A historic moment in yesterday’s Democratic debate

I did not watch last night’s debate between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton that according to news reports was quite contentious. Philip Weiss looked closely at what Jake Tapper said was a ‘historic moment’ in American politics. For once a leading candidate deviated from the stance of uncritical support for whatever Israel does and instead balanced support with criticisms of its disproportionate response to attacks that had especially left Gaza devastated and caused an immense amount of suffering for the Palestinian people.
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Bill Clinton and the 1994 crime bill

There has been quite a lot of attention recently to the 1994 crime bill that Bill Clinton signed into law that led to the widespread imprisonment of large numbers of young black men with devastating consequences for the community. The Clintons and their supporters have gone into damage control mode and it has followed the usual pattern of suggesting that ‘everyone’ agreed on that policy at that time and that it is now Monday morning quarterbacks who are complaining with the benefit of hindsight.
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Jokes can be dangerous things

I recommend to new teachers that jokes are very tricky things in a classroom and should be used with caution. Jokes based on stereotypes of race and ethnicity and nationality are especially problematic to pull off without causing offense and should be avoided in the classroom, especially if the stereotype is a negative one. One informal rule is that in other settings, one can often get away with telling such jokes against one’s own group but not against that of other groups.
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Bill Clinton’s missteps on encountering Black Lives Matter protestors

At a recent event in support of his wife’s campaign, Bill Clinton was confronted by Black Lives Matter protestors about how hard his 1994 crime bill affected the black community by putting so many in jail. Kevin Alexander Gray looks at how the myth arose that Clinton was a good friend to the black community and says that the reality is quite different.
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The real drama may take place before the convention

There has been much speculation about a possible contested Republican convention in July if Donald Trump does not arrive there with the 1,237 pledged delegates he needs to give him a majority on the first ballot. It is clear that the main effort right now in the Republican party and even in the mainstream media establishment is to try and prevent that from happening. We have seen an astonishing coordinated attack by the party and media establishments to coalesce against him and now a group of billionaires has joined in the effort. The Stop Trump alliance seems to be increasingly confident that they will be successful though whether this is largely wishful thinking is unclear.
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