Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Drones (HBO)

Chilling new audio uncovered from SC shooting tape | MSNBC

Chilling new audio uncovered from SC shooting tape | MSNBC

SCOTUS blocks early midterm voting in Ohio | MSNBC

SCOTUS blocks early midterm voting in Ohio | MSNBC

Ferguson protesters dig in for the long haul | MSNBC

Ferguson protesters dig in for the long haul | MSNBC

NYPD Beat Pregnant Woman's Belly With Baton, Lawyer Says

"The lawyer of a pregnant woman who appears to be slammed into the ground by NYPD officers in a recently released video now says officers also beat the woman's belly with a baton.

Sandra Amezquita, 44, allegedly tried to intervene in the arrest of her teenaged son, who police say had an illegal knife clipped to his belt, according to the Wall Street Journal. Video of the incident was posted to Facebook by social justice group El Grito De Sunset Park earlier this week.

At a Wednesday press conference, Amezquita and her lawyer released images of injuries to the woman’s abdomen that they say came from an officer’s baton, CBS New York reports."

Ginsburg Singles Out The Current Supreme Court's Worst Ruling

"Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg expressed her extreme regret over several of the current Court's rulings in a wide-ranging interview published in The New Republic Sunday evening, including their rejecting the commerce clause of President Barack Obama's health care law, and issuing a huge blow to the Voting Rights Act in their Shelby County v. Holder decision.

But the first Supreme Court ruling Ginsburg would send to the guillotine would be the Court's decision in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, giving corporations and unions the green light to give and spend unlimited sums of money on independent political activity. "If there was one decision I would overrule," Ginsburg told The New Republic, it would be Citizens United."

With The End In Sight, Holder Reflects On His Legacy : NPR

With The End In Sight, Holder Reflects On His Legacy : NPR

HONG KONG CHAOS

"Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong reached a boiling point on Sunday, with police employing tear gas in attempts to control crowds that have surrounded government buildings for the past three days.

Tension has been escalating in the city all summer, after Beijing released a controversial plan for Hong Kong's 2017 elections that activists say falls short of the full democracy they hope for. The plan would allow for universal suffrage in three year's time, but would restrict candidates to those approved by a committee that opposition politicians say is dominated by pro-Beijing representatives."

Today’s Police Put On a Gun and a Camera - NYTimes.com

"PULLMAN, Wash. — Amateur videos of police officers doing their jobs have become part of the fabric of urban democracy, with embarrassing or violent images spreading via social media in minutes.

But more police agencies, especially after the unrest following an unarmed teenager’s shooting in Ferguson, Mo., are recording events with small body-mounted cameras.

In just the last few weeks, law enforcement agencies in at least a dozen cities, including Ferguson; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Minneapolis; Norfolk, Va.; and Washington, have said they are equipping officers with video cameras. Miami Beach approved the purchase of $3 million worth of cameras for police officers, parking enforcement workers, and building and fire inspectors.

The New York Police Department, the nation’s largest urban force, has studied how Los Angeles is incorporating body cameras and is planning its own pilot project. A law in New Jersey, signed this month, requires all municipal police departments to buy car-mounted or body cameras, and creates a new fine on drunken drivers to help pay for it. And the United States Border Patrol, with more than 21,000 agents, recently said it would start testing cameras this year."

Dash cam captures South Carolina trooper shooting unarmed man during traffic stop | FOX31 Denver

Dash cam captures South Carolina trooper shooting unarmed man during traffic stop | FOX31 Denver

South Carolina trooper shot unarmed man, police say - CNN.com

CNN) -- One moment, a man reaches into his vehicle after a South Carolina trooper asked for his driver's license.

Seconds later, the trooper shoots him, and the man asks why. Days afterward, prosecutors aren't satisfied with the answer.

Authorities released dash-camera video Wednesday showing what they say is Sean Groubert, a decorated South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper, shooting Levar Jones, who was unarmed, in the parking lot of a gas station just outside Columbia on September 4.

Jones, 35, survived the shooting. But Groubert, who has since been fired for the incident, has been charged with aggravated assault and battery, a felony that could get him up to 20 years in prison if convicted, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said Wednesday.

Cop shoots him as he reaches for wallet

"The force administered in this case was unwarranted, inconsistent with how our troopers are trained, and clearly in violation of department policies," South Carolina Public Safety Director Leroy Smith said last week in announcing Groubert's firing.

This wasn't the first time Groubert had fired his weapon. He was lauded the previous time: His department gave him a medal of valor for an incident in which he and another trooper shot and injured a man who had shot at them in 2012, SCPSD spokeswoman Sherri Iacobelli said.

South Carolina trooper shot unarmed man, police say - CNN.com

Attorney General Eric Holder, Prominent Liberal Voice in Obama Administration, Is Resigning - NYTimes.com

A child of the civil rights era, Mr. Holder was shaped by images of violence in Selma, Ala. He joined sit-ins at Columbia University, where protesters renamed an office after Malcolm X. He has frequently spoken in personal terms about civil rights, including about his experiences as a prosecutor in Washington and as a college student, when he was stopped by the police.

As attorney general, he has pushed to change what he sees as fundamental inequities in the criminal justice system. He told prosecutors not to seek long sentences for low-level crime, and he pushed to eliminate those sentences for nonviolent drug crimes. He has joined with liberal Democrats and libertarian-minded Republicans to advocate for the most sweeping liberalization of sentencing laws since the beginning of the War on Drugs.

Early this week, Mr. Holder announced that the federal prison population declined this year for the first time since 1980. He projected the decline would continue for the next two years.


Attorney General Eric Holder, Prominent Liberal Voice in Obama Administration, Is Resigning - NYTimes.com

Wal-Mart Surveillance Video of John Crawford III Shooting

The long-term effects of corporal punishment | MSNBC

The long-term effects of corporal punishment | MSNBC

NYTimes: U.S. Suspects More Direct Threats Beyond ISIS

The case for war is being built up piece by piece.  This is starting to look like the lead up to the second war in Iraq.

Here's The State With The Highest Jobless Rate In The Nation This is what total Republican control gets you.  "Georgia had the worst jobless rate at 8.1 percent. Mississippi's was second-worst."

Deputy Made Sex Offenders Pose For Nude Photos: Cops

Holder launches historic study on police bias | MSNBC

Holder launches historic study on police bias | MSNBC