Hasta La Gadget!

Demonstrators around the country staged die-ins, blocked roadways and marched into stores to protest a New York grand jury’s decision to not indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.

Tensions were already running high around the nation because of a grand jury’s decision last week to not indict a white officer in the shooting death of black 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. On Wednesday, more protests erupted after a grand jury in New York City decided not to indict a white officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black man who gasped “I can’t breathe” while he was being arrested for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.

Hundreds of protesters marched and many briefly laid down in Macy’s flagship store, Grand Central Terminal and an Apple store. They streamed along Fifth Avenue sidewalks and other parts of Manhattan, with signs and chants of “Black lives matter” and “I can’t breathe.”

News outlets reported that demonstrators later blocked traffic on the FDR Drive in Lower Manhattan, spurring arrests. Police didn’t immediately have information on the number arrests.

In Oakland, California, hundreds of protesters briefly blocked Interstate 880, a major freeway, on Friday night. There were no immediate reports of any arrests or injuries.

Protesters gather in Oakland in the wake of the grand jury decision.

In suburban New York City on Friday, about 65 demonstrators lay down on a street corner in protest. Among them were Jason Walker of Atlanta, in New York for a wedding, and his 3-year-old daughter, Jaidyn. She told her father she wanted to lie down when the demonstrators did, and she lay on the sidewalk for the full 7 minutes, occasionally covering her eyes.

Protesters rally at Foley Square in Manhattan.

The scene in Brooklyn near the Barclay’s Center stadium was similar as hundreds took to the streets, some carrying fake coffins.

In New Haven, Connecticut, home of Yale University, hundreds of demonstrators marched Friday afternoon from the law school to the courthouse. In New Jersey, dozens of students from Rutgers University walked through New Brunswick, slowing downtown rush-hour traffic to a crawl and forcing the city to postpone a tree lighting ceremony scheduled at Monument Square.

“Stop racist police brutality” “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” Protests outside Yale Gallery of Art #Ferguson #NewHaven #Yale pic.twitter.com/0MPkwaQvCW

— Hanny (@Hanny_1966) November 25, 2014

In Colorado, students walked out of class Friday to protest the decisions not to prosecute police in New York and Ferguson. In Aurora, a suburb of Denver, eighth-grader Bennie Mahonda walked about 5 miles to the municipal center, shouting “Hands up, don’t shoot!” to honks from passing cars. She had her parents’ permission but promised her mother she would return to class after the demonstration, which she called “social studies outside of class.”

“It makes us kids feel unsafe, that we’re outsiders, enemies of society,” Bennie, who is black, said of the decisions by the grand juries in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases.

More Colorado students join police protests http://t.co/zsR0cKDzmi pic.twitter.com/XMijeLEkz2

— The Gazette (@csgazette) December 5, 2014

In Florida, activists marched through the streets of midtown Miami and blocked a major causeway connecting Miami to Miami Beach. In Providence, Rhode Island, several hundred people blocked downtown streets, while city police had to stop some protesters from walking onto Interstate 95 on Friday night. No arrests were reported.

The protests have been mostly peaceful.

[now] Protestors here in Florida shut down major Miami highway, protests are growing pic.twitter.com/NzmFevV2VQ

— Fuat Kircaali (@FuatKircaali) December 6, 2014

It is not my intention to take sides one way or the other on the decision of the grand jury relating to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, by Darren Wilson, a police officer. My purpose here is to clear up some misunderstandings and incorrect information.

The national news media have, for the most part, portrayed Ferguson as a small town located in the distant suburbs of St. Louis. Traveling by surface roads, Ferguson is about 1.5 miles from the City of St. Louis.

St. Louis County is a large county: 524 square miles, consisting of ninety municipalities and ten unincorporated census-designated areas, with a total population of 1,001,500 people. The City of St. Louis is a county in itself and, therefore, is not included in St. Louis County. The City of Ferguson is one of the larger municipalities in St. Louis County, consisting of 6.2 square miles with a population of slightly over 21,000 people.

There has been much criticism of the county prosecutor’s decision to announce the results of the grand jury at night. The New York Times (11/26/14, p. A24) described it as a “reckless” decision because “darkness placed the law enforcement agencies at a serious disadvantage as they tried to control the angry crowds . . .” The prosecutor explained why he waited until 8:00 p.m. The school districts in Ferguson and some of the neighboring municipalities are relatively small, and large numbers of the children walk to and from school. Many stay for after-school activities, such as sports, music, and art. Many parents work, and some children stay at home by themselves until their parents get home, while others stay with neighbors or with babysitters.

No one knew exactly what to expect immediately after the grand jury’s verdict was announced. Most local law enforcement agencies, however, anticipated that regardless of what the grand jury decided there would probably be widespread demonstrations, expressing either jubilation or anger. There was area wide concern that if the verdict were announced early, the children could have trouble getting home or could be unintentionally injured by riotous crowds. There was also concern, which turned out to be justified, for the likelihood of streets being blocked and metro service running well behind schedule, making it difficult for parents to get home to their children. Even if the children did get home safely, they could well be afraid for their own safety if demonstrators got near their homes or worried about their parents being able to get home safely.

As it turned out, the demonstrations and looting were not restricted to the Ferguson area. There were violent demonstrations in several parts of the Greater St. Louis Area, far removed from Ferguson. To this writer, the prosecutor did not make a “reckless” decision in waiting until after children were safely home with their parents before announcing the grand jury decision.

Much criticism has been leveled at the various law enforcement agencies for letting the demonstrations get out of hand and then using too much force in trying to keep the peace. But there was much behind-the-scenes planning that went on ahead of time, and hopes were high that the demonstrations would be peaceful.

Local leaders of groups planning peaceful demonstrations worked with law enforcement agencies for several weeks, agreeing on “ground rules” for the demonstrations, including where the people would go and what they would do. Law enforcement personnel were being careful not to violate the rights of people to demonstrate in orderly fashion, so they worked in advance with leaders especially in the African American community of St. Louis in making plans.

The local demonstration leaders assured the police that they would see to it that the demonstrations would be orderly. As it turned out, however, to the surprise of the police and the local organizers, the looters, trouble makers, and professional demonstrators from around the country just began appearing and mixing in with the orderly local demonstrators, and the demonstrations soon turned ugly. No one appeared to be in charge, and the demonstrations soon became angry mobs of looters determined to carry out a mission of destruction.

The county attorney was not trusted by the black community because his father had been a police officer who was killed by an African American, and many people wanted him to step aside. But he is known as a very thorough and fair prosecutor, and he and the governor agreed that his stepping down would set a bad precedent for parties in future cases to argue that prosecutors they disliked should be replaced. The county attorney (prosecutor), therefore, took a different approach with the grand jury.

Quoting from the same editorial mention above in The New York Times, “Instead of conducting an investigation and then presenting the case and a recommendation of charges to the grand jury,” the prosecutor “made no recommendation on whether to indict the officer,” leaving it to the grand jury to determine whether or not there was probable cause to indict the officer. The New York Times further suggested that this “unorthodox” approach “undermined public confidence.” The Times said this approach caused the grand jury process to last “an astonishing three months.”

Many locals, however, suggest that the prosecutor was bending over backwards to be thorough and to avoid any perception of unfairness or rushing to judgment and that had he done otherwise the violence would have been even greater. Incidentally, the county prosecutor, Robert P. McCulloch, a democrat, historically has had bipartisan support as a popular prosecutor and has won re-election six times.

Periodically major news agencies have reported leaks from the grand jury, the police, and from the prosecutor’s office. As it turned out, there were no leaks from the grand jury and much of what was reported as having happened turned out to be the results of over-jealous reporters turning hearsay into fact.

As I re-read what I have written, I realized that some readers might conclude that I am supporting the police, the police officer, and the prosecutor. That absolutely is not my intent. My intent is to provide a counter-balance to those in the national media who have added tragedy to an already tragic situation by not digging deeply into the facts prior to reporting or reporting from the perspective of their personal biases.

The killing of Michael Brown is an absolute tragedy. I have every reason to believe that many lawsuits and investigations lie in waiting, and new facts may emerge. It is unimportant whether or not we agree with the decision of the grand jury or the juries of future trials and the actions of special investigations. The United States is a nation of laws, and the grand jury has spoken for now. We need to move forward in a peaceful, thoughtful, and lawful manner.

Regardless of personal feelings about what has happened, all of us need to do what we can to bring peace and understanding to people in Ferguson, the Greater St. Louis Area, and throughout the country. Interrupting public meetings with hate speech, destroying property worth millions of dollars, ruining mom and pop businesses, causing the loss of jobs for scores of people (many of them minorities), disrupting business in malls, and causing delays in local and freeway traffic just doesn’t make sense.

Let’s take a deep breath and think seriously before we speak or act.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Hagupit slammed into the central Philippines’ east coast late Saturday, knocking out power and toppling trees in a region where 650,000 people have fled to safety, still haunted by the massive death and destruction wrought by a monster storm last year.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour and gusts of 210 kph (130 mph), Hagupit made landfall in Dolores, a coastal town facing the Pacific in Eastern Samar province, according to the country’s weather agency. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Although it was unlikely to reach the unprecedented strength of Typhoon Haiyan, Hagupit’s winds and rain were strong enough to cause major damage to an impoverished region still reeling from the devastating November 2013 storm, which left more than 7,300 people dead or missing.

“There are many trees that have toppled, some of them on the highway,” police Senior Inspector Alex Robin said by phone late Saturday from Dolores, hours before Hagupit made landfall. “We are totally in the dark here. The only light comes from flashlights.”

From Eastern Samar, Hagupit — Filipino for “smash” or “lash” — was expected to hammer parts of a string of island provinces that was devastated by Haiyan’s tsunami-like storm surges and ferocious winds. Hagupit weakened slightly on Saturday, but remained dangerously powerful and erratic.

Robin said about 600 families had hunkered down in Dolores’ three-story municipal hall, one of many emergency shelters in the town.

“Everyone here is just looking for a place to sleep,” he said. “All the windows are closed, but it is still cool because of the wind and the rain.”

Eastern Samar province Rep. Ben Evardone said electricity also was knocked out early Saturday in Borongan city, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Dolores, where the government has set up a command center for rescue and relief operations headed by Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

Evardone said the strong winds also felled trees and ripped off roofing sheets. “You can hear the whistling of the wind,” he said.

“Everybody is in fear because of what happened during (Haiyan),” Evardone said. “We can already feel the wrath of the typhoon. Everybody is praying.”

Big waves have pushed seawater over concrete walls along a boulevard, flooding it, Evardone said.

Army troops deployed to supermarkets and major roads in provinces in the typhoon’s path to prevent looting and chaos and clear debris, all of which slowed the government’s response last year, said Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, head of the Philippines’ 120,000-strong military.

“We’re on red alert, so the entire armed forces is being mobilized for this typhoon,” Catapang told a news conference.

Although it’s unlikely to reach Haiyan’s unprecedented strength, forecasters said Hagupit’s maximum sustained winds and gusts were strong enough to set off deadly storm surges and landslides and cause heavy damage to communities and agriculture.

With a whirling band of rain clouds spanning 600 kilometers (373 miles), Hagupit has gained speed and was moving westward at 16 kph (10 mph), according to forecasters.

In the central city of Tacloban, where Haiyan’s storm surges killed thousands of people and leveled villages, news of the approaching typhoon rekindled painful memories. Many residents fled to storm shelters, a sports stadium and churches even before authorities urged them to evacuate.

“I’m scared,” said Haiyan survivor Jojo Moro. “I’m praying to God not to let another disaster strike us again. We haven’t recovered from the first.”

The 42-year-old businessman, who lost his wife, daughter and mother last year in Tacloban, said he stocked up on sardines, instant noodles, eggs and water.

More than 600,000 people have been moved to safety, including in Tacloban. A U.N. humanitarian agency spokesman, Denis McClean, said in Geneva that it was one of the largest peacetime evacuations in Philippine history. It also was reminiscent of the evacuation of 1 million people along India’s coastline before Cyclone Phailin hit in October 2013.

Nearly 100 domestic flights have been canceled and inter-island ferry services suspended, stranding thousands of people.

“We’ve not heard of villagers resisting to be evacuated,” regional disaster-response director Blanche Gobenciong said. “Their trauma is still so fresh.”

In Tacloban, residents stacked sandbags to block floodwaters. One McDonald’s restaurant was closed and boarded up to prevent a repetition of Haiyan’s deluge, which shattered glass panes and doors of business establishments, allowing looting to take place.

Disaster preparations widened after two agencies tracking the typhoon closely — the U.S. military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii and the Philippine weather agency — predicted different directions for Hagupit.

The U.S. agency said Hagupit (pronounced HA’-goo-pit) may veer northwest after coming inland and sweep past the southern edge of Manila, the capital city of more than 12 million people. The Philippine agency, known by its acronym PAGASA, projected a more southern path.

Gobenciong said the unpredictable path made it harder to ascertain which areas would be hit, but added that everybody “should prepare for the worst.”

“We have a zero-casualty target,” she said. “Just one loss of life will really sadden us all and make us wonder what went wrong.”

___

Associated Press writers Teresa Cerojano and Jim Gomez contributed to this report.

HONG KONG (AP) — A prominent teenage leader of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests ended his hunger strike Saturday after 4 1/2 days at his doctor’s urging.

The decision by Joshua Wong, the movement’s most prominent leader, is the latest sign that the protests are flagging after more than two months as the activists find themselves exhausted and public support for their street protests drains away, while Hong Kong’s government seems content to wait for the movement to fizzle out. “Even if I stop the hunger strike, it doesn’t mean the government can ignore our demands,” Wong, 18, who had been only drinking water and energy drinks and heads the Scholarism group, said on his Facebook page.

Later, the group said another member, 17-year-old Prince Wong, ended his hunger strike after 118 hours on the advice of doctors and was taken to a hospital.

A third member pulled out earlier in the week, while two others who joined the strike later are still refusing food.

The protesters want Hong Kong’s government to drop restrictions on inaugural 2017 elections for the semiautonomous southern Chinese city’s top leader.

They want the government to restart talks over the electoral reforms, but government officials have been largely unresponsive.

Scholarism is one of three groups behind the protests, which have blocked traffic in three districts across Hong Kong. One of the protest sites, in the city’s Mong Kok neighborhood, was shut down recently under a court order, and authorities are expected to clear out some barricades from the main protest site outside government headquarters sometime in the next week.

Leaders of a second group, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, representing those studying at colleges, said Thursday that they were considering a retreat from the protest sites and expect to come to a decision soon.

Maybe not your life. But somebody’s.