Sunday, March 13, 2016

Native Americans challenge Corporate & government greed.

On July 21, 2015 a convoy from out west calling themselves the Apache Stronghold traveled first to New York City and then to DC to protest the giveaway of their sacred lands - National Forest land - for copper mines. It is very important to understand the historical importance of this event. The American Indian Movement took hold among student groups in the 1970s but it took until now for the message to go forward, regarding indigenous rights and protection of the environment.

Photographer Kimora Merritt Brass took an iconic photo of a native woman wielding a traditional bow and arrow in Times Square, standing up for the sacred Oak Flats.

Members of the Apache Stronghold marched from Lafayette Square on Tuesday morning to the West Lawn of the US Capitol to mark the end of a spiritual journey across the country to protest a bill snuck in as a rider in the National Defense Authorization Act by Senator John McCain, and Arizona's junior Senator Jeff Flake, which was approved by Congress in the closing hours of its last session. That rider traded away Apache sacred land to allow a massive copper mine.

The caravan left Arizona in early July, traveling some 2,000 miles as part of a growing movement to save Oak Flat, where native people have held religious and coming-of-age ceremonies for generations. The copper mine would leave a huge crater - 1.8 mile wide and wipe out streams, springs and wildlife habitat. The caravan was in New York City's Times Square on Friday and arrived in Washington this Monday evening. The Apache Stronghold caravan arrived at the U.S. Capitol to conclude their spiritual journey on July 21, 2015.

Tuesday's event marks the final destination of the convoy's journey from Mt. Graham to Oak Flat in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona to Washington, DC. Apache Stronghold stopped at Native American reservations along the journey gathering prayers and strength, arrows and eagle feathers, building awareness of the Oak Flat issue as well as recognizing that many Tribes have the same or similar issues with the protection of their sacred sites. More than 480 Tribes and many environmental organizations, outdoor recreation enthusiasts, animal rights groups and religious congregations support saving Oak Flat. The group hoping to Save Oak Flat is supporting a bill introduced by Congressman Raul Grijalva to repeal the awful bill passed in December.

On July 22, Wednesday, a group of women including grandmothers went to the capitol building to talk to Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, who has "a record of intolerance and saying vicious things against Native Americans," about statements he made in a letter.

The group of women journeyed to Washington, DC to voice their displeasure on the add-on legislation tugged into the $585 billion National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 that gives land at Apache Leap and Oak Flat in southeastern Arizona to Rio Tinto, foreign mining company, to mine. Part of a larger group called Apache Stronghold, the women earlier rallied on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol to call for the reversal the add-on legislation.

Rather than speak with Mrs. Cassadore and the other ladies and Apache Stronghold members with her, Rep. Gosar responded by hiding behind a locked door and calling the Capitol police, threatening to have Mrs. Cassadore and her friends immediately arrested.

Apache Stronghold spokesperson Wendsler Nosie, Sr. told the press, "There is no excuse for his mistreatment of the Apache grandmothers and young ladies who came to his office. Cowering behind a locked door, refusing to come out, and then calling a squad of policemen to sweep those gentle ladies away is just terrible. Rep. Gosar should apologize for that, as well as for his strange and insulting 'Dear Colleague' letter."

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1612.htm


Natural Health Care Practitioners Murdered, Disappeared

When I first read the news on June 23, 2015 that renowned autism researcher, Jeff Bradstreet, MD was found face down in a river with a gunshot wound to the chest and that it had been ruled a suicide, I was skeptical but could accept that the "vaccines cause autism" doctor could be driven to suicide in the same way that the "germs cause infections" doctor was committed to a mental institution where he killed himself after being scorned by the medical establishment.

Bradstreet had dedicated decades of his life to treating autism as a vaccine injury caused by mercury poisoning. Later the FDA tried to tote thimerosal as a safe alternative to mercury, but Bradstreet debunked their claim in his practice, which successfully helped many people with autism through chelation, a nutrition-based way of helping the body expel the mercury.

Dr. Bradstreet faced professional scorn as a result of his research and practice. In 2004 his work was dismissed by the Institute of Medicine, which was paid by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to produce a report rejecting any association between autism and vaccination. He was also ridiculed for mercury detoxification treatment by a special master in vaccine court.

The Epoch Times [ TheEpochtimes.com/n3/blog/doctor-vaccine-injury-ies-60 ] reported that "shortly after an FDA and DEA raid on his clinic in Buford, Georgia, Dr. Bradstreet suddenly died. The FDA - which continues to maintain that thimerosal is safe despite contrary evidence produced by him and other researchers - would not comment on why its agents visited his clinic.

An investigation is ongoing and a fundraising effort has been set up by his brother "To find the answers to the many questions leading up to the death of Dr. Bradstreet, including an exhaustive investigation into the possibility of foul play."

The doctor's wife does not believe it was suicide. Lori Bradstreet writes on their gofundme page that her husband "was tirelessly dedicated to his family and treated his patients as family. He was a champion for the truth. He was a fighter and would never just quit. His desire to be "the voice for those had no voice" was evident in all he did. What we were told happened really does defy all reason. Thank you for all your help to find the truth."

It stopped looking like suicide to me after several other natural health doctors also mysteriously died in the days following. It has started to look like doctors who question the safety of vaccines are being systematically murdered. Other doctors have also gone missing the past few weeks too.

Dr. Bruce Hedendal, DC PhD, died suddenly on June 21 in Boca Roton, Florida. He had had a recent meeting with the feds, was investigated and charged shortly before he mysteriously died. This doctor was healthy and fit, friends say, with a thriving practice. Hedendal, also an anti-vaccine advocate, was found dead in his car, but there was no accident nor was the car running.

Then on June 29, popular holistic doctor Teresa Ann Sievers, MD in Bonita Springs, Florida was gruesomely murdered while she was home alone. Neighbors reported hearing her scream. Lee County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday they were pursuing several leads in connection with the slaying. They reassured locals that no threat to the general population exists and that the murder was targeted, not random, but remained "tight-lipped" about their investigation.

Around the same time, on June 19, three Mexican doctors, Dr. Raymundo Tepeque Cuevas, Dr. Marvin Hernández Ortega, Dr. José Osvaldo Ortega Saucedo and their attorney, Julio César Mejía Salgado, were found dead in the back of a pick up truck in Acapulco. The doctors worked at a community hospital. Hours before their deaths, the Mexican doctors had also been in contact with government officials. The Mexican government is also acting strangely. Family and friends are demanding full, transparent investigations. Cecilia Ortega Solórzano, mother of Hernández Ortega, says officials returned the wrong corpses, too eager to close the case.

"The day we were told about the bodies, we went to identify them, but they didn't belong to our relatives, who have been missing for four days. These corpses were decaying as if they have been dead for 15 days," she said.

Dr. Deborah Gilmaker, is another alternative doctor who was murdered five months ago had told people she was being covertly targeted, and was pleading for help from the government.

Also mysteriously missing as of June 29 is physician and preventive health advocate Dr. Jeffery Whiteside, in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. Door County Sheriff's Department is reportedly looking for Dr. Whiteside, last seen in the Ephraim area at a family vacation home.

Dr. Patrick Fitzpatrick, 72, a retired opthalmologist who had practiced in North Dakota, went missing in Montana around July 3rd. NBC reports that the vehicle and trailer of Dr. Fitzpatrick were found abandoned next to a pea field Saturday.

Right now, there are laws in most states allowing parents to exempt their children from being vaccinated but certain lobbyists are clamping down trying to change laws and create public drama.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1613.htm

Encounter Groups Organizing Students: Muslims and Zionist Jews

I have for a long time advocated that there is no better way to encourage revolutionary thinking except through student groups, especially nowadays when we have long established student organizations plus new technology to link everyone in the country and abroad on social justice issues. The enemy such as Hillel has top down command structure to organize and energize every Jew in the country to care about any cause even as obscure as "slavery in Sudan" or "sweatshops in Pakistan." As soon as one of their leadership comes up with a game plan, every related student organization is going to get active in trying to convince church and synagogue of the cause they want to promote.

Communist Party groups have a lot of activities that a person could join if they enjoy going to protests or political history group studies. Student groups define public opinion.

The student organization structure is the most important and efficient political organizing tool available for anyone with a cause. The YMCA obviously caught on to this line of thinking because they actually funded my 16 year old son to go to a social justice leadership training program this summer for free, staying in the college dorms of Nazarene College. Naturally they spent one out of five days defining gender as a continuum but what my son understood of the discussion was that you should not be mean to confused people. They also discussed racism, sexism, classism, etc and defined the terms so that the young people could understand the linguistics of their approach, which seems to be leftist.

My son's basic experience of the summer camp was a lot of emotional support to get the kids to express how they feel about themselves, their background, experience with racism, sexism and so on. It was a chance for them to say what they have never been allowed to say before, in a group situation that was very encouraging. My son felt he broke some boundaries past his fear of public speaking. I learned from hearing about it that he feels that he does not know enough about his ethnic background to even try to represent what people think when they look at him and might want to ask about it. The experience of being expected to explain who one is, can be stressful especially to young people who are still searching for the answer to that question.

Even though I appreciate the goals of race and gender politics, we have to realize that America is like a garbage dump of people who left their country. We are the riff raff of global society. The most important part of being American and coming of age is realizing that nobody cares about you. You are totally on your own. There are beautiful merits to that approach to life too. Think of how much the sea cares about the fishermen catching the food you will later buy. The sea does not care about you and nor does politics. All a person can do is gain skill riding the waves.

Those who feel they benefited from this week long emotional and learning experience are now invited to attend weekly meetings with the goal of establishing student organizations in their various learning institutions, including high schools.

When I was in college, I belonged to the Muslim Students Association. At Wayne State University in Detroit, we had our own mosque, our own building on campus to make wudu, attend jummah, and hopefully organize. The Board of Directors was overseen by the older generation of Egyptian and Pakistani Muslim Brotherhood alumni but completely was run by the students, who even vacuumed and cleaned. toilets. But it was not only about having a place to pray.

The MSA always required a handful of students to volunteer for roles like President, Vice President, General Secretary... I was the Publication Secretary one year late 90s.

The thing with the MSA is like the Green Party today. All you have to do is show up at your first meeting and they want to appoint you to something. They really need fresh blood. Once you have a position you will be affiliated with an organization, which means you have common ground to communicate with other chapters and also you can state that you legally represent your members.

For example, you could send off a fax to your local Representative saying you represent the Muslim Students Association or any organization you decided that you belong to, and you might likely get a meeting to discuss issues with some person representing the government. You cannot do this unless you represent an organization. That is why you must join, or create one.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1615.htm

Dr. Dhafir Helped Iraqi Orphans. He got 22 years for "unauthorized" Charity.

I was very honored to have met with Dr. Rafil Dhafir on Saturday August 15, 2015 at the Federal Medical Center prison in Devens, Massachusetts. Dr. Dhafir is the founder of the former Islamic charity, Help the Needy, which supported orphans in Iraq during the brutal post-Gulf War time when Iraqis were literally starving to death. Even though Christian organizations were also accused of breaking the sanctions on Iraq, Dr. Dhafir, now 67, was criminally charged for running an unauthorized charity and sentenced to 22 years in prison, 13 of which he has already served. His current release date is April 26, 2022. He has been at Federal Medical Center at Devens, MA for the past four years, I just learned. I decided to pop by for a visit.

For those wanting some background information on the charity doctor's case, I recommend: http://www.dhafirtrial.net/about-the-case/dhafir-sentencing-tatement/ where he proclaimed:


"The day will come when people will realize what we did in managing HTN. They will realize that this is the way a relief NGO should be run, selflessly, by dedicated people who will not milk it, work tirelessly and frugally, literally saving every cent that they receive and spend it only for its intended use and on top of that give their own money to facilitate its functions...

"After learning that the government had illegally spied on our most intimate lives, I told my wife that I feel like a naked man walking along Main Street. She in return told me that she feels like she was in a fish bowl. I will never forget that day when she was, in this court, describing how she was attacked by over 80 agents with guns to her head threatening and terrorizing her, some heartless people from the government were laughing and giggling in the back of this court. My Quran tells me about these people "Those who were wicked used to laugh at those who were righteous. And whenever they passed by them, used to wink at each other in mockery. And when they returned to their people, they would return jesting. And whenever they saw them, they would say, "Behold! These are the people truly astray!" But they have not been sent as keepers over them. But on this Day the righteous will laugh at the wicked. On throne of dignity they will command. Will not the wicked have been paid back for what they did?"

In a Dec. 18, 2006 letter to author Katherine Hughes, Dr. Rafil A. Dhafir wrote about his previous incarceration in CMU Terre Haute:

"No one seems to know about this top-secret operation until now. It is still not fully understood.The order came from the Attorney General himself. The staff here is struggling to make sense of the whole situation. There are 16 of us, all Muslims but two, with one non-Arab Muslim. We are housed in what we are told was the holding area for those on death row!!!!! We are told this is an experiment, so the whole concept is evolving on a daily basis." http://www.wrmea.org/2007-may-june/dr.-rafil-a.-dhafir-at-tere-haute-prisons-new-communications-management-unit.html


My visit with Dr. Dhafir was brief, under one hour, but great. He looks waaaaay better than I imagined he would look after so much time. In fact he looks better than most of the other inmates half his age. Whatever his health problems are, he comes across as a strong person, and with sound and sharp mind.

I was not able to press for a lot of details and he seemed like he didn't want to be a complainer, so he only briefly explained that he had been sent to SHU for no reason, in the past, and that he had filed complaints. And now the prison is claiming that they have no paperwork or documents about his complaint that he submitted. He is determined to keep complaining. I am not clear on the details of who he is going to complain to about his original complaint being "lost." It sounded like he had legal representation handling that. I did not ask, and he did not offer any information as to whether he had fears for his physical safety or if his main fear was being sent again to SHU.

There was some general discussion of the thin line between killing people and medical neglect. He said the prison doctor was coming to work drunk and nobody was reporting him. The place is run by incompetents. There is one prisoner there who is 100 years old. People in wheelchairs. As a doctor he feels very frustrated about how much better this medical institution should be run and organized.

Dhafir last got a visit two weeks ago. He is allowed 8 visits per month. Visits are not timed. So whether you arrive in the morning and stay all day or you stay for one hour, it's counted as one visit. The visit took place in a noisy and crowded room full of other prisoners visiting their loved ones, and some snack machines.

He comes across as very sincere and polite as well as religiously observant. A mutual friend who spent time with him at CMU recommended to me to seek him out for spiritual knowledge. I will definitely keep that in mind for future conversation topics. I told him everyone who knows him is very fond of him.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1616.htm
2015-08-23

Syrian Migration to Europe Could Have Positive Impact.

Europeans have recently been forced to acknowledge the genocide going on in Syria because of dead bodies washing up on their beaches. Europe is experiencing the Syrian war on a level that is far removed from the American left's blind theorizing about what foreign powers are responsible. When one mentions the bombs come from Russia and the pilots are Iranian they short-circuit because the Americans really only get their alternative news from leftist, pro-Assad sources.

A certain photo of a little boy who had drowned got past the censors and went viral, as well as the story of an entire container load of corpses, many children, that washed up on a beach in Vienna. Germany made the first move to accept ten thousand refugees. However, there are more than ten thousand refugees so other European countries are being pressured to help out. So far all of the refugee burden is on Italy and Greece due to their proximity to Syria via the Mediterranean Sea. Fascist Hungary is building an Israel-like wall on its border with Serbia, to keep the refugees out. There are reports of Serbians welcoming the Syrian refugees, but there is historical anti-Turk bias.

As a result of not wanting to repeat the Holocaust, and genuine humanitarian concern, hundreds of demonstrating Austrians held signs reading "Refugees Welcome" this week. They must have been moved to the depths of their being because my experience of Austria was that they were quite xenophobic and openly hostile towards Turks. I was denied service there while wearing hijab. However, not in Vienna. Vienna is a very open-minded city with a long intellectual history.

While there are complaints about Arab and Muslim countries not doing enough for the Syrians, and those countries who do try to help are accused of harboring terrorists, it makes sense for Europeans to shelter this sudden influx of new talent. Countries such as Germany and Austria are so desperate for young people to fill their employment vacuum that they already offer free university tuition and serve as a destination for foreign students from Gaza, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Syrian immigrants may perhaps be valued above others because of their colored eyes.

Iceland, the most racist country in Europe, well shall we say the least diverse, offered 11,000 homes up voluntarily to house Syrian refugees. This is a profoundly anti-immigrant state.

According to census polls, the white race, in other words colored eyed people with blonde or red hair, are becoming an endangered species, after World War II caused them to kill each other off. In Europe and America, the inability to replace the population lost in WWII was caused largely by the personal choice to become gay, use birth control, or delay marriage until after menopause. Prior to the Syrian war, the Syrian population was considered the top producing country of whites. Even despite the war and refugee status, they continue to multiply. If it were not for the Syrians, the white race was due for extinction within the next century. The war happened after these population statistics were released in 2010.

Desperate for a global population to represent, white rights leaders such as David Duke expanded the definition of "white" to include Italians, Greeks and Syrians, calling them "Mediterranean whites." Dr. Duke visited Syria on multiple occasions as a guest of Assad, who is ironically now mass murdering the last of the blue eyeds.

With the Syrian war not likely to end soon, Syrians will probably become a permanent part of Europe, which already has twice the Arab/Islamic presence as the United States enjoys. This may have long lasting consequences on support for Israel, but at the same time, European housing of the Syrian refugees helps Zionism attain its goal of clearing that entire area for "Greater Israel."

According to Zionist plans that began to be discussed in the late 1800s in Switzerland, Iraq was supposed to become like an American Indian reservation for refugees, while Syrian land would become suburban luxury homes for foreign wealthy Jews and collaborative "investors."

Time will tell how that plot pans out, but Allah may have other plans. Syrians are a family oriented society and other than hygiene needs, they are not likely to cause instability in Europe. Rather, they might actually cause stability. They are bringing in a much needed homogeneous population of literate, well-mannered and hard-working people that will be able to assimilate very quickly. By expanding the definition of "whiteness" to include Arabs and Muslims, Europe will be in a stronger negotiating position worldwide, than in the outdated past when Christianity represented Europe.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1618.htm


Syria: First UK drone attack on British citizens

The UK just created history on 21 and 24 of August 2015 by committing targeted assassinations of British citizens residing in Syria using drone strike.

"Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan, 21, and Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen, died last month in Raqqa, alongside another fighter, in the first targeted UK drone attack on a British citizen, Cameron told MPs," reported the BBC. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34178998

The British government claims the lads had been plotting "barbaric" attacks on UK soil and they had no other choice but to kill them just in case. The media called Junaid Hussain a "cyber jihadist" and pictured him with a rifle in a photo.

Both Khan and Hussain had been involved in actively recruiting IS "sympathisers" and plotting to attack "high-profile public commemorations" taking place in the UK this summer, the prime minister said.

"There was a terrorist directing murder on our streets and no other means to stop him."

This makes no sense. He was overseas. They could have just prevented them from returning to Britain, arrested him and given him a trial. And what do they mean by attacking? Like he might have gone there to pass out flyers about the Syrian situation? What exactly. I guess we will never know since he's dead. God rest his soul.

"Khan was killed in a precision strike on 21 August by a remotely piloted aircraft, "after meticulous planning" by the UK government, while he was travelling in a vehicle," reported BBC. Another British national, Junaid Hussain, 21 and from Birmingham, was killed in a separate air strike by US forces in Raqqa on 24 August.

Two years ago, Britain refused to enter the war to help Syrian refugees but last September approved British participation in air strikes against IS targets in Iraq only. This recent action is the first time Britain has droned anyone at all in Syria, so it is interesting that their first choice as a target was their own citizens. To spare themselves the hassles of being prosecuted or retaliated by a foreign government, the UK has simply taken to using their own citizens for target practice overseas. I guess that would limit the legal repercussions!

We do not know enough information right now to determine whether the UK was just practicing their weaponry on some soft targets or if any of the victims were potential political activists in some way. Officials told the media the UK would "act immediately [in Syria] and explain to Parliament afterwards."

The strike on Khan was "the first time in modern times that a British asset has been used to conduct a strike in a country where we're not involved in a war", said Cameron. "Britain has used remotely piloted aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan but this is a new departure and that's why I thought it important to come to the House and explain why I think it is necessary and justified."

Interview with Ali Randall

Government Surveillance, Constant government Pressure and the Trauma of his Wife.
http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1620.htm


I spoke by phone this week with Ali Randall, who is a member of Jamaat al Muslimeen, about his life, and his experiences dealing with government surveillance and questioning. He is a self-employed diesel mechanic. He married his wife Aisha in 2011.

Since government spying agencies prefer to operate in the shadows and specialize in intimidating people into silence, my observation in various cases has been that a person is safer when their situation is made public.Therefore, Br. Ali agreed to speak with New Trend about these disturbing, personal matters.

Ali told me that at age 19, he committed a bank robbery for which he received a ten year prison sentence, which he served in Louisberg, Kentucky. His actions were not politically motivated. The money he got was immediately squandered for his own personal pleasure. The beauty of the unfortunate situation, however humiliating, was that while in prison he got to meet several high profile Muslim long term prisoners, including Jihad Abdulmumit, whom I interviewed a couple years ago at the Jericho Conference [http://karinfriedemann.blogspot.com/2013/06/exclusive-interiew-with-jihad.html].

He also met Sheikh Omar Abdurrahman's co-defendant, Tariq al-Hassan of Sudan in prison, as well as Al-Sayed Nuseer, who had killed a rabbi. Life behind bars and learning about Islam was not without its moments. In 1996, white prisoners stabbed to death, 30 times, a white man who took shahada at the Kentucky federal prison.

Ali met Imam Luqman in the 1990's, who was leading group study sessions in the prison. Imam Luqman is the brother from Detroit who was murdered by a team of FBI and police. Being from there myself, I knew one of Imam Luqman's wives, who went by Sister Malika. I was there when she came to the masjid as a homeless woman with two kids. I watched, astonished, as sisters competed with each other trying to convince their husbands to marry her. The sister told me she was so overwhelmed by proposals she didn't know which one to choose, so the imam seemed like the safest choice to provide a stable situation for her. His death was a huge shock.

Ali also met Dr. Kaukab Siddique in prison. Brother Kaukab was serving as a visiting minister to federal prisons. The resulting friendship has now become interesting to the FBI as a result of the media attacks on the professor, drawing attention to his personal opinions.

In February 2015 the FBI started following Ali around with 1-5 vehicles. In May, they surrounded his house but they didn't come in. They knocked on the door and asked questions about "Who do we listen to?" They also asked if he had any plans to go to Iraq or Syria to join ISIS. The answer was no. Ali's parents in law were also being followed and visited at their home.

Br. Ali was questioned again and again in May, June and July. They asked him if he knew certain people, about whom he had no idea. "Someone told them I was a terrorist," he said.

The FBI wanted to know why he was sending Imam Badi and Kaukab articles on ISIS, which he had forwarded from the internet by private message on Facebook. When Br. Ali went to Baltimore after the riots, he and also his wife and a friend were being followed 24 hours a day.

"They need to investigate more before harassing people," Ali told New Trend. "I thought they would kill me."

February 2015 the FBI started following him. He started noticing it for sure by March. By April and May they were openly parking outside his window. He contacted ACLU, but they couldn't help. Ali would approach vehicle and ask, "Why are you following me?" and the man would always say, "I'm not following you." He said he would never see that person again but another one would replace him.

At one time he heard the FBI agent say, "Subject approaching" on his walkie-talkie.

As recently as last week, Br. Ali was interviewed for 3 hours by the FBI, who told him, "We need your help."

"They asked if I knew someone who would do an act of terror," Ali told New Trend. He said they were asking about the entire Muslim community.

In June 2015, Ali was arrested for Xanex and spent 55 days in a city jail. While he was in there, the prison got a call from the FBI asking for information about ISIS and why Kaukab was representing them. The whole thing has been extremely stressful for Ali and his wife, whose health problems are flaring up probably as a result of the relentless political harassment.

"I lost money (on lawyers). I couldn't sleep in my house except with the lights on. After they surrounded my house I could never sleep there again, I couldn't even sleep at my mother's house," he admitted. Ali's mother in law continues to have problems with her job now.

I asked him, "If you were to disappear, what would you want to tell everyone?"

Br. Ali said, "Don't give up the fight of standing up against injustice. Speak out. You don't have to commit violence but speak out."

When he went to Baltimore he went there not representing any organization, and without any protection. He just wanted to see what was going on. He walked through areas inhabited by what he called "the scum of the scum." People on drugs, walking and nodding off at the same time. Gangs, abandoned buildings. The people living in these areas are tired of being beat up and harassed by the police. They are trying to speak out.

He spoke of the HIV rate in Baltimore. He also noticed that, compared to the 90's after Rodney King, when people were smashing store windows to steal TVs, the more recent social upheaval in Baltimore saw people looting toilet paper and soap. Things they really must need.