On NPR’s Weekend Edition on Sunday, December 7, 2014, host Rachel Martin interviewed three veteran police officers (two white, one black) from Columbus, Ohio, a city in which the department had been accused in the past of police officers routinely conducting illegal searches and using excessive force. She also spoke with Malik Aziz who is chairman of the National Black Police Association.
[Read more…]
The Daily Show looks at the extraordinary effort by those on the right to find something, anything, other than excessive and unreasonable use of force by the police to blame for the recent deaths of black people.
Incidentally, some are arguing that the fact that despite the clear video of the Garner killing no indictments were brought suggests that having police wear body cams will not help. I disagree. The existence of the video has created much greater consensus on the appalling nature of the killing which is why the excuses proffered on behalf of the police in this case are so absurd.
[Read more…]
The Satanic Temple, seems to be expanding its sights yet again as they seek to counter every Christian encroachment in the public sphere by demanding that their own religious symbols be given the same privileges.
[Read more…]
The seemingly endless negotiations between the US, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and Iran over Iran’s nuclear program, due to end last week, have been extended until the middle of next year. Israel is not happy with these negotiations and the fact that they have been extended.
[Read more…]
The Daily Show despite its news trappings is a comedy show and has had a difficult time dealing with the recent cases of police killings of black people. They could not ignore these stories since they were so huge but at the same time, how can you get humor out of tragedy especially when the events are so recent? They managed to do so with the events in Ferguson but the failure of a grand jury to indict the New York police officer who killed the unarmed Eric Garner when he posed no threat to anyone was too much for Jon Stewart to handle and he simply threw his hands in the air and allowed himself to editorialize about tragedy and humor.
[Read more…]
I had known that you could take small pets on a plane as part of your carry-on luggage as long as they were in a suitable container but a 70lb pig? Jon Stewart discusses what happened when one such pig started acting up on a plane while in flight and manages to tie that story in with pig-related brazen political pandering by the governor of New Jersey.
[Read more…]
In the case of the deaths of two black men Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York at the hands of police officers, we had grand juries fail to indict them and thus avoid having the cases go to trial. It is not for nothing that it is asserted that any competent prosecutor could, if they wished, indict a ham sandwich, so the lack of indictments, coupled with the extremely unusual situation in both cases in which the prosecutor allowed the officers to give unchallenged testimony in their defense suggests that the fix was in and the prosecutor was using the grand jury to avoid taking personal responsibility for the decision.
[Read more…]
The Daily Show continues its excellent coverage of the recent deaths of black people at the hands of the police and ridicules the absurd whining of the St. Louis County Police Association that the raised arms ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ stance of five Rams football players as they on the field before a game constitutes some grievous insult to them that requires the NFL to apologize and punish the players. To their credit, the Rams coach and management have refused to do so.
[Read more…]
Today saw another grand jury, this time in New York, fail to indict a white police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the July 17 death of Eric Garner, a 43-year old black man, a father of six, who had been stopped for peddling loose cigarettes. The police put him in a chokehold, a practice that is actually prohibited by the New York City and many other police departments, and he died despite his cries that he could not breathe. So a man died for the trivial offense of selling cigarettes.
[Read more…]
The famed whistleblower continues to garner international praise even as the US government continues to claim that he is a traitor who must be punished.
Whistleblower Edward Snowden received several standing ovations in the Swedish parliament after being given the Right Livelihood award for his revelations of the scale of state surveillance.
Snowden, who is in exile in Russia, addressed the parliament by video from Moscow. In a symbolic gesture, his family and supporters said no one picked up the award on his behalf in the hope that one day he might be free to travel to Sweden to receive it in person.
His father, Lon, who was in the chamber for what was an emotional ceremony, said: “I am thankful for the support of the Right Livelihood award and the Swedish parliament. The award will remain here in expectation that some time – sooner or later – he will come to Stockholm to accept the award.”
…The awards jury, in its citation, said Snowden was being honoured “for his courage and skill in revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance violating basic democratic processes and constitutional rights”.