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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.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Gun deaths since Sandy Hook

Gun deaths since Sandy Hook

The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was horrible, but there have been thousands of gun deaths since. Huffington Post is mapping them.
Circles represent the number of deaths in a city, and the larger a circle the higher the count. A bar chart on the bottom shows the data over time and serves as a navigation device. Click on a day or a location, and the names of victims appear on the right with a link to the related news story.

Gun deaths since Sandy Hook

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Melissa Harris-Perry: Providing a unique place for women to eat, pray, and love

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Providing a unique place for women to eat, pray, and love: ""

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New Federal Scrutiny In Wake Of NPR Grain Bin Reports : The Two-Way : NPR

New Federal Scrutiny In Wake Of NPR Grain Bin Reports : The Two-Way : NPR: "Congress, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Justice Department are beginning to respond to the NPR-Center for Public Integrity Series on hundreds of persistent and preventable deaths in grain storage bins and weak enforcement by federal agencies.

Two federal officials familiar with the case say that the Justice Department is again considering criminal charges in the incident in Mt. Carroll, Illinois, in 2010, in which 14-year-old Wyatt Whitebread and 19-year-old Alex Pacas suffocated in thousands of bushels of corn. Will Piper, 20, survived but was unable to save his friends and co-workers. The owner of the grain bin, Haasbach LLC, was initially fined $555,000 but OSHA cut the fine 60 percent.

NPR/CPI obtained Labor Department documents that showed the Justice Department initially declined to file criminal charges in the case, despite multiple willful violations and what one former OSHA official called 'the worst of the worst' cases."

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Human lives hanging in the balance at GITMO

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Human lives hanging in the balance at GITMO: ""

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NBCNews.com video: Dear Louisiana atty. general, human beings deserve respect

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NBCNews.com video: Dear Louisiana atty. general, human beings deserve respect: ""

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NBCNews.com video: How to be a good ally

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NBCNews.com video: How to be a good ally: ""

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BBC News - Egypt satirist Bassem Youssef faces arrest warrant


An arrest warrant has been issued for a popular Egyptian political satirist for allegedly insulting Islam and President Mohammed Morsi.
Bassem Youssef has faced several complaints over his show El Bernameg (The Programme).
He has poked fun at a wide range of figures, from fellow television presenters to well-known Muslim scholars and recently Mr Morsi himself.
The case has highlighted worries about press freedoms in Egypt.


BBC News - Egypt satirist Bassem Youssef faces arrest warrant

Nature’s Case for Same-Sex Marriage - NYTimes.com

Stepping from the northern border of the Mall into the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, we come face-to-taxidermied-face with our great ape relatives. Before these apes were sequestered in museum cabinets, homosexual bonds were a natural part of their lives. This is especially true for our closest living cousins, the bonobos and chimpanzees.

Nature’s Case for Same-Sex Marriage - NYTimes.com

Thursday, March 28, 2013

FBI prepares to defend 'Stingray' cell phone tracking | Politics and Law - CNET News

This is very troubling.

FBI prepares to defend 'Stingray' cell phone tracking | Politics and Law - CNET News

Rachel Maddow: The road that led to the Defense of Marriage Act challenge

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Rachel Maddow: The road that led to the Defense of Marriage Act challenge: ""

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Newtown gunman Adam Lanza fired 155 bullets in less than five minutes, prosecutor says - Open Channel

Newtown gunman Adam Lanza fired 155 bullets in less than five minutes, prosecutor says - Open Channel: "By Michael Isikoff, Tom Winter and Erin McClam, NBC News Adam Lanza fired 155 bullets in less than five minutes on the day he killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the chief prosecutor investigating the massacre said Thursday. The total included 154 fired from a Bushmaster .223-model rifle and a final bullet, fired from a Glock 10mm handgun, that Lanza used to take his own life, said Stephen Sedensky, the chief prosecutor investigating the shooting. Three Samurai swords were recovered from the Newtown, Conn., home that Lanza shared with his mother, authorities said as they released search warrants from the second-worst school shooting in American history."

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Hardball: DOMA challenged at the Supreme Court

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Hardball: DOMA challenged at the Supreme Court: ""

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Justices signal they might strike down federal marriage law - NBC Politics

Justices signal they might strike down federal marriage law - NBC Politics: "Hearing a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, which allows federal benefits to go only to heterosexual married couples, the Supreme Court appeared skeptical of the statute and indicated that it might strike down a section of the 1996 law. At issue in Wednesday’s oral argument was the Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, passed by overwhelming margins in both houses of Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton."

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Justices to Hear Arguments on Defense of Marriage Act - NYTimes.com

Justices to Hear Arguments on Defense of Marriage Act - NYTimes.com: "WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court returns to the subject of same-sex marriage for a second day on Wednesday, when the justices hear arguments about the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996."

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Rachel Maddow: Calif. AG: ‘We should not wait when people are being deprived of their fundamental rights’

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Rachel Maddow: Calif. AG: ‘We should not wait when people are being deprived of their fundamental rights’: ""

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Is the Meaning of Your Life to Make Babies? | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network


From an evolutionary gene’s-eye perspective, the genes are immortal, and our role, the meaning of life, is to perpetuate the genes. In a few centuries, all traces of our existence as human individuals — memories of us, all our accomplishments –will likely be gone and forgotten, except for genes that survive from those of us who successfully reproduced through the generations.
But, of course, we don’t experience the world from a gene’s eye evolutionary perspective. One experiences the world as an individual person, not as a gene dispenser (fun as that may be). The joy we get from parenting comes not from some abstract generic idea of gene propagation, but from specific love and interaction with our own children — making your own baby son giggle uncontrollably when you make ridiculous animal noises, the bittersweet emotional rush you feel as you watch your daughter walk down the aisle. We care about ourselves and others as persons, not as a gene menagerie. Humans create our own meanings.

Is the Meaning of Your Life to Make Babies? | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network

White Supremacist Brings Racist Filmmaker to Texas A&M | Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center


In recent years, globetrotting white supremacist financier and organizer Preston Wiginton has appeared at racist skinhead gatherings (he won a “strongest skinhead” contest at Hammerfest in 2005); co-sponsored lectures with hate groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens and the Michigan State University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom; rallied racist skinheads in Russia (where he lives part of the year in an apartment rented from ex-Klan boss David Duke); and been denied entry to the UK to address a festival put on by the neo-fascist British National Party.
He’s a busy guy on the white supremacist circuit, so it’s no surprise that he’s organized yet another event. This time, Wiginton has called in racist filmmaker Craig Bodeker to show his film, A Conversation about Race, on the Texas A&M campus on March 20.


White Supremacist Brings Racist Filmmaker to Texas A&M | Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center

Fifty-five percent of the nation’s streams and rivers are now in “poor” condition, posing health risks to fish, other wildlife and humans, EPA report finds - NY Daily News


The percentage of river and stream miles rated as “good” has declined. High levels of phosphorous and nitrogen are cited in the unsatisfactory conditions.



Fifty-five percent of the nation’s streams and rivers are now in “poor” condition, posing health risks to fish, other wildlife and humans, EPA report finds - NY Daily News

We Are Still Radically Overcharged for Health Care | FDL Action


The International Federation of Health Plans is out with their new comparative price report for 2012 and it again shows the United States radically overpays for basically every health care service relative to any other first-world country. From the report:



We Are Still Radically Overcharged for Health Care | FDL Action

Prop 8 defenders have gender anxiety - Salon.com

Cooper also wilted under Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s questioning of whether it would be justifiable to discriminate against gay people in a non-marriage context. He said it wouldn’t. “I don’t quite understand it,” Sotomayor said, having cornered him. “If you’re not dealing with this as a class question, then why would you say that the Government is not free to discriminate against them?” In other words, Cooper has to justify why marriage is different, and his answer is because marriage is supposed to be for babies. (Or as he inauspiciously put it to Sotomayor,” Your Honor, that’s the essential thrust of our — our position, yes.”) In the absence of childbearing, Cooper said, society would “refocus the purpose of marriage and the definition of marriage away from the raising of children and to the emotional needs and desires of adults, of adult couples.” This was viewed as self-evidently terrible.
Prop 8 defenders have gender anxiety - Salon.com

The Last Word: Three More Senators Back Marriage Equality

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The Last Word: Three More Senators Back Marriage Equality: ""

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The Last Word: Three More Senators Back Marriage Equality

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The Last Word: Three More Senators Back Marriage Equality: ""

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Colorado spending $208 million on empty solitary confinement prison - The Denver Post


CAÑON CITY — Three days ago, Colorado shut down a brand-new prison it didn't need.
Unless the state government finds someone else who can use it, Colorado taxpayers can expect to spend $208 million for an empty building.
Finding someone else may not be easy. Colorado State Penitentiary II, also known as Centennial South, consists of 948 solitary-confinement cells. It has no dining room, no gym, no rooms where a group of prisoners could take classes or go to therapy or get vocational training. It's row after identical row of empty cells.
From the beginning, critics of this project objected, correctly, that Colorado was putting people in solitary confinement at a rate that dwarfed the national

Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse


Colorado spending $208 million on empty solitary confinement prison - The Denver Post

John Roberts-Jean Podrasky: Chief justice's lesbian cousin will attend Prop 8 hearing at SCOTUS.

John Roberts-Jean Podrasky: Chief justice's lesbian cousin will attend Prop 8 hearing at SCOTUS.

Scalia's Gay Marriage Problem - Scalia is the Judge Taney of this era. A narrow minded bigoted man whose prejudices he peddles like a bar room hustler.

Scalia's Gay Marriage Problem - NYTimes.com

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Up w/ Chris Hayes: The secretly-recorded NYPD stop-and-frisk bombshell

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Up w/ Chris Hayes: The secretly-recorded NYPD stop-and-frisk bombshell: ""

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Up w/ Chris Hayes: The secretly-recorded NYPD stop-and-frisk bombshell

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Up w/ Chris Hayes: The secretly-recorded NYPD stop-and-frisk bombshell: ""

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Up w/ Chris Hayes: Stop-and-frisk in the NYC race for mayor

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Up w/ Chris Hayes: Stop-and-frisk in the NYC race for mayor: ""

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NBCNews.com video: Support for gay marriage shows significant rise

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NBCNews.com video: Support for gay marriage shows significant rise: ""

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Bloomberg, NRA steel for springtime battle over gun control - First Read

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Bloomberg, NRA steel for springtime battle over gun control - First Read: ""

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GSA breach highlights dangers of SSNs as IDs | How To - CNET

A recent security breach at the U.S. General Services Administration highlights the dangers of using your Social Security Number for identification. Federal and state laws restrict use of SSNs by public and private organizations.

GSA breach highlights dangers of SSNs as IDs | How To - CNET

Getting Things Done (GTD) Simplified - How To Hack Your To-Do List [Epipheo.TV]

How To Hack Your To-Do List [Epipheo.TV] - YouTube: ""

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Marriage @ the Supreme Court: The homestretch


 Last night (which was cold here in DC), the line began to form for seats to hear the oral argument in the two gay marriage cases that the Supreme Court will consider next week. First up on Tuesday morning will be the challenge to Prop 8; on Wednesday, the Court will hear the DoMA case. The ACLU lawyers who brought the DoMA challenge did a moot of their arguments this morning at Georgetown Law Center, and - promising confidentiality - more than 100 Georgetown law students got to listen. Plaintiff Edith Windsor attended, and students lined up afterward to speak with the woman who inspired what may become one of the most important civil rights cases in our lifetimes.

Marriage @ the Supreme Court: The homestretch

Saturday, March 23, 2013

China and Japan Spar Over War Trials, More Than 6 Decades On - NYTimes.com

China and Japan Spar Over War Trials, More Than 6 Decades On - NYTimes.com: "BEIJING – What would international reaction be if Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, were to publicly cast doubt on the fairness of the Nuremberg Trials, which condemned top Nazis at the end of World War II?

Something quite similar may have happened recently in Japan, where, according to media reports, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cast doubt on the Tokyo Trials there (these found about two dozen prominent Japanese guilty of war crimes; seven were sentenced to death).

Here’s a headline from the Japan Daily Press: ‘PM Abe says WWII war crime trials were just ‘victors’ justice.’ ’

‘In a meeting of the House of Representatives Budget Committee last Tuesday, Abe said that what the world now thinks of the outcome of World War II was dictated by the victorious Allied Forces and it is only under their judgement that the Japanese were condemned,’ the Japan Daily Press article said, citing an article in The Telegraph.

World War II is still a sensitive topic not just in China but further afield in Asia, where memories of brutality by the invading Japanese Imperial Army linger and many believe that Japan, unlike Germany, has never entirely faced up to what it did. Memories may be bitterest in China, where millions died and where the government uses anti-Japanese sentiment to bolster nationalism.

"

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Criminal justice system's 'dark secret': Teenagers in solitary confinement - Rock Center with Brian Williams

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

U.S. government to fight for warrantless GPS tracking | Security & Privacy - CNET News

U.S. government to fight for warrantless GPS tracking | Security & Privacy - CNET News

Lawsuits Allege Border Control Abuse: Citizens Detained, 4 Year Old Deported, Immigrants Held In Freezing Jails | ThinkProgress

Lawsuits Allege Border Control Abuse: Citizens Detained, 4 Year Old Deported, Immigrants Held In Freezing Jails | ThinkProgress

Cops: U.S. law should require logs of your text messages | Politics and Law - CNET News

Cops: U.S. law should require logs of your text messages | Politics and Law - CNET News: "Silicon Valley firms and privacy groups want Congress to update a 1986-era electronic privacy law. But if a law enforcement idea set to be presented today gets attached, support for the popular proposal would erode."

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Cops: U.S. law should require logs of your text messages | Politics and Law - CNET News

Cops: U.S. law should require logs of your text messages | Politics and Law - CNET News: "Silicon Valley firms and privacy groups want Congress to update a 1986-era electronic privacy law. But if a law enforcement idea set to be presented today gets attached, support for the popular proposal would erode."

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Monday, March 18, 2013

Rachel Maddow: Maryland terminates death penalty

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Rachel Maddow: Maryland terminates death penalty: ""

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ACLU Comment on Supreme Court Argument in Voter Registration Case | American Civil Liberties Union

ACLU Comment on Supreme Court Argument in Voter Registration Case | American Civil Liberties Union

Surveying Emancipation - NYTimes.com

President Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863 lent new urgency to the question of “what shall we do with the Negroes.” What had been only a possibility a few months before — the freeing of more than 3 million slaves still behind Confederate lines — had now become a likelihood dependent only on the success of Union armies.
The question possessed both practical and policy implications. Since the beginning of the war, Union field officers had experienced varying degrees of success in offering care and protection to the thousands of slaves fleeing to Union lines. Policy makers in the Lincoln administration, free from the day-to-day demands of camp management, dealt instead with a growing chorus of voices calling for a plan for how best to absorb as many as 4 million freed men and women.

Surveying Emancipation - NYTimes.com


President Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863 lent new urgency to the question of “what shall we do with the Negroes.” What had been only a possibility a few months before — the freeing of more than 3 million slaves still behind Confederate lines — had now become a likelihood dependent only on the success of Union armies.
The question possessed both practical and policy implications. Since the beginning of the war, Union field officers had experienced varying degrees of success in offering care and protection to the thousands of slaves fleeing to Union lines. Policy makers in the Lincoln administration, free from the day-to-day demands of camp management, dealt instead with a growing chorus of voices calling for a plan for how best to absorb as many as 4 million freed men and women.

Surveying Emancipation - NYTimes.com

Facing Protective Orders and Allowed to Keep Guns - NYTimes.com

Facing Protective Orders and Allowed to Keep Guns - NYTimes.com

A Worsening Haitian Tragedy - NYTimes.com

A Worsening Haitian Tragedy - NYTimes.com

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Mormons Change References To Blacks, Polygamy | New Hampshire Public Radio

Mormons Change References To Blacks, Polygamy | New Hampshire Public Radio: "'I think that this new introduction to the revelation ending the priesthood ban is a major step forward in many ways because it acknowledges that the practice may have originated — it seems to me, this is how I'm reading it anyhow — as a matter of error or cultural and historical conditioning rather than as the will of God,' he says. 'And that's a fairly significant statement for the Church to make.'"

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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Civil Rights Leader Calls Justice Scalia The ‘Rush Limbaugh Of The Supreme Court’ On Colbert | Voice4America

Civil Rights Leader Calls Justice Scalia The ‘Rush Limbaugh Of The Supreme Court’ On Colbert | Voice4America: ""

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Role of the police and community in protecting urban areas

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Role of the police and community in protecting urban areas: ""

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Supreme Court will hear 2nd voting rights case of the year

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Supreme Court will hear 2nd voting rights case of the year: ""

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Melissa Harris-Perry: The rape case igniting a national conversation

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Melissa Harris-Perry: The rape case igniting a national conversation: ""

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Saturday, March 09, 2013

Why Scalia’s ‘Racial Entitlement’ Quote Is Even Scarier Than You Think

Why Scalia’s ‘Racial Entitlement’ Quote Is Even Scarier Than You Think: pJustice Antonin Scalia quite deservedly came under fire yesterday for his claim that a key provision of the Voting Rights Act is a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.” If the justice were looking to confirm every suspicion that conservative opposition to the law that broke the back of Jim Crow voter exclusions is rooted in white [...]/p

Cult of Android Mobile » AT&T: We Will Unlock Your Phone Once Your Contract Is Up

Cult of Android Mobile » AT&T: We Will Unlock Your Phone Once Your Contract Is Up