All Police Who Use Tasers Are Murderous Thugs

Because this shit happens everywhere, all the time.

Digby:

They shot him full of electricity from the back. He couldn't hear them coming.

There have been too many horrible stories of violence lately, but some still have the power to shock. This is one:

The family of a 12-year-old boy known only as “A.M.” in court documents is suing police, the American School for the Deaf and the city of Hartford, CT over allegations that police unnecessarily Tasered the boy after school officials abused him and denied him food. According to the Courthouse News Service, the student ran away from the school to a construction site to escape staffers who had beaten and choked him, and it was there that police Tasered the boy, who is “profoundly deaf,” with no warning.

SNIP 

A.M., frustrated and upset that he was being denied contact with his parents, fled the building. At a construction site on the ASD campus, he came face to face with Hammond and other staffers, who attempted to violently subdue him, according to the complaint.

“Defendant Chris Hammond informed plaintiff that he was going to kill him and push him into an unsafe area of the construction site,” said the suit. “Defendant Chris Hammond proceeded to grab plaintiff and punched plaintiff in the face with closed fists.”

The boy reportedly picked up a stick to defend himself against Hammond and the other adult staffers. They retreated from the scene and left A.M. sitting by himself with his back to the school.

Police arrived at the construction site after dark. Knowing the boy was deaf, they allegedly made no effort to warn or communicate with him, but Tasered him from behind. As A.M. writhed on the ground from the “burns, paralysis and pain” caused by the Taser barbs, the two police officers rushed him and placed him in handcuffs.

He was taken to Connecticut Children’s Hospital and treated for electrical burns.

I've documented many terrible taser stories over the years. But those that horrify me the most are ones that feature deaf people who cannot hear the orders to comply before they are shot through with electricity. This is the worst yet. They hit this kid from the back. He couldn't hear them coming. God.

Update: This is an excellent piece from David M Perry in The Nation about this war on the disabled. Horrifying.

Update II: According to the police report the student was holding a rock. Which, according to certain readers, makes shooting him full of electricity a-ok.

 No doubt the school officials, terrified of their abuse of the boy being exposed, lied to the police about the danger from the boy. But he was still a boy. A deaf boy. Armed with a stock and a rock. Against multiple armed and supposedly trained adults.

I hope both the school is shut down and the city forced to pay a high enough settlement that it eliminates tasers and gets its cops real training in non-violent conflict resolution.

Sometimes Small-Group Harassment Makes a Big Statement

Lowly students vs. The Man Called Petraeus, and the lowly students win.

John Amato at Crooks and Liars:

I doubt Gen. David Petraeus, the former CIA director, ever got this kind of treatment before.

David Petraeus may be regretting taking a teaching position at the City University of New York system. A video recently posted to YouTube shows the former director of the CIA and retired Army general being followed down the street on his way to his first class by a small, but passionate group of students. It's hard to make out a lot of what they're saying, but there's a lot of "war criminal!" And a general sense that they don't like him very much. This comes after Petraeus' salary was lowered from a controversial $200,000 to just one dollar to teach a course at the honors college this fall titled “Are We on the Threshold of the North American Decade?”

[...] The whole experience must be a major culture shock for a retired four-star general. Generals enjoy a tremendous amount of special treatment, including personal chefs and valets, and are revered in the military community. Now, he's being chased down the street and screamed at by a group of young students. One of whom, for some reason, had his belly exposed.

Watch the video.

Sequester Cuts Killing Businesses in Kentucky

Next time a teabagging repug like Mitch McConnell or Thomas Massie defends cuts to domestic programs as hurting only the "takers" (sic), remind them of the 87 job-creating Kentucky small businesses they murdered.

Beth Musgrave at the Herald:

Spending cuts on child care subsidies for poor families have contributed to the closing of more than 80 child care centers in Kentucky, and as many as 25,000 children could be dropped from the program in the next year, advocates said Wednesday.

"We're in a lose, lose, lose, lose situation" said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, a nonprofit group that advocates for children.

Brooks told the state legislature's Interim Joint Committee on Health and Welfare that child care centers have closed in every region of the state since cuts to the child care assistance program began in April.

"The best estimates that we have is that some 87 centers closed since the initiation of these cuts," Brooks said.

Some new centers have popped up, but those are generally smaller sites that offer lower-quality care, he said. Parents have had to quit jobs because they can no longer afford child care, he said.

Oh, but those 87 small businesses were probably owned and run by blah wimmins, not rich white men who are the real job creators, so who cares, right Mitch?

Support the Greatest Campaign Ad Ever

You can not only contribute, but thanks to Blue America, you might win a prize!

This week-- starting today-- we're launching a fundraising drive to help Carl pay to run his outstanding TV ad.

We're being joined in this effort by Congressmen Alan Grayson, Raúl Grijalva and Keith Ellison and by the People for the American Way Voters Alliance and the Congressional Progressive Caucus' Progressive Action PAC.

And one lucky, random donor is going to get an incredible Eric Clapton platinum award as a "thank you." Here's how that works. Contribute any amount-- no amount is too small-- to Carl's campaign here and you will become eligible to win.

Turning the Middle Class Poor to Make the Rich Richer

The rivers of money flowing into the overseas coffers of the filthy rich don't come out of nowhere; they originate in the high productivity, low pay and no benefits of working people. Working people who used to be comfortably middle class, but after being robbed of everything by the one percent, are now poor.

Chris Kenning at the Courier:

Brianna Fletcher thought she was doing everything right. She had a job in hotel housekeeping, was enrolled at Sullivan University and was raising her 2-year-old son, Brandon.

But her low wages couldn’t cover her rent, food, diapers and bus passes. Then she was laid off and lost her apartment, and at age 25, she found herself moving to a homeless shelter.

“It’s really hard to get where you need to be,” Fletcher said.

Despite some economic gains amid a slow recovery, poverty rates increased last year in Kentucky and Louisville, according to new Census Bureau data released Thursday. Incomes in Louisville grew slightly but still trailed pre-recession levels, the data show.

The results highlighted how improvements in jobs, home values and stock prices are largely bypassing the less affluent, who are taking the brunt of continuing wage stagnation and high unemployment, Kentucky state demographer Michael Price said.

“Many of the jobs that were lost for unskilled and uneducated workers have not returned, and may not,” he said.

What happened? Where did all the money go?  Income redistribution is what happened, to the obscenely rich is where it went. Here's how:

Hot Bluegrass Pipeline Debate on KET

I missed seeing this live; if you did too, don't worry!  It's here.

Bill and his guests discuss the Bluegrass Pipeline Project. Scheduled guests: Bill Lawson, director of corporate development for Williams; Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council; Andrew McNeill, executive director of the Kentucky Oil & Gas Association; and Brad Slutskin, a Versailles lawyer.

 Fitzgerald and Slutskin take the pipeline liars apart. Watch and enjoy.

Free Screening of Gasland 2 in Frankfort Sept. 26

Wonder what the fracking fuss is all about? Saw "Gasland" and wonder how it turned out? Come to the Grand Theater on St. Clair Mall in Frankfort next Thursday to see a free screening of Gasland 2.

Gasland 2

Free Film Screening

***

Donations Accepted

***

Grand Theatre, Downtown Frankfort

Thursday, Sept. 26, 7pm

***

Sponsored by

Envision Franklin County

More info: 223-7936

EnvisionFranklinCounty@gmail.com

www.stopbluegrasspipeline.us

QOTD

Charles Pierce:

Happy Constitution Day!

You may remember the Constitution. It consists of this:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

And a whole bunch of other words nobody cares about.

AynRandy Tries to Trade Voting Rights for More Guns

Really? Was he watching the news yesterday?

Joseph Gerth at the Courier:

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul told a largely black audience Monday in Louisville that he will push to restore the voting and gun-ownership rights of felons who have completed their sentences — and he will urge state Senate Republicans to follow his lead.

Currently in Kentucky, felons must petition the governor to get their voting rights restored.

“I am in favor of letting people get their rights back, the right to vote ... Second Amendment rights, all your rights to come back,” he said. “I know of one man who 30-some-odd years ago had pot plants in his closet in college, got a felony conviction in college, still can’t vote, and it’s plagued him his whole life trying to get work.”

It's true that Kentucky's draconian and Jim-Crow-era denial of voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences is outrageous and self-defeating.

But the Tribble-Toupeed One doesn't give a shit about that.

On the same day that shooters armed with assault weapons killed 12 and wounded dozens more at the Navy Yard a mile and a half from the U.S. Capitol, Paul tried to hide in voting rights rhetoric that what he really wants is to turn the country into an armed camp.

Steve M explains the real goal behind demands for "gun rights."

In short, gun zealots aren't standing up for freedom -- or at least they're not standing up for your freedom to live in a way they'd prefer not to. The gun-zealot movement is coercive. Gun zealots want to compel all of us to acknowledge, and arm ourselves against, the state of siege they perceive. They prefer to see the actual level of danger increase if it will make us pack heat.

They see themselves as the ones who understood before the rest of us did that society operates according to the law of the jungle -- even if the lawlessness and danger they perceive is something they helped create. They like believing that we live in a state of siege because they see themselves as the heroes in our war of all against all. They're going to save us -- not laws, not the cops. (They may say nice things about the troops or the first responders, but many of them are the same folks who have "Terrorist Hunting License" stickers on their cars. It's all about being a self-appointed hero.)

It's their fantasy. We just die in it.

First Bill on Bluegrass Pipeline Misses Target

Just for shits and giggles, we'll assume for the moment that Rep. John Tilley is just incompetent, rather than deliberately trying to fool the public with a bill that would do nothing to protect Kentucky landowners and Bluegrass industries from the lethal harm of toxic spills from the pipeline.

 
Greg Kocher at the Herald:

A Western Kentucky lawmaker pre-filed a bill Monday to clarify the use of eminent domain in cases such as the Bluegrass Pipeline, but an environmental lawyer expressed reservations about the proposed legislation in a letter to its sponsor.

The Bluegrass Pipeline would ship natural gas liquids from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia to Texas and Louisiana. The planned route in Kentucky includes 13 counties, from Bracken in the northeast to an existing connection in Breckinridge.

Affected landowners have wondered whether eminent domain, the power to take private property for a public use, applies. This month, State Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Len Peters told an interim legislative committee that his staff attorneys think the companies proposing to build the Bluegrass Pipeline cannot invoke eminent domain to gain easements.

State Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, said in a statement his bill specifies that any proposed oil and gas pipelines are available for "public use as a common carrier" for similar products, which is a more stringent guideline when compared to the current law that requires these pipelines only be of a "public service" when it comes to eminent domain.

Under Tilley's bill, the Kentucky Public Service Commission would play a "gatekeeper" role if those constructing pipelines cannot reach agreement with private landowners.

 That would be the same PSC that consistently rolls over for every greedy private utility in the Commonwealth. No thanks, Tilley.

But in a letter to Tilley posted Monday on the website of the Kentucky Resources Council, environmental lawyer Tom FitzGerald noted three problems with the bill as proposed.

First, FitzGerald wrote: "The Public Service Commission jurisdiction extends to regulated public utilities, and these interstate pipelines are not regulated utilities. The commission is being asked to grant or withhold the power of condemnation, which is a legislative and constitutional function and should not be delegated to the executive branch."

Second, he wrote: "The criteria and process for PSC review are much less robust than would be accorded to a natural gas pipeline by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and do not appear to require a full quasi-adjudicative hearing as would be provided in a Certificate of Need and Public Convenience case, including the right of formal intervention, cross-examination of witnesses, and discovery."

Third, "the review criteria are unrelated to the decision to allow or disallow condemnation powers," FitzGerald wrote.

SNIP

"The bill in effect 'trades' some level of review (but no authority to prevent the project even if it isn't found to be in the public interest) for a broad grant of condemnation powers to interstate pipelines carrying natural gas liquids, that they currently do not have under state law." FitzGerald wrote. "I don't believe that the extension of condemnation powers to non-utility, private companies, whether they are common carriers or not, is in the best interests of Kentucky landowners."

Eminent domain and pipeline regulation are complex issues in which special interests like the Bluegrass Pipeline companies can easily hide loopholes and exceptions that give them free rein to steal land for a pipeline that can poison the entire region.

Only a flat ban on the project from the legislature and governor will protect the Commonwealth.

Repug Privatizer Cuts Electricity to Sabotage Detroit

This is the behavior of comic-book villains. And the city-killing un-elected czars repug governors appoint to destroy democracy.

Diane Sweet at Crooks and Liars:

There was a blackout in Detroit, Michigan on September 11th this year, but the reason for it seems to depend on who you ask.

Via Addicting Info:

"If you ever had any doubt that Michigan has been taken over by a group of dangerous, radical extremists, what happened in Detroit on September 11th, 2013 should be enough to wake you up. There were several things significant about September 11th, 2013. Not only was it the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center, but the state of Michigan was also experiencing an unseasonal heat wave. In the city of Detroit, power outages left people stranded in elevators, trapped four hours in the blistering heat. Hundreds were evacuated from buildings in the downtown area, traffic lights did not function, public transportation was disabled and 1,400 sites across the city were without power. Wayne State University and other key buildings still remained closed, the following day. All of this after the city’s power supply supposedly failed.

The Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, a twelve story building that conducts the city’s criminal proceedings was shut down and the building was evacuated. Earlier in the week, a prisoner had stabbed a Wayne County Deputy, before fleeing from the building. A manhunt followed, with authorities searching for the escaped prisoner for several long hours, before finally apprehending him as he was trying to flee the city. In light of this, the power outage on September 11th created a tense and dangerous situation for officers, justice workers and visitors to the building. The problem is that the city’s power supply never failed.

On September 12th, 2013, Bill Nowling casually stated that the city’s power outages were intentional. Officials and citizens working in the city were given no warning before the electricity was cut off. Law enforcement officials working in the Hall of Justice had no time to prepare.

Senior citizens and disabled citizens using elevators in the city’s downtown district had no way to know what was coming. The entire criminal justice system was shut down without notice. Wayne State University Campus was just one of many sites evacuated under emergency conditions. Traffic lights across the city stopped working. 1,400 public and private locations were left without power. And the entire thing was intentional, to “send a message” to the people of Detroit. Bill Nowling works in the office of Kevin Orr, Detroit’s Emergency Manager.

Many people believe that the deliberate power outage was carried out because Orr’s office has been pushing for the privatization of the city’s power supply. The video shows Gary Brown laughing about the power outage. After saying that he deliberately took power away from the city, causing chaos in the process, of course, the need for privatization of electricity in the city is stressed. "

The following day, Erika Erickson with Detroit's WJBK followed up with Gary Brown amid outrage over not only his statements, but also his laughter during the interview about the power outage. Brown attempted to defend his actions by saying that if he hadn't made the call to shut down power, that DTE would have.

However when called to verify, DTE offcials say that simply isn't true; they supply the power, they don't choose where the power goes.

As for injuries caused by the power outage, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Sharon Grier said that "Someone was injured. I know of her personally. She was injured, in extreme pain because of this."

Kevin Orr, Detroit’s Emergency Manager, was appointed by GOP Governor Rick Snyder to replace all of the city’s elected officials under the state’s “Emergency Manager Law,” and is the sole authority over the city of Detroit. He answers to no-one except the Governor. He is not elected and cannot be fired, as is also noted by Addicting Info.

SNIP

I don't know if what the emergency manager's office did when they shut down the power was a crime. In a perfect world, it would be a crime, and someone would actually go to jail. Preferably a jail without air conditioning, or cable tv and situated on the banks of the Detroit River, next to the Koch Brother's piles of petcoke.

We need to keep working towards 2014 so that we can send a strong message of our own by taking out the trash on election day, and taking back our state from the dark overlords who seek to destroy it.

Organize.

This is exactly what the Koch Brothers and their Wall Street buddies have planned for the rest of us: total domination by unelected corporate stooges who get to decide when or if we get electricity. Or water. Or food.

And if it hasn't gotten through your thick head yet, it's repugs who are doing this. Repugs and only repugs. Remember that come next election.

It might be your last.

KY Freakazoids Use Fake Issue to Claim Victimhood Again

Nobody is stopping any freakazoid's brainwashed offspring from bringing all the bibbles they want to school, or even from inflicting their lethal mythology on their fellow students.  The Constitution prevents only the government - represented by teachers and school administrators - from forcing students to participate in religious instruction or ceremony.

But the actual facts of religious freedom are irrelevant here; what matters is that freakazoids are crying persecution in order to intimidate others into letting them proselytize.

From the AP:

An eastern Kentucky school board says it won't stand in the way of religious people — particularly Christian students — from brining Bibles on to district campuses.

The Pike County Board of Education last week declined to sanction the use or distribution of religious materials at schools, but also opted not to ban the practice.

SNIP

The issue arose Tuesday after a group of parents, led by Joey Sussan, approached the board with concerns that Bibles weren't allowed in schools.

That was just the first of Sussan's egregious lies, which included his claim that he represented babby jeebus before the board.  Sussan, who may or may not be a lawyer, failed to present any documentation signed by his supposed client.

"Anything to do with our religion, we're going to stand for our rights," he said.

Any students in Pike County will to show up Sussan for the hypocrite he is by bringing Korans and Torahs to school?

How Kentucky Stopped Using Private Prisons

Don't give the Justice Cabinet too much credit for this one; state officials let the horrific abuses at private prisons go on far too long, and still won't release the data showing how much money taxpayers wasted on privatization.

But here's hoping other states learn that you can reverse privatization.

Mike Wynn at the Courier:

For decades, Kentucky officials looked at private prisons as a cost-effective solution to an inmate population that exploded under “tough on crime” policies inthe 1980s and ’90s.

Even some critics of the industry acknowledged a need for private facilities as Kentucky’s incarceration rates soared past most other states’ and consumed an increasingly larger share of the state budget — more than $487 million in 2012.

But this month, as the Department of Corrections cuts ties with the largest prison company in the country and moves all remaining inmates to publicly run institutions, Kentucky’s 28-year venture with for-profit prisons is ending with a mixed legacy.

Officials say recent penal reforms and declining prisoner counts are behind the state’s decision not to renew its contract with Corrections Corp.of America, a Nashville-based firm that has operated three private prisons and held thousands of inmates in Kentucky since 1998, most recently at the Marion Adjustment Center in St. Mary.

“Our decision wasn’t based on an opinion of private prisons,” said Kentucky Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown. “CCA was a great partner. We could not have operated without that partnership while our (inmate) population was trending up.”

CCA estimates that it has saved the state millions of dollars — 12 percent to 24 percent in corrections costs, according to an industry-backed study — while employing hundreds of workers and boosting local economies.

"CCA estimates that it has saved the state millions of dollars."  No state documentation, of course, because it's not true. And those jobs are minimum wage, no-benefit, high-turnover dead-ends, unlike the good state jobs at public prisons.

Still, critics argue that outsourcing a key function of government to a private company raised significant issues, including criminal charges of sexual misconduct, poor health care and lawsuits at the CCA-run Otter Creek Correctional Center in Eastern Kentucky.

 No, not "sexual misconduct:" rape of inmates. Not "poor health care:" sick and injured inmates ignored to suffer and die.

It's happening in every private prison in the country, because that's how private prisons work.  They cannot make a profit unless they neglect and abuse inmates, under-pay untrained staff and rip off the taxpayers.

If Kentucky can finally throw out the motherfuckers, any state can.

Male Birth Control Drug Too Cheap, Easy and Effective to Allow on Market

Yea, the ways in which corporate greed works hand-in-hand with misogyny and religion to prevent progress are infinite and manifold.

From Feminspire:

25 years of testing and we have not heard about it until now. 25 years of use in India, on humans, where it was said to be 100% effective and we have not jumped on board until now. I understand that the medical standards in India are not as stringent as the FDA’s standards, so we couldn’t just take their word for it, but come on, couldn’t we have at least gotten started on this a little bit sooner? 

I think that the reason it has taken so long for this shot to make real progress in the Western world is the patriarchy and, surprise!, the special interests of the drug companies.

Drug companies want something they can sell repeatedly. This shot is a one stop shop — once the patient gets it they never have to get it again. In theory, if one age group of men all got it, there would be years before there would be another large group of men in need of it. So they continue to push Viagra and focus on women’s birth control, of which there are a dozen varieties all in need of multiple doses. Also, the drug would not make them much money if it costs less than the syringe it’s delivered in. Many experts say that this drug would make a huge difference for young families living in poverty — if they can limit the size of their family, they have a better chance of getting ahead. Drug companies are not interested in selling one-time use drugs for the sake of charity and The Greater Good. Drug companies want to make money.

Read the whole thing.

I'd say the quickest - and probably the only - way to make this thing available everywhere is for women to take a page from Lysistrata and demand proof of the shot before accommodating any penis.

No, Atheists Have No Reason to Like This Or Any Other Pope At All

Sigh. Bless its heart, the very nice people at the American Humanist Association are going to tactfully, diplomatically, let's-all'get-along compromise all of us straight into theocracy.

New Pope Francis' offer of dialogue with atheists is the same our-way-or-the-highway evangelism the freakazoids have been inflicting on the world for millenia. That it comes packaged with a smile instead of torture and burning at the stake makes it more dangerous, not less.

And his assurance that atheists, through good works, can go to heaven is about the most insulting thing I've ever heard. Your heaven doesn't exist, Frankie boy. We reject your mythology - that's what atheism means.

That the leader of the AHA thinks this is a positive sign is depressing.

Joe Keohane at Esquire:

We called up Roy Speckhardt, Executive Director of leading atheist group American Humanist Association to see if he saw this as good progress, or maybe akin to being granted admission into a club you never wanted to join in the first place.

SNIP
 

In a column you wrote for the Huffington Post in February, after Benedict resigned, you proposed an ideal pope—one who emphasizes universality and good works—figuring a guy like that would never get the job. But then he sort of did, right?

I continue to be pleased with what Francis is talking about and his openness—despite papal authorities’ attempts to retract his statements [laughs]. He’s offering very universal ideas—not closing the door and saying you have to be a Catholic in order for good things to happen. This is the kind of world leader that we need in a position of power that the pope has if we want hope for a more universal community.

SNIP
 
 But people assume atheists are rooting for the Church to fail. Is there a way for atheism and organized religion to be strengthened simultaneously or is a zero-sum game?

Oh, I definitely see it as an opportunity for both sides to grow in a positive direction. I think atheists are a little naïve if they think that the best solution is to convert everybody to atheisms. That’s not going to happen any time soon. This is the world we live in. But we have to find ways to nurture the more progressive, more open-minded people willing to reason and re-evaluate positions in churches. We should encourage that to happen. Churches do revise their opinions from time to time. Instead of criticizing them for not being true to their faith—which we don’t agree with anyway—we should encourage them.

jesusfuckingchocolatecoveredchristonapogostick! Religion is the source of all anti-human works in the world, Speckhardt, and shame on you for pretending otherwise.

Anti-human works - patriarchy, authoritarianism, misogyny, poverty, fear, shame and hatred - are the whole purpose of religion. All religions. Without them, religion withers and dies. 

Where people are free of myth and all its lethal works, people and society thrive. Where myth reigns, so does violence, poverty and hate.

And where atheists compromise with religion, the freakazoids grow stronger and society suffers.

You know why the repugs and corporatists and Koch-sucking freakazoids so desperate to keep the minimum wage below the minimum necessary to live on?  Because a living wage - and the economic power it gives to everyone who works - is the greatest obstacle to the lords-and-serfs economy the obscenely wealth are so very close to creating in this country.

But they haven't won yet.

David Atkins at Hullabaloo:

Let the sunshine in:

A bill that would boost California's minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2016 won approval by the state Legislature on Thursday and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown, who said he would sign it.

The measure would raise the current $8 minimum wage to $9 an hour next July 1 and to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016.

The 25% increase would be the first minimum-wage hike in California in five years and would put extra money in the pockets of an estimated 2.4 million Californians.

"This is the time to raise the minimum wage to provide relief for hard-working families," said the bill's author, Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville). About 3 of 5 minimum-wage earners are 26 or older, he stressed

Labor unions lobbied heavily for the bill, both in the Legislature and at the governor's office. Business groups opposed it.

The bill won final passage in the Assembly on Thursday evening by a 51-25 vote. Earlier in the day it received a 26-11 vote of approval by the state Senate.

We live in an era when asset holders take all the gains while wage earners get the shaft. We won't fix our problems until that trend is reversed.

Raising the minimum wage slightly isn't a huge fix, but it's a major step in the right direction. All too often liberals focus on government services and the safety net. Those things are crucially important, to be sure, but they're no substitute for changing the skewed rules that allow the asset class to walk away with all the loot.

National Democrats may still be mired in centrist DLC economic politics. But in places like New York, California and Massachusetts, the progressive economic revival is already well underway not just at a grassroots level, but at an institutional one as well.

Everyone who is not a millionaire benefits from a living wage - which today means at least $15 per hour, and $20 per hour if productivity is taken into account. Even small business owners benefit from paying their employees more, if everyone else does so also, because more money in everyone's pocket means more money gets spent which puts more money in everyone's pocket.

It's a virtuous circle that benefits even the disgustingly rich. But because it narrows the gap between the richest and the poorest, the richest would rather a bigger gap between them and us than an equitable economy that benefits all.

In that, they are no different from the racists who reject social programs like food stamps and unemployment compensation and Obamacare that help millions of white people because they also help thousands of black people.

Rich people are absolute poison to the economy, to society and to democracy. Unless we eliminate them through confiscatory taxation, they will kill us all.

"We'll keep working with the international community"

You know what would impress everybody and give the U.S. a real upper hand over both Assad and Putin? Spending a billion dollars to feed and shelter Syrian refugees and resettling the 100,000 most endangered here in the U.S. That would be exceptional.



Full transcript here.

THIS is a Democratic Candidate

I'll call Ted Cruz' 100 Jesse Helms for the Senate and raise him Rich Trumka's 60 or 70 Liz Warrens.

Down with Tyranny:

Although Obama canceled his appearance at the AFL-CIO convention in L.A. (last) week so he could work on strategy for persuading America that war against Syria is the right move, the convention rocked without him-- by what many pray is a future president, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. She urged union activists that they need to strengthen their movement to beat back the enemies of working families. Here's the body of her address:

I love being here with labor. It reminds me of a family reunion. Lots of roughhousing. Occasional arguments. Plenty of food. But ultimately, in a family we know we've got each other's back.

But there's another reason I love being here with labor. When I'm here, I know I'm with people who stand up for working families all across this country.

When important decisions are made in Washington, too often, working families are ignored. From tax policy to retirement security, the voices of hard-working people get drowned out by powerful industries and well-financed front groups. Those with power fight to take care of themselves and to feed at the trough for themselves, even when it comes at the expense of working families getting a fair shot at a better future.

This isn't new. Throughout our history, powerful interests have tried to capture Washington and rig the system in their favor. But we didn't roll over. At every turn, in every time of challenge, organized labor has been there, fighting on behalf of the American people.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, when factories were deathtraps, when owners exploited workers and children, and when robber barons amassed the kind of power and influence that made them think they were modern day kings, the American people came together under the leadership of progressives to bring our nation back from the brink. And labor was there, leading the way.

Labor was on the front lines to take children out of factories and put them in schools. Labor was there to give meaning to the words "consumer protection" by making our food and medicine safe. Labor was there to fight for minimum wages in states across this country.

Powerful interests did everything they could to block reform. But our agenda was America's agenda, and we prevailed.

A generation later, when our country was mired in the Great Depression, when people were on bread lines and looking for work, we fought back. We created jobs by investing in infrastructure and public works. We brought light and power to our poorest and most remote areas. We established federal laws on wages and hours. We enshrined into law the right to organize. We made banking boring and put real cops on the beat on Wall Street. And because we believed those in old age should not be mired in poverty, we created Social Security. And all along that journey, labor was there, leading the way.

Once again, the powerful interests did everything they could to stop it. But our agenda was America's agenda, and we prevailed.

When political injustice threatened to break our democracy, members of the labor movement were there, working for jobs and freedom, marching right alongside the Reverend Dr. King, fighting together for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

When hard working families were getting squeezed, labor was there, fighting alongside our beloved Ted Kennedy, and now we have the Family and Medical Leave Act, we have the Lilly Ledbetter Act, and we have continued to protect Medicare.

And in 2008, when the economy crashed and it was time to reign in financial predators and Wall Street banks, labor was there-you were there-standing shoulder to shoulder with me, standing with President Obama, and fighting for consumer protection. And thanks to those efforts, we now have a strong Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-- with a confirmed Director to lead it. And just so everyone knows, that little agency has already returned half a billion dollars to families who were cheated by big financial institutions and helped tens of thousands of consumers solve their problems with big banks.

In every fight to build opportunity in this country, in every fight to level the playing field, in every fight for working families, we have been on the front lines because our agenda is America's agenda.

But let's be clear, we have always had to run uphill. We have had to fight for what we've achieved. Powerful interests have done everything they can to block reform. They attacked Social Security and Medicare. They attacked pensions and public employees. They attacked bank regulation and consumer protection.

The powerful interests have attacked so many of the basic foundations that built a strong middle class-- and too many times, they have prevailed.

Even today, our work is uphill. The powerful interests fight us on every battlefield they can.

Look at the increasing corporate capture of the federal courts.

According to a recent study, the five conservative justices currently sitting on the Supreme Court are in the top ten most pro-corporate justices in a half century-- and Justices Alito and Roberts are numbers one and two-- the most anti-consumer in this entire time. The Chamber of Commerce is now a major player in the Supreme Court, and its win rate has risen to 70% of all cases it supports.  Follow this pro-corporate trend to its logical conclusion, and sooner or later you'll end up with a Supreme Court that functions as a wholly owned subsidiary of big business.

Look at where we are on the "Too Big to Fail" problem.

Five years ago, experts said the banks had to be bailed out because there was too much concentration in banking and one failure would bring down the entire economy. Now the four biggest banks are 30% larger than they were five years ago. The five largest banks now hold more than half of all banking assets in the country. Because investors know they are too big to fail, those big banks get cheaper borrowing, which, according to one study, adds up to an annual $83 billion subsidy from taxpayers-another benefit of being Too Big to Fail.

What about reform? The Dodd-Frank Act was an incredibly important achievement, but since it passed, the big banks and their army of lobbyists have fought every step of the way to delay, water down, block, or strike down regulations. When a new approach is proposed-- like my bill with John McCain, Angus King, and Maria Cantwell to bring back Glass-Steagall-- you know what happens-- they throw everything they've got against it.

One more: take a look at what's happening with trade deals.

For big corporations, trade agreement time is like Christmas morning. They can get special gifts they could never pass through Congress out in public. Because it's a trade deal, the negotiations are secret and the big corporations can do their work behind closed doors. We've seen what happens here at home when our trading partners around the world are allowed to ignore workers rights, wages, and environmental rules. From what I hear, Wall Street, pharmaceuticals, telecom, big polluters, and outsourcers are all salivating at the chance to rig the upcoming trade deals in their favor.

Why are trade deals secret? I've heard people actually say that they have to be secret because if the American people knew what was going on, they would be opposed. Think about that. I believe that if people would be opposed to a particular trade agreement, then that trade agreement should not happen.

Finally, look what is happening in our states. Republican governors in Indiana and Michigan push for so-called right to work laws, and in Wisconsin Scott Walker and the legislature he controls have declared war on working families by ripping the guts out of collective bargaining agreements.

The fight continues to rage, and the powerful interests continue to be guided by their age-old principle: "I've got mine, the rest of you are on your own."

But we're guided by principle too. It's a simple idea, and all of you know it as an old labor idea-- we all do better when we work together and invest in our future.

We know that the economy grows when hard working families can improve their lives. We know that the country gets stronger when we invest in helping people succeed. We know that our lives improve when we care for our neighbors.

And we know that even though pundits and big corporate lobbyists in Washington might need to be dragged kicking and screaming-- we know that America agrees with us.

On almost every issue of economic concern, our values are America's values, and our agenda is America's agenda.

We believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and tougher enforcement-- and you know what? So do more than 80% of people. Wall Street will fight us, but the American people are on our side.

We believe in raising the minimum wage-- and so do 71% of people. The Republicans will fight us, but the American people are on our side.

We believe in preventing cuts to Social Security benefits-- and so do 87% of Americans. The Washington insiders will fight us, but the American people are on our side.

We believe in rebuilding our infrastructure and in passing legislation to create jobs-- and so do 75% of Americans. The Tea Party will fight us, but the American people are on our side.

And we believe that the sequester is stupid. And, you know what? A majority of Americans-including a majority of Republicans agree with us too. We ought to be making smart choices about where to cut and where to invest. Washington will fight us but the American people are on our side.

It was less than a year ago that the American people overwhelmingly re-elected President Obama and gave us a mandate to fight for middle class families.

We have a mandate-a mandate to build a fair tax code, one that isn't rigged to give breaks to big oil and billionaires while it crushes working families. We have a mandate to invest in the future - in infrastructure, in research and innovation, and in education. And we have a mandate to create jobs-- jobs right here in America, jobs for hard working people!

So here's my message: Our agenda is America's agenda. The American people know that the system is rigged against them and they want us to level the playing field. That's our mandate!

I've already fought and lost my share of battles in Washington, and I've been around long enough to know that Washington is a tough place. Real reform isn't easy. But I also know this: If we don't fight, we can't win.

But if we fight, we win. The Budget. Immigration. Minimum wage.

Uphill battles? You bet.

But however tough the challenge, however steep our climb, I am proud to stand with you, to march with you, and to fight side-by-side with you.

Our agenda is America's agenda and if we fight for it, we win.

The Wall Street Journal reported that "Mr. Trumka knows that not all Democrats-- and even fewer Republicans-- are so firmly aligned with labor’s agenda as Ms. Warren is. When she exited the stage after standing hand-in-hand with Mr. Trumka, he turned to the crowd and said: “If we could only clone her and we had another 60 or 70 like her.”

Here's here full speech:

Bring Out the Tumbrels

Seriously, rich morons: this is exactly the attitude for which the French aristocracy was guillotined.

Steve M:

This is the same sense of entitlement that leads rich people to lash out at President Obama for remarks about themselves that have an inappropriate "tone" -- Obama, they say, is "villainizing success" -- even as success continues to be the default mode for the rich under Obama. They really don't believe anything should ever make them uncomfortable ever again. They really believe being shielded from discomfort is their right.

Anybody remember that old saying "Behind every great fortune is a crime"?  It's always been true. The difference today is that the crime on which the obscene 21st-century fortunes were made is the crime of economic treason against society and democracy itself, the denial of community and even the humanity of others less wealthy.

Allowing the rich to get away with that economic treason is suicide for the rest of us. Eliminating their wealth through confiscatory taxation is nothing but pure self-defense.

Starving People With "Healthy Food"

I suspect this motherfucker knows perfectly well that restricting food stamp purchasing to fresh fruits and vegetables and unprocessed meat without increasing the allowance means that that the current $1.40 per meal will not buy enough food to feed a gerbil.

When you have very little money to spend on food, being poor and having to use food stamps, your goal is to get the maximum number of calories for the least amount of money.

That means you buy a lot of starch and empty calories that make you feel full:  potatoes, white bread, rice, noodles and chips.

Also sugary drinks that give you temporary energy to make up for the lack of protein and good carbohydrates that you can't afford because congressional repugs think poor people deserve to starve.

No, it's not healthy.  But it will keep kids from crying from hunger or falling asleep in class because of empty stomachs.

Ed Kilgore at Washington Monthly:

Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday proposed legislation that would require people using federal food stamps to buy only healthy food.

The Healthy Food Choices Act, H.R. 3073, reflects a long-standing criticism that the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) allows people to buy billions of dollars worth of junk food.

A 2012 study found that food stamps enable about $2 billion worth of junk food purchases each year, and that more than half of all SNAP benefits are used to buy sugary drinks.

Efforts to curb these purchases have been opposed by anti-hunger groups. But Roe said some states are already exploring ways to curb junk food purchases through the SNAP program, and argued that the federal government needs to take steps as well….

Under Roe’s bill, food purchased under SNAP would have to meet the same guidelines that food purchased under the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program already have to meet. The WIC guidelines are strict, and are made up of several different standards for products like breakfast cereal, milk, vegetables, peanut butter and other foods.

I haven’t read Roe’s bill, and don’t know if it does anything to make these “healthy food choices” more available, with, for example, expanded incentives for community food banks and produce markets. But for all the sugary talk from Roe, I suspect the support base for this bill is primarily punitive.

No shit. WIC requirements are stricter because infants and women who are pregnant and nursing have specific nutritional needs. WIC also provides a subsidy sufficient to purchase healthier foods, which SNAP does not.