Category: Gov’t & Trade

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Ansel Adams’ slides portray the lives of detained Japanese Americans in 1943 WWII internment camps

Louise Tami and Joyce Yuki Nakamura hold Mrs. Naguchi's hands
Source: Library of Congress collection of Ansel Adams’ Japanese internment camp photos, 1943

110,000 Japanese American citizens, some of them US military personnel, were detained in detention camps during the WWII. In 1943, Ansel Adams documented the lives of Japanese living in the Manzanar War Relocation Camp in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Adams donated the photographs to the Library of Congress in 1965, commenting,

The purpose of my work was to show how these people, suffering under a great injustice, and loss of property, businesses and professions, had overcome the sense of defeat and dispair [sic] by building for themselves a vital community in an arid (but magnificent) environment.” read more

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How the Supreme Court will handle decisions with Scalia gone and only eight sitting justices

supreme court justices 2010
Source: Outside the Beltway
With Antonin Scalia gone from the Supreme Court, there will be only eight justices until his replacement is nominated and confirmed. If the court splits 4-4 over a decision, the lower court ruling will be upheld without new precedent being set.

Scalia wasn’t completely anti-environment but he did effectively weaken several important environmental protections during his term. His absence makes it less likely that Pres. Obama’s Clean Power Plan will be aggressively challenged.

More here read more

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Prison-based gerrymandering brings in power & extra money to towns housing prisons

black male incarceration
Source: blackcommentator.com via americantribune.org
The political aspect of prison-based gerrymandering is often presented as being the only aspect of the phenomenon worth discussing. It’s important, of course, but so is the net financial and services gain to a community housing a prison when compared against the net financial and services loss to an inmate’s pre-incarceration community – the community where his children and other family members may still live. The direct negative financial and social impact of prison-based gerrymandering on an inmate’s true “home community” merits attention and discussion as much as the political aspect does. read more

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Former Chase employee wants to tell the story of how they defrauded America

bank crash of the 20s
Legacy photo of the 1920s bank crash
Chase has paid billions in settlements to prevent former employee Alayne Fleischmann, Esq. from being summoned to the witness stand where she can reveal under oath the intentional theft of mortgage investors’ money through bad mortgage loans Chase made and sold without violating the gag clauses in her employment contract. With help from Attorney General Eric Holder, Chase enriched itself by millions of dollars and when it was caught with pants down, a small fine was imposed which was substantially funded by the American public via a tax write-off made available to the bank. read more

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Many excellent reasons young people like Bernie much more than Hillary

The Youth Vote Matters
Grfx source: whatkidscando.org
My answer to friend Bryan Alexander‘s question to friends earned me the top spot in his Facebook post list for 2016. He asked: “Here’s a question for readers of any political stripe. Why is Bernie Sanders winning much more of the youth vote, as compared to Hillary Clinton?”

My response. I’ve got 2 millennials at home, both social/environmental justice champions. They love Bernie for a plethora of reasons:

He explains how political and financial systems work, and they want to know. read more

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Hillary and Bill Clinton and Joe Biden laid the groundwork for imprisoning 1% of America today

Mass Incarceration in the US
Source: vlogbrothers’ video Mass Incarceration in the US
MotherJones describes Joe Biden’s relationship with mass incarceration as “complicated”. Biden helped put millions in prison & tightened noose on student loans. Intercept uses the same word to describes Hillary’s relationship and explains:

Hillary Clinton has a complicated history with incarceration. As first lady, she championed efforts to get tough on crime. “We need more police, we need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders,” Clinton said in 1994. “The ‘three strikes and you’re out’ for violent offenders has to be part of the plan. We need more prisons to keep violent offenders for as long as it takes to keep them off the streets,” she added. read more

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The favorite official White House photographs of 2015

President Obama with baby in elephant suit
Source: White House photographer @PeteSouza’s Instagram Account
White House Photographer Pete Souza takes about 250,000 (a quarter of a million) photographs of the president and White House activities every year, about 500-2000 shots a day. His year-end gallery shows 111 of the photos he took in 2015 and Politico shares 21 of them. I found Souza’s forward-thinking career approach interesting: “My Favorite picture will hopefully be the one I make later today, or tomorrow.”

An exclusive NBC News report shows Souza’s behind the scenes insights into White House life and his three most favorited Instagram Photos of 2015. Two are of President Obama with babies. Souza says, “He loves babies.” read more

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Why Bernie Sanders will win the Dem primary by a landslide

Bernie Sanders winner
Source: Wikipedia
Columnist H. A. Goodman gives great reasons for predicting a landslide win for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Primary, now that:

  1. Bernie’s consistently polling ahead of Hillary in both New Hampshire and Iowa, and
  2. Uncomfortable truths about Hillary are emerging into the mainstream media than her campaign can handle.

Sanders has once again surpassed Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, and when he wins both, could easily take South Carolina. With three initial losses, Clinton’s Southern “firewall” and hopes at a big Super Tuesday would be done, and the positive media coverage alone would propel Sanders throughout the primaries … After these initial wins for Bernie Sanders, the media will finally jump on the bandwagon, leading to a landslide victory for Sanders in 2016. read more

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ICE agents are out in huge numbers all over the US and in New Jersey, detaining immigrants

women protest immigration policies
Source: Michael Democker/Times-Picayune/Landov
It’s like a page out of Donald Trump’s agenda: US officials began harassing and detaining immigrants under the guise of protecting US citizens from foreign criminals. This week, ICE (Federal immigration service) agents have detained undocumented immigrants all over the country and arrests have been made in New Jersey, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina and other places. Personal reports have surfaced of agents entering homes and even churches to seize women and children away from their families. Constructions vans that may contain undocumented day laborers are being stopped on highways and ICE agents have been spotted patrolling in front of downtown restaurants. read more

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23 yo is handcuffed, shot, sat on by police until he becomes late


Sad day for the United States as a young Los Angeles man is shamefully murdered by two police who shoot him repeatedly after handcuffing him, then sit on him while he writhes in pain crying for help until he ascends to meet his ancestors. In his lust to kill 23 year old Noel Aguilar, one of the policeman shoots his partner.

A bystander captured the whole episode on video but be warned: it is graphic, sad and extremely disturbing.

May the blessings of God cover us all in holy light and peace. Please Lord, bring comfort to the soul and family of Noel and enfold them in your loving embrace. With God’s help, let us act to end the violence raging out of control in the beautiful world that is His gift to us. read more

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Anti-Jew propagandists say Israel buys oil from ISIS, but oil is from Kurds fighting them

Obama on ISIS
* Source: ABC news article on threat of ISIS
Some people and news outlets will say ANYTHING to make people hate Jews. Anything and everything. smh. In fact, there’s such a huge and constant flow of effluent propaganda against Israel funded by Saudi trillions, that it’s almost impossible to decipher the truth.

But here’s a report from Israeli news outlet Haaretz, which quotes the Financial Times, saying that contrary to many false reports, Israel is supporting the fight against ISIS by buying oil from Kurds, who are fighting that Muslim extremist group: read more

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Native Americans give no thanks for Columbus’ legacy of destruction and neither should we

picture from One Cut video
Screen shot from One Word – Episode 25: Christopher Columbus
CUT.com invited Native Americans to free-associate one word with Columbus. They got fabulous responses worked into a short video, which made me feel very thoughtful.

Although American schoolchildren do learn about the destruction Columbus brought to our land and the First Nation people who were already living here, we are also taught to idolize both the destroyer and the destruction Columbus initiated. Which means that from a very young age, our schools are teaching children to idolize cruelty, thievery, genocide and to value the monetization of natural resources. Resources which – when left intact or at least, used sustainably – remain treasures of Mother Earth with the power to nurture and allow us to live surrounded by beauty, in comfort. read more

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Release of video showing 17 yo Laquan being killed have Chicago police all jittery

Chi police on high alert pending shooting video release
Facebook post by Cynthia OneDay Flood
Facebook wouldn’t let me share Cynthia Flood‘s post about Chicago police gearing up for a high-alert, increased police presence in readiness for today’s release of the patrol car dashboard cam video footage of 17 year old Laquan McDonald being fatally shot 16 times by a police officer on 20 October 2014. A judge ordered the video to be released by Wednesday.

Poor boy. He was apparently high on PCP but exhibited no violent behaviour.

The officer who mercilessly and without provocation executed Laquan is being charged with murder. I wish for Laquan’s mother, family, friends and community – peace, comfort and healing. read more