Category: News

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New Jersey News Politics

Christie Unbound

If the thought of Chris Christie being reelected makes you feel woozy, then imagine him reelected and with a Republican majority in the Senate, if not the state legislature. My apologies if you’ve re-tasted your breakfast. The thought of that possibility is just as noxious to me, especially when it comes to education.

Consider: With a majority in both houses, Christie would get a vouchers bill, end seniority in the public workforce, and cut funding to districts that need to make up for low incomes and a dearth of jobs (remember jobs? His first term was supposed to be all bout jobs.).

It’s all laid out in this article, and it reads like a right wing wishlist.

Most educators understand that the Governor would love to make public schools into private schools complete with no unions, lower pay and no job security. That private schools can skim the best students from the admissions list, do not have to administer state tests (this makes absolutely no sense), and have endowments from their wealthy alumni/donors does not seem to make a difference to Christie or his minions. They seem to think that if you repeal all of the rules and strip away bargaining rights then schools will miraculously improve, and so will teachers. After all, we love low pay and high-cost benefits that we have to pay for.

Further, with a Republican Senate, Christie can get two more conservative judges on the state Supreme Court where the school funding formula, indeed all spending on education, would be up for revision, rescission and reassignment. Yes, the suburban districts do need to have all of the funding that was taken from them in Christie’s first year returned to them with interest, but the government still needs to fully fund the urban districts that desperately need help. More revenue from top wage earners would be out of the question, so a second term would simply exacerbate the already large differences between the well-off and the rest of New Jersey under Christie II.

And just in case you thought that he is a New Jersey brand of Republicans, please think again. Chris Christie wants to be president in the worst way. He’s already had his stomach surgery so he can slim down in time for the 2015 money/policy push, and he’s become involved in the GOP’s foreign policy debates in a big way, opposing what he sees as a misguided attempt by the libertarians to ease our diligent anti-terrorism policies.

You can look for more right-wing promises on domestic issues too, many of which will be field tested in New Jersey for maximum national exposure. He’s certainly on the wrong side of the marriage equality issue, but not if you’re a conservative. A referendum might get that done in NJ, but it will also give Christie the opportunity to say that the voters took the issue out of his hands.

There’s enough to be wary of in a second Christie administration. That’s why it’s imperative that all progressives come out and vote in November and make sure they vote on the down ticket offices too. The man is serious about implementing his hard right agenda; it’s high time we played serious too.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and on Twitter @rigrundfest

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Domestic Policies Healthcare News Politics

The Endgame

Here’s what’s clear: the success of President Obama’s second term will come down to the next few months of 2013 and early 2014 in the form of immigration reform, the success of the health care law, and the rising economy. There probably will be no grand bargain on the debt (thank heavens), tax reform is a long way off, and the Republicans don’t believe enough in real science to have a discussion about energy and the environment. So we’ll have to be happy from small victories.

The health care law is the most important. The GOP has staked its past, present and future on the law’s failure, (and has threatened to shut down the government rather than accept it) but that’s probably not going to happen. Will there be problems? You bet, and the right wing will loudly report each and every example of someone who has to pay more, or accept coverage that they don’t need or want, or how doctors and hospitals are suffering, but in the end, the law will cover more people and result in a healthier society.

It might even result in more people finding less costly insurance through the exchanges than through their employers. That would be a tremendous coup because then businesses will be relieved of the pressure of covering their employees and people will not have to stay in terrible jobs simply for the benefits. I don’t see this happening quickly, but if the market (you remember the market. This is a law all about the market.) makes it less expensive to buy from the exchanges, then that’s what people will do. betting against health insurance is a losing proposition.

Immigration reform will probably not pass the House in its Senate version, but I do have a sneaking suspicion that a more comprehensive bill than the House purports to disdain will come out of the legislature. The Republicans can talk tough, but I do think that they see the electoral graffiti on the wall and understand that passing nothing will do them great harm. Perhaps the gerrymandered districts will allow them to keep the House, but that’s a flimsy wall to hide behind for a party that’s lost the popular vote in all but one national election since 1992.

The Republican Party is clueless, but it’s not, you know, clueless.

During the past presidential election cycle, I wrote repeatedly that the conservative wave was crashing and that the GOP would become dangerously radical. I hate to say that I was right, but we are now living in the extremist bubble and it’s not going to pop for another two or four years. During that time we can look forward to more attempts at voter suppression, curbs on reproductive rights and a call to eliminate or severely cut back on social programs such as food stamps, unemployment compensation and Medicare. If the Democrats can hold the line against the tide, they can slowly turn the country back in a less dangerous direction. Then we can truly address the problems we have in a pragmatic, sensible manner.

Until then, we’ll be playing defense.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and on Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
Education News

Philadelphia Playground Site Of 3,000 African-American Graves, Archaeologists Find

Just days after archaeologists on Maryland’s eastern shore uncovered what they believe to be the oldest settlement of African-Americans in the United States, another team in Philadelphia unearthed what may be the resting place of nearly 3,000 others under a playground in the city’s Weccecoe Park.

On Thursday, Douglas Mooney, senior archaeologist for URS corporation and his colleagues dug up a single white gravestone belonging to 26-year-old Amelia Brown, who was likely a member of the Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, who bought the burial site as a private cemetery in 1810 and used it as such until 1864.

 

Categories
News Politics

Anthony Weiner Publicly Scolded

This video is super awkward … Anthony Weiner was put on BLAST Friday by an ex-school teacher for his raunchy, sexting ways … and it all happened while cameras rolled.Weiner was visiting homes damaged by Superstorm Sandy, when he walked into a s**t storm himself … in the form of Peg Brunda a retired teacher, who went off on him.

Read more: TMZ

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Featured News

White Mother Lied on Innocent Black Boys; Murdered her Own Son in Georgia

Brunswick, Ga. resident Sherry West, 42, mother of baby Antonio Santiago slain on March 14, 2013, told CNN’s Piers Morgan she wants the alleged teen killers to die during an on-camera interview. “A life for a life,” she said.

De’Marquis Elkins, 17, and Dominique Lang, 15, were arrested and charged with murdering the 13-month-old. Their trial was set for this August but their public defender, Jonathan Lockwood, uncovered some shocking evidence.

She lied! The gunshot residue was found on both West and baby Antonio’s father, Louis, who was initially reported no where near the crime scene.

Back in March, West told police that while on her way home from the post office two black boys attempted to rob her. When she told them that she didn’t have any money, they shot baby Antonio in the face, then shot her in the leg before running away.

The state forensic report says, “This supports the possibility that [Louis Santiago] discharged a firearm, was in close proximity to a firearm upon discharge, or came into contact with an item whose surface bears GSR [gunshot residue].

”Remember, accused Elkins’ mother Karimah Aisha Elkins, 36, and aunt Katrina Latrelle Elkins, 33, were arrested and charged with making false statements.

A gun was found but authorities never indicated it was a murder weapon.Also, West’s daughter Ashley Glassey, 21, said she didn’t want to wrongly accuse her mother but had her doubts because her stories were conflicting and she may have committed the murder for insurance money.

Police have not named Sherry West or Louis Santiago suspects in their son’s murder; however, Santiago is in jail for aggravated stalking of West.“He went nuts … he was throwing things through the window and terrorizing me, saying that I killed my baby and it should have been me,” West tells CBS

h/t – rollingout

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News

Youth Pastor and Pregnant Wife Among Those Killed in Bus Crash

A youth pastor, his wife, who was eight months pregnant and a third person were killed after a bus returning from a church summer camp crashed off an Indianapolis interstate.

A total of 19 people were hurt in the accident Saturday afternoon, but health officials said early Monday that a teenager who was critically injured was now in “good condition.”

Thirty-seven passengers were on the bus when it overturned just a mile from the Colonial Hills Baptist Church, where the bus was headed, according to The Associated Press.

On Sunday, church deacon Jeff Leffew identified the deceased as youth pastor Chad Phelps and his wife, Courtney, who was eight months pregnant. Both were in their mid-20s, Leffew said.
The third victim was identified as Tonya Weindorf, 51, he said. Weindorf had taken her son, who has special needs, to the church camp.

According to Leffew, the Phelps’ 2-year-old son was briefly held at a hospital before being released. Weindorf’s son remains among the hospitalized, the church deacon said Sunday.

Leffew, 44, of Fishers, Ind., who had sent four daughters to the camp, said the children on the bus “saw some difficult things” that they’d never had to experience before. “Their biggest pain is what they saw,” he told The AP

“All these folks are special to us as members here, as friends. Our church grieves now,” he told NBC station WTHR. “They’re with God in heaven. We know that without a doubt, but we grieve the fact they’re not here with us. We miss them. We ask for your prayer and support. We ask for your respect for the families that have lost loved ones.”

Witnesses told police that the bus was exiting I-465 and trying to make a left onto southbound Keystone Avenue, WTHR reported. The bus driver later told a witness that his brakes failed, WTHR said

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

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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
News

Family Rescued by Zimmerman Don’t Want Any Association With Him

Mark and Dana Michelle Gerstle, the couple George Zimmerman recently rescued from an overturned SUV, say they want nothing to do with the man who was acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin.

According to reports, the Gerstles have refused to talk publicly about Zimmerman for fear of portraying him as a hero.

“They are very grateful to Zimmerman for what he did, but they do not want to get involved,” a source toldThe Daily Mail. “There is so much hatred directed towards him they have got to think about their own family. There are a lot of crazies out there. If they say anything in support of him it could backfire.”

h/t – hellobeautiful

Categories
cannabis News

Candy Man

“Marijuana has had a bad rap for too many years, man. Its time is now.” —  Judah Izsraael, activist and co-owner of Weed World Candies

 

Bilal Muhammad a.k.a. “Dro Man” is a resident of Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan, New York and sells marijuana on the streets of New York.

And he does it from a big green truck that advertises deliveries.

But before you go running out into the streets to flag down one of these colorful vans, check this out first: Mr. Muhammad, owner of Weed World Candies, sell his cannabis in the form of lollipops!

With flavors derived from brands of marijuana such as “Lemon Drop Kush”, “AK-47″, ” Keisha”, “Girl Scout Cookies”, “Purple Urkle”, “Strawberry Cough”, “Heroijuana” & “Blue Dream”, Weed World Candies’ co-owner, 44 y.o. Judah Izsraael claims his candies contain “only a small, yet legal, amount of THC” — the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that gets you stoned.

Now, while its highly questionable that there is actually a “legal amount” of THC allowed under federal law, it is true that the weed candy wagon has been rolling around the Big Apple since April, and so far they’ve not been hassled by the law. As a matter of fact, this past Monday, one of their vans passed me on street in midtown as I muttered to myself , “What in the heck are they advertising?”

“Marijuana has had a bad rap for too many years, man,” said Izsraael, 43. “Its time is now.”

Dro Man, a prior owner of one of the many West Hollywood, Los Angeles medicinal dispensaries that were forced to shut down earlier this month, has decided to take his business on the road.

He adds that the company was an advocate of the industrialization of marijuana, “and to industrialize it, you’d have to de-criminalize marijuana because you have to grow it. This is part of our mission, because hemp is used for a lot of medicinal things. It’s not a drug. Drugs are manufactured.”

Weed World Candies also makes brownies, cookies, cupcakes, cakes, muffins too!

Hmmm…this warrants some further investigating, no?…

 

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