Showing posts with label RSN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RSN. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Negromancer News Bits and Bites for December 28th to 31st, 2014 - Update #5
NEWS:
From RSN: Bill Simpich is critical of The Interview.
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From YahooTV: Hollywood salaries revealed - an interesting article.
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From Variety: The winner of the Dec. 26th to 28th, 2014 box office is The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies with an estimated take of $41.4 million dollars. This is a repeat victory, as the film was also #1 in its opening week. Seth Rogen and James Franco's controversial film, The Interview, earned an estimated $1.8 million in what is mainly an art-house release.
STAR WARS:
From YahooMovies: Oscar Isaac says Star Wars rumors/theories are wrong.
COMICS BOOKS:
From YahooTV: New promo art from "Ant-Man," featuring the character "Yellowjacket."
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From FlickeringMyth: Vin Diesel does more "Inhumans" teasing.
REVIEWS:
From AlterNet: A review of Selma.
Negromancer's Fave Poli-Reads - December 2014 Edition - Update #10
From TheGuardian: Kyle Orton and the search for NFL liberals.
From RSN: If Obama were a White Republican...
From FoxNewsLatino: There was actually a scheme to use the Cuban hip-hop scene to ferment revolution.
From BuzzFlash: Stephen Colbert's finest moment; yes, it was.
From the WashingtonPost: Of course, not some, but many Republicans won't accept Obama as President of these United States. D'uh, it's because he's black.
From YahooNews: President Obama only answers questions from female reporters in his press conference before his Christmas vacation.
From RSN: Wonder why Palestinians feel loathing about the U.S.
From YahooNews: Alan Gross freed from Cuba; this leads to talks between the Obama administration and Cuba to resume diplomatic ties.
From ConsortiumNews: Cuz like... America's totally awesome. Poor baby, she is some FOX honcho's jizz jar.
From TheDailyBeast: The Hunger Games economy.
From ThinkProgess: The Christian terrorist movement that few people know of - the Phineas Priesthood (although I first heard of them several years ago.)
From Slate: Not that this will stop the GOP from throwing Benghazi in Hilary's face.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
The Killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson - December 2014 Edition - Update #28
From TheGuardian: Another "I Can't Breathe" t-shirt controversy. The truth hurts, doesn't it.
From YahooNews: There was hell to pay for the callous comments about the Mike Brown memorial in Ferguson.
From Yahoo News via RSN: Hundreds of cop killings of civilians not reported to the FBI.
From Reuters via RSN: Hillary Clinton backs federal probes of Mike Brown and Eric Garner killings. Already she has more balls then so-called Democratic governors in Missouri and New York.
From YahooNews: If you don't want to hear "wings on pigs," then, don't do this.
From YahooNews: Off-duty, black cops feel the boot of their white colleagues, also.
From YahooNews: Black, unarmed, and shot dead by a cop in Houston.
From the NYT: Sad story about a Ferguson moment in Louisville, Kentucky back in 1999.
From the NYT: Okay, don't act like you don't know why some people react crazily.
From the NYT: Yes, police must stop the abuse of Black men.
From RollingStone: Matt Taibbi: The police in America are becoming illegitimate.
From YahooNews: Ray Kelly, who sires rapists, and Giuliani, whose vanity led to the deaths of scores of firemen, on 9/11, blame President Obama and Mayor de Blasio for the murder of two New York policemen on 12/20/2014 by a lone gunman.
From AlJazeeraAmerica: Yeah, we should be suspicious of the Oath Keepers.
From YahooNews: Why the LAPD is not like the NYPD or Ferguson Police Department.
From YahooNews: Could NYPD killings trigger a backlash against protestors.
From YahooNews: Baltimore gang member kills two New York policemen, before killing himself.
From Esquire: Why police unions have been making deranged responses to the responses to their brutality.
From YahooParenting: Second graders do Ferguson protest. One student's father is a cop. "Daddy, do you shoot people?" he claims she asked.
From TheGuardian: Remember John Crawford, shot dead by a cop in an Ohio Wal-Mart? Well, The Guardian has obtained video footage of cop threatening his girlfriend.
From RSN: Football still representing... damn what the pig's unions have got to say.
From RSN: FBI to investigage North Carolina trailer park lynching.
From RSN: Huge marches protesting police violence.
From YahooNews: The National Bar Association wants Darren Wilson stripped of his license to carry a badge anywhere in Missouri. The NBA is the nation's largest group of African-American lawyers and judges.
From ThinkProgress: The woman who could hit reset on Mike Brown-Darren Wilson case.
From ThinkProgress: The one word that kept Darren Wilson out of jail (It's "reasonable").
From GuardianUK: In Brooklyn, a rookie cop kills an unarmed black man and calls his union rep instead of 911.
From YahooNews: No indictment for Eric Garner's murderer.
From YahooNews: Another angry white guy. No, "Morning Joe," even 95 percent of white people don't agree with you.
From YahooSports: Angry old white guy, Mike Ditko, embarrassed for the Rams players and demands that we not weaken the police anymore than they already are. First, I'm sure the Rams players don't give a f**k. Non-indictments say Ditko is clueless about the weakness of cops - especially post 9/11. Maybe, he just needs a Viagra and beer.
From RSN: A "Dear White People" essay from Carl Gibson.
From YahooNews: America's mayor, Rudy Giulani, says that Ferguson grand jury should not have indicted. This from a man whose vanity caused the death of many fireman on 9/11, an event from which Giulani made tens of millions of dollars.
From YahooSports: One of America's favorite media quote machines, Charles Barkley, is down with Darren Wilson.
From YahooSports: St. Louis cops union pissed at St. Louis Rams.
From WashingtonPost: Holding an entire community in contempt by Eugene Robinson.
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THE BASICS:
From TheIntercept via RSN: Klan jury... I mean grand jury in Mike Brown's shooting began Wednesday, August 20th, 2014.
Michael Brown, 18, was shot to death, reportedly by police officer Darren Wilson, on Saturday, August 9th, 2014 at approximately 2:15 pm on Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri. Ferguson is a small city in St. Louis County. The shooting of the unarmed Brown sparked a furious backlash and days of protests, some violent and involving looting. What follows is a list of links to news articles about the shooting and related matters:
From the StLouisPostDispatch: An early article about the Michael Brown shooting
From the LosAngelesTimes: This is the earliest (or oldest) article that I could find about the Michael Brown shooting.
From HuffingtonPost: Another early article about the local African-American community's reaction to the shooting of Brown
From PrisonCulture: A searing image of Michael Brown's father
From the WashingtonPost via RSN: More of Darren Wilson's history and background emerges; it seems that he was previously associated with another police department that had a bad relationship with the local black folks.
From Al Jazeera via RSN: Darren Wilson: Judge, jury, and executioner.
From YahooNews via CSM and the AP: Shooter a.k.a. Darren Wilson tells his "side" of the story about how he shot an unarmed black man to death.
Updated Shooting Timeline: The AP via YahooNews.
Everything's Peachy... if by "Peachy" You Mean Hemlock - Update #77
There's no "race problem" in America. We all have black friends. I even have more than I need. [I call some of them relatives.] Dr. King's dream has not become a nightmare. It's become a dytopian vision of future that simply dresses the dark past in new fangled rags. - Leroy 16, Aug. 2014
From AlterNet: A great review of the new film, Selma.
From YahooParenting: 7 things I can do that my black son can't.
From CNN: I remember hearing about Macy's racial profiling case, but not this one involving "Treme" actor, Robert Brown.
From Reuters via RSN: Off-duty, Black NYPD cops feel threat from White colleagues.
From TheDailyBeast: After they fired the shots, they're the victims...
From NYTimes: Police shootings reveal racial chasm... D'uh.
From Time: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to White people feeling targeted by Ferguson protests - Welcome to our world.
From MiamiHerald: The rules are indeed different for Black people seeking justice.
From TheGuardian: Gentrifiers having to throw people out of their homes.
From CNN: Racism without racists.
From the GuardianUK: Jesse Jackson says we can still get justice for Mike Brown. I kinda doubt it, but I'm hopeful.
From Esquire: The rise in police shootings, even in places like Utah.
From YahooNews: Another black male with a toy gun shot to death by cops - this time the black male is a child.
From CSMonitor: Mumia Abu-Jamal sues over the Pennsylvania law specifically meant to gag him.
From RSN and FirstLook: Yes, we do need someone to judge the judges because Judge Edith Jones is an ignorant racist bitch.
From FirstLook: How the innocent are screwed into pleading guilty.
From NPR: Black and dead in Brazil.
From ConsortiumNews: Is Arlington, VA racist? Probably.
From RSN: Did you know that Denver cops had killed an unarmed street preacher. It costs them $4.6 million? That was an expensive cap-popping.
From RawStory: Dead in Alabama jails to save money.
From TheNation: How racism stole black childhood.
From RSN: Cops killed 77 people in September 2014.
From the NYT: Civil asset forfeiture - makes me wanna support Clive Bundy.
From Demos via RSN: A third of Americans live at or near poverty.
From YahooNews: Expelled Nazis and SS still get Social Security paychecks.
From Think Progress via RSN: Funny Ebola freak-outs.
From YahooNews: Michael Dunn gets life for killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis.
From Truthout: Incarceration, mass murder, and genocide of Black men.
From FreeThoughtProject: Cops with gang tattoos to celebrate the people they kill.
From Truthout: Understanding our many Fergusons.
From YahooNews: Another unarmed, innocent black teen attacked by white cops on a racial profiling rampage. Luckily, the cops didn't kill him.
From GQ via RSN: An interesting article about murderer, George Zimmerman's crappy family.
From News 13 via RSN: Michael Dunn found guilty of murdering black teenager, Jordan Davis.
From Truthout: Cops retaliate against citizens group that monitor police activity.
From Salon via RSN: America's summer of white supremacy.
From InformedComment via RSN: $8.7 billion in food stamp cuts, but $22 billion to fight ISIS.
From TheNewYorkTimes: When Whites Just Don't Get It Part One and Part Two.
From the HuffingtonPost: Los Angeles law enforcement kill about one person a week - I'm not surprised.
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From YahooNews: JUSTICE: Woman beat up by CHiP cop, wins $1.5 million and cop resigns.
From NPR: INJUSTICE: Grand Jury refuses to indict murders... I mean cops involved in the shooting death of an unarmed man in Ohio Wal-Mart shooting.
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From BearingArms: Family wants charges against fat lying bastard who made the 911 call that led to the murder of their son.
From Salon via RSN: The strange death of Charles Smith. Shot to death while handcuffed, supposedly in possession of gun.
From Salon via RSN: Rock the Vote joins militia group to intimidate Wisconsin African-American voters in November.
From CBS: WHITE South Carolina state trooper charged in shooting of UNARMED BLACK MAN.
From Salon via RSN: Yes, Justice Scalia is "an utter moral failure."
From the Guardian UK via RSN: Cops act like gang in assault on Latino man.
From the AP via RSN: Students walk-out in protest over conservative school board's attempt to make history education emphasize respect for authority and the free-market.
From the Guardian UK via RSN: By the way, a federal judge approved New York City's settlement with the Central Park Five. Former mayor, Michael Bumberg, had fought the lawsuit.
From The Washington Post via RSN: Cops seizing hundreds of millions in cash and property from motorists not charged with crimes. First heard about this a month ago, and I'm still shocked.
From Campus Reform via RSN: Students and faculty have to tell Clemson University how many times they've had sex... Apparently, this is real.
From The Daily Beast via RSN: Ferguson cops caught in a lie about blood on their uniforms and got away with it... for now.
From BuzzFlash via Truthout: For Black youth, no mistakes allowed. It could be fatal.
From TheWashingtonPost: White rage against Black progress.
From the GuardianUK via RSN: Yep, the cops shot Darrien Hunt in the back. Had to admit it.
From Esquire via RSN: It's never about race, right? Riiiiiight.
From The Intercept via RSN: No heads in the sand on ISIS beheading videos.
From Truthout: NRA hold "killer cop contest."Includes a "Head Shots Only" competition.
From the SPLC via RSN: Neo-Confederate group forms paramilitary unit to advance a second secession.
From YahooSports: Yeah, there are good cops...
From CBSLocal via RSN: Free Patrick McLaw - A teacher an self-published science fiction author placed on administrative leave after his work was discovered. Free Patrick McLaw.
From ABCNews: John Crawford, Jr., the father of Wal-Mart shooting victime, John Crawford, III, hears his son's dying breaths.
From YahooNews: So-called witness in John Crawford shooting - the guy who called 911, has changed his story.
From BuzzFlash: Black men who "open carry" get a cap in the ass from cops.
From TomDisptach via RSN: We made ISIS.
From Truthout: U.S. slammed for failure to end all forms of racial discrimination
From Reuters via RSN: Federal prosecutors will investigate the shooting death of Victor White III, a Louisiana man whose death had been previously ruled a suicide. Supposedly, he shot himself while handcuffed in the back of a police car.
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From LATimes: Two brothers who were wrongly convicted of the murder and rape of an 11-year-old girl in North Carolina were freed Wednesday morning, September 3, 2014. They spent 30 years in prison. One was 19 and the other were 15 when they were arrested in 1983.
So is a Black man in America more afraid of police and the justice system or of ISIL/ISIS?
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From ThinkProgress via RSN: Ain't it the truth, girl - America has a real racial problem - Justice Ginsburg.
From GlobalVoiceOnline: Israeli soldiers used Gazans as human shields This is not the first time I have heard of this. They way Israelis act, one would think Palestinians were the ones who caused the Holocaust.
From Truthout: Black women on "Women's Equality Day."
From NateSilver via RSN: Most police don't live in the cities they serve.
From TheNation: How Trayvon Martin's death launched a new generation of black activism.
From MotherJones: How indeed.
From BuzzFlash: A piece on Ferguson police officer, Dan Page, and his racist speech given before the Oath Keepers in April 2014. From TheAdvocate and TheGuardian - Page's speech.
From YouTube: Ferguson police officer, Dan Page, threatening CNN's Don Lemon.
From Truthout: "We won't go back" - the march for Eric Garner.
From Truthout: The killing of black men continues...
From YahooNews: Activist carry the coffin of a black woman killed by a white Phoenix police sergeant to the steps of City Hall.
From Valid: More commentary on Michelle Cusseaux, the black woman killed by a white Phoenix police officer.
From BuzzFlash via Truthout: Most whites still don't understand the danger of being a black man in the U.S. ...
From Esquire via RSN: Charles Pierce - Ferguson: The Limits of Everything
From Reuters via RSN: President Obama order review of police militirization
From Salon via RSN: How to Wreck the GOP in 3 Easy Steps! - Obama and weak-kneed Democratic leadership won't do this.
From RSN: Where Were the Soldier Cops at Bundy Ranch? - Good questions, Marc Ash. There is a markedly different response to black protestors in Ferguson, Missouri than there was to the white, gun-toting protestors at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada.
From Popular Resistance via Truthout: The reality of militarized, racist policing ...according to a recent study, a black man is killed every 28 hours by police, security guards or vigilantes. The whole nation is experiencing these tragedies; reality is being forced upon us.
From Time via RSN: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "The Coming Race War Won't Be About Race." He says that it will be about class. He also wonders if the event in Ferguson, Missouri will disappear down the memory hole as the shootings at Jackson State in 1970 - 10 days after the Kent State shooting.
From Salon via RSN: The criminalization of Black mothers.
From Truthout: It's worth standing with Keith Ellison.
From BuzzFlash: President Nixon's Vietnam treason confirmed
OTHER:
From The Intercept via RSN: How Gary Webb was destroyed.
MISC:
From Suggest: 10 celebs you didn't know were black.
From RedFlagNews, you will learn that everything is not peachy.
From AlterNet: A great review of the new film, Selma.
From YahooParenting: 7 things I can do that my black son can't.
From CNN: I remember hearing about Macy's racial profiling case, but not this one involving "Treme" actor, Robert Brown.
From Reuters via RSN: Off-duty, Black NYPD cops feel threat from White colleagues.
From TheDailyBeast: After they fired the shots, they're the victims...
From NYTimes: Police shootings reveal racial chasm... D'uh.
From Time: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to White people feeling targeted by Ferguson protests - Welcome to our world.
From MiamiHerald: The rules are indeed different for Black people seeking justice.
From TheGuardian: Gentrifiers having to throw people out of their homes.
From CNN: Racism without racists.
From the GuardianUK: Jesse Jackson says we can still get justice for Mike Brown. I kinda doubt it, but I'm hopeful.
From Esquire: The rise in police shootings, even in places like Utah.
From YahooNews: Another black male with a toy gun shot to death by cops - this time the black male is a child.
From CSMonitor: Mumia Abu-Jamal sues over the Pennsylvania law specifically meant to gag him.
From RSN and FirstLook: Yes, we do need someone to judge the judges because Judge Edith Jones is an ignorant racist bitch.
From FirstLook: How the innocent are screwed into pleading guilty.
From NPR: Black and dead in Brazil.
From ConsortiumNews: Is Arlington, VA racist? Probably.
From RSN: Did you know that Denver cops had killed an unarmed street preacher. It costs them $4.6 million? That was an expensive cap-popping.
From RawStory: Dead in Alabama jails to save money.
From TheNation: How racism stole black childhood.
From RSN: Cops killed 77 people in September 2014.
From the NYT: Civil asset forfeiture - makes me wanna support Clive Bundy.
From Demos via RSN: A third of Americans live at or near poverty.
From YahooNews: Expelled Nazis and SS still get Social Security paychecks.
From Think Progress via RSN: Funny Ebola freak-outs.
From YahooNews: Michael Dunn gets life for killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis.
From Truthout: Incarceration, mass murder, and genocide of Black men.
From FreeThoughtProject: Cops with gang tattoos to celebrate the people they kill.
From Truthout: Understanding our many Fergusons.
From YahooNews: Another unarmed, innocent black teen attacked by white cops on a racial profiling rampage. Luckily, the cops didn't kill him.
From GQ via RSN: An interesting article about murderer, George Zimmerman's crappy family.
From News 13 via RSN: Michael Dunn found guilty of murdering black teenager, Jordan Davis.
From Truthout: Cops retaliate against citizens group that monitor police activity.
From Salon via RSN: America's summer of white supremacy.
From InformedComment via RSN: $8.7 billion in food stamp cuts, but $22 billion to fight ISIS.
From TheNewYorkTimes: When Whites Just Don't Get It Part One and Part Two.
From the HuffingtonPost: Los Angeles law enforcement kill about one person a week - I'm not surprised.
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From YahooNews: JUSTICE: Woman beat up by CHiP cop, wins $1.5 million and cop resigns.
From NPR: INJUSTICE: Grand Jury refuses to indict murders... I mean cops involved in the shooting death of an unarmed man in Ohio Wal-Mart shooting.
-----------------------
From BearingArms: Family wants charges against fat lying bastard who made the 911 call that led to the murder of their son.
From Salon via RSN: The strange death of Charles Smith. Shot to death while handcuffed, supposedly in possession of gun.
From Salon via RSN: Rock the Vote joins militia group to intimidate Wisconsin African-American voters in November.
From CBS: WHITE South Carolina state trooper charged in shooting of UNARMED BLACK MAN.
From Salon via RSN: Yes, Justice Scalia is "an utter moral failure."
From the Guardian UK via RSN: Cops act like gang in assault on Latino man.
From the AP via RSN: Students walk-out in protest over conservative school board's attempt to make history education emphasize respect for authority and the free-market.
From the Guardian UK via RSN: By the way, a federal judge approved New York City's settlement with the Central Park Five. Former mayor, Michael Bumberg, had fought the lawsuit.
From The Washington Post via RSN: Cops seizing hundreds of millions in cash and property from motorists not charged with crimes. First heard about this a month ago, and I'm still shocked.
From Campus Reform via RSN: Students and faculty have to tell Clemson University how many times they've had sex... Apparently, this is real.
From The Daily Beast via RSN: Ferguson cops caught in a lie about blood on their uniforms and got away with it... for now.
From BuzzFlash via Truthout: For Black youth, no mistakes allowed. It could be fatal.
From TheWashingtonPost: White rage against Black progress.
From the GuardianUK via RSN: Yep, the cops shot Darrien Hunt in the back. Had to admit it.
From Esquire via RSN: It's never about race, right? Riiiiiight.
From The Intercept via RSN: No heads in the sand on ISIS beheading videos.
From Truthout: NRA hold "killer cop contest."Includes a "Head Shots Only" competition.
From the SPLC via RSN: Neo-Confederate group forms paramilitary unit to advance a second secession.
From YahooSports: Yeah, there are good cops...
From CBSLocal via RSN: Free Patrick McLaw - A teacher an self-published science fiction author placed on administrative leave after his work was discovered. Free Patrick McLaw.
From ABCNews: John Crawford, Jr., the father of Wal-Mart shooting victime, John Crawford, III, hears his son's dying breaths.
From YahooNews: So-called witness in John Crawford shooting - the guy who called 911, has changed his story.
From BuzzFlash: Black men who "open carry" get a cap in the ass from cops.
From TomDisptach via RSN: We made ISIS.
From Truthout: U.S. slammed for failure to end all forms of racial discrimination
From Reuters via RSN: Federal prosecutors will investigate the shooting death of Victor White III, a Louisiana man whose death had been previously ruled a suicide. Supposedly, he shot himself while handcuffed in the back of a police car.
-----------------------------------------
From LATimes: Two brothers who were wrongly convicted of the murder and rape of an 11-year-old girl in North Carolina were freed Wednesday morning, September 3, 2014. They spent 30 years in prison. One was 19 and the other were 15 when they were arrested in 1983.
So is a Black man in America more afraid of police and the justice system or of ISIL/ISIS?
------------------------------------------
From ThinkProgress via RSN: Ain't it the truth, girl - America has a real racial problem - Justice Ginsburg.
From GlobalVoiceOnline: Israeli soldiers used Gazans as human shields This is not the first time I have heard of this. They way Israelis act, one would think Palestinians were the ones who caused the Holocaust.
From Truthout: Black women on "Women's Equality Day."
From NateSilver via RSN: Most police don't live in the cities they serve.
From TheNation: How Trayvon Martin's death launched a new generation of black activism.
From MotherJones: How indeed.
From BuzzFlash: A piece on Ferguson police officer, Dan Page, and his racist speech given before the Oath Keepers in April 2014. From TheAdvocate and TheGuardian - Page's speech.
From YouTube: Ferguson police officer, Dan Page, threatening CNN's Don Lemon.
From Truthout: "We won't go back" - the march for Eric Garner.
From Truthout: The killing of black men continues...
From YahooNews: Activist carry the coffin of a black woman killed by a white Phoenix police sergeant to the steps of City Hall.
From Valid: More commentary on Michelle Cusseaux, the black woman killed by a white Phoenix police officer.
From BuzzFlash via Truthout: Most whites still don't understand the danger of being a black man in the U.S. ...
From Esquire via RSN: Charles Pierce - Ferguson: The Limits of Everything
From Reuters via RSN: President Obama order review of police militirization
From Salon via RSN: How to Wreck the GOP in 3 Easy Steps! - Obama and weak-kneed Democratic leadership won't do this.
From RSN: Where Were the Soldier Cops at Bundy Ranch? - Good questions, Marc Ash. There is a markedly different response to black protestors in Ferguson, Missouri than there was to the white, gun-toting protestors at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada.
From Popular Resistance via Truthout: The reality of militarized, racist policing ...according to a recent study, a black man is killed every 28 hours by police, security guards or vigilantes. The whole nation is experiencing these tragedies; reality is being forced upon us.
From Time via RSN: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "The Coming Race War Won't Be About Race." He says that it will be about class. He also wonders if the event in Ferguson, Missouri will disappear down the memory hole as the shootings at Jackson State in 1970 - 10 days after the Kent State shooting.
From Salon via RSN: The criminalization of Black mothers.
From Truthout: It's worth standing with Keith Ellison.
From BuzzFlash: President Nixon's Vietnam treason confirmed
OTHER:
From The Intercept via RSN: How Gary Webb was destroyed.
MISC:
From Suggest: 10 celebs you didn't know were black.
From RedFlagNews, you will learn that everything is not peachy.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Negromancer's Fave Poli-Reads - November 2014 Edition - Update #17
From YahooNews: Republican bitch gets out of hand with President Obama's daughters about something that is really not important at all.
From RollingStone: The 15 worst owners in sports.
From RollingStone: Rape... at a college founded by a slave owner that raped his female slaves... No way...
From the GuardianUK: Angela Davis on Mike Brown.
From the GuardianUK: You've got to be kidding me. Masai homeland to be turned into hunting ground for Dubai royalty... Off with their heads.
From FirstLook: Glenn Greenwald's sarcastic piece about the people most excited about a Hilary Clinton presidency.
From Politico: Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) on why the Republicans want to impeach President Obama.
From TIME: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says that American politicians are a bigger threat to democracy than ISIS. Yes.
From Vocativ: Be a cop in Oakley Michigan for $1200.
From RSN: How to scrap the two-party system...
From BBCNews: J. Edgar Hoover used Nazis as Cold War spies. Why am I not surprised.
From TheDailyBeast: Jonathan Alter, one of my favorite writers about politics and society, talks about what the day after the Republican takeover of Congress will be like.
From Newsweek: When Google met Wikileaks.
From WashingtonPost: Senator Mark Warner's middle of the road fantasy almost cost him his seat on Tuesday, November 4, 2014
From YahooNews: President Obama not mopey about 2014 midterms.
From TheWashingtonPost: Rachel Maddow on the GOP banking on fear.
From RawStory: North Carolina voting machines acting kinda shady. I have been hearing similar stories for years.
From ThinkProgress: A secretive voter purge in 27 states, largely unknown and aimed at suspected members of minorities.
From Truthout: The origins, history, and more about GamerGate.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Negromancer's Fave Poli-Reads - October 2014 Edition - Update #26
From YahooNews: Finally, Senator Landrieu tells the truth about something.
From YahooNews: Surprising Israeli political cartoon about Israeli=U.S. relations.
From RollingStone: Paul Krugman - "In Defense of Obama"
From TheDailyBeast: The suicide of Israeli soldiers after recent Gaza incursion.
From TheNewYorker: Andy Borowitz says billionaires to retain control of congress after the midterms.
From NewYorkMagazine: Can Elizabeth Warren (via Jeanne Shaheen) beat Scott Brown again.
From the GuardianUK: A controversial book about the Matthew Shepard murder.
From ThinkProgess: Yes, let's soak the 1 percent with a 90 percent tax rate.
From Prospect: The making of Ferguson.
From TheGuardian: Four Blackwater mercenaries/employees found guilty in Nisour Square massacre.
From TheGuardian: Gamergate.
From ThinkProgress: This judge is a prick for not granting maternity leave.
From RSN: Mumia and the commencement speech that cause police to go nuts.
From the GuardianUK: Matt Taibbi on the justice divide between Wall Street and Ferguson.
From SPLC via RSN: How Cliven Bundy won and is still winning.
From Consortium News via RSN: The Washington Post strikes back at Gary Webb revival.
From Consortium News via RSN: Robert Parry talks about Ronald Reagan's CIA and the contra-cocaine saga.
From TheIntercept: The neocon-UAE-Iraeli plot to declar Qatar a supporter of terror.
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From TheNewYorkTimes: Why is President Obama continuing the embargo of Cuba.
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From Consortium News via RSN: Robert Parry on the mainstream media's tepid response to the ghost of Gary Webb rising again with the release of the film, Kill the Messanger.
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From Think Progress via RSN: The one time the U.S. had "universal childcare."
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From Reuters: Sweden to recognize the state of Palestine.
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From the GuardianUK: Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi win the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
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From YahooNews: 10 States with the worst quality of life... Yes, Louisiana makes the cut. And her current governor, Bobby Jindal (once called "the little majaraja") thinks his performance makes him a great U.S. presidential candidate for 2016.
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From Truthout: John Cleese weighs in on FOX News and stupidity.
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From Salon: The South (Southern states) has a victim complex.
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From MotherJones: An Alabama law provides lawyers for fetuses.
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From Reuters: The Supreme Court dodges gay marriage.
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From Truthout: Funny Obamacare cartoon.
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From Slate via RSN: (in)Justice Scalia's favorite murderer is innocent. You just have to laugh.
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From Consortium News via RSN: The New York Times admits that the Contra-Cocaine story was true... belatedly and relatively hidden.
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From Politico: "Something is Rotten in the Secret Service" - includes the author's now infamous line about it being Obama's own fault if he is assassinated.
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From the NewYorkTimes: Our Invisible Rich by Paul Krugman
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From RollingStone and RSN: Koch Bros. toxic empire.
From Rolling Stone via RSN: Koch's respond to Rolling Stone.
Friday, October 24, 2014
News Round-up: The Death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri Update #72
GoFundMe page for Mike Brown's family
From TheIntercept via RSN: Klan jury... I mean grand jury in Mike Brown's shooting began Wednesday, August 20th, 2014.
Michael Brown, 18, was shot to death, reportedly by police officer Darren Wilson, on Saturday, August 9th, 2014 at approximately 2:15 pm on Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri. Ferguson is a small city in St. Louis County. The shooting of the unarmed Brown sparked a furious backlash and days of protests, some violent and involving looting. What follows is a list of links to news articles about the shooting and related matters:
From the StLouisPostDispatch: An early article about the Michael Brown shooting
From the LosAngelesTimes: This is the earliest (or oldest) article that I could find about the Michael Brown shooting.
From HuffingtonPost: Another early article about the local African-American community's reaction to the shooting of Brown
From PrisonCulture: A searing image of Michael Brown's father
From the WashingtonPost via RSN: More of Darren Wilson's history and background emerges; it seems that he was previously associated with another police department that had a bad relationship with the local black folks.
From Al Jazeera via RSN: Darren Wilson: Judge, jury, and executioner.
From YahooNews via CSM and the AP: Shooter a.k.a. Darren Wilson tells his "side" of the story about how he shot an unarmed black man to death.
Updated Shooting Timeline: The AP via YahooNews.
UPDATED LINKS SECTION:
From YahooNews: Why is the Justice Department surprised by anything Ferguson and St. Louis investigators do.
From Reuters: Amnesty International: Police in Ferguson committed human rights abuses.
From YahooNews: The results of a government autopsy of Mike Brown leaked to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
From Guardian UK via RSN: Young people resist older generation's call for "peace."
From YahooNews: A weekend of resistance.
From the Guardian UK via RSN: Ours sons could be the next Michael Brown.
From RSN: The much-talked about grand jury tweet.
From Esquire via RSN: Another black teenager shot by a you-know-what.
From Reuters via RSN: Missourri planning for riots.
From ABC News via YahooNews: There is a night of unrest after police kills black teen.
From Truthout: The fault lines of Obama's "My Brother's Keeper."
From The Feminist Wire via Truthout: Black women on the front lines of Ferguson.
From the AP via RSN: Ferguson price-gouging media and other entities seeking files, records and information connected to Darren Wilson's killing of Mike Brown.
From Truthout: Facism 101 - Police and media control.
From the USA Today via RSN: Voter registration surges in Ferguson post-Mike Brown killing.
From the AP via RSN: President Obama says mistrust of police is corroding America.
From Reuters via RSN: People shooting at Ferguson police officers. I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner. Of course, this may not be linked to the Mike Brown shooting...
From YahooNews: Mike Brown's parents ain't buyin' your bull, Chief/Grand Dragon Tom Jackson!
From Salon via RSN: Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson attempts to join protest march calling for his resignation.
From YahooNews: The Justice Department asked the Ferguson Police Department to order its officers to stop wearing "I am Darren Wilson: bracelets.
From YahooNews: The Department of Justice begins interviews in its investigation of the Ferguson Police Department.
From NPR via RSN: The 11-year-old who shocked the St. Louis County Council.
From YahooNews: Slide-show about tensions in Ferguson. The real treat is the string of anti-Black racists posts in the comments section.
From YahooNews: More looting after a Mike Brown memorial is burned.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch via RSN: Mike Brown's killer, Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson testifies before grand jury. Mike Brown was also scheduled to testify, but he failed to appear because he is dead... because of Darren Wilson, who was able to testify because no one has killed him... yet.
From YahooNews: Protestors renew calls for D.A. Bob McCullogh's recusal, as judge gives klan jury... I mean grand jury until January to complete is cover-up... I mean complete its inquiry.
From Salon via RSN: Hands up! Don't shoot!
From Salon via RSN: There's a cover-up in Ferguson.
From CSM via RSN: When respect goes down, shootings go up.
From the WashingtonPost via RSN: Protests in Ferguson continue; 38 arrested in act of civil disobedience to have Bob McCulloch removed as the prosecutor in the Mike Brown shooting.
From Rolling Stone via RSN: Grammy-winning rapper and actor, T.I., speaks about the Mike Brown shooting - America has created a monster.
From the AP via RSN: Ferguson, MO elected leaders are met with protests and anger during a Tuesday, September 9, 2014 meeting with the public.
From StLouisToday: New witnesses that Mike Brown has his hands up.
From Truthout: St. Louis area cops loved shooting Black males before Mike Brown.
From Truthout: Black men share their stories of abuse at the hands of the Ferguson (my term) "klops," klan cops.
From The Nation via Truthout: A former Marine explains the weapons of war used by the Ferguson police.
From The Feminist Wire via Truthout: The price of blackness
From Public Radio International via RSN: In 2013, British police fired guns three times.
From the IrishTimes: African-American men at risk...
From MTV: Ma$e drops rhymes about Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown.
From RSN: Why the grand jury will love the killer Darren Wilson.
From the AP via RSN: The outrageous behavior of a killer cop and his cohorts has united victims of police violence nationwide.
From TIME via RSN: Hilary finally speaks on Mike Brown shooting.
From TPM: Protesters sue Missouri police.
From Yes! Magazine via Truthout: The #FergusonSyllabus
From YahooNews: 2 law enforcement officers who acted up during Mike Brown/Ferguson protests are out of jobs - one resigned and the other was fired.
From Boston.com: Jordan Lebeau on being "no angel."
From TheDailyBeast: Shocker! The Koch Bros. take on the militarization of police.
From RSN: The New York Times called out for its dishonest of its "Ferguson shooting" story by many including Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC and William Boardman of RSN.
From TheWeek: Jon Stewart returns to "The Daily Show," and talks FOX News, Ferguson, and race; FOX doesn't get the best of that.
From Reuters via RSN: Coverage of Mike Brown's funeral.
From the HuffingtonPost and TheVox: The New York Times draws criticism for calling Mike Brown, "no angel." The killer, Police Officer Darren Wilson, was described as "well-mannered" in the same article.
From the HuffingtonPost: NYT and Uncle Tom back down on "no angel."
From the HuffingtonPost: The always presumptuous Sean Klannity... I mean Sean Hannity gets schooled by Ferguson democratic politician, Patricia Bynes, in not backing down from a paternalistic white bully.
From TheVillageVoice: The difference between the outrage over Mike Brown and over Eric Garner.
From the NewYorkTimes: The secret to raising big money on crowdfunding sites is to kill a black male... apparently.
From YahooNews: Two rallies, one racial divide over Ferguson shooting
From The Wire via RSN: I bet he does represent quite a bit of the rank-and-file St. Louis County Police Department
From RSN: The Ferguson police have a card up their sleeves
From CommonDreams via RSN: 10 Facts about police violence in Ferguson on Sunday night, August 17th, 2014
From RSN: D.A. Bob McCulloch stalls for time: A woman who served on McCulloch's grand jury for eighteen Wednesdays said that the vast majority of witnesses McCulloch uses are police officers. "He relies on them to make his cases. They are his allies...He can present the case against Wilson any way he wants to get the outcome he wants."
From Truthdig via RSN: The ghost of Dred Scott
From MotherJones: Not surprisingly, racists donate to Darren Wilson
From Esquire via RSN: A body does not lie in the street for four hours... not in an advance society
From YahooNews: Autopsy vs. autopsy
From Truthout: How the mainstream media killed Michael Brown - by helping to spread the "official account" when cops kill Black men
From TheGuardianUK: The ghost of Mike Brown
From The Daily Beast via RSN: Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson has a history of supervising cops that shoot unarmed men.
From RSN: Police kill mentally ill woman in Arizona
From RSN: An account of the night police fired rubber bullets at protesters
From the WashingtonPost: Reporter Wesley Lowery's story of being arrested at a McDonald's in Ferguson
From RSN: Did you know an unarmed black man was also shot by police in Los Angeles?
From Reuters via RSN: Protest of that killing continue
From HuffingtonPost: Veteran Cop: If you don't want to get shot -- shut up
From Inquisitr: The "bum rush" theory
From YahooNews: Police mistrust among minorities still prevalent years later
From The Feminist Wire via Truthout: Dancing While Lying Dead in the Street: Michael's body lying in street as the spectacle of lynching
From Truthout: The Militirization of Racism and Neoliberal Violence by Henry A Giroux
From Time via RSN: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on what a coming race war will really be about.
From Fox2Now of St. Louis: The Baden autopsy press conference - Brown could have survived all the shots, except the last one, says Dr. Baden
From the NewYorkTimes: The autopsy of Michael Brown - the results by Dr. Michael M. Baden, the former chief medical examiner of the City of New York.
From HuffingtonPost: A Klan-like rally in support of killer-cop, Darren Wilson.
From NBCNews: First photographic images of police officer Darren Wilson who killed Michael Brown.
------------------
From YahooNews: At Greater Grace Church in St. Louis:
Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, a natural and adept, soft-spoken but firm performer, also spoke about his own son who, he said, wears his pants saggy, his hat crooked, and has tattoos running up his arm.
“And that’s my baby! That’s my son,” the police captain said, to raucous applause.
Al Sharpton: “Nobody can go to the White House until they stop by our house!”
-----------------------
From YahooNews: Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson earned police honor before killing Michael Brown
From TheGuardian: St. Louis Country prosecutor furious over transfer in leadership
From Huffington Post: Darren Wilson is the police officer who killed Michael Brown.
From HuffingtonPost: Missouri governor did not know who killed Michael Brown.
Conflicting information about the cop who killed Michael Brown: RT, Wonkette, and TheWire.
From YahooNews: Police defend use of tear gas, smoke at protests.
From TheGuardian via RSN: St. Louis County officer shoots "second man" in Ferguson, where police officers shot 18-year-old African-American man, Michael Brown, dead.
From TheGuardian: ACLU may sue to obtain the name of the police officer who (which has not been revealed as of this post) shot Michael Brown dead.
From The Guardian: They shot another young black man in America.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Emma Watson's United Nations Speech "We Want to End Gender Inequality..."
(photographic image is courtesy of UN Women.)
From The Huffington Post and Reader Supported News:
The following is an unedited version of the speech delivered by Emma Watson, the British actor and UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador, at the launch of the UN Women's "HeForShe" Campaign on Saturday, September 20, 2014, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
'We Want to End Gender Inequality - And to Do That We Need Everyone to Be Involved'
By Emma Watson, Reader Supported News
Today we are launching a campaign called HeForShe.
I am reaching out to you because I need your help. We want to end gender inequality - and to do that we need everyone to be involved.
This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN: we want to try and galvanise as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for gender equality. And we don't just want to talk about it, but make sure it is tangible.
I was appointed six months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realised that fighting for women's rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.
For the record, feminism by definition is: "The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes."
I started questioning gender-based assumptions when at eight I was confused at being called "bossy," because I wanted to direct the plays we would put on for our parents - but the boys were not.
When at 14 I started being sexualised by certain elements of the press.
When at 15 my girlfriends started dropping out of their sports teams because they didn't want to appear "muscly."
When at 18 my male friends were unable to express their feelings.
I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.
Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men and, unattractive.
Why is the word such an uncomfortable one?
I am from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decision-making of my country. I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men. But sadly I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.
No country in the world can yet say they have achieved gender equality.
These rights I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn't love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn't assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are. And we need more of those. And if you still hate the word - it is not the word that is important but the idea and the ambition behind it. Because not all women have been afforded the same rights that I have. In fact, statistically, very few have been.
In 1997, Hilary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women's rights. Sadly many of the things she wanted to change are still a reality today.
But what stood out for me the most was that only 30 per cent of her audience were male. How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?
Men - I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too.
Because to date, I've seen my father's role as a parent being valued less by society despite my needing his presence as a child as much as my mother's.
I've seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to ask for help for fear it would make them look less "macho" - in fact in the UK suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20-49; eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I've seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don't have the benefits of equality either.
We don't often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes but I can see that that they are and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence.
If men don't have to be aggressive in order to be accepted women won't feel compelled to be submissive. If men don't have to control, women won't have to be controlled.
Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong... It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals.
If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are - can all be freer and this is what HeForShe is about. It's about freedom.
I want men to take up this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too - reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.
You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing up on stage at the UN. It's a good question and trust me I have been asking myself the same thing. I don't know if I am qualified to be here. All I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make it better.
And having seen what I've seen - and given the chance - I feel it is my duty to say something. English statesman Edmund Burke said: "All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men and women to do nothing."
In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt I've told myself firmly - if not me, who, if not now, when. If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you I hope those words might be helpful.
Because the reality is that if we do nothing it will take 75 years, or for me to be nearly a hundred before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same work. 15.5million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children. And at current rates it won't be until 2086 before all rural African girls will be able to receive a secondary education.
If you believe in equality, you might be one of those inadvertent feminists I spoke of earlier. And for this I applaud you.
We are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen to speak up, To be the he for she. And to ask yourself if not me, who, if not now when.
Thank you.
---------------------
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Matt Damon on "The Future of Water Sustainability"
The Future of Water Sustainability
By Matt Damon, Gary White, Reader Supported News
24 November 13
Multinational companies have historically taken water availability for granted. But this is changing. A 2013 World Economic Forum report named water scarcity as one of the top global risks facing companies in the 21st century. So far, 93 multinational corporations have committed to the UN Global Compact's CEO Water Mandate, a public-private partnership to advance water sustainability -- an exponential increase from the original six signatories in 2007. As more business leaders recognise pressures related to water availability on their supply chains and profits, they are growing more aware of the impact of irresponsible water use on "intangible" business value such as reputation, brand and customer relations.
In 2014 the world will see even more companies increase water-related investments. This is not only for immediate business purposes, but because water sustains life and is intimately connected to all aspects of economic development. Business leaders understand this and will increase their focus on their own use of water as well as on water and sanitation access in the communities where they operate. In the year ahead cross-sector collaboration will also grow as the economic value of water climbs steeply.
Traditional charity models are becoming outmoded. What began as investments in digging wells have evolved into far more dynamic, market-oriented approaches like targeted grants intended to optimise social returns per philanthropic dollar.
The PepsiCo Foundation has pledged $35m to water programs in developing countries (including $12.1m to Water.org). Most of this has gone to Water.org's WaterCredit model, a microfinance initiative which links access to finance with access to water and sanitation. The Caterpillar Foundation is investing $11.3m in this market-based approach over the next five years. The IKEA Foundation has stepped in with a $5m grant and companies such as Levi Strauss & Co, and organizations like the Swiss Re Foundation, the Mastercard Foundation and Bank of America Foundation have also joined the effort. Their thinking and action have evolved because they recognize that straight charity is extremely limited as a means to long-term impact.
In 2014 we will see more companies follow this lead, gaining greater influence by focusing on market-based solutions and metrics. They will deploy their philanthropic and corporate-social-responsibility resources in a way that leverages market forces. Firms will focus not just on the number of people reached with services but also on the philanthropic cost per person reached -- and strive to push that lower, as commercial capital does more of the heavy lifting through approaches like microfinance.
Expanding options for corporate and individual investors to provide debt financing at concessionary rates is a potentially high-impact model that should be further explored. Committed social-impact investors could catalyse lower-end borrower interest rates so more people could afford small loans to secure water and sanitation services. This type of "double-bottom-line" investing (ie, producing social as well as financial returns) will expand beyond venture philanthropists and find its way into portfolios supported by companies in water services and beyond.
Where there's a well, there's a way
These are just a few illustrations of innovative financial solutions to meeting the need for safe water and sanitation. In 2014 businesses will partner with global non-governmental organizations, assessing water risk, scarcity and opportunity. And high-profile declarations such as the CEO Water Mandate will report on their commitments in six areas: direct operations, supply chain and watershed management, collective action, public policy, community engagement and transparency.
Leading examples of this approach include the investment by Merck and the PepsiCo Foundation in the Safe Water Network, an effort to bring technology and consumer-marketing campaigns to the rural poor in India; Bayer's work to improve wastewater treatment; SAB Miller's collaboration with the Water Futures Partnership, to ensure sustainable water resources in multiple countries; and Unilever's alliance with Oxfam, Population Services International, Save the Children and the World Food Programme, which ranges from providing technology for safe drinking water to efforts to change behavior.
Water plays a central role in all aspects of life, from energy to food security, health and education. That is what makes it so complex to tackle. As water scarcity becomes all too real, collaboration will become essential. Although governments need to lead and commit themselves to infrastructure expansion and affordable service, in 2014 it will be corporate financial innovation and smart philanthropy that help to bring safe water and sanitation to some of the billions in need.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
By Matt Damon, Gary White, Reader Supported News
24 November 13
Multinational companies have historically taken water availability for granted. But this is changing. A 2013 World Economic Forum report named water scarcity as one of the top global risks facing companies in the 21st century. So far, 93 multinational corporations have committed to the UN Global Compact's CEO Water Mandate, a public-private partnership to advance water sustainability -- an exponential increase from the original six signatories in 2007. As more business leaders recognise pressures related to water availability on their supply chains and profits, they are growing more aware of the impact of irresponsible water use on "intangible" business value such as reputation, brand and customer relations.
In 2014 the world will see even more companies increase water-related investments. This is not only for immediate business purposes, but because water sustains life and is intimately connected to all aspects of economic development. Business leaders understand this and will increase their focus on their own use of water as well as on water and sanitation access in the communities where they operate. In the year ahead cross-sector collaboration will also grow as the economic value of water climbs steeply.
Traditional charity models are becoming outmoded. What began as investments in digging wells have evolved into far more dynamic, market-oriented approaches like targeted grants intended to optimise social returns per philanthropic dollar.
The PepsiCo Foundation has pledged $35m to water programs in developing countries (including $12.1m to Water.org). Most of this has gone to Water.org's WaterCredit model, a microfinance initiative which links access to finance with access to water and sanitation. The Caterpillar Foundation is investing $11.3m in this market-based approach over the next five years. The IKEA Foundation has stepped in with a $5m grant and companies such as Levi Strauss & Co, and organizations like the Swiss Re Foundation, the Mastercard Foundation and Bank of America Foundation have also joined the effort. Their thinking and action have evolved because they recognize that straight charity is extremely limited as a means to long-term impact.
In 2014 we will see more companies follow this lead, gaining greater influence by focusing on market-based solutions and metrics. They will deploy their philanthropic and corporate-social-responsibility resources in a way that leverages market forces. Firms will focus not just on the number of people reached with services but also on the philanthropic cost per person reached -- and strive to push that lower, as commercial capital does more of the heavy lifting through approaches like microfinance.
Expanding options for corporate and individual investors to provide debt financing at concessionary rates is a potentially high-impact model that should be further explored. Committed social-impact investors could catalyse lower-end borrower interest rates so more people could afford small loans to secure water and sanitation services. This type of "double-bottom-line" investing (ie, producing social as well as financial returns) will expand beyond venture philanthropists and find its way into portfolios supported by companies in water services and beyond.
Where there's a well, there's a way
These are just a few illustrations of innovative financial solutions to meeting the need for safe water and sanitation. In 2014 businesses will partner with global non-governmental organizations, assessing water risk, scarcity and opportunity. And high-profile declarations such as the CEO Water Mandate will report on their commitments in six areas: direct operations, supply chain and watershed management, collective action, public policy, community engagement and transparency.
Leading examples of this approach include the investment by Merck and the PepsiCo Foundation in the Safe Water Network, an effort to bring technology and consumer-marketing campaigns to the rural poor in India; Bayer's work to improve wastewater treatment; SAB Miller's collaboration with the Water Futures Partnership, to ensure sustainable water resources in multiple countries; and Unilever's alliance with Oxfam, Population Services International, Save the Children and the World Food Programme, which ranges from providing technology for safe drinking water to efforts to change behavior.
Water plays a central role in all aspects of life, from energy to food security, health and education. That is what makes it so complex to tackle. As water scarcity becomes all too real, collaboration will become essential. Although governments need to lead and commit themselves to infrastructure expansion and affordable service, in 2014 it will be corporate financial innovation and smart philanthropy that help to bring safe water and sanitation to some of the billions in need.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Barbra Streisand: Why Is It Easier to Get an Assault Weapon Than to Vote?
From Reader Supported News:
Why Is It Easier to Get an Assault Weapon Than to Vote?
By Barbra Streisand, Reader Supported News
07 September 13
A great democracy does not make it harder to vote than to buy an assault weapon." - President Bill Clinton
The former president is absolutely right about what a great democracy should do. Unfortunately this is not the case in the United States today.
There have always been attempts by conservatives to restrict the franchise. It took women well over a century and painful struggle to get the right to vote. For African Americans in the South, activists were beaten and killed before the federal government stepped in to end "Jim Crow" laws against voting. Then it took massive voter registration drives in an atmosphere of intimidation to fully extend the right and access to vote for all citizens.
Until recently, there was a movement in the states towards making voting more convenient and accessible. Now, conservative governors and legislators are turning back the clock on progress.
Many Americans suffer from the difficulty of voting on a Tuesday in November instead of the weekend -- a relic of an agricultural nation. But it wasn't enough for some conservatives.
So, they discovered a "solution" in search of a "problem" -- the infinitesimal amount of voter fraud. But the real motive was stated by GOP Pennsylvania House Majority leader Mike Turzai, "Voter ID, which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done."
According to the authoritative Brennan Center, since the beginning of 2011, 19 states have passed 25 laws and two executive actions restricting voting. The laws vary, but all have the same impact. In these states, it is now more difficult for those Americans who typically have the least access to power in our democracy to participate. Some of the restrictions are particularly perverse.
Texas allows a state-issued "concealed carry permit" for guns to count as a voter ID but not a duly authorized ID from the flagship University of Texas. Tennessee and North Carolina also prohibit university identification from their own systems. A student without a driver's license essentially loses his/her rights while a gun owner, simply by owning a gun, does not. On Election Day 2012, Florida had hours-long lines because of new restrictions on early voting. North Carolina also eliminated same-day registration and reduced early voting. Indiana now allows other voters to challenge and demand proof of registration from fellow voters before they can vote.
The purpose of these voter restrictions laws is to make it more difficult for the young, the elderly, the poor and minorities to vote. Our voter participation rates are already among the lowest in the world's democracies, but conservatives seem intent on lowering it further.
But guns, why, owning them should be easier than ever. Congress failed to renew the assault weapons ban, but one can buy an assault weapon from an individual or a gun show without having to show any identification. Even after the movie theatre carnage in Colorado and the slaughter of school children in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut by individuals wielding assault weapons and large ammunition clips, Congress failed to provide enough votes for simple background checks.
A recent study by two professors at Cleveland State University estimated that Americans own between 262 and 310 million firearms. The U.S. population is less than 314 million. Over 30,000 Americans die every year from firearms, and one person in three knows someone who has been shot according to the Brady Center. There are many suggestions about reducing gun violence in the United States. But allowing someone to buy an assault weapon without showing any identification surely is not one of them. Despite the paranoia fostered by the gun lobby, no government agency is going to come and take away guns from American citizens. In fact, the only national database of gun ownership is controlled by the NRA!
It is time to promote sensible reforms about gun violence and to stop further restrictions on voting. The only way this will happen is if enough Americans vote for politicians willing to oppose the NRA and its backers -- the gun manufacturers, and vote out those politicians who seek to restrict Americans' right to vote for their own narrow partisan reasons.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
Why Is It Easier to Get an Assault Weapon Than to Vote?
By Barbra Streisand, Reader Supported News
07 September 13
A great democracy does not make it harder to vote than to buy an assault weapon." - President Bill Clinton
The former president is absolutely right about what a great democracy should do. Unfortunately this is not the case in the United States today.
There have always been attempts by conservatives to restrict the franchise. It took women well over a century and painful struggle to get the right to vote. For African Americans in the South, activists were beaten and killed before the federal government stepped in to end "Jim Crow" laws against voting. Then it took massive voter registration drives in an atmosphere of intimidation to fully extend the right and access to vote for all citizens.
Until recently, there was a movement in the states towards making voting more convenient and accessible. Now, conservative governors and legislators are turning back the clock on progress.
Many Americans suffer from the difficulty of voting on a Tuesday in November instead of the weekend -- a relic of an agricultural nation. But it wasn't enough for some conservatives.
So, they discovered a "solution" in search of a "problem" -- the infinitesimal amount of voter fraud. But the real motive was stated by GOP Pennsylvania House Majority leader Mike Turzai, "Voter ID, which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done."
According to the authoritative Brennan Center, since the beginning of 2011, 19 states have passed 25 laws and two executive actions restricting voting. The laws vary, but all have the same impact. In these states, it is now more difficult for those Americans who typically have the least access to power in our democracy to participate. Some of the restrictions are particularly perverse.
Texas allows a state-issued "concealed carry permit" for guns to count as a voter ID but not a duly authorized ID from the flagship University of Texas. Tennessee and North Carolina also prohibit university identification from their own systems. A student without a driver's license essentially loses his/her rights while a gun owner, simply by owning a gun, does not. On Election Day 2012, Florida had hours-long lines because of new restrictions on early voting. North Carolina also eliminated same-day registration and reduced early voting. Indiana now allows other voters to challenge and demand proof of registration from fellow voters before they can vote.
The purpose of these voter restrictions laws is to make it more difficult for the young, the elderly, the poor and minorities to vote. Our voter participation rates are already among the lowest in the world's democracies, but conservatives seem intent on lowering it further.
But guns, why, owning them should be easier than ever. Congress failed to renew the assault weapons ban, but one can buy an assault weapon from an individual or a gun show without having to show any identification. Even after the movie theatre carnage in Colorado and the slaughter of school children in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut by individuals wielding assault weapons and large ammunition clips, Congress failed to provide enough votes for simple background checks.
A recent study by two professors at Cleveland State University estimated that Americans own between 262 and 310 million firearms. The U.S. population is less than 314 million. Over 30,000 Americans die every year from firearms, and one person in three knows someone who has been shot according to the Brady Center. There are many suggestions about reducing gun violence in the United States. But allowing someone to buy an assault weapon without showing any identification surely is not one of them. Despite the paranoia fostered by the gun lobby, no government agency is going to come and take away guns from American citizens. In fact, the only national database of gun ownership is controlled by the NRA!
It is time to promote sensible reforms about gun violence and to stop further restrictions on voting. The only way this will happen is if enough Americans vote for politicians willing to oppose the NRA and its backers -- the gun manufacturers, and vote out those politicians who seek to restrict Americans' right to vote for their own narrow partisan reasons.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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