Monthly Archives: January 2015

A Worthwhile Target

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Citizens United v Federal Election Commission decision. In this landmark case, the Supreme Court ruled that independent political expenditures by non-profit corporations are protected under the First Amendment and not subject to restriction by the government. The ruling has also extended to for-profit corporations, unions and other organizations.

Mind you, this doesn’t mean that corporations can contribute directly to candidate campaigns; that is still illegal under Federal law. What it does do is prohibit the government from restricting political expenditures by corporations and unions other than direct contributions to individual campaigns.

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#OccupyPlayground: Kenya’s Kids Give a Real Life Lesson

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Photo by @iGitz_ via Twitter

In what has been described as the worst attack against Kenya’s schoolchildren since independence transpired in Nairobi, on Monday school children defended their playground against a land-grabbing politician with enough power that even the authorities can not seem to stop him.

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Freedom Comes With Responsibility

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Image via Internet.

When the Sony story broke regarding “The Interview,” we posted “The Greatest Security Risk” and received the following comment, which has stayed with us since:

I must be missing something here? What the hell are we doing making a movie, even if it’s a spoof, about assassinating the leader of another country? If the answer is, our right to free speech or our right to freedom of the press, I say hogwash. Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD do it.
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Explosive Rates of Mass Incarceration Called Major ‘Civil Rights Issue of Our Time’

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Published on Friday, January 16, 2015 by Common Dreams

by Sarah Lazare, staff writer

Over the past 40 years, U.S. incarceration has exploded, the report notes, not due to a corresponding increase in severe crimes, but due to society’s “collective choice to become more punitive.” (Image: okayplayer.com)

The disproportionate mass incarceration of people of color in the United States, particularly of black men, is no accident, finds a new report from the Economic Policy Institute. It stems from deep racism in U.S. society—enacted through public policy, policing, a dual court system, media representations, and more—and constitutes “one of the most pressing civil rights issues of our time.”

Entitled Where Do We Go from Here? Mass Incarceration and the Struggle for Civil Rights, the analysis was written by Robynn J.A. Cox, assistant professor at Spelman College. Published Friday, the report comes amid mounting nationwide protests to reclaim the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr in the lead up to the federal holiday, at a time of protracted and large-scale movements to declare Black Lives Matter.

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In Report Card for Reproductive Justice, United States Gets a ‘D’

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Published on Thursday, January 15, 2015 by Common Dreams

by Sarah Lazare, staff writer

“At a time where polls show the majority of Americans support legal access to abortion, this report shows that federal legislators in our nation’s capital are continuing to prioritize a rollback of women’s rights while states have begun to stem the tide of anti-choice laws that riled voters in 2014,” said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. (Photo: amboo who?/flickr/cc)

According to a just-released report card from NARAL Pro-Choice America, the United States gets a “D” grade overall for the poor state of reproductive rights across the country.

Half of all states, however, didn’t even make that dismal mark and received failing grades—in a tie with last year’s record high number of flunking states.

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Declaring Black Lives Matter, Protesters Stage Direct Action Blocking Boston Highway

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Published on Thursday, January 15, 2015 by Common Dreams

by Sarah Lazare, staff writer

Protesters block I-93 near Somerville, Mass. (Photo courtesy of organizers)

Protesters block I-93 near Somerville, MA. (Photo courtesy of organizers)

Declaring solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, protesters shut down a major Boston interstate Thursday during the morning commute by locking themselves to barrels filled with cement in the direct path of traffic.

The demonstrators, who described themselves in a press statement as an ad-hoc and diverse “non-Black group of Pan-Asians, Latinos, and white people, some of whom are queer and transgender,” say they organized the civil disobedience to heed the call from black organizations, including the Boston chapter of Black Lives Matter, for nationwide stepped-up resistance to institutional racism and police killings of unarmed people of color.

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Minnesota Dystopia

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On the Saturday before Christmas, over 3,000 people gathered at the nation’s largest shopping mall as part of the Black Lives Matter protests that were happening nationwide at the time. We wrote about the MOA protest and how the various local media outlets chose to cover it, and wondered what the aftermath would be.

Photo by Ben Kressel (@krevWon) via Twitter

Yesterday, the City of Bloomington charged ten of the organizers of the protest with between three and seven misdemeanors each, depending on their supposed role in the demonstration. The various charges include trespassing, public nuisance, disorderly conduct, and unlawful assembly. Each charge is punishable by a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Twenty five other people are expected to be charged, according to city officials. Continue reading →

Icy Cold and Cut Services Create Dangerous Perfect Storm for Homeless

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Published on Friday, January 09, 2015 by Common Dreams

by Jon Queally, staff writer

Homeless in New York City.

As record-breaking cold weather sweeps across the nation this week, reports from around the nation show how the U.S. homeless population—which has risen dramatically in recent years—are being hit the hardest in the wake of slashed funding that has left shelters overburdened and public services at their breaking point.

From Springfield, Massachusetts: “It’s a death sentence, you can’t survive, you get hypothermia, you go to sleep and you die.”:

Keith Kelleher, who is homeless, told 22News, “On a night similar to the one we had last night, very cold, two of them decided to make a statement, they slept on the steps of city hall and they froze to death.”

“It’s a death sentence, you can’t survive, you get hypothermia, you go to sleep and you die,” said Louann Harbert, a homeless resident.

Friends of the Homeless volunteers were searching throughout the night for those in need, helping them to find a warm place to sleep.

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Haiti 5 Years After the Earthquake: Where Has All the Money Gone?

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On January 12, 2010, Haiti experienced the worst earthquake in their history; a massive 7.0 magnitude with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne (Ouest Department), approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. Estimates of the total lives lost range from 230,000 people to 316,000, with an additional 300,000 injured and 1.5 million displaced as a result of the disaster. As of September, 2014, 85,432 displaced people remain in 123 sites.

Haiti refugee camp. Photo by Jonathan M. Katz

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Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Monthly Archives: January 2015

Freedom Comes With Responsibility