Breaking News Events

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Nat

Maddow makes the distinctions clear between MSNBC's and Faux News as far as Fox really pimping for the GOP as well as the employment rules. I wonder if management will trump this up as making a point and Olberman will be back next week?

I am also wondering about what Corkey and others bring up about Olberman just breaching his emplyment contract. This doesn't make sense after hearing in this video that he could have asked management about making the donations. It seems like permission was granted to other MSNBC employees to do so.

Some of this seems strange to me.

[Nat]

Originally Posted by AtLastHome

Maddow makes the distinctions clear between MSNBC's and Faux News as far as Fox really pimping for the GOP as well as the employment rules. I wonder if management will trump this up as making a point and Olberman will be back next week?

I am also wondering about what Corkey and others bring up about Olberman just breaching his emplyment contract. This doesn't make sense after hearing in this video that he could have asked management about making the donations. It seems like permission was granted to other MSNBC employees to do so.

Some of this seems strange to me.

I have mixed feelings. I really don't think Olbermann has the same powers of logic and consistency that Maddow (for example) has. He makes great points, he has interviewed people - very interesting people with very interesting points of view - that nobody else has.

He interviewed Raul Grijalva (one of the people he donated to) after Grijalva's office received a package of white powder with swastikas on the outside packaging. He's the best source on youtube for finding out more about that guy whose house burnt down while the firemen watched because he hadn't paid his pay-as-you-go fireman fee.

But he is a very emotional, impassioned speaker and he also delivers a lot of low blows. Which to me puts him further into the Fox-News-Like arena whether or not he actually fundraises for the people he's interviewing.

A friend and I were talking about how Jon Stewart kinda attacked him at the rally for sanity thing - basically saying Olbermann was part of the problem. (Which kinda reminds me of that saying about when you have one finger pointed at somebody else, the other three are pointing back at you). We were wondering whether Jon Stewart's conflation of MSNBC and especially Olbermann has had more to do with why MSNBC has suspended him than anything else.

It doesn't make sense that he would have intentionally gone against his contract to donate toward 3 campaigns. His ability to keep his job was doing more for those candidates than whatever money he could have given them (which would have gone back into tv exposure anyway). Either he knew it was a matter of public record or he thought it was somehow secret. If he knew it was a matter of public record, it doesn't make sense that he would have done it if he knew it would get him in trouble at work or make him look bad on the national stage. If he somehow thought his donations would remain a secret, then that would make him look extremely bad because he's been attacking the US Chamber of Commerce for accepting secret and overseas donations and then running republican political ads. The guy who originally replaced him was then also found to have made political contributions, so if I had to make a guess it would be that there was the official policy which wasn't enforced, that there was a culture of violation of that policy or a culture of not caring if people violated that policy and that MSNBC suspended him because they are very concerned with not looking like the liberal equivalent to Fox (which Jon Stewart recently emphasized).

The thing with Fox is that there really does need to be an equally strong counterbalance. They don't have to be so crooked, but MSNBC's shying away from liberalism right now just stinks of fear and disloyalty that has been the sickness of many dems and other leberals since obama took office.

[MsDemeanor]

Originally Posted by Nat

The guy who originally replaced him was then also found to have made political contributions, so if I had to make a guess it would be that there was the official policy which wasn't enforced, that there was a culture of violation of that policy or a culture of not caring if people violated that policy and that MSNBC suspended him because they are very concerned with not looking like the liberal equivalent to Fox (which Jon Stewart recently emphasized).

Unfortunately, whoever gave you this information had their facts wrong. Chris Hayes, who was supposed to fill in for Keith, is a contributor to MSNBC; his real job is Washington editor of The Nation magazine. He's not a show host, so he works under different rules, rules that do not include a ban on political contributions - which he did before he had signed a contract, BTW. Chris didn't do the show because he refused, not because he had also contributed money. It was his decision, not MSNBCs.

Chris' twitter on the subject : "OK: I'm not filling in on Countdown tonight because I didn't feel comfortable doing it given the circumstances." And "My not hosting tonight has *nothing* to do with several donations I made to two friends *before* I ever signed an MSNBC contract"

Peter Sagal of NPR has been abuzz on twitter over this, too. He points out that this is a condition of employment, both at NBC and at NPR (and ABC and NYT and CNN), but not a Faux. Notice how the legitimate news sources all ban this stuff, but not the Republican Campaign News Network.

[Nat]

152 Arrested in Oakland Cop Sentencing Protest

Police arrested 152 protesters who streamed through the streets Friday - some breaking windows and knocking down fences - after a white ex-transit officer received the minimum two-year prison sentence for fatally shooting an unarmed black man on a California train platform.

The case against defendant Johannes Mehserle has provoked racial unrest at every turn, and police in Oakland, the scene of the killing, were on alert for more problems following a sentence many thought was too light.

"This is outrageous - This sentence of two years is outrageous," one protester told CBS Station KPIX. "For murder, for killing somebody!"

A rally billed as a tribute to Oscar Grant turned into a march through the downtown area, where people broke car windows and two windows on a bus. After police in riot gear repeatedly blocked and outflanked them, several hundred protesters splintered into smaller groups and entered residential neighborhoods.

Police helicopters hovered above, shining spotlights on the crowd.

A group of about 100 protesters holding a banner reading “Justice for Oscar Grant” was hemmed in with officers on both sides of the street before police started making arrests around 8 p.m. Friday, saying the assembly was illegal.

The action was taken, Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts said, after one officer had his gun taken from him in a fight and another officer was hit by a car and suffered what police described as a non-life-threatening injury. "It's one thing breaking windows; it's another thing taking a gun from an officer," the chief said.

Police spokesman Jeff Thomason said officers checking the backpacks of several of those arrested found hammers, pepper spray, switchblades and anti-freeze.

Mehserle's sentence, handed down in Los Angeles, also angered the victim's family and friends, who demanded a much harsher punishment.

Wanda Johnson, Grant's mother, shouted, "Oh my!" when Superior Court Judge Robert Perry issued the two-year sentence. She burst out of the courtroom saying, "He got nothing! He got nothing!"

Grant's uncle, Bobby Cephus Johnson, said outside court: "I do believe it's a racist criminal justice system."

Still, he said the family was reacting calmly but added he could not comment for others.

"I have no power over what people feel their matter of expression should be," he said.

Some of the dozens of people who gathered outside Oakland City Hall for a tribute to victim Oscar Grant broke into tears when they learned of the judge's decision. Outside the Los Angeles courthouse, a small crowd that had earlier shouted "No justice, no peace" reacted relatively calmly to the sentence.

Mehserle, 28, had faced a possible 14-year maximum term after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter. At the time of the shooting, Mehserle was a Bay Area Rapid Transit officer responding to a report of a fight.

In making his decision during the highly charged, 3½-hour hearing, Perry threw out a gun enhancement that could have added as much as 10 years in prison and said there was overwhelming evidence that it was an accidental shooting.

Perry said race would not factor into his decision and although Mehserle had shown "tons of remorse" for killing Grant, he would have to account that a "young man needlessly died."

"I did the best I could with this case," Perry told the courtroom. "My decisions today will not be well-received by many people. I'm sorry for that."

Police said they were prepared in case there was a replay of the rioting in Oakland that followed the shooting on New Year's Day 2009.

Mayor Ron Dellums said he understood the pain and disappointment sparked by the sentence.

"It is still my hope that people will express their anger, will express their disappointment, their outrage, their pain in a manner that is nonviolent, in a manner that is not destructive to our community," he said at a news conference.

Johnson family attorney John Burris acknowledged a small step was taken by the justice system in sentencing Mehserle to two years, but he said that was insufficient. Both Burris and Bobby Johnson noted that NFL star Michael Vick got a harsher sentence for running a dog-fighting ring.

"What you take from that is that Oscar Grant's life was not worth very much," Burris said.

He also targeted Perry's comments before sentencing that he was saddened by the polarization of the community over the shooting.

"This case does nothing at all to heal, if that was ever any intent," Burris said.

Reaction to the case has drawn comparisons to the infamous 1991 Rodney King beating by Los Angeles police officers, which inflamed a racial divide and led to the disastrous 1992 riot when the officers were acquitted of brutality charges.

Mehserle was convicted in July in the videotaped killing of Grant, 22, in Oakland. The case was moved to Los Angeles for trial.

Perry had wide discretion when sentencing Mehserle. Prosecutors sought prison time while defense lawyers argued for probation. The judge gave Mehserle the minimum possible prison sentence.

Defense attorney Michael Rains immediately filed an appeal with the court after the sentencing. After time already served and good behavior credits, Mehserle will likely serve an additional six to seven months based on California's sentencing guidelines, the lawyer said.

Mehserle testified during the trial that he thought Grant had a weapon and decided to shock him with his stun gun but instead pulled his .40-caliber handgun. Grant was unarmed and face down when he was shot.

Sentencing came after four relatives of Grant and his fiancee pleaded with Perry to send Mehserle to prison for 14 years.

Wanda Johnson cried and struggled to give a victim impact statement. She said she regrets telling her son to take a BART train to San Francisco before the shooting.

"I live every day of my life in pain," she said. "My son is not here because of a careless action."

The family continues to maintain that it was murder when Mehserle shot Grant.

Mehserle, shackled and wearing a jail jumpsuit, also stood before the judge before sentencing and apologized for the shooting, which he contended was accidental and not racially motivated.

"I want to say how deeply sorry I am," Mehserle said. "Nothing I ever say or do will heal the wound. I will always be sorry for taking Mr. Grant from them."

He cried during portions of his 10-minute statement and said he and his family have received numerous death threats and he's been "green-lighted" - a term in which other jail inmates have the go-ahead to kill someone.

Earlier, the judge said he had received more than 1,000 letters urging a harsh sentence.

Prosecutors had sought a second-degree murder conviction, saying Mehserle became angry at Grant for resisting arrest.

However, jurors were given the choice of lesser charges, including voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. In reaching a decision on involuntary manslaughter, jurors found that Mehserle didn't mean to kill Grant, but his behavior was still so negligent that it was criminal.

Involuntary manslaughter has a sentencing range of two to four years, while the gun allegation carries a term of three, four or 10 years.

The judge rebuked prosecutors for arguing that Mehserle intentionally shot Grant, saying there wasn't any evidence to back up that allegation. Perry also said he believed the videos showed Grant resisted arrest and many people, including Mehserle's fellow officers and Grant's friends, contributed to the tragedy.

"All of these people share some responsibility," Perry said.

Early in the day, before the sentencing, there was a scuffle outside the Los Angeles courthouse that led to at least one arrest and an undercover officer being briefly handcuffed.

Police Lt. John Romero said the undercover police officer was coming out of the building when a member of the crowd recognized him and the two had a verbal exchange. When it escalated to pushing and shoving among the crowd, sheriff's deputies who guard the building moved in.

[katsarecool]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/latinos-prevent-republica_b_779355.html Well it appears the latino vote busted Republican chops and will do so with 1.25 million more registered latino voters by 2012!

[Soon]

Report: Iranian authorities give go-ahead to execute woman

[waxnrope]

L.A., the place where I was born and raised. Where I learned to fear police, and for a long time, hate them.

L.A. It's a hot place. So dry, the air sometimes crackles.

In L.A., law enforcement exists to enforce those situations that threaten white privilege. Of course, this doesn't include poor whites ... except when that group is privileged over brown or black. This helps to maintain tension between groups, dontcha know. And supposedly gives poor whites a sense that they are at least over somebody else.

L.A. the place where, in my youth, a male companion, also a POC, was picked up by police while we walked around the closed shops of Wilshire Blvd. I looked for my friend, for the police department. Found him around the corner from where he was picked up. He was beaten.

L.A. They said that things had changed there. It wasn't like the old days. Then, Rodney King happened. He was a long time ago, too. But I hear, once again that things are better. The things I look for to change, though, are not the presuppositions and facile pronouncements of an accepted multiculturalism. Rather, it is the heat and dryness ... of racist thoughts and the actions, or lack of same, which follow such thinking that renders my judgement. Just my penny's worth...

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by waxnrope

L.A., the place where I was born and raised. Where I learned to fear police, and for a long time, hate them.

L.A. It's a hot place. So dry, the air sometimes crackles.

In L.A., law enforcement exists to enforce those situations that threaten white privilege. Of course, this doesn't include poor whites ... except when that group is privileged over brown or black. This helps to maintain tension between groups, dontcha know. And supposedly gives poor whites a sense that they are at least over somebody else.

L.A. the place where, in my youth, a male companion, also a POC, was picked up by police while we walked around the closed shops of Wilshire Blvd. I looked for my friend, for the police department. Found him around the corner from where he was picked up. He was beaten.

L.A. They said that things had changed there. It wasn't like the old days. Then, Rodney King happened. He was a long time ago, too. But I hear, once again that things are better. The things I look for to change, though, are not the presuppositions and facile pronouncements of an accepted multiculturalism. Rather, it is the heat and dryness ... of racist thoughts and the actions, or lack of same, which follow such thinking that renders my judgement. Just my penny's worth...

And so goes Richmond and Oakland, California! I don't know if the new Oakland police chief is going to deal with this stuff, I hope so. Richmond is a mess and has such a high population of unemployed POC, the desperation hangs in the heavy in the air. Kids kill each other there like going to a Friday night movie. Rapes on school campuses happen all of the time- we just hear about the gang ones!

About a month ago, I was physically threatened in a Richmond park by an African American man who really had a problem with a butch woman just asking him to leash his dog after it attacked my dog (his dog was about 85 pounds to my 25 pound little guy). The guy was big and I had no escape route and with my mobility problems, I was even more in a pickle and it was getting dark.

I made a police report after getting to safety. And I have to say that while talking to the Richmond PD officers (both white), I immediately felt something change when I told them the guy was African American. At first they were not all that interested in my complaint (hummm... not such a big deal that a butch is threatened with physical violence and stalking, I guess). But since the guy was a POC, that was cause for action and getting all the facts as well as statements from these so called "professionals" that frankly were racist.

Weird, weird situation! The guy could have been any race that attacked me- he did call me "white bitch," (I’m a quarter Latino, but don't look it) "bull dagger" and said, "you can suck my cock" to me. he told me that he was going to come back every day to the dog park and "make me miserable." And that there are no rules at dog parks (there are, it is run by (the regional park service).

Mostly, he was a sexist, homophobic ass that decided to throw in some racial stuff while threatening me. But, I didn't feel like the Richmond PD officers were much better than him and frankly, I think that they would have gone after him differently than if he were white if he had stuck around.

This whole thing demonstrates just how fucked up race, homophobia and police in areas where POC are the majority. It is craziness!! not to mention that I was very scared and am always looking for this guy at that park. For awhile, I went to another dog park, but, I have gone to this one almost every day for 10 years and it is close to my home. I decided to face my fears and reclaim my dog park! Have never seen him again.

[katsarecool]

are coming from some very surprising sources. And evidence that other employees have made donations to candidates too.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1...170,b=facebook

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by katsarecool

are coming from some very surprising sources. And evidence that other employees have made donations to candidates too.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1...170,b=facebook

Very interesting article! Especially...


Among media personalities and even straight-forward reporters, there has been a bit of shock over what was viewed as a knee-jerk punishment for a fairly minor ethical lapse. Bill Kristol, the longtime conservative scribe for the Weekly Standard, penned a blog post under the headline "Keep Keith!" extolling MSNBC's brass for muzzling someone whose ideological leanings are fairly self-evident.


Kristol is pretty damn right-wing!

[Nat]

Gene Robinson, first openly gay Episcopal bishop, announces his retirement

Robinson made it clear that the stress of being the focal point of discussion in the Anglican Communion has taken a toll on him. Robinson has been at the center of an international uproar over whether a married, openly gay man should lead a church that disapproves of homosexuality.

[Nat]

Cholera death toll rises in hurricane-hit Haiti

The death toll from the current cholera epidemic in Haiti has exceeded 500, the country's health ministry has said.

Fifty-nine people had died up until and including Thursday, and 617 others had been infected, bringing the total affected to 7,359, the ministry added.

The news came as the local authorities and relief agencies attempted to get clean drinking water to those areas worse affected by Hurricane Tomas.

[katsarecool]

Nat what a horrible situation! It is unforgiveable that our country has not made good on their $$$ pledges as of this date. There is no excuse for millions of people to be living in ragged tents or even a new tent for that matter. The situation is Haiti is deteriorating each and every minute. So many people over there volunteering their money and time but still it is not enough. Very very sad. Most of the victims are probably children, this sick and elderly. I bet, and I will probably get slammed for saying this I bet if this was a country with white citizens it would totally be different!!!!

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Nat

Gene Robinson, first openly gay Episcopal bishop, announces his retirement

Robinson made it clear that the stress of being the focal point of discussion in the Anglican Communion has taken a toll on him. Robinson has been at the center of an international uproar over whether a married, openly gay man should lead a church that disapproves of homosexuality.

What has always gotten to me is when he was made bishop, he wore a bullet-proof vest and was surrounded by body guards! Great display of Christian love, huh?

I wish him the best in retirement, some peace would be nice..

[betenoire]

This isn't really a breaking news event, but it's hysterical and you all want to watch it. Trust me.

Why have I never seen this before?

[katsarecool]

This video is a must see!

http://www.countercurrents.org/rifkin051110.htm

[Jesse]

http://http://education.change.org/blog/view/welcome_to_white_supremacist_101_brought_to_you_by _wilson_sports?me=nl

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by Tranzman

http://http://education.change.org/blog/view/welcome_to_white_supremacist_101_brought_to_you_by _wilson_sports?me=nl

Is there another link? That one didn't work for me.

[Jess]

Cross posting these articles from the Beginning of the End of DADT thread, as I think our current position on this very important issue needs to be passed on as much as possible.

Keeping up with this issue after mid-terms. I ran across a couple articles of interest. Will continue watching and sending every petition in I come across.

One from Huff Post:

Dems To Cave On DADT Repeal In Lame Duck

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_780371.html

Another from Metro Weekly/ Poliglot:

The (Military) Brass Tacks of Lame-Duck DADT Repeal

http://metroweekly.com/poliglot/2010...-military.html

From the Wall Street Journal:

Drive to Repeal 'Don't Ask' Policy All but Lost for Now

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...961320666.html

[Tommi]

Having raised O/our wonderful Daughter with love and care and diversity, I am so glad to see this study.

New Study Shows 0% Abuse Experienced by Adolescent Children of Lesbian Parents

A paper published on 11/10/10 in the Archives of Sexual Behavior showed that none of the sample 17-year-old daughters and sons of lesbian mothers who are part of the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS ) experienced physical or sexual abuse by a parent or other caregiver. The paper contrasts these results with “…26% of American adolescents who report parent or caregiver physical abuse and 8.3% who report sexual abuse.”

The NLLFS was funded in part by the Lesbian Health Fund, a program of GLMA.

Information: For more information about this study, please visit the NLLFS website at http://www.nllfs.org/publications/.