Did Alabama Just Violate Federal Voting Law?

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Local Interest,, Race,Leave a comment

A multitude of voters—most of them in majority-black counties—struggled to cast their ballots in the race between Roy Moore and Doug Jones. Unprepared poll workers spread misinformation. Bewildered citizens were forced to fill out confusing, redundant paperwork. Qualified voters were told they could not vote. And the state may well have run afoul of federal law.

…many voters were in fact told they were inactive even though they voted in 2016 and have lived at the same address for years. There is no legal reason why these individuals should have been considered inactive.

…These voters’ inactivity wouldn’t be a serious snag if poll workers, and the secretary of state, dealt with it correctly. …Under state law, inactive voters can become active and cast a regular ballot once they reidentify themselves, which should be as easy as presenting their photo IDs. (Alabama requires an ID to vote.) But on Tuesday, these voters were compelled to fill out a lengthy, complex form that required them to list, among other things, their county of birth.

…Poll workers [claimed to be] uncertain whether they could accept reidentification forms from inactive voters who forgot the county in which they were born. Others gave inactive voters provisional ballots even if they filled out the entire reidentification form correctly. …In Montgomery County alone …as many as 40 inactive voters who properly reidentified themselves were forced to cast provisional ballots. And at least one poll worker in Tallapoosa County reportedly informed a man in the inactive list that he could not vote at all.

…In Democratic-leaning, majority-black Jefferson County, …police were stationed outside of a polling place pulling people over for making illegal turns. Officers held at least one woman, who was on her way to vote, for nearly an hour while writing her up. [In Jefferson County] police were stationed at the polling place checking IDs for outstanding warrants, a once-common voter suppression scheme. When election monitors dropped by the precinct shortly thereafter, the police promptly left.

The United States is the only developed country in which these kinds of problems consistently plague elections.

Did Alabama Just Violate Federal Voting Law?

Short answer? Yes.

Man critically wounded by officers inside Mpls. City Hall

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

The man “began injuring himself with an edged weapon,” Arradondo said. After trying to subdue the man, “officers discharged their weapons.”

Man critically wounded by officers inside Mpls. City Hall – StarTribune.com

So they shot him to stop him from hurting himself? forget desk duty or suspension. These officers pose a clear and present danger to the safety of the citizens they are charged with protecting.

Such poor judgement should be cause for immediate firing, loss of any all pension and benefits, and prosecution for assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder.

Anything else is an insult to the concept of law and order.

Why Trump Can’t Easily Remove Mueller—and What Happens If He Tries

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Trump cannot easily bring an end to the Russia investigation by firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller. …Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein, not …Trump, is the one who has authority to fire Mueller. …Trump might compel others to do so on his behalf or instruct the attorney general to revoke DOJ’s special counsel regulations, [but] the risks of doing so are prohibitive.  History warns that he would be risking his presidency, not to mention increasing his exposure to charges of obstruction of justice. …Any firing could be subject to court challenge by Special Counsel Mueller, his staff, and possibly other parties. Mueller’s firing also would not necessarily bring an end to the investigation that he is leading. …Congress might make it even harder for …Trump to end the Russia investigation by codifying the special counsel regulations and pre-committing to a course of action that would deter interference with the Russia investigation.

 

Why Trump Can’t Easily Remove Mueller—and What Happens If He Tries – CREW

hmmmm

Who owns a tip? Trump may shift it to restaurant owners

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

The Department of Labor has indicated it intends to rescind an Obama-era rule restricting restaurant owners from pooling tips, or taking tips from waitstaff and redistributing the money to workers throughout the restaurant, …[or]decide to keep a portion of the tips for themselves.

Who owns a tip? Trump may shift it to restaurant owners – CBS News

whoa!

Enthusiastic Democratic voters delivered Doug Jones a victory in Alabama

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

More than 1.3 million people cast ballots in the U.S. Senate election Tuesday, or just over 40 percent of the electorate. Even the county with the lowest turnout — Russell — saw turnout on Tuesday (29 percent) that was far higher than the state average for the Au. 15 primary (18 percent) or the Sept. 26 GOP runoff (14 percent.)

…While Moore won most of rural Alabama outside the Black Belt — often by large margins — turnout was generally lower in his strongest counties than it was statewide.

…African-American voters, who were solid for Jones, also came out. In counties with black populations of 40 percent or higher, turnout was 43.47 percent. In counties where the African-American population was less than 20 percent, turnout was 36.44 percent.

…The former U.S. Attorney took 69 percent of Jefferson County’s vote (47 percent turnout) and 72 percent of Montgomery’s (44 percent turnout). Jones also took GOP-leaning Madison County with 56 percent of the vote (45 percent turnout in total) and 56 percent of the vote in Mobile (38 percent turnout).

…[McCrary]said Jones’ coalition was not dissimilar to the one Democrats put together to secure major wins in elections in Virginia last month.

“Donald Trump serves as an accelerant to Democratic voters,” he said. “That’s anywhere, Alabama included.”

…“At a minimum, it shows a prototype,” said Zac McCrary, a Democratic pollster for the Montgomery firm of Anzalone Liszt Grove. “It shows a path for Democrats to be successful. Nothing is harder for a Democrat in Alabama than a US Senate race.”

Enthusiastic Democratic voters delivered Doug Jones a victory

hmmmm

Walter Scott’s killer is going to prison. But his case is an anomaly.

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

Juries just don’t like to convict cops.

…A former Arizona police officer was acquitted after shooting and killing unarmed Daniel Shaver. Those who have seen the body-cam footage describe the shooting as an execution. Also this week, NYPD officers shot and killed a 69-year-old man during a 4 a.m. raid. The police were looking for a 30-year-old man on drug and gun charges. A 90-year-old man who was also in the apartment said the two thought they were being robbed. And in Los Angeles, we learned this week that more than 300 sheriff’s deputies are on a secret misconduct list for offenses ranging from lying under oath to domestic violence to possible sexual assault. But thanks to union-negotiated rules, that list is kept secret from the public, from defense attorneys and even from prosecutors. ….Deputies on the list never criminally charged.

…Officers severely wounded the man and nearly killed him. He lost the use of several organs and is paralyzed. Ballistics testing showed that police claims that the man had fired a gun at them were wrong — the gun hadn’t been fired. Surveillance video then emerged that contradicted police claims to have knocked and announced multiple times before battering down the man’s door. None of the officers associated with the raid were ever disciplined.

…In another incident, a police officer stopped a man after claiming the man activated his turn signal too late. Dash-cam footage shows that this was false. After a few minutes, the officer beat the man, then arrested him. The man was then subjected to numerous medical procedures without his consent. A prosecutor later dismissed all charges against the man. Not only were the officers involved never disciplined, but one was later promoted.

A South Carolina police officer shot and killed a 70-year-old man after mistaking his gun for a cane. The officer was never charged.

…In the police shooting of Lori Jean Ellis, forensic evidence directly contradicted police accounts of events leading up to the shooting. Yet investigators from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) — the agency that investigates such shootings — never looked into the discrepancies. One supervising agent said he didn’t need to, “because they’re police officers and I believe what they’re telling me.” …[Another] admitted under oath that he doesn’t even always read the full forensics reports from officer-involved shootings.

Walter Scott’s killer is going to prison. But his case is an anomaly. – The Washington Post

Until officers of the law face consequences for the violent and cold-blooded crimes they commit there will never be peace or “rule of law” in this country.

Alabama Has the Worst Poverty in the Developed World, U.N. Official Says

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

A United Nations official investigating poverty in the United States was shocked at the level of environmental degradation in some areas of rural Alabama, saying he had never seen anything like it in the developed world.

“I think it’s very uncommon in the First World. This is not a sight that one normally sees. I’d have to say that I haven’t seen this,” Philip Alston, the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, told Connor Sheets of AL.com earlier this week as they toured a community in Butler County where “raw sewage flows from homes through exposed PVC pipes and into open trenches and pits.”

Economic inequality and racial discrimination have also been linked with civil rights abuses, particularly in Alabama and other states across the South. Police shootings of unarmed black men and women are also of deep concern to the U.N.

…the U.S. “has been very keen” on other countries being investigated by the U.N. for civil and human rights issues.

“Now, it’s the turn to look at what’s going on in the U.S.,” Alston said.

…“Politicians who say, ‘There’s nothing I can do about that’ are simply wrong,”

Alabama Has the Worst Poverty in the Developed World, U.N. Official Says

Sigh….

Saudi Arabia Lifts Ban on Movie Theaters After 35 Years

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Middle East,Leave a comment

Conservative Saudis and the country’s Islamic clerical establishment have typically frowned upon non-religious forms of entertainment, including cinema and music. Religious police still patrol shopping malls and gender segregation is enforced across the kingdom.

The government didn’t say whether the cinemas would have family-only sections, or different show times for men. Movies would be edited according to the “standards of the Kingdom” and would not “contradict with Sharia Laws and moral values,” according to a ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Saudi Arabia Lifts Ban on Movie Theaters After 35 Years – Bloomberg

hmmmm