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What To Do When You're Stopped By Police - The ACLU & Elon James White

What To Do When You're Stopped By Police - The ACLU & Elon James White

Know Anyone Who Thinks Racial Profiling Is Exaggerated? Watch This, And Tell Me When Your Jaw Drops.


This video clearly demonstrates how racist America is as a country and how far we have to go to become a country that is civilized and actually values equal justice. We must not rest until this goal is achieved. I do not want my great grandchildren to live in a country like we have today. I wish for them to live in a country where differences of race and culture are not ignored but valued as a part of what makes America great.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

"Hartford Courant - Whistle Blower Tells Of Threats, Retaliation In State Criminal Justice Project" http://feedly.com/k/183GARU

"A state employee claims that she has suffered retaliation in the workplace for blowing the whistle on problems that have hampered development of a new, computerized criminal justice information system.

Nance McCauley says she received a bad evaluation, lost part of a raise she should have received, and saw her responsibilities curtailed after filing a "whistleblower complaint" last January that sparked a probe into the state's Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) by the state attorney general and auditors.

McCauley's bosses at CJIS deny her claims of retaliation, saying that they never knew she was the whistle blower until very recently. They said that to remedy problems uncovered in the recent probe of the project, changes had to be made in staffing and responsibilities – and these changes didn't just affect McCauley, but also others."

"The Supreme Court confronts the line between free speech and security with protester’s case - The Washington Post" http://feedly.com/k/183Gvh5

NYTimes: Eye on 2016, Clintons Rebuild Bond With Blacks

Crackdown in Kiev: Battle for Ukraine | The Economist

Less than 24 hours after he ruined the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius and ditched the Association Agreement with Europe, he vividly demonstrated his preferred alternative. In the small hours of Saturday morning he sent in special troops to beat up the few hundred students and activists who stood vigil for Ukraine’s European future. Armed with truncheons and tear gas, the police pummelled the peaceful demonstration, smashing heads and kicking people on the ground. Never in its 22 years as an independent country has Ukraine seen such violence.

It was a cowardly and treacherous act by a government that behaved like an occupying force in its own capital. “Tonight Yankovych turned into Alexander Lukashenka [Belarus's hardline president],” wrote Mustafa Nayyem, a Ukrainian journalist and blogger who mobilised the civil protest a week ago. A video he posted showed the violence that Mr Yanukovych had unleashed.

Crackdown in Kiev: Battle for Ukraine | The Economist

The

Wal-Mart arrests could fuel “a new political movement of the disenfranchised,” Grayson tells Salon - Salon.com

Friday, November 29, 2013

Parents Sentenced For 'Crime Against Humanity'

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The parents of a 6-year-old Philadelphia boy who starved to death after returning to their care have been sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.

A prosecutor Tuesday called the slow, torturous death of Khalil Wimes "a crime against humanity."

Khalil had thrived with relatives who raised him until age 3. But Tina Cuffie and Latiff Hadi won him back despite losing custody of five other children.

Republicans Can Still Filibuster A Lot Of Obama's Nominees

Tom Watson statue removed from Georgia’s Capitol steps | www.ajc.com

This is a sad story because Watson started out as a biracial populist but he found it politically expedient to later on reverse his views, join the KKK and become a racist and anti-semite preying on the divide and conquer strategy that poor and poorly educated whites are still susceptible to.

United We Stand? Tom Watson on Interracial Southern Populism
Just as the question of race divided the Southern Populist movement, so has it divided historians. Some scholars point to the uniquely interracial qualities of the Populist movement, while others emphasize the ways that racial divisions limited the success of southern agrarian radicals. Part of the difficulty in resolving the dispute is the complexity and ambiguity of race relations in Southern Populism. In his famous essay on “The Negro Question in the South,” published in 1892, Tom Watson, a Southern Populist who was elected to the U.S. Congress from Georgia in 1890, made one of the strongest cases for an alliance of black and white farmers. Yet Watson was calling for a strategic political alliance, not a fully integrated society, and his commitment to interracialism did not survive the defeat of the Populist movement. After the turn of the century, Watson led efforts to disfranchise African Americans, publishing demagogic attacks on them as well as on Catholics and Jews.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5348/

Prominent Egyptian Blogger Arrested

" Police arrested Alaa Abdel-Fattah at his home late Thursday night as his toddler slept nearby. When his wife demanded to see an arrest warrant, police beat both of them, a press release from the family said. NPR's Leila Fadel is reporting on the story for our Newscast unit:

"An arrest warrant was issued for him and another prominent youth activist following protests on Tuesday that ended with dozens in jail after police beat and chased them. Abdel-Fattah had publicly declared he would turn himself in on Saturday."

The arrest is the latest move in Egypt's crackdown on protesters since the ouster in July of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. There have been near-daily anti-government protests since the military-backed coup that toppled Morsi. Here's more from The Associated Press:

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

South Korean President Park should respond sternly to state interference, not priest’s comments : Editorial : Home

"The President’s remarks about “not tolerating” participants in the mass come across as quite belligerent. Indeed, it sounds like she was telling her cabinet to find anything in the law they could to punish the participants. At one point, she asked the secretaries for their “firm commitment not to bow to or in any way tolerate any mistakes for the sake of the public.” This seems to suggest that the authorities may be at work this very moment thinking of ways to punish the mass’s participants. It’s disturbingly reminiscent of the president’s father, Park Chung-hee, ordering “detentions and investigations” during his administration in the 1960s and 1970s. The idea of a president making what comes across as threats to the public over behavior she doesn’t like is an unfortunate legacy from the past. No matter how unpleasant Father Park’s remarks may have been to the president, it is not her place to take action on them."

This is an outright attack on freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association, the core freedoms which are a prerequisite for a democracy.  President Park's statements directly violate Article 21 of the Constitution of Korea which reads:

Article 21
(1) All citizens shall enjoy freedom of speech and the press, and freedom of assembly and association.

(2) Licensing or censorship of speech and the press,and licensing of assembly and association shall not be permitted.

Clearly her words have demonstrated an intent to violate the Constitution.  As a result Article 65 of the Korean Constitution the National Assembly has a duty to begin an impeachment process against the President.

Article 65
(1) In case the President, the Prime Minister, members of
the State Council, heads of Executive Ministries, Justices of
the Constitutional Court, judges, members of the National Election Commission,the Chairman and members of the
Board of Audit and Inspection, and other public officials designated by Act have violated the Constitution or other Acts in the performance of official duties,the National
Assembly may pass motions for their impeachment.

Clearly the President's attack on the aforementioned priest warrant action under Article

President should respond sternly to state interference, not priest’s comments : Editorial : Home

A Woman's Health Care Decisions Should Be in Her Own Hands, Not Her Boss's | Valerie Jarrett

Valerie Jarrett senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council

VALERIE JARRETT

A Woman's Health Care Decisions Should Be in Her Own Hands, Not

Ensuring the full freedom of women as health care consumers to access essential preventative health services is a vital component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). And nowhere are health decisions more personal or essential to keep in their hands, than those regarding reproductive health. The ACA was designed to ensure that health care decisions are made between a woman and her doctor, and not by her boss, or Washington politicians.

Today, there are people trying to take this right away from women, by letting private, for-profit corporations and employers make medical decisions for their employees, based on their personal beliefs.

A group of for-profit companies are currently suing to gain the right to deny employees access to coverage for birth control and contraceptive care, which are used by the overwhelming majority of American women in their lifetimes. Among the first cases to reach the Supreme Court is one filed by Hobby Lobby, an arts and crafts chain whose owners want to be able to take the option for birth control benefits away from their employees.

We are confident the Supreme Court will agree that health decisions in this country should remain with individuals, in consultation with their doctors, families, faiths, and whomever else they personally trust. No corporate entity should be in position to limit women's legal access to care, or to seize a controlling interest over the health care choices of women. To take that type of power away from individuals, and to let the personal beliefs of a woman's boss dictate her health care choices would constitute a major step backward for women's health, and self-determination.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Florida school threatens to expel student over 'natural hair' | MSNBC

This type of backwards racism demands the firing of all teachers and/or administrators involved in this action plus a formal apology to the student and to all African American students and faculty. The South remains a cultural wasteland. Unbelievable.

U.S. and Saudis in Growing Rift as Power Shifts - NYTimes.com

“We still share many of the same goals, but our priorities are increasingly different from the Saudis,” said F. Gregory Gause III, a professor of Middle East studies at the University of Vermont. “When you look at our differing views of the Arab Spring, on how to deal with Iran, on changing energy markets that make gulf oil less central — these things have altered the basis of U.S.-Saudi relations.”

The United States always had important differences with the Saudis, including on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the spread of fundamentalist strains of Islam, Mr. Gause added. But the Obama administration’s determination to ease the long estrangement with Iran’s theocratic leaders has touched an especially raw nerve: Saudi Arabia’s deep-rooted hostility to its Shiite rival for leadership of the Islamic world."

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Recommended read from Salon.com: The real reason law schools are raking in cash

But if you sought information about how law schools weathered the financial storm in the pages of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Atlantic, I would not have faulted you for coming to the conclusion that they must be undergoing a major crisis. As these publications have tirelessly (and accurately) reported, the picture for law graduates is rather bleak. Student debt is astronomical, with some law students borrowing upwards of $200,000 to finance their educations, and employment prospects are dismal, with even well-established, “white-shoe” law firms being forced to make massive cuts and layoffs.

As a straight value proposition, it seems, it is no longer clear that going to law school makes any sense. So, law schools, one might reasonably expect, surely must be feeling the pressure. College students, one could not be blamed for thinking, surely must be considering other careers. But it has not been thus.

In Prison for 25 Years, Man Says NYPD Set Him Up -- Daily Intelligencer

"Valance Cole has at least two key facts on his side in his long struggle to overturn a manslaughter conviction for a 1985 Brooklyn killing that has kept him in prison for more than a quarter century. The first is that the homicide detective who built the case against him is closely connected to an evidence-faking scandal that has prosecutors — and now a New York State Supreme Court judge — reexamining dozens of old convictions. The second is that another man has been trying for years to confess to the killing in question."

Alabama Man Won't Serve Prison Time for Raping 14-Year-Old | Mother Jones

An Alabama man convicted of raping a teenage girl will serve no prison time. On Wednesday, a judge in Athens, Alabama, ruled that the rapist will be punished by serving two years in a program aimed at nonviolent criminals and three years of probation.

Alabama Man Won't Serve Prison Time for Raping 14-Year-Old | Mother Jones

NYTimes: Deals at Climate Meeting Advance Global Effort

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Hong Kong's ethnic minorities complain of racial profiling by police | South China Morning Post

Officer Admits To Taking Demeaning Video

Court Won’t Vacate Stop-and-Frisk Ruling -- Daily Intelligencer

"New York City's lawyers are currently scheduled to argue against Scheindlin's verdict in an appeals court this March, but Bill de Blasio has said he will tell them to abandon the effort once he becomes mayor. So, earlier this month, the city's Michael Bloomberg–ruled legal team filed a motion to have Scheindlin's stop-and-frisk decision tossed out now. Today, that request was rejected by the same judges who blocked Scheindlin's ruling, effectively eliminating the possibility that the verdict will be overturned. Somewhere in this city, Bloomberg and Ray Kelly are using swear words."

Friday, November 22, 2013

Store owner installs surveillance cameras to spy on police | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

"A Miami convenience store owner is fed up with his employees and customers being allegedly harassed by police. So he installs surveillance video to get evidence against the local cops"

With the filibuster nuked, bring on the liberal judges | MSNBC

Yes, America Has Gotten Better About Racism, but It Really Doesn’t Matter | The Nation

"Because I write about race and racism in the United States, I’m often asked some variation of this question: are things better now?

I don’t mean to be condescending when I answer, but usually my response is frustrated laughter followed by a firm “no.” It’s the most polite thing I can think to do in the moment. At least, it’s more polite than saying, “That’s a stupid fucking question.”

But that’s how I actually feel. It sounds harsh, but I truly believe “Are things better?” is one of the most useless questions in a discussion about racism. It’s another in a repertoire of rhetorical tricks we use in this country to avoid the hard work of addressing racism in its modern form. By reframing the conversation around how much progress has been made, we further the false narrative that racism is a problem that belongs to history. While we pat ourselves on the back for not being as horrible as we once were, we allow racism to become further entrenched in every aspect of American life."

Georgia GOP dusts off Jim Crow tactic: Changing election date | MSNBC

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Racism in the Age of Obama - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

If You're a Millennial, Black, or Latino, Good Luck Voting Quickly in 2016 | Mother Jones

Trayvon Martin Juror -- George Zimmerman Belongs in Prison | TMZ.com

"
How's this for irony ... George Zimmerman belongs in prison ... this, coming from one of the jurors in the Trayvon Martin case who kept him OUT of prison.

Juror B29 -- who identifies herself as Maddy -- tells TMZ, she always had a bad feeling about Zimmerman, despite finding him not guilty of murdering Trayvon ... a verdict she begrudgingly reached through a strict interpretation of the law.

Now, she says Zimmerman's domestic violence arrest is proof he's not freedom-worthy ... "God is showing George's true side ... [George] is continuing to dig himself a bigger grave."

The juror believes Zimmerman will continue to commit violent acts until someone lays down the law  ... telling us, "He NEEDS to do some type of time ... He thinks he is invincible."

Saturday, November 02, 2013

Stop and frisk is probably dead anyway | MSNBC

“There’s no basis; this was not only a fundamentally flawed decision but an outrageous decision and an attack on the independence of judges,” says Darius Charney, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, the group that sued the city over stop and frisk. “To accuse a judge of violating judicial ethics on such a non-existent record is just outrageous.”

Yet in the long term, stop and frisk as practiced by the New York City police has likely already lost, even with Scheindlin gone.

The Center for Constitutional Rights had charged that the city’s stop and frisk policy violated the constitutional rights of New Yorkers by discriminating against them on the basis of race. Judge Sheindlin had agreed, ordering the city to submit to a federal monitor to oversee the changes to the city’s policing practices. The three judges who removed Sheindlin blocked her August ruling finding that the city’s application of stop and frisk was unconstitutional. The judges wrote that Scheindlin “ran afoul” of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges with statements to the media and her suggestion to a future plaintiff that they file the lawsuit that eventually became the stop and frisk case.

Up to 80% of those stopped in New York City under stop and frisk were black and Latino. Responding to criticism that the policy amounted to racial profiling, Mayor Michael Bloomberg countered that 80% was not nearly enough, saying that “we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little.” City officials claimed the policy was necessary to stop crime, but the crime rate in New York is low and was on a modest decline even before stops increased exponentially in recent years.

It is very unusual for a judge to be removed in this fashion, particularly without a request from either party to the case. “A removal at this stage is astoundingly rare,” says Steven Lubet, a professor at Northwestern Law and an expert in legal ethics. Having handled related cases for years, Charney says, Scheindlin knows the facts of the stop and frisk case at a level that any new judge will struggle to reach.

Though the city had not requested Scheindlin be removed for bias, Bloomberg had publicly attacked Scheindlin for failing to be impartial after the city lost its case. ”Given the judge’s public comments and media interviews throughout the case, this decision was certainly not a surprise,” Bloomberg said at a press conference following the ruling.

Low-Wage Workers Are Robbed More Than Banks, Gas Stations And Convenience Stores Combined

Friday, November 01, 2013


One thing that often gets lost in the moment-to-moment measurements of a president’s efficacy and his legacy is one of the most enduring and resilient effects he can have on American life: court appointments.
Damon Winter/The New York Times
Charles M. Blow
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Readers’ Comments

This week we were reminded once again of how much sway federal judges hold as they dealt several setbacks to liberal causes.
The conservative Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down the birth control mandate in the Affordable Care Act, which required employers to offer contraceptive coverage to their employees.
The conservative Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuitreinstated most of Texas’ new abortion restrictions that a federal district judge, Lee Yeakel, had struck downas imposing an undue burden on women seeking abortions.
And the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit halted sweeping changes to New York City’s outrageous stop-and-frisk policy, changes called for by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of Federal District Court in Manhattan whofound, “The city acted with deliberate indifference toward the N.Y.P.D.’s practice of making unconstitutional stops and conducting unconstitutional frisks.

The Next Big Traffic Safety Debate: Google Glass - Nextgov.com