http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/5-reasons-you-should-never-agree-police-search-even-if-you-have-nothing-hide
2. Refusing a search protects you if you end up in court.
It's always possible that police might search you anyway when you
refuse to give consent, but that's no reason to say "yes" to the search.
Basically, if there's any chance of evidence being found, agreeing to a
search is like committing legal suicide, because it kills your case
before you even get to court.
If you refuse a search, however, the officer will have to prove in
court that there was probable cause to do a warrantless search. This
will give your lawyer a good chance to win your case, but this only
works if you said "no" to the search.
5. You never know what they'll find.
Are you 100 percent certain there's nothing illegal in your home or
vehicle? You can never be too sure. A joint roach could stick to your
shoe on the street and wind up on the floorboard. A careless
acquaintance could have dropped a baggie behind the seat. Try telling a
cop it isn't yours, and they'll just laugh and tell you to put your
hands behind your back. If you agreed to the search, you can't challenge
the evidence. But if you're innocent and you refused the search, your
lawyer has a winnable case.
Remember that knowing your rights will help you protect yourself, but
no amount of preparation can guarantee a good outcome in a bad
situation. Your attitude and your choices before, during, and after the
encounter will usually matter more than your knowledge of the law. Stay
calm no matter what happens, and remember that you can always report misconduct after things settle down.
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
Sunday, November 30, 2014
The Right Wing Brain Exposed
http://www.alternet.org/why-are-these-clowns-winning-secrets-right-wing-brain
When George W. Bush became president in 2001, it marked the first
time in 70 years that conservative Republicans controlled all three
branches of government. By the time Bush left office, we were all
reminded why. The financial crisis and resulting global economic
meltdown Bush left us with were eerily reminiscent of the Great
Depression, but there was also 9/11, the Iraq War and Katrina—a
multifaceted record of spectacular failure so stunning that it should have disqualified conservative Republicans from holding power for at least another seven decades. Yet, the Democrats’ political
response to the many messes Bush left behind has been so spectacularly
inept that they’ve not only lost both houses of Congress, they’ve also
lost more state legislative seats than any time since before the Great Recession.
There are many ways one might explain this state of affairs—and certainly the rise of Wall Street Democrats and the decline of labor played crucial roles. But beyond any particular issue area, there’s also the matter of differences in how liberals and conservatives think—and how they act and organize as a result.
As I’ve written before, a growing body of literature reveals that liberals and conservatives think differently from one another in ways that can even be traced back, in part, to the level of instinctual response, reflecting conservatives’ heightened sensitivity to threat bias. This work is congruent with an integrated multi-factor account offered by John Jost and three co-authors in the 2003 meta-analysis “ Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition.”
There are many ways one might explain this state of affairs—and certainly the rise of Wall Street Democrats and the decline of labor played crucial roles. But beyond any particular issue area, there’s also the matter of differences in how liberals and conservatives think—and how they act and organize as a result.
As I’ve written before, a growing body of literature reveals that liberals and conservatives think differently from one another in ways that can even be traced back, in part, to the level of instinctual response, reflecting conservatives’ heightened sensitivity to threat bias. This work is congruent with an integrated multi-factor account offered by John Jost and three co-authors in the 2003 meta-analysis “ Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition.”
Crazy Right Wing Rants this week. A black man is questioned about hands in his pockets in freezing weather
http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/5-awful-right-wing-moments-week-gopers-bizarre-facebook-rant-against-sasha-and?page=0%2C2&akid=12519.294211.31NMJJ&rd=1&src=newsletter1027871&t=2
Racist reactions to the Ferguson grand jury’s refusal to indict Darren Wilson dominated the right-wing airwaves this week, not to mention Wilson’s own televised assertion that he’d shoot Michael Brown all over again. But resourceful Fox newsians and Republican operatives aimed their offensive comments at other topics as well. Here’s a sampling.
1. Insane GOP staffer writes open letter to Sasha and Malia Obama criticizing their facial expressions and bar-ready attire.
5. Someone called the cops because a black guy had his hands in his pockets. Cops check out “suspicious" behavior.
This just in from Pontiac, Michigan where it is reportedly a tad chilly. Well, freezing, actually.
Racist reactions to the Ferguson grand jury’s refusal to indict Darren Wilson dominated the right-wing airwaves this week, not to mention Wilson’s own televised assertion that he’d shoot Michael Brown all over again. But resourceful Fox newsians and Republican operatives aimed their offensive comments at other topics as well. Here’s a sampling.
1. Insane GOP staffer writes open letter to Sasha and Malia Obama criticizing their facial expressions and bar-ready attire.
5. Someone called the cops because a black guy had his hands in his pockets. Cops check out “suspicious" behavior.
This just in from Pontiac, Michigan where it is reportedly a tad chilly. Well, freezing, actually.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
What I have to teach my Black Child that a White Child never has to worry about.
http://www.alternet.org/what-i-have-teach-my-black-child-white-parent-would-never-have-worry-about
I want my son to be brave, to have the heart to stand up to injustice. But I cannot teach him to be brave if I have to teach him to be fearful and meek in his interactions with authority. I cannot teach my son justice if I have to instruct him to always cower before the power of the state for the sake of his life.
In Cleveland, a 12-year-old boy named Tamir Rice was shot and died on Sundayafter brandishing a toy gun near police officers at a playground. A mother has to bury her 12-year-old in Cleveland during Thanksgiving because he did a stupid kid thing: he brought a toy gun to school and waved it around. When I was in elementary school, kids who brought toy guns onto school property were taken to the principal’s office, their parents were called, and they would face possible suspension. Apparently, now people call the police, and those police might draw and shoot before even talking to the child.
In my head, the list of things I need to teach my son, as he grows older, grows longer with each shooting.
We have to teach our baby the golden rule; to be polite and respectful; to not talk to strangers. To teach him to be loving, kind, and respectful. We want him to learn and know he can be anything he wants to be in this world.
But we also have to tell him that, if a guy follows you after you buy a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea, run back into the store and stay there. We have to tell him not to play his music too loud – but also that, if he does and someone asks him to turn it down, to do it, even if that person is mean, because anything is better than dying over his stereo volume.
I want my son to be brave, to have the heart to stand up to injustice. But I cannot teach him to be brave if I have to teach him to be fearful and meek in his interactions with authority. I cannot teach my son justice if I have to instruct him to always cower before the power of the state for the sake of his life.
In Cleveland, a 12-year-old boy named Tamir Rice was shot and died on Sundayafter brandishing a toy gun near police officers at a playground. A mother has to bury her 12-year-old in Cleveland during Thanksgiving because he did a stupid kid thing: he brought a toy gun to school and waved it around. When I was in elementary school, kids who brought toy guns onto school property were taken to the principal’s office, their parents were called, and they would face possible suspension. Apparently, now people call the police, and those police might draw and shoot before even talking to the child.
In my head, the list of things I need to teach my son, as he grows older, grows longer with each shooting.
We have to teach our baby the golden rule; to be polite and respectful; to not talk to strangers. To teach him to be loving, kind, and respectful. We want him to learn and know he can be anything he wants to be in this world.
But we also have to tell him that, if a guy follows you after you buy a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea, run back into the store and stay there. We have to tell him not to play his music too loud – but also that, if he does and someone asks him to turn it down, to do it, even if that person is mean, because anything is better than dying over his stereo volume.
FERGUSON: The hits - How hard were they? Fatal possibly? Probably not given the pictures.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2849133/PIERS-MORGAN-farce-Ferguson-Darren-Wilson-6ft-4in-210lb-five-year-old-history.html
'When I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding Hulk Hogan…that's just how big he felt and how small I felt from grasping his arm.'
'When I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding Hulk Hogan…that's just how big he felt and how small I felt from grasping his arm.'
This is how Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson justified shooting black teenager Michael Brown.
Reading
this particular piece of evidence from the vast dump of Grand Jury
documents released last night, it would be impossible not to sympathise
with Wilson.
A lone 'small' policeman in a patrol car confronted by a gigantic Hulk.
There's just one problem.
Wilson, by his own admission in his police interview, is 6ft 4in tall, the exact same height as Michael Brown.
He also weighs 210lbs, which may be 80lbs lighter than Brown, but still makes him a pretty hefty unit.
Put it this way, I've never seen or heard of any 6ft 4in, 210lb five-year-old boys, have you?
Wilson paints a very detailed and vivid picture of the savage beating he took from Brown.
'I
was hit right here in the side of the face with a fist,' he said. 'I
think it was a full-on swing but not a full shot. I think my arm
deflected some of it, but there was still a significant amount of
contact that was made to my face.'
Then, allegedly, came a second punch.
'I see his hand coming back around…and he hit me with a full swing.'
Imagine being hit by two full swing punches at close quarters by a 6ft 4in guy weighing nearly 300lbs?
You would think the damage would be pretty severe, right?
Yet
the photographs released last night of Wilson's injuries show what
appears to be a very minor bruise on his cheek, a tiny shaving-style cut
on his chin, and a bit of reddening around the back of his neck.
FERGUSON: Another reason that a trial needs to take place
http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/videos/ferguson-asst-prosecutor-kathi-alizadeh-shocking-error-that-may-have-affected-michael-brown-darren-wilson-decision-video/
On Lawrence O’Donnell’s Rewrite segment recently, he exposed how the Ferguson Prosecutor’s handed the case to Officer Darren Wilson.
According to court documents, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kathi Alizadeh handed the Grand Jury a law that was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States more than 30 years ago.
The unconstitutional document stated police may use any force necessary to stop a suspect from fleeing from police.
On Lawrence O’Donnell’s Rewrite segment recently, he exposed how the Ferguson Prosecutor’s handed the case to Officer Darren Wilson.
According to court documents, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kathi Alizadeh handed the Grand Jury a law that was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States more than 30 years ago.
The unconstitutional document stated police may use any force necessary to stop a suspect from fleeing from police.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains Black Holes - awesome
http://www.alternet.org/neil-degrasse-tyson-explaining-black-holes-just-awesome-it-sounds?akid=12515.294211.O6Icbn&rd=1&src=newsletter1027801&t=10
Neil deGrasse Tyson broke down the physics of two mysterious aspects
of our universe: wormholes and black holes. In this recent video for Business Insider, Tyson explains why you wouldn’t want to venture into a black hole — you’d want to avoid them “at all costs!” Watch
Military Vets write letter telling National Guard to side with Protestors in Ferguson
http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/police-2/military-vets-send-letter-national-guard-urging-them-stand-with-ferguson-protestors/
To our brothers and sisters in the Missouri National Guard:
We are writing to you as active-duty U.S. service members and veterans, most of us having served in the Iraq war.
You have a choice you can make right now.
The whole world is watching the Ferguson police with disgust. They killed an unarmed, college-bound Black youth in broad daylight, and subsequently responded to peaceful, constitutionally-protected protests with extreme violence and repression.
Countless constitutional and human rights violations by these police have been documented over the course of the Ferguson protests; from attacking and threatening journalists, to using tear gas against peaceful protesters, including children.
Now, Governor Nixon has again activated the National Guard to ‘support law enforcement.’ But you don’t have to follow their orders—you can stand with the protesters instead.
To our brothers and sisters in the Missouri National Guard:
We are writing to you as active-duty U.S. service members and veterans, most of us having served in the Iraq war.
You have a choice you can make right now.
The whole world is watching the Ferguson police with disgust. They killed an unarmed, college-bound Black youth in broad daylight, and subsequently responded to peaceful, constitutionally-protected protests with extreme violence and repression.
Countless constitutional and human rights violations by these police have been documented over the course of the Ferguson protests; from attacking and threatening journalists, to using tear gas against peaceful protesters, including children.
Now, Governor Nixon has again activated the National Guard to ‘support law enforcement.’ But you don’t have to follow their orders—you can stand with the protesters instead.
FERGUSON: UNARMED DEAD MAN tried and CONVICTED by Grand Jury
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/11/28/st-louis-grand-jury-indicted-tried-convicted-unarmed-murder-victim-michael-brown.html
The Prosecutor did every trick he could come up with to CONVICT AN UNARMED DEAD MAN. Eric Holder needs to bring this case to court. There needs to be cross examination of witnesses.
Justice has not been done in Ferguson.
The Prosecutor did every trick he could come up with to CONVICT AN UNARMED DEAD MAN. Eric Holder needs to bring this case to court. There needs to be cross examination of witnesses.
Justice has not been done in Ferguson.
RESecgregation in American - Here are the Corporations funding it
http://billmoyers.com/2014/11/26/meet-fortune-500-companies-funding-political-resegregation-america/
Redistrict, Make people Poor, Stupid and Stop them from voting - Corporations and Billionaires are finding it very easy to steal their money if people are poor and uneducated.
Over the past four to five years, the United States has been resegregated — politically. In states where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans and presidential races can be nail-biters, skillful Republican operatives have mounted racially-minded gerrymandering efforts — the redrawing of congressional and state legislative districts — that have led to congressional delegations stacked with GOP members and yielded Republican majorities in the state legislatures.
In North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio, to name just three, GOPers have recast state and congressional districts to consolidate black voters into what the political pros call “majority-minority districts” to diminish the influence of these voters. North Carolina is an especially glaring example: GOP-redistricting after the 2010 elections led to half the state’s black population — 1.1 million people — being corralled into one-fifth of the state legislative and congressional districts. “The districts here take us back to a day of segregation that most of us thought we’d moved away from,” State Sen. Dan Blue Jr., who was previously North Carolina’s first black House speaker, told the Nation in 2012.
A major driving force behind this political resegregation is the Republican State Leadership Committee, a deep-pocketed yet under-the-radar group that calls itself the “lead Republican redistricting organization.” The RSLC is funded largely by Fortune 500 corporations, including Reynolds American, Las Vegas Sands,Wal-Mart, Devon Energy, Citigroup, AT&T, Pfizer, Altria Group, Honeywell International, Hewlett-Packard. Other heavyweight donors not on the Fortune 500 list include Koch Industries, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the US Chamber of Commerce. At the same time these big-name firms underwrite the RSLC’s efforts to dilute the power of black voters, many of them preach the values of diversity and inclusion on their websites and in corporate reports.
As part of its Redistricting Majority Project — which, tellingly, is nicknamed REDMAP — the RSLC, starting in 2010, poured tens of millions of dollars into legislative races around the country to elect new GOP majorities.
Redistrict, Make people Poor, Stupid and Stop them from voting - Corporations and Billionaires are finding it very easy to steal their money if people are poor and uneducated.
Over the past four to five years, the United States has been resegregated — politically. In states where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans and presidential races can be nail-biters, skillful Republican operatives have mounted racially-minded gerrymandering efforts — the redrawing of congressional and state legislative districts — that have led to congressional delegations stacked with GOP members and yielded Republican majorities in the state legislatures.
In North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio, to name just three, GOPers have recast state and congressional districts to consolidate black voters into what the political pros call “majority-minority districts” to diminish the influence of these voters. North Carolina is an especially glaring example: GOP-redistricting after the 2010 elections led to half the state’s black population — 1.1 million people — being corralled into one-fifth of the state legislative and congressional districts. “The districts here take us back to a day of segregation that most of us thought we’d moved away from,” State Sen. Dan Blue Jr., who was previously North Carolina’s first black House speaker, told the Nation in 2012.
A major driving force behind this political resegregation is the Republican State Leadership Committee, a deep-pocketed yet under-the-radar group that calls itself the “lead Republican redistricting organization.” The RSLC is funded largely by Fortune 500 corporations, including Reynolds American, Las Vegas Sands,Wal-Mart, Devon Energy, Citigroup, AT&T, Pfizer, Altria Group, Honeywell International, Hewlett-Packard. Other heavyweight donors not on the Fortune 500 list include Koch Industries, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the US Chamber of Commerce. At the same time these big-name firms underwrite the RSLC’s efforts to dilute the power of black voters, many of them preach the values of diversity and inclusion on their websites and in corporate reports.
As part of its Redistricting Majority Project — which, tellingly, is nicknamed REDMAP — the RSLC, starting in 2010, poured tens of millions of dollars into legislative races around the country to elect new GOP majorities.
14 Things I did as a White Kid that would have been big problems if I was black
http://www.alternet.org/14-bad-things-i-did-white-kid-would-have-turned-out-differently-if-i-were-black?akid=12515.294211.O6Icbn&rd=1&src=newsletter1027801&t=2
The following piece first appeared on TimWise.org.
"He was no angel." That’s the refrain, repeated for over two months on social media by defenders of Officer Darren Wilson, convinced that Michael Brown was little more than a violent and dangerous thug who deserved to die that August day in Ferguson.
From the beginning, Wilson’s supporters used Brown’s strong-arm theft of cigars from a local market as justification for what happened to him. “Thieves deserve their fate,” came the refrain from many a (mostly white) Facebook feed—this, from people who have never openly advocated death for, say, Wall Street bankers who stole a lot more than Swisher Sweets. Nor have they likely ever contemplated what such a maxim might suggest about the merited destinies of their own white ancestors, whose theft of land and others' labor was central to the development of the country those commentators now call home.
“He had weed in his system,” cried others, suggesting that marijuana use either justifies being shot by a cop, or at the least might explain his “aggressive behavior” toward Officer Wilson. This kind of thing that could only be said by someone who has never smoked much weed. Attacking police officers is, as a general rule, the last thing on your mind when you’re high.
When I was Michael Brown’s age I spent quite a bit of time in just such an altered state, unconcerned that such a condition might serve as a rationale for my demise at the hands of law enforcement. Indeed, I never even gave much thought to the likelihood that such behavior might land me in jail. All this, despite the fact that…
1. Underage drinking and public intoxication (hundreds of times)
2. Repeated use of fake identification for the purpose of obtaining alcohol (hundreds of times)
3. Manufacture of fake identification for myself and others for the underage purchase of alcohol (at least five dozen clients served)
4. Driving under the influence (can’t remember but plenty)
5. Leaving the scene of an accident after a fender bender with another person who was also drunk
6. Criminal trespass
7. Vandalism of government property
8. Criminal mischief
9. Fraudulent receipt of property
10. Possession of illegal narcotics (weed, acid, ecstasy, cocaine)
The following piece first appeared on TimWise.org.
"He was no angel." That’s the refrain, repeated for over two months on social media by defenders of Officer Darren Wilson, convinced that Michael Brown was little more than a violent and dangerous thug who deserved to die that August day in Ferguson.
From the beginning, Wilson’s supporters used Brown’s strong-arm theft of cigars from a local market as justification for what happened to him. “Thieves deserve their fate,” came the refrain from many a (mostly white) Facebook feed—this, from people who have never openly advocated death for, say, Wall Street bankers who stole a lot more than Swisher Sweets. Nor have they likely ever contemplated what such a maxim might suggest about the merited destinies of their own white ancestors, whose theft of land and others' labor was central to the development of the country those commentators now call home.
“He had weed in his system,” cried others, suggesting that marijuana use either justifies being shot by a cop, or at the least might explain his “aggressive behavior” toward Officer Wilson. This kind of thing that could only be said by someone who has never smoked much weed. Attacking police officers is, as a general rule, the last thing on your mind when you’re high.
When I was Michael Brown’s age I spent quite a bit of time in just such an altered state, unconcerned that such a condition might serve as a rationale for my demise at the hands of law enforcement. Indeed, I never even gave much thought to the likelihood that such behavior might land me in jail. All this, despite the fact that…
1. Underage drinking and public intoxication (hundreds of times)
2. Repeated use of fake identification for the purpose of obtaining alcohol (hundreds of times)
3. Manufacture of fake identification for myself and others for the underage purchase of alcohol (at least five dozen clients served)
4. Driving under the influence (can’t remember but plenty)
5. Leaving the scene of an accident after a fender bender with another person who was also drunk
6. Criminal trespass
7. Vandalism of government property
8. Criminal mischief
9. Fraudulent receipt of property
10. Possession of illegal narcotics (weed, acid, ecstasy, cocaine)
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Ferguson: Forensic Pathologist shuts down the Nonsense being put out about the shooting. A TRIAL IS NEEDED!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=tWUkBxmFUvU&app=desktop
This case needs to go to court and have witnesses cross examined. A POLICE MAN SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SHOOT `12 SHOTS TO STOP (not kill) an unarmed man. 12 shots should not have been fired and a policeman who fired that many shots on an unarmed individual SHOULD NOT be a policeman.
This case needs to go to court and have witnesses cross examined. A POLICE MAN SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SHOOT `12 SHOTS TO STOP (not kill) an unarmed man. 12 shots should not have been fired and a policeman who fired that many shots on an unarmed individual SHOULD NOT be a policeman.
Michael Brown's Empty Chair on this Thanksgiving Day.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/11/27/michael-browns-empty-chair-thanksgiving.html
I wasn’t on the jury. I didn’t hear the more than 70
hours of testimony. And no, I didn’t hear the details provided by the
more than 60 witnesses that were brought forth during the Missouri trial
of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, the man who killed Michael
Brown, an African American teenager. All I have heard this entire time
was what most of the rest of us heard, which was what was reported to us
via any number of news sites, shows, blogs, and whatever we may have
heard from friends and acquaintances we trusted to know what they were
talking about.
So yeah. I admit it. And I’ll admit it up front.
There’s a lot I don’t know about what happened on that day when Michael
Brown was killed. Hey, I wasn’t even there.
But here’s what I do know, all right? I know that on
Thanksgiving Day, the day that I will be enjoying with nearly 40
members of my family (and that’s just on my wife’s side) in Baltimore,
Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., the parents of Michael Brown
Jr., will be dying inside in Ferguson. Their child was killed, and three
days before the holiday where we here in America are expected to feast,
rejoice, and give thanks, the parents of a dead child were given the
news that the man who killed their son will face no punishment for his
actions. None. And they know that the man who killed their son was a
white police officer. And they know what that means in America just as
all the non-white residents of all the Fergusons all across the country
know what that has meant for so long.
George Carlin - The 10 Commandments, What it really should be
http://samuel-warde.com/2013/04/george-carlin-breaks-down-the-ten-commandments-video/
George Carlin is just great!!! Separation of Church and State explained quite well.
George Carlin is just great!!! Separation of Church and State explained quite well.
NFL Player writes down his thoughts about FERGUSON - Great Information
http://firebrandprogressives.org/gone-viral-read-nfl-player-benjamin-watsons-poignant-reflection-ferguson-missouri-riots/
Benjamin Watson explains his thought on Ferguson. Great reading.
Benjamin Watson explains his thought on Ferguson. Great reading.
Sarah Palin at the Turkey Farm - HAPPY THANKSGIVING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ybEbrQeOA
Nothing says Thanksgiving like Sarah Palin at the Turkey Farm.
The following is 10 amazing facts about Sarah Palin - David Letterman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Uoy5QWXNQ
Nothing says Thanksgiving like Sarah Palin at the Turkey Farm.
The following is 10 amazing facts about Sarah Palin - David Letterman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Uoy5QWXNQ
Sarah Palin: 30 Things Sarah is Thankful for this 2014 Thanksgiving.
http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/30-things-for-which-sarah-palin-is-grateful/
http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/30-things-for-which-sarah-palin-is-grateful/
1. That the family drug dealer is finally giving us a volume discount.
2. I shot that gecko. so now I save 20% on my car insurance.
3. The APD never charged Bristol for repeatedly hitting that guy at the party.
4. Even though I’m no longer popular in Alaska, at least people still know who I am.
5. My old wig still looks smoking-hot.
23. I don’t have to go to that God-awful turkey farm today.
Sarah at the Turkey Farm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ybEbrQeOA
http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/30-things-for-which-sarah-palin-is-grateful/
1. That the family drug dealer is finally giving us a volume discount.
2. I shot that gecko. so now I save 20% on my car insurance.
3. The APD never charged Bristol for repeatedly hitting that guy at the party.
4. Even though I’m no longer popular in Alaska, at least people still know who I am.
5. My old wig still looks smoking-hot.
23. I don’t have to go to that God-awful turkey farm today.
Sarah at the Turkey Farm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ybEbrQeOA
100 Million Worlds in our galaxy may have alien life on them - Scientists, new study
http://earthweareone.com/scientists-100-million-worlds-may-have-complex-alien-life-in-our-galaxy/
A group of international astronomers and astrobiologists have published new research that assesses the possibility of complex life on other worlds. Their calculation in the Milky Way alone is staggering: 100 million worlds in our home galaxy may harbor complex alien life. One. Hundred. Million.
A group of international astronomers and astrobiologists have published new research that assesses the possibility of complex life on other worlds. Their calculation in the Milky Way alone is staggering: 100 million worlds in our home galaxy may harbor complex alien life. One. Hundred. Million.
It is a lot—although maybe a bit disappointing when you consider that a) there are 17 billion Earth-sized worlds in our galaxy alone and b) these worlds are likely to be too far away from us (unless we can get a warp drive.) Also keep in mind that, according to the authors, “this
study does not indicate that complex life exists on that many planets
[...] only the conditions to support [complex alien] life.”
FERGUSON; White Reaction - Blame the Unarmed Black Guy and make up facts to distort reality
http://www.alternet.org/most-white-people-america-are-completely-oblivious?page=0%2C1
perhaps we might spend a few minutes considering what this does to the young black child, and how it differs from the way that white children grow up. Think about how you would respond to the world if that world told you every day how awful you were, how horrible your community was, and how pathological your family. That’s what we’re telling black people daily. Every time police call the people they are sworn to protect animals, as at least one Ferguson officer was willing to do on camera, we tell them this. Every time we shrug at the way police routinely stop and frisk young black men, we tell them this. Every time we turn away from the clear disparities in our nation’s schools, which relegate the black and brown to classrooms led by the least experienced teachers, we tell them this. Every time Bill O’Reilly pontificates about “black culture” and every time Barack Obama tells black men to be better fathers, we tell them this: that they are uniquely flawed, uniquely pathological, a cancerous mass of moral decrepitude to be feared, scorned, surveilled, incarcerated and discarded. The constant drumbeat of negativity is so normalized by now that it forms the backdrop of every conversation about black people held in white spaces when black folks themselves are not around. It is like the way your knee jumps when the doctor taps it with that little hammer thing during a check-up: a reflex by now instinctual, automatic, unthinking.
And still we pretend that one can think these things—that vast
numbers of us can—and yet be capable of treating black folks fairly in
the workforce, housing market, schools or in the streets; that we can,
on the one hand, view the larger black community as a chaotic maelstrom
of iniquity, while still managing, on the other, to treat black loan
applicants, job applicants, students or random strangers as mere
individuals. That we can somehow thread the needle between our grand
aspirations to equanimity as Americans and our deeply internalized
biases regarding broad swaths of our nation’s people.
But we can’t; and it is in these moments—moments like those provided by events in Ferguson—that the limits of our commitment to that aspirational America are laid bare. It is in moments like these when the chasm between our respective understandings of the world—itself opened up by the equally cavernous differences in the way we’ve experienced it—seems almost impossible to bridge. But bridge them we must, before the strain of our repetitive motion disorder does permanent and untreatable damage to our collective national body.
perhaps we might spend a few minutes considering what this does to the young black child, and how it differs from the way that white children grow up. Think about how you would respond to the world if that world told you every day how awful you were, how horrible your community was, and how pathological your family. That’s what we’re telling black people daily. Every time police call the people they are sworn to protect animals, as at least one Ferguson officer was willing to do on camera, we tell them this. Every time we shrug at the way police routinely stop and frisk young black men, we tell them this. Every time we turn away from the clear disparities in our nation’s schools, which relegate the black and brown to classrooms led by the least experienced teachers, we tell them this. Every time Bill O’Reilly pontificates about “black culture” and every time Barack Obama tells black men to be better fathers, we tell them this: that they are uniquely flawed, uniquely pathological, a cancerous mass of moral decrepitude to be feared, scorned, surveilled, incarcerated and discarded. The constant drumbeat of negativity is so normalized by now that it forms the backdrop of every conversation about black people held in white spaces when black folks themselves are not around. It is like the way your knee jumps when the doctor taps it with that little hammer thing during a check-up: a reflex by now instinctual, automatic, unthinking.
Most White People in America Are Completely Oblivious
But we can’t; and it is in these moments—moments like those provided by events in Ferguson—that the limits of our commitment to that aspirational America are laid bare. It is in moments like these when the chasm between our respective understandings of the world—itself opened up by the equally cavernous differences in the way we’ve experienced it—seems almost impossible to bridge. But bridge them we must, before the strain of our repetitive motion disorder does permanent and untreatable damage to our collective national body.
FERGUSON; White Rage against Racial Progress - Black/Poor Voters were just dumped from voting rolls
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ferguson-wasnt-black-rage-against-copsit-was-white-rage-against-progress/2014/08/29/3055e3f4-2d75-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html
So when you think of Ferguson, don’t just think of black resentment at a criminal justice system that allows a white police officer to put six bullets into an unarmed black teen. Consider the economic dislocation of black America. Remember a Florida judge instructing a jury to focus only on the moment when George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin interacted, thus transforming a 17-year-old, unarmed kid into a big, scary black guy, while the grown man who stalked him through the neighborhood with a loaded gun becomes a victim. Remember the assault on the Voting Rights Act. Look at Connick v. Thompson, a partisan 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 2011 that ruled it was legal for a city prosecutor’s staff to hide evidence that exonerated a black man who was rotting on death row for 14years. And think of a recent study by Stanford University psychology researchers concluding that, when white people were told that black Americans are incarcerated in numbers far beyond their proportion of the population, “they reported being more afraid of crime and more likely to support the kinds of punitive policies that exacerbate the racial disparities,” such as three-strikes or stop-and-frisk laws.
Only then does Ferguson make sense. It’s about white rage.
When we look back on what happened in Ferguson, Mo.,
during the summer of 2014, it will be easy to think of it as yet one
more episode of black rage ignited by yet another police killing of an
unarmed African American male. But that has it precisely backward. What
we’ve actually seen is the latest outbreak of white rage. Sure, it is
cloaked in the niceties of law and order, but it is rage nonetheless.
Protests and looting
naturally capture attention. But the real rage smolders in meetings
where officials redraw precincts to dilute African American voting
strength or seek to slash the government payrolls that have long served
as sources of black employment. It goes virtually unnoticed, however,
because white rage doesn’t have to take to the streets and face rubber
bullets to be heard. Instead, white rage carries an aura of
respectability and has access to the courts, police, legislatures and
governors, who cast its efforts as noble, though they are actually
driven by the most ignoble motivations.
White rage recurs in American history. It exploded after the Civil War, erupted again to undermine the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education
decision and took on its latest incarnation with Barack Obama’s ascent
to the White House. For every action of African American advancement,
there’s a reaction, a backlash.So when you think of Ferguson, don’t just think of black resentment at a criminal justice system that allows a white police officer to put six bullets into an unarmed black teen. Consider the economic dislocation of black America. Remember a Florida judge instructing a jury to focus only on the moment when George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin interacted, thus transforming a 17-year-old, unarmed kid into a big, scary black guy, while the grown man who stalked him through the neighborhood with a loaded gun becomes a victim. Remember the assault on the Voting Rights Act. Look at Connick v. Thompson, a partisan 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 2011 that ruled it was legal for a city prosecutor’s staff to hide evidence that exonerated a black man who was rotting on death row for 14years. And think of a recent study by Stanford University psychology researchers concluding that, when white people were told that black Americans are incarcerated in numbers far beyond their proportion of the population, “they reported being more afraid of crime and more likely to support the kinds of punitive policies that exacerbate the racial disparities,” such as three-strikes or stop-and-frisk laws.
Only then does Ferguson make sense. It’s about white rage.
16 Pain Killers From NATURE
http://truththeory.com/2014/10/02/16-of-natures-best-natural-pain-killers/
Are you in pain? You don’t have to reach for over-the -counter pain killers, or even the heavy pharmaceutical hitters prescribed by your doctor; there are literally hundreds of natural pain killers waiting for you in the abundance of nature. You can count on plants and herbs to alleviate everything from arthritis pain, to headaches, to burns – read on to find out more.
Many pharmaceutical pain medications, while effective and useful at times, can be downright dangerous, but there is another solution to your pain problem. “Almost always, if we find pharmaceuticals doing the trick, we’ll find a plant doing the same trick—and doing it more safely,” remarks botanist James A. Duke, PhD, author of The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods.
James N. Dillard, MD, author of The Chronic Pain Solution says:
Once you’ve done that, you can turn to the many herbs that truly deliver. There are also over 60 different essential oils for pain that have analgesic properties. Analgesic means that a substance has shown to relieve or reduce pain. So many plants have pain-relieving properties.
Here are just a few natural pain killers.
Are you in pain? You don’t have to reach for over-the -counter pain killers, or even the heavy pharmaceutical hitters prescribed by your doctor; there are literally hundreds of natural pain killers waiting for you in the abundance of nature. You can count on plants and herbs to alleviate everything from arthritis pain, to headaches, to burns – read on to find out more.
Many pharmaceutical pain medications, while effective and useful at times, can be downright dangerous, but there is another solution to your pain problem. “Almost always, if we find pharmaceuticals doing the trick, we’ll find a plant doing the same trick—and doing it more safely,” remarks botanist James A. Duke, PhD, author of The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods.
James N. Dillard, MD, author of The Chronic Pain Solution says:
“No matter how well you prescribe medication, chronic sufferers don’t get complete relief. It’s an enormous problem, and the medical community is doing a bad job solving it.”Before you do anything else though, you have to ‘quit the junk food that riles up the body’s pain system.’ The modern Western diet comprised of highly refined foods, sugars, and refined carbohydrates, while devoid of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc., is going to block the ability of other non-pharmaceutical remedies to halt pain.
Once you’ve done that, you can turn to the many herbs that truly deliver. There are also over 60 different essential oils for pain that have analgesic properties. Analgesic means that a substance has shown to relieve or reduce pain. So many plants have pain-relieving properties.
Here are just a few natural pain killers.
15 Natural Pain Killers
1., 2., and 3. Ginger, Turmeric, & Holy Basil8 Horrible Truths about Police Brutality laid bare at Ferguson
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/8-horrible-truths-about-police-brutality-and-racism-america-laid-bare-ferguson?akid=12513.294211.A006E0&rd=1&src=newsletter1027773&t=4
1. Darren Wilson was trained to kill and did
2. More black Americans are killed by cops.
4. Life in black America isn’t getting better.
6. The system defends itself, not the public.
7. Evidence suggests Wilson abused his license to kill.
8. If Wilson was scared, the law takes his side.
1. Darren Wilson was trained to kill and did
2. More black Americans are killed by cops.
4. Life in black America isn’t getting better.
6. The system defends itself, not the public.
7. Evidence suggests Wilson abused his license to kill.
8. If Wilson was scared, the law takes his side.
FERGUSON: Economics of despair. Driving people of color into Poverty
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-the-ferguson-crisis-20140821-column.html
"By disproportionately stopping, charging, and fining the poor and minorities, by closing the Courts to the public, and by incarcerating people for the failure to pay fines, these policies unintentionally push the poor further into poverty, prevent the homeless from accessing the housing, treatment, and jobs they so desperately need to regain stability in their lives, and violate the Constitution." And they increase suspicion and disrespect for the system.
Tabarrok points to the report's observation that the Ferguson court processed the equivalent of three warrants and $312 in fines per household in 2013.
"You don't get $321 in fines and fees and 3 warrants per household from an about-average crime rate," he notes. "You get numbers like this from [B.S.] arrests for jaywalking" and what the report calls "low level harassment involving traffic stops, court appearances, high fines, and the threat of jail for failure to pay without a meaningful inquiry into whether an individual has the means to pay."
Why was Michael Brown originally stopped? Yes, for jaywalking.
"By disproportionately stopping, charging, and fining the poor and minorities, by closing the Courts to the public, and by incarcerating people for the failure to pay fines, these policies unintentionally push the poor further into poverty, prevent the homeless from accessing the housing, treatment, and jobs they so desperately need to regain stability in their lives, and violate the Constitution." And they increase suspicion and disrespect for the system.
Tabarrok points to the report's observation that the Ferguson court processed the equivalent of three warrants and $312 in fines per household in 2013.
"You don't get $321 in fines and fees and 3 warrants per household from an about-average crime rate," he notes. "You get numbers like this from [B.S.] arrests for jaywalking" and what the report calls "low level harassment involving traffic stops, court appearances, high fines, and the threat of jail for failure to pay without a meaningful inquiry into whether an individual has the means to pay."
Why was Michael Brown originally stopped? Yes, for jaywalking.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Open Season for Police on Black Folks
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/it-officially-open-season-black-folks-legal-expert-decries-handling-wilson-grand
On Monday St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced the grand jury had found "that no probable cause exists" to charge Officer Darren Wilson with any crime in the death of Michael Brown. The jury deliberated for three months and heard dozens of hours of testimony, including from Wilson himself. But did they hear the full story? McCulloch himself had faced public scrutiny throughout the grand jury investigation, with calls for him to resign over allegations of a pro-police bias and questions raised about an unusual grand jury process that resembled a trial. Democacy Now! spoke to Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who is just back from Ferguson. "I don’t think we can take away anything from this decision not to indict other than that it is now officially open season on black folks when it comes to police violence," Warren says.
VINCE WARREN: Yes, thanks Amy, and good to see you Sekou. It is almost inexplicable. The first thing we have to remember is that this is not a verdict. This hasn’t gotten to verdict. This was an indictment. So the grand jury was asked to consider evidence in order to prefer charges so that the police officer could go to trial, but they did not do that. What was so strange about it is I’ve never seen, in my years, I’ve never seen a prosecutor take such a hands-off approach. And to listen to that press conference, Amy, you would think that he had just sort of spread out the pieces of paper on the table and said, grand jury, do your thing. Let me tell you, prosecutors never do that. There’s a reason why they say prosecutors can indict a ham sandwich. It’s because they can entirely control that process.
Now, they did release some of the transcripts yesterday. And I took a look at some of them, and what I saw, which people need to know, is that this wasn’t just the grand jurors listening to the testimony I idly. The prosecutors are framing the evidence. And as you heard in that press conference yesterday, there was more talk about what Mike Brown did than there was about what Darren Wilson did. It was almost as if in that grand jury process looking to charge Darren Wilson, that they were really charging Mike Brown.
On Monday St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced the grand jury had found "that no probable cause exists" to charge Officer Darren Wilson with any crime in the death of Michael Brown. The jury deliberated for three months and heard dozens of hours of testimony, including from Wilson himself. But did they hear the full story? McCulloch himself had faced public scrutiny throughout the grand jury investigation, with calls for him to resign over allegations of a pro-police bias and questions raised about an unusual grand jury process that resembled a trial. Democacy Now! spoke to Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who is just back from Ferguson. "I don’t think we can take away anything from this decision not to indict other than that it is now officially open season on black folks when it comes to police violence," Warren says.
VINCE WARREN: Yes, thanks Amy, and good to see you Sekou. It is almost inexplicable. The first thing we have to remember is that this is not a verdict. This hasn’t gotten to verdict. This was an indictment. So the grand jury was asked to consider evidence in order to prefer charges so that the police officer could go to trial, but they did not do that. What was so strange about it is I’ve never seen, in my years, I’ve never seen a prosecutor take such a hands-off approach. And to listen to that press conference, Amy, you would think that he had just sort of spread out the pieces of paper on the table and said, grand jury, do your thing. Let me tell you, prosecutors never do that. There’s a reason why they say prosecutors can indict a ham sandwich. It’s because they can entirely control that process.
Now, they did release some of the transcripts yesterday. And I took a look at some of them, and what I saw, which people need to know, is that this wasn’t just the grand jurors listening to the testimony I idly. The prosecutors are framing the evidence. And as you heard in that press conference yesterday, there was more talk about what Mike Brown did than there was about what Darren Wilson did. It was almost as if in that grand jury process looking to charge Darren Wilson, that they were really charging Mike Brown.
FERGUSON - The Facts Please, Black kids get shot 21 times more than white kids
http://www.upworthy.com/the-truth-about-the-ferguson-case-that-some-people-really-cant-accept?c=bl3
Some things I have learned:
ProPublica recently did an in-depth analysis and found that black kids between ages 15-19 are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by cops than white kids of the same age. That's an insane statistic. That's per capita, not total. If you are a black teenage boy, you have a 21x higher risk of being shot by police than a white teenage boy.
Also, in 2010, federal prosecutors took 162,000 cases to a grand jury. You know how many DIDN'T go to trial? Six.
Mike Brown's family will never get a state criminal trial to get justice for their son. And the testimony that denied them that right technically doesn't make any sense. Seriously, go read it.
ProPublica recently did an in-depth analysis and found that black kids between ages 15-19 are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by cops than white kids of the same age. That's an insane statistic. That's per capita, not total. If you are a black teenage boy, you have a 21x higher risk of being shot by police than a white teenage boy.
Also, in 2010, federal prosecutors took 162,000 cases to a grand jury. You know how many DIDN'T go to trial? Six.
Mike Brown's family will never get a state criminal trial to get justice for their son. And the testimony that denied them that right technically doesn't make any sense. Seriously, go read it.
Ferguson: Witness Chart from PBS
http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/11/26/7295595/eyewitnesses-ferguson-grand-jury
This great PBS NewsHour chart shows an analysis of the eyewitness testimony provided to the grand jury that investigated the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
The chart shows many contradictions between some eyewitnesses — and
lots of questions that went unanswered in different interviews.
There are two key points of near agreement: Brown was facing Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson as he was fired upon, and Brown did have his hands up during his final moments.
St. Louis County Attorney Robert McCulloch has questioned the validity of the eye witness testimony. During a Monday night press conference, McCulloch said some of the witnesses changed their stories, and that the physical evidence disproved some of their claims.
Vox's Amanda Taub explained why this was so unusual for a prosecutor who has full control of the evidence presented to a grand jury:
This great PBS NewsHour chart shows an analysis of the eyewitness testimony provided to the grand jury that investigated the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
There are two key points of near agreement: Brown was facing Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson as he was fired upon, and Brown did have his hands up during his final moments.
St. Louis County Attorney Robert McCulloch has questioned the validity of the eye witness testimony. During a Monday night press conference, McCulloch said some of the witnesses changed their stories, and that the physical evidence disproved some of their claims.
If McCulloch believed that this evidence was not credible, then why did he present it to the grand jury? It is perhaps understandable that he would have presented evidence with only minor credibility issues, in order to let the grand jury evaluate it. But McCulloch referenced "witnesses" who had only heard about the shooting from their neighbors, or from the media. It is hard to imagine a reason why it would have been reasonable to present that evidence to the grand jury.
And if McCulloch didn't present that testimony to the grand jury, then why discuss it during the press conference? What would be the purpose of bringing it up at all? By attacking the credibility of the eyewitnesses to the shooting, most, if not all, of whom had been publicly critical of Wilson, McCulloch gave the impression that he was acting as an advocate for Wilson.
Republicans: Benghazi and the Dead Horse Theory
http://wickershamsconscience.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/benghazi-and-the-dead-horse-theory/
http://wickershamsconscience.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/benghazi-and-the-dead-horse-theory/
Republicans are beating a dead horse with Benghazi. Those Republicans need to get a real job.
WC doesn’t want to belittle the late U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Foreign Service Information Officer Sean Smith, and the CIA contractors and former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, all of whom were killed during the tragic events that occurred in Benghazi.
The Republicans who have attempted to create a scandal out of the tragedy, however, are fair game.
Most recently, the bipartisan House Intelligence Committee’s concluded that there is nothing – absolutely nothing – scandalous about “Benghazi” apart from what we knew already: that the outpost was poorly protected and that the State Department had been complacent about consulate security.
Putting that in terms we can all understand, that horse is dead. It would be prudent to dismount.
But we’re talking about Republicans here, guys like Senator Lindsay Graham (R., Denial), who told America, “I think the report is full of crap.”
Senator Graham is graphically demonstrating the Dead Horse Theory.
http://wickershamsconscience.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/benghazi-and-the-dead-horse-theory/
Republicans are beating a dead horse with Benghazi. Those Republicans need to get a real job.
WC doesn’t want to belittle the late U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Foreign Service Information Officer Sean Smith, and the CIA contractors and former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, all of whom were killed during the tragic events that occurred in Benghazi.
The Republicans who have attempted to create a scandal out of the tragedy, however, are fair game.
Most recently, the bipartisan House Intelligence Committee’s concluded that there is nothing – absolutely nothing – scandalous about “Benghazi” apart from what we knew already: that the outpost was poorly protected and that the State Department had been complacent about consulate security.
Putting that in terms we can all understand, that horse is dead. It would be prudent to dismount.
But we’re talking about Republicans here, guys like Senator Lindsay Graham (R., Denial), who told America, “I think the report is full of crap.”
Senator Graham is graphically demonstrating the Dead Horse Theory.
Witness 10 - Was he credible? Lawrence Odonnell looks into it. Interesting
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/lawrence-odonnell-why-did-mcculloch-pin-so-much-on-unreliable-witness-10/
Lawrence O’Donnell questioned on Tuesday why St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch would rely so heavily on testimony from one witness who seemingly changed his story for the grand jury that ultimately decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for killing 18-year-old Michael Brown this past August.
“We would like to be able to judge the credibility of all the witnesses. We would all like to be able to do that,” O’Donnell said. “We would like to know as much as we can about them. But what we know about ‘Witness #10′ is that the prosecutors willfully did absolutely nothing to help the grand jurors judge the reliability of the only witness who completely agreed with Darren Wilson’s description of what Michael Brown’s movements were.”
O’Donnell referred to the witness as McCulloch’s “favorite witness,” saying that McCulloch had enough trust in the witness’ observations to highlight only his testimony while announcing on Monday that Wilson would not be indicted.
But during his testimony, O’Donnell said, the witness said he was not sure what kind of “body gesture” Brown made before being shot and killed by Wilson on Aug. 9, and that he could not “fully recall” what Brown did, except to say Brown was not surrendering.
Lawrence O’Donnell questioned on Tuesday why St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch would rely so heavily on testimony from one witness who seemingly changed his story for the grand jury that ultimately decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for killing 18-year-old Michael Brown this past August.
“We would like to be able to judge the credibility of all the witnesses. We would all like to be able to do that,” O’Donnell said. “We would like to know as much as we can about them. But what we know about ‘Witness #10′ is that the prosecutors willfully did absolutely nothing to help the grand jurors judge the reliability of the only witness who completely agreed with Darren Wilson’s description of what Michael Brown’s movements were.”
O’Donnell referred to the witness as McCulloch’s “favorite witness,” saying that McCulloch had enough trust in the witness’ observations to highlight only his testimony while announcing on Monday that Wilson would not be indicted.
But during his testimony, O’Donnell said, the witness said he was not sure what kind of “body gesture” Brown made before being shot and killed by Wilson on Aug. 9, and that he could not “fully recall” what Brown did, except to say Brown was not surrendering.
Stupid Crap WHITE PEOPLE Riot About - A Refresher
http://www.ragingchickenpress.org/2014/11/25/white-people-rioting-over-stupid-shit-a-refresher-course/
It is only a big deal if Rioting happens by Black Folks after a black person (Young person) gets killed.
It is only a big deal if Rioting happens by Black Folks after a black person (Young person) gets killed.
Every 28 hours a black person is killed by police. Many People show support and protest this fact.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/25/ferguson-peaceful-protests_n_6221234.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013&ir=Politics
Charlene Carruthers coordinates the Black Youth Project, or BYP100, an organization that trains black 18-to-35-year-olds as activists. "We talk about black men, black women, girls and boys, LGBT folks," said Carruthers, who identifies as a black, queer woman and a feminist. "The goal is the liberation of all black people, and for that, we all need to be involved."
For Tuesday, Carruthers planned 28 hours of actions, because "every 28 hours, a police officer or a vigilante kills a black person." More than 400 people were expected at BYP's peaceful protests that start in Chicago at City Hall, and in Washington, from outside the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters.
"Michael Brown could've been my brother. He could've been one of my cousins," Carruthers said.
Carruthers began organizing civil actions at age 18 while studying at Illinois-Wesleyan University. After 10 years mobilizing young people, she said she is confident that young people do the job best. "Every movement that's ever been successful in this world requires young people to be at the forefront. Young people are among the most radical. They have sound powers of analysis, and they are willing to take action.
Charlene Carruthers coordinates the Black Youth Project, or BYP100, an organization that trains black 18-to-35-year-olds as activists. "We talk about black men, black women, girls and boys, LGBT folks," said Carruthers, who identifies as a black, queer woman and a feminist. "The goal is the liberation of all black people, and for that, we all need to be involved."
For Tuesday, Carruthers planned 28 hours of actions, because "every 28 hours, a police officer or a vigilante kills a black person." More than 400 people were expected at BYP's peaceful protests that start in Chicago at City Hall, and in Washington, from outside the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters.
"Michael Brown could've been my brother. He could've been one of my cousins," Carruthers said.
Carruthers began organizing civil actions at age 18 while studying at Illinois-Wesleyan University. After 10 years mobilizing young people, she said she is confident that young people do the job best. "Every movement that's ever been successful in this world requires young people to be at the forefront. Young people are among the most radical. They have sound powers of analysis, and they are willing to take action.
Justice Scalia explains how GRAND JURIES work. (Not like in Ferguson)
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/11/26/3597322/justice-scalia-explains-what-was-wrong-with-the-ferguson-grand-jury/
The Officer should not have been allowed to testify for 4 hours.
It is the grand jury’s function not ‘to enquire … upon what foundation [the charge may be] denied,’ or otherwise to try the suspect’s defenses, but only to examine ‘upon what foundation [the charge] is made’ by the prosecutor. Respublica v. Shaffer, 1 Dall. 236 (O. T. Phila. 1788); see also F. Wharton, Criminal Pleading and Practice § 360, pp. 248-249 (8th ed. 1880). As a consequence, neither in this country nor in England has the suspect under investigation by the grand jury ever been thought to have a right to testify or to have exculpatory evidence presented.
The Officer should not have been allowed to testify for 4 hours.
It is the grand jury’s function not ‘to enquire … upon what foundation [the charge may be] denied,’ or otherwise to try the suspect’s defenses, but only to examine ‘upon what foundation [the charge] is made’ by the prosecutor. Respublica v. Shaffer, 1 Dall. 236 (O. T. Phila. 1788); see also F. Wharton, Criminal Pleading and Practice § 360, pp. 248-249 (8th ed. 1880). As a consequence, neither in this country nor in England has the suspect under investigation by the grand jury ever been thought to have a right to testify or to have exculpatory evidence presented.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Ferguson: 6 Revelations from the jury documents
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/11/6-revelations-grand-jury-documents
Let the Holder Investigations continue and the parents should also file a Civil Suit against Sarren Wilson for killing their son.
Michael Brown's mother Lesley McSpadden, center, upon learning that the grand jury had decided not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of her son.
After Monday's announcement that a grand jury would not indict Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown, St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch released the hundreds of pages of evidence that the grand jury considered. Following are six excerpts from the documents:
When grabbing Brown, Wilson says he felt like a 5-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan:
Let the Holder Investigations continue and the parents should also file a Civil Suit against Sarren Wilson for killing their son.
Michael Brown's mother Lesley McSpadden, center, upon learning that the grand jury had decided not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of her son.
After Monday's announcement that a grand jury would not indict Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown, St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch released the hundreds of pages of evidence that the grand jury considered. Following are six excerpts from the documents:
When grabbing Brown, Wilson says he felt like a 5-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan:
100 years of Racist Policies created Ferguson. Concentrated Despair
http://billmoyers.com/2014/10/27/century-racist-policies-created-ferguson/
Ferguson, Missouri, was a powder-keg waiting for a match long before August 9 and Michael Brown’s fateful encounter with Police Officer Darren Wilson. It is one of many predominantly black communities across the United States plagued by highly concentrated poverty, and all of the social problems that accompany it.
White America has come up with a number of rationales for these enduring pockets of despair. An elaborate mythology has developed that blames it on a “culture of poverty” — holding the poor culpable for their poverty and letting our political and economic systems off the hook. A somewhat more enlightened view holds that whites simply fled areas like Ferguson — which had a population that was 99 percent white as recently as 1970 — because of personal racial animus, leaving them as hollowed-out, predominantly black “ghettos.”
But a study by Richard Rothstein, a research fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, comes to a very different conclusion. In his report, “The Making of Ferguson,” Rothstein details how throughout the last century a series of intentionally discriminatory policies at the local, state and federal levels created the ghettos we see today. BillMoyers.com spoke with Rothstein about the report. The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.
Ferguson, Missouri, was a powder-keg waiting for a match long before August 9 and Michael Brown’s fateful encounter with Police Officer Darren Wilson. It is one of many predominantly black communities across the United States plagued by highly concentrated poverty, and all of the social problems that accompany it.
White America has come up with a number of rationales for these enduring pockets of despair. An elaborate mythology has developed that blames it on a “culture of poverty” — holding the poor culpable for their poverty and letting our political and economic systems off the hook. A somewhat more enlightened view holds that whites simply fled areas like Ferguson — which had a population that was 99 percent white as recently as 1970 — because of personal racial animus, leaving them as hollowed-out, predominantly black “ghettos.”
But a study by Richard Rothstein, a research fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, comes to a very different conclusion. In his report, “The Making of Ferguson,” Rothstein details how throughout the last century a series of intentionally discriminatory policies at the local, state and federal levels created the ghettos we see today. BillMoyers.com spoke with Rothstein about the report. The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.
FERGUSON Testimony: The Monster Black Guy vs the Angelic Whilte Guy - No way was the White Guy going to trial.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347416/-Darren-Wilson-perfect-and-sweet-vs-the-big-black-demonic-super-monster?detail=facebook
4 hours to charm the jurors and show that he is a regular guy and make the UNARMED BLACK KID a menace will get a person off.
1. Darren Wilson stated to the grand jury that he was 6 feet, 4 inches tall, and weighed at least 210 pounds. He's not a small man.
2. The only video we have of Darren Wilson as a Ferguson police officer is of him not being a sweet servant, but a strong bully, who threatens a man who is filming him to "throw your ass in jail" if he didn't stop filming.
3. Dorian Johnson, who was literally inches away from Mike Brown when Darren Wilson pulled up, has stated from the day Mike Brown was killed that Darren Wilson was vulgar and belligerent, telling them to "get the fuck on the sidewalk" as soon as he pulled up beside them.
THE SWEET WHITE PERFECTION OF DARREN WILSON'S TESTIMONY
Upon seeing Mike Brown and Dorian Johnson, Darren Wilson, driving up in is Tahoe, nicely asks them, "Hey guys, why don't you walk on the sidewalk?" Dorian Johnson tells him, "We're almost at our destination." As friendly as Mr. Rogers, Darren Wilson then asks, according to his testimony, "But what's wrong with the sidewalk?"
THE BIG BLACK DEMONIC SUPERMONSTER EMERGES
After hearing Officer Darren Wilson, friendly and cordial, armed, in his full-size Chevy Tahoe warmly ask "What's wrong with the sidewalk?" Mike Brown, in full monster mode, tells him angrily, "Fuck what you have to say."
4 hours to charm the jurors and show that he is a regular guy and make the UNARMED BLACK KID a menace will get a person off.
1. Darren Wilson stated to the grand jury that he was 6 feet, 4 inches tall, and weighed at least 210 pounds. He's not a small man.
2. The only video we have of Darren Wilson as a Ferguson police officer is of him not being a sweet servant, but a strong bully, who threatens a man who is filming him to "throw your ass in jail" if he didn't stop filming.
3. Dorian Johnson, who was literally inches away from Mike Brown when Darren Wilson pulled up, has stated from the day Mike Brown was killed that Darren Wilson was vulgar and belligerent, telling them to "get the fuck on the sidewalk" as soon as he pulled up beside them.
THE SWEET WHITE PERFECTION OF DARREN WILSON'S TESTIMONY
Upon seeing Mike Brown and Dorian Johnson, Darren Wilson, driving up in is Tahoe, nicely asks them, "Hey guys, why don't you walk on the sidewalk?" Dorian Johnson tells him, "We're almost at our destination." As friendly as Mr. Rogers, Darren Wilson then asks, according to his testimony, "But what's wrong with the sidewalk?"
THE BIG BLACK DEMONIC SUPERMONSTER EMERGES
After hearing Officer Darren Wilson, friendly and cordial, armed, in his full-size Chevy Tahoe warmly ask "What's wrong with the sidewalk?" Mike Brown, in full monster mode, tells him angrily, "Fuck what you have to say."
Ferguson: Questions which were not asked that should have been.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347320/-The-questions-no-one-asked-St-Louis-prosecutor-Bob-McCulloch?detail=facebook
First, instead of asking McCulloch the vote breakdown, they might have asked him this:
Question: How many charges was the jury asked to consider, and how many would have needed to vote against any charge to keep it from becoming a "true bill" of indictment?
Answer: Infinite, and four
Question: How many police officers have been indicted in shooting incidents since Bob McCulloch became prosecutor way back in 1991?
Answer: None
McCulloch is the son of a police officer who was shot in the line of duty. In his 24 years as prosecutor, he has never recommended charges against any police officer. How did that happen? It happened in large part because these cases are not handled like other cases.
Question: Had this been a completely different sort of incident, one in which an officer had been killed, would you have instructed the jury in the same way?
Answer: Oh, hell no.
First, instead of asking McCulloch the vote breakdown, they might have asked him this:
Question: How many charges was the jury asked to consider, and how many would have needed to vote against any charge to keep it from becoming a "true bill" of indictment?
Answer: Infinite, and four
Question: How many police officers have been indicted in shooting incidents since Bob McCulloch became prosecutor way back in 1991?
Answer: None
McCulloch is the son of a police officer who was shot in the line of duty. In his 24 years as prosecutor, he has never recommended charges against any police officer. How did that happen? It happened in large part because these cases are not handled like other cases.
Question: Had this been a completely different sort of incident, one in which an officer had been killed, would you have instructed the jury in the same way?
Answer: Oh, hell no.
Christian Fundementalist goes to a Science Museam and is just being stupid.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/11/24/christian-fundamentalist-goes-science-museum-audit-its-liberal-bias-makes-ass-self-video/
This lady is nuts. She needs to take a basic science class. What an idiot. Sadly, People who think like this are leading the Senate and House Science Committee.
This lady is nuts. She needs to take a basic science class. What an idiot. Sadly, People who think like this are leading the Senate and House Science Committee.
FERGUSON - Why we protest.
http://www.alternet.org/ferguson-goddamn-no-indictment-darren-wilson-no-surprise-why-we-protest
"I’ve been dreaming of death. Seeing pictures of death. Seeing pictures of bloody sheets hanging on clotheslines."
Just days before Michael Brown and his brown body encountered a white police officer and a gun in Ferguson, Missouri, the 18-year-old child said that to his stepmother. She told the world of this foreshadowing during Brown’s funeral two months ago, as anger turned to tears, and this small community ignited a wave of protests and activism that would continue for more than 100 days – and will begin anew, starting right now.
In the months since, all of the leaks and all of the tweets warning that there would be no indictment for Darren Wilson – that instead there would be black “violence” and a perpetual “state of emergency” – have served as constructed preparations to manage our disappointment, for the big reveal that our criminal justice system was still as broken as it ever was. And now that the grand jury’s decision has arrived in the form of a smirking white prosecutor, all of the agony of that wait has culminated in nothing more than the sum of our grim expectations, to ignite cynicism and an old rage.
Today, Mike Brown is still dead, and Darren Wilson has not been indicted for his murder. And who among us can say anything but: “I am not surprised”?
The 12 citizens on the Ferguson jury may have heard more “than any other grand jury has heard about any other case in living memory”, but the state owns the space, and the state does not own us. Wilson may have testified – he may have said he “feared for my life” – but the state has refused to listen to the testimony of a young black man with his hands in the air. The story cannot end here.
A non-indictment is no absolution of guilt, but are you not angry? Are you not sick of being unsurprised?
Fifty-three years ago, James Baldwin aptly observed that devastating truth. Fifty-three years later, the sustained rage restarts every 28 hours, because every 28 hours an African American is killed by law enforcement, or a security guard, or a “vigilante” claiming self-defence – or all three at once.
The African American body is still the bellwether of the health, the promise and the problems of the American democratic experiment. The message that the Missouri grand jury has now sent to young African Americans – from Ferguson to my classroom and the rest of the world – is that black lives do not matter, that your rights and your personhood are secondary to an uneasy and negative peace, that the police have more power over your body than you do yourself.
Just days before Michael Brown and his brown body encountered a white police officer and a gun in Ferguson, Missouri, the 18-year-old child said that to his stepmother. She told the world of this foreshadowing during Brown’s funeral two months ago, as anger turned to tears, and this small community ignited a wave of protests and activism that would continue for more than 100 days – and will begin anew, starting right now.
In the months since, all of the leaks and all of the tweets warning that there would be no indictment for Darren Wilson – that instead there would be black “violence” and a perpetual “state of emergency” – have served as constructed preparations to manage our disappointment, for the big reveal that our criminal justice system was still as broken as it ever was. And now that the grand jury’s decision has arrived in the form of a smirking white prosecutor, all of the agony of that wait has culminated in nothing more than the sum of our grim expectations, to ignite cynicism and an old rage.
Today, Mike Brown is still dead, and Darren Wilson has not been indicted for his murder. And who among us can say anything but: “I am not surprised”?
The 12 citizens on the Ferguson jury may have heard more “than any other grand jury has heard about any other case in living memory”, but the state owns the space, and the state does not own us. Wilson may have testified – he may have said he “feared for my life” – but the state has refused to listen to the testimony of a young black man with his hands in the air. The story cannot end here.
A non-indictment is no absolution of guilt, but are you not angry? Are you not sick of being unsurprised?
Fifty-three years ago, James Baldwin aptly observed that devastating truth. Fifty-three years later, the sustained rage restarts every 28 hours, because every 28 hours an African American is killed by law enforcement, or a security guard, or a “vigilante” claiming self-defence – or all three at once.
The African American body is still the bellwether of the health, the promise and the problems of the American democratic experiment. The message that the Missouri grand jury has now sent to young African Americans – from Ferguson to my classroom and the rest of the world – is that black lives do not matter, that your rights and your personhood are secondary to an uneasy and negative peace, that the police have more power over your body than you do yourself.
White Supremacy - It is alive and well: The Ferguson Non Ruling
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/big-takeaway-ferguson-ruling-white-supremacy-alive-and-well?akid=12501.294211.OVP0pY&rd=1&src=newsletter1027620&t=7
For days, large swaths of the U.S. and the globe waited to hear whether or not the grand jury would indict Office Darren Wilson. For a week, Missouri governor Jay Nixon had declared a state of emergency, calling out the National Guard to “maintain peace and protect those exercising their right to free speech.” Today, he repeated the same message.
“Together we are all focused to make sure that the necessary resources are at hand to protect lives, to protect business and to protect free speech.”
Given the record of arrests by Ferguson police of protestors and reporters, Nixon’s message was fairly simple to translate: he anticipated—correctly–that the grand jury would not indict Darren Wilson. Nixon’s fear was that in such a case, Black Americans’ ire at that decision would explode in violence and potentially violate the lives, businesses, and “free speech” not of black protestors, but of white denizens. Nixon hadn’t said it, but his assumption of violence reinscribed the assumption of Black madness, of the lack of rationality. “Protest” could only be irrational, because it would challenge the “natural order of things,” to paraphrase 17th century French economist François Quesnay. In his very actions, he all but indicated, what most of us knew and feared—that the grand jury would not indict Darren Wilson. And for Nixon, the Ferguson police, and the white residents of Ferguson that is as it should be.
For days, large swaths of the U.S. and the globe waited to hear whether or not the grand jury would indict Office Darren Wilson. For a week, Missouri governor Jay Nixon had declared a state of emergency, calling out the National Guard to “maintain peace and protect those exercising their right to free speech.” Today, he repeated the same message.
“Together we are all focused to make sure that the necessary resources are at hand to protect lives, to protect business and to protect free speech.”
Given the record of arrests by Ferguson police of protestors and reporters, Nixon’s message was fairly simple to translate: he anticipated—correctly–that the grand jury would not indict Darren Wilson. Nixon’s fear was that in such a case, Black Americans’ ire at that decision would explode in violence and potentially violate the lives, businesses, and “free speech” not of black protestors, but of white denizens. Nixon hadn’t said it, but his assumption of violence reinscribed the assumption of Black madness, of the lack of rationality. “Protest” could only be irrational, because it would challenge the “natural order of things,” to paraphrase 17th century French economist François Quesnay. In his very actions, he all but indicated, what most of us knew and feared—that the grand jury would not indict Darren Wilson. And for Nixon, the Ferguson police, and the white residents of Ferguson that is as it should be.
OUR UNEQUAL SOCIETY - It Happened at warp speed, How?
http://www.alternet.org/economy/driving-force-behind-americas-warp-speed-decline-unequal-society?akid=12496.294211.I1eYrU&rd=1&src=newsletter1027476&t=11
Then came financial deregulation, and Wall Street escaped its New Deal shackles. Almost immediately a new crop of financiers emerged who raised large sums of money to buy up companies. Instead of creating new value within the corporation, the fundamental goal of these corporate raiders (now called private equity and hedge fund managers) was to extract value away from the corporation and into their pockets.
What they did was nothing short of revolutionary What they did also should have been outlawed. They transformed the corporate ethos of "retain and reinvest" into "downsize and distribute." Here's how it works.
First they buy up firms using borrowed money and make the acquired corporation pay back the loans. For pulling off the deal, they use some of that borrowed money to pay themselves enormous fees, right off the top. They also provide fat bonuses for the CEOs who are to run the acquired corporation. Most importantly, they change the way top officers are rewarded. From this point on, most of their incomes would derive from stock options. The more the stock price rose, the more the CEOs would pocket.
As a result, the new incentive would be focused solely on making the firm's stock price climb. Nothing else mattered. How do you do that? You use as much of the profits as possible to buy up your own stocks! And when profits are slim, you borrow more money to buy even more of your own stock. The more you buy, the fewer shares are in circulation, and therefore each share is worth more. The stock price climbs.
By 2008-'09 corporate America was, in effect, using 75% of its profits to buy back its own stock. At the same time, loan and after loan was piled onto the corporate books to buy up even more stock. So that after buying the stock and paying off the loans, there was very little profit remaining to reinvest in the company. (The loan payments and fees, of course, went to Wall Street firms.) This is how "retain and invest" devolved into "downsize and distribute."
Then came financial deregulation, and Wall Street escaped its New Deal shackles. Almost immediately a new crop of financiers emerged who raised large sums of money to buy up companies. Instead of creating new value within the corporation, the fundamental goal of these corporate raiders (now called private equity and hedge fund managers) was to extract value away from the corporation and into their pockets.
What they did was nothing short of revolutionary What they did also should have been outlawed. They transformed the corporate ethos of "retain and reinvest" into "downsize and distribute." Here's how it works.
First they buy up firms using borrowed money and make the acquired corporation pay back the loans. For pulling off the deal, they use some of that borrowed money to pay themselves enormous fees, right off the top. They also provide fat bonuses for the CEOs who are to run the acquired corporation. Most importantly, they change the way top officers are rewarded. From this point on, most of their incomes would derive from stock options. The more the stock price rose, the more the CEOs would pocket.
As a result, the new incentive would be focused solely on making the firm's stock price climb. Nothing else mattered. How do you do that? You use as much of the profits as possible to buy up your own stocks! And when profits are slim, you borrow more money to buy even more of your own stock. The more you buy, the fewer shares are in circulation, and therefore each share is worth more. The stock price climbs.
By 2008-'09 corporate America was, in effect, using 75% of its profits to buy back its own stock. At the same time, loan and after loan was piled onto the corporate books to buy up even more stock. So that after buying the stock and paying off the loans, there was very little profit remaining to reinvest in the company. (The loan payments and fees, of course, went to Wall Street firms.) This is how "retain and invest" devolved into "downsize and distribute."
Monday, November 24, 2014
What if the Greedy Rich payed their share?
http://www.alternet.org/economy/what-if-greedy-rich-paid-their-share-8-things-know-about-wealth-and-poverty-us
America is loaded. We are not a struggling nation ready to go under. We are not facing an enormous debt crisis despite what the politicians and pundits proclaim. We are not the next Greece.
Rather, we have an enormous concentration-of-wealth problem -- one that must be solved for the good of our commonwealth. We are a very rich nation but it doesn’t seem that way because our wealth is so concentrated in the hands of a few. This is America’s disaster.
But wait. Doesn’t the wealth belong to the super-rich? Didn’t they earn it fair and square? Isn’t that the way it’s always been?
Not by a long shot. The amount of wealth that flows to the super-rich is determined by our public policies. It’s all about how we choose to share our nation’s productivity.
America is loaded. We are not a struggling nation ready to go under. We are not facing an enormous debt crisis despite what the politicians and pundits proclaim. We are not the next Greece.
Rather, we have an enormous concentration-of-wealth problem -- one that must be solved for the good of our commonwealth. We are a very rich nation but it doesn’t seem that way because our wealth is so concentrated in the hands of a few. This is America’s disaster.
But wait. Doesn’t the wealth belong to the super-rich? Didn’t they earn it fair and square? Isn’t that the way it’s always been?
Not by a long shot. The amount of wealth that flows to the super-rich is determined by our public policies. It’s all about how we choose to share our nation’s productivity.
The letter from your child that would scare the crap out of you
http://www.tickld.com/x/father-finds-horrifying-letter-from-his-son-this-is-gold
http://www.tickld.com/x/father-finds-horrifying-letter-from-his-son-this-is-gold
It would shock the crap out of me.
http://www.tickld.com/x/father-finds-horrifying-letter-from-his-son-this-is-gold
It would shock the crap out of me.
The Richest Rule the US and the world.
http://www.alternet.org/economy/who-rules-world-how-concentration-wealth-and-political-power-undermines-global-democracy?akid=12499.294211.OP_bkn&rd=1&src=newsletter1027543&t=21
The impact of Citizens United corresponds to a widely-shared view that the US is indeed not a democracy. In fact, this perception was confirmed in a research study released earlier this year by professors at Princeton and Northwestern University.
Their research found that the wealthy and business elites of the nation wield all of the power, leaving most people on the margins. The report explained, “When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.”
This concentration of political power is reflective of the global concentration of wealth. The 85 richest people in the world now have the same wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest.
The impact of Citizens United corresponds to a widely-shared view that the US is indeed not a democracy. In fact, this perception was confirmed in a research study released earlier this year by professors at Princeton and Northwestern University.
Their research found that the wealthy and business elites of the nation wield all of the power, leaving most people on the margins. The report explained, “When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.”
This concentration of political power is reflective of the global concentration of wealth. The 85 richest people in the world now have the same wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest.
7 Corporate Ripoffs - Which is the worst
http://www.alternet.org/7-leading-candidates-corporate-rip-year?akid=12499.294211.OP_bkn&rd=1&src=newsletter1027543&t=3
There are so many to choose from. Every one of these selections is an
act of corporate treachery that takes billions of dollars from the
American people.
1. Selling Medication For Up To 100 Times More Than It's Worth
3. Giving Money to Executives Rather Than Investing in the Future
4. Making Money on Dirty Air and Water - Koch Brothers
7. Group Ripoff: $74 Billion in Profits...and a Tax Refund
1. Selling Medication For Up To 100 Times More Than It's Worth
3. Giving Money to Executives Rather Than Investing in the Future
4. Making Money on Dirty Air and Water - Koch Brothers
7. Group Ripoff: $74 Billion in Profits...and a Tax Refund
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Navy: Turns Salt Water into Power. No oil needed.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/04/12/navy-ends-big-oil/
Surf’s up! The Navy appears to have achieved the Holy Grail of energy independence – turning seawater into fuel:
After decades of experiments, U.S. Navy scientists believe they may have solved one of the world’s great challenges: how to turn seawater into fuel.
Surf’s up! The Navy appears to have achieved the Holy Grail of energy independence – turning seawater into fuel:
After decades of experiments, U.S. Navy scientists believe they may have solved one of the world’s great challenges: how to turn seawater into fuel.
Gunman shoots/kills an Officer in Florida.
http://gunvictimsaction.org/blog/tallahassee-murder-is-third-arsonshooting-of-officers-this-year/
Curtis Wade Holley, who police identify as the arsonist/murderer who took the life of Leon County Sheriff deputy Chris Smith this week in Florida, was known to police. He was in the system for issuing previous threats and being “antigovernment.”
Was Holley a legal gun owner whose weapons were not scrutinized as he became dangerous? Did he buy his murder weapons from a legal gun dealer after his threats became known–thanks to huge holes in the NICS background check system? Did Holley buy his weapons in the many background check-free sales ops the NRA defends? Hey, shady people have gun rights!
However Holley procured his weapon, we have the NRA to thank for the death of another law enforcement officer. The NRA blocks a registry, universal background checks, mandatory reporting of lost guns, bans on high capacity magazines, retention of owner data beyond 24 hours, illegal trafficking legislation and more. The NRA even works to restore the “gun rights” of convicted felons, people under orders of protection and people with severe mental illness. Sales are $ales.
Curtis Wade Holley, who police identify as the arsonist/murderer who took the life of Leon County Sheriff deputy Chris Smith this week in Florida, was known to police. He was in the system for issuing previous threats and being “antigovernment.”
Was Holley a legal gun owner whose weapons were not scrutinized as he became dangerous? Did he buy his murder weapons from a legal gun dealer after his threats became known–thanks to huge holes in the NICS background check system? Did Holley buy his weapons in the many background check-free sales ops the NRA defends? Hey, shady people have gun rights!
However Holley procured his weapon, we have the NRA to thank for the death of another law enforcement officer. The NRA blocks a registry, universal background checks, mandatory reporting of lost guns, bans on high capacity magazines, retention of owner data beyond 24 hours, illegal trafficking legislation and more. The NRA even works to restore the “gun rights” of convicted felons, people under orders of protection and people with severe mental illness. Sales are $ales.
How Public Power can defeat the wealthy. Bill Moyers, Lawrence Lessig and Zepher Teachout.
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-public-power-can-defeat-plutocrats/
Government has become a clearinghouse for corporations and plutocrats with deep pockets to buy the politicians who grease the wheels for lucrative contracts and easy regulation. It’s all pay for play, and look the other way.
According to the watchdog Sunlight Foundation, from 2007 to 2012, 200 corporations spent almost $6 billion in Washington on lobbying and campaign contributions. And they received more than $4 trillion in government contracts and other forms of assistance. Now that the midterm elections are over, it’s payback time, with the newly elected Congress ready to deliver to those who invested well in their chosen candidates.
This week, Lawrence Lessig and Zephyr Teachout return to talk about the corrupting influence of money in politics
Government has become a clearinghouse for corporations and plutocrats with deep pockets to buy the politicians who grease the wheels for lucrative contracts and easy regulation. It’s all pay for play, and look the other way.
According to the watchdog Sunlight Foundation, from 2007 to 2012, 200 corporations spent almost $6 billion in Washington on lobbying and campaign contributions. And they received more than $4 trillion in government contracts and other forms of assistance. Now that the midterm elections are over, it’s payback time, with the newly elected Congress ready to deliver to those who invested well in their chosen candidates.
This week, Lawrence Lessig and Zephyr Teachout return to talk about the corrupting influence of money in politics
Bill Maher on Saving Christmas - New Rule
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2014/11/bill-maher-gives-some-advice-on-saving.html
This is so wonderful. Bill Maher is an odd choice for saving Christmas but he is so good at it. "How did we F&ck it up"
This is so wonderful. Bill Maher is an odd choice for saving Christmas but he is so good at it. "How did we F&ck it up"
Incarceration Nation: Bill Moyers. The full show
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-incarceration-nation/
There is big bucks to be made in private prisons. Very informative Show. The costs have increased since we turned over a lot of prisons to Private Companies.
There is big bucks to be made in private prisons. Very informative Show. The costs have increased since we turned over a lot of prisons to Private Companies.
Republican Immigration objections - Destroyed by Paul Krugman
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/paul-krugman-destroys-arguments-against-obamas-immigration-plan/
Now, that Obama has taken his much-needed and way overdue executive action to shield millions of undocumented families from heart-rending deportation, the fact that it was simply the right thing to do is abundantly clear. It also gives columnist Paul Krugman an opportunity to wax lyrical about his own family’s immigrant roots, and one of his favorite tourist attractions in New York City, the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side. “When you tour the museum, you come away with a powerful sense of immigration as a human experience, which — despite plenty of bad times, despite a cultural climate in which Jews, Italians, and others were often portrayed as racially inferior — was overwhelmingly positive,” he writes in his Friday column. “I get especially choked up about the Baldizzi apartment from 1934. When I described its layout to my parents, both declared, “I grew up in that apartment!” And today’s immigrants are the same, in aspiration and behavior, as my grandparents were — people seeking a better life, and by and large finding it.”
Now, that Obama has taken his much-needed and way overdue executive action to shield millions of undocumented families from heart-rending deportation, the fact that it was simply the right thing to do is abundantly clear. It also gives columnist Paul Krugman an opportunity to wax lyrical about his own family’s immigrant roots, and one of his favorite tourist attractions in New York City, the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side. “When you tour the museum, you come away with a powerful sense of immigration as a human experience, which — despite plenty of bad times, despite a cultural climate in which Jews, Italians, and others were often portrayed as racially inferior — was overwhelmingly positive,” he writes in his Friday column. “I get especially choked up about the Baldizzi apartment from 1934. When I described its layout to my parents, both declared, “I grew up in that apartment!” And today’s immigrants are the same, in aspiration and behavior, as my grandparents were — people seeking a better life, and by and large finding it.”
President Obama’s new immigration initiative, Krugman says, is “a simple matter of human decency.”
America - For Sale, SOLD. Bill Moyers
http://billmoyers.com/2014/11/14/zephyr-book/
The Citizens United decision was not merely bad law; it was bad for politics, and displayed an even worse understanding of history. Americans from James Madison onward have argued that it is possible for politicians and citizens alike to try to achieve a kind of public good in the public sphere. The traditional view is not naive — it does not assume that people are generally public regarding. It assumes that the job of government is to create structures to curb temptations that lead to exaggerated self-interest. It certainly recognizes the power of self-interest; but instead of endorsing it, the traditional American approach makes it government’s job to temper egocentrism in the public sphere. The traditional conception implicates difficult questions: What is self-orientation and public orientation, and what is the public good? But it does not discard these distinctions because they are difficult ones to parse. A classical American approach engages the complexity. Like liberty, speech or equality, corruption is an important concept with unclear boundaries. It refers to excessive private interests in the public sphere; an act is corrupt when private interests trump public ones in the exercise of public power and a person is corrupt when they use public power for their own ends, disregarding others.
The Supreme Court, along with a growing subset of scholars, began to confuse the concept of corruption and throw out many of the prophylactic rules that were used to protect against it. This rejection has led to an overflow of private industry involvement in political elections and a rapid decline in the civic ethic in Congress and the state houses. The old ideas about virtue were tossed out as sentimental, but the old problems of corruption and government have persisted. Interest-group pluralists who reject these ideas do not, I believe, have an answer to the problem of corruption and in fact have been part of the problem.
The Citizens United decision was not merely bad law; it was bad for politics, and displayed an even worse understanding of history. Americans from James Madison onward have argued that it is possible for politicians and citizens alike to try to achieve a kind of public good in the public sphere. The traditional view is not naive — it does not assume that people are generally public regarding. It assumes that the job of government is to create structures to curb temptations that lead to exaggerated self-interest. It certainly recognizes the power of self-interest; but instead of endorsing it, the traditional American approach makes it government’s job to temper egocentrism in the public sphere. The traditional conception implicates difficult questions: What is self-orientation and public orientation, and what is the public good? But it does not discard these distinctions because they are difficult ones to parse. A classical American approach engages the complexity. Like liberty, speech or equality, corruption is an important concept with unclear boundaries. It refers to excessive private interests in the public sphere; an act is corrupt when private interests trump public ones in the exercise of public power and a person is corrupt when they use public power for their own ends, disregarding others.
Like liberty, speech or equality, corruption is an important concept with unclear boundaries.
Corruption in America is my effort to fill in the history that Citizens United
ignored. It provides a previously neglected story of the use of the
concept in American law and a much-needed account of the different kinds
of meanings attached to it throughout the political life of the
country. I show that for most of American history, courts remained
committed to a broad view of corruption. The book draws primarily upon
the texts used by lawyers: the Constitutional Convention, cases and
statutes. It shows how, starting in the late 1970s, everything began to
change around this issue.The Supreme Court, along with a growing subset of scholars, began to confuse the concept of corruption and throw out many of the prophylactic rules that were used to protect against it. This rejection has led to an overflow of private industry involvement in political elections and a rapid decline in the civic ethic in Congress and the state houses. The old ideas about virtue were tossed out as sentimental, but the old problems of corruption and government have persisted. Interest-group pluralists who reject these ideas do not, I believe, have an answer to the problem of corruption and in fact have been part of the problem.
US Government is now the Clearing House for Big Money
http://www.alternet.org/our-government-has-become-clearing-house-big-money?page=0%2C1&akid=12498.294211.x6Aeu5&rd=1&src=newsletter1027507&t=14
Once upon a time the GOP stood for Grand Old Party — now it stands for Guardians of Privilege, and this is payback time for everything from fracking to getting the big banks off the hook; from doing away with the minimum wage and coddling off-shore corporate tax avoiders to privatizing Medicare and Social Security; to gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Environmental Protection Agency, even the US Postal Service.
And that’s just for starters. House Speaker John Boehner, his majority now greater than ever, will govern as you might expect from the man who once handed out checks from the tobacco industry to members on the floor. And Mitch McConnell, finally in his ascendancy as Senate Majority Leader, will manipulate more powerfully than ever the Capitol Hill and K Street mechanisms that he has mastered – helped along by the clever placement of loyal former staff members in positions of influence. They assist him in the dispensation of favors to donors from on high. “We’re very excited,” one Republican lobbyist told the Post, the understatement of the century.
Once upon a time the GOP stood for Grand Old Party — now it stands for Guardians of Privilege, and this is payback time for everything from fracking to getting the big banks off the hook; from doing away with the minimum wage and coddling off-shore corporate tax avoiders to privatizing Medicare and Social Security; to gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Environmental Protection Agency, even the US Postal Service.
And that’s just for starters. House Speaker John Boehner, his majority now greater than ever, will govern as you might expect from the man who once handed out checks from the tobacco industry to members on the floor. And Mitch McConnell, finally in his ascendancy as Senate Majority Leader, will manipulate more powerfully than ever the Capitol Hill and K Street mechanisms that he has mastered – helped along by the clever placement of loyal former staff members in positions of influence. They assist him in the dispensation of favors to donors from on high. “We’re very excited,” one Republican lobbyist told the Post, the understatement of the century.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
New Rules: Republicans Won but Obama is Still KICKING Their Ass
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/11/22/bill-maher-levels-republicans-won-obama-kicking-ass.html
Maher said, “Now that they’ve wrestled his approval rating down to the basement, and grabbed control of both houses of Congress, Republicans must explain why this guy (Obama) keeps kicking your ass. It’s like one of those action movies where you tie the hero up, chain him to a chair, then he headbutts you unconscious, gets up, and leaves a note signed Django.”
Maher said, “Now that they’ve wrestled his approval rating down to the basement, and grabbed control of both houses of Congress, Republicans must explain why this guy (Obama) keeps kicking your ass. It’s like one of those action movies where you tie the hero up, chain him to a chair, then he headbutts you unconscious, gets up, and leaves a note signed Django.”
New Nevada Speaker and his many Racist Comments. Pretty sad, This guy is now Speaker - WOW.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/20/1346226/-Meet-the-new-Nevada-speaker-of-the-Republican-Assemb-holy-moly-fella
Hansen has said he keeps a Confederate battle flag on the wall where he writes his columns. “I fly it proudly in honor and in memory of a great cause and my brave ancestors who fought for that cause,” he wrote.
Hansen tends to use the term “Negro” and often does not capitalize it. [...]
He wrote that African-Americans are insufficiently grateful for being given their freedom: “The lack of gratitude and the deliberate ignoring of white history in relation to eliminating slavery is a disgrace that Negro leaders should own up to.”
"[...] The shrewd and calculating [black] ’leaders’ are willing to sacrifice the children of their own race to gratify their lust for power and position. The relationship of Negroes and Democrats is truly a master-slave relationship, with the benevolent master knowing what’s best for his simple minded darkies. [...]"
Hansen has said he keeps a Confederate battle flag on the wall where he writes his columns. “I fly it proudly in honor and in memory of a great cause and my brave ancestors who fought for that cause,” he wrote.
Hansen tends to use the term “Negro” and often does not capitalize it. [...]
He wrote that African-Americans are insufficiently grateful for being given their freedom: “The lack of gratitude and the deliberate ignoring of white history in relation to eliminating slavery is a disgrace that Negro leaders should own up to.”
"[...] The shrewd and calculating [black] ’leaders’ are willing to sacrifice the children of their own race to gratify their lust for power and position. The relationship of Negroes and Democrats is truly a master-slave relationship, with the benevolent master knowing what’s best for his simple minded darkies. [...]"
7 Disgusting Things The Rich Did This Week
http://www.alternet.org/7-shtiest-things-rich-people-did-week?page=0%2C1&akid=12496.294211.I1eYrU&rd=1&src=newsletter1027476&t=5
1. Gulf Tycoons Insist on Hunting Rare Elephants.
3. Blue Cross Didn’t Mean All That Stuff It Promised When You Bought Its Crappy Prank Insurance.
6. Walmart Saved a Billion on Taxes This Year, But Do You Have an Extra Can of Spaghetti-os?
7. Elected Public Servants Come Together to Keep Pesky Knowledge Out of Government Agencies.
1. Gulf Tycoons Insist on Hunting Rare Elephants.
3. Blue Cross Didn’t Mean All That Stuff It Promised When You Bought Its Crappy Prank Insurance.
6. Walmart Saved a Billion on Taxes This Year, But Do You Have an Extra Can of Spaghetti-os?
7. Elected Public Servants Come Together to Keep Pesky Knowledge Out of Government Agencies.
9 Year old boy - The worst things about being a boy
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/11/21/9-year-old-lists-the-worst-things-about-being-a-boy-goes-viral-its-genius/
His responses to ‘What I don’t like about being a boy were:
- Not being able to be a mother
- Not suppost to cry (sic)
- Not allowed to be a cheerleader - Suppost to do all the work
- Suppost to like vilence
- Suppost to play football
- Boys smell bad
- Having a automatic bad reputation
- Grow hair everywhere
His responses to ‘What I don’t like about being a boy were:
- Not being able to be a mother
- Not suppost to cry (sic)
- Not allowed to be a cheerleader - Suppost to do all the work
- Suppost to like vilence
- Suppost to play football
- Boys smell bad
- Having a automatic bad reputation
- Grow hair everywhere
Immigration - BRING IT ON! Great Commentary about The President and Republicans
http://www.stonekettle.com/2014/11/bring-it-on.html
John Boehner.
The same John Boehner who has done more to divide and damage the institution of the United States government than any Speaker since the Civil War, that John Boehner, says Obama is trashing the presidency and stinking up the White House.
I’ll remind you that this is the same John Boehner, acting for his party, who has repeatedly embraced a strategy of gridlock and obstruction in order to counter the president at every turn. Every turn. Every single one. For two years John Boehner’s party, the party of hysteria and paranoia and insane conspiracy theories run wild, has done nothing, absolutely goddamned nothing, but hurl the most vile of insults and accusations at the president and has deliberately, proudly, refused to work with Obama in any fashion whatsoever.
Over the last five years, congressional Republicans led by John Boehner and his ilk have treated Vladimir Putin with more respect than the President of the United States.
And this guy says Obama is damaging the presidency?
Oh, the irony.
“With this action, the president has chosen to deliberately sabotage any chance of enacting bipartisan reforms that he claims to seek. And as I told him yesterday, he’s damaging the presidency itself.”John Boehner says Barack Obama is damaging the presidency itself.
- Speaker John A. Boehner
John Boehner.
The same John Boehner who has done more to divide and damage the institution of the United States government than any Speaker since the Civil War, that John Boehner, says Obama is trashing the presidency and stinking up the White House.
I’ll remind you that this is the same John Boehner, acting for his party, who has repeatedly embraced a strategy of gridlock and obstruction in order to counter the president at every turn. Every turn. Every single one. For two years John Boehner’s party, the party of hysteria and paranoia and insane conspiracy theories run wild, has done nothing, absolutely goddamned nothing, but hurl the most vile of insults and accusations at the president and has deliberately, proudly, refused to work with Obama in any fashion whatsoever.
Over the last five years, congressional Republicans led by John Boehner and his ilk have treated Vladimir Putin with more respect than the President of the United States.
And this guy says Obama is damaging the presidency?
Oh, the irony.
POT USE - LONG TERM AFFECTS: A new study
http://www.trueactivist.com/marijuanas-long-term-effects-on-the-brain-finally-revealed/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=ce&utm_campaign=ce
There don't appear to be a lot of negative impact. Compare these results to alcohol or even drugs you buy legally at the drug store with a Doctor's prescription.
There don't appear to be a lot of negative impact. Compare these results to alcohol or even drugs you buy legally at the drug store with a Doctor's prescription.
GMOs cause 22 diseases - High Correlation to diseases says new study.
http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/its-worse-imagined-study-shows-dramatic-correlation-between-gmos-and-22-diseases?akid=12496.294211.I1eYrU&rd=1&src=newsletter1027476&t=21
Millions have marched against Monsanto urging labeling or the banning of GMO products. There is a national consensus in favor of labeling but the government has been unable to respond. Indeed, President Obama's food czar is a former Monsanto executive. The deep corruption of government is putting the health of the American people at serious risk.
The research highlighted below, "Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America," was published in The Journal of Organic Systems this September and links GMOs to 22 diseases with very high correlation. We reprinted many of the graphs from the study that show an incredible correlation between the rise of GMO crops that use the herbicide glyphosate and a wide range of diseases.
The conclusions of the study are:
"These data show very strong and highly significant correlations between the increasing use of glyphosate, GE crop growth and the increase in a multitude of diseases. Many of the graphs show sudden increases in the rates of diseases in the mid-1990s that coincide with the commercial production of GE crops. The large increase in glyphosate use in the US is mostly due to the increase in glyphosate-resistant GE crops.
"The probabilities in the graphs and tables show that it is highly unlikely that the correlations are a coincidence. The strength of the correlations shows that there is a very strong probability that they are linked somehow. The number of graphs with similar data trends also indicates a strong probability that there is a link. Although correlation does not necessarily mean causation, when correlation coefficients of over 0.95 (with p-value significance levels less than 0.00001) are calculated for a list of diseases that can be directly linked to glyphosate, via its known biological effects, it would be imprudent not to consider causation as a plausible explanation.
There is a growing movement for labeling of GMO crops, and many would
go further and ban GMOs completely. Currently there is a close vote in
Oregon on a GMO labeling initiative, with advocates for labeling 0.3%
behind and raising money to check ballots (we urge your support). Those who profit from GMOs spent $20 million to prevent labeling in Oregon. Several states in the Northeast have put in place laws that will require labeling.
Vermont is about to be sued to
prevent GMO labeling. GMO profiteers have an unusual marketing
strategy. While most companies brag about their product, the GMO
industry spends hundreds of millions to hide their product. The US does
not requiring labeling of GMOs despite the fact that 64 countries around the world label GMO foods.Millions have marched against Monsanto urging labeling or the banning of GMO products. There is a national consensus in favor of labeling but the government has been unable to respond. Indeed, President Obama's food czar is a former Monsanto executive. The deep corruption of government is putting the health of the American people at serious risk.
The research highlighted below, "Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America," was published in The Journal of Organic Systems this September and links GMOs to 22 diseases with very high correlation. We reprinted many of the graphs from the study that show an incredible correlation between the rise of GMO crops that use the herbicide glyphosate and a wide range of diseases.
The conclusions of the study are:
"These data show very strong and highly significant correlations between the increasing use of glyphosate, GE crop growth and the increase in a multitude of diseases. Many of the graphs show sudden increases in the rates of diseases in the mid-1990s that coincide with the commercial production of GE crops. The large increase in glyphosate use in the US is mostly due to the increase in glyphosate-resistant GE crops.
"The probabilities in the graphs and tables show that it is highly unlikely that the correlations are a coincidence. The strength of the correlations shows that there is a very strong probability that they are linked somehow. The number of graphs with similar data trends also indicates a strong probability that there is a link. Although correlation does not necessarily mean causation, when correlation coefficients of over 0.95 (with p-value significance levels less than 0.00001) are calculated for a list of diseases that can be directly linked to glyphosate, via its known biological effects, it would be imprudent not to consider causation as a plausible explanation.
2 Heros = 'If we left, they would have nobody'
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/21/365433685/if-we-left-they-wouldnt-have-nobody?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2046
These two men were true heroes.
When an assisted living home in California shut down last fall, many of its residents were left behind, with nowhere to go.
The staff at the Valley Springs Manor left when they stopped getting paid — except for cook Maurice Rowland and Miguel Alvarez, the janitor.
"There was about 16 residents left behind, and we had a conversation in the kitchen, 'What are we going to do?' " Rowland says.
"If we left, they wouldn't have nobody," the 34-year-old Alvarez says.
Their roles quickly transformed for the elderly residents, who needed
These two men were true heroes.
When an assisted living home in California shut down last fall, many of its residents were left behind, with nowhere to go.
The staff at the Valley Springs Manor left when they stopped getting paid — except for cook Maurice Rowland and Miguel Alvarez, the janitor.
"There was about 16 residents left behind, and we had a conversation in the kitchen, 'What are we going to do?' " Rowland says.
"If we left, they wouldn't have nobody," the 34-year-old Alvarez says.
Their roles quickly transformed for the elderly residents, who needed
Friday, November 21, 2014
A Possible Lynching is BEING IGNORED! There needs to be an investigation
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/20/1346362/-Why-Isn-t-A-Possible-Lynching-in-NC-National-News?detail=facebook
Lennon Lacy was a 17 year old African American high school student whose body was found hanging from a children’s swing set in a largely white mobile home park in rural North Carolina less than two months ago. The local police declared his death a suicide within nine hours of finding his body – despite the fact that the shoes on his feet were not his own and were two sizes too small, despite his parents saying that conclusion couldn’t be right and despite the fact that locals in the small, rural town he lived in have alluded that his death might have been a hate crime. Lennon Lacy, a 17 year old African American high school student, was found hanging by the neck in a largely white trailer park and local police closed the case on the possibility that he was lynched before performing any investigation. Why don't more people know about this?
Lennon’s family wants a federal investigation. The NAACP has asked for a federal investigation saying “we believed there was a good possibility of a race-based homicide and possible law-enforcement involvement in the decision to provide the State Medical Examiner with their conclusion that this was a suicide before any real investigation of a possible homicide had been undertaken.“
Lennon Lacy was a 17 year old African American high school student whose body was found hanging from a children’s swing set in a largely white mobile home park in rural North Carolina less than two months ago. The local police declared his death a suicide within nine hours of finding his body – despite the fact that the shoes on his feet were not his own and were two sizes too small, despite his parents saying that conclusion couldn’t be right and despite the fact that locals in the small, rural town he lived in have alluded that his death might have been a hate crime. Lennon Lacy, a 17 year old African American high school student, was found hanging by the neck in a largely white trailer park and local police closed the case on the possibility that he was lynched before performing any investigation. Why don't more people know about this?
Lennon’s family wants a federal investigation. The NAACP has asked for a federal investigation saying “we believed there was a good possibility of a race-based homicide and possible law-enforcement involvement in the decision to provide the State Medical Examiner with their conclusion that this was a suicide before any real investigation of a possible homicide had been undertaken.“
Three Mile Island Nuclear meltdown was much worse than explained at the time. 100 times worse or more
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/04/03/716139/-Startling-revelations-on-Three-Mile-Island-nuclear-power?detail=email
What the Thompsons say they found out during their time inside TMI suggests radiation releases from the plant were hundreds if not thousands of times higher than the government and industry have acknowledged -- high enough to cause the acute health effects documented in people living near the plant but that have been dismissed by the industry and the government as impossible given official radiation dose estimates.
The Thompsons tried to draw attention to their findings and provide health information for people living near the plant, but what they say happened next reads like a John Grisham thriller.
They tell of how a stranger approached Randall Thompson in a grocery store parking lot in late April 1979 and warned him his life was at risk, leading the family to flee Pennsylvania. How they ended up in New Mexico working on a book about their experiences with the help of Joy's brother Charles Busey, another nuclear Navy vet and a former worker at the Hatch nuclear power plant in Georgia. How one evening while driving home from the store Busey and Randall Thompson were run off the road, injuring Thompson and killing Busey. How a copy of the book manuscript they were working on was missing from the car's trunk after the accident. These allegations were detailed in several newspaper accounts back in 1981.
What the Thompsons say they found out during their time inside TMI suggests radiation releases from the plant were hundreds if not thousands of times higher than the government and industry have acknowledged -- high enough to cause the acute health effects documented in people living near the plant but that have been dismissed by the industry and the government as impossible given official radiation dose estimates.
The Thompsons tried to draw attention to their findings and provide health information for people living near the plant, but what they say happened next reads like a John Grisham thriller.
They tell of how a stranger approached Randall Thompson in a grocery store parking lot in late April 1979 and warned him his life was at risk, leading the family to flee Pennsylvania. How they ended up in New Mexico working on a book about their experiences with the help of Joy's brother Charles Busey, another nuclear Navy vet and a former worker at the Hatch nuclear power plant in Georgia. How one evening while driving home from the store Busey and Randall Thompson were run off the road, injuring Thompson and killing Busey. How a copy of the book manuscript they were working on was missing from the car's trunk after the accident. These allegations were detailed in several newspaper accounts back in 1981.
Factory Wages Falling - Bye Middle Class
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/business/falling-wages-at-factories-squeeze-the-middle-class.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=1
For
nearly 20 years, Darrell Eberhardt worked in an Ohio factory putting
together wheelchairs, earning $18.50 an hour, enough to gain a toehold
in the middle class and feel respected at work.
He
is still working with his hands, assembling seats for Chevrolet Cruze
cars at the Camaco auto parts factory in Lorain, Ohio, but now he makes
$10.50 an hour and is barely hanging on. “I’d like to earn more,” said
Mr. Eberhardt, who is 49 and went back to school a few years ago to earn
an associate’s degree. “But the chances of finding something like I
used to have are slim to none.”
Even as the White House and leaders on Capitol Hill and in Fortune 500 boardrooms all agree that expanding the country’s manufacturing base is a key to prosperity, evidence is growing that the pay of many blue-collar jobs is shrinking to the point where they can no longer support a middle-class life.
Even as the White House and leaders on Capitol Hill and in Fortune 500 boardrooms all agree that expanding the country’s manufacturing base is a key to prosperity, evidence is growing that the pay of many blue-collar jobs is shrinking to the point where they can no longer support a middle-class life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)