Thanks to the Conservative controlled Supreme Court, some southern states can now legally take away the voting rights of some of their residents.
The Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, the provision of the landmark civil rights law that designates which parts of the country must have changes to their voting laws cleared by the federal government or in federal court.
The 5-4 ruling, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, found that “things have changed dramatically” in the south nearly 50 years after the Voting Rights Act was signed.
“There is no doubt that these improvements are in large part because of the Voting Rights Act,” the court ruled. “The Act has proved immensely successful at redressing racial discrimination and integrating the voting process.”
“Section 4 and 5 were intended to be temporary, they were set to expire after five years,” the justices added.
Consider this two steps forward, three steps back.
A new Pentagon report shows that most of the sexual assault in the military are against men.
In its latest report on sexual assault, the Pentagon estimated that 26,000 service members experienced unwanted sexual contact in 2012, up from 19,000 in 2010. Of those cases, the Pentagon says, 53 percent involved attacks on men, mostly by other men.
“It’s easy for some people to single out women and say: ‘There’s a small percentage of the force having this problem,’ ” said First Lt. Adam Cohen, who said he was raped by a superior officer. “No one wants to admit this problem affects everyone. Both genders, of all ranks. It’s a cultural problem.”
Though women, who represent about 15 percent of the force, are significantly more likely to be sexually assaulted in the military than men, experts say assaults against men have been vastly underreported. For that reason, the majority of formal complaints of military sexual assault have been filed by women, even though the majority of victims are thought to be men.
“Men don’t acknowledge being victims of sexual assault,” said Dr. Carol O’Brien, the chief of post-traumatic stress disorder programs at the Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Florida, which has a residential treatment program for sexually abused veterans. “Men tend to feel a great deal of shame, embarrassment and fear that others will respond negatively.”
But in recent months, intense efforts on Capitol Hill to curb military sexual assault, and the release of a new documentary about male sexual assault victims in the military, “Justice Denied,” have brought new attention to male victims. Advocates say their plight shows that sexual assault has risen not because there are more women in the ranks but because sexual violence is often tolerated.
“I think telling the story about male victims is the key to changing the culture of the military,” said Anuradha K. Bhagwati, executive director of the Service Women’s Action Network, an advocacy group that has sharply criticized the Pentagon’s handling of sexual assault. “I think it places the onus on the institution when people realize it’s also men who are victims.”
Calling all those “concerned” Tea Partiers and Republicans who cried foul that the IRS targeted Conservative groups. Can you hear me? Are you out there? Here’s another bit of news for you to cry about. Documents released today revealed that the IRS “targeted” Progressives groups too.
The Internal Revenue Service targeted progressive groups applying for tax-exempt status in addition to conservative ones, according to IRS documents released by congressional Democrats on Monday.
The documents and an internal IRS report being sent to congressional committees reveal that the tax agency used terms that included “progressive” and “occupy” to flag progressive organizations for extra scrutiny before the 2012 elections.
The revelations greatly complicate the political scandal that has engulfed the IRS over the past few weeks. An inspector general report in mid-May revealed the tax agency had screened conservative groups with words like “tea party” in their name when considering applications for tax-exempt status. Lawmakers from both parties quickly denounced the creation of such “Be On The Lookout,” or BOLO, lists. Republicans in particular argued the finding proved the IRS was trying to tip the scales of the election during the heat of the campaign.
Apparently, when the talking point was “IRS is targeting the Teaparty,” everyone was up in arms. With the new revelation that Progressive groups were looked at in the same way, no one cares.
Apparently, the NSA snitch didn’t board his flight to Havana Cuba.
Boarding is over. Aeroflot agent says Snowden not on plane.
— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) June 24, 2013
11:18pm BST—Max Seddon of the Associated Press says that he is standing next to Snowden’s seat on the flight – and “he ain’t here”.
12:33pm BST—
Miriam Elder sends more from Interfax and its “source familiar with Snowden’s situation”: “Snowden is probably already outside the Russian Federation. He could have flown on a different place. It is unlikely journalists could become witnesses to his flight.”
The screams are clearly coming from a distraught male, whose repeated cries for help end abruptly with a gunshot. What is not clear from a recording of a 911 call, however, is the identity of the screamer: George Zimmerman, the volunteer community watchman, or Trayvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year-old he killed that night.
While jurors in Mr. Zimmerman’s second-degree-murder trial, in which opening statements are scheduled for Monday, may get to hear the recording in court, they will not hear the opinions of two audio experts for the prosecution about who the screamer is, or is not. One concluded that the voice was not Mr. Zimmerman’s; the other said it was very likely Mr. Martin’s.
In an order released on Saturday, the judge in the case, Debra S. Nelson, excluded their testimony. She said the science supporting the experts’ analyses “is not as widely accepted at this time” as the more established methods relied on by defense witnesses who said it was impossible to conclude whose voice it was.
A neighbor made the 911 call on Feb. 26, 2012, during the fatal encounter between Mr. Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, and Mr. Martin, who was black and was returning to a home where he was staying after buying snacks. Citing Mr. Zimmerman’s claims of self-defense, the police did not arrest him for six weeks, setting off protests nationwide.
Shocking, yea, I know. But it’s only shocking to you because you are thinking as a logical person. If you watched Fox News however, you might believe that Trayvon Martin caused his own murder.
That is the kind of information Fox is broadcasting. One of their guest, a former New York Police Detective Harry Houck, actually opened his mouth and made that statement, saying “… listen, Trayvon Martin would be alive today if he didn’t have a street attitude. That’s the bottom line.”
I supposed the “street attitude” Detective Harry Houck is talking about has to do with the Skittles Trayvon had when he was shot by Zimmerman. Or maybe it was the can of Iced Tea he bought at Seven Eleven. Those two things mixed with Trayvon’s skin color automatically equals “street attitude” in this Detective’s mind.
That is a scary statement, but it’s even more scarier coming from someone who was a New York Police detective. With an attitude like this, I wonder how many innocent people are imprisoned because of this stereotypical racist attitude from a detective.
All his cases should be reopened and examined thoroughly! It’s disgraceful that a detective would even entertain this way of thinking.
The Texas senator credits his father with shaping his views on immigration, and talks about following the rules: ”In my opinion, if we allow those who are here illegally to be put on a path to citizenship, that is incredibly unfair to those who follow the rules.” But Raphael Cruz acknowledged on NPR that he bribed a Batista official to get out of Cuba.
“I came to this country legally,” Cruz’s father says. “I came here with a legal visa, and … every step of the way, I have been here legally.”
In an interview near his home outside Dallas, the elder Cruz says that as a teenager, he fought alongside Fidel Castro’s forces to overthrow Cuba’s U.S.-backed dictator, Fulgencio Batista. He was caught by Batista’s forces, he says, and jailed and beaten before being released. It was 1957, and Cruz decided to get out of Cuba by applying to the University of Texas. Upon being admitted, he adds, he got a four-year student visa at the U.S. Consulate in Havana.
“Then the only other thing that I needed was an exit permit from the Batista government,” Cruz recalls. “A friend of the family, a lawyer friend of my father, basically bribed a Batista official to stamp my passport with an exit permit.”
Michele Bachmann today said that she was an “insurgent” in the IRS after graduating from school, and her purpose there was to learn about the “enemy from the inside” so that she could take them down.
Speaking to a group of supporters who actually think she is still relevant, Michele said this:
“Well, it’s been a hundred years now that we’ve had the current United States tax code,” the Minnesota Republican told a crowd of tea party members in Washington, D.C. “Don’t you think a century of oppression is enough?”
“I also want you to know that in my former life, I was an insurgent!” she exclaimed. “I was an insurgent because because I absolutely wanted to defeat the tax code and bring more liberty about in the United States. And so after I went to law school, I got a post-doctorate degree in tax law and after that I got a job with the IRS as a tax lawyer! Because I believe if you understand the enemy from the inside out, that’s the best way to defeat them!”
Bachmann added that lawmakers were “more frightened of real people than anything else.”
“So I think that there are shivers right now going up of a lot of politicians in that building,” she said, pointing to the U.S. Capitol. “Now it’s time for the politicians to listen to all of you!”
“You’re here and you’re clear…. with your message. And your message is, it’s time to abolish the IRS!”
I guess there’s hope for Edward Snowden afterall. He could one day grow up to be an employee of the United States Congress.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed a bill on Friday that blocks local governments from implementing paid sick leave legislation, the Orlando Sentinel reports. He made his decision quickly, only taking four of the 15 days he legally had to review the bill before he signed it.
In signing the bill, Scott sided with big business interests including Disney World, Darden Restaurants (owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster), and the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
The bill is part of a national effort to pass so-called “preemption bills” that would block paid sick leave legislation that is backed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing group that coordinates conservative laws across states. The state’s House Majority Leader, Steve Precourt (R), who was instrumental in putting forward the preemption bill, is an active ALEC member.
I bet you didn’t know that masturbation began before birth. It’s okay, like you, I didn’t know this either. But thanks to the wonderful information provided by our friendly Republicans – you know, the same folks who taught us about legitimate rape and the ability of the woman’s body to “shut that whole thing down” if pregnancy occurs from illegitimate rape – we now know that fetuses, as early as 15 weeks old, pleasure themselves by masturbating.
This piece of info is brought to us compliments of Texas Republican Congressman Michael Burgess, who used the masturbation theory as a reason to push a bill outlawing abortions before 20 weeks. According to Mr. Burgess, if a 15 weeks fetus could feel pleasure from… pleasuring himself, then he could also feel the pain of an abortion.
The congressman explains;
“There is no question in my mind that a baby at 20-weeks after conception can feel pain. The fact of the matter is, I argue with the chairman because I thought the date was far too late. We should be setting this at 15-weeks, 16-weeks,” said the former OB/GYN during the House Rules Committee debate on the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.”
“Watch a sonogram of a 15-week baby, and they have movements that are purposeful,” he continued. “They stroke their face. If they’re a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. If they feel pleasure, why is it so hard to believe that they could feel pain?”
He has no doubt in his mind that this is so, so women must now give up their right to choose what’s best for their own health. Go Republicans!
Strategists dream, a country’s nightmare. By nowPresident Obama’s Administration is well aware that the people of the United States do not want to become embroiled in another war in the Middle East. Or anywhere else in the world for that matter.
And yet, in the case of the civil war in Syria, the American people have no piece on the game board that gives them any leverage. What we want cannot be heard of the clamoring din of War and what will probably be this country’s further military intervention into the Syrian conflict.
G8 leaders.
Anyone with eyes can see that the G8 Summit will produce nothing in regards to a peaceful resolution to the region. Many doubt that it was even supposed to. Not with Russian President Vladimir Putin supplying Assad’s forces with sophisticated antiaircraft missile batteries, while at the same time looking for ways to assist Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in defending the demilitarized border between Syria and Israel.
Then there’s Republicans like John McCain claiming that’s it’s too little too late”, referring to the small arms and artillery Obama says he’ll donate to the cause of the Syrian rebels. McCain, some Republicans and Democrats alike, feel that the U.S. should ride into Syria on white horses and personally take down Syrian President Bashar Assad, something they think the rebels won’t be able to do left to their own devices. Never mind that there are Syrian people who are Alawites, Druze, Christians and Sunnis on the side of Bashar Assad, who don’t want to see the present government replaced by radical Islamic fundamentalists, a point that western and foreign media don’t seem to ever report on.
Subsequently, there may never be Peace in the Middle East. ideologically it sounds good. It’s a bright, shiny mantra that can be repeated when the prospects look dim, as it so often does. But it’s not based in any reality. The Arab occupied regions are fraught with strategic, geographical and political interests for the power brokers that are in fact the G8, including the United States.
And there’s just no option for peace with players like these.
After 29 years in the classroom, and with a pretty savvy political sense, if I may be so bold, I consider myself a keen observer of most things educational, but this story about Philadelphia’s schools made me shiver with anger from the first paragraph:
Andrew Jackson School too agitated to eat breakfast on Friday, an aide alerted the school counselor, who engaged him in an art project in her office. When he was still overwrought at 11, a secretary called the boy’s family, and soon a monitor at the front door buzzed in an older brother to take him home.
Under a draconian budget passed by the Philadelphia School District last month, none of these supporting players — aide, counselor, secretary, security monitor — will remain at the school by September, nor will there be money for books, paper, a nurse or the school’s locally celebrated rock band.
I know that this kind of mindless budget cutting has been going on for years and real reformers, as opposed to the self-styled ones on the right, have been warning us thatchildren are in real danger, but somehow this story caught me. Or maybe it just represents the last straw on my particular camel’s back. Whatever. I have now officially had enough. If that’s the way that Philadelphia’s families are going to be treated, then we need an educational Tahrir/Taksim/self-immolating fruit-seller moment in this country. It’s that bad now, and it’s going to get worse.
Across the river, here in New Jersey, next fall is shaping up to be one of the worst for education since, well, four years ago when Chris Christie promised to destroy collective bargaining, and then made good on it, among other things. All of the polls point to a reelection win for the governor with a slight possibility that his coattails could enable the GOP to take over the state legislature. With a majority, even if it’s just the Senate, they can reshape the State Supreme Court, and with both houses they can further erode worker’s rights, eliminate seniority, impose radical cuts to public schools and stop funding for programs, like those in Philadelphia, that save lives, literally and figuratively.
What might save the state is a current challenge to the October U.S. Senate primary, forcing it to be held on the same day as the gubernatorial election. That would bring out more pro-education voters. Opponents of the separate election say they’ve found a clause that specifically addresses the issue. Let’s see if the State Supreme Court agrees.
And then, of course, there’s the new teacher evaluation system that’s set to go into effect statewide come the fall. Imagine a program that uses bad data in a manner that it wasn’t meant to be used, then include horse-trading politicians who have little idea what the legislation says, and put a Commissioner of Education in charge of the system who has little regard for anything other than his political standing and whether the State Board of Education supports him. Oh, wait…no need to imagine. New Jersey’s got it!
I’m all for teacher accountability, but this system was created by non-educators as a means of punishing state workers and unions, and making it easier to fire effective teachers who cost too much. If it was about education, then private and charter school teachers would be included in it. But they’re not, and that’s all you need to know about the intentions of its authors.
So enjoy your summer everyone. Let’s hope the shore businesses make lots of money and rejuvenate the towns and people who lost the most. Let’s hope that students and teachers find exciting ways to add to their knowledge, or to just forget about formal learning for a while and smell some flowers. In the fall, a new storm will be brewing, but it won’t be anything like Sandy. It will just be a lot of hot air.
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