Don't Google It - ECOSIA it!

Why not dump the bloated Google and adopt the tree-planting ECOSIA instead?  For every 45 searches you do, they plant a tree!  Ecosia does everything the more famous search-engine does, but it also plant trees!  The world is in desperate need of trees!  It takes no brain to grasp such a concept...

Go To ECOSIA   you'll never look back....

Don't Follow Leaders

Well, after all these years of blogging, sometimes I feel like just boiling it down to the essentials and nothing could be more essential than thinking for yourself.

Explode The Fear Mentality

Fear.  There's a lot of it about.  Are you a sufferer?  Don't suffer in secret.  Don't suffer at all.  Attack your fear.  Destroy it.  Don't spread fear.  Spread inspiration.  Spread upliftment.  Spread joy.  Don't let fear destroy.  Let life afirm.  Let fear wilt - or simply explode the fear-mentality!

Extinction Rebellion West Cornwall - A Failure of Democracy

A group with an agenda of organizing mass, peaceful, civil-disobedience to pressure government into radical change necessary to protect our environment from imminent disaster is, ostensibly, an extremely good thing and as such, is bound to attract many conscientious and caring people who are willing to push for change.  During my time with Extinction Rebellion West Cornwall I met many such good people, intelligent people who could see which way the world is going and are not prepared to idly watch the mindless destruction of nature itself. There was generally a good sense of empathy and solidarity between people which I remember fondly.

I’m aware that there are various ‘conspiracy theories’ about Extinction Rebellion circulating around but have not heard anything more than the usual ‘everything is fake – all flags are false’ rhetoric of manipulation and infiltration by ‘shadowy forces.’  These tales usually include extravagant claims of the organization being funded by ‘big business’ for some sinister reason or other.  All I can say is, having seen the meagre funds stumped up by the rank and file members at meetings, and the difficulty in paying for even small amounts of printing etc., the idea of corporate cash washing around XR is a deeply ironic joke.  Anyone is free to look into the story of this organization and draw their own conclusions.  In this article I will restrict myself to a critique of XR West Cornwall, based solely on personal experience.  I would also like to stress that until very recently I had nothing but the most profound respect for XR and its approach.  However, after engaging in direct action, I started encountering what I consider to be serious breaches of democratic process from certain influential members of the group, who held administrative positions.  It is these difficulties that I will describe and review.

As a ‘core-principal’, XR places strong emphasis on the concept of inclusivity and the organization claims to be non-heirarchical in structure – “Everyone Is Crew” is the slogan that expresses this idea.  People who chair the Extinction Rebellion (XR) meetings are known as ‘Facilitators’ and these facilitators talk about ‘mitigating for power’ and circulating organizational roles to ‘share’ power equally. All sounds good. Within the proposed Citizen’s Assembly, a policy of sortition is proposed, also as a means of keeping the power circulating rather than letting it concentrate in a few hands. Ostensibly these are excellent principles that seemed to win the respect of the group.

During a meeting in April, Facilitator Paul Antonelli was highly critical of the direct action undertaken by Verity and I and filmed by Diane. The discussion was unresolved when the meeting closed. The following week, with Paul absent, a further discussion of the direct action ensued. It was agreed that discussion of the action would be put on the following week’s agenda for a half-hour discussion. There was obvious reluctance from Facilitator Manda to do this but another lady was quite insistent about it and so it went on the agenda. This was the result of a show of hands, which is how democracy functions at its most basic and perhaps its most important level.

I had been attending meetings for several months by this point and they had always had the same structure; however, when the meeting came round the following week, everything had mysteriously changed. Instead of the normal format (and the democratically agreed discussion of the action) we were presented with a ‘talking-circle’ at which people pass an object to their neighbour, who is then ‘allowed to talk’. This move was unprecedented and seemed a transparent ruse to avoid discussion of the action, as agreed. The following week the item was still not put on the agenda and also the Facilitators who had discussed it stopped attending meetings in Penzance. Although slightly caught off-guard by this dubious change of the agreed meeting format, it was only afterwards that I started to realize the significance of it. It became obvious that the Facilitators were totally unwilling to debate the action with me.

There was also some trouble on the internet (surprise surprise.) It started when I posted my account of the direct action on the Extinction Rebellion West Cornwall f/b page. The article was titled – ironically – ‘How Not To Hold Up A Gas-Station’ and is on the Save The Holy Headland blogspot. It was written the day after the direct action, and had some catharsis for me as I was still in shock. It’s a spontaneous and unedited account of what happened.

When this article was removed from the XRWC f/b page I saw it as a totally unacceptable violation of basic free speech which I found most disturbing. Apart from the fact that the three of us went through real hell during that action and seeing people desperately trying to supress the story of that event was a gross betrayal of solidarity.

There were several incidences of my posts being removed from the internet and when challenged, the f/b page Administrator of the West Cornwall group refused to identify themself, which I found pathetic and also a thwart to communication and resolution. On another occasion, someone was advertising a ‘communication workshop’ starting at around £80 a day, with a sliding scale of pricing going up to something like £140! This is private, capitalist business; ostensibly in the service of saving the planet. When I put up a quote on the site saying “turning rebellion into money…” I was accused of ‘sniping’ and banned from the site for several days by an anonymous Administrator. After working over ten years as an unpaid activist, deeply connected with free-speech cases at home and abroad, and particularly after working with ‘Caged Crusader’ Harold Hempstead who was so nearly murdered for his fearless speaking-out against evil and injustice, that just seemed like what is known in the business as ‘bullshit.’ Previous to this, I had raised the issues of Administrative-anonymity and also suggested that the perimeters of subject-matter should be clearly defined on the website. A promised ‘protocol’ was not forthcoming. Early on I’d had a problem with the web-Admin when they took down a petition I posted about 5G. I pointed out that it was only reasonable to clearly delineate which issues were supposedly fit for discussion and which were not. Personally I found the attempt to micro-manage dialogue to fit the ‘image’ of the organization was very stultifying to open discussion, but it seems the British are not overly outspoken on the net so there was not much debate to control anyway! My own attitude is to let free speech ring out loudly. I believe it is a self-balancing mechanism and have faith that, short of abuse, grown-up people don’t need policing on an environmental website!

I understand that my own experience with XR was unique and that other people may not have encountered the democracy-problems that I ran into but I set down my own story for the record.

Despite the claims of equality, inclusivity and ‘Holocracy’ (which is a ‘safe’ euphemism for Anarchism – the opposite of Hierarchism,) the reality (at least in Cornwall’s notoriously incestuous Far West) is that the Facilitators of meetings and the Administrators of the web-page constitute an oligarchical inner-circle, who change the agenda at will, over-ride the democratic wishes of the ‘rank and file’ members and capriciously delete their comrade’s words whilst hiding behind the mask of secrecy.

And how does one join this inner-circle? How do you become a Facilitator/Administrator? By election, you might assume, in a so-called democratic organization…  You would be wrong in that assumption.  Acceptance into the inner-circle is not decided by the votes of the members, but rather by the approval of those who are already in the inner-circle.  So seemingly ‘everyone is crew’, but just like on a real ship, certain crew-members actually steer the ship, whilst others do not.  This is particularly evident when the Facilitators ignore and override the democratic will of the group and impose their own, oligarchical and private agenda on them.

Once again, the wise old proverb returns to my mind: A nation of sheep shall beget a government of wolves.

XR has a hand-signal for agreement but not one for dissent. This may prove its Achilles’ Heel.

In a healthily functioning democracy, you don’t expect people to supress open expression, hide behind aliases or a fog of anonymity and run in horror from the idea of open debate. 

I reached out to various members of the group with appeals to communicate over these difficulties, but these were not responded to.  I also approached the national organization, but again, no response was forthcoming.

As I said before, XR is a magnet for conscientious people and they come from many walks of life. However, once people are in a collective situation, whether religious, educational, political or even artistic, there is often a shared unwillingness to criticize the group, or indeed even view it critically and objectively at all.  Once we fall into (or continue familiarly with) group-conformity, we abdicate our own sovereign judgement and autonomous power.  It is a fundamental mistake to give your power to another.  If nothing else, it inflates that person’s ego; at worst it can do infinitely more damage.  The highest authority can only be found within yourself and that which is not in conformity with it must go. If we seek or accept an authority that’s outside of ourselves, we invite tyranny and throw away the essence of our humanity.

An activist with many years of experience behind them can sometimes notice little things that are not always obvious to people from other walks of life.  XR came on talking about Mahatma Gandhi and Dr King and mass-mobilizations of the people. There was talk of a campaign of ongoing civil disobedience.  As the months went by and the meetings added up, this campaign of action to save the planet did not materialize (I’m talking about our local area.)  In roughly half a year, the only direct action conducted locally was the aforementioned, the one that inspired a friend to refrain from buying a new car; the traumatic, dramatic and gruelling action at the garage that caused so much fuss from the ‘rebels’ of XR. I fear there is a very real danger of XRWC becoming a mere talking-club, a bourgeois social-institution that substitutes for a movement of genuine revolutionary action, but is too hobbled by timidity to fulfil its own raison d’etre.  

One thing I know for sure: The cure for the disturbing feelings people commonly experience when they learn the grave reality of the planetary situation is action – not talking in cafes and pubs, but taking regular, focused political action of one form or another.  Only by deep and real engagement with the issues at stake do people find relief, by growing strong through action, this is the remedy for eco-shock. People like Greta Thunberg do not wait for the go-ahead from others, they follow their conscience and take it on themselves. To call yourself a ‘rebel’ without defying authority is to devalue the term to the point of absurdity. So, my other criticism of XR is that it is not doing what it set out to do, in seeding a mass-rebellion, but seems to have spawned a bourgeois social-club that passes for a pressure-group.  Where are the marches? Where are the posters?  The leaflets?  Where is the presence? The buzz on the street? The speeches, songs and chants? Where is the direct action and what has it achieved? If this be rebellion, it looks suspiciously like nothing’s happ’nin’.  

Derek Thomas's Responsibility For 'Austerity' Deaths

If you are part of an organization, you share the responsibility for the actions of that organization.  The higher up the organization you are, the more responsibility you share.  This is 'collective Karma.'  If you are an MP in a government whose policy is killing people by the thousand, you carry a share of responsibility for those deaths and the misery associated with them.  The so-called 'austerity' programme of the Conservative Party of Britain has been linked to thousands of premature deaths in the UK.  Has Derek Thomas MP ever expressed any concern over this?  Has he ever lifted a finger to oppose this policy of death-by-attrition?  If so, I'd sure like to hear about it...

https://mosaicscience.com/story/life-and-death-austerity/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/tory-austerity-deaths-study-report-people-die-social-care-government-policy-a8057306.html

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/01/perfect-storm-austerity-behind-130000-deaths-uk-ippr-report

https://nursingnotes.co.uk/austerity-estimated-200000-extra-deaths-over-ten-years/

Concerning the torturer, the killer, the cop. Officer Roland Clarke of Miami Gardens Police Department examined.

Officer Roland Clarke

That Roland Clarke should get away with murder, torture, poisoning, battery and other grave abuses of the civil and human rights of his charges is deeply disturbing and casts a dark shadow over Florida’s already troubled justice-system.

That he should find employment as a policeman after leaving the prison-service is a mockery of justice and should be a matter of deep concern to the people of Miami Gardens, whose streets he is currently patrolling.

For the first six months of 2012, Roland Clarke was working as a prison-guard at Florida’s deadliest prison, Dade Correctional Institute.  Dade is one of the prisons that features a “mental hospital” within its walls, this is known as the Transitional Care Unit.  It was here that inmate-orderly Harold Hempstead witnessed mentally-disturbed inmates being starved to death by denial of meals, as well as numerous other violations of the inmates’ civil rights.  In January 2012 Clarke started using a specially-adapted shower to torture inmates into subjugated compliance.  These inmate-patients were very deeply disturbed people, many of whom had committed extremely serious offences including murder.  They were housed in solitary cells and subjected to harrowing conditions, some of them were “troublesome” for the guards, particularly the more noisy ones who would not stop shouting and disturbing the other inmates and staff.  After initially testing the shower-torture on a schizophrenic named Daniel Geiger and finding it induced compliance, Roland Clarke and other staff continued using the shower on various other prisoners.

On 23^rd June, 2012, the black, Muslim inmate Darren Rainey was placed in the torture-shower by Roland Clarke after a dispute which resulted in Darren Rainey’s Koran being destroyed by prison-guards.   After over one and a half hours in the shower Darren Rainey, # 060954, was found dead with much of his skin detached from his body.  The white, Christian prisoner, Harold Hempstead was in a cell just below the shower and witnessed the events.  He has written a book about all this, called “Department of Corruption.  Darren Rainey.  The Untold Story.”  and also has a website with a vast body of evidence on it concerning the Rainey-case and related matters. 

Five years later, when the sham-investigation and woefully corrupt judicial proceedings were completed and published (and Hempstead was assaulted by guards and transported over the border to a prison in Tennessee) Roland Clarke and his colleagues were found to have done “no wrongdoing.”

Clarke is currently going about his police-business in the streets of Miami Gardens while Hempstead sits in a cell in Tennessee, serving out his fabricated sentence of 165 years, writing constant witness statements, affidavits, letters and now books.   In this latest blog Harold challenges the Mayor of Miami Gardens to investigate just what kind of a policeman he has in Officer Clarke…..

"To: Oliver G. Gilbert III, Mayor,

18605 Northwest 27^th Avenue,

Miami Gardens,

Florida 33056.

I authored a book named “Department of Corruption.  Darren Rainey.  The Untold Story.”  This book can be located at crusaderbooks.com or lulupublishing.com.

In my book I explain the following facts concerning Miami Gardens Police Officer Roland Clarke:

1) I personally knew him between 2010 and May 2014 when he was a security officer at Dade Correctional Institution. 

2) For a six-month period I witnessed Roland Clarke use a shower that reached temperatures in excess of 160 degrees as a torturing device to punish mentally-disabled inmates.  Darren Rainey was the fifth mentally-disabled inmate that Roland Clarke placed in the hot water shower.  

3) I witnessed the June 23^rd, 2012, murder of Darren Rainey.

4) During the years that I knew Roland Clarke, I also witnessed him physically abuse inmates, poison their food with foreign substances such as medicines, laxatives, urine and feces;  and lie to his supervisors concerning his misconduct and the misconduct of other staff who worked with him.

In my book I also provide substantial facts showing that Roland Clarke murdered Darren Rainey.

Finally my book explains that covert recordings were obtained of Roland Clarke in 2013 and 2014 admitting to using the hot water shower as a torturing-device to punish mentally-disabled inmates and to murdering Darren Rainey.

The citizens of Miami Gardens have a right to expect that the law-enforcement officers, who are payed tax-payer’s money to protect them, not be murders with a history of violating the civil rights of people under his authority.

Polygraph test and voice-stress test are admissible in administrative proceedings.

As mayor of Miami Gardens you have the authority to direct that officer Roland Clarke receive a polygraph test or voice-stress test about murdering Darren Rainey, his history of using a shower that reached temperatures in excess of 160 degrees to punish mentally-disabled inmates, and his history of violating the civil-rights of individuals.  Will you please direct that officer Roland Clarke receive a polygraph test or voice-stress test about these matters?

Thank you for your time and please feel free to contact me if I can be of any assistance.

Sincerely,

Harold Hempstead (Signature)  2/9/19

Harold Hempstead, # 577366,

Northeast Correctional Complex,

P.O. Box 5000,

Mountain City,

Tennessee 37683-5000"

Roland Clarke leading Darren Rainey to his death.

Darren Rainey

Fascistic Universal Credit Kills

Such a depressing subject, I can't bear to say too much about it just now.......

Cops Plant Marijuana

Who would know more about police-corruption than someone who had worked for them since the age of 13?  Who would be more informed about the way the Florida police ruin the lives of innumerable, innocent, mostly Black or Latino citizens, with the policy of "fitting them up" on false drug charges?  The author of the following official complaints was recruited by St.Petersburg Police Department as an immature youth, for purposes of infiltrating highly dangerous criminality, which involved guns, cocaine, multiple pounds of marijuana etc.  

I expect it is quite easy to pull in a youth for questioning over a petty theft or similar matter, then pile on the pressure until they agree to go undercover and work as as police-spy.  In the case of Harold Hempstead, they certainly managed to find a vulnerable family to exploit, as his father had died and his mother was spending spells in psychiatric care while the children were young.  Having got involved with undercover police-work, Harold's problems started after he exposed police-corruption and misconduct.  Eventually he was sentenced to 165 years in prison for allegedly leading a conspiracy to burgle various  empty houses.  Due to a dubious "motion in limine" the judge was able to effectively suppress a lot of evidence that was vital to Harold's defence - including the little fact that he was working for the cops when arrested.  The very same cops who testified against him at  his medieval-style trial.  

Trained as a Confidential Informant from childhood, trained to collect evidence in a methodical way, imprisoned for 165 years by a corrupt judiciary, witness and whistle-blower to the torture-murder of Darren Rainey and the torture and death by starvation of various convicts in the Florida Department of Corrections, Harold Hempstead eventually rose to a kind of fame as the "Caged Crusader" who was awarded for Bravery for his advocacy in the Darren Rainey murder case.  During his years behind bars, in the nightmare world of US prisons, Harold became a born-again Christian and is one of the most religious and spiritual people I have ever encountered.  His advocacy for Darren Rainey and the others was all done at the risk of his life and I think he got his nickname of the Crusader because nothing, even the threat of death, will stop him speaking out for what is right.

Following the publication of his second book, detailing his juvenile police-work, Harold is publicly exposing some of the corruption he encountered in his earlier years.  A study of his writings will show a systematic pattern of racially-profiled arrests, often on spurious evidence. 

It will be interesting to see the reaction of the St.Petersburg Police Department to the statements accusing them of gross corruption.  I will happily publish any response the police care to give.  I do not believe in censorship.  Free speech is at the very heart of democracy, and considering the incredible sacrifices some people, like Florida's "Caged Crusader" have made for its sake, the least we can do is give a fair hearing to what others have to say, no matter how disagreeable some of it may be.  

Jeremy Schanche, 4th May, 2019.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -      

INTERNAL AFFAIRS COMPLAINT

To:  St Petersburg Police Department

Attention:  Internal Affairs Division

1300 First Avenue North

St Petersburg,  Florida, 33705.

Subject of Complaint:  Former St Petersburg Police Officer Mike Brown

FACTS

I authored a book entitled “Used And Abused By The St.Petersburg Police Department.”   My book can be located at crusaderbooks.com or lulupublishing.com.

In my book I explain in detail how I know from personal knowledge that former St.Petersburg Vice and Narcotics Detective Mike Brown was behind setting up Michael Ashmead of St.Petersburg, Florida, with a frivolous felony sales and possession of marijuana charge in 1992.

Additionally, I explain how St.Petersburg Vice and Narcotics Detectives James Mosely and Jim Haley engaged me in conversations in 1998 asking me to aid them in setting up Jose Cortes of Tampa, Florida, on drug charges.

Finally, in my book, I also explain how I was subjected to retaliation and censured for previously trying to expose misconduct by these detectives.

From personal knowledge I know that several St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives were involved with setting up numerous individuals with false drug charges in the nineteen nineties.

Presently, dozens, if not hundreds of individuals, have been arrested and are possibly incarcerated on false drug charges, who were set-up by St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives.

I’m requesting that you conduct administrative, civil rights and criminal investigations into the pattern and practice of St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives setting people up on false drug charges. I also request that appropriate action be taken against any detectives involved with the violations mentioned in this complaint.

Finally, I request that you ask the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Justice to investigate the pattern and practice of St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives setting-up individuals with false drug charges.

Unnotarized Oath:

Under penalty of perjury, I swear that everything stated herein is true and correct.

Dated this 7 day of February, 2019.

Affiant: (Signature appears here on original document)

Harold Hempstead, #577366,

Northeast Correctional Complex,

P O  Box 5000,

Mountain City,  TN 37683-5000.

Attorney for Harold Hempstead:

John Trevena

801 West Bay Drive

Largo, Florida 33770

CC:

John Trevena

Kathryn Varn

Casey Frank

Julie Brown

Craig Patrick

Meg O’Connor

Rick Kriseman

Jeremy Schanche

Harold Hempstead, #577366

————————————-

SWORN COMPLAINT

To:

Florida Department of Law Enforcement

Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission

P.O. Box 1489

Tallahassee, Fla.,32302 – 1489

Subject of Complaint:  Former St Petersburg Police Office Mike Brown

FACTS

I authored a book entitled “Used And Abused By The St.Petersburg Police Department.”   My book can be located at crusaderbooks.com or lulupublishing.com.

In my book I explain in detail how I know from personal knowledge that former St.Petersburg Vice and Narcotics Detective Mike Brown was behind setting up Michael Ashmead of St.Petersburg, Florida, with a frivolous felony sales and possession of marijuana charge in 1992.

Additionally, I explain how St Petersburg Vice and Narcotics Detectives James Mosely and Jim Haley engaged me in conversations in 1998 asking me to aid them in setting up Jose Cortes of Tampa, Florida, on drug charges.

Finally, in my book, I also explain how I was subjected to retaliation and censured for previously trying to expose misconduct by these detectives.

From personal knowledge I know that several St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives were involved with setting up numerous individuals with false drug charges in the nineteen nineties.

Presently, dozens, if not hundreds of individuals, have been arrested and are possibly incarcerated on false drug charges, who were set-up by St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives.

I’m requesting that you conduct administrative, civil rights and criminal investigations into the pattern and practice of St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives setting people up on false drug charges. I also request that appropriate action be taken against any detectives involved with the violations mentioned in this complaint.

Finally, I request that you ask the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Justice to investigate the pattern and practice of St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives setting-up individuals with false drug charges.

Unnotarized Oath:

Under penalty of perjury, I swear that everything stated herein is true and correct.

Dated this 7 day of February, 2019.

Affiant: (Signature appears here on original document)

Harold Hempstead, #577366

Northeast Correctional Complex

P O  Box 5000

Mountain City,  TN 37683-5000

Attorney for Harold Hempstead:

John Trevena

801 West Bay Drive

Largo, Florida 33770

CC:

John Trevena

Kathryn Varn

Casey Frank

Julie Brown

Craig Patrick

Meg O’Connor

Rick Kriseman

Jeremy Schanche

Sexual misconduct of Detective Mike Brown, SPPD

Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County, 4155 58th Street North, Clearwater, Florida 33760.

Florida Department of Children and Families, Attn:  Child-Abuse Investigations Division, 525 Mirror Lake Drive, St.Petersburg, Florida 33701.

Child Advocacy Services, P.O. Box 10970, St.Petersburg, Florida 33733.

Help A Child Inc. 4000 Gateway Centre Blvd., Suite 200, Pinellas Park, Florida 33782.

Mary Lee’s House, 2806 North Armenia Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33607.

Suncoast Centre, Inc. (Child Protection) 2960 Roosevelt Blvd., Clearwater, Florida 33760.

SWORN COMPLAINT CONCERNING CHILD ABUSE BY ST.PETERSBURG POLICE DEPARTMENT:

FACTS:

I authored a book entitled “Used And Abused By The St Petersburg Police Department.”   My book can be located at crusaderbooks.com or lulupublishing.com.

In my book I explain in some detail how I witnessed a juvenile boy giving former St Petersburg Police Officer Mike Brown oral sex at the St Petersburg Police Athletic League and how Mike Brown had a history of pulling his penis out of his pants and shorts and urinating in front of children.

I was also advised that Mike Brown was behind trying to sexually abuse at least one juvenile girl.

Dozens of children could’ve been sexually abused by Mike Brown.

In my book I also explain how I was previously subjected to retaliation and censured for trying to expose Mike Brown’s sexual misconduct.

I request that you conduct administrative and criminal investigations into Mike Brown’s sexual misconduct and into any actions taken by his supervisors to cover-up his sexual misconduct and that you take appropriate action against Mike Brown and his supervisors for their misconduct.

I also request that you ask the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Department of Justice to investigate Mike Brown’s criminal and civil-rights violations and any actions taken by his supervisors to cover-up his sexual misconduct.

Unnotarized Oath

Under penalty of perjury, I swear that everything stated herein is true and correct.

Dated this 12 day of February, 2019.

Affiant: (signature appears here on original document)

Harold Hempstead, #577366,  Northeast Correctional Complex,  P.O.  Box 5000,  Mountain City, Tennessee 37683-5000

Attorney for Harold Hempstead:

John Trevena, 801 West Bay Drive, Largo,  Florida, 33770.

CC:

John Trevena

Kathryn Varn

Casey Frank

Julie Brown

Craig Patrick

Meg O’Connor

Rick Kriseman

Jeremy Schanche

 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

INTERNAL AFFAIRS COMPLAINT

To:  St.Petersburg Police Department

Attention:  Internal Affairs Division

1300 First Avenue North

St Petersburg, Florida, 33705.

FACTS

I authored a book entitled “Used And Abused By The St Petersburg Police Department.”  My book can be located at crusaderbooks.com or lulupublishing.com.

In my book, I explain in some detail how I witnessed a juvenile boy giving former St Petersburg Police Officer Mike Brown oral sex at the St Petersburg Police Athletic League and how Mike Brown had a history of pulling his penis out of his pants and shorts and urinating in front of children.

I was also advised that Mike Brown was behind trying to sexually abuse at least one juvenile girl.

Dozens of children could’ve been sexually abused by Mike Brown.

In my book I also explain how I was previously subjected to retaliation and censured for trying to expose Mike Brown’s sexual misconduct.

I request that you conduct administrative and criminal investigations into Mike Brown’s sexual misconduct and into any actions taken by his supervisors to cover-up his sexual misconduct.

I also request that you ask the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Department of Justice to investigate Mike Brown’s criminal and civil-rights violations and any actions taken by his supervisors to cover-up his sexual misconduct.

Unnotarized Oath

Under penalty of perjury I swear that everything stated herein is true and correct.

Dated this 7 day of February, 2019.

Affiant: (signature appears here on original document)

Harold Hempstead, #577366, Northeast Correctional Complex ,P O  Box 5000, Mountain City, Tennessee 37683-5000

Attorney for Harold Hempstead:

John Trevena, 801 West Bay Drive,  Largo,  Florida, 33770.

CC:

John Trevena

Kathryn Varn

Casey Frank

Julie Brown

Craig Patrick

Meg O’Connor

Rick Kriseman

Jeremy Schanche

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

SWORN COMPLAINT

To:

Florida Department of Law Enforcement

Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission

P.O. Box 1489

Tallahassee, Fla.,32302 – 1489

Subject of Complaint:  Former St Petersburg Police Office Mike Brown

FACTS

I authored a book entitled “Used And Abused By The St Petersburg Police Department.”   My book can be located at crusaderbooks.com or lulupublishing.com.

In my book I explain in some detail how I witnessed a juvenile boy giving former St Petersburg Police Officer Mike Brown oral sex at the St Petersburg Police Athletic League and how Mike Brown had a history of pulling his penis out of his pants and shorts and urinating in front of children.

I was also advised that Mike Brown was behind trying to sexually abuse at least one juvenile girl.

Dozens of children could’ve been sexually abused by Mike Brown.

In my book I also explain how I was previously subjected to retaliation and censured for trying to expose Mike Brown’s sexual misconduct.

I request that you conduct administrative and criminal investigations into Mike Brown’s sexual misconduct and into any actions taken by his supervisors to cover-up his sexual misconduct and that you take appropriate action against Mike Brown and his supervisors for their misconduct.

I also request that you ask the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Department of Justice to investigate Mike Brown’s criminal and civil-rights violations and any actions taken by his supervisors to cover-up his sexual misconduct.

Unnotarized Oath

Under penalty of perjury, I swear that everything stated herein is true and correct.

Dated this 7 day of February, 2019.

Affiant: (signature appears here on original document)

Harold Hempstead, #577366,  Northeast Correctional Complex,  P.O.  Box 5000,  Mountain City, Tennessee 37683-5000

Attorney for Harold Hempstead:

John Trevena, 801 West Bay Drive, Largo,  Florida, 33770.

CC:

John Trevena

Kathryn Varn

Casey Frank

Julie Brown

Craig Patrick

Meg O-Connor

Rick Kriseman

Jeremy Schanche

HOW NOT TO HOLD UP A GAS-STATION

THE STORY OF HOW A MOTHER AND SON FROM PENZANCE STAGED EXTINCTION REBELLION-S FIRST ACT OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN WEST CORNWALL

A feral wind had blasted the sea and the land all night – ploughing waves into avalanches and sending spindrift explosions over the walls of Penzance and Newlyn harbours -  After about two hours sleep I awoke focused on the day that had finally come – the day I intended to get arrested – with my 84 year old mother – in a non-violent direct action over the climate-crisis which was to be a Cornish prelude to the International Rebellion Week that kicks off in London in two day-s time – 15^th April 2019 -  This is the Rebellion against the Extinction of life on Earth – which is where we are fast headed unless the World-s governments drastically slash carbon-emissions and other forms of pollution and we change the entire culture of human existence - - -

I had two nagging issues with this Direct Action – One was concern over the wellbeing of my mother – who I felt had let her conscience lead her into very difficult territory and the other was my background sense of guilt for neglecting my partner in activism – my brother Harold – the “Caged Crusader” of Florida – who languishes in prison – serving out his 165 year sentence for thieving – I took a copy of his first book – Department of  Corruption with me to read in the cell – I thought I would write him from the cell too – But things panned out differently -   I thought often of my friends in USA and how I had been meaning to write and explain to them about Extinction Rebellion – I have a lot of friends in Florida – where the Red Tide of algae has been killing myriad fish and making the beaches toxic – The reality is that the human rights and justice situation in the USA is so grim that all my friends there are focused on civil rights – justice – prisoner-s rights and police-brutality and murder -  This work – unpaid and often dangerous – demands everything and consumes vast amounts of time and energy – leaving little time for environmental activism for many people –

At eleven o-clock half a dozen of us congregated in the sharp wind to leaflet the people passing through the centre of Penzance – Our signs were in danger of flying off into the swirling sky – There was some interest and some indifference – Jane showed a great oratorical talent and proved that when you-ve really got something to say you don-t need no microphone!  There was good spirit between those present and if low-key the event was extremely heartfelt and sincere – It felt like we were literally calling to our neighbours – trying desperately to warn them of the danger the planet is facing from climate-chaos and general toxicity and so many people just do not want to hear that -  In today-s neutered culture we have long been conditioned to only trust messages that come from “official” channels – not those that are called out from the heart in the streets of our towns and cities -  

Due to the severity of the wind – there were not many punters around even though it was Saturday -  We did what we could and I think we certainly reached a few people and I hope we made another little ripple to spread through the minds of our friends and neighbours that perhaps there really is something to this climate-change business - - -

Well Verity showed up and as the demo unwound we hit the road for Eastern Green – on foot and buffeted by this wild prowling wind of the sea -  We crossed the road by the garage or “gas-station” that we intended to blockade and briefly mingled into a bus-queue so we could suss-out the situation before engaging in our action to combat the carbon-driven asphyxiation of our planet -  Then we walked onto the forecourt and stood in front of the pumps as a human-barricade -  After a brief quiet interlude things started happening fast – I think it was the very first car that I blocked that started the trouble – An elderly couple – the man seemed overwhelmed with fury at my obstructing his vehicle and simply kept driving right at me with no apparent intention of stopping -  Everything narrowed down to a windscreen rolling towards me as I shouted “stop” and I heard other voices shouting out – Just as the car was about to strike me I thumped the bonnet with my fist then held up my sign as a shield obscuring his view -  This finally stopped him from crushing me -  His wife looked very shocked – The old man jumped out and there were remonstrations and accusations of assault – His car had become a deadly weapon – My cardboard information-sign was the shield I had to protect myself from being crippled by his car -  From this point on things went from ugly to hideous via grotesquely eldritch – As the punters started rolling in – I soon found myself being driven at or fronted at by a big fat black four by four – This joker wasn-t going to stop either – He was already rolling down that lost highway -  This time I side-stepped at the last minute (it was Darwinism in action:  Adapt or Die) -  There was a sense of many things happening at once – Diane remonstrating with a violent motorist – Verity blocking her side of the lane with her FOSSIL FUELS KILL sign – People shouting abuse and insults – mocking and sneering -  Threats – Rednecks and hard-men – ugliness – some honking – As the assault started – the adrenalin clocked in and started work – We had spent weeks getting prepared for arrest – cellular-detention – talking with Babylon – going to court – speaking publicly about how the planetary-crisis drove our action – In my mum-s case she was preparing to face her greatest fear – the fear of being locked into a small space -  We thought we had prepared to meet the public – We had anticipated a level of abuse and hostility – We seriously underestimated the sheer ugliness of Mr Josef Public – We had not expected armed assault to be the very first reaction of these motor-head folks – The car as a weapon against a pedestrian is an unlovely phenomenon – An ignoble and crass cameo of where Homo sapiens has driven himself to in his little tin box – A mad ape in a mineral-chariot of death – Individual and planetary death – Death to pedestrians and little kids trying to cross the road – Death to innumerable myriad creatures of the wild – Death to birds insects women children and men – Death to air and plants – to solitude – peace – tranquillity and nature – Death death death conveyed to ye by the glorious automobile – Let-s all drop to our knees and kiss its little black exhaust-pipe -  

So anyway – I-ve never been too keen on cars -  My views have not changed –

The most extraordinary attack came from a fellow in a big car with his wife -  A short wide chap with a Yorkshire accent and surreal legs – They were as wide as a girl-s waist – bulbous – also taped-up – bandaged and hypnotic – “I-m disabled” he shouted aggressively as he waddled towards me with vicious and viscous intent gleaming reptilian in his unblinking yellow eye – “I-m disabled” came the Peter Kay voice “I-ve got to get to me doctor” he raged (I sensed he was lying) Even as I was telling V to let him through he was on me – A two-handed shove to the chest delivered with spluttering venom – The air was bristling with hatred and violence – Not at all like the meetings where people put their hands up to speak - - -

While all this silt was going down – another layer was developing as green-clad garage staff started emerging and interacting with us – Initially a couple of them had tried to lay hands on me but I told them that constituted criminal assault and they had no such right -  Suddenly twenty year old garage-workers were trying to argue law with me -  I-m not a formally trained lawyer but I know that a Morrison-s employee has no right over anyone else-s sovereignty – no matter if they be standing on the garage forecourt -  I managed to get them to unhand me – but five of them kept trying to surround me and impede my movement – Their effort was only half-hearted though and I could side-step them and continue to discourage cars from entering the pump-area –

At one point there was a backlog of motors trying to enter the garage and some hooligans were starting to congregate – One of the personages who threatened me repeatedly said he would assault me if I blocked anybody-s car from entering -  I did briefly explain to him about the imminent extinction of animal life on Earth but it did nothing to lessen his hatred as he then suggested I should be hung from a nearby tree by those present - 

Still shaked and slaked with adrenalin after the two car-assaults and the crazy toad-man – I was being constantly heckled and questioned by the gang of garage staff -  It did not taste nice –

Slike in USA when a fascist drove his car into a protester at North Carolina and killed him and Chump said there was “fault on both sides” there was outrage upon the nation – Well the same thing nearly happened right here in sleepy little old Cornwall – It would have been Blood On The Forecourt – or just simply Red Asphalt - - -  Happily all our blood stayed inside our veins on the 13^th but there was definitely a slight level of risk and threat – plus a great deal of hostility and aggression –

We are all primates of the ego and I too was trying to impose my will – my dream – on these other primates – these other wilful and egoic dreamers with their own wishes – impulses and – er – drives -  By going against the established behaviour-pattern of these other primates I was violating an unwritten code of the somnambulists – never challenge the basic reality – never try to wake the dreamers – they will turn and rend ye – They will not thank you – they will slag you down (sorry:  They will slag I down)  They will mock I and I and their feet that never touch the earth shall stamp down upon their accelerators –

During the first car-attack I briefly sat down in front of the vehicle but instantly started getting cramp in my legs – and started hopping and limping around for a few moments as I could hear the green-clad garage staff instantly accusing me of trying to fake an injury from the car-impact! 

I remember turning to Verity at one point and saying “Where are the cops~”  I had thought they would be there in ten to twenty minutes but it seemed more like an hour before they finally “deployed” –

The lynch-mob mentality was probably defused by the arrival of the law-enforcement and I think we were both relieved to see them -  They were two ladies – apparently in their twenties and extremely courteous – friendly and polite – They were wearing body-cameras which they pointed out to me and I did not object to – I have noticed a change in police-policy – They seriously do try to act nice these days – At least where possible -  I base this on another incident when I recently saw them handling a seriously drunken man with extreme sensitivity – care and patience – I stress this because over the years I have been extremely critical of the British police – but only when they have killed – tortured or mutilated unnecessarily and I have felt compelled to address and publicize their crimes – I-ve written  copiously about police-violence and written countless letters to MPs and police-chiefs about this issue in the past so I am happy to report that “on the ground” or in the “street” their way of conducting themselves (in my miniscule experience) has evolved into a much warmer and more seemingly humane approach –

The first thing the two WPC-s did was to approach the knot of half a dozen or so garage-workers and management types in suits and start by getting their side of the story -  Even though I heard one of them perjure himself and lie about me right away – Saying I had been “jumping on cars” and had pushed him – I suppose he would rather have seen me go under that car – All physical contact was at the initiation of Mr Garyage and his diminutive yet weighty pal who initially laid hands on me before I vocally repelled them – bla bla bla –

The lady-cops explained the position as they saw it and discussed it with us – They showed concern for my mother who was very cold and no-doubt in shock by this point – She-s 84 and a bitter wind was raging – I had tried numerous times – including on the way to the garage – to try to talk her out of doing the action with me – and had some very serious concerns over it – but ultimately I felt I had no right to try to stop a fellow-activist who was on-board with the greater mission of Extinction Rebellion – from offering her contribution to a project that might give her grandchildren and their grandchildren a fair chance of living in a world with air to breathe – birds to sing and food to eat – In this movement everyone takes personal responsibility and no-one can forbid the action of another – only advise against it – How could I reject an extremely zealous and dedicated comrade – particularly when she was the only one~  I almost think that if I had cancelled the action she would have gone up there and done it on her own anyway!  She knew that was the basis I was working on – I announced the action some weeks back and I would do it alone if necessary but preferably with support – as is the whole basis of XR – a sophisticated support-system for social-reform –

So anyway – after a friendly chat we agreed that Verity should be driven home in the police-car – My advice was that she had achieved our aim and was now getting cold and enough was enough – Everyone was happy when she agreed to accept the HM Gov taxi home and I was extremely relieved that she was heading for warmth – comfort and quietness – She is usually a soft-spoken person who loves rose-gardening and literature – I know this experience was of Biblical proportions to her and I will forever after see her in a luminous nimbus of respect for what she did!  (The things you have to do to earn your kid-s respect these days!) 

So anyway – before the cops took her home they discussed the situation with me – I explained to them that my mother and I were slightly different cases and that I wanted her to go home but I wished to stay put and carry on with the “demonstration” as they were calling it -  They very patiently explained that they were very happy for me to stand “just over there” where I would not be obstructing any traffic and that I could carry on my “protest” over there -  I responded by saying I thought I would probably just continue to stand right where I was and asked them what was likely to happen if I pursued that course of action - - - They took an unusually lenient approach – I thought – when they said they would leave and that if there were further complaints about my activity then the “response might be different” – which I took for a euphemism for probable arrest -  I have to say I found them extremely fair and tolerant – extraordinarily so -  Possibly because they had orders to avoid giving publicity to the International Rebellion if reasonably possible -  On reflection though there was something I was not overly happy about and that was their response to the assaults -  They had responded well when I gave them what I call the Bug Rap – which is the heart-breakingly simply arithmetic behind the insect-decline which is at a global-rate of 2 and a half per cent per annum – which means that at current rates of “progress” all insects will be extinct in 40 years time and therefore so will be most of animal and plant life – The cop-ladies listened to this patiently and seemed to understand the alacrity of what I was explaining – The garage-folks were huddled quietly in a knot nearby – cowed by the presence of “authority” – transmuted from a jeering – taunting mob of wannabe vigilantes into a submissive group of obedient “good citizens” – giving false-evidence against the crazy-man covered in sticky weed “jumping onto cars” -  Crazy days in Cornwallfornia - - -

But when I had reported the two assaults with car (assault with a deadly weapon – as I explained to them) and the one by hands – plus the several threats of violence – her response – when I asked if they would seriously investigate these crimes – was that they could only “crime” them (cop-speak for log a crime for possible investigation) if I gave my name – Since I said I preferred to do that “later in the process” they said they could not investigate without my name so it was up to me -  Fair enough – I initially thought – But later I thought differently -  To me the car-weapon – when used as such – is no different from the knife-weapon or gun-weapon – In British law – intent of use makes an object into a weapon -  Thus a car driven rapidly towards a non-violent protester is a weapon – Well consider that the garage was continuously filming the area with their hidden-cameras – we had our own camera-lady with us for part of the action – and no-doubt some of the drivers and passengers and hangers-on were filming us -  So there is plenty of film-evidence of two counts of assault with a deadly weapon -  If the footage showed two counts of someone waving a knife in another person-s face would the cops have said they would only proceed if the victim came forward and gave their name~  Obviously not – because the victim might be dead -  Or the victim might be reluctant to come forward because of their own involvement in criminal gang-type activities – However – none of that should stop the investigations of a police-force ostensibly committed to opposing and eliminating armed-crime -  They would act on the evidence regardless and find the victim anyway -   The recorded footage shows the car number-plates so these thugs are within reach – Personally I think the cops showed an unwillingness to look at the assaults and were mainly concerned with smoothing things over – I am left with a slight dilemma -  Identifying myself to the cops is a mere formality as they know who I am – I advertised the action in the public domain after all – under my own name -  So it-s up to me whether or not I pursue actions against those three men who assaulted me as the police seem unwilling to act on the evidence on their own initiative – Again – they understand that a court-case over this incident would feed massive publicity back to the message of Extinction Rebellion and that is not yet the wish of the “authorities” -   On one hand I feel that justice should be applied and that hypothesis would oblige me to pursue the prosecutions – On the other hand a triple-court case sounds like a hell of a lot of work that I could honestly do without -  Perhaps this should come back to the root of Non-Violent Direct Action – Ahimsa – the ancient Hindu concept of a loving-kindness that leads to compassionate action -  Perhaps I should use those three ruffians as the objects of contemplation and try to feel some compassion and love towards them – I feel that might be the best way of “winning” and that is what I will try to do – (I make no promise to succeed and I can-t “fake-it”) – If NVDA is to remain pure it-s good to remember the roots –

Sometimes it feels like a cat and mouse game of chess with the cops – They know I can make a fuss and demand those assault-investigations if I want to and I know that – although they drove away giving the impression that no further action would be taken without further complaint – they could still look at the footage – take possession of the footage from the garage and – if they so wished – build some kind of case against me as a method of cooling my free speech -  Considering the political climate (and the fact that I am innocent of crime) I do not expect them to pursue me and I intend to deal with my “haters” through meditative means rather than legal ones – Nothing would give me more joy in the world than to be able to befriend someone who once hated me –

So eventually I bade farewell to my mother and thanked her warmly for her amazing fortitude -  I remember her telling the cops how she had struggled to bring me into the world and did not want to see me go under a car!  Her own mother had been born in a Tibetan monastery to English missionaries and had rode round Labrador in a dog-sleigh as a child – On my father-s side they were Vikings -  

Mum rolled home in the cop-car and suddenly it was very quiet – The cops had gone – my comrade had gone – our camera-lady had gone – the gang of garage-workers had gone – most of the aggressive motorists with their insults had gone -  the forecourt was almost empty – I was there alone – What now~ I wondered –

There was a lull in the traffic – it went very quiet – everything seemed to slow down -  Partly this must have been the contrast with the frenetic activity – violence and mayhem of just before -  As the occasional car rolled in I tried to block it but I was too small and they could simply weave round me -  I could not prevent them -  For a moment I thought I should up the ante and do something more dramatic just to get hauled away and get it over with – But then I reassessed the situation and thought we had already made quite a statement and I could not realistically do anything more alone – Why not save the government-hotel for another day and go and see how mum-s doing and get a cup of tea -  That seemed so eminently sensible that I folded my sign and walked away -  Happily the staff did not come out to jeer me off –

I walked on down the highway and soon found myself singing – it happened to be that old Irish song Dicey Riley about an alcoholic prostitute of Dublin  - lovely song! 

Checking in with my mum – I found her doing not too bad – but still cold and definitely in shock like me – so I nipped down the road to the offie and got a quarter bottle of cognac and she had some in her barley-cup -  I made sure she had food and drink and we talked a bit but we were both pretty fazed and she was going to relax in the bath so we parted after I told her again how highly I thought of her for her bravery in such horrible circumstances and her real dedication to the cause of a healthy planet - 

What did we learn from the action~  Always consider a “clothing-margin” – in other words imagine that it will be colder – hotter – wetter than your wildest imagining – because it might be!  We were under-prepared for the savage wind that came that day bringing the roughest seas I had seen in over a year - 

Camera-crew is absolutely vital for evidence-gathering -  At least two – though preferably three trained operatives needed for any direct action –

Actions should be conducted with other participants – Acting in pairs is not advisable in potentially combatitive situations – The danger or risk level of an action should be evaluated and an appropriate number of activists decided upon – The action should only go forward when this number of dedicated activists has been achieved and promised –

Don-t worry too much about the police harming you – It-s Joe Public who is probably more likely to do you over in these situations – The police might not be much amused by anarchic displays of planet-politics and civil disobedience but at the same time they know that violence against the movement will only increase public sympathy – solidarity and membership – If they can facilitate peaceful protest then it is obviously in the public interest that they do so and there has been progress on this front -  Also police tend to be well-informed on social issues and may – individually and “off-duty” – feel sympathy to a movement aiming at saving the world from the terrors of an unstable climate and a toxic environment – Many police personnel have children or even grand-children of their own and naturally want these youngsters to inherit a world that is inhabitable –

We learned that the public may not react well to being interrupted in their business and that violence may be their first – rather than their last resort -  The nature of the “target” should be carefully considered in advance – Some “targets” – in the sporting sense of the word – offer a lower level of risk of violence or strong aggression than others -  Careful evaluation should precede all and any actions –

As the union-organizers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century knew only too well – it-s all about being Organized!  There is no better medicine for the distress caused by climate-chaos than taking action – When we grieve and mourn we merely emote – necessary for sure but it does not change the world – When we step from the abstract world of thought and discussion and internet conversation into the 3D world of the streets and start taking action – in whatever form we find best – then a line has been crossed into new territory and even the smallest action taken is vastly therapeutic and healing -  From then on we have gone from being theorists and talkers to getting personally involved and thus becoming activists –

Again I think of my friends in USA who work so hard for justice in the face of such repression and State-violence -  Of Harold Hempstead – the prison-activist who risked his life to reveal the story of a Muslim prisoner steamed to death in a torture-chamber in a Florida prison – And the others who were starved to death there at Dade – Also of the other activists who are free and working so hard for those who are not – like the schizophrenics doing ten-year stretches in solitary-confinement and wearing leg-irons that leave suppurating sores on the ankles – I-m also thinking of how cool the police were here in Cornwall – in Britain – compared to what would have happened in most places – like USA for instance -  In all probability we would have been violently arrested – put on the ground – put in a county-jail to await trial for perhaps over a year in an environment where we could be raped or die from battery – or being too hot – or too cold – or too dehydrated – and all this before even standing trial -  So I consider myself lucky to live in Britain where the level of State-violence and oppression is considerably lower than USA – Though I also remember my British activist friends – I-m talking about the ones who are fighting for justice after being bereaved or mutilated by the police here in Britain – Not everyone here has been as fortunate as me in their dealings with the police and I would never want to play down the stories of my friends who have lost their brothers or sons or daughters to the brutal hands of the State -  So far I consider myself lucky but I wonder for my fellow climate-activists in Extinction Rebellion who will be in London tomorrow – 15^th April 2019 – to start the week-long International Rebellion that will bring London to a halt and send Britgov a little wake-up call –

Post Script – Two days later and the storm is still raging – in fact it-s getting worse – These great storms of the sea usually used to come in December or January but here we are on 15^th April and the storm is getting worse - - - - -  One hour ago the Rebellion started in London – I wish heartfelt feelings of success to all those who are out in the streets of our capital – struggling to get climate-chaos put firmly at the top of the government-s agenda -  I believe we must all do whatever we can to help this process along -  Not so long ago I was in Truro – Cornwall – at the Funeral For Extinct Species and I heard one of the inspiring speakers there mention the fact that in the recent past you would expect to have a lot of insects splattered on your windscreen after a summer-drive but now you no longer have this occurring -   Well I learned at the garage two days ago that if you bug motorists they will happily try and squash you like a bug and you might find yourself splattered across their windscreen like a cadis-fly of old -  

As we go forward with the XR campaign there will be many things to learn – If our dedication to peaceful and non-violent activity remains strong then we can achieve far more than we yet realize -  We can be a real voice for nature and for the survival of the planet – and not just a voice but a helping hand – or rather a vast forest of helping hands – stretching round the World – reaching out to connect with each other and cooperate in protecting the World – the myriad life-forms – the endless fruition of nature – the life – the life of the planet – the very life -