Trump’s Rollback of Transgender Rights Extends Through Entire Government – The New York Times
Category: Domestic Affairs,
The History of Black Incarceration Is Longer Than You Think
Recent scholarship has explored the roots of modern mass incarceration. Launched in the 1980s, the war on drugs and the emergence of private, for-profit prison systems led to the imprisonment of many minorities. Other scholarship has shown that the modern mass incarceration of black Americans was preceded by a 19th century surge in black imprisonment during the Reconstruction era. With the abolition of slavery in 1865, southern whites used the legal system and the carceral state to impose racial, social and economic control over the newly liberated black population. The consequences were stark. In Louisiana, for example, two-thirds of the inmates in the state penitentiary in 1860 were white; just eight years later, two-thirds were black.
…Although they usually relied on the whip, countless enslavers also chained their human property in plantation dungeons below the main dwelling house or in a barn. Some locked enslaved persons in a hot box under the scorching southern sun.
…After 1819, only the state of Louisiana habitually punished enslaved criminals with prolonged sentences in the penitentiary, usually for life. Virginia bondpeople typically spent only months to a year or two in the penitentiary before being purchased by a slave trader.
…The New Orleans Day Police confiscated the convict bondpeople and carried them to the Watch House at city hall for safekeeping.
…Listed as “forfeited to the state,” their new master was the state of Louisiana. Some 200 enslaved people were held in the Louisiana State Penitentiary in the antebellum decades.
…Prisoners at the penitentiary donned the convict’s uniform, which included an iron ring around the leg, linked by an iron chain to a belt around the waist. The penitentiary itself consisted of a three-story brick structure. Prison guards deposited inmates in cramped, individual cells, three and one-half feet wide and seven feet deep, secured by a iron door, poorly ventilated and unheated in the winter. Prisoners slept on mattresses placed on the floor and, at mealtime, ate mush and molasses from a tin plate in their cell, in the dark and alone.
…Enslaved women may have willingly participated, in spite of vigilant officials, in loving relationships or clandestine affairs with fellow prisoners. At least as likely, female convicts proved captive, convenient and vulnerable targets for the unwanted advances of inmates, coercive white guards or other penitentiary authorities who wielded power over them. The prospect of rape was ever-present. At the same time, it is possible that the relatively few enslaved women in the Louisiana State Penitentiary were able to leverage their sexuality to extract various favors from those in charge or from inmates able to smuggle in goods from the outside. Given the range of possible encounters, Charlotte’s son and daughters may have been the products of consensual acts, forced sex, coercion or some combination thereof.
…A Louisiana law of 1848, unique among the slaveholding states, declared that children born to enslaved female prisoners confined in the penitentiary belonged to the state. An act of 1829 forbade the sale of enslaved children under the age of 10 away from their mothers, however, so the state was legally obligated to keep them together until the child’s 10th birthday. At that time, the state could seize the youngster as state property and auction him or her off to the highest bidder. The proceeds of such sales went to the free school fund, to finance the education of Louisiana’s white schoolchildren.
… By the outbreak of the Civil War, the seeds for the later mass incarceration of black people were already planted, the institutional structures already in place, and the precedents for black imprisonment already set. With the end of slavery, prisons were well positioned to transition from a secondary to a primary form of black oppression.
The History of Black Incarceration Is Longer Than You Think | Time
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Impeachment hearings: Pamela Karlan’s epic clap-back at Doug Collins
“Here Mr. Collins I would like to say to you, sir, that I read transcripts of every one of the witnesses who appeared in the live hearing because I would not speak about these things without reviewing the facts,” she said. “So I’m insulted by the suggestion that as a law professor I don’t care about those facts.”
Karlan was responding to comments Collins made in his opening statement, including this shot at her profession:
America will see why most people don’t go to law school. No offense to our professors. But please, really, we’re bringing you in here today to testify on stuff most of you have already written about, all four, for the opinions that we already know out of the classrooms that maybe you’re getting ready for finals in, to discuss things that you probably haven’t had a chance — unless you’re really good on TV of watching the hearings over the last couple of weeks, you couldn’t have possibly actually digested the Adam Schiff report from yesterday or the Republican response in any real way.
Impeachment hearings: Pamela Karlan’s epic clap-back at Doug Collins – Vox
really good on TV watching??!
Trump impeachment inquiry: A grave charge and a momentous turn
Schiff’s report alleges that Trump and a wider than previously established band of senior officials and associates tried to coerce Ukraine into investigating potential domestic rival Joe Biden — in effect soliciting a foreign power to interfere in a US election. Furthermore, the report says that Trump conditioned a White House visit and nearly $400 million in US military aid on the investigation and a probe into a conspiracy theory that Ukrainians meddled in the 2016 election.
And when Trump was found out, he initiated a categorical effort to cover up his scheme — which the report finds was masterminded from the very top.
…The report continued, “Even President Richard Nixon — who obstructed Congress by refusing to turn over key evidence — accepted the authority of Congress to conduct an impeachment inquiry and permitted his aides and advisors to produce documents and testify to Congressional committees.”
…The case is especially stark when it relates to what the Intelligence Committee says is Trump’s unprecedented obstruction of Congress’ responsibility to conduct oversight.
“The damage to our system of checks and balances, and to the balance of power within our three branches of government, will be long-lasting and potentially irrevocable if the President’s ability to stonewall Congress goes unchecked,” the report said.
“Any future President will feel empowered to resist an investigation into their own wrongdoing, malfeasance, or corruption, and the result will be a nation at far greater risk of all three.”
Trump impeachment inquiry: A grave charge and a momentous turn – CNNPolitics
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Thousands of artifacts discovered at a 12,500-year-old site in Connecticut
An ancient settlement that dates back 12,500 years has been uncovered in Connecticut that was once home to southern New England’s earliest inhabitants.
…The artifacts discovered in Connecticut coincide with a study from 2015 that concluded the North American hunters used spear-throwers to hurl their weapons over longer distances and bring down large prey.
Anthropologists have studied tiny fractures in the stone spear points used by the Paleo-Indian hunters that began appearing in North America between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago.
He found they contained distinctive chips and fractures that match those created in stone tools that have been thrown using a spear-thrower or atlatl.
These are essentially levers that are attached to the end of the spear or dart, allowing it to be thrown far faster and further than if thrown by hand like a javelin.
The technology is widely thought to be a predecessor of the bow and arrow that later became common among the Native cultures in North America.
…In addition to providing Paleoindian hunters increased lethality and safety, the portability and range of the spear-thrower may have meant that Paleoindian hunters were not tethered to trapping areas and knick points, thereby facilitating greater mobility and reduced hunting-group sizes.’
Thousands of artifacts discovered at a 12,500-year-old site in Connecticut | Daily Mail Online
wild
McKinsey proposed ICE cut spending on food and medical care for detained migrants to reduce costs.
McKinsey was brought into the deportation game by the Obama administration, according to the report, which used the firm to carry out an “organizational transformation” in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division grappling with processing and deporting a surge in undocumented migrants. “Organizational transformation,” in consultant speak, roughly translates as: This is too expensive; somebody’s about to get screwed. Could be the workers, and it usually is. Could be anyone. Could be migrant families. And in this case, it was.
…“They proposed cuts in spending on food for migrants, as well as on medical care and supervision of detainees.”
…After its ICE contract ran out, McKinsey slid over and is working on a $10 million gig with Customs and Border Protection that will run at least through September 2020.
McKinsey proposed ICE cut spending on food and medical care for detained migrants to reduce costs.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Flint weighs school closures as it grapples with special ed costs
Fueling the district’s economic problems is the fact that 24% of the 3,750 students in Flint Community Schools are designated as special education, a number that is nearly twice as high as the 13.2% statewide average.
…Flint’s water was contaminated with lead when officials used corrosive river water from April 2014 to October 2015 that wasn’t properly treated. In children, lead exposure can result in serious effects on IQ, ability to pay attention and academic achievement.
Flint weighs school closures as it grapples with special ed costs
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Flint’s Children Suffer in Class After Years of Drinking the Lead-Poisoned Water
The contamination of this long-struggling city’s water exposed nearly 30,000 schoolchildren to a neurotoxin known to have detrimental effects on children’s developing brains and nervous systems. Requests for special education or behavioral interventions began rising four years ago, when the water contamination became public, bolstering a class-action lawsuit that demanded more resources for Flint’s children.
…The percentage of the city’s students who qualify for special education services has nearly doubled, to 28 percent, from 15 percent the year the lead crisis began, and the city’s screening center has received more than 1,300 referrals since December 2018. The results: About 70 percent of the students evaluated have required school accommodations for issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as A.D.H.D.; dyslexia; or mild intellectual impairment.
…Pediatricians here caution against overdiagnosing children as irreparably brain damaged, if only to avoid stigmatizing an entire city.
…The suit accuses the school systems of violating federal and state laws, including the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, by failing to identify students who could qualify for special education services, by failing to provide the mandated instructional services to those who do qualify and by punishing children for disability-related behavior.
Students were denied assessments for education plans or behavioral intervention plans, and then were segregated from their peers, secluded and restrained, repeatedly sent home from school, expelled or arrested, the lawsuit said.
…The district ignored her pleas to accommodate his A.D.H.D., which his pediatrician said was exacerbated by elevated lead levels.
…Bethany Dumanois, who has taught in Flint for 25 years, works two jobs to keep teaching because she said she cannot abandon children whose discolored, rash-covered skin and chunks of exposed scalp haunt her. In the earlier days of the crisis, she spent class time addressing questions from her students about whether they would die from the water like their class lizard, a bearded dragon, did.
…Instead of investing in more teachers, social workers and special education aides, she said the district had pushed laptop computers and iPads, “just jumping on any bandwagon, trying to sugarcoat what’s happening with these kids.”
On a recent night at a local restaurant, Ms. Pascal, the 23-year Flint teaching veteran, vented over the “injustices everywhere.” The district adopted a new reading program with no money to buy the instructional materials. She had been asked to identify a handful of her students for a new behavior support program, but wants to include all 21.
She thinks about quitting, but said she refuses to leave another vacancy for the district to fill.
sigh…
Gillibrand demands hearing following release of ‘Afghanistan Papers’
Senior U.S. officials knowingly lied to the public for years about the country’s progress in the conflict.
,,,U.S. officials on numerous occasions acknowledged a lack of understanding, strategy and progress in the war.
The officials acknowledged the problems in private interviews conducted by a watchdog across the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations.
They also described a purposeful disinformation campaign for the public, meant to make discouraging statistics look like the U.S. was winning the war.
Gillibrand demands hearing following release of ‘Afghanistan Papers’ | TheHill
sigh…
Trump’s expected executive order to define Judaism as a ‘nationality.’
In doing so, the department said it would rely on a definition of anti-Semitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. That definition includes “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” applying a double standard to Israel by requiring of it “behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” and comparing “contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
…Trump’s executive order will also use this sweeping definition, which some have criticized as overly broad and an effort to block legitimate criticism of Israel or support for the Palestinians.
…“This executive order, like the stalled congressional legislation it is based on, appears designed less to combat anti-Semitism than to have a chilling effect on free speech and to crack down on campus critics of Israel,” Ben-Ami said in a statement.
…“The order’s move to define Judaism as a ‘nationality’ promotes the classically bigoted idea that American Jews are not American.”
…“We don’t have established religion in America, and the state weighing in on the definition of Jewishness is dangerous,” Waxman said. “That’s the same as what it means to be Christian or Muslim. It comes back to the First Amendment.”
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Michigan State Rep Barred From Speaking After ‘Vagina’ Comments
Brown, a Democrat, argued that her Jewish faith allowed for therapeutic abortions when the mother’s life is in danger without regard to length of pregnancy.
“I have not asked you to adopt and adhere to my religious beliefs. Why are you asking me to adopt yours?” she said. But what came next is what got her in trouble: “And finally, Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no.'”
…She defended her use of the word “vagina,” saying it is the “anatomically medically correct term.”
“If they are going to legislate my anatomy, I see no reason why I cannot mention it,” she said according to the Free Press.
“Regardless of their reasoning, this is a violation of my First Amendment rights and directly impedes my ability to serve the people who elected me into office,” Brown added.
…”Byrum, D-Onondaga, caused a disturbance on the House floor Wednesday when she wasn’t allowed to introduce an amendment to the abortion regulations bill banning men from getting a vasectomy unless the sterilization procedure was necessary to save a man’s life,” the Detroit News reports.
Michigan State Rep Barred From Speaking After ‘Vagina’ Comments : The Two-Way : NPR
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Senate impeachment trial: Lawmakers would vote on potential charges Trump faces
67 senators would need to vote in favor of it, a move that would require 20 Republicans to join with the 47-member Democratic caucus and break with the president.
Senate Republicans, however, still intend to hold a trial and do not plan to dismiss the articles outright, partly because they don’t have the votes to do so. In order to table the articles, lawmakers would need 51 votes, a majority that counts on nearly every Republican voting in favor of this action.
…The 100 lawmakers of the Senate will be sworn in as “jurors” who will hear the evidence presented by both sides; some lawmakers have used this role as a reason for declining to comment on the ongoing inquiry, arguing that they do not want to offer judgments before participating in the trial. Chief Justice John Roberts will preside over the trial, and both sides will have the opportunity to call witnesses, request documents, and present arguments.
On behalf of House lawmakers bringing the impeachment charges, House representatives and their associated counsel are poised to serve as prosecutors, also known as “managers.” Trump’s counsel, meanwhile, will defend him.
Senate impeachment trial: Lawmakers would vote on potential charges Trump faces – Vox
hmmmm
Justice Department watchdog investigating possible FBI leaks to Rudy Giuliani in 2016
Shortly before the election, Giuliani claimed that he heard about big problems coming soon for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. That was shortly before then-FBI Director James Comey announced he was reopening the criminal probe into Clinton’s email server, which didn’t lead to any criminal charges. The polls shifted after Comey’s comments, and Clinton has said it was a main reason for her defeat.
…Democrats accused Giuliani, who was previously the US attorney in Manhattan, of tapping his network of friends and contacts in law enforcement to get tips about Clinton, which he used to attack her in the press. Comey also raised this possibility in a closed-door deposition with House lawmakers last year, and confirmed that he launched the leak investigation before he was fired in May 2017.
Justice Department watchdog investigating possible FBI leaks to Rudy Giuliani in 2016 – CNNPolitics
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Senate report: all 50 states were targeted by Russian interference ahead of 2016 elections
An investigation that found the Russian government directed “extensive activity” against U.S. election systems ahead of the 2016 election. Two years later, ahead of the midterm election, little had changed, as an intelligence assessment reported, “We are aware of a growing volume of malicious activity targeting election infrastructure in 2018.”
…Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday blocked a House-passed bill that would authorize $775 million to beef up state election systems. GOP leaders made the case that the Trump administration has already made great strides in protecting the vote and they say no more funding is needed.
…That measure would have required all states to use paper ballots as a backup to electronic systems if they want to receive federal election money for voting equipment. It would also require that all 50 states conduct audits after elections.
…The Russian influence campaign produced fake Facebook and other social media postings that were viewed by millions of Americans. Hackers gained access to some voter databases in Florida.
hmmmm
Nashua joins Manchester, Concord in accepting refugee resettlement
….Written consent to the U.S. Department of State, in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring state and local approval.
Nashua joins Manchester, Concord in accepting refugee resettlement | State | unionleader.com
hmm
A Federal Judge Orders Sweeping Changes To Bond Hearings In Boston Immigration Court
Saris ruled that asking an undocumented immigrant who is eligible for bond to prove why they are neither a flight risk nor a threat to the community violates the individual’s due process.
Moving forward, the burden of proof will be placed instead on federal immigration officials, similar to how bond hearings are decided in criminal court proceedings.
Saris additionally ordered immigration judges to consider alternative conditions to detention, like GPS monitoring and orders of supervision that require regular check-ins with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
A Federal Judge Orders Sweeping Changes To Bond Hearings In Boston Immigration Court | WBUR News
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We Just Got a Rare Look at National Security Surveillance. It Was Ugly.
While clearing the F.B.I. of acting out of political bias, the Justice Department’s independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, and his team uncovered a staggeringly dysfunctional and error-ridden process in how the F.B.I. went about obtaining and renewing court permission under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.
…Most of those targets never learn that their privacy has been invaded, but some are sent to prison on the basis of evidence derived from the surveillance. And unlike in ordinary criminal wiretap cases, defendants are not permitted to see what investigators told the court about them to obtain permission to eavesdrop on their calls and emails.
Civil libertarians for years have called the surveillance court a rubber stamp because it only rarely rejects wiretap applications.
…Everyone involved in the Page wiretap knew that what they were working on was likely to come under close scrutiny, yet they still repeatedly failed to follow policies.
Mr. Horowitz also said senior-level supervisors bore responsibility for permitting systemic failures to fester, and his office has begun a broader audit of unrelated FISA applications.
…The government has fought hard to keep outsiders from seeing what goes into its FISA applications. In 2014, a federal judge in Illinois ordered the government to show a defense lawyer classified materials about the national security surveillance of his client, which would have been the first time a defense lawyer had been given such materials since Congress enacted FISA in 1978.
But the Obama administration appealed, and an appeals court overturned the order, agreeing that letting the defense counsel see the application would create an intolerable risk of disclosing sensitive government secrets.
That stands in contrast to how wiretapping works in ordinary criminal law. Targets are usually told when the surveillance ends. If they are prosecuted based on evidence gathered from the wiretap, they get to see what was in the application so their defense lawyers can argue that the government made a mistake and the evidence should be suppressed.
The prospect of that adversarial second-guessing gives criminal investigators a reason to be scrupulous about what they put into their requests for wiretaps.
We Just Got a Rare Look at National Security Surveillance. It Was Ugly. – The New York Times
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DOJ IG Horowitz: Trump’s FBI conspiracy theory is false
[Trump] accused his predecessor and federal law enforcement of committing a crime: … [an] out of control “deep state” made up of Obama loyalists in government …were actively working to bring Trump down [during the election.]
…“How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process,” Trump wrote in a subsequent tweet. “This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!.”
…By insisting career law enforcement officials would act on personal political beliefs in conducting an investigation, [Trump] was in effect accusing FBI agents of violating their constitutional oaths.
…The IG concluded there was no evidence the bureau placed an informant or undercover agent within the Trump campaign, nor did it task its sources with reporting on the campaign.
,,,Furthermore, the IG found the Russia case was properly opened and [that] no “evidence that political bias or improper motivation” influenced the decision to launch the investigation.
…Unfounded conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated allegations of spying serve to chip away at public confidence and make us all less safe.
DOJ IG Horowitz: Trump’s FBI conspiracy theory is false
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Lessons of the Kamala Harris campaign
One, know and establish your political persona before you get in.
…Harris promised a focus on racial issues with an implicit suggestion that Barack Obama, the first African-American president might have been too timid here. By this fall, there appeared to be no focus — race or otherwise.
…A candidate can alter, modify or change a position or two, but the overarching message has to be consistent and coherent.
…Two, when you get that moment in the limelight, be ready to capitalize on it and move on.
…Three, a campaign [organization/staff] matters. A staff is — to an extent — a mirror reflection of the candidate. [Which makes the Peanut Gallery curious why the Hill singled out her sister and not her stuff in the rest of the paragraph.]
…There is no doubt the political bar is a little higher for women — and more so for minority candidates.
It’s hard to cite this as the major factor in Harris’s collapse: In the past three presidential elections, twice the Democratic nomination went to an African-American, Barack Obama, the other to a woman, Hillary Clinton.
Lessons of the Kamala Harris campaign | TheHill
Yup.
…Also can we stop any talk of nominating sitting Senators to VP or cabinent positions. Enough already. They need to stay where they are.
How Tom Kiefer documents lives via items seized by border patrol
While working as a janitor at the same facility from 2003 to 2014, photographer Tom Kiefer secretly collected the belongings and later began shooting them.
How Tom Kiefer documents lives via items seized by border patrol – Los Angeles Times
It bears mentioning that this from 2003-2014. What the same collection would like now is even more mild-blowing.
Not to get all Gen-Xy or anything but, ‘The humanity!’
Active Shooter Drills May Not Stop A School Shooting — But This Method Could
A new comprehensive report from the U.S. Secret Service underlines the agency’s previous findings that there is one safety approach that does work: threat assessment, as part of a comprehensive program of social and emotional support for students.
…Rory, 7, is on the autism spectrum and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
…After seeing Rory’s reaction, Dianne says she doesn’t think any kids should have to participate in drills like these.
“Fair enough,” says Melissa Brymer of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. “But an emergency can happen at any point in a school day.”
Brymer believes these drills can save lives, but as one recent study from Ball State University found, there’s little evidence to prove that.
…According to the report, 83% of the attacks were over in five minutes or less. And 68% of the schools already had a lockdown procedure in place — making it the most common security measure among schools in the report.
…Schools need a much more comprehensive approach, emphasizing “multidisciplinary” prevention in the years, months and days before a student actually shows up at school with a weapon.
…She defines threat assessment as a proactive approach in which schools “identify students who are doing concerning behavior or may be in distress and getting them the help they need before they even resort to violence as an option.”
One common source of distress, according to the report, is bullying and ostracism.
…Over a decade ago, the Secret Service conducted a small study in which it talked to “bystanders” — students who had heard warnings from a fellow student before a planned attack. In six cases a shooting was prevented, and in a further nine cases a shooting happened.
In the bystander report, students who came forward told investigators they did so because they had a strong relationship with at least one adult at the school and they thought their concerns would be taken seriously. Students who did not come forward said that they thought the school would not take appropriate steps or they would get in trouble themselves.
Active Shooter Drills May Not Stop A School Shooting — But This Method Could : NPR
hmmm
Comments From The Peanut Gallery 