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July 6, 2017

Osahon Tongo's Website: Click Here

by Matt Winkeljohn | The Good Word

Osahon Tongo circled around the other day, passing through Atlanta and stopping by Georgia Tech to revisit the roots of his flight plan -- which is by no means static -- and the former Yellow Jacket linebacker found himself connecting with several of his "light warriors."

This is not to say that the newly minted filmmaker closed any circles.

Tongo will be back, and his next visit to Tech is likely to merge profession and passion -- storytelling and the Yellow Jackets. He's hoping to help breathe life into the vision of athletics director Todd Stansbury by helping to tell the stories of Tech and its student-athletes via video, film and interactive media.

With air beneath his feet following the June 15 world premiere of his short story, "Iman and the Light Warriors," at the American Black Film Festival presented by HBO in South Beach, he returned to The Flats, where he played, studied and discovered possibilities from 2006-10. He left recently with the goal of expanding more horizons. (Photos from "Iman and the Light Warriors")

"Hopefully, I'll be back in Atlanta more often. I'm going to be able to help with some of the story telling at Georgia Tech," Tongo said. "Todd Stansbury is really trying to make Georgia Tech what it can be, and what I imagined.

"Even if you go in his room, there are quotes on his board, like, `Our responsibility is to create leaders who will change the world.' I don't know that any other ADs have that priority, just balancing budgets."

Tongo has a term, "light warrior," for those who aid, guide and even protect. Tech gave him many light warriors while he was a Jacket.

Teammates, coaches, professors and others helped the management major conquer adversity, choose prudent paths from countless options, solve problems, and even learn to assist others. Tongo wants to be a light warrior back.

He's already been one, actually, as he played a supporting role in "Iman and the Light Warriors," a fictional story he wrote about a 10-year-old boy in the dangerous post-revolution City of Aya. Iman's light warriors, who each have developing superpowers, help safeguard him on the way to school so that he can profess his love to his friend, Crystal.

Tongo, who earned a graduate degree in April, 2016, from the USC Cinematic School of Arts, originally made the film, with director, friend, and classmate Jarrett Benjamin Woo, as the final project for one of his last classes, Film 546, Production III - Fiction. Later, they polished it up, and submitted it for a spot in the Black Film Festival, which chose it and a few others from roughly 100 applications.

Motivations for his script were drawn from Tongo's personal experiences and observations of the world. Iman was borne from observation, for example, and Osiris from experience.

"I originally wrote that three years ago. I'd watched this movie (Five Broken Cameras) about a Palestinian on the border, a human story about kids walking through a war zone to go to school," Tongo explained.

"My best friend's brother, Dejavonte Moore, died growing up. He was hit by a truck. He went through gang territory going to school. It was always on my mind."

The movie's credits dedicate the film to "The Fallen Light Warriors," a combination of nine people in the lives of Tongo, Woo and other production and cast members who have passed away -- like Moore.

A 10th spot is dedicated to Trayvon Martin -- an unarmed 17-year-old African-American shot and killed in 2012 by George Zimmerman, who reported Martin as "suspicious." In the movie, Iman places a package of red Twizzlers (licorice) at a shrine to Osiris while on the way to school. Martin died with skittles.

"We cut out a [full] scene where he goes to the grocery to get Twizzlers," Tongo said. "It's an analogy to Trayvon, somebody killed because of someone else's fears."

Tongo's conquered fears, and grown them into action items.

"When I was at Tech the last semester [spring, 2010], I didn't know what I was going to do," he recalled. "I had a year of eligibility. I had a hip injury from 2009, and I had a panic attack on the practice field. I was freaking out, my hands shaking in the dirt, and I didn't see a therapist. I just slept for the rest of the day.

"I didn't talk to anybody for two days. I finished spring ball and got a job [foregoing a final season of football]."

That job, in digital marketing at CNN, came in part through networking with a Tech connection, current assistant athletics director for brand & ideation Simit Shah. A Tech graduate, Shah in 2010 was director of web operations at CNN and helped Tongo get on at CNN after graduation. Soon, he figures to again work with Tongo, at least part time, at Tech.

After nearly two years at CNN, where he grew his digital skills and did more and more video and social work, Tongo executed an internship he'd earned at Tech. Off to Greece he went, "to work in a humane society through AIESEC. We went to Greece and met Tunisian revolutionaries at a conference in Athens; it was an incredible experience."

Back in the States in 2012, Tongo worked in the office of admissions for Emory University's Gouzieta School of Business MBA program. While working at Emory, "I started working on film sets," he said. "We flew around the country to tell these stories, not just write simple stuff."

Before long, an itched developed and Tongo went to USC's SCA -- the largest school of its kind in the world -- to scratch it.

He's learned and practiced just about every aspect of film making, including sound, special effects, casting, filming, you name it. Tongo was even an assistant director on Iman for a day, filling in, and helped find film sites for the crew.

"The director and I hit it off as [screenplay] writing partners, and I kept getting pulled in directions. We were in the Scientology commune building used by [Scientology founder] L. Ron Hubbard; we shot in there for two days," said Tongo, who's directed a few short films. "That scene where [Iman's] getting out of his house, the graffiti, we painted it back the way it was before we left.

"The trains and the mural [shrine to Osiris], that was in the arts district. That's tagging territory [where L.A. graffiti artists are prevalent]. We did our graffiti, and if you tag over someone else's [graffiti], they'll tag over yours so . . . the director (Woo) and production designer slept over to make sure we didn't get tagged."

Tongo's been tagged several times, actually, called upon to assist a number of productions in a variety of capacities.

Before going to the American Black Film Festival in Miami, he was working in Hawaii on "Paradise Run," one of Nickelodeon's top shows (Click Here).

"One of my professors, [executive director] Scott A. Stone, the professor for my reality TV class, asked if I'd like to go to Hawaii and be a production assistant," Tongo said. "I got to learn on the job."

The mind of Tongo, who was at Tech from 2006-10, is a fascinating place, and it travels. His itinerary is a chore to keep up with, as are his churning dreams and visions.

Always learning on the move, he left Atlanta for a wedding in Dallas and is now spending time with his family in Naperville, Ill. Then, back to Los Angeles, where he, Woo and others are trying to convert Iman and the Light Warriors into a TV series, albeit with a more adult orientation than that of the short film.

He'll return to Tech, too, where he built memories and hatched ideas.

For all the many visions he has and the paths he takes, some of his opinions are clear and constant: keep an open mind, embrace love, remain ever on the road to discovery and work with others to make the world a better place.

Former teammates Dominique Reese, Sedric Griffin and many others, coaches, professors, academic advisors, Shah . . . they're all light warriors, lifting Tongo and others so that he might lift others in return.

That's what Iman and the Light Warriors is about, and it's Tongo to a T.

"The whole message is how do you fight fear? With love," he said. "Keep your heart open when you're dealing with adversity. We're all light warriors even though I don't understand my powers yet."

The origin of Tongo's mission is cast in celluloid (or the modern equivalent), as the movie's final credit line explains the inspirations behind it:

"Based on the fact that all my homies are super heroes on a quest to unleash their superpowers."

See the rest here:
#TGW: Tongo to a 'T' - Georgia Tech Official Athletic Site

A few days after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8 last year, a video surfaced on social media showing Wani and an accomplice tapping their rifles and humming a Kashmiri folk song playing in the background. The lyrics of the song in the video went: You will miss me, o mother, when I will be buried under the earth...

That video touched a chord with many in Kashmir where militants enjoy wide public support. Any Kashmiri will cry, the video touches you, a 40-year-old woman from old Srinagar said.

Viral videos that capture militants at play and leisure, shocking videos of alleged rights excesses committed by security forces on Kashmiri civilians, the alleged use of instant messaging platforms to mobilise stone pelters and recruit foot soldiers for militants and the frequent gags on internet are bringing a paradigm shift in the narrative of the Valleys conflict. But the government seems to be losing the online war, with the militants and separatists seemingly always a step ahead. The week-long protest calendar by separatists to mark Wanis first death anniversary calls for a Kashmir Awareness campaign on social media.

The PDP-BJP government is the most unpopular government Kashmir has seen in the last decade. So even if the government tries to reach out to people through social media, it wont make much of a difference for its public relations because I think it will face similar kind of criticism on social media to the one it faces on ground, says Irfan Mehraj, an activist with the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and editor of e-magazine Wande.

Militants are no longer faceless. They wear military fatigues, strap ammunition across their chests and smile at you from forests. Given how successfully Wani struck a chord with people through social media and attracted youngsters, newer militants are trying out the same.

Read |Kashmirs disturbing new reality

Police sources say although they check and analyse all latest militant videos, they are not dependant on them for gathering information on insurgents who are already profiled by police intelligence. But Kashmir watchers, like senior journalist and former Kashmir bureau chief of Reuters Sheikh Mushtaq, point out that militant videos play a huge role in humanising the insurgents to the common population and putting forward their viewpoint. You see them and get to know them through these videos. They penetrate your computers and mobile phones. This is quite different from the militancy of the 1990s, when there were no such technologies.

Stone-pelting protesters now shoot videos of clashes and upload them onto social media almost in real time. Many such videos were shared widely after a clash near an encounter site in Kulgam in February. With commentary on how forces were allegedly shooting at protesters and killing Kashmiris, the videos captured disturbing visuals from the clashes.

Director general of state police, SP Vaid, says police is successfully putting a check on all sorts of militancy propaganda on social media.

Videos capturing atrocities and human rights violations of Kashmiris have dominated the narrative this year and proved to be a major headache for the administration.

In April, a video emerged of a group of Kashmiri youth heckling CRPF jawans returning from duty on the day of Srinagar bypolls on April 9 and resulted in a national outrage. What followed, however, was a torrent of videos showing security forces committing atrocities and human rights excesses on civilians, including using a human shield by the army and the targeted shooting of a teenage stone pelter on the day of the bypoll.

Read |Facts, allegations: Tracking Major Gogois human shield story

Army Major Leetul Gogoi tied Kashmiri shawl weaver, Farooq Dar, to the bonnet of a jeep as a human shield and drove him around for five hours across 17 villages over 28km on April 9. A video of the act, which surfaced a few days later and was shared by many. including former chief minister Omar Abdullah. had put the spotlight on the now infamous act. Soon after these videos went viral, the administration on April 17 snapped high-speed mobile internet services and on April 26, banned 22 social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, for a month.

Internet gags check violence or curb dissent?

The security establishment tries to keep pace through its cyber cells but the governments main response is to snap mobile internet services, like it did after Wani was killed. Post-paid mobile internet services were restored in mid-November, while pre-paid services were restored on January 30 this year making the blackout period the longest in Kashmir till now.

The blackout did not stop youth from mobilising in large number and organising stone pelting protests. The unrest that began after Wanis death left over 90 people dead last year. The idea that without internet there would be no street protests was also debunked when both broadband and mobile internet services were snapped across Kashmir for the bypolls in Srinagar constituency eight civilian protesters were gunned down by forces that day. Senior police officers, however, argue that with functioning internet, the scale of violence would have been higher.

The suspension of 3G and 4G services in April was to curb the uploading of multimedia content that could provoke violence, while letting users access the basic minimum internet on their phones.

Read | Secret browsers, encrypted messages: How Kashmiris are dodging social media gag

Similarly, the April 26 order by state home secretary RK Goyal to ban 22 sites said the step was taken because the government felt that continued misuse of social networking sites and instant messaging services is likely to be detrimental to the interests of peace and tranquility in the state. The social media ban turned out to be a colossal failure. Most Kashmiri users switched on to Virtual Private Network (VPN) apps to overcome the ban and what came as a real surprise was that the Whos Who of Kashmir were all leading a busy social media life throughout the ban.

This year, internet services were completely or partially snapped at least seven times in Kashmir. But activists say the administration is clueless about how to control the space, which is being increasingly used for dissent, and hence gags it.

Kashmiris chose dissent online, because the offline real world democracy wasnt working. Even then they were pushed to the wall. The ban on social media was the peaking of an authoritarian state that cant tolerate dissent. The state has lost both the battles offline and online. Now its just brutalisation that works in reality and virtually, says Srinagar-based blogger Muhammad Faysal, who has over 15,000 followers on Twitter.

According to data since 2012 provided by internet shutdowns.in, a project by the Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC), Jammu and Kashmir has recorded 35 instances of complete or partial internet shutdowns, the highest among states.

Govt talks only of developmental work

CM Mehbooba Mufti has a verified Twitter account with around 21,000 followers, but is yet to write her first tweet. On the other hand, the leader of opposition, former CM Omar Abdullah, is a Twitter star with 1.88 million followers and a tweet on almost every topic relevant to Kashmiris.

The PDPs official Twitter handle is mostly focused on promoting the developmental work of the government. Mehboobas verified Facebook page is a collection of videos of her public appearances and short press statements.

The ruling dispensations engagement on social media is mostly related to sharing news about development work and success stories. Thats their mandate. They do not go beyond that. If they express anguish over civilian killings or injuries, they will face tough questions by social media users, said Moazum Mohammad, a journalist with English daily Kashmir Reader.

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Let's talk about Kashmir: Social media has been a game changer, and militants have a head start - Hindustan Times

the Irish News

Social networking site defends policies on cyber-bullying following ... the Irish News A social networking site has defended its policies on cyber-bullying following the death of a Co Tyrone teenager who was repeatedly abused online. and more »

The rest is here:
Social networking site defends policies on cyber-bullying following ... - the Irish News

Justices with Texas Seventh Court of Appeals in Amarillo denied a 28-year-old womans appeal of her 2013 intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault convictions stemming from a guilty plea in a Lubbock court.

The justices determined in a June 28 opinion that the Lubbock trial court did not err in denying Jeena Roberts motions to suppress blood alcohol evidence and her statements to police soon after a fatal wreck. They also found that she voluntarily entered her guilty pleas to an October 2010 wreck that killed one woman and seriously injured another.

Roberts attorney, Robert Scardino Jr. of Houston, has up to 30 days to file a brief and a motion with the justices to reconsider their ruling or appeal the decision to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

He said Thursday that he was disappointed with the ruling but no decisions have been made on how to proceed.

Roberts was handed 15- and eight-year prison sentences in November 2013 in exchange for pleading guilty to second-degree felony counts of intoxicated manslaughter and intoxicated assault.

She entered her pleas after 140th District Court Judge Jim Bob Darnell denied her motions to throw out crucial evidence against her, which included blood evidence and incriminating statements she made to police soon after the crash.

In her appeal, Roberts claimed Darnell wrongly denied her July 2012 pre-trial motions to throw out the blood-alcohol analysis that indicated she had a 0.25 blood-alcohol content on Oct. 22, 2010, when she crashed her Chrysler 300 into the back of a Ford Escape in the 400 block of Marsha Sharp Freeway, killing Linda Smaltz, 52, and seriously injuring Karen Wolf, 59, who were passengers in the SUV. Roberts said her blood was taken without a warrant, which violated her Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful searches and seizures.

She said Darnell also erred in denying her request to throw out incriminating statements she made to Lubbock police officer Nicholas Knowlton as she sat handcuffed in the back of his police car because she believed she was already under arrest but was not informed of her Miranda rights.

Lastly, she said her guilty pleas were involuntary because she made them under the belief she would be permitted to appeal only to find out later she could not.

At the time of her arrest, Texas law allowed for mandatory, warrantless blood draws for intoxication offenses. On May 20, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court found the law unconstitutional.

However, the Seventh Court of Appeals justices said they could not review Roberts challenge on Constitutional grounds because her attorney at the time never challenged it on that basis during the July 2012 hearing. Instead, they said her attorney challenged the blood draw by saying the officer lacked probable cause to arrest her.

Justices also found Roberts was not under arrest when she made her incriminating statements to Knowlton on the night of the crash and,therefore, the statements would have been admissible in court had her case gone to trial. They believe she made her statements were made during an investigative detention.

Texas courts have long held that a suspects placement into the back seat of a police car does not, per se, equate to custody under Miranda, the justices wrote. Likewise, in Texas, handcuffing is not a conclusive indicator of custody for Fifth Amendment purposes, but only a relevant factor in the determination.

Records also show that after she was arrested and read her rights, Roberts waived her rights when she again admitted to the officer that she drank five beers and a shot of rum before driving that day.

Justices determined from court records that, before she entered her guilty pleas, Roberts was properly admonished by Darnell that she could not appeal.

Texas prison records show Roberts is serving her sentences at the Mountain View prison unit in Gatesville. She will be eligible to go before a parole review in 2020.

Go here to see the original:
Appellate court denies Jeena Roberts appeal in convictions for fatal Lubbock crash - LubbockOnline.com

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow gave a heads up to other news organizations on Thursday after she was sent what she believes are faked National Security Agency documents alleging collusion between a member of the Trump campaign and Russian government.

Somebody, for some reason, appears to be shopping a fairly convincing fake NSA document that purports to directly implicate somebody from the Trump campaign in working with the Russians in their attack in the election, Maddow said in a lengthy segment on her show.

She suggested that the unidentified muckraker who sent her the fake documents hopes to undermine news organizations in general and deflate the Trump-Russia collusion investigation, which has been going on for nearly a year.

This is news, because: why is someone shopping a forged document of this kind to news organizations covering the Trump-Russia affair? Maddow asked.

On June 7, an unidentified person sent documents to an online tip line for Maddows show, she said.

That was two days after The Intercept published legitimate NSA documents that were stolen by Reality Winner, a contractor for the agency.

Maddow said that the documents sent to her show appeared to have used The Intercepts published documents as a template. Secret ID markings on The Intercept reports appeared on the documents passed to Maddow.

WATCH:

She said that metadata from the set of documents sent to her show preceded the publication of the documents published in The Intercept. Maddow suggested that it was possible that whoever sent her the forgeries had access to The Intercept documents. But she also theorized that whoever sent her the fake documents could have changed the metadata somehow.

The documents Maddow received appeared legitimate at first glance, she said, butseveral clues suggested that they were forgeries.

Typos and spacing issues raised eyebrows, but it was secret markings on the documents as well as their contents that convinced Maddow and her staff that the records were fakes.

But Maddow said that that the big red flag for her and her team was that the document she was given named an American citizen a specific person from the Trump campaign who allegedly cooperated with the Russians during the presidential campaign.

We believe that a U.S. citizens name would not appear in a document like this, asserted Maddow, who said that her team consulted national security experts on the matter.

And so, heads up everybody, Maddow warned.

The host pointed to two recent retractions one at CNN and the other at Vice News and suggested that they were the result of a similar scheme to undermine news outlets covering Trump.

In the case of CNN, three reporters were fired after the network retracted an article alleging that Trump transition team official Anthony Scaramucci was under investigation for ties to a Russian investment fund.

CNN said that the three reporters were fired because of shortcomings in their reporting process, but the network has been tight-lipped about what those shortcomings were.

Vice retracted two articles about a Trump robot display at Disney World.

One way to stab in the heart aggressive American reporting on [the subject of Trump-Russia collusion] is to lay traps for American journalists who are reporting on it, said Maddow.

And then after the fact blow that reporting up. You then hurt the credibility of that news organization. You also cast a shadow over any similar reporting in the futureeven if its true.

Maddow did not provide details about who sent her team the faked NSA documents.

But she concluded her segment saying, We dont know whos doing it, but were working on it.

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Someone Sent Rachel Maddow Fake NSA Documents Alleging Trump-Russia Collusion - The Daily Caller