Two particularly salient points from Duke’s summary of the study: — In cases with no blacks in the jury pool, blacks were convicted 81 percent of the time, and whites were convicted 66 percent of the time. The estimated difference in conviction rates rises to 16 percent when the authors controlled for the age and…
Take a Look at a Typical Urban Welfare Queen
A 25-year-old woman from Lincoln Park who continued to collect food stamps after winning the state lottery’s $1 million “Make Me Rich!” game show has been charged with two felonies for welfare fraud, Attorney General Bill Schuette announced this morning. Amanda Clayton, whose use of a food stamp bridge card was uncovered earlier this year…
Police handcuff Georgia kindergartner for tantrum
A kindergartner who threw a tantrum at her small-town Georgia school was taken away in handcuffs, her arms behind her back, in an episode that is firing up the debate over whether teachers and police around the country are overreacting all too often when dealing with disruptive students. The family of 6-year-old Salecia Johnson…
Ted Nugent for Mitt Romney at NRA Convention: “Chop their heads off in November”, “I will be dead or in jail” if Obama Re-elected
Here’s the video. At an NRA event with a mostly White crowd that is alternately watching and handling firearms, Nugent engages in what seems to be incitement to violence. Calling Obama and Clinton “criminals,” and sprinkling his oration with several lies, Nugent exhorts the crowd to get everyone they know to vote for Romney. via Ted…
Romney Adviser Struggles To Defend Campaign’s Major Economic Claim
Gillespie doesn’t even attempt to defend the substance of the claim because there is little substance to it. The 92 percent figure obscures the fact that many more men than women lost jobs in the recession, as Wallaces forces Gillespie to admit. The key is timing. Men tend to be concentrated in industries that were…
Public Opinion Snapshot: Yes, Conservatives, Americans Do Care About Fairness
Fairness has been in the news lately, as President Barack Obama advocates forcefully for the “Buffett rule,” which would ensure that those making over $1 million a year pay at least 30 percent in taxes. The president also argues for more fairness generally in the economic system. Howls of outrage have predictably emanated from conservative…
Report: Mass. Health Law Not A ‘Budget Buster’
Outside Massachusetts, talk show hosts and politicians frequently blast the state’s health coverage law as a “budget buster.” “It has been an abject failure,” candidate Rick Santorum told the audience during a presidential primary debate in January, directing his comments toward former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. “He’s stood by the fact that it’s $8 billion…
Komen grants flowing to Planned Parenthood
Grants from the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure are flowing to Planned Parenthood, as the women’s health organizations seek to rebuild their relationship after the controversy in February over the breast cancer charity’s unsuccessful attempt to defund Planned Parenthood. At least 17 Planned Parenthood affiliates will be funded this year, about the same…
Cantor’s ‘Small Business’ Bill is a $46 Billion Loophole for the Rich
The U.S. House of Representatives early next week will hold a vote on H.R. 9, a bill introduced by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) to provide a one-year, 20 percent tax deduction for business income. The Cantor bill is sadly just another tax windfall for the rich, financed by larger federal budget deficits, which largely…
Mars Inc. Says Adios to ALEC
Mars Inc., the company that makes everything from Skittles to M&M’s to Uncle Ben’s, has joined McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and a half-dozen other companies in quitting the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC, as it’s known, is a corporate-funded non-profit that writes pro-business and often anti-union draft legislation for state lawmakers to introduce in their legislatures. ALEC…
Why you should care that 70% of antibiotics go into animal feed
This might not seem like a huge deal to you. But it is. And it gets to one of my favorite scary statistics: 70 percent of the antibiotics used in this country — 70 percent! — go into livestock production. And that’s before you even get to the antibiotics that are used on animals who…
Most Red States Take More Money From Washington Than They Put In
Most politically “red” states are financially in the red when it comes to how much money they receive from Washington compared with what their residents pay in taxes. A look at 2010 Census and IRS data reveals that the 50 states and the District of Columbia, on average, received $1.29 in federal spending for every…
Massachusetts Health Reform, From The Front Lines
For six years, my fellow physicians in Massachusetts have been working under a health reform law that, for better or worse, bears a strong resemblance to the national law that is two years old. While some commentators may be surprised that our health care system is still standing, I can assure you that things here…
FCC Commissioner questions state attempts to limit municipal broadband
Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn has issued a statement saying that state efforts to limit municipal broadband deployments are new obstacles in meeting the goals of the National Broadband Plan. In a statement issued April 4, she wrote: “I have serious concerns that as the Federal Communications Commission continues to address broadband deployment barriers…
About The Affordable Care Act And The Deficit
The current law baseline assumes the expiration of all the Bush tax cuts, it assumes the spending sequester will take effect, it assumes huge Medicare cuts that Congress will never permit, and much more. If we follow current law, we don’t really have a deficit problem. No one believes we will follow current law. If…
Zimmerman Family Member Claims Eric Holder Is Shielding New Black Panthers Because Holder Is Black
In what may be the most ill-advised letter ever penned by a defender of someone accused of a racially motivated homicide, the conservative Daily Caller claims that an unidentified “family member” of Trayvon Martin’s shooter George Zimmerman sent a paranoid letter to Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday accusing him and much of the “black community”…
Minneapolis Mayor, Occupy To Discuss Police “Ambush” And Arrests | The UpTake
Occupy Minnesota protesters showed their wounds and vented their anger Monday over what they say was a police “ambush” of a peaceful Easter eve protest. They are asking Minneapolis Mayor R.T Rybak to order police to stand down. The Mayor has agreed to meet with them Tuesday at 1pm. Saturday night, police arrested 12 activists…
Zimmerman’s attorneys withdraw from Trayvon Martin case, Shooter May Be On The Run
The attorneys for George Zimmerman, the Florida community watch volunteer who fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, said Tuesday they have lost touch with their client and are withdrawing from the case. Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig said at a news conference outside the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford, Fla., they heard that Zimmerman had contacted a special…
Job Openings Report Signals Pickup In Hiring
U.S. employers posted slightly more job openings in February, suggesting that modest hiring gains will continue in coming months. The Labor Department said Tuesday that employers advertised 3.5 million job openings in February. That was a slight increase from a revised 3.48 million in January but still below the three-year high of 3.54 million in…
The Buffett Rule: A Basic Principal of Tax Fairness
Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. Meanwhile, over the last 30 years, the tax rates for middle class families have barely budged. That doesn’t reflect our values of fairness as a nation — and that’s why the President has proposed the Buffett Rule. The President believes we should build an economy…