Parry writes: "If President Barack Obama is ever to take control of his foreign policy -- and move the United States into a more peaceful and pragmatic direction -- he will need to shake his obsession with secrecy and bring the American people into his confidence by sharing with them information about key events that have shaped recent crises."
President Obama. (photo: Pete Souza/AP)
Obama’s Secrecy Obsession
By Robert Parry, Consortium News
02 April 15
Though President Obama likes to present himself as a regular guy, he acts like an elitist when he unnecessarily withholds information from the American people. At this critical juncture of his presidency, he might finally take a chance on trusting the public with facts, writes Robert Parry.
f President Barack Obama is ever to take control of his foreign policy – and move the United States into a more peaceful and pragmatic direction – he will need to shake his obsession with secrecy and bring the American people into his confidence by sharing with them information about key events that have shaped recent crises.
Right now, the American people are deeply confused about what is transpiring in the Middle East and eastern Europe — and Obama appears satisfied that they stay that way. He doesn’t seem to understand that one of the president’s greatest advantages is his power to release information to the public, thus changing the narrative as written by rival political forces and forcing those forces to adjust to a more complete storyline.
Instead, Obama has behaved as if he’s still trying to prove to the national security establishment that he can hoard secrets as compulsively as anyone, that he’s not the wild-eyed radical outsider that the Right has made him out to be. At a news conference on March 24, Obama even made a joke about his record of keeping the American people in the dark about information developed by the U.S. intelligence community.
“As a general rule, I don’t comment on intelligence matters in a big room full of reporters,” Obama said with a smirk on his face. “And I think I’ll continue that tradition.”
But Obama’s lack of transparency – after promising in 2008 to run a transparent administration – has left him at the mercy of Washington’s closed club of insiders, while alienating him from the broad American public. With neoconservatives and other opinion leaders dictating the dominant narrative on topic after topic, Obama has ended up reacting to events, not controlling them.
Thus, even if a framework agreement on limiting Iran’s nuclear program is reached, it is likely to get battered in Congress, where Israeli clout is overwhelming. The President will have to fend off repeated attempts to sabotage the deal.
A more effective strategy might be for Obama to build public support by surrounding any agreement with the release of U.S. intelligence information on a range of related topics and with a blunt speech to the people explaining the need to work with major countries even when there are differences and disagreements.
For one, Obama could provide an historical accounting of U.S. relations with Iran, including the CIA’s role in ousting the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossaddegh in 1953, the U.S. support for the autocratic Shah over the ensuing quarter century (including helping to start Iran’s nuclear program), American dealings with the regime of hard-line Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the 1980s (including secret contacts between Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign and Iranian emissaries, and the evolution of the Iran-Contra scandal), and whatever evidence exists of Iran’s support for terrorism.
The President also could give the American people a deeper look into the complexities of Middle East politics by exposing the role of Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-Arab states in support of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Obama has long reneged on his promise to release the 28 redacted pages of the congressional 9/11 report dealing with alleged Saudi financing of Al-Qaeda.
And, if Obama really believed in the value of an informed electorate, he might toss into the pile of declassified material the U.S. intelligence data on the Syrian-Sarin incident of Aug. 21, 2013, which brought the United States to the brink of going to war against the Syrian government – after a rush to judgment blaming Bashar al-Assad’s regime for use of the poison gas (although later information pointed more toward a likely rebel provocation). [See Consortiumnews.com’s “The Collapsing Syria-Sarin Case.”]
Rallying the People
Nothing would rally the American people to the President more than a display of candor by him and a show of faith in them. A democratic Republic cannot survive when leaders routinely hide key facts and keep the people in the dark, all the better to manipulate them with exaggerations, lies and propaganda. Obama could show that he understands that core democratic principle by making as much information available as possible.
He may have forgotten but he opened his presidency with a memorandum instructing Executive Branch department heads on the importance of transparency. He wrote: “My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.”
While some sensitive data is appropriately protected for national security reasons, excessive secrecy is a form of elitism showing disdain for the many millions of us who aren’t special enough to be inside the club. Secrecy also empowers an unscrupulous leader to mislead and to scare the people with selective leaks and half-truths as we saw during George W. Bush’s presidency, a pattern that Obama vowed to break.
But – like much else – Obama mostly chose continuity, not change. After a few promising document releases in the first days of his presidency, including President Bush’s “torture memo” arguing the tortured legality of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” Obama reversed course and turned his administration into one of the most opaque and secretive of modern times, pursuing leakers more aggressively than any previous U.S. president.
In his second term, Obama has further slid into a pattern of deception embracing the Orwellian concept of “information warfare” in which propaganda themes are created and maintained even when the evidence goes in a different direction. The Syrian-Sarin gas incident is one such case when the early Assad-did-it claims were left in place despite the U.S. intelligence community’s shifting analysis.
Similarly, key incidents in the Ukraine crisis – such as responsibility for the lethal sniper fire on Feb. 20, 2014, and for the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014 – were pinned on U.S. propaganda targets (Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Vladimir Putin, respectively) and U.S. officialdom made no effort to clarify the record even as evidence emerged that suggested a contrary conclusion. [A worthwhile documentary on the sniper mystery is “Maidan Massacre.”]
Instead of refining or correcting the record, President Obama has let the hasty early judgments stand – all the better to smear the adversaries and manipulate the public.
For instance, regarding the MH-17 crash, the office of the Director of National Intelligence told me recently that the U.S. intelligence assessment of that shoot-down, killing 298 people, had not been refined since July 22, 2014, five days after the incident. The statement was not credible. Indeed, I have been told that U.S. analysts have vastly expanded their knowledge of the case and – at least some analysts – have broken with the initial conclusions.
But the early rush to judgment had proved useful in demonizing Putin so any contradictions of the storyline were seen as negating a potent propaganda weapon and also would be embarrassing to Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior officials who went off half-cocked. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “US Intel Stands Pat on MH-17 Shoot-down.”]
Yet, in a healthy democracy, leaders would immediately update the public with relevant information and dispel any misunderstandings in recognition and respect for the people’s fundamental right to know, especially on issues of war or peace.
Instead, Obama has joined in keeping the new assessments of all these key moments hidden from the American people. That secrecy suggests that Obama holds the public in contempt and thus he shouldn’t be surprised when that contempt is returned to him.
What America needs now more than ever is an old-fashioned presidential speech from the Oval Office with Obama looking directly into the camera and leveling with the nation, much like President Dwight Eisenhower did in his farewell address in 1961 with his famous warning about the influence of the Military-Industrial Complex.
If Obama were to explain the opportunities and the challenges facing the country – in stark and truthful terms – there might still be a chance to avert the looming catastrophes ahead.
_________
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com). You also can order Robert Parry’s trilogy on the Bush Family and its connections to various right-wing operatives for only $34. The trilogy includes America’s Stolen Narrative. For details on this offer, click here.
FOCUS | If Mumia Abu-Jamal Dies, or Is Already Dead, Isn't That State Murder?
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=20877"><span class="small">William Boardman, Reader Supported News</span></a>
Thursday, 02 April 2015 11:32
Boardman writes: "In America, it's still dangerous to be a brilliant, articulate, truth-telling black man."
Mumia Abu Jamal. (photo: unknown)
If Mumia Abu-Jamal Dies, or Is Already Dead, Isn't That State Murder?
By William Boardman, Reader Supported News
02 April 15
Revictimization is Pennsylvania policy for this political prisoner
hen a brilliant, articulate, truth-telling 60-year-old black man is being traduced and apparently tortured to death by Pennsylvania government authorities, why aren’t you learning about this unprincipled official malfeasance from most of the mainstream media?
The simple answer is that, in America, it’s still dangerous to be a brilliant, articulate, truth-telling black man. The slightly more complicated answer is that, in America, it’s even more dangerous to be Mumia Abu-Jamal and to be still insisting on your innocence even though you’ve been convicted in an absurdly biased trial that was more like a lynching for killing a cop in 1981, as Amnesty International reported in 2011:
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s trial featured the dismissal of African American jurors, inadequate defense representation, an openly hostile judge, the use of political statements to argue for a death sentence, and law enforcement’s unseemly agitation for execution throughout the entire process….
Given these fundamental flaws, it would have been unconscionable to put a Mumia Abu-Jamal to death.
The dead cop in the case was working undercover to expose very real and chronic police corruption in Philadelphia. No one had a stronger motive for killing Daniel Faulkner than some of his fellow cops. The analysis by means-motive-opportunity fits the responding police officers far better than Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook). But if there was ever any investigation of the cops, it’s not widely known.
The state decision-makers knew who they wanted for their defendant and they pursued him doggedly till they got him to death row. Then the U.S. Supreme Court intervened and told the state it had no lawful right to kill Mumia. Years later, Pennsylvania’s official rage remains unassuaged, as officials blame Mumia for the state’s own miscarrying of justice.
Now it appears that the state, through its prison system, could be carrying out the death penalty by other means: allowing Mumia’s medical caretakers to execute him by neglect.
Prison medical care only made Mumia sicker
This execution, it that’s what it is, began some weeks ago, if not more. Prison medical records are closely held and even a prisoner’s family is sometimes unable to find out a prisoner’s medical condition. As of April 1, prison and other state officials had refused to discuss Mumia’s medical records in any detail. Information about Mumia’s treatment comes from his attorney, family, and supporters, without contradiction by those in a position to know the facts first hand.
Mumia, who will turn 61 on April 24, has sought medical help in prison for at least the last three months, during which his health has deteriorated. Apparently sometime late March 29 or early March 30, Mumia was sick enough that prison doctors had him transferred, nearly unconscious, to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Schuylkill Medical Center in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
Unable to find out what was going on with Mumia, his family and supporters rallied to Pottsville to put pressure on authorities. At a press conference outside the hospital on March 31, Mumia’s attorney, Bret Grote, summed up the situation this way:
Mumia’s wife and brother were allowed to see him separately for 30 minutes each late this morning. The mobilization worked. But our job is not yet done.
On the morning of March 30, 2015 Mumia fainted in the prison and was taken to the ICU of a nearby clinic. His blood sugar count was dangerously high at 779. He was in a diabetic shock. For perspective: diabetic coma is 800. He is recovering slowly and still in ICU. His blood sugar is currently at 333.
That Mumia had diabetes was a complete shock to all of us. For the last 3 months, he has been under medical care in the prison and diagnosed with eczema. And since he had three “comprehensive” blood tests since February, diabetes should have been diagnosed and treated accordingly. But it never was.
Instead he has been subjected to hell by the prison medical system. In January Mumia was shaken out of a deep sleep by guards during count. For the infraction of not being awake during count he was punished for 2 weeks, without calls or yard. Deep trance-like sleep and lethargy were the first signs of the problem.
In addition to the physical depletion produced by untreated diabetes, he was/is also dealing with a severe outbreak of eczema. He likened his skin to that of an elephant’s. It was raw, blistered and bloody all over. He was so sick that he was not taking visitors. The “meds” he was given for his skin produced an extreme adverse reaction. His skin swelled and ruptured and he was put in the prison infirmary for 2 weeks.
PA Police have arrested, killed, and fire-bombed black activists
As of late in the day April 1, prison authorities continued to control the flow of information from the hospital, leaving Mumia and his family in the dark about his medical condition. Some medical staff have reportedly spoken privately with family members. Prison authorities have shackled Mumia to his bed in the ICU, with two armed guards stationed in the room. Two more armed guards are posted outside the door.
Prison officials are lying. Mumia is going through torture at the hands of the Department of Corrections through medical neglect. It is clear to people that they want to kill Mumia. They gave him the wrong medication which made his condition worse.
Inmates on the inside who questioned what was happening have been subjected to direct retaliation by the superintendent. They have been moving concerned inmates out of Mumia’s unit in an effort to both bury and keep this critical information from the public.
Sharpening their concern for Mumia’s life was the recent experience of another prisoner who died in Pennsylvania prison custody, after five days of being held incommunicado in the Wilkes Barre General Hospital. On January 4, 2015, Phil Africa was observed exercising normally, but later went to the prison infirmary saying he wasn’t feeling well. On January 10, he died, after six days of nearly total isolation by prison officials. No cause of death has been reported. A search of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections website for “Phil Africa” produced no relevant results (a similar search of the same website for “Mumia Abu-Jamal” produced no relevant result more recent than October 2014).
Phil Africa was a member of the MOVE organization, long under aggressive attack by Pennsylvania authorities. He was one of the MOVE 9, who were sentenced to prison in 1978 after a police shoot-out in Philadelphia. In 1985, Philadelphia police fire-bombed a MOVE row house during a shoot-out, killing 11 people (five of them children) and destroying another 64 houses nearby.
MOVE continues to advocate for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Police officials target Mumia Abu-Jamal at every opportunity
Police vigilantes keep Mumia on their hit list and go after him whenever he surfaces. And they even go after people who simply treat Mumia with respect.
In October 2014, police all over the country got outraged at Goddard College in Vermont for having its alumnus Mumia as a graduation speaker. It didn’t matter to police that Mumia remained in jail, that his speech was taped, or that the graduating “class” was tiny. Police demanded, unsuccessfully, that Goddard cancel Mumia, and then picketed the college when it ignored the threats and acted within the Constitution’s free speech guarantee.
Earlier in 2014, police bullies had better luck with Congress as they successfully executed a high-tech lynching of attorney Debo Adegbile for the “crime” of participating in Mumia Abu-Jamal’s legal defense as a member of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. This travesty of guilt-by-association (with someone not necessarily guilty) had bipartisan support in the Senate from all Republicans and 7 principle-free Democrats.
In the wake of Mumia’s remote appearance at Goddard, the Pennsylvania legislature, with police prodding, passed constitution-hostile legislation designed to prevent any such exercise of free speech to happen again if Pennsylvania could prevent it. The bill, the Revictimization Relief Act, was popularly known as the “Muzzle Mumia Act.” As soon as Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett signed it into law, Mumia and his supporters took the state to court to challenge the law’s constitutionality. On March 6, a federal judge rejected the state’s motion to dismiss the suit and ordered that it go forward. The day Mumia was taken to the hospital, some of his supporters were in court for a hearing on the case.
Late in the day April 1, Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio in San Francisco emailed an update om Mumia’s situation. Prison Radio carries Mumia’s programs, the most recent on March 24. According to Hanrahan as of 4 p.m.:
Mumia's youngest brother Bill Cook and his oldest son Jamal Hart have been able to visit him today for 30 minutes each.
As of today, a new prison rule is going to prevent his wife Wadiya and his brother Keith from visiting again for an entire week. The new rule states that only one visit per week per immediate family member will be allowed.
This also means that there will be many times when we will not have any contact with Mumia during this critical week.
Please do continue calling the prison and medical center to demand that Wadiya and Keith can visit Mumia again this week!
Hanrahan included these phone numbers:
SCI Mahanoy / Superintendent John Kerestes – 570-773-2158 x8102
Schuylkill Medical Center – 570-621-5000
STILL SICK, MUMIA SENT BACK TO PRISON
Shortly after noon April 2, Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio emailed this news:
“At 7pm last night [April 1], Mumia Abu-Jamal was transferred back to the infirmary at SCI Mahanoy – the same prison infirmary that failed to identify his diabetes, gravely misdiagnosed him, and gave him severely detrimental treatment. This is an outrage!” [Emphasis in original.]
Mumia supporters plan to gather for a press conference at the prison – SCI Mahanoy, 301 Morea Road, Frackville, Pennsylvania. They will then caravan for a demonstration at the Department of Corrections in Mechanicsburg.
Prison officials apparently moved Mumia without informing the public, his family, or his attorney. There is no recent news about Mumia on the prison website There is no reliable information available regarding Mumia’s medical condition.
William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio, TV, print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the Vermont judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life magazine, and an Emmy Award nomination from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
FOCUS | Chris Rock: "Stopped by the Cops Again Wish Me Luck"
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=35003"><span class="small">Stereo Williams, The Daily Beast</span></a>
Thursday, 02 April 2015 10:01
Williams writes: "Over the past several weeks, superstar comedian Chris Rock has been posting a selfie on Instagram every time he's been pulled over by the cops. In less than two months, Rock has made three of these posts."
Chris Rock. (photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Chris Rock: "Stopped by the Cops Again Wish Me Luck"
By Stereo Williams, The Daily Beast
02 April 15
The comedian has been pulled over three times in seven weeks for, it seems, “driving while black.” Actor Isaiah Washington says Rock should “adapt” and buy a Prius. How wrong he is.
ver the past several weeks, superstar comedian Chris Rock has been posting a selfie on Instagram every time he’s been pulled over by the cops. In less than two months, Rock has made three of these posts, with the latest coming this past Monday. “Stopped by the cops again wish me luck,” he captioned with the newest selfie. He hasn’t given the specifics regarding the three instances (which occurred on February 13, February 27, and March 30), but Rock’s always been deliberate in speaking out about racial issues, and the star’s comments over the last several months have been fairly candid in regards to the current racial climate in the country. Rock has also examined what it means to be rich, black, and famous in America.
“Bill Murray in Lost in Translation is what Bryant Gumbel experiences every day,” Rock told New York Magazine back in December. “Or Al Roker. Rich black guys. It’s a little off.”
His posting of selfies every time he’s pulled over by the cops is another indicator of how racial profiling isn’t negated by wealth and fame.
Chris Rock and his relationship with the police. (photo: Twitter)
Superstar Jamie Foxx, in an interview with Rolling Out magazine, related his own recent history with police and was honest about the anxiety he feels. “Me being an African American entertainer—[I] still get nervous when the cops pull me over,” he explained. “I got stopped a few weeks ago. I’m driving in my neighborhood, which is predominantly white. And I’m feeling white—I got my top down and my Rolls-Royce like, ‘Wow, this is a great, white day!’ With my boy… we’re riding down 101 in L.A., chilling [on a] Sunday. All of a sudden, the cops get behind me. And I’m like, ‘OK, the cops are behind me, but it’s a great day and I’m really mainstream.’ But he turns his lights on and I’m thinking, ‘It couldn’t be me.’ And I actually move over and say, ‘Yeah, go get ‘em! Go get those guys’ and he was like, ‘It’s you—pull it over!’ and when he yelled at me, he yelled like I was crazy. He talked to me like I wasn’t human.”
The tensions that have existed for generations between police and the black community are very real and born of fear and mistrust. The police have long operated as occupying forces in hostile territory—from the ways in which cops interact with black citizens to the rates of cops killing blacks compared to whites. That anxiety that stars like Rock and Foxx and countless others feel is shared by the average black person on the street—the average black person who doesn’t have hit movies or TV shows. That these stars are affected by it shouldn’t give validation to the protests of black folks; it should only amplify them.
But actor Isaiah Washington offered a different take on the problem of racial profiling.
The famously outspoken star of Grey’s Anatomy fame has been fairly vocal in his opinions on race issues over the years, and when Rock posted this most recent cop-stop selfie, Washington offered the funnyman some “advice.”
I sold my $90,000.00 Mercedes G500 and bought 3 Prius's, because I got tired of being pulled over by Police. #Adapt@chrisrock
Of course, there has been no shortage of victim-blaming and “advice” to black people in how to deal with the racism of police officers. But Washington’s suggestion that the solution is to “adapt” to racism is just foolish and dangerous. You shouldn’t suggest black boys buy some suspenders to hold their pants up around cops; and you shouldn’t suggest that black celebs buy corny vehicles to curb racial profiling. The problem is racism. That racism is fluid and malleable; it changes to whatever becomes associated with black people. If driving a Prius became common for black people, then racist cops would start pulling over black people driving those cars. The onus is not on black people to adapt to oppression. To suggest that it’s a viable option is to enable that oppression.
And Washington is too full of righteous indignation to be so aloof about issues such as this.
When he was infamously fired from Grey’s back in 2007 after making a homophobic remark to a castmate and the fallout that ensued, he was quick to paint himself as a black man unwilling to be bowed or broken. “Well, it didn’t help me on the set that I was a black man who wasn’t a mush-mouth Negro walking around with his head in his hands all the time. I didn’t speak like I’d just left the plantation and that can be a problem for people,” he told The Washington Post at the time. “I had a person in human resources tell me after this thing played out that ‘some people’ were afraid of me around the studio. I asked her why, because I’m a 6-foot-1 black man with dark skin and who doesn’t go around saying ‘Yessah, massa sir’ and ‘No sir, massa’ to everyone? It’s nuts when your presence alone can just scare people, and that made me a prime candidate to take the heat in a dysfunctional family.”
You were right, 2007-era Isaiah Washington—it was nuts that just your presence scared people. It’s even more nuts that 2015 Isaiah Washington thinks that the way to handle that is to make yourself more accommodating to their prejudices.
Washington’s since sat down for an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon. This has become fairly rote as of late—black celebrities telling black people what they have to change about themselves in order to quell racial unrest. “Yes, the onus is on us,” Washington told Lemon, essentially doubling down on his tweet. It echoes Pharrell’s comments to Oprah about how “The New Black doesn’t blame other races for our issues.”
The outspoken ex-Grey’s star is also promoting his upcoming movie Blackbird, about a teen in Mississippi coming to grips with the fact that he’s gay. In Washington’s memoir, A Man From Another Land, he used modern technology to trace his lineage back to Sierra Leone; and he co-produced and appeared in Bound, a documentary by Kenyan filmmaker Peres Owino.
In having such a passion for cultural awareness, Washington should realize that “advising” black people to contort themselves into all manner of positions to navigate the murky waters of American racism is not the answer. Chris Rock or anyone else who wants to drive a nice car deserves that freedom. For the entirety of our existence in the Western world, black people have had to alter who they are for the sake of appeasing white standards or diminishing the racism that has been visited upon us. From hair chemicals to European names, part of our culture has been defined by making those kinds of “adjustments,” only to find ourselves continuously marginalized and terrorized. We’ve all heard that song, Mr. Washington. It’s past time to sing another one. We can’t continue to hop from one foot to the other in the hopes that someone will recognize our humanity; and we can’t be willing to forgo our freedom for the sake of false peace. A line has been drawn in the sand, culturally. It’s time for a different mindset.
Because racism is something that black people have had to adapt to for far too long.
Indiana, Arkansas, and the GOP's Disastrous Anti-Gay Bigotry
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=6853"><span class="small">Frank Rich, New York Magazine</span></a>
Thursday, 02 April 2015 08:27
Rich writes: "The intentions of the bill were naked from the start. Pence's lying hasn't fooled anyone, from Tim Cook to the NCAA."
Governor Mike Pence of Indiana. (photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)
Indiana, Arkansas, and the GOP's Disastrous Anti-Gay Bigotry
By Frank Rich, New York Magazine
02 April 15
Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. This week, the magazine asked him about the new wave of "religious freedom" laws, the new host of The Daily Show, and what to make of Andrew Sullivan's recent comments about blogger burn-out.
ust as Indiana lawmakers announce plans to "amend" their controversial religious-freedom law, the Arkansas state legislature approved a similar bill and sent it the governor's desk. In a surprise move this morning, the Republican governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, who’d previously expressed support for the bill, asked the legislature to recall or amend it. Will the furor over what happened in Indiana extend into 2016?
That Hutchinson did this abrupt about-face is further proof of what a political disaster the Indiana law, and other, ongoing anti-gay initiatives in other red states, is for the GOP. At least 20 anti-LGBT laws have been proposed in Texas this year alone, according to the Texas Observer. Hutchinson’s reversal is one small attempt to quell these flames before they do more damage to his state and his party. But much damage has already been done. Not a single Republican presidential contender came down against the Indiana law, and most have been vocal in their support of it and the Indiana governor, Mike Pence. That unanimity cannot now be written out of the record as the GOP faces 2016.
For most younger voters — who tend to stay home during midterm elections but turn out in presidential years — equal rights for gay Americans has long been a settled issue. Most won’t give a political party’s candidates a serious look if the party endorses bigotry. Alex Lundry, who was in charge of data science in Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign, told Time last year that even “evangelical millennials are 64% in favor of allowing same-sex couples to marry.” Potential campaign donors will also balk. Think of Jeb Bush, who is fund-raising in the Bay Area this week just after voicing unambiguous support for Pence and Indiana’s law. In the accounting of the San Francisco Chronicle, Twitter, Yelp, Square, and Levi Strauss & Co., have joined the CEOs Tim Cook of Apple and Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com in either coming out against the law or pulling business from Indiana.
Money talks. So yesterday Pence tried to make nice to save his state from economic sanctions. In his press conference, he promised “clarification” of Indiana’s law (not to be confused with a repeal of it), and said, “I don’t believe for a minute” that the bill intended “to deny services to gays or lesbians or anyone else.” He added that the “issue of discrimination” has been an “anthem throughout my life.” You have to wonder how stupid he thinks people are. Pence has a consistent record of supporting anti-gay discrimination, from speaking against the repeal of "don’t ask, don’t tell" in 2010 to opposing state laws that protect the rights of gays and lesbians. As GLAAD has documented with an annotated photograph, the posse invited to pose behind Pence when he signed the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act last week included Micah Clark of the American Family Association, whose homophobia extends to purporting that gay people face “significantly higher risks of mental harm, physical harm, emotional harm and spiritual harm.” Standing next to Clark and behind Pence was Curt Smith of the Indiana Family Institute, who has equated homosexuality with bestiality.
In other words, the intentions of the bill were naked from the start. Pence’s lying hasn’t fooled anyone, from Tim Cook to the NCAA. It’s an indication of how much damage these laws are inflicting not just on gay people but on the GOP’s national electoral prospects that conservatives who should know better are desperately trying to defend the indefensible by suggesting that liberals and gay-rights activists are overreacting. Take, for instance, David Brooks, who wrote a column this week expressing astonishment that there would be “an incredible firestorm” in response to “a state law like the 1993 federal act” that shares its name and caused far less of a stir. Brooks’s use of the word like was, to put it mildly, deceptive. Unlike the federal law of 1993, which addressed government intrusions on religious belief, the Indiana law extends to disputes between private businesses and their customers — e.g., same-sex couples seeking wedding cakes. This was instantly transparent to the hard-headed CEOs (including Walmart’s, in Arkansas) who have put civil rights ahead of party partisanship. Among the most fervent critics of Indiana’s law is the CEO of the Indianapolis-based corporation Angie’s List, William Oesterle, who managed the 2004 campaign of Indiana’s previous Republican governor, Mitch Daniels.
Other defenders of these laws, like The Wall Street Journal editorial page, are predictably pleading victimization: The real victims of bigotry, according to this argument, are Christians, who are being punished for unfashionable beliefs. The Bible has a long history of being cited in America to justify second-class citizenship for women and blacks, among others, in their struggles for equal rights over the past century. It didn’t fly then, and it won’t fly now. A GOP presidential field that supports transparent discrimination is not only on the wrong side of history but the wrong side of the present-day American electorate. There will be consequences far beyond the economic punishment that is already being inflicted on Indiana.
Less than a day after most of America discovered Daily Show host-in-waiting Trevor Noah, we discovered his Twitter account. Comedy Central is standing by its choice. Should it?
Of course. Noah’s Twitter account contains a number of bad jokes, the most egregious aimed at women’s looks in a manner that emulates Joan Rivers in content without being remotely funny. But as Chris Rock argued in my conversation with him last year, a comedian trying out material sometimes has to “be offensive” on his way “to being inoffensive.” Noah might take a lesson from Rock and try out material in venues less public than a Twitter feed.
The outrage over Noah has, in any case, been over-the-top. His anointment as Jon Stewart’s successor has been likened to John McCain choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate, and there has been much grumping about Comedy Central’s failure to vet his social-media output. Of course Stewart himself was an active participant in the choosing of his successor, and the host of The Daily Show is at most a heartbeat away from Jimmy Fallon, not the president.
Noah will have to prove himself. What’s enticing about the choice is that as a 31-year-old South African of mixed-race background, he will bring a fresh perspective both to TheDaily Show itself and to American politics. As John Oliver has proved so abundantly, an outsider can rejuvenate what had been a settled format and see things about his adopted home that we who are too close to it cannot. If Noah flames out, the marketplace will be ruthless: He’ll be gone, for Comedy Central can’t afford a flop. But he offers a chance for something fresh in late-night comedy.
Andrew Sullivan, who recently announced the end of his 15-year blogging career, told an audience at the 92nd Street Y that he had to step back because blogging "was killing" him. Should today's bloggers — "digital writers" — take this to mean that a career premised on high-volume, wide-ranging commentary is ultimately unsustainable?
Perhaps so — though I’d argue that anyone in any kind of writing will burn out well before the normal expiration date if producing copy at the volume, intensity, and ambition that Sullivan practiced over those years. But my favorite comment of his at the Y was this: “I couldn’t imagine blogging the next election … I will not spend another minute of my time writing about the Clintons. Period. Or the Bushes.” I dare say there are few political journalists or commentators of his generation who don’t wish they had that luxury.
Over 100 People Were Killed by Police in March. Have Police Gotten the Post-Ferguson Memo Yet?
Thursday, 02 April 2015 08:19
Bennett writes: "Here's a statistic for you: It's been 31 days since the release of the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing report, but the number of fatal police encounters is already over 100 and counting. That's an average of more than three people killed each day in March by police in America."
Police in Ferguson, Missouri. (photo: Jeff Roberson/AP)
Over 100 People Were Killed by Police in March. Have Police Gotten the Post-Ferguson Memo Yet?
By Kanya Bennett, American Civil Liberties Union
02 April 15
ere’s a statistic for you: It's been 31 days since the release of the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing report, but the number of fatal police encounters is already over 100 and counting. That’s an average of more than three people killed each day in March by police in America.
Too many of this month’s victims fit a profile we know all too well – unarmed men of color, some of whom have psychiatric disabilities. Victims like Charly Keunang in Los Angeles, California; Tony Robinson in Madison, Wisconsin; Anthony Hill in DeKalb County, Georgia; and Brandon Jones in Cleveland, Ohio; confirm that the problems with policing are national in scope.
This isn’t a problem concentrated in a few rogue police departments. Even those police departments with the best of intentions need reform. Take, for example, last week’s Department of Justice report that Philadelphia police shot 400 people – over 80 percent African-American – in seven years. This is in a city where the police commissioner is an author of the very same White House task force report calling for police reform.
So clearly we must do more than read – or even write – these reports. Report recommendations, several of which are adopted from ACLU recommendations, must be implemented. The task force report makes 63 recommendations, but let’s focus on just two. Neither one is novel, but both are critical to real police reform.
Deescalate Situations
This is stating the obvious, but clearly it needs to be repeated – police departments should adopt use-of-force policies that emphasize de-escalation.
The ACLU told the task force that de-escalation, training, and incident review are necessary components to any use-of-force policy. The task force agreed, recommending that, “Law enforcement agency policies for training on use of force should emphasize de-escalation and alternatives to arrest or summons in situations where appropriate.”
DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Services office must continue working with local police departments to implement appropriate use-of-force standards. The federal government must commit the appropriate resources for this.
And particular attention must be paid to how these policies are impacting people of color, people with disabilities, and other marginalized populations. Otherwise police will continue to be seen as an oppressive force in certain communities, thereby making community policing impossible.
Collect Data
The public needs legitimate data collection practices that promote transparency and accountability when police use unreasonable force. We need something a little more thoughtful than a Google search to give us the stats on the number of police shootings – fatal or nonfatal – in any given period of time.
As the ACLU explained to the task force, data collection and reporting is the easiest single thing any police department can do starting today. And it will offer the best depiction of what policing in the 21st century looks like.
Both the ACLU and the task force recommend data collection on a range of police and citizen encounters – from stops and arrests to nonfatal and fatal police shootings. “Policies on use of force,” the task force writes, “should also require agencies to collect, maintain, and report data to the Federal Government on all officer-involved shootings, whether fatal or nonfatal, as well as any in-custody death.” And data must be inclusive not just of race and gender but disability as well.
In order for local law enforcement to get serious about data collection, it may take the dangling of federal dollars. The recently enacted Death in Custody Act, which requires data collection on what the title suggests, is taking that approach by penalizing noncompliant agencies through Department of Justice funds. Earlier mandates around data collection – ones that allow law enforcement to voluntarily report data without penalty —aren’t working.
The task force report – like so many others before it – has spelled out what’s needed for police reform. How many more reports or police shootings do we need before we get to work?
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community.
f President Barack Obama is ever to take control of his foreign policy – and move the United States into a more peaceful and pragmatic direction – he will need to shake his obsession with secrecy and bring the American people into his confidence by sharing with them information about key events that have shaped recent crises.
hen a brilliant, articulate, truth-telling 60-year-old black man is being traduced and apparently tortured to death by Pennsylvania government authorities, why aren’t you learning about this unprincipled official malfeasance from most of the mainstream media?
ver the past several weeks, superstar comedian Chris Rock has been posting a selfie on Instagram every time he’s been pulled over by the cops. In less than two months, Rock has made three of these posts, with the latest coming this past Monday. “Stopped by the cops again wish me luck,” he captioned 
ust as Indiana lawmakers 
ere’s a statistic for you: It's been 31 days since the release of the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing 
