In 2010, a 14-year-old Mexican boy named Sergio Hernandez was shot by US border patrol on the Mexican side of the border near El Paso allegedly for stone pelting, although he was shot in the back.

There wasn’t much political response in the US or in Mexico for such an outrageous crime against a young boy. There was a lilliputian protest here & I went out a few times by myself with a placard.
In my FB memories for this day, I came across this post about the shameful role El Paso media played in blunting the anger for the boy’s murder. I was so outraged by their dishonest smearing of Sergio that I sent several emails to the El Paso TV station to which I never received even a canned reply. This is one email I sent about their claim that he was involved in smuggling immigrants. Bless his heart if he was involved in helping them, but he was not.

There has never been justice for his murder. Presently, the US Supreme Court is sitting on a case deciding the right of his family to file a civil suit against the border patrol, denied by lower courts because he was shot on the Mexican side of the border. May he Rest In Peace.

“Sent email to KFOX-TV, El Paso: “You reported anonymous source saying 14-yo Sergio Hernandez was known immigrant smuggler, charged in 2009, and on most wanted list of juvenile smugglers.

Why would this information require anonymous source; is it not all a matter of public record? Where is the most wanted list posted and who posts it? What are the details of the 2009 charge? Is all this per Mexican or U.S. sources?”

Bill Cosby’s female publicist announced his tour of town hall meetings to restore his reputation. Such unmitigated hubris & lack of remorse. Despite 60 women accusing him of sexual assault, several women in his life continue to function as enablers–from the paid publicist to his wife & former co-stars. There is the same unsavory phenomenon with Trump & Clinton. For 60 women to say publicly that he doped & raped them in an indictment, regardless of what a court rules.

Hopefully, those town halls will backfire on his ass & he will face rallies of protesting women at every one.

The charred remains of Kashmiri militants: “Some killings are not condemned because they are seen as normal.” –Basharat Ali

Any questions about the character of the military occupation?

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/…/unfolding-of-ka…/253016.html

“There is no comparison between defence of the oppressed and the violence of the oppressor. Oppressor is never principled. If it tries to be principled, it’s era of tyranny will end. The struggle of the oppressed for truth, justice and freedom cannot be unprincipled, as it will only oblige the oppressor.”

–Khurram Parvez

Trump is proposing an $800 billion cut in Medicaid which is health care for the working poor, elderly, disabled. The neoliberal austerity policies imposed by the US & Europe on the rest of the world are coming home to roost.

Many are pessimistic because of the apparent, almost leaden quietism of American workers in the face of these assaults. US history shows how this can change overnight. American working people are conservative & slow to action but when they do act, they do so massively.

Mack is my 8-year-old rescue dog who was diagnosed with heart worms last year. The vet told me heart worms are incurable & since Mack has some trouble breathing, this seemed like a death verdict hanging over him. The little guy hasn’t got a mean bone in his body.

Yesterday I took the two new big dogs named Bianca & Gus for primary care & both tested positive for heart worms. But this vet said heart worms are in fact curable with two series of shots. That’s a relief not just for Bianca & Gus but for little Mack. The vet techs also gave me a tutorial on heart worms for my other dogs.

I’m posting this in case anyone else has a vet with outdated notions about heart worms. It gives my little Mack, Bianca, & Gus a real chance at life since with heart worms they’re not considered for many adoptions.

CBS morning news is going all high & mighty about bad celebrity jokes at Trump’s expense. Trump: the creep who calls Mexicans rapists & criminals, Muslims terrorists, ridicules those with disability, & talks about women in porno terms.

In July I have an article coming out in Kashmir Mirage about stone pelters which includes both Kashmiri & Palestinian youth. Israel has actually criminalized it & has draconian punishment for youth who engage in it. In both Palestine & Kashmir, they are often just shot down by the occupying armies.

At first I feared the article might be rejected as a defense of hooliganism or anarchy which is ironic since in organizing protests I detest anarchistic grandstanding & vandalism. Protesting in serious business & I disdain treating protest as a chance to express infantile impulses like it was temper tantrum time & breaking windows or provoking cops are part of the deal. But stone pelting is not vandalism so much as a form of civilian defense guards because that is how they function.

Anyway, Kashmiris are way ahead of me on this issue & the article will be coming out in the July issue. I’m honored more than I can say.

Hopefully those who support the occupation of Kashmir will notice the outpouring of condolences by Kashmiris for the family of the officer who was beaten to death but who do not also make any concessions to the occupation.

Instead of joining the rabid chorus led by the Indian army & media about a lynching which apparently never took place, perhaps they can empathize with Kashmiris who have seen their leaders actually hung, their children killed, disabled & disfigured by pellets, their beloved disappeared, raped, tortured, incarcerated, murdered.

This is not to justify the crime but to put it in perspective. Kashmiris are human beings too. Human beings who want freedom.

On the killing of 22-year-old Tawseef Ahmad Wani by occupying forces who justified his murder by calling him a “chronic stone pelter.”

“A CHRONIC stone pelter!!! Is this a newly defined crime where the penalty is MURDER?”

–Sheila Bryce