Thursday, December 4, 2014

No Charges For White Cop In Eric Garner Killing, Despite Shocking Video

Albuquerque Cop Fired For Not Turning On Body Cam

Albuquerque Cop Fired For Not Turning On Body Cam

"Albuquerque's police department has one of the highest per capita killing rates in the country. A DoJ review seems to have pushed them to do something about it."

Cop Who Shot Tamir Rice Declared Unfit For Duty In 2012

Cop Who Shot Tamir Rice Declared Unfit For Duty In 2012

"Tim Loehmann resigned from his police job in 2012 after receiving an evaluation that deemed him unfit."

Peter King’s racial hypocrisy: Why this police apologist is the king of privilege

Peter King’s racial hypocrisy: Why this police apologist is the king of privilege

"If the GOP congressman (and NYPD defender) participated in the #CrimingWhileWhite hashtag, he'd have plenty to say"

"I Can't Breathe": As Protests Erupt in NYC, Eric Garner's Nephew Speaks Out on Grand Jury Ruling

Jon Stewart utterly devastated over Eric Garner: “I honestly don’t know what to say”

Jon Stewart utterly devastated over Eric Garner: “I honestly don’t know what to say”

"Jon Stewart took a serious tone on Wednesday night to discuss the grand jury’s decision not to indict the police officer who killed Eric Garner with a chokehold, in Staten Island."

Vince Warren on How Police Officers Get Away with Killing from Ferguson to NYC

“Nothing is shocking”: Questlove powerfully responds to Eric Garner grand jury decision

“Nothing is shocking”: Questlove powerfully responds to Eric Garner grand jury decision

"His words were simple but powerful, concisely summing up the utter demoralization much of the public has felt for quite a while."

American Cops Kill With Startling Frequency Compared To Other Nations

White America’s moral disaster: From Eric Garner to Mike Brown, a destructive view of “justice”

White America’s moral disaster: From Eric Garner to Mike Brown, a destructive view of “justice”

"Eric Garner is just one example of black life devalued. Here's how white victimization is tearing the nation apart"

Jon Stewart: 'We're Definitely Not Living In A Post-Racial Society'

Jon Stewart: 'We're Definitely Not Living In A Post-Racial Society'

"He concluded:

"We are definitely not living in a post-racial society, and I can imagine there are a lot of people out there wondering how much of a society we're living in at all"."

Justice in America

Rand Paul Blames Taxes, Politicians And Everyone But Cops For Garner's Death

Rand Paul Blames Taxes, Politicians And Everyone But Cops For Garner's Death

"The taxes didn't kill Eric Garner. Cops did. Rand Paul's cynical play for votes in 2016 on this day was particularly evil and unnecessary."

New York City takes to streets in wake of Garner ruling

Value of video questioned after Garner case yields no indictment

DOJ to investigate Eric Garner case

Protests nationwide peaceful, passionate

Watch: New York’s Mayor Addresses Eric Garner Grand Jury Decision (VIDEO)

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/12/04/bill-de-blasio-speech-eric-garner-grand-jury-decision/
"De blasio confronted the long history of racism in the United States and echoed the voices of protesters across the country, saying, “Black lives matter. It’s a phrase that should never have to be said, but our history, sadly, requires us to say that black lives matter"."

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

De Blasio: We will work relentlessly for change

De Blasio: Policing problem ‘personal’ for me

Breaking: NYPD Officer NOT Indicted for Chokehold Death of Eric Garner

Breaking: NYPD Officer NOT Indicted for Chokehold Death of Eric Garner

"A Staten Island jury on Wednesday failed to indict New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo over the death of Eric Garner, according to news sources. Caught on video recording, the black 43-year-old was killed after being placed in an illegal chokehold by the white NYPD officer."

Protests across the country

Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Steele on the Eric Garner decision

NYC council member reacts to no indictment

No indictment in NYPD chokehold death

Republican war on CBO now targets its director

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/02/1348873/-Republican-war-on-CBO-now-targets-its-director
"Ever since Capitol Hill's budget scorekeeper presciently predicted Ronald Ronald's magical tax cuts would produce oceans of red ink, the GOP has had the CBO in its crosshairs over its inconvenient truths about taxes, the economic stimulus, health care and more."

Now We Have Benghazi Report Truthers

Now We Have Benghazi Report Truthers

"It's important that they keep those Benghazi fires burning, since they're raking in the contributions over the manufactured outrage. But it still doesn't make it true."

Rand Paul is a conspiracy theorist: Time for the world to call him what he is

Rand Paul is a conspiracy theorist: Time for the world to call him what he is

"You don’t have to look very hard for evidence of Rand Paul’s conspiratorial past, and more than a few vestiges of it have carried over into his life as a public figure."

'The Last Time Texas Fought Over States Rights …'

'The Last Time Texas Fought Over States Rights …'

"Texas Republican Representative Dan Flynn, an old rich white guy from East Texas (heavy sigh), has decided that we are going to set up a panel of 14 legislators to vote on which federal laws we will follow and which ones we won’t. It’s called nullification."

Democrats Shouldn’t Save The GOP As Ted Cruz Pushes House Towards Government Shutdown

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/03/democrats-save-gop-ted-cruz-pushes-house-government-shutdown.html
"John Boehner has no control over his House Republicans. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has more influence over a group of about forty Republicans than Speaker Boehner does. The far-right Republicans are demanding another government shutdown."

Bernie Sanders: Republicans have their priorities wrong

Boehner Has To Beg Democrats As His Plan To Avoid Government Shutdown Lacks Votes To Pass

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/03/boehner-beg-democrats-plan-avoid-government-shutdown-lacks-votes-pass.html
"John Boehner’s plan to avoid a government shutdown in eight days doesn’t have enough Republican votes to pass, so the Speaker will have to beg Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats to bail him out."

Texas School Board Member Comically “Apologizes” After Posting Incredibly Racist Christmas Message

Texas School Board Member Comically “Apologizes” After Posting Incredibly Racist Christmas Message

"I know what you’re thinking, you’re shocked that someone who would post all of those ridiculous things on his Facebook page ended up posting a KKK-themed imagine expressing his desire for “a white Christmas.” Because it’s absolutely unheard of to hear about some right-wing conservative posting or saying something blatantly racist, right?"

GOP extremists don't like Boehner's plan to keep the government open

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/03/1349017/-GOP-extremists-don-t-like-Boehner-s-plan-to-keep-the-government-open
"they don't really want to fund the government or govern responsibly, anyway, so there's not much in this plan for them to like."

TX School Board Member Posts KKK 'White Christmas' On Facebook

TX School Board Member Posts KKK 'White Christmas' On Facebook

"A Texas school board member apologized after posting an image of a member of the Ku Klux Klan with the caption "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" to his Facebook page, television station KTAL reported on Monday."

Libertarian Ron Paul Acolyte Goes on Anti-Immigrant Shooting Rampage in Texas

http://aattp.org/insane-tea-partier-hopped-up-on-right-wing-talk-radio-goes-on-anti-immigrant-shooting-rampage-in-texas/
"As though deliberately confirming the FBI’s assessment this year about the dangers of domestic right-wing terrorists, 49-year-old Larry McQilliams decided to make his voice heard on Obama’s immigration announcement…with a gun."

Soon-to-be-Rep. Glenn Grothman pipes up with the dumb again

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/02/1348851/-Soon-to-be-Rep-Glenn-Grothman-pipes-up-with-the-dumb-again#
"Ah, but soon-to-be-Rep. Glenn Grothman was not elected because he knew things. He was elected because he had an (R) after his name and the voters in his particular district are in aggregate a bulging sack of stupid who would vote for a factory-farm hog if you told them the hog was an honest family hog that didn't like taxes or immigrants or differently hued presidents"

Jon Stewart Shreds Fox News’ Racial Hypocrisy and Fear-Mongering on Ferguson

Jon Stewart Shreds Fox News’ Racial Hypocrisy and Fear-Mongering on Ferguson

"The truth is that a huge part of what Fox News does is push fear, anger and irrational paranoia hoping to get conservatives (or pretty much anyone who’s watching) worked up about whatever propaganda they’re trying to perpetuate. As I’ve said in the past, they’re the fear-mongering propaganda machine that’s dividing this nation."

‘Fox & Friends’ hosts echo Jim Crow South: Pass ‘citizenship test’ if you want to vote

‘Fox & Friends’ hosts echo Jim Crow South: Pass ‘citizenship test’ if you want to vote

"With regards to “the state of education in this country,” Fox News viewers have been found in survey after survey to be less accurately informed about world events than people who don’t watch the news at all."

Conservatives Are Weak Terrified P*ssies

To Counter Rise of Oligarchy, Sanders Pitches Progressive Economic Vision

To Counter Rise of Oligarchy, Sanders Pitches Progressive Economic Vision

"Sanders cited figures adjusted for inflation that reveal the median male worker in the United States earned $783 less in 2013 than he made 41 years ago. He also suggested that continued gender disparities persist that should outrage any who believe in equality, with annual earnings for the median female worker in the U.S. declining by $1,337 between 2007 and 2013.  Since 1999, Sanders said, household income for the median middle-class family is less than it was a quarter century ago."

McConnell Confesses: Supreme Court Being Used To Achieve Political Goals

McConnell Confesses: Supreme Court Being Used To Achieve Political Goals

"Congress can't successfully repeal the ACA so they're looking to the Supreme Court to handle that dirty piece of business for them. They keep their hands clean and still get to deprive millions of people of access to health care."

Sen. Bernie Sanders Unveils 12 Point Economic Plan

Sen. Bernie Sanders Unveils 12 Point Economic Plan

"Sen. Bernie Sanders took to the Senate floor to unveil his economic agenda for America: 12 Steps Forward"

Paul Ryan’s “reality” problem: Why his justification of ruinous supply-side tax policies is warped

Paul Ryan’s “reality” problem: Why his justification of ruinous supply-side tax policies is warped

"The “reality” Ryan describes here is a central tenet of supply-side economics: tax cuts will spur sufficient economic growth to ultimately pay for themselves. The actual reality is very different – tax cuts almost always result in lower revenues. The Reagan tax cuts ballooned the deficit to such an extent that he actually had to bump up taxes several times to help keep it manageable. The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 are largely to thank for the deficits we have right now. Conversely, the tax increases of the Clinton years (derided at the time by Republicans and conservatives as economic suicide) coincided with vigorous economic growth and deficit reduction.

But one doesn’t even need to look to history to find repudiation of this “reality.” The supply-side “experiment” underway in Kansas right now, under the direction of Gov. Sam Brownback, is a testament to the dangers of relying on dynamic scoring to oversell tax cuts.

In 2012, Brownback made good on promises to slash income and small-business taxes in the state, claiming that they’d have immediate and potent effects on job creation and economic growth – “like shooting adrenaline into the heart of growing the economy,” he said at several points. His office produced analyses pointing to brisk job creation and an influx of new residents. What actually happened was very different: sluggish job growth, and ever-worsening budgetary problems. Just last month, state revenue forecasters acknowledged that their revenue projections from earlier this year were overly optimistic, and (since Brownback refuses to raise revenues) drastic cuts to spending will have to be made to make up the shortfall. While most states are crawling out the recession and devoting increased revenues to beefing up pared-down social services, Kansas is moving in the opposite direction, and all of it is attributable to Brownback’s tax cuts."

Mitch McConnell’s squirrelly scheme: How the GOPer is trying to upend campaign finance law

Mitch McConnell’s squirrelly scheme: How the GOPer is trying to upend campaign finance law

"McConnell’s latest anti-reform ploy involves attaching a so-called policy rider to a vital omnibus appropriations bill. The Republican’s rider would essentially end limits on coordinated campaign spending by candidates for federal office and party committees."

GOP factions face off over pending government shutdown

‘Homegrown’ American Extremist’ Tea Partier Who Shot Up Austin Also Member of Christian Hate Group!

http://aattp.org/homegrown-american-extremist-tea-partier-who-shot-up-austin-also-member-of-christian-hate-group/
"So all together, we have an extremist right-wing Christian (albeit one most Christians would see as heretical) terrorist who fired off more than 100 rounds into downtown Austin, hoping for a death by cop. His motivation appears to be jealously and immigration, which is what the GOP has been turning into this month’s apocalypse (last month’s was Ebola — everyone still remembers Ebola, right? Bueller?)"

House Republicans Want To Cancel President Obama’s State Of The Union Address

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/01/hardcore-obama-hating-house-republicans-cancel-obamas-state-union.html
"Republican dysfunction is about to veer off into a whole new crazy direction."

GOP Staffer Viciously Attacks Obama’s Daughters & Regrets It Immediately

GOP’s fake new makeover: How the media sat down on the job in 2014

GOP’s fake new makeover: How the media sat down on the job in 2014

"Arguably the most egregious case is Iowa, where GOP Sen.-elect Joni Ernst scored an 8.5 point victory over Democratic congressman Bruce Braley in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin. Ernst managed to garner support among both Tea Party and establishment types in her GOP primary bid, prompting the Atlantic’s Molly Ball to herald the rise of the so-called “fusion Republican.” To be fair, it’s not a bad description — if only because Ernst is an exemplary case study in how the Tea Party right now dominates the “mainstream” GOP. But while voters may have known all about Ernst’s biography as a hog-castrating, down-home Iowa farm girl, they’d have been hard-pressed to identify her extreme views on the issues. (Indeed, polling showed that voters actually preferred Braley’s positions to Ernst’s.) Beltway reporters largely overlooked Ernst’s scary worldview — her support for arresting federal officials who implement Obamacare, her belief that there’s a secret United Nations plot to take over Iowa farmers’ land, her claim that Obama has become a “dictator” who may deserve impeachment, and her paranoid statement that she keeps a gun in case the government “decides my rights are no longer important” — in favor of talking up her “popular charisma” (Luke Russert) and her “compelling biography” (Nia-Malika Henderson). She may have sounded no different than Sharron “Second Amendment Remedies” Angle, but she was a bright new face! A rising star! Living proof that the GOP is just fine on women’s issues!"

A Texas Lawmaker’s Bizarre Plan To Secede From The Union One Law At A Time

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/11/26/3596488/a-texas-lawmakers-bizarre-plan-to-secede-from-the-union-one-law-at-a-time/
"Rep. Flynn’s proposal is rooted in an unconstitutional theory known as “nullification,” which claims that a state can unilaterally declare a federal law unconstitutional and thus void within the state’s borders. The Constitution, however, explicitly provides that duly enacted federal laws “shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.” Thus, federal law is “supreme” over state law, and state laws that conflict with federal law — or which seek to openly defy federal law — are preempted by the federal government’s legislation."

GOP White Privilege Highlighted By Ferguson Comments

The Root of this is Racism: Ferguson Activist Speaks Out on Police Abuses After Meeting Obama

Texas school official who posted KKK ‘white Christmas’ image on Facebook: I’m not racist

Texas school official who posted KKK ‘white Christmas’ image on Facebook: I’m not racist

"Texas school board member is facing disciplinary action over his racist Facebook post."

Dehumanizing the Black Lives of America: Michael Eric Dyson on Ferguson, Police Brutality and Race

Ferguson nightmare widens: Rudy Giuliani, the NFL and cops doubling down on their “right” to kill

Ferguson nightmare widens: Rudy Giuliani, the NFL and cops doubling down on their “right” to kill

"When it comes to controlling the public debate over these killings, the police lobby consistently uses excessive force — and gets away with it. Their outsize response to peaceful protest by the St. Louis Rams is only the latest example"

Botched grand jury instructions call Ferguson ruling into question

Jon Stewart Tears Into Race Baiters Over At Fox For ‘Race Plagiarism’ On Ferguson

Jon Stewart Tears Into Race Baiters Over At Fox For ‘Race Plagiarism’ On Ferguson

"Once again, it takes a comedian to lay bare the sheer hypocrisy and fearmongering we see day after day over at Fox, while the other so-called "news" networks continue to do their best to become Fox-lite."

St. Louis Rams players put ‘hands up’ at game, spark outrage

Instigate

Must-see morning clip: Jon Stewart destroys Fox News coverage of protests in Ferguson

Must-see morning clip: Jon Stewart destroys Fox News coverage of protests in Ferguson

"Jon Stewart looked at the skewed framing of the Ferguson protests by one particular network, Fox News."

Republicans Thank Idiots that Elected Them by Slashing Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit

http://aattp.org/republicans-thank-idiots-that-elected-them-by-slashing-earned-income-tax-credit-and-child-tax-credit/
"In order to pay President Obama back for a rote executive order the likes of which has been carried out by every president since Eisenhower, they decide to target this country’s children and the abuse the people who voted for them. And yet, people still vote for them — it’s like Stockholm syndrome."

The pigs may tell the tale for Chris Christie

Elizabeth Lauten Caught Showing The ‘Class’ She Claims The Obama Girls Don’t Have

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/12/01/elizabeth-lauten-caught-showing-the-class-she-claims-the-obama-girls-dont-have/
"Ex-GOP staffer Elizabeth Lauten’s learning the hard way that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. The snide comments Lauten made about Malia and Sasha Obama needing to “show a little class” during the president’s annual turkey-pardoning may prove to be the horrible holiday gift that won’t stop giving."

Republican Staffer Elizabeth Lauten Loses Her Job After Attacking Obama’s Daughters

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/01/gop-staffer-girls-elizabeth-lauten-resigns-backlash-attack-obama-girls.html
"What you’re seeing here is a teeny, tiny hole in the Republican bubble. Republicans are so hateful toward this president that they don’t realize just how unacceptable their words are outside of the GOP/Fox hate bubble."

Apology for ripping Obama daughters doesn’t address daughters

The Sunshine State Cuts Its Commitment To Solar Power

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/01/3597747/florida-psc-energy-efficiency-vote/
"Florida’s Public Service Commission voted last week to cut energy efficiency targets for power companies and to do away with a solar rebate program in the state, decisions that served to scale back the state’s already paltry efforts in renewable energy."

Why Faster Melting Glaciers Should Worry You

‘Sunshine State’ spurns solar power potential