Da Shindig : July 2013

REPORTERS: Whoa!
Q: Hello.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: That’s so --
that’s so disappointing, man. Jay, is
this kind of -- the kind of respect
that you get? (Laughter.)
Q: Wake up!
Q: What brings you out here, Mr. --
PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, on
-- on -- on television it usually looks
like you’re addressing a full room.
Q: (Laughs.) It’s just a mirage.
Q: There’s generally not --
PRESIDENT OBAMA: All right.
(Cross talk.)
Q: (Inaudible) -- got the Detroit
story.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I got you. All
right. Sorry about that. Do you
think anybody else is showing up?
Good.
Well, I -- I wanted to come out here
first of all to tell you that Jay is
prepared for all your questions and
is -- is very much looking forward to
the session.
Second thing is I want to let you
know that over the next couple of
weeks there are going to obviously
be a whole range of issues --
immigration, economics, et cetera --
we’ll try to arrange a fuller press
conference to address your
questions.
The reason I actually wanted to
come out today is not to take
questions, but to speak to an issue
that obviously has gotten a lot of
attention over the course of the last
week, the issue of the Trayvon
Martin ruling. I gave an -- a
preliminary statement right after
the ruling on Sunday, but watching
the debate over the course of the
last week I thought it might be
useful for me to expand on my
thoughts a little bit.
First of all, you know, I -- I want to
make sure that, once again, I send
my thoughts and prayers, as well as
Michelle’s, to the family of Trayvon
Martin, and to remark on the
incredible grace and dignity with
which they’ve dealt with the entire
situation. I can only imagine what
they’re going through, and it’s -- it’s
remarkable how they’ve handled it.
The second thing I want to say is to
reiterate what I said on Sunday,
which is there are going to be a lot
of arguments about the legal --
legal issues in the case. I’ll let all
the legal analysts and talking heads
address those issues.
The judge conducted the trial in a
professional manner. The
prosecution and the defense made
their arguments. The juries were
properly instructed that in a -- in a
case such as this, reasonable doubt
was relevant, and they rendered a
verdict. And once the jury’s spoken,
that’s how our system works.
But I did want to just talk a little bit
about context and how people have
responded to it and how people are
feeling. You know, when Trayvon
Martin was first shot, I said that
this could have been my son.
Another way of saying that is
Trayvon Martin could have been
me 35 years ago. And when you
think about why, in the African-
American community at least,
there’s a lot of pain around what
happened here, I think it’s
important to recognize that the
African- American community is
looking at this issue through a set of
experiences and a history that --
that doesn’t go away.
There are very few African-
American men in this country who
haven’t had the experience of
being followed when they were
shopping in a department store.
That includes me.
And there are very few African-
American men who haven’t had the
experience of walking across the
street and hearing the locks click
on the doors of cars. That happens
to me, at least before I was a
senator. There are very few
African-Americans who haven’t had
the experience of getting on an
elevator and a woman clutching
her purse nervously and holding
her breath until she had a chance
to get off. That happens often.
And you know, I don’t want to
exaggerate this, but those sets of
experiences inform how the
African-American community
interprets what happened one
night in Florida. And it’s
inescapable for people to bring
those experiences to bear.
The African-American community
is also knowledgeable that there is
a history of racial disparities in the
application of our criminal laws,
everything from the death penalty
to enforcement of our drug laws.
And that ends up having an impact
in terms of how people interpret
the case.
Now, this isn’t to say that the
African-American community is
naive about the fact that African-
American young men are
disproportionately involved in the
criminal justice system, that they
are disproportionately both victims
and perpetrators of violence. It’s
not to make excuses for that fact,
although black folks do interpret
the reasons for that in a historical
context.
We understand that some of the
violence that takes place in poor
black neighborhoods around the
country is born out of a very violent
past in this country, and that the
poverty and dysfunction that we
see in those communities can be
traced to a very difficult history.
And so the fact that sometimes
that’s unacknowledged adds to the
frustration. And the fact that a lot
of African-American boys are
painted with a broad brush and the
excuse is given, well, there are
these statistics out there that show
that African-American boys are
more violent -- using that as an
excuse to then see sons treated
differently causes pain.
I think the African-American
community is also not naive in
understanding that statistically
somebody like Trayvon Martin was
probably statistically more likely to
be shot by a peer than he was by
somebody else.
So -- so folks understand the
challenges that exist for African-
American boys, but they get
frustrated, I think, if they feel that
there’s no context for it or -- and
that context is being denied. And --
and that all contributes, I think, to
a sense that if a white male teen
was involved in the same kind of
scenario, that, from top to bottom,
both the outcome and the
aftermath might have been
different.
Now, the question for me at least,
and I think, for a lot of folks is,
where do we take this? How do we
learn some lessons from this and
move in a positive direction? You
know, I think it’s understandable
that there have been
demonstrations and vigils and
protests, and some of that stuff is
just going to have to work its way
through as long as it remains
nonviolent. If I see any violence,
then I will remind folks that that
dishonors what happened to
Trayvon Martin and his family.
But beyond protests or vigils, the
question is, are there some
concrete things that we might be
able to do? I know that Eric Holder
is reviewing what happened down
there, but I think it’s important for
people to have some clear
expectations here. Traditionally,
these are issues of state and local
government -- the criminal code.
And law enforcement has
traditionally done it at the state
and local levels, not at the federal
levels.
That doesn’t mean, though, that as
a nation, we can’t do some things
that I think would be productive.
So let me just give a couple of
specifics that I’m still bouncing
around with my staff so we’re not
rolling out some five-point plan,
but some areas where I think all of
us could potentially focus.
Number one, precisely because law
enforcement is often determined at
the state and local level, I think it’d
be productive for the Justice
Department -- governors, mayors to
work with law enforcement about
training at the state and local levels
in order to reduce the kind of
mistrust in the system that
sometimes currently exists.
You know, when I was in Illinois I
passed racial profiling legislation.
And it actually did just two simple
things. One, it collected data on
traffic stops and the race of the
person who was stopped. But the
other thing was it resourced us
training police departments across
the state on how to think about
potential racial bias and ways to
further professionalize what they
were doing.
And initially, the police
departments across the state were
resistant, but actually they came to
recognize that if it was done in a
fair, straightforward way, that it
would allow them to do their jobs
better and communities would
have more confidence in them and
in turn be more helpful in applying
the law. And obviously law
enforcement’s got a very tough job.
So that’s one area where I think
there are a lot of resources and
best practices that could be
brought bear if state and local
governments are receptive. And I
think a lot of them would be. And --
and let’s figure out other ways for
us to push out that kind of training.
Along the same lines, I think it
would be useful for us to examine
some state and local laws to see if it
-- if they are designed in such a
way that they may encourage the
kinds of altercations and
confrontations and tragedies that
we saw in the Florida case, rather
than diffuse potential altercations.
I know that there’s been
commentary about the fact that the
stand your ground laws in Florida
were not used as a defense in the
case.
On the other hand, if we’re sending
a message as a society in our
communities that someone who is
armed potentially has the right to
use those firearms even if there’s a
way for them to exit from a
situation, is that really going to be
contributing to the kind of peace
and security and order that we’d
like to see?
And for those who resist that idea
that we should think about
something like these “stand your
ground” laws, I just ask people to
consider if Trayvon Martin was of
age and armed, could he have
stood his ground on that sidewalk?
And do we actually think that he
would have been justified in
shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had
followed him in a car, because he
felt threatened?
And if the answer to that question
is at least ambiguous, it seems to
me that we might want to examine
those kinds of laws.
Number three -- and this is a long-
term project: We need to spend
some time in thinking about how do
we bolster and reinforce our
African-American boys? And this is
something that Michelle and I talk
a lot about. There are a lot of kids
out there who need help who are
getting a lot of negative
reinforcement. And is there more
that we can do to give them the
sense that their country cares
about them and values them and is
willing to invest in them?
You know, I’m not naive about the
prospects of some brand-new
federal program.
I’m not sure that that’s what we’re
talking about here. But I do
recognize that as president, I’ve got
some convening power.
And there are a lot of good
programs that are being done
across the country on this front.
And for us to be able to gather
together business leaders and local
elected officials and clergy and
celebrities and athletes and figure
out how are we doing a better job
helping young African-American
men feel that they’re a full part of
this society and that -- and that
they’ve got pathways and avenues
to succeed -- you know, I think that
would be a pretty good outcome
from what was obviously a tragic
situation. And we’re going to spend
some time working on that and
thinking about that.
And then finally, I think it’s going to
be important for all of us to do
some soul-searching. You know,
there have been talk about should
we convene a conversation on race.
I haven’t seen that be particularly
productive when politicians try to
organize conversations. They end
up being stilted and politicized, and
folks are locked into the positions
they already have.
On the other hand, in families and
churches and workplaces, there’s a
possibility that people are a little
bit more honest, and at least you
ask yourself your own questions
about, am I wringing as much bias
out of myself as I can; am I judging
people, as much as I can, based on
not the color of their skin but the
content of their character? That
would, I think, be an appropriate
exercise in the wake of this
tragedy.
And let me just leave you with --
with a final thought, that as
difficult and challenging as this
whole episode has been for a lot of
people, I don’t want us to lose sight
that things are getting better. Each
successive generation seems to be
making progress in changing
attitudes when it comes to race. I
doesn’t mean that we’re in a
postracial society. It doesn’t mean
that racism is eliminated. But you
know, when I talk to Malia and
Sasha and I listen to their friends
and I see them interact, they’re
better than we are. They’re better
than we were on these issues. And
that’s true in every community that
I’ve visited all across the country.
And so, you know, we have to be
vigilant and we have to work on
these issues, and those of us in
authority should be doing
everything we can to encourage the
better angels of our nature as
opposed to using these episodes to
heighten divisions. But we should
also have confidence that kids
these days I think have more sense
than we did back then, and
certainly more than our parents
did or our grandparents did, and
that along this long, difficult
journey, you know, we’re becoming
a more perfect union -- not a
perfect union, but a more perfect
union.
All right? Thank you, guys.
Q: Could you --
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Now you can --
now you can talk to Jay.

Cory Monteith's cause of death has
been confirmed as a toxic mix of
heroin and alcohol, TMZ reports.
The British Columbia Coroners
Service revealed Tuesday that
Monteith died of a mixed-drug
toxicity involving heroin and
alcohol. The investigation into his
death is continuing and no other
details are available at this time.
In the report, the British Columbia
Coroners Service adds, "It should be
noted that at this point there is no
evidence to suggest Mr. Monteith's
death was anything other than a
most-tragic accident."
It was previously reported the
toxicology results could take several
days. However, the results were
expedited because of the extreme
public interest in the case,
according to E! News.
The "Glee" star was found dead in a
hotel room at the Fairmont Pacific
Rim hotel in downtown Vancouver
on July 13 after failing to meet
checkout time. Hotel staff called
paramedics, who later declared
him dead on the scene. He was just
31 years old.
After the tragic news was
announced, members of his Fox
family expressed their condolences.
A rep for his on-screen and off-
screen love, Lea Michele, asked for
privacy during this "devastating"
time. Other "Glee" co-stars
mourned the loss, as well: Matthew
Morrison performed a show in
honor of the late actor, and Naya
Rivera said he "always will be a
part of my own family."
On Monday, Monteith's cousin,
Richard, spoke with Canada's Global
News about the star's passing.
"Please don’t judge on what is
gonna be coming out,” he said.
“Glass half full. All the good things
that he’s done. There’s more things
on that side to focus on.”
“Because he is such a high profile
guy, you know it is not going to end
there," he added. "There is going to
be ridicule about — he has done
this or that — and I just hope
people know it is not about that. …
His life was full of beautiful stories,
triumphs, failures and successes
that it does not matter what his
problems were. … It matters how
many lives he changed and that he
was genuine.”
The "Glee" actor voluntarily
entered rehab for the second time
in March to make steps toward
recovery. He previously discussed
battling substance abuse in his
teens, telling Parade magazine in a
2011 interview he had a "serious
[drug] problem."

Da Shindig

Friday, July 19, 2013

Obama Speaks Out On Zimmerman Trail

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Cory Monteith Cause Of Death Confirmed By Toxicology Report As Lethal Mix Of Heroin, Alcohol

George Zimmerman lotto winner?

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