Farron Cousins from The Trial Lawyer Magazine will be sitting in for Pap
this week.
American CEO's are being handsomely rewarded for destroying
the businesses that they are running, and Zoe Carpenter from The Nation
magazine will tell us how these CEOs continuously "fail upwards."
We'll
also be discussing the pay-to-play scandals that could finally take down
the Keystone XL pipeline.
And we'll be taking a look at a
mini-documentary produced by Ring of Fire. The flim features Ring of
Fire hosts Mike Papantonio and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. discussing the
history of corporate fraud against the government, and the role that
whistleblowers play in helping to keep corporations from taking
advantage of federal contracts.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Monday, September 9, 2013
Left with nothing
Published on September 8, 2013
This man owed $134 in property taxes. The District sold the lien to an investor who foreclosed on his $197,000 house and sold it. He and many other homeowners like him were
Left with nothing.
On the day Bennie Coleman lost his house, the day armed U.S. marshals came to his door and ordered him off the property, he slumped in a folding chair across the street and watched the vestiges of his 76 years hauled to the curb.
Movers carted out his easy chair, his clothes, his television. Next came the things that were closest to his heart: his Marine Corps medals and photographs of his dead wife, Martha. The duplex in Northeast Washington that Coleman bought with cash two decades earlier was emptied and shuttered.
By sundown, he had nowhere to go.
All because he didn’t pay a $134 property tax bill.
The retired Marine sergeant lost his house on that summer day two years ago through a tax lien sale — an obscure program run by D.C. government that enlists private investors to help the city recover unpaid taxes.
For decades, the District placed liens on properties when homeowners failed to pay their bills, then sold those liens at public auctions to mom-and-pop investors who drew a profit by charging owners interest on top of the tax debt until the money was repaid.
But under the watch of local leaders, the program has morphed into a predatory system of debt collection for well-financed, out-of-town companies that turned $500 delinquencies into $5,000 debts — then foreclosed on homes when families couldn’t pay, a Washington Post investigation found.
As the housing market soared, the investors scooped up liens in every corner of the city, then started charging homeowners thousands in legal fees and other costs that far exceeded their original tax bills, with rates for attorneys reaching $450 an hour.
Families have been forced to borrow or strike payment plans to save their homes.
Others weren’t as lucky. Tax lien purchasers have foreclosed on nearly 200 houses since 2005 and are now pressing to take 1,200 more, many owned free and clear by families for generations.
Investors also took storefronts, parking lots and vacant land — about 500 properties in all, or an average of one a week. In dozens of cases, the liens were less than $500.
Coleman, struggling with dementia, was among those who lost a home. His debt had snowballed to $4,999 — 37 times the original tax bill. Not only did he lose his $197,000 house, but he also was stripped of the equity because tax lien purchasers are entitled to everything, trumping even mortgage companies.
“This is destroying lives,” said Christopher Leinberger, a distinguished scholar and research professor of urban real estate at George Washington University.
Officials at the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue said that without tax sales, property owners wouldn’t feel compelled to pay their bills.
“The tax sale is the last resort. It’s also the first resort — it’s the only way in the statute to collect debt,” said deputy chief financial officer Stephen Cordi.
But the District, a hotbed for the tax lien industry, has done little to shield its most vulnerable homeowners from unscrupulous operators.
Foreclosures have upended families in some of the city’s most distressed neighborhoods. Houses were taken from a housekeeper, a department store clerk, a seamstress and even the estates of dead people. The hardest hit: elderly homeowners, who were often sick or dying when tax lien purchasers seized their houses.
One 65-year-old flower shop owner lost his Northwest Washington home of 40 years after a company from Florida paid his back taxes — $1,025 — and then took the house through foreclosure while he was in hospice, dying of cancer. A 95-year-old church choir leader lost her family home to a Maryland investor over a tax debt of $44.79 while she was struggling with Alzheimer’s in a nursing home.
Other cities and states took steps to curb abuses, such as capping the fees, safeguarding houses owned by the elderly or scrapping tax sales altogether and instead collecting the money themselves.
“Where is the justice? They’re taking people’s lives,” said Beverly Smalls, whose elderly aunt lost her home in Northeast Washington. “It’s just not right.”
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Colbert: Every Time I Watch Eric Bolling, I Want to Kill Myself
By Heather
Stephen Colbert gave Eric Bolling the treatment he deserved this Thursday evening, after Bolling suggested saving taxpayer money by sending a suicide manual to violent inmates earlier this week.
About all I can say is the feeling is mutual after watching too much of anyone on that network and I'm guessing Colbert is not alone when it comes to Bolling.
Here's more from Raw Story: Colbert: Watching Eric Bolling ‘makes me want to kill myself’:
Stephen Colbert gave Eric Bolling the treatment he deserved this Thursday evening, after Bolling suggested saving taxpayer money by sending a suicide manual to violent inmates earlier this week.
About all I can say is the feeling is mutual after watching too much of anyone on that network and I'm guessing Colbert is not alone when it comes to Bolling.
Here's more from Raw Story: Colbert: Watching Eric Bolling ‘makes me want to kill myself’:
On Thursday night’s edition of “The Colbert Report,” host Stephen Colbert praised Eric Bolling of Fox News’ “The Five” and said that Bolling’s ingenious solution to lowering prison costs might be a brilliant way of saving taxpayer money. In fact, Colbert said, why not extend the idea of cash-saving suicides to Social Security recipients and other “freeloaders?” [...]
When he needs a little lift, said Colbert, he turns to “Stephen Colbert’s Smile File” for some happy news. “Tonight’s Smile File,” he said, “Ariel Castro.”
“Now folks, you might be saying, ‘Stephen, Ariel Castro is a vile monster whose suicide this week is just the dark end of a dark life. How can anything associated with that man possibly make me smile?’” he explained. “That’s what I thought.”
“Until I tuned in to Fox News’ ‘The Five,’ starring Eric Bolling, who always sees the glass as half full,” he explained, before rolling video of Bolling announcing Castro’s suicide and crowing delightedly that taxpayers are off the hook for his care and feeding during his imprisonment. Read on...
Friday, September 6, 2013
Liberal Firebrand Alan Grayson Leads The Opposition To Strike On Syria
By Deborah Montesano
The controversy over whether to punish the Syrian government for the
chemical weapons attack that took place there has done the unbelievable.
It split the political parties and forged new alliances, creating
unlikely bonds between Tea Partiers and liberals. Rep. Alan Grayson,
D-FL, has become one of the loudest voices leading the opposition to
military intervention in Syria.
Grayson is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which questioned Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday about the chemical weapons episode. On Thursday, the congressman appeared on the PBS News Hour and Democracy Now to express, first of all, his appreciation that President Obama put the question before Congress — but secondly, to make the case for not doing as the President requested. He sums up his own conclusion, that a ‘limited strike’ would not be a good idea, with four major points:
1. It not only isn’t our responsibility, but it’s especially not our responsibility to act unilaterally. He said:
It’s a novel idea that Congress might actually be listening to the people on this issue and that a new coalition, however temporary, is coming out of the process. The participants in the coalition surely don’t all have the same motivation, but what Grayson wants is to focus on the real concerns of the American people — the 20 million who are still looking for full-time work, the 50 million who don’t have food security, and the 40 million who can’t afford to see a doctor.
And he especially wants them to continue making their voices heard. In order to facilitate the process, he has set up a website, dontattacksyria.com. By signing the site’s petition, the people can send a clear message to Congress: military intervention in Syria is totally unacceptable.
Here’s a video from Grayson’s interview with PBS on why he opposes military intervention in Syria:
Rep.
Grayson (D-FL) on military intervention in Syria: ‘You notice how, with
196 countries in the world, no one else wants to touch this problem.’
Photo from The Blaze.
Grayson is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which questioned Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday about the chemical weapons episode. On Thursday, the congressman appeared on the PBS News Hour and Democracy Now to express, first of all, his appreciation that President Obama put the question before Congress — but secondly, to make the case for not doing as the President requested. He sums up his own conclusion, that a ‘limited strike’ would not be a good idea, with four major points:
You notice how, with 196 countries in the world, no one else wants to touch this problem … The international community has spoken. We are the only ones who are contemplating anything like this.2. There is not a clear result that a strike can accomplish. It won’t end the regime or the civil war or even prevent another use of chemical warfare:
We cannot dictate, much less even influence, what goes on in Syria. It started as a civil war. It’s evolving into a proxy war between Shiite Muslim fundamentalists and Sunni Muslim fundamentalists, both of whom historically are our enemies.3. A strike would be expensive, costing up to a billion dollars:
The best guess at this point is that the attack we’re talking about here, as it’s been described in general terms, will cost a billion dollars. That’s a billion dollars that could be spent, at least in part, on humanitarian aid to help the almost two million refugees who are now in Jordan and Turkey. It’s also a billion dollars that could be used for domestic needs.4. It could spin out of control:
It’s clear that if the Syrian government does anything other than simply taking a pounding and ignoring it and brushing it off, and it retaliates in virtually any way, then there will be a war between Syria and the United States, and it will involve boots on the ground.Grayson then puts the matter in perspective by talking about the enormous problems that the U.S. faces, that must be dealt with by Congress, and soon. Yet, valuable time is consumed by the debate over Syria at what is an extremely crucial moment:
… three weeks from now, there’s going to be a government shutdown, and five weeks from now, the government runs out of money when we reach the debt limit.
It’s appalling to me, appalling to me, that we spend two or three or four weeks debating whether to create a whole new category of war called humanitarian war, rather than dealing with our own problems and trying to solve them.Americans largely agree. The Congressman told interviewer Jeffrey Brown that he and his colleagues in the House are hearing opposition to the president’s proposed strike by a ratio of 100 to 1. Furthermore, at the time the News Hour aired, only 20 members of Congress were supportive of the idea and 183 opposed.
It’s a novel idea that Congress might actually be listening to the people on this issue and that a new coalition, however temporary, is coming out of the process. The participants in the coalition surely don’t all have the same motivation, but what Grayson wants is to focus on the real concerns of the American people — the 20 million who are still looking for full-time work, the 50 million who don’t have food security, and the 40 million who can’t afford to see a doctor.
And he especially wants them to continue making their voices heard. In order to facilitate the process, he has set up a website, dontattacksyria.com. By signing the site’s petition, the people can send a clear message to Congress: military intervention in Syria is totally unacceptable.
Here’s a video from Grayson’s interview with PBS on why he opposes military intervention in Syria:
Muted labor protests amid fears of Walmart retaliation
By Ned Resnikoff
Two fired Walmart workers and one current employee were arrested Thursday during a national wave of demonstrations against the company.
The protesters, members of the labor group OUR Walmart, were demonstrating outside the Manhattan office of investment banker Christopher Williams, a member of the Walmart board of directors. The protesters hoped to deliver Williams a petition demanding that Walmart pay all employees a minimum wage of $25,000 annually and stop its alleged retaliation against strikers. Two weeks ago, OUR Walmart promised an escalation in the ongoing dispute with the company if those demands were not met by Labor Day.
OUR Walmart organizers promise similar events and rallies across 15 cities nationwide over the course of the day. The rolling series of actions, which organizers say will include hundreds of Walmart employees and thousands more community supporters, is expected to be the largest anti-Walmart event since last year’s Black Friday strike.
But this time, nobody is going to be striking; and even though organizers are not asking Walmart employees to walk off the job, fewer are expected to show up than during Black Friday. If Walmart did lay off some 20 organized workers to send a message, as OUR Walmart claims and Walmart denies, then it appears to be working.
“People are scared because they see how Walmart retaliates,” said Colby Harris, an OUR Walmart member and Walmart employee based in Dallas, Texas. He claimed that OUR Walmart has more members than ever, but “not everyone has spoken out because of the reality of losing their jobs.”
In late May and early June, roughly 100 Walmart employees affiliated with OUR Walmart engaged in what they said was an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike against the company. Strikers are protected from termination by the National Labor Relations Act, but Walmart has argued that the category doesn’t apply to workers who engage in what Walmart spokesperson Kory Lundberg has called “hit-and-run intermittent work stoppages that are part of a coordinated union plan.”
“We actually have a very strict policy against retaliation at Walmart,” said Walmart spokesperson Brooke Buchanan. “And the associates who were terminated were terminated for other reasons, violating our policies, and it did not have anything to do with their association with this group or any other group. If a Walmart associate alleges retaliation has occurred, we will look into the situation, investigate, and take appropriate action.”
Dominic Ware, an OUR Walmart member and former Walmart employee based in the Bay Area, said he was fired in early July and that management told him specifically it was because of his participation in the May-June strike.
“They said the strike was not recognized as a ULP strike,” he said. Though Ware has tried to discuss the firing with his former manager, “to this day, he will not have an open door with me.”
In addition to the 20 workers which OUR Walmart claims have been wrongfully fired, they say another 50 or so have been disciplined for organizing. Harris, though he is still employed at Walmart, told MSNBC he had been written up three times already.
Buchanan shrugged off the latest protests, describing them as “a handful of union-orchestrated media stunts” and saying that OUR Walmart grossly exaggerated the number of Walmart employees involved.
“This is not an associate-based demonstration,” said Buchanan. “This has been sponsored and put on by the unions, something they’ve attempted and failed to be successful at over the last couple of years.” She also claimed that many demonstrators were paid to appear at protests, an allegation which OUR Walmart said is untrue.
PICO RIVERA, CA – MAY 30: Walmart cashier Martha
Sellers (C) walks a picket line with supporters to protest Walmart’s retaliation
against workers who speak out on May 30, 2013 in Pico Rivera, California.
Sellers and several other striking Walmart employees and their supporters borded
a bus to start a 1,500-mile bus journey titled “Ride for Respect,”‘ ending at
the company’s annual meeting at its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Two fired Walmart workers and one current employee were arrested Thursday during a national wave of demonstrations against the company.
The protesters, members of the labor group OUR Walmart, were demonstrating outside the Manhattan office of investment banker Christopher Williams, a member of the Walmart board of directors. The protesters hoped to deliver Williams a petition demanding that Walmart pay all employees a minimum wage of $25,000 annually and stop its alleged retaliation against strikers. Two weeks ago, OUR Walmart promised an escalation in the ongoing dispute with the company if those demands were not met by Labor Day.
OUR Walmart organizers promise similar events and rallies across 15 cities nationwide over the course of the day. The rolling series of actions, which organizers say will include hundreds of Walmart employees and thousands more community supporters, is expected to be the largest anti-Walmart event since last year’s Black Friday strike.
But this time, nobody is going to be striking; and even though organizers are not asking Walmart employees to walk off the job, fewer are expected to show up than during Black Friday. If Walmart did lay off some 20 organized workers to send a message, as OUR Walmart claims and Walmart denies, then it appears to be working.
“People are scared because they see how Walmart retaliates,” said Colby Harris, an OUR Walmart member and Walmart employee based in Dallas, Texas. He claimed that OUR Walmart has more members than ever, but “not everyone has spoken out because of the reality of losing their jobs.”
In late May and early June, roughly 100 Walmart employees affiliated with OUR Walmart engaged in what they said was an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike against the company. Strikers are protected from termination by the National Labor Relations Act, but Walmart has argued that the category doesn’t apply to workers who engage in what Walmart spokesperson Kory Lundberg has called “hit-and-run intermittent work stoppages that are part of a coordinated union plan.”
“We actually have a very strict policy against retaliation at Walmart,” said Walmart spokesperson Brooke Buchanan. “And the associates who were terminated were terminated for other reasons, violating our policies, and it did not have anything to do with their association with this group or any other group. If a Walmart associate alleges retaliation has occurred, we will look into the situation, investigate, and take appropriate action.”
Dominic Ware, an OUR Walmart member and former Walmart employee based in the Bay Area, said he was fired in early July and that management told him specifically it was because of his participation in the May-June strike.
“They said the strike was not recognized as a ULP strike,” he said. Though Ware has tried to discuss the firing with his former manager, “to this day, he will not have an open door with me.”
In addition to the 20 workers which OUR Walmart claims have been wrongfully fired, they say another 50 or so have been disciplined for organizing. Harris, though he is still employed at Walmart, told MSNBC he had been written up three times already.
Buchanan shrugged off the latest protests, describing them as “a handful of union-orchestrated media stunts” and saying that OUR Walmart grossly exaggerated the number of Walmart employees involved.
“This is not an associate-based demonstration,” said Buchanan. “This has been sponsored and put on by the unions, something they’ve attempted and failed to be successful at over the last couple of years.” She also claimed that many demonstrators were paid to appear at protests, an allegation which OUR Walmart said is untrue.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
This Summer’s Parasites and Viruses Continue to Make People Sick
This summer’s two prolonged outbreaks, one caused by a parasite and the other by a rare Hepatitis A virus, are continuing to add confirmed cases. Neither the parasite nor the viruses are common to North America, but both have moved in for an extended stay.
As of Sept. 3, the Hepatitis A virus has sickened 161 people in 10 states, including Arizona (23), California (78), Colorado (28), Hawaii (8), New Hampshire (1), New Jersey (1), New Mexico (11), Nevada (6), Utah (3) and Wisconsin (2).
The common source for the rare virus strain was a frozen berry mix called “Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend” sold by Costco stores.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the four cases attributed to Wisconsin, New Jersey and New Hampshire involved consumption of the virus-contaminated berries in Western states. Six other cases are thought to be due to secondary exposure to other confirmed cases.
The illnesses are winding down as the onset dates for the illnesses range from March 31 to July 26.
Almost half of those sickened (70) required hospitalization, but no deaths have been reported.
The majority of victims, or 55 percent, are women. Ages range from one to 84 years of age. Eleven children younger than 18 years were ill, and none were vaccinated for Hep A. The bulk of those sickened, or 57 percent, fell between 40 and 64 years of age.
Summer’s other lingering outbreak involving the Cyclospora parasite has reached 659 cases in 24 states. Texas, where the outbreak has hit hard in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area, has seen its case count exceed 300 for the first time, coming in at 305.
After Texas comes Iowa (156), Nebraska (86), Florida (32), Wisconsin (16), Illinois (11), Arkansas (10), Georgia (5), New York, (7) Missouri (5), Kansas (4), New Jersey (4) Louisiana (3), Virginia, (3) Connecticut (2), Ohio (2), Minnesota (2), and one each for Michigan, California, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Like the other outbreak, in a handful of cases the parasites were likely acquired outside of the state where the case was reported.
The Iowa-Nebraska cases were sourced to a mixed salad from Taylor Farms de Mexico, which were served by Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants, among other outlets.
Taylor suspended product shipments to the U.S. from Aug. 12-25, 2013. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the other states continue work to source the illnesses in those states.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Ohio kidnapper Ariel Castro dead, suicide suspected
By Traci G. Lee, @traciglee
1:37 AM on 09/04/2013
Convicted Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro was found dead Tuesday night, a prison spokesperson confirmed. Castro, the 53-year-old man arrested and found guilty of kidnapping and raping three women for a decade, was reportedly found hanged in his prison cell in an apparent suicide.
According to a statement from the Ohio Department of Corrections, Castro was discovered in his cell at 9:20 p.m., and transported to the Ohio State University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead 90 minutes later. ”He was housed in protective custody, which means he was in a cell by himself and rounds are required every 30 minutes at staggered intervals,” the department’s statement read.
Castro was arrested in May after Amanda Berry, one of the three women he held in captivity for a decade, escaped and called for help. The three— Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight—were abducted separately by Castro between 2002 and 2004, and assaulted and raped for years. Castro pleaded guilty in August to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape, and agreed to a life sentence plus 1,000 years without parole.
A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Corrections says an investigation into Castro’s death is under way.
1:37 AM on 09/04/2013
Convicted Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro was found dead Tuesday night, a prison spokesperson confirmed. Castro, the 53-year-old man arrested and found guilty of kidnapping and raping three women for a decade, was reportedly found hanged in his prison cell in an apparent suicide.
According to a statement from the Ohio Department of Corrections, Castro was discovered in his cell at 9:20 p.m., and transported to the Ohio State University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead 90 minutes later. ”He was housed in protective custody, which means he was in a cell by himself and rounds are required every 30 minutes at staggered intervals,” the department’s statement read.
Castro was arrested in May after Amanda Berry, one of the three women he held in captivity for a decade, escaped and called for help. The three— Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight—were abducted separately by Castro between 2002 and 2004, and assaulted and raped for years. Castro pleaded guilty in August to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape, and agreed to a life sentence plus 1,000 years without parole.
A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Corrections says an investigation into Castro’s death is under way.
Will Holder Really Get Tough on Voting Rights?
By Brad Friedman
Note 1: Pardon the herky-jerky Skype web cam video.
Note 2: The BRAD BLOG article about Eric Holder that I believe my friend Mike Papantonio cited during our conversation, was actually written by our legal analyst Ernest Canning. But, of course, I'm proud to stand behind it 100%! Just wanted to give credit where due.
Note 2a: There are several different issues currently in court between TX and the DoJ, and they get a bit conflated during my conversation with Pap. One issue is the filing by the DoJ asking the court to order that the state of Texas be added, or "bailed in", to the list of jurisdictions requiring federal preclearance for all new voting-related laws, given their history of purposeful discrimination with such laws. The current list of jurisdictions is now empty, since the U.S. Supreme Court killed the Voting Rights Act formula used to determine who should be on that list. The other TX/DoJ case we discuss is the DoJ's suit to block the TX GOP's disenfranchising polling place Photo ID restriction.
That law, though it was found discriminatory in 2012 by both the DoJ and a federal court, was re-enacted by TX immediately after SCOTUS gutted the VRA. The DoJ, and other parties, are now suing to block it under the still-existing Section 2 of the VRA, as well as on Constitutional grounds. (We hope to have more details on the lawsuits against the TX GOP's polling place Photo ID restriction law soon. And, I'll add, our coverage should offer some pretty encouraging news for voting rights advocates who, unlike Ernest Canning, may not have dug into all the legal details and already-established facts of the case.)
Note 3: Enjoy!
Note 1: Pardon the herky-jerky Skype web cam video.
Note 2: The BRAD BLOG article about Eric Holder that I believe my friend Mike Papantonio cited during our conversation, was actually written by our legal analyst Ernest Canning. But, of course, I'm proud to stand behind it 100%! Just wanted to give credit where due.
Note 2a: There are several different issues currently in court between TX and the DoJ, and they get a bit conflated during my conversation with Pap. One issue is the filing by the DoJ asking the court to order that the state of Texas be added, or "bailed in", to the list of jurisdictions requiring federal preclearance for all new voting-related laws, given their history of purposeful discrimination with such laws. The current list of jurisdictions is now empty, since the U.S. Supreme Court killed the Voting Rights Act formula used to determine who should be on that list. The other TX/DoJ case we discuss is the DoJ's suit to block the TX GOP's disenfranchising polling place Photo ID restriction.
That law, though it was found discriminatory in 2012 by both the DoJ and a federal court, was re-enacted by TX immediately after SCOTUS gutted the VRA. The DoJ, and other parties, are now suing to block it under the still-existing Section 2 of the VRA, as well as on Constitutional grounds. (We hope to have more details on the lawsuits against the TX GOP's polling place Photo ID restriction law soon. And, I'll add, our coverage should offer some pretty encouraging news for voting rights advocates who, unlike Ernest Canning, may not have dug into all the legal details and already-established facts of the case.)
Note 3: Enjoy!
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Saturday, August 31, 2013
WTF is wrong with Dave Chappelle?
Rumors of Dave Chappelle 'Meltdown' Go Viral
Did he or did he not have a tantrum while walking offstage? Twitter investigates.
(The Root) - Late last night, tweets began to fly from audience members of a Dave Chappelle show in Hartford, Conn.
Though all tweets confirm that Chappelle did, in fact, walk
offstage - there is video of him walking off as Kanye's "New Slaves"
plays -- details vary among those who claim they were in attendance.
Some say that Chappelle had a full meltdown onstage; others say he just
sat down and read a book.
Many angrily blamed Chappelle for the show's end, referencing his record of walking off stages and off his own hit show. But others, like audience member Mike Wellman,
point the finger at the crowd, who they say was loud and unruly and
became rude once it was clear that Chappelle was not simply going to
regurgitate famed lines from his popular television show.
So Dave Chapelle just went on stage, told jokes for around 3 minutes, and the audience wouldnt stop yelling things at him so he stopped
— Mike Wellman (@mikewellman88) August 30, 2013
Everybody hates Dave Chapelle now. I dont. People were not heckling the other comedians
— Mike Wellman (@mikewellman88) August 30, 2013
At one point Chapelle told the crowd “If someone sitting next you is yelling, punch them in the kidney”
— Mike Wellman (@mikewellman88) August 30, 2013
I did want to hear Chapelles jokes but people were literally yelling and yelling
— Mike Wellman (@mikewellman88) August 30, 2013
Based on this account -- and this one by Lesli-Ann Lewis,
who wrote about her experience at the show for Ebony -- it sounds as if
Chappelle walked offstage for the same reason he walked away from his
show: The crowd was only interested in catchphrases and superficial
snips. They came to laugh at him, not with him. This is especially easy
to believe when you happen upon those in attendance referring to him as a
"scum nigger."
There appears to be a pretty clear racial divide in the opinions surrounding the show, generally speaking. Most white commentators seem to view Chappelle's actions as those of a diva throwing a tantrum, while most black observers say he was standing up for himself and protecting his art.
For the ppl who heckled Dave Chappelle tonight, let this be a lesson: you don't disrespect a person & then expect them to perform for you.
— Brian Fleurantin (@BrFleurantin) August 30, 2013
Money has folks feeling super entitled. I paid for this show so I can act a fool. Actually, no you can't. You can act a fool at your house.
— Ashykins (@ASmith86) August 30, 2013
Dave Chappelle reminds me of Lauryn Hill. Everyone wants him to be the guy from the show. He's not that guy anymore, guys.
— Carolyn Edgar (@carolynedgar) August 30, 2013
#TeamChapelleRead more at Colorlines.
— Tyrion's Ladyfriend (@larimah) August 30, 2013
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Friday, August 30, 2013
Ilford Opens Up a Photo Lab in California, Will Process Your Film by Mail
By D.L. Cade
Good news isn’t always easy to come by in the world of film; more often than not, the stories we run have to do with film being discontinued. But that’s not always the case, and the most recent news out of Ilford should give film lovers something to smile about.
According to Imaging Resource, Harman Technology — the folks behind Ilford — have decided to open up an Ilford lab in California. This means that high-quality black-and-white processing and printing services are now available by mail to all of North America via the Ilford US website.
“It has become more and more difficult for black and white film users to have their films processed and printed to a high quality on real black and white paper,” explains Harman Director of Marketing and North American Sales Steven Brierley. And since their successful UK lab has seen a consistent increase in interest from overseas, Harman is “excited to announce that … we can now offer the same service from a base in California.”
The lab is able to work with black-and-white, C-41 color negative and E-6 transparency films in both the 35mm and 120 formats. Prints will be delivered on Ilford photo paper, and turnaround time is only 2-3 days.
Prices start at $16 per roll, with upgrades, enlargements and digital scans costing extra. To learn more or go ahead and place your first order by mail, check out the full press release or head over to the Ilford US website by clicking here.
Image credit: Black & White by DaveBleasdale
Good news isn’t always easy to come by in the world of film; more often than not, the stories we run have to do with film being discontinued. But that’s not always the case, and the most recent news out of Ilford should give film lovers something to smile about.
According to Imaging Resource, Harman Technology — the folks behind Ilford — have decided to open up an Ilford lab in California. This means that high-quality black-and-white processing and printing services are now available by mail to all of North America via the Ilford US website.
“It has become more and more difficult for black and white film users to have their films processed and printed to a high quality on real black and white paper,” explains Harman Director of Marketing and North American Sales Steven Brierley. And since their successful UK lab has seen a consistent increase in interest from overseas, Harman is “excited to announce that … we can now offer the same service from a base in California.”
The lab is able to work with black-and-white, C-41 color negative and E-6 transparency films in both the 35mm and 120 formats. Prints will be delivered on Ilford photo paper, and turnaround time is only 2-3 days.
Prices start at $16 per roll, with upgrades, enlargements and digital scans costing extra. To learn more or go ahead and place your first order by mail, check out the full press release or head over to the Ilford US website by clicking here.
Image credit: Black & White by DaveBleasdale
GOP leader chose oil industry over MLK marchers
The March on Washington anniversary celebration. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
There are 233 Republicans in the House of Representatives, 46 in the Senate and 30 in governor’s mansions across the country. Guess how many made the effort to appear at Wednesday’s giant rally commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. Zero. Ed O’Keefe reports:
Not a single Republican elected official stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday with activists, actors, lawmakers and former presidents invited to mark the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington — a notable absence for a party seeking to attract the support of minority voters.
Event organizers said Wednesday that they invited top Republicans, all of whom declined to attend because of scheduling conflicts or ill health.Democratic congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, weren’t there either, having attended a July commemoration of the march especially for lawmakers — which also included Republican leaders House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia — but the Democratic party was well represented Wednesday by three presidents and a smattering of lawmakers, including civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.
It seems pretty obvious, but if you want to change the fact that your party is viewed skeptically by minorities, and you want to claim Martin Luther King Jr.’s mantel — I’m looking at you Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) – then blowing off the highest profile civil rights event of the year is probably not a smart move, if for no other reason than “optics.” After their losses in the 2012 election, Republicans vowed to make a better effort to reach out to minorities, and just two weeks ago at its summer meeting, the GOP launched a program to attract minority voters by highlighting young “rising stars” in the party.
So what gives? According to O’Keefe, the lawmakers said they “received formal invitations only in recent weeks, making it too late to alter their summer recess schedules.” Republicans had no problem appearing in droves at a hastily organized tea party rally in June, where “[GOP] lawmakers sweltered in a long line waiting to take the stage,” the Wall Street Journal reported. Some weren’t even invited but just showed up hoping to get a chance to speak to the party faithful.
To be fair, Congress was in session then so it was easy for them to merely step outside and into line, but in today’s age, how hard is it to book a plane ticket and reschedule a few meetings? Lawmakers make last-minute changes to their schedules all the time — there is someone in every congressional office whose job is to manage their schedules — so “weeks” seems like enough time to find at least one or two Republicans willing to attend.
So what was did they do instead? Well, Boehner was in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and had no public events scheduled, but he has been headlining GOP fundraisers all this month, so it’s a fairly safe to assume that he was raising cash at the time. Cantor, meanwhile was touring an oil field in North Dakota. The Grand Forks Herald reports:
Cantor, hosted by Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., met with energy industry and community leaders at a crew camp in Williston, toured a drilling site and other oilfield locations in the Bakken and met with North Dakota Petroleum Council members in Watford City.The North Dakota Petroleum Council, by the way, is a lobby group that represents the state’s oil and gas industry. That’s what Cantor was doing on the day of the march.
Cantor praised North Dakota’s approach to energy development and said the country needs to follow the state’s example and adopt a national energy policy.
“I hope to be able to tell the president that there’s a lot for him to learn here as far as energy production here in America,” Cantor said. “North Dakota seems to have gotten it right.”
“They asked a long list of Republicans to come,” civl rights leader Julian Bond told MSNBC yesterday, “and to a man and woman they said ‘no.’ And that they would turn their backs on this event was telling of them, and the fact that they seem to want to get black votes, they’re not gonna get ‘em this way.” (Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina and the only black member of the Senate, said he was not invited to the march, though leaders say they invited every member of Congress.)
Bond did credit Cantor for trying hard to find a replacement speaker, but, ultimately, the leader was unable to find a single Republican to attend the event.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Assad flees to Iran
By Kevin Brent
Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad and his family arrived in Tehran
Aug 28, landing at Khomeini Airport aboard his presidential jet.
Iranian foreign ministry sources confirmed this with the Lebanese
newspaper a-Nahar.
Accompanying the Assad family was a group of senior Syrian government officials who together with Assad are officially there to hold talks with the Iranian government about a Syrian response to a possible US strike on Syrian WMD assets which is expected to take place in the near future.
As this information made its way into a-Nahar, Syrian Army generals continued their dire warning that if Syria is attacked, ‘Israel will burn’ and that if Syria weakens, ‘certain irresponsible groups’ will be formed that would endanger Israel.
Pres. Assad and his family fleeing to Tehran is no surprise. Iran and Syria have been decade’s long allies since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The Assad’s are Alawite Muslims, which are an offshoot of Shia Islam which is the predominant Muslim sect in Iran.
Syria under the Assad Dynasty of first Hafez and then son Bashar al-Assad were instrumental in helping Iran build, train, equip and supply the terror army known as Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to threaten Israel. Without Assad in control of Syria, Hezbollah can not survive.
Assad's fleeing likely means a Western military strike cannot be far off. If the strike is limited strictly to a brief missile and air campaign, then Assad could return to Damascus once it’s over. If however, events lead to a sustained campaign and/or a ground invasion of Syria by Turkey, Israel or a coalition of nations then Assad’s departure will be permanent.
The most likely reason for the mass chemical weapons attack in the first place, was that Assad’s Fourth Armored Division was in danger of being overrun and they were the last line of defense in central Damascus. Rebels are likely regrouping for a renewed offensive and if Assad does not have any WMD as an option, then returning to Damascus would mean his capture or execution.
There is now a coalition of 36 nations forming for a strike on Syria including Britain, France, Turkey, Australia and Canada among the more powerful nations. It remains to be seen however, whether the United States will participate.
Pres. Obama has been dragging his feet with US allies eager to strike Syrian WMD delivery vehicles and weapons by insisting on a UN Security Council Resolution on Syria, awaiting a UN weapons inspector report when those inspectors have indefinitely postponed any further inspections; and telling world leaders that there has to be accountability assigned before any strike can be authorized.
The governments of Britain, France and Turkey have indicated a willingness to go ahead without the UN on board and have each called their respective Parliaments in to special session for legislative authorization for the use of force. Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan has taken the further measure of asking the Turkish Parliament for a new mandate with language allowing him to act in Syria without a UN mandate or NATO sanction. The existing Syria mandate required one or the other for anything more than defensive operations.
Pres. Assad fleeing to Iran, and with wife and family in tow along with senior regime cronies, is indication that and attack is forthcoming with or without the United States onboard and that someone has tipped off Assad that the attack is pending.
Accompanying the Assad family was a group of senior Syrian government officials who together with Assad are officially there to hold talks with the Iranian government about a Syrian response to a possible US strike on Syrian WMD assets which is expected to take place in the near future.
As this information made its way into a-Nahar, Syrian Army generals continued their dire warning that if Syria is attacked, ‘Israel will burn’ and that if Syria weakens, ‘certain irresponsible groups’ will be formed that would endanger Israel.
Pres. Assad and his family fleeing to Tehran is no surprise. Iran and Syria have been decade’s long allies since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The Assad’s are Alawite Muslims, which are an offshoot of Shia Islam which is the predominant Muslim sect in Iran.
Syria under the Assad Dynasty of first Hafez and then son Bashar al-Assad were instrumental in helping Iran build, train, equip and supply the terror army known as Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to threaten Israel. Without Assad in control of Syria, Hezbollah can not survive.
Assad's fleeing likely means a Western military strike cannot be far off. If the strike is limited strictly to a brief missile and air campaign, then Assad could return to Damascus once it’s over. If however, events lead to a sustained campaign and/or a ground invasion of Syria by Turkey, Israel or a coalition of nations then Assad’s departure will be permanent.
The most likely reason for the mass chemical weapons attack in the first place, was that Assad’s Fourth Armored Division was in danger of being overrun and they were the last line of defense in central Damascus. Rebels are likely regrouping for a renewed offensive and if Assad does not have any WMD as an option, then returning to Damascus would mean his capture or execution.
There is now a coalition of 36 nations forming for a strike on Syria including Britain, France, Turkey, Australia and Canada among the more powerful nations. It remains to be seen however, whether the United States will participate.
Pres. Obama has been dragging his feet with US allies eager to strike Syrian WMD delivery vehicles and weapons by insisting on a UN Security Council Resolution on Syria, awaiting a UN weapons inspector report when those inspectors have indefinitely postponed any further inspections; and telling world leaders that there has to be accountability assigned before any strike can be authorized.
The governments of Britain, France and Turkey have indicated a willingness to go ahead without the UN on board and have each called their respective Parliaments in to special session for legislative authorization for the use of force. Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan has taken the further measure of asking the Turkish Parliament for a new mandate with language allowing him to act in Syria without a UN mandate or NATO sanction. The existing Syria mandate required one or the other for anything more than defensive operations.
Pres. Assad fleeing to Iran, and with wife and family in tow along with senior regime cronies, is indication that and attack is forthcoming with or without the United States onboard and that someone has tipped off Assad that the attack is pending.
Representative government, my ass
By woo me with science
America does not support strikes on Syria.
Congress is less popular than cockroaches, and strikes in Syria are less popular than Congress.
These corporate pod people we allowed to slither into office over the past 30 years do not represent us. They rule us. We are hostages at this point, not citizens, when it comes to most areas of policy.
Over and over again, we get the big FUCK YOU from our government. They do whatever the hell they want and they use our money to do it. Our tax dollars poured into surveillance systems aimed at us, private prisons, bailouts for billionaires, assaults on journalism, and now yet another bloody war for profit. Meanwhile, they are replacing our paved roads with gravel, shutting down our children's schools, and dismantling our social support systems.
Our "representative government" is an obscene joke at this point, both parties. WE DID NOT VOTE FOR THIS SHIT.
America does not support strikes on Syria.
Congress is less popular than cockroaches, and strikes in Syria are less popular than Congress.
These corporate pod people we allowed to slither into office over the past 30 years do not represent us. They rule us. We are hostages at this point, not citizens, when it comes to most areas of policy.
Over and over again, we get the big FUCK YOU from our government. They do whatever the hell they want and they use our money to do it. Our tax dollars poured into surveillance systems aimed at us, private prisons, bailouts for billionaires, assaults on journalism, and now yet another bloody war for profit. Meanwhile, they are replacing our paved roads with gravel, shutting down our children's schools, and dismantling our social support systems.
Our "representative government" is an obscene joke at this point, both parties. WE DID NOT VOTE FOR THIS SHIT.
XBox One Rumored to Debut Nov. 8th
Microsoft's Xbox One could beat Sony's PlayStation 4 release date by a week, if a leak from Walmart is true.
Kotaku posted a screenshot that it reportedly received from someone who works for a marketing company that handles signage and product placement for Walmart. The screenshot includes a schedule for all the gaming-related midnight launches through the remainder of the year.
The release lineup mentions major franchise game releases for the rest of year, including Call of Duty: Ghosts, Battlefield 4 and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, along with the confirmed release of Sony's PlayStation 4 on Nov. 15.
Image via KotakuSince Microsoft has not confirmed this release date (the company only confirms the console will hit shelves in November), this is purely speculation. Release dates listed on retail websites are often incorrect.
In the screenshot, the Xbox One is the only release date listed without "Confirmed" next to it.
Image: Mashable, Chelsea Stark
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Ring of Fire 8/25/13
"Big Pharma's War on Women." Linda Lipsen, CEO of the American
Association for Justice talks about big Pharma's penchant for harming
female consumers.
"Labor Unions Help Save Lives." Attorneys Mike Burg and Howard Nations talk about recent workplace atrocities around the globe, and how unions could have saved workers' lives.
"Cash Hoarders Devastate Economy." Richard Eskow, host of The Breakdown and senior fellow at the Campaign for America's Future, talks about the top 1% hoarding trillions in cash, and how this affects the income gap in America.
"Your Mortgage Documents Are Fake!" Investigative journalist David Dayen talks about mortgage companies falsifying documents to illegally foreclose on homeowners.
"Senior Citizens At Risk." Attorney Charles Meltmar talks about the rise in cases of nursing home abuse.
"Labor Unions Help Save Lives." Attorneys Mike Burg and Howard Nations talk about recent workplace atrocities around the globe, and how unions could have saved workers' lives.
"Cash Hoarders Devastate Economy." Richard Eskow, host of The Breakdown and senior fellow at the Campaign for America's Future, talks about the top 1% hoarding trillions in cash, and how this affects the income gap in America.
"Your Mortgage Documents Are Fake!" Investigative journalist David Dayen talks about mortgage companies falsifying documents to illegally foreclose on homeowners.
"Senior Citizens At Risk." Attorney Charles Meltmar talks about the rise in cases of nursing home abuse.
Is the NYPD Worse Than the NSA?
By Conor Friedersdorf
The surveillance debate triggered by Edward Snowden's leaks frequently features government spokespeople assuring Americans that the authorities aren't targeting us with their spying activities. Implicit is the notion that if Americans were being targeted, that would be an abuse of power.
In New York City, the debate is different, because there's no doubt about the NYPD's surveillance tactics: They're definitely targeting innocent Americans citizens and legal residents. And that's an ongoing abuse of power, even if comparatively fewer people have heard about it.
We've known for some time that innocent Muslim Americans were ethnically profiled by undercover NYPD officers, causing significant, under-acknowledged hardship in affected communities. Earlier this summer, Charlie Savage reported on four CIA officers embedded within the NYPD, despite the strict rules governing the spy agency's behavior within the United States. And today, New York has published "The NYPD Division of UnAmerican Activities," in which Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman unearth even more alarming details about the NYPD Demographics Unit.
Usually, when I write phrases like, "This is how a secret police force with files on innocent Americans starts," I'm issuing a warning about the future. But the NYPD literally started a secret police unit that began indiscriminately keeping files on innocent Americans. This isn't a warning about a slippery slope. It is an observation about ongoing abuse of civil liberties in America's biggest city.
The surveillance debate triggered by Edward Snowden's leaks frequently features government spokespeople assuring Americans that the authorities aren't targeting us with their spying activities. Implicit is the notion that if Americans were being targeted, that would be an abuse of power.
In New York City, the debate is different, because there's no doubt about the NYPD's surveillance tactics: They're definitely targeting innocent Americans citizens and legal residents. And that's an ongoing abuse of power, even if comparatively fewer people have heard about it.
We've known for some time that innocent Muslim Americans were ethnically profiled by undercover NYPD officers, causing significant, under-acknowledged hardship in affected communities. Earlier this summer, Charlie Savage reported on four CIA officers embedded within the NYPD, despite the strict rules governing the spy agency's behavior within the United States. And today, New York has published "The NYPD Division of UnAmerican Activities," in which Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman unearth even more alarming details about the NYPD Demographics Unit.
- Official secrecy defined the program from the start. "Documents related to this new unit were stamped NYPD SECRET. Even the City Council, Congress, and the White House -- the people paying the bills -- weren't told about it."
- This is straight-up profiling. "They mapped, looking for 28 'ancestries of interest.' Nearly all were Muslim. There were Middle Eastern and South Asian countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Syria, and Egypt. Former Soviet states like Uzbekistan and Chechnya were included because of their large Muslim populations. The last 'ancestry' on the list was 'American Black Muslim.'"
- Files on New Yorkers were started on the flimsiest of pretexts. "One Muslim man made it into files even though he praised President Bush's State of the Union address and said people who criticized the U.S. government didn't realize how good they had it. Two men of Pakistani ancestry were included for saying the nation's policies had become increasingly anti-Muslim since 9/11. Muslims who criticized the CIA's use of drones to launch missiles in Pakistan were documented."
- Inevitably, spying was used for purposes other than counterterrorism. "Surveillance turned out to be habit-forming .... Undercover officers traveled the country, keeping tabs on liberal protest groups like Time's Up and the Friends of Brad Will. Police infiltrated demonstrations and collected information about antiwar groups and those that marched against police brutality. Detectives monitored activist websites and copied the contents into police files, including one memo in 2008 for Kelly that reported the contents of a website about a group of women organizing a boycott to protest the police shooting of Sean Bell, an unarmed black man killed the morning before his wedding.
Usually, when I write phrases like, "This is how a secret police force with files on innocent Americans starts," I'm issuing a warning about the future. But the NYPD literally started a secret police unit that began indiscriminately keeping files on innocent Americans. This isn't a warning about a slippery slope. It is an observation about ongoing abuse of civil liberties in America's biggest city.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Retro gaming with a Raspberry pi
Using a Raspberry Pi for retro I know, that it’s underpowered for
quite a few different emulators. I’m very surprised what you can play on
it . When you first buy a Rasberry PI, you will have to download their
free os called Raspbian. Then you can sign up to the PI store, so you
can download all kind of apps. They have four good classic gaming
emulators available, all of them are free downloads: MAME4ALL , PiSNES —
Super NES emulator, Pcsx_reARMed — PlayStation1, Atari800 — Atari 8-bit
computers (800, XL, XE, etc.)
There’s even an image out there called Retro pi. Someone has done all the hard work for you already. The Raspberry Pi will boot automatically into EmulationStation. This is a program running off a custom SD card called RetroPie that allows you to use a controller to select an emulator and a game without ever touching a keyboard or mouse. After everything’s set up, you’ll be able to navigate and do everything you need to do on the Raspberry Pi from a controller.
What systems can you emulate? A lot of them:
The other thing I found out when it comes to using the Emulation Station and a PlayStation 3 or Xbox360 controller is mapping out the buttons for each individual emulator, it can be a real headache.
There is an auto config tool for the joysticks, but it does not always seem to work properly when you jump from emulator to emulator. So I would recommend going with a third-party generic usb Super Nintendo controller or make your own fight stick. I think it makes a great Retro Arcade System, and does not cost a lot of money. Here a few links on how to build a Retro pi:
http://supernintendopi.wordpress.com/tag/retropie/
http://blog.petrockblock.com
https://github.com/Aloshi/EmulationStation
There’s even an image out there called Retro pi. Someone has done all the hard work for you already. The Raspberry Pi will boot automatically into EmulationStation. This is a program running off a custom SD card called RetroPie that allows you to use a controller to select an emulator and a game without ever touching a keyboard or mouse. After everything’s set up, you’ll be able to navigate and do everything you need to do on the Raspberry Pi from a controller.
What systems can you emulate? A lot of them:
- Amiga (UAE4All)
- Atari 2600 (RetroArch)
- Doom (RetroArch)
- Final Burn Alpha (RetroArch)
- Game Boy Advance (RetroArch)
- Game Boy Color (RetroArch)
- Game Gear (Osmose)
- Intellivision (RetroArch)
- MAME (RetroArch)
- MAME (AdvMAME)
- NeoGeo (GnGeo)
- NeoGeo (Genesis-GX, RetroArch)
- Sega Master System (Osmose)
- Sega Megadrive (DGEN)
- Nintendo Entertainment System (RetroArch)
- PC Engine / Turbo Grafx 16 (RetroArch)
- Playstation 1 (RetroArch)
- ScummVM
- Super Nintendo Entertainment System (RetroArch)
- Sinclair ZX Spectrum (Fuse)
- Z Machine emulator (Frotz)
The other thing I found out when it comes to using the Emulation Station and a PlayStation 3 or Xbox360 controller is mapping out the buttons for each individual emulator, it can be a real headache.
There is an auto config tool for the joysticks, but it does not always seem to work properly when you jump from emulator to emulator. So I would recommend going with a third-party generic usb Super Nintendo controller or make your own fight stick. I think it makes a great Retro Arcade System, and does not cost a lot of money. Here a few links on how to build a Retro pi:
http://supernintendopi.wordpress.com/tag/retropie/
http://blog.petrockblock.com
https://github.com/Aloshi/EmulationStation
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