Agreed, but it's also tiring that we view all these people in a binary lense. Musk possibly delivering rapid mass transit while our GOP continues to do nothing if no defund programs like this is something that is also needed.
I could live with it if Trump pushes for these doctors to get the death penalty, but these aren’t the type of drug dealers he’s targeting.
None of this behavior is new or novel. We just care about opioids now. “When incentivized in a broken system, people behave in a way to maximize gain.” Ground breaking work CNN.
Democrats are terrible, here in MD the democrats hold an overwhelming majority in both legislatures but the Speaker of the House will not take it up for a vote and refuses to allow it on the ballot. The democrats need to start adopting some progressive policies and this one is an easy one that democrats somehow have managed to fuck up.
Does the Lamb victory provide significant momentum to the anti-Pelosi Democrats in the House and on the DNC? Lamb affirmatively distanced himself from Pelosi, running his own ads stating he would not support her as Speaker of the House. Run a google search on Pelosi Lamb and there are Democrats across the country lauding Lamb for it. Tim Ryan (D-Youngstown OH) challenged her for House Minority Leader following the 2016 election but was beaten back 134-63 on 11/30/16. I think there are more than 63 votes right now.
her time is finished. should the Democrats take the House, they need a new speaker. she is extremely unpopular for right and wrong reasons
The issue is getting someone good to take it, your approval gets decimated in that job so people with big ambitions duck it Paul Ryan is just as disliked but gets half the hand wringing by the media
Most of the Pelosi hand wringing is from Fox News and talk radio, of course they aren't going to go after their golden boy.
It's really, really easy for conservative media to make their base, and the people beyond their base, get super angry and hateful of women
I also think there is a significant minority, who may now be a majority, within the House who realize the party needs fresh leadership. I continue to believe that 2016 was as much a repudiation of the status quo as it was any support for Trump. Pelosi becomes Hillary 2.0 this cycle. Trotting out folks like Joe Kennedy for the Democratic response to Trump's state of the union gets nobody nowhere.
2018 could see the biggest swing in the House since 1994. It's currently 240-195. The GOP swung 54 in 1994. There have been 8 special elections to fill a vacant seat in 2017-18, 7 R seats and 1 D seat. All of them swung left. The D seat swung an additional 18 points. The 7 R seats have averaged a 16.7 swing, with only the Utah 3rd and Georgia 6th in single digits.
False stories crop up on voter fraud after Pennsylvania race Associated Press March 16, 2018 A Pennsylvania official said no “legitimate claims or complaints” of voter fraud have come up since Tuesday’s closely contested U.S. House race in the state, countering several false stories that cited invalid votes and a court decision throwing the election results out. The website Daily World Update said in a story circulating on social media that a judge identified as Marshawn Little of the 45th Federal Appeals Court of Westmoreland County cancelled the results because they were “tainted beyond reproach.” But there is no such judge in Pennsylvania and no such court exists. Another story on the same website, which identifies itself as a satire site to users who click the “About” section, claims “trucks full of illegals” cast votes in the election. “There are no legitimate claims or complaints or evidence that any such events occurred. These claims should not be taken seriously,” said Wanda Murren, communications director for Pennsylvania’s Department of State. No county elections office in the district has received any such reports, either. “We are not aware of any official complaints lodged with the county election boards or district attorneys alleging voter fraud, nor have there been any filed through DOS. Any claims otherwise or without citing these entities could be from illegitimate sources,” Murren said. With absentee ballots counted, Democrat Conor Lamb holds a 627-vote lead over Republican Rick Saccone out of more than 228,000 cast. Lamb has declared victory, while Saccone has not conceded. Election officials in the four counties in the Pittsburgh-area district had identified about 400 uncounted provisional, military and overseas ballots by Thursday. The Associated Press has not called the race. The GOP is watching the final vote counting before deciding whether to seek a recount or sue over perceived election irregularities. ___ This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.
Not sure if it was brought up in this thread or not, but I remember discussing the open air pig shit lagoons in North Carolina on tmb somewhere. Anyways, a Chinese conglomerate purchased the worst offender because NC's regulations are more lax than China's. Tobias https://www.rollingstone.com/politi...th-carolina-like-the-developing-world-w517973 https://www.the-mainboard.com/index.php?threads/the-left™.120311/page-97#post-8972328
lots of data on cops/guns/deaths in this dk piece Marc Lamont Hill fact slams yet another Cop apologist who defends Shitty AMC Show of Stephon Clark Spoiler By Frank Vyan Walton Friday Mar 23, 2018 · 12:26 PM CDT Sacramento Protests Shitty AMC Show of Stephon Clark Yesterday protest over the police killing of Stephon Clark in Sacramento who was only holding a white iPhone in his hand as officer sprayed his body with over 20 shoots spilled out and shutdown Interstate 5 and surrounded Golden One Arena in downtown Sac. The shooting of Clark, who was holding a cellphone in his hand that police claim they thought was a gun, in his grandmother’s backyard has roiled activists in Sacramento and across the country who claim it is another case of police quickly shooting a suspect because he is black. Appearing with host Don Lemon, and paired with former Los Angeles police officer David Klinger, Hill began, “Unfortunately this story is all too familiar.” “A black man or woman who is outside is vulnerable to state violence,” Hill explained before turning to the shooting of Clark. “He didn’t have a weapon. The police reports were saying he had a crowbar, not a gun. The police didn’t enter the chase expecting a gun, and they didn’t identify themselves as police before the exchange began in the yard.” “This man was going to his own house and he was in his own yard and this happens far too often,” he continued. “There will be people saying the police thought he had a gun, and I give the police the benefit of the doubt. But too often when black people are outside, we assume they have a gun and are being a threat when they’re not.” Hill then went on the point out that the tendency for police — both black and white — to react with unreasonable fear and knee-jerk deadly force when faced with a black suspect that they automatically think may be “armed and dangerous” when they are not continues to be serious and trouble problem. Naturally Hill’s verbal opponent tried to make the claim that yet again, this shooting was “justified” because of something or the other that might have once happened to some cop sometime, somewhere… “Unfortunately people that commit crimes often times carry firearms,” Klinger offered. “And I have friends that have been involved in the shootouts with people in similar circumstances responding to a car prowl situation. And so police are trained when dealing with a situation where someone is involved in a potential crime and they are fleeing from the police, that deadly force is something that is a possibility. And it’s unfortunate, but police officers have been shot in very similar situations and so that is why police respond as they do with their guns out.” Apparently it seems not to just be a possibility — it’s a priority. Look, I probably have a clearer view of the issue of officer safety than the average layman as my old roommate was a police officer and we had many discussion of it as hew went through his training at the Orange County Sheriff’s Academy before he joined Fullerton PD. I also lived in Sacramento for almost a decade and I can vouch that this behavior is far, far form normal behavior for SAC PD as they were some of the more courteous officers I’ve ever met — but still there are facts and figures to consider. Law Enforcement Deaths for 2017 were from the following sources: Total Line Police of Duty Deaths for 2017: 134 9/11 related illness 5 Aircraft accident 2 Animal related 1 Assault 5 Automobile crash 28 Boating accident 2 Drowned 5 Duty related illness 3 Exposure to toxins 1 Gunfire 46 Heart attack 15 Motorcycle crash 4 Stabbed 1 Struck by vehicle 4 Unidentified 1 Vehicle pursuit 5 Vehicular assault 6 Deaths by Gunfire last year was indeed the highest ranking single item, but it’s still much less than half the total of 134. Automobile crashes, Heart Attacks being Drowned produced more deaths (48) for Officers. Just for the record at least 8 of those who died in 2017 as a result of gunshot wounds are K9 Officers and one NYPD Detective Steven D. McDonald passed as a results of complications from gunshot wounds he received 31 years ago which had left him partially paralyzed, which doesn’t lessen their sacrifice but does mean that the number of human officers who succumbed to gunfire which occurred within 2017 is actually 37 — not 46. When the Guardian did it’s project The Counted in an attempt to track the number of people that were killed by U.S. Police each year — they averaged more than double and triple the figure of 37 people each and every month for a total of 1,093 police killings. January 2016 87 people February 2016 100 people March 2016 100 people April 2016 86 people May 2016 87 people June 2016 100 people July 2016 89 people August 2016 94 people September 2016 84 people October 2016 87 people November 2016 94 people December 2016 85 people As you can see there’s an amazing consistency to the figures. It’s almost like a quota. Of course most of those people unlike Stephon Clark actually were armed and dangerous, but even if you filter the Guardian database for those who were unarmed that still leaves 170 people, which is 4.5 times 37. For a more apples to apples comparison the 2016 figure for Offices killed by Gunfire in 2016 was 64 out of a total of 159. [12 of whom were K9’s for the record bringing the human officer count to 52!] So just to be fair, Police in 2016 killed more unarmed people (170) than the total number of police who died, including by Heart Attack, Stroke or Drowning as well as Gunfire during that entire year (159). After Officer Klinger made the short form of the above argument, that law enforcement is dangerous which of course it is, Marc Lamont Hill went on to state that is a given and not really the point — which is the apparently inherent tendency for police to quickly resort to deadly force and paralyzing fear when black people are involved. “I’m not sure how that’s the point,” Hill fired back. “No one disputes that guns could be drawn. No one is disputing that oftentimes bad things happen. No one disputes that sometimes criminals have guns. The question is: why don’t you identify yourself as a police officer?” “Well, in this situation, there is a helicopter overhead and he knew the police were there,” the former cop suggested. “Maybe he thought it was something else,” Hill protested before tearing into Klinger. “The other question is why is there such of an over-representation of black people [shot],” he asked. “We are disproportionately killed while unarmed. It’s not to say police are never in danger. We often think black people are dangerous even when they’re not. Toy guns become real guns, cell phones become real guns in the minds of police officers. There is something in the psyche of police, black and white, that sees black people as unduly dangerous and violent. That is what we have to get to.” “We disproportionately get it wrong with black people. We tend to see guns in black people’s hands more than others and that’s not a coincidence,” Hill concluded. Of the 170 people killed by police in 2016 — 42 of them were Black which is 24% of the total while Black people are only 16% of the overall population. Those figures were even worse in 2015. An analysis of public records, local news reports and Guardian reporting found that 32% of black people killed by police in 2015 were unarmed, as were 25% of Hispanic and Latino people, compared with 15% of white people killed. Rate of Unarmed people killed by police by race Generally speaking the odds of being stopped, searched, arrested, assaulted and killed by police is between 2-3 times greater for Black People pretty much regardless of what they do. And what’s even worse is that the Guardian’s figures — which are based on media reports — are incomplete. More recent and thorough data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics under Loretta Lynch combined official data with news-based estimates like the Guardian’s, and found that the true figure isn’t 1,091 arrest-related deaths: it’s more like 1,900. Between June 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016, media reviews identified 1,348 potential arrest-related deaths. During this period, the number of deaths consistently ranged from 87 to 156 arrest-related deaths per month, with an average of 135 deaths per month. To confirm and collect more information about the 379 deaths identified through open sources from June to August 2015, BJS conducted a survey of law enforcement agencies and ME/C offices. The survey findings identified 425 arrest-related deaths during this 3-month period—12% more than the number of deaths identified through the open source review. Extrapolated to a full calendar year, an estimated 1,900 arrest-related deaths occurred in 2015. Nearly two-third (64%) of the deaths that occurred from June to August 2015 were homicides, about a fifth (18%) were suicides, and another tenth (11%) were accidents. 1,900 people per year just since 2001 (which comes out to 32,200) is more than five times the total number of soldiers who were by killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11 (6,687) combined. There are some specific circumstances in Clark’s case, the fact that he was allegedly observed smashing car windows in the neighborhood, and leaping fences. The darkness on the scene was also a factor limiting visibility — but they you also had officers who chose to mute their body cams. So exactly what was that all about? And of course, unlike the case where a white Australian woman was shot by police officer and he was ultimately charged with murder, the chances of this case being treated in a similar manner, and any of these officers going to jail is less than slim and nil. Cuz, a grown Black man in his own back yard with a cell phone be dangerous, yo!. Amirite? Friday, Mar 23, 2018 · 2:18:26 PM CDT · Frank Vyan Walton Some of the body cam footage. Friday, Mar 23, 2018 · 8:06:57 PM CDT · Frank Vyan Walton One good point from the comments. Here’s a detail no one’s really explored — when you hear someone in a neighborhood is going around breaking car windows, does that sound like a crime more likely to be committed by a grown adult or by some dumbass teenager? They weren't pursuing a terrorist or a murderer or a rapist or a suspect known to be armed and dangerous, they were pursuing a vandal, likely a stupid kid vandal. And their response when they caught up to someone they assumed was the vandal was to shoot them 20 times. Note that Austin SWAT didn't shoot at the suspected serial bomber until after he detonated a bomb, and they still put that officer on leave even though any reasonable person could say detonating a bomb justifies lethal force. Admittedly you might worry about triggering a bomb with a gunshot, but the point remains that a suspect known to kill with a deadly weapon was approached with more caution and care than some jackass window breaker. And this pattern repeats over and over and over, and we’re not supposed to make anything of it. Friday, Mar 23, 2018 · 8:12:50 PM CDT · Frank Vyan Walton And another one. Klinger: “...and so that is why police respond as they do with their guns out.” Hey, if you’re doing a yard-to-yard search in the dark for a suspect breaking windows, it does seem prudent to have a weapon drawn. But way too many cops have a hair trigger finger (yeah, I know that’s two different things) and are completely incapable of holding fire until they understand the situation. If a reasonable person can say “there was a strong likelihood that this suspect, the one in front of me, not some hypothetical boogeyman, had a drawn firearm” (not a knife or a pry bar or an improvised weapon no good beyond arm’s length) , and the suspect refuses an order to freeze after you have identified yourself as a cop...then there may be justification for talking a shot or two at the suspect. But “I was afraid for my life” alone, or “suspect was fleeing” or “suspect didn’t drop to his knees facing north with his hands laced behind his head within one-tenth of a second of the command being issued”, is not good enough. Apocryphal stories of what happened to some other cop in some possibly similar situation is not good enough. And unless the suspect is a charging rhino on crazy-drugs with an automatic or semi-automatic weapon, pumping 20 shots into someone not positively identified as a real threat is never called for. And this is correct it is essentially the same view as the Majority ruling in Tennessee v Garner from 1986. Yes. In a 6-3 decision, Justice Byron R. White wrote for the majority affirming the court of appeals decision. The Fourth Amendment prohibits the use of deadly force unless it is necessary to prevent the escape of a fleeing felon and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of violence to the officer or the community. The Tennessee statute was unconstitutional as far as it allowed deadly force to prevent the escape of an unarmed fleeing felon. “I think I saw a cell phone” shouldn’t meet this standard — but somehow Prosecutors around the nation still seem to think that it does.
Hatewatch Headlines 3/28/2018 March 28, 2018 Hatewatch Staff Conspiracy theorists targeting Parkland kids; Fact-checking Tucker Carlson’s screed; Alt-right’s odd fascination with Hindu mysticism; and more. Media Matters: The right wing’s conspiracy-theory network is now going after high-school kids. Sahuarita Sun (AZ): Couple waving Confederate flag arrested after threatening marchers at gun violence rally. The Guardian: How right-wingers have attacked the Parkland kids with lies, hoaxes, and smears. Splinter: Inside the D.C. ‘March for Our Lives’ – and outside it with ‘Patriot’ picketers. CNN: Fact-checking Tucker Carlson’s extraordinary screed on diversity in America. Hope Not Hate: How the alt-right’s odd fascination with Hindu mysticism masks a deeply sinister set of beliefs. We Hunted the Mammoth: Alt-right erupts after 'Crying Nazi' Cantwell admits he's a federal informant. Washington Post: A woman’s son, facing murder charges, is called an ‘alt-right killer’ – and she blames herself. Think Progress: What’s with these so-called ‘patriots’ calling for the breakup of America? New York Times: She survived the Holocaust, only to die the victim of a Paris hate crime in 2018. Seattle Times: Everett man charged with sending suspicious packages to FBI, DC-area military bases. Daily Beast: Neo-Nazi gang busted after accidentally talking about murder while on phone with 911. Right Wing Watch: Joe Arpaio says he’ll start talking about Obama’s birth certificate again once he’s a senator. Los Angeles Times: Councilwoman Cristina Garcia criticized by fellow Democrats for using homophobic slur. Talking Points Memo: DNC staffer’s brother sues activists, media groups over conspiracy theories. AlterNet: Economist Thomas Piketty sees only one way to defeat the rise of the radical right.