What goes through my my mind when I read the news with my morning coffee. …Or for the Simon's Rockers in the group, this is my response journal.
She was one of only a few celebrities to be publicly pro-choice when South Korea legalized abortion this year, was open about her own mental health struggles and insisted women shouldn’t have to wear bras if they found them uncomfortable.
Sulli: K-pop star’s death prompts outpouring of grief and questions over cyber-bullying – CNN
sigh….
Plus, no country is perfect but Korea seems so un-modern in their attitudes towards women to these American eyes.
It is progress, I suppose, that police did not seek to suppress the video of the shooting and its aftermath — and also that the officer has resigned and faces murder charges. Images from inside the house show a firearm, which to me suggests a possible scenario: What if Jefferson heard noises outside, suspected a possible intruder and reached for a weapon to defend herself?
According to the National Rifle Association and pro-gun zealots such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), that’s exactly what a law-abiding citizen should do, right? The main reason for making firearms so widely available is to allow us the means to defend ourselves and our families. If the officer had been a prowler, according to the good-guy-with-a-gun philosophy, Jefferson had every right to shoot him.
… Second Amendment rights don’t apply to African Americans. You will recall that Castile was legally carrying a firearm when he was pulled over for a traffic violation, and that fact was enough to get him killed.
…Jefferson’s character is not relevant to whether she had the right to stay up late in her own home playing Xbox games with her nephew. It is not relevant to whether the 8-year-old had to witness his aunt being brutally killed.
We will not have law and order in this society until police officers being held accountable for murder and malfeasance is the norm, and not the exception to the rule.
Couples don’t have to disclose race to marry, court says – CNN
This ruling is 100+ years too late but I’ll take.
Winner, 26, who was a contractor with the National Security Agency, pleaded guilty in June to copying a classified report that detailed the Russian government’s efforts to penetrate a Florida-based voting software supplier.
U.S. intelligence agencies later confirmed Russia had meddled in the election. Authorities have never confirmed what exactly the report said, or identified the news organization that received it.
But a leaked document that was published by the online news outlet The Intercept in June 2017 bore the same May 5 date as the NSA report that Winner had leaked. The Justice Department announced it had arrested Winner on the same day as the Intercept report came out.
…Winner has been held with no bail since she was arrested last June and charged under the Espionage Act. A former Air Force linguist who speaks Arabic and languages used in Afghanistan, including Farsi and Pashto, Winner had a top-secret security clearance while working for national security contractor Pluribus International at Fort Gordon in Georgia when she was charged.
Reality Winner sentenced to more than 5 years for leaking info about Russia hacking attempts
hmmmm
The protests began after nine Catalan independence leaders were handed jail sentences of between nine and 13 years by Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday.
The separatists were convicted of sedition over their role in an independence referendum in 2017, which Spain said was illegal.
Another three were found guilty of disobedience and fined, but not jailed. All 12 defendants denied the charges.
…Catalan nationalists have long complained that their region, which has a distinct history dating back almost 1,000 years, sends too much money to poorer parts of Spain, through taxes which are controlled by Madrid.
The wealthy region is home to about 7.5 million people, with their own language, parliament, flag and anthem.
Catalan protests: Region’s president urges immediate halt to violence – BBC News
hmmm
The president’s attempt to shame Pelosi likely worked among his base. But for most other Americans, it backfired.
…“Nervous Nancy” is not what a lot of people saw in the photo. Instead, they saw a lone woman standing up to a roomful of men, giving them a piece of her mind. Soon, #PelosiOwnsTrump was trending on Twitter. The House speaker made the photo her Twitter cover image.
…The fact that Pelosi was able to use it so easily to her advantage is yet more evidence of a weakness with Trump’s approach — a lot of his alpha-male bullying tactics just don’t work very well on women. Unable to impugn their masculinity, Trump usually goes for attacks on their appearance or implying that they’re mentally ill. But women who have managed to attain positions of power in American society are used to these tactics — and, as Pelosi showed, they’re often more than capable of using Trump’s insults to their own advantage.
Trump’s “Nervous Nancy” photo shows his problem with powerful women – Vox
mmmhmm
Suzanne Somers, 73, told to ‘show some class’ for ‘birthday suit’ photo
Oh, who gives a…. She felt good about it, if you don’t like it, don’t look.
Referring to Kurds living along Turkish border in Syria, Trump says of Turkey, “they had to have it cleaned out.”
It was only a matter of time before he overtly endorsed ethnic cleansing.
News that the G-7 summit will be held at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami is perhaps the most blatant example of President Trump using his office to boost his personal business interests. But it also speaks to another one of his defining characteristics: his utter shamelessness.
…There is something deeply corrupt about a president using his position to directly benefit his business interests.
….Trump is simply shameless. He is consistently brazenly dishonest and proudly unapologetic about his statements and actions, because he is incapable of feeling personal shame. In this case, in the midst of an impeachment inquiry stemming from his abuse of power, he’s just going to lean in. What’s especially shameless is that the White House is announcing this in the midst of a daily campaign to attack Hunter Biden for profiting from his dad’s public office.
Holding G-7 at Trump’s Doral resort is shameless
The Washington Times even….
Trump’s senior adviser Peter Navarro quoted a China hawk named “Ron Vara.”
…Vara is quoted in at least six of Navarro’s books.
…There’s just one problem — Vara doesn’t …exist, …an Australian academic …determined that Vara is actually Navarro. Ron Vara is even an anagram of Navarro’s last name.
…Navarro had admitted to inventing the character of Ron Vara, describing it as a “whimsical device and pen name.”
…According to the 2001 book, Vara was a captain in a reserve unit during the Gulf War as well as a doctoral student in economics at Harvard University in the US.
When Morris-Suzuki called Harvard, they said they didn’t have any record of any alumni with that name.
Peter Navarro, a Trump adviser, appears to have made up expert he regularly quoted – CNNPolitics
Jeezus CNN. You don’t have to help along the lie by saying “doesn’t appear to exist.” He admitted the man doesn’t exist. It’s established fact. Stop giving momentum to the spread of lies in some misguided attempt at neutrality and stick to the facts, you spineless cowards.
Beto O’Rourke: Warren Policies Are “Punitive” | Video | RealClearPolitics
What a fucking dick this guy is turning out to be
Words matter CBS. If you are going to couch the victim’s statements in wording that suggests their versions isn’t factual you need to do the same for the police version.
Essayist James Baldwin frequently mused on how whiteness was made. How did whites become white? “By informing their children,” Baldwin wrote, “that black women, black men and black children had no human integrity that those who call themselves white were bound to respect.”
White immigrants weren’t always considered white — and acceptable
hmmm
The Fort Worth Police Department released a photo of a gun they claimed to have found in Jefferson’s house, a clear attempt to head off criticism. As of yet, there’s no indication that Jefferson was holding the gun when she was shot. And, of course, even if she had been, there’s nothing illegal about having a gun in your home in Texas. If Jefferson had been holding it, it was likely because she saw men with flashlights prowling around outside her home.
…When homeowner Jerry Waller saw activity outside his house, he grabbed a gun and went out to see what was going on — and then ran into a Fort Worth police officer. …The police narrative makes little sense. Waller was on his own property, and did nothing wrong. It’s hard to fathom why he would knowingly try to kill a police officer. The police narrative also doesn’t quite fit the wound patterns on Waller’s hands, which appear to be inconsistent with someone holding a gun.
…You can say the same for the Southaven, Miss., police who responded to the wrong house, then shot and killed Ismael Lopez in his own home. Or for the Florida officers who shot and killed Andrew Scott, also after responding to the wrong house. Same for the officers who killed David Hooks, Jason Wescott and Andrew Finch. And those who killed Terence Crutcher, Philando Castille and Stephon Clark.
…The problem is that not one of them was actually in any danger. Nor were the countless officers who shot someone (usually a black male) after claiming to have seen a suspect reaching for his waistband — only to discover the suspect was unarmed.
…The law permits the police officers to use lethal force if they have a reasonable fear for their safety or for the safety of others.
…But “reasonable” isn’t the same thing as “legitimate” or “accurate.” …Police officers are seeing threats where there clearly are none.
…Law enforcement advocates …describe police work with words …[that] fuel the mistaken belief that relatively rare incidents such as roadside ambushes are common. They equate criticism and oversight of police with violence. And they cite small increases in the number of police fatalities year to year with percentages without providing the proper context — that violence against law enforcement has dropped to the point where even small increases look large when expressed as percentages.
…It creates a false reality where almost any use of force seems reasonable. This is a problem for everyone, but it’s compounded for black people, given the ample evidence that people of all races tend to disproportionately fear and see criminality in blacks — especially black men.
Atatiana Jefferson was a victim of law-and-order rhetoric – The Washington Post
Except it’s more than rhetoric, it’s a legal standard used to justified wanton violence and cold-blooded murder.
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