The Manchin-Toomey compromise is now riddled with concessions the gun lobby will love.
(Source: motherjones)
I'm a global citizen, with an academic backgrund in the Middle East and Africa. Cities around the world feel like my home. I'm a professional Educator, which means something both in and out of public schools in the Bronx. And I believe in Solidarity. Wherever I am. Notes from my travels, research, and encounters tend to end up here...
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April 30, 2013
10 Reasons the Background Check Bill Means Victory for the NRA
April 16, 2013
Top Enron Fraudster Will Spend Less Time In Prison Than A Father Who Sold His Own Pain Pills
This is what capitalism looks like
Sickening. From ThinkProgress:
John Horner had no record of drug-dealing when he was sentenced to a 25-year mandatory minimum prison term for selling some of his own pain pillsto an undercover informant who befriended him and told him he could not afford both his rent and his prescription medication. Horner, a fast-food restaurant worker and a father, had been prescribed the pain medication because of an injury in which he lost an eye, according to a BBC report.
If, as expected, he serves all 25 years, Horner will be 72 when he is released, and he will have spent more time in prison than the former Enron CEO who was convicted in one of the largest corporate fraud schemes in modern history. Last week, the Department of Justice said it is considering a deal to shorten Jeffrey Skilling’s sentence. But even if he serves every year, Skilling will still have fared better than Horner with a sentence of 24 years.
This is what the “War on Drugs” hath wrought. People selling small amounts of drugs to pay for food and rent are facing longer mandatory minimum sentences than banksters who defraud people for millions — sometimes billions — of dollars.
White collar crime has very few to none mandatory minimum sentences, while blue collar crime, particularly drug crimes, have a plethora of mandatory minimum sentences, and disproportionately send low-income people of color off to prison.
If we’re going to have mandatory minimums for drugs, which I absolutely abhor, at least consider a mandatory minimum for financial crimes — say, one year for every hundred thousand stolen and/or defrauded? Remember, Bernie Madoff is the exception in sentencing and not the rule.
April 11, 2013
NYPD Officer Charged After Helping Police Gang Commit Over 100 Robberies
A 17-year veteran of the New York City Police Department pled not guilty Thursday to charges that he supplied police paraphernalia and weapons to a stickup crew, which then used the equipment to rob drug dealers.
Officer Jose Tejada is accused of involvement in a string of 2006 and 2007 robberies in which he is alleged to have provided NYPD badges, uniforms and even police vehicles to a group of thieves. Tejada, 45, who had been assigned to police Harlem, was in uniform and on duty at the time of at least one of his alleged crimes.
He’s been connected to three of the more than one hundred robberies the crew is supposedly behind, with some dating back to 2001. Tejada is charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to distribute drugs including heroin, cocaine, MDMA, and marijuana, as well as an unlawful use of a firearm charge, according to local NY1 news.
Prosecutors say Tejada was caught in an “ongoing Internal Affairs Bureau investigation” and has been suspended from the department after holding a family of three at gunpoint while his colleagues searched their home.
He also is accused of checking the legal status of other robbers in the gang and letting them know when it was safe to flee then reenter the United States.
“Obviously it is sad and disappointing anytime a police officer is arrested,” said NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly.
Tejada is the second officer to be charged as part of the robbery crew, which began in 2001 and has “netted more than 250 kilograms of cocaine and $1 million in narcotics proceeds,” prosecutors told the Times.
Emmanuel Tavarez, an eight-year veteran of the force, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in May 2012 after being convicted for aiding the gang. Twenty other members have been implicated in the years-long investigation.
March 11, 2013
Wall Street bonuses rise 8% for 2012 but industry warns of looming layoffs
This headline says it all.
March 6, 2013
The sports-industrial complex is bleeding America dry
Oh. You thought Sponsorships paid this shit?
seriouslyamerica:
That term – Sports Tax – is not hyperbolic. In a week that saw Louisiana fork over $5 million to the NFL for the privilege of helping that league make big Super Bowl money, Sports Tax is the most accurate catch-all label for the four sets of levies the public is being made to shell out.
The first Sports Tax comes from the higher taxes we all pay in order to fund direct handouts. Just as NFL owners convinced Louisiana politicians to give them that $5 million taxpayer subsidy, similar collusions between team owners and lawmakers have been forcing taxpayers everywhere to do much the same. In all, Bloomberg Businessweek reports that “taxpayers have committed $18.6 billion since 1992 to subsidies for the NFL’s 32 teams, counting the expense of building stadiums, forgone real estate taxes, land and infrastructure improvements, and interest costs on public bonds.” That’s almost $1 billion every year – and that’s just for football, meaning the figure isn’t even counting similar handouts for other leagues.
The second Sports Tax comes in the form of a rigged tax code, which effectively compels honest taxpayers to bankroll professional teams. As Republican Sen. Tom Coburn detailed in a report last year, the NFL, NHL, PGA (among others) use special provisions in that code “to exempt themselves from federal income taxes on earnings.” The report concluded that because of this, “Taxpayers may be losing at least $91 million subsidizing these tax loopholes for professional sports leagues that generate billions of dollars annually in profits.”
The third Sports Tax is embedded in your cable television bill. Though this levy is not itemized on your bill, the Los Angeles Times reports that up to half of your total cable payment is “for the sports channels packaged into most services.” That’s because the sports stations tend to charge significantly higher rates than other outlets, and yet are automatically included in most basic cable packages, thereby preventing ratepayers from opting out. The result is a tax obligating those who do not watch sports to subsidize those who do.
The final Sports Tax hits you two ways: First when your annual taxes go to support higher education and then when you or your kids pay ever-higher tuition rates. In both situations, your cash is typically subsidizing large schools’ sprawling athletic departments. That’s right – thanks in part to multi-million-dollar coaching salaries, 93 percent of those departments bring in less money than they generate, meaning you are paying a Sports Tax to make up the difference.
I’m an avid sports fan - but these are certainly some of the problematic things about our sports obsessed culture. [Not to mention the free pass that some talented athletes get - Ben Roethlisberger, I’m looking at you.]
(Source: azspot, via reagan-was-a-horrible-president)
December 31, 2012
How Wal-Mart Used Payoffs to Get Its Way in Mexico
Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited, an examination by The New York Times found.
This is Part 2 of a series. Read Part 1 here.
(via fylatinamericanhistory)
August 28, 2012
(Source: questionall, via reagan-was-a-horrible-president)
August 14, 2012
July 19, 2012
"Recent figures show that for every dollar Obama’s supporters have spent, Mitt Romney’s have laid down eight."
— http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/americas/us-election-its-all-about-money
June 15, 2012
Together the big five oil companies—BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell—earned a combined $33.5 billion, or $368 million per day, during the first quarter of 2012.
That’s like winning the record-breaking Mega Millions jackpot every 2 days. BUT these companies still get $24 billion in tax breaks.
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My last meal before my wisdom teeth get taken out. That plate has been dubbed Potato Mountain by @movingbackward.
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Anonymous asked: how does one get over an ex boyfriend? I'm literally going insane. its been more than a year since we broke up. he's with someone else now. and i cant stop thinking about him. what the fuck do i do?
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.
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Che and Gagarin
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Leftists are not liberals.
Leftists are not liberals.
Leftists are not liberals.
Leftists are not liberals.
...
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One of the worst things to happen to Islam is the Islamic revolution in Iran.
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For all you undecided voters out there...
Take a look at Jill Stein in the Green Party… someone who has truly stood by her...
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For the upcoming US elections, think about the way in which the American elites have been able to exclude a large and important amount of people...
