Think about this: Since 1968, more Americans have been killed by guns than have died in all of the wars in the country’s history.
The new leaders on gun safety in 2013? Moms | MSNBC
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 30, 2013
The Slow Demise of Capital Punishment - NYTimes.com
More states are coming to recognize that the death penalty is arbitrary, racially biased and prone to catastrophic error. Even those that have not abolished capital punishment are no longer carrying it out in practice.
The Slow Demise of Capital Punishment - NYTimes.com
The Slow Demise of Capital Punishment - NYTimes.com
Sunday, December 29, 2013
When the Mentally Ill Own Guns - NYTimes.com
"Lawmakers who refuse to support effective gun safety measures often prefer to talk about better screening of the mentally ill to identify deranged would-be perpetrators before they can carry out mass shootings. This is, of course, a political dodge. Even in the handful of states where law enforcement agencies are trying to confiscate the guns of unstable individuals, state and federal laws too often enable the mentally ill to reclaim their guns as a right under the Second Amendment."
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Japanese Premier Visits Contentious War Shrine - NYTimes.com
"Among those honored by the shrine, of Japan’s native Shinto religion, are several who were executed as war criminals after World War II. Past visits by Japanese politicians have angered China and South Korea, both of which suffered greatly under Japan’s empire-building efforts in the early 20th century.
Japanese prime ministers had stayed away from the shrine in recent years as the country sought to improve relations with China and South Korea."
Japan's continuing indifference to the sensitivities of It's Asian neighbors is inexcusable.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Occidental College flooded with fake reports of sexual assault - latimes.com
This is an outrage. Sexual assault on a brutal crime. The students who tried to sabatoge the reporting system should be prosecuted if possible or administratively suspended dismissed is that is the only recourse.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
A Dealer Serving Life Without Having Taken One - NYTimes.com
A lifer with a pen sat in the 65-square-foot cell he shares. A calendar taunted from a bulletin board. He began to write.
A Dealer Serving Life Without Having Taken One - NYTimes.com
A Dealer Serving Life Without Having Taken One - NYTimes.com
A Perspective on Guns, Murder, Suicide from Attica - NYTimes.com
The mantra “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” reverberates throughout our society. How about “people kill less people without guns?” It’s clear that the only reason I’m alive is because my assailant didn’t have his weapon of choice. Can you imagine if we had access to guns in prison?
A Perspective on Guns, Murder, Suicide from Attica - NYTimes.com
A Perspective on Guns, Murder, Suicide from Attica - NYTimes.com
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Canada’s hate speech laws upheld by Supreme Court | National Post
Maybe we need this here inspite of the First Amendment?
Comparing Hate Speech Laws In The U.S. And Abroad : NPR
This is a thoughtful discussion about a topic that really needs discussion in the United States. Maybe our First Amendment goes to far in protecting hate speech especially given our history?
Comparing Hate Speech Laws In The U.S. And Abroad : NPR
This is a thoughtful discussion about a topic that really needs discussion in the United States. Maybe our First Amendment goes to far in protecting hate speech especially given our history?
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Obama commutes Clarence Aaron's sentence | MSNBC
Clarence Aaron, a non-violent drug offendersentenced to three life terms, will finally be freed after twenty years behind bars.
Along with seven other people serving time for non-violent drug offenses, President Obamacommuted Aaron’s sentence on Thursday, after a two-decade long imprisonment that might have ended sooner if not for a federal official mismanaging his case.
Aaron has been imprisoned since 1993 for his role in a cocaine deal. Though it was his first offense, and he was not the drug dealer, supplier or buyer, Aaron, who was 24 at the time, received a harsher sentence than anyone convicted in connection with the case.
Aaron’s case, considered a strong candidate for clemency, was mishandled by Ronald L. Rodgers, the Justice Department official handling his case, according to an Inspector General’s report. Rodgers is now head of the Pardon Office at the Justice Department.
Obama commutes Clarence Aaron's sentence | MSNBC
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Racism linked to infant mortality, learning disabilities » State & National News » The Stanly News and Press (Albemarle, NC)
"A pair of Emory University studies released this year have connected the large share of African-American children born before term with the biologically detectable effects of stress created in women's bodies after decades of dealing with American racism. The studies' findings don't end there.
Racism, and its ability to increase the odds that a pregnant mother will deliver her child early, can kill. There is also evidence that racism can alter the capacity for a child to learn and distorts lives in ways that can reproduce inequality, poverty and long-term disadvantage, the studies found.
"Racism is an incredibly powerful force," said Elizabeth Corwin, dean of research at Emory University's Woodruff School of Nursing,"
- See more at: http://www.thesnaponline.com/statenews/x1956132289/Racism-linked-to-infant-mortality-learning-disabilities#sthash.SwegJKvR.dpuf
Monday, December 16, 2013
Article: Racial Demographic Voter Armageddon Dooms GOP | OpEdNews
"For decades, the GOP has banked on older whites voting in far bigger numbers than younger blacks and Hispanics to bag the White House and for long stretches win and retain majority control of Congress. No more. According to the Census Bureau, more blacks than whites voted in the 2012 election. More Asians and Hispanics also voted.
This is not a racial fluke spurred by a mad dash to elect and reelect an African-American president. It is part of a steady trend over the last five presidential elections."
Race, Tattoos in Advertising Affect What Consumers Buy
And some people are always trying to sell the lie to me things have changed in America. They just can't face the ugly truth.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Black Student Allegedly Beaten By Hasidic Mob In Williamsburg: Gothamist
This is very sad. These two groups should not fight.
Obama Shakes Hands With Cuba's Raul Castro at Mandela's Memorial
What an important moment to long in coming.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Monday, December 09, 2013
Sunday, December 08, 2013
C.I.A. TIE REPORTED IN MANDELA ARREST - New York Times
The Central Intelligence Agency played an important role in the arrest in 1962 of Nelson Mandela, the African National Congress leader who was jailed for nearly 28 years before his release four months ago, a news report says.
The intelligence service, using an agent inside the African National Congress, provided South African security officials with precise information about Mr. Mandela's activities that enabled the police to arrest him, said the account by the Cox News Service.
The report, scheduled for publication on Sunday, quoted an unidentified retired official who said that a senior C.I.A. officer told him shortly after Mr. Mandela's arrest: ''We have turned Mandela over to the South African Security branch. We gave them every detail, what he would be wearing, the time of day, just where he would be.''
Mark Mansfield, a spokesman for the agency, declined to comment on the news-service report. ''As a matter of policy, we do not discuss allegations of intelligence activities,'' he said.
C.I.A. TIE REPORTED IN MANDELA ARREST - New York Times
The intelligence service, using an agent inside the African National Congress, provided South African security officials with precise information about Mr. Mandela's activities that enabled the police to arrest him, said the account by the Cox News Service.
The report, scheduled for publication on Sunday, quoted an unidentified retired official who said that a senior C.I.A. officer told him shortly after Mr. Mandela's arrest: ''We have turned Mandela over to the South African Security branch. We gave them every detail, what he would be wearing, the time of day, just where he would be.''
Mark Mansfield, a spokesman for the agency, declined to comment on the news-service report. ''As a matter of policy, we do not discuss allegations of intelligence activities,'' he said.
C.I.A. TIE REPORTED IN MANDELA ARREST - New York Times
Saturday, December 07, 2013
Six Things Nelson Mandela Believed That Most People Won't Talk About | ThinkProgress
1. Mandela blasted the Iraq War and American imperialism. Mandela called Bush “a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly,” and accused him of “wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust” by going to war in Iraq. “All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil,” he said. Mandela even speculated that then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan was being undermined in the process because he was black. “They never did that when secretary-generals were white,” he said. He saw the Iraq War as a greater problem of American imperialism around the world. “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care,” he said.
2. Mandela called freedom from poverty a “fundamental human right.” Mandela considered poverty one of the greatest evils in the world, and spoke out against inequality everywhere. “Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times — times in which the world boasts breathtaking advances in science, technology, industry and wealth accumulation — that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils,” he said. He considered ending poverty a basic human duty: “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life,” he said. “While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”
3. Mandela criticized the “War on Terror” and the labeling of individuals as terrorists, even Osama Bin Laden, without due process. On the U.S. terrorist watch list until 2008 himself, Mandela was an outspoken critic of President George W. Bush’s war on terror. He warned against rushing to label terrorists without due process. While calling for Osama bin Laden to be brought to justice, Mandela said, “The labeling of Osama bin Laden as the terrorist responsible for those acts before he had been tried and convicted could also be seen as undermining some of the basic tenets of the rule of law.”
4. Mandela called out racism in America. On a trip to New York City in 1990, Mandela made a point of visiting Harlem and praising African Americans’ struggles against “the injustices of racist discrimination and economic equality.” He reminded a larger crowd at Yankee Stadium that racism was not exclusively a South African phenomenon. “As we enter the last decade of the 20th century, it is intolerable, unacceptable, that the cancer of racism is still eating away at the fabric of societies in different parts of our planet,” he said. “All of us, black and white, should spare no effort in our struggle against all forms and manifestations of racism, wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.”
5. Mandela embraced some of America’s biggest political enemies. Mandela incited shock and anger in many American communities for refusing to denounce Cuban dictator Fidel Castro or Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who had lent their support to Mandela against South African apartheid. “One of the mistakes the Western world makes is to think that their enemies should be our enemies,” he explained to an American TV audience. “We have our own struggle.” He added that those leaders “are placing resources at our disposal to win the struggle.” He also called the controversial Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat “a comrade in arms.”
6. Mandela was a die-hard supporter of labor unions. Mandela visited the Detroit auto workers union when touring the U.S., immediately claiming kinship with them. “Sisters and brothers, friends and comrades, the man who is speaking is not a stranger here,” he said. “The man who is speaking is a member of the UAW. I am your flesh and blood.”
Six Things Nelson Mandela Believed That Most People Won't Talk About | ThinkProgress
2. Mandela called freedom from poverty a “fundamental human right.” Mandela considered poverty one of the greatest evils in the world, and spoke out against inequality everywhere. “Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times — times in which the world boasts breathtaking advances in science, technology, industry and wealth accumulation — that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils,” he said. He considered ending poverty a basic human duty: “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life,” he said. “While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”
3. Mandela criticized the “War on Terror” and the labeling of individuals as terrorists, even Osama Bin Laden, without due process. On the U.S. terrorist watch list until 2008 himself, Mandela was an outspoken critic of President George W. Bush’s war on terror. He warned against rushing to label terrorists without due process. While calling for Osama bin Laden to be brought to justice, Mandela said, “The labeling of Osama bin Laden as the terrorist responsible for those acts before he had been tried and convicted could also be seen as undermining some of the basic tenets of the rule of law.”
4. Mandela called out racism in America. On a trip to New York City in 1990, Mandela made a point of visiting Harlem and praising African Americans’ struggles against “the injustices of racist discrimination and economic equality.” He reminded a larger crowd at Yankee Stadium that racism was not exclusively a South African phenomenon. “As we enter the last decade of the 20th century, it is intolerable, unacceptable, that the cancer of racism is still eating away at the fabric of societies in different parts of our planet,” he said. “All of us, black and white, should spare no effort in our struggle against all forms and manifestations of racism, wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.”
5. Mandela embraced some of America’s biggest political enemies. Mandela incited shock and anger in many American communities for refusing to denounce Cuban dictator Fidel Castro or Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who had lent their support to Mandela against South African apartheid. “One of the mistakes the Western world makes is to think that their enemies should be our enemies,” he explained to an American TV audience. “We have our own struggle.” He added that those leaders “are placing resources at our disposal to win the struggle.” He also called the controversial Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat “a comrade in arms.”
6. Mandela was a die-hard supporter of labor unions. Mandela visited the Detroit auto workers union when touring the U.S., immediately claiming kinship with them. “Sisters and brothers, friends and comrades, the man who is speaking is not a stranger here,” he said. “The man who is speaking is a member of the UAW. I am your flesh and blood.”
Six Things Nelson Mandela Believed That Most People Won't Talk About | ThinkProgress
Friday, December 06, 2013
Nelson Mandela after the Sharpville Massacre 1961 on the need for violence. "The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices – submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit and we have no choice but to hit back by all means in our power in defence of our people, our future, and our freedom.' Firstly, we believed that as a result of Government policy, violence by the African people had become inevitable, and that unless responsible leadership was given to canalise and control the feelings of our people, there would be outbreaks of terrorism which would produce an intensity of bitterness and hostility between the various races of this country which is not produced even by war. Secondly, we felt that without violence there would be no way open to the African people to succeed in their struggle against the principle of white supremacy. All lawful modes of expressing opposition to this principle had been closed by legislation, and we were placed in a position in which we had either to accept a permanent state of inferiority, or take over the Government. We chose to defy the law. We first broke the law in a way which avoided any recourse to violence; when this form was legislated against, and then the Government resorted to a show of force to crush opposition to its policies, only then did we decide to answer with violence."
"
Thursday, December 05, 2013
Racial slur by Portland police officer caught on video; investigation under way | OregonLive.com
Typical dumb, racist American white police officer. American justice in Black and white.
Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Google Glass wearer challenges distracted driving charge | Politics and Law - CNET News
"Is Cecilia Abadie guilty of distracted driving for wearing Google Glass behind the wheel? She says no."
Tuesday, December 03, 2013
Houston cops cuff 13-year-old white girl, 2 black men visiting city for dance video shoot - NY Daily News American justice in Black and White
The troupe claims they were racially profiled by the officers, who refused to believe the teen, Landry Thompson, had permission to be in the city with her dance partner, Josiah Kelly, 22, and their instructor, Emmanuel Hurd, 29. The group, from Tulsa, Okla., had spent the day recording a dance video with local artists.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/houston-cops-cuff-white-teen-black-men-visiting-video-shoot-article-1.1535803#ixzz2mQihy8t6
Houston cops cuff 13-year-old white girl, 2 black men visiting city for dance video shoot - NY Daily News
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/houston-cops-cuff-white-teen-black-men-visiting-video-shoot-article-1.1535803#ixzz2mQihy8t6
Houston cops cuff 13-year-old white girl, 2 black men visiting city for dance video shoot - NY Daily News
Sunday, December 01, 2013
Saturday, November 30, 2013
"Hartford Courant - Whistle Blower Tells Of Threats, Retaliation In State Criminal Justice Project" http://feedly.com/k/183GARU
"A state employee claims that she has suffered retaliation in the workplace for blowing the whistle on problems that have hampered development of a new, computerized criminal justice information system.
Nance McCauley says she received a bad evaluation, lost part of a raise she should have received, and saw her responsibilities curtailed after filing a "whistleblower complaint" last January that sparked a probe into the state's Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) by the state attorney general and auditors.
McCauley's bosses at CJIS deny her claims of retaliation, saying that they never knew she was the whistle blower until very recently. They said that to remedy problems uncovered in the recent probe of the project, changes had to be made in staffing and responsibilities – and these changes didn't just affect McCauley, but also others."
Crackdown in Kiev: Battle for Ukraine | The Economist
Less than 24 hours after he ruined the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius and ditched the Association Agreement with Europe, he vividly demonstrated his preferred alternative. In the small hours of Saturday morning he sent in special troops to beat up the few hundred students and activists who stood vigil for Ukraine’s European future. Armed with truncheons and tear gas, the police pummelled the peaceful demonstration, smashing heads and kicking people on the ground. Never in its 22 years as an independent country has Ukraine seen such violence.
It was a cowardly and treacherous act by a government that behaved like an occupying force in its own capital. “Tonight Yankovych turned into Alexander Lukashenka [Belarus's hardline president],” wrote Mustafa Nayyem, a Ukrainian journalist and blogger who mobilised the civil protest a week ago. A video he posted showed the violence that Mr Yanukovych had unleashed.
Crackdown in Kiev: Battle for Ukraine | The Economist
It was a cowardly and treacherous act by a government that behaved like an occupying force in its own capital. “Tonight Yankovych turned into Alexander Lukashenka [Belarus's hardline president],” wrote Mustafa Nayyem, a Ukrainian journalist and blogger who mobilised the civil protest a week ago. A video he posted showed the violence that Mr Yanukovych had unleashed.
Crackdown in Kiev: Battle for Ukraine | The Economist
Friday, November 29, 2013
Parents Sentenced For 'Crime Against Humanity'
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The parents of a 6-year-old Philadelphia boy who starved to death after returning to their care have been sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
A prosecutor Tuesday called the slow, torturous death of Khalil Wimes "a crime against humanity."
Khalil had thrived with relatives who raised him until age 3. But Tina Cuffie and Latiff Hadi won him back despite losing custody of five other children.
Tom Watson statue removed from Georgia’s Capitol steps | www.ajc.com
This is a sad story because Watson started out as a biracial populist but he found it politically expedient to later on reverse his views, join the KKK and become a racist and anti-semite preying on the divide and conquer strategy that poor and poorly educated whites are still susceptible to.
United We Stand? Tom Watson on Interracial Southern Populism
Just as the question of race divided the Southern Populist movement, so has it divided historians. Some scholars point to the uniquely interracial qualities of the Populist movement, while others emphasize the ways that racial divisions limited the success of southern agrarian radicals. Part of the difficulty in resolving the dispute is the complexity and ambiguity of race relations in Southern Populism. In his famous essay on “The Negro Question in the South,” published in 1892, Tom Watson, a Southern Populist who was elected to the U.S. Congress from Georgia in 1890, made one of the strongest cases for an alliance of black and white farmers. Yet Watson was calling for a strategic political alliance, not a fully integrated society, and his commitment to interracialism did not survive the defeat of the Populist movement. After the turn of the century, Watson led efforts to disfranchise African Americans, publishing demagogic attacks on them as well as on Catholics and Jews.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5348/
Prominent Egyptian Blogger Arrested
" Police arrested Alaa Abdel-Fattah at his home late Thursday night as his toddler slept nearby. When his wife demanded to see an arrest warrant, police beat both of them, a press release from the family said. NPR's Leila Fadel is reporting on the story for our Newscast unit:
"An arrest warrant was issued for him and another prominent youth activist following protests on Tuesday that ended with dozens in jail after police beat and chased them. Abdel-Fattah had publicly declared he would turn himself in on Saturday."
The arrest is the latest move in Egypt's crackdown on protesters since the ouster in July of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. There have been near-daily anti-government protests since the military-backed coup that toppled Morsi. Here's more from The Associated Press:
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
South Korean President Park should respond sternly to state interference, not priest’s comments : Editorial : Home
"The President’s remarks about “not tolerating” participants in the mass come across as quite belligerent. Indeed, it sounds like she was telling her cabinet to find anything in the law they could to punish the participants. At one point, she asked the secretaries for their “firm commitment not to bow to or in any way tolerate any mistakes for the sake of the public.” This seems to suggest that the authorities may be at work this very moment thinking of ways to punish the mass’s participants. It’s disturbingly reminiscent of the president’s father, Park Chung-hee, ordering “detentions and investigations” during his administration in the 1960s and 1970s. The idea of a president making what comes across as threats to the public over behavior she doesn’t like is an unfortunate legacy from the past. No matter how unpleasant Father Park’s remarks may have been to the president, it is not her place to take action on them."
This is an outright attack on freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association, the core freedoms which are a prerequisite for a democracy. President Park's statements directly violate Article 21 of the Constitution of Korea which reads:
Article 21
(1) All citizens shall enjoy freedom of speech and the press, and freedom of assembly and association.
(2) Licensing or censorship of speech and the press,and licensing of assembly and association shall not be permitted.
Clearly her words have demonstrated an intent to violate the Constitution. As a result Article 65 of the Korean Constitution the National Assembly has a duty to begin an impeachment process against the President.
Article 65
(1) In case the President, the Prime Minister, members of
the State Council, heads of Executive Ministries, Justices of
the Constitutional Court, judges, members of the National Election Commission,the Chairman and members of the
Board of Audit and Inspection, and other public officials designated by Act have violated the Constitution or other Acts in the performance of official duties,the National
Assembly may pass motions for their impeachment.
Clearly the President's attack on the aforementioned priest warrant action under Article
President should respond sternly to state interference, not priest’s comments : Editorial : Home
This is an outright attack on freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association, the core freedoms which are a prerequisite for a democracy. President Park's statements directly violate Article 21 of the Constitution of Korea which reads:
Article 21
(1) All citizens shall enjoy freedom of speech and the press, and freedom of assembly and association.
(2) Licensing or censorship of speech and the press,and licensing of assembly and association shall not be permitted.
Clearly her words have demonstrated an intent to violate the Constitution. As a result Article 65 of the Korean Constitution the National Assembly has a duty to begin an impeachment process against the President.
Article 65
(1) In case the President, the Prime Minister, members of
the State Council, heads of Executive Ministries, Justices of
the Constitutional Court, judges, members of the National Election Commission,the Chairman and members of the
Board of Audit and Inspection, and other public officials designated by Act have violated the Constitution or other Acts in the performance of official duties,the National
Assembly may pass motions for their impeachment.
Clearly the President's attack on the aforementioned priest warrant action under Article
President should respond sternly to state interference, not priest’s comments : Editorial : Home
A Woman's Health Care Decisions Should Be in Her Own Hands, Not Her Boss's | Valerie Jarrett
Valerie Jarrett senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council
VALERIE JARRETT
A Woman's Health Care Decisions Should Be in Her Own Hands, Not
Ensuring the full freedom of women as health care consumers to access essential preventative health services is a vital component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). And nowhere are health decisions more personal or essential to keep in their hands, than those regarding reproductive health. The ACA was designed to ensure that health care decisions are made between a woman and her doctor, and not by her boss, or Washington politicians.
Today, there are people trying to take this right away from women, by letting private, for-profit corporations and employers make medical decisions for their employees, based on their personal beliefs.
A group of for-profit companies are currently suing to gain the right to deny employees access to coverage for birth control and contraceptive care, which are used by the overwhelming majority of American women in their lifetimes. Among the first cases to reach the Supreme Court is one filed by Hobby Lobby, an arts and crafts chain whose owners want to be able to take the option for birth control benefits away from their employees.
We are confident the Supreme Court will agree that health decisions in this country should remain with individuals, in consultation with their doctors, families, faiths, and whomever else they personally trust. No corporate entity should be in position to limit women's legal access to care, or to seize a controlling interest over the health care choices of women. To take that type of power away from individuals, and to let the personal beliefs of a woman's boss dictate her health care choices would constitute a major step backward for women's health, and self-determination.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Florida school threatens to expel student over 'natural hair' | MSNBC
This type of backwards racism demands the firing of all teachers and/or administrators involved in this action plus a formal apology to the student and to all African American students and faculty. The South remains a cultural wasteland. Unbelievable.
U.S. and Saudis in Growing Rift as Power Shifts - NYTimes.com
“We still share many of the same goals, but our priorities are increasingly different from the Saudis,” said F. Gregory Gause III, a professor of Middle East studies at the University of Vermont. “When you look at our differing views of the Arab Spring, on how to deal with Iran, on changing energy markets that make gulf oil less central — these things have altered the basis of U.S.-Saudi relations.”
The United States always had important differences with the Saudis, including on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the spread of fundamentalist strains of Islam, Mr. Gause added. But the Obama administration’s determination to ease the long estrangement with Iran’s theocratic leaders has touched an especially raw nerve: Saudi Arabia’s deep-rooted hostility to its Shiite rival for leadership of the Islamic world."
Monday, November 25, 2013
Melissa Harris-Perry No Prison Time For Alabama Rapist Victim speaks Out
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<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry">Melissa Harris-Perry on msnbc</a>
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Melissa Harris-Perry on msnbc
<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry">Melissa Harris-Perry on msnbc</a>
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Melissa Harris-Perry on msnbc
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Recommended read from Salon.com: The real reason law schools are raking in cash
But if you sought information about how law schools weathered the financial storm in the pages of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Atlantic, I would not have faulted you for coming to the conclusion that they must be undergoing a major crisis. As these publications have tirelessly (and accurately) reported, the picture for law graduates is rather bleak. Student debt is astronomical, with some law students borrowing upwards of $200,000 to finance their educations, and employment prospects are dismal, with even well-established, “white-shoe” law firms being forced to make massive cuts and layoffs.
As a straight value proposition, it seems, it is no longer clear that going to law school makes any sense. So, law schools, one might reasonably expect, surely must be feeling the pressure. College students, one could not be blamed for thinking, surely must be considering other careers. But it has not been thus.
In Prison for 25 Years, Man Says NYPD Set Him Up -- Daily Intelligencer
"Valance Cole has at least two key facts on his side in his long struggle to overturn a manslaughter conviction for a 1985 Brooklyn killing that has kept him in prison for more than a quarter century. The first is that the homicide detective who built the case against him is closely connected to an evidence-faking scandal that has prosecutors — and now a New York State Supreme Court judge — reexamining dozens of old convictions. The second is that another man has been trying for years to confess to the killing in question."
Alabama Man Won't Serve Prison Time for Raping 14-Year-Old | Mother Jones
An Alabama man convicted of raping a teenage girl will serve no prison time. On Wednesday, a judge in Athens, Alabama, ruled that the rapist will be punished by serving two years in a program aimed at nonviolent criminals and three years of probation.
Alabama Man Won't Serve Prison Time for Raping 14-Year-Old | Mother Jones
Alabama Man Won't Serve Prison Time for Raping 14-Year-Old | Mother Jones
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Court Won’t Vacate Stop-and-Frisk Ruling -- Daily Intelligencer
"New York City's lawyers are currently scheduled to argue against Scheindlin's verdict in an appeals court this March, but Bill de Blasio has said he will tell them to abandon the effort once he becomes mayor. So, earlier this month, the city's Michael Bloomberg–ruled legal team filed a motion to have Scheindlin's stop-and-frisk decision tossed out now. Today, that request was rejected by the same judges who blocked Scheindlin's ruling, effectively eliminating the possibility that the verdict will be overturned. Somewhere in this city, Bloomberg and Ray Kelly are using swear words."
Friday, November 22, 2013
Store owner installs surveillance cameras to spy on police | Technically Incorrect - CNET News
"A Miami convenience store owner is fed up with his employees and customers being allegedly harassed by police. So he installs surveillance video to get evidence against the local cops"
Yes, America Has Gotten Better About Racism, but It Really Doesn’t Matter | The Nation
"Because I write about race and racism in the United States, I’m often asked some variation of this question: are things better now?
I don’t mean to be condescending when I answer, but usually my response is frustrated laughter followed by a firm “no.” It’s the most polite thing I can think to do in the moment. At least, it’s more polite than saying, “That’s a stupid fucking question.”
But that’s how I actually feel. It sounds harsh, but I truly believe “Are things better?” is one of the most useless questions in a discussion about racism. It’s another in a repertoire of rhetorical tricks we use in this country to avoid the hard work of addressing racism in its modern form. By reframing the conversation around how much progress has been made, we further the false narrative that racism is a problem that belongs to history. While we pat ourselves on the back for not being as horrible as we once were, we allow racism to become further entrenched in every aspect of American life."
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Trayvon Martin Juror -- George Zimmerman Belongs in Prison | TMZ.com
"
How's this for irony ... George Zimmerman belongs in prison ... this, coming from one of the jurors in the Trayvon Martin case who kept him OUT of prison.
Juror B29 -- who identifies herself as Maddy -- tells TMZ, she always had a bad feeling about Zimmerman, despite finding him not guilty of murdering Trayvon ... a verdict she begrudgingly reached through a strict interpretation of the law.
Now, she says Zimmerman's domestic violence arrest is proof he's not freedom-worthy ... "God is showing George's true side ... [George] is continuing to dig himself a bigger grave."
The juror believes Zimmerman will continue to commit violent acts until someone lays down the law ... telling us, "He NEEDS to do some type of time ... He thinks he is invincible."
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
What the Renisha McBride case says about race The MHP panel discusses what the Renisha McBride case says about race, sex and the law.
What the Renisha McBride case says about race
The MHP panel discusses what the Renisha McBride case says about race, sex and the law.
Attitudes on race and the ‘gag reflex’ | MSNBC
The MHP panel discusses what the Renisha McBride case says about race, sex and the law.
Attitudes on race and the ‘gag reflex’ | MSNBC
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
The New Nullification Movement | The Nation
Some states are reviving disenfranchisement schemes that date back to the antebellum South.
Report finds 'stop-and-frisk' does not cut crime | MSNBC
Guess what, it was never meant to reduce crime. It was meant as a police tool to dehumanize minority men.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Thursday, November 07, 2013
Saturday, November 02, 2013
Stop and frisk is probably dead anyway | MSNBC
“There’s no basis; this was not only a fundamentally flawed decision but an outrageous decision and an attack on the independence of judges,” says Darius Charney, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, the group that sued the city over stop and frisk. “To accuse a judge of violating judicial ethics on such a non-existent record is just outrageous.”
Yet in the long term, stop and frisk as practiced by the New York City police has likely already lost, even with Scheindlin gone.
The Center for Constitutional Rights had charged that the city’s stop and frisk policy violated the constitutional rights of New Yorkers by discriminating against them on the basis of race. Judge Sheindlin had agreed, ordering the city to submit to a federal monitor to oversee the changes to the city’s policing practices. The three judges who removed Sheindlin blocked her August ruling finding that the city’s application of stop and frisk was unconstitutional. The judges wrote that Scheindlin “ran afoul” of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges with statements to the media and her suggestion to a future plaintiff that they file the lawsuit that eventually became the stop and frisk case.
Up to 80% of those stopped in New York City under stop and frisk were black and Latino. Responding to criticism that the policy amounted to racial profiling, Mayor Michael Bloomberg countered that 80% was not nearly enough, saying that “we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little.” City officials claimed the policy was necessary to stop crime, but the crime rate in New York is low and was on a modest decline even before stops increased exponentially in recent years.
It is very unusual for a judge to be removed in this fashion, particularly without a request from either party to the case. “A removal at this stage is astoundingly rare,” says Steven Lubet, a professor at Northwestern Law and an expert in legal ethics. Having handled related cases for years, Charney says, Scheindlin knows the facts of the stop and frisk case at a level that any new judge will struggle to reach.
Though the city had not requested Scheindlin be removed for bias, Bloomberg had publicly attacked Scheindlin for failing to be impartial after the city lost its case. ”Given the judge’s public comments and media interviews throughout the case, this decision was certainly not a surprise,” Bloomberg said at a press conference following the ruling.
Friday, November 01, 2013
One thing that often gets lost in the moment-to-moment measurements of a president’s efficacy and his legacy is one of the most enduring and resilient effects he can have on American life: court appointments.
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This week we were reminded once again of how much sway federal judges hold as they dealt several setbacks to liberal causes.
The conservative Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down the birth control mandate in the Affordable Care Act, which required employers to offer contraceptive coverage to their employees.
The conservative Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuitreinstated most of Texas’ new abortion restrictions that a federal district judge, Lee Yeakel, had struck downas imposing an undue burden on women seeking abortions.
And the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit halted sweeping changes to New York City’s outrageous stop-and-frisk policy, changes called for by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of Federal District Court in Manhattan whofound, “The city acted with deliberate indifference toward the N.Y.P.D.’s practice of making unconstitutional stops and conducting unconstitutional frisks.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Justice and America do not seem together. Inequality and a lack of justice seems permanently engraved in this racial stratified society birthed in error twin evils of ethics in cleansing and slavery/segregation. Genocide and racial stratification is as American as apple pie. If there is justice in this universe America will pay a have price for it's continuing practices of pure evil.
"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." From the Declaration of Independence 1776.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Allies in Revolt - NYTimes.com
Here’s a quick summary: Saudi Arabia and Israel are deeply worried about the Obama administration’s decision to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran — their mortal enemy. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are sore at President Obama’s refusal to become militarily involved in ousting President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, in particular his decision not to respond with military strikes to Mr. Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Mr. Obama instead chose a diplomatic deal under which Syria’s chemical weapons would be dismantled.
The Saudis are also unhappy that Mr. Obama withdrew support for Hosni Mubarak, the deposed Egyptian president, and then worked with Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member who was elected to replace Mr. Mubarak but was later thrown out.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Judge Blocks Part of Texas Abortion Law - NYTimes.com
Judge Lee Yeakel of United States District Court in Austin declared that “the act’s admitting-privileges provision is without a rational basis and places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus.”
Saturday, October 26, 2013
1 Black Man Is Killed Every 28 Hours by Police or Vigilantes: America Is Perpetually at War with Its Own People | Alternet
From the war on drugs to the war on terror, law enforcement's battle against minorities serves as pacification
Friday, October 25, 2013
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Saturday, October 19, 2013
‘Ebony and Ivy,’ About How Slavery Helped Universities Grow - NYTimes.com
Mr. Wilder, a history professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has a new book, “Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities,” which argues provocatively that the nation’s early colleges, alongside church and state, were “the third pillar of a civilization based on bondage.”
Friday, October 18, 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
The Racist Redskins - The Daily Beast
There’s a debate brewing—yet again—about whether the name of Washington’s football team is racist. Of course it is, says Michael Tomasky
Antonin Scalia, Affirmative Action Pick.
So this recollection from Peter Wallison on the nomination process when Ronald Reagan chose Antonin Scalia stuck out to me:
I think [Reagan] felt that it would be great to put an Italian American on the Supreme Court. He had all the usual American instincts: 'We don't have an Italian American on the court, so we ought to have one.' He really felt good about doing that. It wasn't principle so much as that kind of emotional commitment.
Monday, October 14, 2013
D.C. protestors wave Confederate flag, tell Obama to “put the Quran down” - Salon.com
I oppose the death penalty but I do believe in self defense. These people and their brethren ha killed many more of us than AL Qaeda. It is time we wake up to our biggest enemy.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Wisconsin Prisons Incarcerate Most Black Men In U.S. : Code Switch : NPR
The United States prison population is still the world's highest, with more than 1.5 million people behind bars. Black men are more likely to be sent to prison than white men, and often on drug offenses. A study from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee looked at that state's incarceration rates and found they were the highest in the country for black men.
Wisconsin Prisons Incarcerate Most Black Men In U.S. : Code Switch : NPR
Wisconsin Prisons Incarcerate Most Black Men In U.S. : Code Switch : NPR
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
Sunday, October 06, 2013
Another Story In The American System of Injustice
The movement for human rights and justice mourns the loss of Herman Wallace, a former prisoner of the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola prison) who was held in solitary confinement for forty-one years before having his conviction and sentence for murder vacated by a judge this week.
Saturday, October 05, 2013
Friday, October 04, 2013
Thursday, October 03, 2013
Family says SUV driver in biker clash was 'placed in grave danger' by mob
The wife of an SUV driver who police say was beaten after a clash with a swarm of bikers on a New York City highway said Thursday that her husband was “placed in grave danger by a mob of reckless and violent motorcyclists.”
In a statement released through a law firm on behalf of the family, the wife of the driver, Alexian Lien, said that her husband “was forced under the circumstances to take the actions that he did in order to protect the lives of our entire family.”
“We know in our hearts that we could not have done anything differently,” she said.
The highway clash, on Sunday, was recorded and has been viewed about 6 million times on YouTube. Police have said that the bikers chased Lien for 50 blocks before cornering him, smashing his windows, yanking him out and beating him in front of his wife and child.
One of the motorcyclists, Edwin “Jay” Mieses, was run over during the clash. He is in critical condition with a crushed spine and two broken legs and may be paralyzed. He has hired a media-savvy lawyer, Gloria Allred.
In a statement released through a law firm on behalf of the family, the wife of the driver, Alexian Lien, said that her husband “was forced under the circumstances to take the actions that he did in order to protect the lives of our entire family.”
“We know in our hearts that we could not have done anything differently,” she said.
The highway clash, on Sunday, was recorded and has been viewed about 6 million times on YouTube. Police have said that the bikers chased Lien for 50 blocks before cornering him, smashing his windows, yanking him out and beating him in front of his wife and child.
One of the motorcyclists, Edwin “Jay” Mieses, was run over during the clash. He is in critical condition with a crushed spine and two broken legs and may be paralyzed. He has hired a media-savvy lawyer, Gloria Allred.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Plutocrats Feeling Persecuted - NYTimes.com
For those who don’t recall, A.I.G. is a giant insurance company that played a crucial role in creating the global economic crisis, exploiting loopholes in financial regulation to sell vast numbers of debt guarantees that it had no way to honor. Five years ago, U.S. authorities, fearing that A.I.G.’s collapse might destabilize the whole financial system, stepped in with a huge bailout. But even the policy makers felt ill used — for example, Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, later testified that no other episode in the crisis made him so angry.
And it got worse. For a time, A.I.G. was essentially a ward of the federal government, which owned the bulk of its stock, yet it continued paying large executive bonuses. There was, understandably, much public furor.
So here’s what Mr. Benmosche did in an interview with The Wall Street Journal: He compared the uproar over bonuses to lynchings in the Deep South — the real kind, involving murder — and declared that the bonus backlash was “just as bad and just as wrong.”
Plutocrats Feeling Persecuted - NYTimes.com
And it got worse. For a time, A.I.G. was essentially a ward of the federal government, which owned the bulk of its stock, yet it continued paying large executive bonuses. There was, understandably, much public furor.
So here’s what Mr. Benmosche did in an interview with The Wall Street Journal: He compared the uproar over bonuses to lynchings in the Deep South — the real kind, involving murder — and declared that the bonus backlash was “just as bad and just as wrong.”
Plutocrats Feeling Persecuted - NYTimes.com
Narrow Escapes and Questions on Emergency Response in Attack at Kenya Mall - NYTimes.com
NAIROBI, Kenya — One man showed the militants his voting card, very gingerly placing his thumb over his first name and pretending he was Muslim.
Narrow Escapes and Questions on Emergency Response in Attack at Kenya Mall - NYTimes.com
Narrow Escapes and Questions on Emergency Response in Attack at Kenya Mall - NYTimes.com
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Deeper Than God: Ronald Dworkin's Religious Atheism - NYTimes.com
Dworkin had some influence on my jurisprudential thinking in law school but ultimately even though I was fond of his attitudes and goals I found him less than satisfyingly.
"Ronald Dworkin, a professor of law and philosophy at New York University, was arguably the most influential legal philosopher of the past 50 years. Dworkin, who died in February, was (and will continue to be) known for his critique of positivism, a view of law that locates its authority in what is “on the books” — what has been enacted by those who are in a position to back up their pronouncements with sanctions and penalties, including the loss of property and life. Dworkin argued that here must be more than that; there must be an underlying or overarching set of values in relation to which legal particulars are intelligible and have meaning."
Judge appears to back Google's defense of digital books project | Internet & Media - CNET News
A U.S. judge made comments Monday that suggest favor for Google's defense of its digital books project, which could hobble an authors group's effort to stop it.
The Authors Guild, which represents the interests of authors, says the project constitutes massive copyright infringement. Google, which has scanned more than 20 million books since forming partnerships with several major universities to digitize their research libraries in 2004, argues that the project is exempt under the "fair use" provision of copyright law because it shows only short "snippets" of text online.
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