August 23, 2014
What Civil Liberties Are You Ready To Give Up To Feel Safe?
I wrote an article in February 2012 positing crime is not at an all-time high, and I backed it up with statistics.
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August 28, 2013
Prison-Industrial Complex: The Magic Thinking Of America’s ‘Tough On Crime’ Reactionary Types
I recently participated in a debate on Facebook about criminals and American incarceration. The debate sprang from an article about a repeat offender, committing yet another robbery only weeks after release from a nine-year sentence. My takeaway from this conversation is that America’s prison-industrial complex will not change as long as most Americans are passive on this issue. And that’s because there are a fair number of people in this country who have a philosophy that one should die for the crimes he or she commits, particularly if a repeat offender. In their minds, the only requirement that need be met for a death sentence is their sole judgement that this human being no longer deserves to live, and will never be a useful member of society.
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August 15, 2013
Congressman: No White Collar Crime On Wall Street Because There Are No Guns Involved
According to representative Tom McClintock (R-CA), there is no financial crime on Wall Street because nobody forced you to buy a bad mortgage. Nobody was holding a gun to your head.
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August 13, 2013
Stop And Frisk: New York Mayor Bloomberg Cites Anecdotal Evidence In Support Of Unconstitutional Practice
Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that New York City’s controversial “Stop and Frisk” program violated the constitutional rights of thousands of residents. In response, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg holds a press conference to blast the ruling, citing anecdotal evidence in support of the unconstitutional policy.
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July 27, 2013
Bill Maher: Bill O’Reilly, Republicans, Don’t Hear What Obama Says
On Friday’s Real Time on HBO, host Bill Maher compared President Obama’s statement on African-American men and crime with Bill O’Reilly’s statement about statistical evidence on blacks and homicide. One Friday earlier, President Obama said, “Now, this isn’t to say that the African-American community is naive about the fact that African-American young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system.” Obama said this during his much talked about and unscripted remarks on Trayvon Martin, the Zimmerman not-guilty verdict, and race relations in America.
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July 22, 2013
Racializing Black-On-Black Crime, A Means To Demonize African-Americans
To listen to many on the Right, we are never to include a racial component in any crime until we eradicate so-called “black-on-black” crime. Conservatives believe the liberal media should not focus on a black victim, portrayed by conservative media as the guilty party, and should instead focus its attention on inner-city black-on-black crime. According to conservative media, we aren’t talking about blacks killing other blacks enough. Until we meet our quota in reporting blacks being murdered by other blacks, we are not allowed to talk about any other crime and the potential that race may have played a role.
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June 24, 2013
NSA Leak: David Gregory Suggests Glenn Greenwald Should Be Charged With A Crime
On Sunday’s Meet the Press, host David Gregory asked Glenn Greenwald, “To the extent that you have aided and abetted [Edward] Snowden [NSA leaker], even in his current movements, why shouldn’t you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?” Last week I wrote about “groupthink” within the ranks of the mainstream media, and David Gregory is now Exhibit A. I believe a journalist could cross a line from reporting the news, to becoming the news, but is that what Greenwald set out to do? Is that what he’s done? Or is the mainstream media out to get him? Right now I put my money on the latter. The mainstream media coverage of the Snowden story falls under complicit reporting of government affairs, not objective reporting. It’s the kind of journalism that kept the executive branch unchecked and led us into two wars.
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April 15, 2013
Boston Marathon Explosions And Modern Society
I don’t have any special insights or exclusive information regarding the two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon today, but what I can say is this — we are not living in a more violent time. We are not witnessing a societal free fall of morals and values. The human race is not degenerating into a vengeful, hateful species with no hope for the future. Chance are this was the work of one person, but I’ll leave that for the authorities to sort out. Even if it was the work of more than one person, they do not represent the rest of us.
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August 29, 2012
The Republican Solution To Everything: Spending Cuts, Tax Cuts, or Both
The United States of America is the wealthiest nation on the planet, but somehow we can’t find a way to fund important government programs that help lift people out of poverty and build a stronger foundation for our future. We have an entire political coalition that wants to cut taxes even further while attempting to make government so small it can fit in our bedrooms — right before they drown it in the bathtub (to paraphrase both The West Wing and tax pledge prophet Grover Norquist).
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August 25, 2012
Undocumented Immigrants and their US-Born Children
What is the greater crime – Entering the country illegally? Or, a judge ordered separation of parent from child? If you ask me, it’s the latter, and I’d like to hear someone try to make a case for the former being the bigger crime. I’m not saying we should ignore the rule-of-law, but we need a judicial system and an immigration system that does not run on absolutes. We need to stop treating illegal immigration as a serious crime, because it is not.
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