June 18, 2015

Murdered SC State Senator Clementa Pinckney Made This Haunting Speech About Walter Scott

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/south-carolina-state-senator-clementa-pinckney-speech-walter-scott-video

Murdered State Senator Clementa Pinckney Made This Haunting Speech About Walter Scott

—By Jaeah Lee
| Thu Jun. 18, 2015 4:18 PM EDT

One of the victims of Wednesday's horrific shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, was state Senator Clementa Pinckney, the church's pastor. Much has already been written about Pinckney's dedication to public service from a young age, and his rich life in the church. My colleagues are updating a full list of the nine victims as more information becomes available. In the meantime, here's another memorable moment from Pinckney's leadership in the South Carolina Senate.

Back in May, the senator delivered this stirring (and now haunting) call to action following the death of Walter Scott—the unarmed black man who was shot and killed by a white police officer in North Charleston, just six miles north of where Pinckney and others were murdered. Here's Pinckney on the Senate floor, rallying support for the adoption of police body cameras. Watch and read below:

Transcript:

Today, the nation looks at South Carolina and is looking at us to see if we will rise to be the body, and to be the state that we really say that we are. Over this past week, many of us have seen on the television, have read in newspapers, and have seen all the reports about Walter Scott, who, in my words, was murdered in North Charleston. It has really created a real heartache and a yearning for justice for people, not just in the African American community, but for all people, and not just in the Charleston area, or even in South Carolina, but across our country.

...But the next week, Thomas was there, Jesus walked in, he said, "I won't believe until I see the nails. I won't believe until I can put my hand in your side." And it was only when he was able to do that, he said, "I believe, my Lord and my God."

Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, when we first heard on the television, that a police officer had gunned down an unarmed African American in North Charleston by the name of Walter Scott, there were some who said, "Wow. The national story has come home to South Carolina." But there were many who said, "There is no way that a police officer would ever shoot somebody in the back 6, 7, 8, times." But like Thomas, when we were able to see the video, and we were able to see the gun shots, and when we saw him fall to the ground, and when we saw the police officer come and handcuff him on the ground, without even trying to resuscitate him, without even seeing if he was really alive, without calling an ambulance, without calling for help, and to see him die face down in the ground as if he were gunned down like game, I believe we all were like Thomas, and said, "I believe."

MORE AT LINK

June 18, 2015

"The uncle said Roof's father had recently given him a .45-caliber handgun as a birthday present..."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/dylann-roofs-attorney

Here's What We Know About the People Who Lost Their Lives in Charleston

Mathews became Roof's lawyer after Roof was arrested in March at the Columbiana Centre, a mall in Columbia, and charged with possession of suboxone, a narcotic painkiller. Mathews says Roof had gone into some stores and "asked people some questions, which made some people uncomfortable," including what time the stores closed. Someone at one of the stores contacted the authorities. Roof was stopped and searched, according to Mathews, and the police found he was carrying suboxone and arrested him. Roof was also given a trespassing warning, which he violated a couple of weeks later, Mathews notes, and Roof was subsequently cited for trespassing.

Here's what else we know about Roof:

- Roof, 21, was arrested midday Thursday in Shelby, North Carolina, about a three and a half-hour drive from the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. The shooting of nine black churchgoers happened at about 9 p.m. Wednesday.
- Charleston police chief Greg Mullen said he believed the shooting to be a "hate crime."
- Roof's uncle told Reuters that Roof was introverted and soft-spoken.
- The uncle also said Roof's father had recently given him a .45-caliber handgun as a birthday present. "I don't have any words for it. Nobody in my family had seen anything like this coming," he said.
- Roof is from Lexington, South Carolina, and attended White Knoll High School, which a high school friend said had a mix of black and white students.
- An ornamental license plate on the front of Roof's car had a Confederate flag on it.
- Roof's roommate told ABC News that Roof was "bit into segregation and other stuff," and "said he wanted to start a civil war. He said he was going to do something like that and then kill himself."

MORE AT LINK

June 14, 2015

TOON: Sunday's Doonesbury - "Jade Helm"

June 10, 2015

"Headless Body in Topless Bar" Headline Writer Dead

Source: CBS News

"Headless Body in Topless Bar" headline writer dead

Jun 10, 2015 12:55 AM EDT
NEW YORK -- Veteran newspaperman Vincent Musetto, who wrote one of the industry's most famous headlines, died Tuesday at age 74.

- snip -

He wrote the headline "Headless Body in Topless Bar," which appeared on the newspaper's front page on April 15, 1983, for a story about the killing of a bar owner who was shot and beheaded.

Musetto said in a 1987 interview with People magazine the killing and decapitation were known early in the reporting process but staffers had to confirm the topless dancing occurred at the bar.

"Someone said it might be a topless bar, but we weren't sure, and then the idea of the headline came around, so we were really questioning to make sure it was a topless bar," Musetto recalled in the interview. "We sent the reporter, this girl, and she so determined that it was a topless bar. I just wrote it, and everyone said, 'Ha ha,' but I didn't think it would live in infamy."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/headless-body-in-topless-bar-headline-writer-dead/

June 9, 2015

Famed Manson Family Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi Dies at 80

Source: Los Angeles Times

Famed Manson family prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi dies at 80

By TIMES STAFF Charles Manson

Vincent Bugliosi, the Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who gained worldwide fame for his successful prosecutions of Charles Manson and his followers for the brutal 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others, has died. He was 80.

Bugliosi also become a best-selling true crime writer, co-authoring the compelling account “Helter Skelter” about the Manson murders and the sensational trial that followed, as well as other literary works.

But he was always aware of his primary legacy.

Charles Manson and other members of his so-called family were convicted of killing actress Sharon Tate and six other people during a bloody rampage in the Los Angeles area during two August nights in 1969. Prosecutors said Manson and his followers were trying to incite a race war that he believed was prophesized in the Beatles' song "Helter Skelter."

“No matter what I do, I’ll be forever known as the Manson prosecutor,” he told once told The Times.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-vincent-bugliosi-20150609-story.html

June 8, 2015

TOM TOMORROW: Troll Wars

DAILY KOS LINK: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/08/1390925/-Cartoon-Troll-wars

June 6, 2015

BREAKING: American Pharoah Wins Triple Crown, First Since 1978

Source: CBS / Huffington Post

@BreakingNews: Live updates from Belmont Stakes, where American Pharoah could win 1st Triple Crown since 1978: http://t.co/DATlWbqIWE/s/FCqx

SPORTS
American Pharoah Wins Belmont Stakes And Triple Crown For First Time Since 1978

11 minutes ago | Updated 0 minutes ago
Andrew Hart Front Page Editor

American Pharoah has cemented his misspelled name among horse racing royalty, claiming the Triple Crown with his win at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, a feat not done since 1978.

Pharoah ended the Crown drought by sweeping the top three races, becoming only the 12th horse ever to do so.

American Pharoah, ridden by jockey Victor Espinoza, beat a tough field of seven thoroughbreds despite the many factors opposing the 3-year-old colt’s coronation.

American Pharoah did not come out of the gate well, but quickly took the lead in first quarter. Trailing American Pharoah for most of the race was Materiality, before Mubtaahij and Frosted made plays for second. But no one could pass American Pharoah, who made history.

VIDEO HERE:

http://www.breakingnews.com/topic/american-pharoahs-triple-crown-bid/

Read more: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7526870?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

---

@GregMitch: and a "holy shit" on live TV from winning jockey or comrade...

m.twitter.com/GregMitch

June 5, 2015

Edward Snowden Op/Ed in NYT: 'The World Says No to Surveillance'

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/opinion/edward-snowden-the-world-says-no-to-surveillance.html

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Edward Snowden: The World Says No to Surveillance

ADAM MAIDA
By EDWARD J. SNOWDEN
JUNE 4, 2015

Two years on, the difference is profound. In a single month, the N.S.A.’s invasive call-tracking program was declared unlawful by the courts and disowned by Congress. After a White House-appointed oversight board investigation found that this program had not stopped a single terrorist attack, even the president who once defended its propriety and criticized its disclosure has now ordered it terminated.

This is the power of an informed public.

Ending the mass surveillance of private phone calls under the Patriot Act is a historic victory for the rights of every citizen, but it is only the latest product of a change in global awareness. Since 2013, institutions across Europe have ruled similar laws and operations illegal and imposed new restrictions on future activities. The United Nations declared mass surveillance an unambiguous violation of human rights. In Latin America, the efforts of citizens in Brazil led to the Marco Civil, an Internet Bill of Rights. Recognizing the critical role of informed citizens in correcting the excesses of government, the Council of Europe called for new laws to protect whistle-blowers.

- snip -

At the turning of the millennium, few imagined that citizens of developed democracies would soon be required to defend the concept of an open society against their own leaders.

Yet the balance of power is beginning to shift. We are witnessing the emergence of a post-terror generation, one that rejects a worldview defined by a singular tragedy. For the first time since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we see the outline of a politics that turns away from reaction and fear in favor of resilience and reason. With each court victory, with every change in the law, we demonstrate facts are more convincing than fear. As a society, we rediscover that the value of a right is not in what it hides, but in what it protects.

MORE

June 4, 2015

'It’s Time to Let Edward Snowden Come Home'

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/its-time-to-let-edward-snowden-come-home

JUNE 3, 2015

It’s Time to Let Edward Snowden Come Home

BY JOHN CASSIDY

The President and others have praised the U.S.A. Freedom Act, but haven’t mention the blindingly obvious fact that without Edward Snowden the law wouldn’t exist.

- snip -

Instead of thanking Snowden for his public service and inviting him to come home, the U.S. government is still seeking to arrest him and try him on charges that carry long prison sentences. “The fact is that Mr. Snowden committed very serious crimes,” the White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday. “The U.S. government and the Department of Justice believe that he should face them.”

In a criminal complaint that it filed on June 14, 2013, the Justice Department accused Snowden of stealing government property, communicating national-defense information without authorization, and revealing classified information. The last two charges were filed under the 1917 Espionage Act, which seemed to suggest that the U.S. government regards Snowden as a spy. That is absurd. Despite suggestions in some quarters, back in 2013, that Snowden might be passing along some of America’s secrets to the intelligence agencies of China or Russia, there is no evidence that this happened.

Rather than transmitting information to foreign powers, Snowden handed over his electronic stash of documents to reporters from the Guardian and the Washington Post, with the stipulation that they treat its contents sensitively and carefully. Although the leak led to some sensational stories—Michael Morell, a top C.I.A. official, called it “the most serious compromise of classified information in the history of the U.S. intelligence community”—the journalists largely adhered to Snowden’s stipulation.

The news stories brought to light many details about domestic surveillance, such as the bulk collection of phone records and the PRISM program, which enabled the N.S.A. to retrieve users’ e-mails and search histories from Internet companies such as Google and Facebook. Another story revealed that the N.S.A.’s own internal auditor had concluded that the agency had breached its own privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times a year since 2008. But despite some embarrassing details about overseas operations (such as the fact that the United States had tapped the phone calls of world leaders, including Germany’s Angela Merkel), the stories based on the Snowden leaks didn’t reveal much about specific U.S. intelligence operations around the world. Nor did they compromise individual intelligence agents.

MORE

June 2, 2015

Bernie Sanders on Late Night w/ Seth Meyers: Plans to Vote Against Patriot Act Replacement (VIDEO)

Sen. Sanders discusses the Patriot Act, "50 Shades of Grey," and his folk-"singing" "career." This segment does not include the beginning of the interview where he explains Democratic Socialism.