Month: July 2013

Categories
Domestic Policies

50th ANNIVESARY MARCH ON WASHINGTON: Saturday, August 24, 2013

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON!

Lincoln Memorial
2 Lincoln Memorial Cir NW
20037 Washington, DC

Reserve your seat online NOW!

EVENT DETAILS: For folks in the New York City area.

Join the First Corinthian Baptist Church as they partner with the National Action Network to journey to DC to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington.

To reserve a seat on the FCBC bus the down-payment is $10. The total cost is $50, with the final payment due August 4th.

All buses leave for Washington @3am Saturday, August 4 and leave from Washington after the rally at 4pm.

Buses will depart for Washington from FCBC, located at 1912 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. (at W 116th St) Harlem, New York.

See further details of the march here.

For questions about 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON please contact Betty Davis at ACT@fcbcnyc.org.

Category: Social Justice

All denominations invited!

Join the March on Washington to commemorate the March for Jobs and Freedom led by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. 50 years ago.

Labor Fight Back calls for jobs and freedom for all, defend and expand Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, respect and protect workers’ rights and restore and expand voting rights.

Fifty years ago, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. led a great March for JOBS and FREEDOM on Washington that demanded:

“A massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers—Negro and white—on meaningful and dignified jobs at decent wages.

“A national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living. (Government surveys show that anything less than $2.00 [$15.23 at May 2013 prices] an hour fails to do this.)”

Shockingly, most working people are worse off today than in the 1960s:

Employment statistics today are clearly worse. Thanks to the Great Recession, the national unemployment rate still hovers at 7.6 percent; in 1963 it was 5.7 percent. But that is only part of the picture. Part-time workers who want full-time work are on the rise. And even worse, the number of those who have completely given up hope of finding a job has increased precipitously: in 1954, 96 percent of U.S. men between 25 and 54 years old worked but today that number has dropped to 80 percent. When all these sectors of unemployed or partially employed are combined and only those men who are unemployed but want work are included, the unemployment rate jumps to 16 percent.

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the government instituted job programs and put millions to work. [A few days ago] President Obama announced that it is not the government’s job to create the needed number of jobs. In fact, the Obama administration has advocated a totally inadequate plan that would provide less than two million new jobs.

Compounding these dire circumstances, social safety net programs, like food stamps and unemployment compensation, including for those suffering long-term joblessness, have been cut across the board on the national, state, and local levels and will likely be cut again, especially in light of the recent decision by the House to push through a farm bill without food stamps.

Whatever recovery there has been from the Great Recession has resulted in income gains concentrated at the top. This division in economic gains is not new. It extends and reinforces the trend toward Gilded Age inequality that has been going on for four decades. In 2010, 93 percent of all new income that was created went to the wealthiest 1 percent of the population.

The attacks on African Americans and people of color have continued unabated, as witnessed by the brutal murder of Trayvon Martin and the exoneration of his killer. This on top of the June 25 Supreme Court decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act.

It’s high time for all victims of austerity cuts, potential victims of further cuts in the near and long-term future — particularly low-income and poor people — along with communities of color, students, environmentalists and other sectors of the population reeling from the deteriorating conditions under which we live to come together to fight collectively for our rights and achieve a new wave of social progress.March for jobs

We demand that the federal government create tens of millions of good paying jobs to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, protect the environment, and rehire laid-off teachers and other essential public workers.

source: Popular Resistance

Categories
Bill O'Reilly Politics trayvon martin

Michael Eric Dyson Slams Bill O’Reilly’s Race Commentary – Video

On Sunday’s Melissa Harris Perry‘s show, a clip of Bill O’Reilly’s commentary was played where the Fox host thought he was doing the African-American community a favor by educating them on racial issues. Bill O’Reilly began his segment with an attitude – You want a conversation about race? You got one – Bill O’Reilly said, after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the Trayvon Martin case. O’Reilly spoke his words with a look of disgust on his face as if someone just interrupted him from watching his favorite show.

O’Reilly then went into his version of “the conversation,” criticizing blacks and black leaders, including President Obama for not making life in the hood any better. According to Mr. O’Reilly, race relations will be much more improved when Blacks pull themselves up by their bootstraps, be better parents and have better entertainment. “You can’t legislate good parenting or responsible entertainment,” Bill says.

No mention from the Fox host on what Whites should do in making race relations better in this country. That is where Mr. Dyson came in with his commentary. “You know,” Dyson said, “what’s interested to me… why is it when we say we want a conversation on race, you want to have a conversation on blackness?”

Watch the rest of Dyson’s commentary below.

Categories
Featured

Robbery 101 – Never Rob a Gun Store With a Baseball Bat

Never bring a baseball bat to a gun store robbery. This 22 year old man found out the hard way when he tried to rob a gun store with a bat.

Sheriff’s deputies say Mosley walked into Discount Gun Sales on Southwest Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway around 4 p.m. Thursday with a bat in hand and smashed a display case. 

But they say when Mosley tried to steal a gun, the store manager simply pulled out his own personal firearm and pointed it straight at the would-be-robber. The manager then yelled some orders at the guy and got him to drop the baseball bat, the gun he had tried to take and a nine-inch long knife he had on him.

When sheriff’s deputies arrived, they found Mosley on the floor being held at gunpoint by the manager.  They handcuffed Mosley on the spot and took him into custody on charges of first-degree robbery, first-degree theft, unlawful possession of a firearm and second-degree criminal mischief. Bail was set at $250,000.

Categories
Featured News

Florida Gunman Kills 6, then is Shot Dead by SWAT team

 

A gunman holding hostages inside a South Florida apartment complex killed six people before being shot to death by a SWAT team that stormed the building early Saturday following an hours-long standoff, police said.

Sgt. Eddie Rodriguez told The Associated Press that police got a call around 6:30 p.m. Friday that shots had been fired in a building with dozens of apartments in Hialeah, just a few miles north of Miami.

Although a crisis team was able to briefly establish communication, Rodriguez said talks eventually “just fell apart” with the gunman, who was holding two hostages on the fifth floor. Both survived when officers stormed the building, fatally shooting the gunman during an exchange of gunfire.

h/t-LA

Categories
Featured trayvon martin

Gun Group Gives Zimmerman Over $12,000 To Buy More Guns

This is not a joke folks. These people do exist and they’re serious! They are the ones who will arm a killer with more guns. Because as far as they’re concerned, the Justice Department has no right to keep the killer’s gun while an investigation is being conducted. So they raised money specifically to buy more guns and ammunition for the killer.

And you thought we were a civilized society!

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio firearms group has raised more than $12,000 to be spent on guns or a security system for George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer who was acquitted in the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida. But the money could end up being used to pay for Zimmerman’s defense costs and fees.

The $12,150.37 check that the group wrote to Zimmerman is the result of a fundraising effort that was launched because the group believes Zimmerman’s gun rights are being violated by the U.S. Department of Justice. The department has taken all the evidence from the trial, including the gun that killed Martin, as part of a civil rights investigation.

Zimmerman was acquitted earlier this month of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2012 shooting of Martin in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., near Orlando. Zimmerman, 29, told police he shot Martin, 17, after the black teenager physically attacked him; Martin’s family and supporters say Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, racially profiled Martin as a potential criminal and wrongly followed him.

The verdict sparked protests and calls for federal officials to charge Zimmerman with violating Martin’s civil rights. Zimmerman’s brother and one of his attorneys have said he receives threats and is concerned about his safety.

The Buckeye Firearms Foundation’s check is meant to be spent on guns, ammunition, protective gear or a security system, said Ken Hanson, the group’s legal chairman.

Categories
Politics

Woman Files For Divorce After Husband Uploads Video of Her Hissy-Fit

They had some good times:

But this time, the woman wanted to go to the lake… again!:

The husband said no. He had to go to work. And this was the result:

Categories
Health Politics

Explained: Why Gastric Bypass Surgery Seems to Cure Type 2 Diabetes

The reason some patients are cured of type-2 diabetes after a gastric bypass may have been explained by US researchers.

Their animal study showed bypassing the stomach made the intestines work harder, use more energy and keep blood sugar levels under control.

They hope their findings, published in the journal Science, will lead to less invasive treatments for the condition.

Diabetes UK said a healthy lifestyle was the best way to avoid the disease.

Type-2 diabetes, which is mostly the result of a bad diet and little exercise, is a growing problem globally.

It leaves people unable to control the amount of sugar in the blood and can culminate in blindness, limb loss and heart disease.

The condition can be managed with insulin injections.

Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital, in the US, were investigating how a type of weight loss surgery affected diabetes.

Dr Nicholas Stylopoulos told the BBC: “Gastric bypass is the most effective weight loss procedure, but it also cures diabetes.

“If we knew how this worked we could develop new treatments that don’t require surgery.”

Weight loss itself can reduce the symptoms of type-2 diabetes, however, the condition can be seemingly cured before any pounds have been shed.

The challenge for researchers was to figure out where the extra sugar, which should be ending up in the blood, was going.

They performed the operation to connect the entrance to the stomach with the small intestine – essentially bypassing the stomach – on rats.

The animals were then scanned and the route of their meals was traced as they passed through the body.

“Surprisingly, we found the sugar was being used by the intestines – it has to work harder as you’ve bypassed the stomach,” Dr Stylopoulos said.

The intestines also had to go through some internal rebuilding as part of the transition, which also used energy.

The study showed the boost in the intestines’ energy needs could account for 64% of the change in blood sugar levels. The remaining effect is thought to be down to weight loss and hormonal changes.

Their plan is to come up with ways to activate the intestines to produce the same effect, but without the need for an operation.

Categories
Politics

Watch O.J. Simpson’s Parol Hearing

Categories
News

Zimmerman’s Juror – “George Zimmerman Got Away With Murder”

The only minority on the all-female jury that voted to acquit George Zimmerman said today that Zimmerman “got away with murder” for killing Trayvon Martin and feels she owes an apology Martin’s parents.

“You can’t put the man in jail even though in our hearts we felt he was guilty,” said the woman who was identified only as Juror B29 during the trial. “But we had to grab our hearts and put it aside and look at the evidence.”

She said the jury was following Florida law and the evidence, she said, did not prove murder.

The court had sealed the jurors’ identities during the trial and still hasn’t lifted the order, but Juror B29 edged out of the shadows in an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts. She allowed her face to be shown, but — concerned for her safety — used only a first name of Maddy.

The nursing assistant and mother of eight children was selected as a juror five months after she had moved to Seminole County, Fla., from Chicago.

All six of the jurors were women and Maddy, 36, who is Puerto Rican, was the only minority to deliberate in the racially charged case. Zimmerman, 29, was a white Hispanic and Martin, 17, was black.

Despite the prosecution’s claim the Zimmerman profiled Martin because he was black, Maddy said the case was never about race to her, although she didn’t want to speak for her fellow jurors. But her feelings about Zimmerman’s actions are clear.

“George Zimmerman got away with murder, but you can’t get away from God. And at the end of the day, he’s going to have a lot of questions and answers he has to deal with,” Maddy said. “[But] the law couldn’t prove it.”

When the jury of six women—five of them mothers—began deliberations, Maddy said she favored convicting Zimmerman of second degree murder, which could have put him in prison for the rest of his life. The jury was also allowed to consider manslaughter, a lesser charge.

“I was the juror that was going to give them the hung jury. I fought to the end,” she said.

Categories
News

O. J Simpson Is Seeking a Reduced Sentence

(Reuters) – Former football star O.J. Simpson will ask the Nevada parole board on Thursday to reduce his prison sentence of up to 33 years for his role in the robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers.

Simpson, convicted in 2008 of storming a Las Vegas hotel room with other men and taking thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia he said dated from his sports career, is seeking parole for convictions on robbery, kidnapping and burglary charges.

Simpson, 66, still needs to finish sentences for assault with a deadly weapon and other charges related to the 2007 incident.

Even if he were successful in this and future parole requests, he would not be released from prison before 2017, said David Smith, a spokesman for the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners.

“He’s been a model inmate, so we don’t expect him to have any problems making parole,” said Simpson’s attorney, Patricia Palm, who is representing him in his request for a new trial on the charges.

Simpson’s attorneys have said he was only trying to retrieve property that he believed belonged to him.

Categories
News

Driver Investigated after 78 killed in Spain Train Crash

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain | Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:41am EDT

(Reuters) – Police put the driver of a Spanish train under investigation on Thursday after at least 78 people died when it hit a sharp bend at speed and derailed near the northern city of Santiago de Compostela, in one of Europe’s worse rail disasters.

Dramatic video footage from a security camera published on the website of El Pais newspaper showed the train careering into a wall at the side of the track as it came off the rails on the bend on Wednesday night.

Police had put the train driver under formal investigation, a spokeswoman for Galicia’s Supreme Court told Reuters, without naming him.

 

h/t – reuter

Categories
Entertainment Music stevie wonder ted nugent

Ted Nugent calls Stevie Wonder ‘brain-dead’ for boycotting Florida

Right-wing rock musician Ted Nugent is lashing out against Stevie Wonder for boycotting Florida over its Stand Your Ground laws.

Wonder announced that he would never perform in the Sunshine State again following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin.

“I decided today that until the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law is abolished in Florida, I will never perform there again,” Wonder told a Quebec City audience this month. “As a matter of fact, wherever I find that law exists, I will not perform in that state or in that part of the world.”

Zimmerman said he shot and killed Martin in self-defense, but “Stand Your Ground” was frequently cited by his defenders as justification for his actions.

Nugent, an outspoken conservative who has called Martin a “dope-smoking, racist gangsta wannabe,”was offended by Wonder’s position.

 

h/t – the grio

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