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GIY Comfrey Grown for it's healing powers, comfrey is a great garden fertiliser

Comfrey sends its roots deep into the soil and brings up nutrients, most notably potassium, writes Michael Kelly.

AS I KEEP my eye on the lush growth of the tomato plants, my thoughts turn to feeding these hungry plants. This is something that I will be doing every two weeks or so as soon as the plants start to produce fruit. Rather than buying liquid feeds, for some years now I have been making my own organic version by soaking the leaves of the comfrey plant.

Comfrey is a perennial herb with big, broad hairy leaves that produce small purple flowers. It has long been used as a feed by organic gardeners, particularly the variety “Bocking 14”, named after the town of Bocking in Essex which was the original home of the organic gardening research association, Garden Organic.

Nature’s fertiliser

Comfrey is a remarkably fast-growing plant and is one of nature’s great “miners” – that is, it sends its roots deep into the soil and brings up nutrients, most notably potassium, from deep in the subsoil.

It is this nutrient in particular which will be of benefit to the tomato plants, and in fact all fruiting vegetables in the garden (eg pumpkins, courgettes, squash). The basic idea of making a comfrey tea is to harvest leaves and soak them in water for about a month.

This potassium-rich “tea” is then applied as a feed to fruiting plants. I use a shears and literally cut the plant down to about 2 inches from the surface of the soil. Use a pair of gloves, as the leaves are a little prickly. You can harvest mature comfrey plants 3-4 times each year. It grows back quickly and can be cut again about a month later.

Planting

You should be able to source the plants from a good garden centre and then plant them out about 2ft apart. They will tolerate a shady, even damp spot in the garden. Mine are thriving in a corner of the garden behind the tunnel.

Keep the bed well watered until the plants get established and don’t harvest leaves from it in the first year. Strangely, comfrey doesn’t seem to be able to mine the nitrogen very well that it needs for itself, being a fast-growing leafy plant (similar to a brassica).

I generally mulch the plants when they die back in the autumn with lawn clippings. In addition to making a comfrey tea (see below) you can also add comfrey leaves to the compost heap where they will accelerate the de-composition of your heap and add potassium.

You can also use the leaves as a mulch, putting a layer of leaves around a plant where they will break down and release their nutrients more slowly. I’ve heard of people putting comfrey leaves in a trench when planting potatoes and also planting comfrey underneath fruit trees as a companion plant.

The Basics – Comfrey tea

There are two ways to make a comfrey tea. You can either make a concentrated tea that will have to be diluted, or a ready-to- use version.

1. Concentrate

Harvest comfrey leaves and shove them in a bucket with a lid. Weigh the leaves down with a brick or something else heavy. Drill a hole in the base of the bucket and place a container underneath.

As the leaves rot down a black liquid will start to drip down from the bucket into the container. This is your comfrey feed. Dilute one part comfrey liquid to 15 parts water.

2. Ready to Use

Harvest your leaves and put them in a bucket. Fill the bucket with water until the leaves are covered. Cover with a lid and leave for 3-4 weeks. This type of tea is ready to use without diluting.

Recipe of the Week – Spanish Tortilla

shutterstock_459517750 Shutterstock / carpaumar Shutterstock / carpaumar / carpaumar

This week saw our first new potatoes from a January-sown crop in the polytunnel. It’s one of my favourite harvesting moments of the entire year. You don’t want to do anything fancy with the first harvest of new potatoes – a sprig of mint in the sauce pan when boiling them and then lots of good Irish butter and Bob’s your uncle.

It’s a tradition in our house that I eat so many on the first sitting that I get a pain.

For the second, third and subsequent harvests it’s time to get creative and keep the delicious spuds centre stage. This classic tortilla recipe from The Natural Cook (Tom Hunt) does exactly that. Serve as a generous lunch or light dinner with a salad of peppery green leaves. Serves 4.

Ingredients

  • 350g new potatoes, washed
  • A splash of olive oil
  • A pinch of sweet paprika
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 2 onions, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  • 4 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions

Cut any large potatoes in half so all the pieces are roughly the same size. Bring to the boil in a saucepan of salted water, then reduce the heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until just soft.

Drain and cool, then dry, cut into cubes and fry in a good glug of the oil over a medium-high heat for 10 minutes. Keep turning to ensure a good all-round, golden, crisp skin.

When ready, sprinkle with paprika and salt and set aside. Slowly saute the onions for 15-20 minutes in light olive oil until they are very soft. Add the garlic and fry for another 2 minutes.

Add the onions to the potatoes and allow the whole lot to cool. Now add the eggs and mix, crushing the potatoes a little as you do so. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a deep 15-20cm frying pan with a good splash of the oil. When it begins to smoke, pour in the egg mixture. Reduce the heat to its lowest and cook for 4-5 minutes, shaking the pan from side to side to prevent it from sticking.

When it is cooked halfway through, it is ready to turn. Flip the tortilla onto a large plate. Return the pan to the heat and slide the tortilla back into the pan, raw-side down. Shake from side to side again to make sure it isn’t stuck. Using a wooden spoon, tuck the rough edges underneath to make them rounded, then cook for a further 5 minutes.

Slide onto a plate and allow to cool.

Michael Kelly is founder of GIY and GROW HQ. 

Click here for more GIY tips and recipes.

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    Mute Johnny Walnut
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:04 AM

    Its very simple to me. An unarmed man died because he was choked to death. That’s just not right no matter what way you look at it.

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    Mute Simon Barnes
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    Dec 4th 2014, 11:30 AM

    They choke hold has been made illegal to use in NYPD. How can this officer use it, kill someone by using it, and then get away scot free ?

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    Mute Dara O'Brien
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    Dec 4th 2014, 12:55 PM

    That won’t stop some from trying to defend the officer’s actions I’m afraid. Some will say “it’s his fault for resisting arrest/being overweight/having asthma …”

    others will try to deflect by asking “how is this a race issue?” in reality, the reason this is becoming a race issue is that where blacks kill blacks, they get jail. Where whites kill whites, they get jail. It now seems that where a white cop kills an unarmed Black man, it’s impossible to get jail. This is why it’s becoming a race issue.

    Ferguson – perhaps arguable if the guy tried to take the gun (though bring shot six times is not on at all)

    12yr old boy – shocking, shot within two seconds with the toy gun still in his pants – still, he had a replica so if you’re a loony right winger you could make an argument.

    But this one ? FFS unarmed, surrounded by 5 armed cops and choked to death in broad daylight with not even an effort to resuscitate – a man with 6 children.
    It’s time to stop defending the indefensible folks.

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    Mute Luther Cooper
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    Dec 4th 2014, 12:56 PM

    Becuase if they set a precedent of convicting one police officer then the flood gates will open!

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Dec 4th 2014, 3:30 PM

    You mean like this?:
    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sc-cop-charged-murder-unarmed-man-shooting-27362718

    For the record I think the cop involved in the choking death was completely in the wrong and should have been charged too, but before making sweeping assumptions you could at least do a bit of cursory research. It took me about 10 secs to find this link – less than the time it took you to write your comment.

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Dec 4th 2014, 3:36 PM

    Third cop to be charged this year for shooting an unarmed suspect, in South Carolina alone, so its clearly nonsense to suggest that cops never get charged.

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    Mute Brian Troy
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:43 PM

    Why does everyone keep saying he died from being choked to death? He died of a heart attack. If you are saying you can’t breathe, I have news for you, you can breathe.

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    Mute Andy Murray
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    Dec 5th 2014, 6:42 AM

    Watch the video.

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    Mute Brian Troy
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    Dec 5th 2014, 12:46 PM

    I did. Did you not read what he died from? You need air to speak. If you are speaking you are not being choked. Try it. Did the way he was taken down lead to his death, yes. But he was not choked to death this is a fact not opinion.

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    Mute Niall Noonan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:46 AM

    You should add to the article that the use of a chokehold is forbidden by the NYPD themselves. The deceased was also unarmed and surrounded by police officers.

    The officer in question really needed to be arrested and tried for this.

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    Mute Martin Ryan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:07 AM

    A man murdered on the street by totally out of control cops and not even a prosecution, expect a serious backlash NY.

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    Mute Tony O' Leary
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:33 AM

    We have people in Ireland calling Garda to be sacked over pushing people and then we have this, count ourselfs lucky

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:02 AM

    Why do we only hear of white cop vs black person deaths? The left are obsessed with the racist notion that the white establishment hate black people.

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    Mute Niall Noonan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:09 AM

    Give over with this left wing v right wing stuff would you, it’s pretty tiresome. We hardly ever hear of cop v black person deaths, here’s a list of tonnes of names from 2013 alone. How many of them were reported here?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States,_2013

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    Mute John
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:09 AM

    Because you know what it’s like to live as a black person in America? It’s the same as saying men get sexually harassed too — which they do. White people suffer racial injustices, too, but not nearly — not even slightly — on the same scale as black people, or women in the case of sexual harassment. It’s that white male privilege again, reading it’s ugly head and missing the point, yet again.

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    Mute Damien Moran
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:11 AM
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    Mute Damien Moran
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:12 AM

    Here are some more shocking statistics: More than 1,600 Whites are murdered by Blacks each year. Blacks murder Whites at 18 times the rate Whites murder Blacks.

    About 1 million Whites were murdered, robbed, assaulted, or raped by Blacks in 1992. In the last 30 years, 170 million violent and nonviolent crimes were committed by Blacks against Whites in the U.S. Blacks under 18 are more than 12 times more likely to be arrested for murder than Whites the same age.

    Some 90% of the victims of race crimes are Whites. Blacks commit 7.5 times more violent interracial crimes than Whites, although they comprise only one-seventh of the White population.

    On a per-capita basis, blacks commit 50 times more violent crimes than Whites. Some 27 million nonviolent crimes were committed in the U.S. in 1992 alone. 31% of the robberies involved Black offenders and White victims; only 2% involved White offenders and Black victims.

    1.3 million of the 6.6 million violent crimes committed in the U.S. each year are interracial. Between 1964 and 1994, more than 45,000 people were killed in interracial murders in the U.S., compared to 58,000 Americans killed in Vietnam and 38,000 killed in Korea.

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:21 AM

    Why would I give over? Ideological bias in the media is one of the most dangerous aspects of any society. I’ve spent many a time criticizing ultra conservatives in FOX comment boards as well. In Ireland, it is totally skewed to the left

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    Mute Enda
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:23 AM

    This this “privilege” nonsense is getting tiring.

    Are single fathers privileged for getting to see their kids once a week?

    Less men go to university than women despite their “privilege”.

    The chance of a man ending up in jail, being violently attacked or committing suicide are all higher than for the same to happen to a woman. That old privilege again.

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    Mute Gearóid Ó Murchadha
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:24 AM

    Dunno where you got your stats but I’m sorry to say that even if the figures are accurate you’re conclusions are completely flawed.
    Put simply, assuming your figures are accurate, blacks don’t commit 50 times more violent crime then whites, they are convicted of 50 times more violent crime then whites.

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:26 AM

    Gearoid – Are you implying that there is a disparity between committing and conviction?

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    Mute Damien Moran
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:35 AM

    Are you trying to say that white people are not arrested in America?

    http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/crimestats

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    Mute Niall Noonan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:36 AM

    I think a lot of it has to do with the war on drugs to be honest, which is more a war on the poor than a war on a specific race. With their history in the country there are more black Americans living in poverty than white Americans, percentage wise at least, and so the war on drugs does affect their community more than the white community.

    That being said, and keep in mind these stats are about people who have been convicted, I’d like to know how those that think white and black America receive the same treatment explain this.

    The U.S. Sentencing Commission stated that in the federal system black offenders receive sentences that are 10 percent longer than white offenders for the same crimes. The Sentencing Project reports that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants and are 20 percent more like to be sentenced to prison.

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    Mute John
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:40 AM

    Any white male who thinks he’s less privileged than women or any other race in western society is, quite frankly, delusional, and is clearly living in their own self-pitying dream world.

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    Mute Damien Moran
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:45 AM

    I reckon that the same could be said for the black male in Africa, or the Asian male in Asia etc.

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Dec 4th 2014, 11:05 AM

    I don’t think I am less or priviledged. I believe in this crazy thing called equality

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Dec 4th 2014, 11:07 AM

    *less or more.

    I love how liberals throw around the phrase ‘white priviledge’ when they run out of bs to fling

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    Mute Rob Cahill
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    Dec 4th 2014, 12:09 PM

    Liberals, Leftist, Right wing.. You sound like one of the idiots on the Fox news comments.

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    Mute themanwiththeplan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:12 AM

    i don’t agree that these are racial motivated, I just think cops in America need better training. Law protectors rather than enforcers

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    Mute Domhnaill Fox
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    Dec 4th 2014, 12:01 PM

    Agreed. No evidence that these were “racially charged” as the article claims.

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    Mute Dietrich Död
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    Dec 4th 2014, 3:00 PM

    I think the argument in this case is that the judgement was racially motivated, not the crime.

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    Mute Thomas Mac
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    Dec 4th 2014, 11:04 AM

    He would have probably been left brain damaged if he survived being murdered.

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    Mute Joe Bergin
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:54 AM

    The police are not as free to kill as in the past. In San Francisco the Bart cop got a year or two and lost his job for shooting the kid who was lying down on the platform. Cell phones have slowed the cops way down from when I was young. In 1969 the cops could beat a white kid to death in front of witnesses in Cambridge, MA. Now I think it really needs to be a poor, black guy and it is usually LAPD ( getting better, I hear) Chicago ( recovering from their torture era) or the newly infamous NYPD. America cannot be compared to Europe. Reagan turned the US away from that social democratic/human rights model. AlHaig, ” them nuns had it comin’” symbolized the honesty & honor the ordinary people could expect from the agents of the oligarchy.
    In the real, conservative sh*t**le states the crime is twice as high as the Northeast and this stuff never makes the papers. They hit you with a huge charge and you plead out with whatever part of your life you can save.
    That being said I think almost all our local forces around Boston really do protect & serve nowadays…State Police are still occupiers and thugs though…

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    Mute Uncle Mort
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:30 AM

    The face of the stirrer in chief Al Sharpton appears in one photo above, African -Americans as they like to be called have a very poor selection of leaders

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    Mute Marv
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:48 AM

    I can think of another phrase than “heavy set man” and of course he suffered from asthma!

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    Mute Denis Reidy
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:01 AM

    And once again, from the home of the brave and land of the free. Disgusting country really.

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    Mute Shane Walsh™
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:45 AM

    Why does it say “We Can’t Breath in the title?” when it was “I Can’t breathe?”.

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:46 AM

    Hi Shane, that is in reference to the cover of the NY Daily News, which is just below the headline.

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    Mute Shane Walsh™
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:48 AM

    Yeah but it does not make sense either way, it was only him who said he couldn’t breathe who was the other person?

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:54 AM

    Hi Shane, I believe that the NY Daily News are using the phrase to refer to their reaction and that of people in the US, they ‘can’t breathe’ because they’re shocked at the jury’s verdict.

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    Mute Shane Walsh™
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:57 AM

    Thanks Aoife! Maybe I will wake up after my morning coffee.. :)

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    Mute Derek Smalls
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:01 AM

    I understood the headline as saying “we can’t breathe”, as in “the black community in America can’t breathe” due to the excessively violent behaviour of a minority of policemen.

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    Mute Alien8
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:05 AM

    I think the headline is not for the black or white communities, but for all Americans. You will find the majority of all Americans are outraged that a man can be chocked to death in a wrestling move, on camera, and not face charges.

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:13 AM

    Make it an espresso ;)

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    Mute Brian Troy
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    Dec 4th 2014, 11:31 PM

    He wasn’t “choked to death”.

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    Mute TheLoneHurler
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:26 AM

    Correct me if I am wrong, but the jury would have been 50:50 black:white for a case like this? If so, does his own people not think the killing was wrong?

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    Mute Niall Noonan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:46 AM

    You’re wrong with that 50/50 claim. The grand jury was made up of 14 whites and 9 nonwhites (note, not black, could be Asian, Hispanic etc.)

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    Mute Remu
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    Dec 4th 2014, 3:14 PM

    Please watch the video and decide for yourself whether he deserved to die.

    http://gawker.com/i-cant-breathe-asthmatic-father-dies-after-nypd-chok-1607277393

    Outrageous.

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    Mute David Fitzgerald
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    Dec 4th 2014, 4:58 PM

    Al Sharpton is melting

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    Mute Foxtrot Hotel
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    Dec 5th 2014, 1:47 PM

    Did anyone see the slag from FOX news saying she hoped the protest didn’t interrupt a tree lighting ceremony?

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    Mute Mary McMahon
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    Dec 5th 2014, 3:21 AM

    A few months ago a homeless man was beaten and tasered to death by 5 police officers ,he looked like he’d been hit by an express train . http://www.salon.com/2014/01/14/cops_who_beat_homeless_man_to_death_walk_free/

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