undercover employee told Hester they were going to “wage all kinda war,” and Hester again expressed his approval.

The undercover employee then pulled back blankets in the back of the SUV to show Hester three AK-47 style rifles and two .45-caliber handguns. The undercover employee told Hester that, while they had plenty of firearms, they needed more ammunition. Hester stated that he could not purchase ammunition because of his state charges, but that he had a friend that could get ammunition for him. Hester stated that he would have money to purchase ammunition after he received his tax refund and after he was paid in a couple of weeks.

The undercover employee also opened a backpack, which contained pieces of pipe with end caps attached in the manner of pipe bombs, along with cord-like safety fuse, stating, “these are bombs right here.” The undercover employee explained that the duct tape Hester provided would be used to tape the bombs together, which Hester acknowledged, and that the nails Hester provided would “cut peoples’ heads off.” Hester responded: “Oh yeah. I know,” indicating that he understood the nails were to be used as shrapnel for bombs.

The undercover employee stated that they had more backpacks that they were going to put in different locations. Hester acknowledged that he understood, and stated that they had to be smarter than the Boston Marathon bombers. Hester again confirmed that he was “down,” the affidavit says, and that he understood they had to “lay low” and act in a manner to avoid detection.

The undercover employee stated that they were going to “strike fear in all these infidel hearts,” and Hester responded that he agreed and that he was ready.

According to the affidavit, Hester contacted the first undercover employee via text message on February 2, and indicated he would “have some more stuff … in a couple of weeks when I get paid.” Hester asked the undercover employee, “When you talk to the brother again let him know I’ll have some more gifts in a couple of weeks.”

On February 4, 6, 7, 11 and 16 Hester communicated with an undercover employee via an encrypted messaging app. Hester said that he was excited, that he was “happy to be part” of it, and that it was “time they answer for their atrocities.” Hester predicted that it was “going to be a good day for Muslims worldwide.” Hester asked how the “party plan” was coming along and reiterated that he would get more “supplies.” The undercover employee told Hester that the “party” would take place on Presidents’ Day and that the targets of the operation would include busses, trains and a train station in Kansas City. Hester said, according to the affidavit, that it felt “good to help strike back at the true terrorist.”

On February 17, Hester met again with the second undercover employee and brought two additional boxes of roofing nails. Hester accompanied the undercover employee to a nearby storage facility, where the two examined the security cameras. Hester was arrested shortly thereafter.

Hester Complaint

#Creeping Sharia #fbi #islam #Jihad #law #Legal #Life #Media #Military #Muslim #News #Politics #Random #Religion #Sharia #terrorism #travel

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jeannette-marshall-optioneerjm · 7 years

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Leadership politics or vision?

Environment politics vision

Two opposing forcesPerhaps it is politicians out of touch with what the people want? I am starting to think that the difference between good or mediocre politicians and great leaders is their intuitive touch with their public and constituents. Trump and ObamaAre two complete opposites with some common ground that nobody could disagree with:

love of family

love of country

integrity of words

charisma

showmanship

leadership

commitment to commitments

Yet two areas they are on opposing views as the north is to the south, east to the west, on their vision for North America.

Whereas Obama’s dedication to the environment may be his greatest legacy. He also had commitment to the safety of people. Recognizing through his real life experience, that anyone, regardless of genetics, history, paternity, color, race or beliefs, can grow and learn. Stretch and reach his goals of leading what was once the most powerful nation in the world, to grab the baton of legends like Roosevelt, Kennedy, Lincoln or Washington were born. Men of courage facing almost insurmountable odds, are reveled by history to which today’s children and generations before or after to be learned from.

The commonality among the weakest links are not any less embarrassing for its citizens when it hits them hard, in their pride, love of country, and tenacity to carry on, despite everything. Those are things that resonate with me when I think of the United States of America.

I wrote about them imploding back a few years ago. I didn’t really comment editorial on goings on in the world, but I have a few times. Prophecy or deep understanding with perception on how to bundle the facts into predictions or road being traveled.

My husband and I had this very hearty debate not twenty minutes ago. These really cool discussions burst out of the folds of our daily living where one of us makes a comment on the state of the world based on current events. In those brief five minutes, we nourished each out and boosted our viewpoints because we could defend our point of view in the safety of our appreciation and respect for each other.

Both Trump and Obama

clearly demonstrate love and devotion to their families, their wives, their children, their friends. Certainly how they differ on how conjoined the two are between family and office. What is a more obvious distinction is how it is made up.

Obama’s love of wife and daughters

is crystal clear. His vision and direction were defined by leaving the world a better place for his daughters and the world. He went after safety with his heart on his sleeve. You cannot doubt his deep reflection on the devastation guns have self-inflicted among their midst. Such a contrary to the view that the world perceives them to have:

That they are the world referee, where countries like Canada and England mere peacekeepers when violence erupts. Upholding the rights of humanity and defending basic human rights by giving out riches in the form of monetary relief, protection, feeding the poor and saving the health of others before themselves.

“Your positiveness is like a beacon toward others, inspiring optimism and faith.”

~ Jeannette Marshall

That is another distinct difference between Trump and Obama. Their approaches are so different. Obama’s legendary empathy was trying to remove nuclear threat in areas that are war torn, corrupt or falling apart. Obama zeroed in on the most foreseeable threats, and I’m guessing here …..

The greatest singular figure posing a threat to the United States, North America and the UN was Bin laden. As Bin Laden faded into the background, martyrdom growing as his survival held on. Leading the fearful example that you can get away with murder and be acclaimed and praised for it. The need to snuff it out clear.

Corruption in the financial nucleus of American financiers was rampant. Made worse by his powerless capability to inflict any change. Handcuffed by the political system

Critical attention

on the environment versus it being a hoax seems apparent differences between Trump and Obama. Completely opposing views. The American citizens clearly confused between who is right, who is wrong, or is anybody right?

Health of the country views

communicated at odds. Where one says that if you believe, you can accomplish and the other says the country is at the brink of disruption.

Health is a necessity

they both agree. The journey or road map differing completely. Causing instability and fear to the ill and the elderly and the poor. Faith in its country ever brightly filled with optimism that the democracy alone can alleviate their concerns.

Self-destructive causes

appear differently in each others’ eyes. One sees the right to everyone to belong while the other sees it as being a privilege and not a right to live among the community it seeks to destruct.

Our home and native land

even has uncertainty clouding our core. The questions one must ask is whether we are on a road of redemption and worthiness?

Is the direction of our politics

in our eyes the vision we want for our future and children? If it isn’t, are we facing the right direction and making the changes needed to survive and flourish?

What comes first? Safety?Security?Air?

Is the debate we hear resonating among everyone: the politicians, the media, our own voices. What is our greatest risk immediately is what panic makes us ponder. Our pocket books, our safety, or ability to breath for generations, not merely years to come?

There lies the difference

Who can make the strongest case in what should be the main focus today will be the winner. If the lowly citizen is left to deal with the consequences, will it spell optimism, inspiration, activation and execution.

Promise made, promise delivered

Execution is being able to deliver on promises shaped by plans and steps taken. When the promises are glowing brightly like a beacon as a lighthouse is for lost ships.

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from Leadership politics or vision?

#Leadership politics or vision?

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jeannette-marshall-optioneerjm · 7 years

Text

Leadership politics or vision?

Environment politics vision

love of family

love of country

integrity of words

charisma

showmanship

leadership

commitment to commitments

Yet two areas they are on opposing views as the north is to the south, east to the west, on their vision for North America.

Both Trump and Obama

Obama’s love of wife and daughters

“Your positiveness is like a beacon toward others, inspiring optimism and faith.”

~ Jeannette Marshall

Corruption in the financial nucleus of American financiers was rampant. Made worse by his powerless capability to inflict any change. Handcuffed by the political system

Critical attention

Health of the country views

communicated at odds. Where one says that if you believe, you can accomplish and the other says the country is at the brink of disruption.

Health is a necessity

Self-destructive causes

appear differently in each others’ eyes. One sees the right to everyone to belong while the other sees it as being a privilege and not a right to live among the community it seeks to destruct.

Our home and native land

even has uncertainty clouding our core. The questions one must ask is whether we are on a road of redemption and worthiness?

Is the direction of our politics

in our eyes the vision we want for our future and children? If it isn’t, are we facing the right direction and making the changes needed to survive and flourish?

What comes first? Safety?Security?Air?

There lies the difference

Promise made, promise delivered

Execution is being able to deliver on promises shaped by plans and steps taken. When the promises are glowing brightly like a beacon as a lighthouse is for lost ships.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2ozhpRP

from Leadership politics or vision?

#Leadership politics or vision?

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