And you thus know what is at stake.
Things like being informed about important issues.
Here are some stories from TODAY that are not in the mainstream news. These come from Truthout:
The Prison System Welcomes My Newborn Niece to This World
By Maya Schenwar, Truthout | News
(Photo: Narith5 / Flickr)My niece - the first baby of my family's newest generation - was born last Wednesday morning at 10:52 AM. She is a superhero, although she probably doesn't realize it yet. Her path into this world was a rough, rough haul.Here's how it went: At 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, my sister was called out of bed in the state prison where she's incarcerated with the news that she'd be heading to the hospital. Her water hadn't broken, and she hadn't started contractions. But this was the time slot in which she was scheduled to give birth. The labor would be induced.
During and after the birth, my sister was allowed no family or friends at her bedside, or even in the hospital. She endured labor alone, except for medical personnel and two prison guards, who rotated shifts, watching her at all times.
When the Police Become a Standing Army, Liberty is Sacrificed Without Security
By Radley Balko, Truthout/PublicAffairs Books | Book Excerpt
There has been a generation-long shift to increasingly aggressive, militaristic, and arguably unconstitutional policing - one that would have shocked the conscience of America's founders, according to Balko Radley. Read an excerpt from his book "Rise Of The Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces."
Overruling the Judicial Amendments – What Is To Be Done?
By Ellen Dannin and Ann Hodges, Truthout | News
The conservative justices' refusal to be guided by the NLRA's policy statements is evidence of their lawlessness. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly believe that the judicial amendments are in the NLRA that Congress enacted. That mistaken belief has led many to misdiagnose the problem. Rather than repealing the judicial amendments, some have urged repeal of the law. Some have said that workers would be better off with the law of the jungle than the NLRA.
Incredible, no?
The top three stories from Truthout are about criminal justice. Yet, NONE of them appear in the mainstream news.
Incredible, no?
The top three stories from Truthout are about criminal justice. Yet, NONE of them appear in the mainstream news.
I really want to read Balko's book when I get a chance. I think it will be both infuriating and point us to maybe the most important factor in the breakdown of police trust and cooperation within communities. It seems some aspects of policing that *could* be part of the problem are, at the same time, romanticized more than ever before.
ReplyDeleteI remember Radley Balko tweeting this photo some time ago: http://www.historyamerica.us/01/images/police-officer/history-of-the-american-police-officer-poster-large.jpg
This excerpt, from that article, just makes you shake your head: "A drug distributor in Arizona had used her address to get the package into the general Prince George’s County area, at which point an accomplice working for the delivery company was supposed to intercept it. The police had found several similar packages. Worse, county police knew the scheme was going on and knew some packages had been delivered to residences unbeknownst to the people who lived in them."
The phrase, "Surely you can do better than that," comes to mind.