Top 5 Live-WURD Monday October 12
1. Reports: Officer’s shooting of boy with pellet gun justified
A white Cleveland police officer was justified in fatally shooting a black 12-year-old boy holding a pellet gun moments after pulling up beside him, according to two outside reviews conducted at the request of the prosecutor investigating the death.
A retired FBI agent and a Denver prosecutor both found the rookie patrolman who shot Tamir Rice exercised a reasonable use of force because he had reason to perceive the boy — described in a 911 call as man waving and pointing a gun — as a serious threat.
The reports were released Saturday night by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, which asked for the outside reviews as it presents evidence to a grand jury that will determine whether Timothy Loehmann will be charged in Tamir’s death last November.
“We are not reaching any conclusions from these reports,” Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said in a statement. “The gathering of evidence continues, and the grand jury will evaluate it all.”
2. Bill Cosby Testifies For 7 Hours In Boston As Cases Move Forward
Bill Cosby’s sworn deposition lasted for seven hours Friday in the civil suit brought by a woman who claims the entertainer sexually abused her when she was 15, according to Gloria Allred who is representing Judy Huth.
Allred told reporters Saturday that she could not answer questions about Cosby’s testimony in Boston. “We’ll be filing motions with the court in connection with the deposition. We’ll also be seeking to take a further deposition of Mr. Cosby at a later date.”
Cosby’s attorneys could not be reached for comment, Reuters said.
Meanwhile, a Massachusetts federal court refused to dismiss a libel lawsuit being brought against him by Tamara Green, Therese Serignese and Linda Traitz. They claim their reputations were damaged when Cosby representatives told news organizations their sexual assault allegations are “fabricated.”
Dateline also aired a special in which 27 women were interviewed about decades-old accusations of harassment or sexual assault against Cosby
3. Ex-Benghazi investigator says House panel targeted Clinton
Air Force intelligence officer Major Bradley Podliska alleged that he was fired by the Republican-led House Committee on Benghazi for resisting pressure to focus on Hillary Clinton’s role in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi.
“These are explosive allegations,” Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement. “This Republican whistleblower’s account from inside the Benghazi Committee may provide the most definitive proof to date that this taxpayer-funded investigation has been a partisan sham from the start.”
The committee on Saturday strongly denied the media reports.
“Contrary to his brand new assertion, the employee actually was terminated, in part, because he himself manifested improper partiality and animus in his investigative work. The Committee vigorously denies all of his allegations,” a committee spokesperson said in a statement.
4. Raven-Symone Says She’d Discriminate Against “Ghetto” Names
During a conversation addressing a new study in the Journal of Evolution and Human Behavior, The View co-host Raven Symone said she would definitely not consider hiring people with ghetto-sounding names.
“Just to bring it back, can we take back ‘racist’ and say ‘discriminatory,’ because I think that’s a better word,” she said during the show. “And I am very discriminatory against words like the ones that they were saying in the video. I’m not about to hire you if your name is Watermelondrea. It’s just not going to happen. I’m not going to hire you.”
The former child star, 29, looked defiant when her co-hosts pointed out that a child’s name is probably determined by their parents, not them.
Twitter exploded.
“What if their name was Pam Smith and then [they] showed up at work looking like YOU, Raven?” Fox Sports host Mike Hill wrote.
“The same Raven that had a Disney show episode where she didn’t get hired b/c of her race. Ur confused @ravensymone,” a reporter from San Diego noted.
5. Louis Farrakhan’s striking two-hour stemwinder at the Million Man March anniversary
In a sprawling speech made from the Mall on the anniversary of the Million Man March on Saturday, Louis Farrakhan held forth on a list of topics.
Farrakhan advised against abortion and arrogance. He praised the Black Lives Matter movement. He lambasted socially acceptable forms of bribery, along with child abuse, the corrosive nature of colonialism, corruption, and edits made to Jefferson’s initial draft of the Declaration of Independence. Farrakhan decried foul language, human trafficking and squandering one’s inborn gifts. He took a position against integration that may have been missed in his rather large and amplified word cloud.
Farrakhan attested to the damage caused by Native American mascots, mass incarceration and materialism. He talked about natural disasters and the natural rights of man. There was mention of the universal nature of our mortality, misogyny, narcissism, and the wealthy puppets and puppeteers at the center of the presidential election.
He denied any role in the 1965 murder of Malcom X. In fact, he implied that it was more likely a government-backed assassination.
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Solomon Jones is an Essence bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He is the creator and editor of Solomonjones.com and morning host on 900 am WURD radio. Click here to learn more about Solomon
