November 2019 - Page 10 of 25

Wednesday, November 20th, 2019

An Arizona Sheriff Deputy’s Abuse of a Quadruple Amputee Teen Highlights a Policing Culture That Must Change

Ezekiel Edwards and Jareed Keenan, Director | Criminal Justice Staff Attorney - ACLU

Stephan: I am just going to let this story speak for itself. You will be happy to know that Pima County Deputy Manuel Van Santen has been placed on paid leave. So for him the outcome is an unrequested vacation. They are "investigating" him; we'll see where that leads. What do you think?

Pima County Deputy Manuel Van Santen on top of teen. | After getting off of teen, Deputy Van Santen stands over the teen and scream at him.
Credit: Arizona Independent News Network

Inhumane. Cruel. Abusive. What other words could possibly describe a Pima County, Arizona Sheriff Deputy placing a 15-year-old quadruple amputee who posed no threat into a headlock and then pinning him to the ground at a group home? What if the Deputy then screamed at another teenager videotaping the abuse and yelled at him repeatedly “shut the hell up” and, “Am I your bitch?” before slamming the teenager’s head into the wall while handcuffed?

This is not another example of a police officer using far more force than necessary, though we have seen that story play out time and again. This is a police officer using abusive force when no force was required at all. This is about the notion, widely held by law enforcement, that cops should be overlords who demand respect and service from the community while being willing to physically […]

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Tuesday, November 19th, 2019

The Changing of the Overlords

Jeremy Scahill, Murtaza Hussain, - The Intercept

Stephan: The Republicans under the second Bush -- 215 (96.4%) of 223 Republican Representatives voted for the resolution to authorize military force in Iraq -- began a cycle of endless war that haunts us to this day, 17 years later. If you go back to the first Bush attack in 1991 it's even longer. There are Americans who will vote in the 2020 election who have not lived a single day when America was not at war. Compare that to the Carter presidency in which America did not drop a bomb or fire a shot in war. The result of this endless war? We have destabilized and destroyed the social fabric of Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and that is just for starters. And although one of the stated purposes for getting into endless war was to protect Iraq from undue influence from Iran, the result has been just the opposite. Read, and weep, for the millions whose lives have been turned upside down, if not ended outright, by these wars

A U.S. Marine in front of a burning poster of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad on April 10, 2003.
Credit: Alex Majoli/Magnum Photos

About a month before the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein’s most trusted comrades, sat in his office in Baghdad in an olive green uniform, cigar in hand, wearing house slippers. The man who for decades had served as the public face of high-stakes Iraqi diplomacy offered a political analysis that might well have gotten him executed in years past.

“The U.S. can overthrow Saddam Hussein,” said Aziz, an Iraqi Christian and one of the most senior figures in Saddam’s government. “You can destroy the Baath Party and secular Arab nationalism.” But, he warned, “America will open a Pandora’s box that it will never be able to close.” The iron-fisted rule of Saddam, draped in the veneer of Arab nationalism, he argued, was the only effective way to deal with forces like Al Qaeda or prevent an expansion of Iranian influence in […]

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Tuesday, November 19th, 2019

‘Enormous Victory’: US Judge Rules Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Electronic Devices Unconstitutional

Jessica Corbett, Staff Writer - Common Dreams

Stephan: In the midst of the Trumpian fecal storm all sorts of important little trends and events just get lost. This is an example.

A federal judge ruled against suspicionless searches of travelers’ electronic devices in a lawsuit filed by EFF, the national ACLU, and ACLU of Massachusetts.
Credit: EFF

In a development that the Electronic Frontier Foundation declared “an enormous victory for privacy,” a federal judge in Boston ruled Tuesday that suspicionless searches of travelers’ phones, laptops, and other electronic devices by government agents at U.S. ports of entry are unconstitutional.

“This is a great day for travelers who now can cross the international border without fear that the government will, in the absence of any suspicion, ransack the extraordinarily sensitive information we all carry in our electronic devices,” EFF senior staff attorney Sophia Cope said in a statement.

The lawsuit, Alasaad v. McAleenan, was filed by EFF, the national ACLU, and ACLU of Massachusetts on behalf of 10 U.S. citizens and one lawful permanent resident who had their devices searched without warrants. The suit named as defendants the Department of Homeland Security and two agencies it oversees—Customs and Border Protection as […]

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Tuesday, November 19th, 2019

70% of Americans say they are struggling financially

AIMEE PICCHI, - CBS News

Stephan: I just listened to a Republican commentator on FOX tell that audience that the economy is doing great. Was it stupidity, or just an outright lie? The later I suspect since the data is very clear about what is really going on, as this report lays out. How are you and your family doing?

7 in 10 Americans struggle with at least one aspect of financial stability, a new survey finds.
About 1 in 5 middle-class workers are spending more than they earn.
About 20% of women say they are stressed by money, compared with 13% of men. (emphasis added)

Many Americans remain in precarious financial shape even as the economy continues to grow, with 7 of 10 saying they struggling with at least one aspect of financial stability, such as paying bills or saving money.

The findings come from a survey of more than 5,400 Americans from the Financial Health Network, a nonprofit financial services consultancy. The project, which started a year ago, is aimed at assessing people’s financial health by asking about debt, savings, bills and wages, among other issues.

Despite solid U.S. economic growth this year, the share of Americans who are struggling financially remains statistically unchanged from a year ago, said Rob Levy, vice president of research and measurement with Financial Health Network.

Conscious un-cup-ling: Dunkin’ is Breaking Up with Foam Coffee Cups

, - WNEP (ABC Network)

Stephan: I don't eat donuts, and I don't drink coffee, so I haven't been in a Dunkin' Donuts in probably 50 years, but I applaud the company for the decision to stop using foam cups. Given the number of people who do eat donuts and drink coffee I think this story is another bit of good news.

A customer with a beverage served in a foam cup and a doughnut at a Dunkin’ Donuts in New York.

It’s not you. It’s the environment. Dunkin’ is ending its relationship with foam cups.

For decades, those who frequent Dunkin’ were in a relationship with the chains’ easily identifiable foam cups as much as they were with the hot brewed drinks.

The foam phaseout is underway in New England where it’s expected to be completed across the region by December 1, CNN affiliate WFXT reports.

Because heat flowed through the polystyrene cups and made them hard to handle, for years folks often added an extra foam cup as insulation.

And in a nod to longtime customers who grew accustomed to double-cupping every time they grabbed a coffee, Dunkin’ is helping them warm up to the new cups.

Dunkin’ has baristas wearing pins reading “the double cup is breaking up.”

The company revealed billboards touting the chain’s journey toward “Consciously Un-Cup-Ling” and on Twitter called it a #DoubleCupBreakup.