text:
Open Letter to White People Who Pay Taxes in Florida (Specifically Tallahasseans)
Dear White Florida Taxpayers:
I'm sure you all can relate when I say that I'd rather have someone tell me the truth about how my hard earned money is being spent than LIE to me and spend my hard earned money carelessly and recklessly. Now, I don't know about you, but for me—when I loan money to someone and they don't pay me back—I don't just see it as that person not just paying me back—I'm a single mother of four—my finances are not just about a single effect on me—it's an effect on my whole household—so when that person doesn't pay me—then that person is telling me that they don't care about the welfare of me or my family. And that's not cool at all! Especially, especially when I cared enough to loan the money out instead of immediately spending it on my family toward dinner and a movie.
Having said that—let me introduce myself, my name is Carissa Chambers and I am the proud mother of DeShon Rashard Thomas. My family and I are from Orlando. We lived in Tallahassee full-time from April 2001 until December 2010 (and then part-time until April 2012).
On October 18, 2013 it was announced that my son DeShon was found guilty for Two Counts of 1st Degree Murder and Solicitation to Commit 1st Degree Murder. The Two Counts of 1st Degree Murder stemmed from the January 27, 2011 double homicide investigation under the jurisdiction of the Leon County Sheriff's Office. And the Solicitation to Commit 1st Degree Murder was brought about in August 2012 while DeShon had been in the Leon County Jail for over a year and half—where DeShon had been accused of hiring a Leon County Jail inmate as a "Hit Man" to take out Trentin Ross (DeShon's former co-worker/roommate) who, according to Leon County Sheriff Detective Don Odham's report, in essence stated that on February 4, 2011 twenty-one year-old Mr. Ross voluntarily came into the Leon County Sheriff's Office and told him (Det. Odham) that he and 17-year-old DeShon left his (Mr. Ross') apartment with guns in the trunk of Mr. Ross' girlfriend's car, Mr. Ross then drove DeShon to the victims' residence, heard two gunshots, received a text message from DeShon telling him to let him know when it was clear for him to come across Highway 20, text DeShon an all clear of Highway 20, then drove DeShon to dispose of the firearm at the Family Dollar within walking distance of the victims' residence, and then returned to his apartment. After Detective Don Odham took this report, Mr. Ross, who had pending drug charges, was free to go about his life—without facing any charges in connection with the murders or being charged for admitting to smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol with a minor or any violation of Florida Statutes 790.22 (4) (a) Any parent or guardian of a minor, or other adult responsible for the welfare of a minor, who knowingly and willfully permits the minor to possess a firearm in violation of subsection (3) commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s.775.083 or s. 775.084. While DeShon had been living with Mr. Ross for about seven weeks—DeShon did not have my support nor did he have my permission. Mr. Ross never contacted to me get any type of permission to take on the responsibility of DeShon. When DeShon moved in with Mr. Ross, Mr. Ross' had no working electricity—DeShon offered to pay Mr. Ross' outstanding electrical bill in exchange for allowing him to sleep on the couch—Mr. Ross accepted DeShon's offer. At that point, Mr. Ross became the adult responsible for DeShon's welfare.
Anyway, so after it was announced on the Internet that DeShon was found guilty, some of you (White taxpayers) took to the Internet to express your frustrations about how you're sick and tired of paying the legal cost for N-Word (explicit), monkeys, Black animals, thugs, gang members, hood scum, welfare babies, low-lifes—just about every derogatory word that most you use when a young Black male is accused or found guilty of committing crimes. (In the days leading up to DeShon's trial, on October 9, 2013 WCTV news report Julie Montanaro posted a piece titled, 'Proposed Law Could Charge for Death Of Unborn During Crime.' In the piece Ms. Montanaro speaks with Rep. Larry Ahern (District 66 St. Petersburg) and Rep. Kelli Stargel (District 64 Lakeland) in part about criminals being held accountable for the deaths of unborn babies. On WCTV website (above the article text) there is a sonogram photo of a fetus. While it is unclear if the sonogram photo of the unborn fetus is that of Laqecia Herring's (the pregnant victim), the piece references Laqecia Herring as DeShon's girlfriend—when the truth of the matter is that at the time of Ms. Herring and her brother's murder, Ms. Herring and DeShon were not in a relationship—they were friends. Twenty-year-old Laqecia Herring, pregnant and already the mother of a toddler daughter had ended the 6 weeks relationship with 17-year-old DeShon three months prior to the murders. In which Ms. Herring rekindled the relationship between she and the 21-year-old boyfriend whom she'd been dating for over a year prior to their temporary split—in which she dated DeShon. The day the victims were found murdered, Leon County Sheriff's Detectives focused all of their attention and resources on DeShon. Leon County Sheriff's Detectives did not interview Ms. Herring's boyfriend until three days after the victims were found murdered. At which time the boyfriend told detectives that he believed that he was the father of Ms. Herring's unborn baby. And that he and Ms. Herring had a falling out a couple of days before the victims' were found murdered because he found out that Ms. Herring had been communicating with DeShon. (DeShon had a new girlfriend.))
So now after WCTV ran their piece, you are saying that DeShon should be held responsible for three murders instead of two—and you're calling DeShon a "Baby Killer" along with other brutal derogatory names. And you know, honestly, as a Black woman and as a mother—I was not angry toward you by any of the derogatory names you called my son or was I upset by the WCTV news piece. As far as WCTV is concerned…whatever! But as far as you are concerned—welcome to the club! Because White people—you're victims of Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and State Attorney Willie Meggs. You've been used and abused! You've given your support to elected leaders who don't give a "Rat's Ass" about you or your family. Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and State Attorney Willie Meggs have taken your hard earned money and have no intentions on paying you back! So what I'm telling you today is that while you took to the Internet to exercise your Right to Freedom of Speech, what you don't know is that before DeShon was charged with the murders, Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and State Attorney Willie Meggs had trampled on DeShon's Rights.
As a responsible parent, the day after the victims were found murdered, I took DeShon to the Leon County Sheriff's Office to give a statement. (DeShon was a freshman at Tallahassee Community College and worked at least 35 hours a week at Taco Bell—DeShon had no reason what-so-ever to want the victims murdered.) When DeShon and I arrived at the Leon County Sheriff's Office a man that we came to know as, "Detective Don Odham" shut me completely out to accompany DeShon. When I invoked DeShon's Miranda Rights—I was completely ignored and DeShon was taken away. During our time at the Leon County Sheriff's Office, "Detective Don Odham" treated DeShon and I as if it pre-Civil Rights Movement. I myself was in my late thirties—my generation was raised aware of race equality. "Detective Don Odham" appeared to be an old man of the pre- Civil Rights era—he reminded me of a KKK leader, so naturally, I was afraid of him and what he was going to do to me and DeShon. The other detectives in the area of the Interview Room seemed to fear "Detective Don Odham" as well. When "Detective Don Odham" became angry with me, he kicked me out of the Leon County Sheriff's Office and forced DeShon to stay. As "Detective Don Odham" and I walked down the stairwell, he used more racist vulgar toward me. I told "Detective Don Odham" that if my son is charged with the murders, without them thoroughly investigating the case, then they would be making a "Huge" mistake. "Detective Don Odham" continued on with his racist rant—he even voiced his anger with me for wanting an attorney for my son. When "Detective Don Odham" and I got to the double glass doors leading out to the parking lot, as I passed by "Detective Don Odham," he spat in my hair. Instinctively I knew that I couldn't react the way that I wanted to react because I would've been arrested—which is what "Detective Don Odham" seemed to want—to make an arrest. I continued on walking out to my vehicle. (that ordeal lasted 7 hours) A few hours later, I was received a call from the Juvenile Assessment Center to come pick up DeShon. Now all of that disrespect and drama that "Detective Don Odham" had taken DeShon and I through and there was no charge/hold or anything connecting DeShon to the murders.
(Here's where you join my team)
On February 7, 2011 Leon County Sheriff Detective Don Odham prepared a Summary of Offense and Probable Cause for Two Counts of 1st Degree Murder charging DeShon with the murders supposedly based on what Mr. Ross had claimed (as I stated earlier). Now, Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and his son State Prosecutor Jack Campbell along with State Attorney Willie Meggs presented "Detective Don Odham" to Leon County Judge Nina Ashenafi-Richardson as a Leon County Sheriff's Detective—when in fact, Don Odham was not even on the Leon County Sheriff's Office payroll. Don Odham did not have the experience or the credentials to be a detective. Don Odham was presented to Judge Ashenafi-Richardson when he wasn't the lead detective on the case at all. Full-time Certified veteran Leon County Sheriff Detective Melinda McBride was the lead detective on the case. Lead Det. McBride, with the assistance of Lt. Tim Baxter and other full-time Certified veteran detectives and deputies had been actively and aggressively investigating the case. Lead Det. McBride and others had began to conclude their investigation of DeShon—without sufficient Probable Cause for an arrest—when "Detective Don Odham" came with his claim of Trentin Ross voluntarily coming into the Leon County Sheriff's Office.
Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and his son State Prosecutor Jack Campbell along with State Attorney Willie Meggs built on Don Odham's unauthorized act of deception. At the time Don Odham claimed to have interacted with Mr. Ross, Don Odham was a Reserve Deputy. A former Leon County Sheriff's Deputy stated that Don Odham was a close, wealthy friend of the Campbell family. Clearly, Don Odham was not going to miss any meals for violating the Rights of citizens—which is why he was so comfortable with being so racist with DeShon and I. However, there was a possibility of Don Odham losing his position as a Reserve Deputy once the dust settled for his racist vulgar and disgusting acts toward DeShon and me. As well as a possible lawsuit against the Leon County Sheriff's Office for allowing a Reserve Deputy to act out in such a manner and to go even further and allow a Reserve Deputy to deny a 17-year-old access to an attorney. Personally, I've seen people in the work environment put up an argument for not being given a private office than any of the Leon County Sheriff's Office personnel spoke up when Don Odham was being racist toward DeShon and me. According to the manual for Reserve Deputies, Reserve Deputies are to act under full-time Certified Deputies not above Certified full-time Deputies. Also, the manual states that Reserve Deputies primary focus is patrol. A Bureau Chief for Reserve Deputies stated that Reserve Deputies are not to be assigned as Lead Detectives—which is contrary to what Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell allowed Don Odham to do. According to Don Odham and several other detective reports, Don Odham took part in processing inside of the crime scene.
As far as money is concern—when it came to DeShon's legal expenses—after several episodes of what seemed to be confusion between the Leon County Clerk of Courts and the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel's Office in regards to court-appointed representation, I took all of my savings and handed it over to Tallahassee Criminal Defense Attorney Gregory Cummings. Mr. Cummings promised to file the necessary documents to have the victims' autopsy reports made public record or at the least available to Deshon. Mr. Cummings promised to UnSeal DeShon's cell phone records—in which Leon County Sheriff's Office had them Sealed. Mr. Cummings stated that he'd get Trentin Ross' deposition. None of those things happened. I paid Mr. Cummings $29850 of the $50000 that he was charging to represent DeShon—after sixteen months—DeShon's case had gone nowhere. I realized that I was paying Mr. Cummings while Mr. Cummings was acting as a co-conspirator to have DeShon convicted. I filed a complaint with The Florida Bar against Mr. Cummings. DeShon and I fired Mr. Cummings. Because Mr. Cummings had stolen our money, I could not immediately afford an attorney. That's when DeShon's case defaulted back to the courts to be assigned counsel. To further take money from you, Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and his son State Prosecutor Jack Campbell along with State Attorney Willie Meggs had DeShon thrown into solitary confinement on the same day Mr. Cummings filed his Motion to Withdraw (clearly this was an act of retaliation). DeShon could no longer have visitation or make phone calls. C ircuit Judge James C. Hankinson, a former employee of State Attorney Willie Meggs had signed the Probable Cause and an Arrest Warrant Charging DeShon with Solicitation to Commit 1st Degree Murder with the target being Trentin Ross.
In August 2012 State Attorney Willie Meggs stated that DeShon (then 19-years-old) had solicited 29-year-old Dawuan Williams as the "Hit Man" to murder Trentin Ross. State Attorney Willie Meggs had you believing that Dawuan Williams had been arrested for his role in the solicitation—when in fact, Mr. Williams had not been arrested. Mr. Williams had been out of the Leon County Jail for well over a month and was being financially supported by the Leon County Sheriff's Office and the State Attorney's Office. State Prosecutor Jack Campbell had hatched a scheme to try to get DeShon to ask Mr. Williams to murder Mr. Ross. Mr. Williams of course was all "Gung-ho" to help. Mr. Williams had already been convicted and had served time in a Florida Prison. At the time Mr. Williams had agreed to help State Prosecutor Jack Campbell and State Attorney Investigator Jason Newlin, Mr. Williams had been brought to the Leon County Jail after being captured in Tifton, Georgia by the Tifton County Sheriff's Office and the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force on two outstanding warrants out of Tallahassee for Armed Bank Robbery. So the man (Mr. Williams), who'd robbed two banks that held Tallahassee citizens money, was being financially supported by the man (the Judicial System). (Wow!)
(FYI: While Mr. Williams was out of jail, he was arrested in another Florida county for Armed Home Invasion Robbery with Kidnapping, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Forgery and a slew of other charges. It wasn't until Mr. Williams landed into another county jail as to when Mr. Williams' became wanted by Leon County Judicial authorities went after him.)
After DeShon fired Mr. Cummings, DeShon's case ended up being represented by the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel's Office—where Regional Counsel Samuel Olmstead was assigned to the case. DeShon and I offered to pay for a private investigator to assist Samuel Olmstead with the case. Samuel Olmstead never responded. From August 2012 until late January 2013 (about 5 months), DeShon's case had not budged in the Judicial System. I'd received a letter from The Florida Bar in response to my complaint against Mr. Cummings—The Florida Bar stated that Mr. Cummings had NOT violated any of their rules. (Whoa! What a blow! I don't know any consumer who would shop at a place where if the product that they purchased Did Not work properly—then they could not get a refund or at least store credit. The Florida Bar cautioned me with seeking another private attorney in Tallahassee. However, it was very expensive for me and my family to pay for an attorney outside of Tallahassee. (Yeah, The Florida Bar's response was a "Huge" disappointment for me as a mother, as a consumer and just as an American citizen. I'd shopped DeShon's case to other attorneys around Florida enough to know that Mr. Cummings had in fact violated Bar rules, so… Even those with the Florida Innocence Project were surprised with The Florida Bar's response.)
In late January 2013 DeShon filed Pro Se (again to get his case process through the Judicial System and to save Taxpayers money—I mean everybody in the Judicial System was getting paid by the Taxpayers—but nobody in the Judicial System was doing their job effectively. I wrote Governor Rick Scott, Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to inform them of the government waste—but to no avail. I mean now that I'm looking back on it I see why Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll couldn't act on DeShon's case—one who has a dirty closet has to keep a low profile. So Governor Rick Scott and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that they could not get involved in on-going criminal case. So then I asked Governor Rick Scott to appoint a special prosecutor to the case—it was obvious that the reason for DeShon's case being stagnant was because DeShon's defense attorneys—both private paid and court-appointed—were being "Bullied" by State Prosecutor Jack Campbell. Governor Rick Scott declined.
In mid-February 2013 less than a month away from DeShon's fifth rescheduled trial date, DeShon went before Circuit Judge James C. Hankinson to address his Pro Se filing (Faretta Hearing). Regional Counsel Samuel Olmstead did not appear in court—instead another attorney from the Regional Counsel's Office appeared in court. The attorney announced that Samuel Olmstead was resigning from the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel's Office effective March 1, 2013. The attorney announced that Mr. Olmstead's supervisor, Daren Shippy, would be handling DeShon's case. With that news, DeShon withdrew his Pro Se filing—and again put his belief that the Judicial System would get together and present the evidence that would exonerate him. DeShon had been in the Leon County Jail for over two years—still in solitary confinement—still not allowed to have visitors or make phone calls.
In March 2013, Regional Counsel Daren Shippy immediately filed a Motion to Withdraw. Circuit Judge James C. Hankinson, who'd been presiding over DeShon's case since February 2011, denied Mr. Shippy's motion. (Mr. Shippy was the forth court appointed attorney on DeShon's case.) Things were becoming clearer—Judge James C. Hankinson was conspiring with State Prosecutor Jack Campbell to ensure DeShon's conviction. The only way DeShon could be convicted is if his defense attorney failed to present a proper defense. I don't know of anybody in today's time who would willingly participate in the wrongful conviction of a teenager. However, I do know that a favor is a favor. A promise is a promise. And all of those involved in the Judicial System have a long work history together—there's no telling of what is owed out to whom and for what reason. As I looked into DeShon's file at the Leon County Clerk of Courts, I saw where State Prosecutor Jack Campbell was not only running the operations out of the Leon County Jail, but was possibly running Circuit Judge Hankinson. There was a Motion for a Continuance that State Prosecutor Jack Campbell has signed. (Please Click Link) Motion for Continuance
The Order for the Motion was granted—however, Circuit Judge Hankinson's signature was not on the Order. (Please Click Link) Order Continuance
I wrote Governor Rick Scott informing him of how Circuit Judge Hankinson had been violating DeShon's Civil Rights. At DeShon's next court date, DeShon had another judge presiding over his case. The judge, Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford. Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford started on a clean slate. But because people had warned me about the attitude of incoming judges based on complaining defendant (or in DeShon's case—complaining family members about the handling of another judge (their "Colleague") then I shouldn't expect much difference from a new judge.) And boy—I tell ya—they were right! Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford had also worked for State Attorney Willie Meggs. State Prosecutor Jack Campbell was so bold and comfortable with running the courtroom he easily ran Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford's courtroom—even telling her who to appoint as court appointed counsel for one of his witnesses (Please Click Link)
Circuit Judge Fulford had only been assigned to preside over DeShon's case four months prior to DeShon's October trial. Regional Counsel Daren Shippy had been assigned to DeShon's case seven months prior to DeShon's October trial. (When Mr. Shippy's Motion to Withdraw was denied, Mr. Shippy told DeShon that no work had been done on his case.) Like DeShon and I had done with the other attorneys, we offered to pay for a private investigator to assist Mr. Shippy on DeShon's case—again—to no avail.
Although I forged on with trying to hire another attorney for DeShon—I'd been told that in small towns like Tallahassee, local judges do not favor attorneys outside of their circuit. Besides, attorneys had smelled the stench all over DeShon's case and it smelled Loud and Foul!
DeShon's trial was the same! Perjury! (criminal offense) Ridiculous! And out-right Evil! All funded with your tax money!
So if you choose to continue to show Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and his son State Prosecutor Jack Campbell and State Attorney Willie Meggs and the LIES that they've told and the Circus that they've caused in your community—then just know—they're not treating you any different than they've treated that N-Word (explicit), that thug, that welfare baby, that "Baby Killer" and all of the other derogatory names that you have called my son. Also know—that it's your money that's funding my son's incarceration. And it's also your money that's funding the Campbell's, the Meggs', and all of those who committed Perjury to go on those vacations that you probably can't afford to take with your family. Don Odham—definitely didn't put his family vacation on hold—he didn't have to because he's wealthy, and he didn't owe Taxpayers a dime or his time—he wasn't on the Leon County Sheriff's Office payroll. If Taxpayers are going to allow Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and his son State Prosecutor Jack Campbell along with State Attorney Willie Meggs to LIE to the Courts—then why should he hold up his family life. DeShon's conviction wasn't going to make or break Don Odham–whose entire family vacations in the Bahamas' Green Turtle. (Please Click Link) Don Odham Vacation
DeShon's conviction was going to make Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, his son State Prosecutor Jack Campbell and State Attorney Willie Meggs. And they knew that DeShon's Wrongful conviction was/is going to break them.
My son did not commit the crimes that he's incarcerated for committing. My son did not LIE to you. Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell and his son State Prosecutor Jack Campbell along with State Attorney Willie Meggs LIED to the Courts—and they LIED to you. Governor Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi failed to protect US from their LIES. (Hmm, I wonder why?)
So the next time you take to the Internet to exercise your Constitutional Right—you may want to take a minute and think about if that person that you're criticizing had the Right to exercise their Constitutional Right as well. Ask yourself—what makes you so special that you're always in a position to exercise your Rights without any interference? Also, keep in mind that Black people and other races pay taxes as well. Now you know–You're Welcome! As Taxpayers let's put those in office who are going to value our vote and work hard to bring our communities together versus those who are going steal our children, LIE to us, disrespect our hard earned money and divide our communities.
Author MAUL10Posted on March 28, 2014 March 28, 2014 Leave a comment on Open Letter to White People Who Pay Taxes in Florida (Specifically Tallahasseans)
Florida Governor Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Fail to Open Criminal Investigation into Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney Willie Meggs and District Two Medical Examiner Dr. Anthony Clark
Tallahassee, FL—It took State Attorney Willie Meggs and State Prosecutor Jack Campbell nearly three years to convict my son 17-year-old DeShon Thomas to Two Life Sentences Plus 30 years and it had nothing to do with the collection of evidence or a prolonged wait for test results.
On January 27, 2011 when the Leon County Sheriff's Office received a 911 Call about a double homicide in southwest Tallahassee—the Leon County Sheriff's Office responded—in their response they botched the crime scene and the investigation.
They botched the crime scene by entering the victims' residence through a possible point of exit for the murderer and they botched the investigation by acting on a hunch and focusing all of their resources and detectives on 17-year-old full-time Tallahassee Community College Student DeShon Thomas. (DeShon worked at Taco Bell nearly 35 hours a week and was temporarily living with his co-worker 21-year-old Trentin Ross.) Soon after detectives arrived at the crime scene, the Leon County Sheriff's Office went as far as falsifying court documents stating that there was a "Clear Connection" of DeShon being involved in criminal activity in order to obtain a Court Order for DeShon's AT&T cell phone records and to have AT&T place DeShon on GPS Tracking via his cell phone and report DeShon's whereabouts to the Leon County Sheriff's Office and the Tallahassee Police Department every 15 minutes. (Judge Ronald Flury granted the Order.) When detectives received information regarding DeShon's whereabouts, among other things—they asked DeShon if he wanted to come give a statement in regards to the double homicide, DeShon declined—and he was free to go—no arrest—no "Clear Connection" to have DeShon arrested. The Leon County Sheriff's Office then obtained a Court Order to have DeShon's AT&T cell phone records Sealed. (Again, Judge Ronald Flury granted the Order.)
The next day, on January 28, 2011 after DeShon informed me about the incident with Leon County Sheriff Detectives, I took DeShon into the Leon County Sheriff's Office for us to give a statement. (The victims of the double homicide were DeShon's pregnant ex-girlfreind 20-year-old Laqecia Herring and her 17-year-old brother Sterling Conner Jr. (Ms. Herring, who was the mother of a toddler, ended the six weeks relationship with DeShon three months prior to the murders. While DeShon was not 100% sure that he'd fathered Ms. Herring's unborn baby, DeShon, my family and I gave our support to Ms. Herring.) Since I'd spoken with Ms. Herring within a few days of her murder, I thought that maybe I could've been of some help. I did not personally know her brother Sterling but I'd met him. The night before the victims were found murdered (January 26, 2011), DeShon and Ms. Herring had been texting back and forth while DeShon was at work. DeShon texted Ms. Herring asking about death threats that Ms. Herring (and his unborn baby) had received on Facebook. Ms. Herring texted him that she owed the woman and the woman's mother some money and had no plans on paying them and the woman was mad. As a parent, I thought this information should be told to detectives. Despite there being Public threat agains Ms. Herring's life, detectives had already pinned DeShon as the murderer. When "Detective" Odham refused to allow me to accompany DeShon while he gave a statement, I invoked DeShon's Miranda Rights—I was completely ignored and DeShon was taken away.
A few hours later I was allowed to accompany DeShon in an interview room. "Detective" Odham deadbolt locked DeShon and I in the room. I could not believe that we were being held against our will—DeShon had not been charged with anything. When I'd decided enough was enough, "Detective" Odham kicked me out of the Leon County Sheriff's Office and refused to allow DeShon to leave with me. While other detectives and uniformed deputies stood by stoic, "Detective" Odham escorted me down the stairwell and out of the building. When I passed "Detective" Odham to walk out of the doors, "Detective" Odham spit in my hair. It was his final attempt to provoke me to give him a reason to act out of my character in order for him to arrest me. It was clear from the beginning of our (DeShon and me) first encounter that "Detective" Odham had an overwhelming "Itch" to make an arrest.
Not long after I returned to my Tallahassee home that had been on the market for sale, I received a phone call to come pick DeShon up from the Juvenile Assessment Center. DeShon had not been charged with anything in connection with the murders. Instead, DeShon had been charged with 5 pots of soil that had marijuana stems sprouting from them—Leon County Sheriff's Detectives had found this grow in Trentin Ross' bedroom closet. (It took DeShon to appear before a juvenile court judge 3 times before the Judge Karen Gievers finally found probable cause for the Cultivation of Marijana charges to stick. Detective Odham was at the finally court appearance. For Cultivation of Marijuana—DeShon was charged as an Adult.)
Ten days after the murders, on February 7, 2011 "Detective" Odham drafted a Summary of Offense and Probable Cause for Two Counts of First Degree Murder charging 17-year-old DeShon with the murders—using incriminating statements from Trentin Ross—DeShon's disgruntle co-worker/ roommate. (Mr. Ross, who did not have a prior criminal record, also had been charged with Cultivation of Marijuana. Mr. Ross also knew that DeShon had a sexual encounter with his girlfriend that took place in Mr. Ross' one-bedroom apartment when Mr. Ross was not at home—a clear sign of malice.) "Detective" Odham's Probable Cause was approved by State Prosecutor Jack Campbell. State Prosecutor Jack Campbell is the son of Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell. State Prosecutor Jack Campbell received Judge Nina Ashenafi-Richardson's signature for Approval of the Probable Cause and for the Arrest Warrant.
For nearly three years DeShon's case process would go through several rollercoaster sharp turns and steep drops. One being, "Detective" Odham was not a full-time Certified Leon County Sheriff's Deputy—was not on the payroll—he was a Reserve Deputy—a volunteer. "Detective" Odham was not the Lead Detective on the double homicide case at the time of getting State Prosecutor Jack Campbell's approval for the Probable Cause charging DeShon with the murder—instead, Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell allowed Reserve Deputy Don Odham to replace the Lead Detective on the double homicide case—full-time Certified Deputy Melinda McBride. Detective Melinda McBride and her team of other full-time Certified law enforcement officers had aggressively investigated DeShon—including having had questioned Mr. Ross and Mr. Ross' girlfriend. Detectives were unable to show a "Clear Connection" to prepare Probable Cause to have DeShon charged with the murders. In fact, in Lead Detective McBride's report, her statement shows that "Detective" Odham was not being truthful. Regardless as to what Lead Detective McBride reported, Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, his son State Prosecutor Jack Campbell and State Attorney Willie Meggs presented Don Odham to the Second Judicial Circuit Courts as a creditable Leon County Sheriff's Detective when in fact Don Odham was not creditable and was not a Leon County Sheriff's Detective. Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, State Prosecutor Jack Campbell, State Attorney Willie Meggs knowingly approved/signed false court documents prepared by Don Odham identifying himself as a Leon County Sheriff's Detective—a clear Breach of Public Trust.
DeShon's case process was plagued with numerous acts of misconduct and violations of DeShon's Civil Rights. After many episodes of confusion, in March 2011 I hire a private attorney by the name of Gregory Cummings as DeShon's defense attorney. Over sixteen months—DeShon had four trial dates come and go—at every trial date State Prosecutor Jack Campbell would file a Motion for Continuance. In July 2012 I'd had enough of Mr. Cummings—Mr. Cummings had promised to have DeShon take a polygraph test—that never happened. Mr. Cummings, who was a sole proprietor without a paralegal, refused to allow me to hire a private investigator to assist him on the case. Mr. Cummings never filed motions to have DeShon's AT&T cell phone records UnSealed or provided to DeShon. Neither did Mr. Cummings provide DeShon with the victims' autopsy reports or make the victims' autopsy reports Public record. Mr. Cummings had not deposed Trentin Ross, Don Odham or any of the others who played a major role in the double murder investigation. There was a "Clear Connection" showing that Mr. Cummings and State Prosecutor Jack Campbell were working together to conceal evidence that could exonerate DeShon. I immediately filed a complaint against Mr. Cummings with The Florida Bar. DeShon and I fired Mr. Cummings. At the time of firing Mr. Cummings, I'd paid Mr. Cummings $29850 of the $50000 that Mr. Cummings was charging for his services.
In retaliation for DeShon firing Mr. Cummings, State Attorney Willie Meggs filed Solicitiation to Commit 1st Degree Murder charges against DeShon—DeShon was thrown into solitary confinement where all of his phone and visitation privileges had been taken away. In a press conference, State Attorney Willie Meggs stated that DeShon had solicited an inmate by the name of Dawuan Williams to murder Trentin Ross—the key witness in the double murder case against him. State Attorney Willie Meggs made statements to make the Public believe that Dawuan Williams, who was described as the "Hitman," had been arrested for his role in the solicitation—when in fact Dawuan Williams had not been arrested at all.
Twenty-nine year-old Dawaun Williams was brought to the Leon County Jail in May 2012 after being tracked down and arrested by the Tifton County Sheriff's Office in Tifton, GA and the Southeast Regional Task Force. Dawaun Williams had two arrest warrants out of Tallahassee for two Armed Bank Robberies (one being investigated under the jurisdiction of the Tallahassee Police Department and another under the jurisdiction of the Leon County Sheriff's Office). Within two months of being in the Leon County Jail, Dawuan Williams was back on the streets and being financially supported by the State Attorney's Office and the Leon County Sheriff's Office. When State Attorney Willie Meggs gave the press conference announcing DeShon's new charge of solicitation and Dawuan Williams being the "Hitman," Dawuan Williams had been out of the Leon County Jail for over a month and had already received money from the State Attorney's Office and the Leon County Sheriff's Office. Since there was no re-arrest of Dawuan Williams, while back out in the community, just a few months later, in a neighboring county, Dawuan Williams was arrested for Home Invasion Armed Robbery with Kidnapping, Assault with a Firearm and a slew of other charges involving violence.
Two months before DeShon's went on trial for the murders, State Prosecutor Jack Campbell had a slip of the tongue and admitted that he requested for State Attorney Investigator Jason Newlin to go to the Leon County Jail to make contact with Dawuan Williams. State Attorney Investigator Jason Newlin supported State Prosecutor Jack Campbell's accounts. Up until State Prosecutor Jack Campbell's slip of the tongue, it had been reported that an anonymous caller—female caller—had been contacted by Dawuan Williams and Mr. Williams asked her to contact State Attorney Investigator Jason Newlin—which is what initiated the solicitation investigation. Within a few hours of State Attorney Investigator Jason Newlin's first meeting with Mr. Williams, Mr. Williams was a free man. None of the staff at the Leon County Jail was asked to testify about DeShon having had solicited Mr. Williams—therefore it is believed that State Prosecutor Jack Campbell was operating his own scheme to have DeShon charged with Solicitation to Commit 1st Degree Murder. As the son of Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, more than likely, State Prosecutor Jack Campbell has extensive knowledge of the Standard of Operating Procedures at the Leon County Jail. Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell served as Leon County Undersheriff for several years and has worked with other local law enforcement agencies—including the FDLE. State Prosecutor Jack Campbell plotted with State Attorney Investigator Jason Newlin to commit mail fraud and have a Leon County Sheriff's Deputy by the name of Ronald O'Brien, who did not work in the Leon County Jail, to smuggle contraband into the jail.
On October 16, 2013 as DeShon entering his 3rd day of trial for Two Counts of 1st Degree Murder and Solicitation to Commit 1st Degree Murder State Prosecutor Jack Campbell called Dr. Anthony Clark with the District Two Medical Examiner's Office. Dr. Clark testified that he had not gone to the crime scene on the day of the victims being found. Dr. Clark testified that he used photos of the crime scene as a part of his report—which he conducted the autopsy on both victims the day following the initial start of the investigation. In Dr. Clark's testimony, he described in great detail the three stages of Rigor Mortis—slight, moderate, and full. While Dr. Clark testified that both victims were in the slight stage of Rigor Mortis, in the few pages of the victims' autopsy reports that I received from Mr. Cummings nearly a year and half earlier, Dr. Clark reported the victims of being in different stages of Rigor Mortis—with the male victim being in "moderate to full." The "moderate to full" stage of Rigor Mortis completely exonerates DeShon as being the murderer because according to Dr. Clark's own testimony, the "moderate to full stage occurs after the victim has been deceased for twelve (12) hours." DeShon did not get off from work until 1:30 a.m. on the morning of January 27, 2011. The victims were found murdered the morning of January 27, 2011 around 10:15 a.m. (a 9 hours difference). Furthermore, DeShon's worked and lived nearly 19 miles away from the victims' residence. Not only did DeShon not have a car—his co-worker and manager told detectives that DeShon worked through his entire shift.
In the Summary of Offense and Probable Cause for Two Counts of 1st Degree Murder prepared by "Detective" Don Odham and approved by State Prosecutor Jack Campbell, Trentin Ross' incriminating statements put both Trentin Ross and DeShon at the crime scene during the early morning hours of January 27, 2011 around 4 a.m. Also, in the Probable Cause and several legal documents provided to the courts by the Leon County Sheriff's Office—stated that DeShon's AT&T cell phone records placed DeShon's cell phone in the area of the victims' residence where a text message was sent from DeShon's cell phone to Trentin Ross' cell phone while DeShon was inside the victims' residence at 4:14 a.m. Trentin Ross was sitting outside in his girlfriend's car (Ross' girlfriend) waiting on DeShon. (Trentin Ross has not been charged with anything in connection with the murders.)
Dr. Clark committed Perjury in order to deceive the jury and have DeShon convicted. (DeShon went on trial without his cell phone records and the victims' autopsy reports ever being disclosed to him and the Public.)
While The Florida Bar stated that they did not find where Mr. Cummings had violated any of their rules, both private and public attorneys across the State of Florida have stated that they hadn't seen any case like DeShon's in their career of practicing law. For over two years nothing had been filed to show a legal defense for DeShon. A clear sign that the Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County is operating in time period where racism and conspiracies went undetected.
Governor Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were informed of nearly every false document filed with the courts by both State Prosecutor Jack Campbell and Regional Counsel Daren Shippy (DeShon's final court appointed attorney), as well as every violation of DeShon's Civil Rights—including those violations committed by Circuit Judge James C. Hankinson who was replaced after being on DeShon's case for over two years—who also actively participated in conspiring to have DeShon convicted. The many, many acts of misconduct and Perjury committed by officials were allowed to play out in court under Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford without any objection by her or the defense. When those at the highest level of government failed to open a criminal investigation into the matter—I receive a letter from the Department of Health threatening to charge me for violating Florida Statutes regarding confidentiality after I'd submitted a few pages of the victims' autopsy report to support my complaint to show where Dr. Clark committed Perjury.
Author MAUL10Posted on March 21, 2014 March 21, 2014 Leave a comment on Florida Governor Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Fail to Open Criminal Investigation into Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney Willie Meggs and District Two Medical Examiner Dr. Anthony Clark


What do you get when you cross the intellect of an engineer, the heart of a farmer and the charm of a TV commentator? The ever-witty John Phipps.
I have been privileged to have been part of Farm Bureau for many years. An older farmer recruited me to serve on our county FB board for my township, which led to local offices and four rewarding years as county president. During that time, I was educated by remarkably professional staff, introduced to people who would become lifelong friends and offered opportunities that shaped my future as a farmer and even a writer.
Farm Bureau remains a singularly valuable resource for American agriculture, but internal structural idiosyncrasies which propelled its success have now begun exacting a toll on its mission and validity.
The brilliant decision by early FB leaders to fill a need for insurance services for farmers succeeded beyond anything I think they could imagine. The impressive orgal talent and resources FB commands at every level are proof of this wise investment. This includes its membership ranks, euphemistically referred to as "farm and ranch families". What is seldom said out loud, but not denied, is that membership is mandatory in order to buy insurance from FB-affiliated companies.
This leads to their own peculiar institution, and its attendant illogic. Because membership is essentially a reflection of consumer insurance choice, a FB member card does not have the same legitimacy, in my opinion, as membership in the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), for example. My intentional NCGA dues are a rough indicator of my opinion of their activities, but my FB dues may not reveal anything other than satisfaction with my insurance coverage, premiums and service. Indeed, the large majority of FB members are disinterested auto insurance buyers, suggesting to me a better acronym for the national org (AFBF) would be IAIC—Involuntary Association of Insurance Customers.
The question then arises, how many members FB would have if this mandate were lifted? Certainly fewer. Worse yet, FB doesn't know or (publicize widely) how many even USDA-definition farmers are in the membership count. This self-delusion weakens the org, I believe. Better to isolate the insurance from the org, take the money, and accept an honest farmer-member count.
This quirky membership structure would be little more than eye-rolling nonsense, but over time money has tainted purpose, and now carries it into questionable partisan waters. Because power within FB is distributed by membership, insurance sales now shape FB's most important mission: farm policy. Let me illustrate.
This chart shows the number of voting delegates apportioned to each state, which obviously translates into legislative power within the association. Since the org's purpose is adamantly declared as farmer oriented, it is almost laughable that no farm or farmer linkage attaches to this ranking.
For example, compare the state statistics for ag output (farm GDP) or operator numbers (PDF). (I used the NASS operator census but any other will still be widely divergent from the FB voting rankings).
Simple math reveals examples of the farcical misrepresentation of AFBF voting power.
1. CA: 20% U.S. ag GDP, 3 votes, $8M GDP per vote, 40K operators per vote.
This ludicrous basis for decision power has been a perennial irritant among many members, but the distribution is now so lopsided as to defy reform. Two trends may exacerbate this institutional inequity.
Farmer numbers are declining, especially above the hobby category. Meanwhile, insurance companies thrive, generating FB membership growth. In fact, FB finds itself in the curious position of having far more members than even the most generous farmer-ish headcount. What happens if even fewer states can select the leaders and policy?
With this intensification of representation disconnected from industry reality, FB positions and attitudes are increasingly dominated by successful insurance delegations. To be sure, farmers as a whole are heavily clustered on the political right, although their actual policy preferences are a mix of blatantly leftist protectionism (sugar, dairy) and subsidies (crop insurance) scattered like chocolate chips in a cookie of free-market rhetoric. This has long been the case, but the overweighting of conservative votes in the org has sped the process of FB forsaking even a fig leaf of bipartisanship. Evidenced by the last two annual meetings, AFBF is now a regularly scheduled campaign event for President Trump, complete with official regalia and choreographed ovations.
I fully support the rights of FB leadership to ally themselves with a political faction, and the insurance tether can deliver the appearance of member consent. Nonetheless, open partisanship is a risk. It's hard to maintain the illusion of grass roots policy making when it is adopted indiscriminately from a political party. AFBF demonstrates what can happen when a membership org [or a country] is run as a business.
Loyalty to the group and leader, more so than principles, becomes the new standard of virtue. Alternate viewpoints are received with suspicion, and criticism verges on heresy. My free-trade, anti-subsidy, professional accountability, and egalitarian stands have previously been tolerated with genial indifference, but border on unpatriotic on the current FB political spectrum. However, as long as I remain a member, my premiums are counted as endorsement of the status quo.
My departure has an upside for FB. With less dissent, the purity of "one voice" is more achievable, advancing FB unity. Policy debates could speed by. Although I treasure my memories and friendships from FB and remain grateful for all it has done for me, leaving feels less like retreat of disloyalty and more like release from dishonesty. I'll have some plain insurance, please—hold the politics.
Mr. Phipps presents a couple of false premises. His article does not recognize the membership classifications of "regular members" and "associate members"; with only regular members having a vote. Also, by trying to correlate a state's agriculture product value to its delegate count is a false narrative. Farm Bureau=one membership=one vote It is ludicrous to imply that somehow larger farms should have more voting power and therefore, since they don't, something nefarious is occurring. Considering just topography as a single factor, many states have smaller farm operations but many more farmers. If Mr. Phipps believes that larger farms should have greater voting power; he is welcome to re-join, pay his dues and introduce a policy that reflects his views. His vote will count the same as any other farmer's vote. In our state, farmers are eligible for a discount through Nationwide Insurance. No one has to be a Farm Bureau member to get Nationwide coverage nor is a Farm Bureau member forced to be a Nationwide customer. The most effective power available to farmers is a unified voice that evolves from the grassroots members. Farm Bureau positions are derived through policy originating and voted upon by farmers.
My views differ from Mr Phipps most of the time, but I can usually give him a "nod" on a couple points from his storied opinions. On this story I agree with many of his points. My discontent with FB started 11 years ago and as a result I now have but a single policy with them. At this point in the game their business name is nothing short of PLAGIARIZING the soul of the word FARM. Just to keep it real tho John, I don't take myself to serious in the realm of professional farmer. e.g. As per the "rules" of the National Corn Growers Association "Annual Yield Contest" You must be 13 years old to enter......think about it.
Can't always agree with FB, but have been a member going on 20 years. Overall, they are much more correct on farm policy than all other groups. Here in SD, Corn Growers are becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants forever. They have the approach that if we get a few crumbs from crop insurance and the farm bill, we win. Same with SD soybeans as I have been told by former members. It appears that we should just give up and allow these radical conservation groups (including the NRCS) dictate to us what we can do. Most farmers, but not all, are very good at conservation and take it seriously. Just for example, in SD, tiling is considered a dirty word, however facts suggest it is the single best conservation tool available backed up by university research. Who is on our side 90% of time? Farm Bureau!


text:
Home Court & Crime NDLEA Arrests Obi Cubana
NDLEA Arrests Obi Cubana
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Thursday grilled socialite, Obi Iyiegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana, for his alleged link to the illegal narcotics business.
Obi Cubana who is the Chairman of the Cubana group of companies, NewsOnline learnt was grilled for about five hours at the Abuja headquarters of the NDLEA before he was granted bail and asked to return at a future date.
Impeccable sources told our correspondent that suspicious payments were made into Cubana's account by three convicted drug dealers from Malaysia, Nigeria and India.
NDLEA Chairman Marwa Loses First Wife, Zainab
Oyo NDLEA Boss Gives Account Of Agency's Achievements In 2021
NDLEA Arrests Ghanaian, 2 Nigerians With 9.9kg Cocaine, Meth
Cubana who has been in the nightclub business since 2006, grabbed international headlines last July when he organised a lavish funeral for his mother, Ezinne Iyiegbu, in Oba, Idemili South local government area of Anambra State.
The event attracted several entertainers and renowned politicians from across the country including embattled Nigerian super cop, Abba Kyari. Other entertainers that graced the event include- Davido, D'banj, Kcee, Poco Lee and Ubi Franklin/ The guest list also had Nollywood stars and early callers like Kanayo O. Kanayo, Alex Ekubo and Williams Uchemba.
In another viral video, wads of N50, 000 are thrown at Cubana while he juggles them like a football. The event became the most talked about party of 2021 as it trended on social media for several months. After the funeral, Cubana continued to show off his wealth, posting photographs of his trips to exotic locations on private jets.
As his celebrity status blossomed, he was honoured by several dignitaries. In October last year, he was a guest at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre to launch a book titled, ' Leadership Principles for Junior Commanders in the Military' authored by Col. Chukwu Obasi.
He also built a church, The Good Shepherd Anglican Church in his hometown late last year.
When questions about the source of his wealth began to crop up, Cubana told the BBC that he came to Abuja for his National Youth Service Corps programme in 1999 and served at the National Assembly.
He said he went into the real estate business where he got a contract to furnish houses. The socialite added that he got a contract with the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company and later ventured into the hospitality sector where he has made billions of naira.
The 46-year-old has since opened branches of Cubana club in about five states including Imo, Lagos, Rivers, Enugu and Abuja. But the authorities were not satisfied with his explanation.
Cubana, who had hitherto kept a low profile, subsequently became a subject of investigation by the Nigerian government.
In November 2021, he was detained by the EFCC for three days as part of investigations into alleged money laundering, tax fraud and other financial crimes before he was released with a condition that he would continue to report back for questioning.
Other associates of the socialite who have been questioned by the authorities for their flamboyant lifestyle include: Pascal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest; and the Chairman, Five Star Group, Emeka Okonkwo aka E-Money.
The Spokesman for the NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, refused to comment when The PUNCH sought his reaction on Thursday.
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
Obi Cubana
Previous articleBuhari Visits Shonekan's Family In Lagos
Next articleOlubadan-In-Council Obey Makinde's Directives, Drop Crown
EFCC Secures Conviction of Six Internet Fraudsters
Pastor Arrested By Police, Confesses To Sleeping With Housewife, 2 Daughters
Police Inspector, 2 Bandits Killed During Shootout In Ogun
Amotekun Corps Arrests 25-Year-Old Man For Defrauding Residents With Fake Bank Alerts
2 Men Remanded In Osun For Allegedly Stealing Bags Of Rice, N.5m
Gunmen Kill Ogun Monarch, 4 Aides, Burnt Palace
Court Issues Fresh Arrest Warrant Against Diezani
EFCC Re-arraigns Usman, Fani-Kayode, 2 Others For Alleged N1.5bn Fraud In Lagos

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Sonic Temples (GM) the new recording by jazz pianist Ran Blake.
Kevin Whitehead
Piano music (Jazz)
Other segments from the episode on October 17, 2017
Fresh Air with Terry Gross, October 17, 2001: Interview with Karen Armstrong; Review of Ran Blake's new album "Sonic Temples."
Religion Scholar Karen Armstrong
Religion scholar Karen Armstrong on Islamic fundamentalism. Shes the author of the bestselling books The Battle for God, Jerusalem, and The History of God. Shes also the author of Islam: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles).
DATE October 17, 2001 ACCOUNT NUMBER N/A
TIME 12:00 Noon-1:00 PM AUDIENCE N/A
NETWORK NPR
PROGRAM Fresh Air
Interview: Karen Armstrong gives a history of early Muslim
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross.
We're going to take a look at the history of the extremist edge of Islamic
fundamentalism by focusing on one of its originators, Sayyid Qutb. He was
recently described in The New York Times as the intellectual grandfather to
Osama bin Laden and his fellow terrorists. Khatab was an Egyptian who was
born in 1906 and was executed in 1966 because the government believed he was
part of a network of terrorist cells which was plotting to assassinate
President Nasser. Khatab disseminated his political and religious ideology in
a best-selling book.
My guest, Karen Armstrong, is a scholar of the religions of the world. Her
books include "Islam: A Short History," and "The Battle for God: A History
of Fundamentalism in Islam, Judaism & Christianity." She lives in London and
is currently a visiting scholar at Harvard.
You describe Said Khatab as the founder of Sunni fundamentalism. You say
almost all radical Islamists have relied on the ideology that he developed.
Now he studied Western literature as a young man. He was a literary critic.
What radicalized him?
Ms. KAREN ARMSTRONG: A number of things. At first, he was really
passionately interested and involved in Western culture, Western literature
and, indeed, in secular politics. Khatab was not a sort of
foaming-at-the-mouth fundamentalist. He was not even particularly involved in
religious politics at all, though he always loved the Quran. He'd learned the
Quran by heart at the age of 10--when he was 10 years old and he always said
that the Quran was the load-star of his life, but, gradually, he began to
become disenchanted with the West.
First, there was the colonial activity of European powers like Britain and
France in North Africa and in the Middle East. He began to be sickened by the
way that the European powers were invading Muslim countries and taking them
over and rather humiliating the Muslim people there. He disliked, too, the
support that was being given to the state of Israel by the colonial powers, by
the United States, because--not because he'd got anything much--at that point
any much against Judaism, but because it was going to mean that Palestinians
would lose their homes.
But really crucial was a visit that he had made to the United States.
GROSS: This was in 1948. He was here from 1948 to 1950.
Ms. ARMSTRONG: That's right. And he had a sort of study period here. And
he was really rather disgusted by a lot of Western culture. He found it very
sort of materialistic and pragmatic. There seemed to be no sort of spiritual
element in American public discourse. And he looked around at all these bars
and nightclubs and casinos and there were immodestly dressed women there.
There were lewd films, pornographic films, in his view, being shown and he
just sort of felt that this was a trivial society; that it didn't seem to have
the richness and depth that he'd associated with Western society when he was
studying literature. But still, that was not what turned Khatab into a
radical. His first targets were not Western targets at all, but Muslim
governments, so-called Muslim governments.
GROSS: He joined the Muslim Brotherhood in 1953. What was the Muslim
Brotherhood at the time he joined it?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: The Muslim Brotherhood at the time that he joined it was
predominantly a welfare organization. It was a reform movement which was
trying to bring the fruits of modern society to the population, to the vast
bulk of the population. The Muslim Brothers, for example, provided clinics
for the people. They provided a lot of schools and colleges. They founded
businesses and factories to give Muslims jobs, but with better working hours,
better insurance, better facilities for prayer, for example, than was
provided by the secular government.
You have to understand that the process of modernization in the developing
Muslim countries, especially those which have been colonized or occupied in
some way by Western powers has been a very difficult one. It tended to split
society down the middle. There would be a small elite who would have a
Western education, who would understand how such institutions as democracy and
parliament worked. They understood the process of secularization, but most of
the population of Egypt, a very poor country, didn't have this advantage and
they saw their country being changed, their cities being changed in ways that
were--that made the whole thing unrecognizable to them and rather frightening.
The Muslim Brothers were predominantly concerned to bring the fruits of
modernity to the people and begin to educate them in the new Western ethos,
but keeping their Islamic faith going alongside it because that provided some
very important and healing continuity.
GROSS: The Muslim Brotherhood became a much more radical and much more
anti-Western organization. How did that happen?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Well, I think we've got to be clear that the--it was only a
tiny proportion of the Muslim Brotherhood which turned to terror, but there
was a lot of radicalism in the air. Most of the political parties had
developed a kind of extreme terror wing and the Muslim Brotherhood, which is
a huge, massive organization; vast. And it, too, developed its radical wing.
Now the problem was that the Brotherhood was far too powerful for President
Nasser. He was promoting a secularist government and the Brotherhood had huge
appeal. It was the only Muslim party that was able to appeal to all sectors
of the population; to the very poor, to the professional classes, as well as
to the rich because of its Muslim emphasis. Islam was something that
everybody could understand and appreciate. Egypt is a very religious country.
And Nasser's secularism and socialism didn't have those grassroots with the
bulk of the people, and so Nasser was determined to crush the Brotherhood.
And they gave him a perfect opportunity. They handed him the opportunity on
a plate when one of these extremists in the Brotherhood attempted to
assassinate the president in 1956. And then Nasser could move and eliminate
the Brotherhood. And he did so in a way that was absolutely decisive for
radicalizing Said Khatab.
GROSS: Well, Said Khatab was arrested in, I think, 1954, two years before
the assassination...
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Yes, because Nasser...
GROSS: ....attempt on Nasser.
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Nasser was continually rounding up members of the Brotherhood.
Now Said Khatab had gone into the camp as a moderate. He was still by no
means a radical person. He was a reformer. He wanted to perhaps reform
Egyptian society along Islamic lines, but certainly wasn't envisaging any kind
of radical extreme or fundamentalist activity, but in the camp he had a sort
of--he recoiled in horror from what was happening to his own country.
GROSS: What are some of the ways in which he was radicalized while he was in
prison?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Well, in prison he looked around. He saw that about 1,000 of
the brothers had been executed by the regime. He saw young men being
subjected, as I say, to mental and physical torture and he said this has all
the marks of what he called the jahiliyyay. Now the jahiliyyay is a term used
by Muslims to describe the society in Arabia before the coming of Islam.
It's--the term really means `the age of ignorance,' jahiliyyay. And it was
the Prophet Muhammed, when he brought Islam to the Arab people, replaced the
pagan establishment of Mecca, which--with his own Muslim rule.
Now the jahiliyyay was a term that everybody just used to apply to this period
of pre-Islamic Arabia. It has overtones of a sort of ignorant barbarism, but
nobody before Said Khatab had dreamt of applying the term jahiliyyay to people
who were professing Muslims. That is what Khatab did. He said, `This
government by--of President Nasser is jahiliyyay. It is part of the
jahiliyyay.' Even though Nasser was--said he was a Muslim, even though Nasser
in his speeches, you know, he was--would use Islamic terminology when it
suited him. He said, `Nevertheless, his--this government bears all the marks
of this ignorant barbarism. It's jahiliyyay. And we must fight this, just as
the Prophet Muhammed fought the jahiliyyay of his own day.'
GROSS: By saying this, he basically opened the door--or helped open the door
to overthrowing Muslim governments.
Ms. ARMSTRONG: That--he was giving a green light to say that it was a Muslim
duty to fight against your own governments. Now it's very important to
recognize that fundamentalism in all faiths, whether it's Jewish, Christian
or Muslim, nearly always begins with an internal dispute. Fundamentalists
begin by attacking or denouncing their own fellow countrymen, their own
co-religionists. It's only at a later stage that some of them then turn to a
foreign foe, to an outsider. And so Khatab, here, was in the line of
mainstream fundamentalism in saying, `Now it is a duty for us to overthrow
this disgusting regime, which is cruel. It's tyrannical. It is persecuting
Muslims. Here we all are in jail.'
And at this time, too, the late 1950s, 1960s, Nasser was getting very
belligerent about being extremely secular and was determined to push religion
into a subordinate position. And he was making it his avowed intention to
replace any allegiance to church--and really separate what we would call
church and state. And, again, this seemed part of this whole barbarous
way--means of fighting religion.
GROSS: You say that Jihad was a central part of Khatab's vision. How did he
define Jihad?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Well, for Khatab, Jihad was `holy war.' He based his whole
ideology on the life of the prophet and he said that in the life of the
prophet, God had revealed a divine program and this was the only way to bring
your society into line with God's laws. And one of the important things that
the prophet did was stage four. The fourth and final stage of this divine
program was a holy war against Mecca, against the jahiliyyay, the pagan,
corrupt, barbarous society of Mecca. And so for Khatab, Jihad really had
come to mean `holy war' and--which it does not do. Jihad, traditionally, has
had a much vaguer, wider range of connotations in the Muslim world.
GROSS: And so how did he define it?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: For Khatab, instead of seeing Jihad as a struggle, an effort
that Muslims must undertake on all fronts--moral, social political and
educational, intellectual, spiritual--he saw it simply in terms of fighting a
war. First, Muslims must dedicate themselves and create a vanguard of
committed individuals, a special party dedicated to the overthrow of the
jahiliyyay, the governments such as Nasser's.
Second, they must create--they must retreat from that society and create
special enclaves of pure faith where they will bond together and prepare
themselves for the coming struggle. And then, finally, they will fight a
dedicate war on all fronts.
Now Khatab didn't give specific guidelines about how this war could be
fought because he saw this program taking place over a very, very long period
of time. There must be an intense preparation and it must be a religious
preparation, a spiritual preparation, as well as just gathering a few arms
and guns. And--but he was utterly convinced that this Jihad, this struggle,
this war would be successful because God had said that this was the way to go.
GROSS: My guest is Karen Armstrong. Her books include "Islam: A Short
History," and "The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism." We'll
talk more after a break. This is FRESH AIR.
(Announcements)
GROSS: My guest is Karen Armstrong. She's a scholar of monotheistic
religions. Her books include "Islam: A Short History" and "The Battle for
God," which is a history of fundamentalism in Islam, Christianity and
Judaism.
We've been taking about Said Khatab, who you say was the--basically, the
founder of Sunni Islamic fundamentalism. Let's talk about one of his
influences, Abdul Allah Moudoudi(ph), who lived from 1903 to 1979. He was a
Pakistani journalist and politician who was published in Egypt. What were his
main beliefs?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Moudoudi was also very upset about the West, about Western
influence in countries such as India; what was going to become India and
Pakistan. He had no enthusiasm for the idea of a sort of separate,
secularized Pakistani state, but what he wanted to see was a dedicated
struggle against the encroachment of the West. This was--the West was seen
very much as a colonial, divisive force. I mean, the West was in India; had
been in India since the 18th century since the British invaded there. And he
felt that Muslims had encountered hostile societies before and they had done
so, Moudoudi said, by relying on Islam, and they must now oppose the
secularistic ethic of the West by an increased, renewed appreciation of their
religious routes. And--but what he--what Moudoudi did, which was quite new,
was make--put Jihad, the idea of a military, militant struggle, a holy war,
right in the center of his system; because of the present emergency with the
Western powers, until the crisis was over Jihad was the main duty of the day.
GROSS: And another thing he said that probably influenced Khatab; you say
that he--that Moudoudi feared that Islam was about to be destroyed. He saw
democracy as usurping the power of God, and he argued that an Islamic state
should be totalitarian because it subjects everything to the rule of God.
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Yes. And, again, because you have to understand democracy
doesn't have quite the same positive ring for somebody born in
British-controlled India, this--he had a much more totalitarian view, but
because it would all--everything must be under the rulership of God. Yes, I
mean, this was a coercive theology, but not--and even though he had a strong
influence on Khatab, Moudoudi--and was the forerunner to Said Khatab--he never
hit the same popular note. And I think he lacked the popular touch of Khatab
because Khatab brought the Prophet Muhammed into this.
GROSS: And was Moudoudi published? Was his--were his ideas disseminated?
Mr. ARMSTRONG: Oh, yes. Moudoudi was a well-known writer, journalist and
lecturer, indeed. And his books were, indeed, widely disseminated. And
people were beginning to think along these lines. There had been, up until
the--about the 1920s, a real enthusiasm for Western culture in the Muslim
world, but by the 1930s, '40s, this enthusiasm was beginning to sour as they
saw Britain and France setting up protectorates and colonies--a new kind of
colonies and treating the subject population in a rather dismissive manner;
not allowing them to take their destiny into their own hands.
Moudoudi felt that this was a great crisis; that Islam was in danger. Every
single fundamentalist movement that I've studied in Judaism, Christianity and
Islam, is convinced that modern secular society is the enemy of religion and
wants to wipe it out, so they are--they feel that they're fighting--Moudoudi
certainly felt was the Muslims were fighting with their backs to the wall
against a hideously powerful force and that they must exert all their efforts
to counter this great threat to religion.
GROSS: Moudoudi was Pakistani. Was he ever imprisoned for his beliefs?
Mr. ARMSTRONG: No, and he--but he--and he did sort of go over to Pakistan
and get sort of--was involved with the new government there, even though this
was not the kind of Islamic state that he had envisaged at all. And he was
responsible, very much, for forming the kind of Pakistani revolts that we're
seeing right now against America. The Jamiat-e party vanguard, really,
was--which we--are responsible for a lot of these anti-American
demonstrations. A lot of the demonstrations we're seeing now against the war
in Afghanistan would be--have been deeply influenced by Moudoudi's ideology.
GROSS: Karen Armstrong is the author of "The History of God" and "Islam: A
Short History." She'll be back in the second half of the show.
GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross back with religion scholar Karen
Armstrong. Her books include the best-seller, "A History of God," "Islam: A
Short History," and "The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism." We're
talking about the history of Islamic fundamentalism by focusing on the life of
one of its ideological fathers, Said Khatab of Egypt.
Let's get back to Said Khatab, who you say founded Sunni Islamic
fundamentalism. He was executed in 1966 under the regime of Nasser. Was this
part of a larger execution of Muslim extremists?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: No. Nasser stepped in and said he wanted Khatab executed.
Personally, he took--this was a special initiative of Nasser's. The following
year, 1967, saw a major change in the region, however. Khatab died just too
soon to see this. The Six Day War in Israel really changed the whole region
and on both sides of the conflict. On the Israeli side, as well as on the
Arab side there was a religious revival and this was just the kind of
atmosphere in which the ideology of Khatab could take strong root.
GROSS: Nasser's Egypt was defeated by Israel in the Six Day War in June of
1967. How did that defeat further radicalize the extremist fringe of Islam
in Egypt?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Well, it radicalized everybody because it was a dreadful,
devastating defeat and it seemed to discredit all the nationalist, socialist
kind of ideologies that people such as Nasser had been espousing. These
ideologies, people thought, had just made Egyptians and Arabs weak. They'd
been completely flattened by this dreadfully humiliating retreat--defeat. And
so people began to turn back to Islam. They said, `Let's go back to our
roots. Let's get rid--throw out all these foreign, imported ideologies which
have never done us much good. Most of the people have never understood them,
anyway. Let's go back to our roots, to Islam, to what it was like, what our
culture was before the advent of the West in our countries.' And this much
the same process started to happen in Israel after their devastating
experience in the 1973, October, war. And there was a religious
fundamentalist revival in Israel, too.
GROSS: Nasser, when he was the president of Egypt, clamped down on Islamic
fundamentalist groups. Many people in those groups were put into prison.
Many were executed. After Nasser, when Sadat became the president of Egypt,
what was his approach to the Muslim Brotherhood?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Well, Sadat realized that he had quite a job on his hands to
be as popular as Nasser. And he decided to strike a more religious note. So
he let all the Muslim Brothers out of jail. And they came back into society,
many of them radicalized by Khatab's ideas and so they were a lot of extreme
young men around. Sadat also encouraged the new groups that were developing
in the universities; young groups of students who were organizing and
regrouping as part of this huge, religious revival in the Middle East after
the Six Day War. And he gave them a great deal of encouragement. And it was
a young man who had been in one of these groups--student groups who was
responsible for Sadat's assassination.
This passes an important message to us. It's very dangerous to ignore
fundamentalist movements and to think they don't matter and they'll just go
away. We've just had horrible evidence to see what happens when we do that,
but it's also very dangerous to try to exploit them or use them for our own
ends. This is what happened to Sadat. He courted these groups and then they
turned almost into a Frankensteinian monster that killed him.
GROSS: Let's look at how Khatab's philosophy is being used today. Now Osama
bin Laden is not Egyptian. He grew up in Saudi Arabia and he was born into
the Wahhabi sect of Islam, but his number two, or the person who is believed
to be his number, Ayman al-Zawahri...
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Mm-hmm.
GROSS: ...he is Egyptian. And I'm wondering if listening to these statements
by bin Laden or by the spokesperson of bin Laden's group, if you've been
hearing any resonance with Khatab and his writings?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: I hear resonance to Said Khatab all the time in bin Laden's
statements and his texts. He talks about a vanguard. He talks about these
hijackers as God has created a vanguard. That's Khatab's ideology. He
talks--he's been saying the world is now divided into two camps, one for God,
one against God. This is exactly Khatab's ideology. He's talking about a
Jihad very, very strongly in Khatabian terms and he's also absolutely
convinced, like Khatab, that this is God's plan, not just a human plan--God's
plan and it's bound to be successful. So I hear resonances all the time. It
may not--these movements, of course, have their own life. They all sort of
develop and expand and change under the influence of events, but, certainly,
the stamp of Khatab is on this.
GROSS: Do you think that bin Laden and al-Qaeda have taken Islamic
fundamentalism to a new extreme with the terrorist attacks that we believe
they're responsible for and even in the kind of rhetoric they're using?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: All fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam is
becoming more extreme right now. And we're almost getting what I would call
post-fundamentalist groups; people who believe they're going beyond the
fundamentalism that erupted so strongly during the 1970s into a new, more
desperate phase. And I think something like this is happening here.
I've been very puzzled by the behavior of the hijackers. I think we know that
Mohamed Atta was drink--the Egyptian who drove the first plane into the World
Trade Center was drinking vodka before he got onto the plane. Now that is an
extraordinary act. I cannot think of a single--alcohol, of course, is
forbidden by--in Islamic law. No Muslim fundamentalist that I've been
acquainted with or studied would ever dream of going to Allah in paradise with
vodka on his breath.
Some of the fundamentalists were--the one who was driving the plane that
crashed in Pennsylvania was well-known to frequent the nightclubs in Hamburg
and had non-Muslim girlfriends. Now no fundamentalist that I know of would go
anywhere near a nightclub. Nightclubs are part of the jahiliyyay. They're
part of the corrupt society that Khatab recoiled from in such horror when he
witnessed them in the United States. It's almost as--like a sort of nihilism
here; as though fundamentalism is moving into what we call an antinomian
phase.
GROSS: What does that mean?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: It means that you ignore all law and sort of trample on all
values. If you are killing and massacring thousands of innocent people,
you've lost all sense of law. And in various moments of history when people
are feeling extremely desperate, this religious extremism--and there are
various examples of this in the past--can tip over into a complete nihilism,
where all law, even your sacred religious law, is something that you trample
on in your desire to get to a new phase. I'm not saying that this is
happening; just to register a puzzlement that the behavior of these hijackers
was like--was nothing like the people whom we classically define as Muslim
fundamentalists who live very orthodox lives, disciplined lives of prayer and
would never dream of drinking alcohol or going anywhere near a nightclub.
GROSS: This is probably--this observation I'm about to make is probably no
more than very cheap psychoanalysis, but it has struck me that is--you know,
is it possible that someone like Mohamed Atta is at war with himself; you
know, that he has all these impulses to drink, to have sex and he's fighting
these impulses; he blames the West for it. And because he sees these impulses
in himself, he's just so upset and outraged by it that he wants to kill the
West to kill that impulse in himself?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: Yes. I think that--I don't think that's cheap psychobabble
at all. I think it's--I don't. I think it's an acute observation. To commit
an act like that, you must be doing extraordinary violence to, you know, even
your basic instinct of self-preservation. And history is full of examples of
the way, when we're unhappy with ourselves, when we feel torn with our--among
ourselves, when we don't know whether we're religious or secular or, as many
people in the Islamic countries who do feel split and that they belong in
neither East, nor West; this kind of conflict is very often projected onto the
Christians did this way back at the time of the Crusades, when we were
fighting a brutal holy war in the Middle East against Muslims, something which
in no way could be justified by the peaceful gospel of Jesus Christ. There
was a--we were, in a sense, at war with our Christian selves, but we then
said, `It's Islam that is the violent, intolerant faith and we must fight it
to the death and that it's the enemy.' So there's a projection going on
Similarly, much of the classical Western phobia about Jews was similarly based
on worry--varied anxiety about Christian behavior, Christian beliefs. And I
think you're quite right. There's something of that sort going on here; that
people, especially in developing countries, who are torn, as I say, between
East and West, tend to project all that hatred onto an enemy that they can
define and feel and categorize as absolutely evil and, therefore, out of the
caste of any form of human consideration.
History" and "The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism." We'll talk
more after a break. This is FRESH AIR.
GROSS: My guest is religion scholar Karen Armstrong, author of "Islam: A
Short History" and "The Battle for God." We're talking about the history of
Islamic fundamentalism.
I want to read you something that Andrew Sullivan recently wrote in The New
York Times magazine and get your reaction to it. He wrote, `Most interpreters
of the Quran find no arguments in it for the murder of innocents, but it would
be naive to ignore in Islam a deep threat of intolerance toward unbelievers,
especially if those unbelievers are believed to be a threat to the Islamic
world. There are many passages in the Quran urging mercy toward others,
tolerance, respect for life and so on, but there are also passages as violent
as this, quote, "And when the sacred months are past, kill those who join
other gods with God wherever you shall find them and seize them, besiege them
and lay wait for them with every kind of ambush." And this, "Believers, wage
war against such of the infidels as are your neighbors and let them find you
rigorous."' Your reaction?
Ms. ARMSTRONG: My reaction is yes, the--parts of the Quran were revealed
when Muhammed and his Muslim community were fighting a deadly, all-out war.
They were facing the prospect of extermination and so they were fighting for
their lives. And--but what these texts--people who quote these texts very
often neglect the words that immediately follow in almost every case, which
says, `But if the unbelievers are not attacking you, you are forbidden by God
to attack them. Allah is merciful. Peace is always better.'
Now this is a very complicated question and I think we've got to sort of
really unwrap this. We've been hearing a lot of these texts bandied around,
but we've got to bear in mind that in our own Scriptures we have
very--Christian-Jewish Scriptures we have some very ferocious passages, but
because we know so much more about Judaism and Christianity, we don't assume,
take these passages out and say that, therefore, there is an essential
incitement to violence in Judaism or Christianity.
In the Torah, the most sacred part of the Jewish Scriptures, the--God
commands the people of Israel to drive the Canaanites out of the Promised
Land, to destroy all their religious symbols and to make no treaty with them.
Now a tiny proportion of Jewish fundamentalists use these texts to justify
harrying the Palestinian people in the present conflict, but nobody would say
that these texts are typical of Judaism.
Similarly, Jesus, in one passage, says, `Do not think that I have come to
bring peace on Earth. I have come not to bring peace, but the sword. I have
come to set whole family members against one another and to set up real
conflict.' Now no one quoted this text at the time when Christian Serbs
massacred 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica, so, you know, we mustn't put
Islam--because of our ignorance of Islam, just draw out these isolated texts
and assume that they are typical of the whole--of the Quranic scripture, the
bulk of which is all about mercy, justice, compassion, courtesy, kindness,
politeness. And that's the overwhelming impression of the Quran, not these
isolated passages, which even in the actual verses that were quoted there by
Andrew Sullivan are immediately succeeded by exhortations to peace, mercy and
to make peace where, `as soon as the enemy sues for peace,' says the Quran,
`you must make peace with them and agree to any terms.' So this was
revolutionary in 7th century Arabia.
GROSS: Do you feel like we're living through a religious war where--I mean,
I think it's fair to say that the leaders of the United States and I think
most of the people of the United States don't see themselves as making war
against Muslims, but, rather, against terrorists.
GROSS: But the Islamic terrorists, who are creating war against the United
States and other parts of the West, do seem to see this as a religious war--a
religious war in which everyone in the United States is a target.
Mr. ARMSTRONG: Yes, and I--but don't lets forget the backlash we've seen in
countries like America and the United Kingdom, where people have been
attacking mosques and Muslim women who were wearing the hijab on the streets.
And so, you know, there's a certain amount of, you know, `all Muslims are bad'
in our own countries. It's so not, I'm glad to say, among our governments
who--and I've been really impressed and grateful that President Bush, like
Tony Blair, has been saying, `We are not fighting a war against Islam.' This
is something new, this carefulness, this--to distinguish between terrorism and
Islam. This is a new and hopeful development on the part of our leaders and
I'm delighted to see it.
Do I feel that we are--yes, I do. I don't see it as a war of Islam against
Christianity or a clash of cultures. This is a far more--a struggle within
societies where sectors of Muslim society are at war with one another, just
as in the United States there is--this is the case. Not in the United
Kingdom, however, where there is no interest in religion; where nobody is
seeing this as a religious war; where before, while I--where people have been
ringing me up in London and saying, `This shows that religion should all be
stopped by force of law, you know. It's just awful and evil.' So in the
United States, which is a religious--very religious society, now lots more
Americans are going to church, I believe, than they did before September the
11th, so there's a heighten religiosity in the country, but we've got to make
sure it's good religion. Not all religion's good. It can be really bad,
awful, immoral religion like the religion of the hijackers. And if any
Christian feels that it's a holy thing to attack a mosque or a woman wearing
the hijab, then they--this is rotten religion.
GROSS: Religion scholar Karen Armstrong. Her books include "Islam: A Short
History" and "The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism." She's
currently a visiting scholar at Harvard.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Review: Ran Blake's new jazz CD called "Sonic Temples"
Ran Blake is one of the most subtle of jazz pianists, influenced by low-key
singers like Chris Connor and Jean Lee(ph), as well as by blues and gospel
piano and orchestral harmony. Sometimes in his music, Blake tries to capture
the dark, psychological and emotional shadings of Hollywood film noir;
stories of quiet men who may find themselves cornered by circumstance. Jazz
critic Kevin Whitehead says Blake's new album is a bit like that. Here's Ran
Blake on David Raskin's noir theme for the film "Laura."
(Soundbite of theme for "Laura")
KEVIN WHITEHEAD:
Ran Blake is one of the most introspective of jazz musicians, a master of
nuanced touch and shaping notes with foot pedals. He has a knack for making
old chord changes and blues licks sound rarefied and mysterious all over
again. He really pushes contrast between light and dark or loud and soft
passages, but he can get so absorbed in details he may lose track of time.
Other pianists use a bassist and drummer to keep their tempos true. Blake
rarely does. His new album, "Sonic Temples," is his first with a conventional
rhythm section in 15 years.
(Soundbite of "Black Coffee")
WHITEHEAD: Ran Blake on Sarah Vaughan's hit, "Black Coffee," laced with a
little "Heartbreak Hotel." Adding bass and drums can create problems for
Blake, as well as solve them, since a rhythm section adds more than just
rhythm. A bass player hems in a pianist's left hand, as two players down
below tend to muddy the bottom. And even a light splash of cymbals can
interfere with delicate high notes. Beyond that, this bassist and drummer
seek to engage Blake in conversation, or at least make him speak up. They
don't just roll out a carpet for him. That assertive approach works
sometimes, but it can also backfire with an introvert like Blake. His
laid-back stylings can sound more reticent than ever and make him recede into
the background.
WHITEHEAD: There's an extra musical subtext that may shed light on Ran
Blake's low profile here. His two-CD "Sonic Temples" was conceived by his old
friend and champion Gunther Schuller, who produced it for his G.M. label.
Schuller picked the tunes from among his own favorites and chose the rhythm
section, his sons Ed on bass and George on drums. Now those are two fine and
sensitive players who grew up with Blake's music and sound very good together,
but when you factor in tunes by and dedications to various Schullers and guest
shots by a Schuller in-law on alto saxophone, Blake's in the awkward position
of guest of honor at someone else's family reunion, but that predicament suits
him somehow. Fascinated by psychological complexity, Ran Blake illuminates
problems that may arise on either side when you try to draw a shy person out.
GROSS: Kevin Whitehead reviewed "Sonic Temples" by Ran Blake on the G.M.
label.
(Production credits)
GROSS: I'm Terry Gross.
We'll close with music from Loudon Wainwright's new CD. He'll perform on our
show later this week. This song is called "I'm Not Gonna Cry."
(Soundbite of Louden Wainwright III music)
Mr. LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III: (Singing) I'm not gonna cry today. I won't shed
a tear. Even if some milk is spilt, I won't dilute my beer. I won't use a
tissue. My pillow will stay dry. And I won't need a shoulder 'cause I'm not
gonna cry. I'm not gonna snivel. No, I'm not gonna sob. Both my eyes will
remain dry and I won't have to daub them. Move me with a tragedy. Just go
ahead and try. Play me a tearjerker, but I'm not gonna cry.
I'm not gonna weep today. I will not wet my cheek. I'll count to 10 and I'll
hold it in. I'm not gonna leak. Now I'm not gonna lose it, though I may want
to die. They say it's good to let it out, but I'm not gonna cry. I'm not
gonna blub today and I'm not gonna bawl. And I'm not gonna fall apart, even
if you call me. I couldn't cry for 40 years, I was too tough a guy. Now I
can do it anytime...
In 'Take Off,' Ramon Valle Makes The Piano Sing
Despite its clarity and cohesion, Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says the new album from Cuban pianist Ramon Valle and his trio is half knock-out, half schmaltzy.
Lafayette Gilchrist: An Old Soul, At Ease In A Modern World.
On Gilchrist's The View From Here, go-go dance beats inform his piano the same way freight-train boogie-woogie does.
The Masters At His Fingertips, Art Hodes Pays Tribute To Bessie Smith
The jazz pianist's powerful 1976 album I Remember Bessie conveys a profound sense of loss.


"I'll never have donuts at my wedding!" – unoaked.
….as I'm typing it, I literally hear the 'record rip' sound effect still screeching in my head bringing that conversation to a halt, allow me to explain. I was raised in the south and donuts signified a lot of things growing up, whether it was the arrival of my grandparents every time they visited, parking their car in our driveway, getting out box-of-donuts first, or the 'Yay! It's the weekend' traditional donut run after church every Sunday. I vividly remember the first Krispy Kreme opening in New Orleans to a drive through line 30+ minutes long and ironically remember living in Tokyo seeing the first Krispy Kreme to open in Shinjuku, Japan to a line 90+ minutes long! Mister Donut is still my favorite Japanese donut shop! In fact, just last week I fell victim to that damn red "hot donuts" sign and had to stop for 2 original glaze Krispy Kreme donuts. For those who don't know me well, the irony of my donut love, is I hate desserts, cake, and sweets! Stopping at the local, cash only, pink donut box, no logo, coffee and donut shop these days is my connection to the wonderful family memories of the good times past. So when this gentleman said, "I'll never have donuts at my wedding!" [insert the 'record rip' sound effect again, now that you understand] my soul broke!
Besides thinking about how much you need a donut right now, you are probably curious to where this blog is going and how it will be helpful to you, allow me to explain further. It's 2017. The rules are different when it comes to planning weddings. Yes, there are still many important 'traditions' couples choose to acknowledge and recreate, but let me be clear, no matter what your mother tells you, there-are-no-rules. Unlike previous generations, many couples are now getting married later in life, have established careers, and are paying for their own wedding celebrations. To clarify further for the people in the back "Money Gets To Make The Decisions." Gone are the days of mom and grandma calling all of the shots because gone are the days of mom and grandma always paying the bill!
Alex and I are proud unoaked. is rooted in tradition, but follows no rules. We choose to flip the script because we can, because we had to. When Alex and I planned our wedding, there were many traditions we chose to incorporate, but because we had to, flipped the script. We were a non-traditional couple, getting married in a non-traditional way. Our way.
… Stay with me as I bring this donut full circle. It turns out the donut hating "I'll never have donuts at my wedding" groom-to-be, doesn't hate donuts at all!!! He simply couldn't imagine not having a traditional wedding cake, because "that's what everyone does." Sadly, unoaked. did not take this groom on as a client, but I know we changed the philosophy of his wedding day. He literally realized, for the first time, that it was his wedding day and he had the power to make it his own.
Tradition is very important, but so is being true to yourself and who you are as a couple. Do things that make you real. Don't be afraid to break from traditions that don't suit you. Alex and I were lucky enough to enjoy the awesome responsibility of that freedom when planning our wedding. We were able to make up our own rules, because there weren't any. Every couple should feel that same way.
In conclusion, serve donuts at your wedding, have a taco truck bring late night snacks, fly into your party on a helicopter, sing karaoke, wear cowboy boots, have your ceremony at a brewery, take an Uber home from your reception, feel lucky enough to enjoy the awesome responsibility of freedom when planning your own wedding!
As always, please feel free to comment or email me with any questions! I am always happy to help! Now, go eat a donut!
Previous Coordinating the wedding of a Princess.


text:
Девятый чемпионат СССР по футболу был разыгран со 2 мая по 26 октября 1947 года. Победителем стал московский ЦДКА (второй чемпионский титул). Количество команд в турнире было увеличено с 12 до 13 — была добавлена столичная команда ВВС. С этого сезона, клубам, занявшим первое место, начали вручать золотые медали.

После первого круга фаворитом чемпионата считалось московское «Динамо», которое шло по графику победного для себя сезона 1945 года, и потеряло всего два очка в ничьих со столичными и куйбышевскими «Крыльями Советов». Оно выиграло семь матчей с сухим счетом, в шести — с разницей более чем в три гола.

Второй круг «Динамо» начало с трех поражений подряд, проиграв со счетом 0:1 тем же московским и куйбышевским «Крыльям Советов», а также действующему чемпиону ЦДКА. Футболисты последнего, напротив, играли без потерь, лишь за тур до конца турнира сыграли вничью с тбилисским «Динамо».

Чемпион страны определился в последнем матче «Трактор» Сталинград — ЦДКА. В случае равенства очков чемпионом становилась команда с лучшим соотношением забитых и пропущенных мячей. Для победы в чемпионате ЦДКА было необходимо выиграть со счетом либо 5:0, либо 9:1, либо 13:2 и т. п. В итоге, после победы ЦДКА со счётом 5:0 разность соотношений составила 0,0125: 3,8125 — 3,8.

В этом сезоне снова было нарушено положение о проведении чемпионата СССР по футболу. Команда ВВС была оставлена в первой группе несмотря на то, что по итогам турнира заняла последнее место.

Итоговая таблица

Лучший бомбардир — Всеволод Бобров (ЦДКА) — 14 голов в 19 матчах.

Потуровая таблица

Матчи

Примечания

Ссылки
 Календарь игр
 На www.rsssf.com
 Результаты на WildStat.ru

Чемпионат СССР по футболу 1947
1947

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Ami Clarke will be reading from her on-going script: Error-Correction: an introduction to future diagrams – take 7.3582701: code for the numbers to come with Low Animal Spirits (2017) an HFT algo dealing in world news by Ami Clarke and Richard Cochrane.
Sharon Kivland turns over the record of her work titled, To Dream by the Book, read by a hundred readers (2017), a work that lasts for forty minutes.
Nicola Woodham performs Garg (2017) a shapeshifting vocal ritual.