Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Civil Forfeiture
Posted in Human Rights
Comments Off on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Civil Forfeiture
Why no one wants to host the 2022 Olympics
The effect is the bidding for the 2022 Winter Games, which is now down to just two cities. The final vote comes next summer.
There’s Beijing, China, which doesn’t actually sit within 120 miles of a usable ski mountain, and there’s Almaty, Kazakhstan, which in its bid touted itself as “the world’s largest landlocked nation.”
via Why no one wants to host the 2022 Olympics – Yahoo Sports.
Essentially the only places interested in hosting the 2022 games are countries where actual citizens aren’t allowed a real say in things – communist China and Kazakhstan, a presidential republic that coincidentally has only had one president since it split from the old USSR in 1989.
Essentially the entire world has told the IOC it’s a corrupt joke.
Defense Contractors Are Making a Killing
Stock prices for Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman set all-time record highs last week as it became increasingly clear that President Obama was committed to a massive, sustained air war in Iraq and Syria.
via Defense Contractors Are Making a Killing – The Intercept.
Posted in Current Events
Comments Off on Defense Contractors Are Making a Killing
Yankees Settle ‘God Bless America’ Case, Won’t Restrict Spectators’ Movements During Song
The Yankees began playing “God Bless America” during home games following 9/11, as did all Major League Baseball teams. While other teams stopped playing the song during every game, the Yankees continued the ritual. In an effort to promote patriotism, Yankee security officials and uniformed NYPD officers hired by the Yankees prevented fans from moving around Yankee Stadium when the song was played.
“Neither the Yankees nor the NYPD can force people to engage in acts of political loyalty,” said Christopher Dunn, NYCLU associate legal director and lead counsel in the case. “As a result of our lawsuit, fans can now go to a ballgame at Yankee Stadium knowing they will not be subjected to NYPD-enforced patriotism.”
Posted in Human Rights
Tagged baseball
Comments Off on Yankees Settle ‘God Bless America’ Case, Won’t Restrict Spectators’ Movements During Song
Emanuel proposal: Decriminalize pot statewide
“It is time to put our sentencing policies in line with our values, reduce penalties for nonviolent, low-level drug offenses so we don’t put people in prison who need drug treatment,” Emanuel said in a statement his office will release publicly Tuesday. “It doesn’t make sense that one arrest for a very small amount of a controlled substance can lead to a lifetime of struggles, sending people in and out of prison and putting up barriers to getting a job or finding a place to live. We need action from Springfield.”
via Emanuel proposal: Decriminalize pot statewide – Chicago Tribune.
Also
The District’s black residents, who now account for half its population, once opposed marijuana legalization, partly out of fear it could lead to addiction among black youths. But as new studies have suggested otherwise, that attitude has evolved. One study last year showed that blacks account for nine out of 10 arrests for simple drug possession in the District, while another showed that was the case even as usage likely varied little among races.
Posted in Current Events
Tagged chicago, drug war
Comments Off on Emanuel proposal: Decriminalize pot statewide