Category: Media and Culture,

Black Women Want to Be Excited About Kamala Harris. The Truth Is More Complicated.

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

Harris will have to defend her record on criminal justice just as other candidates have to defend their own votes and positions. And black women know that for a black female presidential candidate, the stakes will be far higher than for her white male peers. Criticism of her character and policies is bound to be influenced by a lethal combination of racism, sexism, and cultural ignorance.

…Still the more I dug into Kamala Harris’ background, the worse I started to feel. I wondered whether I was being too hard on her or even holding her to a higher standard than I would a white male Democrat. Former Vice President Joe Biden admitted that he hasn’t been “always right” on issues of criminal justice. No candidate is perfect, and the idea that I might not support a black woman who is qualified for the job is excruciating. My life’s work is centered on black women and their stories, no matter how complicated those narratives might be. Was my hesitation premature and unfair? But the alternative is almost as painful—giving someone who looks like me a pass on actions that have hurt our communities. I want a black female president. But I want an end to mass incarceration for all black women, for all black families, even more. Who can deliver that? Could it be Harris? Maybe, but I need her to make that case.

Black Women Want to Be Excited About Kamala Harris. The Truth Is More Complicated. | Glamour

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Ukraine Condemns Apple For Changing Map To Show Crimea As Part Of Russia

On By peanutgallerynhIn Central Northern Asia and The Caucasus,, Europe,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Ukraine on Wednesday criticized Apple for changing its location-based apps to show Crimea as part of Russia, implying that the company “doesn’t give a damn” about its pain, as U.S. tech companies face criticism for complying with controversial local laws in order to keep doing business in those countries.

Ukraine Condemns Apple For Changing Map To Show Crimea As Part Of Russia

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That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

On By peanutgallerynhIn Central Northern Asia and The Caucasus,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

[The] goal was two-fold: Grow an audience in part through heartwarming, inspiring messages, and use that following to spread messages promoting division, distrust, and doubt.

…This tweet didn’t seek to anger conservative Christians or to provoke Trump supporters. She wasn’t even talking to them. Melanie’s 20,000 followers, painstakingly built, weren’t from #MAGA America (Russia has other accounts targeting them). Rather, Melanie’s audience was made up of educated, urban, left-wing Americans harboring a touch of self-righteousness. She wasn’t selling her audience a candidate or a position — she was selling an emotion. Melanie was selling disgust. The Russians know that, in political warfare, disgust is a more powerful tool than anger. Anger drives people to the polls; disgust drives countries apart.

…Professional disinformation isn’t spread by the account you disagree with — quite the opposite. Effective disinformation is embedded in an account you agree with. The professionals don’t push you away, they pull you toward them. While tweeting uplifting messages about Warrick Dunn’s real-life charity work, Tyra, and several accounts we associated with her, also distributed messages consistent with past Russian disinformation. Importantly, they highlighted issues of race and gender inequality. A tweet about Brock Turner’s Stanford rape case received 15,000 likes. Another about police targeting black citizens in Las Vegas was liked more than 100,000 times. Here is what makes disinformation so difficult to discuss: while these tweets point to valid issues of concern — issues that have been central to important social movements like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo — they are framed to serve Russia’s interests in undermining Americans’ trust in our institutions.

…They attacked moderate politicians as a method of bolstering more polarizing candidates.

…Russia strategically employed social media to build support on the right for Trump and lower voter turnout on the left for Clinton. …Russia’s goals are to further widen existing divisions in the American public and decrease our faith and trust in institutions that help maintain a strong democracy.

…Their work was never just about elections. Rather, the [Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA)] encourages us to vilify our neighbor and amplify our differences because, if we grow incapable of compromising, there can be no meaningful democracy. Russia has dug in for a long campaign. So far, we’re helping them win.

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It – Rolling Stone

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Pete Buttigieg Is a Lying MF

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

“Kids need to see evidence that education is going to work for them,” Buttigieg explained whitely, when he was running for mayor in 2011. “You’re motivated because you believe that at the end of your education, there is a reward; there’s a stable life; there’s a job. And there are a lot of kids—especially [in] the lower-income, minority neighborhoods, who literally just haven’t seen it work. There isn’t someone who they know personally who testifies to the value of education.”

…Unemployment rate for black college graduates is twice as high as the unemployment rate for white grads. Black college graduates are paid 80 cents for every dollar a white person with the same education earns. White people leave college with lower debt and higher earnings. White kids get more resources, more advanced classes and have access to more technology. But Pete says it could all be solved with a vision-board.

…This is not just a lie of omission, it is a dangerous precedent. This is why institutional inequality persists. Not because of white hoods and racial slurs. It is because this insidious double-talk erases the problem by camouflaging it. Because it is painted as a problem of black lethargy and not white apathy. 

Pete Buttigieg Lies About Education Disparities

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A Trump administration strategy led to the child migrant backup crisis at the border

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Modern Parenting,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

…“This will strain bed capacity,” authorities wrote in a discussion paper in February 2018.

..According to current and former government officials, and emails and memos detailing the Trump administration’s strategy, it is clear they knew that without enough beds in government shelters, children would languish in Border Patrol stations not equipped to care for them.

…[Policies also] made it harder for adult relatives of unaccompanied minors to secure the children’s release from U.S. custody. Enhanced vetting of sponsors — including fingerprints and other paperwork — and the sharing of that information between child welfare and immigration authorities slowed down the release of children and exposed the sponsors to deportation.

…The contractors tasked with carrying out the background checks and fingerprinting were overwhelmed, according to current and former HHS officials.

…The approach caused thousands of unaccompanied minors to be stranded in U.S. custody and exacerbated the appearance of a crisis on the southern border — a major element underlying the administration’s public request for billions of dollars in additional funding from Congress.

…A few months after the policy was implemented, HHS officials determined that it was not improving child safety. They concluded that the added vetting was redundant and needlessly extended the time children remained in custody.

…The administration also developed and rolled out its family separation policy in the spring of 2018, part of its “zero tolerance” approach at the border. The months-long initiative, which separated thousands of children from their parents, compounded the need for shelter space.

A Trump administration strategy led to the child migrant backup crisis at the border – The Washington Post

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South Bend black leader endorses Biden, rebukes Buttigieg

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

Davis also scolded Buttigieg, saying the mayor’s woes attracting support from communities of color “is not a new problem for him.”

…But Buttigieg, who is polling at 0 percent with black voters in Quinnipiac’s latest South Carolina survey, didn’t have to answer for some of his campaign’s recent racial miscues, such as the revelation that some South Carolina black leaders were surprised to see themselves named as supporters of Buttigieg and his Douglass Plan for black America.

“It’s very difficult and very frustrating to talk about a Douglass Plan when he did not perform that while he was the mayor here in town. A Douglass Plan should’ve been implemented in South Bend, Ind.,” Davis said. “He should’ve run on that in the 2011 or at least 2015 campaign, run on it, had success with it, shared it with Indiana, run nationally. I would’ve been the first one to champion that. But to see that he champions it across the country when it wasn’t practiced here has brought me great concern.”

South Bend black leader endorses Biden, rebukes Buttigieg – POLITICO

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Another Confederate monument comes down, this time in North Carolina

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

A judge ruled this month that the group [that donated the statue in 1907, the Winnie Davis Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy] did not give sufficient evidence supporting the monument’s continued presence in front of the courthouse.

Another Confederate monument comes down, this time in North Carolina – CNN

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Trump Administration Separates Some Migrant Mothers From Their Newborns Before Returning Them to Detention

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Modern Parenting,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

Advocates also report that some asylum seekers in the Western District of Texas who have given birth in USMS custody were forced to hand over their newborns to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). Reuniting with their newborn hinges on their release from federal custody, and whether they can access legal help to navigate the child welfare system.

…Dr. Shelly said she doesn’t know if the U.S. citizen newborns of detained parents are eventually adopted or whether detained patients are deported without regaining custody of their babies. The OB-GYN is also unsure if foster parents have any obligation to remain in communication with parents remanded to USMS custody.

According to USMS, the onus for child care placement is on the detained parent, though it appears as if asylum seekers who give birth in USMS custody don’t have many choices at all.

…U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) could release these women shortly after they are first apprehended, and then refer them to organizations like Annunciation House that can offer support as they pursue asylum and prepare to give birth. But that’s not what happens.

Trump Administration Separates Some Migrant Mothers From Their Newborns Before Returning Them to Detention – Rewire.News

Jeezus….

Farm bankruptcies jump to highest level since 2011 as Trump’s tariffs bite

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Farmers filed 580 Chapter 12 bankruptcy filings between January and September, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest farm advocacy group in the country. That was a 24% increase from the previous year and the highest level since 2011, when there were 676 filings. 

…Farm bankruptcies rose to or above decade-highs this year in Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Wisconsin and West Virginia, according to the federation. 

Farm bankruptcies jump to highest level since 2011 as Trump’s tariffs bite

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Mpls. police discover 1,700 untested rape kits over 30 years

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Chick Stuff,Leave a comment

An internal review of sexual assault cases in Minneapolis turned up an estimated 1,700 untested rape kits from as far back as the 1990s — a backlog that officials say could take at least two years to clear.

…The latest count far surpasses the 194 untested kits reported during an 2015 audit, part of what Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called an “unjustified mistake” that left years of potential evidence sitting in police storage.

…The department’s sex crimes unit is still conducting a final count to determine how many kits remain, which comes amid a national reckoning over sexual harassment and assault.

…Minnesota police frequently struggled to investigate cases of sex assault in the years reviewed, often failing to interview witnesses, collect evidence or even assign detectives.

…Under the state’s rape law enacted last year, police have 10 days to retrieve unrestricted exam kits from health care facilities and 60 days to submit them for testing. They are also required, when asked, to inform victims about the status of their kits and any findings. 

Mpls. police discover 1,700 untested rape kits over 30 years – StarTribune.com

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