Trayvon Martin Case: Parents Recall His Last Night At Home

Steve Helling - In his quiet moments, Tracy Martin keeps replaying the night of Feb. 26, when his son Trayvon Martin died, allegedly at the hands of neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman.

"I had gone out for dinner," says Tracy, "and when I got home, Trayvon wasn't there. I tried calling his cell phone several times, and it went straight to voicemail. I wasn't that worried, because he had been spending time with my 20-year-old nephew who was a responsible young man. There wasn't a panic that he wasn't at home. I figured that they had gone to the movies, because they had said they might. So I laid down, thinking they would show up later."

The next morning, when he woke up, Tracy realized that Trayvon had not returned home. "I started making calls, and I reached my nephew," Martin says. "He said he hadn't seen Trayvon. Then I really started getting worried. So I called the Sheriff's department to file a missing persons report. I let them know it hadn't been 24 hours, but it was unusual for Trayvon not to return home."

Three police cars soon pulled up and a detective asked Tracy for a recent picture of his son. "I had one on my phone, so I showed it to him," Tracy says, his voice tightening. "He told me he was going to show me a photo and ask if it was my son. He pulled out a photo of Trayvon's dead body. And the nightmare began."

Stunned and devastated, Tracy called Trayvon's mother, Sybrina Fulton, from whom he's been divorced for several years. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing; it just didn't seem real," recalls Fulton, her eyes filling with tears. "And finally I said, 'I need you to go and actually identify his body.' I needed to know if that was my baby, dead."

The next few hours were a blur for the family.

After Tracy identified the body, the family started dealing with the fact that Trayvon was gone. "It's that call that's every parent's nightmare," says Fulton, a programs manager for a local government agency. "I just started to cry and cry. People tell me I'm strong; I'm not strong. I'm a mother. I still have trouble believing that he's gone. I look at every door and think, he's just going to walk through it any minute. I just want to see him again; but I can't. He's in heaven, looking down at me."

Trayvon Martin Case: Wade And Miami Heat Players Dawn Hoodies

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade is not one known to venture into controversial topics often, but Friday, Wade addressed the Trayvon Martin shooting on Twitter.
Wade changed his Twitter avatar, or picture, to a shot of himself in a hooded sweatshirt, or hoodie. He also used the hashtags hoodies, stereotype, trayvonmartin in the post with the photo.
“This situation hit home for me because last Christmas, all my oldest son wanted as a gift was hoodies,” said Wade, who has a 10 and 14-year old son. “So when I heard about this a week ago, I thought of my sons. I’m speaking up because I feel it’s necessary that we get past the stereotype of young, black men and especially with our youth.”
A little after 1:30 p.m, the entire Miami Heat team followed suit and posted a picture of the team in hoodies.

The team picture was released on LeBron James’ Twitter account with the hashtag, #WeAreTrayvonMartin.
The use of a hoodie was a reference to what Trayvon Martih, 17, was wearing when he was gunned down in a Sanford neighborhood by a neighborhood watchman named George Zimmerman.
There have been no charges against Zimmerman yet, but the Sanford Police chief has stepped down temporarily and a new prosecutor was named to the case by Governor Rick Scott Thursday night.
Wade had started addressing the Trayvon Martin case Thursday evening when he began retweeting comments from CNN commentator Roland Martin.
“You don’t think your voice matter? 1,354,645 have signed the change.org petition demanding justice for Trayvon Martin,” Martin tweeted, which Wade retweeted. “But the Trayvon Martin case is NOT over. Keep pushing. Keep prodding. Keep planning. Keep protesting. Justice is not an overnight thing!”

Trayvon Martin Case: Jesse Jackson "Blacks Are Under Attack"

Rene Lynch - Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said Friday that he's grateful the rest of the country has sat up and taken notice of the tragic slaying of Trayvon Martin. But he can't help but wonder: Why has it taken so long for everyone else to recognize the chronic injustices that African Americans face?
"We're surprised that everyone else is surprised," Jackson told the Los Angeles Times. African Americans have tried for decades to get the rest of America to understand their plight, he said, particularly their beliefs that justice is still elusive in many parts of America, especially the Deep South.
Then along comes the Trayvon Martin case, and facts that are not in contention: Volunteer neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman pursued and then gunned down the unarmed 17-year-old last month, and never faced arrest because police said there was no evidence to contradict his claim that he fired in self-defense.
"I hope that this will be a transformative moment," Jackson said.
Jackson was speaking Friday morning from the Chicago offices of his Rainbow PUSH Coalition. He had just returned from duties in Belgium and Switzerland. He was in Geneva on Wednesday as part of a delegation of religious leaders trying to find a way to end the violence in Syria. Jackson was preparing to get back on a plane for a flight south so he can add his voice to the growing protests in and around Sanford, Fla., where Martin's shooting took place.
Jackson said the Martin case is getting plenty of media attention overseas, attention that is both embarrassing to white America and humiliating to black America.
Moreover, he said, the failure to make an arrest in the case takes away the nation's "moral authority" to address injustices in other countries when it fails to do the same within its own borders.
Jackson predicted that the protests will continue to multiply in number and that the ranks of protestors will swell until Zimmerman is arrested.
"As long as he is outside of the court system, the protests will intensify and spill over into other dimensions," Jackson said. "His lack of appearance in the court system is a source of embarrassment and humiliation. He needs to face the court."
Jackson said that there is a mistaken assumption in some corners of America that all racial problems went away with the election of President Obama. "There was this feeling that we were kind of beyond racism," he said. "That's not true. His victory has triggered tremendous backlash."
He added: "Blacks are under attack." African American families are facing record home foreclosures and unemployment. Their children are burdened with student loan debt. States, particularly conservative ones, are passing voter laws that leaders know will disenfranchise blacks and other minorities. Meanwhile, the nation's prisons are brimming with black faces, he said, and their numbers that suggest that the legal system is quicker to send blacks to prison than whites.
Jackson said gunfire in America continues to be a problem for all Americans -- not just blacks. Why, he asked, isn't America outraged, that far more people die of gun violence in one year in America than the number of soldiers killed in the wars waged in Iraq and Afghanistan?
"Our disparities are great," he said. "Targeting, arresting, convicting blacks and ultimately killing us is big business."
Jackson said he also wants to see the Martin protests accomplish something else beyond justice for the slain teen's family. He said he wants the repeal of Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law, which gives legal protection to people who fight back in self-defense. Some believe that the Florida police were nodding to that law when they declined to arrest Zimmerman after the Feb. 26 shooting.
Many other states have similar statutes, Jackson said, and he wants them all repealed, starting with Florida's.
"No justice, no peace," he said. "The indifference to this kind of pain is just going to intensify the protests."

Romney Leads Santourm 45-30 In Illinois State Poll

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney may be headed for an important victory in Illinois on Tuesday that would help him put more distance between himself and Rick Santorum, his chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination.
A new poll by Public Policy Polling said Romney leads the conservative Santorum by 45 percent to 30 percent in Illinois. Former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich had 12 percent and libertarian Congressman Ron Paul, 10 percent.
Romney, who has struggled to put away Santorum, leads the former Pennsylvania senator in the race for the 1,144 delegates needed to win the Republican presidential nomination. He has 518 delegates to Santorum's 239, according to CNN.
A victory in Illinois, combined with his win in Puerto Rico and sweep of its 20 delegates on Saturday, would put Romney one step closer to becoming the party's candidate to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the Nov. 6 election.
Romney was to give an economic speech in Chicago on Monday to promote what he feels is his strength, a working knowledge of the U.S. economy as a former businessman.
The race for the Republican nomination has become an increasingly hard fought as Romney and Santorum exchange insults. Romney called Santorum an "economic lightweight" while Santorum called attention to Romney's wealth.
"I heard Governor Romney here call me an economic lightweight because I wasn't a Wall Street financier like he was," Santorum told a crowd in Rockford, Illinois. "Do you really believe this country wants to elect a Wall Street financier as a president of United States? Do you think that is the kind of experience we need?"
The campaign returns to the South late this week as Louisiana holds its primary contest. Santorum may be poised for victory there after winning two other Southern states, Alabama and Mississippi, a week ago.

Gas Prices Up For 10 Straight Day In America

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The national average price for a gallon of gasoline rose for the 10th straight day on Monday to $3.842. That is now only about 6.6% below the record high of $4.114 from July 2008.
The average price rose by four-tenths of a penny, according to the survey of gas stations conducted for the motorist group AAA. Gas prices are now up more than 17% this year.
The nationwide average was $3.54 a gallon a month ago and $3.76 a gallon on March 9 -- the day that prices started rising again after a few days of slight declines.
Gasoline averages more than $4 a gallon in seven states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, New York and Washington. Gas prices are also above $4 a gallon in the District of Columbia, according to AAA. At more than $4.48 a gallon, Hawaii ranks as the nation's high. Prices are less than a dime away from $4 a gallon in Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Wisconsin.

Check prices in your state

Wyoming has the nation's lowest gas prices, averaging slightly above $3.43 a gallon.
Gas prices have been rising on the back of soaring oil prices, which have shot up more than 5% over the past month amid fears that tensions with Iran will lead to an all-out war that causes a disruption in oil supplies.
Signs of an improving economy have also boosted oil prices, as has the stock market, which hit multi-year highs this week.
The spike in gas prices has led to speculation that the U.S. and Britain may release strategic oil reserves over the next few months in order to boost supplies and lower crude prices. The White House denied a Reuters report about this Thursday.
Pain at the pump has become a hot political issue during the presidential campaign. According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, more people disapprove of how President Obama is handling the economy than a month ago. That's despite improvement in the job market this year.

Why gas prices won't influence the election

Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich has pledged to get prices down to $2.50 a gallon.
Meanwhile, Rick Santorum has blamed the president for blocking the expansion of domestic energy production. Santorum has also argued that high gas prices were to blame for the 2008 housing meltdown and ensuing economic slump.
And Republican front-runner Mitt Romney said recently that Obama "should be hanging his head" over his energy policies and also accused the president of slowing domestic production. Romney has advocated opening federal lands to drilling and easing regulations on fracking, a controversial policy that involves pumping water into rocks to harvest gas. 

President Obama Executive Order Allowing Dictatorial Control Over All U.S. Natural Resources

On March 16th, President Obama signed a new Executive Order which expands upon a prior order issued in 1950 for Disaster Preparedness, and gives the office of the President complete control over all the resources in the United States in times of war or emergency.
The National Defense Resources Preparedness order gives the Executive Branch the power to control and allocate energy, production, transportation, food, and even water resources by decree under the auspices of national defense and national security.  The order is not limited to wartime implementation, as one of the order's functions includes the command and control of resources in peacetime determinations.

Section 101.  Purpose.  This order delegates authorities and addresses national defense resource policies and programs under the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (the "Act").
(b)  assess on an ongoing basis the capability of the domestic industrial and technological base to satisfy requirements in peacetime and times of national emergency, specifically evaluating the availability of the most critical resource and production sources, including subcontractors and suppliers, materials, skilled labor, and professional and technical personnel; - White House

Additionally, each cabinet under the Executive Branch has been given specific powers when the order is executed, and include the absolute control over food, water, and other resource distributions.

Sec. 201.  Priorities and Allocations Authorities.  (a)  The authority of the President conferred by section 101 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071, to require acceptance and priority performance of contracts or orders (other than contracts of employment) to promote the national defense over performance of any other contracts or orders, and to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense, is delegated to the following agency heads:
(1)  the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
(2)  the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;
(3)  the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;
(4)  the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;
(5)  the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and
(6)  the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials.
(e)  "Food resources" means all commodities and products, (simple, mixed, or compound), or complements to such commodities or products, that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals, irrespective of other uses to which such commodities or products may be put, at all stages of processing from the raw commodity to the products thereof in vendible form for human or animal consumption.  "Food resources" also means potable water packaged in commercially marketable containers, all starches, sugars, vegetable and animal or marine fats and oils, seed, cotton, hemp, and flax fiber, but does not mean any such material after it loses its identity as an agricultural commodity or agricultural product.

Executive Orders created for national defense and national preparedness are not new in American history, but in each instance they brought about a Constitutional crisis that nearly led standing Presidents to hold dictatorial power over the citizenry.  During the Civil War, President Lincoln halted freedom of speech and freedom of the press, while at the same time revoking Habeas Corpus and the right to a fair trial under the sixth amendment.  During World War I, when Congress refused to grant Woodrow Wilson extended power over resources to help the war effort, he invoked an Executive Order which allowed him complete control over businesses, industry, transportation, food, and other economic policies.
In both cases, it was only after the death of each President that full Constitutional powers were restored to the citizens of the United States.
The economy of the United States is based on the free flow of resources, energy, and the rights of consumers to buy and sell as they see fit.  Any interference in this economic process quickly leads to shortages, rising prices, and civil unrest.  The purpose of President Obama signing this new Executive Order is yet unclear, however, it may coincide with information coming out of Israel yesterday that plans for a tactical or strategic strike on Iran are accelerating.  Oil prices in Europe rose over $3 a barrel for Brent crude after the Israeli actions, and US oil prices rose $2 for WTI.
The Obama administration appears to be preparing for a long drawn out war in the Middle East, or at the very least, an expected crisis that will require the need to override Constitutional authority and claim dominion over all resources in the United States under the guise of national defense.  With the rise in Disaster Preparedness growing for both individuals and states leading up to yesterday's Executive Order, the mood of the nation points strongly towards some event or disaster that will require massive preparations on a national as well as local scale.