December 5, 2014

Rand Paul’s big “selling point” is dead: How Clinton schooled him on criminal justice reform

In aftermath of Garner tragedy, Clinton indicted police abuse and mass incarceration. Paul? He railed against taxes

JOAN WALSH

I got a lot of pushback, mainly from Rand Paul fanboys, to my suggestion that the Kentucky senator’s blaming Eric Garner’s death on cigarette taxes was tin-eared, to say the least. The complaints, on Twitter and (surprisingly) in a lot of personal email, took two forms: 1) I’m a nanny state liberal who doesn’t care about the wanton abuse of state power to not only impose taxes but then aggressively police their enforcement. And 2) I’m terrified that Rand Paul can beat Hillary Clinton, especially because he’s better than she is when it comes to issues of our expanding police state.

On the first point: I support high cigarette taxes, because cigarettes kill people and impose vast costs on society. I regret that those taxes fall heavily on the poor, and I support community programs to help people stop smoking and improve their health. But on the issue of enforcement, cigarette taxes are just one of many, many “laws” that are over-enforced or arbitrarily enforced in poor communities, in order to give the police greater control over the population.

From aggressive traffic stops to littering citations to harsher penalties for crack cocaine than powder, and higher rates of marijuana busts, we know that comparatively small infractions are policed heavily in low-income black communities, to keep people ensnared with the cops and to keep them controlled. Eric Garner didn’t die because the police were dispassionately trying to enforce a nanny-state law taxing cigarettes, but because cops routinely find ways to harass low-income black men, and then escalate the situation, often with violence.

On the second point, that I’m “afraid” of Rand Paul because he’s a threat to Hillary Clinton, well, that’s even sillier. First, I’ve said all I have to say about Hillary Clinton here, in the Nation. I respect her, I may support her in the Democratic primary, but I may not, depending on who’s running. However, I think she’s much better than any Republican eyeing the race, and that includes Paul – including on criminal justice issues.

more:
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/05/rand_pauls_big_selling_point_is_dead_how_clinton_schooled_him_on_criminal_justice_reform/

December 4, 2014

Anti-'Libtard' Ex-Police Chief: I Was Undercover For The Feds The Whole Time

By CATHERINE THOMPSON Published DECEMBER 4, 2014, 10:17 AM EST

An ex-police chief who had his 15 minutes of fame last year in a series of profane YouTube videos is clawing his way back to the spotlight with some bizarre claims.

Mark Kessler was fired from his post as the police chief of Gilberton, Pa. in September 2013. Tensions had risen between Kessler and the borough council after videos that showed him firing machine guns at an target he called "Nancy Pelosi" and ranting against "libtards" went viral -- but now he's saying that he made the videos with a federal agency as a tool to root out anti-government extremists.

In a Tuesday interview with Fox News radio host Alan Colmes, Kessler said he did not actually believe the views he expressed in the videos and was simply acting as a "magnet" for sovereign citizens and the like.

His claims, however, were vague and offered without proof.

more:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mark-kessler-undercover-federal-claims

December 4, 2014

They got it all wrong: New data shows how Dems can win back America

Turns out conservatives are getting crushed in family values debates. Here's 5 other findings the left should know

ANAT SHENKER-OSORIO AND JEFFREY PARCHER

To everything there is a season and now is the time for election dissection. How do we reconcile an electorate that raised the minimum wage everywhere possible and opted for Republicans who profess not to believe in it? And what do we make of the – even for America – pathetically low turnout?

One-third of Americans struggle to make ends meet. That’s 106 million people who often don’t know how they’ll pay rent, get childcare or retire. Even in our fractious America, that’s a large group with shared interests – decent wages, reliable work hours, affordable child and health care, and the means to enable a livable last couple of decades.

Never mind the 99 percent, why don’t we see the bottom 33 percent rising up? They’re the ones with the sharpest ax to grind with our current economic policies. We know there are major structural and economic impediments to them organizing and voting, but are there other reasons they’re sitting on the political sidelines?

We recently completed an investigation to understand why and what to do about it. We wanted to know if there are new and better ways to describe poverty, its origins and fixes that could compel people to challenge the economic status quo. We sought unfiltered language from the people most affected and focused on frames that move those people to action rather than merely meeting the mushy middle where they are.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/03/they_got_it_all_wrong_new_data_shows_how_dems_can_win_back_america/

December 2, 2014

Judge allows libel lawsuit against Glenn Beck to proceed

Source: Salon

The suit stems from Beck's false accusations that a Saudi student funded the Boston Marathon bombing

LUKE BRINKER

A federal judge on Tuesday denied Glenn Beck’s request to dismiss a libel lawsuit that accuses the conservative talking head of defaming a Saudi man Beck falsely accused of funding the Boston Marathon bombing last year.

As Josh Gerstein explains, Beck sought to have the lawsuit tossed out on the grounds that Abdulrahman Alharbi, the man who brought the suit, was a public figure because of his presence near the finish line of the marathon, where two bombs exploded, killing three people. As a public figure, Alharbi would have had to clear a difficult hurdle in order for the lawsuit to proceed, proving that Beck intentionally lied or acted with malice in making the accusations.

But in ruling that the lawsuit could move forward, U.S. District Judge Patti Saris rejected the argument that the mere act of attending the event made Alharbi a public figure.

“Choosing to attend a sporting event as one of thousands of spectators is not the kind of conduct that a reasonable person would expect to result in publicity,” she wrote. “Quite to the contrary, a spectator at an event like the Boston Marathon would reasonably expect to disappear into the throngs of others, never attracting notice by the press. Because he did not ‘assume the risk of publicity,’ Alharbi does not meet the definition of an involuntary public figure.” Therefore, Sari concluded, Alharbi is a private figure who does not need to prove “actual malice” on Beck’s part.




Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/12/02/judge_allows_libel_lawsuit_against_glenn_beck_to_proceed/