By David Harris-Gershon (@David_EHG)
From 1999-2010, the total U.S. prison population rose 18 percent, an increase largely reflected by the “drug war” and stringent sentencing guidelines, such as three strikes laws and mandatory minimum sentences.
However, total private prison populations exploded fivefold during this same time period, with federal private prison populations rising by 784 percent read more »
From A Better World Is Probable:
Over the past several days President Barack and Michelle Obama delivered commencement speeches at two historically black universities. At both they gave the same condescending lecture to Black students about dismissing racism and embracing personal responsibility. For instance, here’s what President Obama’s had to say to Morehouse’s class of 2013: read more »
- Jon Queally of Common Dreams
Seattle teachers who took a strong and public stance by refusing to administer a “flawed” but mandatory standardized test earlier this school year are celebrating a victory after an announcement by the school district saying the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test will not be given to high school students next year. read more »
From the Knowing Coves:
This is the story of a racist myth that began with a light-hearted letter to the New England Journal of Medicine in 1968 and subsequently exploded in North American culture — in direct opposition to every shred of scientific evidence — becoming so prevalent that credulous eaters buy into it to the point of experiencing its effects on a purely psychosomatic basis. read more »
By Ned Resnikoff of NBC:
Detroit—a city under emergency management in a state that has recently adopted harsh right-to-work laws—on Friday joined the wave of cities across the nation to see fast food workers on strike for the right to form a union and receive a higher base pay. read more »
Originally posted at Democracy Now:
A joint investigation by the Washington Monthly and the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute has found over the past five years U.S. border agents have shot across the border at least 10 times, killing a total of six Mexicans on Mexican soil. The killings have gone unpunished after a court ruled the Mexican victims have no standing to sue in U.S. courts since they died on their own soil. Investigative reporter John Carlos Frey writes: “The picture that emerges from this investigation is of an agency operating with thousands of poorly trained rookies and failing to provide the kind of transparency, accountability, and clear rules of engagement that Americans routinely expect of law enforcement agencies.” Frey joins us to discuss the shootings and why he fears that the current immigration consensus in Washington on “border security” could increase Mexico’s civilian toll. read more »
Reposted from Seattle Pulp: by Hanna Brooks Olsen
As I’ve already covered, there are some really very substantial cuts coming to our city’s already not-great bus service. Very substantial. So substantial that, just to review, I’m going to show them to you again. Here’s what’s at stake: read more »
By Terri Judd of the Independent:
Emaciated and frail, more than 100 men lie on concrete floors of freezing, solitary cells in Guantánamo, silently starving themselves to death.
Stripped of all possessions, even basics such as a sleeping mat or soap, they lie listlessly as guards periodically bang on the steel doors and shout at them to move an arm or leg to prove they are still conscious.
The notorious detention centre is in crisis, suffering a rebellion of unprecedented scale, with most of the camp on lockdown and around two-thirds of the 166 detainees on hunger strike. read more »
By Hannah Kapp-Klote of Policy Mic:
In the 1960s and 1970s, LGBT liberation (what we now call “LGBT equality”) was seen by its advocates as an all-inclusive movement intrinsically bound to other social justice movements: there could be no justice for LGBT people without justice for people of color, women, workers, those in other nations, etc. Accordingly, LGBT activists worked hard to build coalitions with all those determined to fight for justice.
Nowadays, the LGBT movement does more branding than coalition building. read more »
Hunger-striking detainees at the Guantanamo detention facility are being force-fed through tubes inserted into their noses twice a day — causing them to gag for air and vomit — during a procedure that a U.S. military defense lawyer just returned from the U.S. base in Cuba described as “brutal” and agonizing. read more »
