White Lady in Obama Costume - 3rd Place

BlackListedNews

1000+ killed [mostly civilians]: October Iraq’s deadliest month since 2008

BlackListed News

Iraq has just experienced its deadliest month in five years with over 1,000 killed amid spiraling violence, a topic that will rank high in talks between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Barack Obama in Washington on Friday.

The spike in deaths for October has created an atmosphere of anxiety and fear amongst the population since most of last month’s victims were civilians, according to government figures.  

A total of 855 civilians, 65 policemen and 44 soldiers were killed, according to information from the Iraqi ministries of health, interior and defense, released on Friday.

According to data gathered by iraqbodycount.org, an independent organization that tracks the death toll in the country, the preliminary death toll in Iraq for October is 1,095 – the highest since April 2008, when 1,273 people were killed.

Of the 1,600 people who sustained injuries, 1,445 were civilians, while just 67 were soldiers, and 88 policemen. The data also showed that 33 fighters were killed and 167 arrested.

The grim data was released as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in Washington for a meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday. The two leaders are expected to discuss the disturbing spike in Iraqi violence during his White House visit.

Despite heightened security measures being enforced nationwide, Iraq has failed to escape the clutches of a deadly cycle of violence that has left many people – witnesses as they were to years of bloodshed that followed the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of the country by the US military – desperate for a return to normalcy.

Violence in Iraq has been on the rise since April, when security forces initiated a deadly crackdown on Sunni protesters, many of whom believe they are being discriminated against by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government.

Food stamp cuts affect 1 in 7 Americans

BlackListedNews

U.S. food stamp cuts taking effect Friday are one of two stimulus safety-net programs ending, an economist said. The other is extended unemployment benefits.

The so-called food stamp cliff, affecting nearly 48 million people, or 1 in 7 Americans, "may be more of a sidewalk curb," JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief U.S. Economist Michael Feroli told The New York Times in an email.

"The bigger cliff, which I'm surprised people aren't talking about, is emergency unemployment benefits Jan. 1," he said.

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, financed by the federal government for states that met certain unemployment and state benefit thresholds, was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 -- commonly referred to as the Recovery Act, or the stimulus.

It was a temporary increase in the maximum amount of food stamp benefits people could get monthly as part of Washington's response to the Great Recession.

The EUC program extended unemployment benefits to jobless workers beyond the normal maximum of 26 weeks up to 99 weeks at first and later to 73 weeks.

The maximum returns to 26 weeks Jan. 1.

Friday's change in the food stamp program, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, cuts monthly benefits 13.6 percent -- or, more precisely, ends a 13.6 percent increase in SNAP benefits from the stimulus act.

Benefits to a family of four receiving the maximum amount drop Friday to $632 from $668, the U.S. Agriculture Department says.

The maximum benefits for a single adult fall to $189 from $200.

The cuts leave recipients with an estimated average $1.40 to spend on each meal, the department says, citing its Thrifty Food Plan.

Bipartisan Smarter Sentencing Act Introduced in U.S. House

Sentencing Project

Congressmen Raúl Labrador and Bobby Scott have introduced a House companion to the Smarter Sentencing Act, legislation introduced in the Senate earlier this year, which would reduce overly harsh penalties for drug offenses, allow judges greater flexibility in sentencing, and extend the more equitable crack cocaine provisions of the Fair Sentencing Act retroactively to individuals serving prison terms under the now discredited 100-to-1 sentencing disparity.

We strongly support the Smarter Sentencing Act, which recognizes what practitioners, advocates, and scholars have long understood:  that ever increasing criminal penalties are not an effective way to keep Americans safe.  You can read a statement by Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, in support of this legislation by clicking here.

The D.C. Press Yawns While Republicans Return To Radically Obstructionist Ways: White Party Stops Mel Watt Nomination

MediaMatters

Republicans in the U.S. Senate made history this week when they successfully filibustered the nomination of Rep. Melvin Watt (R-N.C.) to become director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Watt received 56 Senate votes, four short of the 60 necessary to end the filibuster.  

The move represented the latest round of raw, extremist obstructionism that Republicans have proudly practiced for the last five years, particularly when it comes to mounting extraordinary efforts to block presidential appointments that in the past were considered to be routine.

The historic element of the Watt rejection was that throughout American history it has been virtually unheard for a sitting member of Congress to be filibustered -- to be denied the courtesy of a final vote -- when selected by the president to fill an administration position. Prior to this week's partisan blockade of Watt, a Congressional rejection like his hadn't happened since before the Civil War, in 1843.

That important historical context should have been included in every story about the Watt filibuster, but it wasn't. That's not surprising considering the Beltway press corps seems to have made a conscious decision during the Obama presidency to omit virtually all context with regards to the Republicans' continued radical behavior as they cling to filibusters to methodically block, stall and reject most White House policy proposals, as well as countless nominations.

The pliant coverage over the years has likely only enabled Republicans to push ahead with their corrosive strategy, knowing there's certainly no downside with regards to adverse media attention. After all, Republican moved to recently shut down the government, yet lots of journalists suggested the radical, destructive move was because "both sides" just couldn't agree, essentially blaming Democrats for Republican extremism.

Note that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) recently announced he was going to block all Obama nominations until he got more answers about the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi. Although as CNN's Jeffrey Toobin noted, Republicans block Obama picks as a matter of general principle, so it's not like Graham even needs a stated reason for the obstruction.

Watt wasn't the only presidential pick rejected by Republicans on October 31. They also blocked Patricia Millett, who was nominated to fill one of three vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Despite the fact Millett had previously served as an assistant solicitor general, and represented the administration before the Supreme Court 32 times, under both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Republicans denied her the right to an up or down vote.

It's telling that Republicans barely even bother to give reasons for the filibusters any more, and that the press doesn't find that odd. 

Feds to Investigate Kendrick Johnson's Death

ColorLines

The mysterious death of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson, who was found in a rolled-up wrestling mat at his Valdosta, Ga. high school in January, is now being investigated by U.S. Attorney Michael Moore. A surveillance tape released yesterday shows Johnson walking around campus on his final day, but does not reveal how he died. School officials are expected to release 1,900 hours of security camera footage in the coming days that could provide more clues.

Johnson's parents recently contracted Benjamin Crump--lead prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin murder trial--as they believe their son was murdered and that his case wasn't fully investigated because he was black.  Loundes County investigators ruled Johnson's death accidental, saying he suffocated after he fell into the mat while trying to retrieve a shoe, and they continue to stand by their investigation. But an independent autopsy found blunt force trauma to the right side of his neck, which had not been revealed in prior autopsy reports. That, combined with the way his body was found stuffed with newspaper and missing organs after it was exhumed, have aroused suspicions around the nature of his death. 

Half in Ten Annual Poverty Report 2013

HalfinTen

The third annual indicators report tracks the nation’s and each state’s progress toward cutting poverty in half over the next decade and expanding opportunity for all. The report paints a sobering picture of the state of poverty and opportunity in the U.S. and makes the case that we need to reflect on the lessons of the five decades since the launch of the War on Poverty and renew our commitment to cutting poverty. According to the report, the percentage of people in poverty poverty—with annual incomes below $18,284 for a family of three—remained stagnate between 2011 and 2012 at 15 percent. Similarly, median household income and the gender wage gap remained unchanged in 2012. 25 states have poverty rates of at least 16%, which is above the national average, and up from 2010 when only 16 states were in this category. This year’s report includes a foreword by Sister Simone Campbell, outlines a pathway forward, and recommends a set of policy priorities that would move more families from poverty to prosperity.

Pennsylvania high court rules juvenile murderers not entitled to resentencing

[JURIST]

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Wednesday that juvenile murderers who were subject to mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole will not be resentenced if their cases were final before June 2012. The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [JURIST report] last year in Miller v. Alabama that the Eighth Amendment [text], a bar on the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment, "forbids a sentencing scheme that mandates life in prison without possibility of parole for juvenile offenders." Applying this precedent to the case of Ian Cunningham, a man serving life in prison [Morning...

Caution: Your GPS Ankle Bracelet Is Listening

Crimereport

When defense lawyer Fermín L. Arraiza-Navas sat down with a prospective client in San Juan, Puerto Rico last April, he casually asked the man about the Global Positioning System (GPS) ankle bracelet that he was wearing as a condition for his bail.

The reply was just as casual.

“They speak to me through that thing,” the man said.

It wasn’t the first time the lawyer encountered GPS bracelets with apparently extraordinary powers. He told the Puerto Rico Center for Investigative Reporting (CPIPR) that a previous defendant’s GPS ankle bracelet started to vibrate during a meeting with him.

But Arraiza-Navas decided this was more than a coincidence. He cancelled the meeting and filed a motion at the Puerto Rico State Superior Court in San Juan to have the device removed.

During the court hearing on the motion, his worst suspicions were confirmed.

A Corrections Department agent, who works at the Puerto Rico Pretrial Services Office's monitoring center for defendants free on bail, placed a GPS ankle bracelet on the court podium and made a call from the device to a technician of the SecureAlert company, which provides them at a facility in Sandy, Utah.

The technician, who was addressed through the GPS ankle bracelet—which has a phone feature—testified that, although the device is supposed to vibrate when activated from Utah, the feature could be turned on without warning.

Superior Judge Elizabeth Linares ordered the device removed within the Court's cell area for the duration of the meeting between the defendant and his defense counsel.

But the discovery has raised serious questions about whether such technology violates the confidentiality of the attorney-client relationship—and the right to privacy—for thousands of individuals under court supervision across the U.S. whose personal private conversations could be heard or recorded without their knowledge and without a court warrant.

UN rights experts urge greater accountability, transparency in use of drones

[JURIST]

Two UN rights experts issued [press release] separate reports to the UN General Assembly [official website] Thursday calling upon states to increase transparency in the use of drones and to investigate allegations of civilian deaths in drone strikes. According to the UN press release, the report [text, PDF] by UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism Ben Emmerson [official website] focuses on the use of combat drones in counter-terrorism operations and its impact on civilian populations. The report [text, PDF] from UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Christof Heyns [official website] analyzes the use of lethal force through armed drones from...

Changing Racial Dynamics May Be Undermining Desegregation (apartheid) Efforts ("there is no way to integrate racism")

"There is no such thing as racial integration. There is and only can be, the existence of Racism, or the non-existence of Racism. Racism either exists, or it does not exist." [theCode] 

EdWeek

Nearly six decades after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled "separate but equal" education intrinsically unequal, American schools remain deeply racially segregated, and approaches to fixing the problem have not kept pace with the changing dynamics of segregatation.

That was the crux of the argument last night by Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, at the American Education Research Association's 10th-annual Brown lecture in education research (named for the seminal civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education).

Orfield, an education, law, and political science research professor, traced the intertwined histories of education, jobs, and housing initiatives of the Brown era that have not yet closed racial gaps: nearly two out of five black and Latino students attend deeply segregated schools, and schools with on average twice the poverty concentration of the schools of white and Asian students.

Kanye West Speaks Out Against Barneys Racial Targeting Incidents

BoomBox

Never one to bite his tongue, Kanye West weighs in on the Barneys New York racial profiling controversy during a show on his Yeezus tour. 

While on tour in Las Vegas, ‘Ye drew parallels between the alleged racial profiling at the New York luxury department store and his ‘New Slaves.’ “That’s that broke n—- racism. Don’t touch anything in the store. Excuse me that’s that, ‘Can I help you sir?’ That’s that racial profiling out in front of Barneys and s—. Talking about, ‘Did you steal that?’” he says.

Ye angrily walked around the stage, wearing a mask and his new Red October Yeezys. He spoke about how high-end retailers want him to spend money in another form of racial profiling. “And it’s that rich n—- racism, that’s come in… ‘Come in Ye, please buy more, please buy more!’”

Jay Z, who has partnered with Barneys for A New York Holiday collection, is being urged to end his relationship with the company. In a statement he released regarding the racial profiling incidents, Hov explains that facts will drive him to make a decision. “I move and speak based on facts and not emotion. I haven’t made any comments because I am waiting on facts and the outcome of a meeting between community leaders and Barneys,” he states.

Native Americans are not costumes, we’re human beings

IndianCountry

Shop & Frisk: Sharpton threatens store boycott over racial profile suit

CBS and Mediate

The Rev. Al Sharpton threatened Saturday to boycott luxury retailer Barneys if the department store doesn't respond adequately to allegations by black shoppers that they were racially profiled there.

"We've gone from stop and frisk to shop and frisk, and we are not going to take it," the black civil rights leader said. "We are not going to live in a town where our money is considered suspect and everyone else's money is respected."

Two black Barneys New York customers, Trayon Christian and Kayla Phillips, said this week they were detained by police after making expensive purchases.

Christian sued Barneys, saying he was accused of fraud after using his debit card to buy a $349 Ferragamo belt in April.

Barneys said Thursday that it had retained a civil rights expert to help review its procedures. The CEO of Barneys, Mark Lee, offered his "sincere regret and deepest apologies."

Kirsten John Foy, an official with Sharpton's National Action Network, said he would meet with Barneys officials on Tuesday to discuss the racial profiling allegations.

"The only theft that took place at Barneys was Barneys' stealing the dignity of these young people," said Foy, who joined Sharpton at his weekly rally at the organization's Harlem headquarters.

Sharpton said black New Yorkers should put shopping at Barneys "on hold" if the retailer's response is inadequate.

The profiling claims also incited criticism on Twitter and an online petition asking rapper Jay-Z, who's collaborating with the luxury retailer for a holiday collection, to disassociate from it.

"Showcase Black" Jay Z refuses to cut ties with (master) Barneys in wake of racial targeting allegations

COS

Tonight, Jay Z issued a statement addressing the situation and why he’s not ready to cut ties.

This collaboration lives in a place of giving and is about the Foundation. I am not making a dime from this collection; I do not stand to make millions, as falsely reported. I need to make that fact crystal clear. The Shawn Carter Foundation is the beneficiary and the foundation is receiving 25% of all sales from the collaboration, 10% of all sales generated in the store on November 20th and an additional donation from Barneys. This money is going to help individuals facing socio-economic hardships to help further their education at institutions of higher learning. My idea was born out of creativity and charity… not profit.

I move and speak based on facts and not emotion. I haven’t made any comments because I am waiting on facts and the outcome of a meeting between community leaders and Barneys. Why am I being demonized, denounced and thrown on the cover of a newspaper for not speaking immediately? The negligent, erroneous reports and attacks on my character, intentions, and the spirit of this collaboration have forced me into a statement I didn’t want to make without the full facts. Making a decision prematurely to pull out of this project, wouldn’t hurt Barneys or Shawn Carter, but all the people that stand a chance at higher education. I have been working with my team ever since the situation was brought to my attention to get to the bottom of these incidents and at the same time find a solution that doesn’t harm all those that stand to benefit from this collaboration.

I am against discrimination of any kind, but if I make snap judgements, no matter who it’s towards, aren’t I committing the same sin as someone who profiles? I am no stranger to being profiled and I truly empathize with anyone that has been put in that position. Hopefully this brings forth a dialogue to effect real change. – Shawn “JAY Z” Carter

Killer fueled by racial hate set to be executed

USAToday

One of the nation's most notorious serial killers, Joseph Paul Franklin, got his idea to kill Hustler publisher Larry Flynt after looking at the magazine in Jackson in 1977.

By the time Franklin got his chance a year later, he had already begun his rampage, bombing synagogues, shooting interracial couples and killing "enemies of the white race," and, by the time it ended, leaving at least 21 dead, including Jackson State University student Johnnie Noyes Jr., according to authorities.

"I had a hatred toward blacks bordering on insanity," the 63-year-old Franklin, who is scheduled to be executed Nov. 20, said in a telephone interview from death row in Missouri. "I was flat-out mentally ill."

Partnership between Facebook and police could make planning protests impossible

BlackListed

A partnership between police departments and social media sites discussed at a convention in Philadelphia this week could allow law enforcement to keep anything deemed criminal off the Internet—and even stop people from organizing protests.

Who's the Mack? Obama Raising Big Dough for House Dems off White Party (GOP) Idiocy

NewsObserver

President Barack Obama will travel to New York next week to raise money for Democrats.

The White House says Obama will be in New York on Friday. He'll attend a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which helps Democratic candidates running for the House.

It was Obama's first fundraiser since the partial government shutdown that started at the beginning of October and lasted until Thursday. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden both had to cancel political events and trips during the shutdown.

Youth homelessness at all-time high, says report

Aljazeera

An annual report from the National Center for Homeless Education, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, found that 1.2 million students enrolled in schools across the U.S. were homeless between 2011 and 2012, a 10 percent increase from the 2010-11 school year.

The number is an all-time high for the survey, and a 72 percent increase since 2007, when the global recession began.

The data also contained some troubling facts about individual states.

Hollywood and the New Racism

AmericanThinker