Black people can never expect Justice. That is why the family of Tyrell Wilson who was murdered in cold blood by a Danville cop have wasted no time. The family filed a lawsuit in Federal court today. 

The saddest part is that that the courts will never bring Tyrell Wilson back to life.

Instead, the killer cop walks the streets a free man.

Diane Wilson, Tyrell Wilson’s mother grieves her son’s murder by Danville cop

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 4.6.2021

The family of Tyrell Wilson, a 33-year-old Black man shot by a Danville police officer last month, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.

“Instead of protecting life, defendant Hall murdered Mr. Wilson, with malice aforethought,” the lawsuit by civil rights attorney John Burris states.

People express sadness and outrage over murder of black man by Danville cop

It comes a day after a bystander’s cellphone video surfaced, showing Wilson and Danville police Officer Andrew Hall standing feet apart in the intersection of Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon, shortly before noon on March 11.

Wilson family attorney  Burris displayed large still frames from the video that showed the position of the two men before and after Hall fired his gun while addressing reporters at the Sycamore Park and Ride parking lot near the site of the shooting.

Burris emphasized that he seldom labels a shooting as murder, even if he disagrees with the officer’s actions. “I don’t make that argument very often, but I do make it here,” the attorney said. “This is a situation which was clearly avoidable.”

Wilson’s mother, Diane Wilson, stood behind Burris in the parking lot, along with other family members, advocates and a pastor from the nearby city of Antioch. Through tears, she characterized her son as a kindhearted person with no history of aggression.

“I do not want to see the video,” Diane Wilson said. “I want my last thought and pictures of my son to be the beautiful man he is — or was.”

In addition to demanding unspecified damages, Burris seeks Hall’s termination, which would be up to the sheriff’s office — not the court.

The complaint alleges a series of missteps by the officer — such as not attempting to create space between himself and Wilson, and not taking cover after Wilson allegedly drew a folding knife. It contends that Hall “never made any effort to use reasonable de-escalation tactics, instead shooting Mr. Wilson in the face.”

In the wobbly recording, Hall appears to step toward Wilson as Wilson backs away. For a moment, the cellphone camera dips behind the door frame. When it gets both men back in sight, Hall fires once and Wilson collapses on his back.

Doctors pronounced Wilson dead six days after the shooting, on March 17.

Hall had driven to the area that morning to respond to several calls at 11:48 a.m. reporting a person throwing rocks from the Sycamore Valley Road freeway overpass onto Interstate 680. When he arrived, Hall found Wilson standing in the street.

While police have released no evidence so far linking Wilson to the alleged rock throwing, the department published still photographs on its Facebook page of the unhoused man identified as Wilson clutching a knife in his right hand and gripping a shopping bag in his left.

Police said that Hall yelled commands for Wilson to drop the weapon, and that Wilson began advancing toward him.

Tyrell Wilson – murdered by a cop.

Hall remains on administrative leave.

His attorney, Michael Rains, said the officer has requested a new assignment with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, which has a contract to provide police services in Danville.

Hall is awaiting a charging decision from District Attorney Diana Becton for a separate killing in 2018 when he fired 10 rounds through the windshield and passenger side window of fleeing motorist Laudemer Arboleda.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/Family-of-Tyrell-Wilson-sues-Danville-over-fatal-16081816.php#photo-20835273

Top photo – During a march to Danville Police Department headquarters, Veronica Benjamin points to where Tyrell Wilson was fatally shot by the same police officer who shot and killed Laudemer Arboleda in November 2018.

Where is the Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton? She needs to do her job and indict this killer cop. It is beyond the pale that a subhuman like this cop, Andrew Hall, is allowed to walk the streets. He should be in jail.

It is a stinging indictment of the American law enforcement system that such a horrid man is walking the streets and responsible for protecting the public.

It’s a disgusting outrage. I can’t even bring myself to watch this video of this murder.

The comments by the killer cop’s lawyer, Michael Rains, a proverbial go to hired gun for out of control cops, is equally appalling. He is excusing the murderous behavior of his client.

Top Photo – A video captured by a motorist who declines to be identified depicts the shooting of homeless man Tyrell Wilson, who was shot at point blank range by Danville police officer Andrew Hall on March 11, 2021 in the intersection of Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon. Wilson died six days later in a local hospital. The officer contended that Wilson was armed with a folding knife he had refused to relinquish and that he had advanced toward Hall, giving him cause to shoot.

San Francisco Chronicle 4.5.2021

A video obtained Monday by The Chronicle shows the fatal shooting by a Danville police officer of 32-year-old Tyrell Wilson, a homeless Black man who had been staying near a public parking lot used by carpoolers.

Wilson died on March 17 at a local hospital. Civil rights attorney John Burris, who represents Wilson’s family, said that after seeing the body, he concluded that Hall had shot Wilson in the face.

“It’s startling,” Burris said of the video. “It’s hard to watch what took place… The video confirmed to me that Wilson was not an aggressive person.”

The video, taken by a witness to the shooting, does not appear to capture Wilson advance toward Officer Andrew Hall, as Danville police said he did before he was shot on March 11. It shows the two men facing one another, standing feet apart shortly before noon that day at Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/Exclusive-Video-shows-Danville-police-officer-16079082.php#photo-20831758

Stanford knows how to excite its fans and drive them near exasperation.

Just like Friday’s win against South Carolina the women of Stanford had to fend off a last second shot by Arizona to claim its third national championship.

The radio announcer, after it was finished and done, said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer looked more relieved than overjoyed.  That’s the truth.  It’s her third national title since taking over the reins as coach in 1985.

San Francisco Chronicle 4.4.2021

San Antonio, TX. Nearly three decades after the program won its second national title, the Stanford women’s basketball team has earned its third.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – APRIL 04: Members of the Stanford Cardinal celebrate the team’s win against the Arizona Wildcats in the National Championship game of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on April 04, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Stanford’s Haley Jones celebrates her team’s victory over Arizona in the national title game Sunday.

Head coach Tara VanDerveer and the Cardinal withstood a strong defensive effort from Arizona to pull out a 54-53 decision in the championship game in San Antonio on Sunday.

Stanford’s Cameron Brink and Lexie Hull run past Arizona’s Aari McDonald after McDonald misfired on her last-second shot, allowing the Cardinal to hold on to win 54-53 in Sunday’s national championship game.

In San Antonio The Stanford women survived a potential last second disaster to defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks and moved onto the NCAA championship game on Sunday against Arizona.

Start watching the video at 12:00. It’s something to behold.

Top photo – Stanford players rejoice after sophomore forward Aliyah Boston missed a putback at the buzzer that would have given South Carolina the win. The Cardinal advance to Sunday’s championship to face Arizona.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 4.3.2021

Stanford’s quest for a national championship nearly slipped from its grip in the final nine seconds of Friday’s Final Four matchup with South Carolina in San Antonio.

The Cardinal, though, will play Arizona on Sunday for the third NCAA title in program history, courtesy of two missed point-blank shots by the Gamecocks in the final frantic moments.

Easter is this Sunday. Deutsche Welle takes a  look at the current influence of the Catholic and Protestant churches in Germany.

How Christian is Germany? Judging by a sharp decline in church attendance, not very. But a look at tax revenue, board memberships and land holdings suggest that its two biggest churches still have a wealth of influence.

Photo above – Barbara Sukowa (left) and Heino Ferch (right) in the movie ‘Vision’

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 4.1.2021

The right for churches to collect a de-facto membership fee in the form of a tax dates back to 1919, when the Weimar Republic introduced the measure to counter the financial aftermath of the separation of church and state.

The rate is currently set at 9 percent of one’s income for members above a minimum income threshold. The money helps keep parishes, church employees, daycares and other properties afloat.

Germany once had front-row seats to some of the most significant developments in the history of Christianity

4. Land holdings also boost church wealth

Assessing the churches’ wealth is a tricky and tangled business due to their extensive land holdings and reparation payments they receive from the states.

The two churches own at least 830,000 hectares  (8,300 square kilometers or 3,200 square miles) of land, according to an estimation by church critic Carsten Frerk, whose number is often cited by German media.

5. Church widely represented in public matters

Another reason Catholic and Protestant interests are so visible in German society is the seats church representatives are granted on supervisory boards across a wide variety of organizations. There, the churches sit alongside other interest groups such as conservationists, union leaders, and experts from a range of fields in the name of representing an important demographic.

6. Fewer Christians believe in the core tenets of their faith

When asked by German pollster INSA in 2017 if they believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, only 52 percent of Catholics and 48 percent of Protestants said yes. When asked if they believed in life after death, only 40 percent of Catholics and 32 percent of Protestants said they did.

Additionally, the research institute Emnid asked Christians whether they believed in God. Roughly 24 percent of Protestants and 11 percent of Catholics said no, according to the newspaper Tagesspiegel.

This is an updated version of an article first published in 2018.

https://www.dw.com/en/6-facts-about-catholic-and-protestant-influence-in-germany/a-43081215

The San Francisco School Board member who has been the subject of heavy criticism for her Tweets is pushing back.  HARD.

Alison Collins just dropped a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit on her fellow Board members along with the School District itself. This tempest pitting a Black woman against the San Francisco power structure has now become a national, if not international, news event.

In brief. Ms Collins is strenuously, to say the least, disputing the allegations that her Tweets were anti-Asian and racist

In her Federal lawsuit a quote by the famous German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöeller is affixed to the Complaint.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 3.31.2021

A San Francisco school board member accused her colleagues and the school district in a suit Wednesday of retaliation, saying they violated her free speech rights by stripping her of her position as vice president and removing her from committees over tweets she posted in 2016 about Asian Americans.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, Alison Collins seeks $72 million in general damages from the school district and the five board members who supported a no-confidence vote against her, plus $3 million in punitive damages from each of those same board members.

Every Picture Tells a Story – This time a Story of Courage – 3.30.2021

Kneeling before them in the dust of a northern Myanmar city, Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng begged a group of heavily armed police officers to spare “the children” and take her life instead.

The image of the Catholic nun in a simple white habit, her hands spread, pleading with the forces of the country’s new junta as they prepared to crack down on a protest, has gone viral and won her praise in the majority-Buddhist country.

“I knelt down … begging them not to shoot and torture the children, but to shoot me and kill me instead,” she said on Tuesday.

Her act of bravery in the city of Myitkyina on Monday came as Myanmar struggles with the chaotic aftermath of the military’s overthrow of the civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on 1 February. As protests demanding the return of democracy have rolled on, the junta has steadily escalated its use of force, using teargas, water cannon, rubber bullets and live rounds.

Protesters took to the streets of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, on Monday wearing hard hats and carrying homemade shields. As police started massing around them, Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng and two other nuns pleaded with them to leave.

“The police were chasing to arrest them and I was worried for the children,” she said.

It was at that point that the 45-year-old nun fell to her knees. Moments later, as she was begging for restraint, the police started firing into the crowd of protesters behind her.

“The children panicked and ran to the front … I couldn’t do anything but I was praying for God to save and help the children,” she said.

Myanmar: stop military killing protesters, envoy tells security council

First she saw a man shot in the head fall dead in front of her – then she felt the sting of teargas. “I felt like the world was crashing,” she said. “I’m very sad it happened as I was begging them.”

A local rescue team confirmed to AFP that two men were shot dead on the spot during Monday’s protest, though it did not confirm whether live rounds or rubber bullets were used.

On Tuesday, one of the deceased, Zin Min Htet, was laid in a glass casket and transported on a golden hearse covered in white and red flowers. Mourners raised three fingers in a symbol of resistance, as a musical ensemble of brass instrument players, drummers and a bagpiper in crisp white uniforms led the funeral procession.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/09/shoot-me-instead-myanmar-nuns-plea-to-spare-protesters

Americans lack discipline.  Americans want to return to a normal life.

Sadly elected officials in many States are encouraging this dangerous behavior. Go to entertainment events, eat at restaurants and party, again.

The Director of the Centers for Disease Control Dr. Rochelle Walensky (shown above) today issued a stern warning.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2021/03/29/cdc-walensky-warning-30-million-cases-vpx.white-house/video/playlists/coronavirus/

Put your party time on the shelf. The Pandemic is still with us and people need to behave with caution.

CNN 3.29.2021

Much of America’s recent progress against Covid-19 has been erased as new infections jump nationwide.

And the combination of young, carefree revelers and states ditching safety mandates has helped send the country backward, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“What we’re likely seeing is because of things like spring break and pulling back on the mitigation methods that you’ve seen now,” Fauci told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

The great news is all three vaccines being distributed in the US appear to work well against the B.1.1.7 strain. But with only 15.8% of the US population fully vaccinated — and anti-vaxxers and vaccine hesitancy preventing America from returning to normal faster — it’s time for a reality check.

“Now is one of those times when I have to share the truth, and I have to hope and trust you will listen,” Walensky said.

“I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom … We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope. But right now, I’m scared.”

Before she became CDC director, Walensky was on the front lines of the pandemic, witnessing some patients die from Covid-19.

“I know what it’s like as a physician to stand in that patient room — gowned, gloved, masked, shielded — and to be the last person to touch someone else’s loved one, because they are not able to be there,” she said.

The US has come “such a long way,” Walensky said, pleading with all Americans to keep masking up and “hold on a little while longer” as more people get vaccinated.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/29/health/us-coronavirus-monday/index.html

It took nearly six days of herculean efforts, a full moon and an unusual high tide to unblock the marooned ss Ever Given. In less than a week the impact on trade between Asia and Europe was significant. Nearly 400 vessels containing virtually every type of cargo, including livestock, used for human consumption were literally dead in the water.

Excerpted from New York Times 3.29.2021

ISMAILIA, Egypt—The vast container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for six days was freed and began moving north to an anchor point Monday, opening the critical waterway, as hopes grew that global supply delays will ease.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi cast the operation as a national triumph in remarks he posted to Twitter earlier Monday.

“Today, Egyptians have proven that they are always responsible, and that the canal their ancestors died for, and which their fathers defended with their lives, bears witness to how Egyptians always decide their fate according to their will,” he said.

Engineers raced throughout the day to finish the job of dislodging the Ever Given after partially refloating the ship at dawn, taking advantage of an unusually high tide to make the job easier.

Passover 3.28.2021

The people who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law.

The people who killed her were following it.

Top photo – Schindler’s List (1993)