A little reminder: 20 years after being ordered to tally cop shootings, the DOJ still isn't doing it

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347445/-A-little-reminder-20-years-after-being-ordered-to-tally-cop-shootings-the-DOJ-still-isn-t-doing-it?detail=email

Note: Most arrest-related deaths by homicide are by law enforcement, not private citizens. Rate calculated by dividing deaths by the average census population for each race in 2003-09. "Other" includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islander, and persons of two or more races.

The chart above isn't new. Mother Jones magazine created it two months ago. But it is worth keeping in mind amid the fall-out from the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown slaying.

In the accompanying story, Jaeah Lee writes:

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting program records that 410 people were killed in justifiable homicides by police in 2012. While the FBI collects information on the victims' race, it does not publish the overall racial breakdown. • The Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that between 2003 and 2009 there were more than 2,900 arrest-related deaths involving law enforcement. Averaged over seven years, that's about 420 deaths a year. While BJS does not provide the annual number of arrest-related deaths by race or ethnicity, a rough calculation based on its data shows that black people were about four times as likely to die in custody or while being arrested than whites.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Vital Statistics System offers another view into officers' use of deadly force. In 2011, the CDC counted 460 people who died by "legal intervention" involving a firearm discharge. In theory, this includes any death caused by a law enforcement or state agent (it does not include legal executions).

 Those Justice Department figures above only cover 2003-2009. And even those are problematic because of the way that local police departments report or don't report statistics on police-involved shootings.

Blogger Jim Fisher has tried to crowdsource police-involved shootings, and he's had some luck. But, while his figures provide a more thorough count than the official sources, it's ridiculous that we still don't have a reliable, thorough, trustworthy, annual government report on police shootings, especially ones in which the people shot are killed.

It's impossible to look at the situation and not come to the conclusion that there are lots of people—police chiefs being prominent among them—who simply don't want people to know the extent of such shootings.

i'm torn which is more egregious the facts (not referring to actual deaths there is nothing more egregious) but the facts or the fact that DOJ is not putting that info out there, and ignoring the order for 20 years what's up with that, and how did Holder overlook that?  but if all entities don't cooperate either to hide criminal action by their police or just defying federal orders and refusing to comply.  I guess that it all is equally reprehensible, those in towns or cities that have knowledge should post anonymously if necessary let the press do it's job if these municipality's are failing to comply that will put focus on their omission on statistics especially by local police and now that it's a national hot topic maybe something will get done.

with new congress coming in we need to depend on our selves more than ever before, WAKE UP EVERYBODY, 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJgxJ6JrPkc

Cartoon: Forty One

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347220/-Cartoon-Forty-One?detail=email


deniers abound but truth is reality and is infinite sorry those who oppose, you lose.  I don't mean for this to be humorous this reality is impacting too many families and my prayers gout to all who have lost a loved one especially in this manner.  they will not keep getting a paid vacation and a walk they will experience real justice.

All police shootings are "assaults on law enforcement" in Ferguson grand jury

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347371/-All-police-shootings-are-assaults-on-law-enforcement-in-Ferguson-grand-jury?detail=email#

I'm reviewing the grand jury transcripts released last night, and they are simply amazing. Here's my favorite exchange so far to illustrate the deeply embedded biases that exist in our culture when examining police violence. This is from the testimony of the medical examiner, pp. 43-44:

Q: Were you told when you initially arrived at the scene that there was some type of altercation involving an officer and the deceased?
A: Yes, ma'am.
Q: And that was described as an assault?
A: Correct.
Q: So when you began this investigation, you were characterizing this as an assault of a law enforcement officer, correct?
A: Yes.
Q: Is that in any way meant to be your opinion of what happened or who was a victim in this case?
A: No, ma'am. Any time I'm involved in an officer involved shooting, be it a fatal one or non-fatal, it is always during my initial investigation listed as an assault on law enforcement.
Q: And so on various evidence items that you package on these sheets, you list a victim name?
A: Correct.
Q: And when you began this investigation, who was your victim name on these packages?
A: Officer Wilson.

does this sound more like "the dead Black guy assaulted the live officer with no bruises on his face as he described from the attack"?  so in Ferguson cops can stop, have you assume the position than shoot you while you were up against a wall legs spread and hands up and the poor officer is the one who is not the perpetrator. does that dynamic include White alleged too?
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/police-shootings-ferguson-race-data

The investigators automatically presume that if a police officer shoots someone, no matter what the circumstances or evidence, it is an "assault on law enforcement."

But hey... that doesn't mean they start with an opinion about it. This was a totally unbiased investigation. They all are.

so as usual the deck is stacked and instead of justice we end up as usual with just us, it's alive and it's hunting Black males and the community is complicit common sense would tell reasonable people something is radically wrong here others would accept the assumption and exonerate the village murderer.

Evangelicals with gay children challenging church

http://news.yahoo.com/evangelicals-gay-children-challenging-church-203000318.html

Rob and Linda Robertson did what they believed was expected of them as good Christians.

When their 12-year-old son Ryan said he was gay, they told him they loved him, but he had to change. He entered "reparative therapy," met regularly with his pastor and immersed himself in Bible study and his church youth group. After six years, nothing changed. A despondent Ryan cut off from his parents and his faith, started taking drugs and in 2009, died of an overdose.

"Now we realize we were so wrongly taught," said Rob Robertson, a firefighter for more than 30 years who lives in Redmond, Washington. "It's a horrible, horrible mistake the church has made."

The tragedy could have easily driven the Robertsons from the church. But instead of breaking with evangelicalism — as many parents in similar circumstances have done — the couple is taking a different approach, and they're inspiring other Christians with gay children to do the same. They are staying in the church and, in protesting what they see as the demonization of their sons and daughters, presenting a new challenge to Christian leaders trying to hold off growing acceptance of same-sex relationships.

"Parents don't have anyone on their journey to reconcile their faith and their love for their child," said Linda Robertson, who with Rob attends a nondenominational evangelical church. "They either reject their child and hold onto their faith, or they reject their faith and hold onto their child. Rob and I think you can do both: be fully affirming of your faith and fully hold onto your child."

Jesus sought out and ministered to lepers, evangelicals can't find a grain of that devotion to apply to children, you would think after a millennia of  homosexual existence that they would realize that they are a part of society and except it in  Godly manner not discriminate in a segregation way of bigotry.  they have usurped the teaching to appeal to their intolerance what a shock they will be given when St. Peter won't punch their ticket.

It's not clear how much of an impact these parents can have. Evangelicals tend to dismiss fellow believers who accept same-sex relationships as no longer Christian. The parents have only recently started finding each other online and through faith-oriented organizations for gays and lesbians such as the Gay Christian Network, The Reformation Project and The Marin Foundation 

 Jesus also taught that we should love our neighbors, there was no mention of if they can't hate like the leaders of their religion that they should be ignored and deemed no longer Christian so where and what do evangelicals get their tenets from?

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/index.htm

Heckler Interrupts Al Sharpton's Ferguson Press Conference With Michael Brown's Family

https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv1-hpd03&p=REV%20AL%20AT%20FERGUSON%20PRESS%20CONFERENCE%20HANDLES%20A%20HECKLER&type=


this my friends is another video i've been trying to find since i saw it Rev.  Al handles an opposition heckler while setting the record straight.

Shocking mistake in Darren Wilson grand jury

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/shocking-mistake-in-darren-wilson-grand-jury-364273731666

Kathi L Alizadeh picture is not to be found on the internet and for good reason did she not think this would ever come to light or is she a member of radicalized impunity?

In the Rewrite, Lawrence looks at a major correction the assistant prosecutors had to make to the grand jury in the Michael Brown case.

mistake or deliberate misleading with misinformation?  this is truly must see TV and IMO is all DOJ needs to not only launch their own actions but to also seek disbarment of Fergusons entire district attorneys office.  this is the justice southern White law administers to those lives they consider collateral deaths in the execution of their job, or is it their job is to execute those lives then make than collateral deaths?

Peaceful protestors assaulted and teargassed over and over again in St. Louis

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347478/-Peaceful-protestors-assaulted-and-teargassed-over-and-over-again-in-St-Louis?detail=email


we didn't hear this at least I didn't, looks like Gov, on down misrepresented the police backing off and being less confrontational, hard to do when you are opposed to the people you assault, ansd threaten to kill them just for protesting the treatment by the ones with the guns.


not much difference 50+ years later, take their country back really from who themselves?

Fox & Friends: What's been the toughest part of this for the guy who killed Michael Brown?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347419/-Fox-Friends-What-s-been-the-toughest-part-of-this-for-the-guy-who-killed-Michael-Brown?detail=email



toughest part IMO trying to keep a straight unmarked eye obit face while lying his butt off, i'm sure Fox and Friends saw that pic of an unmarked face of a liar but being true righty's not a peep uttered.

Wilson Witness who corroborates the "Charge" claim, wrote Racist Journal Entries

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347479/-The-Wilson-Witness-who-corroberates-the-Charge-wrote-Racist-Journal-Entries?detail=email

The key issue in the Michael Brown shooting case has always been, when the final and fatal shots were fired, was he an active threat to the officer?  He had already fled and run away over 148 feet, but when he stopped and turned was it to surrender—as several witnesses told the press—or was it to charge as Officer Wilson claimed?

There is one witness who backed up Wilson's claim, and that witness also wrote the following in her journal on the day of the shooting.

"Well I'm gonna take my random drive to Florissant. Need to understand the Black race better so I stop calling Blacks Niggers and Start calling them People."

 Why exactly in the world is this the witness that has credibility, but so many others—including the set of construction workers who immediately reacted to shooting that "his hands were up"?—somehow don't?

that too is my question where were the two White workers that rebuke Wilson's story of no hands up, the grand jury was only given witnesses for the defense the Prosecutor became Wilson's defense lawyer he never pursued questions in the name of the victim. they say he didn't instruct the jury but think about it, didn't he?
using the racially inclined to convict the Black victim is taken out of the 17th century.  take the country back it never went anywhere.

http://www.newser.com/story/193606/white-witness-michael-brown-had-his-hands-up.html

The questions no one asked St. Louis prosecutor Bob McCulloch

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347320/-The-questions-no-one-asked-St-Louis-prosecutor-Bob-McCulloch?detail=email

Following his long public hand washing and cheerful mocking of witnesses, St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch stood by for a few minutes of questioning. It was a frustratingly brief exchange, during which McCulloch was three times asked the one question that McCulloch had already said he could not answer: what was the actual vote count on the charges before the grand jury.

Thank you, "professional reporters" for wasting this unique opportunity to clear up a few matters.

But there are a few things they could have asked McCulloch. Things that needed to be said in front of a national audience, which you can read below the fold.

First, instead of asking McCulloch the vote breakdown, they might have asked him this:

Question: How many charges was the jury asked to consider, and how many would have needed to vote against any charge to keep it from becoming a "true bill" of indictment?

Answer: Infinite, and four

McCulloch gave the jury no instruction on what charges they should consider. Many sources have said that the jury could have considered first degree murder, second degree murder or various levels of manslaughter. True enough. They might have also considered illegal discharge of a firearm. Or assault.  Or more or less anything.

On any charge considered, it would have taken nine votes to bring an indictment. We've been given the racial breakdown of the jury, which certainly suggests one answer to "how did they come to this conclusion," but it's what we'll never be told that's the real clue. With nine white jurors, it's easy to imagine that Wilson might have been protected by a handful of jurors who held onto a racist view of events. However, because of the way things were presented to the jury, confusion on any particular vote may have been generated by people pulling for a greater charge. We can't know, because the exact votes on any charge will never be released. And it's clear that, despite McCulloch's smirking protests about being "fair" this process was anything but normal.

Giving the grand jury no instruction is equivalent to throwing them into the deep end of the pool with no swimming lessons. They had to work it out for themselves. It's not unusual for the prosecutor to not suggest a specific charge, but it's almost unprecedented for the prosecutor to dump all the evidence on the jury and leave them to figure it out for themselves. Almost, unprecedented, but not quite.

Question: How many police officers have been indicted in shooting incidents since Bob McCulloch became prosecutor way back in 1991?

Answer: None

McCulloch is the son of a police officer who was shot in the line of duty. In his 24 years as prosecutor, he has never recommended charges against any police officer. How did that happen? It happened in large part because these cases are not handled like other cases.

Question: Had this been a completely different sort of incident, one in which an officer had been killed, would you have instructed the jury in the same way?

Answer: Oh, hell no.

all presumptive but the answers had they been asked should not have reflected any difference in procedure, with the racial divide in Ferguson is as it exist now police rolling in with tanks, armored vehicle point machine guns and grenade launchers at peaceful threatening to kill them and since 1991 no police were ever guilty under his tenure, well we know they go to the limit to cover up and hire officers with questionable backgrounds from other police forces.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/darren-wilsons-first-job-was-on-a-troubled-police-force-disbanded-by-authorities/2014/08/23/1ac796f0-2a45-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html

my thought is McCulloch should be charged with malfeasance, he was covering his butt bottom line give the Wilson cheerleaders what they want no charge  and screw the 67% majority population asking for him just to do his job, they knew he would not the Governor passed the buck to him he passed it to the grand jury so it would be their fault if there was opposition, but he broke protocol at the beginning and set the stage for an already willing to not charge the White murderer of a Black teen that was demonized in death so his killer as he said "he knows he did his job right" would walk free they tried to make it sound like he deserved being shot and killed 12 times.

National Bar Association calls for Federal Charges against Darren Wilson

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347398/-National-Bar-Association-calls-for-Federal-Charges-against-Darren-Wilson?detail=email

In 2010, the last year for data on the number of federal criminal cases and grand jury decisions, U.S. attorneys prosecuted 162,000 federal cases. Grand juries declined to return an indictment in 11 of them.

Eleven. As University of Illinois law professor, Andrew D. Leipold said - "Something has gone horribly wrong."And it happens again and again with police shootings.
 

[]...newspaper accounts suggest, grand juries frequently decline to indict law-enforcement officials. A recent Houston Chronicle investigation found that “police have been nearly immune from criminal charges in shootings” in Houston and other large cities in recent years. In Harris County, Texas, for example, grand juries haven’t indicted a Houston police officer since 2004; in Dallas, grand juries reviewed 81 shootings between 2008 and 2012 and returned just one indictment. Separate research by Bowling Green State University criminologist Philip Stinson has found that officers are rarely charged in on-duty killings, although it didn’t look at grand jury indictments specifically....

Last night, the National Bar Association, "the nation's oldest and largest national network of predominantly African-American attorneys and judges," issued a statement calling for Federal Charges to be brought against Officer Wilson.

WASHINGTON, DC – The National Bar Association is questioning how the Grand Jury, considering the evidence before them, could reach the conclusion that Darren Wilson should not be indicted and tried for the shooting death of Michael Brown. National Bar Association President Pamela J. Meanes expresses her sincere disappointment with the outcome of the Grand Jury’s decision but has made it abundantly clear that the National Bar Association stands firm and will be calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue federal charges against officer Darren Wilson. “We will not rest until Michael Brown and his family has justice” states Pamela Meanes, President of the National Bar Association.....

I am both elated and worried how much influence the Bar and all the nation wide support of justice for Michael why hasn't there been enough miscarriage of justice in this case alone for the feds not to need nudging, they were supposedly following this case running their own investigations why do they need an elbow to the ribs to get started.  these entity's not resting till justice is achieved that's a form response that applies to and has been applied to anything in need id different treatment.  and those who have the ability to stall this what is the shelf life of justice denied and found?

Deeply and profoundly disappointed, but not surprised. A common death with a common outcome

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/24/1347248/-Deeply-and-profoundly-disappointed-but-not-surprised-A-common-death-with-a-common-outcome?detail=email

Like thousands of people across the country and all over the world, I've been obsessed with the case against Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Mike Brown for the past 108 days. Two weeks from starting college, one block away from his grandmother's apartment, Mike was so close to a better future. Yet, as we now know all too well, he never made it that extra block home.

I'm deeply and profoundly disappointed and honestly lack the words to explain my emotions right now. It's a frustration in which a man doesn't feel much like writing. It's an exhaustion in which one has hoped just one too many times for justice, only for it to escape in the fleeting fashion that is sadly familiar in cases of young black men killed by police officers all over this country.

I had hoped officers would be found guilty when they were found beating Rodney King senseless. It was on video. We all saw it. They were acquitted.

I had hoped officers would be found guilty when they fired 41 shots at an unarmed Amadou Diallo standing in his doorstep. They were acquitted.

I had hoped the officers who fired 50 shots into Sean Bell's car as he left his bachelor party would be found guilty. They were acquitted.

I had hoped the officers who shot and killed football star Kendrec McDade—after they lied about him shooting at them first—would at least go to court, but the grand jury said they were justified.

I had hoped the officers who chased Ramarley Graham into his home and killed him would at least be tried, but they weren't

I had hoped the officers who shot and killed John Crawford in Wal-Mart would be cited somehow, but the grand jury found they were justified.

Now, here we are, with a young man who ran over half a football field away, after a confrontation with Officer Darren Wilson, only to be shot over and over again.

I had hoped Wilson would at least face these charges in an open court of law, but it will not happen.

Mr. King has expressed what the majority of  those who seek justice for each and everyone not just who the ruling entity decides it wants to protect feels, by doing so they are nailing posters to the post and trees "it's open season, kill 'em if you want we got your back".  how many more another day at the office for cops who kill with impunity, the politicians and locals will not stop or change no matter how much talk and baseless pledges are made it's been like this 400 + years in America and they speak of taking back their country, vote each and every time even if it's for a parking meter be heard let them know we are here and change is gonna come, Mr. King and the rest of us keep hope alive, we let it go on life support Nov. 4th and look what happen the more power we give their ranks the more detrimental it is to our well being. recognize

Ted Cruz confronted with reality on Fox News, of all places

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/24/1347162/-Ted-Cruz-confronted-with-reality-on-Fox-News-of-all-nbsp-places?detail=email

Sen. Ted Cruz wants Senate Republicans to block almost every one of President Obama's nominations in retaliation for him immigration executive order. He said so in an op-ed in Politico: "If the president announces executive amnesty, the new Senate majority leader who takes over in January should announce that the 114th Congress will not confirm a single nominee—executive or judicial—outside of vital national security positions, so long as the illegal amnesty persists." There's a bit of a problem there, though, as "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace pointed out. Blocking every nomination means keeping Attorney General Eric Holder in place.

"Are you saying that the Senate should refuse to confirm Loretta Lynch, the president's new nominee for attorney general, and thereby leave Eric Holder, who you don't like very much, in that position even longer?" asked Wallace.

Cruz largely avoided Wallace's question, simply saying that Republicans "should use the constitutional checks and balances we have to rein in the executive."

Wallace, however, persisted, and asked the question again. This time, Cruz still did not state directly that the Senate should block Lynch, but implied as much by saying that only positions of "vital national security" should get to the floor for a vote.

"In my view, the majority leader should decline to bring to the floor of the Senate any nomination other than vital national security positions," the senator said. "Now, that is a serious and major step."

this is not the ramblings of a republican wannabe 2016 winner these are the statements and wolf tickets by a grade school playground kid who wants to take his marbles and go home because he can't get his way.  does this really sound like a party or candidate you want in the big chair the playground mentality is as ugly as he wears it for a presumed adult, whats next "I know you are but what am I"?

"go away little boy, let the door hit you where the dog should have bit you", Marlena Shaw

House Republicans' Benghazi report divides Republicans

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/24/1347105/-House-Republicans-Benghazi-report-divides-nbsp-Republicans?detail=email

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has some harsh words for fellow Republican Hal Rogers, and his committee's report confirming the other five reports on Benghazi completed thus far that the administration hasn't covered up anything about the attack. Graham just won't accept that.

"I think the report is full of crap," Graham said on CNN's "State of the Union." The senator insisted that members of the administration altered the Benghazi talking points after the attack.
"I'm saying that anybody who has followed Benghazi at all knows that the CIA deputy director did not come forward to tell Congress what role he played in changing the talking points," he said. "And the only way we knew he was involved is when he told a representative at the White House, I'm going to do a hard review of this, a hard rewrite."

are they really angry that all the taxpayer money they wasted all the homespun scandal  accusations didn't stand not while they were telling them and sticking to them after they had be rebuked each time they "INVESTIGATED", it's hard to impossible to find evidence of a crime that the accuser fabricates now their own are saying "THE END" they are acting like as many more curtain calls as they need to get it in the mind of their voters 2016, their record insane moves 56 ObamaCares repeal attempts and tens of millions of your hard earned tax money, don't think those founding guys meant to be fiscally irresponsible with the purse strings and your authority.

why didn't they call the previous "INVESTIGATION" full of crap because those were actually full of elephant dung, and anybody that followed Benghazi heard nothing but those creations of republicans that were proven lies and now confirmed by their own the previous ones were by their own Grand Inquisitor Issa what does he have a thing for Issa and doesn't want to call him full of crap.

they have cost us upwards of 14 million and 8 devoid of evidence investigations, don't mention the 56 ObamaCares repeal attempts, no wonder there is a deficit those who are the keepers of the purse strings are spending like its not their money while blaming Pres.

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/02/pay-back-house-republicans-owe-taxpayers-14-million-benghazi-investigations.html

Utah police shootings outnumber homicides from gang violence, drug deals and child abuse

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/24/1347069/-Utah-police-shootings-outnumber-homicides-from-gang-violence-drug-deals-and-child-abuse?detail=email


and we thought Ferguson was the pits, well it still is but this unsanctionable.

The Salt Lake Tribune is out with some stunning facts about police shootings in Utah. In the last five years, more people have been killed by police than homicides from gang violence, drug deals and child abuse:

A Salt Lake Tribune review of nearly 300 homicides, using media reports, state crime statistics, medical-examiner records and court records, shows that use of force by police is the second-most common circumstance under which Utahns kill each other, surpassed only by intimate partner violence.

Wow. And all but one have been deemed "justified."

"Police are trained and expected to react to deadly threats. As many deadly threats emerge is the exact amount of times police will respond," wrote Ian Adams, a West Jordan police officer and spokesman for the Utah Fraternal Order of Police. "The onus is on the person being arrested to stop trying to assault and kill police officers and the innocent public. … Why do some in society continue to insist the problem lies with police officers?"

look as like the law is protecting the faux law and not those of us they took an oath to protect there should be independent citizens suing those departments that fire more bullets at people than they do ta4rgets that's backwards so is the killing of unarmed non combative no matter what race they are, seems some police have changed the rules and forgot the tell us.

this Ferguson farce was a 3 month in the making racial covering of murder by the cops peers 3 months and only 25 hours of actual time and as publicized as this was no sequestration?  the DA was serving as a defense lawyer for the defendant and not pursuing justice by helping direct assigned blame to a deceased Michael Brown.  it was obvious that they were discounting witness testimony and favoring the police version.  I think the in car instance was the cop grabbing Michael and pulling him in to the window while drawing his gun to either intimidate or shoot him.

they sent a message that if you are in a White structured city especially in the south you can be killed and your killer gets a paid vacation, that is incentive to continue their murderous deeds.  as the article reads that mindset is a national shame and danger to those of color.  PEOPLE OF COLOR ARE NOT MENACES TO SOCIETY,  SOCIETY IS A MENACE TO PEOPLE OF COLOR.

299 justified out of 300 is not a reality it's a contrived statistic not meant for consumer consumption.

Oil company to file $1.2 billion lawsuit against county with 57k people–for banning fracking

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/24/1347097/-Oil-company-to-file-1-2-billion-lawsuit-against-county-with-57k-people-for-banning-fracking?detail=email

I've written before about oil interests threatening lawsuits against municipalities trying to ban fracking. Frequently the threat of financial violence (and a boatload of money in campaigning) is enough to dissuade people from voting to ban. Well, San Benito County, in California, voted on Measure J, to ban fracking from their county a couple of weeks ago. Yeehaw! Democracy!

Hold the phone.

Citadel Exploration has filed a $1.2 billion claim against the county.

The claim is a precursor to a much broader lawsuit expected to be filed by Citadel Exploration. The company is hoping to extract millions of barrels of oil from south San Benito County fields, just west of Bitterwater, Calif., with their plan called Project Indian

$1.2 billion dollars is a lot of money for a municipality of 57,600 people. Where does the big money number come from?

Citadel owners claim they could have extracted 20-40 million barrels of oil over the life of the project, a value they believe equals $1.2 billion. "$1.2 billion. That's like asking for the moon. The county will file for bankruptcy and reorganize. He’s not going to get anything,” San Benito County Supervisor Jerry Muenzer said.

Needless to say, San Benito does not have that kind of scratch. They would have to declare bankruptcy. After San Benito officials go through the workings of their county's legal process, including a hearing on whether or not to grant an exception to Citadel, the board of supervisors will reject the claim. At that point, Citadel will file a lawsuit.

Their argument is that Measure J constitutes something called "regulatory taking." In layman's terms: you cannot restrict private property's uses when there's money to be made.

the entire country is broken how can a big money oil company sue a country to let them put their lies at risk, while the republican counterparts try to remove health care that would be needed from the poisoning of the water and grounds with majority in both houses look for deregulated legislation to do just that 57,600 American lives are worth less than the potential projection of making 1.2 billion.

will republicans stand over those graves and chant in unison "drill baby drill"?  it's criminal and has the potential of getting the right oil sympathetic judge to rule in their favor, just like in Al Capone's day.

Watch what happened on Twitter when the Darren Wilson grand jury decision was announced

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/25/1347343/-Watch-what-happened-on-Twitter-when-the-Darren-Wilson-grand-jury-decision-was-announced?detail=email#

this is what I meant about taking the country back it's still the hotbed of racism and bigotry it has always been so you can't take back what was not yours or that you never relinquished.  to bad we won't know what the tweeting was all about as far as those sad that our country is still as it was and those who cheered that it is.

Giuliani: ‘White police officers wouldn’t be there if you weren’t killing each other.’

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/11/23/giuliani-white-police-officers-wouldnt-be-there-if-you-werent-killing-each-other/

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani faced immediate Web backlash Sunday morning after he asked why people protest the killing of unarmed Ferguson, Mo., teenager Michael Brown but not black-on-black crime.

“Ninety-three percent of blacks are killed by other blacks,” Giuliani said, triggering a heated argument on NBC's "Meet the Press." “I would like to see the attention paid to that that you are paying to this.”

Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson, a frequent MSNBC pundit, said Giuliani was applying a "false equivalency" to the situation in Ferguson, where a grand jury will soon decide whether to charge Officer Darren Wilson in Brown's shooting death.

the voice of right wing ignorance and the audacity of arrogantly thinking they know best the African American condition, statistics are disproportionately put out their like all the other statistics that favor right wing discrimination, they push Black crime more the authority's arrest more the penal system convicts more Blacks so yeah "THEIR" stats will show disparagement.  if they were honest and actually arrested or convicted those White s that commit as many if not more do more drugs vehicle offenses then those stats might read a lot more different.

First, Giuliani's comment that "Ninety-three percent of blacks are killed by other blacks."

It is an indisputable fact.

Some 93 percent of black victims were murdered by someone of the same race, according to data from the Justice Department that examined crime statistics between 1980 and 2008.

What Giuliani didn't say is that most crime is intra-racial. That is, white people are more likely to kill white people, and black people are more likely to kill black people. The same data shows that nearly 84 percent of whites were also killed by other whites.

 http://news.yahoo.com/giulianis-black-black-crime-comments-got-wrong-195634683.html;_ylt=A0LEVzcMqXNUb4YARiNXNyoA

White people some White people don't want to admit the criminal element they rant against is just as prevalent on their side of the street. since media and politicians have forever demonized Blacks and created the bogeyman response like the Panthers who were not who they perpetrated them to be, or like the FBI did with Dr. King so it's easy to convince just by word of mouth that Blacks are dangerous and a menace to society, news flash BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT A MENACE TO SOCIETY, SOCIETY IS A MENACE TO BLACK PEOPLE. recognize
the mayor was pulling their interpretation of the race card his words were racist and reflects the right wing sentiment, how do we solve this problem when those they herald as leaders promote it?

Herald Definition

dictionary.search.yahoo.com

n. noun

1. A person who carries or proclaims important news; a messenger.
2. One that gives a sign or indication of something to come; a harbinger.

Media Lessons From The Benghazi Charade For Fox News, It's Six Strikes And You're Out

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/11/24/media-lessons-from-the-benghazi-charade/201687

The calling cards of anger and denial have been on display since Friday afternoon when the House Intelligence Committee, led by Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, released the findings of its two-year investigation into the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi. Becoming the sixth government inquiry to come to a similar conclusion, the report found nothing to support the allegations behind Fox News' ongoing Benghazi witch-hunt. And that's where the anger and denial came in.

Appearing on CNN, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has staked his professional reputation on the endless claim of an elaborate White House cover-up, flashed irritation when he denounced the House report as being "full of crap."

Meanwhile, Fox News contributor Stephen Hayes did his best to deflate the supposedly "deeply flawed" Republican report:

For Benghazi conspiracy disciples, unanswered questions always remain as long as devotees say so, and as long as the answers provided by government (and Republican-led investigations) don't match up their conspiracy narrative. But apparently if the seventh investigation finds wrongdoing on the part of the administration, that's the one that will really matter?

 The three points Pollack mentioned that were debunked by the House report represented almost the entire basis of the "scandal" crusade. They were easily the inspiration for hundreds of Fox News programming hours over the last two years, and likely thousands of hours of talk radio attacks on Obama, Hillary Clinton and anyone connected to the administration. (Note that Fox aired100 segments on the "stand down" allegation alone during its evening programs in the 20 months following the attack.)

While Breitbart and other right-wing media players gallantly tried to play defense (it's just a flesh wound), Fox News simply went into denial as the cable news channel essentially turned a blind eye to the story: Fox News Sunday completely ignored the topic. But it wasn't just Fox News Sunday. CBS' Face The Nation and ABC's This Week also ignored news about the latest Benghazi debunking; a Republican debunking no less.

i think this refusal to open their eyes is not because teir base would know that they have been on a inqisition and they were the only ones who bought in because they know they can sell them fire in hell and they look forward to the purchase.  i think they are for maybe the first time worried about the rest of us but we already know they are liars and perpetrators so why are they holding on like a pit bull to something we've been telling them was a nithing and now their own concurring with us, will they be those in the party sitting in a corner with a dunce hat?  they should be made to cut rich taxes and loopholes to repay taxpayers for the millions the misappropriated under false pretense.
keep dumb and down on the farm until the next red meat toss if they don't admit the concentrated will never know.
G W Bush, " you can fool some of the people all of the time and thosec are the ones you want to concentrate on"

Cuomo: New Yorkers have all the health care they need

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/20/1346155/-Cuomo-New-Yorkers-have-all-the-health-care-they-nbsp-need?detail=email

Remote Area Medical was founded in 1985 to provide medical care in developing nations. But now, the need here at home has grown so great that more than 80 percent of their work is in the U.S. They've held more than 700 three-to-five day clinics offering medical, dental, and vision services at no cost to hundreds of thousands of patients. They were ready to bring their clinic to serve more than 7,000 people in New York City on November 28, an event that would have been RAM's large clinic ever held. But just two weeks before it was scheduled to open, the clinic had to be cancelled. Why? Because Gov. Andrew Cuomo says it's unnecessary.

[T]o provide all the free care they had hoped to in New York would have required a special waiver from the governor's office of provisions contained in Article 28 of the health code, which pertain to the operation of stationary health facilities. RAM is mobile, but builds into spaces, and so falls between the cracks of the law.

Waiving this provision was entirely at the governor's discretion. The offices of Senators Harry Reid, Tim Kaine (both of whom who have seen RAM clinics firsthand), and Chuck Schumer called Cuomo and the NY Public Health Department directly to petition for the clinic to go forward. The reason provided to RAM for the clinic being scuttled: New Yorkers have all the health care they need.

New Yorkers have all the health care they need. More likely New Yorkers have a governor with presidential aspirations that are, of late, more than a little bruised, and who is willing to make this ludicrous statement in order avoid publicly presenting the image of several thousand uninsured standing in a parking lot in the Big Apple.

if this assumption has any merit there should be a recall started, i know this is more of a republican tactic but this guy is a DINO? you don't belong in public service if you only care about your own aspirations and if this azz bucket were to try and run he will be shot down for his inconsiderate words and obviously thoughts people say what they believe or lie to attain something.  he needs to go on and switch party's now and avoid to 2016 rush if true despicable him.

8.406 million residents of New York city 7,000 is a drop in the bucket but it's something he would get more play from a empathetic move like allowing the clinics to those who would fall through the bureaucratic holes that is what a good caring gov. would do not deny just because it might look bad that's a republican thing.

'Let them eat cake': The GOP and its attacks on the middle class

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/23/1345709/--Let-them-eat-cake-The-GOP-and-its-attacks-on-the-middle-class?detail=email

While it is unlikely that Marie Antoinette ever uttered the words, "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche," or the garbled English translation, "Let them eat cake," those words still have meaning to us today. It is likely that those words were used as propaganda by those who opposed her and her husband, King Louis XVI, leading up to the French Revolution.

"Let them eat cake" has become the rallying cry of the oppressed, as it showed how the aristocracy in France had no understanding of those living in poverty at the time. It sowed the seeds of revolution.

We have had our own "Let them eat cake" moments in America. During the gilded age Cornelius Vanderbilt stated, "What do I care about the law? Ain’t I got the power?" His son, William Vanderbilt, once said, "The public be damned!" when he heard of criticism of his railroad monopoly. This is the same man who was poorly treated by his father until he cheated the Army on the price of hay during the Civil War. What a fine family they were.

Jay Gould, another robber baron, once said about striking railroad workers, "I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half." Republicans of today are obvious disciples of Mr. Gould. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his "divide and conquer" statements, Mitt Romneywith his comments about the 47 percent being dependent on government, Rep. Paul Ryanblaming poverty on lazy inner city men, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie being tired of minimum wage talk, and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson stating, "I think it’s unrealistic, for public-sector employees to believe that they are immune from modifications to their pay and benefit packages."

These men, doing the work of the robber barons of today—the Koch brothers being the most well know of them—are out of touch with the American middle class.

these are the things that the right wing water carriers don't seem to get they repeat take our country back because some bigoted republican said it it sparks a sense on them being wronged and they have to correct it truth is they can't take it back because they never relinquished it their ancestors passed the racial bigotry down to future family's and they now have the right wing passing it down for them in case they aren't doing a good enough job of teaching their young how to hate, they are changing curriculum to teach the republican way of selfishness and unGodly teaching that do not reflect the Bible, Jesus or anything remotely Christian, their tea people cart them off to summer indoctrination camps those poor kids destined to be tomorrows hated racist don't have a chance.

today it's various figures within the party that parrot the same sentiments their ancestors did only today they seem more extreme and apathetic because the world knows there is another way to treat people not rich and despicable.  this is what we are in for unless we rise and like Rev. Al said, "lots of things were acceptable until we stopped accepting them"  it's obvious we can no longer epend as if we every really could on those we elect to look out for us it falls back on us to protect our own, prepare for 2016 speak out and engage back those who back you not those who use your back for target practice. recognize

Paul Ryan's triple scam on tax reform

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/23/1346382/-Paul-Ryan-s-triple-scam-on-tax-reform?detail=email

This week, House Republicans selected Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as the next chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. That lofty perch, the AP was quick to proclaim, gives Ryan "a high-profile platform if he decides to run for president in 2016 or beyond."

But that's not the only perk for Mitt Romney's 2012 running mate. His plans to privatize Social Security, shelved due to their consistent unpopularity, will be back on the front burner. Ryan's ploy to ration Medicare by replacing the guaranteed system of government insurance for the elderly with an under-funded voucher scheme that will dramatically shift healthcare costs to seniors will return as well. Despite having repeatedly warned America about "takers" and lazy men "in our inner cities" who are turning "the safety net into a hammock," Chairman Ryan is recasting himself as an anti-poverty crusader. And above all, Paul Ryan wants to use his move from the Budget to the Ways and Means Committee to advance his dream of tax reform that "lowers rates and broadens the base."

But to realize his dream, Congressman Paul Ryan is perpetrating the greatest public policy con game since Arthur Laffer first sketched his laughable curve. Faced with the inescapable historical truth that tax cuts don't pay for themselves but instead have only increased the national debt and income inequality, Ryan turned to a three-part fraud to deceive the American press and the American people. Call it Paul Ryan's triple scam:

1. Promise to Close Trillions in Tax Loopholes. Needing to find almost $6 trillion over the next decade to fill the massive revenue hole left by his tax cuts, Ryan promises to end or limit many of the myriad tax breaks, loopholes, and credits that cost Uncle Sam about $1.3 trillion a year.
2. Refuse to Say Which Loopholes. Ending popular tax breaks, many of which benefit the middle class, is politically dangerous. So when pressed, Ryan refuses to name a single loophole he'd close, or say it's someone else's job to figure that out.
3. If the Math Still Doesn't Work, Change the Way Math Works. When it comes to the ending $500 or $600 billion in tax breaks every year, the politics of producing a "revenue-neutral" budget are brutal and the math is even worse. So Paul Ryan is demanding the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) use so-called "dynamic scoring" to magically generate new revenue from the extra economic activity his rate cuts theoretically produce.

As you'll see below the break, Ryan's triple scam has been underway for almost five years.

understand there is no plan coming from the republicans that benefits you that doesn't render it null and void by the riders that are their ulterior motives that is why we never get anything but broadly worded already said by the Pres. that they never intend to implement, look at now the 20th day after midterm and see all the obstructionist rhetoric, finger pointing and threats and suits to Pres. and the same weak vague references to what they want but never with any meat on those bones, to say we're going to focus on jobs well they told that lie in 2010 got elected anybody out there get a job directly because of republicans or did your unemployment get crushed at Christmas time while they went home with holiday cheer for their families, how was your holiday?

Just Another NYPD Day: Shoot First. Kill Immediately. Get Treated for Ear Ringing Soon After.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/21/1346509/-Just-Another-NYPD-Day-Shoot-First-Kill-Immediately-Get-Treated-for-Ear-Ringing-Soon-After?detail=email

Akai Gurley was leaving with his girlfriend from her apartment. Unarmed, and unaware that he was doing anything wrong (he wasn't), he decided the elevator was too slow to arrive, and opened the stairwell door.  That was his last mistake.

A rookie NYPD cop killed him just seconds afterward. Why? The stairwell was dark and the officer said the door being opened startled him. Or basically for no reason at all (We don't know whether he already had his gun out, but my understanding is that NYPD officers are allowed to "vertically patrol" certain housing project apartment buildings.

 All this would be horribly bad. But it gets worse. Much worse.

Butler said the officers never came down to check on the mortally wounded man, and medical help was only sent after she banged on a neighbor’s door for help.

That's right. After you, as a peace officer, sworn to protect and serve, shoot someone, you don't call an ambulance, you don't attempt to help the ictim, you stand around and watch the person bleed out. Oh wait, that's Ferguson, and Oakland. Here they did something a little different...

Both officers were taken to Jamaica Hospital and treated for tinnitus.

this looks like the current Ferguson problem the cops are instigating military and riot gear on a just in case that sends the message that "we will kill you if you do anything we can construe as aggressive" that only heightens the agnst on both sides, this is tantmount to the same thing, public housing stereotyped as  dangerous and officers are targeted so guns out cocked and shoot first, take your paid vacation afterwards.

rookies should not be sent in to areas that the police have deemed target areas without veteran backup because all the fear tactic things they have heard throughout their lives will flash and excited homicide takes place, that officer may not be one of those homicidal cops in the news lately but they will surely make him a candidate by sending him in and exonerating him for his hysterical act.

House Republicans introduce bill to defund immigration reform even though there's nothing to defund

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/21/1346559/-House-Republicans-introduce-bill-to-defund-immigration-reform-even-though-there-s-nothing-to-defund?detail=email

At least they're not poisoning the well.

House Republicans aren't giving up on their notion of "defunding" Obama's executive-branchimmigration reforms.

Reps. Ted Poe (R-Texas) and Diane Black (R-Tenn.) have introduced legislation to prohibit funding to implement President Obama's executive action on immigration.

Their bill, titled The Separation of Powers Act, would block the use of funds for deferring deportations of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally or providing work permits. [...]

"This legislation will allow Congress to exercise its 'check' on an out-of-control White House that treats the Constitution as a mere suggestion, not the law of the land," Poe said.

They seem surprisingly undeterred by the apparent problem that there is nothing to defund; Immigration Services is not appropriated funds via the Congress in the first place, but is self-funded by the fees it charges to applicants. I suppose it is like a preschool child finding a hammer—the hammer is probably not the appropriate tool for any problem the lower four feet of your house may face, but by God it will be used.

this is just like every other faild effort to "GET PRES." all the lies the homespun scandals all debunked even Benghazi was rebuke by their own investigations 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/republican-benghazi-investigation-debunks-conspiracy-theories-clears-obama-Hillary

i really hope the Hispanic poplation sees what extent the are going through to keep them from coming here or attaining any kind of means to be able to vote, bottom line they don't want them here period except in a non regulated low wage situation, i really hope they are paying attention to who hates them and who is trying to make them welcome.