At Risk in Senate, Democrats Seek to Rally Blacks - NYTimes.com
“Ferguson has made it crystal clear to the African-American community and others that we’ve got to go to the polls,” said Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia and a civil-rights leader. “You participate and vote, and you can have some control over what happens to your child and your country.”
This tragedy is one in a 400 year legacy of brutality endured by people of African decent in the Americas. Progress has only been made when the interests of people's of African decent are shared by a significant group of people of European decent. As a result we have seen a Sysiphean cycle of progress then retrenchment. It is unfortunate to see us protesting against brutality both civilian and under the color of law just as my great aunt and grandfather protested nearly 100 years ago.
This tragedy is one in a 400 year legacy of brutality endured by people of African decent in the Americas. Progress has only been made when the interests of people's of African decent are shared by a significant group of people of European decent. As a result we have seen a Sysiphean cycle of progress then retrenchment. It is unfortunate to see us protesting against brutality both civilian and under the color of law, just as my great aunt and grandfather protested nearly 100 years ago.
Thousands Protest in Staten Island Over Eric Garner's Death - WSJ
"In contrast with those protests, however, the Staten Island march ended with no arrests, according to the New York Police Department. Despite a heavy police presence, officers wore blue and white polo shirts for the event, not military garb, and mostly gave protesters leeway to move freely throughout the crowd. Dozens of them were seen talking with marchers or helping others navigate the maze of metal barricades.
Near the front of the crowd marching to the Staten Island district attorney's office was Constance Malcolm, the mother of Ramarley Graham, an unarmed 18-year-old shot and killed by New York City police in 2012."
Video undercuts police story in shooting | MSNBC
"ST. LOUIS – Almost immediately after two police officers shot and killed an African-American man here, local authorities described the event as an act of self-defense. The victim, they said, had brandished a knife in a threatening manner.
At a press conference shortly after the Tuesday shooting, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson gave the impression that the victim, later identified as 25-year-old Kajieme Powell, had charged at police, ready to stab. “Officer safety is the No. 1 issue,” he said. “Every police officer that’s out here has the right to defend themselves and the community.”
But in a newly released cell-phone video taken by an eyewitness at the scene and distributed by the St. Louis police, Powell is seen lumbering – not lunging. As he walks toward police officers, in broad daylight and on a relatively quiet street, he doesn’t seem to be the one threatening. In fact, he can be heard telling the officers, “Shoot me now, kill me now.” It is not possible to discern in the video whether Powell is armed though police can be heard warning him to “drop the knife.” They then opened fire, shooting at him at least eight times."
The Question in St. Louis County: Can Whites Empathize With Blacks? - The Daily Beast
"So now, a grand jury sits in St. Louis County, taking testimony and parsing evidence. Yesterday we learned the racial makeup of that grand jury: nine whites, and three blacks. Which raises the obvious question: Can whites empathize with Michael Brown and the larger grievances Ferguson’s black community has with police? And can America more broadly value the experiences and concerns of black America enough to address them rather than dismiss them?
Arguably, many white people’s systematic inability to validate the experience of black America, let alone empathize, is in and of itself a profound version of racial bias. According to a poll released this week by Pew’s Center for People and the Press, 80 percent of black Americans think the shooting of an unarmed African American teenager in Ferguson “raises important issues about race.” Yet only 37 percent of white Americans agreed with the same sentiment; more whites (47 percent) think “race is getting more attention than it deserves.” This is why I have little hope for progress in America.
Self-Segregation: Why It's So Hard for Whites to Understand Ferguson - The Atlantic
"Overall, the social networks of whites are a remarkable 93 percent white. White American social networks are only one percent black, one percent Hispanic, one percent Asian or Pacific Islander, one percent mixed race, and one percent other race. In fact, fully three-quarters (75 percent) of whites have entirely white social networks without any minority presence. This level of social-network racial homogeneity among whites is significantly higher than among black Americans (65 percent) or Hispanic Americans (46 percent).".This explains the insensitivity of so many whites to the experience of Black Americans with racism.
How do you explain racism to your black son?
"Anyone raising a Black child in America has to have The Talk, especially if that child is male. I’m not talking about the requisite birds and bees talk. I mean The Talk about how to survive being Black in this country."
Oops! Rick Perry does it again, can’t remember his two felony charges - Salon.com
"Perry was a little unclear when explaining what felony charges were issued against him.”I’ve been indicted by that same body now for I think two counts, one of bribery, which I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t really understand the details here,” Perry said of the grand jury that indicted him.
A grand jury indicted Perry last week on two felony counts — abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public official — over a 2013 veto threat."
Why Did Ferguson Erupt? The Answer Depends on Your Race - NBC News.com
" Some whites in Ferguson acknowledge its racial tension, too. Pastor Mike Trautman, who is white and leads the mostly white First Presbyterian Church, said the city has a long history of racial exclusion that his white parishioners are now being forced to reckon with. “African-American folks are frustrated," he said. "They are frustrated economically and with the sense of their voices not being heard. These are systematic issues. The kind of healing we need will take a long time. I think everyone is awakening to that.”
Across the street, Rev. Steve Lawler of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, says his parishioners, two-thirds of whom are white, have been actively supporting the protesters who gathered near the QuikTrip until it was barricaded off by police earlier this week. “We’ve been flowing some food over to the QuikTrip site,” he said. “We heard there was need for sandwiches. We made 200.”
But the refrain from many white residents of Ferguson is one of worry about the city’s future in the aftermath of the violence.
Holder and Obama Differ in Approach to Underlying Issues of Missouri Unrest
“I thought of them again sometime after that,” he added, “when a police officer stopped and questioned me in Washington while I was running to catch a movie, even though I happened to be a federal prosecutor at the time.”
As a young lawyer and prosecutor, Mr. Holder started programs intended to bridge the divide between law enforcement and communities. “We all bring our life experiences to the job we do — and that’s exactly what we want our attorney general to do,” said Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the United States District Court, a former colleague. “He does care, and it just shows the character of the man himself.”
ACLU: First Amendment 'suspended in Ferguson' | MSNBC
"Police in Ferguson, Mo., on Monday began telling protesters – who have been gathered for days demanding justice for the death of an unarmed teenager at the hands of police – that they were no longer allowed to stand in place for more than five seconds, but had to keep moving.
“When inquiries were made to law enforcement officers regarding which law prohibits gathering or standing for more than five seconds on public sidewalks,” the ACLU of Missouri wrote in its emergency federal court filing to block the apparent policy, “the officers indicated that they did not know and that it did not matter. The officers further indicated that they were following the orders of their supervisors, whom they refused to name.” The ACLU argued the policy was a prior restraint on speech and asked for a temporary restraining order."
The Day Ferguson Cops Were Caught in a Bloody Lie - The Daily Beast
"Police in Ferguson, Missouri, once charged a man with destruction of property for bleeding on their uniforms while four of them allegedly beat him.
“On and/or about the 20th day of Sept. 20, 2009 at or near 222 S. Florissant within the corporate limits of Ferguson, Missouri, the above named defendant did then and there unlawfully commit the offense of ‘property damage’ to wit did transfer blood to the uniform,” reads the charge sheet."
Apple iPad Air 2 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 vs Nexus 10: A Clear Comparison
"Apple has been one of the top ranking brands that have fully dominated the market with its iPhone series. Samsung has also made up its name in the industry with their Galaxy smartphones. Nexus on the other hand, has marked its name as it has joined Google, the world’s most popular search engine. Over the years, these three flagships never stopped innovating a series of products that catches the attention of the public."
America's police are looking more and more like the military | Michael Shank and Elizabeth Beavers | Comment is free | theguardian.com
"A Defense Department program transfers military-grade weapons and vehicles to local law enforcement. It's the last thing we need"
CNN - New low for U.S.-Israel relationship?
"Blaming Israel for an attack that killed several people at a school in Gaza, the United States said it was "appalled" by the "disgraceful shelling" -- sharp criticism from Washington rarely heard when Israel is engaged in battle.
"When you have a situation where innocent civilians are killed in Gaza, there's more that Israel can do to hold themselves to their own standards," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said."
"My heart is broken as I witness the suffering of the Palestinian people and the seeming indifference of Israelis. All my life I’ve been a champion of Israel, proud of its many accomplishments in science and technology that have benefited the world, insistent on the continuing need for the Jewish people to have a state that offers protections from anti-Semitism that has reared its head continuously throughout Christian and Islamic societies, willing to send my only child to serve in the Israeli Army (the paratroopers unit-tzanchanim), and enjoying the pleasures of long swaths of time in which I could study in Jerusalem and celebrate Shabbat in a city that weekly closed down the hustle and bustle of the capitalist marketplace for a full 25 hours. And though as editor of Tikkun I printed articles challenging the official story of how Israel came to be, showing its role in forcibly ejecting tens of thousands of Palestinians in 1948 and allowing Jewish terrorist groups under the leadership of (future Israeli Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir) to create justified fears that led hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians to flee for their lives, I always told myself that the dominant humanity of the Jewish people and the compassionate strain within Torah would reassert itself once Israel felt secure."
REPORT: Israel Eavesdropped On Kerry In Mideast Talks
"New information indicates that Israeli intelligence eavesdropped on telephone conversations by US Secretary of State John Kerry. Sources told SPIEGEL the government then used the information obtained from the calls during negotiations in the Mideast conflict.
SPIEGEL has learned from reliable sources that Israeli intelligence eavesdropped on US Secretary of State John Kerry during Middle East peace negotiations. In addition to the Israelis, at least one other intelligence service also listened in as Kerry mediated last year between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states, several intelligence service sources told SPIEGEL. Revelations of the eavesdropping could further damage already tense relations between the US government and Israel.
During the peak stage of peace talks last year, Kerry spoke regularly with high-ranking negotiating partners in the Middle East. At the time, some of these calls were not made on encrypted equipment, but instead on normal telephones, with the conversations transmitted by satellite. Intelligence agencies intercepted some of those calls. The government in Jerusalem then used the information obtained in international negotiations aiming to reach a diplomatic solution in the Middle East.
In the current Gaza conflict, the Israelis have massively criticized Kerry, with a few ministers indirectly calling on him to withdraw from peace talks. Both the US State Department and the Israeli authorities declined to comment."
NYTimes: Newly Insured, Many Now Face Learning Curve
"For those reasons, hospitals, clinics, insurers and health advocacy groups around the country are organizing education efforts, aimed particularly at lower-income people who might not have had insurance in years, if ever. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has jumped in, too, with a project called “From Coverage to Care,” which provides educational materials to community groups and medical providers who are trying to teach health and insurance literacy."
NYTimes: U.S.-Russia Nuclear Deal Stalls as Tensions Over Ukraine Rise
This turn of events is very sad. We need to build the international confidence to eliminate nuclear weapons.
