Showing posts with label racial profiling. Show all posts

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Bernie Sanders: War in Iran Would Be Bigger Disaster Than Iraq

Framing their bill in terms of socioeconomic inequality, Sanders and Khanna urged their fellow lawmakers to pass their legislation because "We know that it will ultimately be the children of working-class families who will have to fight and die in a new Middle East conflict—not the children of the billionaire class."

03 January 20

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Bernie Sanders: War in Iran Would Be Bigger Disaster Than Iraq

Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Jamie Ross, The Daily Beast
Ross writes: "Sen. Bernie Sanders has pleaded with President Trump and Republican lawmakers not to go to war with Iran, warning that military action would prove to be a bigger disaster than the war in Iraq."

In a video posted to Twitter early Friday, hours after the Pentagon confirmed it had carried out a deadly Trump-ordered drone strike on Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, the Democratic presidential hopeful urged the president to get off the path to war. Sanders explained that he opposed the war in Vietnam as a young man, and that he helped lead the effort against the war in Iraq. “That war was the worst foreign-policy blunder in the modern history of the United States,” said Sanders, referring to Iraq. Sanders went on: “I’m going to do everything I can to prevent a war with Iran, because if you think the war in Iraq was a disaster, my guess is that war in Iran would be even worse... So let’s work together and prevent that war, and if people want to criticize me for that, go for it, that’s OK, I don’t apologize to anybody.”

U.S. Army Paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division, deploy from Pope Army Airfield, N.C. (photo: Robyn Haake/US Army)

Pentagon to Deploy Roughly 3,500 More Troops to Middle East Amid Tensions With Iran
Elizabeth McLaughlin, ABC News
McLaughlin writes: "The Pentagon is deploying roughly 3,500 more troops to the Middle East in response to rising tensions in the region with Iran and one day after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian military commander."
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The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, ISIS, destroyer Russell and cruiser Bunker Hill conduct routine operations in the eastern Pacific Ocean. (photo: US Navy)

The Imperial Presidency Helped Bring Us to the Brink of War in Iran
Branko Marcetic, Jacobin
Marcetic writes: "Trump is trying to drag us into war with Iran. We have to stop him — and the imperial presidency that so many Democrats continue to help expand."
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Roll for the right to a safe abortion in front of the Supreme Court in 2019. (photo: Bill Clark/Getty Images

Republicans Call for Overturning Roe v. Wade in Supreme Court Filing
Katelyn Burns, Vox
Burns writes: "Two days into the 2020 election year, Republicans are staking their ground: They’re coming for Roe v. Wade."
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A police officer stops a driver in Santa Rosa, California, 10 October 2019. (photo: Christopher Chung/AP)

Black People in California Are Stopped Far More Often by Police, Major Study Proves
Darwin BondGraham, Guardian UK
BondGraham writes: "Black people in California were stopped by police officers much more frequently than other racial groups in 2018, and police were more likely to use force against them, new statistics from eight large law enforcement agencies in the state reveal."

EXCERPT:

The stark findings are based on an analysis of records of 1.8 million people stopped by the eight largest police agencies in California in 2018. The data was collected by each police agency and provided to the California Department of Justice under a 2015 state law that mandates efforts to eliminate racial profiling by law enforcement.

The racial disparities revealed in the new statistics reflect the findings of older studies about racial profiling in US police departments that were based on smaller, less-detailed data sets. But California’s new numbers make up the largest-ever dataset compiled about police stops in the US, and they lend considerable support to minority groups who have long complained about biased policing.

Supporters of Movement Toward Socialism in Bolivia. (photo: Prensa Latina)

Bolivia: Socialists Lead Polls, Coup Plotters Frightened
teleSUR
Excerpt: "Local media Unitel Friday released a poll according to which 20.7 percent of the Bolivians will vote for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) presidential candidate, whoever he or she might be."

EXCERPT:

Bolivia's Supreme Electoral Tribunal will launch the call for presidential elections next January 6.

On the last days of December, the MAS leader Evo Morales announced that his party will elect its presidential candidate on January 19.

"More than 1,000 people have been victims of human rights violations in Bolivia by the Jeanine Añez dictatorship."

Given the difficulties in carrying out legal maneuvers that could leave the MAS out of the elections, Añez called a "summit of political leaders," in which she hopes the Bolivian elites will agree to defeat the Socialists through a single presidential candidacy.

"We do not want dispersion of the vote, we do not want what happened on Oct. 20," she said tacitly referring to the date when Morales won the 2019 presidential elections.

Meanwhile, citizens have realized the despair that the right is experiencing because of the possible emergence of a progressive government.

"The imminent triumph of MAS makes murderous coup plotters and traitors to their homeland tremble because they will soon be held accountable for their actions," citizen Nelly Salazar tweeted.

Firefighter in Australia. (photo: Saeed Khan/Getty Images)

Australia Is Blazing Into the Pyrocene—the Age of Fire
Matt Simon, Wired
Excerpt: "If you want to gaze into the hellish future of human existence on Earth, look to Australia."

EXCERPT:

“We're really struggling to be prepared because we rely on personnel and also equipment,” says Martin Rice, head of research at Australia’s Climate Council. “Australia doesn't really have the aerial firefighting capacity that California does.”

The supercharged blazes of the Pyrocene are putting millions upon millions of people around the world directly at risk, and even larger populations indirectly at risk with smoke. Australia’s fires have darkened the skies of Sydney, and sent smoke all the way to New Zealand. Wildfire smoke is absolutely terrible for any human to inhale, but especially for the elderly and asthmatic, with long-lasting effects on the immune systems of children. Australia’s wildfires, then, are both a rural and urban emergency.

But perhaps with climate change hitting Australia with such a dramatic assault, the nation can galvanize to confront the threat. “The metaphor I'm using is it's our Gallipoli,” says Bowman. “It was a massive military defeat, which we celebrate in a typically Australian way, because we say that it's nation-building.”

“I hope that's what's going to come out of this,” he adds. “We’re going to have to reimagine this whole experience somehow.”

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Sunday, March 3, 2019

Sarah Olson | The Cult of the Good Christian Woman

02 March 19

It's Live on the HomePage Now:
Reader Supported News

Sarah Olson | The Cult of the Good Christian Woman

The Good Christian Woman ideal is not only repressive, it is the epicenter of harmful expectations for women perpetuated within the conservative Christian community. (photo: Fei Fei)

Sarah Olson, Medium
Olson writes: "Who is the 'Good Christian Woman'? She is a wife who values having a family over a career or education."
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Bernie Kicks Off 2020 Campaign in Brooklyn
Bernie Sanders, YouTube

Bernie Sanders begins speaking at 43 minutes, 30 seconds.

Excerpt: "Bernie Sanders speaking in Brooklyn at the first rally of our historic campaign. We're going to win this election because we will put together the strongest grassroots coalition in the history of American politics."
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Representative Ilhan Omar. (photo: Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)

GOP's Anti-Muslim Display Likening Rep. Omar to a Terrorist Rocks West Virginia Capitol
Dareh Gregorian, NBC News
Gregorian writes: "Angry arguments broke out in the West Virginia statehouse on Friday after the state Republican Party allegedly set up an anti-Muslim display in the rotunda linking the 9/11 terror attacks to a freshman congresswoman from Minnesota."
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Leo Wang, 32, arrives at the airport for his flight home to China on February 18, 2019, after his H-1B visa petition was denied. (photo: Leo Wang)

Trump Said He Wanted More 'Highly Skilled' Immigrants, but They're Saying He Doomed Their American Dreams
Michelle Mark, Business Insider
Mark writes: "Even as a little boy growing up in China's Jiangxi province, Leo Wang knew he wanted the American dream."
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Two police stand at their vehicle. (photo: Guardian Liberty Voice)

Black Drivers Are Pulled Over Twice as Often As White Drivers, According to New Data
CBS News
Excerpt: "Philando Castile, Walter Scott and Sandra Bland were all pulled over by police in routine traffic stops. All are dead."
READ MORE

French protesters clad in high-visibility yellow vests. (photo: AFP)

Week 16: Yellow Vests Accuse Macron of Manipulating Airwaves
teleSUR
Excerpt: "Despite being suppressed by law enforcement, France's Yellow Vests will continue demonstrations for a 16 consecutive week to oppose President Emmanuel Macron's austerity measures."
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Savannah plant diversity is threatened by rising CO2 levels. (photo: Getty Images)

Rising CO2 Levels Destroying African Savannah, Scientists Warn
Josh Gabbatiss, The Independent
Gabbatiss writes: "Up to a third of the plant life occupying the African savannah could be driven to extinction as CO2 is pumped into the atmosphere, scientists have warned."
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Wednesday, September 21, 2016

MASSterList: Vintage Warren | Bush for Clinton | Missing evidence

By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan

09/21/2016

Vintage Warren | Bush for Clinton | Missing evidence

Happening Today

UMass Board of Trustees

The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees meets to vote on the university's 2017-2021 capital plan, changes to the approved capital projects list and the non-discrimination and harassment policy, and other issues, UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center, Main Ballroom, 50 Warren St., Lowell, 9 a.m.

Governor’s Council

Gov. Charlie Baker chairs a meeting of the Governor's Council at which votes are expected on the reappointment of Sheila Dupre to the Parole Board and the appointment of Superior Court Judge James Lemire to the Appeals Court, Council Chamber, Room 360, 11:30 a.m.

Reading of the Roll

Gov. Baker joins Attorney General Maura Healey, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Sen. James Timilty and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh in making remarks at the Massachusetts Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation's 29th annual Memorial and Reading of the Roll ceremony, with Treasurer Deb Goldberg also attending, Ashburton Park, State House, 11:45 p.m.

Cambridge city manager review

The Cambridge City Council will interview Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash and the other two finalists for the position of Cambridge city manager, Cambridge City Hall, Sullivan Chamber, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 5:30 p.m.

Reception for Tufts Health’s Roosevelt

Treasurer Deb Goldberg is expected to attend a Tufts Health Plan reception honoring recently retired CEO Jim Roosevelt, Regattabar, 1 Bennett St., Cambridge, 5 p.m.

Wynn building trades fair

Wynn Boston Harbor casino holds a career fair with Suffolk Construction and local trade unions for the planned $2.1 billion Everett casino project, Bunker Hill Knights of Columbus, 545 Medford St., Charlestown, 6 p.m.

Today's News

Vintage Warren: Senator shreds, mauls, shames, chastises, humiliates Wells Fargo chief

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was in vintage form yesterday, showing absolutely no mercy to Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf at a hearing over the bank’s practice of secretly opening unauthorized bank accounts and taking other shady internal steps to pump up profits, reports Greg Ryan at the Boston Business Journal. Besides demanding that Stumpf resign, Warren said he should be the subject of a criminal investigation.

There’s simply too many good Warren quotes to adequately chronicle here. So just dig into the BBJ’s coverage, or the Globe’s coverage, or the Herald’s coverage. It was such a rhetorical slaughter, you almost felt sorry for Stumpf. Almost.

Jill Stein’s presidential campaign is kept on life support, thanks to taxpayers

Green Party presidential candidate and Lexington resident Jill Stein is running a spirited campaign so far, even though she barely registers in the polls and has minimal money coming in from private donors, reports the Washington Post’s Marilyn Thompson. So how is Stein able to keep her campaign going? Partly via taxpayer dollars, writes Thompson: “In addition to her own fundraising, she has received four federal payments totaling $456,000 under the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, a moribund program whose critics call it the ‘loser’s fund.’”

Washington Post

Is former President Bush voting for Hillary Clinton?

If true, there’s more than a little irony here: Former President H.W. Bush has reportedly said he’ll vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in November, meaning Bush would be voting for the spouse of the man who defeated him for re-election in 1992. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is claiming Bush recently told her he plans to vote for Clinton, reports the Herald’s Chris Villani, who adds that Townsend has even posted online a photo of herself and the 92-year-old Bush with a caption reading “The President told me he’s voting for Hillary!”

Boston Herald

Galvin: Presidential race and ballot questions could drive record voter turnout, selfies and all

Massachusetts could set a new record for voter turnout on November 8, driven by the presidential race and hotly contested ballot questions, according to Secretary of State William Galvin, reports WGBH’s Mike Deehan. Galvin said the 2016 contest could beat the 3,184,196 votes for president cast in Massachusetts in 2012.

Meanwhile, Galvin acknowledged reality yesterday, saying he isn’t going to crack down on voters taking selfies at polling stations, even though taking pictures of one’s ballot is technically banned in Massachusetts, reports MassLive’s Gintautas Dumcius. "We'll discourage it but we can't prohibit it," Galvin said. "If people insist on doing it, there's nothing we can do about it.”

How do you do background checks on driverless cars?

As city, state and federal officials grapple with issues related to Uber, Lyft and other ride-sharing companies, here’s a thought: What happens if driver-less cars take over both the cab and ride-sharing industries? Cromwell Schubarth, the former Herald assistant business editor and now with the Silicon Valley Business Journal, notes how Lyft’s co-founder is predicting that most Lyft rides will happen in autonomous vehicles within five years and private car ownership will all but end by 2025.

In particular, we got a kick out of this graf in Cromwell’s story: “Both Lyft and Uber are likely to face resistance from drivers that they hope to eventually replace, with the head of a group of 35,000 Uber drivers in New York last week promising a fight ‘the likes of which they have yet to see" if Uber tries to bring self-driving cars to that city.’” So the allegedly bold ride-sharing disrupters of the cab industry are terrified of being disrupted themselves.

Silicon Valley Business (via BBJ)

Evans: Forget the union. I’m going to make police body cams permanent

Sounds like Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans, probably emboldened by a recent court decision, is just going to leap-frog over the new police body-cam pilot program and make it permanent in six months, regardless of future union contract talks. He does stick in the caveat about “if the pilot program proves positive.” But does anyone think it won’t be found positive in this political climate? “I think the union will come around,” Evans said on Boston Public Radio yesterday, as reported by WGBH’s Tori Bedford. “I think at the end of this pilot program, hopefully they’ll see the need and they’ll get a lot of positive feedback.”

WGBH

SJC: Maybe blacks have a legitimate reason for fleeing police

The Supreme Judicial Court threw out the gun conviction of a Boston man and directed judges in the state’s criminal courts to consider whether black men who flee police may be doing so due to unfair racial profiling, Zeninjor Enwemeka of WBUR reports. The state’s highest court cited studies showing black men more likely to be stopped by Boston police, studies the department has called flawed and misleading.

WBUR

Eleven Bay State counties declared ‘primary natural disaster areas'

From SHNS’s Colin Young at Wicked Local: “Eleven of the state's 14 counties have been deemed ‘primary natural disaster areas’ by the United States Department of Agriculture due to substantial crop losses that began with a February deep freeze and continued though a summer marked by severe drought.”

Wicked Local

New claim filed in 2013 Yawkey Way deal

The last-to-first Boston Red Sox may be the feel-good story of the summer, but at least one person is still sore over what he calls a sweetheart backroom deal the hometown team received from the Boston Redevelopment Authority in 2013. Joseph Marchese has filed a new claim against the BRA’s decision to grant the Red Sox exclusive permission to use Yawkey Way on game days, saying he suffered unspecified damages by not being able to bid on the rights as well.

Boston Herald

Now you see it, now you don't: Evidence disappears from yet another police department

State police are handling an investigation into the possible theft of cash and prescription drugs from the evidence locker at the Lee police department, Brian Steele of MassLive reports. The investigation began in July after more than $1,400 was found missing; one of the two officers tasked with overseeing evidence has since resigned and entered rehab.

Meanwhile, nearly all the way across the state, Braintree officials now say 22 cases have been compromised by evidence handling issues in that community, Neal Simpson of the Patriot Ledger reports. The number is likely to grow further. The DA’s office says it has contacted some 200 attorneys to inform them that their cases may be impacted.

Ed chief’s Akamai ties hit by anti-charter school critics

Here’s a case of connecting seemingly random dots: 1.) Massachusetts Board of Education chair Paul Sagan gets slammed by critics for donating $100,000 to the pro-charter school campaign. 2.) Gov. Baker declares the controversy a “nothingburger.” 3.) Sagan is the former CEO of Akamai Technologies in Cambridge. 4.) Sagan has previously used his Akamai fortune to make charitable donations. 5.) Sagan still has ties to Akamai. 6.) Akamai is now seeking state tax breaks for its planned move to a new headquarters in Cambridge. 7.) Anti-charter school forces are slamming Sagan’s Akamai ties. 8.) Sagan adamantly denies he’s been lobbying for the Akamai tax breaks. SHNS’s Matt Murphy has all the details.

SHNS (pay wall)

Pro-pot group says forum was veiled campaign event

Proponents of Question 4, which would legalize recreational marijuana, say a forum held Monday in Ashland to discuss the ballot initiative was actually a campaign event in disguise and say it is part of a pattern being followed by those opposing the push, Bill Shaner of the MetroWest Daily News reports. All four speakers at the forum spoke against legalization and two have been heavily involved in the campaign to defeat the question. “I think it is despicable that they would deceive voters like this,” said Jim Borghesani, communications director for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.

http://bit.ly/2ctqKGw

Taunton dangles downtown rent rebates

Hoping to light a fire under business growth in its downtown, the city of Taunton formally launched a program that will offer rent rebates of as much as $7,500 over two years, Charles Winokoor of the Taunton Gazette reports. Businesses can get back as much as $5,000 in the first year of the program and $2.500 in year two. The city has budgeted $50,000 for the program.

Taunton Gazette

Tick tock: No progress reported as janitors strike vote approaches

There’s been no reports of progress in contract talks between thousands of janitors and office building contractors in Boston, even though the union representing 13,000 janitors has set this Saturday as the deadline for a strike vote, as reported by the Globe. If no agreement is reached by the end of the month, a citywide janitors’ strike may take place, union officials warn.

Meanwhile, the Globe’s Marcela Garcia has a question about janitors working at the T via private contractors: Of all people, why are they being targeted for cost savings by the transit agency? Garcia: “To most people, the reductions may seem like an abstract management exercise, but they are of course very real to the those affected. Jorge Rivera, 47, has been cleaning T stations for 11 years. But his hours were cut from 35 to 25 per week.”

Pleasant surprise for West Brookfield: U.S. Navy names ship after local suffragist Lucy Stone

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has decided to name one of the Navy’s oil-replenishment ships after 19th Century local suffragist Lucy Stone, a move that has caught residents in her native West Brookfield pleasantly off guard, reports Bradford Miner at the Worcester Telegram. Not all of Mabus’s recent decisions on naming ships have been a hit, such as his naming one ship after the late gay activist Harvey Milk, theAssociated Press reports. But the Lucy Stone move appears to be most welcome in West Brookfield.

The Telegram

Today's Headlines

Metro

Revere businessman cries foul yet again over BRA’s deal with Red Sox - Boston Herald

Investors say wanted fugitive is behind failed Beachcomber deal in Quincy - Patriot Ledger

Massachusetts

Gov: Driver hired as environmental police head is well qualified - Boston Herald

Money, drugs stolen from Lee police department; officer enters rehab, resigns - MassLive

Pro-legalization camp calls Ashland forum a campaign event - MetroWest Daily News

22 cases upended by Braintree police evidence handling issues - Patriot Ledger

State education chief gets booed in Brockton over charter school - Brockton Enterprise

Public pot ban moves forward in New Bedford - Standard-Times