The Department of Justice USA Patriot Act.

The Department of Justice's first priority is to prevent future terrorist attacks. Since its passage following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Patriot Act has played a key part - and often the leading role - in a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of life. While the results have been important, in passing the Patriot Act, Congress provided for only modest, incremental changes in the law. Congress simply took existing legal principles and retrofitted them to preserve the lives and liberty of the American people from the challenges posed by a global terrorist network. The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Congress enacted the Patriot Act by overwhelming, bipartisan margins, arming law enforcement with new tools to detect and prevent terrorism: The USA Patriot Act was passed nearly unanimously by the Senate 98-1, and 357-66 in the House, with the support of members from across the political spectrum. The Act Improves Our Counter-Terrorism Efforts in Several Significant Ways: 1. The Patriot Act allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking. Many of the tools the Act provides to law enforcement to fight terrorism have been used for decades to fight organized crime and drug dealers and have been reviewed and approved by the courts. As Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) explained during the floor debate about the Act, "the FBI could get a wiretap to investigate the mafia, but they could not get one to investigate terrorists. To put it bluntly, that was crazy! What's good for the mob should be good for terrorists." (Cong. Rec., 10/25/01) • Allows law enforcement to use surveillance against more crimes of terror. Before the Patriot Act, courts could permit law enforcement to conduct electronic surveillance to investigate many ordinary, non-terrorism crimes, such as drug crimes, mail fraud, and passport fraud. Agents also could obtain wiretaps to investigate some, but not all, of the crimes that terrorists often commit. The Act enabled investigators to gather information when looking into the full range of terrorism-related crimes, including chemical-weapons offenses, the use of weapons of mass destruction, killing Americans abroad, and terrorism financing. • Allows federal agents to follow sophisticated terrorists trained to evade detection. For years, law enforcement has been able to use "roving wiretaps" to investigate ordinary crimes, including drug offenses and racketeering. A roving wiretap can be authorized by a federal judge to apply to a particular suspect, rather than a particular phone or communications device. Because international terrorists are sophisticated and trained to thwart surveillance by rapidly changing locations and communication devices such as cell phones, the Act authorized agents to seek court permission to use the same techniques in national security investigations to track terrorists. • Allows law enforcement to conduct investigations without tipping off terrorists. In some cases, if criminals are tipped off too early to an investigation, they might flee, destroy evidence, intimidate or kill witnesses, cut off contact with associates, or take other action to evade arrest. Therefore, federal courts in narrow circumstances long have allowed law enforcement to delay for a limited time when the subject is told that a judicially approved search warrant has been executed. Notice is always provided, but the reasonable delay gives law enforcement time to identify the criminal's associates, eliminate immediate threats to our communities, and coordinate the arrests of multiple individuals without tipping them off beforehand. These delayed notification search warrants have been used for decades, have proven crucial in drug and organized crime cases, and have been upheld by courts as fully constitutional. • Allows federal agents to ask a court for an order to obtain business records in national security terrorism cases. Examining business records often provides the key that investigators are looking for to solve a wide range of crimes. Investigators might seek select records from hardware stores or chemical plants, for example, to find out who bought materials to make a bomb, or bank records to see who's sending money to terrorists. Law enforcement authorities have always been able to obtain business records in criminal cases through grand jury subpoenas and continue to do so in national security cases where appropriate. These records were sought in criminal cases such as the investigation of the Zodiac gunman, where police suspected the gunman was inspired by a Scottish occult poet, and wanted to learn who had checked the poet's books out of the library. In national security cases where use of the grand jury process was not appropriate, investigators previously had limited tools at their disposal to obtain certain business records. Under the Patriot Act, the government can now ask a federal court (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court), if needed to aid an investigation, to order production of the same type of records available through grand jury subpoenas. This federal court, however, can issue these orders only after the government demonstrates the records concerned are sought for an authorized investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a U.S. person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a U.S. person is not conducted solely on the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment. 2. The Patriot Act facilitated information sharing and cooperation among government agencies so that they can better "connect the dots." The Act removed the major legal barriers that prevented the law enforcement, intelligence, and national defense communities from talking and coordinating their work to protect the American people and our national security. The government's prevention efforts should not be restricted by boxes on an organizational chart. Now police officers, FBI agents, federal prosecutors and intelligence officials can protect our communities by "connecting the dots" to uncover terrorist plots before they are completed. As Sen. John Edwards (D N.C.) said about the Patriot Act, "we simply cannot prevail in the battle against terrorism if the right hand of our government has no idea what the left hand is doing." (Press release, 10/26/01) • Prosecutors and investigators used information shared pursuant to section 218 in investigating the defendants in the so-called “Virginia Jihad” case. This prosecution involved members of the Dar al-Arqam Islamic Center, who trained for jihad in Northern Virginia by participating in paintball and paramilitary training, including eight individuals who traveled to terrorist training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan between 1999 and 2001. These individuals are associates of a violent Islamic extremist group known as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET), which operates in Pakistan and Kashmir, and that has ties to the al Qaeda terrorist network. As the result of an investigation that included the use of information obtained through FISA, prosecutors were able to bring charges against these individuals. Six of the defendants have pleaded guilty, and three were convicted in March 2004 of charges including conspiracy to levy war against the United States and conspiracy to provide material support to the Taliban. These nine defendants received sentences ranging from a prison term of four years to life imprisonment. 3. The Patriot Act updated the law to reflect new technologies and new threats. The Act brought the law up to date with current technology, so we no longer have to fight a digital-age battle with antique weapons-legal authorities' leftover from the era of rotary telephones. When investigating the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, for example, law enforcement used one of the Act's new authorities to use high-tech means to identify and locate some of the killers. • Allows law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant anywhere a terrorist-related activity occurred. Before the Patriot Act, law enforcement personnel were required to obtain a search warrant in the district where they intended to conduct a search. However, modern terrorism investigations often span a number of districts, and officers therefore had to obtain multiple warrants in multiple jurisdictions, creating unnecessary delays. The Act provides that warrants can be obtained in any district in which terrorism-related activities occurred, regardless of where they will be executed. This provision does not change the standards governing the availability of a search warrant but streamlines the search-warrant process. • Allows victims of computer hacking to request law enforcement assistance in monitoring the "trespassers" on their computers. This change made the law technology-neutral; it placed electronic trespassers on the same footing as physical trespassers. Now, hacking victims can seek law enforcement assistance to combat hackers, just as burglary victims have been able to invite officers into their homes to catch burglars. 4. The Patriot Act increased the penalties for those who commit terrorist crimes. Americans are threatened as much by the terrorist who pays for a bomb as by the one who pushes the button. That's why the Patriot Act imposed tough new penalties on those who commit and support terrorist operations, both at home and abroad. In particular, the Act: • Prohibits the harboring of terrorists. The Act created a new offense that prohibits knowingly harboring persons who have committed or are about to commit a variety of terrorist offenses, such as destruction of aircraft; use of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons; use of weapons of mass destruction; bombing of government property; sabotage of nuclear facilities; and aircraft piracy. • Enhanced the inadequate maximum penalties for various crimes likely to be committed by terrorists: including arson, destruction of energy facilities, material support to terrorists and terrorist organizations, and destruction of national-defense materials. • Enhanced a number of conspiracy penalties, including for arson, killings in federal facilities, attacking communications systems, material support to terrorists, sabotage of nuclear facilities, and interference with flight crew members. Under previous law, many terrorism statutes did not specifically prohibit engaging in conspiracies to commit the underlying offenses. In such cases, the government could only bring prosecutions under the general federal conspiracy provision, which carries a maximum penalty of only five years in prison. • Punishes terrorist attacks on mass transit systems. • Punishes bioterrorists. • Eliminates the statutes of limitations for certain terrorism crimes and lengthens them for other terrorist crimes. The government's success in preventing another catastrophic attack on the American homeland since September 11, 2001, would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, without the USA Patriot Act. The authorities Congress provided have substantially enhanced our ability to prevent, investigate, and prosecute acts of terror 

When it's convenient to be Black!

TBR-Leighton Bradford, Editor-in-Chief

The one thing that should irritate a righteous Black person, is someone who is Black, when it's convenient to be Black! The last election cycle was about the US dynamic between White men & Black women. Massa & the slave mistress are at odds with each other. Lock up a brother until we figure it out. Don't get me wrong, I admire a strong Nubian queen. As long as it's not about a willie lynch type of divide and conquer!

The media props up teleprompting reading vixen's, who announce the taking away of the freedoms of a Black man. Be it Uncle or Tom, the paper defines the implicit role. Demanding a supposed Black male leader reveal his soul, so as to work towards his demise? They demand you speak! So, we can figure out how to destroy your ass! Sippin on the spirits, does not vanquish the heathen! The interracial aspect is tired when it comes to Hatin on a strong Black family structure. You find love where it resides. Just because it's Black! Does not deny the implicit other! 

 Most profiled Blacks within interracial or materialistic relationships, are Black when it's convenient to be Black. Raise your son not to switch; but fight the injustices of our people! I have a philosophical or rhetorical question? How many Black female leaders have been executed as opposed to Black male leaders? Believe you me this author is as fallible as they come. When Black heterosexual men stick together, we are unstoppable! We must respect and protect God fearing righteous Black women! The European male probes the heavens, while the Black man derives abstract meaning from a sporting event & entertainment. I refuse to be a martyr for the hypocrite! There will still be taxes on Wednesday. Silence is golden when it comes to the revelation of a tired black man. A segment will rejoice, when this brother dies. And then came the critics!

AIR FORCE HISTORY: The Black Swallow of Death and the world’s first black fighter pilot

• 

   Eugene Jacques Bullard was born in 1894 in Columbus, Georgia

  
  Published Feb. 17, 2017
• By Howard E. Halvorsen
• Air Force Sustainment Center Historian

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  

America’s first black aviator did not fly for the country of his birth, America, but for his adopted country, France. Eugene Jacques Bullard was born in 1894 in Columbus, Georgia, and was the seventh of 10 children born to a black man from Martinique and a Creek Indian woman. Eugene said his father was an educated man who worked hard as a laborer but took the time to properly raise and teach his children, often in his native French, especially after Eugene’s mother tragically passed away when he was five. His father’s stories often told how in France every man is accepted as a man regardless of the color of his skin. When Eugene Bullard’s father was nearly lynched, this child of only eight years old decided to leave home and find this magical place: France.

It was 1902 and the young man wandered all over the southeastern United States doing odd jobs. At one point he displayed some skill in horseracing as a jockey and was able to put a little money away. When he was 12 years old he stowed away on a German ship bound for Scotland. After some hard times doing odd jobs, he found himself in Liverpool, England, where he was able to become a skilled boxer. Through years of lifting weights he went from bantam weight, to lightweight and eventually fought as a welterweight in both England and France. His first bout in France, boxing in Paris at the Elysee Montmartre, was Nov. 28, 1913. From the moment he first set foot in France he knew this was the place he belonged, and that first visit cemented his long-held aspiration of moving to Paris.

He ended up touring Europe with a traveling act called “Freedman’s Pickaninnies,” but he settled down in Paris and was soon employed in the world of boxing. Bullard picked up languages easily and helped set up matches for other boxers using his translating skills, in addition to his own boxing career. He finally had found his place on this Earth, making the most money he ever had in his life in a place that accepted him as a man. In fact, he found living in France “convinced me too that God really did create all men equal, and it was easy to live that way.”

Into this idyllic life, world events came crashing in. War. The Great War — what we call World War I today. Bullard was eager to serve for his adopted country, and on his 19th birthday he joined his fellow American expatriates in the French Foreign Legion, the toughest unit at that time in the world. Soon after training he was assigned to a unit that contained 54 different nationalities and fought in the toughest battles of the war. One unit with whom he served were referred to as “The Swallows of Death.” The fierce and lucky Bullard quickly became known as the “Black Swallow of Death.” The Legion often led the way which led to frightful numbers of casualties. For instance, at the Battle of Artois Ridge, Bullard’s company lost 80 percent of its strength. Later in September of the same year, 1915, 94 percent were lost in the Champagne Offensive. It was during the Battle of Verdun on March 5, 1916, that Bullard received the wounds that removed him from the ground war and subsequently awarded The Croix de Guerre and Médaille Militaire.

It was during his convalescence in Lyons that two interesting life events happened. One was his first bit of fame when he was interviewed by Will Irwin of The Saturday Evening Post. The second was the opportunity to become a flier. It was thought that Bullard’s wounds would keep him from walking again, but an American friend bet him $2,000 he could not get into aviation (he would never be able to rejoin the infantry) and become a pilot. He soon earned his wings on May 5, 1917, and collected his money. This made Bullard the first black fighter pilot in history.

He was soon assigned to the Lafayette Escadrille and was happy to find respect and friendship regardless of race and nationality. In this spirit, Corporal Eugene Bullard painted a red bleeding heart pierced by a knife on the fuselage of his Spad. Below the heart was the inscription “Tout le Sang qui coule est rouge!” Roughly translated it says “All Blood Runs Red.” His first mission was on Sept. 8, 1917, and he never missed a mission until the war ended. After the United States entered the war he took a flight physical and applied for a commission to fly for his home country, but the application was ignored. Fellow flying heroes like George Dock recalled him to be a humorous, brave, and self-reliant man and Charles Kinsolving noted that Bullard had no fear. Happily, all wars end…even this one. He decided to remain in Paris and soon married a French countess and fathered three children, though one passed soon after birth.

Normally that would be the end of the story. Yes, he opened a famous nightclub, Le Grand Duc, where Paris’ most famous entertainers would perform for the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gloria Swanson, and England’s Prince of Wales but that is not where the story ends. Once again, world events came crashing in. In 1939, war once again threatened the nation that had been so good to him. As a widowed father of three, it would have been easy for most to sit the war out. Instead, in July 1939 he joined the French Resistance. He was good with languages, including German, and was quite successful as the Germans pompously thought that no black man could properly understand their language. He even worked with the famous French spy Cleopatra Terrier and others.

However, at last German troops began to overrun Paris, so the single father of two fled with his children away from the fighting to Orleans only to find himself under fire there as well. He joined uniformed troops and quickly found himself both wounded and the only one left alive. Resistance friends doctored his wounds and smuggled him and his daughters to Spain where he was later medically evacuated to the United States. He was thrilled to finally be back home and became an elevator operator in Rockefeller Center, a position he would hold until he retired. Americans saw him every day and did not know they were in the presence of greatness. France never forgot.

In 1954, Bullard was requested to help relight the Eternal Flame of the Tomb of the Unknown French Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe. In 1959 he was named Knight of the Legion of Honor in New York City and was interviewed on the Today Show. President-General Charles de Gaulle, while in NYC, publicly embraced Bullard as a true French hero in 1960 when Bullard was 65 years old. Two years later, in 1961, Bullard lost a fight to an illness caused from the many wounds he received in wartime. Again France did forget as, with the tri-color of France draping his coffin, he was laid to rest with full honors by the Federation of French War Officers at Flushing Cemetery in New York. On Aug. 23, 1994, the USAF posthumously commissioned him a lieutenant. During his lifetime, Eugene Ballard was awarded 15 French war medals, including the Knight of the Légion d’honneur, Médaille Militaire, Croix de Guerre, Volunteer’s Cross (Croix du combatant volontaire), Wounded Insignia, World War I Commemorative Medal, World War I Victory Medal, Freedom Medal, and the World War II Commemorative Medal.

Sources include Air and Space Power Journal, Black Art Depot, “All Blood Runs Red” by Henry Scott Harris.

 

The epiphany of man

TBR-Editor-in-Chief

TBR-Leighton Bradford, Editor-in-Chief

The fundamental quest for a life free from crime and tyranny resides around becoming the apparent standard for our existence! We must sever the ties between law enforcement and organized crime.  Unless the ethnicity of man commits to countering organized crime; and the social degradation that ensues, you are signing a contract that guarantees hell.  Delving into an honest explanation, begins where an unsatiable appetite for drugs has transformed our existence. The demand for this nasty habit persists. No matter the ethnicity, we are all one. I see the shores beyond my existence and freedom abounds. 

 A hard decision goes beyond an individual intervention. We must secure our borders and give alternative options to drug producing entities! Create a treatise on narcotics. Reward eco-manufacturing and micro business to the impoverished. Negotiate GATT directives.  Increase the professional and moral cops' salaries. The police should have free lodging, healthcare and groceries. An incentive not to be tempted by illicit means. We need a national citizen review board for law enforcement. There has to be some accountability. 

Why don't my Hebrew brothers help us come to terms with the Black holocaust. Individuals of African descent are still feeling the effects. We are one. Individuals of African descent control a trillion dollars of GDP, but we still allow these "awe shucks" and jack leg preachers to dictate policy. My grandparents once told me "The last refuge for the scoundrel, is the pulpit"! To my brothers, we have to honor our women and get them out of these cowardly situations. These brothers are not going to risk the cleanliness of their tailored suits to fight or protect us from tyranny. Passing the plate is not paying someone in distress bills. Life has humbled me, one foot up, one foot down.

The oligarchs are approaching. The spheres rise from hell to place doubt on a heterosexual man's existence. There are brother's that would rather switch than fight! An epiphany of understanding lounges upon the pain caused by violence, crime, drug dealing and the ensuing ills of an apparent social degradation. The nigga with sacrilegious markings on his body and sagging pants has become the twisted standard for Black male prowess. Size does not make the man. If your removed off your square because someone ridicules you about your height, weight, finances, meditate. Know thyself. My brethren shall squash the beef. It's about a legitimate financial portfolio.

When we have a well-educated, attractive, credentialed Black woman running for the highest position in the land, rebuke the Blackman in a relationship; it's time to reassess our standing as Blackmen. We can't except the hustle "MY NIGGA"! Pushing weight or the street distinction of a chemist detracts from the Black family structure! Lord have mercy, the "dreamed deferred" of individuals of African descent. Our culture has had the patience of Job. A Black man's patience should be worn thin with our existence.

 

Introducing "Soul Solace"

Thank you from Mr. Bradford 

TBR-Leighton Bradford, Editor-in-Chief 

 http://soulsolace6463.wordpress.com/2010/12/28/soul-solace-by-leighton-bradford-excerpt-from-book/

Nima will now be introduced; Malik’s lady, cute, and loves her some Malik. Malik and Nima are engaged to be married. Nima is terribly funny, the life of the party; W.T. likes Nima listen, “Malik is that my button, ask her where her mama is?” He also likes her fine as wine mother, Black women are like wine, and the older they get the more robust da flava? A mystery that adjust to her abrupt surrounding. Nima is sassy, yet delicate as the soft petal of a flower. Her purpose remains ahead no doubt, her obstacles a few behind. Ever present faith, not a shame to confess her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.


Malik and Nima are the quote, unquote salt of the earth. Both were raised down south; mostly collard greens and ribs, and a whole lot of love. Nima, Nima go ahead with ya bad self; moreover, the host of men track her essence, that sistah you dream of, too good to be true, so similar to mama. A distinct persona, with the ability to change the hearts of men. Said memory stays a little while, it lounges, it rests just so. Brother down the street likes what he envisions. Nima is no different in many regards, than say Sage or Mandee; you just have to be there to understand! Malik, my man is playing Anita Baker, her melody plays like a distant memory. He has love on his mind, as the music prepares your soul for deliverance.

As the chords play out ever so softly, life is contemplated, his place in it, and the girl of your dreams. Heaven has paid us a visit, so it seems. Every time you think of that thing that keeps you tossing and turning at night; restless is the desire, restless. Malik sits down and writes Nima a poem:

Singular purpose and my mind glides around your thoughts.

Speak tenderness, perpetual love thang no doubt.

There are no boundaries for our midst.

So the visual aspects of flesh adhering to one another.

Clean lines struck to silence, because my love it’s all about you.

Wasted motions; presumed humanity, waning act of unadulterated caress.

I may vibe female menagerie, caught up in the movement, on the secondhand analogy, to the sheer vision that lies before me. Placement of my hand towards the small of her back, til’ round midnight I will let go.

Because my love it’s all about you

Hope to change the world with what God reveals to my soul. I just can’t take it anymore. The depths of misery known to all brothers’ whom and have loved. Don’t let her know tho, she will have you in the palm of her hand. Then she said, “Hear me Blackman it’s all about you.”

Tight curves on an anatomy that is heavily endowed. Clandestine touch reaching on the fringe of a pause. A slowing effect on a couples overall surreal occupation. Rhythm and sounds alleviates the refrain. Formulated continuum for us to enjoy. Elevated mind; because obviously its love!


All Rights Reserved Intellectual Property Of Leighton Bradford (BE

And then came the crisis

TBR-Op-Ed Leighton Bradford, Editor-in-Chief 

[Previously written article posted by request. 2011v2]

Regardless of the medium of operation or the manner by which its observed; Americans are within their deepest despair! The economic situation is so difficult for the multitude of our country's citizens, it must be compared to the depression of the 1930's. The current economic crisis is just as insidious as any terror plot. The lack of jobs and opportunity, become a direct attack on our national security. It seems helping veterans is not En vogue as well?

These returning heroes are not receiving the respect they ultimately deserve. Why is homelessness, un-employment and suicide so rampant within this segment of our society? The epic struggles of President Obama's administration; mirrors President Franklin D. Roosevelt's battle, with the Great Depression and WWII! Where is the paper? A common questioned asked by many. The criticism of the President from Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley intrigues me? I mean we are a democracy, your take on things is allowed. Man! Well educated men not offering any solutions, interesting. If they were President, what would they do?

President Lincoln had the intestinal fortitude and will, keeping our nation together. President Obama has the guts to defy the conventional wisdom of critics; moreover, an attempt to create the groundwork and the opportunity to chase the American dream. How similar are the leadership styles between FDR and President Obama? A war being wage on several fronts, along with economic stagnation, coincide with FDR and the countries historically systemic problems. If Bernanke and Geithner can't inject capital relief, what is the use of their services? President Obama needs a new deal of our era. The stock market is fundamentally a house of wares or concentrated mercantilism. It should not have such an influence on our economy. Maybe legislation should be passed requiring diversity within the various financial markets. If one takes a hit; the blow would be diffused, by the other entities. A sort of Sherman Act of Financial Markets. Warren Buffet told talk show host Charlie Rose housing upstart's or construction, maybe the central catalyst, within a recovering economy?

Newt Gingrich opposed almost everything Clinton tried to accomplish. President William Jefferson Clinton still reigned in the deficit and created a surplus! President Clinton had a somewhat willing Gingrich, and bi-partisan support, achieving this goal. How do we get there economically? Small business, trade reform, managing the relationship with the EU and the middle class, will save our economy. The average working American needs help! Interest rates will spike, bringing the pain to an already troubled housing market. The ever-widening gap between the haves and have nots will expand.

The subtle extinction of the middle class and the affluent working class is tantamount to a present-day feudalism! Conservatives are urging their corporate captains, to take measures that will make the president look bad. The bailout worked! President Obama's administration saved capitalism! Lenin and Marx haunt the corridors of the Federal Reserve, enticing the proletariat and hemming up the bourgeoisie. History will place President Obama among the elite presidents. Put him on Mt. Rushmore! What else is there to do? (TBR)

**************************
The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release August 10, 2011 Readout of the President's Meeting with Chairman Bernanke

The President and Chairman Bernanke met today in the Oval Office to discuss the economy and global recovery. They were joined by Secretary Geithner, Chief of Staff Daley and NEC Director Sperling. The President and the Chairman discussed the outlook for the recovery and for jobs as well as fiscal issues, including the need to tackle long-term deficit reduction. They also discussed the situation in Europe. This was the third time the President met with the Chairman this year.
[Intellectual property of White House--Press release] TBR

The Mountain Top

TBR-Editor-in-Chief Leighton Bradford

Our country is being ravaged by the inherent biasedness and inequalities of our fundamental existence. The social media generation uses technology to counter the effects of social upheaval. The police killings of Blacks created a social upheaval. Not to mention coming of age during the economic crisis.  Let's not forget to mention Covid-19. There is going to be a PAX AMERICANA, unless we counter the assault on heterosexual relationships. The Obama/Biden administration spent too much time on non-heterosexual issues and not issues significant to individuals of African descent! I applaud their saving of our democracy. The aforementioned generation has to win. Some of them have the patience of Job. I try not to be so hard on my kids or aka millennials or Generation Zer's! I was blown away by their exorcism of the digital divide. They took it to the streets!  My God! This generation has been hit with an epic, global continental crisis.  

 

A number of small, digital, flexible businesses have emerged. They took a negative financial situation and turned it into a nimble adapting business model. The world erupted--after the police shootings of specified individuals of African descent and the rest of America.  I have nothing but respect and admiration for the aforementioned group. They understand white supremacists are trying to quail the Black Messiah! Any spiritual messenger loves all of humanity. 

 Individuals of African descent have a God given and constitutional right to defend themselves. I ask assuredly where are our fundamental leaders? Let's reach out to Brazil, the Carribean, and Africa. We need to understand the effects of the African Diaspora! 

The epic war in Ukraine transcends ethnicity. Their struggle mirrors the fundamental struggle for Black self-determination.  God bless Ukraine!  I respect and admire my fellow European Americans who respect me. TheBradfordReview argued the need to include them within the EU/NATO years ago!  Supremacists are using alternative lifestyle choices to undermine Black prosperity! Black women need to challenge their fundamental power. Black women are the backbone of our race! It's about how you physically came into this world. 

 What is the tactical and strategic plan for reparations, and a respected existence? And then came the movement.  Individuals of African Descent within the USA, need to report criminal activity.  Just because you speak Spanish as an individual of African descent does not mean you are Spanish/European. The U.S. census creates a demographic subterfuge as it relates to the coming together of Indvidual's of African descent. The US should not allow this to become a calculated effort to divide and conquer. Demand reparations for the historical effects of slavery! Similar to my beloved individuals of Hebrew descent. Black people need to explore and open a dialogue with Mali/Kemet/Egypt. Mali/Kemet/Egypt is our homeland or heritage! Egypt, Mali, South Africa, Nigeria and Timbuktu are worth striving for similar to Israel. Africans need to embrace one initiative that President Nelson Mandela sacrificed his freedom for! This initiative revolves around individuals of African Descent unifying and staving off the horrific effects, of the African Diasporic slave trade. 

This generation of individuals of African descent need to secure NUCLEAR POWER! Nuclear power plants, technologies, and renewable energies that promote a healthy ecology.  Individuals of African descent need to adopt cyber control of our interest. Black people need to control their own means of production. Individuals of African descent need to come together and put our differences aside and adopt a Pan-African Tribunal and liaison to the United Nations. Defend our Black leaders with a social contract, identifying points of contention. We need to argue the sound construct of reparations!    

United Nations Letter of Concern

 To:        United Nations Association (Canada)

               309 Cooper Street Suite 300

               Ottawa, ON K2P0G5

From:    Leighton Bradford

Within my analysis and observation of ensuing injustices against humanity; I plead with this international body, to help my people free ourselves from the disproportional high rate of incarceration of Black men, within the United States and its borders. It is no coincidence that within the United States, several constitutional violations have occurred involving under-representation, Habeas Corpus infractions, 9th Amendment violations surrounding excessive fines and bails, cruel and unusual punishment, the denial of procedural due process, etc...

Peace becomes the sanctioned love of anyone who deplores violence. The constitution becomes an ever-eroding piece of parchment, if the basic human rights of Black men are not acknowledged. Privatized prisons warehouse Black Souls, as if an individual should become a lucrative venture, traded as though it were cotton, on a given Stock Exchange. My spirituality professes the mutual respect and admiration of at least a decent human being, Irregardless of race, creed, economic standing, and previous condition of servitude. 

Oppression becomes camouflage by the certain niceties of modern living. Dear heavenly Father, I humble my soul so as to accept the blessings that true freedom allows. The aforementioned passages express the hope I have for humanity, and this entity's ability to provide a means of conflict resolution. Freedom is a natural right of every human being residing on this earth. It becomes the responsibility of the gifted and strong to commit to this purposeful ideal. I am offering my God given abilities to save my people from the effects of tactical genocide. A moratorium on race and suffering within the United States must begin with the cease and desist of privatized prisons and the creation of a legal defense fund for the down-trodden, oppressed and abused. Young Black men have a right to exist with all of the rights afforded any human being.

The racial profiling of Black men must come to an end. Violence serves no purpose to an individual who respects self. I would be so apt as to placing this issue within the global framework, of crimes against humanity.

Respectfully,

Leighton Bradford

Leighton Bradford contribution to UPSCALE magazine

                                                     

                                                       

Editor: Leighton Bradford, Article Houston LaVida News

TBR - Leighton Bradford, Editor-in-Chief - originally published Houston/La Vida News

Popular culture is ever so reluctant to let Tupac Shakur go despite the death of the entertainer a short time ago. Is there any correlation between his death and the working towards the demise of other leaders? Are Black male leaders being purged from American society, making way for an ideal or premise that coincides with white supremacy?

 During the time of Jesus, a ruler by the name of Herod engaged in what was described as infanticide of male hebrews. Ron Brown (Fmr. Secretary of Commerce), Tupac Shakur, Mickey Leland, El Hajj Malik Shabazz, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Garvey and Huey Newton are a number of Black men silenced for whatever reason.

What will this become, yet another conspiracy theory? Or will society come to grips with this disturbing trend? Another variable within this equation revolves around the high incarceration and death rate of Black men. How can a scholar or African leader live with the destruction of hope? There also remains the short list of Black men hemmed up over trumped up charges and imprisoned because of it. If only we could see into the past, maybe the future. What would we do? Maybe adjust flaws of character, and bring back Moses? Are any of these acts or actions related? What measures will some take to keep power out of the hands of Africans? Geo-political destabilization of Africa and America may benefit a white supremacist ideal; our old friend divide and conquer rears its ugly head. The aforementioned issues suggest fault--I ask candidly, who is to blame? There is a belief that certain elements within American society are administering policies which seek to destroy or destabilize the American Black male.

Young Blackmen are not being nurtured to hold power. So similar are the tactics of Herod, attuned with the shadowy enemy of a would-be messiah. Is there a direct correlation between a male leader of African descent, and an effort to work towards his demise? In college, some taught the varying aspects of logic, be it deductive  or inductive. Why not borrow from this concept, and begin to look further in what has been suggested. Maybe it's a coincidence that so many Black male leaders have been assualted. W.E. B. Dubois spent his mature years in Accra, Ghana. Dubois may have washed his hands of society's treatment of individuals of African descent. Hopefuly life for young Black men can be productive and prosperous so long as King Herod doesn't get a hold of them. Our current leaders have yet to devise a plan which embraces the young Black male, in an apprentice like posture, preparing them for leadership. So many questions, so few answers--our faith shall respond to all.