Positive steps in Ferguson

The death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August of last year was one of the major flashpoints involving aggressive policing that triggered a closer examination of the abuses that arise when police are used as revenue generators, with people being stopped, arrested, fined, losing their licenses, and jailed for minor violations. These can have devastating effects, especially for poorer people who may not have the ready resources to immediately pay whatever initial fine is levied on them, and end up in a nightmare of escalating penalties
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Family disagreements over same-sex marriage

Over the weekend I attended a wedding in Toronto and while there took the opportunity to visit a cousin of mine, his wife, and their adult son. It was an enjoyable visit and we discussed various topics, especially around the elections that are being held on October 19 in Canada and the permanent elections that are the feature of the US. They of course wanted to discuss the Donald Trump phenomenon.
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The next hurdle for the LGBT equality movement

Many people are not aware that in most states, members of the LGBT community, even though they can now marry, lack any legal protection from being fired or otherwise discriminated against. John Oliver on his show Last Week Tonight discussed the need to pass federal legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

In a question that he posed to all the people running for president, only Democrats Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, and Lincoln Chafee said they would support such legislation. The others did not respond.
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A plan to end police abuse

The issue of police brutality in the US has become a major issue and I too have been hitting on the issue hard and calling for reforms. But what reforms exactly? Now comes along something called Campaign Zero that has articulated 10 steps that can be taken towards the goal of ending police violence. The graphic giving the names of the 10 steps is below but if you go to the above website, each box is a hyperlink that takes you to a page that gives detailed policy recommendations.
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David Cay Johnston on Donald Trump’s shady activities

Economics writer David Cay Johnson is a long-time Donald Trump watcher and in an interview on Democracy Now! says that there are a whole lot of unsavory elements in the way that he has done business, using undocumented labor, kickbacks, union-busting, tax-avoidance, corporate welfare, and others. Johnson lists 21 questions that should be asked of him.
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The birthright citizenship controversy

Donald Trump has raised the stakes in the Republican party’s discussion about immigration by calling for the end of so-called ‘birthright citizenship’ that automatically confers US citizenship to anyone born within US jurisdiction irrespective of the status of their families. This move by him, coupled with his idea of forcible removal of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, has raised the nativist stance of the party to a whole new level.
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Evangelicals and Donald Trump

Evangelical Christians are a major part of the Republican voting base and I was curious about how they felt about Donald Trump, since he does not seem to be particularly religious. At least, he does not talk about god at every opportunity. Sarah Posner writes that Trump has split the evangelicals along unusual lines, with so-called ‘born again’ Christians being less favorable to him, and those evangelicals who do like him being those who care more about projections of American machismo than they do about religion.
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A martyr to knowledge

The deliberate killing of innocent people in the middle of war zones is reprehensible. There may be no rational reason why some deaths arouse stronger feelings of anger and sadness than others since all such deaths are equally tragic to their loved ones. The killing of children is one case where one can hazard a guess as to why it strikes even strangers more deeply. There is something about a life pointlessly snuffed out before it has fully experienced life that makes it especially sad.
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