Category: Uncategorized

Would you believe that in modern day America people are being incarcerated for being too poor to pay fines even though debtors’ prisons were outlawed in the U.S. in 1833?
The practice was still so prevalent, even after being outlawed, that the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the issue 30 years ago, ruling that judges couldn’t send people to jail for simply being too poor to pay fines.
Nonetheless, some courts continue to engage in nefarious revenue generating schemes with for-profit probation companies that violate the Supreme Court ruling and continue the ugly tradition of debtors’ prisons. Check out this excellent …read more

Cleveland, Ohio – The Cleveland Police Department has recently been under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department after a number of high-profile police murders have taken place in the city in a short period of time.
One disturbing police practice in Cleveland that the investigation exposed was the fact that officers with the department regularly use their guns to hit people on the head. The 21-month investigation revealed that pistol-whipping is a regular practice for Cleveland police. This practice often results in accidently discharging their guns while hitting people over their heads, putting innocent lives in danger.
One of the outcomes of …read more

On May 22, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton signed SF 455, which says that the petition to create a new ballot-qualified party must be completed within one year. Previously the group circulating such a petition could take as long as it wishes. The petition for a new party requires the signatures of 5% of the last vote cast. It was created in 1913 and has never been used statewide. Minor parties in Minnesota instead use the independent candidate petitions, which permit a party label other than just “independent.” …read more

Verified Voting has this useful chart that enables one to know how each jurisdiction in the U.S. votes. Click on any particular state to see a county-by-county breakdown. …read more

On May 26, the U.S. Supreme Court said it will hear Evenwel v Abbott, 14-940, a Texas redistricting case involving the State Senate districts. The plaintiffs are voters who live in a rural State Senate district. They argue that the 14th amendment requires that redistricting be based on the number of potential voters, not the population.
The decision to hear this case is a surprise. In 1966 the U.S. Supreme Court had said Hawaii is free to base its redistricting on number of potential voters, not population. But the plaintiffs in Evenwel v Abbott argue that it …read more

Lancaster, Pennsylvania – Residents that live nearby the Lancaster County Prison have been disturbed by screams coming from the institution in recent weeks. Large numbers of prisoners have been screaming through the windows about how they are hungry and how they are being starved. Some residents have even recorded these occurrences, and a local news crew got it on camera as well.
News crew WGAL sat outside of the prison walls one evening to hear prisoners screaming “We’re hungry!” and “We’re locked down 23 hours a day. They treat us like animals!”
In response to the situation, the prison has made very …read more

Staffordshire, Eng — An abuse survivor has bravely broken her silence to tell her horrific childhood story. In an interview with Sky News, Esther Baker, 32, explained how she and other children were raped by politicians as uniformed police officers stood guard.
“I got the feeling very much that they were protecting somebody, that they were with one of the men,” said Baker.
“One of them (police officers) I knew from church. There were a few occasions where they would be in uniform, and I kind of knew, I learnt that when they were in uniform that it was going to be …read more

Ever since Jimmy Carter won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976, long-shot major party presidential candidates have concentrated on campaigning very heavily, and very early, in the states with the earliest presidential primaries and caucuses. But this Politico story suggests that Fox News’ debate rules for the August 6, 2015 Republican presidential debate may change that strategy. Only the top ten Republicans will be invited into that debate, and their standing in national polls will determine who is invited.
Therefore, a rational Republican candidate for president at this point will be more interested in raising his or her standing …read more

Neil Weare, head of We the People Project and an activist to gain voting rights for U.S. citizens living in U.S. territories, will file a new lawsuit on that topic, according to this story. Thanks to HowAppealing for the link. …read more

Here’s the background…
The NSA used section 215 of the Patriot Act to justify mass surveillance of American communications. Edward Snowden revealed this fact to the American people in 2013.
American outrage over this led to public pressure on Congress to end this practice. Congress responded in the usual way, by proposing bills that sounded like reform, but didn’t do much.
The very large police-state caucus in the Senate, led by Senator Mitch McConnell, ignored the public. They insisted that the ONLY path forward was a full, unchanged renewal of Patriot for a whopping five years — Snowden be damned. Then, these …read more