cassandra_m
"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas." -Shirley Chisholm
cassandra_m's Latest Posts
Bradley Manning Gets 35 Years
That is the reporting from the courtroom in Ft. Meade this AM, where the judge was expected to announce his sentence at 10AM today. The prosecution asked for 60 years, the defense asked for 25. He’ll also be dishonorably discharged from the Army.
Late Night Video — Lewis Black Wants the Drunk Congresspeople Back
Because according to him — when a drunk Democrat and drunk Republican sat down in a bar, they actually got stuff done. Approx. 4 minutes long:
Tuesday Open Thread [8.20.13]
Mitch McConnell is being squeezed from all over in his re-election bid. From the right, Jim DeMint’s Heritage Center, Brent Bozell’s For America group (and others) are running ads in Tennessee trying to make McConnell’s refusal to shut down the government over Obamacare a liability — making it very difficult for McConnell to appeal to any independents or moderates:
Deputy Treasurer and the Abuse of a State Credit Card
By request of commenter Nuttingham, this topic now has its own thread. The NJ reported on Sunday about the Deputy Treasurer’s misuse of her state-issued credit card. They document about $2100 in personal charges on the card, that were — eventually — reimbursed. The key part of this article (for me, at any rate) was the fact that the Finance Department flagged this pattern of misuse and couldn’t get the attention of anyone in the Treasurer’s Office. Yesterday, the Deputy Treasurer resigned and his morning, the NJ expands the report on her resignation:
Late Night Video — We’re Building a Domestic Army
The man in this video clip says he is a retired Marine Corps Colonel and he is speaking at Concord, NH city council meeting where he Council is considering a request from the Concord PD for armored vehicles. He draws some parallels with the time he spent in Iraq (without equipment like this) and starts to show how Homeland Security standardization of gear makes it easier for PDs to look indistinguishable from an occupying army. This is almost 4 minutes long:
Late Night Video — Black Church vs. White Church
This was hilarious — You guys have a Step Team???!! The First Baptist Steppers??!!! About 4 minutes long:
Sunday Open Thread [8.18.13]
![Sunday Open Thread [8.18.13]](http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2013/08/15/marijuana-laws.png "Sunday Open Thread [8.18.13]")
Woodlawn Trustees is ready to move out on its plan to raze and the reconstruct its buildings in Wilmington’s Flats area. This promises to be a very good thing for the city, especially the West Side which has put alot of elbow grease into long-term revitalization. Also note that the $100M project to reconstruct these buildings will still serve moderate income families, putting to bed the crazy whispered story about luxury housing going in over there.
Saturday Open Thread [8.17.13]
Are you following the amazing story of the Newark National and how they made the Little League World Series? They won their first game yesterday against an Urbandale,Iowa team — 6-3. They’ve advanced to play a Chula Vista, CA team. Their hometown turned out at Timothy’s last night to cheer them on and to help raise money for the families of the kids going to the World Series. Go Newark!
Violence and Wilmington
Last night, there was a quickly called meeting by Herman Holloway, Jr. to get “community leaders” to discuss Wilmington’s violence problem. Specifically, Holloway wanted to talk about strategies to get more people to tell what they know about violent crime and illegal guns to the police. He also wanted to float a couple of other […]
Towards a Smarter Policing Strategy?
Yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced changes to the Federal policy in prosecuting drug crimes, basically getting Federal prosecutors to charge low-level offenders with less harsh crimes. This action would essentially bypass the mandatory minimum sentencing rules whose primary accomplishment is to increase the already unsustainable numbers of Americans in prison. This is a baby step in admitting that we’ve been losing the War on Drugs for a long time:
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Monday that low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with no ties to gangs or large-scale drug organizations will no longer be charged with offenses that impose severe mandatory sentences.
The new Justice Department policy is part of a comprehensive prison reform package that Holder unveiled in a speech to the American Bar Association in San Francisco. He also introduced a policy to reduce sentences for elderly, nonviolent inmates and find alternatives to prison for nonviolent criminals.
Late Night Video — The Pitch to Add Sponsors to the Rush Limbaugh Show
This is from the Current Network and one John Fugelsgang (who I don’t know), and is a pointed and funny pitch to help Rush get more advertisers:
An Opportunity for Campaign Finance Reform
Yesterday’s NJ detailed how developers (with multiple companies) could legally contribute multiple times to a candidate:
The practice of companies tied to one developer each contributing the maximum contribution gives the developer greater influence in the election process than other donors who don’t have separate companies to funnel contributions through.
“It’s an outrageous loophole for developers. It makes a mockery of the limits,” said James Browning, regional director of state operations with Common Cause advocacy organization. “It’s a double standard for developers. How can you trust in a system where so few people can buy so much access?”
Late Night Video — Disinformation by American Media
Approx 5 mins long (short for a TED Talk) and probably what you know already. This was done in 2008, so swap out Brittany coverage for Beyonce’s hair cut:
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