Sunday, November 30, 2014

My Dream - House of Fraser

"cum per rerum naturam factum negantis probatio nulla sit"
The proof lies upon him who affirms, not upon him who denies.


Okay, I know that you all think I am crazy because I am always talking about what I dreamed, yada, yada, yada. But I am going to tell this dream!

I am somewhere, I can't exactly tell where it is. Maybe a store, a mall, a hotel lobby it seemed to be a combination of all there. And this young man come into the lobby wearing a clearly oversized sear sucker suit.
http://crujonessociety.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/seersucker.jpg
He looked a little bit like this dude in the picture but a little slimmer and the suit was from back in the day and clearly too large for him. He must have thought that I had something to say about it but actually, I remember those suits and thought it quite interesting that anyone would be wearing them now.
He walks over to me and volunteered this information.
"You know, this is one of Bill Cosby's old suits. He let me have it. He is much taller than I am so the pants are a little long, but he wore this a while back. It's a Fraser Men's suit."
I respond, "Really, I didn't know that."
"Yes, Fraser wanted Cosby to wear their suits, it was an endorsement kind of thing."
"No kidding."
"Yep, but after a while Cosby wanted to wear more stylish suits. Fraser suits became more stylish over time. But then Cosby didn't want their endorsement any more, he wanted to wear what he wanted to wear."
By now this young man is fashionably dressed in a very nice suit that was form fitting and more tailored than the old model sear sucker suits were.

 "I can see that." I respond
"Well, that's what put Cosby in trouble. He was going against the agreement. You know, the agreement was that things will keep quiet as long as he wore Fraser suits. You think that's crazy don't you, that something as simple as an endorsement will cause the downfall of a person in the industry, right?"
"Well, yeah, who would think that something like that would hurt anyone. You should be able to say yes or no to an endorsement, correct?"
"Nope, not in the industry, you don't say no to an endorsement. You take the endorsement and keep it moving.
It came out a few years ago, and Cosby made some kind of arrangement with them and things blew over. It came out again and again, Cosby made an arrangement and it died down, but this time, well as you can see, it has gone viral and Cosby is in deep trouble.
This is how it happens. Cosby is at a party, something like this, a gathering or something and there are folks all around. He is dressed rather fashionably and there are young girls all over the place.
One young lady is standing directly in front of him. In fact, she is standing very close to him. Nice looking young lady, I might add.
Cosby puts his hands on the young lady's waist like so." He is now demonstrating using me as the young lady in his story.
"One thing leads to another and the young lady and Cosby end up doing what that kind of thing leads to. They go off and no one says anything, but everyone knows cause they are doing it too. You look around and folks are all coupled off with other folks, and ain't nobody married to them folks cause it ain't that kind of party.
There are also watchers here. They keep the tabs on all the things that are going on. If any of these folks step out of line, well you know what happens. It just was Cosby's turn to go down."
I am incredulous of this story and I quickly remove his hands from around my waist.
"Dude, you got to be making this up, right?"
"Not at all, I ain't making it up, I am telling you what happened to Cosby and what happens to a lot of them folks if they don't tow the line. It's just that simple. In fact, it wasn't just girls."
Here he shows me a picture of Cosby kissing a man. It looked like it may have even been him but I couldn't really make it out in the dream as the face of the other guy was positioned such that it was not discernible.
"Aww, come on dude, Cosby was messing with men too! You must be kidding me, or you are straight up lying."
"Okay, you can believe what you want to believe, but I am not lying, it's the truth, that's all I got to say."

I woke up before I could ask this dude why he was telling me all this. I decide to look it up, Frazier men's suits, believing that my dream wouldn't actually give me the name of something that was really real, I mean even I doubt my dreams sometimes. No matter how many times they show me stuff, information, I just go, okay… But that has been my history with my dreams, I get names and places and stories that turn out to be true. So I look it up and found out that there actually is a line of men's suits call Frazier, the spelling is FRASER. Not only that, these suits are mad in the UK called House of Fraser http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Suits+Tailoring/S213,default,sc.html.


Okay, let me start by saying this shocked me! And then I did a little research on this company.

Well, I wasn't able to find a direct connection of his endorsements, but I find the endorsements he did make quite interesting.

What does Bill Cosby endorse?
According to our research engine:
Bill Cosby's major endorsements are reported to include:
Jell-O
Kodak
Ford
Coca-Cola
E. F. Hutton
Walt Disney World
Texas Instruments
Pasted from http://celebrities.findthebest.com/q/149/926/What-does-Bill-Cosby-endorse

In this article:
BILL COSBY, CELEBRITY FASHION, COSBY, MAURY LEVY, MAURY Z. LEVY,PLAYBOY, PLAYBOY INTERVIEW, THE COSBY SHOW
Bill Cosby: The Playboy Fashion Guide Interview
In Playboy magazine and the Playboy Guides (1979-1989) on September 2, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I found that Cosby's tailor who has made all his suits and fitted him so well for the I Spy series is named Cy Mann and his business is called Cy Mann Clothier, LTD, however it has since been taken over by Sarto Sebastian, and the company is now called Sebastian Tailor… http://www.sartosebastian.com/.

http://www.sartosebastian.com/.
I don't know what happened at this point to Cy Mann or why his business is no longer operating. I couldn't find any connection to the House of Fraser or even why Sarto Sebastian took over the Cy Mann Clothier, Ltd. It was a long day with lots of other information but no direct link. I would read the above listed article because it describes Cosby's propensity towards style and grace in his wardrobe of suits, even though lately he has been dressing more casually. I can only surmise that the dream is telling something about that but not quite sure of the connection to that and this current avalanche of a scandal.



 House of Fraser China deal = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/10744393/House-of-Fraser-Chinese-tycoon-agrees-deal-to-buy-89pc.html
Current CEO John King = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Fraser
• Chinese conglomerate acquires 89% stake in House of Fraser
www.thedrum.com/.../chinese-retailer-acquires-89-stake-house-fraser-48...
• Apr 13, 2014 - House of Fraser executive chairman Don McCarthy will step down from his ... “Since we took the company private in 2006, John King and his team ... closely with [CEO} John King and his management team to enhance the ...

How House of Fraser reclaimed the High Street by (gasp!) listening to its customers
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2645567/How-House-Fraser-reclaimed-High-Street-gasp-listening-customers.html#ixzz3KTzoXDoc 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Last month’s Bafta TV awards saw Judi Dench and Helen Mirren take a back seat as another name stepped into the limelight.
After years of High Street obscurity, the department store House of Fraser staged an almost complete red-carpet takeover.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Amber le Bon, Susanna Reid and Kate Garraway, among others, all wore beautiful swishing floor-length bejewelled gowns sold by the store. It was a fashion coup that, overnight, propelled House of Fraser back into middle-class consciousness.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2645567/How-House-Fraser-reclaimed-High-Street-gasp-listening-customers.html#ixzz3KU01F400
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
In 1959, High Street department store group House of Fraser bought Harrods.

Bitter feud

Mr Al Fayed bought Harrods with his brother in 1985
 In 1985 the store returned to private ownership when Egypt-born Mr Al Fayed and his brother Ali bought House of Fraser for £615m, snatching it from mining conglomerate Lonrho.
Mr Al Fayed bought Harrods with his brother in 1985
The takeover bid was bitterly fought as Mr Al Fayed had previously served on Lonrho's board but left nine months later after a disagreement.
Lonrho's director, the late Tiny Rowland, took his campaign against the takeover to the Department of Trade who duly held an inquiry.
The subsequent report, issued in 1990, concluded that the Al Fayeds had lied about their background and their wealth.
"We are satisfied that the image they created between November 1984 and March 1985 of their wealthy Egyptian ancestors was completely bogus."
The public feud between the businessmen appeared to reach reconciliation in 1993 however Mr Rowland later accused Mr Al Fayed of breaking into a safety deposit box held at the store.
This dispute was later settled with Mr Rowland's wife after his death.
Pasted from http://www.bbc.com/news/10103783

4 Strange, Yet Effective Celebrity Car Endorsements
Mark Frost | Nov 05, 2014 | 0 comments
http://www.automoblog.net/2014/11/05/strange-celebrity-car-endorsements/


Economists Kerwin Charles, Erik Hurst, and Nikolai Roussanov have taken up this rather sensitive question in a recent unpublished study, "Conspicuous Consumption and Race." Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey for 1986-2002, they find that blacks and Hispanics indeed spend more than whites with comparable incomes on what the authors classify as "visible goods" (clothes, cars, and jewelry). A lot more, in fact—up to an additional 30 percent. The authors provide evidence, however, that this is not because of some inherent weakness on the part of blacks and Hispanics. The disparity, they suggest, is related to the way that all people—black, Hispanic, and white—strive for social status within their respective communities.
Pasted from http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/2008/01/cos_and_effect.html>

Big Cosby Endorsements
Criticism[edit]
In 1973, The Village Voice writer Terry Guerin suggested the actor was past his prime. Among the reasons, "making spokesman commercials for such established heels as White Owl cigars and Pan American airlines. He has evolved into a kind of self-parodying sap, the kind of flagrant, perpetual parader Sammy Davis has always been."[62]
"The Noble Cos," a 1986 satirical editorial by Edward Sorel forThe Nation, was written as if told by Cosby himself. It echoed the suggestions of other authors that Cosby has become out-of-touch with lower-class African Americans.[63] Cosby said "So this buddy says, 'I didn't mind your commercials for Jello, Del Monte, Ford cars ... Ideal Toys, or Coca-Cola, although Coke does do business in South Africa ... But, Bill, why do commercials for those crooks at E. F. Hutton?' My buddy didn't understand my commercials improve race relations. Y'see, by showing that a black man can be just as money-hungry as a white man ... I'm proving that all men are brothers."[64]
To magazine Black Enterprise in 1981, Cosby has defended his numerous endorsements thusly:
In this business, many of us are well paid but we are not all that wealthy. You may read 'X-number of dollar goes to so and so,' but remember, everybody takes a cut--the lawyer, the agent, the publicist. If a company comes along and says 'We'd like you to talk about how much you enjoy wearing this warm-up suit,' and the money is right, I'm going to do it. Jell-O was a dessert in my house when I was a kid. My mom served Del Monte fruit cocktail when I was growing up. They want to pay me to say I eat these products, well, I eat them. I came out of a lower economic area, and this is money. This is a business ... show business. A great deal of our careers depends on keeping ourselves in the public eye. I think performers should take advantage of commercial offers if they're satisfied with the product.[3]
Pasted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cosby_in_advertising

Bill Cosby had a vile temper, punched out comic Tommy Smothers and was a hard-partying philanderer caught in a love child scandal that almost cost him his marriage, reveals new book

By CAROLINE HOWE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 11:48 EST, 16 September 2014 | UPDATED: 13:30 EST, 16 September 2014
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2757889/Bill-Cosby-vile-temper-punched-comic-Tommy-Smothers-hard-partying-philanderer-caught-love-child-scandal-cost-marriage-reveals-new-book.html#ixzz3KUi42mtm 


For Bill Cosby, No Escape From the Damage to His Legacy
Pasted from http://variety.com/2014/tv/columns/for-bill-cosby-no-escape-from-the-damage-to-his-legacy-1201360402/

Then after a day of researching on the web I found this little piece that came out November 20, 2014. I had not heard of it and was quite surprised to find it as it related to what was told to me in my dream.

Kirk Cameron.

Another rape allegation has surfaced against famed comedian and actor, Bill Cosby. This time it is from another familiar 80s face: Kirk Cameron.
Pasted from http://www.celebtricity.com/kirk-cameron-files-sex-abuse-charges-on-bill-cosby/

I Spy
"After being appointed Knights Commander of the Most Noble Order of the Scimitar by an Arab king, Alexander Scott jokes to Kelly Robinson, "Well, you just wait till the boys at the Mystic Knights of the Sea lodge hall get a hold of this one." While not a direct Masonic reference, it illustrates the prevalence of unconscious Masonic fictionalization. Episode: Sparrowhawk. First aired: October 26, 1966. Robert Culp, Bill Cosby. Three F Productions, Sheldon Lenard."
Pasted from https://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/fiction/obscurities.html



2011 Cosby quote "I don't feel the need to wear a suit"






But Nana Had Her Dreams!

"Ten years ago there was no social media to speak of, which meant the allegations failed to make their way into the public consciousness. That had all changed by this September, when journalist Mark Whitaker published a biography, Cosby: His Life and Times, which controversially omitted the allegations of sexual assault against its subject. The following month, comedian Hannibal Buress described Cosby as a "rapist" during a stand-up set in Philadelphia; the clip went viral. Inspired by the response to Buress's routine, Bowman penned her account for the Washington Post, and the story ballooned."
Pasted from http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/bill-cosby-rape-allegations-explained/2461714/
"Some notable living memberz are Hank Aaron (once Major League Baseball Homerun king); Tom Bradley (tv personality); Dennis Archor (once mayor of Detroit); Elvin Big 'E' Hayes (NBA Basketball great); Bill Cosby; Jesse Jackson; Earl Graves, Jr. (Black Enterprise); Douglass Wilder (Governor of Virginia); Lynn Swann (NFL Hall-of-Famer), Kweisi Mfume (once head of NAACP), and David Dinkins (once mayor of New York City), to name a few."
Pasted from http://daghettotymz.com/rkyvz/articles/bouleseries/boule1-3roster/boule1/boulept1.html

Hollywood’s sexual predator problem explodes

By Michelle Malkin  •  May 7, 2014 01:28 AM
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2014
"The same industry that sanctimoniously convenes anti-bullying summits with the Obama White House and falsely accuses conservatives of waging a “war on women” has allowed countless children to be stalked, groomed, beaten, molested and raped on casting couches, in movie trailers, and at drug- and alcohol-drenched parties by Tinseltown predators. The alleged child rape scandal exposed by Egan does not exist in a vacuum:
–Last year, child actor Corey Feldman sounded the alarm on rampant pedophilia in a brave, scathing memoir. He recounted how his best friend and co-star, the late Corey Haim, was sodomized by an older male on the set of their hit film “Lucas.” The boys, fed cocaine by a string of predators, attended parties with Hollywood talent manager and child actors’ repMarty Weiss. Now a registered sex offender, Weiss pleaded no contest in 2012 to lewd acts on a child under the age of 14. The victim, another young child actor, alleged Weiss sexually assaulted him between 30 and 40 times from the age of 11."
If all of these sickos had been Catholic priests, college fraternity members or charter school teachers, we wouldn’t have heard the end of it. Perhaps the social justice awareness-raisers in the Hollywood left should take a break from pointing fingers at everyone else — and put a stop to the monsters in their own midst.
Pasted from  http://michellemalkin.com/2014/05/07/hollywoods-sexual-predator-problem-explodes/

TY BURR | COMMENTARY
Why did we ignore Bill Cosby allegations for so long?
Pasted from http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2014/11/20/bill-cosby-conundrum-why-did-look-away-long/2YTejl6WfvRkiIIzP5ZMyN/story.html


CHARACTER FLAW
11.20.14
Newsflash: Bill Cosby Is Not Cliff Huxtable
TV Land has canceled The Cosby Show reruns. Is this a mature expression of understandable judgment, or a bid to erase history while conflating fiction and reality?
Pasted from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/20/newsflash-bill-cosby-is-not-cliff-huxtable.html


BILL COSBY, CELEBRITY FASHION, COSBY, MAURY LEVY, MAURY Z. LEVY,PLAYBOY, PLAYBOY INTERVIEW, THE COSBY SHOW
Bill Cosby: The Playboy Fashion Guide Interview
In Playboy magazine and the Playboy Guides (1979-1989) on September 2, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Pasted from http://mauryzlevy.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/bill-cosby-the-playboy-fashion-guide-interview/

I’m Starting to Wonder if There’s Anyone Bill Cosby  Hasn’t Raped


Bill Cosby To Rape Victim Andrea Constand: "Tell Your Mom You Orgasmed So She Thinks It's Consensual" (Video) {F}

Bill Cosby's fall from grace has been swift and hard. He was once one of the most beloved and respected figures in Hollywood.
Now all he may be remembered for is drugging and raping countless women. Does he deserve worldwide shame? Without question he does. Can his image be rehabilitated? That's highly unlikely.
A 2005 deposition given in a civil suit filed by alleged victim Andrea Constand, paints a picture of a man who is depraved and appears to have no regrets for his actions.

Andrea Constand

Following their encounter, Cosby reportedly told the young woman to "to tell her mom she had an orgasm during sex, to make her mother believe the sex was consensual," TMZ reports.
The former Jello pudding spokesperson also admitted to giving Constand drugs.
The case was eventually settled out of court in 2006.

A deposition from a 2005 lawsuit has Bill Cosby acknowledging using his fame and drugs to prey upon women
  • The deposition is from a lawsuit filed by Andrea Constand, who accused the comedian of drugging and molesting her 
  • Cosby, 78, denied sexually assaulting the victim, whom he also calls a liar, and other women
  • He also discussed paying off victims through his agent so 'Mrs Cosby' wouldn't find out
  • This deposition could change the stance of several people who have supported Cosby throughout the sexual assault allegations 
Never-before-seen excerpts of a Bill Cosby deposition from 2005 show the formerly beloved entertainer explaining in his own words how he used his fame, fortune and drugs to prey on vulnerable women - and paid them off to keep his wife from finding out.
Interviewed in a Philadelphia hotel over four days by a lawyer acting on behalf of then-30-year-old Temple University employee Andrea Constand, Cosby admitted to lying to his doctor about a bad back to get powerful sedatives which he then gave to women before sex.



NB COMMENTARY:


I have been doing some ground work on this thing with Bill Cosby. I am not sure about what you have said here, except to say, that maybe you just don't understand much about PTSD. There is no umbrella knee jerk reaction that all who suffer this can be given. So the idea that they would have come forward years ago discounts the way that they are dealing with their trauma or not dealing with it.

While people aged 18 or 19 may be legally considered adults and able to fight in wars they are not physically and mentally mature. In fact, some folks take a long time to become mentally mature for that matter.
In the Hollyweird  business there are all types of scenarios and we all know that wine, women, sex and drugs are a big part of it. Do I have to prove that? Is it hearsay? Yes. By whom? The Hollyweirdos themselves through various venues.

At 18-19 years old, you have been given bucket loads of what it's like to live high of the hog in Hollyweird. The stars parade before you and you want to be a part of the glamorous life they all seem to enjoy. But they are not privy to the backroom deals, compromises and adulterating things they will have to do to make it to the"Big Top." The adults around them do, they have heard the stories and seen the movies of the real life downfall of these trend setters. These adults warn their children in many cases. At 18 or 19 who listens to adults? Especially if you have determined that adults have no clue about what is happening in the real world outside of their bedrooms.

How many of these young people, 40 years ago are taught about what "rape" really is? How many of them come from broken homes? How many of them come from poverty and are looking for a way out? How many of them are already accustomed to the life style and know their lines? How many of them think that "giving" your body in exchange for a chance is part of what comes with getting ahead? And finally, how many of them realized they were raped after the statute of limitations? Seriously....... how many women right now, realize they are being raped by their husbands/boyfriends when they say "NO" and are ignored?

All I am saying is that, in certain instances, particularly Hollyweird , it's not considered rape, it's consider to be what you do, what is done to you, and what you see happening around you.

In essence, many, many people do this in Hollyweird  and even more people turn their heads the other way, or simply participate. It's the way of the world in Hollyweird .

Sometimes, the stars are bribed and intimidated into uncompromising situations and they too are victims of the greed and vileness of their handlers. Everybody in Hollyweird  is handled by someone. It's not right, but it is a weird normalcy. Who in Hollyweird is complaining about the sex trafficking and prostitution and drug rings that go on? Few if any. And when they do, well they become profoundly targeted. I say profoundly because they are all targeted. It's show business and it's about the money, fame and notoriety, the glamour and the luxuries, the high life and the status, the conspicuous consumption.

Again, how many of them equated it to rape at that young age? How many of them were raped before they got to Hollyweird? How many of them realized  very late that their rage, insecurities, depressions, suicidal tendencies, anxieties, paranoia, etc. had anything to do with their history of being abused by an authority figure, someone they trusted?

I am a Mental Health professional, and in my experience, I have seen it happen over and over again, where the memory of the traumatic situation is erased, skewed or purposely forgotten, and they ain't even trying to get into Hollyweird. There is no other pressure around them but family and friends. Now couple that with family, friends and other celebrities who will come down hard on you for even insinuating such a thing about Bill Cosby.

He wasn't "America's dad"during the initial alleged incidences, but if you know the pathology, many times, once it is not reported or if reported denied, then it becomes an addiction when it first started off as just sick.

And, HELLO!!! on your Cosby wasn't powerful back then, you can't be serious? He was outlandishly powerful with many firsts in this country for any black man during those times. And he had money!!!! Imagine, here we had a culture that would lynch a black man in a heart beat for looking at a white woman, let alone raping her, and he was accepted into the White Aristocracy!! Yep, he was powerful alright, more than you could ever know, unless you are a Black man/woman in America. Black people didn't just come of age without a struggle or slippery dancing to get into the door. Believe me, he was big in the eyes of many people across racial lines and to have him mentor you or help you get ahead was a great honor! Why? Because he was powerful.

So, in conclusion, I appreciate your perspective on this in that it inspired me to write down mine. Whether the media tries and convicts him or not, is irrelevant. Whether he says yeah, I did it or not is also irrelevant. What is most needed is the rape culture being put on blast, especially in how it is played out in Hollyweird, religious institutions, sports and politics. Powerful people are taking advantage of women, men and children across the board. If nothing else, that needs to be addressed. This episode will encourage more disclosure and education on how folks are supposed to act. Whether it changes the complexion of the lifestyle of the rich and famous remains to be seen, but it's a step in the right direction and an important hurdle towards the healing. In these situations, all parties are victims!

 After all is said and done, this photo and the comment below sounds quite eery.


Thursday, November 27, 2014

Activist Post: We Are the Enemy: Is This the Lesson of Ferguson?


We Are the Enemy: Is This the Lesson of Ferguson?


John W. Whitehead
Activist Post






If you dress police officers up as soldiers and you put them in military vehicles and you give them military weapons, they adopt a warrior mentality. We fight wars against enemies, and the enemies are the people who live in our cities — particularly in communities of color. -- Thomas Nolan, criminology professor and former police officer.



Ferguson matters because it provides us with a foretaste of what is to come. It is the shot across the bow, so to speak, a warning that this is how we will all be treated if we do not tread cautiously in challenging the police state, and it won’t matter whether we’re black or white, rich or poor, Republican or Democrat. In the eyes of the corporate state, we are all the enemy.

This is the lesson of Ferguson.

Remember that in the wake of the shooting, Ferguson police officers clad in body armor, their faces covered with masks, equipped with assault rifles and snipers and riding armored vehicles, showed up in force to deal with protesters. Describing that show of force by police in Ferguson, Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, stated, “This was a military force, and they were facing down an enemy.”

Yes, we are the enemy. As I point out in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, since those first towers fell on 9/11, the American people have been treated like enemy combatants, to be spied on, tracked, scanned, frisked, searched, subjected to all manner of intrusions, intimidated, invaded, raided, manhandled, censored, silenced, shot at, locked up, and denied due process.

There was a moment of hope after Ferguson that perhaps things might change. Perhaps the balance would be restored between the citizenry and their supposed guardians, the police. Perhaps our elected officials would take our side for a change and oppose the militarization of the police. Perhaps warfare would take a backseat to more pressing national concerns.

That hope was short-lived.

It wasn’t long before the media moved on to other, more titillating stories. The disappearance of a University of Virginia college student and the search for her alleged abductor, the weeks-long man-hunt for an accused cop killer, the Republican electoral upset, a Rolling Stone expose on gang rapes at fraternity parties, Obama’s immigration amnesty plan, and the rape charges against Bill Cosby are just a few of the stories that have dominated the news cycle since the Ferguson standoff between police and protesters.

It wasn’t long before the American public, easily acclimated to news of government wrongdoing (case in point: the national yawn over the NSA’s ongoing domestic surveillance), ceased to be shocked, outraged or alarmed by reports of police shootings. In fact, the issue was nowhere to be found in this year’s run-up to Election Day, which was largely devoid of any pressing matters of national concern.

And with nary a hiccup, the police state marched steadily forth. In fact, aided and abetted by the citizenry’s short attention span, its easily distracted nature, and its desensitization to anything that occupies the news cycle for too long, it has been business as usual in terms of police shootings, the amassing of military weapons, and the government’s sanctioning of police misconduct. Most recently, Ohio police shot and killed a 12-year-old boy who was seen waving a toy gun at a playground.

Rubbing salt in our wounds, in the wake of Ferguson, police agencies not only continued to ramp up their military arsenals but have used them whenever possible. In fact, in anticipation of the grand jury’s ruling, St. Louis police actually purchased more equipment for its officers, including “civil disobedience equipment.”

Just a few weeks after the Ferguson showdown, law enforcement agencies took part in an $11 million manhunt in Pennsylvania for alleged cop killer Eric Frein. Without batting an eye, the news media switched from outraged “shock” over the military arsenal employed by police in Ferguson to respectful “awe” of the 48-day operation that cost taxpayers $1.4 million per week in order to carry out a round-the-clock dragnet search of an area with a 5-mile-radius.

The Frein operation brought together 1,000 officers from local, state and federal law enforcement, as well as SWAT teams and cutting edge military equipment (high-powered rifles, body armor, infrared sensors, armored trucks, helicopters and unmanned, silent surveillance blimps) — some of the very same weapons and tactics employed in Ferguson and, a year earlier, in Boston in the wake of the marathon bombing.

The manhunt was a well-timed, perfectly choreographed exercise in why Americans should welcome the police state: for our safety, of course, and to save the lives of police officers.

Opposed to any attempt to demilitarize America’s police forces, the Dept. of Homeland Security has been chanting this safety mantra in testimony before Congress: Remember 9/11. Remember Boston. Remember how unsafe the world was before police were equipped with automatic weapons, heavily armored trucks, night-vision goggles, and aircraft donated by the DHS.



Contrary to DHS rhetoric, however, militarized police — twitchy over perceived dangers, hyped up on their authority, and protected by their agencies, the legislatures and the courts — have actually made communities less safe at a time when violent crime is at an all-time low and lumberjacks, fishermen, airline pilots, roofers, construction workers, trash collectors, electricians and truck drivers all have a higher risk of on-the-job fatalities than police officers.

Moreover, as Senator Tom Coburn points out, the militarization of America’s police forces has actually “created some problems that wouldn’t have been there otherwise.” Among those problems: a rise in the use of SWAT team raids for routine law enforcement activities (averaging 80,000 a year), a rise in the use and abuse of asset forfeiture laws by police agencies, a profit-driven incentive to criminalize lawful activities and treat Americans as suspects, and a transformation of the nation’s citizenry into suspects.

Ferguson provided us with an opportunity to engage in a much-needed national dialogue over how police are trained, what authority they are given, what weaponry they are provided, and how they treat those whom they are entrusted with protecting.

Caught up in our personal politics, prejudices and class warfare, we have failed to answer that call. In so doing, we have played right into the hands of all those corporations who profit from turning America into a battlefield by selling the government mine-resistant vehicles, assault rifles, grenade launchers, and drones.

As long as we remain steeped in ignorance, there will be no reform.

As long as we remain divided by our irrational fear of each other, there will be no overhaul in the nation’s law enforcement system or institution of an oversight process whereby communities can ensure that local police departments are acting in accordance with their wishes and values.

And as long as we remain distracted by misguided loyalties to military operatives who are paid to play the part of the government’s henchmen, there will be no saving us when the events of Ferguson unfold in our own backyards.

When all is said and done, it doesn’t matter whose “side” you’re on as far as what transpired in Ferguson, whether you believe that Michael Brown was a victim or that Darren Wilson was justified in shooting first and asking questions later.

What matters is that we not allow politics and deep-rooted prejudices of any sort to divert our efforts to restore some level of safety, sanity and constitutional balance to the role that police officers play in our communities. If we fail to do so, we will have done a disservice to ourselves and every man, woman and child in this country who have become casualties of the American police state.

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute where this article first appeared. He is the author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Camille Cosby, Another Victim of Controversy?

To be honest, I was trying to figure out what it was about this whole situation that made me feel a deep sadness withing my self. How can this be? Cosby? A sexual predator? The man who made me laugh throughout my childhood and the same man whom I shared that laughter with my own children? This man?

Well of course we know what happens behind closed doors in Hollywood, it's no big secret, it ain't even a conspiracy theory. It's fact, pure and simple. Men prey on women, women prey on men, and let's not forget what happens to the under aged youth who end up in this mess. But something about this made me feel a deep sadness and this article, see below, helped me get it. It's Camille.


Dr. Camille Cosby

She is such a beautiful person. Why do I say that? How do I know? Because my group, the "Voices Of Africa" Choral and Percussion Ensemble performed at their daughter's Erinn's wedding at their beautiful Elkins Park Estate. That's how I know. It was Camille who made it a beautiful experience for all of us. She was gracious, loving and kind and through it all, as it was shortly after their son, Ennis, death.

VOA @ Errin Cosby's Wedding, circa 1998


She was radiant and absolutely breathtaking in her appearance and demeanor and despite all the legal papers we had to sign swearing us to secrecy that we would not breath a word of it, or tell even our closest friends that we were there, she made sure we were featured in the middle section of the Jet Magazine. That was Camille. And after that she supported us with donations so that we could go to Ghana, West Africa! How do I know that? She hugged me and I felt her.

But I must agree with this writer, quiet as it's kept, while it may be the end of the road for Cosby's career, it's the end of the road for the life of denial that she lived for 50 years. How does one so beautiful, so poised and so committed to her family and husband live a lie for 50 years and survive it?

Too often in cased of child molestation, sexual assault and sexual indiscretions perpetrated by the men, and even women in this society, the person who is most hurt and most traumatized by it is the wife, spouse or partner of the accused. Particularly, if they are the public face of the perpetrator. How do they look themselves in the mirror, day after day, month after month, year after year counting on to 50 years???

What has to be the deepest incessant turmoil that goes on in the family for a woman, spouse or partner that decides to stay despite it all? Can that destructive pain and denial have a face other than sheer goulish nightmarish horror? Where do they put their true feelings, their true face, their true rage?

Who can have any semblance of trust ever again for a spouse or partner who completely humiliates you before the eyes of the entire world? A secret that is guarded by them that is not a secret at all, but a blatant slap in the face and a devastating assault on all that you may describe as integrity?

Coming up from under this shroud may be the best thing to happen for Camille or maybe the worst. Today we have Social Media. It can take a tiny grain of sand and transform it into a meteor hurling through space to strike and destroy the entire earth! In a heartbeat, even the most pristine of public images can be tarnish beyond repair. With Social Media, even Camille can no longer be in denial of what has been happening in and to her life for 50years.

Was there anything that she could gain from being by the side of this man, Cosby? Why did she stay after she learned of the first discretion and affront to familial trust? She was young, inexperienced, a mother of five and eventhough she eventually acquired her own stature by going to college and getting a PhD, she discarded, only on some levels, Cosby Shadow, and carried her own. In fact, she adorned her own in the glamor of her own beauty, poise and grace. She hid behind her own wall.

Camille is and was no slouch. She had gained her own place in the sun and it was quite clear while we were in their presence who ran the show around there. She conducted every thing. She managed everything. She made everything happen. But, she did not step outside of the boundaries to decry, how painfully insensitive and dibilitating Cosby's behavior was. We felt it, there was a war going on. The undercurrent of protestations and rankling was real and quite present. I felt it. Other events insued afterwards that confirmed my intuition about this war that I will not go into, but I could see past the plastic smiles. Having been married myself, I could sense that something was a bit amiss in the Cosby household.

No matter how much lipstick you put on a pig, it's still gonna be a pig. And now, the clearing, the cleansing and the erasing has begun. My heart breaks for Camille. She did that for 50 years and unlike nowadays where we have these celebs with open marriages or consecutive marriages, we are looking at a woman who came up in a time where marriage was a sacred union, till death do you part, even if the marriage itself is a death sentence.

A beautiful flower, plucked from the garden and placed in a plastic sheeting to last, for all to see. My Beloved Camille, may you find your true voice and your true love, YOU!





Camille Cosby, another victim of controversy? (Opinion) - CNN.com

Editor's note: Blue Telusma is a Washington-based writer for theGrio.com, an online venue devoted to perspectives that affect and reflect the African-American community. Follow @theGrio on Twitter or like it on Facebook. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. Follow her on Twitter.
(CNN) -- Camille Olivia Hanks was studying at the University of Maryland when she met Bill Cosby in the early '60s. He was doing stand-up comedy in Washington when the two were set up on a blind
date. They fell in love and she left school to support his burgeoning career in entertainment.

By 1964, the two were married and they would go on to have five children together. In 1997, their son Ennis (who inspired the character Theo Huxtable) was murdered, and a few years later Dr. Camille Cosby did a one-on-one with Oprah explaining how she'd eventually been able to find joy after mourning the loss of a child.

Throughout that interview it was so clear that you were looking at the real-life Clair Huxtable that even Oprah seemed a bit star-struck by her poise and grace.

During her 2000 appearance on Oprah, Camille revealed:
"I became keenly aware of myself in my mid-thirties. I went through a transition. I decided to go back to school, because I had dropped out of college to marry Bill when I was 19. I had five children, and I decided to go back. I didn't feel fulfilled educationally. I dropped out of school at the end of my sophomore year. So I went back, and when I did, my self-esteem grew. I got my master's, then decided to get my doctoral degree. Education helped me to come out of myself."

When asked why she wasn't content to just settle for being the wife of a famous entertainer she continued:
"I don't know exactly what it was, except that for me, integrity is important. For me friendships are important, family is important, and it is a blessing if we can have monetary benefits. That's wonderful, and I love it. But I have to have the security of people who really care about me, and me about them. I want to be surrounded by people who have integrity. And, of course, my name is Camille, not Bill."

That was a beautiful answer. But a lot has changed since then. These days, Camille Cosby is standing alongside her husband during what may turn out to be the worst month of his long career.

For the last few weeks, the beloved TV dad who used to sell us Jell-O pudding pops has been at the center of an ever-growing scandal. He has canceled several appearances, Netflix has postponed the launch of his stand-up special, NBC nixed plans for a new comedy show, and this week Janice Dickinson became the latest woman to make allegations against him; telling E News that he raped her in 1982 after she'd done a stint in rehab.

Cosby is arguably the most successful African-American performer in television history, but this isn't the first time he has found himself under scrutiny for extramarital affairs.

In his biography, "Cosby: His Life and Times,"  Mark Whitaker makes mention of the legendary comedian's "roving eye" and even tells an anecdote about how he finally cut back on his womanizing by breaking up with his long-time girlfriend. Now it seems those softball admissions about having a weakness for beautiful women may have been shrouding something much more sinister than an affair.

From thegrio.com: Dear Bill Cosby, heed your own advice and be accountable In the last decade alone, more than a dozen women have accused Cosby of rape or sexual assault. No formal charges have ever been successfully filed, so even with all the media speculation, these claims are technically only allegations. But there is one person in this melee whose anguish is virtually indisputable: his wife, Camille.

So how does a woman like that end up spending 50 years of her life beside a man who is now alleged to be a serial rapist? One can only imagine the embarrassment she must be experiencing through all this. But her dilemma is a lot more common than you may think.

In a world that asks you to be a mother, a wife, a businesswoman and an alluring sexual being, women grapple with finding the balance between respecting themselves and prioritizing their relationships. While many say they would leave a spouse who cheats, experts estimate that approximately 50-75% of couples rocked by an affair stay together.

There are many reasons why some women choose to stay: the fear of being alone, financial dependency, belief that they can alter the behavior of their mate, professional status of their partner, deep emotional investment and family obligations.

It is hard enough to come back from infidelity in private, let alone when you have the added stress of being a public figure. Both Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Edwards have weathered similar storms with men they devoted their lives to. And one could argue that it is a lose/lose situation for any wife
who finds herself in that position: If you stay, people judge you for not standing up for yourself, and if you leave there is endless speculation about why your marriage failed.

But this isn't just a simple case of being cheated on. There are some very serious stories coming to the forefront from those who describe Cosby as a sexual predator, who for decades allegedly drugged and violated young women who looked up to him as a mentor.

During one of Cosby's old routines, he actually jokes about drugging young women.

Coincidentally the set is from his album "It's True! It's True!" which was released in 1969, the same year Joan Tarshis claims he drugged and raped her.

We can only speculate on what Camille's reasons are for staying in her marriage, when she found out about each rape claim, or whether she believes in her husband's innocence. She's been stoic and tight-lipped through all this, exuding the unflappable composure that she is known for.

During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, many believed that had Hillary Clinton left her husband, his political career would have collapsed. Hillary Clinton may have well understood that her marriage wasn't just a union between a man and a woman but a much larger political machine. Perhaps Camille Cosby, who is equally responsible for her husband's career, feels a similar responsibility to maintaining the legacy and philanthropic institution she and her husband have built together.

Few knew that in the original "Cosby Show" pitch, Bill had planned to have Heathcliff be a limousine driver who was married to a Latina handywoman. Programming executives weren't too thrilled with that idea, but it was Camille who convinced her husband to go in another direction.

According to another excerpt in Whitaker's book:
"The producers felt strongly that both [parents on the show] should be college graduates. As Cosby had proved in his stand-up act, the war of wits between parents and children was even funnier if the parents thought of themselves as highly intelligent people.

"Finally, shortly before 1 in the morning, Cosby said the words that made Carsey think that she might be getting someplace: 'I think my wife would agree with you.'

" 'You will not be a chauffeur!' Camille said when he briefed her on the meeting. 'Why not?'

Cosby asked. 'Because I'm not going to be a carpenter!' Camille said."

That snippet gives a rare glimpse into the type of bond these two have, and also illustrates that Mrs. Cosby has not just been her husband's muse, but also a trusted adviser who keeps his career on track, behind the scenes.

Sunday when NPR host Scott Simon asked Cosby about the resurfaced rape charges, he was met with a wall of silence. Later on, Simon admitted to CNN that during that awkward moment in the interview, the one thing he couldn't do was look at Camille.

"I did not look at Mrs. Cosby, and I don't mind saying I might've been a little uncomfortable doing that anyway," Simon said.

That's what many find so unsettling about all this: the deafening silence of it all. The same man who has spent years waxing poetic about every social issue under the sun has now fallen completely mute on us, with his equally reticent wife by his side.

The Cosbys' union remains seemingly stable through half a century of life's ups and downs, and as someone who respects the institution of marriage I find that commendable. But when does the adage of "stand by your man" go too far?
I'm rooting for black love as much as the next person -- but not like this.