"Run, n-----, run" Yells Missippi Justice Court Judge



MS Judge Bill Weisenberger

 

It’s sometimes necessary to check the date on an article, if for no other reason than to make sure a piece from years ago wasn’t accidentally re-published. This Clarion-Ledger piece from the weekend, for example, may sound like news from a bygone era, but it deals with accusations of alleged behavior from this month in Mississippi.

In an echo of Mississippi’s past, a Justice Court judge here is accused of striking a mentally challenged young man and yelling, “Run, n—–, run.”

The family has filed a complaint with police against Madison County Justice Court Judge Bill Weisenberger, who is white, alleging he struck their 20-year-old African-American son, Eric Rivers, on May 8 at the Canton Flea Market.

“This is 2014,” said former Canton Mayor William Truly, president of the Canton branch of the NAACP, “not 1960, where someone could slap a young man and call out, ‘Run, n—–, run.”

In the wake of recent racial controversies surrounding Cliven Bundy and Don Sterling, it’s been an ugly spring. But if the allegations involving Weisenberger are accurate, this is arguably the most disgusting incident of the bunch.

GOP “Ballot Security”: Efforts Weaken Voter Rights

 

Are you concerned about growing Republican efforts to suppress voter turn-out? After sweeping State government seats across the nation in the 2010 mid-term, voter suppression legislation is on the rise, including restrictive voter ID laws in 33 states and laws requiring people to show proof of citizenship before registering to vote. These new laws coupled with the recent Supreme Court decision that weakened the 1965 Voting Rights Act result in our election system taking a beating and seriously weakens your right to vote. What you need to realize is that this is not a new movie. Unfortunately, you are just coming in long after the movie has already started.

We recently celebrated President Johnson’s successful effort to extend the right to vote to all citizens with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. But, conservative anti-voter fraud efforts were already in full swing. Republicans attributed President Kennedy’s narrow win in the 1960 presidential election to alleged voter fraud in Illinois and Texas. Before the 1964 presidential election, the Republican National Committee (RNC) launched Operation Eagle Eye, the nation’s first large scale anti-voter fraud campaign.  Volunteers were recruited to challenge voter’s eligibility at polling places and to intimidate them with cameras, 2 way radios and calls to GOP friendly sheriffs for assistance.

In 1981 the RNC instituted “caging”, a technique that sent hundreds of thousands of sample ballots to voters in African American and Latino neighborhoods. If ballots were returned as undeliverable, the information was used to strike many eligible voters from the rolls. Another effort in New Jersey, the RNC recruited squadrons of men, often off duty policemen, to descend on African American and Latino precincts wearing National Ballot Security Task Force armbands. The men carried walkie-talkies and in some cases guns. Signs were posted warning in large red letters that the areas were being patrolled. This was another effort to intimidate legitimate voters.

After the election, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) filed a federal law suit based on violations of the Voting Rights Act. The Case was settled in 1982 when the RNC signed a consent decree to end all “ballot security” programs targeting minority precincts.

Four years later in Los Angeles, the RNC was caught “caging” black voters in an effort to “keep the Black vote down”. After the DNC filed suit again, the court required the RNC to submit all plans for anti-voter fraud campaigns to the court for approval before implementation.

After Bush v Gore, political strategist increased their efforts, trying to alter rules and tinker with election administration to gain partisan advantage. The results helped George Bush defeat John Kerry in his bid for a second term in the White House. “Ballot security” programs have tipped the balance of some elections, giving Republican “razor-thin margins of victory” in recent years.

In 2008, the RNC appealed to the court to abolish or modify decades old consent decrees barring certain anti-voter fraud activities. The court declined to lift the ban on these programs designed to keep minority voters from casting their ballots. Now an organization called True the Vote wants to pick up where the RNC left off, by building a nationwide army to root out voter fraud—or, some would say, to suppress voter turnout through intimidation and legal maneuvers which strip voter eligibility.

Yes, the movie goes on and the stakes are high. Since Republicans can’t win your vote with policies you can embrace, they are hell bent on kicking minorities off the voter rolls. Watch and listen for “ballot security” measures designed to steal your vote. Keep an eye on your state legislation that might make voting more difficult or even impossible for some minority voters. Don’t be swayed by empty promises and attempts to sell you on fewer hours and reductions in the number of locations where you can vote. Prepare to fight for your right as a citizen to cast your vote.

Related articles:

The Ballot Cops, Mariah Blake, The Atlantic

Republicans Admit Voter-ID Laws are Aimed at Democratic Voters, Jamelle Bouie, The Daily Beast

How Voter Supression Works,  Dave Roos, How Stuff Works

Rebel Flag Outside the White House

 

 

Why can't some folks get over the fact that the President of the United States is a Black man? He's number 44 and was been elected by the majority of the American people to serve this country for two terms as it's leader, the most powerful man in the world. Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D. C. It is their home.

 

 



Scandal, Censure and Rebirth: The Fall of Dinesh D'Souza

Last year, conservative author and Obama critic Dinesh D'Souza resigned as President of King's College, an evangelical Christian Liberal Arts school, amid scandal. He was embroiled in controversey over his marital infidelity to his wife of 20 years when he sahred a hotel room with another woman while attending the Truth for a New Generation gathering.

D'Souza wasn't considered an asset to the college since he spent most of his time promoting his documentary and books. His high profille in the media as a critic of the Obama Administration wasn't perceived as beneficial to the college.

Ted Cruz Plays Hardball on Defunding Obamacare



(Photo by Gage Skidmore)

Rafael Eduardo "Ted" Cruz, junior United States Senator from Texas, is the darling of the Tea Party Movement and is one of the leading Republicans proposing the defunding of Obamacare.

Although Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada of a Cuban father and Irish-Italian American mother and is a citizen of Canada, little is mentioned about this part of his background. No Birthier Movement on Ted Cruz...he punches all the right buttons for the right wing G. O. P. faithful. He's a gun rights supporter, stands against additional background checks at gun shows, and voted against the Manchin-Toomey Amendment insuring that the legislation never got the sixty votes needed for cloture.

Although he took his senate seat in 2013, Cruz intends to be heard and some suspect he has his eyes on the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016. He challenged Chuck Hagel's nomination for Defense Secretary, blocked Senate Budget negotiations because of concerns over a debt ceiling hike and fought with FL Senator Marco Rubio over a bi-partisian immigration bill. Each of these actions gained him legion of fans within the right wing of the G.O.P.

Senators Cruz and Rubio both support defunding Obamacare as a condition of moving forward to fund the government. He calls his opponents the "surrender caucus", calling them "scared" to wage a fight. Cruz relishes intro-party warfare, pushing for party purity and advocates pulling the Republican Party further to the right. If the government is shut down due to lack of funding, the G.O.P. establishment believes the party will take the lion's share of blame and that such a move would be disastrous for the Republican Party.

Many people believe that Cruz's positions are not about principles or party, but rather about boosting his own brand and a possible future presidential bid. Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham, along with party staple Karl Rove don't support Cruz's  position on defunding Obamacare. Mike Lee (R-UT) has the support of 12 other Senators against Cruz's "defund Obamacare push".

It'll be interesting to see how the struggle will play out and, if a government shutdown occurs based on G.O.P. strategies such as defunding Obamacare, if the American people will penalize Republicans at the polls.

More Obama Bashing Coming from Filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza

A new “documentary” from filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza ,  co-director and writer of the "2016: Obama's America”,  is to be released  July Fourth 2014. The film is in its early stages now and should be completed by June 2014. You can expect the film to be anti-Obama, as with every other work D’Souza produces.

D'Souza, 52, a native of Mumbai, India, came to the United States as a foreign student. He earned a degree from Dartmouth, gaining notoriety for his conservative writings and is the author of several influential and best-selling books, including "Letters to a Young Conservative" and "What's So Great About America."

 “America,” D’Souza said, will extol American exceptionalism, celebrate American values, and counter the vision offered by President Barack Obama. The new film will focus on D’Souza’s case against the Obama agenda. He said it is not intended as a sequel to ‘2016.’
In "2016," D'Souza used arguments made in his bestselling 2010 book "The Roots of Obama's Rage" to argue that Obama had deep-seated anger against the country he leads, a feeling that he absorbed from his father, a Kenyan who resented British colonialism. These are continuing themes of the Tea Party and Conservative Right.

D'Souza says his new film takes the next step, by offering a debate between the competing visions of America's 1776 Founding Fathers and "Obama's America," which he traces to “the radical upheavals of 1968”.

"2016" pulled in $33.4 million, the second-highest-grossing political documentary in history. Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11", released in 2004, grossed more than $222 million.

Michael Moore

D'Souza says he hopes supporters and conservatives will come out in droves to help it surpass liberal Michael Moore's film as the nation's top documentary on record. I'm sure he won't mind putting more coins in his own pocket.

D'Souza jokes of Moore, his outspoken movie-making counterpart on the left: "We have to dethrone the fat guy. It's too embarrassing to be right behind him. I sometimes joke that he's a symbol of the federal government, overweight and out of control. We want to give him a run for his money."

D'Souza adds: "Since Hollywood isn't going to give us any Oscars, it would be extremely satisfying to beat him at the box office."

One thing you can say about D'Souza, he has hit upon a theme in his books and movies that allow the Tea Party and the conservative right wing to feed their hatred of President Obama while keeping D'Souza's pockets lined with coins. He tapped right into the financial side of "the American Dream", know little of what America is really about.

The Road to Freedom: Truman Ends Segregation in the Armed Forces

 

During the years 1947-1954, America struggled to preserve freedom in a dangerous world. The fight abroad led to renewed demands by Black Americans back home.

In 1947, Civil Rights Activist A. Philip Randolph, along with colleague Grant Reynolds, renewed efforts to end discrimination in the armed services, forming the Committee Against  Jim Crow in Military Service and Training, later renamed the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation. Randolph warned that “Discrimination and segregation in the Armed Forces is ...a grave threat... to the internal stability of our nation.”

Watching the Criminal Justice System: Matthew Weaver-Identity Theft

Twenty-two year old business major Matthew Weaver wanted the student president title at Cal State San Marcos. He wanted the $8,000 stipend that came with it and control of the $300,000 annual budget. He rigged the vote, got caught, and is heading to prison for one year.

Weaver admits to using small electronic devices that record a computer's key strokes to steal 745 passwords and then used that stolen information to cast 630 votes for himself and his friend who were also on the ballot.

Weaver pleaded guilty to felony charges, to stealing log in information for 700 fellow students so that he could cast phony votes to elect himself class president. He pleaded guilty to 3 counts of wire fraud, unauthorized access to a computer, and identity theft. Although he was sentenced to one year in jail, 27 months is the low end of the spectrum for federal identity theft cases.

Interestingly enough, Weaver's attorney felt his client's crimes really didn't warrant a felony conviction. "Mr. Weaver is a very bright guy and this was really, really stupid. But, does it warrant having a felony conviction for the rest of his life?"

The criminal justice system is full of prisoners who did something really stupid, like holding a small amount of marijuana for their personal use, that netted them a felony conviction. It seems to matter how the victim is "perceived" and how that perception result is light  or stiff penalties.

30,000 CA Prisoners Stage Hunger Strike

More than 12,000 California prison inmates are now taking part in a hunger strike launched to demand better conditions and a reduction in the use of solitary confinement, corrections officials and organizers said last Thursday.

The protest began Monday, when organizers said as many as 30,000 inmates refused food. By Thursday, a total of 12,421 prisoners had skipped nine consecutive meals -- the official definition of a hunger strike, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation -- and another 1,300 others have skipped work assignments or classes, prison officials reported.

Organizers say the strike is a resumption two similar protests in 2011, one of which lasted for three weeks.

Another Side of the Criminal Justice System: Colin Small-Let Off the Hook for Discarding Voter Registration Forms

The young Republican who grabbed national headlines after being arrested for throwing voter registration forms into a dumpster before the 2012 election won't be facing any legal consequences. (He tossed voter registration forms in the dumpster behind a strip mall down the street from the Republican headquarters.)

A judge in Virginia dropped several misdemeanor charges against Colin Small on Wednesday, meaning the 23-year-old will not face any penalties for discarding a number of voter registration forms. Felony charges were dropped back in April, but Small was still facing five misdemeanor counts until this week.

During a four-hour court hearing on Tuesday, Small's lawyer John C. Holloran argued that Small simply made a mistake and wasn't trying to purposefully prevent anyone from registering to vote. Small, a friend from college and Small's former tennis coach all testified.

While Small tossed eight voter registration forms, he was only charged with discarding four, because some of the voters were already registered and one was a felon and not allowed to vote. Holloran said the voters who were prevented from voting were Republicans and blamed Democrats for making Small's case seem like part of a conspiracy.

"It's amazing that common sense and wisdom and mercy don't have a more stellar place in our justice system," Holloran told The Huffington Post.

US Eugenics Victims Wait for Compensation

Much attention was been paid in recent years to America’s silent eugenics program. Originally conceived in the 1920s, eugenics was viewed by many as a way to alleviate economic pressure on welfare programs across the US by giving the state the right to remove individuals deemed unfit for reproduction from the gene pool. Of those labeled “feeble-minded” or “promiscuous” or victims of rape, tens of thousands were subjected to sterilization under the cold blade of the US government’s knife, often without consent or knowledge that the state had decided to deprive them of their ability to have children.

Thirty Pieces of Silver Buys Senate Immigration Bill

All I ever hear the Republicans say is "spending is out of control", "fiscal issues have robbed America of its future"...you know the rhetoric. Yet, they just convinced the Senate to spend $38 billion on the "Border Surge" which is simply a way to appease the paranoid right wing base of their party. The bill passed 69-29 with 14 Republicans joining Democrats.

In June, before the Corker-Hoeven Amendment, the Congressional Budget Office reported that "revenues under the proposed (immigration) legislation would decrease federal budget deficits by $197 billion over the 2014-2023 period and roughly by $700 billion over 2024-2033 period".

Anthony Foxx Confirmed as Secretary, Transportation

It's wonderful to report that the U. S. Senate can agree on something. Charlotte, N. C. Mayor Anthony Foxx was confirmed as Secretary, Transportation on Thursday with a vote of 100-0.

Foxx (42) rose to national prominence as an ally and key supporter of President Obama when the Democratic Convention was held in Charlotte last year. He will succeed Ray LaHood in the position of Transportation Secretary where he will oversee the agencies that regulate the nation's aviation, rail, transit and highway systems, as well as auto safety. He will face the challenges presented by large spending cuts and a deteriorating infrastructure including roads, airports, air traffic control systems, rail and ports.

Why The Farm Bill Matters

The song says "it's hard out here on a pimp", but the truth is it's hard on everybody. Folks are struggling to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. Often times, we don't have time to follow everything that the Federal Government and Congress are doing that effects our lives. So it's no wonder many of us pay little attention to something like the Farm Bill which failed to pass the House of Representatives by a vote of 195-245. 

Let me tell you why the Farm Bill matters.

Stuck on Stupid: Congressman Paul Broun (R-GA)

Congressman Paul Broun (R-Ga.) says that evolution and the big bang theory are "lies straight from the pit of Hell" and calls Global Warming "a hoax".

"God's word is true. I've come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the big bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell," said Broun, who is an MD. "It's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior."

"Dark Girls": Battling the Stigma and Beauty Standards

After spending two years developing the project, Directors Bill Duke and D. Chandish Berry produced “Dark Girls”, a film which addresses the issue of colorism among blacks and some of the challenges dark-skinned women face. Women of “the darkest hues” are interviewed and discuss their experiences battling the stigmas and standards of beauty many African-Americans attach to skin color. The film serves as an expose into the lives of dark-skinned African-American woman and the racism some encounter within their own community.

Originally premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011, Dark Girls has now made its way to the small screen and will be debuting on TV nationwide this Sunday.

Oprah will be broadcasting the documentary on her television network OWN from 10 p.m. – midnight, following an episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter at 9 p.m. where she will be talking with stars Gabrielle Union, Alfre Woodard, Viola Davis and Phylicia Rashad on the challenges they face in as black actresses in Hollywood.

Dark-skinned Black American women from all walks of life will be covered with a key focus trained tightly upon women struggling for upward mobility in the workplace of Corporate America.  Additional interviewees for “Dark Girls” include White men in loving intimate relationships with Black women that were passed over by “their own men,” as well as dark-skinned women of Latin and Panamanian background to bring a world perspective to the issue of dark vs. light.

Susan Rice's Revenge

U. N Ambassador Susan E. Rice is set to become the next National Security Adviser. Senate Republicans won't be happy about this, but can't stop her appointment.

Thomas E. Donilon resigned the post this week and the resignation will be effective next month.

Rice had to withdraw her name from consideration as secretary of state late last year after Senate Republicans continually blasted her for her response in the aftermath of Benghazi. Her new post, however, does not require Senate confirmation, something John McCain who led the assault on Rice appears to be making his peace with. He tweeted that he disagreed with her appointment, but would make every effort to work with her on important issues.

Voted Off the Island: Michele Bachmann

I didn't expect an early Christmas gift in May, but I got one when MN Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann announced her retirement from politics.

Bachmann won an open House seat in the 2006 Congressional race and has served for the past eight years, representing the 6th Congressional District of Minnesota. She was reelected in 2008. Previously, she served in the Minnesota State Senate. Prior to that, she spent five years as a federal tax litigation attorney. Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, who have five children and have opened their home to 23 foster children, live in Stillwater, Minn., and own a mental health care practice.

Fighting for Freedom: A History of Service

Dorrie Miller

African-Americans have every reason to celebrate Memorial Day. Blacks held their first Memorial Day parade in 1865 and recognize the services of our men and women in uniform throughout our country's history. Craving freedom, just as every other American, we have demonstrated our willingness to fight and die for it.

African Americans: 2013 Financial Progress and Challenges

According to Prudential’s 2013 "African American Financial Experience" study, the African American community is continuing to make financial progress and to feel confident about the future, with a confidence score significantly higher than the general population. But this community is still facing significant challenges, including debt, competing financial priorities, and greater support of family.